Within the meeting room which saw over the Empire of Man’s capital, sat the council who so often decided continent-spanning matters. However, in the last year, this room only gathered dust by far and large as not a single figure entered or left the chambers. From a large table which seated several Sages and Cornem ranks dedicated to this highest level of bureaucracy, it became a half-empty mess. Somehow they managed to regather some order and collect several members back to host another council meeting, but things really collapsed since the emperor’s body was lost.

That collapse only accelerated as reports of assassinations struck fear into the hearts of many members, forcing most into hiding immediately as they feared something similar might occur to them shortly after.

Even now, as the room filled with these Sages once more, they lacked the same arrogance or mystical air which usually surrounded their identities. In the end, only six of them sat down at the giant table at their usual spots, a few distressed with others saddened by how far their status fell. Once they all sat down, a Sage with the appearance of a young woman calmly summoned a tray of tea cups and set out to prepare everyone’s preference, the common start to all of these meetings. Unlike most other times though, this meeting lacked the same enthusiasm or level of discourse common amongst members. Everyone remained tight-lipped and somewhat wary even as the cups of steaming tea sat in front of them.

This woman, one of the empire’s oldest Sages, spoke with everyone’s drinks ready, “How has everyone managed the past year then? It isn’t without great expectations that I called as many of you back as possible.”

“We’re not really in a mood to engage in small talk, Mavis. Unless you recovered his highness’ body,” an exhausted complaint came from a few seats on the right, a gentleman dressed in a tailcoat with large spectacles. Displeasure wrote itself on his face without a single missed beat.

And on the opposite side of the table came another male voice, this time in full plate armour along with a thick cloak of unknown material. He sharply added, “Or at least contacted the acting emperor to return some order? The top ranks are managing things well enough, but you know they despise any of these political matters.”

“Gilliam. Retford. There are more pressing matters for our race than the managing of an empire.” Her eyes skimmed between the two and a shiver travelled up their backs, a reminder of the identities in this room long forgotten. As the head of the table, Mavis leaned back in her armless dress and sipped the gentle green tea in her grasp, bringing back to the scents and sights of a pine forest from her youth. Ignorance truly was bliss. And she said, “The first wave will be on us soon. In the meantime, I have contacted the other worlds regarding support they can send in this war.”

“And? Will they support us?” A slouched figure on the left spoke up this time, another young lady with a far less mature profile or disposition as she almost withdrew into the cushioned seat itself.

“They have promised to keep the top levels in check with whatever numbers we require. For both the elves and eternals, we will not have to worry about a world-destroying war this time.” As soon as Mavis’ words ended, all the other faces either turned ugly or concerned. They understood the impact of these promises and how little it actually helped.

It was Retford, who arrived in full armour, who reacted most with his outburst, “And that’s it? No soldiers, equipment, provisions, even mercantile support?!”

“None, they believe that, as the original empire, we hold more than enough of such resources for a prolonged war.”

“We’re not talking about just the eternals here! The moment those elves send their crafts into battle, we’ll be on a lost cause… We don’t stand a chance against both,” Retford’s words straddled anger and hopelessness as he leaned back in the seat and swallowed a mouthful of the piping hot black tea, a favourite in his manor during the cold winter months.

Mavis didn’t seem all that bothered though, and gave a simple but bloodthirsty response, “Then grant full permissions to all constructs. Remind the other races how humans slaughtered and dominated across the eight worlds.” The others shook at the weight of those words, as she intended to bring about the relics of their warring years back into service.

No one actually dismantled or stopped research on the machines either, the demand for war always existed no matter who wished to claim peace and prosperity. The only difference was that the empire placed a heavy hand over the continent and restricted all uses of such machinations against their fellow man, simply to reduce unnecessary bloodshed and destruction. With this command, one which no one across the empire could disagree with as their authority stood greatest, the upcoming war would only be followed by more and more.

“The southern nations might annihilate us once the war is done. You understand this?” Gilliam asked with a new layer of unease, unsure if they could survive back-to-back wars like this, but not dismissing the option.

“The empire formed from the blood of Manus cannot be destroyed so easily. As long as humans survive, she will eventually take control.”

“So overly confident… Fine! I agree,” Gilliam threw up his hands and sighed with a reluctant agreement.

In the meantime, the others gauged their odds from such actions as they took sips of their respective cups, most of them enjoying tea from various corners of the world. All of them weighed the options but also saw no great prospects for survival if no further support came from offworld. That dismissed the fact that some went into hiding and had yet to appear since then. That explained why half the table hadn’t turned up, but dismissed the possibility that a few of them quietly died without anyone’s knowledge. The eternals always boasted superior invasion and assassination methods, and the fact they silently killed Great Sages already evidenced the limit of the eternals’ abilities.

This all seemed to be work done by the Signeum Empire as well, not the miscellaneous collectives of eternals who formed nations in the underground world. While that empire might be the only ones capable of these high-level assassinations, the damage those smaller groups could cause was nothing short of a nightmare.

“I agree to the full activation of war constructs,” said that younger lady from the left, her eyes gazing out to a corner of the room as she maintained the thousand-yard stare. “Give them hell.”

“Grant the permissions,” Redford finished the last mouthful of black tea and gave his affirmation.

“Already a majority, but I’ll join in too. Initiate the activation process,” said one of the few silent since the meeting’s beginning. One of the few Sages here who took on an older physique matching his age, but beyond the ashen skin and red gemstone embedded into his forehead, this ageing man could be lost in a crowd with ease.

“To a new year’s bathed in destruction.” The final member of the table lifted their cup of black coffee and gave their appreciation for the results.

Things only just began from there though, as all of them felt a short burst of information swim into their heads from the council’s current leader, and flipped through the notes with a growing grimness between them.

“Glad we all settled those matters, but now we have to prepare for an actual war. The wartime council prepared several analyses and plans for us to look at in the upcoming months,” Mavis’ pleasant voice didn’t bring about cheers of joy as the group quickly realised she didn’t just bring them in to vote on that singular important decision. Rather, she expected them to actually do their jobs.

Absolutely shocking!

Within the plans included multiple lines of defence and actions to take under specific circumstances, each of them amounting to at least 50 pages of actions depending on what the elves and eternals aimed to achieve. However, the biggest point of difference came in the first 10 pages of each plan. A section dedicated to the war’s start and a decision for everyone to focus on the initial swarm of eternals who would charge onto the continent and initiate the battle for control.

There existed 5 main channels of movement between the underground world and the surface, but only three of these channels allowed for direct access to the human continent. The other two connected to the elven lands, which certainly helped amass forces, but little more.

Getting millions of eternals over the Stormwall was easier said than done. So while this method might be used to secretly move some elite forces over, it wasn’t worth diverting funds or forces into as some thousands of warriors changed very little in a war. No one expected the elves to really send support outside of material advantages anyway, disregarding the upper echelons of power which other humans already claimed to equal out.

That left the three main channels on their continent… And none of them were ‘small’ methods of entry.

The first came as the worst as it made use of the small cave systems scattered all throughout the world which connected underground. Hundreds of these small cave systems were located without any consistency, it was suicidal to spread their forces so thin in attempts to defend every last one of these spots. No one wanted to use this method, but everyone hoped the eternals utilised a different channel. They pleasantly hoped the second one became their primary method.

This second channel was simply three giant holes called ‘Wells of Darkness’. Perfectly circular when seen from above, the kilometre-wide holes simply continued down into the earth with seemingly no end in sight. Furthermore, in the ancient past, some races used these huge pits to nurture or rear dark element creatures, resulting in their current name. Those who descended these pits without preparation often died from the intense corrosion of darkness, whether inflicted by the natural environment or those creatures who infected and ravenously devoured anything which entered.

These pits were large by all accounts, allowing a huge number of eternals to climb up and out, but extremely easy to defend given how few existed around the continent.

And then the third option, secretly created mineshafts. An option many prepared for but simply could not defend against as many nobles and kingdoms purposefully obfuscated and hid the location and depth of valuable resource mines. And if they just happened to dig deep enough, meeting up with some eternals who dug upwards, no one would be any wiser if such unknown tunnels became the stepping stone for an invasion.

This method differed from the natural caves which connected underground in that they knew the locations of every last one. A world in which the eternals relied on human kings to betray their own kind wasn’t just likely, but almost expected as they put so much effort into sowing discord, the result forced hundreds of small nations to bend at Signeum’s whims.

Did it make sense for them to force such chaos just for humans to fight one another?

Surely they utilised that power in some way… It just seemed logical. No one truly knew though, and so while an option on the table it mostly went about discussing efforts to unveil all the continent’s deeper mineshafts and prepare as much as possible.

The third option lost a vote unanimously, the empire couldn’t enforce such a method and it demanded far too much oversight. In a time where that exact supervision lacked consistency, they hardly needed such easily falsified or abused methods. Direct defence made the most sense.

“What about teleporters too? Just like the idea to bring over elite eternals, they could just teleport some groups up here and have them destroy defences before the main force charges up,” Redford brought up a fair criticism of the plans as they all pondered over the best options. While they were all strong, their military backgrounds obviously paled when compared to those who created these reports. All three were written and edited several times to completely explain the situation to the group of Sages as clearly and perfunctory as necessary, taking their naturally overwhelming knowledge pools into account.

“All mass-teleportation is being watched these days. Even humans can’t get away with it so easily now, Manus prepared against it years ago in case any higher powers wreaked havoc,” came a response from the younger lady still slouched in her chair. With her connections to the church, it was easy to find out something like that early on.

“That doesn’t rule it out though… I’m wasting time, forget about it.” Redford shook his head as he realised the mistake, returning focus to the two main channels for entry which they went back and forth over. As the discussion reached a turning point, everyone began to take part where possible, replying as they came to their own conclusions and thoughts on the matter. Only one person remained silent, that being Mavis who watched pleasantly as though seeing the council from before all this happened.

“I don’t think we can afford to ignore the wells. The most important matter when invading is to procure a safe space to piggyback more numbers, and only these massive openings give them that sort of movement speed.”

“But they can easily use some of the larger tunnels too, each of them allow for almost 100,000 more warriors to arrive every day. If they can just obtain a dozen of them, it’d be easy to flood our defences with numbers alone.”

“Yes, but can we defend over thirty locations perpetually?”

“Should we call in aid then… It’s not impossible for us to pay the dragons too,” Gilliam made his statement last, having thought of this matter for a while now. He held back the idea because it caused even greater losses to the empire in exchange for a chance at survival, but now it seemed as though they truly stood no hopes on their own.

And with his words, no one dared speak as they instead turned to face Mavis. Her supple but mature face, no matter if soft or firm in expression, always contained a hidden glow which forced others to remember their place. A hint of control brought purely by personality and not artificial looks.

As her lips parted to speak once more, another burst of information shot into their Minds once more, this time several times larger than the defence plans given not long ago. Mavis saying, “Here are all the war plans they prepared as well. Report 4, pages 12 to 34, the section titled ‘Calling Upon Allies’. I took the liberty to contact a few races in advance as well: Phoenixes and Kun Pengs wish to stay out of it, Unicorns and Elders will take part in exchange for land and certain grade 0 resources.”

“And the dragons? I assume they’re on the fence given they’re protecting the princess,” Gilliam asked confusedly, having read all 23 pages outlined by Mavis but only seeing mentions of how each race held use in an offensive scenario.

“I spoke with their Clan Lord not long ago. They want no part in the war, but will not stop any dragons from taking part.”

“And what about her royal highness?”

“Her life is safe; protected by both Manus and their clan…” As Mavis replied without heavy emotion, they all sighed in relief that at least the direct line of Manus faced no concerns. Especially one as dazzling as the young princess, however, Mavis wasn’t done as she placed down the cup of tea with dregs at its base. Hands folded on the table as she said, “No one is sure how badly Salvation may want her dead though.”

The one man drinking coffee could not help but frown and request an answer from Mavis, “Why? Do they need father and daughter dead?”

But the woman just raised both palms helplessly and said, “She, and her dragon friend, are just too brilliant.” While she smiled at the fact without any further knowledge, the others reasoned that she knew a deeper secret which explained that comment. But truly, she just reiterated what the dragon’s Clan Lord told her in vague words.

How illustrious must a young child be to threaten two major races and their gods?