When we reached the eting point, it was still ten minutes before the vehicle would arrive. There was nothing we could do but wait, hiding in this spot where the trees were sparse. Yet we were not letting ourselves go, we were alert, as we should always be.
The sun had already set. The darkness of night was slowly descending on the area, nothing could be heard except the wind blowing gently.
It was in the middle of this silence that Rulhan suddenly stirred.
We quickly turned to him. Breaking the silence, especially by one of us, was not sothing we expected.
"What happened?"
Gurdas asked, raising his eyebrows, but Rulhan didn't even look at him. His brow furrowed as he narrowed his eyes and focused straight ahead.
"I received a notification from AVRES. The vehicle'll be here soon, but..."
Tension settled over the space, a restlessness slowly spreading through my body. Rulhan's deanor was not his usual.
"But what?"
Rulhan sighed deeply, then stood up from where he had crouched and his uniform, that of an enemy soldier, rippled. The armor he had kept hidden to avoid detection wrapped around his body under his clothes, preparing him for battle.
"The notification used the fake code, not the one we set for the operation."
"Oh..."
That's a problem... a really big one.
AVRES is a system that's always under control, so I don't think it's likely they've hacked into it, which ans... the vehicle that ca to pick us up was probably ambushed, and the people in it are no longer allies... they're enemies.
That also ans that the enemy has a rough estimate of where we are. In short, it's not just that vehicle that's on its way here.
"Can you access the system?"
"Yes, there ain't no issue with AVRES, and I've already filed a report. Just waitin' for a response, but get ready, we might have to fight."
I couldn't help sighing deeply.
It was strange in itself that this operation was so easy... I wondered when sothing like this would happen. My luck must be showing itself at this point...
"What do we do?"
With Gurdas in armor under his clothes, the three dwarves were now fully prepared to fight.
"A plan, a well-rounded one. There are three things the people in the vehicle can do, and we must act accordingly."
All three dwarves turned their heads to at the sa ti, I quickly realized what they ant and continued.
"First, they can approach us as if nothing has happened. We get in the vehicle and they take us straight into a trap. Secondly, when they arrive, they can wait for us to relax and try to kill or eliminate us directly. Thirdly, and this is what I personally think they will do, they will move slowly and attack with reinforcents and try to take us by surprise."
I paused, took a short breath, and looked the three in the eyes in turn.
"What we can do is also simple. We can fight, but we don't know when reinforcents will arrive, so it would be dangerous. We can try to sneak in among them, just like we did at the very beginning of the operation, which I think is even more dangerous. Finally, we can run away without saying a word, which is what I suggest, as we are likely to hold out until help arrives."
There was silence between us for a short while. We thought and thought as ti continued to pass, and then Rulhan suddenly interjected.
"I received another notification."
He stared at the space in front of him, his eyes moving as if he was reading sothing, the expression on his face growing less and less with each passing second. When he finished reading, his eyes narrowed, and he looked greatly dissatisfied.
"We gotta get to a place about twenty kiloters away. Seems there's a massive platoon tailing us. While they're chasin' us, we'll lead 'em right into our little trap."
So, we'll be decoys to ambush them...
I took another deep breath and slowly looked up at the dark sky, at the beautiful stars twinkling there. They were just now becoming visible after the sun had set a short while ago, yet they were always so much brighter in Lunerra's world than they had been in my old world. It was as if we were much closer to them.
I finally tore my eyes away from them, clenched my fist involuntarily, rembering the scene Sue and I had watched in lany's room.
How long ago was that? I think it was December... If I think it's March now, it's been almost three months.
The whole ti I've been here I've tried not to think about my friends, Sue, my sister... but now for so reason, they just ca to my mind again...
I chuckled lightly, which turned into a low, short laugh.
It looks like I'm not going to have an uneventful day. I guess trouble follows wherever I go, but... well, so be it.
I focused on my ring, pulled out my sword, and as the black long sword with purple runes appeared in front of , I gripped it tightly and turned to my group, widening my smile.
"Let's go, let's not waste ti."
Gurdas, Durvan, and Rulhan smiled at the sa ti. Even though we were in trouble again, we had no doubts. We were confident that whatever we had to do, we could do it.
If we were going to be bait, we were going to be bait, as long as we survived, the rest didn't matter, and we were determined to survive.
At least I was.
*******
"Could you say that again, please, Mr. Chazon?"
The old man, barely able to walk with his cane and well over a hundred years old, narrowed his eyes at . His short hair had long since completely grayed. Even his eyes, which used to be brown, had faded slightly with age. His skin was pale, without a single wrinkle.
His lips opened with difficulty, letting out the old man's weak voice.
"A new seer has awakened, Prince Lucas. And this seer is not far away."
His voice left the screen in front of and echoed in my ears. Not just in my ears, but in the ears of everyone who witnessed this eting.
The nobles of the Cevilian Kingdom, normally quick to engage in heated debate on important matters, were silent this ti.
"That is not all I want to say, Prince Lucas."
The old man narrowed his discolored eyes even more, and his fingers on his cane trembled.
Everyone who saw him swallowed involuntarily, the tension they felt intensifying.
"You need to prepare, as best you can. Ms. Dalia and I shared a prophecy."
For a mont he trembled as fear gripped his body, an eastern and reactionary indication that whatever he had seen was not good.
"What did you see...?"
"We saw a darkness rising within us, and then a tiny piece of fla breaking out of that darkness."
He paused for a mont, just stood there. Soon a tear fell from his eye and his expression turned sad. It was as if he was in pain, as if he was hurting in the depths of his soul.
"It was because of us... It was our fault. This world will change, sothing big... no, big 'things' are coming, Prince Lucas. We are entering a ti that could be even more critical than what happened eighty years ago. So you must be well prepared. Especially that tiny, dark fla..."
His voice trailed off, he quickly turned aside and coughed three tis in quick succession. Finally, he managed to pull himself together and continued.
"He stands at the center of everything. He seems like an insignificant part, but everything is ultimately connected to him. It must be soone from the new generation. So study every one of them, hold them in high esteem. We must not make the mistake we see ourselves making, prince... Not even the Lords can save us."
He started coughing again, yet he forced himself to speak. Eventually, the words that ca out of his mouth beca gibberish, more and more confused.
"Darkness... light... chaos... order... dragon... phoenix... nothingness... death... Ah, right... an unavoidable death..."
His eyes twitched, his expression dulled.
"That's why you have to be careful. Very much... I... I'm not feeling well, I'm sorry, prince."
He brought his hand to his face, and then his vision flickered. A woman's low voice echoed in the background and the image of the old oracle vanished.
A deep silence fell over all the nobles again. No one said a word, they all stared silently ahead of them, thinking about what they had just heard.
Darkness, light, chaos, order, dragon, phoenix, nothingness, and an unavoidable death... Everything that ca out of the old seer's mouth held great significance.
"Seer Chazon said that the dark fla in the prophecy he saw with Lady Dalia is among the new generation. I think we must first determine who this person is."
The person who spoke, with his blond hair, eyes as yellow as his hair, and tall stature, was Duke Patrick Virhen, leader of the Virhen Family, one of the pillars of the kingdom.
He looked calm. But underneath his calmness, I could see that he was thinking a lot.
"We must think long and hard about this. If the ti we are about to enter is even more critical than what happened eighty years ago, then it concerns not only us but all of Lunerra."
Ronald Potenbea spoke this ti. He had been pretty down lately because of what had happened to his daughter, but now he seed a little more himself.
I took a deep breath, clasped my hands together, and focused on the table.
"Duke Virhen, Duke Potenbea, Duke Quie, Duchess Adella, Duke Laehera and Duke Bistra."
All the nobles I had nad, the leaders of the six most important pillar families of the Cevilian Kingdom, turned to at the sa ti.
"This doesn't seem like sothing we can talk about in a setting like this."
They are not the only ones in the network we are eting now, along with almost all the counts of the kingdom.
If we need to think about sothing that concerns the future of the kingdom, perhaps the future of the world, this is not the place. We need to talk about it with other countries.
"In about three hours I will start another session on a private network, and not only we will be here, but my father, King Henry Cevilian, will be with us. So I ask you to attend."
The five nodded in unison, they had no complaints. In fact, they must have been thinking the sa way as , for they seed to be reassured.
"Understood, Your Majesty."
"Good, then... let's end this session for now."
There was another important matter we needed to discuss. Like the dungeon that Leonard Quie and his team had cleared, but what the seer had said... is now more important than that dungeon.
"I'll postpone what we're going to do about the new dungeon, the corruption in the kingdom, and the foreign trade issues until the next eting. Thank you for your participation."
I didn't wait, I quickly exited the eting. The holographic screen in front of disappeared into thin air, thus extinguishing the only source of light in the already dark room. Darkness quickly enveloped my body.
I was silent for a while, just staring ahead with my eyes squinted. I thought, for a long ti. Finally, I let out a deep sigh.
A dark fla...
Is that who we t where we went with Aiden Tenebra? The seer said it was our fault, that whatever happens will happen because of us.
What could they have seen? What could we have done to cause a tiny fla to grow and eventually spread to everyone? If it was really who we t there, what can we do about it?
And what about the words he said one after the other? We have to pay attention to those too... especially the one they emphasize at the end, an unavoidable death.
Who's going to die?
And the new seer...?
Questions... So many unanswered questions.
"Big change, huh..."
I closed my eyes, leaned further back in my chair, and relaxed myself.
The new generation...
Adrian Caleo, Aiden Tenebra, Zayden Aetern and so many other young people with incredible talents.
I was wondering why there are so many of them, especially in this ti, and now I understand better...
Really big things are going to happen.
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