Deep fear of the unknown

After several days of marching, Enos finally arrived in the capital. Exhausted, he fell off his horse and handed it over to the stable boy. Unfortunately, Enos was not at home to rest, but again in front of the great city hall in which the mayor resides.

He went inside and headed straight toward the secretary,

"I really need to talk to the mayor!"

The secretary looked up startled,

"Do you have an appointment, Lord Enos?"

"No."

"Then I can't let you..."

"I invoke Order 36 of the City Council!"

The secretary widened his eyes,

"Very well, go through and take this. I hope you're aware of the consequences of using..."

"Yes, I know. If the proclamation is unnecessary or self-interested, thereon lies a removal of my post and power."

The secretary nodded and handed Enos a piece of paper with a symbol drawn on it. Below it was his signature and wax stamp. Enos accepted it and walked through the large door behind the secretary.

Order 36 was an emergency rule written into the Constitution. The rule was created so that in the event of an emergency, no political or diplomatic regulations would prevent one from responding to a situation in a timely manner.

As soon as Order 36 was invoked, one would receive a certificate that allowed one to go to any place in the city and talk to any person without giving prior notice. Of course, this right could only be used by the 12 chiefs and the mayor himself.

Naturally, abuse of this rule was also considered.

If one of the 12 chiefs used the order for their own gain without there being an emergency, they would be severely punished. Not only did you have to pay an incredibly high fine, but you were stripped of your title and demoted.

Well, you could say that's excessive, but this was the average punishment for any offense against the rules of the Constitution.

Enos hurriedly went to the door of the mayor's office and knocked. From inside came Krell's old voice,

"Who is it?"

"This is Enos. I have something very important to report to you!"

"Come on in."

Enos opened the door and entered. An old woman was standing in front of the mayor's desk. She looked at Enos curiously. Enos bowed first to the mayor, who was sitting at the table, and then briefly to the woman,

"I'm sorry to bother you, Lord and Lady Krell, but this is very important."

The mayor nodded and then looked at his wife.

"Could you leave us alone for a minute, we'll talk more later."

"But of course, darling. See you around. Goodbye, Lord Enos." With that, the old woman said goodbye and left the room. Krell looked after her full of love. The two had been married for more than 40 years now and Krell still loved her like the first day.

The story of the two was known throughout the land of Gretan. Lady Krell, formerly known as Asila, was the guiding force of one of the largest underground organizations that ever existed.

The organization was commissioned to gather information about the entire world and was supported by the entire Council of Humans. However, one day Asila was captured by the Reils and taken to their country, where she was held captive.

Shortly after the plague, when the borders were hardly guarded, Krell set out to rescue her. It was an adventure that took an incredible number of lives, but after two months, he finally succeeded. Then, on the way home, Asila and Krell got along and shortly after, they fell in love. They had many adventures together after that, as she was still the leader of the organization and Krell joined her. Together they prevented a war and both caught and judged many corrupt council members.

However, due to an unknown person, information about the two came to light a short time later, their identities were revealed and they had to go into hiding. The elves, the reils and even some powerful humans had a great hatred for them and wanted to kill them. The two of them withdrew and hid in one of the most well-secured places in this world. The Gi-Universety was the best and highest university that the land of humans had.

In this university, the king of all humans, a messiah, was trained. Only the best of the best were allowed to enter this university and that was exactly what Krell was. But unfortunately, Asila was only above average.

The director of Gi-U did not want to let Asila in, but Krell insisted and almost started a war between the organization and the University.

During this time, many attacks from people trying to take advantage of the situation occurred, but after many arduous battles, they came out alive.

In the end, they finally made it to the university and stepped down as the leaders of the underground organization. Krell cultivated, reaching rank five, and became a noble. Through his fame and prestige, he was then appointed by the council as the new mayor of the city of Glorios. Since then, the two lived here together, still full of affection and love.

Enos said goodbye to Lady Asila and waited until she closed the door. He saw the symbols on the door and knew that without the mayor's will, no sound would come out of the room.

"So Enos, I hope you have a good reason for barging in here."

"Indeed I have, Lord Krell, as you know I was recently at the distant village of Tissling and there I heard shocking news..."

Enos told about the meeting with the villagers and the mayor. He also relayed the story of what, according to the mayor of Tissling, happened in the forest. While he was reporting, Enos could observe how the expression on Lord Krell's face became darker and more thoughtful. When he finished, the mayor was silent and simply pondered. After a while, he sighed deeply and said,

"This is indeed a serious issue. Are you sure the villagers were telling the truth?"

Enos replied in the negative,

"I myself find this very strange and questionable. Why would the Reils venture across the border and then attack such a small village as Tissling? But again, I don't see why the villagers would lie to us. Unless after all, they were just ordinary bandits. It's not uncommon for the mind to trick oneself in moments of panic."

It occurred to no one, of course, that the people of the village were demons of another world in disguise.

"Okay, until we are sure, let's keep this information confidential to prevent panic. Enos, I know you wanted to prepare for rank five now and retreat to the university, but I have to ask you for one more assignment. Take twenty of your most trusted men, who you think can keep this a secret. Go towards Tissling, look for these "demons" and capture them. If they are only humans, then we will prosecute and punish them accordingly, and if they are really Reils..."

Lord Krell paused for a moment,

"Then we must report this to the council and the king immediately. Now go. Let me know immediately if any new information comes to light. Order 36 will remain in effect until we solved this problem."

Enos nodded and quickly said goodbye. He did not want to waste a single second and immediately went to Gilfred.

Gilfred has been his friend since childhood and he trusted him completely. Besides, he already knew about the matter, so Enos didn't have to talk around stupidly. He easily convinced Gilfred and started making plans with him. After three days of preparation, they finally managed to find enough people. There were twenty brave and trustworthy people, most of them in higher political positions. The lowest was rank three, otherwise, there were mostly Ancients in the group. This time Enos did not take his magnificent horses with him, as there was a great risk that they would die in the process.

All of them knew how dangerous this journey was.

The only thing they knew is that a group of unknown creatures were living in the forest and were lying in wait for people. And even that was not certain. No one knew the exact power or reasons of the unknown army. No one knew if they would come back alive.

None of them had been present at the great battles so many years ago, but all of them knew the bloody scale of them. Two-thirds of the entire world's population of Intelligent Beings had been wiped out. Entire regions and cities were wiped off the face of the planet and lost in history. None of them wanted this to happen again, but what if it did?

Would the races stop fighting again before it was too late and a race was completely wiped out? And who of all would emerge as the final victor from these battles? The brave and strong humans, the wise and patient elves, or the brutal and bloodthirsty reils?