Chapter Fifteen - A Potential-Dual-War

Tension remained static in the sun-lit room. 

The tension was suffocating as the room was filled with the most influential and most powerful individuals at the same time. Influential enough to change the history and powerful enough to wipe cities off of the face of Dicathen.

Standing right beside me was the second artifact holder from the Kingdom of Sapin, Varay Aurae--a fellow lance and a white core. Her stood a few steps away from the second chair in front of me. The two chairs in front of us belonged to our rulers. The King and Queen of Sapin. King Blaine Glayder and Queen Priscilla Glayder. 

Varay's posture was relaxed as she stood with her hands behind her back. She was wearing a robe much simplistic in design contrasting with the overwhelming aura of superiority around her. It wasn't a matter of her pride but rather her true strength. I of all the people had witnessed it first-hand. 

Sitting across the table was the Dwarven Royalty, The King--Dawsid Greysunder and The Queen--Glaudera Greysunder. From the basic pleasantries between the Human and Dwarven kings, one could see that Dawsid wasn't an eloquent man, having an improper, rude edge to his tone--a trait detrimental for someone of his stature. 

Dawsid was an elderly man with short stature and a sturdy frame. He had dark, baggy eyes accompanied by his thick bushy brows. Long braided beard ended at his upper torso, complimented by his long mustache tied in sections. He was wearing a light, leather armor covering his barrel-shaped chest draped with a cloak bearing the symbol of Darv. Despite his muscle-toned body, his hands appear soft and uncalloused, suggesting that he barely does any heavy-lifting. 

The Queen--Glaudera Greysunder, was more manly than her own husband. With broad shoulders and arms, she looked like well-built augmenter. 

Behind them were the two lances of Kingdom of Darv. Mica Earthborn--A white core augmenter. Her appearance was childish and even in this grim situation I couldn't see any form of seriousness or formality on her face as she looked around excitedly. 

The other lance--Olfred Warend, was a white core conjurer like me and Varay. However, from what I've heard, he's a dual elemental conjurer with magma deviant. Olfred looked like an elderly man with a gruff voice. As a dwarf, Olfred is short with a heavy muscle build and bronze skin.  

The room had silent murmurs until the door burst open suddenly. All four of the lances looked at the door, cautiously for any unforeseen danger but kept our intent suppressed as it could harm the Kings and Queens. From the other side of the door stepped five people. 

The first was a middle-aged man with silver hair and emerald eyes. His eyes were slanted upwards, and his nose crunched into a disgusted expression as his eyes met with the Human King. Following right beside him was the Queen, Merial Eralith. She had gunmetal hair and teal eyes that seemed to glow. While as insignificant as the other King and Queen's presence it was, what made us stand on our tiptoes were the three individuals behind them.

The first one was a man well past his prime. His features were sharp and his eyes despite being showing tranquility on the outside, were brimming with an incomprehensible amount of hate and spite. He was strong. Although not as strong as us, but he was the strongest after the Lances present here. 

The reason of hatred from the elves was still vague to me. It could be because of the slavery and slave traders that enslave both elves and dwarves. However, the dwarven royalty never showed this kind of hostility. There must be another reason behind this. I could feel Varay's anxiety from my side too as she too was comprehending what was going on.

Following closely behind was a young girl, who looked a bit younger than us. She had teal eyes. Walking close-by to the queen, she kept her eyes on...us. I figured she was the first artifact holder for the elves. The second one had long black hair and black eyes. I looked at Varay who was having a stare-down at her. From the information we had on her, her name was Aya Grephin. She might be as strong as Varay. 

The elven King and Queen sat a bit far from the Human and Dwarven royalty. The former king, Virion Eralith sat just behind them, not directly participating in the conversation. 

Once again, a veil of apprehensiveness and rancor filled the meeting room. A slight sheen of intent surrounded the lances--barely noticeable for weaker mages but just enough for each other to know and feel. The thickest one was around Varay and almost similar one was Aya. Her eyes were dark, showing no emotions--not even hostility. Just a baseless, directionless resentment. 

I could see it behind the stoic face of every lance. The slightest twitch of muscles as everyone braced for a fight. Mana remained stagnant in our cores, not daring to unleash it. But if push came to shove, all were ready to unleash the slumbering havoc in our cores to protect our King and Queen. 

Blaine looked at Dawsid and nodded his head slightly as he stood up, "Respectable Kings and Queens of every kingdom of Dicathen, I hereby welcome you all to our joint meeting requested by the Elven Royalty, Aludin and Merial Eralith accompanied by former king of Elenoir, Virion Eralith", Blaine spoke in an eloquent and friendly manner, turning a blind eye to the blatant, transparent animus radiating from them.

Aludin after seeing the positive attitude in retaliation to his sour one, regained his lost composure. His posture relaxed followed by a slight cough. His clenched jaw visibly eased as he placed his arms on the table carved out of oak-wood. "Ahem, as you all might know, my name is Aludin Eralith and this is my wife, Merial", turning around he directed towards the elderly man behind him, "and this is my father, Virion Eralith", he said. 

Just as he was about to speak, Dawsid interrupted him, "Skip with the pleasantries, Aludi-"

"YOU WILL NOT INTERRUPT ME", Aludin roared suddenly and the Dawsid flinched in his seat. Everyone else looked at him with a surprised expression, including the lances. The elves were passive, just living their own peaceful lives. Their temperament wasn't something outrageous. However, the King's conduct here was baffling to say the least. 

Dawsid remained silent, too flabbergasted to say anything. 

"Calm yourself, Aludin. We are not your subjects and all around this table have an equal standing. This joint meeting was requested by you. First, you declined our offer of unifying the three kingdoms and now this outrageous behavior", Blaine paused, letting his words sink and make the elves understand the gravity of the current situation, "If you have anything to say, say it in a way suiting your prominence."

All eyes turned suddenly towards me as a scroll beeped loudly in my pocket. Varay's emotionless mask faltered as she looked at me. Blaine turned towards me, his eyes questioning me. Not many people could contact me. And if someone was doing it, it must be an emergency relating to my family. 

"It's my father. I will contact him later", I replied making the scroll disappear in my dimensional ring. 

"It's ok. Go talk to him. Varay here is enough", he spoke in a loud enough voice. It was his way of telling everyone that even one human lance was enough if things went down. "I will be back as soon as I can", I replied and with quick-hurried steps left the room. 

Walking outside the door, I moved through the broad halls of the Floating Castle. When I was a good distance away, far from the range of any lance eavesdropping, I answered the scroll. The familiar scarred face of my father, Otis Wykes, came into view. He had the usual sour expression over his face. Always disappointed and never satisfied, no matter how much his kids achieved.

"Bairon", His resonant voice boomed as he took my name. However, there was a subtle manic in his voice. 

"I was in a meeting between the three races. What is more important than potential animosity from elves?" I replied, not attempting to hide my frustration. 

"It's Lucas", he spoke, his rushed tone converting to his usual one.     

"What has he done now? Is Tessia, okay?" I asked. Usually, my father would not turn even an eye to Lucas, even if he died. He had deemed him failure as his progress despite having elf and human lineage was stagnant, turning him into someone with an overwhelming inferiority complex. 

"The guild-leader, Kaspian Bladeheart just called. Lucas is dead", he spoke as I felt my heart sink. He might be the worst being to have taken birth ever, but he was still my brother. 

"And...", I wanted to ask about her too. But I couldn't. 

"The girl is gone too", he paused stroking his chin, "not dead, but they said her and another boy who goes by 'Elijah Knight' are missing. 

"Did Tessia killed Lucas?" I asked, hoping it wasn't true.  

"No. Although it makes sense, the way his corpse is mutilated has a foreign mana signature. It belongs to neither Tessia nor the boy, Elijah. The guild already did the tests so it's almost impossible for us to frame the girl." He spoke as he gripped the bridge of his nose tightly.

"Also, they couldn't find their corpse but could find faint signatures. Hence, they're not sure if both of them are alive or not." 

"I see", I replied. I wasn't sure if I should be grateful for what happened that she escaped and won't have to deal with the tyranny and torture of our father. Or should I be sad that even after all I did for her, she never confided me in her escape plan. Or was it not an escape plan but rather another kidnapping?

"Finish your meeting and burn the failure's corpse later", Father spoke and turned around, "our name has already been tarnished enough. Don't do anything foolish there. The girl is as good as dead. They were attacked by a Elderwood guardian", he spoke, and the transmission ended. 

A soft sigh escaped my lips as I pressed my head against the wall behind me. A plethora of questions stormed my mind. Where was she? How is she? What is she doing? Is she even alive? Why was an S-Class beast in that Dungeon? 

Pushing all of these thoughts to the back of my mind, I quickly rushed back. Every step towards the room felt heavy as I felt my inner conflict and building--crushing mana build up and weigh down on me. Reaching for the doors of the meeting room I pulled it as once again every eye darted towards me. 

Blaine looked at me for a brief moment, but his pale expression was so grim that it made my inner conflict wither away. Like a piece of paper being blown away in a storm, I forgot my own troubles as I looked at him. Looking at Varay, her pale skin was even more pale--almost as if her blood had been drained from her body. 

The dwarven lances were the same although their condition wasn't as intense as the Human Royalty and Lances. 

A set of parchment regulated between Lances--powered by wind mana from the black-haired eld--Aya Grephin. The small gust delivered the parchment with a few things written on it. First was Olfred then Mica. Then Varay received it and then I was the last one to get it. My feet froze to the ground and my heart pounded in my chest. Like a wild animal clobbering and clawing at its cage, my heart threatened to jump out at every word I read. 

Gunmetal hair. Turquoise Eyes. Around 12 years at this time of year. 

The descriptions still didn't shake me as much as the upper-case letter in the end. 

Tessia Eralith. 

I looked up and saw the other elven lance looking at me with squinted eyes. Was she a sensory mage? Regaining my composure, I tried to act normal. 

"Our daughter was kidnapped by you humans all those years ago. I do not know even if she's alive or not. If you want us to unify or co-operate with you in the potential dangers from another continent, find her and give her back to us. Publicly execute anyone remotely related to the abductors", Aludin spoke, his face red. 

"And what if we can't find her?" Dawsid spoke in the stead of the speechless Blaine.

Virion Eralith rose up from his seat and walked towards the table. The other elven lances followed closely behind. His eyes beamed with an animalistic thirst for blood, 

"Then you all can prepare for war. Against the other continent and against us too", he paused letting his intent sink. Despite being white cores, everyone's hair stood on their edge because of his barbaric--feral intent. "And this time we will strike harder than we ever had." He declared as everyone felt goosebumps at the baritone of the former elven king, his eyes a raging--twisting tempest. 

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(A/n Whew. That was a wee bit hard to write for some reason. Anyways, I hope you all like the chapter and development. Next will be Alacrya POV... maybe? lol)

Hope it is 1k votes by the time she publish it

(E/n Don't worry Lads. Since he can't remove my notes now, I can confirm it's alacrya pov. : )