Unexpected Visitors

A loud knock was heard in the hallway of the castle and Drupal ran to check who was behind the knock but before he could open the door a familiar voice sounded from behind the doors.

"My Lord let me in, I'm drenched with rain". The voice pleaded.

Drupal hurriedly opened the door only to see Cedric completely drenched in rain from head to toe.

"My my I did not realize that its raining". Drupal exclaimed.

"No… I left master Scrouches' robes to air dry", Drupal left running in the direction to get the robes.

Everyone laughed and Cedric went straight to the centre of the hall way and bowed infront on the head couch where Perciveus was seated.

"What brings you here Cedric?" Perciveus asked.

Cedric took his seat on the couch with others and proceeded to tell the reason for his visit.

"My Lord, apologies for coming unannounced but the matter at hand was too urgent to postpone and therefore I came here all on my own without even a single whisper here or there. My deputies were assigned to collect information regarding the movement of the Dark Being when one of my deputy reported some odd occurences and then I decided to head straight to you".

"So Adar is making move", Scrouche included his thoughts.

"Not only is he making move but also gaining allies. We all members of council always doubted the Witch Queen of being an ally but it turns out that there are others. For now I could only confirm that Volvo, the leader of Hunters is working in secrecy with Adar. There have been sighting of Hunters with the Dark Being's army but none of them have been confirmed except for one."

"The attack on the Tirad Sea Kingdom."

"No, what happened to all the ones who stayed there?" Pup and Puff chorused.

"I'm sorry but no one survived, whole of the Kingdom perished in the attack." Cedric lowered his head while giving the awful bews to the brothers.

The two brothers held there tears back but their eyes became red with anger, frustation and pain.

"I will not let their sacrifice go in vain. I will fight till my last breath to and end Adar's terror once and for all", Puff grunted in his breath but was audible to everyone.

"But the attack on the Tirad Kingdom paved way for the Dark Beaibg to evade all the other sea kingdoms and all this happened because of the information and help provided by the Hunters. Hunters had trade with sea kingdoms and they knew every protected and unprotected route and they gave this information to the Dark army and looted the kingdoms once defeated".

Anger was boiling in the two brothers but a power strain was being felt by all the people inside the room and this strain was not due to the anger of the brothers but the sour mood of someone else who had been sitting silently in one of the couches.

Veronica was pretty attached to brothers and had grown fond of the sea kingdom on her way but hearing of the downfall of the kingdoms had been souring her mood and making her angry with every passing moment. She was angry and in pain till suck extent the others could even feel it.

As the others were astonished with the powers the beautiful woman held, Perciveus was getting interested in how she had such divine powers and to comprehend that with her beauty.

….

Cedric went on to explain how all the sea kingdom rulers fell to their demise and the downfall of their kingdoms. The news brought everyone back to the reality that the conditions were worsening by every passing day and they still had no idea of where Adar was or what was the extent of his powers.

Everyone had their own thoughts and suggestions as to why the Dark Being had been doing what he did but no one made any sense.

"If what we know has happened within the few days, who know how long will he take to find this place", Veronica said and her worries were clearly reflected on her face.

"He knows on this place but he does not knows that I have returned which might be a good thing but also a bad thing".

Veronica looked at Perciveus for a second only to look other way and said," how is it a bad thing, you are the one who can defeat him. Right?"

"Yes I am. But there is something that has been bothering me and its bad if he knows that I'm back".

"When I returned somone attacked the guards and left their bodies as a message. If deciphered it only means that 'I know what your plan is' but in this case the plan is me. Which means he knows that I'm back but how is the main question."

"And to answer your doubt, its simple, if he knows of my return then he knows that I'm strong and he would do everything in his power to gro stronger than me and also grow his army in strength but the problem is that the way he sees me is when I was in my primes, the strongest but now I'm anything but strong which means that he might be double or may be more in strength that me".

The words from Perciveus had dawned upon all as a lightening had struck them all as no one had thpught that this could be a possibility and the only possibility.

"There is no way to gain that amount of power in just a few days and you don't realise but let me tell you,…. My powers come from death….. millions of deaths had resulted in that sort of power". This cofession from Perciveus left everyone's jaws left open with the sheer number of deaths.

"I was equal to an Army alone if not the strongest army."

Veronica could not imagine that the man sitting across her was capable of such distruction and be the one to hold all the cards in the past.

"But thats not the only bad news. I also found some inner information too but let me be clear that it can not only break but might shatter your morale". Cedric cautiously said.

Now all eyes were focused once again on Cedric for what else could be worse than the already unfortunate news.