The Hidden World

“Do you think they will be annoyed at being called together again so quickly?” Yuki asked. She was seated at her chair in the council. Kilik was sitting on his crystal one.

They had moved locations from that cave to an underground facility in a location that Yuki didn’t know of. Kilik had explained that it was protocol to change locations every time a new meeting was called. 

Yuki said that it was unlikely that anyone would know about where they were meeting, especially on such a short basis, but Kilik insisted that there was always a chance which she conceded. They had traveled straight to the second location after leaving the guild base, Kilik contacting Ember about the change through a device that looked like a magical phone.

Now, Kilik was preparing to call the other members of the council to gather again. His focus was set on the golden pedestal that rested in the center of the semicircle the seats of the council formed. It resembled the pedestal that was in the other meeting site Yuki was at.

“What does that pedestal do?” she asked, gesturing toward it. “I know I used it when I was being put on the council, but you seem like you know something else about it.”

“It’s also a communicator. Do you know what an arcane pedestal is?” Kilik said.

“I do.”

“Well, that thing is one. The spell engraved in it allows me to contact council members mentally through the connection they have with their seats,” he explained. “It’s how I notify them of plans and when we gather. It also is a great tool for other things. Being a channel for mana is one of them. It’s also an excellent flat surface for snack trays.”

“I see.”

“Anyway, we’ve delayed too long,” Kilik said, his expression growing more serious as he went back to the topic that brought them there. “Please be silent while I communicate with the others. They’ll be able to hear you.”

“I understand,” Yuki nodded.

“Your friends too,” Kilik added. He gave Akira, Erica, and Yuna a look. They nodded as well. “Good.”

He thrusted his arm towards the pedestal and a surge of mana shot out from him toward the golden device. The spells engraved on it began to shine as the pedestal accepted the mana being channeled into it. 

“Seat of Fire,” Kilik instructed. 

The pedestal glowed in response and sent mana toward the seat made of volcanic rock through the conduits on the ground. The chair illuminated and a projection of a disgruntled looking person appeared over it. 

“What is it, Kilik?” the man asked.

“We need to have another meeting, Vermilion,” Kilik replied. “Gather at site four. It’s a priority meeting.”

“We just had one,” Vermilion sighed.

“Well, new information came up that we need to address. It’s not related to Sophie though, if that was what you were thinking.”

“Fine. I didn’t have any other plans anyway. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“Thank you, Vermilion.”

“Just make sure the others get there as well.”

The projection of the man disappeared and the seat stopped glowing. Kilik continued contacting the others in the same manner, directing the magic to their respective seats and talking to them one by one. They all agreed to return, some more willing than others.

When Kilik finished, he remained in his seat and stared at the golden pedestal with a blank expression. He looked deep in thought with his chin propped up by his hand. 

“Bothered?” Yuki asked.

“No. Considering my actions,” he murmured. “I need to plan once I get the approval of the rest of the council.”

“You say that like it’s a certainty.”

“For something like this, it almost always is. The question is what to do afterward.”

Yuki nodded and remained silent after that to do what Kilik was doing and thought to herself as she went over the information she had. She had a few minutes before the first council members would arrive.

Around three minutes later, Ember walked into the meeting chamber with two of the members. From what Yuki could remember, they held the seat of lightning and water. Yuki gave them a small nod of welcome which they returned with a wave. 

‘They look as if I’ve been here forever,’ Yuki thought. 

The rest of the council came in over a spread of ten minutes. Yuki wasn’t certain how they traveled so fast, but she assumed that it was probably magic. Most of them were already back in their home cities when Kilik contacted them. She didn’t remember there being any transporters in the meeting sites though.

“We’re all here,” Kilik said. “Let’s commence this meeting then. I know that you all are quite eager to learn why I called you here again in such a short time between our last meeting. Rest assured that this is extremely important.”

“What’s it about, Kilik?” the woman sitting on the seat of ice asked. Yuki remembered that her name was Veronica.

“Yuki over here has brought some new information into my attention,” he said. “It pertains to the Shikaku, the dark guild we’ve been monitoring for some time now.”

“What have they done?” the man on the seat made of plants and vines asked in a gruff tone.

“They’ve taken actions that are direct transgressions to demons in Libra,” Kilik replied. 

“Are these transgressions serious?” Vermilion said.

“I would say so, but it is up to you all on whether or not you will agree with me on this. The first thing that you should all be aware of is that they have done things in the past that have gone unnoticed by us all except for Sophie.”

“We’ve known of this group for about a hundred years now,” a man frowned. He was sitting on a normal looking seat. Based on the other seats in the room, it seemed this was the seat of wind. “Are you saying that they’ve done things during those years that we somehow didn’t catch?”

“No. They’ve been around much longer than that it would seem,” Kilik said. “Sophie found that the Demon War might have been brought about partly because of them.”

“Did she have proof of this?” the seat of naturae asked. “And where did you get this?”

“She has a notebook in her office. Her Dragons of Gaea office,” Kilik clarified. “In it, she described how the initial attacks were targeted and that witnesses of these attacks said that some of the people that were involved had marks on them that looked like a snake. The image she drew in the notebook matched the markings that the Shikaku use to identify their members.”

“How closely did they match?”

“Perfectly.”

“Hmm.” The man leaned back in his seat of vines and drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair.

“This isn’t exactly proof that this group orchestrated these attacks,” the man on the seat of lightning said. “They could have just been members that went out on their own to participate. Some other group could be behind this if these strikes were indeed targeted.”

“Of course,” Kilik nodded. “I thought the same, but it does give you something to ponder about. The next pieces of information are more damning.”

He gestured toward Yuki.

“In case you don’t know, Yuki here is the leader for another dark guild. The Valkyries,” he said. “They act in direct opposition of the Shikaku and have been gathering information on them for years. She shared some of this with me.”

“How trustworthy is this information?” a woman seated on a chair of water asked. “She is just a newcomer.”

“I would never lie about such things,” Yuki replied. “You have my word.”

“There you have it,” Kilik said. “Now. What I was shown was nothing else but disturbing. The Shikaku have made it a policy to persecute demons within Libra. They’ve been rounding up any that they can find and sending them to prisons. Illegal ones.”

“What else, Kilik?” Veronica asked, frowning.

“In the prisons, they are neglected and left to die. Many have no food or water. They are trapped in glass boxes that don’t let them communicate with anyone at all. No sound. Complete silence.”

He paused and pressed his lips together.

“They go crazy,” he muttered. “They die from hunger. Thirst. I do not know how many have been lost.”

The council members didn’t speak for a moment.

“This is...quite hard to believe,” the seat of lightning said. 

“I had the same reaction,” Kilik replied.

“Demons were being rounded up and we didn’t even know?” 

“It’s because they weren’t supposed to be there,” the seat of naturae answered. “Demons are banned from entering Libra. They have the right to drive them out. But.”

The man started to growl, a low rumbling spreading throughout the chamber.

“They’ve seemed to have forgotten their oath.”

“Can you show us any photos?” the man on the seat of wind asked. “I need direct proof from you, Kilik.”

“Of course.” Kilik lifted his arm and created projections of mana that formed images. They were images that Uriel had shown him at the base. They looked like nearly perfect recreations.

The council members stared at them, each one with a different expression, but none of them good ones. 

“Thank you,” the seat of wind said quietly. “That’s all I need.”

“The rest of you?” Kilik asked.

They nodded and he made the images disappear.

“I don’t think there is much else I can say,” Kilik said. “It is up to you all if you agree with my conclusion. The Shikaku have directly violated the oath that the three races had taken with us and the demons.”

“Shall we take it up to a vote?” Veronica asked. 

“If everyone has decided.” He looked at them and found no objections. “Then go ahead, Veronica.”

Veronica began calling each member and asking them for their decision. The vote ended unanimous. 

“All ayes,” she said. “We’ll proceed with the next phase then.”

‘That was fast,’ Yuki frowned. She remembered Sophie lamenting about the council taking forever to act during the Demon War and how Kilik said that they were slow to move. She decided to ask Ember. ‘I thought they were supposed to be slow at these sorts of things?’

[Oh. They’ve voted already?] Ember asked. She was outside in the hall like always.

‘Yes. They’ve voted to take action.’

[Ah. Well, that’s the easy part. It’s always quick,] she said.

‘Then why did Sophie sound annoyed during the debate over the Demon War?’

[Because it’s what comes after that takes forever,] Ember said with a dark laugh. [They may all agree on the fact that something was done that violated the oath, but they take forever to agree on how they should deal with this.]