The Hidden World

“With that out of the way, we now transition to the discussion on our plan of action,” Kilik said. “We are all in agreement that there has been a transgression of the oath and thus the offending party must be punished. Does anyone have anything to say or offer?”

“Can we be given a few days to think things over?” the seat of lightning asked. “This is quite the large decision.”

“Possibly,” Kilik nodded. Yuki frowned.

The seat of water snapped her fingers and gestured toward Yuki.

“The new council member. Yuki was it?” she asked. Yuki nodded. “Would you mind giving us a file of the information you have so we can go over it and compare it with what we have?”

“I wouldn’t mind,” Yuki replied. “I have it on me right now if you want to see it. There should be a summary in the beginning parts of the file.”

“That would be wonderful. You can make multiple files for us all, correct?”

“Yes. That would be trivial.”

“Perfect,” the woman smiled. “You can give them out at the end of this meeting if that’s fine with you and the others. Unless they want to see it now.”

“I would like to see it,” the seat of wind said, raising his hand. 

Yuki tapped the watch on her hand that she had brought from the guild base and summoned a holographic file. 

‘It’s a good thing I thought this might happen when Kilik said he needed to speak with the council again,’ she thought as she produced six disks from her ring and transferred copies of the files into them.

“Just click on the button and it’ll display the file,” she instructed. She tossed it toward the man who caught it with a gust of wind and began to flip through the documents.

“So,” Veronica said, clapping her hands to gather attention. “Do you all want to go over any preliminary ideas or do you all want to reconvene at another time so that we can flesh out any vague plans we have?”

“We can discuss a bit,” Vermilion, the seat of naturae, said as he folded his hands. “We just came here, so why not.”

“You already know my idea,” Vernon said with his gruff voice. “I don’t even need to look at the little file.”

“Full on assault?” Kilik asked.

“Damn right,” Vernon nodded. 

“Vernon. We’ve already discussed why that’s a bad idea the last times we had this discussion,” Veronica sighed.

“Well I already said why you’re wrong,” he replied. “We’re dragons dammit. If we just go at them, nothing can stop us. It’s fast. It’s easy. They never expect it.”

“Gramps, there’s something called nuance,” the seat of wind laughed, taking a pause from his reading. 

“Nuance my ass, Garen,” Vernon said with a wave. “There’s no nuance in punishing killers.”

“Maybe not in the punishment, but there are some in the consequences that follow,” Veronica replied. “We need to make sure that whatever we do does not impact our cities or at the very least, impacts them minimally. You should understand, Vernon.”

“My people are tough,” he said. “They can handle anything thrown at them. Our head guard is from there, you know?”

“You told us. Many times.”

“Well, she represents us. A warrior. We should not hide like little sparrows.”

“We’ll take your idea into consideration,” Kilik said. “For now, let’s hear what the others may have, alright?”

“Go for it. But where I stand won’t budge at all no matter what you say.”

“Noted. How about someone else?” Kilik asked.

“We can make a task force,” the seat of water suggested. “Select people that would be best for this job and then let them plan this out. The plan then could be brought back and reviewed by us for approval.”

“I like that plan,” the seat of lightning nodded. “I think that’s the best way for us. No need to delegate so much force for one group. It’s not an entire country we’re going up against like last time.”

The other members beside Vernon nodded as well. 

“I agree,” Vermilion said. “It’ll give us time to go over the information in those files Yuki has. Then we can come back with a better idea and potential candidates.”

“Does anyone object?” Veronica asked. No one did. “Then we’ll put it to a vote. All in favor?”

Five council members voiced their agreement. Vernon, Kilik, and Yuki were the only ones to not agree. 

“By majority, the proposition passes,” she said. “How much time do you think you all will need?”

“One week,” Kilik said. “That’s final. You all have one week to evaluate the information and select people.”

“Seems fair,” Vermilion nodded. “Should be enough time for me. I think I already have someone in mind.”

Yuki raised a hand, calling for attention. Kilik gave a small gesture to speak.

“I would like to note that if you are planning to create a strike force, I already have one made,” she said. “My group has been investigating the Shikaku for years now. We’ve been creating plans for an assault for a while, but none of them were finalized since we lacked information. But that has changed now.”

“We would need to see the members of that force in order to approve them,” the seat of water replied. “And any plans you come up with as well.”

“Well, one of the members is me,” Yuki said. 

“Then the rest and the plans.”

“Alright.” Yuki narrowed her eyes and folded her hands over her lap. “However, I would like to pass a motion to shorten the time given to three days.”

The council gave her a variety of looks at her statement that range from intrigue to annoyance. Vernon had an amused smile on his face. 

“Reason for the motion?” Kilik asked.

“Simply put, I do believe that three days is plenty of time for this,” she replied. “I would also like to note that while we are here, talking and planning which I do concede is important, the Shikaku are not resting. They are at work at this very moment. Those prisons that Kilik spoke of and that we found?”

Yuki looked at the council members one by one.

“There are some out there that we haven’t found,” she said quietly. “Prisons that hold demons in them. Prisons that are slowly killing them through starvation and hunger. As we speak and plan, there are an unknown amount of lives that are at risk and a number of them may die. For me, even three days may be too much, but one week is certainly much too long. I’m sure you all understand my worries.”

The council mulled over her words for a moment.

“I certainly understand,” the seat of water said slowly. “I do not like the idea of more demons dying. However, we simply cannot rush these types of things. Though some may die during the time we plan, a rushed plan can lead to many more deaths. We want to save as many as we can, but failure is not an option.”

“That is why I say three days,” Yuki replied. “Three whole days. To reiterate Vernon’s point, we are dragons. I’m sure we can create a feasible plan with an acceptable success rate in that time. I’m even willing to share the preliminary plans I have created with you all that you can use as a basis for your own strategies. The documents I have in these files are all organized in such a way that there is a summary for each section and a simple directory to find information that is of interest. What I’m saying is that there is plenty of time. This is a matter of life and death. On a national scale.”

“What do you mean by that?” Garen asked.

“You’ve been reading some of those files, correct?” He nodded. “Then I’m sure you’ve read some of the actions they have taken and movements they have made. They are infiltrating all aspects of Libra as we speak. The current king is a mere puppet for them. The entertainment industry is filled with influential members that can begin infecting the populous with ideas. The business sectors are being run by either Shikaku members or allies who are in this for the profit. 

“Now, you all might think that this is a problem for Libra to handle and not us. I’m going to tell you that it will be a problem for us as well if we do not take this opportunity to strike swiftly. Remember their goals. They want to eradicate demons. Whether it is out of fear or prejudice, it does not matter. All that matters is stopping them before they can reach a level where they can actually pose a sizable threat to us.”

“Three days for a plan might be okay,” Vermilion mused. He tapped the arm of his seat as he thought. “What I worry about is the people. I need to convince my person. That takes some time. Probably a few days at least for them to come back with an answer.”

“Same for me,” the seat of lightning added. “If I have a baseline for a plan, three days is good enough. I need more to convince my person, especially if the person I have in mind changes as my plan changes.”

“How about this then,” Yuki said, rubbing her eyes. “Three days. We return to discuss our plan. We decide on a plan and revisions of this plan during that meeting. Then we worry about people.”

“I have no problem with that,” Vermilion nodded. He looked at the seat of water. “Halie?”

She pressed her lips together and frowned for a moment before sighing.

“That could work. If the ideas Yuki has are good enough, then I should be able to come up with something in that time,” she said.

“Any objections?” Veronica asked, looking around the chamber. There were none. “Then let us vote. All in favor with the motion to meet again in three days to discuss potential plans?”

“Aye.” Yuki said as six others said the same. Vernon was the only one to disagree, but Yuki already knew his stance.

“The motion passes. We shall meet again in three days. Be sure to have something ready,” Veronica said. "Lives depend on it.”