The Hidden World

"How confident are you in the validity of this information?” Kilik asked. Yuki glanced over at him.

“Ninety percent confident,” she replied. “There’s always that chance that my informant was influenced or duped or that this speech will be scrapped, but that chance is low. I am not a betting person when I can help it. I wouldn’t bring this up if I wasn’t confident in it.”

“Then you bring up concerning information,” Kilik said. “Any thoughts on this?”

“Can I see that speech in its entirety?” Garen asked. 

“If you want,” Yuki nodded. She brought the speech up again and blew it up so that everyone could read it. 

The council remained quiet as some read the speech Yuki projected and others sat in their seats thinking to themselves. Yuki observed their expressions, trying to get a grasp of what they were leaning towards, but they were all stone faced.

‘This would be a difficult group of people to play poker with,’ she thought.

“These are some profound claims you are making,” Vermilion said, breaking the silence. “You do realise what you are suggesting here?”

“Of course. They are planning to strike us. If we wait, we play into their hands.”

“But what if they want us to strike early?” he asked. “What if they want to claim that we attacked for no reason?”

“That is certainly a possibility, but a small one in my opinion,” Yuki replied. “Think about it like this. The demons living in Libra are there in violation of Libra laws that forbid demons from owning property and the like. By removing them from the cities and the country, it can be seen as them enforcing laws. However, that would trigger our oath. When we attack then, they can claim that we are attacking for no reason at all and if anything would allow them to justify their actions even more.”

“That is an interesting point,” Vermilion said. “Hmm.”

“What’s more is that us attacking early would give us more control of this situation as it stands,” Yuki continued. “Even if they are expecting an attack, we would have more options open than if we waited. It would help us if we truly want to minimize the impact of our actions.”

“You do remember why we wanted more time, don’t you?” 

“Of course. You want to come up with the best course of action and use the best people so that the chances of success are highest. I’m here to tell you that the window of opportunity is closing quickly. This time is when the highest chance of success is obtainable. If this speech is delivered, the chances drop dramatically.”

“Who are your people?” Jared interjected. “I think I’ll have a better feeling of our success if I know who we’re putting our trust into.”

“Understandable. Let me introduce them to you then, shall I?” Yuki said. 

She stood up and gestured toward the three who stood at the corner of the chamber. They came forward and stood in the center of the semicircle of seats for all of the members to see. Erica did a small wave that Garen and Veronica responded with a wave back. 

“These are my crewmates for lack of a better term,” Yuki said. “I trust my life with them and they trust theirs. First we have Akira. She is a chimaera.”

“A chimaera?” Vernon interrupted, his eyes narrowed as his interest seemed to be piqued for the first time the entire meeting. “That’s not possible. Chimaeras are long gone.”

“All but one,” Yuki replied with a faint smile. “She is standing before you right now.”

“I scoured the land for signs of any remaining chimaeras,” Vernon insisted. “There were none to be found. I thought I saw the last one die before my eyes.”

Yuki looked over at Akira who tilted her head as she gazed at Vernon. 

“Maybe you need some proof,” Akira said quietly.

From her back, two dragon-like wings sprouted out covered with dark brown scales. A snake of the same color peeked out from her pants that looked around the room as its pink tongue flickered in and out. 

“Well I’ll be damned!” Vernon laughed. “There is another. The tail does it. Did you name her?”

“Her name is Hana,” Akira replied. “How did you know I named her?”

“It’s a thing with you chimaeras,” he said. “That tail has a mind of her own. I’ve been around many chimaeras during my life.”

“And the last one as well?” she asked.

“Aye,” Vernon nodded, his smile dropping. “The last of your kin. I brought them in to my home to give them shelter some, I don’t know, three to four hundred years ago? I tried to help them, but it just wasn’t enough.”

“What happened to them?” Akira said. “I was never able to find out.”

“It’s a cautionary tale,” he replied. “One that I reminisce on frequently. You chimaera’s are, or at least were, quite independent as well. Your kin loved to study magic and the natural world, so much so that they were like hermits. They rarely interacted with one another. This was their downfall.”

“How?” 

“Well, chimaeras, like more demons, are made. Someone must be willing to take the time and effort to go through the process of creating a child then raising up that child. Chimaeras didn’t want to do that. A few did, but they were more the exception than the norm. Generation after generation, the number of those exceptions dwindled until there were no more.”

“So they died because they didn’t want to have children?” Akira asked. “That sounds ridiculous.”

“It does, but that was what happened. They didn’t feel the need to have children. They didn’t even get partners half the time,” Vernon sighed. “I never understood it. When the last of them realised what had happened to their kin, they raced to find a way to solve this problem. But it isn’t an easy problem to solve. It would involve changing how chimaeras are fundamentally made. Maybe you are different though.

“Enough of this though,” he said with a wave. “We can discuss this more later on after this meeting. For now, let me say this to the council. She is a chimaera. You all should remember their capabilities. I would say that she would be a fine candidate to be on the strike force.”

“How about trust?” Jared asked.

“Trust?” Vernon said with an arched brow. “Your trust in her should be about as strong as your trust for Yuki over here. They are bonded after all.”

“Oh, you can see that?” Yuki said.

“No, I guessed it,” Vernon laughed. “But there’s your confirmation. If you trust Yuki, then you can trust her. I can’t say anything about the rest.”

“Thank you, Vernon,” Kilik said. “Yuki, can you continue?”

She nodded. 

“Of course.” She gestured toward Erica. “This is Erica. She is a succubus with some unique abilities and prerequisites that I’m sure would quell your worries about her capabilities as I’ll let her explain.”

Erica stepped forward and gave the council members a small bow.

“Hello,” she said. “My name is Erica. I am the former protector of the late Faye, leader of the Meoric Clan. I was a protector for decades and now I’m giving my services to Yuki.”

“Former?” Halie observed. 

“Yes.”

“What happened?” she asked.

“I was exiled for crimes,” Erica replied, staring her directly in the eye. 

“What crimes?” 

“Murder.”

“She destroyed an entire opposing clan after a successful assassination attempt on her charge,” Yuki clarified. 

“Well that certain speaks to your abilities,” Halie said dryly. “Why should we trust such a person? I believe this was caused by a lapse in judgement? Perhaps emotion driven?”

“You would be correct in that assumption,” Erica said. “And I regret my actions everyday. I should never have let my emotions get the best of me. I try my best to never let that happen again.”

“Ever since I met her, she’s never been like that ever before,” Yuki added. “If she begins to get out of hand, we can calm her.”

“What can she bring to the table though besides fighting power?” Garen asked. “I don’t doubt that she can battle, but that isn’t everything we need.”

“A lot,” Yuki said. “She is unique in her mental magic. As a succubus, she is quite capable in those types of magic, but unlike her kin, she can affect people of both sexes.”

“Really?” Garen said. “Impressive. Can we have proof?”

Erica glanced over at Yuki with a little panic in her eyes. She pointed at her bracelet. 

‘Oh. Is she worried about the strength of her charm?’ Yuki thought. ‘Would it be too strong?’

Before Yuki could come to a decision, Veronica raised her hand to add her thoughts. 

“Veronica?” Kilik asked.

“The succubus doesn’t need to show her powers,” Veronica said. “I can feel them tugging at me at the fringe of my mind. Normally, the aura of a succubus should do nothing, so I think that should be proof enough.”

[Huh,] Erica said, sending her thoughts to Yuki. [With the bracelet on, my charm should even be noticeable to people like them. Unless, you know.]

‘They’re attracted to you?’ Yuki replied with a small grin.

[Yep.]

‘Well, good for you.’

“If that’s true, then I have no more questions for her,” Garen said. 

“Alright,” Kilik replied. “The next person then, Yuki.”

“Of course,” Yuki nodded, breaking off her contact with Erica. “The last person is Yuna. She is an archangel. She’s an expert fighter and also has quite the few contacts within the military of Libra. She also has experience with espionage.”

“An archangel with no wings,” Vermilion observed. “She doesn’t seem that young.”

“She was raised under odd circumstances,” Yuki explained. “She hadn’t gotten a chance to use or practice her magic until recently.”

“Ah, that would explain it then,” Vermilion said. “I take it her being an archangel is the main selling point for her then.”

“Correct.”

“Then I don’t have anything against her, really. If she’s well rounded, then I think she would be a fine choice.”

“Thank you,” Yuna replied. “I’ll do my best.”

“A good attitude as well,” Vermilion smiled. He glanced around at the other council members. “I’ll start the vote. I’m sure you all can see they’re capable fighters. If Yuki is joining them in the attack, then I don’t believe strength would be the problem. For now, they seem like good choices to be part of the strike force,”

“I concur,” Garen said. “We’ll add others to the group once the plan is ironed out.”

The rest of the members voiced their agreement and Yuki sat back down onto her seat, relieved that the first part went smoothly.

“Alright,” Kilik said. “Now that this is done, let us move on to the main concern. The actual plan and course of action. We still haven’t decided if we should move forward at a quicker pace.”

He shifted in his seat and sat up completely straight. He gave every member a look.

“We’ll be doing that now.”