At dawn, on the north-eastern part of Mt. Eirene.
Two people wearing brown monk robes were walking through the forest, the soft sunlight of the early morning shining down on their faces through the canopy of trees. They had pale white skin, and white hair, making them look ethereal, especially the female amongst the two. She simply looked like she was one of the elves from storybooks.
The young woman opened her mouth to speak in a language that wasn't used within the continent.
"Are you sure that you felt the energy come from here?" she asked in a hopeful voice.
The man who looked quite old nodded before pulling back the hood of his robe. For a moment, he closed his eyes to concentrate. When he finally opened them, purple light started emanating from his pupils. He then proceeded to survey the surroundings.
One second passed. Then two. Then it became a full minute.
The man furrowed his eyebrows as he kept on searching for what the woman could not see. When his eyes settled on a boulder with half of its body caked with dirt, his eyes shot wide open. He then rushed forth, the woman following closely behind.
Whoosh!
Seeing the boulder up close, the old man confirmed what he was looking for. However, there was a trace of worry in his eyes. "No, this isn't it."
Leaving these words for the woman to figure, the old man continued searching, now, a bit more hurried. Again, he took off, rushing straight towards a pool of water slightly visible from a distance.
As he stood in front of the pool, he panicked.
"No, no, no. This is not good," the man said as his eyes scanned the pool.
The woman who was left behind had now caught up to the old man. Painted on her face was an expression of worry. "What is it?"
The old man turned to face the young woman. He then seriously said, "This is indeed the energy of Hecate's runes. Yes. However, it is too thick!"
With a wave of his hand, purple light started spreading all over the place. After a few seconds, the air above the small pool of water was covered in rich purple light.
It was a visualization of the energy that the old man was referring to.
And it looked like a thick purple mist.
The woman was confused. She wasn't part of the Ketra'ida family and naturally did not know anything about Hecate's energy. So what if the energy is too thick?
The old man answered her query before she could even voice it out.
"These aren't energies seeping through a rune's container. No," the old man said, his face, dark. "These are residues of its power. And it was only used recently, I'm sure of it."
Realization finally dawned on the woman.
"The rune has integrated with someone," the old man said. "We need to find this person immediately before Hecate's power awakens."
….
Yawn!
Two dark and beefy bags hung just above Aeon's cheeks.
Another sleepless night.
Who would've known that the nights in the labyrinth, for most of the time, were quieter than the ones in the city? Every now and then, a carriage, or even a drunkard causing some ruckus, would pass by, waking Aeon up.
Although it was a good thing that he developed a certain sensitivity to nearby activities as he slept, it was taking a toll on him. Especially because he was now in a lively area. He had to get rid of it. Or at least learn how to shift between being on guard and not.
Aeon did his morning routine that he still religiously followed even when he was trapped inside the labyrinth. It was a good warmup to condition the body for fights.
Exercise, exercise, and more exercise.
Magic training, magic training, and more magic training!
Aeon stood beneath the shade of a large tree in their backyard. When he looked at their old house, he imagined seeing his father casually sitting up on his bed behind the window.
But, of course, he wasn't there.
He pulled out a thin-looking bracelet with a small crystal at its center. The crystal was not glowing as it should, and it was only natural. Because the bond of magic between the crystal and the mage who enchanted it was already severed.
A proof from the Emperor that Aeon's father was gone. This was a small Tracer in a form of a bracelet. To be exact, it was Devon Morgan's tracer. Before he was captured by the Florentine, Devon was able to pass it down to someone and had it delivered to the emperor. The light would also dim if the owner was gravely injured. However, no one was optimistic about such a possibility.
Seeing it lose its luster, even the emperor couldn't believe it.
Aeon vaguely remembered his father wearing an exact copy of the bracelet. Was it bound to the emperor too? How was it not confiscated by the Florentine Empire?
He didn't know.
Aeon pocketed the bracelet and smiled.
At least his dad was now together with his mom in Hecate's paradise.
After training, Aeon set out to do what he told Suri and Korona he was going to do in the capital.
Aeon tried to wear his old clothes, but because none fit, he took his father's.
As he straightened up his collar, he saw a small pouch peek out of his crudely made armor that he was leaving out to dry after an intense wash. It was only at that moment did he remember that he had been keeping some seeds with him in the past few months. The seeds of those weird fruits.
Aeon had just finished preparing himself to leave the house. But in the end, he couldn't help wanting to plant those seeds. And so, he went back to his backyard to do some gardening, an activity that his father loved to do.
It was almost noon when Aeon left the house.
As he walked through the streets where a person would cheerfully greet him, or even crowd together, every step he took, he couldn't help being puzzled.
Their neighboring Empire was already in ruins, but theirs looked normal. No one was alarmed and the mood was very casual.
Is nobody worried that the Empire would get invaded too?
Is the state of panic already over a few months ago? Aeon hoped so.
Flashes of bloody scenes invaded Aeon's mind, but he did his best to push them back.
As he traveled home last night, Aeon made up his mind.
He would do everything he can to defend their Empire and continent against the invaders. He would make sure that the bloody scenes he had been picturing would not become a reality.
This is the least bit he could do for his father who really loved the Meredith Empire.
….
Lucian massaged his temples.
He had been really frustrated about how the other empires behaved in response to his call for help.
In reality, the Meredith Empire's government had always been wary about the invaders. In fact, they hadn't been standing still for the past five months. They had only been keeping their actions in check to get as much time to prepare without invoking the opposing party's aggression. Spies collecting information regarding the enemies had always been active.
And they had a grand plan, the fruit of their investigations.
They were to attack a certain Florentine town that was quite isolated from the others. Although the enemy numbers there were not few, obviously to supplement their disconnection from adjacent towns and cities, they were quite sure that it was the safest to attack. Moreover, the terrain gave them the advantage of attacking from three sides.
This plan was already final and would commence as soon as the other Empires sent their men to aid Meredith.
Unfortunately, only the Shilla Empire sent their mages.
Only Shilla?!
Lucian was outraged.
Wasn't this a disgrace for all the other Empires?!
Shilla was the northernmost Empire out of all. It was literally the opposite of Florentine's position in the continent. And yet, here they were, the first ones to arrive. The ones who were supposed to live the farthest.
This was the reason that Lucian was forced to return home earlier than expected. To contact the others once more.
The presence of the invaders on the continent was not a secret. However, to the other Empires, they didn't find them as threatening.
To them, they might have been able to conquer the Florentine, but that was only because of their timely arrival on Sera City. Moreover, they underestimated them due to their numbers. After all, they shouldn't be able to transport too many mages all at once.
Do they really need all six empires to fight this battle?
Wasn't that simply overkill?
Everyone would save their people as much as they could by not involving themselves.
It was a logical mindset.
True, that could have been the case.
Except that it wasn't.
Meredith determined that the enemy numbers were rapidly growing through unknown means. So they still asked all the other empires to assist. And this was partially confirmed yesterday when he went to Fermin Town.
Yesterday, after he returned to the capital, he sent another letter, telling the other empires about the possibility of the enemies having a device that could transport people through space. He hoped that this piece of information would at least invoke some greed from the other empires, forcing them to see for themselves.
Meredith was happy that he had some good information to bait them. However, he knew that he was short on time. It took quite some time to travel between empires.
One week.
No matter if the other empires sent their men or not, they should attack in a week.
Meredith knew that his enemies weren't idle. They should have sent some spies as well. And it won't take long until they have enough intel to attack the Meredith Empire.
So, before that happens, they should seize the opportunity to capture a few of the enemy's people and interrogate them.
Fish for some information that they could use before the inevitable battle.
They had one week. How many more empires would come to their aid?
Emperor Lucian Meredith sighed.
He would be lying if he said that he wasn't worried.
….