All over the Palace, maids and soldiers were busy preparing rooms, moving trays filled to the brim with delicious food.
The discussions did not stop either.
- "Did you see it ?" a maid asked her colleague running next to her in the middle of the hallway.
- "The elf? No, but Catherine saw him" she replied.
- "And how is he?" her colleague asked eagerly.
- "She just told me: Magnificent, sublime. Both inhuman and divine, breathtaking" replied the other smiling.
They both laughed for a moment before resuming their frantic race towards the kitchens of the Palace. Not far behind them were two soldiers patrolling.
- "I'm sure they're exaggerating. I bet he's not that handsome. He's an elf! He's not human, he's a monster!" said the first.
- "Beautiful or not, it's an Archmage who has been invited by the Magus. If you don't want to be transformed into a chicken, buckle up" the other replied calmly.
- "Tsk"
The two soldiers turned and entered the interior corridors without seeing a shadow moving around the corner of the balcony. Quietly, it slipped along the doors to the corridors before going deeper and deeper into the Palace.
Deep in the castle, in a relatively well-decorated room, a woman in her forties was combing her hair in front of her mirror.
Her complexion was pale, her hair a blazing red, and her eyes looked as dark as the night.
- "What is it?" she said, speaking without taking her eyes off her reflection in the mirror.
Immediately, a black spot formed in the middle of the room, and then a male figure came out, kneeling. It was a young man dressed in a black outfit and whose head was covered by a hood.
Without looking up, he answered coldly.
- "The Elven Archmage arrived with three servants" replied the young man.
- "Any information about his servants?"
- "Iracuz, Rebecca, and Artiel. The first was a soldier from the Erivia garrison. As for the other two, we know that Rebecca is an apprentice mage and that they both come from my hometown" he replied.
The woman suddenly stopped and turned to face the figure, narrowing her eyes slightly.
- "Cram?" she asked.
The man nodded in response which made the woman sigh before she turned back to her mirror.
- "This village does know how to stick its nose in the most delicate matters. What about the imprisonment of the Elders?" she continued.
- "The members of the Council of Elders were apprehended and confined to their quarters until their interrogation. Five of our collaborators escaped towards the vault and the last two committed suicide" he replied.
- "How did they kill themselves?" she asked.
- "As ordered, to avoid threatening the King's life, they did not use the medallion. Honorable Deatre jumped out the window and Honorable Palm slit his throat with a kitchen knife" replied the man.
- "Perfect. What about their medallions?" she asked.
- "We retrieved them before the guards could find the bodies" he replied, which greatly relieved the woman.
They were not to leave a single trace. Whatever the cost, their secret had to stay that way.
- "How come they didn't arrest me? If the Magus could find information that incriminates the Elders, he surely has some that incriminate me too. I should never have sent Jules to Erivia," she said with a long sigh.
The man was silent for a moment before answering.
- "The Magus has assigned mages to watch you. I had a hard time sneaking up here without being seen" the man added. "What should we do, Queen Mother?"
Eleonora looked intently at her mirror and thought for a moment before speaking.
- "He is surely afraid of causing tension by arresting me. He is waiting to have more concrete proof to be able to place me behind bars," she said while getting up. "I'm afraid our operation is in jeopardy," she announced.
Eleonora looked down at the man in front of her then inhaled before speaking calmly.
- "Let's go to the vault…"
Without waiting, a shadow suddenly opened beside the man before he and Eleonora rushed inside and disappeared entirely.
Lower down, in the basement of the castle, the two figures appeared in front of a huge metal door inscribed with multiple shiny patterns.
Beside were five people, Elders in white tunic seated on chairs in front of tables. Other people in black clothes, such as the man standing near the Queen Mother, were present.
- "Your Majesty, what a pleasure to see you," said one of the elders, getting up.
All the other elders looked up and smiled before they stood up and bowed slightly forward.
- "What happened ?" he asked worriedly.
They didn't know what to do right now. The fact that they had to flee was just amazing. Never had they been discovered, their amnesia spells were foolproof and had worked for centuries. What had happened to make their operation fail?
- "Jules was too fiery and revealed much more than he should have" answered Eleonora with a sigh.
- "What should we do?" another elder asked.
There was no point in arguing about the culprit. For now, they needed to focus on what they were going to do to fix this fatal mistake. The question the Elder had asked was quite rhetorical, they all knew what they had to do: An amnesia spell.
If they could get everyone in the Palace to forget about the case, it would be easy for them to get rid of the witnesses in Erivia.
The problem was that they didn't necessarily have the capacity to do it. The Palace and the Upper Town were enchanted and protected. If they were to cast a spell, the Magus would know immediately and would immediately cast countermeasures. They had no room for error.
They didn't have a lot of options.
As everyone was thinking about what to do, a white light suddenly appeared behind the Queen before a voice sounded.
- "How deep are we screwed?" asked the voice.
Eleonora immediately turned and came over to smile slightly before sighing. She massaged her temples to calm down.
- "We can't see the top, Cardinal Frix" replied the Queen Mother.
- "I may have a solution that you may like," said the Cardinal immediately.
Those present raised their eyes and looked at Frix who started to smile. The entire audience was attentive. Without waiting, the Cardinal came to point his finger at the metal door.
- "We can use what's inside the vault, things don't seem to be going in our favor," said the Cardinal, sighing lightly.
Eleonora frowned.
- "The Church too?" she asked.
- "Zachary seems to have suspicions and mages have been deployed to monitor the movements bordering the Cathedral. That does not suggest any good," replied Frix. "We have to shut this up," he then urged.
The Cardinal turned to Eleonora who was thinking deeply on her own. This was their only feasible option with as little risk as possible, but not without risk.
- "In case it doesn't work…" she began.
- "It will work," said the Cardinal.
- "If that does not work, we will have to be able to negotiate with them" she cut too.
The Cardinal narrowed his eyes slightly in incomprehension.
- "We don't know if the amnesia spell works on the elves and if it doesn't work and he manages to protect the Palace and stops us, we will have to surrender without resistance" she added.
- "Have you lost your mind?! If this affair is revealed, both the Pope and the King will want our heads, all of us and the secret will be lost," shouted the Cardinal.
- "Our lives don't matter as long as the order's sacred duty keeps on going" she retorted vigorously. "We cannot eliminate them without endangering the kingdom. Remember, we are here to protect Kilguana. This secret was created to protect the kingdom and if its existence threatens Kilguana, then it is no longer worth keeping," she then added.
The Cardinal stopped speaking and admitted that she was right. The arguments raised by Eleonora were solid. Their operation in Erivia had failed, so that meant that the Elven Archmage was potentially able to block their amnesia spells.
If that was the case, they would have no choice but to reveal the truth to them. The Elders who had sacrificed themselves to keep the secret were not as important as Eleonora.
The loss of a few pawns was worthless. But things would change drastically if the Queen Mother was to be captured. She knew a lot of things, but most of all, she was the only person capable of opening the vault and that knew about the secret.
Without her, they would never be able to access the vault and its contents.
- "Alright" he replied.
Eleonora smiled before turning to the metal door.
- "Open it" announced the Cardinal.
The Queen Mother and the Elders nodded and turned to the heavy metal door. Two Elders grabbed their lockets and inserted them into two slots on the door.
Then, after a few moments, Eleonora inhaled and then focused her mana forward towards the door.
- "Unlock: 558963339" she announced solemnly.
Several silent seconds passed during which no one moved, then a click was heard. The movement of heavy bolts was heard before the door began to move.
The doors slid open before a powerful golden light emanated from inside, illuminating the dark cave the group was in.
The Cardinal then began to smile.
- "Behold, the gift of Sol--," he said, raising his hands before freezing.
As the Cardinal said this, all of them froze completely. They were now speechless and could only stand still, incapable of the slightest movement. The shock that followed the opening of the doors was phenomenal.
The scene that unfolded before them was both shocking and magical. An intense emotion of fear and awe swept over her face before she could articulate a few words.
- "They… they…" she said before stopping.
- "They hatched!" ended the Cardinal in dread, widening his eyes.
The Elders suddenly backed up in shock and two of them fell back before screaming in horror.
In front of them, inside the chamber, was a magnificent oasis bathed in a golden glow. A small pool of water flowed and moistened the grass around.
In the center was a small islet on which grew a cherry tree on which hung a nest. The nest was simple but large enough, capable of holding two adults inside.
But what was most interesting were the two two-and-a-half-meter eggs currently open and next to which were two creatures as beautiful as they were terrifying.
One blue and the other green, the two animals were curled up in their nest and sleeping when the noise coming from the doors woke them up.
Immediately they lifted their heads and turned before spreading their wings and came to examine who had just woken them.
- "D..dr…"
- "DRAGONS!" one of the elders yelled.
Two dragons, the famous legendary and mythical creatures whose feats were counted in many stories, stood before them in flesh and blood.
Lost and in shock, a voice suddenly came talking to all of them into their minds whether they wanted to or not and spoke a few words.
- "You are not the Administrator…" said a voice. "None of them is the Administrator. Brother, what should we do?" asked a voice.
The blue dragon turned to his colleague who began to sniff the surrounding air, ignoring the terrified people in front of them.
- "I can feel the compass, it must not be very far. Let's look for it," said another voice.
The two beasts suddenly rose from their nest and leaped forward then hovered to land in front of the gates. Although they were just born, the two creatures were terrifying up close. They would easily surpass an adult in height if they were to stand straight.
Their long, sharp claws as well as their teeth left no doubt about the ease with which they could kill anyone who stood in their way.
Eleonora swallowed hard and stepped back, observing the two beasts before attempting to articulate words.
- "P-pity…" she stammered.
- "My brother, what do we do with them?" asked the blue dragon.
It turned to his brother in surprise and confusion. His brother quickly thought about it and brought a slightly distorted smile to his face.
- "I'm hungry, aren't you?"
All immediately turned pale.
- "It's the end…" thought Eleonora closing her eyes.