The war room's door swung open, giving way for Ether and Jakery. Both Zeshers marched through, being mindful of those that stood inside.
Hizentre crossed his arms, the chair under him creaked. "Looks like the leader and his sibling have arrived. The previous battle we fought, Onum Fall, it was exciting participating."
Valentine nodded. "We all got a good rush out of that. But we need to focus our eyes on something more crucial. Our ally is at risk of being hit by the Light Legion."
"Excuse you?" Ether narrowed his eyes. "Are we even ready to combat them?"
"Right now, we aren't. All our strength comes from Zegi and Thawed, no Feral help whatsoever. Sky Beasts are mounts, unable to do much without a rider. And Stram..." Valentine stopped.
He shook his head, bringing the main topic back to his main focus. "We need to defend, it is part of our agreement. The issue is we cannot with our strength. We are too weak."
Danitour softly chuckled, while using small tools to carve symbols and patterns into the side of a wooden hilt. They moved swiftly and with discipline, being at the hands of a master.
On the final stroke, he cocked his head back to greet everyone else. "I use a small precision-knife and a tiny hook to create art. We can use a small Legion rallied by precision and reinforced by a Code to shape our victory."
"That won't work," Hizentre shook his head. "Look into that fireplace, every burning log was cut with precision in mind. Not too big, not too small. Thick enough to burn, but not to block out the flames."
Jakery stepped away from his brother's side, approaching the table sitting in the center of the room. As he stumbled into everyone's attention, he remembered his nightmare.
Calamity, death, sorrow, even beasts. Each roar, bolt, strike, and swipe were engraved into his memory like the carvings in Danitour's wooden hilt.
"Last night I... had a bad d - dream. It was weird, I was on Digon," Jakery placed his hand on the table. "Banners waved as the winds guided them, except there was no wind."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Hizentre interrupted.
Valentine held an open hand out to him. "Let the little one speak."
"During my dream, I noticed a giant boa, it was bright and blue. Cackled like thunder and danced across the skies like the flags on the ground," Jakery detailed.
Hizentre rose an eyebrow. "Ah. You were dreaming about a Voltaic Weaver. Yeah - yeah, if we can get ourselves a few Siege Weavers we would be set for a good fight against Light."
Jakery ignored Hizentre. "Then, I remember seeing a giant grey creature. It was hunched over, tamper was short on it and it shrugged off attacks."
"Cemtras," Hizentre answered. "What you dreamed of is our next step. This Legion is small, I understand it. However, we can expand by getting Weavers and Cemtrin."
Valentine sighed, bringing a hand up to his forehead. "It's difficult to gather your thoughts when Dire, of all leaders, threatens. He has a nasty bite and a toxic tongue."
"One can only be so nasty before they poison themselves with a terrible mistake," Danitour called out. "But then again, he is probably the one in charge of resource runs."
"That!" Valentine quickly spun around. "Exactly that! He delivers goods across the Legion, is in charge of trade between Imbushko and Galaad. It's not hard to believe he steals from others."
Danitour stood up from his seat. "I believe that might be the case. Krugi was under threats from one of their leaders for years. We had to pay debts after they helped us against Breckus."
"Krugi doesn't owe them anything. It was a conflict between them two and this city was unfortunate enough to get caught in the mix," Valentine spoke quickly.
Ether carefully made his way towards the fireplace. Dancing oranges, reds, and yellows decorated his armor as he stepped closer.
A symbol, one meant to twist a region into warfare, sat over it. Tucked away from eyesight unless sunlight from the outside world reflected onto it.
"There will come a time when we need to use this, I'm starting to believe that time is quickly advancing. Hizentre," Ether slowly shifted his gaze over to him. "How do we tame Weavers?"
Hizentre smiled, the thick Thawed skin stretched like leather. "You'll need a Third Rule. Catch their attention and continue beating them down until they obey. Cemtras aren't too different."
"Aren't?" Ether questioned. "What's the minor difference?"
"When they are first tamed, they are by default, very introverted. The only time they can withstand not ripping another Cemtras to bits would be during mating," Hizentre paused.
"I won't go into detail on the whole process of making sure the female doesn't slaughter the male and how costly keeping a mama Cemtras tame is. Just know when she births her pebble, she will leave it to die."
Ether instantly froze. He knew Cemtrin were very hostile creatures, but never this much. Throughout his years, only tamed Cemtrin would appear around him.
Pebbles, baby Cemtrin, would be kept around their parents. Which didn't harm each other. Instead, the males would help their pebbles get tougher skin. While the females brought back boulders, rocks, hardened soil. Anything to help get their pebble a tougher skin.
"The differences between tamed and wild are so vast," Ether blurted out. "Well, I'll see if I can do something about our lack of numbers. Maybe get some Ferals in."
Valentine took off his mask. "Will you make new Ferals or recruit new Ferals?"
"What? 'Make?'" Ether blankly stared at him. "How?"
"You never seem to leave Oria alone. Thought you were willing to give up some time to make your own pack," Valentine answered.
"She's my friend, nothing more. I'm going to bring her back to her pack and see if they'll accept her, and maybe join us. You think I can pull it off?" Ether asked.
Danitour shook his head. "Get all the Ferals you want, just leave them outside Krugi."