Dressed in clothes given to him by the Emperor's servants, they all stood in front of the throne where the emperor sat, looking up at the middle aged human in his large, flashy chair. The throne room they were in was long and grand, with a stone floor that seemed to reflect like a mirror, and the glass itself had art in them, something Jack had never seen before. With them was a knight, wearing more expensive looking armor than the other knights Jack had seen. Elaine quickly filled him in that this knight was Sir Gilbert, the man who led the charge against the vampires from their flank, most likely saving their lives. Jack reminded himself to thank the knight later, as their distraction made things much easier.
The emperor himself had long black hair with a beard to match, both of them peppered with grey hairs. His eyes were a sky blue, and he was just beginning to get the wrinkles of age that humans got. The crown upon his head was smaller than Jack envisioned it would be, showing a semblance of how humble he could be. He looked at the group, his eyes stopping at Jack as a small smile crept onto his face.
"At last you awaken; I had begun to fear that you would never wake. The princess was besides herself with worry, and refused to have any proper conversation until you were awake."
Jack sent a look at Elaine, the elf refusing to meet his eye and playing with her hair as the emperor continued.
"I admit, I am surprised and confused by your arrival. Instead of Queen Anastasia, I receive the princess in her place, guarded by a mixed group of vampires, a werewolf, and a dark elf. We have much to discuss, but first you have my gratitude; if not for you all, I do not know how my knights would have fared against those insanely powerful vampires. We have not had any real conflict with the vampires, so their power seems like a fairy tale to us, until we see it in person and are reminded of the grim reality."
Jack blinked, doing his best to keep up with how the emperor spoke, reminding him of how Midnight talks. As if hearing her name, Midnight cleared her throat, looking at the emperor with guilt in her red eyes.
"Emperor Killihan, we cannot accept your thanks. It seems that the vampires were waiting for us specifically, and you would have lost no knights if we had not come along. Someone leaked information of our destination, and I apologize for the trouble."
The emperor waved her worries away, seeming unshaken by her words. Elaine stepped forward next, taking a deep breath and trying to stand as tall as she could despite her short height.
"Emperor, I have a concern I must address. My mother said that she had sent multiple messengers to your empire, and had not received any word back. I was told you were our ally, and I need to know why we received no help from you when we needed it the most."
The emperor looked genuinely shocked by her words, standing up and walking down the short flight of steps to stand in front of them.
"I swear upon my crown, Princess Elaine Skyfurst, that I have no knowledge of any messages asking for aid. I have not received word from the queen in nearly a year, and had gotten no responses from any messages I sent out either. I assumed that she had been handling the war, or did not want to involve us."
Elaine blinked in confusion, holding her hand over her heart like it pained her.
"I do not understand; how can we both have sent messengers, yet neither of us received any messages?"
"Control of information." Midnight said, getting everyone's attention, her eyes dark as she explained. "There are many factors that contribute to winning a war, and controlling the flow of information is one of the biggest factors. The elves did not have great numbers, but combined with your numbers, suddenly they become a threat that Zillion did not want to face. So he placed an information cage around the forest, having his scouts and spies intercept anything leaving or entering the forest. It is what I would have done, and he either altered the messages themselves, or altered the minds of the messengers, effectively keeping the Duluhan Empire out of the way until now."
Midnight then turned to the king, gesturing to his entire castle.
"Just like the sanctuary, you most likely have a few rats in your empire, scurrying where they don't belong and listening to things they shouldn't hear. They do not need to be vampires; they hired humans to try and kidnap the princess on our journey to the sanctuary. That is why we are here, Emperor Killihan; the Nation of Blood is going to declare war on your next, and he has already begun without your knowledge."
The emperor looked like he aged a few years before their eyes, eyes wide as his hands began to shake. Sir Gilbert stepped forward, his large mustache nearly completely grey and falling past his chin in length.
"Your grace, after fighting that group of vampires, we need to reconsider how much of a threat they pose. They did things that I cannot explain, and Midnight here tells me that they have thousands of vampires capable of these feats. If they are going to declare war on our empire, I beg of you to take them seriously, and use your full power to confront them."
The emperor climbed back up the stairs, reaching his throne and sitting down in it, his face grim and serious as he responded.
"My full power? That would mean withdrawing my forces to the west. I do not know how the kingdom would react; we could be facing two armies on two different fronts if we are not careful."
Elaine walked up the stairs, looking the emperor in the eye again, her nervousness gone as she spoke loudly and clearly.
"Take my word for it, Emperor Killihan; the Nation of Blood is powerful, and they utterly crushed the elves. Even with all your power, I fear that it will still not be enough to face them. So I suggest you propose a ceasefire with the kingdom, asking for their aid against a common enemy. Surely they will be wise enough to realize that once you fall, they are the only thing left in Zillion's path to conquering this country. I know it is a lot to ask, as you have been at war with them for nearly a century, but the vampires are the greater threat, and surely your issues with each other can wait until after they are dealt with?"
The emperor listened intently to her words, Jack finding himself holding his breath; everything would be decided by the emperor here and now. If he decided that the kingdom was not worth working with, the empire would fall slowly but surely, and then no one left would be strong enough to stop Zillion. When Elaine finished, the emperor closed his eyes, the air thick with the tension, and they all jumped in surprise when the man started laughing loudly, even his laugh sounding royal.
"Here I am, an old goat by now, being lectured by a young elf. This is good; it has been too long since someone had the nerve to tell me that I am doing things wrong, and need to change it up if my empire is to survive."
He looked at Elaine, a glint of amusement dancing in his eyes.
"So, tell me princess, do you have a plan?"