I surely didn't know when things started going awry. Was it at the time Elder Eldacar's grandson was confirmed dead?
Or was it earlier when we didn't take the so-called daemon seriously? It might go all the way back to the last election a decade ago.
Speaking of the daemon, the same minute he stomped into the capital, the Great Prophet bowed her head. Nothing else had to happen.
She just did, unbelievably so. Despite the fact that we had it trapped in a nasty formation, squeezed between arcane storms called upon with a mere thought alone and vile summons.
But I had to admit that her actions were not entirely unfounded. Of course, I could only do so after I had managed to calm my pride enough to think clearly again.
Be that as it may... while the Great Prophet did her own thing with the monster, we all sat in the conference hall, unsure how to move forward.
An apology seemed in order. But we had lost more than a few promising high elves due to a lapse of judgement. Moreover, we could've stopped Eldacar, so the fault was ours too.
Added to this was the loss of authority due to Elfriede's sudden appearance, as well as the extremely embarrassing figure we had cut in front of everyone.
While I was still in bloody disagreement with myself, Elder Eldacar stood up and stomped out of the room.
Elder Duwende followed him immediately after giving us all a worried look. I had been of the opinion that the slimy fellow was about to calm down the poisonous dwarf.
But a few hours later, Elder Duwende came rushing in, cursing and deeply annoyed. The torrent of words he uttered painted a sad picture.
Apparently, Elder Eldacar had turned into a liability. In his rage, the moronic high elf would even be able to drag us all down through the mud for good.
By then, another term of office would be highly unlikely to come to pass. Of course, we would not accept that so easily, which is why we decided to get rid of him.
While our strategy took form, I found it ridiculous that we'd be of one opinion only in situations all of us might suffer from...
Though I happened to be in this business for a long time, I was seldom this disgusted with the profession, I found.
Suddenly, a terrible tremor went through the conference room. It came from the direction of the Great Tree's roots that resided just below us.
Lefaye, who happened to talk at this time, swallowed her words and ran out the door first. Duwende and I followed suit.
On the way, we came across many distraught guards we happened to absorb as manpower in our quest for clarification.
The first we asked didn't know much, yet the deeper we descended, the clearer the picture became. It had to do with Elder Eldacar.
The fool, in his endless pain, must've found that the status of his family wouldn't be guaranteed anymore with the passing of his one and only grandson.
The other members of that trash family amounted to nothing, after all. So he followed his heart and plotted revenge.
Some guards came to us when we were taking a break from all this running. As we weren't young any longer, our energy reserves fell deplorably short.
They brought a servant with them. One of the lucky few tasked with the Great Prophet's well-being. While the job was considered easy, she appeared particularly terrified for whatever reason.
Pretty much the entire break had passed with her muttering unintelligible fragments of sentences nobody could hope to understand.
It came the time Elder Eldacar made use of his dastardly charms out of necessity, effectively prying some incredible pieces of information out of her.
Elder Eldacar had sunk really, really low. While the Great Prophet was entertaining her guest, he overwhelmed the servant, taking the offspring with him.
Down to the breach, apparently. By the time we heard that piece of information, there was no use thinking about the break any longer.
It didn't matter we were terribly out of breath still. We all ran down the corridors, leaving even some guards to collect our dust in the process.
In the end we burst into the location of the breach, a grotto entirely composed of the Great Tree's roots, the excellent work of the breed.
Only those damnable insects could gnaw on wood this hard. It filled me with relief that no Brood Mother had been lured to this location.
But then I espied the Great Prophet, beating some bloody lump of flesh even bloodier. As we approached, I recognised that lump and had to inhale sharply.
The Great Prophet never turned on her own people, no matter how angry she happened to be. Which only meant that Elder Eldacar was no longer considered one of her own.
I didn't dare ask, fearful of drawing her evident ire upon myself. Or that of the monster standing nearby.
Rather, half standing, half slumped down on a nearby pillar, its gaze fixated on the gradually receding swirl in the middle of this bubble.
While more high elves flooded the breach with each passing second, I ignored them all and concentrated on the Great Prophet's occasional words that slipped by her lips.
After a while, I completely understood what had transpired. But it kindled some doubts. Elder Eldacar had kicked the offspring into the breach, essentially sacrificing her.
But that, deplorable as it may be, was not the reason for my doubts. Rather, how could an entity so weak and insignificant as the offspring of a beastman animate the breach to recede?
The energy required to sacrifice for that to happen was something even my entire race couldn't spit out no matter what.
Otherwise, the breach would've been at most an annoyance emptying our pockets, but nothing beyond that.
While I was still pondering and Elfriede beating that lump of flesh, I noticed some change overcoming the monster.
The Great Prophet did so too, immediately after she hurried there radiating so much fear it was contagious.
Two streaks of blood ran down the creature's eyes. Then, a fist ruthlessly smashed into the small booklet barely worthy of notice that was dangling on a chain affixed to its belt.
Radiance shot out of it, illuminating the cave in an eery light. The pages turned on their own, birthing runes of power I couldn't even glimpse upon.
Some high elves who turned away too late shrieked forlornly before collapsing to the ground. The book floated up in the air and the pages turned until there was no page left to turn.
I believed the spook would come to an end, but instead, the booklet started spitting out its pages until nothing was left except for its back and cover.
Then even they went up into smoke, making the Great Prophet fall to the ground in utter despair and the creature... the creature... I felt like I was trapped in an endless nightmare.