Aurora was a massive world, any normal human would only see the smallest part in their entire lifetime. Some parts are made of kingdoms by powerful people, other parts are left for the monsters and magical beasts. Some parts are deserted by all lifeforms because it is not habitable for any kind of being.
Life is being snuffed out in those kinds of places, Disastrous Zones, as they are called. Not many exist, yet all are infamous. To this day, there might be some of these zones that have simply not been found yet because no one lived to tell the tale. Exploration is exciting for some, deadly for others, and unwanted by the rest.
One of those places didn't have a name yet, because it wasn't discovered, but there were six individuals who were there.
In a dark room filled with shadows and dusty corners. The only light was a dark blue light that came from the outside. The room contained a circular table with six chairs and an equal amount of occupants. Their faces and bodies were dressed in shadow, they could only hear each other, but that was more than enough.
In a place where most would not even be capable of breathing, they sat in silence, waiting for one of them to initiate the conversation. The overwhelming silence created was eventually broken by a deep and authoritative voice, "The front has been made and the bait has worked splendidly, there are only a few more things to work out for it to be complete.", the voice seemed to be from a male, but that was difficult to be sure of.
There was no answer from anyone, the silence crept back into the room, and the six present merely nodded or didn't react to the statement. It took a few minutes before an answer came.
"I'm eft to taketh those folk whenev'r thee deem behoveful", a different crackly voice answered, once again disguising the gender, though the dialect revealed itself. Yet again, none of the participants had anything to say, only nodding if they deemed it nod-worthy. The authoritative voice appeared again, "Has the training begun?", to which someone else answered in a strange language, "Fweuioes ehnheveb jheraen u laehet auf yakhueiz nokyos giodivid'hast skre ae Skarlet Nokebo"
Even though the answer was a bunch of nonsense to most of the world, the ones present understood it loud and clear, "Good, start immediately.", the deep voice said.
"Shouldst I sendeth some to holp out?", the crackly voice was back, "Ayheos yeat nherebo tett naklpbhot", and with that, it went quiet again. The darkness was unsettling and the pressure in the room was immense. The conversation went on, many strange languages and words were thrown around, and nobody would've understood anything even if they were present or listening in on them, not that that was possible in the first place. They talked about things that would shock the world to its very core, they were serious yet confident in what they were doing.
"Has anyone inspected the recent rising undead?", the dominant voice was back. There was a strong undead that appeared somewhere on the continent that was rising and growing in strength. To which a feminine voice answered, "I have, nothing but an undead with a grudge, after checking nothing showed up, it's a dead end."
"I see, still, try to make indirect contact, if you can manipulate it, get it to Rank 6 and let it go loose.", the statement was emotionless, like what he was asking wasn't difficult at all. The entire group also didn't give any kind of rebuttal, the person in question merely nodded and that was the end of it. The feminine voice eventually broke the silence for a final time, "Can you also start with the spreading?", she didn't point or say any name, nobody said any names or nicknames. Yet the person she was thinking of knew it and nodded to signify his agreement. An hour of silence passed before they disappeared one by one, no one knew where they would go, only that they were somewhere, hiding.
The world would remain oblivious to this meeting and this group for a long time, but their influence would definitely be felt.
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Somewhere entirely different a man opened his eyes. He was seated on a throne all made from a strange black stone, the castle he resided in had the same composition, but it didn't stand out too much in the surroundings. There were plains and hills, but no plants or sign of nature was seen. Only a dried-up ground and bones of the ones brave enough to enter this place. Not even a single dead tree was visible, it was comparable to a desert without the sand.
Nothing lived here, the sky had perpetual darkness in it, only producing eerie winds. The man got off his throne and walked up some stairs before coming to a balcony. Looking out on the lands that were destroyed, lifeless, and forgotten. He couldn't help but grasp the balcony's railing and squeeze it. He kept this pose until someone approached him from behind, they were quiet and waited until the man gave his permission to talk.
"All of this, for what? Safety? Philosophy? Certainty?....Fear?....How atrocious.", the man was clearly angry about something, but he felt helpless at the situation. He could simply move to a different place to live, yet he stayed in this desolate land for some reason only known to few. "What is it?"
"Lord, there are a few things to deal with, I've gathered the questions of the leaders and wanted to pose them to you, my Lord."
"Go ahead."
They talked about a multitude of problems and speculations, all for them to be immediately solved by the lord of the castle. Eventually, the questions ran out, but it appeared they weren't done yet.
"There has been a family under black magic questioning."
"Which one?", the man didn't turn around or address them in any way, he was transfixed by the scenery, or what was left of it.
"The Bloom family, my lord, it seems that one of their younger members was tasked with a mission to find a way of artificially awakening a core and stayed at a baron's mansion in the meantime. Evidence suggests he taught the son of the baron about black magic. But he has since disappeared, the surroundings suggest he was either eaten by the monsters or hiding."
The person didn't ask any questions about what they should do next or if they had to intervene in some way, leaving all the thinking to their lord.
"The Bloom family isn't really that useful in the first place, they don't seem to support our cause anyway. Do they have anything of importance?"
"Rumors say they have found a special spell left behind by a dragon, others say that they have found a poison so potent it could kill a Rank 5 immediately while it would badly injure a Rank 6. Other rumors or legends aren't worth mentioning based on the lack of evidence."
'They found a poison strong enough to badly injure a Rank 6? Nature doesn't produce this kind of weapon. Tsk, was she careless with her experiments again? I told her so many times to get rid of her trash after she was done, I don't want to clean up after her every time.'
Silence returned for a few seconds before the lord asked something else, "The questioning, is it the formal one, or do they actually have evidence against them?"
"They say that they found the body of the family member, after some inspection it seemed that he had experimented with black magic on himself. The room reserved for him by the baron was also filled with a few suspicious things, but they haven't told us what exactly."
"If they have a strong lead, that could result in an actual investigation into the family.", a creepy grin started to form on his face, "Let's give them a choice shall we, let's watch these puppets dance a little longer."
"Lastly, the professor wants to see you, my Lord. He seems to have had a breakthrough."
"Good, I'll go and see him, thank you for your work. You may leave now."