In the center of the Great Hall are several large tables placed end to end and covered with beautiful material. At the head of the table sits the King, with the two eldest princes sitting on his left and right-hand sides. After them, are a few more important officials, followed by the rest of the invitees. I can see more than a few familiar faces here: the heads of House Moreal and House Ordis, Thunder and Willos.
Someone says my name and all of a sudden the entire room turns its focus to me. I ignore all of them as I turn to face the most important person in this room, the King.
"Arell," the King says giving me a small nod, "welcome back."
I bow to him, giving him the respect he deserves, before looking for a space to sit. I notice Willos nod to a few empty seats beside him and begin moving toward him. On the way there, I reply to the many greetings that are directed at me.
I am not too far from my sit when I pause and turn to face a seemingly empty wall. A smile appears on my face. "Thayer, long time no see."
A moment later a shadowy mist appears. "Arell. It seems that your senses have gotten sharper since we last met. How are you?"
"Good," I reply, "Let's talk later if we get the chance."
The mist disappears and I finally take my seat, ignoring the many dumbfounded looks directed at me. Thayer is the captain of the Shadows, the King's not-so-secret secret guards. They got their names from the fact that they are always with the king; and also because they are impossible to detect. Or, at least they were impossible to detect until I appeared.
My reveal of Thayer was just to accomplish one purpose, to show everyone that I had grown stronger during my time away. Everyone knows I can detect the Shadows' presence, but I had been unable to determine who their identities were, until today. One thing I learned long ago: if you want to be taken seriously, you had to show that you were strong enough to be taken seriously. Else, people would just walk all over you.
I sense Thayer move to a new spot, but I don't say anything this time. I don't want to anger the King after all. The Shadows are his pride and joy because of their ability to roam undetected by anyone. The reason for this is simple; should the King want you dead, you won't be able to protect yourself from someone you never knew was there. The Shadows are feared throughout the Kingdom and beyond, by everyone except maybe me. I have no idea exactly how my ability manages to detect them, but it is a welcome thing. It is also one of the reasons why so many of the noble houses want to rope me in.
"It looks like you haven't lost your ability to show off," Willos notes as I settle beside him.
I shrug when I hear a shout. "Arell, is this how you treat your teacher? You've been in the capital for two days and yet you haven't come to visit. I am heartbroken."
It is Thunder, a teacher of mine when I had still been a student at the Imperial Academy; the school where all Sadabi discovered in the Kingdom are trained. Thunder had been something of a legend, even when I had still been a student. Whenever the strongest Sadabis in the Kingdom are discussed, his name inevitably crops up. This is because of his achievements in the Battle of Holm twenty-six years ago. Thunder had been assigned to the battlefront then, and after everyone who had been with him had fallen, he alone defended the city of Holm for seven hours, until reinforcements came. That is a feat that no one has managed to repeat to this day.
"Tomorrow!" I promise him and he nods, satisfied.
Willos and I make small talk while more and more people troop in until finally, everyone is here.
A knock on the table plunges the room into silence, as everyone turns to face the perpetrator: the King. The meeting has begun.
After a moment of silence, the King begins to speak.
"Today is an important day, not just for us in this room, but for the entire world. There are some very important things that have recently come to my attention, which you'll all find out about soon, and the implications are… complicated. It has however caused me to make a decision, starting today, we will begin to make preparations. Come spring next year, we go to war with Bosinwa."
After dropping that bombshell, the King goes quiet, letting his announcement sink him. For a moment all is quiet, like a dark empty tomb; then the room explodes with noise as dozens of people attempt to speak at once. A horde of voices all shouting different things, but all asking the same vital question. Why?
Even though I manage to keep my cool and stay quiet -knowing the King would explain sooner or later- I can't help but feel my heart tremble with an unknown emotion: excitement… fear… I am not sure which. Harish and Bosinwa have been hostile to each other for centuries, with small skirmishes breaking out on our borders once every few years, but neither kingdom has dared declare war on the other. This is mostly because of mutual fear; since the two countries have nearly equal strength, an outright war would completely wreck both.
However, in recent years the Kingdom's strength has been growing rapidly, especially with the addition of Sadabis like me, Teayi, and Miriam Atashe. This has placed quite a bit of pressure on Bosinwa and it is almost common knowledge at this point that they will probably start a war with us soon: even if does nothing other than weaken us they will be alright with the outcome. Still, our expectations were that the war would occur years, decades down the line, not next year.
"Quiet!" a composed voice cuts through the hubbub in the room. It is Mattias Ordis, the current head of House Ordis. After the room quietens, he turns to the King. "Why? What prompted you to make this decision?"
The King nods dismissively in my direction. "Willos."
Beside me, Willos get up, holding a small parcel. The questioning eyes of everyone in the room turn to him as he clears his throat.
"A few years ago, I noticed a recurring pattern among all the newly awakened Sadabi. It was one so obvious that I wondered how we… I could have missed it for so long. I'm sure we here have all asked the question: how exactly are our abilities gotten? Yes, I understand that the Royals and Houses have their 'methods' to cause the newly awakened to develop the desired ability, but we all know that those methods are not perfect, if they even ever worked at all. I mean, if they were functional, how do you explain situations where an Ordis, instead of getting the usual flame abilities, instead becomes as strong as one from House Atashe, or how a random peasant from nowhere is able to acquire the abilities of a Shadow, despite never having access to the King's secret methods. It doesn't make sense. Or at least it didn't. I know how our abilities are gotten now."
"Get to the point Willos," someone says, the impatience in his voice as clear as day. "How are they gotten?"
Willos shoots him a look but doesn't scold him like he normally would. "They are gotten through wishes. We get our abilities because we wished for them."