The Next Day
The settlement's streets were filled with people happily moving about in the snow; as clothing and food were immediately distributed. The person passing the order for said distribution, was none other than Nathan, who was still working in the study while Sloane, slept.
He had simply took out the distribution lists that Sloane had diligently prepared, without a single fault from the day before, and handed it over to Alexa and Allen when they arrived. The distribution lists were signed, and one could tell by how each one had been carefully calculated to match the rations in storage, that Sloane had really worked hard in trying to please her people.
After overseeing the distribution of rations in Sloane's stead, Nathan returned back to the study and sat on the sofa to finish up what he had started earlier last night. He opened the journal and took out the papers he had written on, before staring at the two maps on the centre table
"Tch. How troublesome" he let out before glancing at Sloane who was still sleeping 'How am I going to bring this one up when yesterday was already a big shock?' he wondered 'Worst of all, there is a possibility she'll have to change her plans, but today is when she's meant to make the announcement' he sighed before dropping the journal 'Lastly, there's only a detailed description of the other demon generals, along with their names, their powers, but no picture or drawing to reference with'
Thinking about this, he picked up a pen and started sketching each of the other demon generals, according to the descriptions he got from the journal. He then wrote down each location of the generals, along with their powers, habits and ranks.
'This should be good enough' he thought as he arranged the papers
"Nathan?" he heard Sloane's sleepy voice, call out to him with a yawn. He turned and noticed she was already standing in front of him
"You're awake" Nathan said as she lowered her upper body to pick up one of the papers he held
"Is there anything you can't do?" Sloane asked while staring at the drawings, as she tucked some strands of hair behind her ear
"I'd be asking you the same thing" Nathan said as he dropped the neatly arranged papers "Seeing as how you've quickly stabilised the settlement in two days. When it took the tribe elders three years to recover from the first war"
"If you, Jerald and Allen had gotten involved in the official matters back then, it would have taken lesser time" she said, while dropping the drawing on the neatly stacked papers
"Jerald was lazy with a bit of crazy, Allen was antisocial and didn't want to be bothered, and I believed the elders had it under control" he said before remembering something
"You look like you have something to tell me" Sloane said as she stood straight before sitting on the armrest of the sofa "I'm listening. Let me know if I need to make a change in my plans" she crossed a leg over the other
"There is a house buried deep within the human town. That house...leads to a very large treasury that only you can open. And within that house, is also the activation pillar for the mechanism built into the whole town" Nathan said
"That doesn't change my plans in the slightest"
"Among other things, there are tunnels under the whole town" Nathan said as he pointed at the map while Sloane held her chin "The tunnels start from the North and span out to different areas of this whole town. A barrier was once put on those tunnels to keep people out, but the barrier will be collapsing today. There is also a possibility that a devil is masking itself among the humans and passing on information via these tunnels, since the barrier is weakening"
"Not to worry" Sloane said, as she uncrossed her legs "We'll move on with the original plan". She thought for a while and groaned "I don't want to have to move to the meeting room. I wish I could just call everyone here" she got up from the sofa and moved all the stuff on the centre table to her desk before sitting behind it
"I'm gonna make use of the shower" he said, while he took off his shirt before getting up from the sofa
"Oh. Okay" Sloane said as she carefully arranged the stuff on her table by firstly, rolling up the two maps. She then made use of Nathan's drawings and the stuff he had interpreted from the journal, by stuffing them inside folders, before placing the letters she received from the Connor family, inside a different folder. She stared at her table for a while, before nodding and turning to Nathan "I thought you were leaving"
"And you?" Nathan asked as the shirt he held, seemed to disappear into the shadows
"Just in case I didn't want to leave the study, I built two bathrooms here" Sloane said as left from behind her desk, and confidently walked passed Nathan to a shelf in the study "The second bathroom is opposite this one. Just touch the green book" she said, as she pointed to the shelf across the room before touching a red book and entering through the passageway
"What a woman" Nathan said, before he walked over to the shelf Sloane was talking about and touched a green book. The same passageway opened up and Nathan walked in.
******
Stepping out of the bathroom, Nathan saw Sloane fully dressed in a dark red coat dress, with her hair down, and black heeled boots. She sat on her desk while staring at the town through the window.
"You're finally out" Sloane said, before turning to look at him. He had worned a dark blue Henley shirt and black tinted jeans. "Shall we head to the meeting room?" she asked and he sighed
"Let's go"
Sloane snapped her fingers and the both of them disappeared from the study, along with the stuff on her desk. In a matter of seconds, they were in front of the meeting room door while the other stuff, had suddenly appeared inside
"I'll head in first" Nathan said as he opened the door and walked inside.
******
Inside the meeting room
After Nathan walked in before sitting on his seat, everyone simply stared at him which made him frown.
"Responsibilities seem to finally be weighing you down, sweetie" Rebecca said in a cheeky voice
"First time you look like a corpse straight out of a coffin" Alexa said
"You saw how busy I was this morning" Nathan said "And it's not like any of you have any better faces"
"Well, we are all physically drained" Jerald said before he remembered something "Except our currently lazing parents, the kids and of course....[he looked at Xavier and Kathy] the two who just woke up from hibernation" he gestured
"I've never felt so relaxed in my life" Kathy said with a blissful smile "I also fed on some tasty dreams to relive stress"
"You turly are a devil" Allen said with an uncomfortable gaze
"That should probably explain why you're all like this" Gard said
"Don't lump me in with them" Nathan said "I'm only mentally drained. Nothing more, nothing less" as soon as he finished his sentence, Sloane opened the door and walked in
"I'm very sorry for taking up some of your time. And thank you for gathering on such short notice" Sloane said, while coming to a stop, behind her seat
"That wasn't a problem" Marcus said
"Well, we pretty much aren't doing anything again" Zephyr said
"You were standing outside for a pretty long time" Fernanda said
"I forgot something back at the study" Sloane said "I actually left my clone here and went back to get it"
"What was that?" Kathy asked "You know, the thing you left in the study" she added, and Sloane snapped her fingers. A letter immediately found it's way to Kathy and Kathy stared at it a bit confused until she saw the name of the person whom wrote the letter. "Why?" She asked
"I don't know the contents of yours. Just like I don't know the contents of what was addressed to Alexa" Sloane said before she raised up four letters, she had taken out from the folder on the table "I only know about the contents of what was addressed to me. And it is on the note of these letters addressed to me, that I have summoned you all here for this meeting. I had to make a few adjustments to my plans thanks to the information from these letters" she slammed the letters on the table "I'd like to know if there is something, I don't already know. Any problems need to be made known now, before I start sharing"
"Well, I'm actually pregnant" Rebecca said with a smile "Hopefully, this child will be somewhat different from my other children" she held her belly while the rest of the Kendell family stared at her in shock
"Ah....Congratulations" Sloane said "However, this means you can't stand on the forefront of the war. Dangerous activities aren't good for babies"
"A baby during a war..." Priya said her thoughts out "...I wonder how you nursing mothers and soon-to-be mothers, are going to cope"
"Moving on, I wonder if that's all" Sloane said, but seeing as nobody had anything else to say, she continued "Among the letters, were four warnings. Nathan and I are to beware of ourselves, we should be careful around Josey, we should take into mind the possibility of Leon Michelle being long dead and a different being living in his body, and lastly, someone at this table will become a traitor"
"What?" Everyone else but Nathan, let out
"That can't be" Gard said
"I can fully comprehend your reactions" Sloane said "Truthfully, my head was hurting a lot after reading these letters. It was honestly mentally draining and very annoying. However, all of it is true"
"In what way?" Christian asked
"Josey is a homunculus with unknown origins. There are a lot of things she doesn't know about herself, but the demon generals who were present during her creation, know a lot about it" Sloane said "One of the things is the fact that a weapon like her, is always connected to its creator. To top it all off, Kenzie's premonition shows that Josey could possibly betray us if Leon or whatever that person is, chooses to finally make use of her"
"And how-"
"She exploded" Mackenzie said nervously, while staring at Christian "Josey, will explode. However, that is only if none of the people at this table get involved. But in regards to if you all get involved-"
"We'll be the ones to kill her with our own hands" Rosco said "That's what you wanted to say. Right?" he asked and Mackenzie nodded sadly
"I've already accepted my fate" Josey said "Homunculus don't even have a long lifespan. Once I turn three hundred, I'll die either way"
"Can't she change her fate?" Alexa asked
"Once a dragon keeper predicts a future or many possible futures, not even my wife, Melissa, can change their fate" Xavier said "Fate changing and anything to do with Mr fate, doesn't affect the spirit and demon seed bearers, unless their powers are completely sealed"
'That explains why Mrs Laura's powers worked on me, when I was younger' Sloane thought
"So, what are we going to do about her?" Gard asked "If her existence could harm us at any time, it would be unsafe for us to keep her around all the time"
"Quarantine, then. Is that what you're proposing?" Zephyr asked
"Unfortunately, I refuse to quarantine Josey" Sloane said "Even if she will be their eyes and ears, they can never tell our truths from our lies without being directly present. And her blood as a Michelle will let me know if something goes wrong"
"How?" Jerald asked
"How many of you felt sluggish when the snow started? Could you raise up your hands?" Sloane asked and almost everybody had raised up their hands, except Mackenzie, Josey, Kayden, Brianna and Allen
"What is the meaning of this?" Marcus asked
"The snow outside, has a bit of spirit power mixed in it. None of you are going up in flames or freezing, because the snow recognises you all, as my allies" Sloane said "However, direct descendants or distant relatives of the Michelle family, are completely unaffected by such a thing. Kenzie is my daughter via bloodline succession, so she has Michelle blood running though her veins. Allen, Brianna and Kayden are my distant relatives, and Josey is my cousin" she said "When I caused this snow, every demon within it, reacted and as such were recorded by the snow, as information was sent back to me. However, those with Michelle blood didn't react and without my zone, I wouldn't even know they were here"
"Eh?" Kayden let out
"Which brings us back to Josey's case as well as Leon's case" Sloane said "What would happen if a different soul who was never recorded by snowfall, were to take possession of any Michelle descendant currently here?"
"They'd have a reaction" Nathan said before he thought about something "I see. That's why you aren't bothered in the slightest"
"Snowfall takes into consideration, not only the body of a Michelle, but the soul too. Sure, with the body of a Michelle, you can use snowfall and be completely unaffected by the spirit residue. However, the downside is, unless you also have a Michelle's soul, you can't just walk into Snowfall casted by a different Michelle without asking for both the body and soul's death" Sloane said "That's why, as Josey is now, she doesn't threaten me in the least. If someone tried to take control of her body while within snowfall, Josey's body will instantly stick out like a sore thumb to me. Which will give me valid reason to kill her"
"You really grew up to be somebody very dangerous" Josey chuckled "But, I'm glad I'm safe as far as I'm within your winter wonderland"
"The fact Leon Michelle hasn't tried to step foot passed the borderline where my snowfall stops, goes to show that the real Leon, has already passed" Sloane said "Now, I'll have no hard feelings when killing the person currently in that body. I really hate people playing puppeteer with the body of the dead...well, depending on whose body it is. Which leads us to this person's goal...why would they go so far, as to cross the Gates of Hell, take over a fellow demon's body, and cause a civil war which has lasted for fourteen years?"