The poor girl walked around, trying to see if anyone was left. She halted in her tracks when she laid eyes on a stuffed toy bunny.
Her eyes then drifted over to a flag, which was standing so proudly on top of a pile of blackened bodies. The Valkyrie's eyes widened, and her fists clenched as she saw the severed head of the leader of that village on the top of the flag pole.
That flag, the red and black, the symbol bearing an eagle's wings and a stag's body. It was no doubt the doing of the Tribe.
A race of Mages who pledged themselves to rid the world of dragons. The Tribe was known for its acts of hostility and was always at odds with the Syndicate, another terrorist group.
However, the Syndicate was entirely made out of humans so why they were involved in the conflict made no sense to Mavislin.
The Syndicate weren't any better than the Tribe, but at least they weren't as brutal and were from the Campania. They don't venture beyond or attack any of the other Domains since they've got an agreement with the Five Kings.
"The people either fled or they were reduced to ashes. The might of the dragons is not one to be messed with... That warning extends to the Tribe as well," explained Baldwin, unsaddling from the Puka.
"No... I don't think this is from the work of a dragon..." murmured Mavislin as she closed her eyes.
"Then what would have caused such devastation? I highly doubt that these are the work of the humans or..."
"It's too small of a wreck and too brutal to be caused by a dragon. This has to be done by the Tribe but without using any Dragons. The Fire Element created those flames but is not powerful enough to be ranked as Dragon Flame."
"However, Dragon or not, it's still an act of terrorism to launch a deliberate attack on the Campania. This matter is between the Tribe and the Campania Domain. We should direct this matter to the Five Kings."
"But I will be looking into the Dragon matter to confirm the letter's suspicion," said Mavislin as she grew her wings.
"So you intend to take on this challenge?" hollered Baldwin.
"Yes, I do believe I have no choice. The new King is way too early in his reign to handle this conflict. But do send a message to that fellow to find me so we can chit-chat and figure things out."
"I'll have to head back to report to the High Queen and Headmaster. From there, I can draft a proper plan to solve this issue. I'm sensing that there's more than meets the eye. And this might be the messiest thing I've ever done..."
"You always have a choice. You can't stay put when the same thing that happened to your people is now happening again to the ones around you... Such a young girl with a complicated sense of responsibility will kill you someday..." mumbled Baldwin.
With that, Mavislin took off towards the Old Chapel. Baldwin sighed and sent the Puka to find the current King of Underworld for the Campania Domain. The horse seemed upset to leave its master.
The Angry Man stayed long enough on the decimated land to catch a certain stray Mage peeking out from a crumbled house.
"Who goes there?" yelled Baldwin as he summoned a black orb of Elemental Energy on his palm.
There was a deathly silence before the Angry Man laughed, and the stray Mage emerged from his hiding place.
"It's been years since we've last crossed paths… How have you been doing, Purple Flame?" chuckled Baldwin.
Meanwhile, the Valkyrie reported what she had witnessed on the battlefield to the Headmaster and High Queen.
"So what exactly was going on?" asked Ysabeau as she scanned the letter again.
"It was a deliberate attack on the Campania's civilians by the Tribe. Not by a dragon. The devastation was powerful enough to stir the dragon's slumber. What I'm more confused about is why did the Tribe attack? There isn't any need to…" wondered Mavislin as she activated the meeting table.
A bunch of holographic pages popped out of the table, which consisted of the past logs of the battles within the Five Domains. Z and Baldwin mainly looked into these logs, but sometimes, Gillian would step in if anything was significant or of interest.
Mavislin halted on a singular page dated a few days ago.
"The Syndicate attacked the Tribe first… The reasons were that they wanted to reclaim part of the Eastern Forest and that another unknown person was instructing them. I bet the Old Man Pond has had a hand in this," noted Gillian as he glanced at the other members.