Hodeceus floated silently by the side of the crystal mine, which faced the now drastically changed Sacred Mountain. The seismic "remodeling" had since died down, yet the real chaos was just about to begin. The knights and werewolf cavalry who successfully retreated under Marshal Ophra's lead had returned to the main camp in Hodeceus. They rendezvoused with the other generals and cardinals who were manning the floating fortress. But as they sought to finalize their next course of action, the various factions fell victim to infighting.
Before Ophra could even take off her cuirass, she, Uruk, and a few other leaders—still drenched in the enemy's blood—sat at the front of a long table. She appeared like the goddess of war as she sat there and looked on at the rather rowdy atmosphere. The seat next to her belonged to the pope and it was now empty.
