The Seeker Of The Flames

A series of guttural voices started to be heard across the hall.

"What do you mean by that? Marcus!"

"It's just an assumption! But don't you see it, Cassius? We're dealing with something unprecedented here. These events have not been recorded in our history, nor can they be found in our legends and mythologies."

"So what? You can't just go ahead and claim that all of them are related to... well, you know whom."

"I'm just following the evidence. If they lead us to that thing, then we have to admit it."

"But there's no way!"

"Running away from the fact wouldn't change anything. We should accept it and find a solution!"

"It can't be a fact. None of these happenings have been recorded in history, and thus you cannot decide that assumption. It can be something else. And even if that's true, there's no way we can find a solution for it."

"I see, so you're afraid of it to be true because you think it'd be impossible to face it then?"

"I don't 'think' it's impossible, it 'is' impossible."

"I get it now, you should also be one of those survivors. You've aged a lot so that's as to be expected. It seems your fear affects your judgment as a member of the council. We only need rational councilors here and not cowards and scared children."

"Who are you calling a scared child? You're the only child here! You've not seen the world and its unimaginable cruelties. You know absolutely nothing!"

Their shouts echoed through the whole place as it kept getting louder gradually. A great aura of anger overshadowed their argument. One could imagine their glares and frowns just by hearing their violent voice.

Another loud shout, which didn't belong to either of them, changed the mood and calmed down the air. It was a haughty voice, shouting gruffly.

"You two, Cassius, Marcus, stop it already! We're not here to hear another fight between the rightists and leftists.

The shouts and arguments ended immediately.

For a brief time, silence ruled over the atmosphere, not allowing any sound to be noticed.

However, it didn't stay like that for a long time, a soft, young womanly voice breaking the silence.

"What's wrong with you? All of you! I've never seen the council to be this much quiet. We're supposed to make the decisions in crucial moments!"

In response to that gentle sound, a rough, manly voice raised to remark.

"There's no need to mention the problems, Maraca! If you have a solution, then would you please present it to us? If not, you'd better stop this trivial chatter about our decisions. We need actual answers and not a repetition of our problems."

More firm and strong voices began remarking one after another.

"Lenox is right! If you don't have anything new to say, then it'd be better to not say anything at all."

"Blaming us wouldn't change anything. It's natural for us to be in such a state after facing so many problems recently."

"The East Kingdom's movements, from the large group of spies to their recent activities, it's been getting out of hand, and now the slaughter in one of our west towns. It can only be their job."

"But we neither have enough evidence to prove that it's their fault nor do we have the intention to start a war against them at this time of year."

"Do you expect us to still be calm after all of these sudden happenings? Even one of them is hard to deal with, to imagine all of these difficulties to show at the same time... of course we would fail to manage them all!"

Everyone became quiet as a domineering sound interrupted the talk.

"All right, all of you, stop this useless talk right now! There are many topics we have to discuss in today's meeting. I as the head of the Council of Grandwizards will now start the conference officially. Please go and ahead and tell us about what you've accomplished so far. Share with us what you know."

"I start first, my scouts have identified suspicious movements from the East Kingdom. I'm not sure, but it seems something's happening there at the moment. I need to have high influence over their high-ranked priests to realize what's actually going on in their policy. They always keep their information out of our hands. However, it seems a large group of their troops has moved to their eastern borders."

"Eastern borders? It's rare to see them doing that. They've always kept their forces near their western borders, neighboring to us the West Kingdom. Why would they move them to the east?"

"Well, let's not start an argument right now. Let's hear other information first."

"All right, I now begin. My wizardry squad has sensed a large amount of magical pressure from the northeast. They say it was so immense that despite its distance to the West Kingdom it'd still be sensed by their MSTI orbs."

"There's no doubt about it. Only one nation is said to possess a magic of that level, the Demonic Kingdom in the north."

"But it should be too far from here. How can our orbs still identify a point of magic from that location?"

"Well, it'd just mean it's been so powerful that it can get here."

"What?! How can something like that exist?"

"The Demonic Kingdom hasn't started a big move for like thousands of years. It's just been some random attacks at villages and towns in the northern Kingdoms as far I've been informed. We've also heard about them in legends and myths. But according to the ancient stories, they are the most dangerous enemy that mankind has ever come to deal with."

"We don't share a border with them anyway, so it's better to not engage in a problem with those demonic monsters. Let's just ignore them."

"I disagree. I believe that our current conditions are caused by the Demonic Kingdom."

"Come on, Marcus! Stop acting as if you've actually got rational reasons behind those assumptions. Why would everything be related to those demons? They're far away from us, and a sudden magical pressure from their spot doesn't make your assumptions valid."

"Yes, he's right. Don't show your conspiratorial opinions as facts."

"I also agree with Cassus. You should reconsider your reasonings, Marcus!"

"Stop it already! I think I've told you to not start an argument when we're sharing information! How many times should I remind you of the rules as the head of the council?"