A New Dawn 116 Reality And Nightmares

"Are you really suggesting that everything is their fault? Including the now devasted city of Archet, near the Wild Mountains?" One of the n.o.bles from Avenio was the first to question this claim. After all, even if the army of undead that attacked the beautiful city was strangely large, it was still possible. Especially near the southern frontier, the human army could face two times or even three times that size in a battle. But they were well equipped, all trained to battle undead and had a vast line of fortifications to help them.

At those words, the giant with his dark artifact could only retract his smile and wear a more serious face. "There are some pieces of evidence suggesting it, but no concrete clues. And before you all began to twist the truth from the lies, the giant snake in the Synnada Empire is definitely one of them, as well as the little girl from the Ma.s.salia Kingdom."

Before anyone could react, from the shadows, a familiar old man appeared and threw himself on the giant. "A little girl?!! Did you say there was a little girl?!!" Not expecting this, even the head of the Black Gauntlet could only try to shake him off. The ident.i.ty of the elder magus was plainly obvious since he was still wearing the same outfit that he had in the day. Even the Organization did not want to make an enemy out of the Archmage.

"Stop that! Compose yourself, are you a magus or a senile dying elder?" The giant tried to stop the magus, as gently as he could. But the latter was only repeating the same question, again and again. "Where is she? Where is the little girl?" Seeing this, the rest was a bit baffled by the sudden turn of event. In truth, they would have never expected the two strongest of the room to be entangled on what seemed to be no better than a child fight.

"Are you referring to a little girl, with black eyes and black hair?" Muirnë attempted to solve the situation, and, as a result, suffered the same fate as the menacing giant. Meaning, that the old magus was clinging on her, only stopped by her brother before he reached her. The later was prepared at this, seeing the intense reaction the disciple of the Archmage had. After being restrained in that way, the elder could only calm himself in the end.

"Seriously, is this the bearing that a disciple like you should have? Where are you preserving the prestige of the Archmage, by acting like a madman?" Faced with those critics, the magus lowered his head, in shame. In truth, he could not be blamed by that. Thinking about all the others that were desperately trying to find the little girl the Archmage had seen in his dream, he could be the one that finally found her. Almost all the effort of the Tower was channeled just to that one task, even if the exterior world had no idea of its importance.

"Sorry, sorry. I apologize to everyone. But ... Can you tell me about her?" The half-kneeling magus was making everyone raise their eyebrows. By now, it was plainly obvious that whoever was that little girl they were talking about, it was of the utmost priority to find her. Even the shadows that were invisible from the sight of the guests were sending messages after messages, a bit shocked by what they had seen.

"Can't you wait?" The bearer of the Black Gauntlet rarely was embarra.s.sed like he currently was. His very name should be linked to power and fear, but he had shamed himself by arguing with a brainless magus. He did not even care about the pitiful state the old man was in, that was akin to a puppy that was unjustly punished.

"Where was I? Ah, yes, snake, litt... the thing, the undead army. The later is a nearly confirmed speculation, with the help of the Order of Kirov. And everything is due to only 5 beings, at the very minimum. We can't confirm whether we missed one or even ten. And if you have any doubt, you can still ask the only eye witness that survived two encounters with them, the daughter of the Sword Saint, Muirnë Gwendhir."

All the eyes were turning toward the young woman, some suspicious while others were respectful. By her family or her own survival, she was worthy of being in this very room. At the same time, she was not expected to enter the light like that, and before saying anything, she had to ask permission. Looking at the second prince behind her, she saw him nodded his head. Now was no longer the time to be divided among Humanity. She could only feel regret for her sister that it was a bit too late.

"Eh ... what am I supposed to say?" She had no idea where to start in reality. At the same time, she still had to preserve her very own secret concerning those two encounters. If she could fool her family and by her extension, the royalty, it was a hard thing to lie in front of the Organization. Some details could not be seen by her own nation, while they will be uncovered by those criminals.

"Those 5 Dark G.o.ds, what are they? Who are they?" The First Prince of the Synnada Empire was the first to ask a question. As for the host of the night, he did not make any move to answer it. Leaving the task to the only woman of the entire room.

"I can only confirm I saw 5 of them. They were heavily wounded and had thousands of injuries on their body. It could be said that it was a miracle they were still capable of moving. The two most badly shaped were the two woman, or, what they looked like. One was similar to me while the other could only be described as a little girl. Her completely black eyes were like a hole, ready to swallow me entirely. Hmpf ..." She shrugged while saying this. Every time she remembered that she linked it to the intense pain she experienced right after. When she could have even killed herself, just to be spare of that torment.

"The other three were all tall, extremely tall. The smallest could easily surpa.s.s the barbarians of the South of Genablum while looking like them. He was also ... feral? Wild? My first impression was that he seemed to be an unleashed beast, a predator. Another one was entirely blue, and two heads taller. The last could probably be taller than this very building. Some trees nearby were below its size. He was the only one that looked like a demon, red, with a face similar to a pig and four arms. I only saw them for less than a minute, before they left, speaking in their own language."

Reporting everything she once said to her father, she saw the reaction of the magus and the giant, albeit two different moments. One was obviously when she mentioned something shaped like a little girl, and it would not make anyone surprise. But the giant outlaw seemed to be far more interested in the blue monster. As for why only he knew.

"Now that you heard this, let me complete a bit the blanks that were left. The wild barbarian she described was the very snake that injured two of your magus and killed hundreds of your men." The group coming from the empire nearby were shocked when they heard this, especially since it seemed to be not related at all. How could a human, or what it seemed to be one, could become a giant snake in a blink of an eye?

"Excuse us, but we do not trust your words. What is your proof, why couldn't it be that the snake comes from the Necropolis of the Lich King?" They had numerous reports of previous armies defeating monsters like that, all directly implicating the legacy of the Third Calamity. Also, thinking a bit more, the dates could not correspond. Realizing this, the general of the Eternal Guard interfere.

"What happened was barely a few days after the pillar of light was sighted. If they truly came at that moment, it would mean that monster could bypa.s.s hundreds of kilometers in that period of time. Nothing walking on this planet is that fast." Even when everyone was against him, the host was not perturbed at all. In fact, it was a theory a few days ago, only to be confirmed after their failed expedition against those demons. Hopefully, for the humans, they were not omniscient and failed to notice a small device.

Putting it on the table, all could see a black panther devouring an elf in a few seconds. There was no sound attached to it, and the image was a bit blurry and dark. But the eyes of the monsters and the way he efficiently removed the leather armor looked odd. "Haaa!" the magus on the right of the prince of the empire shrieked back while screaming. Even with his tan skin, one could easily see how pale he was right now. "You are right, nothing walking could be that fast. But will it be possible, if he could fly?"

With the reaction of the magus and the image, it didn't take long for everyone to understand the meaning. If the human was the snake and the snake was the panther, what else could the panther become? A single hypogriph could be used to travel from the South to the North of the Ma.s.salia Kingdom in a bit more than 2 days. And this creature was not even the fastest in the sky, so from impossible, the possibility of that demon to be implicated became certain.

"Now, about the situation in Avenio, did two adventurers suddenly became known, with one being a giant?" The fl.u.s.tered n.o.bles that were part of that delegation could easily understand what was asked. And even if they wished that it would be false, they could not deny it was true. "Yes, two adventurers that could correspond to the description of two Dark G.o.ds that Miss Gwendhir made previously. We will ... investigate that." The two last words were almost inaudible. If it was before, they could have easily killed them out of fear, but now, they had become the saviors of Archet. It was too late to act discreetly.

"Now that everyone agrees on all of this, what does the Archmage wants with that little girl?" Even with all those revelations, none had forgotten what happened a few minutes ago. Finally getting his chance to talk, the old magus patted a bit his robe, to appear more dignified. "He wants to find her, at all cost." With everyone puzzled by that sentence, he could add a few things to explain the situation inside the Tower.

"The very night that beacon of light appeared, the Archmage woke up after a nightmare. It was not unusual since everyone knows that he has some ability at predicting the future." Some nodded at those words. After one thousand of years being alive, the greatest magus that ever lived had acquired vast knowledge about nearly everything. If sometimes, this could be misunderstood as seeing the future, he truly did predict a few things. For example, when the war against the Lich King just started, he was the one that found his lair, now known as the Necropolis.

"But every time he began to rest, all he was seeing was that little girl. She was dressed completely in white, with two nice slippers. I don't know why, but these details were important for the Archmage. Night after night, the same nightmare. In truth, only seeing her, with her white outfit and her black eyes and hair shouldn't be terrifying. But the more he slept, the longer the nightmare was. The world around the two turned from white to red. Her white robe was slowly turning black, and shadows were leaking from her body. Now, he can't even sleep without medicine preventing him from dreaming."

"So, do you mean it had been two months since the Archmage slept well?" The giant host showed for the first time a hint of fear. As he spoke, everyone also understood how long it was since the pillar of light first appeared. Trying to imagine not being able to sleep for so many days, those that tried countless times to see the Archmage understood his refusal. The last Hero was probably in such a terrible state that it would scare them more than anything.

"Approximately, yes. And his condition is worsening after each day, the potions and drugs are not as effective as they were. Right now, a senior disciple is trying to create a spell capable of inducing a night of sleep without dreams, to no success."

This news caused all the guests to shudder a bit. After all, even when the Lich King appeared, the Archmage was ready to defend them. It was hard to see it when everything was peaceful, but for most humans, the only name they will ever know during their lives would be the Archmage. During the tales, he was the Hero saving the day, and countless songs were related to him. In a sense, if he was to die, everyone would feel a lot more in danger. Even if they all knew he probably wasn't immortal, he sure seemed like he was.

"So, where are they?" Breaking the silence was that formed after realizing the consequences of the current health of the Archmage, Ferrod still asked about the reason why he was here in the first place. "Between Archet, in Avenio, and Ronta, in Ma.s.salia. They are still in your kingdom but on the flanks of the Wild Mountains. Unfortunately, they are heavily entrenched inside an underground fortress, with an unknown number of troops at their disposal."

The giant could only sigh while saying those words. They still had a hard time believing what the adventurers told them, that the spirits inside the statues left them and began to slaughter their men. But by hearing this, Amlan could only chuckle, drawing some weird stares. "If you say that, that means only one thing. Entering it is suicide."