I could not find anywhere else that this would fit, so I decided to put this little bit in as sort of a preview for the upcoming events.

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"Move it!" Crossen shouted angrily as he pushed a man out of his way.

"I'm sorry sir," the man replied as he bowed.

Crossen made his way down the hall of the building. A large pair of red and gold double doors decorated with a black magic seal was at the end of it. He placed both of his hands on the seal and channeled his magic. The seal glowed white.

CREAK. The two doors slowly opened into a large empty room with a light at the center. There were twelve figures concealed by shadows. They were the Council of Dark Mages. Twelve of the strongest mages who practiced the Dark Arts. Not all of them were of the Dark Mage class, but they used forbidden methods to make themselves stronger. They used everything from drugs to using people to fuel magic to supplement their powers much like how Crossen used people as vessels for his undead. "Step forward into the light," said a deep voice.

Crossen slowly and nervously made his way into the light. He already knew what they were going to say. "So?" asked a feminine voice. "How did you lose your hold on Kalemegdan?" she asked.

"There were two Dark Mages," said Crossen. "They had the ability to transform into a scaled monster that resembled Queen Succubi."

The members of the Council immediately turned to face one of the three female members. "It wasn't me!" she shouted.

"What happened?" asked the deep voice.

"She summoned forth a horde of undead in an instant," Crossen said nervously. "Among them were One Headed Cerberus."

"A Cerberus?" asked a voice. "The legendary creature?"

"Yes," Crossen replied. "There were at least eight of them. Along with them were three Death Knights and an unknown number of ghost like skeletons."

"Ghosts?!?" shouted one of the members. "There's no one among our ranks that can summon ghosts."

"The only one in our history that has been able to summon ghosts was Moros," said one of the female members of the Council. "Since then, no one has been able to."

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The deep voice suddenly spoke, "For your failure, you must return the book."

Crossen took out the book that he had and nervously placed it onto the floor with his hands shaking. He had heard about what happened to the other failures. Some of them became vessels for powerful demonic servants. Others simply disappeared. "I'm sorry for my failure Chancellor," he said.

"Two years worth of resources and you failed, even with an army of undead," said the deep voice. "Our influence only extends to three major cities at this point."

"So what's our plan?" asked a male member.

"We need to learn more about these two mages," said the deep voice.

"I agree," said another. "I think we should recruit them."

"No," said a female member of the Council. "She is going against our plans and she must be stopped."

Crossen remained silent as the members of the Council argued amongst each other about what to do about the new Dark Mage. If he interrupted them now, they would surely take their anger out on him.

"Silence!" shouted the deep voice. "For now, we will collect information. Do not engage them alone."

"Who will go though?" asked a male member.

"Adria, Percy, Quinton, and Xiaomei will go with Crossen," said the deep voice.

"Four of us?!?" said Adria.

"I'm not taking any chances," said the deep voice. "Crossen will help you identify them. If you cannot persuade her to join us, then she must be killed."

"Understood," said Crossen. "The two were heading East of Kalemegdan along the main road."

"That means they were heading to Constantinople," said Quinton.

"Then that is your destination," said the deep voice. "You're in charge of the book Xiaomei. You may also take anyone you need with you."

"Yes sir," Xiaomei replied to the deep voice. "Let's go," she said as she jumped out of the shadows and into the light with Crossen. "This is one mission we cannot fail."

Crossen, Adria, Percy, Quinton, and Xiaomei all headed out the door together. Their destination, Constantinople. Their goal, the two transforming mages.