Somewhere very far away from the human country…

Amongst the dead trees resembling black, burnt-out matches stood a tall citadel, a massive black tower with one massive gate, around it stood buildings and walls, ten or so con-centric circular walls, ten meters or so.

The other buildings were black, as if you took the black rock and raised it with magic, then placed another slab of rock as a roof.

Around the place walked people, some wore robes, others casual clothes, you could describe the place as a cluster of random people - there were human, elves, dwarves and even the beastfolk.

“What a pain…I wonder why they’d call us over now of all times…” the blond man asked, he walked slouched with his hands in his pockets, a long red coat and black trousers, other than that he was shirtless.

“I don’t know, but if the boss is calling us over it must be something important!” Exclaimed the smaller man, he wore a white mask in the shape of a rabbit, long blond hair escaped from the sides, he wore a simple sweater over a white shirt and brown trousers.

“It better be something important…” the girl in the back replied in a lazy voice, he dragged behind the group and had long grey-blue hair which covered her face leaving only her mouth visible, she wore a simple dark green hoodie and black trousers.

“You sound exhausted as ever, Emi…” the smaller man said with a worried look on his face.

“If you don’t have a proper sleep cycle you’ll never get rid of those bags under your eyes.” The blond man said slightly annoyed.

“Whatever…I wonder where Angelica went…” the blue-haired girl now revealed to be called Emi wondered out loud.

“I hope she’s alright…” the smaller man said concerned.

“I bet she bit off more than she could chew and we’ll be sent out to bring her back.” Laughed the blond man before the group reached the front gate of the black tower.

They walked into the tower past several rooms, until they reached the room labelled “Meeting room”

They walked inside and saw the five chairs located around a circular table, on the fifth chair sat a man who looked like he was in his early twenties, with pale chestnut hair, yellow eyes and pale skin along with a generally frail-looking figure, he wore a white blouse, black trousers, thick gloves and a scarf.

“Hello everyone, I’m glad you could make it.” The man spoke in a soft and caring voice.

“Hey, boss.” Said the blond man sitting down casually in his chair.

“Hello, Edward.” the man replied.

Emi walked to her seat silently and sat down properly for just one second before using her arms as a rest for her head.

“Sorry about them, boss.” said the smaller man with an apologetic smile.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Don’t worry about it, Gill, it’s so boring here when it’s just me and the uptight politicians…” the man sighed.

Edward looked at the man’s gloves and scarf - “Alright you alright, boss?”

The man looked puzzled, “What do you mean?” he asked looking around before realising he was referring to the gloves and scarf.

“Oh - turn out, building a citadel on the north pole isn’t the best idea!” he replied jovially.

“Edward seems alright…” Emi pointed out gesturing to his shirtless figure.

“Edward could be naked, rolling around in the snow and he’d insist he’s too warm.”

“What can I say, I’m warm-blooded,” he replied.

“In any case, we’re getting someone to fix it… but it’s difficult.” the boss said letting out a sigh accompanied by a smile.

“What do you mean… difficult?”

“So, turns out an organisation composed entirely of nihilists results in some… problems when it comes to getting them to do stuff.”

“Where… is this technician now?” Gill asked the boss replied with “Under the table.”

Gill, Emi and Edward looked under the table seeing that the middle-aged, bearded man was on the floor in the foetal position under the table.

“Are you… alright?” asked Gill.

The man replied without looking towards him, “…I’m just… working through some stuff…” he replied before rolling over to the other side.

“...Boss… is it okay to let him lay her during our meeting?” Edward asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I mean… do you want to drag him out?” the boss replied.

“Drag him out?”

“He’s been here for over a week, I don’t know what he’s been eating and I don’t want to know where he’s been… you know… but at this point, he might just fuse with the floor.”

A while of awkward silence passed.

“Hey, boss…where’s Angelica?” Asked Edward looking over to the empty seat.

A silence filled the room. “I’m afraid she was murdered…rather brutally…” the man explained, the smile disappearing from his face, and while the rest of the room looked enraged, he only looked sad.

Another silence…

“Boss?” Edward tensed up, he had a bad feeling about what’s going on.

“I’m afraid… Angelica passed away.”

“...”

“...“

“...”

“Who did it?” Asked Sebastian, from his voice it was easy to tell he was upset.

“I’m not sure, but I have a decent idea of where it happened…” the boss replied standing up.

With a careless flick of his wrist, a map appeared suspended in the room.

“The human kingdom, near the central mountain…that’s where she died…I’d like you to retreat her body at the very least…” the man said as with a snap of the finger the map became four maps each appearing at the different sides of the table, even by the empty seat.

“Damn it…I knew she should have-…” Edward complained smashing his fists on the table.

“It’s entirely my fault, I intend to take full responsibility for her death…and I intend to exact justice as well.” the boss explained clenching his fists as he spoke.

Edward turned to the boss as is ready to take him up on the offer before leaning back in his chair, “You know we can’t hold you responsible for this boss…I’ll go…” Edward said standing up and heading towards the door, he took the map with him.

“Wait, we’ll go with you.” Sebastian offered before being shot down by Emi, “We have our own tasks…” she said before turning towards Edwards,

“If you’re in any danger just come back…don’t try to act tough…” she warned Edward.

“Yeah, I know…I’m not an idiot,” he replied before leaving.

“After we’ve dealt with this issue… we’ll continue with stage three…" the boss announced snapping his fingers as an image appeared from the centre of the table.

“Stage 1: Pit the countries against each other.”

“Stage 2: Start the soul block to starve this world of new souls.”

“Stage 3: Unleash the first wave of the demon legion from both poles.”

“Soon God will come down and fix this rotten world… all the world…”

“Are you sure he’ll come?” Emi asked.

“In every world alone the entire cycle, it is believed by most that god created these worlds, if they are broken it is his responsibility to fix them…so we’ll break his toy and keep it from running until he comes down and fixes the world…” the man explained.

“And if he abandoned us?” Emi asked.

“There is no excuse for inaction.” the boss explained with a smile.

“Guess you’re right boss…“ Emi sighed as she stood up ready to leave the room.

“Are you leaving already?” He asked.

“Yeah, I think I’ll be done with the elven country by next week…” Emi replied casually,

“Great job!” the boss complemented Emi before turning to Sebastian.

“What about you, are you leaving already, too?” he asked.

“Actually, I have some time off…I guess I can keep you company for a while.” Sebastian replied with a smile.

The boss breath a sigh of relief as he stood up and walked over to a separate room returning with what looked like a board game.

Emi left the room before she got dragged into the game.