May 22, 1410
A month after the events of the attack on Alton a meeting was taking place in the holy city Adruil. The people participating were the third Lieutenant Alice, and the two of the six captains of the knights Nicholas, and Melissa, as well as the cardinal Christopher.
Nicholas was the fifth captain of the knights, rising through the ranks as the one who has killed the most hybrids. He had short black hair, sharp brown eyes, as he was always seen wearing his silver armor, with a blue sash covering his chest which bore the marks of Sez.
Melissa was the fourth captain of the knights, known for having the least amount of deaths of her comrades during her visits to the outskirt villages. She is in her late twenties, with short dark blond hair, and green eyes. She was wearing her full silver armor.
“Father Christopher, I have gotten word that the other captains are still in their respective cities. We are the only ones to attend the meeting, like you wanted.” Alice informed.
“Very well, I call this meeting because two reason one of them being the recent attacks on the outskirt villages, we have lost four newly blessed knights in one month, we also have a report that one of the outskirt villages was completely destroyed by a single hybrid, as well we got new information on the hybrid that massacre those twenty knights months ago.”
“I read about that, the hybrid that goes by the name of Ray, Miss Alice, did you manage to get any other information out of your student who faced him?” Nicholas asked.
“No, he has already said everything he knows about that hybrid, though I would personally like to go and find him, and kill him for killing the knights that were under my student, I can’t waste my time for someone like him.” Alice complained.
“Well we shouldn’t waste our time on a hybrid who only killed twenty regular knights, and the one blessed knight we had station over there, I’ll be sure to talk to captain that manage to live, and see what I find.” Melissa said.
“I would appreciate it, if you didn’t talk about the children like that captain Melissa.” Christopher contested.
“With all due respect father, twenty knights who couldn’t even take down a hybrid who hasn’t awakened their mark has been nothing but slacking off, I managed to kill a hybrid by myself before I was even blessed. Those fools underestimated that hybrid, and got themselves beheaded.”
“They are your comrades!” Christopher argued.
“They were. I do feel where you are coming from father, but in my eyes, their deaths were easily avoidable given the circumstances.”
“You say that, but Alice student is a blessed knight, you are telling me the unblessed knights now have a chance against the blessed ones?” Christopher asked.
“If they are newly blessed like Miss Alice students then yes, how else did that hybrid manage to defeat Miss Alice student.” Melissa declared.
“That's enough!” Alice declared.
“Melissa I don’t appreciate you blaming everything on James. He did what he could, he is not to blame for the deaths of his comrades.” Alice added.
“I don’t mean to disrespect you Lieutenant but he is completely to blame for what happened that day, if it was up to me, I would force him to retire.” Melissa declared.
“We all have made mistakes, including you Melissa.” Alice shot back.
“I did, but I never made a mistake that cost me twenty lives. The family of the knights who lost their lives are still furious, and they should be. The only thing we offered them was an apology, and money. Not nearly enough in my book.”
“James has to live with this, with the rest of his life.” Christopher objected.
“Yeah. Lived, in the end I believe he got the better end of the stick compared to the others.” Melissa corrected.
“Melissa, that’s enough, a captain shouldn't be talking like that to her superior, regardless of the matter.” Nicholas interrupted.
“Oh come now, Nick, you really are going to tell me you approved of James still being a knight?” Melissa asked.
“My opinion does not matter, as long as he does what is right by the church, he has my support, what happened is a tragedy, but it is something we can’t pin on him for the rest of his life.” Nicholas told Melissa.
Melissa leaned back on her chair, rubbing her eyes. “If you say so, Nick, father shall we continue?” Melissa asked.
Christopher let out a sigh before continuing.
“As I was saying with the recent attacks on the outskirts villages we are losing more blessed knights. I would like to deploy some of the co-captains to help combat them, so we can secure most of the outskirts villages.” Christopher said.
“And how are we supposed to do that? You barely managed to convince pope Michael to send one of the co-captains to the outskirts villages.” Alice said.
“I would like the three of you to help me, he believes we should always have our main force in the holy cities, but I attest to that, how are we supposed to get back those villages from the hybrids if we only allow the newly blessed knights to go.” Christopher told them.
“I thought father Michael told us that he has his own way of bringing back those villages back to the church.” Melissa explained.
“Yes, by forcefully, or eradicating the villagers. He wants to wait until we defeated the council, he barely let me send out knights other than the newly blessed ones to try to convert the villages, since we are losing more knights I know he is planning on shutting down the idea, and leaving those villages to fend for themselves, until he could send another force to wipe them out.” Christopher said.
“Well his plan did work father, even though we lost those three villages, the amount of hybrids popping up has reduced significantly.” Alice announced.
“That still doesn't give us the right to let them fend for their lives.” Christopher contested.
“Well seeing the results of that plan, I should say it turned out for the best.” Melissa said.
“Are none of you capable of thinking of the implication of the crime we committed against those innocent villages. What if they are hybrids out there plotting revenge because of what we did.” Christopher asked them.
“Well it can’t be worse than what the council is plotting.” Melissa said.
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“Can we please get back to the topic at hand.” Nicholas interrupted.
“Ok, ok, as I was saying I would like the three of you to help me convince father Michael to allow us to send more co-captains to the outskirts villages.” Christopher asked.
“Sure, my co-captain can use the training.” Melissa accepted.
“I would help as well.” Nicholas said.
“Alright, if you think that would help the outskirt villages, I would send a letter, since I am not allowed to leave the city.” Alice said.
“Thank you, all of you, the weight on my shoulder lifted if only a little.” Christopher told them.
“Ok, now then for the second reason, and most important is about the council, I have learned that we might have a known location of one of the leads” Christopher announced.
“What!?”
“When did you learn this?” Alice demanded.
“I have received it from a letter from one of the knights stationed in the upper outskirts villages, he claimed to have seen a hybrid with markings going from the bottom of his leg to his neck.”
“Have you told father Michael about this?!” Nicholas said.
“No, I barely received the news today, I will send a letter to father Michael when we are done with this meeting.”
“So what do you want us to do, father Michael has forbidden any captain from going beyond Adruil,” Melissa said.
“I would like to send one of you”
“Father-” Alice tried to say.
“I know, I know, but if we have a chance to take down a lead of the council we should jump at the chance, weaken their forces. Interrupt whatever plan they are doing.” Christopher told them.
“Sorry, but no.” Melissa declared.
“I’m sorry father Christopher, but I will have to refuse as well.” Nicholas added in.
“I am trying to prevent what those hybrids are planning, even though I don’t know, we should actively try our best to get rid of the leads.” Chirstopher contested.
“Father, please hear yourself, you want one of the captains to risk his life, on territory we don’t control, what if there are more than one leads, whoever you send will just die, and we will lose a powerful knight. We can’t afford to make these kinds of mistakes, like the first pillar.” Melissa explained.
“The first pillar had the right idea, helping people through the region, that is what I want to do, to eventually reclaim that lost city.” Christopher demanded.
“Father Michael has already forsaken that city, since it fell four hundred years ago.” Alice said.
“Yes, when it fell we lost control of the territory below Adruil, we are constantly struggling to win back the land from the hybrids. Father Michael is convinced that another attack of that magnitude will happen again, even though everyone who was involved in that attack has already perished.” Christopher tried to convince them.
“We only learned about the council a hundred years ago, you are going to tell me that whoever is in control of the council has been following the footsteps of the past hybrids?” Nicholas said.
“Who knows, but they must have a reason for what they are doing, otherwise why would they seem to be growing in numbers.” Chirstopher said.
“Well what do you expect us to do, if we go against father Micheal order he would banish us from the knights, and if the worst comes to pass, what would you do if one of them dies to a hybrid?” Alice demanded.
“I only want to protect the people, I honestly believe we should do this.” Chirstopher told them.
“We are protecting people, the ones that live in the holy cities, our borders are always open, they only have to pass the simple check we do, and welcome them.”
“I know that, Nicholas. Father Michael has allowed it, but I have a feeling he is going to close that policy soon, and if he does, what then, are we just going to abandon everyone who wasn’t lucky enough to be born here?” Christopher stated.
“We just don’t have the manpower to send out strong knights, father, only the commander is allowed to do that, but she only goes out when we hear knews about that certain hybrid she is after.” Alice scoffed.
“Well she has her reason, after all she was there when that experiment ended in failure, she blames herself for not saving him, and another reason why the captains are no longer allowed to leave the holy cities.” Nicholas argued.
“We did our best with what we had, we truly believe we can return them back to normal, how are we supposed to know one of their top hybrids would be in on it, it was supposed to be a top kept secret.” Chirstopher cursed.
“It’s in the past no point in worrying about it, but you do have a point about that hybrid you learn about,” Alice said.
“You do?”
“But I suggest only to look around, if a lead is indeed found I would like either one of you to report back, immediately, if one of you agrees to go.” Alice requested.
Both Melissa, and Nicholas look at each other uncomfortably, unable to come to a decision.
“Of course it is alright if you don’t want to, after all this is something we must hide from father Michael.” Alice told them.
“Let's say one of us does go to where the possible lead was found, you honestly expect us to just pull back?” Melissa question.
“Yes, I do. The hybrids, unlike us, tend to always be paired with a strong hybrid, if a lone captain fights a lead without backup you will most likely die. You both know better than to risk your lives like that.” Alice explained.
“I will go,” Nicholas declared.
“Thank you Nicholas.” Christopher put his hands together as if he was praying.
“Are you sure about this?” Melissa asked.
“I am, if the third lieutenant thinks we should do this, then I agree with her judgment, I will be extremely careful, that said, how long do I have before I am noticed?” Nicholas asked.
“About two weeks, one of the captains from Aevum is visiting.” Christopher answered.
“Great, so you should head back within the week, cause those two are absolutely loyal to father Michael. They will tell him if they notice something has gone wrong.” Melissa informed them.
“Ok, I will only be at the location for five days, see if I find anything, and I’ll be sure to hide my appearance so I don’t show up in any newspaper.” Nicholas stated.
“Please be careful.” Chirstopher pleaded.
“Of course father, I won’t do anything reckless, if I do find evidence that a lead is in that location, father Michael would have to let us deploy a force that can take that hybrid down.” Nicholas stated.
“Good, now that is everything I wanted to talk about, if you’ll excuse me, I have to write a letter to father Michael. If he finds out about that hybrid before I tell him, he will not listen to me again. Nicholas come to my champers when you are ready, so I can tell you where to go. Goodbye everyone” Christopher said.
“Goodbye father.” Alice said.
“Good luck to you all, I will be sure to pray for you Nicholas.”
“Thank you father, I should be getting ready as well, Melissa, Lieutenant, I will be seeing you before I head out.”
Melissa, and Alice both nodded their heads, as they watched Nicholas leave the room, they sat in silence until Melissa broke it.
“I just hope the both of you understand what would happen, if Nicholas gets hurt, or god forbid killed.”
“He will be careful, out of all of you he is the most rational.” Alice stated.
“I hope so Alice, cause I am not going to get blamed for this, if something does happen to him.”
Alice sighed, becoming frustrated, but making sure not to show it, she ignored scratching her head.
“Would it kill you to be a little optimistic?” Alice said.
“Yes, how else do you think I avoided the deaths of my comrade, I do what I think people are capable of, and I don’t think despite his strength Nicholas should do this, in case there is a lead where he is headed.”
“We can only pray to Sez everything works out.” Alice replied.
“... Yes, let us pray everything turns out ok.” Melissa agreed.