In the House of Marduk's territory, there lay the thickest and tallest mountain ranges of the Realm. Yet even amongst the tens of kilometers of high mountaintops, there was one that was an anomaly. Simply because the highest point in the entirety of Meriath was reaching way above the clouds, going 21 kilometers high, piercing the sky itself. Many debated how such a tall mountain could ever even exist, something that stood so out of place. The House of Marduk was making their home at the base of this enormous mountain, calling it Pillar of Meriath. Their city was going up and up around it, but their buildings abruptly stopped after reaching the 10-kilometer point. Not many of the members of the Marduk family knew that right at the top of it stood another, much more ancient building than anything they ever saw. It was like a ziggurat; its top was flat and spacious, easily wide enough for hundreds of people to stand on. What was even more surprising was that a short staircase was right in the middle of it, seemingly leading into nothing, as if someone had just left it there.
Right now, The Six, the leaders of the Six Houses, were standing there, forming a circle. Only someone in the Realm of Three Ri could manage and stand here, unbothered by the cold and by the lack of oxygen. Those who were weaker were supported by talismans, their bodies surrounded by a golden hue. Looking up, the sky was clear, filled with stars, and they could see swirling energies as if looking at it through a window. Meriath's sun and moon were no longer visible, and everyone felt like they stood at the border of two worlds.
"I can't believe you kept this secret," Kaznak, leader of the House of Nerifit, said coldly, surrounded by the golden aura shielding him from the harsh environment as he was looking at Lakhmu, the head of the House of Marduk.
"You are not a Ri," Lakhmu answered calmly, the moving, constellation-like tattoos on his body now even more active than ever before, being so close to the Sky. "It is useless for you to know where the Realm Gate is. My House was tasked to guard and study it. With your meager strength, you can't help."
"..." Kaznak wanted to say something, but in the end, he just shut his mouth.
"Lakhmu is right." Rangi, the old turtle of House Honu, opened his mouth, trying to calm him down, "The gate was discovered when Erias advanced to the Ascendri level. It appeared and was forced open by the energy of the Cosmos."
"So the legends about that event are true…." Rinzen, the current head of House Berison, whispered, watching the "stars" above them. She was also surrounded by a golden hue, but unlike Kaznak, she was not showing any emotion on her face—neither anger nor surprise—only twinkling eyes with a little bit of excitement.
"Yes." Reyra nodded, "We have sealed records from him, only for the eyes of the Head of the Amarins. Things that I had to keep secret from even my husband." She sighed, shaking her head solemnly. "The Realm Gate is sealed shut."
"By who?" Kaznak asked, but everybody just sighed.
"Nobody knows." Dalal, leader of House Ro, said.
"Mhm." Lakhmu, Rangi, and Reyra nodded simultaneously before Reyra continued, "Erias's guess was that it was done from the inside."
"It is also possible," Rangi picked up where she left off, "that we were imprisoned here."
"Imprisoned?" Rinzen flinched, looking dazzled for the first time.
"Because of the Undead." Dalal explained, "Just imagine… A horde of them escaping to another Realm? Turning others? Like a nasty virus."
"If the legends are true," Lakhmu added, looking up, "All those stars are a Realm. I wouldn't be surprised if they would seal ours to keep the Undead at bay."
"Then it is more like a quarantine than a prison," Kaznak murmured, rubbing his forehead.
"Maybe." Lakhmu chuckled, looking at Reyra. "The only one who is adamant that we are sealed in from the inside is the Pepper of Erias."
"Heh…" Reyra giggled, not taking it to heart. "It is because of Erias's notes. He wrote it down clearly;" She started explaining, telling them something that so far only was known by her and Lakhmu, "When he reached the last tier and survived the tribulation, he saw the gate open up for the energies of the Cosmos to come through, and he saw it."
"Saw what?" Many of the masked looked deadly serious. None of them believed Reyra would lie to them or say something exaggerated.
"A pair of eyes looking back at him. They were… frightening." Reyra said, remembering the words of her ancestor. "One was glowing in a bright, white light, while the other was pitch black, swallowing all that it gazed upon. That was how he felt looking at it. He wrote it down that; the eyes looked at him momentarily, measuring him before it looked past him!"
"Past him?" Rangi asked, drawing his head backward on his long neck, thinking. None of the other Houses' ancestors wrote something like that down. Only Erias.
"Yes." Reyra nodded, "The word 'coward' was spoken by a woman, Erias was sure about that, and it was not aimed at him but at someone… something else."
"The Undead?" Rinzen asked, but Reyra and Lakhmu just looked at each other, sighing.
"We don't know." They said in unison.
"I don't want to know how strong one has to be to call the Undead cowards!" Ro sighed, wearing a slight smile on her face. "A force like that sounds unbelievable."
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"I agree," Kaznak added after thinking about it.
"Well..." Reyra added, now drawing a curious glance from Lakhmu as it was her who called for this meeting and said she wanted to have it happen right here. "You all already know about Albert's warning."
"Of course." They answered as many of them were scouring their territories for clues until yesterday, being called here by Reyra.
"Well…" Reyra added again, a bit unsure, "Okay…." She took a deep breath before continuing, "I can't prove this, as 4000 years have passed since the Dark Ages! But there is a memo that only the head of my family can read. If anyone else lays their eyes on it, it seems gibberish. It is Erias's last will before his death."
"Oh?" Lakhmu released a long breath, leaning even closer to avoid missing anything coming out of her mouth.
"His death was abrupt. He immolated his own body, leaving behind ashes and that simple will. It said he had gone to the afterlife to find the source of the Dead. He said…" She twitched her mouth as it was difficult to believe any of it for even the leaders of the Amarins who could read it, "That he will be back if he succeeds."
"..."
Nobody had to say anything, and they were unsure what to think about it. It could be easily explained that Erias went mad after the Dark Ages ended, like so many old generals and warriors from that era. It was not rare, and there were still living examples of that, like Arcus, the dragon.
"There is more…" Reyra continued, feeling a bit weird talking about it as many Amarin leaders later believed that Erias was broken by the time of his death. Paranoia killed his mind, and he couldn't readjust to the peace they fought so hard for. "He said the Ancients must be stopped."
"Ancients?" Ragni repeated the word, "You mean the people who lived before the Dark Ages?"
"No." Reyra shook his head, "When Erias spoke about the Ancients, he meant a civilization before the Undead."
"If… AND ONLY IF the Undead were not always present!" Lakhmu said, crossing his arms, "It is only you, the Amarins who entertain the idea, that there was a point in our history when they did not exist!"
"Me and the still present, intelligent Magical Beasts." Reyra corrected him. "And now, I am more believing of that theory!" She said, with a much firmer voice, pulling out the jade slips, Razael brought back. "These were unearthed by my son."
"Razael?" Dalal asked, watching Reyra nod before her eyes traveled to the old artifacts.
"Yes. These are archaic jades, containing memories of those… Ancients. They somehow managed to record their thoughts into these slips and preserve them. They are damaged but still good enough to get a glimpse of those lost times!" She explained distributing them, "They clearly called themselves Sects, and we concluded that the biggest Sub-Realms we know of were theirs back in the day."
After her brief explanation, she let them immerse themselves in the memories, exchanging the jades and looking at them all. She patiently waited, and it was Ragni who broke the silence after thinking about it.
"From these, it sounds like those Sects ruled Meriath in those days. But none of these mentions if the Undead were there already or not. We can infer that these Sects, like our Houses, were extremely powerful, ruling over the continent like how we do now."
"Maybe," Reyra said, not arguing with him.
"Hm…" Rinzen tilted her head then she looked up at the Cosmos. "It sounded like that one of these Sects angered someone. Someone stronger, and now there was a war looming on the horizon."
"There is one more…" Reyra said, picking a chipped, half-broken jade slip. "This one only has voices… It is highly damaged, but take a listen." She handed it to Ragni first, who, when let its content travel into his brain, heard the following;
“We are [...] losing side, Sect Master…” A voice said, but the recording was so old and filled with noise that he couldn't make out if the speaker was a man or a woman. "It [...] mistake to ambush [...] daughter of that [...]mortal. She killed [...] all. They [...] gone. This can't be [...] We [...] retreat. Our [...] Puppets doesn't work on [...] They have Soul [...] warriors."
When it fell silent, Rangi looked at Reyra, and she knew immediately what the old turtle was thinking about.
"I think so too." Reyra nodded while the others also listened to it, but besides the old turtle, nobody came to the same decision.
"It needs more evidence," Rangi said, and Reyra did not deny that.
"I know. But… it would explain a lot of things."
"Not everything!" Rangi added, raising one hand, and his voice was strong and commanding, making Reyra decide to keep her words for herself… for now.
"What are you two on about?" Lakhmu asked, sighing, feeling lost.
"Nothing." Both of them said simultaneously.
"It is not important. I just wanted to see who amongst you would make the same decision as me." Reyra chuckled, turning playful momentarily, glancing into Rangi's eyes, "And make sure we are prepared. You all noticed it, no?" She sighed, changing topic, and her question made everyone's faces contort.
"Yes, we did." Lakhmu spoke, watching the rest, "The Undead are gone. No matter which cordoned-off Sub-Realm we visited, they were gone. We found none in them. NONE." Others would be elated by news like this, but the Six knew better than anyone. This meant that something was coming. Something horrible.
"Same." Dalal groaned, rubbing her eyes and slapping her cheeks. "We are on the precipice of a second Dark Age! Undead do not vanish just like that! They are planning something!"
"And we don't know how much time we have," Kaznak said, licking his dried lips, holding his trembling hands behind his back to hide it.
"We have to start Phase 1." Reyra continued after Rangi nodded at her, "Start informing the leaders of every major faction and all of the living Honoraries of the Institute. Tell them what is coming and make them patrol the Realm. Tell them it may take centuries for anything to happen, so they have to take a vow of silence! But they have to be vigilant and report any sightings to us! Contact the top Guilds! Send them into Sub-Realms! If the Undead retreated, they might have left some clues. Or we may find some more similar jade slips... Agreed?"
"Yes." They answered in unison, all of them being on the same page.
"What about the artifacts in the Institute?" Rinzen asked.
"They get distributed in Phase 2," Reyra explained as Rinzen, being the youngest and most fresh head of her House, was not yet informed of the ancient plans laid out by the original Six. "Phase 3 is when we take control of every capable military force on the continent…."
"Is there a Phase 4?" She asked, and Lakhmu answered her.
"Phase 4 is to arm all the citizens 14 and up and send them into the fight. Magical or not. Phase 5… is…” He looked at the rest, watching some of them close their eyes.
"Is to start the retreat to Windswept Fields with the selected geniuses." Rangi finished with a heavy voice. "And to drop the Institute on the Undead."
Nobody said anything after that as a truly, heavy air descended on them, realizing the 4000 years of peace was about to end, right under their rule.