They travelled south, south east for four days, arriving at a large war camp surrounded by a tall log wall. Unlike the war camp Zalia had seen when meeting Alara and her small band, this was more of a permanent camp and there were many, many more soldiers here. The camp looked to hold a few thousand soldiers, most likely an encampment on the front lines of what the battle line of the war was. Zalia knew of course that a war had been raging while her and her team had been off hunting and exploring elementals, rituals and the north but being here and seeing how large the army was gave her a little bit of a shock. For some reason she had thought that there were smaller battles and skirmishes and that was about it but the truth was the scale of the war was much greater than she had previously thought. From what she knew, Endaria stretched quite far further south and there were most likely a few more war camps just like this one along the stretch of the battlefront.

The war camp itself had a tall, spiked log wall as she had previously noted, along with towers at regular intervals of the wall's length, each with the silhouette of a person atop. The wall had a large two-door gate on the side facing west towards central Endaria.

“Soo, what now?” Zalia asked, a little nervous.

“We go in,” Eztari said.

He looked back at the four of them,

“It's not too late to turn around and go back, if that is what you want,” he said.

Zalia and her team all looked at each other but no one made any objections so Indis turned back to Eztari, giving the man a nod. Saying nothing but looking pleased, he led the way towards the war camp, leaving the shade of a small patch of trees. Once they were closer, a guard noticed them and stood, looking like they were about to sound an alarm. The guard stopped when Eztari held up a small object in his hand, gave a short but sharp whistle and made a strange gesture with his other hand. The guard turned about and shouted down towards the gate,

“Open the gate!” the guard said.

With a groan of wood, one door of the large gate began swinging open. They reached it just as the gate stopped, open only far enough for them to enter before swinging back closed behind them once more. Whatever happened they were committed now, Zalia didn't think that escape from the camp would be anything close to easy if it came to that but she still made sure to keep an eye out for possible escape routes. Towers, the gate, anything she could think of. They followed Eztari as the five of them passed by rows and rows of neat and well ordered tents. No soldier sat idle as each man and woman went about their tasks whether it was sharpening weapons, polishing armour, eating, training or other mundane but important tasks.

“The operation of this army speaks a great many words as to the proficiency of it's generals,” Indis said diplomatically.

Eztari nodded,

“Indeed, the false king made a grave error in alienating these men to his cause,” Eztari replied.

“You truly believe the king is at fault for all of this, don't you?” Indis asked.

“I do, and you will soon believe it too, or so I hope,” Eztari said.

Indis seemed to inspect the man for a long moment, though she must have detected only honesty for she didn't respond.

They walked for some time through the camp, past soldiers and various aides going about their duties. They even saw a group of soldiers patrolling in full armour, weapons held at the ready. As they got closer to the centre of the camp, tents got bigger and even some more permanent constructed buildings started appearing. They closed in on a large building that wasn't really decorated in any way, looking mundane and no different to any of the other buildings around. It was a bunker of a building, a large stone construction that looked like it had been grown from the very ground around it. As they approached, Eztari motioned for them to stop and walked up to the two guards at the door. He whispered something quietly and moved into the building. The two guards eyed Zalia and her group warily, very obviously sizing them up and preparing themselves if a fight should occur. Zalia noticed the others were doing the same and realised she was too, though she didn't like their chances if it came to a fight considering the silver rank of both the guards and the entire army around them. In this situation, diplomacy was key.

A few tense moments later, Eztari came back out of the building, looking between the guards and her group, shaking his head.

“Come, time to meet some of our generals,” Eztari said.

He led the way into the building with Zalia's group following, though she noticed the two guards had a tight grip on their weapons. They entered into a well lit room with a large table in the centre with a few chairs set around it. Around the edges of the room stood not a small number of attendants holding various items from pitchers to sheaf's of paper to rolled up maps. One of them even had a large, complex looking object made of various metals and precious stones. The man holding the object looked like they were tapping a flat stone plate while watching another similar plate as various swirling patterns appeared on it. She watched the man for a moment and to her surprise the best comparison she could make to it was typing. It seemed the man was typing on the flat stone plate and interpreting the images on the other, some form of long range communication maybe. Zalia thought back to the last time she had used a keyboard, a long time ago when she had still lived with her parents. She hadn’t spoken to either of them in many years, not really having any form of internet in her log cabin in the snowy north and now being on some other planet or realm.

She looked around the rest of the room, noting the four sharply dressed military people around the central table, the surface of which was covered in a large unfurled map, stones holding down the four corners. The four people were looking at Zalia and her group as they entered, various expressions on each of their faces. There were two men and two women, each of them dressed in similar uniforms. The uniforms each had metal plates sewn onto the shoulders, three of them holding two plates on each shoulder while the fourth person, a woman, had three plates. Zalia guessed that was some form of rank which would make the woman the general or leader of this camp whilst the others were most likely advisors or lower ranked military squad commanders, or something such. One of the three that only had two plates had plates of a different colour, distinguishing them in some way that Zalia didn't yet understand.

Neither Zalia's group or the four at the table spoke for a short time before Eztari finally spoke up,

“General, advisor and commanders these are the emissaries from the Morning’s shade I mentioned earlier. Emissaries, this is the general of this camp, her advisor and commanders,” Eztari said.

“An honour,” Zalia said, giving her best nod of respect. It probably wasn't very good. She didn't know if saluting was even a thing here.

“Likewise, may I ask your names?” the advisor asked.

Zalia hesitated for a moment, glancing at Indis before replying,

“I am Zalia, this is Ember, Zen and Lady Indis,” Zalia said, motioning to each of her companions, “and may I ask your names?”

Zalia was hating this. She was not the best with people and she had expected Indis to take the lead but the woman was just inspecting the equally silent general who was inspecting her in turn. Stupid politics.

“Of course. I am Advisor Ryn, this is General Faian and Commanders Gurz and Lynette,” the Advisor said.

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The woman he introduced as Commander Lynette was the only one at the table who held an openly hostile expression. Both the General and Advisor held neutral expressions while the other Commander had an air of general disapproval about him.

“We may as well cut to the point. We would like proof of your claims that the king is behind the rituals and in causal the elemental attacks. Eztari has already explained to us most of it but we would like direct testimony and if possible, irrefutable proof,” Zalia said, deciding to cut away with the bullshit and get to it.

“Why should we tell you anything, your organisation has caused us trouble enough already,” Commander Lynette said.

Zalia frowned,

“What trouble have we caused you?” she asked.

Both Zen and Ember seemed content to let Zalia talk for now, not wanting to get involved much as she herself didn't want to be.

“You have freed up the kingdom's armies by dealing with the elementals in their stead. This means they now have overwhelming numbers against us despite their general disorder and lack of skilled generals,” Commander Lynette said, a little anger in her voice.

“Enough,” General Faian said.

Despite the Generals command, Zalia still replied,

“You would prefer we ignore the elementals and let them rampage through the lands uncontested, harming people and destroying towns as they see fit?” Zalia asked, feeling herself get a little angry.

The Commander had the sense of mind to look a little ashamed at the suggestion and Indis finally spoke,

“I have heard of you, General Faian. You were once a General of the kingdom's armies if I recall correctly,” she said, moving past the argument with tact.

“I was and still am. I serve the people of Endaria first, always,” Faian said.

“The fact you are here and not serving under the king's armies already does bring some truth into Eztari’s stories but I would like to hear your story anyways,” Indis said.

“Very well. As you have said, I was once a General under the king, loyal as any. The previous king was a good man who deserved the loyalty those that served under him gave, he was well respected. When he died, his son took his place and all was well for a time, though many grieved the loss of the old king. I myself was within the new king's advisors when it came to military matters in the beginning. I can still recall the day that something… changed in him. I don't know exactly what happened and at the time I thought it to just be the foul mood of a son who had finally realised he had lost his father. I thought the truth of the situation had finally sunk into the boy and that was the cause of his strange behaviour but I couldn't have been more wrong," Faian said, pausing for a moment looking deep in thought.

"One day not so long after the death of the king, I received an order from the new king, an order for me to send out one of my more trusted companies far north of here and with the orders came a sealed and stamped letter from the king himself. I never learnt the contents of that letter as I still trusted the king at the time and sent along the men with the sealed letter, under orders to only open it when they arrived at their destination. The men I sent were good men, loyal as any to the new king. I guess it is because of their loyalty that they followed through with whatever it was the king wanted them to do though I believe it was one of the first rituals to have taken place. I didn't know it then however, all I knew was that the company came back but they were… different. Not all of them returned either, some lost though the survivors would not say how or why. The ones that did return were crazed in their actions, wild and impossible to control. The king eventually called for us to send the men to him to be taken care of and we did so, still believing in his good intentions. Unfortunately, this was only the first of such happenings and soon me and some of the other generals and commanders realised what was happening. We foolishly approached the king and confronted him about the horrors that were happening to our soldiers but we were waved away," she continued, some very deeply hidden emotion beginning to show on her face.

"Soon after, the first of us disappeared and was never seen again. Soon after, another of the Generals suddenly stopped communicating with us and was found to be crazed much like the others. It was then that those of us who remained made plans to flee and begin this rebellion. We were the only ones who yet knew what was happening to the soldiers and the king himself, though many of the army knew as well. Many came with us, and many were lost in our flight. We weren’t yet a big enough number to contend with the remaining army at that time and had decided to regroup far to the east of the kingdom and make plans there. Many of us did make it, though not all. Now, we fight. We fight the king's crazed soldiers and we try our best to protect the people of this kingdom from the threat they do not yet realise. Not all of the king's armies are corrupted and crazed such as those that we fight, some he has kept normal to keep up pretense to his people but more and more have realised the truth and come to our side. Not so long ago the tide had actually turned in the war. We were winning for a time and had started taking ground, getting closer to the capital and this is where your organisation comes in. We think the king is using you as a desperate move to take back momentum in the war and so far it is working. It will not work for long because his armies do not fight with order, discipline and planning but through madness and thirst for battle. It is the only reason I believe we have held out as long as we have. Soon, as more realise the truth we will take back momentum once more and push forwards but I fear it will be too late,” the General finished explaining.

She paused for a moment,

“I fear we will be too late, I fear that the reason he has gone to the measure of getting your organisation involved is the simple fact that he needs but a little more time. Just a little bit more time to put into motion whatever nefarious plan he has, whatever it is the rituals are meant to accomplish. We destroy the ones we find but I fear it is simply not enough,” she finally finished, looking intensely at Zalia and her group.

Zalia found it hard not to believe the woman. The story was so compelling, spoken with such conviction and detail that she had a hard time believing it was anything but truth. She looked to her friends and saw that they too seemed to believe in what the woman told them, Indis herself seemed the most convinced though maybe it had something to do with the fact that she had previously known of the General.

“I must admit, I find your retelling of the story to be quite compelling,” Indis said.

“Although a compelling leader is one requirement for such a strong rebellion,” Zalia thought idly.

“Because it is truth, Lady Indis,” the General said.

“How long do you think we have?” Zalia asked.

“I don't know for sure, but time is running short,” the General replied.

Suddenly, Zalia remembered something. She gently patted Boreal as the feline woke up from her nap on Zalia's shoulders,

“The battle in the north, near the town where Eztari met us. What was that whole fight about? The people there didn't seem crazed to me but like normal soldiers,” Zalia said.

“The battle that took place some two months ago? How do you know of it, were you there?” General Faian asked.

“I was, in fact I saved quite a few of your people that day,” Zalia said.

“So you are the one the few that returned here spoke of. You have quite strong abilities for an Iron ranker,” Faian said with a thoughtful expression.

Soon though, her expression turned to a frown,

“That battle. Bah! A waste of good men it was. I told those who were camped there not to engage, they were meant to be a simple vanguard against an attack from the north, to stop any army from crossing freely past our lines but the idiots got too confident. Our recent successes in battle and the war in general at the time bolstered their courage and they took it upon themselves to go and push our lines forwards. A foolish decision that cost many lives, more so if you had not been there. I thank you for the work you did that day,” Faian explained.

“Saving lives is an action that needs no thanks,” Zalia said, looking to Ember who nodded appreciatively.

The General nodded, obviously in agreement with the sentiment.

“We must retire for a time and talk amongst ourselves about what we have learnt, if it is acceptable with you,” Indis said.

“Of course, Eztari will show you to a private tent in which you can talk,” Faian said, gesturing to the man.

“Thank you, we will get back to you shortly with our decision and we can plan where to go from there,” Indis said.

The General nodded and they began moving out of the room. As they were about to step out the door, a loud horn sounded through the camp, quickly followed by a second and third blast.

“What have you done! Who have you led here?” the General asked in anger.

“This is not us,” Indis said firmly.

The General looked to Indis for a long moment before standing and rushing out the door,

“To arms! To arms!,” General Faian yelled over the clamour of the camp.