“My goodness.” Yog gasped.

“Who was your source on this? Maybe they overreacted to or misinterpreted something.” He said with trembling eyes.

“My source was a Golden Knight. Nel, captain of the Blood Ravens.”

Yog lowered his head.

“What do you plan on doing in response?” He asked.

“Many things. I’m gonna try reasoning with the Golden Prince all while making sure the Dark Expanse is ready for whatever happens-“

I stopped as the door opened, revealing the head of a sleepy looking Anda.

He entered the waiting room in fairly dirty clothes and beyond dirty hands.

“H- hello, lord Katsíki.” He said before sitting on the bench next to mine.

“Is there something you need?” He asked. His speech a low mumble.

I told him what I told Yog and even with all that, his expression didn’t change much.

“How long do we have?”

“About a year. The soldiers and workers that come here will need food and supplies, so Nel approximated that we have until the next full harvest.” I explained.

Anda weakly nodded, but just as he opened his dry mouth to speak, a loud bang came from outside.

It sounded as though someone loudly closed a door.

Several muffled yells then filled air.

Anda made a pained expression before the door opened, revealing an enraged woman.

She glared at Anda, then me, then Yog, who gasped.

“Greetings, lord Katsíki. Do you need something?” The woman asked, but Anda was the one to respond.

“Hey. You can’t just barge into an important meeting-“

“Shut up! I’ll deal with you later.” The woman said before returning her gaze to my spooked self.

I told her everything and her rage somewhat receded.

“Oh.”

“Now you know. Now leave and close the door.” Anda said with a yawn.

The woman’s face twisted in anger.

“Lord Katsíki, I know all this is urgent, but can I deal with Anda?” She asked.

“Yeah! Don’t let me get in your way, err…”

“Sil.”

“Yeah. Do what you gotta do-“

Sil grabbed Anda’s arm and picked him up before dragging him out of room before closing the door.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Sil asked. Her voice slightly muffled.

“I said I was fine.”

“Like hell you are. And is this any way for you present yourself to the Dark Vessel?”

“That’s rich coming from you. You didn’t even like him until suddenly just now.”

“Ugh! Why are you being so difficult?”

“BECAUSE I WANT TO MAKE SURE EVERYONE HAS EVERYTHING THEY NEED!”

“You think you’re being all heroic and altruistic by acting the way you are, huh? Well you’re not. You’re just a selfish asshole who loves it when everyone praised just how hardworking and selfless you appear-“

“You know that’s not true-“

“Shut up and come here.”

Yog and I stared at each other for a moment.

I let out an awkward sigh before raising my hand.

Wisps of black smoke gathered in my palm as I wondered just how many humans lived in Lanceberg.

I also wondered just how many were taken from earth and when.

Perhaps they were originally from Edenton.

Heck, maybe the humans from earth were originally from Edenton.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

I didn’t know.

What I did know was that the Rendaro were few in number and fractured.

In order to stand any chance, I’d need to unite them under a single banner-

Ah…

I also wanted to meet the Ash Wraiths.

I wasn’t sure how they felt about Golden Knights.

I wondered if I should visit them by myself.

My thoughts were interrupted by the door opening.

Sil entered the room and sat on the bench next to mine with a lowered head and I could tell that she had just cried.

Even though she tried her best to wipe away the tears.

“I- I’m sorry for… all that.” She said but I shook my head in response.

“Don’t worry. If you need more time, I’m more than willing to wait.”

“No. The news you brought is very important and I think that we should address it immediately.” Sil said.

“Alright, but before we move on, I must ask, where are elders Olen and Tal? You guys didn’t execute them, did you?” I asked with narrowed eyes.

“No! Anda just stripped them of their titles, although Tal serves the role of advisor.”

“I see. Anyway, what are your thoughts on this?” I asked.

“I don’t think I can answer that. I’m a mere Custodian. You’ll have to wait until Anda has recovered-“

“Anda and I will talk when the time comes. Right now, I want you to tell me your thoughts on the matter at hand.” I said with narrowed eyes.

“Well… the Ia are currently not equipped for conflict on any scale. Our guards number in the tens and the number of war ready Rendaro is probably pitiful. We are also I’ll equipped for war. Our weapons are good for policing the people and that’s just about it. Then there’s the matter of food. As it stands, both Eimval’s have just enough food for everyone if not a little more. Creating an army would drastically affect everyone’s rations.”

“I see. Well, we have a year to prepare. We could take care of the food problem by expanding our agricultural capacities, but the same can’t be said about the other issue. Even if every Ia woman gave birth today, all those children would be year old by the time mankind arrived.”

“You’re willing to send out children into battles?” Sil asked with a horrified expression.

“I didn’t say that. What I meant was that it’d be years before they were battle ready. No child belongs on the battlefield.” I said prompting Sil to weakly nod.

“Since quantity is our problem, we’ll have to make up for it with quality. Gather up about seventy percent of all able bodied Rendaro and have them ready to move in about a week. I’ll create a place where they can train and oh they’ll have to train.” I said before noticing that black smoke was pouring out from my nose.

Sil and Yog simply stared as I waved the smoke away.

“and for those who aren’t able bodied, send only those who can use magic. Speaking of magic, I’ll need several space magicians. I plan on creating a base between Coh and Eimval.”

Sil’s eyes widened slightly.

“So… yeah. That’s just about it.” I said before turning to face Yog.

“You said that you were working with farmers, right? Introduce me to them.”

Yog nodded before standing.

“Actually, get the head farmer, but I think Tal would be the best person to talk with about that.” Sil said and Yog rushed out of the room.

This meant that Sil and I were alone and I couldn’t help but feel awkward.

Anda and her were definitely going through some crap and I didn’t wanna get involved-

“He looks up to you, lord Katsíki.” Sil said while fidgeting with her calloused hands.

Her hair was tried in a messy bun and her dark grey uniform was worn in certain places, even though it looked relatively newly made.

“Ever since he came back from that place, your sanctuary… all he does is work. He rarely sleeps or eats…” Sil said with trembling lips.

“I- could you talk to him? Tell him to stop. We’re all working equally hard to build this place and now… you’re saying that a war is coming-“

“I’ll talk to him.” I said.

Sil simply stared at me with teary eyes.

She wiped her tears before taking several deep breaths.

“I’m sure you’ll be wanting to recruit the Ash Wraiths.” Sil said with a fake cough.

“Yes. The more hands the better.” I said with a sigh.

Yog eventually returned with Tal in tow.

The two entered the room and while Yog sat next to me, Tal remained by the door while deeply bowing.

“Raise your head.”

Tal did so and looked at me with frightened eyes.

I told him everything and asked for some advice on what to do to increase food production.

“Mmm… there’s a plant that grows in Old Eimval. Nyxten. It thrives in dark places like caves and such because if feeds off of darkness. The only problem is it needs quite a lot of water, but if we can figure that out we can secure a large supply of food.” Tal explained, his gaze avoiding mine as much as possible.

“I see. Well we have the stream as our source of water. How about we build several greenhouses along the stream?” I suggested.

“That could work quite well especially since you can manipulate darkness. I meant it quite literally when I said that the Nyxten plant does well in dark places. It actively absorbs darkness and uses it to grow. They are tall, thin and dark. They also have two harvesting seasons when they sprout white pods. One in the middle of summer and another in the middle of winter.” Tal explained.

“Awesome. I wonder what’ll happen if we can make them produce more food just by pumping them with darkness.” I wondered aloud, but Tal shook his head.

“Unfortunately, that’ll only make their outer skins harder, making it harder for their nutritious pods to come out.”

“Aww. Now that carbs are out of the way, what we’ll we do about protein? What about meat?” I asked while drooling internally.

The Foph had those weird beasts, but I assumed they kept them as pets.

Mmm… I was a goat, meaning that there must have been other goats somewhere out there and possibly other animals from earth.

This made me question how the collision worked even more, but I needed to curb my curiosities about that for the time being.

“Well, we Ia have a mainly plant based diet, so I can’t really say anything on that front.” Tal said with a weak chuckle.

The sun had begun to rise, meaning the room was filled with pale grey light, this also revealed to everyone the Dark Marks on my body.

“My goodness. I wasn’t sure at first, but… are you alright, lord Katsíki?” Yog asked but I raised a single hand.

“Yes and we shall speak of this no further.” I said flatly.

No one spoke and I sighed deeply as I wondered where in Edenton we could enough life energy to heal everyone without committing countless murders.

“So, to summarize everything we talked about: We’re going to build several Nyxten fields along the stream and erect a training somewhere between Coh and Eimval. Unless any of you have more practical suggestions.”

No one spoke.

“Good. I’ll need some space magicians.”

“I’ll get some right away.” Sil said as she stood up.

She then dashed out of the building, leaving me with Tal and Yog.

“You two, head back and get any spare farmers. We’ll build according to what they can handle. Also, from today forward, train anyone you can. Teach them the ways of the soil, so to speak.”

Tal and Yog stood up and after giving me a quick bow, they left.

Leaving me alone, but not in complete silence.

New Eimval had a strange ambience to it.

It sounded as though people were arguing, laughing and living.

I wanted to protect this.