Easparton, Thar.

Adrian walked in the wide path that led straight into the hearts of mighty peaks of Verdant Divides. The city was surrounded by these rocky, barren, snowy peaks in all but one direction. As he walked, he couldn’t help but look at the city behind him. The city had stood the very test of time, even before the rise of Thar and humans as a whole. Built as the front line against elves, along with Nertherend to the north and Ember Reach to the south, these three cities had kept Thar out of reach from elves. Fighting among narrow white peaks was no easy feat, the wind alone cut through the mountains at fifty kilometres per hour at minimum. People die more from falling and frostbite than through swords or arrows. For much of history, these peaks have only known about their bloodyness but nowadays there is a change when one looks at them. Adrian arrived at the end of the road, in front was the giant metal door with an engraved Scorpion in the middle. Guarded by a platoon of knights and mages, around a hundred or so humans, the gate led to the chambers carved out into the mountains. A personal project of Adrian, but its purpose was not to build fortified bunkers, not for the people at least. It was built to guard what could not be dreamed of in this barren desert of Thar. Industries.

Industries are the very foundation behind the prosperous land as well as the availability of many artefacts throughout the human land. But setting them up was not as easy as it sounds. They cost a fortune just to build. Just setting them on sand that keeps on sinking just inflates their cost to new heights. And then there were beast tides, the very root cause for why Easparton built houses from mud rather than anything more common materials like stones. When Adrian came to Thar, he planned to slowly infiltrate their hierarchy, but he found himself on the good side of Arcturus soon after. Whether it was a stroke of luck or not, Adrian knew that he had a job cut out for him. Trust, after all, was not known for lasting forever. For that, Adrian got to work and after he travelled to many small tribes under Easparton before coming to these peaks for an answer. When a thought came to him, ‘Why not just build those things inside mountains?’ It took much effort from him as well as almost half of Easparton’s annual budget to a tenure of two continuous decades, but his call didn’t go unanswered. Inside these hundreds of mountain peaks were the magic factories that allowed it to look straight into Oasis’ eyes. Without these, Easparton couldn’t even hope to achieve much against the Oasis’ rule. For he had heard Arcturus once saying “The war is all about men and logistics.” Adrian agreed and that’s why, he could say to the elf queen with confidence, that nothing was stopping Easparton from going to war, only the will.

The door opened and as Adrian walked in, he was greeted with a big map of the southern continent drawn on the stone wall.

South [https://i.imgur.com/0Y1DRSL.jpg]

It was a fleeting thought, but he did wish for the flow of time to stop. For things not to progress beyond this. This whole southern continent once belonged to Elves with dense forests everywhere. He had heard a lot about how humans slowly rose through a tiny land and soon consumed almost two-thirds of the forest and turned it into a desert. But the hatred goes much deeper than just taking the land. For elves, being unable to stop the humans as well as their guardian which sucked the very life from anything that moves, the elves had to resort to extreme measures. The Verdant Divides was made when the Earth spirit King sacrificed himself. The loss of one of the five King spirits means there could be no peace among Thar and Aurelianathil. Especially more so, as elves now find themselves landlocked. On the other side, the Great Reef wall ensured no ship could pass through any of the shallow ports of Aurelianathil. And on the off chance they tried to make a deep port, Thar had unapologetically bombarded their coast with their mages while also enacting a naval blockade. The most severe was around three hundred years ago when Bella found elves using Thar’s people as slaves in northern Moonstones mines and ordered them to bombard the whole coastal regions of Aurelianathil as well attacking any ship that dared to sail towards ports of Teldrassil or Mithrest or even Aurelianar. Despite the multiple deadly skirmishes and two wars along the peaks of Verdant Divides and even the elf king himself coming to Oasis and pleading for relief, the blockade continued for three decades. The coastal forest kept on burning throughout the day or night and crippled much of the elves’ economy as well as any imports. Only one of them could survive on this continent, it couldn’t be any more clear. But he knew the helplessness of such thoughts and so he forced his eyes to look away.

“ My lord.” A guard near the door with short sword said to Adrian. “ The other vice city lords are waiting for you inside.”

“ When can I expect Lord Arcturus as well as others?” Adrian said, composing himself.

“ Lord Arcturus is currently sharing pleasantries with other lords. They could be here any moment now.” Having heard that, Adrian gave a small nod and walked into the rather grand room. One of its walls was nicely decorated with the same map of the Southern Continent plastered among the golden clothes that draped the side walls. There was a group of people already present in the room discussing something but stopped seeing him enter the room. They stood up and offered a customary greeting to him which he also returned. Each one had the badge of scorpion on their chest but they were not under Easparton’s control. They belonged to the other two cities, Netherend and Ember Reach. Verdant Divides’ importance was such that the three different commands or cities as known in Thar were set up to take the lead. It shows even from the rulers of Thar, with most coming from three such cities or Arcturus put it, from the scorpion tribes. The other rival to the throne came from the wasp tribe, and this time too, it was supposed to have happened from these two aggressive tribes, but that’s not what happened. He walked towards them and took a seat as he discussed some recent incidents while waiting.

Adrian didn’t have to wait much, as after just five minutes, the guards informed him about new arrivals. The doors opened and led by Arcturus, two other people followed amidst the saluted of everyone inside the room. Arcturus took his seat at the small round table with two others and Adrian sat a little behind him, just like the other two people taking the number of people in the room to a total of six.

“ Arcturus, since we all are already here let us get to the point,” One of the lords said, his figure was quite tall and muscular, his hair closely cropped and had a square jawline. He was the City Lord of Nertherend. He gazed at Arcturus with his piercing blue eyes and said in a firm no-nonsense voice “ What plan do you have to solve our apparent food crises.” His words were clearly enunciated and precisely dictated.

“ Jameson, come on,” Another lord says to him “You make it sound like we are already in a crisis which I remind you, we are not.”

“ If that’s so, would Sir Rodriguez want to suggest your cities could go by as usual, then I have nothing else to say.” Rodriguez smiled warmly at Jamson’s words through the frown on his face, making the smile less warm. He looks like a lean, agile man with short, dark hair that he keeps neatly trimmed and warm sun tanned skin. He led the other city of Ember Reach. With his sharp brown eyes with a body having precise movements. “ We will be in a crisis if we fail to do anything substantial. Which I believe is what we are going to do,” His voice was confident and firm.

Arcturus, not the first time dealing with them, interjected himself in between to steer the discussion back to the topic “ My friends. Let us not get sidetracked here… though I do agree with Rodriguez that we are not going to end up in trouble just yet”

“Then what would you suggest?” Jamson asked while Rodriguez didn’t cut him this time. “ The Oasis had started to gather its forces and according to reports, the number of those that pitched tents outside would soon reach five hundred thousand and as they would move towards here, the number was expected to cross one million. If we are going by the book, they would be cutting out food supplies soon.”

“For starters, how about we distribute a stock of food in our cities? Easparton currently has enough food stock for six months and five days and double that without rationing.” Arcturus said the figure he prepared beforehand. Jameson and Rodriguez followed him while stating their figures.

“ Five months, twelve days and triple that for war stocks.”

“ My city can hold for as long as two months and eight days.”

“ If I don’t remember wrong, it’s stated by law to maintain a three-month stock of food at all times, “ Jameson asked Rodriguez.

“ Well, I don’t like to keep them inside warehouses only to find them rotting when the need arrives,” Rodriguez said calmly to Jameson’s gibe. “ Though if we started to follow rules, I doubt we would all be sitting here now, don’t you agree?”

“ We are not breaking any rules. To fight for your right is the way of Thar.”

“ I suggest we don’t wait for the market stocks to dwindle and start rationing the food as soon as possible,” Arcturus said he doesn't like them bickering with each other. The others also read the dissatisfaction in his words and decided to stop their bickering at once.

“ How long are we going to hold in that case?” Jameson asked his vice city lord in the back who prominently answered “It will double if we start rationing from tomorrow and could be even more if we supply half of that amount.”

“I agree with starting to ration food as soon as possible.” Rodriguez voiced his approval “But we need not be so drastic as cutting the supply in half, it will greatly increase the dissatisfaction among people. Besides, we also want them to join the army as additional troops for ‘Cross Roads’ to work.” Rodriguez sounded as if he didn’t want to recruit people with low morals in order not to affect the overall quality of his troops. But Adrian knew more, Cross Roads, was the codename of the plan to eliminate people with questionable loyalty.

“ For this, I have a solution.” Arcturus had already prepared his answer for him. “We can cut the food by one-third but only for normal people. Anyone helping the army can be given the same amount as before.”

“That solves one thing but there is still more…” Jameson said as he gave them a deep frown. “ The thing about increasing the army size is not quite easy. We can't deploy the personnel from the mountain corps quite yet, it will take more time than we currently have. We also need many people working for magic factories to keep commodities going.”

Arcturus and Rodriguez agreed with him. The border with elves is a delicate thing and the thought of elves crossing the mountains while they are busy somewhere else is the last thing they want to happen to them. Adrian on the back frowned when he listened to them but stayed silent unless directly asked, the vice city lords are not allowed to speak in such meetings. According to his understanding, every person of Thar could fight well due to beast tide as well as due to the mandatory battle training given to them when they go through Silver Citadel Academy. Though Adrian has never gone to it personally, he was still amazed by such an academy, in other races where people worry if their magical knowledge can be stolen, Thar and the human race looked like an outlier. Without even considering Thar which needs constant warriors to just exist, Alliance had no such threats but even it seemed to be worried about people not willing to learn magic or knights and thus had laws punishing parents for not sending their children to the academy. Back to Thar, Adrian did have thoughts of visiting the academy in the past but it was too risky before. After all, according to him, it was the academy which made Thar into frantic.

“ For that, I have a plan” Rodriguez offered “ Why don’t we first reinforce the mountain with recruits, despite not being trained to fight in mountains, as long as we only planned to defend, that could be achieved with a short training. We don’t have to teach them to fight anyway.”

“ This is more plausible,” Jameson nodded as did Arcturus who adds further “Accordingly, it could work for deterrence against elves, but then we also need to consider their responses.”

“ Sometimes I just wanted to stop thinking about roundabout ways and just smash those arrogant fools personally,” Rodriguez said.

“ Well, why not try a little and see if the alliance could kill you within five minutes or not? Maybe you can make a record of surviving more than that.” Jameson said with an unkempt sarcastic tone. As both of them were on the verge of pulling each other’s hairs, a servant quietly entered the room and said something in the ears of Adrian whose eyes suddenly contracted after listening. The other lords also noticed his anomaly and stopped their discussion.

“ What’s the matter?” Arcturus inquired to which Adrian replied with a difficult face.

“My lord, The Scorpion Guild has suddenly dissipated and ran away” The Scorpion Guild, was an organisation built solely for one thing, smuggling as well as transportation. They were the ones responsible for the safe delivery of ships from Terralia to all parts of Thar. Like many things, Thar likes to concentrate power into a handful of chosen power centres to make their rule easier, and Scorpion Guild was no different. It was under the control of Oasis for all intents and purposes, and they expected things to go wrong with this guild. That’s why they tried to infiltrate all the people of the guild that lay within their control. At least, that’s what was supposed to have been the case.

“ What?” The city lords and other vice lords look shocked and confused at him, but Adrian doesn’t stop.

“It is true my lord. My people staying outside the guild just discovered their disappearance and also there’s more to it”

“ Get to the point,” Jameson said with displeasure.

“...As they left, some of our warehouses caught fire and someone seemed to have spread the news about the low food supply as well as the blockade of supply routes and now there is confusion around the city which might become chaos if we didn’t do anything about them” Adrian finally says in a breath but his words made all others silent in the room as an atmosphere of solemn descended upon everyone.

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****

On the other side, John sat on a comfy sofa while reading a letter. In front of him were his two juniors Mike and Margretta. The room was the living room of the official’s bungalow, still made from mud but this time, it was renovated with the spells of mages to look and feel like that of marbles. A huge improvement after their not-so-recent adventurism. It was the middle of the night but there was no sleep in anyone's eyes. Quite the opposite, the letter took almost all of their attention.

“What does it say, Sir?” Margretta, dressed in casual light pink clothes with loose hair asked. Mike beside her was no different. He was dressed in his casual yellow long-sleeve clothes.

“ How much do you trust the HQ?” John didn’t answer but instead asked them another question that surprised them. In their eyes, John didn’t look like a person who would doubt the orders given to him. Their eyes landed on the letter, the most likely culprit of such change. They were not wrong for they heard John continuing. “ Order this time is slightly different. They have told us that ‘Operation Salvation’ has been started in full and so all non-required personnel are being pulled back from here.”

“ Operation Salvation?” They both have never heard of such an operation. But it was not difficult to understand as they worked for a revenue service, rather than the military. But then, Mike asked the main question that came to their minds. “ What do they want us to do? Involve deeper into the mission and do something for the operation?”

“ It would be easy if that was the case. But in their typical fashion. They didn’t say anything about the operation. They recommended that we surrender to Easparton.”

“ Sir, your letter is not spoofed?” Margretta asked, she couldn’t believe such a nonsense order came from the Oasis. Even Mike had his hands turned into fists with a face that struggled to maintain his composure.

“ Easy. I said it was recommended, didn’t I?” John said as he threw three badges made from some copper-like metal but not quite. “ These were the props sent with this letter. If we used it before sunset, then it would teleport us to the small team of the Scorpion guild which will take us out from here.”

Mike and Margretta looked at the badges, only to be confused again. A question remained, why would they recommend something like surrendering to an enemy while also giving an option to reject? Do they want some moles for a hidden dagger? Margretta looked at the calm smiling face of John and with a little sceptical voice asked him. “ Sir, what have you decided?”

“ Me?” John raised his eyebrow but then his eyes shifted his focus from the duo to the letter. At the bottom left of the letter, was the seal of Gold keepers as well as a beetle. But they were not his focus. Instead, it was the signature above them. It read, “Signed by Bella Coven Ashenmoon”. It was a sign, not her one but a more standard one to be used in official works. Nevertheless, he had not seen it for a long time. Even if it was not signed by Bella herself, it couldn’t be put on any paper without her approval. With the sign on the letter, he doesn’t need to think more about his choices. “ I am going to surrender by morning. But I leave your life at your discretion.”

There was silence in the room. John’s eyes were firm, no words could convince him otherwise. All that was left was Margetta and Mike, for they didn’t know what was the right course of action. Getting captured by Easparton means there would be no escape from the torture. They knew what kind of treatment one would receive when being unlucky enough to land there.

“ Sir, I-I would stay with you,” Mike said.

“...I will too.” Margretta also said. They both know deep down that they don’t like the taste of running away from what they started. That’s the reason they were not liked within their work circles. They just don’t know how to compromise with other parties.

The words from those two made John raise his eyebrows and stare deep into their eyes. Their faces were tense and he could see Margretta gripping her clothes under the table, but their eyes were firm and unnerved under his sharp gaze. He was planning to discourage them but his words didn’t come out as he remembered his old days in the army. He chuckled at them and said. “ If that’s the case, should we greet our friends outside? Let's do a dress-up first.” He clicked his anchor on his wrist and the blue lights covered all of them. When it disappeared, all three of them had their official clothing. The letter was already burned with the ashes taken away with the winds created by John. As John stood up, Mike and Margretta followed behind him to the door. Outside, just as they appeared, they witnessed a large group of people, in heavy as well as light armour spread about with them as a circle. “ It seems to be a busy night today, isn’t it?” John said while maintaining his smile. Even waved his arms as a greeting towards the man with the heaviest armour in the back.

Hearing his words, the man in armour walked towards him, with each step, he made a heavy sound of metal clinking. “ Busy? No, it's the opposite. Today is the best night I could hope for.” Kalvin said from his helmet. “ Not every day did one get a chance to see the fierceness of Batch 32.” He pulled out a great sword, equally as big as him while about half his thickness.

“ Sir Kalvin seems to be preparing for a fight. But I wonder why. Mike, Margretta, who do you think offended Sir Kalvin this bad?” John was unnerved and asked his juniors behind him in a joking tone.

“ Probably his own breaths,” Mike said to him. Margretta was too willing to say something but before she could, Kalvin who was already impatient for a fight motioned to his vice-captain who came over with a piece of paper.

“ By the order of the City Lord Arcturus, the three Gold Keepers, John, Mike and Margretta are found to be in cahoots with the network of traders as well as smugglers. They are found to be extorting money and bribes to give clean chits for people with genuine as well as Trump-up charges. And thus hereby are to be arrested and in case of any resistance, use of force is authorised.”

“ Bullishit. I have never seen such brazenness.” Mike cursed out loud the moment he heard the vice-captain finish reading the order.

“ So it was what it is. Now then, shall we start?” Kalvin said as other knights started to back away. They had their orders to interfere only when John and others tried to escape. But Kalvin was bound to get disappointed tonight.

“Ah, about that. Since it was already such, I think we can’t do anything now, can we?” John shook his head and pulled out his main anchor, a long stick made from some wood with a metal casing on the top. Mike and Margreta were also the same and pulled out their anchors. A wind blows in the night with three moons in the sky. Just as Kalvin was about to make a move, he happened to see John and others throwing their weapons to the front while raising their hands above their hands. “ We surrender.” He heard John saying. It caused a pause in Kalvin’s brain and also too many of the knights and mages who had one thought on their minds. "Why does it feel like something is wrong today? It was supposed to be an epic fight, wasn't it?”

***

“ You mean they all surrendered?” Adrian had a deep frown when he heard that. He was on the other end of the city, in the biggest retail market of Easparton. He was already prepared to hear deep explosions throughout the night and go tomorrow morning to see the ruined buildings everywhere. But this was unexpected in a strange way. “ What’s the reason for such an incident?”

“ We are still investigating but we found three teleportation artefacts in their possession. Our initial assessment suggests that they could have escaped if they wanted to but didn’t, mostly the order from Oasis. But we are not quite sure” the messenger said to him. Another guard came next to him as he walked out.

“My lord, the city was fully under martial law and our people had already searched all known locations of the Scorpion Guild but found nothing there.”

“Keep searching for remnants. They shouldn’t have all left, but the numbers can be reduced. Send all the extras to help in raids. I wanted them finished by sunrise.”

The arrest of three Gold Keepers was just one part of many raids that had happened the previous night. From the moment he had received news of the trade blockade, Adrian had ordered a list of all traders, sellers, and private shops dealing with food commodities to be made. Now that news had been released by the Scorpion Guild, it would soon reach all parts of the city, likely causing panic, hoarding, and artificially inflated prices due to profiteering. Adrian had decided to move first and take direct control of the food stocks available in the market.

“I will order them to speed up.”

But Adrian's thoughts were elsewhere. For years, he had always known and heard of the exceptional loyalty among people from other regions towards Osais. Even witnessed a homicide just weeks ago. But even without considering all that, he just couldn't fandom what Bella did to make her influence so strong. Perhaps it had something to do with the Academy. Adrian could only reach such a conclusion as he remembered the city lord making a scene years ago when he marched soldiers to surround and enter the academy. Some even said a fight had erupted between the teachers and soldiers at that time. Later, all personnel from Oasis were expelled, and new ones were put in place by Arcturus, who took direct control of its local branch in Easparton. At the time, Adrian hadn’t thought much deeper into the incident beyond a small power struggle, as Osais had only issued letters condemning such acts.

For some reason, a warning from Arcturus came to his mind. It was when he had just joined as the vice city lord and was in his new office that Arcturus had suddenly come to meet him.

“I want to talk about some very important things with you that you must remember as a new vice city lord,” Arcturus had said with such seriousness that Adrian still vividly remembered forgetting to breathe in his presence.

“The first thing you must be clear on is to never, and I mean never, utter any words concerning Bella. Not even in private talks. It doesn't matter what you think or plan to do. Once you disrespect her by not heeding my warning, the consequences are unimaginable for your future.”

The aura Arcturus had released at that time was so dreadful that it had almost overwhelmed Adrian. Thus, he had never dared to inquire further about the taboo of Easparton. Perhaps Arcturus understood its terror better than he did and was willing to go to extreme lengths, unofficially banning all references and changing everything related to her as Oasis's representative and so on.

Much time had passed, but Adrian still wasn’t willing to test the waters, especially not at this critical time when conflict could erupt at any moment. However, he still wanted to try something, so he said to the guards following behind him, “What do you think about those Gold Keepers? Will they switch sides after spending some time in prison?”

“My lord, I’m not too sure…” the guard replied hesitantly, his face showing confusion, though his grip on his sword tightened unconsciously. “But I'm sure we can break them given some time.”

Adrian felt it was a misunderstanding, but there seemed to be a hint of killing intent in the guard's final words. No, it couldn’t be, he denied such thoughts. Too much had happened that day, and he was simply tired, he reasoned with himself. After all, these guards were responsible for the palace’s safety and had passed Arcturus’s strict scrutiny. Surely, he wouldn’t keep hidden dangers so close; he had no reason to.

“My lord, are you alright?” the guard asked, noticing Adrian’s pale face.

Adrian looked at his hands, which were wet with sweat, and felt a chill run down his spine as a breeze blew through the streets, soaking his back as well. He took a deep breath. “I’m fine. Let's go back. There’s nothing more for us here.” The guards nodded, and Adrian started to walk back, his eyes occasionally glancing at the guard from earlier, but finding nothing unusual. He finally decided to put the matter to rest. “I'm really tired today,” he muttered as they disappeared into the night.

***

The next day, a crowd of people flocked to the city square, the usual place for major announcements. Many were uncertain about what was to come, though some were better informed than others. They gathered in clusters, small and large, discussing the latest developments.

“Do you have enough food to last for months?” one speaker asked dramatically, trying to instil a sense of dread in the onlookers. “If not, you and your family will be out of luck.”

Some people looked at him distrustfully and moved on, while others stayed, questioning his statement.

“Because war is coming,” he declared loudly, his voice rising. “And they want us to starve because of it.”

Most dismissed him, knowing that Thar hadn’t seen civil war in thousands of years. They pointed out that the blockade might be due to an increase in beast numbers, blocking the routes, which Thar would clear in due time.

“Don’t believe me? You'll see soon enough,” he said, patting his buttocks as he walked away. “But I’m not waiting. I'm buying food while it's still cheap before prices skyrocket.”

There were always those who preferred to believe the worst, while some saw opportunity in crisis. There will always be winners and losers in a crisis; why not be a winner? Amidst various reasons, some followed the man who had spoken, while others stayed, waiting for official clarification. Anxiety grew as more people joined them and discussed the events of the previous night, and the sun began to rise.

Soon, a path was cleared by guards and officials who finally arrived, their solemn expressions weighing heavily on the onlookers’ hearts. The guards ushered people away from the makeshift platform hastily assembled from wooden crates.

This was unlike their usual practice, where officials arrived riding giant scorpions to make announcements. Such practices had not been seen for years, continuing the trend of magical beasts entering the city.

As the official finally ascended and became visible to all, it was Adrian, the vice city lord of Easparton, with his typically confident demeanour that calmed many present. It didn’t seem so bad, they thought, until his next words shattered their hopes.

“People of Easparton,” Adrian began, his voice carrying to even the farthest corners of the crowd. “Today may be a difficult day for many of you, and confusion may reign, though it is unintended, it is unavoidable. As many of you may know me, I am Adrian, the vice city lord of Easparton,” he stated. “And I am here to dispel your confusion.”

Ensuring all eyes were on him, he continued, emphasising his next words. “Our city lord, Arcturus, needs no introduction to any of you. Born in the glowing sands of Thar, he is the great leader who, through miraculous leadership, elevated us from just another city in Thar to the most renowned city on the land.”

Invoking the pride of Easparton, he pressed on. “Our city is not just any city. Under Lord Arcturus's leadership, it stands as a symbol of power, pride, and glory, known even beyond the formidable walls of Verdant Divide.”

People raised their heads, captivated by his words, which worked wonders, evident in the eyes of the crowd. “Our glory is such that even our beloved Mother, seated at the heart of Oasis, has taken note of our progress.”

His words ignited a frenzy among the crowd, which erupted with a force that could shake the sturdiest of hearts.

“Mother Bella!”

“Mother Bella!”

“Mother Bella!”

Seeing this, Adrian signalled to the soldiers behind him, who attempted to restore order, but their words and the spirit spells cast by wizards into the sky failed to quell the frenzy gripping the crowd.

“For this purpose, we must overcome all challenges she places before us,” Adrian proclaimed, his voice amplified by magic to suppress the crowd. “Let her know that while there may be countless children of hers across Thar, we are the finest among them all.”

The crowd cheered, forgetting their morning worries. Observing their reaction and the effect of Adrian's carefully crafted words he had just spoken. He felt certain things in his heart. Yet, despite maintaining his confident demeanour, dread lingered regarding the use of the word "Bella." and the new reality it signified—a test rather than a war.