"Mistress, breakfast will be ready soon."

Isabella glanced up from her documents and looked at the person who asked her this question, Fay, her maid. Her tired eyes peeked at the window of her room. Unknowingly, the entire night had passed while she was engrossed in her work. "Are Eloise and Elaina awake?" she asked.

"Yes, they'll be waiting for you at the table. But Sir Marcus said he won’t be able to attend the breakfast today.”

"I see." Isabella rubbed her eyes and glanced back at the remaining pages. "Tell them both to eat on their own. We still have some work to finish."

"Yes, Mistress." Fay nodded and turned to leave. "Would you like me to bring you something to eat?"

"Something light." Isabella felt extremely lethargic and hungry after working through the night, but with her workload, a light meal seemed the only option.

"After they finish eating, have the maids prepare Eloise and Elaina. We'll be leaving the manor at Ten o'clock."

Fay bowed and left. Isabella refocused on the papers spread across her table, feeling a headache coming on. The documents were dense with information and meticulously detailed, but Marcus's staff hadn’t summarised them yet, possibly due to the short notice. The pages stretched with unbroken lines of text, enough to lull an unaccustomed reader to sleep. After sifting through numerous documents, she learned that the Sterling family was the second-to-last to arrive in Celestia. Others, including the Church members, had arrived a day earlier. Thinking of the Church made Isabella frown. She wondered if their invitation was related to matters concerning Thar. The Eternal Radiant Sun, as the church was formally known as, despite being a longstanding ceremonial member of the Alliance, hadn't been invited to a meeting in her memory. They had been suppressed at every possible turn since the Divine War. She could guess a thing or two as to why. Alliance never liked someone challenging their authority. And the church had grown far too big for its good. In the war, they pulled no less than Eleven million people from war in a short time. A number Alliance couldn’t ignore.

Pushing these thoughts aside, Isabella continued her work. Some time later, Fay returned with a light meal, breaking her concentration. It included a variety of hearty fruits and grains, warm bread slices, juicy oranges, and a bowl of steaming porridge garnished with nuts and honey. The vibrant colours of the food stood out against the monotonous paperwork. By the time Isabella finished eating, it was already late, and she needed to prepare herself. With only a short time left for their trip, she set about getting ready.

***

"Mother, are you sure it's okay for you to come with us?" Eloise asked, settling inside the carriage, observing Isabella deeply engrossed in thick documents that rivalled the size of the books she usually read. "You seem very busy."

"Don't worry," Isabella said without looking up. "I just need to finish these last few pages. I'll be done before we reach the shop."

Elaina, seated by the window, had been quiet, watching her mother work. As the carriage entered the bustling streets, her eyes widened in awe. People hurried through the streets in a ceaseless stream, a sight that fascinated her.

"Sis, look over there," she said to Eloise in a whisper so as not to disturb their mother. "Doesn't that look like a dwarf?"

"He's just a short person," Eloise replied flatly after glancing at the individual in question. The figure was small, with shoulder-length hair, dressed in a crisp blue shirt and brown trousers. All dwarves have three red teardrop-like markings beside their eyes, but the person Eliana pointed to had none.

"Oh..." Undeterred, Elaina continued to observe outside, soon spotting other races besides humans.

"Sis, sis, looks there’s a big cat. Let’s go and pet it!"

"You mean beastmen, right?" Eloise said, noting their unnatural cat-like ears, hairy bodies, and distinctive long tails. "Catfolks, to be precise."

"Wow," Elaina exclaimed in amazement. "Don't they look quite different from the Beastmen we saw in one port while passing? Where are their collars?"

Eloise inspected their necks and confirmed their lack of collars.

"They're adventurers," Isabella said as she finally put down her documents, and looked outside.. "Look closely at their attire. Though unarmed, they wear light leather armour beneath their casual clothes. Plus, higher-ranking Beastmen rarely dressed like that when coming to Celestia. But realistically, no important beastmen would come here."

"Why not?" Elaina asked innocently, she heard from her father that beastmens were born stronger than humans. In her mind, there was no reason they wouldn't be allowed anywhere, but Eloise's perspective was less naive.

"They're highly valued."

"Exactly," Isabella affirmed, giving Eloise a nod, then explaining to Elaina, "Just like the slaves you have seen some time back. It’s actually less prevalent these days but during past times, almost every beastmen had a price on him." When she finished, a slight frown appeared across her fair face for an instant as some old memories flooded into her mind. But it was only for a short moment.

"Mother, can we go meet them?" Elaina asked eagerly.

"No, most of them don't like interaction with humans. Besides, we're here to shop for your clothes."

The carriage pulled up in front of a grand multi-story building with large glass windows showcasing various aristocratic attire, predominantly for women. The artistic clothing featured multiple luxurious clothes of a multitude of different coloured fabrics adorned with intricate lace, delicate beading, and a palette ranging from deep jewel tones to soft neutrals. Many dresses of all sorts and sizes were displayed from the glass which was as clean as it could get. Both sisters’ eyes sparkled at the sight. Isabella smiled at their excitement and ushered them inside. "Come on, or are you two going to keep staring?"

"Wow, they look so soft, Sis. I'm afraid they'll tear up if I run with them."

"Then don't run. They are not made for that."

“ Hello, how can I help you?” As they entered, a female attendant greeted them, ready to guide them through the store.

“ Get me the best you have for these two.” Isabella then once again got busy with her lengthy day, this time starting to dress her daughters like dolls. To say she didn't enjoy the look on both Eloisa and Eliana coming out from the dressing room would be a big lie. She only found it a pity that Edward was not here, otherwise, her joy could have been even more.

" Mother, isn't it good already?" Elaina almost pleaded with her big eyes and crumbling face after spending three hours on the thirtieth dress. " We should take it."

" Since you like it, we will get it."

" Huh, finally..." She just released a breath of sigh. At last, she could escape the hell of trying not-so-exercise-friendly dresses and go for a real shopping trip instead. But her small thoughts were short-lived.

"Now try this one..." Isabella suddenly handed her another dress to try. Elaina looked at Fay standing behind her mother with a mountain of clothes in her hand. For a moment she asked herself why she didn't just stay back home.

" Sigh..." She turned her head down in defeat, and took the new dress from her hands and went back to the dressing room. Eloise was no better than her, but she had more interest in dresses than Elaina and so was not so troubled.

"Sis..."

" What..." Inside the changing room, Eloise was looking at herself in the mirror when she heard Elaina's words.

" Say something to Mother. If we keep going like that, we will be here for the whole day." Seeing her sister’s ignorant smile directed towards her as she turned full circle in front of the mirror, Elaina knew what she was asking. "We can go to the bookstore next, or anywhere as soon as we leave this place. Sis, I noticed a book with the history of mages.”

“Why didn’t you say it before?” Eloise agreed quickly as she stopped what she was doing and moved out. She didn't plan to miss out on such an offer.

"Why did both of you suddenly leave the dressing room?" Isabella asked them, just as they appeared,

"Mother, I think it would be better if we go to the next store now. There's a really rare book out there."

"Alright then, let's go to the bookstore next," Isabella said with a smile on her face, it's not every day when Eloise asks her for something. Thus, Isabella was more than happy to comply. Besides, the time for the assembly was coming closer and they had less time to spend now.

****

"Do you not understand you are here for a meeting and not some shopping trip?" Marcus said to Isabella with an irritated face when she, along with Eloise and Elaina returned to the mansion.

It was already late in the evening by this point, leaving only an hour before the scheduled meeting. Isabella didn't refute his words but simply said, "Let's go. We shouldn't waste any more time."

Marcus continued walking toward his carriage but stopped when he realised that Eloise was following them. "Are you taking her along too?" he asked Isabella.

"Yes," Isabella replied. "That was why I brought her here."

" Whatever, it's not like our job was anything serious or something. Just tell her not to open her mouth there."

" You don't have to worry about that," Marcus said, climbing into the carriage. One thing he was glad about was that Eloise seemed to be quite well-behaved. Eloise seemed to take after her mother more than a certain someone he could remember and didn't need to be worried about any embarrassing situations or, more importantly, offending someone like his brother used to do.

Isabella and Eloise followed suit, hopping into their carriages right behind Marcus and heading straight towards the Celestial Palace, the building where the meeting was supposed to take place. It was roughly twenty minutes away from there.

" Do you remember what Marcus just said?" Inside the carriage, Isabella asked Eloise, who was waving to Elaina.

Eloise nodded.

"Although it doesn't sound too serious and won't be a serious punishment if you do, one mustn't speak carelessly about anything or any house, especially ancient houses as others may interpret hidden meanings within casual words, which is often the case in these types of places."

Eloise nodded solemnly before her mother and said, "Be diplomatic."

" See, now you can talk." Isabella gave her a praising remark. As their carriages kept inching closer to their destination, Isabella continued to brief Eloise on some important points to remember. It was about half an hour when they again stepped out of the carriage and Eloise felt a deep feeling for the first time.

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Grand, this was what Eloise felt when she stepped down from the carriage and gazed at Celestial Palace, the meeting hall of the alliance. Its pillars were as thick as seven people side by side, with hundreds of white towering steps leading to the gates. They stood at its northeastern gate, one of the five main gates of the palace. Before they even started to climb up the stairs, they were greeted with a big sword and shield embedded in the ground.

"That's the sword and shield wielded by the First Grand Knight," Isabella explained to her before motioning her to bow in front of it. Eloise quickly bowed respectfully to it, along with Marcus, Isabella and Fay. Each five gates of Celestial Palace had something in front of the very first step. Each with its significance to the alliance's history. Slowly, they started to climb up, and as she reached the top, Eloise had a new understanding of the palace. Its ceiling was too high, with walls depicted with beautiful drawings of various knights. Like ants in front of humans, the sheer scale of it all made her feel tiny. But Eloise felt something strange about it all, from the glossy floor to the high, dark ceiling above with lights-shaped orbs that twinkled like stars. The whole building exuded beauty and architectural marvel, but something felt off.

She looked again at every corner of the building, and then suddenly it dawned on her—the design and architecture. It was too big, the pillar's thickness would need at least seven people of Marcus’ size to encircle. The ceiling was also grand, about twenty metres, a needless endeavour. And then there were veins like stone engraving that wrapped around the pillars to reach the sky. It was almost night with the sky outside getting dark but these veins released soft blue light from the stems and red from their flowers which then dimmed to nothing. It looked as if the whole building was alive with a breathing motion.

As they reached the hallways, they were greeted with a stone statue of a knight with heavy armour, made of completely white stones, hanging its blade above their head. They had to pass from below it to go inside, leaving behind a feeling of insignificance compared to the massive palace and the darkness above, punctuated only by the stars. When she looked at the painting on the walls, her pupils expanded as her consciousness started to waiver. Before she knew it, she was no longer in the hallways but in a valley. A barren valley with black rocks and few sprouts of green grass. Her eyes expanded wide and shook as they showed a rare emotion, panic. But even before that, the ground started to shake, and rocks started to fall. She too fell to her knees. She felt pain in her knees as she fell but she ignored that and started darting her head around the surroundings.

“ It looks like he is here.” A voice reached the now dismayed Eloise. She looked up, and found a man with a devil's mask that covered half of his face. Even his eyes too were kept hidden by a cloth on the mask. His whole body too was covered by mostly black with an occasional deep red stained dress. The red colour, she first thought it was colour but the distinct smell of acrid-iron like smell made her know, it was the dried blood that spilled from the torn holes of his dress. “ You look pathetic.” The man said as he found fear in Eloise’s eyes and ran his left hand through his high collar. The termour on the other hand kept on increasing. She could feel it, something huge, heavy was coming towards them. The rocks fell more and more like the whole valley might collapse the next moment. ”Go and run towards there. If you are fast enough, you will meet the knight regiments protecting the retreating human convoy.” He pointed to his left. It led towards what she could tell was a cave.

She could feel a piercing eye looking at her whole body despite not seeing them up front due to the mask. It was chilling that made her sweat like crazy. She knew this feeling well, it was when her mother taught her to be careful of what she called, a killing intent. She was trained to notice the intent of anyone out to harm her. Thus she knew this man wanted her dead. Her heart thumped like no end. She couldn’t barely find any strength as she tried to stand up but failed. While she tried so, the man was not finished. He pointed to his right, the one that leaves towards a distant forest. “ But if you don't like knights, go there. The mage regiment is leading another group from here.” Seeing her not able to get up, he looked away. “ Forget it, it's too late for you now.”

Eloise on the other hand felt something different, along with the shaking of the ground, an invisible pressure descended upon her. A pressure that made her hard to breathe, with a burning sensation that washed over the skin. It was getting too hot, and she could smell the rotten smell of sulphur. And kept on increasing more and more, along with the shaking, until she found the source of all of this. From the far end of the valley, a giant some Eighty metres in height peeked out with his equally big head. Its head was that of a ferocious beast, with a long pointed nose and sharp teeth with big ears. She couldn’t see his eyes because they were not there. Instead in place of eyes, were two blue flames in contrast to his whole body which was red hot like flowing magma. Her now dry lips barely scrambled to form one word. “ T-Titan!?” These were the last words that she uttered as her vision started to distort when some words entered her ears. “ No, just his slave.” Before she knew it, she was back in the hallways.

“Take deep breaths.” She heard her mother’s voice who was supporting her body. She took a deep breath to calm her tumultuous feelings. She then found the painting on the walls shining with small blue light but it was getting dimmer and dimmer. She then looked back at her mother and motioned her to not worry. Everyone was looking at her while she sorted out her thoughts.

"Feeling better now?" Isabella asked.

"...I'm okay," Eloise replied. "Mother, what..."

"We can talk later," Marcus interjected, his tone sharper than usual.

" Let's go," Isabella said, and Eloise could only nod and follow.

"Don’t worry about what happened just now. We will talk after getting home." Isabella said as she started to walk Eloise with Marcus.

Eloise felt she did something she shouldn’t but didn't know what as Isabella just walked without elaborating much on the earlier scene, leaving her puzzled. She felt their speed was a little faster than before but she dismissed such thoughts.

Behind her, the old maid Fay who was walking silently suddenly felt her left hand burning. Beneath her white glove, the complex circular magic circle was pulsating with mana, which then travelled through her hand and into her mind. It was a direct communication magic that was used in case of emergencies. Her eyebrows shot up as her old face flashed with a brief astonishment which was quickly hidden by her. She then walked closer to Eloise and asked in a whispered voice. “ Are you ok, young lady? You can tell me if something happened.”

“ Yes, I am. It's just..” Eloise said with knitted brows as some hesitation flashed across her face. She looked at the back of her mother and decided to ask Fay. “ Do you know about those murals? They felt…different.”

“ I do know some things. These are not just murals but also trail grounds. Or at least they used to be.” Fay looked to her right, a man too big to be human was walking towards an army of ants of what she knew were humans. “ It was a gift of Gaia to humans before the dawn of the Alliance.”

Eloise too had read about it. The Age of Titans or what the Alliance referred to as, The Age of Darkness. It was the time when humans were not united under five stars but divided among many nations. But she didn’t know if it was her misconception, that she felt Fay’s mouth curved down ever so slightly with her words that seemed to be laced with disdain.

“ Power people of that time used to send their children, mostly about eleven years old. Here they used to undergo trials of life and death. In hopes of getting some pity from the Titans. For knights, they need to look into these walls. While mages need to look at the ceiling.” Fay pointed her fingers at one of the knights in the mural who was bowing in front of a mountain. “ Look at him. Named Argus, who had just returned after killing his wife and children who refused to bow to Titans. A worthy slave indeed.”

“ Was it that brutal?” Eloise looked at Fay with wide, shaking eyes. She remembered the red giant which was peeking from the valley and her breathing started to increase.

“ Yes. Even among those who survived, many were left crippled.” Fay tapped Eloise’s back and used a small calming spell on her which helped her return to normal. “ But you don’t have to worry. The Alliance limited the power of this palace and now it shouldn’t be affecting humans even if they are drawn in.”

“ Why didn’t they just seal it for good?” Eloise, who was now back to herself, felt some doubts about the intentions of Alliance. She felt the magic used in this palace seemed to be waving.

“ They sealed it before. But they reopened it later.” Fay’s word filled Eloise more than it solved. She planned to ask some but was interrupted by words from her mother.

“Because they found better use for it.” Isabella gave Fay a side glance but still mainly talked to Eloise. “ Alliance’s knight and magic techniques were getting more and more powerful at that time, which made other races anxious. So they laid a trap. They created a flawed version of their techniques and mixed it with the power of Titans and then called a first meeting of alliance here and invited other races to attend. Needless to say, some of those races entered the trial by ‘mistake’ and felt that Titan’s power was hidden in these murals. Now, they too could get a share of it.”

When she finished speaking, she found Eloise’s eyes becoming wide with shock. It couldn’t be helped, she was shocked at the brazenness by which Alliance conducted their plan more than anything. She asked in a meek voice. “ How did they react when other races found out?”

“ What do you think?” Isabella asked with an air of dismissal. “ Alliance said, ‘If guys were getting thrown into some random trials, why did you keep silent about it for all these days? If you had told us earlier, we would have curbed the power of evil Titans’, or so. At that time, the Alliance's army was already on their border, so they had no choice but to suck it. That’s why they no longer bring their younglings into Celestia these days.”

“ Well, it was all in the past,” Fay said as tried to reassure Eloise about the trials. “ But worry not. Even back then, Alliance made sure nothing happened to humans if they got dragged into trials. Just, maybe you can have a nightmare or two.”

“Huu…” Eloise released a breath of relief. A nightmare or two was nothing compared to what Isabella and Fay just described to her. She also got a new understanding of the workings of Alliance. At the very least, they seemed to be bold enough to plan other races with no conscious. After all, it takes years to become a powerhouse. The number of talents other races might have lost wouldn’t be small at all.

“ By the way, what did you see inside?” Fay suddenly asked her as they were at the end of the hallway. Her question made Isabella frown a little and even Marcus’ ears twitched a little. None of the duo was a fool, they could guess Fay talked all this just to ask this one question.

“ It was a valley with some red giant coming towards me.” Eloise on the other hand felt a little strange but still answered. “ A guy in devil masked was also there wit–”

“What did you say!? A devil mask?” Marcus’ shout cut her words short. She flinched a little as Marcus suddenly turned around and stared at her. His body was agitated with rapid breaths and shook like no end. “ You are lying! Stop lying! There’s no way you could have met one.”

“ Behave yourself. We are in the palace.” Isabella said, moving her hand between Eloise and Marcus. Her words were unusually cold and Eloise felt the same pressure she once did in front of that masked man. Her actions seemed to have worked, as Marcus’ body backed off with his eyes getting back to normal. He looked at the slightly whitened face of Eloise, turned back and walked ahead.

“Mistress, please forgive him. He has a slight paranoia of Wizards.” Fay said to smooth things over. Isabella didn’t care but started to check Eloise instead. Her face started to regain her lost blood from earlier.

“ Was it really a wizard you saw there? He didn’t do anything strange, right?” Isabella asked her in a concerned voice to which she shook her head. Only after seeing this did Isabella release her back. She looked at Fay and asked with a deep frown. “ Why is there such a thing in these murals? They were just supposed to be only knights and mages. Not wizards.”

“ I don’t know. Probably a rogue wizard. You know how difficult it is to control them.” Fay said with a bow. She too doesn’t know why a wizard left such a trail in the murals or if it's the only one. She rubbed her left hand from above the gloves and relayed the message back to the person who first contacted her. It seemed to her that the Celestial Palace might be locked after tonight.

“ Mom, is there something wrong with wizards?” Eloise asked as both Isabella and Fay stayed silent for a while.

“ Yes and no. Each wizard has a dual personality disorder.” Isabella said after some thought from what she remembered about wizards. “ Usually, when they don’t wear a devil’s mask, they are on their holidays and usually remain as any other person. But when they wear the mask, their personality starts to twist. They stop considering any value to human lives or their suffering.” Isabella gave Eloise a deep look and said slowly. “ Remember, if you find someone who claims to be a wizard. Stay far away. None of them are good people. None of them.”

“ Um..” Eloise nodded at her mother’s serious words but she felt a small doubt. Why? Isabella didn't plan to answer and started to walk again. She looked at Fay, who bowed to her with an apologetic face.

“ Please forgive me for earlier. I should have been more careful.”

“ No, it's not your fault.”

“ Still. Please forgive me.” She bowed again and then thought about something to make up when her left hand burned again and she got another message. “ Do you know about the Astral Battlefield?”

“The plane detached from our world?” Eloise said with a thought. The place was not a secret. About every recognised family sends their members there once a time. But what she didn’t know was that it was a place where the Alliance was fighting a genocidal war for much of its history. That war was still ongoing.

“Yes. There our worlds collide with that of two more worlds. One is ruled by a demon race and another by sub-humans who claim to go against the heavens or whatever that's meant. They all have different worlds, probably different from us but still, they exist. Thus, have you ever thought about it? If there are two more worlds different from ours, couldn’t there be more?”.

Her words made Eloise stare with wide eyes. She never thought of it like that. But it sounds logical, if there was a place like Astral Battlefield where three worlds collide, then who says there couldn’t be more?

“Wizards have some ways to travel to different worlds. And that’s why all have slight problems with their personalities. They call those worlds Dreams.” Fay said in a hushed voice. “ Let’s keep this a secret between ourselves, ok?” Fay smiled at the end. She didn’t know why she was allowed to tell Eloise these secrets but since she got her orders, she doesn’t mind telling.

“ Let’s speed up. Otherwise, we will be talking here all day.” Isabella suddenly said when Eloise was about to open her mouth again. She then sped up and Fay followed right after. They didn’t plan to talk anymore and Eloise had no choice but to keep silent and follow after them. As they walked some more hallways, Eloise again felt this palace being needlessly huge but it was not something she was actively keeping track of. During the course, Isabella was walking beside her, making sure she didn’t get dragged into another such trail. In the end, they found Marcus near the door, talking with two attendees.

"House of Sterling," Marcus said the moment they arrived. He presented the Sterling house seal to the person at the door.

The person inspected it, making a small movement that caused the seal to emit a faint glow, before handing it back and saying, "I fear not the darkness ahead of us!"

"For we are guided by the stars above!" Marcus, Isabella, Fay and Eloise responded simultaneously, before proceeding into the meeting hall.