The newly founded Kingdom of Remus went through quite the few changes upon their new found thirst for war. The informal meetings between Kazius and his friends became a more formalized meeting labelled The Council. Their members were expanded to also include Caleb, who was more than shocked at the sight of Damon when he showed up due to Kazius sending him a letter directing for his appearance.

Caleb’s yellow eyes would widen once he spotted Damon. Who was sitting in the council table. He was looking over a paper, reading a report written by Azanor about Zelphar. Sakura has patiently sat down with the Werewolf and taught him.

Caleb immediately dropped the new staff he held, likely something he had crafted himself while working on gaining more strength. It seemed he succeeded, the Half-Elf practically radiated magic. He was related to Zelphar, that much was certain.

“Damon! What happened to you!?” Caleb exclaimed in horror, “Your eye… And you can read!?” He trailed off, giving his brother a hug and then a concerned look over. He was more than shocked.

Damon shook his head, “I wasn’t strong enough… and I paid for it… You shouldn’t worry.” He stated simply, the seriousness in his demeanor throwing Caleb off quite a bit. It was like his brother was a different person. He slightly returned the hug, but it was clear his goofy cry baby younger brother had changed.

Caleb would then look at Kazius, his king that was once the picture of friendliness now radiated quite the intimidating aura… Looking at Kazius was almost like looking into a void, one that looked right back at you.

The others too… Alice’s appearance… Aside how her hair was now last her butt in length, her purple eyes that were so innocent before seemed to hold a cruelness to her gaze.

Then there was Azanor… The Demon was sly looking sure, but once you knew him, he was not that frightening… Though now… He gave off quite the frightening vibe. His horns were longer and sharper looking, his hair a bit longer, all of his teeth looked razor sharp and pointed, much like a shark’s. He attempted to give Caleb a slight friendly smile in acknowledgement as well as wave with his clawed hands, but poor Caleb like he was ready to keel over.

There was even an actual Dragon in the room…

“Sit down, Caleb. You are right on time… We are just about to start… I am pleased to see you have made progress…. Good… We will need a skilled caster.” Kazius stated with a warm smile at the wizard, the smile only seeming to make Caleb shake.

He truly was quite the timid person… Something Kazius hoped would change.

“Let’s get started.” Kazius added, getting the attention of everyone in the room. The meeting

How does one go about starting a war in the most favorable matter? That is the question Kazius and his friends found themselves asking. Things were in quite a favorable situation, even though complicated. The moment war broke out, the 3 kingdoms would be in chaos. Kazius knew just how in the dark about the outside world the citizens in the kingdoms were kept. They believed death was the only thing that awaited them outside… And to some extent, he supposed that such a thing was the case. Except for Veleno, the city of metal, the territory bordering Ratier, Thimdur, and Zelphar was his.

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Of course, Kazius intended to make Veleno submit to him as well, but with Veleno in the way and the chance of a misunderstanding… Kazius decided starting anything in Thimdur would be idiotic. If anything, if Thimdur panicked and attacked Veleno, that would be the most favorable thing…

“Since we will be doing this, we should profit as much as we can from it… We should coax Thimdur into attacking Veleno. Plant seeds for the future to get them on our side.” Vidir suggested gleefully.

Sakura frowned, “I don’t find that very ethical… But I suppose considering who our enemies are… If that is what our King wishes to do, I will not question it.” She stated simply. After all, Sakura regarded Kazius with a lot of loyalty and respect.

“Then that is what we will do.” Kazius confirmed.

Then there was the issue of the Edict Knights… Zelphar and Thimdur had nothing like them… They could create quite the mess of things… But if they had to travel… And go protect Zelphar… That in itself would work as a way to split their forces to keep them at bay…

“If a distraction is what we need, why not use the biggest one we have?” Azanor explained as he pointed to Vidir, grinning sightly at his own words. The idea of watching Zelphar burn seemed to delight him.

Green Dragons were not known for their strength… But that did not make them weak, specially an Ancient like Vidir… In his true form, indeed Vidir could be quite distracting.

“I-If… If you need distracting… I know some spell that could help with that…” Caleb timidly spoke up, practically trying to sink into his chair. He was very intimidated by the group.

Kazius studied him as if seeing his every weakness, pleased he at least worked up the nerve to speak up. “You will ride on Vidir’s back and make the biggest distraction you can. Azanor, once Edicts start actually showing up, I will have you and Eve deal with them.”

“What?” Vidir questioned with a frown. Clearly not pleased with the idea of being ridden like some mount.

“W-What?” Caleb would question, looking like he very much regretted speaking up.

“Did I stutter?” Kazius questioned with a raised brow, his gaze firm and cold. “You two will work together to create a decoy… Azanor and Eve will make sure you don’t die if things go South. I trust Azanor can kill any Edicts that show up, I doubt Elande himself will go deal with you… Not with what Alice and I intend to do… Each of you will have a shadow fiend in your shadow so that we can communicate… Darkness is everywhere…” He stated, sounding pleased with himself. The goals of both Seselis and Kazius were starting to be fulfilled, that was something all of him could agree with.

“Once your distraction is in place, Alice will take care of the Ratier Army… While I go to the Temple of the Oracle to kill Lazne. Damon and Sakura will set up an ambush for any Edicts that try and move between the Thimdur and Zelphar borders with Ratier. Rowan… Your task is to start rumors in Thimdur that there will be an upcoming attack from a city of Monsters filled with snake creatures… Do you think you can do it? You can become a Dwarf can’t you?” Kazius would continue before looking at the Shapeshifter.

“Who do you think I am? Of course, I can.” Rowan stated with a coy grin as he changed into a short, bearded Dwarf. “Underhanded perhaps, but I would never pass up the opportunity to make Thimdur pay… Dead or not… They all don’t deserve their legacy.”

“Good… In that case… You all have your tasks… We will bring them down in one day…” Kazius stated contently.

And we won’t stop there…