(Heyho, new chapter! Please take part in the poll, as this chapter mainly points out in which direction I will be going with Yré's story arc. While Elena will go on adventures with the guild and we will see many fights with monsters, that means fast pace, Yré will strategically destroy humans and even other races if he sees fit. After all who am I kidding in making you believe that Yré, a godly being, would take part in some war that could only be leisure banter in his eyes?

Another thing I am quite interested in: What is your perfect atmosphere to relax? Just asking, you can write it down in the comments below even if it is long or something, I am just a bit curious.

For me it is like that: a hot coffe, a quarter of which is milk. Cheap flatbread, that is called Flachknäcker here in Germany, with a thin layer of fruity jam. While eating and drinking, the sun has to shine a bit into my eyes, not to much that it turns uncomfortable but enough to turn the whole room well-lit and spread a nice warmth over my body. For the finishing touch a open window that lets in a strong wind and the monotonous noise of cars on the street, children playing or birds chirping, anything really as long as it remains constant and somewhat tranquil. I don't know why I like this atmosphere or why I wanna know how you guys feel perfectly in touch with the world but I am just a curious person it seems. :P Anyway I hope you enjoy the chapter. :D Still need to proofread :(  I hope the poll works XD)

Roaring torches spiked with green flamelets littered an elsewise dark corridor leading downwards with a steep descent. The cobblestone that made up the walls and poorly maintained floor was chipped and cracked, water was steadily running through small gaps and the earth above pressed steadily onto the fragile hallway. In a word, it was ancient.

The corridor led deeper into this world's core, only the small green dots indicating a change in the overall direction, small turns left and right that were caused by the naturally moving and convulsing earth. Time passed but the corridor kept snaking forward, endlessly, and long after on had already given up hope on reaching the cursed end of this endless hallway a door came in sight.

On closer observation the door was seemingly stuck in a perpetual feud between its own durability and the moist, greenish-white mold that was growing atop it and consuming it slowly. Yet, the door was hell-bent on enduring this fight for the years to come, although the outcome was painfully obvious!

Perking one's ears you could hear muffled voices from behind the old door, voices ranging between all ages yet containing immense power and wisdom in each word. Let's take a closer look within, shall we?

Behind the rotting door was a spacious room lined with the same emerald green torches as the outside, their small flames scraping at the wet stone with ferocious ardor, leaving black marks on the dark grey walls.

Much like knights guard their master these torches circled around a large, round table furnished with white cloth, silver cutlery and golden candlesticks, all in a dignified and noble manner; not to lavish and not to simple.

Beside the low voices we could hear the sound of meat being cut, slices of bread being handed around, some laughter even and the crispness of fresh vegetables. Ignoring the suspicious location, the cloaks and the power emanating from the figures one could come to believe this was some kind of joyous occasion of a merchant's family to say the least, celebrated with a sumptous meal and a homey atmosphere.

Amongst the figures was one that stood out exceptionally. A tall shade sat at the table head, dark violet hands reaching out of its equally dark robe for knife and fork to cut the medium rare steak with untypical tenderness in each move. The figure pulled a silver strand of hair behind the robe's hood, brought the mouthsized piece of flesh into the darkness that covered this person's face and swallowed it with gusto. The figure let the taste settle in before uncorking a green bottle and pouring itself a glass of crimson wine. Rotating the blood-red liquid inside the glass with slow movements the robed individual tipped the glass against its purple lips and sipped at the liquid with delight.

"Mhm.... truly delicious.", the figure mused with a deep vocie that was despite its menacing tone still pleasant to hear. As the man spoke all other noise died out, be it the chatter or the mumbles of his 'companions'.

An angelic giggle was thrown into the round by another individual, unmistakable female in its appearance.

"Lord Aires Nif'Arath, you seem to enjoy our draconic wine, don't you?", the figure opposing Lord Aires spoke. Although the robe tried its best to hide the figure beneath with thick layers of leather it just proved impossible to hide a body as curvaceous as this one. The robe was already hard pressed by trying to contain the massive bust that was about to burst forth from the clothing, apparent at the taut fabric around the chest area, an each small tremble, whisper or stretch strained the robe ever so slightly more.

"Hum...- Lady Solias, I am truly fascinated by this wine. I simply can't wrap my mind around how such a product can be procured. The process to distill the liquid of whatever this comes from must prove to be quite difficult, right?", the lord answered with a small smile beneath his hood, his dark red green eyes shinning with inquistiveness.

"I am glad you enjoy it, and it certainly takes some time to create such a wonderful wine. But...", she held a finger to her covered lips that most men would kill for. "How this is made will remain a secret.", she winked though no one could see it.

The lord's smile grew wider as he took another sip of red bliss.

"Pah! This sweet, sweet.... whatever that is?!- is disgusting, I couldn't get down one glass.", the most brawny and stubby figure out of all of them gathered shouted and slammed a thick, green fist on the table. "Beer, that's the stuff! I would sell my wives to the dwarves for one barrel each!", the man slammed his fist against the table for another time.

"FATHER!", a figure beside the small and stout man rebuked. "I will them, brother and sister included!", the audibly feminine figure threatened and crossed her arms over her yet to develop bossom and turned away. Despodent the man looked at his daughter with disbelief in his eyes. "A-annia, you wouldn't do that, would you? You know that papa was only joking, right dear?! Hahahaha... come on guys, laugh with me. Hahahahahaha.....", with a flat laugh the small man looked at the people seated around the table, all of them avoided his gaze.

"Serves you right, you little, dirty goblin!", a tall and slim figure hissed.

"Uhh, that was uncalled for.", Lord Aires whispered in awkwardness but his eyes were glued on the coming dispute.

"Y-you shitty elven bastard!", the goblin shouted at the tall man that hid a flawless face behind his hood.

"What?! You little maggot! King of Goblins or whatnot, I will slice you apart if you say another word!", the elven man shouted.

"Hahahahaha! High elf bastards like you truly don't know shit about anything outside their oh so wodnerful forests. I will take a dump on you corpse once I am finished with you.", the King of Goblins spat out with saliva flying over the table.

Suddenly the elf became quiet, looking absent-minded at his plate. "I would love to see you try.", he whispered before energy crazily swirled around him in a vortex of green and white. Winds with no origin trashed around inside the spacious room, the earth croaked and the wood of the table bent.

"That's how you wanna play?! HA! Let's get this on!", the Goblin King shouted and pulled out a large iron mallet from empty space.

"Stop! Both of you!", Annia, the eldest daughter of the Goblin King Mekaling, shouted and raised her hands upwards. All around her the space deformed, fires popped into existence only to be erased again, water droplets formed that evaporated without heat, earth crumbled to dust and wind halted in its tracks, lightning crackled with thunderous echo only to be silenced by nothingness; time and space was thrown into utter chaos.

"Truly the element of oblivion, Gungnir.", the High Elf prince Niam Alasziel whispered and gulped down. The vortex of green and white behind him dissapeared and he took his seat again with nervously tapping feet.

Drained from her power Annia sat down, rather, slumped back into her padded seat. Sweat beaded on her thin brows, each laboured breath letting one drop trickle down. A warm hand gripped her shoulder. "Is my little Ani alright?", Goblin King Mekaling asked with worry in his voice, the giant mallet was already back to wherever it came from. "Y-yes father, just don't act like a child all the time.", Annia said with a gentle smile. "I am sorry, I might be your father but I am still an idiot....", Mekaling sighed and took his seat as well.

"I-I am sorry prince Niam. It was not my intention to insult you.", although Mekaling had a higher position than Niam and did not need to apologize towards the person that started this fight he knew it was the right thing to do and as somebody that governed over millions of lives he knew that even the mighty had to bow down once in a while.

"Haaa.... No, it was my fault, I don't know what came over me.", Niam relaxed his tensed body. "I also apologize to everyone here, especially princess Annia.", he said while bowing his head. The person in question gently shock her head full of brown hair. "Don't sweat it.", Annia said softly.

The whole entourage breathed a sigh of relief before breaking out into small chuckles and then into full-on laughter. "That's how we know both of you! As lively as ever.", a voice beyond ancient cawed.

"Well said Lord Iren, well said.", Aires spoke and tipped his glass in the direction of a hunched figure. From the scrawny fingers and knobbly swellings one couldn't fathom just how old this person truly was; hundreds, thousands, maybe even ten-thousands of years old!

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The old man smiled warmly and resumed his meal consisting of a simple yet truly delicious mash of vegetables with a glass of white wine.

"The beast clan elder is so understanding, why can't you both be like that once in a while?!", Lady Solias asked the two squabblers. Both looked down guilty, it had been that way between the Goblins and Elves for a very long time, both races trying to exterminate the other as both inhabited mainly forests. The forefather of Mekaling though changed that and with the whole Goblin race they settled around mountain foots and large caverns where they could mine, invent like the dwarves do and increase their population without pressuring the elves habitat. Some might see Mekaling's ancestor as weakling but in the end he was just a smart being with enough intelligence to avoid unnecessary fights, a gentle person as well to say the least. The relationship between both races was and is still tensed but they are taking on a mutual understanding of each other, striving for a better future. (Oh yeah...No, no, no, no! No Goblin X Elf rape included, just simple extermination, let's not put all Goblins in the same box!)

"Let's forget what happened her, alright?", Aires cut the discussion short or whatever might sprout anew from it. "There are more important matters to attend to.", Aires said and the atmosphere turned grim in a second.

"With me as the proxy of the demon race, Lord Iren of the Beast race, Lady Solias of the Dragon clan, Mekaling of the Goblin, Orcs and Ogre race and Niem as the representative for the Elven lands we are only short of Arianne of the Giant tribe, Isleria of the Ocean kin, Burim of the Dwarves, Gnomes and Kobolds and Nina of the Angel race. It might seem rude but this meeting is urgent and we can't wait for those four anymore. I speak in the interest of all of us if I say, the humans are forcing us onto the brink of extinction and an alliance will be the only way out of this predicament.", Aires let the words set in the air drenched in silence.

"I agree.", Mekaling was the first to answer, followed by the other representatives, all resolute in their words.

"Of the ten big races we nine shall now be unified under one banner. But, in all honesty, I don't think that's enough.", Aires concluded.

Solias bit on her long, red fingernails in frustration. "Those pesky humans....", she grumbled with a wrath laced tone, the air around her turned incredibly hot before she snapped out of it and regained her calm.

"Their adaptability is truly amazing, their strength is their ingenuity which we lacked, thinking we were better than them. And this is the result.", the old man Iren sighed. "Now we see our folk being enslaved by those we lampooned as weak, oh the irony...", his old voice cracked with a tinge of sadness. "Had we treated them better....". All six, Annia included, nodded in agreement.

"I suggest we hid in one of the dwarves many caverns, the deep sea or even the continents on the sky, strengthen our nations and then attakc all at once. I don't care what they did to us, if I see someone overstep his boundaries to turn this war into a war of extermination they will be killed by me personally, is that clear? I want to settle the grudges with the humans, true, but if we take it to far there is bound to be a bad ending in sight.", Aires warned, he let his powerful magic coil around his body in a display of strength that eclipsed all of those present.

"The humans are quick-witted, they will notice something is changing and will be dead-set to destroy us before we can even take one step. What we need to do is taking a preemptive strike at the human empire with whatever is expandable and weaken their army, giving us enough time to escape while they try to recollect their forces. There are bound to be many casualities on our side, many will die, but this is the only way to give us enough time to flee. As the leader of this alliance I volunteer to stay back. As the most powerful of all of us I can stall them for some time while you try to collect as much of your people as need be. In comparison to all of you combined I am nothing but a weakling, so this is a price I am willing to take, I will pay with my lfie to give you enough time.", Aires' stern voice echoed through the spacious room and left all present speechless.

"You can't be serious!", Solias shouted, followed by an angry Mekaling. "Who do you think you are?! Commanding yourself to deth without our consent! Fool, don't think we are that much weaker than you!", Mekaling shouted and pulled in a fit of rage the hood from his head. "Eh, oops.", his green and brusque face was contorted in surprise, his grizzly beard swaying from side to side. "Uhm..."

Aires sighed and took his hood of as well. "Ahhh..... You know, the humans might have ears and eyes everywhere, as the hidden kings of our folk we should not show our face to one another, but we might as well trust each other."

The darkness subsided to reveal a beautiful face that was nigh androgynous if not for the chiseled chin and the deep voice, Aires violet skin shone brilliantly in the light of the smaragd torches.

"Hahahahaha. Guess so.", the old Iren laughed heartily and pulled of his hood as well. He looked oddly enough like any other elderly person. He was mainly bald except for the few scraps of hair that desperately hung onto his scalp and did not wish to merge with his ever-growing, white beard. The only thing that stood out were two black mandibles sticking from his cheeks.

"I didn't know the insectoids among the beast race could live for so long.", Aires asked curoisly with his handsome face tilted to the side. "Hohohoho.... Most don't, I am a bit of a mystery myself.", Iren cluckered with a wrinkled smirk while his mandibles clacked against each other.

Niam took his hood of as well to reveal a man with otherwordly beauty, much higher than Aires. What stood out the most though, apart from his alabasta skin and smooth pink lips even men would fall for, were his two pitchblack eyes. He had no vivible iris, it was all just blackness.

The people at the table gasped. "He... Long story, but not as dramatic as you might think. Just, I'd love to say cursed but alas that's not it.", Niam mumbled, a tear rolled down his cheek. In seconds his dowtroden expression changed back towards haughty and mildly arrogant and the people that the table eased up.

"I'd love to hear your story someday.", Aires said comfortingly. Niem nodded, a bit taken aback but mostly by the warmth of those people he barely knew except from a few letters and words transmitted through magical devices.

Solias followed Niem's example and took her hood of as well. No need to explain, but she was a staggering beauty. With long red hair flowing down her back all the way to her ankles and crimson scales underlining her most beautiful parts she simply looked mesmerizing. Her fine velvet lips made one salivate, her fierce red eyes urged one to conquer them, so that one could enjoy them forever and her scent turned ones mind upside down, be it male or female, no exception.

Everyone except Niem paused for a bit, enjoyed the presence of such a divine beauty before regaining their senses. Aires sniffed the air and raised an eyebrow at Solias. "Succubus?", he aksed curiously. "My mother was one, my father was a dragon.", the woman smiled happily.

"That explains some things.", Aires mumbled.

"With that out of the way. Let's make our alliance official!", Aires changed the topic, took out a worn scroll and hold it high up in the air. He pricked his finger and smudged the pergament with his dark blue blood. He then handed the scroll around.

"I am sure Arianne, Isleria, Burim and Nina will agree upon our descision, if not, I will be the one that bears the consequences.", Aires took the scroll, now covered in five marks of different coloured blood, back and let it disappear beneath his robe.

"One moment.", a raspy voice sounded from a seat that was believed to be empty.

"What?", Aires asked out loud but more to himself.

The torches flickered for a second, the ground rumbled and life stopped to thrive. A gust of hot air billowed through the room, summoned the souls of the damned in a maelstrom of fire and chaos.

"I would love to enter your little alliance. I love humans you know... yeah... HumaNs... How fUn!", the voice echoed from all around.