As late evening fell upon Hatlynshire. Henry found himself both annoyed and exhausted. He hadn’t gone home since their ‘meeting’ with Mayor Del Mir. Instead he had gone to his work place, The Hatlynshire Steel Company, there he had spent hours in his office writing what seemed like endless letters and notes to every Circulion official under him while his brother David ran things around the factory while only ever visiting him in order to enquire about things that Henry often times did not know. And Henry often found these visits from his younger brother more annoying than genuinely helpful.

“Its fine, it will all be over soon” Henry told himself as he sat in the backseat of his car with his brother beside. “Just one more meeting. Then off to home”

The car sped through the now busy streets of Hatlynshire as people flocked to the roads in order to get home. Henry envied some of these ordinary people as he stared out the window, watching various men and women run around them like scurrying mice. The air was filed with obnoxious noises like the horns of the few cars that were on the road and the combined force of the chatter of people. Henry was quite bored since he knew his destination was still quite far away. And he could tell his brother David, a well-made man with a short beard and brown suit, felt the same.

“It appears that we’ll be trapped here for quite a while, no?” he asked while looking out the window.

“It appears so. But the driver will find a way” said Henry. David then turned to him.

“So, now that we’re moving at a snail’s pace. Would you please tell me why we’re going to this gathering? You’ve ignored my questions thus far”

“Yes, brother. And I will continue to ignore them” said Henry. Ulysses had told him not to tell many people about what they knew until the gathering. But David was his brother, he could trust him. Right?

David then grabbed Henry’s shoulder and gave him a guilt inducing gaze that he had perfected in their childhood. “Why are you hiding this from ME? I know you went to Great Borough this morning to talk to that pile of rotting scum they call their mayor. Did he say something to you? Are we in any sort of danger? Because if so I think I should know about such things!”

Henry tried to look away but he had never quite mastered the ability to ignore his younger brother. “I…The…There is no danger, David. Our…uh…interaction with the Mayor just went um…poorly”

David took his hand off of Henry’s shoulder and his gaze was replaced by a suspicious stare. Henry knew that David did not believe him in the slightest.

“Oh don’t worry brother!” he said enthusiastically, “All will be revealed when we get to the gathering”

“Hopefully” said David.

The car drove further and further away from the center of the city. Henry could already see the frequency of structures diminish the further they went. They had long agreed that it was best to hold official Circulion Gatherings as far away from Great Borough as possible. It was safer that way.

After another fifteen minutes they finally arrived at a four way roundabout. And on the other end of this roundabout, between two roads, was a large stone building shaped like rhombus. Its architectural style, for confidentiality purposes, was very similar to City Hall. But it was smaller and more…ordinary. No banners hung from its walls, no familiar statues guarded its door and there were no recognizable symbols carved into it. It had a large flat entrance with the familiar staircase leading up to a large almost medieval looking double door under a triangular overhanging roof held by four pillars. The roof was a reddish orange. And it too had a domed roof, but it’s one made of glass accented by gold. It was only three stories tall on the outside but Henry knew not to judge it by outward appearances. For he knew he was about to step into his people’s sanctuary, their seat of power, their pantheon of might from which they held their part of this grim city.

He was about to enter the Great Hall of the Circle.

The car came and parked directly in front of the stairs in the designated lane. Henry immediately noticed that several other cars similar to him had already arrived. He and David did not wait for the diver to open their door for them. They instead got out themselves and made their way up the regal stairs. Henry managed to catch a glimpse of some of the license plates of the cars as they walked up the stairs. One read as STAR-001 while another read CROSS-001. Henry and David walked up to the pillars where he and David was immediately met with a small crowd of people. All neatly dressed and regal. Each wore a top hat with a small golden, feather like, pin sticking out of them. Henry immediately spotted Ulysses amongst the crowd since he was the oldest. The others were all in their thirties or forties. Henry smiled as he and David walked into the crowd in order to meet their peers.

“I see that we are the last to arrive” he said after tipping his hat to the crowd. The crowd responded by tipping their hats at him. Then a lady wearing a red dress over a black coat stepped forward from the crowd. Henry recognized her to be Mrs. Meredith Morning. She approached Henry and David with a smile.

“Well we can’t have a gathering without all our members, now can we?”

Henry then smiled and nodded politely and so did David. Then he heard another voice. “Morrow said you’d be late, Demon. And she insisted we wait out here in this damned wind!”

Henry looked past Meredith and saw the man who just said that. He was a thin but tall man in a navy blue suit. His name was Harold Venshire. Henry smiled at Harold and Harold smiled back as both men understood it was a mere joke.

“Well, Harold. The Ironworks is quite a distance from Hatles Borough!” he said is a cheerful voice.

Then another lady came forward and pointed to the door. Apparently impatient and fed up with how much time they had spent outside.

“I suggest we go in now. We have matters to discuss”

Henry recognized that lady, who wore a crimson dress over a black coat as Marilyn Morrow. And with her was another man who wore the same basic colors. He was her brother, Eustace Morrow. Henry knew that no one here was more eager to know what had happened between them and the Mayor more than the Morrows. Of course, that was only assuming that they hadn’t already foreseen the results beforehand as they often do.

Eustace pushed open the big wooden doors of the Great Hall and Henry followed the group as they walked inside. Inside the hall was quite the sight, something Henry never got tired of seeing. The Hall expanded beyond the walls of its exterior to form a space so large that it was impossible to capture it all from a single view point. Henry knew that the exterior building was just a mere shell, a façade to hide the true proportions of the Circle. He knew that door was portal, an old portal that led to a place far different from reality.

The first area of this near infinite expanse was the main square. Where the floor was decorated with an intricate mosaic of the Circle’s symbol. To his left, Henry knew lied the Court of Nobles. A large circular room where all the leaders of the Hamlets met. To his right, he knew was the Order of the Intellegencia. A rectangular room that housed the most complete collection of books and records in Hatlynshire. All studied by the most elite of the Scribes who then passed their knowledge off to the public in the form of the College, the institution of learning. Next to the door that led to the Order of the Intellegencia was the Court of Justice, the Institution of Law. And next to that was another door, and another and another. Henry often got confused at the sheer number of Orders and Councils there were. But what he knew was that it didn’t concern him all that much. He had but one council to answer to, and that council was called the Table of Great Houses.

Marilyn led the group to the end of Great Hall, to a door even bigger than the front door. This door was adorned with a gold accents. The door was also engraved with various scenes from the Circle’s history. One engraving at the bottom of the door showed their ancient ancestors fleeing from the humans. Another engraving above it showed them hiding among their enemies. Yet another showed a few Circulions rising above the others and another showed them creating the Circle as they knew it. The door also had eight flat, empty circular areas. Henry, approached the Circle in the corner while Eustace, Ulysses, Harold and all the other heads of the houses approached their Circles. Henry always felt nervous during this part. He reached into his head and took off his hat. He then grabbed the golden pin which turned out to be an inch long needle. The others did the same with their pins. Henry then took the needle and pricked his thumb with it before letting it bleed. He then used that bleeding finger to paint the symbol of the House of Demon on the flat circular area. Doing so was slightly painful but Henry had learned not to mind it. After he painted their symbol of a trident surrounded by an eight toothed circle he tapped the door with his bloody hand. The blood on the wood then erupted into bright blue fire before disappearing completely. One by one the others tapped their circles and their symbols too disappeared. Eustace, who was in the center, then pushed open the door which had been closed earlier.

Henry put his hat back on. He and the rest of the group then walked into what Henry considered the most beautiful room in Hatlynshire. It was a massive circular room with a roof that went on to what looked like infinity. It was lit by floating chandeliers and decorated with Circulion banners and various other artworks that flew around in floated randomly. The floor too was made up of floating pieces and below it was an endless abyss. The only still part of the room was a rectangular table that floated in one place in the middle of the room like an island. Marilyn extended her hand out but before she could do anything David made it to the front of the group and held his hand out. He gestured to Marilyn and she willingly stepped aside as David waved in hands and flicked his wrist and all at once hundreds of floating pieces came together in front of him to form the floor of the room. David waved his hand again and a large carpet also descended from the sky and fell on the floor in front of them. David then gestured to Marilyn again and with a smile she, followed by the rest of the group, made it across the floor and to the table. Henry raised his eyebrow at David before he crossed and David gave him a smug grin

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The group each took their seats on the table. The seats were embroidered with gold and silver and even the cushions were of the highest quality. Henry sat next to David. In front of all their chairs were white wooden masks. Each with a completely smooth face and only two black holes to represent the eye sockets. Each mask had a set of branch like antlers. Henry knew this was a reference to the old ways of their woodland ancestors who, according to the Scribes, had worn the faces of the mystic creatures of the old Arylmoor. Henry and the rest of the members put on their masks. Henry always thought of how odd the Great House meetings looked. With all the members in their masks while sitting in this room. It almost felt surreal. But Henry had been coming to these meeting for years. After some time the initial wonder tended to fade away a bit.

Ulysses then stood up from his place at the front of the table. He hand and opened his palm. Henry saw a book float into his grip from a bookcase floating above them. With the book came a quill. Ulysses then let go of the book and made it float a foot away from him while the quill automatically wrote down everything he said. A feat Henry considered impressive.

“I must ask him how he concentrates like that” he told himself. He then sat straight and faced the table as Ulysses started the gathering.

“I, Baron Ulysses Everton, hereby proclaim that here, on the 282nd Day of the year 634 in the After Flight Era. In the presence of all the Barons of the Circle, meeting of the Great Houses has officially commenced”

The quill moved swiftly on the page of the floating book as Ulysses talked clearly out of his mask. He then placed both of his hands on the table and looked at all the members with stern glare.

“As you all know. Henry and I went to meet our old friend the Mayor earlier this morning. We tried our original plan of bribing that wretch” he said. He then stared at Henry. But henry wasn’t sure what he was feeling since he couldn’t see through his mask. “It failed” said Ulysses in a serious voice.

The sound of chatter went across the table along with a sense of tension. “What do you mean failed? That fool didn’t take the money?” asked Harold.

“We offered him one million Sorasy, as planned. But Mr. Del Mir thought he was more valuable than that. He said that he would require one million a year to keep his ravenous hunters where they belong” said Ulysses.

“Well then, what do you propose we do?” asked a man in the corner of the table. Henry knew him to be Leonard Bernstein. “Do we default to your original plan?”

“It appears so” said Ulysses. “I do not think that swine would take ten million if we offered it to him. It seems that Morrow’s earlier prediction was…misjudged. But now that peace is no longer an option we can move onto our original course of action”

“The original plan carries far too much of risk” argued David. And Henry agreed with him. “If it were to fail we could lose everything!”

“But if it were to succeed we could be rid of both the Mayor and Montgomery” argued Leonard. David looked Leonard. No appreciating his stance on the matter. Then Meredith chimed in.

“Well if we do not do something. The Mayor’s actions will only get more brazen. He will start torching entire Hamlets if we do not stop him!”

Henry sensed a whisper going around the room. “True…Yes indeed…”

The tension in the room continued. It was clear that the table was divided on which course of action it should take. Even Ulysses went silent and thought about. Then suddenly the man sitting next to David, Carlyle Hatly, stood up from his chair.

“Well, I do not understand why we’re bickering over this. We have a surefire of knowing the outcome of our plan. Just ask Morrow here!” he said while pointing at Eustace and Marilyn. Ulysses gestured to Eustace who then stood up and took a deep breath.

“Both Marilyn I have seen the same thing. If we were to continue with our original course of action we have a good chance of succeeding. Del Mir will be dead and Montgomery along with him. But like Mr. Demon said. If we were to fail. It would lead to great destruction. The certainty of this cannot stated at this point as it is too early for that”

Ulysses pointed his hand at Eustace and put it down again. “See my fellow barons? This plan can succeed if we play our cards right. And by the end of it we will be rid of our most annoying enemies!”

Henry frowned under his mask. He knew what Ulysses’ plan entailed. And he for one wasn’t very enthusiastic about. He could tell that some of the other members of the Circle felt the same. He saw the others glancing at each.

“What do you think? Has old Uly finally gone daft?” David whispered to Henry.

“I don’t know. Besides, you know we cannot object if the table votes in favor of him” Henry whispered back.

“I do know that. Hence why I suggest we have a safety precaution in case this plan goes off the rails”

“We already do. All the houses do. It was one of the first things we thought about”

Just then Harold turned to Ulysses. Apparently with doubts in his mind. “And what about the casualties? We cannot expect the common people to endure this such suffering. If the Hunters get the upper hand they will commit atrocities! Genocide! Is your revenge worth that much to you, Ulysses?”

Ulysses paused for a moment. It was clear that he didn’t like being confronted about his need for revenge. But still he remained firm. “If all goes well most of the suffering will be contained in my own Borough. We have already dispatched letters to the Nobles instructing them to prepare from what’s coming”

“What about the costs then?” asked Carlyle. Who Henry knew to be the man who ran the Hatlynshire Bank. “Can the Circulion Treasury sustain this conflict with the finances it already has?”

“Finance is not a problem, Hatly. For if need be, we can always dip into our private coffers. But I know the Treasurer Caleb. He is a smart one. Hence why he was elected. You should know that, since like most Treasurers he is from the Bankers Guild.”

Carlyle stayed silent. And the rest of Circle started nodding in agreement. But Henry knew there were still some doubts in the minds of the members. And Henry knew Ulysses knew that.

“It is futile to worry, my dear barons. For by the time this conflict begins your families will be safe and secure. The Mornings and I have arranged that. So do not worry”

The table went silent. Even Henry dared not speak. Then suddenly Marilyn stood up from her chair and all eyes turned to her.

“So, should we vote?” she asked. Ulysses nodded. “All in favor?”

Everyone in the table raised their hand. Including Henry and David. Henry still trusted Ulysses. He knew he was older and wiser than any other member of the Circle. He knew if Ulysses was confident then it was bound to succeed. At least, that’s what he told himself.

“It is unanimous!” said Ulysses cheerfully. “And so, with that decision. I call this meeting adjourned!”

The book and quill next to him disappeared back into the floating bookcase. Ulysses then made a bottle of wine as well as a bunch of glasses float down from above. Henry and David both filled their glasses before joining in the toast.

“To the Circle!” said Ulysses bringing his glass forward.

“To the Circle!” said everyone else as they brought their glasses forward to meet his.

After that, the group slowly made their way out of the room and out of the building. Henry felt the cold air on his face as he walked through the door of the building and appeared once again in reality and under their overhanging roof.

“Well, it appears that this will be the most dangerous ploy we’ve devised in some time” said David. But Henry wasn’t listening all that much. Rather he was looking at the Morrows. Wondering whether they were hiding something. He had long since known that they were often not completely honest with their foresight. He saw Eustace talking to Marilyn but he didn’t hear what they were saying. He then saw them turn back and go back into the Great Hall. Henry tried to stay optimistic. Maybe they were informing the Nobles, or the Boroughman. Maybe they were appealing to the Treasury about something. But while he was thinking both Meredith and Leonard came over to him.

“I see that you’re lost in thought” said Leonard. Henry took his attention away from the Morrows and turned to Leonard. “What? No! I was merely thinking about our safety precautions. The nervousness is getting to me!” he said with a smile.

“Well not to worry. Our trains will be at the station ready to leave at a moment’s notice” said Meredith before changing the subject. “And let me take this moment to congratulate you on your son’s initiation! Considering that I may not have the time to tell you there”

Her words seemed to awake what seemed like a distant memory in Henry’s mind. He realized he hadn’t had time to think about his son Lucian’s initiation ceremony. But while he was thinking his gaze was taken away again as he saw Ulysses, who was the last one to exit the building, walk down the steps to his car while waving at the rest of the members.

“Well… I hope to you see you there” he told Meredith while fixating on Ulysses. David apparently sense that his attention was no longer in the conversation.

“We shall definitely see you there!” he said taking over the conversation. “Considering it would be near suicidal not to be there. I’m sure Lucian would love to see little Evelyn and Arthur again It has been an awfully long time. Same goes for your children, Leonard”

Both Leonard and Meredith laughed. Henry paid them no attention while he watched Ulysses get in his car. Something wasn’t right. He could feel it.

Just then, as Meredith and Leonard were about to say something they were completely taken aback by the sound of a sudden explosion. Ulysses’ car blew up just as he closed his car door. The explosion happened so fast that Henry didn’t have time to react. The light of the flames blinded him temporarily while sound made his ears ring. The force of the blast pushed him and the others down onto the ground as he was engulfed in smoke.

Henry opened his eyes with difficulty. He tried to stand up but couldn’t. All the other members of the Circle was scattered around. They were all alive but on the floor. Henry’s ear rung like a siren. His breath was filled with thick and foul smoke. All he could see was the destroyed remains of the cars at the bottom of the stairs as a bright fire roared out of the car Ulysses had been in. Henry’s mind was racing. He was in shock as tears rolled down his cheeks. He couldn’t believe his eyes.

Ulysses Everton was…dead.