Year 1023 of the new calendar, Month of the Sun, 15th day.

The large plane landed on the airstrip that lay upon the island. Its wheels gently hit the ground, stopping just short of the end of the runway. First to leave were the three mages meant to protect the Duchess, the three looked at the surroundings on the small island in the middle of the ocean; smiling readily, the leader of the trio stepped aside. Next came the Duchess, walking down the steps slowly and gracefully. Liam and Erix watched from one of the many windows on the plane as the Duchess, and the trio of mages, made their way inland. “Why can’t we go out?”, asked Erix as he looked at the fading figures. “Trust me, you don’t want to meet them, or hear what they talk about.”, Liam replied as he gazed deep into the horizon. “Why’s that?”, Erix asked, leaning back on his seat in the process. “The topics they discuss, you don’t wish to know, but there is nothing stopping you from trying.”, Liam said. Erix jumped up with joy after hearing the proposition.

Liam looked on as the young kid ran out of the plane and walked quickly towards the fading figures, he took out a bottle of alcohol and poured some auburn-colored liquid into a glass. Shaking his head, he sat down and drank some whiskey, “Poor kid.”, he muttered to himself. Erix reached the four people rather quickly, the trio had sensed him ever since he left the plane, and notified the Duchess of it. “Let him come, it’s going to be fun.”, she said in a sweet voice to the leader of the mages. He, a seemingly normal human with no distinguishing features, stood out from the other two mages. They were both exotic, with deep orange skin, blue nails, and brown hair; their eyes were a solid red and held black markings inside them, twins. Erix looked at the three people, he never had a good memory, and trying to learn all the races was a futile effort. “Hello, can I join you?”, Erix asked, he was an adult and older than the Duchess, but looked like a child asking their parents to join a trip.

“Sure, you’re going to have a load of fun.”, Arianna replied in an overly sweet, saccharine voice, it was obvious to everyone but the new pilot that she was joking about having fun. The three mages, long used to the horrors of what is going to be discussed, giggled a bit. The same lady that interrupted Liam the night before teleported quickly behind Erix, wrapping her hands around his back in a hug, she whispered, “Yeah, we’re going to have so much fun.” He blushed up to the tips of his ears, she let him go after a second and teleported back to her position. Erix still held that blush up until they went inside the only building on the island. It was a small house, entirely unassuming, and Erix scratched his head a bit, “That’s it?” The Duchess smiled back at him as she was entering the house, “Just you wait, it is going to be much grander than this.” Five people entered the house, they were greeted by another 8 people.

The trio of mages looked at their companions, each person from Iabrun was delegated their own set of mages for this occasion. “Good day, nice to see you again.”, said the leader of the group meant to protect Arianna, to a person protecting the son of the current Emperor. The nine mages intermingled a bit as the three diplomats of Iabrun walked into a side room, leaving Erix by himself. The Duke of Yorksfield’s son, Alexander, along with the son of the current Emperor, Nicholas. They looked similar, both were taller than the Duchess by a good twenty centimeters, with black hair, similar builds, and statures, the two would look like twins, were it not for their eyes. Nicholas had deep, orange eyes, they were shrewd and looked upon everything with a wary gaze. Alexander had bright, blue eyes, conveying a sense of pureness and innocence, but under that mask was a sharp and smart mind. Every Noble of their level had to be smart, they had to be trained since their very birth to best fit the role they were born into.

The three took a seat at a round table, sitting apart from one another, Nicholas and Arianna looked about the room. Alexander, on the other hand, lifted a small cup of tea and began to slowly sip it down. Imports from across the world carried the best leaves into Iabrun, and then into the cup, the future Duke was drinking from. “I see you have finally become the Duchess.”, Alexander said as he put down his cup and looked at Arianna with his pure blue eyes. “I see you’ve sensed it, yes. I have become the Duchess of Lendenburg.”, replied Arianna, she then took up a cup of tea and drank it herself. Nicholas looked away from the two and into the room, they just came from, “Who's the new kid?”, he asked. Unlike when he was with his father, Nicholas had a very relaxed way of speech that made him no different from an average child his age. “I wanted to have some fun.”, Arianna said and drank her cup again. “You’re evil.”, laughed Alexander, “It comes with the job.”, Nicholas chimed in as he too took up his cup of tea.

The comment from Nicholas made Alexander look down, “Yes. Yes, it does.”, he said with a sad voice. “You ever wonder about the people we conquered?”, he asked. Nicholas shook his head, “No, not really.”, Arianna nodded her agreement, “No, I rarely ever think about it.” With a chuckle, Alexander agreed, “Yes, I don’t either, it’s very unpleasant though.” To that, the two could only agree, all three knew the real depth of the atrocities committed by them or their ancestors. “You ever wonder about the things we don’t know?”, Alexander asked, shuddering a bit in the process, “After all, imagine what things the Emperor knows.” Nicholas frowned a bit, “I would rather not think about it.”, the Duchess readily agreed. “I have a question for you two, my father said something about the oceans holding our fates, do you two have any idea what that is about?”, asked Nicholas.

Alexander and Arianna cocked their heads a bit, “Strange, my father said the same thing.”, the two said at the same time. “I have heard some old rumors floating about, something about the oceans and stars being connected, but I don’t know much beyond that.”, Alexander replied. Arianna said, “Something about the months came up in this too, I forgot what it was about exactly.” Nicholas sighed and looked down at the table, “Stars, the months, and the ocean.”

“All very mysterious, isn’t it?”, Alexander said and continued, “We keep the submarines in harbor most of the time because of this.” Arianna picked up a small piece of chocolate that came directly from Winker, “We lost seven submarines to unknown causes that one time we tried to go down.” Nicholas laughed, “We have better things to do than explore the deep oceans, but maybe that’s what I have to do soon enough. What do you two plan on doing after this?” Alexander sighed, “I don’t know at the moment, any ideas for some fun.”, Arianna laughed a bit. “Yeah, I got a good idea, go with Nicholas.”, she said. “That doesn’t sound that bad, I’ll welcome you.”, Nicholas chimed in. Alexander nodded and took a piece of chocolate himself, “Well, why not? Anyway, we have a minute left until the designated start time. We should get going.” The three stood up and walked out of the door, the previously small amount of noise from the room quieted into pin-drop silence the moment the three walked in.

“It’s time.”, Nicholas said and after the three walked out, the nine mages and Erix walked after them. Outside, they could see a new plane landing on the runway, it had the Solarian crest on its rear wing and stopped abreast to the plane that Arianna came in. The nine mages plus Erix stayed a respectable distance away from the three, as Arianna, Alexander, and Nicholas walked to the plane. First came out nine Solarian mages, all clad in robes of white with a sun on. The three did not say anything to the mages, they were less important than the three diplomats. First came a young man with yellow hair, yellow eyes, and a light demeanor, “Elohim, nice to meet you.”, he said good-naturedly. Next came a middle-aged man that looked more serious, “Samuel, Archbishop, good day.”, he said curtly and stepped off. Last, but certainly not least, “Head of foreign affairs, Ivan.”, he said simply. “Alexander, Duke of Yorksfield.”, “Arianna, Duchess of Lendenburg.”, “Nicholas, son of current Emperor George VI.”, the three from Iabrun greeted the three from Solaria.

“Who shall do it this year?”, the young man with bright, yellow hair, and bright yellow eyes, said. “We did it last year, it is only appropriate for you to do it this year.”, Alexander said. A tall mage from Solaria nodded, she had yellow hair and brown eyes, she smiled and lightly snapped her fingers. In the very next instant, a gigantic shockwave of pure mana burst forth from her slender body. It reached the ocean waves around them, vaporizing the water for a good ten kilometers, and then made a barrier at the very edge, stopping any water from leaking into the now barren strip of land. “Ahh, isn’t it grand?”, Elohim said, looking out from the island onto the surrounding land, all the sea life was forcefully removed by the large burst, leaving a flattened land on which the negotiations were meant to be held. “We must remind the other nations where they are in comparison to us, it’s only natural we do this.”, Alexander replied, all the people there, besides Erix, nodded. Erix swallowed the lump in his throat, it had been there ever since the people from Solaria got off their plane. “This is only the beginning.”, he heard from one of the mages.

The leader of the trio meant for the Duchess walked up, stopping right behind Arianna and looking at the three Solarian diplomats. “If you would do the honors.”, said the Solarian mage that committed the spectacle just a moment ago. He nodded, stepping up and clapping his hands, a new burst of mana went forth, knocking Erix down in the process, he stood up quickly and looked all about him. A novel crack in space appeared, and five people walked out from it, their stature betrayed the small smile they had on their faces; they were scared and afraid. “Welcome.”, Nicholas said curtly to the five people walking out of the crack in space, they looked at the ground, not daring to look into the eyes of either the Solarian or Iabrun diplomats. Erix, who felt that his surprise was becoming increasingly routine, asked in a quiet voice, “Who are they?”

A mage laughed, “Ah, you’re new here. You should know of the five nations second to Solaria and Iabrun in power, of course. That one over there-” he said while pointing to a mature woman, “She is the current Queen of Leokeni, and Archduchess of Archedom.” He then pointed to the next, and next, going through the five people standing there. An aging man with small, dainty wings, the President of the largest country set in the sea, The Oceanic Republic. It encompassed many of the world's oceans, at least, those not claimed by either of the hegemons. Next was an ethereal mist, less of a humanoid, he was a revolving mist that moved about slowly in the air; even then, one could feel the fear it held. The current Prime Minister, head of the Parliament, in the sky, named Caelum, was a relatively small nation of only ten million people. It made up for the lack of manpower with the value of each of its citizens. After that, his finger went towards a being that looked like it was made of pure snow, it revolved around a central flake of snow. “The current leader of Jevaki, she is said to be a Saint of Snow. Whatever that means, I don’t follow their religion.”, the mage said and finally looked upon the last person. All Erix could see was a small girl, but the mage’s posture changed slightly, “The current Queen of Lesith.”, he said in a more respectful manner. Erix understood immediately that she held a bit of a higher position compared to the others, but even still, she deferentially looked at the ground.

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Nicholas, Alexander, and Arianna started to walk towards the edge; and then a set of stairs formed down to the bottom of the seafloor. Ivan, Samuel, and Elohim followed step by step, down to the bottom where a table along with six chairs formed. It was made of a pure white mineral and quickly formed to be the most comfortable to whoever sat upon it, and with the six seated, the other five followed slowly. The mages, along with Erix, stayed upon the small island, looking down on the people on the seafloor. They looked with varying levels of apathy, though none cared, and all but one of the mages left the area they were at. Erix sat down, looking at the people at the bottom, with only Tores, the mage leader of the trio that was to look after the Duchess, sat down next to him. “You sure you want to hear this?”, he asked, looking down upon the smaller man next to him. Erix nodded, he wasn’t too sure about his decision now, but why not? The warnings that his senior told him did ring in his mind for but a second, but then disregarded it.

Tores nodded, frowning slightly, before picking up a small vial of liquid; while Erix diligently looked on the rulers and diplomats. Nicholas, Alexander, and Arianna sat down at the same time as their Solarian diplomats, while the rest of the five took their places on the floor. It was intentionally derogatory, a fact not missed by Elohim who snorted a bit when he looked at the people sitting on the floor. “Well, well. Let’s start this, shall we? Now as we both know, the main topic of this is the Solarian priest dead on Iabrun soil, but let us not rush this. I wish to talk about the current ongoing civil war in Angilia, and the current intervention policy.”, started Elohim. Arianna nodded, “On that, a Solarian mage was there, and the policy that we both signed on stated that no officials on either side were to be within Angilia’s borders.”, and looked at Ivan. “Of course, of course. But we can’t forget that an Iabrun diplomat was in the Angilia embassy; which was supposed to be shut down until 1025, or the end of the civil war. So, we are both caught on this.”, Elohim replied and continued, “Let’s renew the policy.”

Nicholas and Alexander nodded readily, “Get me the official document.”, Nicholas ordered towards the Queen of Leokeni, while sipping some tea on the table. She didn’t dissent a single iota, instead quickly handing over the document to Nicholas. “Was that really necessary?”, Alexander asked, “Well of course.”, Nicholas replied. The two knew each other’s powers quite easily, Nicholas could have accrued the document quite easily, but the two — and everyone else — knew that asserting their dominance over the other nations was always a good thing. Rolling out the document, there were five points printed upon them, along with an extra clause.

1. No persons of Iabrun, or Solarian, descent are allowed to be inside the borders of Angilia until the year 1025, or the end of the civil war.

2. No persons hired by either Iabrun, or Solaria, in the past, present or future are allowed to be inside the borders of Angilia until the year 1025, or the end of the civil war.

3. No persons hired by anyone of Iabrun, or Solarian, descent may be able to go into the borders of Angilia until the year 1025, or the end of the civil war.

4. No monetary funding, or funding of any kind, can be given to anyone that has a slight connection to Angilia until the year 1025, or the end of the civil war.

5. The embassies of either nation must close until the year 1025, or the end of the civil war.

Escalator Clause: If any of the above five points were to be broken, then the parties must both rewrite a new intervention policy.

After everyone read out the five points, Arianna said, “It is only proper for us to honor the clause, and rewrite the new policy.” Everyone nodded, except the five sitting on the floor, they were still looking at the ground. “We can't go to war over this, after all, we need a limit on the amount we can send to the civil war.”, continued Arianna, “Oh, and we need a limit on the amount of power we can send. None of us want to flatten the entire country, it would serve us no good if the country didn't exist anymore.” Nicholas nodded, “Considering the options, we can either send more people, but weaker ones, or a few stronger ones. I, for one, think we should do the former.”, he said and looked at the people sitting at the table. They thought for a moment, “Hehe, sure. Why not?”, Elohim and Ivan said, while Samuel sat with no reaction. Alexander shrugged his shoulders, “I have no qualms with it.”, and Arianna didn't say anything.

Erix, who with a small spell from Tores, listened to the entire exchange. “That's it?”, he asked, surprised. “That amount of dialogue for a decision that decides the fate of millions? That's it?”, he said, while looking at Tores. Tores simply shrugged, “Yes, you know nothing about it. They talk about things quite fast.”, before continuing to drink his drink. Erix sighed and thought of the words his senior said, to not hear what they were going to talk about. Erix thought about it, surely they didn't really mean it when they talked about flattening the country? Erix, as anyone, knew a bit about magic, but he didn't know about it nearly as much as a mage. Tores smiled, “You may not want to hear about the next part.”, he said and looked down.

“Now, for the ongoing slave trade around the world. We all know who does it.”, started Nicholas, and then pointed at the Queen of Leokeni. “Get over here.”, he ordered, and she obediently walked over to him. “Your country harbors most of the slave trade, and yet, Iabrun isn't getting its share of the profit as far as I can tell. The treasurer didn't get the annual 'gift', from either Leokeni or Archedom. And as far as I know, Solaria isn't either.”, he said while looking at Ivan, who promptly shook his head. Sweat formed on her head, she wanted to say something and started to open her mouth, only to get interrupted. “Zip it.”, Alexander said curtly, and she complied immediately, Ivan then said, “You know the punishment countries have endured for not paying up the appropriate reparations.” The Queen of Leokeni had her brown hair swaying in the small breeze, with a small amount of resistance in her eyes. Nicholas stood up, his frame towering well over her, “I know you think of us as tyrants, and make no mistake, we are. However, you know very well what we tyrants do to those that do not follow the international rule set we place on them. Only two other sovereign states are exempt, and your country certainly isn't one of them.”

She looked at Arianna's eyes, pleading a bit, only to be met by eyes full of disgust. “Do not look me in the eyes.”, she said, revealing her true nature when no one in Iabrun could witness it. “So then, unless you have a great excuse, the punishment your country will endure will make you wish that you gave us the money.”, Nicholas finished off. She didn't say anything, simply shaking a bit in the light breeze. Even the usually cheery Elohim looked to be more serious, and Samuel uttered the first words he had at the meeting. “I am not one for serious punishment, normally, yet your situation is unique. According to our ledgers, your country didn't pay up eighty years ago, and that was still under your rule. So then, what punishment do you see fit?”

With a hoarse voice, she started to speak, “I-I'm willing to do anything, just don't do anything to my country.”, only to be met with a deafening silence. “I see.”, said Alexander, as he was the first one to break the silence. Nicholas smiled a bit, and looked into the eyes of Elohim, Ivan, Alexander, Arianna, and Samuel; sharing his thoughts with them with simply a small eye movement. The five nodded, and Nicholas smiled, “Good, then. Get on all fours.”, he said. She looked shocked, “Wh-”, she wanted to say. “Shut. It.”, Alexander was quick to silence her, “Only speak when given the permission to.” he added. She, with shame on her face, complied, “Now come to me.”, Nicholas said with no small amount of amusement and enjoyment as she had to doggedly go to him. This was the most shameful display a ruler could ever go through, and here she was. When she was under him, still on all fours, he extended his legs and put them on her back; he was using her to lounge about. A small tear escaped from her eyes, something Nicholas didn't miss as he quickly took it with his finger, “Salty, quite tasty.”, he commented.

With an unusually serious voice, Elohim said, “You will pay 35% more for the next five years due to this egregious offense you have done against both our countries, got it?”, though he did end it with fake cheeriness that scared the Queen more. Erix, with a wobble in his legs, stood up and felt extremely queasy. He knew a bit about the slave trade, he knew a bit about the power that Iabrun and Solaria had on the world stage. He knew a tiny amount about the corruption present and blatant abuse of power present, he felt it in the small interactions he had with the six people sitting at the bottom. His perception about the Duchess changed dramatically, 'Is this who I wanted to impress?', he asked himself. 'Is this what he warned?', Erix thought back to what his senior said. No wonder he didn't wish to go here, no wonder he went straight to the whiskey. Erix still had the words they spoke stuck in his mind, tyrants… yes, they were tyrants. “This is what you get, kid.”, Tores said, and offered some greenish liquid to Erix. He respectfully refused the offer, simply turning around and started to walk back to the plane. He suddenly felt that he didn't wish to stick around for the end of it.

“Now that the little debacle is settled-”, Elohim went back to his usual cheery attitude, “we can move on, no?” Everyone nodded, Nicholas smiling especially as he lounged about, reveling in the embarrassment of the Queen under his legs. “Oh, looks like my little plaything left. How sad, he couldn't take it.”, Arianna said while looking at the ledge. Alexander shrugged, “He is but a commoner, he is shocked and scared at our blatant corruption, but he is a liability. Should I kill him?” Arianna laughed a bit, “No, not after our little display. He can stay quiet, and if he doesn't…”, she didn't need to elaborate further. Ivan smiled, “We need to talk about the current embargo we hold on the Andalou Republic.” Nicholas smiled a bit, “What is there to talk about it? We had it for years now. They should be willing to surrender now.” Elohim smiled, “Of course, they were willing to surrender months ago. Now comes the all important question of territory.” With the utterance of the phrase, everyone became infinitely more acute and eyed each other. This was the largest question at the time, both imperialist powers looked at one another.