It is at this time that Luxios sits down with his buddies at the guild’s first floor, the wooden floorboards and tables give off the feel of the inside of a ship. He like’s the upper levels better where things feel less rural, even with the beautiful waitresses and the sound of other people filling the air he values the silence and privacy much more. Still, he sits here after a day of teaching newcomers, he was surprised and even delighted at some points, he’s been doing it for a while so he knows what he’s doing.

“How are the runts this season? All fries, huh?” A deep female voice asks him, It’s Reah, one of his friends, a half dwarf, stout and strong with dark tan skin and black wavy hair to elbows. Next to her a man with a huge torso and chiseled muscles called Gahn laughs and raises his drink.

“I bet, remember when we were getting the orientation? I thought I was the strongest there is! Then when we fought a barghest we needed the guild master to help us. Oh brother, we had some yellow pants back then.” Gahn says before chugging down his drink.

“We didn’t have the same orientation, Gahn.” A half elf at the table with short blonde hair and a slim body reminds him. His name is Shills and when they go out he normally takes the job of commanding the party. “But I can relate, we were all yellow pants at one point or another. Speaking of the guild master, we didn’t find anything.”

That’s the very reason they sit in the first floor restaurant instead of upstairs, aside from the available meals and booze it’s near Clara at the desk next to the stairs. Clara has been a boon since the guild master disappeared and acted as a fill in for the guild master when it comes to paper work.

“I can’t believe it, we looked through the entire library and found nothing. It’s a miracle we’re still standing as a guild.” Luxios agonizes over the state of the guild before taking a sip from his mug. “Honestly, it’s all thanks to Clara we’re still getting anything done.”

“Don’t thank me, I’m doing fine by myself.” Clara reacts to them from her desk, they choose the seat closest to her. Her Brown long straight hair had gotten messy over the time she had to fill in for the guild master, but she holds a facade to pretend it hadn’t impacted her at all. “If the guild master managed to play around and even take on some quests while still taking care of it I can do it over my break easily.”

“But you need a break too, Clara.” Luxios tells her and the others at his table agree.

“Then find it! Until you do, I can hold this down.” It’s clear Clara want’s them to take care of their own business, but that’s not to say she doesn’t respect their concern, she even holds it dear. The sooner they find the guild master though, the quicker they can resolve this predicament.

“She’s right… but we already searched the library. Maybe we can ask Holdir if we can look through the royal library. Heck, he might know something himself.” Gahn makes a point.

“Now? He’s probably at the summit with the royals and the paladins.” Luxios comments about it, it’s not that he hasn’t thought about it himself, but even if it wasn’t the case right now, it’s doubtful that royals will give them the time of day.

“Yeah, Allous should be there too now. I don’t think she knows yet. Hey, shouldn’t we go and tell her at least? Maybe she knows something about it, it’s worth a shot.” Reah says while moving her hair away from her face before taking a sip from her mug.

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“I heard she’s supposed to come here to visit anyway.”

“Just who told you that Luxios?” Shills asks.

“These new orientation pupils. They met her on their way here from Duhndale, even got a letter of recommendation from Rodrick.” Luxios answers, everyone is silent for a second before all emptying their mug at the same time.

“I wonder what’s going on with Allous right now. I hope she’ll be here soon.” Clara sighs and gets back to the guild master duties she needs to take care of.

What indeed goes on with Allous at the same time? Well, she’s sitting at a large table with crimson cloth on it of the finest creation and the chairs are each detailed and made with care. It’s a meeting held with little expenses. The long table has many seats, all of them filled. The king of Uesteroza sits on one side with his court wizard Holdir sitting next to him, many nobles to each side. To the left of them sit some members of the druid faction, it’s rare to see them, and even rarer to hear them have an opinion on anything, they wear cloaks with feathers and robes with oversized sleeves. Next in line are the church’s prominent bishops and archbishops surrounding the great father of the church, much to their displeasure they didn’t get the seats opposite the king. A seat as such was to the left of them and was reserved for Sortieva, the leader of the paladin’s inner circle, and his inner circle paladins, Allous on his left and his most trusted to his right. Next in the groups of the table is an array of merchants powerful enough to be called in. Next to them is a single witch from the coven of witches, in her black long clothes and long crooked hat, a mysterious addition, rumored to not even been invited but arrived anyway, that’s how important this summit is. Finishing the table’s seats are the wizards from the many institutes that teach magic around Uesteroza, many pointed hats and blue robes on each.

It’s a difficult meeting to hold since there are so many parties, and for each to have his time to speak and tell their accounts is very time consuming. As far as it was understood it’s a grave and perilous state. A state of what? That’s not clear. The druids had increasingly more and more prophetic dreams of the end of times. The church’s representatives are not certain as to the nature of these things, an apocalypse is prophesied in the scriptures under certain translations but nothing suggests it’s to come soon. The wizards of the institute disagree on everything, even within themselves, as they normally do, but some are convinced that evidence of a terrible future is undeniable. The coven witch might be the most mysterious since she hasn't talked yet, and didn’t even request a turn, she just sits there and listens.

“It’s longer than I thought, what do you think?” Sortieva, a young man, about the age of 30 and respected for his power and dutiful work, now whispers to his aides next to him, Allous amongst them.

“It’s difficult to tell, but if we’re holding such a meeting there’s no doubt there’s something to it.” His right hand man whispers back, trying to to seem as if he’s not listening to the ‘important’ argument of the talking wizard.

“Allous?” Sortieva beacons her quietly since she hasn’t answered.

“I’m not sure… it sounds big, I don’t know how much I can help here.”

“How big? Is it the size of the death forest erupting?” Sortieva asks her for proportions, the forest erupting might mean the end of life on Uesteroza and a retreat of every last living man elf or dwarf back to Ayamar. But he might have set the limit too low for her standards.

“Some accounts make me think it would be the Adversary invading the realm.” Allous gives her thoughts and shocks Sortieva, sending shivers in his spine.

“No!” He says out loud. The wizard stops in the middle of his speech, the room is silent. It’s unbefitting to make a comment, but institute wizards have their own standards.

“Do you have something to add, Drow?” It’s rude to talk to someone with their old name.

Before a scene starts Sortieva quickly answers. “No, I’m sorry, do go on. I’ll have my turn soon.”

This weird interaction leaves many faces pointed at Sortieva, some return their attention to the talking wizard as he explains his previous experiments. One pair of eyes is fixated on something else. The mysterious witch is looking directly at Allous.