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

Arianna started to talk, “We were the ones to commit to the embargo with our navy, first and foremost. Thus, we get the land.” Elohim shook his head, “That may be true, but the Republic's primary trade source was through its land neighbor’s, of which we did the most. So, 70/30?” Nicholas laughed, moving his right leg atop his left one, with the shame seeping into the Queen of Leokeni. “I respectfully disagree, your mages were barely present there. It was us that carried out the embargo.” Ivan smiled, Samuel didn't change his neutral expression but did say, “That was for all of a few months. Nowhere near the entirety of the embargo, 70/30.”

Alexander looked around, and pointed at the Queen of Lesith, “What's your opinion on this?” It was purposefully asked to put her on the spot, if she gave one inch to either of the hyper powers, then the other would be offended. A slight smile crept on his face as he stared down at her, the other five didn't say anything; Nicholas did frown a bit, but kept quiet. “I am not of the rank to discuss these matters with you.”, she said gracefully, trying her best to not offend either of the groups. “No, no. I insist on it.”, Alexander continued and looked at her, if she were to deny it once again; the Iabrun side would feel annoyed.

Quickly thinking of her situation, she decided to side slightly towards Iabrun. It was only one country away from them, and it could dictate the trade they could conduct. Solaria is still a heavy threat, but if she sided with Iabrun a bit, then they should protect her. “I, and this is just my personal opinion and not at all my country's belief, think that the Empire should be the one to gain a slight majority.” Elohim snorted, “Useless, know your place.” She quieted down and no one bothered to talk to her after that, Arianna continued off, “How about we control all the coastal provinces, and you control the inland ones?” The three looked among themselves, “It is… acceptable, but I will have to talk to you in-depth about these matters later. We can arrange for that, no?” Elohim answered.

When he finished answering, a gigantic shadow descended upon the place. Everyone looked up to see the patriarch of the previous pod of Astroangilae looking down upon the meeting; intelligence was brimming full in its eyes. “An unexpected guest.”, Ivan quickly laughed when he noticed all the mages teleported themselves quickly to the sides of their people. The gigantic whale clicked, the meaning of it being readily clear to the people, “I merely wish to observe.”, he communicated. Alexander and Elohim were the first to talk, “Why not?”, and “Sure, it'll bring some liveliness.” respectively. “They really are beautiful creatures, aren't they?”, Arianna muttered to no one in particular. “That they are.”, Alexander had to agree as he stared at the gigantic creature blocking out the sunlight. Its underbelly was host to a myriad of lights, each flashing bright under the whale and illuminated the ocean floor; giving a stark contrast from the sunlight in the distance and the darkness under the Astroangilae.

Its eyes stared at the scene with wisdom accumulated from years of experience; its eyes portrayed the very ancient feeling the creature held to it. Its very manner was refined, as it slowly moved in the atmosphere — communicating with clicks. “Our race holds no stake in either Iabrun or Solaria. We do not wish to have any, either. All we wish is to be left alone, that is all.”, the gigantic creature that dwarfed the sky communicated in a refined manner. It was very clearly a pacifist, yet he carried with himself a sense of confidence and aura. “What was that quote, go for peace but carry yourself as if you were ready for war?”, it asked, and without waiting for an answer, continued on. “Yes, that was it. Iabrun, and certainly Solaria, partake in that; and so do we, so I am going for peace.” It communicated on equal footing with the delegates of the two hyper powers, completely signifying the sheer breadth of power that the whale held.

“As are we, Iabrun does not wish to go to war.”, Arianna said with certainty, Elohim agreed readily, “Of course, neither do we.” The unspoken agreement between the two was left unsaid, the mages, the rulers, and the patriarch all felt it; ‘War is not off the table.’ With that, the Astroangilae quieted down and started to once again float around the area, leaving the delegates to talk about the trade policy between the two. Erix, of course, did not miss the gigantic creature in the sky from the plane, he looked back to his friend — only to hear him mumble something about his wife. “You’re useless, you know that?”, Erix muttered out loud, not expecting a response, “Now listen here you little runt, don’t you talk to me like that.”, Liam replied with slurred speech. “Come back here, I’ll beat your ass.”, he said while standing up slowly, Erix laughed a bit, “Sure, old man, come out here.”

Outside, Erix sat down on the cool grass, feeling the wind slightly breeze by, as Liam sat down next to him. “Woah…”, Liam said when he saw the gigantic creature floating in the sky. “It’s so beautiful…”, Liam said with a slight twinkle in his eye. “Didn’t you already see them yesterday?”, Erix asked, and so did he, but even so, the two couldn’t help but catch their breath when in the presence of the patriarch. Liam, now laying down on the grass, looked up and wondered aloud, “What would it feel to be on one?” Erix sighed, “We wouldn’t know.”, the sad truth of the world hit him harder now than ever before; they were small people caught between giants and couldn’t do anything.

“What’s with the sad tone?”, asked Liam, sobering up a bit, Erix shook his head and replied, “No, nothing. I just wish I hadn’t had gone to listen.” Liam sighed, sitting up once more, “Yeah, I feel you kid. I tried to be something great once, too, before I got this job. Really thought I could make a difference in the world, you know? To try to change the world for the better, that’s what my father told me, and it stuck with me, ever since the year 999. On that New Year's Day, he instilled that in me, died a few days later too.”

Erix laughed, “What’s with the life story, Liam?”, but didn’t say anything more, seemingly unopposed. “Well, that was before I got this job in the year 1009, was it? Yeah, the Duchess then was a child, only three years old at the time. Then I flew her to the first big meeting of her life when she was fifteen, and that is when I really figured out what she was like. I’m sure you did as well, now, but back then, she talked about killing a family over them insulting her older brother. The way she said it was so casual too as if it was nothing new or different for her, I still remember the words she said. ‘The family gets what they deserve.’, with no remorse or guilt. It was during that ball two years ago, when all the large nobles met, she discussed it with Alexander; he didn’t say anything, but I could tell he silently agreed.”

Liam stood up, leaving Erix for a minute, and got more whiskey with two glasses this time, “Thank you.”, Erix said with none of his usual upbeat self. Taking a sip, Liam continued on, “Then, a few days later, she was talking about her assistant, Laizi I think was the name. Something about transforming an entire country from a desert into a jungle for what she called a little project. I didn’t believe it then, but seeing that whale talking to her as an equal, I don’t doubt its truth. Something about her casualness with discussing such matters shook me, and that started my deep plunge into magic. With every search, I saw the depth of it, and who knows what else? Teleportation, sure, I first thought that was the ceiling. I’ve seen some so-called mages grow plants out of thin air, maybe with a few fruits or so, and naively thought that was the limit of it.”

Erix nodded along, he didn’t dive too much into magic and didn’t know anything about it. Magic, besides its more mundane uses and small tricks, wasn’t something he really thought of; neither did any commoner, they had pressing issues like their next paycheck and didn’t care about magic. “Well, how wrong I was…”, Liam continued once again, “I saw that one,” he said while pointing at Tores, “split the entire lake near my hometown with a flick of his finger, a gigantic tree split it. It’s still there, thriving, with a small town of elves making their way into it. That was back in the 1016 refugee crisis, when the country of Angilia started its civil war. That… that was when I knew I couldn’t do anything.” Erix coughed after choking on his drink, “Unbelievable…”, he said with a sigh, “Yeah, I know…”, Liam said in response.

Erix looked around and then back down to the glass of whiskey in his hand, “They were talking about the slave trade…” Liam nodded, “I’m sure it’s nothing good.” Erix shook his head in affirmation, “No, no it wasn’t. They talked about their payments, and how they control them through Leokeni. I have no idea after that, I left, it hit a bit too close to home.” Liam sighed, “Yeah, you’re right. I wouldn’t have stuck around if I was you. Knowing your father…”, Liam stopped after that statement; leaving Erix to his silence. “I saw them look at the creature in awe, they’re human, but there is also something else about them; something not right, they have far too much apathy.”, Erix said. Liam nodded in agreement, “Maybe their upbringing as nobles?”

“Whatever it is, there is something off about them.”, Erix said, before once again sighing. “We can’t tell anyone, though, or we’re dead.”, Liam said, “Do we just keep it until our graves?” Liam walked around and then looked down at the pit, where all six were staring back at the two, “Judging by their looks, yes.” The patriarch cast its own eyes upon them, causing the two to catch their breath and stop all their movement; the sheer magnitude and size of the creature made them pause, unlike any humanoid. It felt like the entire world looked at the two, even the sun seemed to shine especially bright on the two for a few seconds. At this moment, Liam finally felt… extremely important, it fulfilled all his dreams at once; he always wished to be an influential figure and change the world, and yet, those few fleeting seconds lasted only that.

The patriarch averted its gaze once again, the people on the ground went back to talking, as if the former actions they committed didn’t matter. Even the sun with what he felt like even intenser rays quieted down and a shadow from a tree near him went over his face. For a moment, he had everything, and now, Liam felt as if he held nothing. Even if that dream was unrealistic, even if without magic or power there was no way to change this world, he felt like he could change the entire world with nary a flick of his fingers, similar to how Tores did to his lake. Then, it was all whisked away, and Liam sat down shaking — a tear fell from his left eye onto his hands, which were shaking immensely. He dropped the glass full of whiskey on the floor in the process of sitting down, repeatedly muttering, “No. No…, No.”

Erix looked down at him, even without knowing the details, he could sense that Liam was in immense pain. Erix sat down next to Liam, patting him on the back, “It’s okay, dude, it’s okay.” The world wasn’t kind, and like any other event, it moved on almost immediately, leaving the two on the ground, one to weep and the other to console. Arianna, who just finished talking about the wine quota, said, “We would like to offer you a formal alliance, an economic one, and compensation for the dead priest.” It was time for the main part, they had exhausted all but the most tedious of prospects related to one another. “Oh? What compensation?”, Elohim said, secretly surprised by the cordial response to this. He, and neither did the other delegates, expect this, and the patriarch certainly didn’t expect this, the four sitting on the ground also stewed in their surprise.

Iabrun was never a peaceful nation, with its warmongering and annexations of rival countries and the largest standing military in the world. Iabrun dwarfed almost every other nation with its military prowess, power, and especially its willingness to use it. Of course, it wasn’t as if Arianna did this to be nice, no, she needed Solaria’s willingness to peacefully annex Tils and Gawain. Those two held no strategic importance to them, as far as she knew, but if it meant stopping Iabrun from expanding, they would do it. Samuel ran his finger around the scales of L0S-19 a bit, it didn’t seem like he would use it. “We know of your little Naga problem, and would like to lease some mages to help in your endeavor to put down the rebellion.”, she said.

The three on the side of Iabrun were in perfect sync, “You think we can’t?”, Ivan asked and Alexander speedily replied, “No, you can put it down quite easily. This is a gesture of goodwill on our side.” Nicholas then added, “We would like to also cede the country of Yawh, a puppet of ours, to your side. In exchange for a formal alliance.” Elohim, even if he was surprised by their unexpected friendliness, didn’t think that there was an entire country up for grabs. Even if it was relatively small, it still held many resources they could strip the land bare of. “In exchange for?”, he asked, and Arianna replied, “Iabrun would like to peacefully annex both Gawain and Tils, with no intervention on your side.” Elohim chuckled, “You’re being quite generous, but we wish for more, if you want a non-aggression pact with us over two countries.”

Arianna sighed, “I see, then we can give you the corpse of one Astroangilae.” With that remark, the patriarch narrowed its eyes immensely, staring down at the Iabrun delegates with a mild disdain. It clicked in the sky, “When, exactly, did you come across the corpse of one of my species.” Alexander said, “It was during that… time, the last time your species went to war, we accrued it then.”, with nary a change in his voice, the imposing figure of the patriarch did nothing to dissuade him. “I… see, it is distasteful for you to use one of my kind as a bargaining tool, but…”, the patriarch said and then ended; the latter part of his sentence didn’t need to be said. Even if people here didn’t personally experience the horrors of The Last War like the patriarch, they certainly heard stories. The patriarch then clicked one final time, signifying his departure, he slowly rose up once again into the atmosphere and in another minute, he was a dark spot in the sky.

“What a shame, he was exceptionally beautiful.”, Arianna sighed and looked back at the Solarian delegates. They talked among themselves for a second before standing up, this led the Iabrun diplomats to do the same; Nicholas stood up and kicked the Queen forcefully, she quickly went back to her position. The six people started to slowly walk towards one another, any hint of fear was extinguished, Elohim himself looked as serious as Samuel. “We accept your offer.”, said all three at the same time, reaching out their right hands. Nicholas, Arianna, and Alexander all smiled, “We accept yours.”, before also sticking out their hands. A handshake to tie the deal was started, Nicholas to Samuel, Alexander to Ivan, and Arianna to Elohim.

With that little shake of hands, the alliance was officially formed; it would change the very foundation of the world when it would be announced. “It was a pleasure discussing with you.”, Arianna was the first to talk after that handshake, which was sure to go down in the history books as one of the most defining moments of the 11th century. “Likewise.”, Elohim replied, and then started to walk off. Tores opened a crack in space, not so subtly giving a glare to the five on the ground to get moving, their faces were a mixture of surprise and dread. No one could have expected these nations to forge an alliance now, some hoped that the two would go to war in order to weaken the power they had.

Tores then closed the crack after they departed, the same Solarian mage that split the ocean now stood beside Ivan. “It is time for us to leave, as well, good day.”, Samuel said and teleported off himself, Arianna didn’t say anything, but looked at Tores. He complied and another crack appeared, she, Alexander, and Nicholas walked through the space, appearing next to the plane that the Duchess flew on. Elohim and Ivan gracefully walked up to the space, “Fix this.”, Elohim muttered when they reached the cool grass. She complied instantaneously, lowering the barrier holding the other ocean in place, and letting it all rush back into the area; despite the violent torrent of water spouting out, not a single drop reached her, or the others. After another second, the scar on the ocean looked as if it had never been, it was a serene and peaceful scene. Arianna, along with Tores and the rest of the mages assigned to her, walked inside her plane. Alexander and Nicholas shrugged, “You guys can go.”, they said a certain few mages opened cracks in space for the others to go through.

Inside the plane, the three sat around a table in a large suite. “Take-off is in three minutes, please put on your seatbelts.”, they heard Liam’s voice over the speaker. Arianna sighed, “Poor guy, he should be going back to his family soon enough.” Nicholas laughed, “Don’t act like that around us, we all know that isn’t what you’re really like.” Arianna laughed too, “It’s fun to act, and helps me act better in front of everyone else.” Alexander sighed, “You truly are a little monster.”, to which she replied, “A cute little monster that everyone adores.” Nicholas said, “That was fun.”, he didn’t need to say what, everyone already knew. “Sadistic little bastard.”, Alexander said while chuckling, “I like what I like.”, Nicholas replied — and then, the plane took off.

Elohim was now by himself on the island, with no one around — he had already sent everyone else away — and now he could stew in the gains. It wasn’t a loss, but it wasn’t too great a win for Solaria either. Gawain and Tils…, he knew it must’ve been a long-standing project since Constantine would never allow it. He thought back to the events, and despite the surprise appearance of the patriarch, or the alliance, that wasn’t the most interesting thing there. “Dragon blood…”, he sensed it in the young Duchess and was curious as to where it came from. No normal person should ever even know what a Dragon was, he stomped it out thousands of years ago. With that thought, he turned into a beam of sunlight and vanished from the scene, leaving the island that was untouched beyond the broken glass of whiskey.