Our main entertainer takes a back seat and lets us see what has happened and is happening in the rest of the known world. How fates interact and intertwine to produce something far more amusing to watch. Let us start with the Belur kingdom.

Date: 23.2.2830

A few days after the Undead horde was defeated, and the Mind Lich Markus was slain.

Kingdom Belur, Capital City Belur, Royal Castle, Chamber of Elders.

***

In the chamber of elders, a place in which the day to day decisions are made for the common people, have gathered the most important figures of the war against the terror that plagued the land for the last 5 years.

???-“We have gathered here to discuss the future of my people, your people and our alliance. As such we propose to seal our new formed alliance in such a way as to not be lost in a mere decade or so. Due to the brought instability by the recent events which lead to the death of many to both our people we have to rebuild and make sure nothing similar ever happens in the future.”

???-“With all due respect King Garus, the church disagrees, while we have suffered, the threat is yet to be over. The Lich showed the weakness that all of us possess, and as a such many will try to exploit it. Even it is with a 100th of his power it will be enough to create more chaos than the horde of death itself. As such I propose to help my paladins to seek and ‘Invite’ all known mind mages and hunt those considered a criminal element. As shown, a single 5th circle mage was more than enough to face a squad of up to 10 elite warriors and magicians of the 6th circle, including the hero Robert wo was 7th circle at the time, now 8th.

This will help in containing the rise and interest of mind magic as it is hardly a secret of the defeat after defeat we suffered at the hand of the heretic, furthermore I would like to request funding to train the paladins against mind magic so that they can protect the Kingdom.”

King Garus- “Mother Lucilla, your concern is commendable and I sincerely await the churches help, however our granaries to the north have been devastated by the war and the land ravaged due to almost constant skirmishes and as such my kingdom cannot spare any reassures to help with your endeavor, I would also like to ask Sentinel Solis if he could send some druids to help with the restoration, after you are done with the forest that is.”

Sentinel Solis- “King Garus I prefer Prince K’van when speaking with friends with which I shed blood, as for the druids we could send them as soon as possible, in the meantime I’m sure Arch Druid Ironwood would gladly help.”

King Garus- “It will be our honor to accommodate the Seer of the Forest as our guest. But one must wonder, a little bird told me that you, Missis Ironwood knew of the Lich existence before even he rose from the grave, care to elaborate?”

All the eyes in the room turned to Lilliana, some were curious like those of the King, other were mocking like the ones of the sentinel, and the last ones were judging like those of the Hero Robert and his fiancé princess Cassandra Belur, both present.

With a nostalgic and somewhat sad smile Lilliana looks at the others seated comfortably on this round table and with a glint of regret she speaks:

Lilliana Ironwood- “I have indeed met the boy” Some looks in the chamber turn odd at those words, almost spoke by a mother who lost her child. “At the time he was barely past the 2nd circle and he was lonely, confused, scared and still very much thriving in the eternal forest. So I chose to help him, guide him, as I have some experience with mind magic you see. Unfortunately, due to some misunderstandings he left just as fast as he came. This failed encounter made him more careful and harder to find and as such when I finally found him it was already too late to save him, at the end he died at the hands of an elven border patrol”

At these words the Sentinel of the Eternal forest slammed his fist on the table in objection, how could he not? It was widely known that undead are born most commonly by having a lot of resentment and grudges before death. Her very statement suggested that the elves were responsible for this war of death.

Lilliana Ironwood-“Do calm down Sentinel, while it is true that it was the elves who are responsible for his death and subsequent resurrection from the dead, he was well aware of his death and new form and while still trying to procure allies from the humans to fight his vengeance, mercenaries as they are called, with the bounties which he gained during his days hunting beast of great power and rarity, He was recognized as an abomination by the decree of the gods and attempted to be hunt down which led to the overall tragedy that befell us”

She paused and waited for her words to sink in, for them to comprehend the simple truth, that it was either every ones’ fault or no ones, and the narcissism of rulers, even as fair as the Kings or filed with grace as the sentinel all would chose to blame someone else but themselves. And in this case it is obvious that while both are at fault due to the laws they set, they are not responsible for all the actions of their subjects.

Sentinel K’van Solis- “Well I do have to agree that the fault does not lie with any of us but what about you Arch Druid Lilliana? Or more precisely your student?”

The moment of thoughtful silence broken buy the sudden question and replaced with inquisitive looks towards her, but all she could do was give a warm smile and say nothing. As an Arch Druid she is connected to the forest itself and was well aware of her granddaughters’ exploits and subsequent failure.

Even Mother Lucilla was puzzled, true her order did do an extensive research on the Lich’s past but never have they looked at the place of his death, for them he was only a mage with nothing but greed for power. Even after his true death she still believed that to be true but today she was being surprised over and over again. And she only had a curious look for the sentinel.

Sentinel K’van Solis- “The forest guardians always keep a record of every beast hunted or killed, balance must be kept after all and it help when you know what has been hunted. Around five years ago a border patrol saved your granddaughter, Rose Ironwood, from a horde of beast that knew no pain and felt no fatigue led by a mind mage who apparently was quite zealously chasing her. Thanks to his one track mind and determination, which were easy to exploit most of the patrol survived. The description of this man was quite similar to the reports of the Mind Lich during his earlier days of activity.”

One piece of information after another were thrown around, who thought that after the war the different faction would start pointing fingers at each other? And from all that pressure, Robert Williams the Hero himself, wanted to speak and give his opinion, but his fiancé Cassandra Belur first Princess of the Kingdom, put her hand on his thigh and squeezed, not wanting him to enter the battlefield of politics. What can he say that would warm up the chilly atmosphere?

Before he could summon the courage to ease the atmosphere the King himself tried to defuse the situation.

King Garus Belur- “Huuh… does It truly matter whose fault it is? We gathered here today to make our future brighter by uniting our kingdoms in an alliance, and I know sentinel that you are no king it’s a figure of speech” The king said knowing that the sentinel a bit of a sucker for details. “Yes Rose Ironwood is responsible for the agitation of a mage o unknown power and subsequent “man hunt” of him which failed and then the forest guardians prevented him from taking his vengeance and even murdered him, when in fact he was in the right. And to top it off they didn’t even dispose of his body properly and gave it a chance to rise again, and chose to retreat and escort the so called VIP who was probably thought to be mentally scared, oh the poor snowflake.”

With that last sentence he looked the Arch druid, the accusation in his look was evident and many knew how spoiled her granddaughter is. Not the first time she caused trouble, but it’s definitely the first time it blew out of proportion so fast. Who knew that a spoiled princess could cause such a calamity?

King Garus Belur- “And then we have the church whose doctrines have no wiggle room and have indoctrinated the simple folk in believing what is good and evil. Which is quite presumptuous considering that one of the laws of your so called god of light is free will and you impose your beliefs on others and those that don’t and exercise the right of free will are ostracized from their people. Now you might be wondering what my kingdoms fault would be? Well it would be the lack of proper patrols security and the bunch of corrupt pigs that breath on my neck all day long with their stupidity and greed, they would drive the kingdom to the ground if wasn’t for the few loyalist that help me keep a semblance of order. Don’t get me started on the slavery system.”

Well… no one in the room expected the king to explode like that, it was obvious he had enough of almost every one acting like a kid trying to one up one another, at least the hero and his daughter were keeping quiet and not adding to the heavy atmosphere around the room. The sound blocking enchantments on the walls also helped somewhat.

The Druid and Sentinel were quiet like scolded children but Mother Lucilla and the princess had small smiles on their faces, it wasn’t the first time the king had enough of them bickering like children, the only difference was the hero who looked quite surprised as he was mostly on the front lines during the war and rarely participated in the meetings. With a light cough the king took reign of his emotions and continued with his speech.

King Garus Belur- “Now that everyone has calmed down we should focus on the alliance itself. I propose that the northern part of the devastated land both in my territory and the forest be declared neutral and a new academy be established. This one would have no restriction on age, occupation and ancestry. There we would send children with promising talents to learn in not to be prosecuted and hunted because no one understands their talent and considers them a threat. One of the first magic subject should be about Mind Magic. Though I would think many would apply few would fully pass after all from what we know of the lich he awakened his abilities during unregulated mind training, it won’t be wrong to call it torture. Any questions?”

The whole hall was silent, this proposal was so daring and disregarding for the nobility of both nations that it would probably cause an uproar but since it would be on neutral ground it won’t have any problems with political pressure, on the surface at least. The lack of questions from the other 3 parties was mostly due to surprise and not the lack of one but they could see how the academy could help. They can send some of their younger talents to study their make connections and recruit unaffiliated students after they supposedly graduate. It won’t be stretch to say that it could easily become a cesspool of corruption but if managed properly it can become a gold mine.

King Garus Belur- “No? Well let me finish then. As for the commoners, I recommend that we sent yearly examiners to every corner of our countries and have them look at the potential of the populace and bring those that they find back to the academy, we would give them the first year for free if they pass some sort of test and have them pay one way or another for the rest of their education. Worst case scenario we will have a list of most of the talents in both kingdoms, their mental profile and they would be easy to track with enough resources spent. And best of all we will give them a home or a place to belong reducing the chance of another Mind Lich incident… oh and make sure that the nobles influence is choked to death, or else this plan will probably fail.”

Still the people on this room kept thinking, mostly on how to make this whole plan work, it’s a given that it isn’t the first time a country would make a school for the elite and certainly wouldn’t be the first time a joint academy between two or more would fail but what those lacked was a proper location and a common cause that can unite not only the nobles but also commoners, and boy would the benefits be worth the backbreaking work.

Mother Lucilla- “While I wholeheartedly agree to this proposal it could backfire, it would mostly depend on proper leadership and management, even though I am quite busy with my duties I would gladly take the mantle to guide the younger generations.”

For a while the few not so deep in to their thoughts watched in awe at the shamelessness of the Church Mother, the Arch Druid even covered her mouth to hide her warm smile, the sentinel on the other hand well…

Sentinel K’van Solis- “Buahahaha… haha.. uhhh haha ha…” His merry laughter rang across the room and more than half of them thanked the gods for the n-th time in gratitude for the sound barrier enchantments of the room, after all they were not acting according to protocol and the outburst of the elven prince would probably cause a large commotion and flak from the lower ranks of the Church of Light.

His voice still ringing with merry melody common amongst the elven races, as he was heaving for air and obviously nearing the end of his happiness, The Church Mothers face was hard as stone and only her right brow twitching is indicating of her mood.

Sentinel K’van Solis- “With all due… respect.. pfft” He covered his mouth with his hand trying to negate his joyous mood brought by the Churches Mothers gall, yet royally disappointing himself as the tiniest of sounds leaked “But you already have plenty of youths to guide, after all isn’t your job to guide the common folk to the path of light?” With a smirk he looked at the mother and continued “Why not chose someone with less responsibility and ability to guide, I doubt that a religious group proficient in indoctrination can lead an academy that might and quite honestly probably will represent the freedom of the mind and choice. I uhm.. counter propose for Arch Druid Lilliana to guide it while she may be an elf and an honorary advisor to the sun court she is by no means connected to the elven politics and mostly due to her isolation. As she is quite ol… experienced in life she will be a great teacher and leader of education.”

Mother Lucilla- “Do you forget her hand in the birth of that abomination?”

Sentinel K’van Solis- “Didn’t we already agree that it was a sequence of unfortunate events coupled with his unique talents that spawned him? I do remember you being responsible for the incident as much as the rest of us even more so as you preach that all undead defile the sanctity of life even the Intelligent ones who chose of their own free will to do no harm.”

With this a point has been sent across, while she may be a Mother, it is in title only, after all she is in the end a servant of her god, and would drive its agenda without taking a step back to reconsider for those not of her faith.

King Garus Belur- “I do agree with Prince Solis,” Before the king could even finish his sentence he was shot a glare by Lucilla” on the subject of Arch Druid Lilliana being the headmaster, of course us three” He swept his gaze past the Sentinel and Mother respectively “Will become head of a council that shall be in charge of the big decisions of the academy and since we are mostly busy with our own problems we should convene a council meeting bi annually maybe a few weeks after the newly recruited commoners would be brought for registration. Any other ideas?”

With that the meeting continued with the small details being ironed out and trade and defense pacts being assigned by the three factions that slew the mighty Mind Lich, well it was mostly 3 bullies beating down on the kid throwing a tantrum but oh well, everything lives on.