Once we were inside the house, it became pretty clear that, as I noticed the other Communal Councilmembers of the Community waiting, tonight would be another Council Meeting.

The Council Meeting started off no different than the previous one. Everyone sat on foldable chairs, arranged in a semi-circle facing the desk at the front. The same desk in which I just happened to be currently leaning against addressing the assembly of Councilmembers.

“First things first,” I announced, “We obviously have some pressing issues that need to be discussed. So, who is going first?”

My father raised his hand patiently for a few moments, and then spoke up when he noticed no one else was inclined to go first. “Perhaps not an issue… More informative than anything. The plants you gave me Thomas, that… Mana Berry Bush. It’s remarkable. After putting it into the ground it almost immediately took root. I don’t know what exactly it is, but I’m sure I’ll have some results in the next day or two. If it reproduces as quickly as it takes root, your little plan may have quite a bit of merit after all.”

I nodded, “Thank you for covering that Dad.” As I looked around the room, I delivered an explanation as I noticed the questioning looks on several faces. Mainly those who were not present when I gave my Dad the plant, such as Dante, Rachel, Jackson, Harrison, and Antonio. “We found a berry bush in the dungeon when Alex, Kevin, and I delved into it," I began, "While the bust itself may be interesting, what we’re more curious about are the berries that it produces. It just so happens that the berries restore mana when eaten.” I announced.

Dante shrugged, “Not much reason to be surprised anymore, I guess.”

With that noted, we continued through the meeting. As I expected there really wasn’t much to say regarding the whole ‘Ruler System’. Everyone had the chance to peruse the menu but hadn’t come up with anything substantial beyond the basic information it provided. As such we all concluded that we likely won’t be seeing any dramatic use of the menu until we managed to meet whatever prerequisites were required to advance our Community to tier 2.

As such, Antonio gave a quick report regarding the construction of the palisade. “The wall has actually made some incredible progress in just the entire day we’ve been working on it. We’ve already covered the entire side of the street with it, and we are currently in the process of working around the rest of the perimeter. That is, getting the trenches all dug up. Though… I will point out right now that we may be inclined to focus construction in the general direction of that damn cemetery…”

Dante nodded, and then subsequently piped in. “Antonio’s right. I’m sure everyone else has noticed it too, but the undead are picking up their activity close by. I’m sure they’ve noticed our presence here, but they haven’t made any moves yet. I wouldn’t be surprised if something happened soon though…”

Alex then jumped into the conversation, “Okay, now, what I find strange at the moment is that they actually haven’t attacked. Most of you, besides Thomas’s group, were with us when we first came to my house. That is, I mean, we went through Main St. together, close to the library. The way the dead are acting right now is in no way similar to how they acted on day one. My question is, what’s happening? Why haven’t they continued to mindlessly wander into our defenses?”

Alex’s question was pointed, and frankly, it rose up a dilemma that was quite concerning to think about. What was going on with the undead? To be honest, I hadn’t thought about it too much simply because Kevin and I had been constantly running around. Whether it was scavenging homes towards the edge of the mana zone, being out in the forest, or even delving into the dungeon. I noticed they were acting strangely, but now I felt angry at myself for not being more concerned about the obviously dangerous implications.

What could explain the behavior? Obviously, typical undead would roam, and attack anything in sight really. So, what might explain their apparent, and unnatural reluctance to just march straight into our defenses? It was behavior that marked some type of intelligence…

My thought process was interrupted by Kevin though. “A Lich,” he pronounced matter-in-factly.

“Shit,” I muttered under my breath. That was, frankly, a likely and dangerous possibility.

“What do you mean a Lich?” Rachel questioned.

I motioned for Kevin to go ahead and explain. He had always been a little bit more… Intense when it came to understanding the intricacies of Holy Arc Online, particularly the lore elements.

“Well,” Kevin began, “A Lich is a rare variant of undead. You don’t normally encounter them unless you’re in an extremely mana-rich area where a lot of undead have congregated. Basically, the cemetery here in Shrewsbury happens to fit the perfect bill. Not only is it crawling with the walking dead, but I also suspect it’s the center of a leyline. Hence the mana zone we’re all under right now. It’s pretty much the perfect spawning ground for a lich if you really think about it.”

“So,” Harrison interrupted, “What exactly is a Lich then, besides the obvious fact that we probably have one?”

Kevin continued, “It’s just an undead that is intelligent, at least by monster standards, and also possesses high magical affinities. They also tend to dabble quite a bit into necromancy, hastening the summoning and raising of undead as well as creating much stronger variants. Unfortunately, it’s been nearly a week since the Mana Zone began. I imagine it only took about two or three days for the Lich to spawn, and now that it’s had a few days to do whatever it’s been doing, it’ll be much harder to take it out…”

I picked up the conversation after that, “And… I have no doubt it knows we are here too. I would bet we’d likely be facing a full-scale invasion of the community any day now. Monsters, and intelligent ones in particular, can be pretty… Territorial.” I mentioned.

The council took a minute to digest the information that was just shared. Alex then spoke up. “So, basically we’re going to need to get our priorities straight. I suggest we continue prioritizing the construction of the wall, focusing on the portion that faces the cemetery since that’ll be the likely avenue of any sort of attack. The second thing we’re going to need to do; And frankly I’m basing this off of my experience going into the dungeon with Kevin and Thomas, is to begin power-leveling members of our Community and prepare for the likelihood of an assault.”

Jackson ventured into the conversation after Alex finished his statement. “I’m pretty sure we have a fair surplus of nails right now to keep up with the wall construction. So, I can attempt to shift over to making weapons and maybe some rudimentary armor if no one has issues with a slight deviance from the plan.”

The council unanimously agreed with Jackson’s proposal. As of now, we had enough of the nails to probably finish another 30% of the wall. Hopefully, that would be enough in the short term to get the entire front of the Community defended against any potential attacks from the cemetery. Likely, and the more important option, would be to arm everyone we currently had available. Jackson clarified that while he won’t be building anybody some type of full-plate armor, or even half-plate anytime soon. He can definitely turn out some crude blades and make some solid shields for everyone. Any other armor the Community wanted was going to have to come from another source.

As it turned out, Rachel mentioned that Priscilla might be able to get some basic leather armor made for us, as she was, after all, quite used to hunting. It wasn’t anything solid, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask her.

Otherwise, the rest of the meeting went by without a hitch. Pretty much everyone was dead set on preparing in some semblance for the next day. It was agreed that right now, we will need whatever help we can get, and as such some members of the community we would rather have had avoid the conflict were suddenly going to be 'drafted' if it came down to it. Basically my mother, Kaitlyn, Dante's wife, and Apinya. We all agreed we were somewhat skeptical on whether Liam, our resident Lawyer would actually be a willing participant, but, frankly, we were all starting to get just a tad frustrated with the man already. Apparently, his complaining earlier in the day wasn't an isolated incident.

He had been harassing some of the other members of the community whenever he went scrounging for food inside the main house. Overall he was becoming a nuisance, and despite his general misgivings for the Community, he didn't seem inclined to just up and leave. We were tolerating it though, mostly because his brother, William, more than pulled his weight. In fact, William had been a remarkable asset to the Community, and already Antonio, and Dante, along with the others who had been working on the wall have grown quite fond of the guy. Despite his quiet demeanor, he was pretty pleasant to work with.

When all was said and done, we concluded the meeting, with a reinforced determination to ensure the security of our community. As it had turned out, pretty much everyone had noticed the worrying pause in undead incursions, and it wasn't until the meeting had finished that an unseen tension appeared to lift from the air. It was still there, albeit slightly lessened. The coming days would prove whether or not our concerns were justified, or if we were preparing too much.

It appeared that for now the dungeon would be forced to wait. Our incursion earlier in the day should help as far as dispersing any accumulating mana. At least towards the entrance of the dungeon. So, it shouldn't be much of an issue for now.

We all began to slowly meander out of the room, with small conversations spiking up. I made eye contact with Rachel and smiling, I began to approach her. Just as I was about to open my mouth, a sudden wave of fear and... Death washed over me. It was so sudden and unpredictable, that I immediately froze. It took me a moment to catch my bearings, and as I looked towards Rachel, I saw the look of despair that had suddenly taken over her facial expression. It was clear that she had sensed it too.

To our shared bewilderment though, nobody else within the council room had felt it.

It was also to my befuddlement, that I noticed that what had previously been a slight chill, and frosty hue to the mana; had just undergone some sort of metamorphosis. It was almost... Demonic in nature? While everybody else began to siphon out of the room, I ran outside, and Rachel tailed behind me.

As soon as we left the house, I could instantly feel the much more potent nature of the mana shift. As I looked up into the sky, the moon had suddenly taken on a blood-red hue.

This particular phenomenon, I had never seen before. Whatever planet the world of Holy Arc Online took place in, did not have a moon. Meaning that what was happening was entirely unique to Earth. I could see the wisps of mana though, as they shifted almost violently through the sky, coming in streams from the direction of the moon. Almost as if its mere presence was damning all of those below it.

It was a harrowing sight, and even though the effects of it were fairly marginal right now, I could almost feel the intensity beginning to rise.

"Thomas... What's going on?" Rachel asked slowly.

"I- I don't know. I've never seen something like this before. Whatever it is, it can't be good at all..." I stammered out.

At that point Noah joined us, followed shortly thereafter by Apinya. Which I was fairly surprised about. I figured Noah could likely sense it, but Apinya? I guess he would be particularly sensitive to... Well, demonic mana, if that's really what this was. After all, he was a [Priest].

"Ahhh," Apinya sighed as he slowly expanded his arms outwards. Facing towards the moon, he began to quote, "And as Joel said; the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord comes," Apinya finished solemnly.

With that foreboding proclamation, we stood there, watching the tethers of demonic mana wisp through the air.