Athen Caldor, the official head of the Twelve, walked down the hall accompanied by his advisor. He straightened his suit while listening to his advisor spill out details of the multiple cities which had been attacked.

“So they’ve managed to handle the situation in the Green City yes?” Athen recalled the message sent to him not too long ago. In the knights’ attempts to bring the Yurfray girl into custody, they were attacked, losing one member in the process.

“Yes sir,” his advisor looked through the papers in hand, “After a quick search for Knight Symond, they found him dead in a nearby merchant warehouse. He was killed by someone with a strong lightning affinity.”

He rubbed his chin. They had previously thought the man to have an earth affinity, “Are you certain?”

“Yes, sir. Captain Ryker made sure to confirm it through Knight Kayle.” the advisor flipped the page, “And unfortunately, there has been no news on any of the Yurfrays. I sent an order to the Seventh in Aurora City to keep his eyes out for her.”

Athen nodded, “Let’s move on. How is the current situation with Heclan?”

“The killer? Well, as it is now, his sentence is being discussed. There’s no doubt it will be severe, however, the judge is reluctant to hand out a death sentence due to his inactivity in the past few years and the children he has adopted, all of whom, claim he treated them well.”

“All right. Officially take the request out of the book then.” Athen’s mood lifted a little. Seven years ago, he decided to make Carlyle the leader of the Twelve in Aurora City through the recommendation of his good friend who held the position of Headmaster in Renard Academy. In those seven years, Carlyle proved himself to be a competent person, his Twelve completed more requests of the empire than almost any other.

“Sir,” the advisor bowed, “I shall be taking my leave now.”

“Yes… Although I would prefer to have you with me in there…” Despite his dream job being one of constant management and paperwork, he enjoyed it, however, meetings utterly bored Athen. More often than not, they were simple meetings that were blown out of proportion by others in the room or a topic that interested him none.

“Best of luck sir,” the advisor said as he left.

Athen lumbered over to his usual spot in which he always took when in meetings. He wondered about the need for such a large room to discuss in. The amount of people who attended easily filled the seats, however, seats only made up a small portion of the room.

The architects allowed generous space for air and marble to occupy. Even Athen’s seat, he swore, was at least partially made of marble. A waste, in his opinion. The floor cleaned so well, and diligently, one would have to force themselves not to check their appearance while taking center stage. The center stage, of course, being the part where one stood while speaking.

Light shone in from the reinforced glass above. Clear and bright during the day, as various as a rainbow at night, if the emperor wished it so.

As people poured into the room, and Athen grew more and more bored with every passing second, a face he hadn’t seen in a long while caught his eye. “Wonderful,” he said, “This meeting will most likely be interesting after all if he’s here.”

After a few minutes passed, and everyone settled in, the gold-plated doors to the largest seat in the room opened. All voices fell silent, turning their eyes and attention to the man who oversaw the entirety of the nation, The Emperor.

The Emperor sat down with his two personal bodyguards closing the door behind him. The officials in the room continued to stare but not at The Emperor. Just off to his side was Princess Tina, her full given name being Actina.

It was entirely possible The Emperor dragged her here since she stood as the successor to the throne, but it was also possible it was her choice to come. From what Athen heard about the princess could be skewed to support either side.

Princess Tina enjoyed attending parties and did so as much as she could. However, the parties in which she ends up going to and staying the longest are those which feature powerful lords and such lords’ sons. And although it was entirely possible for the princess to bring a partner to those dances, she always chose to go without a partner.

Once the bodyguards closed the doors, The Emperor spoke, “I hope everyone knows why this meeting was called today. The main reason being the strange monster attacks happening all over the empire.”

Whispers spread through the gathered officials. Athen leaned in closer in hopes of catching a word or two. His position had him deep within the heart of the capital and dealing with the “dirty” parts of it as well. Hearing about the cities wasn’t common unless the Twelve there acted up.

“However,” The Emperor raised his voice, “More inconveniences have come up since I originally called this meeting… One issue has to do with the portals to the south we discovered many years ago while dealing with the militant dwarven group. Those portals we discovered started to act up.”

Once again, this was news to Athen. More informants were needed. Athen knew what the next few recruits under him were going to be.

“In addition to that, it seems armored men bearing the insignia of a country we have never met has been spotted around that area. From the reports, it is likely they have never experienced snow or snow to the levels it reaches here. If true, and they are hostile, we will have an easy time holding them back or maybe wiping out their forces during this winter.”

A few of the people inside the room nodded, the word, barbarians going around. The generals’ faces were grim.

“Please hold for now,” The Emperor said, “Despite the good news, there is also terrible news. The item we sent to Renard Academy has been taken…”

Gasps rippled through the room and Athen grit his teeth. The decision to send the shard to the Academy was made only because the magical concentration in the area was extremely dense and they had gotten wind of a plan to break into the royal treasury. The vote was passed to send the shard to Renard Academy a few months ago disguising it with shipments of new books.

The gamble failed.

“An investigation is taking place, being overseen by the head of the Twelve, Athen Caldor. Although not much has come up yet, letting thieves get away with the artifact is not something we will allow to happen.”

A man in the crowd stood up, “And where is the Headmaster of the academy during this? What were the guards and teachers doing?”

“I am right here in the crowd,” a man answered. With the help of his cane, he rose from his seat eyeing the other man, “Adding extra protection would have only drawn more suspicion to the artifact, it was even decided so. I was vehemently against allowing such a thing into my school but was overruled by this court.”

“And what about the teachers there?”

“What about them? They are paid not to defend the school but to teach the students and keep them safe. Telling them about the artifact would have been a breach to what was agreed upon here would it not be?”

The man shook his head, “That may be true, but how could you let a thief sneak into the academy? How would this even be possible? I believe that instead of chasing these weak leads, we should be investigating you, Headmaster.”

Loud claps echoed throughout the room, a metal ring accompanying it.

“That is enough,” The Emperor roared, “This has only begun and we are already pointing fingers at each other. I will not have accusations of betrayal within the first minutes of this court.”

The man bowed his head reluctantly, “Yes, Emperor.”

The Emperor’s eyes swept around the room and sighed, “For his excellence in dealing with a massive monster attack and past deeds against the militant dwarves I mentioned before, Generals Vartan, Kreskur, and Quin, believe that Commander Ferrick Bellard is best suited to dealing with those in the south. We will discuss this matter more after a short break. Let us calm our heads before the next session.”

The Emperor left, the princess following behind.

Athen left his seat too, “Hello Cuinn. How nice of you to join us. I wasn’t expecting you today.”

“Athen, good seeing you again. And I would prefer for everyone to simply refer to me as, Headmaster. Such as the time when you first came into your position.” he smiled and leaned back comfortably in his seat.

Athen grimaced, “You still remember those days? If I remember correctly, you were still an old man far back then as well.” Athen stayed standing, although he knew it to be rude. His legs were still sore from sitting down for so long. “Anyways, Headmaster, according to what I have heard, you decided to shut down the academy?”

He hesitated in responding, “Yes… I suppose it is no secret. With recent attacks and one happening just as I left, it was the best choice for the school and its students. As of now, the important item has been stolen.”

“Unfortunate,” Athen said as he lowered his head, “I received a report from one of my men in the city that the Twelve were unable to assist because of an action he took. I do apologize for failing to protect your precious academy.”

“No students were hurt. No apologies necessary. Although, it does pain me to end the year so early. There was a certain person in particular whom I wanted to observe more. At the beginning of the school year, I went to great lengths to see this student’s power…” the Headmaster’s voice lowered, “Even to the point of going against one of my own rules.”

Athen, sensing the disappointment and shame in his friend’s voice said, “I know not of what happened but I am sure you made the right choice. Understanding the abilities of those under you is the most important when deciding future courses of action concerning them.”

“Mmm. Thank you for your kind words,” the Headmaster stared straight forward without sending a single glance at Athen.

“Now, how will the emperor react once-” from the corner of his eye, Athen spotted his advisor who beckoned him over. “Ah, let us continue this talk another time today perhaps. I have to meet with my advisor.”

“I understand. Let’s continue another time then.”

With a nod, Athen strode over to his advisor who stood just outside of the room. “What is it,” he asked, not so pleased his conversation was interrupted.

“Sir. About that extra person in Aurora City, the Thirteenth. Number Seven says he can’t find him anywhere. He believes that the Thirteenth has left the city.”

Athen sighed, “...I understand.”

“Shall we do it then sir?”

“...” more silence came from Athen. Surely Carlyle would not have let anyone untrustworthy into the Twelve. Yet, letting an undocumented person leave without so much as a vow of silence could lead to disaster or leak of information.

Confused by the lack of command, the advisor leaned closer, “Sir?”

“Yes, I know. Then please, issue the report to capture this, “Thirteenth” at once.”

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Author’s Note: Finally got it done. Every time I tried to work on it I’d fall asleep. Sorry about the two week wait for another chapter. The third chapter is already being worked on.

Not much to say for this chapter. Please leave a comment or review, those are always helpful.