Hectically, but quietly, Cale hurried up the steps and met confused glances from low-ranked mages. They did not get to bow infront of him, that did Cale ran past them. As he made his way to the Elder's apartment, he could clearly sense that his colleagues had arrived before him. The collection of mana sources was overwhelming.

With a leap, he emerged inconspicuously behind the other High-Magicians before daring to glance around. At the windowsill, the 2nd seat Ranger Castero, as well as the 8th seat Nora Sarches and the 9th seat Rosalie Helesbarch had gathered. Silently, the 4th seat Sefra Risztus as well as the 10th seat Malte Vangries stood next to the workplace, of the Eldest. On the wall opposite the Elder, the rest of the group had found each other. The 5th seat Odin Ander, the 6th seat Luc Darves, the 7th seat Ziyad Mikel as well as the 11th seat Joshua Elbert. Only his friend Grischa and the 3rd seat Aaron Thopas sat right next to the Elder himself, which surprised him a bit. Not because of Grischa, but because of Aaron.

The dark-haired man was one of the longest members of the council and possessed a certain condescending manner with which Cale could not make friends. Of all those present, he got along the worst with the 3rd seat, although they were quite similar. They were both rather the quiet kind of people who liked to observe what was going on from a distance and indirectly influence it. While Cale didn't know what the man really thought of him, it didn't seem to be anything particularly good. He was often very rude and distant to Cale that by now he took it as a deliberate insult from him. Something Cale's pride couldn't handle. Aaron's deadly serious, murderous stare wasn't much help in that regard. Ever since their first encounter, Aaron seemed to hate Cale. The only thing he seemed to care about was the welfare of Altona. The callous man seemed incapable of anything else.

At least, that's what Cale thought until this moment. When he saw Aaron talking to the elder, he could perceive his concern in his voice, although his gaze was ice-cold. Cale was aware that the Elder and he had known each other for quite a few years, but he really hadn't expected such friendly behavior. By Aaron's standards, at least.

After staring at the two High-Magicians for a few moments, Cale gently closed the door behind him and leaned against it. It was a rare sight to find all the High-Magicians in one spot. Often they were away or otherwise confirmed with important tasks, that today all were present was only due to the meeting a few days ago.

"In 5 days, a second wave of creatures will hit the capital", the Elder finally spoke up, completely silencing the already quiet room. Cale spotted a few surprised faces, but he himself remained unaffected. He had known for a long time that the creatures would set out again, only the exact day was different this time. Actually, the Elder was supposed to receive this information only after most of the nobles had already left, but with today it certainly came several days too early.

Aaron slowly began to ask the Elder what exactly he had seen. The brief concern in his voice was gone and his old demeanor emerged. The Elder himself began to tell the whole face. He explained in great detail that he had seen the creatures split into separate groups and by nightfall they had reached city walls. Dismayed, he explained that many of the people who were outside the city walls were surprised by the creatures and consequently died. He could see them trying to surround the city and get over it walls, until finally the High-Magicians appeared. He thought he could see the 2nd seat rushing into the masses of enemies before his gaze broke away and he looked down on the city from above.

The 2nd seat Rangar Castero seemed to be the only one truly enthusiastic regarding the statement, while the rest seemed concerned or annoyed. Cale sighed inwardly, something similar had happened in his second life. The capital had not been prepared at all and countless people had died, among them Cale's friends and the High-Magicians.

The Elder began to describe some creatures, so Cale and Aaron grabbed pen and paper and began to draw the descriptions of each creature. While the Elder's attention was focused on the 3rd and 12th seats, the other High-Magicians quietly began to interpret the details.

A while passed, and as the conversation grew more heated, Aaron and Cale silently held the drawing out to each other. They were quite similar, but Cale's illustrations were a lot more detailed, which was of course due to the fact that Cale had already seen the creatures several times. The 3rd seat wordlessly took Cale's drawings before asking the Elder if they matched what he had seen. The Elder then confirmed them and cast a quick glance in Cale's direction.

But when Aaron then asked the Elder if he had the Chronicles of the Creature Lore from Zod Adenia in his apartment, Cale was visibly surprised. Never in his life would he have expected Aaron Thopas to seek out a rather unserious book series as a source of information. His friend Grischa seemed to have heard this question, because he rolled his eyes in annoyance and gave Cale an all saying look. For years, Cale had been trying to convince Grischa to trust the book series more, even though many of the creatures described had no confirmed existence, let alone how to destroy them at best. On the other hand, he couldn't blame Grischa; after all, Cale had never told him the whole story.

When the Elder denied his question, Aaron disappeared for a few minutes, only to reappear with the five books, which were comparatively handy. He took a seat at the Elder's workstation and began going through the pages.

The others, however, including Cale and the Elder, joined the discussion. They tried to come up with the best possible strategy to defend themselves against the creatures. Relatively quickly, they agreed that the people all needed to be inside the city before they could even think about fighting the creatures. However, they had solved that problem relatively quickly; they would issue a widespread warning to all humans over the next few days, forcing them to be inside the city no later than the morning of the attack.

The second problem was the battle itself. They did not doubt their abilities at all, however, with the large numbers they had to coordinate well and especially be careful with their own mana. When the elder suggested asking Anuxer for help against the weaker creatures, everyone was silent for a moment. Shortly after, the expected discussion began. How did they prepare the others for battle? How would they divide up? Who should be responsible for what? Should everyone fight? Where would things get most critical?

Cale quietly distanced himself from the group and went to Aaron, who only glanced briefly at Cale and then turned his attention to the Chronicles. It was always like that between them. One knew the existence of the other, but really there was not much more. In the past, Cale had tried to make friends with Aaron, but after several unsuccessful years, he finally gave up. It annoyed him far too much to waste his patience on a man who clearly had no interest in befriending him. Only the work still connected the two High-Magicians.

"How is it that you have faith in the Chronicles?", gave Cale voice as he reviewed Aaron's already found results with a discreet glance.

"Did I ever comment that I believe the books, kid?", the 3rd seat replied dryly as he intently searched the pages. Cale deliberately ignored the comment. He was used to Aaron addressing him that way, which was probably due to Cale's age. "Still, I have to admit, they're a good start."

Cale hid his grin as he watched Aaron wrote down the name and page number of the creatures with his neat handwriting. For a few moments, he considered helping Aaron or giving the High-Magicians his opinion on the matter, but he held back. From the sound of it, his assistance was not needed, but Grischa seemed to think otherwise.

"Caleb", Grischa spoke up. As Cale turned to him, Rangar and the Elder also looked in his direction. "How big can you make your shield?"

Instantly, all conversation ceased and glanced in surprise at the 12th High-Magician,

"What are you thinking about? Should I enclose all of Exarion with my shield?", replied Cale calmly, leaning against the table behind him. Grischa merely nodded. "Yes, I could do that. I've done something similar before."

"Are you serious? He's still almost a child, it's way out of his league", Nora softly chimed in, but Cale could clearly understand her. Cale personally found the comment quite laughable, since he was a lot older than anyone in the room.

"How long?", threw Grischa back, icily ignoring his colleague.

"How long? What kind of question is that? It's my Igrikum, so very long."

"Can you be more specific?"

"If you want me to give you a number, it's days. Probably weeks", Cale calmly discussed. He was extremely proficient with his Igrikum, something the other High-Magicians were only partially aware of. Unlike the really young High-Magicians, like Joshua, Cale could command nature's mana with ease, without being seized by it and lose control. One of the things the Elder had urged them to learn from the beginning. The Igrikum was a gift, but in another way it was also a curse. One had to learn to deal with it and Cale could confirm that with absolute certainty. He didn't remember exactly how many years he had spent learning the Igrikum, but should have been several lifetimes.

"And what about against attacks? Are you as confident there that your barriers would hold up long enough?"

"Yes. The attacks of the creatures and those of you would tickle a little at worst, but I am very sure of myself. My shield won't budge."

With a satisfied nod, Grischa broke away from Cale and spoke to the Elder. Cale, on the other hand, looked down at Aaron, who looked at him numbly for a moment and then returned his attention to the books.

"What creature are you looking for right now? I'm sure I can help you find it", Cale admitted as he reached for the stool against the wall and sat down next to Aaron. He knew the Chronicles by heart, it would be easy for him to open the books accordingly. He did so, however, not because he wanted to help Aaron, but because he did not want to get too deeply involved in the discussion. Cale was the newest addition among them and, since his incident with Grischa, had to be careful how much he revealed about himself. Therefore, he simply avoided the conversation, knowing that Sefra and Grischa would take over this task for him.

Wordlessly, Aaron pointed to a small creature surrounded by blue flames, so Cale instantly reached for the fourth book in the series and flipped to the appropriate page. After about 10 seconds, he had found the creature's page and handed it to Aaron without comment.

For others, these books seemed to have no logic, but for Cale, everything made sense.