Lord David Warright, founder of the Order of Free Wardens, one of four on the council. He sat at a table with the other councilors. Technically, there are three councilors, but Azanii, a dragonkin princess, has been sitting in with them during the small meetings. Her advice was helpful and very welcome.

As David had a grand vision, but only a {blueprint} and vast amounts of resources to accomplish it. Silve Ironforge, he and his dwarven people were master craftsmen, but their experience was mostly restoring and preserving their ancient home, not creating a new one.

Gark, the Lycan Alpha, of a small tribe. He always thought small. Maintaining what is instead of growing what he wishes it to be. The other councilors and the advisor were there in the meeting hall as well as all the Initiates and higher-ranking officials of the order. But not the vassals nor the other common folk. Save one. The one they were all there for today.

Six months had passed since the final stage of the update that shook up the entire universe. Something so large that you shouldn’t question it. You couldn’t wrap your head around it. Sure some answers were answered, but David did not care for those. All he cared about was the future. The immediate one and the one far off. Today’s meeting was about the immediate.

“ Bring her in.”

As David spoke, his face flinched as pain shot through his body. He had been irreparably scarred for life six months before when he and about ten thousand humans fought for their lives besides their dragonkin neighbors. An act of defiance in the end. A quick end instead of minutes or hours trapped in a coffin as it was pried off his body or smothered to death by the weight of the ants on him.

He did not expect to live, and that had changed him. A situation that could have been avoided. If events of the past played out differently. But David was not a god or one of those time loopers.

The meeting hall they were in was just a long log cabin made of wood and hard work. The clothing they all wore was of plant fiber and animal skins. When the final update finished, every weapon not soulbound was destroyed, save those crafted after the update started.

Anything, not a resource or provision card was reduced to their base elements. Save for a few items such as soulbound items or things of magical nature. So when the doors opened and the cold crept into the hall, everyone winced as Marry Loren was brought to the center of the room followed by a Lycan guard.

“ David, what is going on? Rick, why am I here?”

David gave Rick a look and his half-open mouth closed.

“ A trial Marry.”

“ And what am I, a witness?”

“ No, Marry, this is your trial for being a traitor.”

“ Seriously, David, you are not for pranks.”

“ And I am not joking, Marry. So please, for your sake. Shut up.”

This caused her to almost bite her tongue and David took a slow and painful breath. The damage to his lungs had mostly healed, but like the rest of his body remained scarred.

“ As I was saying. We of the Order of Free Wardens and its allies have gathered today on account of betrayal. First, we shall present the charges, then the evidence against them. Finally, the accused may speak on their behalf. After it is all said and done, the accused will be asked out and those of Initiate rank or higher may voice their opinions.

As I and Warden Rick and John are closely involved with the individual, our votes will abstain. In which case a tie occurs, Juggernaut Jake has the winning vote. I agree that any of the council may ask questions themselves and offer advice in a limited capacity. But ultimately, this judgment is a Warden matter.”

David then reached for a can-sized tube of wood to grip ahold of as he grinned his teeth as pain shot through his body. After a minute, he looked at John.

“ Warden John, with the assistance of the ambassadors from the Silver Wing Clan, has recreated video and audio technology using magic crystals. As such we can display our recorded security footage. Proceed at your leisure.”

David winced again as he then laid back in his hardback chair and wish the pain was over. John looked at his friend and closed his eyes and steeled his heart. Moving to the prepared artifact, John turned it on so it would display fair quality footage on a white wall of stone.

“ For now, we shall forgo audio and skip much of the trivial repeated meetings. Now, this is right after we set up the building we used as an HQ. The first thing David had me do is set up the security cameras around it. This was finished in less than half an hour since we split up to perform our individual tasks. In the image, we can see the accused already using her gift of gab to mingle with several people. Would the accused care to summarize what you were saying to them?”

“ I was just telling them about us, I mean I told them we had food and water and were looking for people who wanted to help out.”

John nods and turns back to the image.

“ Any specific details you want to mention before I turn on the audio.”

Marry thought on it for a moment and smiled sweetly.

“ I just said we had lots of food for everybody and we would not charge them for it.”

John took a deep breath and prayed to whatever god that airhead believed in would help her out.

“ To be exact, you mentioned how much and what kind of food David had procured and how much water we had, didn’t you?”

“ Of course, I was looking for people to start helping cook and serve people food. I mean people would probably trust us more if we gave away free food.”

Even Rick sighed in disappointment. Seeing almost everyone’s faces Marry became confused.

“ What did I do wrong?”