The sound of happy birds singing one last time as they prepared to sleep; the ruckus of the people on the busiest hour as they left their work and returned to their homes. The cool breeze of the night softly grazing the leaves of the trees; the King couldn’t make out any of those.

Were those people feeling as usual after a day of hard work or anxiousness and trepidation preyed on their thoughts?

He couldn't see any of that from where he stood, their facial expressions an enigma to him for now. The castle was too far from the busy streets; this room too high compared to the garden outside on the first floor. The big windows at the right side, from where he could see the setting Sun, nothing more than see-through walls as they were impossible to be opened too.

Open windows would mean a breach of the defensive enchantments of the castle's structure. The castle is the most heavily enchanted building in all the kingdom. Probably only the merchants' building and the Army's Headquarters could compare.

The air in the room seemed stagnant and that mildly bothered the King, the magic ventilation being less effective the higher in the castle you were in. It's not a secret that the King would often avoid the higher floors if it wasn't necessary for him to be there, but then again, that is why he is here now. The meeting room is specially warded and is, without a doubt, the best place in the castle for the following meeting to take place.

The king Erick Rendervious Altamad gazed at each of the other fifteen people in the room, it was a minute now since the last of them arrived. There are seven of his generals, his five advisors, and other three special people, all of them genuflecting to him in ceremony.

Every one of them was called here by him to hold an emergency meeting. It would be no good if the King delayed them too much as a protest to their stuck up behavior; everyone here being busy people with important tasks to do.

"Rise." The King commanded, and they complied.

Straightening from his relaxed position on his fancy chair, the King motioned his subordinates to report anything they had to say. They were all facing a rectangular table and although there were chairs for them, they didn't sit.

A blonde man took a step forward from behind his own chair and bowed. "His Majesty, if you allow it, I may speak first." William Vor Attin, the Head of the Department of Intelligence said, and the King nodded slightly in acknowledgment while secretly resisting the impulse to roll his eyes at the unnecessary formality. With him controlling the net of spies of the kingdom, William was likely the only one to have to report something of real importance, after all. So the man would be the one to guide the conversation's flow anyway.

William, a man nearing his sixties but whose looks have almost not changed since he was thirty. Wearing his formal military uniform which is mostly of a dark blue color with red around the edges, unlike the Generals and the King himself that were all fitted on their respective armors.

"His Majesty, first, about the events that took place three hours ago and the execution of the first phase of the plan. The Port City of Treo has been successfully subjugated. Causalities have been minimal and all enemy combatants have been dealt with. Diplomats and nobles have been either captured or put under house arrest. Everything of value is being transported to the capital as the population is being pacified. The warships in the port have been secured and according to the plan, our own ships are being transported there as of this moment."

While William drowned about these points there wasn’t any notable emotion in his voice, as if he were talking about a list of consumables he bought from the market.

Nothing in the report was surprising, all those events were within the King's expectations. Capturing the city was so carefully planned that they would have managed to do it even if everything went wrong.

Without giving a formal declaration of war before the hostilities started, now, the relationships and trustworthiness of the Kingdom of Altamad with other countries have been damaged, but it was necessary to catch the opponent with the guard down. A calculated risk. The Port City of Treo being the staging point of all future military actions against the Alliance, too important for the plan as the be left to chance.

It was twenty years ago when Altamad lost Treo to the island-states of the Alliance. It was Altamad's only access to the sea. The last King, his father, found himself in a precarious situation before Altamad's incapability of opposing the powerful navy of the Alliance. Under the huge pressure of near defeat, the city was sold to the Alliance in exchange for trading rights and a few other goods at the end. It was a foolish decision on his father's part, the taxes imposed in the trade with the islands of the Alliance gives them a much larger benefit to them that even, hypothetically, giving them a monthly tribute product of being a vassal state.

Even though Altamad's history wasn't old, the country is not a newcomer to war. Two hundred years ago, with the peaceful fragmentation of a bigger state, Altamad found itself with a geographically well-defended position and with a significant source of iron, but with not enough land to feed its population. Instead of selling ores to make money relatively fast, the kingdom started to craft weapons, refined their understanding of the arts of war through mercenary contracts, and raised permanent armies of professional soldiers in imitation of the Empire at the north of the sea. There were many things to learn from the now decadent power of the Empire, excluding their practice of slavery.

Ever since then, Altamad had sold weapons to whoever could pay for them. A particular system was slowly created with time. To strengthen its armies without breaking into an all-out war, the kingdom started to lend its forces to join foreign conflicts in exchange for gold. It had been happening since back then, and centuries later is almost a tradition now.

The Mercenary Kingdom is the nickname that has been given to Altamad by the common people of the world at large. Altamad's armies take pride in their capabilities and efficiency, each of them having experience in the field as the kingdom's strength has been requested to assist on numerous foreign conflicts.

William the Head of Intelligence, kept going about the details of the captured people and details of the attack, and while the King's face seemed unperturbed, he was giving his all to not laugh out loud and wave his hand saying: of course, of course. After all, with such a plan how anything could go awry so early?

He listened as William talked about how the soldiers of the First Army made it until the gates without rising any significant alarm under the excuse of their service being contracted by the Alliance. Even though it sounds ridiculous, it's something that has happened before. The elite warriors and officials in Treo were dealt with even before the attack started, due that it was relatively easy for Altamad to introduce individuals to the city before the attack. Some spies opened the city gates which were later quickly secured by the army as the city guards' defense devolved into chaos. The army marched through the streets with just a few skirmishes breaking out, most of the guards and private forces of merchants and nobles gave up resistance before any confrontation.

His subordinate next words made the King's excitement die down and remember the reason why he ordered tomorrow's morning meeting to be held right now.

"However, not everything was within our expectations. As everyone already knows, the incident happened right at that moment, in the middle of the process of taking the city." William paused for a moment and continued:

"To clarify for those not aware, or still skeptical of it, the incident consisted in the sky and light of the day to turn into night for a short period of time. It wasn't exactly that, though. The light of the Sun suddenly vanished, leaving everything in gloom and darkness and revealing the normally hidden stars of a normal night." Everyone nodded in acknowledgment of the statement. "I have yet to discover the cause of the phenomenon."

"Could it be a solar eclipse?" Asked one of the King's advisors.

"I consulted it with some scholars." William replied, "they are sure it wasn't one, records of the apparition of solar eclipses mention a phenomenon named solar crown and blindness when directly witnessed, neither of those was present in today's incident." More nodding ensued. Even the King had to admit that he sillily looked directly at the Sun when the incident happened, thankfully there isn't any damage to his eyes. Eye injuries are a pain to heal.

"In the span of three seconds the Sun's light started to dim until reaching total darkness, this darkness lasted around twenty seconds and then the light started to gradually come back in the span of another three seconds for a total approximate of 26 seconds for the duration of the incident." After pausing for a short time again, William continued, his voice turning solemn:

"Furthermore, my informants told me that the phenomenon was sighted not only In Altamad but also in most of the Alliance's islands, in the Eternal and Sacred Empires, and even further west in the Land of The World's End." The King grimaced internally, he was fully expecting that much information, but to get reports from such faraway places so fast means that certain artifacts had to be expended. "As the incident wasn't sighted neither in the City-states of the Northern Continent nor in the Mirage Desert and the countries beyond it we can infer that the event was of a worldwide scale, and probably only sighted in the western countries because it was already night in the East."

Money isn't a problem for the Kingdom anymore, but the nation that sold these communication artifacts to the King wasn't willing to sell more than just a limited number. The only other place that could produce a similar device that the King could think of would be Erendal, but they are difficult to reach and not to mention the rumor of their destruction that is yet to be confirmed.

At least, the information obtained with the use of the artifacts eased some of the King's worries about wasted equipment. "So it was a world-wide event and not an illusion or attack targeting just Altamad." He said with a relieved sigh.

Though the possibility of it being an attack or an illusion couldn’t be refuted with total certainty, the fact that it happened around all the world at once, and that there isn't any obvious damage done to the kingdom yet, hints at the case that this being an unrelated incident to Altamad's capture of the city.

In either case, it wouldn't be wise to let their guard down.

Everyone started to talk about it and after a while, the King stroked his chin for a moment and then asked: "If it wasn't an eclipse then I can't think of anything about the source but old tales, like that of a giant beast devouring the Sun, isn't there a similar phenomenon to a solar eclipse of natural origins?"

The Head of the Department of Intelligence quickly replied: "His Majesty, there is only one barely similar event, the circumstances are significantly different in this case. In the Land of Perpetual Gloom, there is always night, it has been debated many times if it is really a natural effect or if it was caused by a spell."

"If the probability of it being natural is low then it could have been a magical ritual, his Majesty, a country could have performed a ritual of titanic magnitude. With the information that we possess, I wouldn't dare to make another guess." The Royal Magician said. He wore a robe — Why someone would choose a robe over pants? — and a very polished wooden black staff.

The Royal Magician's name is Rafael Oremodan and although he is of Altamadian blood he had the chance of studying magic abroad, in the Sacred Empire.

It burdens the King the fact that the magic level in Altamad is so poor and their magicians so few. Rafael has explained to him before why magic is so difficult to learn and research, but the King doesn't remember anymore. It was difficult, though, and the King knows that without being able to chantless cast at least one spell a mage can't reach the upper ranks of magicians where you can start to research magic with a certain grade of success. Of course, Rafael can do that much, one of the few magicians in the Kingdom.

"Oh, right." Rafael continued. "There is such an ultimate magic spell of destruction that changes the sky in legends, isn't it? But these legends describe that spell's effect as turning the sky red, so close but not so much, that same description says it is not a worldwide event..."

"Royal Magician," Aaron Graeves, General of the Fifth Army, spoke, "it's necessary for it to be a country? Couldn't be it an organization or a single person? I remember that in the folklore of a small country neighboring the Sacred Empire, in one of their legends they mention a magician that could turn the day into night."

"Could a simple magician even manage that feat?" One of the King's advisors asked, and before the Royal Magician could reply, another of his advisors, the oldest person in the room, replied:

"Well, there is the Undesirable One."

For a few seconds, the mood in the room changed. Someone even gulped audibly but the King couldn’t fault him as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat while everyone eyed each other silently.

Although he would have preferred to avoid the topic, he knew that the best would be to touch upon it during the meeting. That person, who nobody was even sure whether he was a human or magical beast — while others even doubted his existence— was actually the first thought that came to the King's mind while witnessing the incident.

"Indeed, he probably could do something like that, and there is a possibility that it may be really him who did it. If such was the case, what does each of you would think about it?" Whatever it was what they could come up with, concerning that person's intervention, the King wouldn't modify or delay his plan anyway. Some things are out of the scope of simply preparing for possible scenarios.

His subordinates started to discuss their opinions about the matter, and then someone said something very simple but which didn't seem to have passed through his subordinates' heads for even a moment. He couldn't blame them, after all, it happened in the middle of their attack.

"If he did that maybe his timing for it was completely unrelated to our actions." The old advisor said.

"I agree, but we have to prepare for the worst-case setting, if he shows up here then we wouldn't have any other options but to yield to his demands..." The General who spoke seemed to have more to say but a young advisor, of around 25 years of age, spoke first:

"It's a joke, right?" He seemed sincerely dumbfounded. "That man must be truly powerful, but as it is in every book or tale about someone, his exploits aren't anything but greatly exaggerated propaganda."

The King almost snapped and shouted at him right there: You fool! But he didn't. For the King, one of the most valuable skills of a ruler —even more valuable than making decisions that could cost the lives of thousands— is definitively acting.

It's good to be always a bit skeptical. The king greatly encourages such behavior in his subordinates, but if there is something that the King hates the most among all other things, is unrepentant ignorance.

Especially when shown in his presence.

"I see you are a little skeptical about it but that is irrelevant right now, I don't think the Undesirable One will show up for anything, his apparitions are few and far in between." Another General interceded to try to end the topic.

"Yes," The young advisor continued. "Were him to leave his hiding place and come here, then it would be our best chance of killing him, it would be good to someday send one of the armies to destroy his fortress too." He finished while nodding to himself.

It seemed like they understood the records wrong. The Undesirable One is known for killing and joining conflicts for no reason. There are records of him obliterating armies alone and killing Heroes and Spiritual Experts as easy as a farmer killing chickens.

Fighting him —whose resources are nigh-unlimited and would likely cost thousands of lives of talented individuals— knowing that his fortress has repelled the joint attacks of many forces before, even if you were to obtain victory, it's nothing but the height of idiocy.

It should be illegal to be so stupid.

Well, it was the King himself who asked what they thought about it, so he will not punish him, it is probably just the hot-headiness that comes with youth. Really, to be spouting nonsense about what they should do, without telling them how to accomplish it. Ha!

What he wouldn't do to be as carefree as his ex-advisor.

"It is a fact that we don't know the real extent of his capabilities and sub-estimating him would be a crass error." The Royal Magician concluded.

"He can't be much stronger than the Sacred Empire's God." But the young man insisted on the topic while shrugging.

"Stop." The King said imposingly, maintaining a calm facade.

This time the King congratulated himself for his tolerance and acting skills. He could even go to the theater of the City of Lights and teach the brightest stars there a couple of lessons.

"Do not call him like that. That person has a name, we can't play along with his twisted ideas by acknowledging his change of name to THAT name."

Emperor Invictus Damasco Yendin, First of his name of the Sacred Empire. Nothing more than a half-mad moron and somewhat heretic to boot. A talented martial warrior and magician, sure, but even worse than fearing the Undesirable One would be that Altamad's people started to believe Invictus being some sort of divinity. Not to mention, his empire his founded on the belief in angels, not gods.

"Furthermore, a while ago by books and tales, did you mean to say the royal records?" The young man nodded, slightly confused at the King's question.

The King sighed. "Maybe you didn't know that the records are written under an oath of truth and written by the hand of the current king of the kingdom at the time themselves." The young man's face paled as he understood the implications of his words. To be so disrespectful at this instance...

Was the man just unaware about it or it's just boldness born from the moment? Weird, as the thorough reading of those records is a requisite to get the job.

The King nodded meaningfully to the Royal Magician and Rafael led the man out of the room. He can't be a spy but they have to be sure that the young man's head hasn't been magically messed with or something of the sort. Even if the King is worrying over nothing he still has to be sure. If anything, at least this will save them from the young man's foolish interruptions.

Right after they left the room the King continued speaking:

"We don't have enough information and neither our records are as old as those of the Empires, as the incident doesn't seem to have immediate effects on us we will wait and see in respect to that. Tell the spies to collect information about this but otherwise stay away from his fortress."

His subordinates expressed their acknowledgments with bows of their heads and then William took over giving the report again.

"His Majesty, the moment the incident took place it was interpreted by the army and the citizens of Treo as Altamad receiving the wrath and disapproval of the gods regarding the conquest of the city, and as the army hesitated in panic, the citizens started to attack the soldiers. Even though there were few causalities on our side, all the assailants were quickly dealt with, over three thousand civilians and guards died until they realized their attacks were useless and dispersed."

"Punish these soldiers." Disgraceful behavior for professional soldiers to have, hesitating is betraying their comrades. If their King tells them to raise their swords at an invincible enemy, then they must do it, no questions, no hesitation.

"It will be done, his majesty." The General of the Fifth Army bowed.

"What do our citizens think that happened?"

"His majesty, the people thought it was an omen of the end of the world and I have already mobilized my own people to deny the rumors. The people of Treo think differently though, they mostly hold us responsible for the incident and the most popular rumor among them is that we contracted a demon to gain unholy powers."

The King actually chuckled for a moment before steeling his features. He couldn't help it, it just sounded too hilarious.

"I see what you mean, tell everyone not present to not acknowledge any of those declarations but don't deny them either unless explicitly asked about the veracity of them. The Alliance will think of us as the responsible for the incident too, and although by coincidence, it will be to our benefit if they fear us. Did you receive any report from Draklak?"

"His Majesty, I did, they mobilized their navy shortly after our attack finished but their speed is much slower than expected." If William was tired of talking too much he didn't show any of it, if anything he seemed eager to say more.

By the time Draklak — the leader state of the Alliance of the Erzfeind Sea, which is situated between the two continents— gathers all the other members and takes a decision about how to act, it would be far too late. The King wanted to start dancing on the spot, to go there himself and lead his soldiers to victory but he was needed here. Sad.

He will have to trust his generals with those tasks in his stead.

"Time until all our ships are in the open sea?"

"The Third army will sail in 8 hours," the General of the Fifth army said, "the First and Second will sail even sooner to their respective targets."

"Remember to avoid naval combat as much as you can, you should aim to reach firm land before taking the islands, protect well your ships to avoid getting trapped in the islands. Try to capture the enemy ships too. Prisoners are unnecessary, everyone who doesn't take the oath gets disposed of." Now the King started to resemble his mother but he couldn’t help himself, they already know everything he was saying because he had said it before the attack started. "If combat is unavoidable then utilize to the maximum effectivity the new weapons we bought, the cannons, the optimal result would be to sink the enemies before their magicians enter in range of attack." Almost all of Altamad's magicians will participate in the attack to minimize casualties and to counter as much as possible the effectiveness of the enemies' magicians and their superb control over water spells.

The seven Generals genuflected, and everyone else did the same after them. Three of them will be sent as reinforcements as soon as possible after the three first armies sail to take over the Alliance.

One could say that sixty thousand soldiers are too many for just that mission, as the Alliance would find it difficult to match that number of warriors even with their combined strength but speed is important for the plan, the faster that Altamad succeeds in taking down the Alliance, the better the second part of the plan will start off.

The fall of the Alliance may take even less than the expected month. Draklak's navy, whose a big part of it was captured in Treo, is just experienced at fighting with pirates, once the fight is taken to their cities they will fail faster than ever seen before. Their remaining enemies turning into piracy after the conquest is also contemplated in the plan.

The King gazed to the General of the Ninth Army, Orel Rovarov, an old man and trusted friend of the King's father. Orel's armor was not bright or flashy, just a metallic grey with the blue of the Kingdom on it.

"About my son, you know what to do." He will be one day his successor and the King will put him under Orel's care, for the time being. There is no safer place from where to gain experience than in Orel's side.

"Yes, his highness." Orel smiled and bowed gracefully.

"Was the special mission successful?" The King inquired but wasn't particularly concerned, a failure would just mean higher causalities for Altamad in this war but that would be unavoidable then.

"The task is already successful but hasn't been completed yet, the Sorceress is still alive but has been lured away from the vicinity of the Alliance. She is already a week away at flying speed." Said Aztrael, Leader of the Shadow Hunters, who had kept silent until now. He wears a black cloak that covers his whole body; his hair and eyes black in color too. One could even say that he tries hard to look suspicious.

"Is the ally who was tasked with that mission trustworthy? I heard she had a personal vendetta against the Sorceress." An adviser said.

A General waved his hand as if to dissipate his worries. "She, the so-called Soul Eater, took an oath, so her loyalty during the mission isn't in question. Also, the pay for the job is one of a kind, that vendetta —for whatever reason it is— is just a bonus for her. But more important is the question: can she even kill the Sorceress? She is said to be at the archmage level."

"I understand your concerns General," Said Aztrael, smiling, "Some of my men are there to aid our ally on her task... or to finish it if she doesn't manage."

"Maybe the Royal Magician can give us an approximate of her power but he judged her to be dangerous from the beginning, that is why we took the trouble of separating the Sorceress from the Alliance before attacking."

"The Soul Eater's plans to deal with the Sorceress are unknown but she has already accomplished an important part of them by distracting her from the Alliance; the Sorceress belongings were stolen by my subordinates during this game of chasing too, so it is unlikely that the Alliance will have a method to contact her to bring her back in time. By the time the news of the war reaches her and comes back, the Alliance would have fallen long ago." Aztrael said, seemingly annoyed that they were still talking about this.

"Now that we are already talking about mercenaries, if any mercenary shows up and ask to be contracted then accept them for the standard fees and basic oath; but it would be better to only deploy elite individuals among the mercenaries, like people from the Land of the Sword, for the conquest of the Alliance."

The King thought for a moment and then asked:

"Head of the Intelligence Department, what is the situation in the Eternal Empire right now?"

Whatever help they could send to the Alliance would arrive too late but just in case better be sure.

"His Highness, their actions these last weeks seem very anxious and everything seems to indicate they are rallying their forces north to defend their border against the Greens' great mobilization. The common people in the Empire fears that soon the empire will even start with conscription. In resume, they have their hands already full of troubles in the northern continent. I doubt they will bother with our war with the alliance, it wouldn't be wise for them."

The King dismissed them shortly after.

Many events happening at the same time, and his own plan to expand his kingdom just starting, it seems that the following years will just be the start of great changes taking place.

Those caught unprepared shall be shallowed, meanwhile, those that seize the opportunity shall grow strong and find good fortune.

The King smiled. Unexpected events may happen at any time, he could very now be leading his country to annihilation, but how boring would be life without the unexpected?