The One True King had enjoyed a passionate night with the Queen, but in the morning she became despondent and distant.

When the last of the vitality potion had been used up, she became inconsolable. Crying and screaming could be heard throughout the castle, the Queen claiming that her body was on fire despite having no physical ailments. After an hour had passed, her screams turned to a dull whimper while sweat poured down her half naked body.

The One True King could not bear the pained expressions of his love, and produced from his spatial spell another vitality potion that Willem had prepared beforehand. The One True King had been holding onto the potion in hopes that the Queen would overcome her need for it, but gave in after seeing her gasping for reprieve and tearing at her own soft flesh.

The Queen took one look at what was in the King's hands before knocking him down and grabbing the potion, moving at a speed even he was surprised by. She uncorked the drink and downed it like it was the most succulent of expensive wines. The One True King watched, slightly horrified; as the Queen began to brim with excitement once more and the color of her face returned. The sulky, brooding Queen was no more, her space filled by a Queen with a spark of life in her eyes and a smile that could captivate a nation.

Just as she drank the potion, a guard of the royal palace appeared with a well dressed young man in black. The boy was none other than Willem, and was only especially allowed in because he openly said he got information about the invasion force.

Willem gave an upper nobleman's bow and reiterated to the King his purpose in coming to the royal palace.

"My greetings to the One True King, I have new information that has come to light about the invading army."

The King looked at Willem, but did not speak. Instead he motioned for the conversation to continue in his private chamber, away from all others.

The Queen took the hand of the flustered guard that walked Willem in and pranced out of the throne room as the King huffed out a long sigh.

Sensing something was amiss, Willem relayed the information about the army in a concise manner when they entered the room. While the King paced in his chambers back and forth, Willem laid out a map of the mountains and surrounding forest.

"Their intention is to cut off our supply lines from the forest where we have been hunting the magical beasts. This does not pose as much of a problem to us as they think it would, as we have enough magical cores to last us through the war. I have taken the liberty of preparing the outer ring for farming purposes, so we have no concerns of food shortage as long as that area has more protection."

The One True King finally sat down beside Willem and stared at the map.

"You got all this information in a single night?" The King had his torturer try and pry information from the Elf first before handing him over to Willem, but to no avail.

"Yes, my attendant came up with a potion that nullifies the magical components in the Elf blood based on research she had gathered from the library. The properties of the disruption potion left the Elf open to a potion I had been working on personally for a bit."

Willem removed from his spatial spell the mind flaying potion. Though most of it had already been used, what was left was perfectly acceptable for proof. Willem let the King examine the potion before explaining the intended effect.

"The potion tears at the mind of imbiber by forcing it to relive the most traumatic experience of their life. It then subjects them to their worst horrors over and over until they die. The only way to stop it is to spread your magic over the right side of their brain that controls creativity, suppressing the effect of the potion."

The King pondered for a bit, then returned the potion to Willem.

"Is the Elf dead?" The King asked.

"No, he is quite alive, I have an attendant extracting more information as we speak." Willem announced.

"Then, please continue." The King once more watched as Willem marked certain areas of the map.

"According to the Elf, they have certain magical beings capable of stealth and subterfuge that look identical to humans, and have already infiltrated the Bastion of Hope. While you increase your protection of the outer ring, I myself will go and deal with these invaders. With your permission, I will torture them as well to verify the information I am getting from the Elf." Willem looked at the King while waiting for a response.

"I will allow it, just make sure it is done without the knowledge of the people." The King nodded his head in agreement.

"We should bring the fight to them. If you speak with your council I believe they will agree. Keeping the war away from the Bastion of Hope is the most important part of this counter plan." Willem quickly wrote on parchment how many forces the magical beings had and the abilities of their commanders.

"I am inclined to agree with you, but it is as you say. I will speak with the council, and when we have a decision I will speak with you again. In the meantime, I will give you a squadron of one hundred soldiers to prepare, fifty mages and fifty soldiers from our army, just as you had asked. You may do as you wish with them, just be ready when it comes time for war." The King folded his arms.

"By your will, my King." Willem stood and bowed before preparing to leave.

"I remember you asked for ten senior inscriptionists when we first met, but we could not find ten of the types you specified that were worthy of your company. If you still require them, feel free to hand pick them yourself as you wish. Of course the same goes for your squadron, they can be hand picked by you at your convenience." The King stood with Willem and accepted his bow.

As Willem began to leave for the door, The One True King coughed lightly.

"I have been pondering the best way to probe this, but I require more of the vitality potion. If possible, could you provide me with either more of the potion or the recipe?" The King stretched out his hand as if waiting for a positive response.

"I am afraid I cannot oblige, my King. The potion has no recipe, as it was made by accident when I was testing the mind flaying potion. One of my attendants knocked over a couple of vials with a mix of ingredients inside. When I tested the effects of the mix, it became the vitality potion. Unfortunately there is nothing left, the vial I had provided to you is the last I had. I would need much more resources in order to recreate it as all the ingredients I was testing are rare and expensive."

The King looked down at the ground with a bitter expression.

"If that is what it takes then so be it. Come, follow me." The King headed for the door with Willem following closely behind, arms folded.

Of course the fact that Willem could not reproduce the vitality potion was a lie. Unfortunately for The One True King, the Queen was far too dependent on the potion and Willem knew it. Even if the King knew the young Grand Mage was lying, Willem still had him under his thumb.

The One True King led Willem to the storehouse of the royal palace. After confirming with his personal guards, Willem now had full access not only to the royal palace, but also the King's personal treasury and storehouse. After looking over the rare and precious herbs and gems, Willem affirmed that he should be able to create a vitality potion once the outside threat had been dealt with, and left the King to do what he needed to do.

The One True King sent a decree not only to his palace guards but also to the warrior enclave and the Guild. The outer ring was now to be protected and would see an increase in guard presence. Anyone in the outer ring caught doing anything illegal would be exiled outside of the Bastion of Hope, which was tantamount to a death sentence during war time.

For anyone involved with the warrior enclave, they would be paid for their manual labor if they chose to work in the fields of the outer ring. To the Guild, anyone with knowledge of preservation of foods or farming would have an elevated position and monetary gain in equivalence to their knowledge.

Meriam Atlee was one of the first farmers to apply to the Guild when the announcement came out, explaining how she owned nine plots of land and that they could all be used for farming if she was provided workers and enough seeds. The Guild gave her everything she needed, including a hefty bag of gold coins and two personal bodyguards to ensure she was safe.

The outer ring was now in full swing, with thousands of people building houses, storage facilities, barns and guard outposts as well as preparing the land for crops. The royal palace paid not only for the building materials, but the cost of labor as well. Meriam was at the forefront of the expansion, explaining to the Guild how things needed to be done to ensure that it was finished satisfactorily.

Though the guards had no idea why the outer ring was so important, they would not dare go against their King. They began to clean up the outer ring of vagabonds by putting them to work in exchange for a warm meal and a night at the local Inn.

The Inn business was booming with many customers, and the economy of the Bastion of Hope was stimulated thanks to the efforts of the royal palace.

During the unfolding events in the outer ring, a great change was also sweeping the inner city. The great change was Willem, as he brought death upon the magical beings that invaded the Bastion of Hope.

He started first in the royal palace, confirming the identity of the King's chef. Willem drew his hood over his head to ensure that no one saw who he was.

"Excuse me, are you the royal chef. Lazard Royo?" Willem changed his voice to sound older than he was, and stood in front of the chef to stop him from duties.

"Yes I am, young man, and you are hindering me-" Before the chef could finish his sentence, his stomach had been sliced open by a sharp dagger and his intestines began to spill from his body.

Green blood spilled from the chef's open wound but he did not have enough time to react before his head was severed from his body. Muffled screams could be heard from the female apprentices in the kitchen whom had just caught onto the dangerous situation. The body disappeared into Willem's spatial spell along with the head as he ran away with haste. When no one was looking, he slipped through the darkness to his next target, a nobleman working under the King.

Willem slipped out of the shadows into the back alley of a street by the royal palace. Guards were hurriedly running around the royal palace screaming of an assassination of the royal chef. Willem took off his cloak and removed the blood from his clothes and hands. He could not afford to stir the masses into a rebellion by assassinating more people, he would need to find another way to kill or kidnap the invaders without causing alarm.

Willem donned a partial cover and walked into the public entrance of the royal palace, weaving through the crowd of people whom had frantically been running away. He entered into the foyer of the palace and looked for an older gentleman wearing purple robes inlaid with gold, and an overly curled mustache. The man he sought was preparing to leave the royal palace foyer.

"I offer my greetings to nobleman Qan." Willem said as he parted his lips into a smile.