Unedited

King Dimitar paced as the calls rang through and through. Dex was fiddling with the Panic Ring receiver, trying to patch through to anyone or anything. Fitz sat beside his sister, his heart pounding in his ears as he waited. He hated waiting; he hated that he was sitting here on his ass while they could all be dead. Sophie was fine... she had to be okay. She was trained, they all were.

But Allesandro was better trained then all of them, and he was still...

No, no. Stop thinking like that. They were fine.

"Come on, come on, come on-"

Nour's face flickered on the screen. His grey-blue eyes darted around in confusion, his brow scrunched as his lips parted.

"King Dimitar?" He muttered.

"You look like hell!" Ro called out, gaping at the Vatarian's broken face. A split lip, bruised left eye, long gashes oozing blood down his face, hell was a bit of an understatement.

"Who... what?"

"Damn, I haven't seen any of you since you were kids," Dimitar muttered. Fitz looked at Ro in confusion, and she leaned down.

"My dad was friends with Sophie's dad. He used to visit Inalia every once and a while." Ro whispered.

"Dimitar, how did you- why-"

"Your mentore and I hatched a bit of an alliance a while back when things were getting a bit dicey for you guys. She gave me the input numbers for your Minyamas. It is also on a private encrypted channel, so even though it's choppy, we can still communicate."

Mansi and Alvar's faces crackled through behind Nour, surprisingly only Alvar matching Nour's injuries. Mansi was left mostly unharmed like the Neverseen were avoiding hurting her.

"Alvar?" Biana asked, her voice quiet. Alvar smiled, the smallest amount of blood dried on his lip, "Hey Bia, hey Fitz. We're alright, don't worry." He responded, squeezing Mansi's waist.

"Dimitar? Its been a few years, huh? How are you?" Mansi asked warmly, gently rubbing her hand over Alvar's arm.

"Apparently better than you guys. What the hell happened?!" Dimitar snapped.

"How did you know what happened? None of our calls have been getting through, and for some reason, our panic rings are going unheard by the Guild."

Dex awkwardly cleared his throat, nervously shuffling up to hold up his receiver.

"I managed to pick up on your signals, and we came to Dimitar for help. We just assumed something went wrong."

"Hey, nice going, Dizznee! Saving our asses is what you are doing!" Mansi praised. Dex smiled, his cheeks turning the slightest shade of pink in embarrassment.

"What happened?" Ro pushed.

Nour pushed Mansi out of the frame, and quietly recounted the events of the Conference. The Dunmer-Vatarian alliance was signed right before the events took place, the threat of civil war in Inalia that was revealed by the Senate, and the possible charge of a war crime against the Elven Council. But then he went into the account of the attack. The Neverseen caught them entirely off guard and managed to push Arsinoe out of her own city.

"The Neverseen are occupying Egypitnat." He finished. Fitz was so pale he looked like a ghost, Biana had her hands over her mouth, and no one said a thing.

"We are completely stranded. We are hiding out with a few of the leaders in a Medjay safe house. But the Neverseen are everywhere, and unless we find a way out of here, we are sitting ducks. They are going to find us." Nour explained.

Biana shuffled closer to her brother, squeezing his hand. They were utterly pinned down, running out of time. Their brother and their future sister in law were stuck, hurt, and lost.

"Do you guys have numbers? Numbers of soldiers, possible weaponry they have?" Sandor asked.

"They looked to have at least 9000 ground soldiers, granted we didn't get the chance to scout that much. But the Mirthless were what really kicked our asses."

"What types of Mirthless? Aerial? Speed based-"

"Everything, there was so many of them. Gods, we barely made it out alive."

"Where is Amalia? I want to talk about her about evacuation," Dimitar explained, calling over one of his servants to bring his generals.

Nour had a guilty intake a breathe, and everyone stiffened.

"We have no idea." Nour sighed.

"Was she captured? Killed?" Dimitar pressed.

"No, no, none of those things. She was on Ricin with Maha, and she was falling, she was freefalling a-and when they all went through the clouds. They-they never came out." Nour had a surprisingly hard time getting it out.

"What?" Ro snapped.

"They were teleported or something, but when the clouds pulled apart, they were gone. Not a single trace of them." Alvar explained.

Dimitar pinched the bridge of his nose, "Okay, what about Alexios?"

"He managed to escape with Queen Arsinoe, Fang Guanyu, and Governor Hennerick," Nour paused, sucking in a breath, "How encrypted is this network?"

"Totally private," Dimitar assured.

"We still shouldn't take any risks-"

"Is that Dimitar?! Give that to me, boy!" A harsh voice cut through the feed. The camera struggled a bit, but soon a new face popped into view.

Dimitar tensed, muttering curse words under his breath, "King Hamidi, long time to see-"

"Drop the formalities, Dimitar," The Avriman King seethed, "Get us out of here!"

Dimitar bit his cheek, his massive claws squeezing the edge of the desk. "I was trying to figure that out with Nour before you stole the damn Minyama away." Dimitar hissed.

"Can't you just take the city back yourself?!" King Hamidi asked.

"It's much more complex than that you stupid-"

"Your highness, I promise you that we will get you out as soon as possible, but I need my minyama to start making plans." Nour's tired voice gently asked in the background. Hamidi glared at him but handed him back the minyama. A small explosion and a roar could be heard around them, but it sounded distant.

"Listen, Dimitar. Alexios is in Chiranu with the rest of the leaders. We have the Senate, King Hamidi, and the Wampanoag Cheiftan with us. The Dunmer royal family is with us as well. No idea what happened to the Council. We have no clue where the hell Maria is either, and not to mention the Neverseen got Ruy and Keefe-"

Dimitar froze. "Wait, do you mean to tell me Ruy Ignis is in your inner circle? Are you insane?!"

"He is a good guy now! Get with the program!" Mansi's voice called out from off-screen. Dimitar groaned, cursing as his generals and attendants walked in. Fitz glanced at his friends, who gaped at the scratchy feed. They have Keefe... he was taken...

"You, I want you to try to get into contact with the Council." Ro hissed at one of the generals, who bowed to her and started to make calls.

"Dimitar, we are running out of time, we are sitting ducks-" An explosion that made dust and debris fall from above. Everyone in the call immediately jumped onto the floor, hiding underneath furniture and covering their heads. The feed crackled in and out, their voices indiscernible.

"Nour? Mansi? Alvar! Come in!" Dimitar called out. Their voices were scattered and scratchy, all of it blurring together.

"We-we....ar-ren't.... can't go-anywhere..." Nour's voice crackled through. The explosions stopped, but the feed was still scratchy.

The last thing they saw was a quick flicker of Nour's grey-blue eyes before the connection was cut off.

Everyone gaped, and Dimitar growled.

"They are gonna be dead any day now if they don't get out of there." He hissed.

"And what do you propose we do about it? You heard them, the Neverseen have that place locked down!" Ro said. Dimitar paced, his attendants muttering amongst themselves. Sophie was missing, Keefe and Ruy were taken captive, they don't know where Maria is, and the rest of the Inner Circle was completely stranded. It seemed hopeless.

"We don't take back the city, but we do take back the Inner Circle and leaders." Tam started. Everyone turned and stared at him in confusion, and Tam slightly shrunk up, hating the attention, but continuing anyway.

"We do an extraction mission. Find a way to get just them out, so we don't have to worry about time limits when we do reseize the city."

"Woah, okay, reseizing the city? Your Highness, this is not our fight! I agree with a possible extraction mission, but pushing ourselves into Vatarian affairs-"

"Our friends are stuck! And that is a city of helpless people who are being enslaved by the Neverseen!" Dex snapped back at him.

"Even then, how could we even do an extraction mission! I say we possibly do airdrops for the civilians-"

"Sure, and maybe we can write a strongly worded letter telling the Neverseen to knock it off?! We have to take serious action!" Fitz argued.

Dimitar rubbed his temples, his shock still settling in. Fitz scowled as the rest of the Generals and assistants started squabbling, and pulled out the card from his back pocket. He stared at Sophie and Allesandro, at the blood dripping from their mouths, the image burning his soul.

What would Sophie do?

Fitz glanced at Allesandro, squinting slightly.

"What would Allesandro do?" Fitz asked. Sophie was gone, teleported to who knows where, and she needs their help. Fitz remembered something Maria said when they were asking about Allesandro.

Sometimes, the dead aren't gone. Not truly. There are always scraps of them we can piece together in the mortal realms.

"Your Highness, you were friends with Allesandro Morretti, correct?" Fitz asked, his eyes set on the card.

"Yes, I was. What does it have to do with any of this?" Dimitar answered.

"Did either of you have to do any missions like this? Extraction missions?" Fitz continued.

Dimitar crossed his arms, still confused, "We never went on that many missions together, but there was one where I enlisted his and Maria's help to get back some of my men back from an enemy outpost over the mountains."

Fitz looked at Dimitar, "What did he think up?" He asked.

Dimitar blinked, "Well, that situation was incredibly different from this one, but the Assassins are a special operative light infantry unit in military terms specializing in infiltration and stealth. Allesandro only brought about five assassins with him, including Maria, where they then sabotaged the outpost by ruining their weapons, hiding their armor, loosening the chains holdings the doors. It made it easier to barge in and take back our soldiers. Not only that, but the Assassins scouted out an area for us through the canyons that was a blind spot for the outpost. I don't remember the details."

"Why don't we recreate that? Have the Assassins-"

"The Assassins are unreachable right now, remember? Not to mention all of the officers that they look to for orders are missing and gone." Dex reminded.

Dimitar paced, a hand on his chin. "No, the Vacker kid is onto something," he muttered.

"Allesandro had this strategy journal in his youth that he used to record all of the tactics of his ancestors he learned, and then ones he created on his own. In there, we might be able to find the detailed infiltration plan if we are lucky enough to where he wrote it down." Dimitar explained.

Ro butt in, "But they used Assassins to sabotage the outpost and scout the area. We have very few light infantry soldiers like they do, especially with their skill set."

"When Inalia fell, a lot of the Assassins scattered and left Inalia, a very few stayed from my limited sources. Most of them returned when Amalia rebuilt the Guild, but not all of them. Allesandro also had a list of his best Assassins in that journal. We might be able to track down some of the older assassins not from Amalia's time but Allesandro's. We use them to get into the city to get the Inner Circle out along with the leaders. Once we get all of them out, we can combine forces and reseize Egypitnat." Dimitar argued.

"Where is this journal, your Highness? I can send our most talented trackers out to find it."

Dimitar stopped, sucking in a quick breath.

"That... is a great question. I have no clue." He muttered. Biana went stiff, looking down at the ground as she muttered to herself.

"What did it look like?" She suddenly asked. King Dimitar blinked but gathered himself.

"Not that extravagant, a tan journal with a lock wrapped around it. His initials were stamped in the back, I think-"

"We have it!" Biana exclaimed, jumping up in her seat.

"I'm sorry, what?" One of the Generals laughed.

"Our dad was friends with Allesandro as well! The whole reason our dad remembers his time with them is because of a strategy book Allesandro gave him to study! It is in his office." Fitz finished, catching on to Biana.

Dimitar scoffed, "How do you know this is the real one?"

"Do you have any other tan journals with AM stamped in the back? Maybe those would be better to look at then." Biana snapped. Fitz nudged his sister, a reminder that they were dealing with the damn Ogre king. A muscle flickered in Dimitar's jaw, but he turned to one of his attendants.

"Get them some crystals so they can teleport back without needing to take the tunnels." He muttered to the attendant. Fitz grabbed his crystal set for his home, and the attendant returned with two small hexagonal crystals.

"Use these once you have the journal. Your friends are gonna stay here while we try to get back in contact with them. Don't let the Council know what you are looking for, don't tell them you are involved with us." Dimitar sighed.

Fitz and Biana nodded, knowing it was just a quick trip.

"And, kids?" Dimitar called to them. Fitz bit his cheek but turned to Dimitar. The last time Fitz checked, he was 21 years old, that doesn't seem like a kid anymore. Granted, it was nothing compared to him.

"Don't waste my damn time. We get one shot at this, and I'm not failing the Morretti's again." He hissed.

The Vackers didn't say a thing as they lept back home, his scalding words rattling around their heads.

It was supposed to be an easy job, pick up Allesandro's journal and rush back. So, of course, the minute Fitz and Biana leap outside Everglen's gates, they spot the Council gathered in the Foyer of Everglen.

Sophie actually really enjoyed the clothing she was put in. Breathable, warm, and comfortable to move in. A long sleeve cotton tunic tight enough to wear was like another soft layer of skin on her, with a jacket made of thick hide that went to her ankles that complimented her simple thick cotton pants with high boots. She knotted her hair at the crown of her head with a few elastic pieces of leather also included in the big bunch of the clothes she was given. Maha wore a similar outfit, but she opted for a fur cloak instead of Sophie's sleeveless jacket. She wore fuzzy ankle boots instead of calf-length leather boots.

They both stopped slightly outside the door to the main hall glancing at each other. But Maha took Sophie's hand, her bare hands sporting Byzanthar's mark, and squeezed it. And then she opened the doors.

It matched the hallways. A room that looked like it was made of solid obsidian, a large circular table in the middle of the room that was hollowed out and had a gentle fire flickering in the middle of it. The chairs looked to be stained so dark they looked black, contrasting the faded pale yellow banners hanging from the rafters that were the only form of color in the room beside the pot of bright red gem berries sitting by the other door.

Sophie and Maha quietly shuffled in and approached the gathered Vatarians. The closer Sophie got, the more she realized that they looked just like Sophie did when she was in her Pancras form. Off-color hair, peculiar and breathtaking eyes, fangs, and claws. They were a mix of color, genders, height, and manner. Sanaa stood, making herself look so typical against all of the other vatarians. Sophie just seemed to realize that even though Sanaa was an ancient Vatarian, she didn't sport any of the fangs or miscolored eyes.

"Amalia Morretti, Maha Abara, it is a pleasure." The one at the head of the table introduced.

"We are the Elders of the remaining Ancient Vatarians. My name is Endre, I originate from the ancient Cariana Kingdom."

The Cariana Kingdom, a time from when the Vatarian cities weren't cities, but vast kingdoms. He looked a lot like what Sophie looks like in her Pancras form. Slightly pointed canines, dark blue eyes with a silver metallic sheen, hair so black it seemed to be made of the night sky.

The Vatarian Elders were made up of six Ancient Vatarians. Each seemed to be from a different Vatarian city.

The first was built like a rock, a solid creature of muscle. His eyes were a dark blue, so dark they looked almost black, with the few flickers of metallic sheen in them. His hair was long and braided, his face sporting the fu Manchu facial hair, thin well kept lines over his lips and down his face in two straight tendrils. His eyes were deep-set in his head, thin and angular. He seems slightly alarming at first, he looked like he could snap Sophie in half like a twig, but he merely gave her a polite nod.

"Dewei of the Dunhuang region of the Chiranu kingdom,"

The woman sitting next to him was tall and slender, red-ish undertone matching her dark brown skin. Her hair was so long it passed just beyond her hips, done in tight braids pleated with beading. Her eyes were a deep Russian blue, long lashes that complimented her angular eyes and full lips.

"Bayou of the Sacred Lands in the Wampanoag kingdom," Endre introduced.

The man next to her matched the Egypitnat man in muscular stature. His arms were full of Egypitnat hieroglyphs, his light brown skin littered with scars. His shaven head conflicted with his built face. He wore a similar outfit to what the Medjays wore in Egypitnat, but a tad different. There was one thing that made Sophie jump slightly.

His right eye missing from its socket.

It was scarred over and jagged, but the man didn't seem to care much about it.

"This is Ta-Nehisi of Egypitnat's Golden Mounds," Endre continued.