[Central continent]
Within the largely empty expanse of dry savanna that was found just beyond the border of Arkuns's empire, the main force of the human army had settled in for the night. Small fires were scattered across the temporary encampnt, with hundreds of both small and large tents becoming visible in their light.
Between the tents and around the fires soldiers intermingled in these early morning hours, with an ominous atmosphere hanging over their attempts to distract themselves from the war and the battles it would inevitably still bring. Despite these attempts, every howl of wind or loud impact caused parts of those who heard it to nervously glance around, the past month of warfare has left its scars on them.
The only section of the camp where there wasn’t observable was around the large command tent that stood at its center. There, Arkuns’s inner circle was imrsed in a eting, with soldiers avoiding the area after the haste with which they had suddenly gathered made the rounds in the camp, only further adding the foreboding feeling.
Standing gathered around a large, oval desk, those in the inner circle that were accompanying the army and leading it in Arkuns’s stead read through the reports before them with frowns and frustration. Behind them stood illusions that directly projected many of those that weren’t physically there into the tent, with those that couldn’t even manage that being present through communication magic that was linked to a fist-sized tal sphere that stood in a specially designed fra at the center of the table.
And though the latter two groups couldn’t read the reports themselves, even those who couldn’t see what was happening in the eting realized sothing had happened.
As such, after failing to get a good enough look at the papers in one of his colleague’s hands from the position of the magic formation his projection was linked to, one of the n present through an illusion opened his mouth and spoke, “Can soone stop leaving us clueless?”
“The eastbound fleet was annihilated.” One of the physically present n said in disbelief.
Hearing those words, every projection either recoiled in shock or swirled their head around to stare at the man who had spoken in disbelief.
“How can that be?” “Are you sure?” “Impossible!”
Shouting wildly, those who hadn’t been able to read the reports reacted with a mixture of denial and anger. In response, those who were physically present in the tent only solemnly nodded, reaffirming the earlier words and creating an even greater outcry in doing so.
What followed were at least a dozen cries for retribution that were intermixed with at least the sa number of individuals pushing around the bla for it. In both groups, each outcry was more extre than the last, quickly creating a heated atmosphere among those present.
Those not participating in the shouting could only listen helplessly for the following tens of seconds. This continued for over a minute, with the initial attempts to restore order being drowned out in the chaos until finally, a voice echoed out from the communication orb.
“Who?”
Overshadowing the shouting with a single, calm word, the man who spoke caused the entire eting to fall silent in an instant.
“We don’t know for sure. Only a few mages managed to receive the distress signals before it was over but their scrying spells were all countered before they could get a clear picture. What little information they could get indicates that the attack ca from underwater, sothing that matches with the reports from the agents who witnessed it from the coast. And our spies among the elves report that their commanders weren’t surprised, so we can assu it happened on Neandra’s orders.”
“So the aquatic beast lords picked their side.” The previous speaker said.
Nodding grimly, the second man agreed with the assessnt, “And we can’t forget about the possibility that Neandra got her old crew back together. From what we know of the politics among the ocean-dwelling beasts that would an that it might not just be the beast lords living near the coast we now have to worry about.”
His words were followed with sighs and murmurs of agreent. Simultaneously, voices of opposition also persisted among the crowd, raising the prospect of a simple mistake or rogue elent and urging caution so as to not alienate their business partners and further impede their trade.
In response to this one of the few among them wearing armor raised her voice, her tone filled with contempt as she spoke, “You read how high the waves that swallowed our ships were, that is confirmation enough that so of the beast lords broke the agreent we had with them. So whether you like it or not, we are at war with them. And my father does not need those who cower before his enemies among his subordinates, no matter the reason. So leave before I dispose of you.”
At her outburst, about a dozen of the gathered n and won lowered their heads in fear. Nervously glancing around at each other, they stood in place as they watched in the hopes of one of their colleagues speaking up first.
Ultimately though, it was one of the n who hadn’t previously voiced his opposition who spoke up, much to relieve of those that did, “Princess, must I remind you that you do not have a special status among this group. We all serve as your father’s inner council as equals, so please refrain from such comnts.”
“But our lord agrees with what she said.”
Abruptly spinning around to look in the direction where the new voice ca from, the gathered humans froze in surprise when they found Arkuns’s second-in-command standing in the corner of the tent. Amid this, they quickly started to notice the still open spatial tear behind him, resulting in many of them anticipating Arkuns to step out with hopeful eyes.
Captivated by this prospect, the gathered group barely noticed when the man swiped a hand through the air, causing multiple projections and even a few of those physically present to vanish without a trace.
With it, the atmosphere inside the tent again shifted abruptly. The hopeful eyes constricted in shock, any hint of laid-back attitude vanished, and a few of the gathered individuals even mobilized their mana.
“Our lord has deed a change in your orders necessary if his plans are to continue uninterrupted. Excluding these cowards is simply a security asure for that.” The man said in response to their actions.
His words were received with mixed reactions. But while the majority of the gathered n and won only hesitantly reigned their mana back in, Arkuns’s daughter imdiately dropped onto one knee.
“What does my father expect of us?” She asked.
“March west. Neandra is no doubt lying sowhere in her tower and laughing at us as we march right where she wants us, she has been far too passive for it to be anything else. Even during Ceros’s invasion, she was nowhere to be seen. But if she wants us to co to her and give her the opportunity for a decisive battle then she can wait for long.”
“I won’t disappoint.”
Smiling lightly at her answer, the man nodded in response.
“You never do. As such I’ll place you in charge of the army from now on. The rest of you will still advise her, but this isn’t the ti for any delays in decision-making.”
Feeling his gaze wander over them along with these words, the gathered humans shrank back and nodded in acceptance.
Seeing this, the man’s lips curled up in a smile. Leaving it at that, he slowly stepped back toward the spatial tear. Touching it with his back fist, his body started slowly distorting to fit into the narrow tear, giving his final words an unnatural sound.
“His Highness will be pleased to hear that the years of peace didn’t let every one of you beco soft.”
As he finished speaking these words, the man fully vanished into the spatial tear, with the ragged, glowing line of silver-colored energy vanishing behind him.
The mont it did, Arkuns daughter rose to her feet, determination in her eyes as she spoke, “You heard my father’s orders, I want every necessary commander to be inford that we’ll march the mont the first rays of sunshine reach us.”
Imdiately after her words, the tent burst into activity. Nodding in unison, the gathered humans moved toward the exit before spreading throughout the camp to fulfill their orders.
Stepping outside, they imdiately split up and started heading toward the areas of the camp where the units under their command resided, sothing that was quickly followed by shouts and signal trumpets that notified the soldiers of the order to set out. Within minutes of this, the entire camp turned chaotic, with tents and temporary watchtowers being disassembled and the individual units slowly taking up formation one after another.
Soon the first of these set out, splitting off from the main body of the army to form a vanguard. Numbering in the low thousands each, they spread out to form the spearhead of the human army as it started to advance westward.
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