Omega's Rebirth-Chapter 576: The Answer ()
Neveah stared at her reflection in the large mirror, she was not truly concerned with her appearance, her attention was fixed on the pendant nestled at the center of her chest, just above the bust line.
It was an ordinary looking silver piece but somehow, there was an unending tug in Neveah’s instincts that it meant something more, that it was some kind of message her father wished to convey.
Neveah was not certain if Xenon was right and she was only attaching importance to it as it was the only thing her father had left behind before he disappeared.
Or was it truly a message Kaideon had left behind for her?
If it was the former, Neveah knew she would need to get her act together and if it was the latter, then how was Neveah to find out what this pendant meant?
Neveah breathed a quiet sigh. Tara had already taken her leave, summoned away to assist Lord Garron in sorting through the records procured from the waterfall inn. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖
Bothersome as it was, Neveah was not at liberty to pay further attention to the adamantium trade for the time being, between the City Guard and Lord Garron, there were more than enough hands on the case.
An urgent council had been gathered to deliberate the next course of action, given Lord Kaideon’s disappearance.
Neveah headed to her door, intending to head out to the meeting hall. However the loud echoes of bells tolling stopped Neveah in her tracks.
The bells tolled loudly, their mournful tolls echoing all the way from the Asvarian Beacon, all through Dune City.
"The bells from the beacon..." Neveah murmured.
The last time this happened, there had been a breach. But the sound of the bells died out quickly enough, for those who knew what the sound of the bells and the duration through which they sounded indicated,
Neveah could tell the tolling of bells told of an attempted breach. If the breach had been successful, the bells would have gone on tolling for at least seven turns to summon the Dune dragons from all ends of the city.
However, an attempted breach in itself was worrying enough.
It was not the first time the bells had been tolled since Neveah awakened, and Tara had said it had happened even while Neveah was unconscious.
The past few days had been the calm before the storm, with Kaideon’s disappearance, the storm had begun to hit and Neveah feared it would crash into the Dunes so heavily, it would take everything they have to not be run over by it.
Neveah headed out of her quarters immediately and made for the meeting hall.
"We have to advance beyond the barrier. We cannot sit around like this when Kaideon’s whereabouts are unknown." Lord Orin’s voice was the first to reach Neveah.
"A breach has been attempted four times in the past day. The barrier is under direct attack, if we cannot secure Dune City, advancing beyond the barrier is ill advised."
"The barrier is attacked a few times every decade. But there has never been a successful breach until recently. These successive attacks must be because the shadow beings have sensed the weakness of the barrier." Menarx agreed.
"The attacks will not stop till the barrier is restored to it’s optimum strength. The shadow beings are mindless creatures, they will keep advancing at any opportunity they get, any slight faltering of the barrier." Cassian added
"Adamantium counteracts the energy of the channeling gems. The adamantium hidden by Lord River in the Light Hall this past year has severely depleted the strength of the Quartrefoil. An entire new Quartrefoil is rendered completely useless." Menarx grunted in displeasure.
"The Fae will pay for their involvement in this predicament, but for the time, what matters is to find a way out of it." Lord Rodvan reminded.
"It is all dependent on if we will be able to restore the Quatrefoil back to its full strength in time, only then can we trust the barrier to hold through the advance of a squadron. A few dragons is not much trouble, but the barrier will falter if we take flight in even a dozen in a short period of time." Cassian said in a dissatisfied tone.
"To acquire the amount of channeling gems required to rebuild the Quartrefoil would take at least another month... Which means we cannot advance beyond the barrier for about that same time."
"Essentially, another month is time we do not have. And we cannot entrust Fort Blazed to less than a dozen dragons, we do not know exactly what is out there or what they are to face... that is not even taking count of the mages." Lord Coran pointed out.
"In its current state, the barrier has held beyond its capacity due to the external influence. But it will cave eventually and with the Quarterfoil destroyed, Lord Eldowin’s hands are tied." Lord Coran added.
"What do you suggest then? What options do we have to strengthen the barrier enough to hold through the flight of a squadron?" Cassian asked the Dune enforcers.
"The barrier is complicated, it was made to be so. It has long been believed that only the Fae could muster the magic required to reinforce it, and even they would require the medium of the channeling gems to amplify their magic..." Rodvan began.
"There has only ever been one exception to this..." Rodvan trailed off,
Or to be more exact, he was interrupted by a low growl from King Jian. All within the meeting hall already knew what Lord Rodvan was hinting at, and Neveah who listened in from outside the meeting hall knew also.
Neveah pushed open the doors and stepped in.
"Rodvan is right, Demevirld is the answer." Neveah said as she walked into the hall,
The doors went shut behind her, meanwhile Neveah’s gaze scanned the hall.
The meeting hall was fully occupied by the Dune Enforcers, save for Lord Garron who was otherwise occupied with the affairs of the Waterfall Inn and the Light Hall.
They were all seated at the round table and all eyes had moved to settle on Neveah the moment she stepped in.
Amongst all those gazes, one in particular was missing and that was King Jian’s gaze.
King Jian was the only one who was not seated at the table. His seat was vacant, instead he stood behind it and as before, he was faced away from Neveah,
Neveah was not certain if he had been in that position since she had left a few hours earlier up until now but he was exactly the way he had been when she had first visited the meeting hall today, to receive the news of her father’s disappearance.
Neveah’s gaze met Xenon’s instead and Xenon shook his head slightly to dissuade Neveah, but she had already said the words.
"No. Absolutely not." King Jian made clear without even glancing back for a moment.
He was avoiding her gaze, Neveah knew that much. She had not thought King Jian would still keep it up even now but clearly he did not dare face her after what had happened between them.
Neveah sighed heavily, she could understand King Jian’s disapproval. Demevirld’s power and influence was best known to him,
She did not doubt a single thing he had said. Demevirld was dangerous, he was volatile, he was everything that was evil...but he was the only option.
If Demevirld’s power could save them a month and keep her father and Fort Blazed safe, Neveah did not think a little inconvenience to her was worth mentioning.
"Hear me out, there has to be a way I can step in. It would just be this one time, in a controlled..." Neveah began to reason but King Jian cut her off mid sentence.
"Stand down, Neveah." King Jian ordered in a low but firm tone.
Neveah sucked in a sharp breath, the spot over her heart where King Jian’s scale had penetrated ached slightly, as if conveying King Jian’s warning in a more severe manner.
Neveah brushed off the effect of the scale, thankful that it was not fully developed and so not yet overwhelming.
"With all due respect, Your Grace. This is my castle... I will speak my mind." Neveah made clear.
’Easy Veah, do not provoke him.’ Neveah’s wolf warned her warily.
The entire meeting hall had fallen into silence, no one dared interfere in the exchange that was taking place between Neveah and the Dragon King for fear of getting caught in the crossfire.
A low warning growl rumbled from King Jian.
"Your Grace, we do not have a month. Fort Blazed...my father...we do not know what fate they face at this very moment." Neveah carried on with what she had been saying.
"While we sit here deliberating, the lives in Fort Blazed are at risk. If Demevirld’s power can hold the barrier for long enough, why must we hesitate?" Neveah asked.
