ANNOUNCEMENTS/NEWS (IMPORTANT)

[Vaden LeMonte]

Vaden received the transmission from Masaya mentioning Lavander, Nemesis's human incarnation. "Very well, I'll be there once I'm done here. Though expect me to be late as I might be hindered. I'll explain later, Masaya. Vaden out," he said as he turned off the channel. He looked out the cockpit window to the snow-capped mountains of Midhar.

It was a beautiful, but literally chilling, sight if one were on foot onlooking this scenery. Naturally, some mountains rose above others and spread across wider than their neighbors. Unlike other nations, the center of power for the Half-Beasts didn't lie in some fancy palace that rose over other structures in their homeland, but in a extremely-decorated cave within one of the mountains; this had come in handy as the location changed from mountain to mountain depending on the ruler, making it hard for a direct attack to happen. Usually, the one in power chose their home mountain as their spot to rule Midhar from to give their small, native colonies an abundant amount of glory and bragging rights. There was even a family line that had kept track of how many times each mountain served as a throne as a widescale game.

Vaden recalled his memories of King Salahin's reign as the transport still hovered over the mountains, seeking the throne to land by. A blurt of static came from the console as he was receiving a message.

"Identify yourself, unknown craft." It was the air-watch.

"Vaden LeMonte. I have some unscheduled, but urgent, business with the current lord or lady. Could you please provide the location of the throne?"

He heard a small choke over the speaker, then some muffled yells and responses. "From your position right now, three peaks to the east, Sir LeMonte. There'll be a welcoming group awaiting you there to take you to His Majesty."

Vaden chuckled as he directed the ship to the indicated direction and flew off. Craning his neck forward to try and get a better view of below, he saw a group of light supplied by torches, waving from side to side. He made the assumption this was his exact destination and brought himself down to the extended cloiff that jutted out from the peak. Once he had settled, he exited the transport with the hood of his cloak up over his head and helm. He saw one of the Half-Beasts, who towered over him, step forward.

"Welcome to Midhar, Sir LeMonte. This is most unexpected and yet expected. How may we be of assistance, sir?"

"You could start off by informing me the name of your current ruler. Then take me to him or her," Vaden said swiftly. The man looked at him with a cocked eyebrow before kindly responding, "His Majesty's name is Rothair, Sir. Please follow us since you wish to meet with him."

Vaden nodded from under the hood and began to follow the committee of seven into the cave. He felt like a dwarf compared to the group whose heads were no more than two feet from the ceiling while Vaden would have needed another half of himself to equal their height. On the cave walls were typical paintings visible by torch-light along with streaming banners of murky gold silk that followed the tunnels. After going through the middle from a three-way tunnel split, two of the men — one of whom Vaden spoke to outside — stepped forward to a seemingly dead-end and moved the boulder that hid the way to Rothair's throne room. They stepped aside to give their visitor entry, which Vaden took as he dropped his hood and removed his helm.

"So the ancient Sir LeMonte, who served under my ancestor Salahin, has come to our primitive dwelling in Midhar. Come, take a seat over there," he gestured over to a seat carved from stone and cushioned. "What brings you here, sir?"

Vaden gave a half-smile before his face went serious and took his seat. "Some affairs that you are already faced with. However, I bring advice and some information you direly need to know."

[Vaden LeMonte]

"Oh. That affair with Fortanius. We've been sending diplomats to their constantly and we keep getting the same response, 'we're still attacking.' Humes have become more stubborn since Salahin's time, what a shame. But pray tell, what new information do you have for us, Sir LeMonte?" King Rothair inquired.

Vaden looked at him and immediately stood up to pace around. For some reason or another, when it came to conversations of the utmost importance, he could seldom sit down. He spoke, "Well, to start off, do you know who put in the rumor that you were looking to expand southward, Your Majesty?"

Rothair sat back and growled as his eyes went thin. "Of course, those damned Demons from Ghenna. Though I haven't a clue what King Lucifus would want with Midhar or anything to do with it," he uttered.

"Well, for one, it wasn't King Lucifus who planted that in King Greyn's ear. Ghenna, just recently, underwent a shift of power. The King and the Prince are no where to be found in sight thus the military has take over, led by a General Hnail. He's had an agent go into Fortanius and quietly remove King Greyn from power and has taken over in King Greyn's stead as the King himself. Obviously it was an agent who is quite strong for a Demon seeing as he can undergo Hume transformation. This Demon, whatever his name be, has been taking orders from this General Hnail, hence why Fortanius is planning to launch a full-scale assault on Midhar sometime soon. How soon, I cannot really be certain of. Considering all things, it could be within a few weeks, maybe even a month."

Rothair stared emptily at Vaden as he tried to digest what he had heard. Ghenna was the one actually playing the cards and Fortanius was nothing but a marionette. He was surprised on one hand seeing as King Lucifus had never tried anything so drastic despite the Demon reputation, and not surprised because of the Demonic reputation. Rothair drummed his fingers on the stone armrest, scratching what of his chin that he could under the long, rough beard before continuing on, "I assume you plan on stopping this heinous act, correct? How can a Kallo let dastardly imbeciles such as these walk away with their crime?"

Sighing, Vaden stopped and looked at King Rothair square in the eyes. "Unfortunately, I will not be interfering and neither will Kallo Masaya Sanada. Him and I have already discussed this and seeing the course of events over the past centuries leading up to now, we think it's about time that the world take care of its own problems," he said looking at the escalating rage in Rothair's eyes, "However, this does not mean we won't step in from time to time to surpress things. This is a transitional phase for everyone on Gaea, including Masaya and myself. Besides, there are other, greater forces at work behind the scenes that have an impact on the upcoming wars and vice versa... something that I don't believe anyone can match up to. There might be some, but they'll have to be of strength unheard of anyone else besides Sanada and I. All I can tell you is to prepare yourself, gather up your defenses and be ready. What you'll witness in the next few years — even decades, assuming your rule extends that much longer — will be inevitable, Your Majesty."

King Rothair calmed down slightly at the mention of the "greater forces at work." At least the man had some sort of excuse to not totally interfere and save Midhar. Nonetheless, leaving Midhar to fend from Humes — who some Half-Beasts even compared with Demons in terms of general personality — wasn't something that Rothair's people would be pleased to hear. And Rothair himself wasn't all too pleased to hear this from a man who countless times saved Gaea in the past and now was choosing not to throw himself into the fire for the greater good. And the thought of being dethroned, whatever the means, made his insides squirm. He planned to try and outrule his predecessors in terms of time of reign.

"Well... as much as it pains me to hear all of this, I suppose I have no choice but to follow through," he sighed, "And you haven't failed us thus far in your Guardianship, regardless of what has happened, so that should give me all the more reason to trust you, Sir LeMonte."

Vaden nodded his thanks and without a word swept up his helm onto his head and threw his hood up. He strided out of the throne room and back out into the starting blizzard onto the cliff. Climbing onto the transport, he took off and gave the command to head to hopefully his last destination: Shin-Forte.