CHAPTER 17: THE UNEXPECTED TURN
Year 2000 AGS Underhaven Calendar
I saw Aurel scrambling slightly, hitting some chairs, and was about to slip, but he picked himself up and did not. He went to his father, Elder Abaddel, after the announcement of the entrance.
He bowed with his fist in his chest, palms facing downward, before his father.
I then saw Elder Abaddel look at Elder Sandalphel, the Elder that is so humongous, and again placed his palms on his forehead and shook his head. I saw Elder Sandalphel place his hands on Elder Abaddel's shoulder and laughed hard, casually. Elder Gabriel, the dark-skinned Elder Templar among them with a weird beard and dark blue-grey hair, looked at me and noticed I was observing them. He just made a warm smile at me and began walking towards the table where they were supposed to be sitting. Among them were the heads of the few small elite groups of the board of ancient noble houses of the Republic of Saint Cobal and other representatives of Vampire Plutocracies and Oligarchies, the representatives of Purple Elf Medical Technocracies, representatives of DynamenParliamentary Democracies, the representatives of Phantomlimbs Stratocratic Republics and Military Juntas, the representatives of Dark Beastmen Presidential Guild Democracies, and representatives of Goblin Totalitarian Syndicalisms. Only the Tamahos with their Representative Confederations of the Unlighted's major races were missing. They don't usually leave the forests since they are isolationists.
I can say that the table was really big. It was at the center of the Great Hall. There is a stage at one end of the four sides of the Great Hall, where dancers, singers, and others perform.
I glanced at the other end, and the kitchen staff and waiters were barely keeping up with the guests' orders since there were so many, and the Great Hall is massive. Almost like those of palaces or great banquet halls of really popular restaurants.
I glanced back at the Elders and saw Aurel, still bowing the whole time. Then Elder Abaddel placed his hands on his head and said something, and they began heading towards the table that Elder Gabriel had walked into. I saw the other boy with red hair and tan skin. I think he was Malakel or Kinrel, I'm not sure. He slapped him in the back and also laughed, and they began to walk behind the tall figures of the Elder Templars.
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Before the Elders sat, someone came to them from the Templars on guard duty. Yes, the Templars might have mandated that they also guard the Airship. She came close to Elder Gabriel and whispered something. He listened carefully, nodded slightly, then proceeded to sit in the chair. My father, who was sitting there, glanced at me and waved his hand for me to come to him. I was surprised and asked my father. I told him my thoughts through lip movement. "Me?" as well as pointing my index finger towards my body. My father, nodded in return. This became a queue for me to immediately come there. No matter how shy I am around the distinguished guests, if it is my father's wish, I bet he already has a clear plan in mind.
I came and saw the other Elders and their children just arrive a little later than I did, because guests interrupted and greeted them on their way to the center table.
"Sit here beside me, Selena." My father told me.
I nodded silently in reply to him.
"I tell you, Elder Sandalphel cajoled me into coming here without your knowledge!" Aurel was doing his best to explain himself to his father. "Okay. Fine. Fine. Just be quiet and sit beside me already." Elder Abaddel told him.
"But, I am telling the truth! I am not lying. When did I ever lie to you?!" Aurel exclaimed.
Elder Abaddel paused when he heard this. "Sigh… the moment you told me you never ever lied to me destroyed your justification. Now sit down and keep your mouth shut." Elder Abaddel remarked.
"Hahaha. Who's the most decent guy now, huh? Haha! I think the 'like father, like son' portrayal applies to you, as much as it applies to me. Hahaha!" Elder Sandalphel remarked from his seat, laughing.
"Did you do all this just to spite me?" Elder Abaddel frowned as he questioningly looked at the humongous Templar whose chair seemed to properly hold his weight even though significantly smaller than him.
"No. No, brother. Aurel needs to come here as much as Malakel. These children need to grow up fast. Especially because of that." Elder Sandalphel noted to the other Elder.
"I see your point. But why did you not bring Argenta instead?" Elder Abaddel asked.
"I see your point, Father. But, I think I am more suited here than she." Aurel interrupted and replied to his father.
"Really? And why is that? How are you better in linguistics than your twin sister?" Elder Abaddel smirked while he asked the question as he faced Aurel.
"She is much more restrained than I am in speaking. But what you need here is bravery. You can't make friends with others, no matter how good you are at speaking, if you are not brave." Aurel replied.
My father heard this since we were close to the Elders, and he smiled. He slightly moved his body towards me. "See. Templars are quite intelligent even when young. Learn from them at this summit." He whispered
"Yes, father." I firmly replied to him.
"Now, you know why I brought you to sit beside me here at this table." He again whispered.
"To better understand Templars my age, since there are two of them here right now," I whispered back to him in reply.
"Indeed, now. Behave and observe. Talk to them later if you have the chance. I saw that you had an encounter with one of them earlier. Good job." My father told me as he patted my head gently.
I looked back at the Templars and saw that Aurel was still explaining himself with heartfelt sincerity.
"I brought him here because he needs more experience to deal with other people, especially Domcreans, than Argenta." Elder Sandalphel interrupted Aurel.
"See. If you just mentioned that point. You would have convinced me in the first sentence. This muscle head is more convincing than you." Elder Abaddel told Aurel.
"…" Aurel shyly looked towards Elder Sandalphel, then looked down. "Yes, father. I will take note of it and be better next time."
Aurel was surprisingly behaved now, unlike earlier. I think he deeply respects his father and the Elder Templars. He did not even get angry with the other Elder.
"Now, everyone. We are very happy today that 3 Elder Templars visited our Shade Summit this year!" Father began speaking to everyone when he saw the Elders' discussion conclude.
"I hate to admit it to you all, but this emergency summit was initiated by us because our Republic has caused a great deal of trouble to our Templar friends." He looked at the representatives and then at the Elder Templars.
"An unknown insurgent syndicate has mysteriously arisen and attacked Underhaven. Later on, we discovered that their base of operations was in the Republic, hidden from its leadership. I know you might say this only affects us, but I think this situation is not small. It might have bases of operations in many Republics here in Unlighted and, at worst, in Luminos as well. I am openly discussing and giving you the details here right now, out in the open, among all the guests, since all of you here right now are fellow Republics with a common brotherhood among the Templars."
Elders Gabriel, Abaddel, and Sandalphel were gazing intently at my father as he was telling everyone all of this.
"Why those scumbags. When I get my hands on them, I'll blow their heads off with the specialized miniature dynamite that we have recently invented." One of the dynamen representatives shouted.
Dynamen had hot heads and short tempers like the dwarves. So this reaction is not surprising.
"But why?" His fellow dynamen representative asked in a low, almost dumb-like, confused tone. "Why? 'Cause they caused the heroes of Bastion a lot of trouble. We already heard the news days ago." He replied in anger.
"Yeah. But why, though?" The same dynamen representative asked again in his low, almost dumb-like voice.
"What do you mean, why?!" He shouted at his fellow dynamen beside him as he turned angry. His massively tall and fat body showed as he stood up.
"But why? Can't you use other stuff other than dynamite?" The other dynamen representative asked. His question perfectly makes sense.
"Why, you?!" Immediately, their dynamen guards began to hold the angry dynamen to control him as the two were already bickering. "Why, let me have him! Let me have him!" the dynamen shouted as he was being held down by his guards.
Elder Gabriel held his fingers towards his temple as he sighed.
Personally, it was so funny that I almost laughed out loud.
"Dynamen temper, huh? I wonder if Dwarves have worse." Aurel commented.
Immediately, Elder Abaddel smacked him on the head.
"Oww!" Aurel voiced out, but immediately became quiet when Elder Abaddel stared at him, and I silently laughed at the interaction.
By the way, Dynamen is called dynamen even if one person is being identified. I cleared it out because you might be confused. Dynamen is a word that exists only in the plural.
"My friends!" Elder Gabriel finally spoke. "Let us stop this nonsense and get right to the point."
"This syndicate is called Neo-Illumina…" Elder Gabriel looked at the dynamen that bickered. "They attacked Underhaven and did terrible damage and losses… And why is that?"
He asked everybody.
"Did they somehow have new technologies that they used against you?" The previously angry dynamen asked.
"Did they manage to make potions that buff them?" One of the purple elf representatives asked.
"I bet they managed to sneak in some underground passageway that they made." One of the goblins replied.
"From what I know, Underhaven is heavily monitored. Even if they have devices that they can use to get inside. It only takes minutes for the Templars to detect them." A Phantomlimbs commented as he analyzed the possible cause.
"How about you, Dark Beastmen? Do you have any theories as to why?" Elder Gabriel asked them.
"I don't really have an idea. The security in Underhaven is tight, even though it is massive. If they entered illegally, I can't comprehend how they can even challenge the Templars. You Templars are unbeatable in direct combat. Unless they placed bombs and blasted the whole place." A Dark Beastman commented.
"…" The Elder stayed quiet and looked at their confused faces. Then he continued.
"That is--- they have monopolized a new element, one that has completely new traits and properties."
GASP. The whole crowd in the event gasped and listened intently to the Elder Templar's words.
"We called it the Soul Element. From this day on, all of Domcrea will refer to him as 'Espiritu'." Elder Gabriel added.
GASP! "Soul Element?", "A new element!", "Oh, my Lord!" many of the crowd listening murmured.
"How did we know of the element?... We have successfully captured it and placed it under our custody." Elder Gabriel spoke in his resonant, deep voice.
"Now the question is. How were they able to monopolize it?" He added with a rhetorical question.
"…" The room was silent. Everyone focused on listening. Not wanting to miss the latest news from the Templars.
"First. Intel said they likely deployed a continent-spanning, highly illegal bio-hacking seal. This passive seal subtly erased or suppressed the specific "spiritual trauma" memories in 11-year-old Domcreans globally. Preventing awakening of Soul Element Users."
"…" The room stayed silent. Listening intently to the Elder Templar.
"By the heavens! A bio-hacking seal that spans the whole continent!" One of the Purple Elve's representatives then shouted in surprise amidst the silence.
"Second. Neo Illumina's Soul Element users actively captured and hoarded the Wandering Souls trapped in Bastion. By monopolizing these spirits, they starved the surface domains of the ambient ethereal energy required to spark a natural Soul Element awakening in the general populace." Elder Gabriel continued. Disregarding the surprise from the purple elves.
Elder Gabriel looked at Elders Abaddel and Sandalphel, who also stared at him seriously.
"Last and the main reason they were able to monopolize its awakening only to their own members--- They were able to abduct the Soul Element during its unprecedented creation and placed it in a barrier, which prevented the Soul Elemental Energy from circulating throughout Bastion!" Elder Gabriel shouted in anger, his voice echoed throughout the now silent Great Hall."
"…" Everyone was silent.
Elder Gabriel looked so angry. I was silent the entire time. I can't comprehend how in the heavens an unknown insurgent syndicate was able to achieve all of those things. They might indeed have incredibly rich backers from rich nations from Unlighted.
"Templars!" Elder Gabriel suddenly shouted, his silver eyes seemed to shine. I was scared and looked at my father, who was himself surprised and scared as well. Even he might not know what might happen next.
I tried to look for James and Miguel visually. They were also frightened as they watched the Templars begin closing all the entrances and exits of the Great Hall.
"What is the meaning of this?!" my father protested, fearing the worst. Father also understood the anger the Templars might be holding against us. But I think he fears something deeper than the rest of us expect.
"Guards! Protect the children!" He immediately shouted.
"Do not fight back! We will kill everyone who will! Do not resist, and you might survive!" Elder Sandalphel shouted so loud and clear that everybody in the room heard it.
Then the Great Hall began to tremble.
"Oh my God. The ship is trembling in fear of them as well." I told myself.
The guards, looking at his gigantic frame, began to move back and tremble.
My father was taken aback at what was happening. In his mind, I think he might be expecting a massacre from the Templars. An eye for an eye. Will all or only a select few of us calm their rage? I do not know. The other representatives trembled in their places.
My father hugged me immediately, as a father tries to protect his daughter in serious danger.
"My dear Fate!" I prayed to myself. I was scared, so I prayed, but I believed the Templars would not start the senseless slaughter of everyone here in the airship.
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*End of Chapter.