In the Order, Elanev was excited while looking through the list that was presented to him.
There were so many items that he had always dreamt of, which had been constantly dangled in front of his eyes by the old man who kept promising him that he would find a way to give them to him if he just managed to reach the goals that he had set.
They were partly the reason why he had always been able to push himself so much, with the other part, of course, being that he never wanted to fall behind his younger brother too much.
"They have the body invigorating massage machine from the Empire, t0o! How did one even survive the Apocalypse?! I can't believe it!"
Normally, the old man would have responded in his mind, but once again remembering that he was alone up there, Elanev felt like hitting himself on his forehead to make sure that he would drive this firmly into his head.
He had gotten used to having that weird guy to talk to, and many times, that guy had even interrupted his own thoughts, leading to situations where Elanev would even forget that he wasn't talking to himself, and that someone else was present in his mind.
The old man was a prankster, so to accomplish this, he would imitate Elanev's voice and make him think as if he had reached a decision by talking to himself while he was plucking the strings in the background.
Well, there was no such thing happening now, as Daneel had told Elanev that he should put back the old man, just like he had done with Drakos as it was too risky to bring them inside the Order.
The Order was all about secrecy, so it made sense that they might have methods to detect other entities entering into their midst in the minds of those who had obtained the right to be their members, and that it would not be wise to bring the Empire Spirits and expose them.
It was always best to hold some cards back, and in this case, until they found a way to make sure that the Empire Spirits could stay concealed, Elanev had agreed that this was the best course of action.
Still, his enthusiasm didn't wane, and he continued to look through with the rest of his team, who had just come out of the bar after being continuously assaulted by questions regarding their companion's newbie status.
They were all at the same place, and all of them were pretty amazed as they saw the exhaustive list of items that was presented to them, which all seemed to be specifically picked to be useful to them, and their power.
However, just as they were about to make their individual decisions, they got a message in their minds which made them almost drop out of the air with shock.
As Elanev was a fighter, he was still not capable of flying for a long time by himself, so Faxul was the one keeping him in the air.
The message even affected this Black Raven King so much that he almost forgot to continue casting the spell, and Elanev found himself plunging down in the air and almost screaming before suddenly stopping in the air and rising up again.
Even that shock was not enough to drive away the one that he had just received due to that message, and all four members looked at each other with extreme panic in their eyes.
At this moment, it was Cassandra who surprisingly took charge.
"Be quiet. Let's assemble first."
She was also taking deep breaths, and she looked like she, too, was at the edge of her calmness, but her words did have a positive effect which allowed the others to teleport away and reach the door of the place where all members who wished to stay in the Order were given rooms.
Right as they reached the one that had been assigned to them, Eloise shot to her feet, but this time, unlike the last, it was not in happiness on seeing them.
"Please tell me it was false! It must be a prank, right! What the hell is going on?!"
She ran up to Elanev, as he was the one she had always been closer to than the others, and she caught his collar and shook it until it almost tore.
This was only the second time that Elanev was seeing Eloise so agitated, and right away, he caught her shoulders and said, "I don't know, but we will get to the bottom of this. Let the Divine Cockroach sleep. Come into this room, the spells that he cast the last time are still there, so we can just activate them using Ker Gems."
Eloise managed to achieve a semblance of normalcy as she heard him say this in a relatively calm voice, but even in it, she detected a tremble which meant that he, too, had a lot of the emotion that she was engulfed in.
Still, she managed to find it in herself to go back to the person who was known as the one with the most power in the Alliance beside the King, and she walked into the room in which Daneel had talked to Cassandra before.
The walls were still scorched, and the ashes, which were the remains of the furniture that had once been here, were scattered on the floor.
As soon as Aran, who was relatively a bit calmer than the rest because of his experience in dealing with situations where there was a lot of pressure on his shoulders, closed the door, Faxul took out a bunch of Ker gems from his pocket and arranged them carefully all around.
At once, multiple formations sprang into being, and the complexity of each of them was so high that none of them could really understand how they worked.
Their king had always had a knack of being able to do things that he shouldn't, and these formations that he had left behind echoed that, too.
Yet… He was the very reason why they were all so frazzled, and right after all of the formations activated, Faxul walked forward and said, "Let's do this right. Did all of you get the same message? At the same time?"
All of them nodded, following which Faxul sighed and shook his head before saying, "I was hoping that that was not the case. Anyway, I will replay it."
With that, he cast a spell, and a voice which felt like it was from the darkest depths of hell was heard in the room.
It just had something about it which made it feel as if it belonged to someone whose power could not be estimated, and Eloise even shuddered as she heard it for the second time. Even the others felt their skin crawling, and it was all they could do to not shut their ears and wish that it would stop.
If it was just these aspects of it, they might not have been so affected, but it was what it said that made them all feel as if they were about to collectively lose their minds.
"The King is dead. Long live the King. Hahaha, soon, I will be able to say this to the entire continent who foolishly believe in him so much! If you runts want to even have a chance of saving him, come to the place in Angaria where the Roc pierces the Basilisk's eye. Only those who receive this message can come, and if there is even one who hasn't, I will disappear with your precious King and no one will ever be able to find me. I am doing this because I also want to kill those whom he has associated with the longest, so that I will have the satisfaction of being thorough. Tell anyone else, and the Kingdom of Lanthanor will go down in flames, as I will expose the truth about his powers and make the entire Big Four come down upon the kingdom he loves with the hope that they can find some clues about him, even if they have to torture everyone that they find. Remember, the more you delay, the faster he will die."
These horrifying words were followed by a very strange sound, almost like a strand of silk being cut by a scissor, which they knew to be the one that an oath-taker heard when an oath was severed.
Indeed, this message had reached each of them through the oathlink, and after it was replayed, silence appeared in the room, as none of them could think past what they had just been told.
First of all, the very fact that someone had been able to send a message through the king's oathlink was something inconceivable to them, because it meant that his consciousness must have completely been invaded so that one could gain access to this link.
"It might be another test, right? He sent it through the Oath, so he may be pretending to be someone else! It should be a test!"
Eloise said this, putting forward the possibility that had appeared in the other's minds, too.
After all, their king had the tenacity of keeping things secret for their own benefit, but this time… All of them knew that something was different.
It was Cassandra who spoke out, and gave the reason why this might not be the case.
"The oath link got severed. After he found me, he told me that he felt the same happening with mine, which was why he assumed that I was dead. He also made it clear that he knew of no spell which could do so, and that means that he cannot do it, either. So, there is a very large possibility that it is not a test, Eloise. And besides… What reason does he have to put such a sudden one? We all know his objectives, and why he entered the Order. His plan in the Order was to carefully fulfill all of those, so there really is no possible reason for him to do this. So…we have to consider the worst-case scenario."
As soon as she said this, tears appeared in Eloise's eyes, even though she tried hard to control them. They started to spill on her cheeks even while she kept wiping at them, and in a voice that could barely be heard, she said, "Say it."
No one responded, so she repeated, but this time, her words echoed in the room.
"Say it!"
"He really is at risk of dying."
It was Elanev who finally said it, and right after he did so, he got an expression of determination on his face.
"It's very possible that this is true, but even if it isn't, is this what he would expect from us? To lose our minds and get mired in a sense of helplessness? No, we need to act! And act, we shall. Eloise, get back to the kingdom and see who else got the message. Faxul, scout that place, and check whether he went there. The rest of you, assemble all those who have known him the longest."
It was as if they had found a lantern in the darkness that threatened to swallow them whole, so right away, all of them started to stand a bit straighter. The commanders in the room had been the calmest even before, but now, they had clarity in their eyes.
"You're right. We don't know the truth, but whatever it is, we are going to the place where he was last seen. Even if it is a trap, we will walk in. And after we do… May the heavens themselves smite me where I stand if I do not give it my all to save him. He did everything for all of us, so we will not stop to even think before giving up our lives, if needed, to save him."
Cassandra said this in an iron-like tone, and the rest nodded firmly.
They seem to echo in everyone's hearts, giving them strength and hope.
Faxul was the one who walked forward first and raised his hand.
"Sovereigns, no matter what the truth is, it is all up to us. No matter what we do, let's make him proud."
"Let's make him proud."
"Let's make him proud."
Repeating that statement, each of the five stepped forward and laid their hands, palm down, on his.
After all of them assembled, Elanev gave the order.
"Good. Now we look more like we are supposed to be. Sovereigns, disperse."
With that, all five people disappeared from the room, and as for Daneel… He had actually been watching the entire thing.
Pride shone in his eyes, but the fact was that he was bound with shiny silver cuffs which had taken away the control of his Mageroot did not allow him to smile.
"Not bad. Your life is in their hands now, King."
A voice spoke in his years, but instead of inciting fear in him, it only made him smile.
When he spoke, his words seemed to carry the emotion of one who had the utmost trust, and it was the kind which would drive away any amount of fear and doubt.
"If that is the case, then I have nothing to worry about. They are my sovereigns, and they… will succeed."
"Let's see."
With that, the voice faded away, and the place which Daneel had been teleported to fell silent, as he, too, was made to fall unconscious.
Yet, at the last moment before he did, the system sent him a message, which made him rejoice even though his situation was quite dire.
[Mageroot-less spell to break out ready to be created and deployed. Awaiting host's orders.]