Chapter 51: Dinner and a Talk

As per usual, the meeting continued to stretch infinitely with a seemingly no end in sight, as we passionately discussed and argued over every single minute detail and miniscule imperfection in the world shattering future we have so meticulously engineered.

We eventually decided to assign the responsibility of training and commanding the new and inexperienced northern army to the newly acclaimed general Hasdrubal, while the eastern army's command is to be handed over to the competent and fierce leadership of Sodarus and his Chimera Knights, while the western army will remain under it's current leader, who happened to be a general of little renown as a tactician or as a warrior, but was a man of great experience and knowledge due to his many years of service.

And finally but possibly most importantly, the southern army's authority was handed to non other than the Grand Marshal of the Eclipse Empire, the Martial Demon himself, Hamilcar Seth!

An assignment he was so excited for, that he didn't even bother remaining to attend the rest of the Council Meeting, as he boldly declared before swiftly departing "I refuse to command an army known as the weakest!"

The meeting finally concluded when the orange rays of the setting sun painted the room in it's gentle splendor, and reminding me that I had planned to have dinner with my family after a week of not doing so.

"We shall end it here today." I calmly announced, before casually standing up from my seat, and leaving with my guards and uncle, who still had a pondering look on his handsome face, as the rest of the ministers saw me off with respectful bows.

Arriving at the dining hall, I saw my siblings and mother already seated and waiting for the servants to finish plating their meals, which happened to be freshly caught grilled fish, salted and marinated in lemon and various spices from the Vitar River, which was nicely paired with a large assortment of steamed vegetables, such as broccoli, peppers and carrots.

Noticing our entrance, a bright, cheerful and joyous smile bloomed across my mother's lips as she happily chirped "I didn't expect you to join us today! I thought you'd be too busy with the Council Meeting. Thankfully I had the cooks prepare your meals just in case."

"Thank you mother." I gratefully reply, as I calmly took my seat next to her, while my uncle absent mindedly nods as he sits opposite her, an uncharacteristic action she easily noticed.

And while we indulged our tongues in the delightful delicacies before us, I carefully observed each one of my siblings for any sign of traumatic scars from their first ever experience with the dark and insidious nature of the world.

But to my great relief and astonishment both Nizam and Cyrus seemed to be absolutely fine! No they're not just fine, they're even better than before!

'Although subtle and only fueled with the pure and powerful, yet easily misguided emotions of children, a fledgling ember of determination has been ignited in their eyes.

I wonder what stories, such a delicate flame shall tell in a few years, after it's been hammered and forged through the crucible of life.

It's not like you to be so distracted."

A solemn look captures my uncle's eyes, as he hesitates to answer.

"Is it that serious?" My mother asks again with a more pressing voice.

My uncle gravely nods, as he replies staidly "Indeed it is my lady. It was decided today that the Empire's soldiers are to once again head to war. A war so gargantuan, that it would make our recent conflict with the Luminous Empire seem like a mere children's brawl."

Although my uncle's words seemed overly dramatic, or simply a wild exaggeration that would make anyone who heard it merely scoff and dismiss it as the ramblings of an attention starved con-artist, desperately trying to sell you something worthless, my mother didn't.

She didn't because she knew my uncle's true nature, and also greatly respected his opinion, especially when it concerned the brutal act of war, since his words could only be dwarfed by so few men in the empire, that you could count them on one hand.

"That much?!" My mother asks in disbelief.

My uncle yet again nods, as he continues "And if all goes according to plan, then within the next half a year, all the military might of the Eclipse Empire, with the sole exception being the newly rebuilt northern army, would join in this war.

And that's not even mentioning that both Grand Marshal Hamilcar Seth, and Storm Lord Sodarus Indra are also being dispatched for this war."

My mother's shock and disbelief only grew more extreme as she heard this new information, but her title as Empress for so many years wasn't without cause, as she quickly collected herself and began to process all this information logically, before calmly saying "My son may be many things but he is no fool.

And neither are those ancient monsters that he surrounds himself with everyday, so there must be a truly vital reason for all this."

"...I believe they want to shatter the balance, my lady." My uncle replied after a momentary pause.

As soon as those words reached my mother's ears, she felt the world had frozen around her, as if time itself had paused in shock of the words my uncle had uttered, while an old and forgotten memory once again resurfaced in her mind of when she was just an innocent and ignorant child learning from her teacher in her family's estate, many, many years ago.