Chapter 1584: Council Meeting

A few hours later, the council meeting began inside a vast hall at the center of the settlement. The chamber was large enough to accommodate dozens of people, yet only seven seats stood at the center of the room for the members of the council. Six of those seats were occupied. The seventh remained empty as they waited for the final member to arrive.

The six council members were all old. They wore identical black robes that covered their bodies from their shoulders to their feet, making them appear almost like dark statues sitting beneath the dim light of the hall.

Their faces carried the same expression of exhaustion and displeasure. Deep lines covered their skin, years of failure had left a visible weight in their eyes. None of them looked optimistic about the meeting.

For years, the council had gathered in this same hall to discuss the future of their land. They had proposed countless solutions and tested many of them, but most of them had failed. Some of the ideas had shown promise but they collapsed after years of effort and some of them had failed almost immediately. Every failure added another layer of frustration to the council until even the idea of another meeting felt exhausting.

A full year had passed since their previous meeting. Yet nothing had changed.

The darkness still covered their land. Their people still lived beneath the same dead sky, and the threat that had cursed their world still remained somewhere beyond their reach.

The council members had spent another year searching for answers, but they had little to show for it. They already knew that today’s meeting would probably end the same way as the previous ones.

The atmosphere inside the hall reflected that expectation. The council members sat in silence, some of them staring at the table in front of them while others looked toward the empty seventh seat. A few had stacks of documents and old records beside them, but none of them seemed eager to open them. They had read those records countless times before.

Then the large doors at the end of the hall opened. The old man who had spoken with Erebus earlier entered the chamber.

Unlike the other council members, his expression did not look gloomy. His face was serious, but determination burned clearly in his eyes. He walked toward his seat with steady steps and took his place among the others.

The leader of the council watched him for a moment before turning toward the rest of the room.

He was the oldest member of the council. His white hair reached his shoulders, and his face carried more wrinkles than anyone else in the chamber. Yet his eyes remained sharp and focused despite his age.

"Then let us begin," he said. His voice echoed across the vast hall. "We have gathered here once again to discuss the future of our people. We have spent another year searching for a solution, and I know that many of you have already considered every possibility you could think of. Still, I ask all of you to speak. If you have discovered anything new, no matter how small, bring it forward."

Silence followed. The leader looked from one council member to another.

One of the old men finally lowered his head and said, "I have nothing new to offer."

"Neither do I. We have already tried everything we could think of." Another member said while slowly shaking his head.

"Our previous attempts have already failed. I don’t see what else we can do," other member said.

One by one, the others gave similar answers. Some had no ideas at all or had possibilities they didn’t believe were worth mentioning. The silence that followed felt heavier than before.

The leader closed his eyes for a moment. He understood their frustration. He felt it himself. But he could not allow despair to become their final answer.

"We cannot stop searching just because we have failed many times," he said. "We have failed many times before, but our people are still alive. That means we still have a reason to continue."

The council members remained silent.

"We may have reached the point where every path we know has failed us!" The leader continued with a higher tone of voice. "That does not mean there is no path left. It only means we have not found it yet. So do not lose your resolve. As long as our people still live, we must continue looking for a way forward!"

His words did little to lift the mood, but they reminded the council why they had gathered.

Then the old man who had entered moments earlier slowly stood from his seat. The others turned toward him.

"If I may offer an idea," he said. His voice immediately caught their attention. He looked around the table before continuing. "I and my companion have developed an idea that has a real possibility of succeeding."

Several council members frowned.

"What idea?" one of them asked.

"You said you have a companion?" another asked. "Who?"

The old man did not answer immediately.

Instead, he turned his gaze toward the large doors at the far end of the hall.

The doors opened. A tall man stepped into the chamber.

Long black hair fell around his shoulders, and his blue eyes were cold and focused as he walked forward. He wore no council robe, and his presence alone immediately changed the atmosphere inside the hall.

Several council members stiffened. A few frowned openly. They knew who he was. Erebus.

He was not a member of the council. He had no seat at their table and no official authority within their meetings. His presence inside the chamber alone was enough to make several of the council members uncomfortable.

Yet Erebus did not hesitate. He walked deeper into the hall with a firm expression and stopped beside the old council member who had invited him.

The council members stared at him with clear displeasure. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

Erebus met their gazes without flinching. He had not come there to ask for their permission to speak. He had come because he believed he had finally found a way to save their people.

"I want us to invade another world." Erebus finally dropped his solution.

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