“Are you certain your scrying is accurate?” a concerned voice asked, the question lightly echoing within the chamber a group of cultivators, men and women, young and old, sat within. A massive round table rested in the middle of the chamber, with dozens of seats surrounding it. Upon each seat sat a powerful Elder of the Honorable Alliance, their robes and armor the different colors of the various sects and clans that made up the alliance.
“Do you think I would give such a grave warning if I was not certain,” the Heaven Scrying Sect elder who had brought the warning replied.
“Daoist Clearview’s scrying’s have never led us astray before,” another member of the group spoke up, her voice feminine but firm. “This matter is too important to ignore. We must do something about it.”
“But even if Daoist Clearview is right, what can we do about it?” another member of the alliance spoke up. “Our youths are within the trial lands, which we ourselves cannot enter. And the entrance is fortified with our strongest formations and most formidable warriors. I refuse to believe any power, even all of them combined, would risk such a suicidal assault!”
“Daoist Ashflame is right,” another agreed, “I doubt the source of the danger will come from outside. It must be something lurking within. We cannot do anything to help them.”.
Many of the members spoke up at the same time as a boisterous discourse broke out within the chamber. The heated discussions died down as one of the older and most respected members of the alliance tapped the table before him, asking for silence. He had a long gray beard that pointed down to the ground, and wrinkles around his eyes that revealed his long years.
“Daoist Clearview,” the man addressed the Heaven Scrying Sect Elder, “if we call for youthful reinforcements, would the situation become more favorable?”
“You know, scrying into the heavens and the future is not so simple,” Daoist Clearview replied, “I cannot just take out a crystal ball and predict all that will happen.”
“Naturally all of us know that,” the elderly man replied, “but surely its worth an attempt to see if the heavens will grant you this information or not?”
The chamber fell silent as Daoist Clearview thought over the situation at hand.
“It’s worth trying,” Daoist Clearview replied after a moment of thinking it over, and stood up from the chamber. He left the room, while the other members broke out in grouped discussion of what they could potentially do about the ill omen regarding their youths.
An hour later, Daoist Clearview returned to the room. All eyes focused on him as he sat down, as they eagerly awaited his answer.
“My scrying attempts were not fully fruitful,” Daoist Clearview said, his words creating many frowns within the room, “but I was able to discern one thing. Sending reinforcements into the realm will help. As for how much, I cannot say, but I can say that it will not worsen the situation.”
All eyes shifted back to the elderly man who had asked the question in the first place. The man mused over the situation for a while, thinking of the best course of action. After a while, his eyes raised to look at the group before him, his decision seemingly made.
“Send word to all our allies,” the elderly man instructed, “be clear and honest about the situation, and offer passage into the trial realm for any youths they wish to send.”
The man’s words caused many faces to light up in slight surprise, as this was an unprecedented move. Only several exceptions had ever been made for allowing outsiders to enter the realm, namely the Starforge clan, Igris from the beast clan, and Laia from the Astral Empire. These were done with the intention of courting those powers into the alliance, or at least into a friendly agreement.
Other than that, no other outsiders had ever entered. However, the elderly mans words intended to allow as many outsiders as possible, defeating the original purpose of only sending their own members in to take advantage of the benefits within. However, the situation was no longer simple, and so such a drastic measure needed to be taken.
“It will be done,” several members within the chamber replied before leaving the room.
“Let us hope that this is enough, and that we’re not only sending our youths into death, but the youths of our allies as well,” the elderly man mumbled softly.
…
In a land of ice and snow, a sprawling ice castle rested atop a massive mountain. The castle sprawled for miles, and was beyond breathtaking in both size and beauty. This was the land of the Faeries, a female dominated race of incredible talent and beauty. They specialized in essence cultivation and soul arts, but their true talent was soul arts. Among the races of the Divine Martial Continent, they were the most gifted in aspects of the soul.
Within a large courtyard of this castle, a battle between two cultivators was taking place, while a group watched on from a short distance away. One of the fighters was a female of the Faerie race, who wore an icy blue dress, one that swayed lightly in the cold breeze. Her beauty was incredible, and she had an ethereal glow to her, as if she was almost not part of the world. Her skin was white as snow, and she had several dazzling light blue markings on her forehead, which seemed to be natural. She looked incredibly similar to a human, but two translucent wings, like butterfly wings beautiful beyond compare, alluded to the race she belonged to.
The group watching from the distance also consisted entirely of Faerie’s, similar in beauty and appearance to the one standing within the courtyard. The group of Faerie’s discussed the battle with great interest, although the battle could hardly be called that.
The two participants stood completely still, staring at each other from a dozen yards away. It seemed as though they were just standing there, but everyone knew a terrifying battle was taking place, not within the courtyard, but within their souls.