Twenty One - Fog of anticipation

I finally dreamed.

I am already back under the rain at the Capital City.

I spent so much time not in this place that I forgot how much I hate the rain.

Not just the idea of it.

What it represents.

Also being wet and all the humidity everywhere.

Four months have passed since my stay in the mountains.

Four months of preparation and planning for the last battle.

Now, I am back and ready for action.

I am all alone again.

Too much silence sometimes.

I got used to the noise outside of my head.

A lot of the rebels forces from around the continent are gathering here. We are not necessarily friends. But we have the same objective. The enemy of my enemy is my friend situation. I do not know how many they are or where they are or what are they going to do.

Mrs. Lampronia and Kasamba said that there are multiple fronts acting right now.

Crazy to thing we have all of this people working uncoordinated for the same goal, trying not to mess with the others, also not knowing what the others will do.

I hope everything ends with the Council defeated.

Mrs. Lampronia tried to contact a lot of the rebels and bring allies to the same plan. I do not know how successful she was.

Me?

I only need to my part and hope.

It is really hard to just hope.

It was not easy to comeback to the Capital.

Security is very tight.

Even tighter than the last time.

Fortunately, they do not seem to know who I am. They do not have any identification nor they know I was the one in the desert.

Even after several check-outs and various immigration formalities, they did not arrest me or even recognize me.

Lucky me.

I can feel that there are guards everywhere with and without identification.

The regular troops that I can see with their armor

And the special force working in disguise.

For me is easy to tell if your not a regular citizen.

I am used to read people and recognize behavior.

Specially guards from the Capital.

I am staying at a hotel in the northern part of the city.

The wealthiest area.

I do not like being here.

All of this feels completely out of place.

I hate the food here.

It is already my sixth day since I arrived in the Capital.

The traveling back from Fojstar was very lonely. It was harder than I anticipated leaving everyone I grew to care for behind.

At least, now I have a place to come back after all of this.

If I get out alive.

The descent from the mountains was uneventful.

I was much better prepared for the cold mountain climate.

I also took the fastest route.

Not going through my hometown this time.

I was excited to finally get back into action, too.

This past months clearing my head was important.

It gave me a fresh perspective.

But I can never forget the reason I started everything in the first place.

I am not doing this because I want.

I doing it for revenge.

Too eager to descend now to anxious to wait.

The solstice is coming and I hate that we have to wait for it.

The only day of the year that the eternal rain stops.

The winter solstice brings the least daylight of the year and marks the start of the cold season. It is also the day where the lines of magic in the world align in a way that they stop working for warlocks.

The day of the only natural occurrence where everyone is unable to use magic.

The Gorod’s coup took place precisely during the solstice because it was the day when even the most powerful warlocks would be defenseless.

Not that the Capital’s soldiers were not vulnerable too, fortunately. The gargoyles also cease to function on this day, but certain magical artifacts and weapons still work even when the magic is blocked.

That is why security is stepped up fivefold on this day.

The capital has the power to brutally crush any attempt of a counterattack.

However, with the gargoyles not working, they too are vulnerable to be attacked.

A dangerous mission for everyone involved.

If everything goes according to plan, we will manage to weaken the Capital's forces and begin to take down the other command posts scattered across the continent.

This will not be the last mission.

It will be the one that starts bringing the conflict to an end.

Crucial information brought by Mrs. Lampronia spies revealed that there are multiple political prisoners held by the Council. Part of their mission is to rescue these people safely.

That is not what I am doing, but it is one of the most important reasons for this long waiting.

During the solstice, because all magic stops, the prisons are also weakened and practically shut down.

I wonder how many of them there are and if we will all manage to escape afterward. I am willing to do whatever it takes to make this whole operation a huge success.

I will sacrifice my life if it means more people can escape.

There are so many pieces moving across the board of this complicated battleground.

It is impossible to blindly trust that everyone will play their part.

I am very stressed right now.

But whatever the outcome, I will ensure it is the best possible one.

My last mission in the capital was a failure.

This time, come what may, I will not fail.

Days ago I had my first dream after a long time without them.

The group finally remembered I exist.

But this also gives me another mission beyond what I have planned with Kasamba and the others.

If there is one thing that I know, is that I can and I will do both missions.

Successfully.