Neighbor and Hostilities

The mountain city of Niima has never seen this much snow. Though roads were getting increasingly more obstructed with every minute, the townspeople remained busy.

Carriages hurried through the main street and preparations were being made to withstand the hard-hitting winter that was about to worsen.

Roofs were being reinforced, windows sealed, and tunnels built.

“Faster! We don’t have much time left and we still have to cover the rest of the city!” yelled the person in charge.

“Yes, sir! …please help us yourself too, sir!” said one of the workers.

“Me? Help you?” asked the supervisor preposterously, “did you forget who you are talking to? I do more work around here than all of you combined!”

The workers looked at each other unamused. Unfortunately, they had no choice but to listen to the man.

This back-breaking job was the only opportunity they had to earn money for their families. That meant enduring unreasonable requests from the fat leader who got to sit on his ass all day, so that in the end they could feed their children.

“Pick up the pace! Honestly… are you men or what?!” rasped the fat man.

“Yes, sir!” everyone responded in unison.

The tunnels were the most integral part of withstanding winter’s adversities.

In areas that were out in the open, that meant building meticulous, artificial covers for roads, so that they could be preserved for transport and free passage.

It was a lot of work, but luckily, they had just the right person to plan all of it.

“Angle them like this so that the structure won’t crumble under the weight,” instructed Braun. “Do this all the way up to the hill and don’t half-ass it. Let’s go.”

“Yes!” said the criminals.

“I will be back in an hour. If you have any questions, ask me. Not the fatass…” he added, before leaving the site.

Somewhere in a big hall, Lord Xax sat lost in thought, his fingers locked together and his aching head supported by the resulting bridge.

As usual, he was suffering from severe insomnia, which wasn’t surprising considering the number of things the man had to consider and keep up with.

His worries rising, stress kept naturally accumulating with no outlet to speak of.

He rose up from his seat painfully and left for the council meeting between the city leaders.

“Xax… you’re late… again,” said a man who secretly hated Xax more than anyone else in the world. “I wonder when that will stop!”

“Urgent matters. Is everyone else here?” asked the sleep-deprived man.

“You are the only one late as always!” said the other man.

“Now, now… let’s stop arguing and focus on what matters,” said the mayor of Niima. “I trust that preparations for the winter are proceeding as planned?”

Xax looked at the man irately.

The bastard knew perfectly well how it was going yet he chose to ask regardless so he could humiliate Xax in front of others. That’s how it worked with newcomers here, even though Xax and company were hardly ‘new’ anymore.

“It’s proceeding just fine,” answered Xax, “but just to make sure, we postponed reinforcing your mansion until last, mayor.”

“What?” the mayor started sweating.

“There’s plenty of time, don’t worry. All of the workers are skilled too,” Xax reassured him, “the only way we don’t make it, is if we forget about it altogether!” Xax laughed.

The mayor cleared his throat.

“Onto you, Barcus. Any news?” he said, switching to another man.

“We have secured a trade agreement with Inama over winter to assure a backup supply flow in case something happens. If the tunnels get completed, we are pretty much guaranteed to survive the winter without any problems, sir.”

Somewhere far, rushing footsteps resonated throughout the city hall.

“Alright, good work Barcus. That’s very reassuring,” said the mayor. “What of our finances, Eutus?”

“In accordance with our projections, sir. We might dip slightly below expected values because of winter complications. Other than that, if we are optimistic about our ability to withstand it, we are doing very good.”

“Great!” exclaimed the mayor happily, “And what about the—”

The creaking, oak doors flung open.

The meeting went quiet as all eyes gathered on the panting man emerging from the entrance.

“Sire!” yelled a man, addressing Xax, “sire I have urgent news… you have to see this immediately…” said the messenger.

“Xax! What is this?! What nerve to interrupt our meet—”

“Let’s see what he has to say,” said Xax, “catch your breath and tell me what is going on,” Xax instructed calmly.

“If I may sire… it’s… easier to just show you…” said the guard, waiting for approval and running through the long room.

He gave Xax a thick, cold newspaper with trembling hands.

As Xax unfolded it, he didn’t have to read long before he saw what all the urgency was about.

“What’s going on Xax?! What could be so import—"

“Quiet,” said Xax, “Not now…” he muttered as he read onwards.

The council sat there silently, offended at this act of disrespect.

“It’s happening at last…” he said quietly, resting his head in his hands again.

“Sire… you knew about this?” asked the messenger confusedly.

The council stared at the two in confusion, intently listening to their conversation.

“Around three years ago… Braun was doing some investigations and stumbled upon a conclave of all Validaean Oracles, city-scale and country-scale mages…”

“Sire, why are you mentioning that now?” asked Braun confusedly, entering through the creaking doors too.

“XAX!” yelled the mayor.

“…”

His entire body covered in snowflakes, Braun closed the wide-open doors behind himself, and proceeded for Xax.

“Welcome back, Braun…” said Xax grimly, “I am afraid unless you’ve found Gyorn, nothing will seem like good news anymore…” he added, handing over the paper to Braun so he could witness it for himself.

Braun’s eyes widened.

“But… why now…” he asked Xax, horrified.

“I don’t know,” responded Xax darkly.

The council, one by one stood up from their seats and gathered to one side of the long table, all trying to get a look at the article.

Without exception, every single man was left speechless.

PESTILENCE CONTINENT DECLARES WAR ON VALIDAE. CITY-SCALE AND COUNTRY-SCALE MAGES MOBILIZED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN CENTURIES. WORLD GOVERNMENT STANCE ON SUDDEN AGGRESSION REMAINS UNCLEAR. ORS JUNA’S MIRION COMPLETELY DESTROYED.

…early morning, the neighboring continent declared war on Validae without any reason or elaboration…

…it has been confirmed by variable trusted sources that Pestilence has already made their first act of aggression, completely destroying the holy capital of Ors Juna, Mirion…

…attacking early in the morning, the city was reduced to ruins by what seems to have been 12 city-scale mages…

…among the inhabitants of the city, no one was left alive. Inflicting the most amount of pain on our continent, every single person, no matter who they were, men or women, elderly or children, were either burned to death or brutally murdered…

…several hours after the siege ended, multiple reports exist of a young boy single-handedly slaughtering all assailants, while sustaining serious injuries. His affiliation remains unknown, but sources speculate that he is an unidentified, country-scale mage travelling with a young girl, presumably his sister.

“...Winter is now the least of our problems…” said Xax somberly.