Dark Matter
Chapter 1

A group of nine people sat at a small round table in a castle somewhere in Auron. A discussion was going on, and a rather heated one at that. Or at least busy. The group consisted of the eight leaders of the major clans of the world Elibe and the "Judgemaster," as he was so infamously called, Kovu. They were discussing the fate of the new world that lay ahead of them.

There were some old faces and some new ones. The host, Jedi, was the lord of Auron, the so-called Holy Kingdom. Auron was known as the great cavalier clan, and Jedi was the greatest cavalier of them all. He had recently acquired the territory from Hystrix, who left the clan to join under Crystal Shards, also at the meeting.

Crystal Shards, blue-haired leader of the famous thief-mage and swordmaster clan Majutsu Kai, was seated across from him. She was from a long line of Majutsu Kai leaders, at least two generations. She herself was a swordmaster with the graces of anima magic on her side. Her piercing blue eyes searched the table and eventually landed on her newly wed husband, Sieg Bolverk.

Sieg Bolverk was a new leader as well. He took over the Xalinian clan when the old leader, Seahawk, left the land and was never heard of again. He was a descendant of Nyx Sakra, an old leader of Xalina, and Sieg's grandfather. He gladly took the job, eagerly rebuilding the destroyed territory Xalina had once been. Sieg smiled at his wife, and then returned his eyes to Apocalypse. He squinted slightly, sizing him up.

Apocalypse was the new leader of Beshimo, generally known as a clan of generals. He had taken over the clan when Garet, the former leader, was taken and assassinated by an unknown and unrelated Talaakian. Apocalypse sadly took the position, vowing he would never let his people suffer from the loss of such a great leader. Apocalypse's stern face let little emotion through at this time, but rumor had it the man was actually rather funny and loved a good joke. Apocalypse frowned at Sieg and leaned over to whisper something in Psio's ear, something that pulled out a chuckle.

Psio was something different altogether. A close friend of Jedi's, he led the small clan of Shousha, a clan previously allied to Majutsu Kai and Taiyou under his cousin, Rusticolous. Rusti stepped down for unknown reasons, so Psio grabbed the chance to prove that he would be just as good a leader as his grandfather, and a better leader than Rusti. This was normal rivalry, however, not to be confused with devious rivalry. Rusti and Psio were very close, but Psio had a different idea of how to run a clan. The first thing he did was break off all relation to Majutsu Kai and Taiyou.

DragonOfGold, the new leader of Taiyou, was not pleased to hear this. She was the only other female leader and very confused by all the testosterone running around. The previous leader, Pendant, decided that frankly she wasn't good enough to lead the clan, much to every Taiyouan's dismay, and stepped down, electing Dragon as the new leader. She shared her worries with her close friends Crystal and Kovu.

Kovu, a former Taiyouan, had left the clan for a higher purpose. He decided he would be a mediator for all the battles between the eight clans, hoping to stop clans like Xalina from falling apart. Kovu sighed, clearly annoyed with how the conversation was going, and glanced at Crimson Water, who looked thoroughly excited.

Talaak's new leader, Crimson Water, was probably the youngest leader in history, at least five years younger than Dragon. He was a friendly lance- and light magic-using wyvern rider, replacing the infamous RockTheWarrior. Rock had left Talaak to go under Jedi's rule, and by popular demand, Crimson was inaugurated into office. He was excited, as a new leader should be, but he had made a bad impression on Yzarc Drowsnam, who thought he was rather unstable.

Yzarc was the leader of the Republic of Darkness, formerly one of the saddest clans of them all. After Drain Demios left his leader position behind for other things, the clan fell apart. Yzarc found it in its shambles and fought to get to power and reunite the clan. Yzarc was a dark magic- and axe-using fighter, a veteran in war. He was waiting for the decision on alliances to come.

"Make our alliances public?" Crystal asked softly, staring at Jedi, leader of Auron. "What would be the purpose of this?" She was slightly worried, as this would uncover many things behind the dealings of her clansmen.

"It would make things more fair," the new Shoushan leader, Psio, answered. "You were always the one for fairness, were you not?" Crystal winced slightly. "I think it would be good to make this fair."

"Well, if we're making it fair, why don't we all just get along?" Sieg remarked sarcastically. "Why can't we all be allied?" Psio shot a warning glance at him, and Crystal and Kovu couldn't help but smile.

"He has a point," Crystal started to comment, but Psio cut her off.

"Look, it's fair if we go four on four."

"This isn't some war game," DragonOfGold, the new leader of Taiyou, an old ally of Shousha and Majutsu Kai, stated rather heatedly. "We're not just pawns on some chess board."

"It's known that we will not get along," Jedi remarked. "We should at least set up guidelines."

"Well, I'm allied with Sh—oh, sorry, no," Crystal started, sending a sharp look at Psio, "I'm allied with Taiyou, and Xalina. I was allied with Auron, Talaak, and Shousha, but that's been annulled on their side. I've just allied with Xalina as well." A few members at the table nodded thoughtfully.

"Hey, Crystal," Crimson interjected. "I know you're a little miffed about Talaak breaking off with you guys and all, but maybe you'd like to re-ally with us? I mean it was Rock that broke everything off anyway," he offered. Kovu smiled slightly, waiting to see Crystal's reaction. He knew for a fact Crystal wasn't too keen on any Talaakian, especially after Rock's betrayal.

"I . . . will have to think about it," she said, glancing at Dragon and Sieg. Sieg's face was screwed up in discontent, but Dragon's looked quite perky. Crystal looked around the table, seeing Kovu's smile. She couldn't help but smiling a bit as well. "All right, what the hell. Go on. We'll be allies, unless someone else has a different idea."

"No," answered several people unanimously, some a little too quickly for Sieg's liking.

"Wait, who's screwing us over?" he asked, placing a hand on the table. Psio blinked, and Sieg smirked. "No, really. Why are you all so eager for this?" He glanced down at the map. "Oh. I see. Majutsu Kai and Talaak are pretty far back, and Taiyou is cut off. I see." Psio blinked again, a little more nervous. "Well don't worry about that. Xalina is strong enough on its own to kick all of your asses."

"Right; how about a break?" Kovu interrupted quickly, sensing the table becoming tense.

Jedi agreed, standing up. "Yeah, okay, I think that's called for. Meet back here in an hour." Everyone rose and exited, some going off alone like Yzarc, some going off in pairs like Crystal and Sieg, and some in threes, like Kovu, Dragon, and Crimson.

Little did they know that when they returned, something would be waiting for them. Something a little more challenging than choosing alliances.