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Obiben27: Oh don't worry, there a lot more where this came from.

Chapter 2: Royal Woes

In the far off lands of Treyblesh, a king pondered over his options in his study. Light shone through the many windows, illuminating the room with more than enough light. The precedent that had been set by his father for an invasion of the Dragon Realms had been handed down to him with his father's untimely passing. It was now up to him to execute the plans laid down by his predecessor. Hunched over a table with papers scattered across it, he let out a sigh. It had been twenty years since the Dark Army and their dragons came and brutalized their homes, and it seemed as if not even that was enough time to prepare.

But could he really blame anything on it? A feat that they were preparing for was one that had never been attempted before in recorded history. Among other things, the logistics of this operation alone would be a massive undertaking, along with having to provide for the nation at large.

When the world's fracturing occurred, it took place at the right time of year when the harvest was already in. Had it not, then a widespread food shortage would have resulted, and the nation would have had a time of starvation. Even if Quillum avoided one crisis, another one was on their doorstep. The restoration of the world not only healed the damages that had been dealt by Malefor and the Destroyer, but also restored tilled farmland to its natural state: full of grasses and brush. The harvest after the world's restoration was smaller than the year prior because of that.

There were other logistical strains that compounded the issue.

The finest example was the kingdom's need for quality steel, which exponentially grew over time up to the present day. And the dilemma of who shall receive more quality alloys — the public or the military — had to be addressed. If the military had been given the majority of the production, then perhaps they would have had enough supplies and weapons to already have the invasion underway. Instead, it would be the public that had a majority of the access to it, which only helped spur their industrial development, but subsequently left the military scrambling for the scraps.

In total, it was a headache-and-a-half to plan everything to the specificity that was needed, with or without the bureaucracy that was established to help with that very issue. The avian sitting at the chair let out a heavy sigh and leaned back in the chair, palming his face.

When he looked down at the study's desk again, he found himself looking at the report of a different kind: the reconnaissance report. An army without any intelligence was one that would run blindly into a minefield — reliant upon chance and luck. Thankfully for the kingdom, intelligence was something that they were taking very seriously.

A network of spies and recon agents had been dispatched to the Dragon Realms once initial scouting had reported and confirmed the location of the continent, Quillum set to work gathering intelligence data. A slow, but constant trickle of information and data made its way from the realms back over the seas. It was a blessing and a curse.

Those in leadership positions would regularly tell the soldiers under their command that 'knowing is half the battle.' The information that they were slowly getting from the Dragon Realms allowed them to learn more about their adversary, of both the advantages and disadvantages they held. While their spying was far from complete, the uncertainty was the potential to to be woefully outmatched. And when the foe that you would be fighting is a half-ton killing machine, it was a real possibility.

Conversely, should their network of spies and scouts be discovered, then the element of surprise would have been lost with the first capture of their agents. The fear within all who took part in the operation was that they would be facing an army prepared for battle when they arrived.

Beven unintelligibly mumbled out loud, leaning back in his chair.

Then, the door to the study slowly creaked open, and he slowly turned around to see a person standing there. Everyone else would have knocked and waited for a reply from him before entering. There was only one person that didn't do that and it was: "Jadney…"

In walked the rough-legged hawk that he had fallen in love for. A hawk of lighter feathers, she captivated him upon their first encounter, whereupon he knew that she would be that special someone in his life. "How are you doing, hun?"

"Doing better now that I can see those pretty golden eyes of yours," he joked in a slightly flirtatious manner. "How about you?"

"A bit happier with the nice comments," she giggled in reply. "Mostly ambling around the palace and the grounds. The flower garden is as beautiful as ever."

"I still think the walking trails are better."

"I think that we can agree to disagree, can't we?"

"Sure we can… after you admit that the trails are better than the flower garden." Bevan laughed a little, and so did Jadney. "To answer your question truthfully, I'm stressing over the plans again. I-I know that others have it worse off planning this than I do, but that doesn't mean that I do not have to worry about it."

Jadney's demeanor shifted at the mention of the invasion plans. She was not too keen on them, having sat in on the discussions about it and not finding a real point to it. It had been so long since their last encounter with a dragon; would anyone care or even support such a plan now? "I understand, hun," she replied empathetically.

A smile crept up his face as he lifted himself up out of the chair and moved over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist in a loving embrace. "Thank you, love. I appreciate it."

Her arms went around his waist too, joining in. "You're welcome, my handsome red-tail."

At that moment, Bevan's attitude began to change. Perhaps all he needed was a little positive reinforcement, or maybe a good distraction from the large stack of papers that were strewn across the table in the study. He held the hug for a few seconds longer, then relinquished his loving hold of her.

"If you will excuse me, I have to go see Bradan. He asked me yesterday if I could see him sometime today."

Jadney nodded and stepped aside. "Tell the trickster down there hello for me, okay?"

"I will, hun. I'll see you later."

Bevan exited the study and proceeded to the main staircase, before walking down the spiraling stairs to the main lobby of the palace. From there, he would have to take the other staircase into the basement, which he took as quickly as the first.

And finally, his destination was just one corridor, and turned away. Outside of the door hung a sign that read 'The Magician's Guild.' Soon after the war against the Dark Army had concluded, the soldiers that had acquired magical powers stuck together afterward, and it had been the first one to gain the powers that proposed that they should research and further develop the powers they had into something more than for just war. And so the Magician's Guild was formed.

Although their accomplishments here were not as significant as the industrial ones, the potential compounding effects of their work were on par, if not greater, than the accomplishments of industrialism. The most influential of these was the discovery of Alchemy, or its pioneering rather. The merging of magic and material held greater potential than chemistry alone with the prospect of fantastical physical properties being the end result.

Another branch that formed within the Guild was a subsection dedicated to pioneering and documenting various spells of magic to cast. This sect of magic had one of the wildest potentials, yet was the most under-developed. Conversely, twenty years of slow, but consistent development allowed for a repertoire of spells to be recorded. Had there been more resources invested into the advancements, the ability for an individual to magically change their fate could have a real possibility.

Bevan grasped the ornate door handle and opened the door slowly. The room was a spacious one, having plenty of room for tables and workstations, as well as room to practice alchemy or to partake in the casting of spells. The sound of many magicians there to hone their craft echoed about — either making fantastic materials or improving their spellcrafting.

"Good afternoon, everyone!" The king announced his presence to the group, all of who looked up from their respective tasks and smiled at the cordial greeting. "I assume that you all are making great progress and I encourage you all to continue." He walked further into the room, moving past everyone returning to their tasks at hand. His destination was a door on the other side of the spacious room.

He opened the door, revealing a much smaller room in comparison to the one that he had walked through. Along the shelves stacked with books of all sizes, and a simple desk covered in more books and assorted papers in the center of it all, sat another avian slumped over it, snoring. Bevan couldn't help but quietly laugh at the spectacle.

"Come on now, sleepyhead! You wanted to see me, and now I am here!" he jovially yelled, chuckling to himself while at it. The other avian present was not so quick to respond back.

Sluggishly, the male at the desk groaned as he slowly woke back up, stretching out his arms and his legs, leaning back in the somewhat comfortable-looking chair. Bradan, the head researcher of the Magician's Guild, was becoming an increasingly present sight in the palace as of late. As to what exactly it was that was starting to keep him there rather than return home to his wife at night was a mystery. "You know not to disturb a hard-working man's rest, Bevan…" he replied back sarcastically.

"It seems that you are hard at work," he chuckled. "Sleeping on the job; what will I do with you?"

"Hey now, if you were in my shoes, you'd need a nap every now and then…" he replied with tiredness in his voice. "Anyway, I am glad that you come here. I wanted to have a chat with you anyway, if you don't mind."

"Not at all. It takes me away from that cursed logistical planning… gods I hate it…"

"Don't I know it?" Bradan sat up straight in his chair. "Have a seat."

Bevan met him with a puzzled look. There were no other chairs to be found in the room. Bradan chuckled a little as he lifted his arm up, a sea-green ethereal glow beginning to emanate from his hands, which also began to envelop the books that lay on his desk and some off of the shelves. Methodically, the magical avian began to levitate the books from their resting places to behind Bevan, deliberately stacking them. By the end of it, there was a chair for the king.

Hesitantly, he lowered himself down onto the chair, which was much sturdier than he had originally anticipated. Somewhat humorously, the sound of crinkling paper was the sound that the impromptu chair made when he sat upon it.

"I regret not being able to drink that magic potion that you did…" he commented quietly and somewhat dejectedly, then shook his head, casting away those thoughts. "So tell me," Bevan began, "What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

Bradan scooted up closer to the desk while placing his arms down and folding his hands together. "Well, there are a couple of things that I want to talk to you about — personal, professional, and then some."

"I see. Go on then."

"Well, we've learned that my wife, Katrine, is gravid," he said with an obvious undertone of excitement, his face brightening.

Bevan couldn't help but smile too. "That's good to hear! Congratulations! Have you got any names you two have decided upon?"

"Not any at the moment. We just discovered this two days previous. There's still plenty of time to think of one, don't you think?"

He nodded. "Of course. Plenty of time to find that perfect name."

"Of course! Plenty of time," he echoed back. "But, there is something that I wanted to actually need to talk to you about." His posture shifted to become formal at the desk.

Bevan's interest was piqued as the tone of Bradan's voice became much more serious. He shifted in his book-chair, eager to hear what the other avian had to say. Given the context of his occupation, a serious conversation with the king of Quillum was a matter of great importance. "Tell me, what is it that's on your mind."

Before answering, Bradan gathered up some of the papers on his desk, organized them all nice and neat, and slid them towards Bevan. "I've been working on a new project. You may wonder why in the past couple of months that I've been absent from here, and when I was here that I was feverishly working. This is the reason."

Intrigued, Bevan scooped up the stack of papers and began to look through them. Each of them had a symbol in the middle followed by lots of notes and observations in the margins. As he thumbed through the sheets, he began to recognize there was a particular pattern to the symbols in question.

"These are religious symbols…" he noted.

"Precisely. This little project of mine is more of a personal project, one that seeks to answer one of my personal questions about our people: Why out of all that we are creatively capable of did our ancestors choose those symbols? Of course, there is the mysticism behind them, but I want to know just what makes these special in particular."

Many thoughts swam through the king's mind, however, the words to reply to what he had just heard was not one of them. A deep scientific dive into symbols of arcane power could lead to the biggest breakthrough of all of the mortal kind. The secrets of the gods could be theirs to uncover.

The papers slipped out of his hand as he slumped back into his chair. His mind was already burdened with the war that they were preparing for. But this… this was in an entirely different league compared to that. "So… you're seeking the secrets of divinity, aren't you?"

He shook his head, gathering up the papers that he had shared. "That is not the intention, but it could very well lead to that."

"I-I don't even know what to say… You're talking poking with higher powers Isn't all of this dangerous?"

"There is always danger, Bevan. From the green gems from which we were granted our magical powers to the magical spells and alchemic processes that we developed as a result. All of it is risky."

The king was still in a state of shock and astonishment. "What do you even call this? This 'field' of research you've gotten yourself into?" There was immediate concern in Bevan's mind. To be poking around with the matter of the gods was a serious topic, one that could have dire consequences.

"I like to call it Metaphysics — beyond physics — that which goes beyond our known understanding of how the universe works. It is a very hard thing to fully grasp, even for someone like myself."

"Okay…" Only now did Bevan start to formulate his thoughts and opinions on the matter, now having more information to do so. "So you've accomplished your goal and you've discovered why our religious symbols are designed the way that they are. What practical uses does this have?" He proposed a hypothetical question.

Bradan mused over the hypothetical for a moment, audibly humming and shifting into the stereotypical thinking pose as he thought over the question. "Well," he began, "once the breakthrough has been made, we can start probing around with some of the greatest existential questions. Why are we here? What is our purpose if we are put here by a higher power? What exactly is a soul and is it permanently bound to a body until death or can it be moved from one vessel to another? But there's also more than that…"

Bradan laid it all down to Bevan: the potentials of the project and what they could use the discoveries for — that was of course if the results of his little project had the results that he was expecting them to have. The monarch was already having a hard enough time trying to wrap his brain around the concepts the clearly smarter avian was proposing to him. By the end of it, he was massaging his temples trying to understand any of it.

"I presume that you are going to want more funding? So that you can advance this along with magic and alchemy?" Bevan hesitantly asked. It was the royal coffers that provided the funding for the furthering of magic and alchemy. Even being located inside the palace was an added sign of the monarchy's patronage.

"A little more would help, but not much. Just to help fun things like supplies and trips to religious sites, and to provide some added pay to those that assist me on top of their other duties that they already perform here."

Hesitation filled Bevan as he pondered over whether or not he should approve support of what the avian across from his had been planning. There was no underlying sign of malicious intent, and the way he spoke it was that of a genuine curious intrigue; there was an obvious desire to learn and to understand. "I'll have the accountants take care of that, but rest assured you will get your little boost in funding."

"Thank you, your highness," he thanked him, gratitude filling him. "I will not let you down, I promise!"

Bevan nodded, getting up from the chair made of books. "While I might not know what all this entails, I trust that as wise as you are, that you will not do anything foolish. Please do not make me regret this."

He nodded with a smile on his face. With that, Bevan left the small office space back to his study. Meanwhile, Bradan got back to work beginning his studies, making gains on the progress of his little project.

Hello everyone! I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter. This chapter took a bit longer due to Thanksgiving, but I should be back into the swing of things. I look forward to seeing you again when the next chapter is published.

Stay safe, everyone!

-Abyssal.