68: Secret Society

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. Please take your seats around the table."

In a room barely lit with anything other than a few flying orbs of magic, a feminine voice spoke from upstairs addressing a group of men and women standing in the great hall of a grand mansion.

While it was still day outside as the light came in from the far-off gate, shedding its luminance along the old dusty carpet that still retained some of its ancient crimson colors, the feeling inside the mansion was dark, humid, and ancient as if it was a closed tomb that remained that way for many long years.

That, however, was in line with what most of the people gathered here would remember as no matter how many times they gather in this place, it is always this dark and humid. Still, this peculiar group of individuals were all dressed in exquisite attire, giving off a hint of their class and nobility. They were both men and women, they varied across all ages as some seemed old and hunched while others were young and lean, some carried weapons and others wore magic rings.

So if there is anything these people have in common, it is status and power. Two things that shouldn't be confused with each other in this sort of atmosphere.

Each of these individuals was unique not just in their characteristics but also in their choice of masks. Some would speculate that a group of people in cahoots with each other in such a dark and secret place would at least maintain some level of anonymity by maintaining some dress code or keeping their masks unique in order to keep their identities secret even within their ranks. Still, it seemed like something they cared less for and preferred to focus on uniqueness instead.

After reaching a certain rank, this peculiar group of people would actually drop all the secretiveness and anonymity that is common among the lower ranks of the order, and focus on managing their underlings who are the main foundation of the order's operation. For that, this group gathers in the place now and then to discuss the latest happenings in the world and how to benefit their organization from them.

And so as the group stood around the table which had 13 seats, the man who stood next to the largest chair spoke first.

"Thank you all for coming, please take your seats."

Each seat had its own symbol and from there, each of the masked individuals took to their seats and waited for the man who addressed them to do so as well. However, rather than sitting in the large seat himself, he sat on the one on its right.

He was a man dressed in a long brown coat and had a tricorne and a wooden mask that was carved beautifully under the right eye. His eye color was easily seen despite the faint light in this dim place but everyone could easily tell he was one of the most important people here.

"As Vice Master of the Rite of Elgard, I welcome you all to this month's meeting. We all have met before except for our newest member who sits where Stargazer used to sit once. Please, welcome Mr. Magic Star as a new Rite Sage in our midst." The man said.

"Thank you, Mr. Woodman, for your introduction." Against him, a man replied. He was wearing a blue gilded mask with an extravagant style displaying many celestial bodies such as stars and moons.

"The first item of discussion this month will be the funding situation again, I'm afraid. Thanks to the generous donations of Lady Ravenheart, we have been funding a few operations and managed to acquire a large-scale ship under a shell company managed by one of our members. It would take us a few years to find another opportunity in order to add one more vessel to the fleet. For that, we need to set out the first destination in order to maximize our profit from the coming business venture."

"If you excuse me, Mr. Woodman."

"Mr. Magic Star?"

Seeing how Magic Star was interrupting the main topic of discussion. All the Sages turned to him with their chilling gazes and scary masks.

"I see that the topic of funding is becoming a major issue even in the Council of Sages. I must admit that I find this most confusing, how can an organization with our scale face such setbacks by a rowdy bunch of fledglings?" Magic Star asked.

"I am sure you are aware of the situation more than anyone else, Mr. Magic Star. After all, you provided the intel we are operating on right now." Woodman replied.

"Yes, but that's not my point. What I am saying is that we are being too careful. We had a shot in the Spring Festival to get rid of all those damn kids. Now, Elgard has had the most promising generation of graduates since the last century. We could have nipped them all in the bud."

"These are some violent words, Mr. Magic Star. Are you sure you stand by them?" At that moment, replied an elderly woman who wore a black feathery mask with a large bird peek.

"Lady Ravenheart, with all due respect, our organization has been operating for long years with no apparent success. Our enemy is the strongest empire on earth and we were reduced to a group of conspirators throughout the years. Now, Mr. Woodman is the one managing the Court of Sages instead of our Rite Master, who has been absent for way too long. He didn't even come out to meet the newest member of the Court."

"Is that what this is about, Magic Star? Your pride is hurt since the Rite Master isn't coming to greet you personally?" Another woman spoke this time, she was wearing a beautiful feathered hat and a crimson mask with many golden roses inscribed on it.

"Mistress Blade, I thought we agreed earlier that this is a matter that needs attending. The order has been stagnant for too long." Magic Star said.

"Yes, and I agree with you. This year's students should have been culled. It is too dangerous to give Elgard such an advantage at this point. We should learn from what happened to our brothers and sisters in the Adnani Sultanate. Sultan Bayazid has gained too much power too quickly and even uprooted our branches over there. Even the Master of the Adnani Rite has fled to Elgard under our protection." Mistress Blade spoke and made a stand of her own before turning to Magic Star, "What I don't agree on is you attempting to take over the court aggressively. Calling the order stagnant, while it is your first time in this court, is a daring choice of words for someone as young as you are."

"Indeed I am young, but I still have the fire you people lost." Magic Star replied.

"You have the fire alright, Magic Star, as well as the naivety, I'm afraid." Lady Ravenheart spoke and a hint of sarcasm appeared in her voice.

"Are you insulting me, my Lady?" Magic Star stood up, trying to act imposing.

"Oh, shut up, you fool. Each of us has tried to take over that Court of Sages once. Some more than others before the Rite Master had to step in and plant the fear of God into our souls." Lady Ravenheart said and her eyes turned to Woodman who seemed to have been reminded of unpleasant things then she turned to Magic Star once again, "As for you, you don't even realize how full of yourself you are. I mean a name like Magic Star is… how do I say it? Stupidly obvious. You are Samuel Gane, the youngest court sorcerer and its rising star as you are called."

"What… I…"

"Look at yourself! Not even a child would expose themselves like that. Take Mistress Blade for example, she sounds like someone who knows swords, she even carries one on her hip but she isn't related to swords whatsoever. Mr. Woodman is just a man with a wooden mask and that's it. Mr. Ghost Face wears a skull mask and never speaks. The rest of the Sages are all the same, that's the level of dedication these people have."

Lady Ravenheart's lines of criticism made Magic Star, or rather Sir Samuel Gane, sit back in his seat and remove his mask. At that time, Mistress Blade took the initiative to fix what Samuel Gane almost ruined.

"A few good points were still raised though, the Master's lack of interest, the fact that none of us are making real progress and all we do is push some business agendas here and there. I mean some of us already have fleets of ships under our family names and here we are celebrating the fact that we got a single ship to operate for us. This is a disgrace to the old days of Al-Kabal."

To Mistress Blade's words, many voices of agreement started to be heard. Only Woodman, Ravenheart, and Ghost Face remained silent while eyeing one another.

"So what do you suggest?" After a while, Mr. Woodman asked.

"I know what to do." Samuel Gane spoke and had a confident smile on his face, "We recruit House Moore to our cause."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

The room became silent all of a sudden and all the sages were looking at Samuel Gane who mistook their silence for him, giving him the stage to speak.

"House Moore is the richest house in all of Albion. With their funds, our goals will be even before Lady Ravenheart's time is over. We will grow stronger, we will achieve the dream we inherited. Elgard will be eaten away with the rest of Albion and we will build a new empire from the ashes of the old world. If we have House Moore, the support we can get will be…"

Many of the sages were already looking away. Even Mistress Blade, who supported Samuel Gane so far, shook her head and seemed to sigh. Samuel Gane paused and looked at them in disapproval as if his accusation of them growing stagnant was right all along.

"Just because I am the youngest ever to be a Sage, doesn't mean that you can…" He wanted to voice his disapproval but he was interrupted.

"House Moore, you say?"

A voice echoed across the old dark mansion and Samuel Gane suddenly felt a presence behind him. He turned back quickly but the presence suddenly disappeared as if it moved at a frightening speed.

"House Moore will be a valuable asset indeed… if not for the fact that this generation's head of House Moore is the King's Confident. King August acknowledges and protects Count Moore despite the royal family's wariness of the Moores in general and I heard that there were some late happenings among the new generation. Change is upon us as it seems!"

The voice kept coming from everywhere. As Samuel Gane kept looking, the origin of the voice kept shifting places. Samuel Gane put two fingers on the side of his head and cast a cantrip that made his eyes glow with magic. But he still couldn't see anything through the weave of Aether.

But then the voice came from his right side without echoing or escaping this time.

"We tried to recruit many members of House Moore but it is always difficult to convince one of the Great Houses to completely give up on the Empire, don't you think?"

Samuel Gane turned to his right and what he saw bewildered him. He remained standing, silent and speechless, as the person he saw behind him kept gazing back at him.

Red eyes, that was the first striking physical feature that person had. Those red piercing eyes made Samuel's heart freeze from a strange sensation of terror that suddenly invaded his heart. As for the rest of the sages, Woodman was the first to stand.

"All rise for the venerable Kabal Master of the Rite of Elgard, his excellency, the Blood Keeper." Woodman spoke and everyone else stood in unison.

This Rite Master was called the Blood Keeper and unlike any of the sages, he was maskless.

His striking appearance, which bewildered Samuel Gane, wasn't short on elegance or anything in the matter. Rather, there was a very refined sense to this person that defied sense and reason. But on top of all that…

"And I thought I was the youngest member in the Court of Sages." Samuel Gane spoke while looking at the young man who took the largest seat at this round table.

"Impressed?" Asked the Blood Keeper, master of the rite.

"You look like you're barely 17." Samuel Gane said.

"I am not. I was 17 once though, not anymore." The Blood Keeper said and then scanned through the other sages with his eyes, "Where is Black Dahlia?"

He asked for a specific member of the Sages but the majority of the sages, who recognized the name, looked at each other and then back to him with questioning faces. Mr. Woodman approached the Blood Keeper from the side and whispered something to him as the Rite Master's face remained solemn and emotionless.

"I have heard what was said about stagnation and I am inclined towards agreeing. Our lack of funds is only a temporary problem anyway, what is the situation with the Tokens?" The Rite Master asked.

"Some of the Tokens were confiscated by the Black Family Inquisitors while others were confiscated by a faction led by the Crown Prince." Mr. Woodman replied.

"Liberating the Tokens from the Black Family Inquisitors will be a waste of time and effort. They are already in the coffers of the royal family. As for the ones confiscated by the Crown Prince, do we know why he confiscated them?" The Rite Master asked.

"According to the intel gathered by Ghost Face's people, the Prince has his faction that operates on its own. They were tasked with chasing us but my circle has always been one step ahead of them at all times." Mr. Woodman spoke.

"My Circle also encountered them, those little freaks." Samuel Gane spoke, "We lost a few members in our attempt to escape."

"I permit you to recruit more combatants and casters, Magic Star. Make sure you have the fighting force necessary. I am thinking of making a move soon." The Rite Master said.

Samuel Gane seemed hesitant but he stood up and bowed his head.

"Ghost Face, I want you to retrieve the tokens stolen by those young ones." The Rite Master turned to the man to his left.

"…"

"Ghost Face reported that the tokens were stolen last night on a raid at the Blackguards Market. Rumor has it that a certain Bloody Swan descended on the place, killed many guards as well as the overseer, before escaping with her Devil Man." Mr. Woodman said what Ghost Face reported to him.

"I see, they will show up sooner or later. Ensure the Blackguards' influence is decreased. Starve them out if possible." The Rite Master said before turning to the old lady opposite him, "Lady Ravenheart, I am afraid we will require more funds from you. This time, we need a lot of medical supplies."

"Not weapons, Master?" Lady Ravenheart asked.

"No, not weapons. Monopolize as many medical supplies as you can. Once needed, we will milk the whole empire for them."

"May I ask for the reason, Master?" Lady Ravenheart asked with a shaken voice.

"Nothing much, old friend. Just a dark cloud of impending doom raining death over Archester."

The conspirators and their schemes were twisting many knots around the necks of the people of Archester, waiting for a time to strike the true heart of the Empire to cripple it and bring forth its demise.

As those people conspired, Vivian Moore woke up from her bed the next morning, unaware that her fate was twisting with the long strings of the secret society known as Al-Kabal.