Meeting Adjourned

The room fell into silence, the tension thick as steel.

Callen's gaze flickered, something unreadable passing behind his eyes. He had seen it- the moment that Boy had given the silent command.

The feline had yielded , yet something had forced it to resist.

His eyes narrowed as he turned to Boy, "You commanded it."

The weight of the statement lingered, the tension thick and expectant. No summon should have been able to impose their will in such a way.

Callen took another step forward, his presence pressing down even harder, "How?"

Boy remained still, unmoving, as he stared at Callen with no glimpse of giving in at all.

Callen's lips pressed into a thin line, "I will say it again. That crystal holds the commander's final words. It belongs to Eldoria."

For the first time, Boy responded.

"No."

The words struck like a hammer, though none but Callen heard it. The general stiffened, his expression hardening quickly but for a fraction of a second, something else flickered beneath it- shock.

His eyes locked onto Boy, unreadable yet searching.

"You…" Callen's voice rang out, this time slower, "You are speaking directly to me."

Boy's response came swiftly, his silent voice slipping into Callen's mind with the same weight as before, "No. It is not yours. He left it for his family. That is the mission I was given."

At this Callen's expression darkened, "The final words of a dying commander should belong to the kingdom," Callen pressed regardless, "It is part of history."

"Yet, he did not intend it for history. He intended it for his family. It was his choice."

A tense silence stretched between them, the air between Boy and Callen charged with something unspoken. Callen's gaze flicked to the feline, then back to Boy. He exhaled sharply, his frustration clear- but then, he let it go.

"Very well" he spoke as his shoulders eased just slightly as he took a step back, "these are the final words of a dear friend too. I will respect his decision."

He then turned his attention back to his officers, "Prepare for the palace, all of you. We must report this to the king."

The announcement sent the officers into swift motion, but not without debate.

"High Commander, should we involve the king so soon?" one of them asked, hesitant, "would it not be wiser to confirm our step militarily before-"

"The king will know regardless," Callen interrupted, his voice sharp, "And he will not take kindly to being left uninformed. If we delay, we lose the advantage of swift action. This is no ordinary battlefield report. The enemy summoned a dragon- an S-rank summon."

"If they can do this again, it changes the war itself. We must act with the full knowledge of our ruler," he continued before turning his attention to the head scribe, speaking directly to him, "You will be coming with us. Your account will be needed for credibility."

A few murmurs of agreement spread across the chamber, though not all looked fully convinced. Still, none dared to challenge the decision further as they all started moving.

Callen then turned back to Boy, his gaze still weighing him and then he spoke to the table, "As for the two of them… They will not be joining us at the palace. They have a different destination. I will be assigning a party to escort them to Commander Darius's estate so they can deliver the final message and his insignia and cape. His family deserves to hear the truth, and you will deliver it to them personally."

He did not wait for Boy's response, merely giving a curt nod before sifting his focus back to his officers. The decision had been made.

The chamber remained tense even as Callen moved to depart. Officers rushed to finalise preparations for their journey to the royal palace, while others coordinated the dispatch of messages and military orders. The weight of what had been revealed lingered, but now, everything was in motion.

Boy stood still, watching as he was not part of their next move. His path led elsewhere. 

Without a word, a group of soldiers approached- a small detachment of warriors, their armour gleaming under the torchlight. 

One of them, a veteran with a thick scar running down his cheek, stepped forward.

"We move soon," he spoke, his voice steady but edged with the kind of authority that brooked no argument, "You will be under our watch and we will escort you to the estate of Commander Darius. No detours, no delays."

Boy did not respond with anything other than a small nod. 

Soon, they moved out of the Military Headquarters and into the streets of the capital. 

As the preparations for departure continued, a group of generals remained behind with Callen, their expressions thoughtful yet wary. 

One of them, a grizzled veteran with silver streaks in his hair, finally spoke, "High Commander, are we truly to treat this summon as something… special?"

His voice carried a mix of curiosity and hesitation, as though struggling with the very idea of it.

Another officer crossed his arms as he added, "The reports and even the head scribe just made it clear that it was him that led the summons onto the battlefield. We even saw it do something to make the feline able to resist you. High Commander, what exactly is he? His eyes show something else that we have never seen before."

A third general, younger but sharp-eyed, interjected, "The way he controlled that feline- I've never seen a summon exert such influence over another before. It was as if it obeyed not out of instinct, but by choice."

His gaze flickered towards Boy, who was following the group out of the grand hall, lingering with something between fascination and concern, "If he can control other summons, even without a master… that makes him an entirely different variable on the battlefield. One we don't fully understand."

Callen's gaze flickered towards Boy too. A long silence stretched between them as they expectantly waited for Callen to reply.

He finally exhaled as he spoke lethargically, "he is something we do not yet understand. But the Commander saw something in him and he did not hesitate to place his trust in that summon. That alone should tell us enough. We will choose to trust him."

The officers exchanged uncertain glances, some still unconvinced. One of them finally scoffed under his breath, "strange days when a summon carries a commander's final words."

Callen gave him a sharp look, and the man quickly fell silent, "you know just as well as I do that the battlefield does not care for tradition. It rewards the strong and right now, we need to recognise that strength that your late-Commander saw. As strange and unexpected a source as it may be."

He paused for a moment before adding, "There is more too. The summon did something that did not make me doubt anything that the scribe had just said. It did not just lead on the battlefield. He spoke to me. Directly."

The words hung in the air like a thunderclap.

One of the officers immediately spoke, "Spoke? We did not hear him say anything at all… Was it like telepathic communication?"

At this Callen nodded.

A shocked expression appeared on the man's face as he commented, "Only a few high-tier summons are able to develop that capability…"

Callen shook his head with a slight smile as he developed, "It was even more than that. It was not simply a voice in my mind. The voice was controlled. I could hear its weight and intent. He answered me, defied me, as though it was not following just its instincts but also making its own decisions."

An unbelieving silence followed as the weight of his words settled over the room.

One of the older generals had his brows furrowed as he spoke, "that shouldn't be possible. Not at his rank and strength. No summon should be able to override a commander's will."

"And yet, he did…" Callen's tone was firm with uncertainty and a faint sense of expectation, "which does raise a lot of questions but perhaps the biggest one of all is… what exactly did late-Commander Darius find?"

At this no further objections were made.

Boy could feel the weight of the city around him.

This was his first time seeing a city of such a grand scale and magnitude- towering buildings constructed of polished stone and reinforced wood, their surfaces carved with intricate patterns of history and power. 

The streets were lined with lanterns that flickered softly against the cool evening air, casting a warm glow over cobbled roads that had been worn smooth by generations of footsteps.

The people moved with purpose. Merchants packed away their stalls, apprentices rushed to complete their masters' errands, and soldiers patrolled the streets. Life continued here, indifferent to the events that had transpired on distant battlefields. 

Yet, beneath the surface, there was tension- a quiet unease that hung in the air, as if the city itself knew that war loomed ever closer.

Boy let his gaze linger on the buildings and figures that they passed by- fortress-like structures, tall high towers, two floor houses, bungalows, cottages. He was moving away from the battlefield, but not away from the war.