20 The Start of a Negotiation

Few hours after the discussion, Roland, Alethea and Pasha gathered inside a secret room in Sanctuary 3 to send off Alethea to space in her astral form. The room was customized by Celine to convert the Elder Witches into their Astral Form and provide neverending magic with mental energy to support prolonged projection. It was also off-limit from anyone else. To date, they had only used it within the planet itself but theoretically, Celine has calculated that the energy was enough for the journey after pulling 80% of the Graycastle reserve energy.

It was a risk they need to take; it was decided that they needed to start on the scouting as soon as possible. Knowing the enemy first will ensure a higher probability of success in anything they do later.

In the earlier plan, both Elder Witches should be going together while being monitored by Celine at the headquarters. However, due to recent circumstances, Pasha instead volunteered for the mission to link with the Demonic Clan while Celine was still in a coma. She knew if they send Alethea over, it will easily turn from diplomacy discussion into another war. They couldn't afford to waste time and resources since they now knew the truth. Roland knew that although Pasha also hated the Demons to the bone, she was rational enough to choose priority as proven when she decided to join Roland in the first place.

As the only person with no combat capabilities, Roland responsibilities will be monitoring both Alethea, and Celine at Sanctuary 3.

"I'm going, Your Highness, Lady Pasha." Alethea curtsied elegantly to both of them.

"Remember, do not engage with anything you found. Immediately return and report." Roland and Pasha worriedly reminded Alethea again.

"Stop nagging, you both. I know what I should do. Make sure you both take care of Celine for me." Alethea replied grimly as she vanished into tiny particles.However, Pasha and Roland did not notice a strange determined glint in her eyes. She knew the 3000 years of peace may end at any moment. The time which will make her to be able to prove herself will soon come.

...

"Done with your preparations?" Roland asked the last Elder Witch in his workroom in Sanctuary 3. The spacious workroom in Sanctuary 3 was vastly different from his office in Neverwinter with a desk and French windows. This one was full of advanced partially finished gadgets and random parts. Technological staff dressed in white workclothes were scurrying around performing their own tasks.

Roland had merged both his staff with Celine's since she was in a coma. He had taken over the management of her lab too for the time being to make sure any work in progress was not affected too much without her presence.

"Yes, Your Highness." Pasha was gallantly geared up with her dashing newly serviced and calibrated Recombinant Suit while checking on the disc attached to her gauntlets. The hoverboard was levitating beside her.

Roland came forward and made a final inspection on the suit. He paid close attention on the epaulets and the translucent cape covering Pasha's back. He nodded in satisfaction.

"I have adjusted and addressed the issues with the twin soul epaulets based on your report. The disc has also been upgraded with an increase in stability. It means a higher conversion ratio from the magic source you inputted into the magic powers used. I estimate the efficiency increased by 15% compared to earlier." Roland explained with a calm smile.

Pasha was inwardly surprised as she knew that Celine has done her best before. Once again Roland has showed her his prowess in innovating new technology. Higher efficiency meant stronger magic power achieved with minimal energy exerted.

Roland walked back and opened a drawer. He handed Pasha a rolled up letter with his personal royal stamp.

"Seriously? A written letter?" Pasha was incredulous. It had been a long time she had not seen a physically written letter. Everything had been made easy with the invention of the VIRCOF system.

Roland chuckled, "I've also recorded a video and had sent it over to your personal VIRCOF. The problem is, the Demons viewed us as their enemy for far too long. So we haven't establish any sort of communication with them. Another thing is, we do not know how advance they are currently. Without a suitable device to receive the video, they won't take the chance to believe you."

"To let them see the video, you need to be near them. Will they let you go near considering that they viewed you as a threat to their leader?" Roland explained patiently.

"The letter was written on a special alloy material which are virtually indestructible. So, as long as you deliver the letter to the highest in command, the leader will certainly will be able to read the letter and decide if a meeting can take place."

Pasha kept the letter inside a compartment on her hoverboard. Without saying anything more, she bid Roland goodbye.

She believed in Roland's foresight. Many occasions had proven his decision to be the right one.

She had plan well on what to do. Right now, she needed to retrace back the demon's whereabouts from the Dark Elves underground network. From there, she would need to get to their settlements and proceed with finding a way to get an audience with the Demonic Clan Leader.

...

Roland watched Pasha go with a worried heart. However, his expression remained the same.

[Should I go too?] He wondered.

The enmity between both species was deeply rooted. Although newer generations might have a lighter view, Pasha herself was involved with the third and fourth war. He truly hoped that the highly competent Elder Witch could come to terms with her past and opened herself to let go of the prolonged enmity. Both species had suffered too much because of the war.

He walked towards the medic room and checked on Celine inside the life pod. The vital readings were getting better, but at a snail's pace. Roland was glad. He reminded the staff to maintain an all-time alert on the Elder Witch's condition.

Since the WIA's very own technological chief staff was out of commission, he needed to hold the reins for the time being and utilized the budding potentials of Neverwinter to their fullest.

He also went daily to the secret room to do a quick check on Alethea's vital to ensure she had sufficient energy and her vitals were okay. No communication were available as the technological advancement were not sufficient at this moment. He could only postulated Alethea's condition through her vital readings and energy consumption.

....

Tralish Zod was heavily injured and was unable to return to the Demonic Settlement. The undergound kingdom of the Dark Elves were devastated with the attacks from just a small number of witches. From that he knew that the spying witch who was nearly caught by them must be someone important. It has been less than two days since the manhunt, but help had come too soon.

He regretted not catching the witch. At least he should've killed her. What aggravated him the most was the fact that the witch had manage to snitch a precious mineral mined from the Dark Elves' lowest underground sacred land. He had paid a hefty price for that. Not to say that it was over-valued, but the amount of the mineral mined was very little. There was simply not enough. He had been tasked by his own father, one of the nine Emperors, to get a certain amount. For that small amount, he had stayed there for more than two months.

Tralish was upset with the dark elves too. Once he was incapacitated, their attitude towards him had turned from accommodating to downright insulting. They had only provided a very basic dark room with a flat stone to be served as a bed. A faint light was provided after his raging insistence. No attendant even dropped by to help him with daily needs. He even had to pay a boy to deliver water to him once a day.

However, he knew they didn't dare do anything to him. They knew he was an important ambassador from his clan who paid for their war with their counterpart, the wretched elves. If they knew that he was actually a prince, most probably they will not be brave enough to treat him like this as he burned inside with their insolence. He also knew the reason they did not have time for him because right now was an important juncture for the Dark Elves as the balance was finally tipping to their favor.

Tralish could only wait for his injury to slowly recovered. Fortunately he had a special salve given to his father prior to his journeying to the dark elven's territory. The salve was very effective. He knew, for his clan, it must be very expensive. With this kind of recovery rate, he calculated that he needed at least another two weeks before he could journey back. The mining did not stop. By that time, the required amount of the mineral will be met.

Tralish closed his eyes to calm himself.

"How long are you going to wait? Aren't you going to end me?" He asked while closing his eyes.

At the darkest shadowed corner of a room, a shimmering appeared. A human woman in armor appeared.

"How long have you noticed?" The woman inquired.

"From three days ago. At the beginning, I thought I was hallucinating." Tralish had an inkling of a foreign presence in his room since three days ago. He had been ready ever since and waited. But the other party wasn't taking any action. He was too injured to make any large movement.

The woman walked cautiously towards Tralish and stood three meters from where he lied down cautiously with folded arms.

"I have a message for your leader. Bring me to him." She spoke in a cold tone. She had a very weird ancient accent. Tralish was having a hard time understanding her words.

"Can you see that I can't move?" Tralish replied with a sarcastic tone while turning his head to look at the woman. [It's not the same. Did the other witch died?] He felt quite satisfied thinking about it.

"Since you can't move, let's have a nice long chat. We have a lot of time to spend together."

Not knowing why, the sentence from the witch made Tralish shivered down to his spine. He knew by instinct that his life will no longer be his.