"You did what!?" a loud, booming voice shouted at Zeth. He hated when that happened. If it were up to him, he would rather not talk to anyone after a mission, but Varyn required debriefing. Which usually resulted in the Drake shouting at him.

  "I was tasked with stopping the Praxthar cult from summoning the apostle. By the time I had arrived, they had summoned something. Though from my brief observation and interaction with whatever they summoned, it didn't seem like it knew who Praxthar was or even where it was. Since I had taken out the cultists that did the summoning before they could interact with the summoned, I deemed it best to take the vessel with me to the academy for closer observation. The Power Pearl it was holding has been placed inside the protected vault," he responded in his usual matter-of-fact tone. He really didn't get why the Drake was so baffled by his decision. Scouting, or in this case, assassination missions, are always carried out alone and requires quick thinking for unforeseen circumstances.

  "So the vessel is here?" Tamsin said with a glint of joy in her eyes. Zeth really didn't like the short woman or why she always seemed so cheerful, but she had been the one that had procured the intel, so it only made sense for her to be at the debriefing.

  "Yes, it's in the infirmary, unconscious." Short, clear answers, after years of working with the rest of the board Zeth had figured out that was the best way to make the debriefings as short as possible.

  "You left it in the infirmary!? Accessible to the student body!?" Varyn continued shouting. Zeth could see the slightest twitch in the Drake's left eye by the subtle movement of the large scar that ran right under it. Most people wouldn't have noticed it or even looked for it. Varyn was known as one of the calmer Drakes after all, something Zeth never understood. He might be good at hiding it, but the green-scaled drake was anything but calm.

  "Yes, unconscious and under the supervision of Ms. Fillibaxter."

  "You've informed Fillonia of the specifics of the mission?" This time the question came from Tamsin, her usually laughing eyes now cold and focused. Zeth liked her more when she showed her true self like this.

  "No, mission was on a need-to-know basis. To Ms. Fillibaxter, the vessel is just another student."

  "Good." The short woman responded with an approving nod. She turned her head to Varyn, the glint of joy returning in her eyes as she looked up at the tall Drake. "We should convene the board so we can discuss the next steps. I propose we keep the vessel at the academy so we can further observe it."

  Zeth could feel the warm air coming out of Varyn's nostrils as the large Drake let out a deep sigh. "Fine, I'll send out a message. Reconvene here in two hours. I believe it'll be at least that long till Mr. Ghestalt is back from his excursion."

  Both Zeth and Tamsin nodded before exiting the room and heading towards their quarters. Zeth rolled his eyes as Tamsin started her usual humming. Why did she have to put on such a mask? He ignored it and headed straight for his room. He had been up all night and desperately needed some sleep. Fighting to keep his eyes open, he didn't even clock Elyra waiting beside his bed as he fell down face first.

  "So, the mission was not a success?" Her smooth voice startled him back awake, his shadowblade appearing in his right hand in an instant. As soon as he noticed it was just Elyra, he dismissed it again.

  "No, it was," Zeth responded, laying his head back down on his soft pillow.

  "Then why did Varyn send out a message for an urgent board meeting?" Her silver robes levitated to a nearby chair as she lay down next to him.

  "There were... complications."

  "Do these complications have anything to do with the boy you brought Fillonia?"

  "Yes, Varyn will explain. Now please, let me sleep."

  "Where's the fun in that?" she said, moving closer to his face.

  "Not now, Elyra, I've been up all night. I need sleep."

  "Fine, but I'll be waiting for you after the meeting." The disappointment in her voice was clear, but she knew better than to step on Zeth's toes when he was tired. Besides, she now knew enough to go check out the boy in the infirmary. She grabbed her robe on her way out with her right arm and swung it over her shoulder, the silver tattoos on her arm slightly shivering in the hallway's light.

  "At least close the door," Zeth tried to utter, the words barely audible even for him to hear.

  The tattoo on Elyra's right arm swirled until it left her arm in the form of a translucent arm to close the door without looking at it. Was her hearing really that good that she could have heard him? He was too tired to think about that; he needed sleep, and he doubted two hours would be enough, but that was all Varyn had given him.

  A loud pinging noise in his ears woke him back up. A sound that was all too familiar and just as hated as the first time he heard it. He mentally accepted the message sent by Varyn as he got out of bed. While he knew full well what it was going to say, he still needed to listen to it or the pinging noise would continue.

  "Board meeting in five."

  Zeth took a deep breath. Varyn's booming voice wasn't much better than the pinging noise for waking up, but at least it was over now. He contemplated shadowstepping directly to Varyn's office, but decided against it and slowly made his way over to his bathroom instead. Some cold water in his face was just what he needed to wake up.

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  Somewhat freshened up, he headed out to the hallway and immediately regretted that decision when a short man rounded the corner, the hallway light reflecting off his bald head.

  "Zeth!" the short man shouted as he saw him exit his quarters, his rough voice echoing through the entire hallway. "How have you been? Any idea why Varyn called a meeting? I was still out with my class when I got the message. Had to cut it short and headed straight back here."

  "Marcus," Zeth responded, too tired for the energetic man. Out of instinct, Zeth inspected the short man's clothes. Heading straight back here was clearly no exaggeration. The bald man's pants still had mud on them. He hadn't even bothered to change for the board meeting. "Varyn will explain when we're all there."

  "Oh, so you do know why he's called us in." Marcus said, twirling his extravagant brown mustache and raising his bushy eyebrows. It was like the rest of his head was compensation for the lack of hair at the top.

  "Yes, I do. Now let's go. I'm sure they're waiting for us by now."

  "So no sneak peek, got it." Marcus laughed as he followed Zeth to Varyn's office.

  When they reached the office, they found the room packed. With all eight members of the board inside, the room felt small to Zeth, though that might just be his dismay of larger groups. Like the trained assassin he was, Zeth inspected everyone in the room, looking for threats, even among his friends.

  Right in the center stood Varyn in front of his finely decorated wooden desk. Next to him was Tamsin, who smiled as she saw Zeth and Marcus enter. Another large Drake sat on a large couch near the rightmost wall. His red scales and eyes were a great contrast to Varyn's green scales and golden eyes. Lying on the couch was a tall woman with long auburn hair and slightly pointed ears. Her legs draped across the red Drake's lap. Lukyn and Fillonia, the two had been married for three years now and were still as inseparable as when they first got together.

  Standing on the opposite side of the room from Varyn was another large man, his muscles barely contained by his brown shirt, and his long, flowing gray hair was tied up in a tight bun, Marcus. The man seemed to increase in size every time Zeth saw him.

  Last, there was Elyra. She stood in the farthest corner of the room, her long blonde hair draped over her shoulder. Without hesitation, Zeth moved over to join her in the corner while Marcus walked over to stand next to the muscular man.

  "Good, we're all here," Varyn started. Even when he wasn't shouting, his voice still carried across entire fields. There was something regal about it, an air of authority. "A few days ago, Tamsin got word of the cult of Praxthar trying to summon an apostle of the demon through one of her... contacts."

  The way Varyn said contacts, there was no hiding it; everyone in that room knew that Tamsin's contact hadn't given that information willingly. The smile on her face disappeared. To the outside, the short woman seemed harmless, friendly even, but everyone who had worked with her knew what she was capable of without even lifting a finger. Your own mind wasn't safe when she had it in for you.

  "Last night," Varyn continued, and Tamsin's smile, her facade, reappeared, "I sent Zeth to investigate and stop the summoning."

  All eyes in the room turned to Zeth in an instant. From the looks on both Fillonia and Elyra's faces, he could tell they immediately knew who the young boy was that he had brought to the infirmary. Fillonia looked shocked, while Elyra was giving Zeth a death stare, the anger on her face visible.

  "While Zeth was able to eradicate the small cell of the cult responsible for the summoning, it seemed he had arrived too late for the actual ritual. This is through no fault of his. I was too slow to act on the information provided to me by Tamsin."

  Of course, Varyn would take the blame himself. That's why they had elected him their leader during their early adventuring days, always noble, always sticking up for his teammates. Zeth knew better; he knew that if he had just killed the guard outside the cave instead of slipping past him, he would have been in time. The vessel hadn't even left the cocoon yet by the time he had killed the summoners.

  "So what happened to the vessel?" the gray-haired man asked, his smooth voice conflicting with his bulging muscles. "Do I need to update the wards? I doubt we'd be having this meeting if Zeth had destroyed it."

  That was Garrus, always practical, something Zeth really liked about the man. He was in charge of the academy's defense and had a no-nonsense attitude about it. Even during their adventuring days, Garrus had been in charge of making sure everyone was safe. Back then it was mostly with actual physical protection; now he relied more and more on his wards. Which made sense. Defending a few people you can do in person, an entire school not so much.

  "You're right. If Zeth had destroyed the vessel, we wouldn't be having this meeting, and the whole deal would probably just be a footnote in our weekly session, but that's not what happened, was it, Zeth?" There was a clear tone of annoyance in Varyn's voice now, and once again all eyes turned towards Zeth. The fact that everyone was looking at him made the back of his spine tingle. He was a scout, an assassin. He was supposed to stick to the shadows, not be the center of attention.

  Straightening up a bit, he answered, "By the time I had arrived at the summoners, the ritual was finished. Judging by the fact that the cocoon hadn't popped yet, and the lizardfolk were in a heated discussion with each other, I had deemed the ritual a failure. I disposed of the summoners so they couldn't try again. However, soon after, the cocoon popped. I interrogated the being inside and determined it wasn't lying when it told me it did not know who or what Praxthar was."

  "The being!? Really!? It's a young boy!" Fillonia shouted at him. She had jumped up from the couch and was about to storm towards Zeth when her husband Lukyn pulled her back down. He whispered something in her ear, and she nodded.

  "It might look like a sixteen-year-old boy, but for all we know it could be disguising itself, waiting for the right moment to strike." This time it was Elyra who spoke up. Zeth had expected her to react that way to the news. The same cult had killed her brother in an attempt to summon the demon itself after all.

  "You've both seen it? Him?" Marcus asked. The bald man's head swiveled back and forth between the two women, his mustache slightly bouncing every time his head stopped.

  "Silence!" Varyn shouted, and the pens on his desk jingled as a physical wave of authority shot through the room. Everyone shut up again, though from the faces on some of them it was clear this was not of their own free will. "Zeth, continue, please?"

  Zeth let out another deep sigh. How he wished the ritual had just failed. Then, this meeting would never have happened. "Since the vessel didn't know who or what Praxthar was and didn't seem an immediate threat, I knocked it out and brought it back to the academy for further observation in a controlled environment. It is currently in the infirmary under Fillonia's care. When I brought her the vessel, I told her it was just a regular student I had found unconscious on the ground."

  "It's here?" Marcus asked, looking over to the pointy-eared woman on the couch. In response, she gave him a simple nod.

  "Yes, Mister Ghestalt, the vessel is currently on our domain," Varyn spoke back up. "I convened this meeting so we could discuss what our next move is."