57th of Season of Fire, 59th year of the 32nd cycle

"Thank you," Newt dismissed the maid he had saved from the Steelwheel nightmare, which seemed to have happened a hundred years ago.

The young woman bowed and left the tea parlor where Newt entertained his friends and acquaintances from the order.

"Shall we deal with the nasty business first?" Rexheart asked, not even glancing at his steaming cup.

For a moment, Newt thought he was joking about the tea, but the order's head of elite students wasn't one to mince words, nor leave people uninformed.

"Of your Master's fellow wards, only you and Goodair are accounted for. We have no news regarding Emeraldstreak, Greenbow, and Sharprock. Are you the only survivor from your airship?"

"I traveled with Emeraldstreak, Greenbow, and Aura. We lost contact with Sharprock and Sharpcut after the crash." Newt then briefly explained what had happened since he had left the order.

Rexheart nodded along, while the dozen other elite students remained quiet, some sipping on their tea.

"The start of your escape was similar to what those of us who fled on airships had experienced. My group also suffered sabotage." Rexheart sipped his tea out of habit and, for the barest flicker of a moment, his lip twitched at the inferior brew, but he smoothed his face and didn't voice complaints. "However, we crashed much sooner, and even caught the saboteur. Twochains slew the saboteur when he found them."

Twochains nodded, but didn't say a word.

Rexheart waited for him to speak, and the air in the room grew heavy. Finally, Rexheart continued.

"We lost a lot of people. There's less than twenty elite students, and less than a hundred inner students. The losses were even worse amongst the outer students and the workers. The champions had suffered the fewest casualties, but even at their level, our losses were terrible. Explorer's Gate is but a shadow of its former self, and if not for the contracts, I'm certain most of our remaining outer students would have fled. The majority of surviving workers already have."

"Why?" From what the imperial librarian had told Newt, the order should be receiving a surge of resources for their contribution in exterminating the cultists.

"Because the island feels wrong," Twochains muttered before speaking up. "The champions and surviving overseers have rebuilt everything damaged during the fighting. They cleared and buried the bodies, but everywhere you look, you see the ghosts of the battle. You walk the streets where friends and family have perished, where you lost a limb…" he trailed off.

"It is uncanny," Rexheart admitted. "The ambient mana has also changed. It's grown denser, and there's a coppery taste of blood to it."

Newt nodded. It was like Magmin's tomb, rich in fire and earth, but instead of a lone dragon, the high realm mageknights who had died the most on Explorer's Island followed the path of blood.

"Do you have any questions?" Rexheart once more countered the oppressive silence.

Newt had plenty, but they were private. Things he would discuss with Rose or Twochains or Lord Flameax.

"No," Newt lied. "We need to discuss our situation here, make plans, and see how we can make the most of this unusual onslaught."

Rexheart nodded. "Once the champions arrive, we can start making the plans."

Lord Flameax, Chaplain Longfang, and two more fifth realm awakened entered at those words. Apparently, the senior generation was listening in on their juniors' conversation.

"Gatemaster warned us this onslaught would be an extremely bloody one," Lord Flameax said, "but I don't believe he foresaw the dragons' arrival. Then again, he's an Exalt, and their power is unfathomable."

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"He would've warned us about a conflagration of dragons had he known," Chaplain Longfang said flatly. "Had he known about them, he would've brought Newstar back to the order while he was still unconscious, and he certainly wouldn't have sent us here. Most of our surviving elites have come here, the rest going with Gentlecloud to defend her home."

"Where is her home?" Newt asked, having a horrible feeling she had run into the conflagration.

"Fifteen thousand miles east of here," Flameax said. "Unless another conflagration of dragons invaded, her group should be quite safe."

The man cleared his throat. "Now that we know she's not the problem, we need to discuss our situation. The first decision we need to reach is whether we retreat immediately with persons of importance or do we stay here."

Newt had the urge to shout that of course they would stay, but the discussion was for the senior generation. And since they were having it before the students, it also meant it was a lesson.

"I think it's too dangerous to stay here," a champion whose name Newt didn't know said. The man appeared chubby, which was as rare amongst awakened as Newt's skinny frame. "There's no telling when dragons might descend on this region."

"Flight could prove just as dangerous, or even more so," the final champion said. She was a tall, but perfectly proportioned woman. "Should a stronger dragon attack us, we'd be sitting hoppers, but even a pair on the level of the one which had harassed us today could prove dangerous."

"We could fly low or high so they wouldn't notice us."

"I don't think it's worth the risk. Based on what the Salamandra clan's mage said, they moved with purpose, and aren't likely to come here."

"For now, but they could also be wrong."

"I agree with Dew," Chaplain Longfang said. "We would be trading an unknown, hypothetical danger for a very real one we have already experienced. That said, we should make a contingency, and as ridiculous and dangerous as it sounds, the dragons are the least likely to search the jungle for us. So, we could scout out the relative surroundings and find a location that would be easy to defend, preferably a cave system or something similar where avians wouldn't present as much of a danger."

Flameax nodded. "Other avians are unlikely to approach this region. High realm dragons rule these skies for now, and any other flying coming anywhere near is no different from presenting themselves for dinner… But you are right, staying out of sight and being difficult to attack from the sky will make our lives easier, should the unthinkable happen."

Three to one, each of the champions made their arguments, and they decided they would stay and help the Salamandras. Then came the planning. Lord Longfang would check the castle's defenses while Flameax scouted the jungle in search of potential fallback positions.

Lord Arrow would coordinate the students and ensure the saurians didn't overwhelm the valley while at the same time making sure they could depart the castle at a moment's notice. Finally, Lady Dew was tasked with dragon-watch. She would sit atop the highest nearby peak and come down in haste to warn everyone of an impending dragon attack.

Lord Arrow and Lady Dew would change places once every two days so the scout could rest. As for the students, theirs was the grunt-work, keeping the valley clear of saurians while staying reasonably safe.

"Where will you sleep?" Newt asked.

"Don't worry, your teacher has already made the arrangements. He's really looking out for you. I would've forced you to handle it, if you were one of my clansmen."

I think he was just afraid I'd stick you in a barrel or something.

"All right, if you need anything, please let me know." Newt gave a courteous half-bow and got one in return. He did it more to show Stronggrow that he could do manners than because the situation warranted it. Even if Stronggrow wasn't looking.

"I'll leave for the jungle right away," Flameax concluded the meeting. "Chaplain Longfang, do you want to start your inspection now or in the morning?"

"In the morning. Not all of us are mageknights."

The night passed peacefully, and the next day's missions, while bloody, proved trivial. Thirteen third and fourth realm awakened slaughtered saurians without a problem, and miraculously the town of Harthrow survived yet another day.

"Corpse disposal will be a problem." Rexheart commented while they were returning to the castle.

Newt agreed. Flies were already swarming around the remains of his yesterday's kills. Carnivores and vultures had devoured some of the corpses, but it was negligible in the grand scheme of things.

"We should point out the problem to Lord Arrow. We can't dig pits deep enough to fit them all, but perhaps he can. Or Lord Flameax could incinerate them, but the smoke might draw the dragons' attention."

Newt looked around, out of thirteen, only he and one more student had earth aligned mana.

"Loch and I could stop fighting and focus on burial. We might not manage to bury all the bodies, but half should be doable."

Longfang, who could hear them talking, smiled. The kids were using their heads for something. If only Newt could remember that he was also a scribe and that he could arrange large decomposing spell seals…

Maybe he doesn't know any? Why would he? He made a mental note to slip a schema to Newt once he was done with his work, then he refocused on the castle's existing seals.

Why would anyone add a massive mental barrier to a fortress at the butt end of the empire? I don't think any manabeasts can use mind control against humans…

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