Revenge: A Path of Destruction

Wind Clan – Inner Citadel, Hall of Storm Pillars

The Tall, aerodynamic pillars ringed the room, rising like columns of frozen hurricanes. Upon each of these, spaced evenly, sat the children of Cassius, though notably absent from the meeting.

Tonight, Nelson, the eldest and strongest, presided.

He stood tall in the center of the room on a raised platform—a polished crescent of gleaming obsidian. No throne. No crown. Just power radiating through him, raw and palpable. His wind-cloak billowed gently even in the still air, his stormy gray eyes scanning the others without expression.

"We begin," he said simply.

A single nod from him was enough to activate the sound ward. No scribe. No recording. No traces.

The meeting to discuss the Alex problem—the elusive enemy whom they had been tagged to find —began in earnest.

From her perch, Sophia, the Second sibling, leaned forward slightly. Her wind-touched white hair cascaded in a braid down her shoulder, and her expression was scholarly but cold.

"My assignment was to gather intelligence from the other Higher Clans," she began, her voice as crisp as glass snapping. "Since we were uncertain if Alex was on our continent or if he had moved to another Continent. I was tasked by the Paricarch to find out if there was any news about him from the other higher clans, and communicated with all informants stationed in the other continents to find out any news."

She gestured, and a projection flickered into life beside her—a map, dotted with red markers, spreading across the continents.

"Not a single confirmed sighting. Surveillance, scrying, and even temporal scans returned nothing. Either he's cloaking himself through means we don't possess… or he never went there."

She let that statement hang before nodding toward Nelson. "In conclusion: All Higher Clans report no interference, no encounters, and no unusual fluctuations in their territories. If he's outside this continent, he's ghosting every system we have."

Nelson gave a brief nod. "Thank you, Sophia."

He turned his head next.

A heavy grunt followed before Henrik, the third eldest, leaned forward. His mountain-like build seemed almost out of place atop his pillar—his wind-enhanced physique more at home on battlefields than councils. His gravel-deep voice rolled out like distant thunder.

"My task took me deep into the Beast side of the continent."

There was a slight murmur from some of the younger siblings—this had been a dangerous assignment, one Henrik had been tasked with.

"I was told to bring a small unit. Avoided detection. We swept several unstable regions—rivers of mana, blood marshes, ruined cities claimed by the beasts."

He paused.

"No trace of Alex. However…"

Now Nelson leaned forward slightly.

"…the beasts are restless. They've begun forming unnatural clusters. Not a tide. Not yet. But something has stirred them. We saw king-tier creatures circling areas where only the advanced rank used to roam.

Even the sky beasts were descending closer to ground-level outposts."

"Could be a coincidence," Freya muttered from her perch. "Or something is pushing them."

Henrik's expression darkened. "Maybe. I can't say."

Silence settled again.

"Thank you, Henrik," Nelson said, carefully logging the detail mentally. "We'll keep an eye on the Domain's edge. If Alex were ever in that jungle… that bird behaving like a human would know."

He turned. "Freya?"

The second youngest daughter smiled faintly. Her dark crimson robe clashed with her pale skin and golden eyes—a schemer's look, some said. She twirled a mana-thread between her fingers lazily.

"My job was internal," she said. "To trace any leaks or broken seals—check for betrayals within the Clan's ranks."

Her tone turned sharp.

"And I found something."

Now every sibling sat straighter.

"Minor, but notable. Someone accessed the private archives of the Golden Gallery. It's encrypted, layered under three different wind locks."

"What did they access?" Soren asked, arms folded.

"An old record," she replied. "From before the fall of the Thunder Clan. Someone reviewed a census file of their fall."

"Alex's lineage?" Henrik rumbled.

"Possibly," she replied, then glanced at Nelson. "But I couldn't trace who made the query. The trail ended abruptly—like the system deleted its audit trail."

"An inside ghost," Nelson muttered, voice low. "Or someone using privileges that weren't theirs."

Freya smiled. "Exactly."

Nelson nodded once, eyes narrowing. "Good work. We'll secure the archive manually until we're sure."

He shifted again. "Soren."

The second youngest male of the family spoke next, his sharp eyes often overlooked. However, his surveillance talents were legendary.

"I've been overseeing the shadow surveillance grid across the capital and outer regions. More than two hundred spiritual tethers deployed.

We caught glimpses of several individuals using high-level cloaking spells, but none matched Alex's mana signature we have."

He flicked his wrist, displaying one brief spectral projection—a man in a long coat vanishing into a crowd.

"Closest match was this one. It happened three nights ago. Mana residuals were clean—but…"

"But?" Nelson pushed.

Soren exhaled. "It was too clean. As if someone intentionally made it look like nothing happened. It's the kind of clean that only happens when someone's tampering with the sensors themselves."

A long silence followed.

Then, finally, Nelson turned to the last pillar.

Marc.

He lounged casually on his platform, legs crossed, arms draped lazily over the armrest.

He had said nothing so far, his head tilted slightly in amusement.

But now, all eyes were on him.

Even though he was the second strongest, Marc had never fully escaped the shadow of his birth; his status was always half a step below.

Still, none of that dulled the smug glint in his eye.

He glanced at each of his siblings in turn, then smirked wider.

"The best," he murmured, almost lazily, "are always kept for last."

A few groans echoed from Freya and Soren, but Nelson said nothing. He simply watched.

Marc sat up straighter, brushing a finger through his short white hair before speaking.

"My mission was Lauren, as I was instructed by Father and Nelson to try to use them to gain a foothold inside the association."

Everyone immediately shifted in interest.

" But the girl named Lauren, she's sharp. Very sharp," Marc said. "She found out what I was after, after a few conversations, and stopped my plan before it came into fruition. Since I couldn't continue our conversation after that being found out, I left."

"But there is one thing I learned when I observed her."

"And what did you learn?" Sophia asked tightly.

Marc's grin faded just a touch.

"As it seems like she still remembers who he is. But she did not inform the association. Seems like our little Lauren hadn't gotten over her crush on him.

"You do know she is older than you, right?" Henrik asked flatly.

Marc's smirk couldn't help but fade away after hearing that

Marc looked around. But didn't reply as he continued.

"We can use that in drawing him out, as, according to our findings, he also had a crush on her, and even though it might have faded due to time, we can't rule it out, and miss this opportunity."

Nelson said nothing for a long time.

"Then, you believe Alex is here."

Marc's eyes gleamed.

"I know he's here."

That made the room still again.

Nelson nodded, satisfied. "Then we narrow the field. Maintain your covers. Feed Lauren information… just enough to keep her chasing shadows. Meanwhile, we escalate our grid quietly."

He turned away.

"Father may be absent, but he gave us this task. The man who destroyed an entire Higher Clan may be walking our lands. This is no simple matter."

His voice lowered.

"This is all about power and survival."

The room grew colder as the air currents around the Pillars rippled with sharpened intent.