THE RED STOICHI TRIBE.
IN THE CASTLE OF THE TAL DANE; THE FIRE THRONE ROOM.

"Word has been received, my liege." Ursa, the special advisor to the Tal Dane bowed the second he was granted entrance into the Fire Throne room.

"What news do you have for me, Ursa?" The Tal Dane motioned for Ursa to stand erect and take a seat.

"Perhaps, this is best discussed in private." He suggested, looking over to Eren and Metsumi, the Tal Dane's twin children.

"Metsumi dear, please order the guards to close the doors and stand outside on your way out." He ordered his daughter.

Metsumi shot up from her chair and cartwheeled all the way to the door. She had no in interest political affairs, she always thought of it as the work of the Tal Dane, his council, and her miserable brother, Eren, who seemed to have so much to learn.

They'd both turned twenty-two on the fourth month of the year. Being the first born son of the Tal Dane, he was to take over the Throne of Fire after his father had ruled for two hundred years. Every Tal Dane ruled for exactly two hundred years before relinquishing the throne which would be succeeded by their heir.

Eren was the first and only son of his father, Zeldrius, and he was learning and preparing to take over the Throne of Fire in less than fifty years.

He had so much to learn and so little time to acquire all that knowledge. Most Tal Danes before him had over a hundred years to learn about the ways of the Red Stoichi Tribe from their fathers. Eren had less than fifty. This was because the heir was not allowed to partake in the affairs and decision making of the Tribe until he'd turned twenty. Zeldrius had his twin children at a very late age, over twenty years after he succeeded his father and became the Tal Dane.

His wife Berileth, died during child birth. It was rumoured that the combination of the two Dakyrian children who turned out to be gifted with an affinity for fire was too much for her bear. Some rumoured having the two identical Dakyres was a bad Omen, and her being the bearer of such doom, she had to give her life to diminish the severity of the Ketsu Prophecy.

Suffering from the circumstances surrounding his birth and the amount of responsibility he had to take up, Eren had started to train harder to live up to the protégé he was perceived to be because of how powerful his father was.

Metsumi on the other hand, despite not having a mother never really cared. She was surrounded by maids who attended to her every need. She generally lived her best life whilst waiting for the fire warrior suitors who would come for her when she was flamed yellow for marriage.

The guards immediately obeyed, closing the flame doors after she'd cartwheeled out of the Throne room. She had a bubbly personality but was too quick to punish anyone who dared displeased, or disobeyed her. She was greatly feared and infamously known as The Blue Hellbringer across the tribe, because she was the only one apart from her dead mother who could wield blue flame all over the realm.

Zeldrius was particularly proud of her because of this, he was proud of the both of his children.

"Word came from the westerners, my liege." Ursa started the second the doors shut.

"What did they say? What do our friendly Westies want from us this time."

"They're planning to execute another raid this year. From the time frame given to us it is set to happen during the peak of Dwokaan. Wheels have already been set in motion."

There was a moment of brief silence in the room. Zeldrius knew exactly what happens during these raids and the repercussions of not setting things right for the westerners.

As Zeldrius tried to play his cards well, someone else in the room felt an avalanche of emotions. The news had caught Eren off guard. He knew about the raids, about the Westerners who flew from the west with their magickal floating metal craft which defiled the laws of gravity. The laws of Zaal. He knew about the alliance between his tribe and the Westerners. The Red Stoichi Tribe assisted the Westerners during these raids, to ensure a successful hoist on the other three Stoichi Tribes, in exchange for their safety and the magickal western gifts they offered.

This was going to be Eren's first raid. This was going to be the first time he would set eyes on these foreign people who had found ways to defy the god of nature.

"That's great news." Zeldrius cheered heartily.

"They ask if our alliance still stands." Ursa added, halting the Tal Dane's hearty laughter.

"Of course it does," he replied abruptly.

"But does it have to?" Eren chipped in.

For the first time during all these meetings, Eren spoke. He hadn't seen the need to contribute or make his ideas known until today. His new found desire to contribute during these meetings wasn't what brought about the sudden antsiness in the room, it was because Eren had just disagreed with his father on an issue so vital.

"What do you mean by that, Eren?" Zeldrius questioned his son.

"I mean do we have to always help the Westies? Betraying our own kind, our Dakyre brothers and sisters for foreigners we know close to nothing about." Eren stepped down from his chair, which sat right next to his father's, where he'd been sitting silently all this while.

The same chair he'd sat on during all the council meetings he'd been attending, since after his twentieth inferno emergence.

Walking around to stand right in front of his father and also face Ursa, he bowed courteously to the Tal Dane.

"What are you driving at?" Zeldrius jeered.

Eren ignored the tone in his father's voice and proceeded to explain, hoping he'd thaw through his father's strong belief in his own decisions, and finally get him to reason with him.

"We know when they are coming, we have seen how they come, we have witnessed first hand what they're capable of. We could ambush them on their way here in their magick gravity defying metal craft." Eren pressed on.

"And you think we can win?" For the first time Zeldrius looked at his son with disappointment in his eyes.

"We can, I know we can. We can create a fire storm, we can rain fire and brimstone on them while they're still at the volcanic mountains. Maybe we can befriend the dragons again, and get them to help us defeat them even before they make it across the Lava Sea and over to the other Stoichi Tribes." He demonstrated, looking from his Ursa to his father.

There was another brief moment of silence before Zeldrius spoke.

"You are twenty-two now, Eren. talk like you are twenty-two years old. Do not talk like a child!"

"But father-"

"Enough of your childish theatrics! Raining fire and brimstone, befriending the dragons, do you think the Tal Danes before me didn't try all of these things. What do you think led to the near extinction of the descendants of Karth. Besides, when last did you see a dragon stroll across the street? Do you, perhaps, have one under your bed? Or perchance you've heard from the last giant Flame Breather we sent up to the volcanic mountains." Zeldrius bellowed.

Eren lost every last bit of hope he had of convincing his father. Stepping back a few steps in case of another outburst.

"Send word to the Westies," Zeldrius turned to Ursa "tell them our alliance still stands and we're always ready to welcome them. Tell them it's going to be a very fruitful hoist."

"Yes, my liege."

"And I trust you to keep my son's naïvety and ignorance to yourself."

"I swear on mother's grave. Not a word about our discussion to anyone."

"Good, I could trust you with my life Ursa."

"Indeed, you could." Ursa responded

With that Zeldrius stormed out of the Fire Throne room, not sparing another glance at his son.

Eren released the breath he'd been holding, walking up to Ursa and joining him on the chair. He heaved another sigh.

"But I was reasonable, wasn't I Ursa?" Eren looked at his father's special advisor with sad eyes.

Ursa had been like an uncle to the twins. He'd been around right from when they were adorable little fireballs of mischief. The friendship between Ursa and Zeldrius dated far back to when they were just boy warriors. Ursa a son of a village lord, and Zeldrius, the son of the Tal Dane and heir to the Throne of Fire.

"Things are not that easy, Eren." He flung his hand over Eren's shoulders, squeezing gently. "Some situations just outweigh every possible solution. For these kind of situations you've to find a way around them to make them benefit you, and to guarantee your safety. It might sound cruel but this is the only way around this situation, at least for the time being. You'll need to learn how to make the best out of every situation if you want to be a better Tal Dane than your father." He finished.

"But we're betraying our sister tribes."

"No, you see we're not. They betrayed us first by turning a deaf ear to our cries for help when the Westies first arrived on our sands. Now we've found peace and allied with them, thereby finding a way around the situation. If they helped us fight off the Westies during the first hoist in our tribe, they wouldn't have returned. Now they suffer the loss of their loved ones almost every five decades."

"These Westies, why can't we take them? Why does the idea of ambushing them sound so ridiculous," Eren wondered. He caught the hint of fear in his father's eyes when he talked about attacking the Westies.

Ursa chuckled lightly, removing his hands from around the young boy and standing up.

"They wield strange magick. Unbelievably powerful forces, even The Sphinx can't grasp the concept of the source of their magick. For centuries our ancestors tried to find answers, or just a clue on who these foreigners might be but it's just too complex. We can't destroy the friendship our ancestors gave their lives to build."

"What kind of magick?" Eren asked standing up as well, "because they've metal crafts that fly without feathers? Defying Zal who most of us have seemed to turn away from."

"We haven't turned away from Zal, we just don't agree with the fervent practices of other Stoichi Tribes. Turning away from Zal would be the beginning of our downfall," Ursa corrected.

"You still haven't told me what these Western foreigners are capable of."

He sighed, as they walked out of the Fire Throne room side by side. They strolled down the large hallway lightened up with torches hung on each side of walls with intricate designs and carvings of dragons and Tal Danes of old.

"They unleash terror like the Tanuri's phoenix. They've weapons that shoot out tiny homing silver like shards, which shouldn't be able to kill a Dakyre, but for some reason it does. They wear robes resistant to any elemental attacks. To simply put; they're the Ketsu Prophecy come true." Ursa informed.

Eren hadn't been so scared of the Westies because of the alliance between his tribe and these foreign oppressors. But after hearing everything from Ursa, he began to wonder that if a people as powerful as the Westies existed and they raided the other Stoichi Tribes every half a century, it was just a matter of time before they turn on his tribe.

With the likelihood of a breach in contract still standing, Eren was bothered about more pressing, fast approaching events, not the possibility of what might happen in the nearest future. He was concerned about the raid that was going to happen during the Dwokaan festival this year, and the lives it would drastically change.

Little did he know that his life was going to be affected, little did he know that his story was just about to begin.