Florian spoke about precious informations concerning the humans cities that needed to be hidden.


    Hidden to avoid anyone noticing the reason for why they were so important.


    "Now that you''ve talked about the cities you four lead, I have a question."


    Something was on Orion''s mind, a detail that seemed to bother him now that he heard about that topic.


    "What could it be?"


    Florian removed his elbows from the table and placed his hands on his thighs, waiting for the question.


    "Kaios was in such a pitiful state even before it was completely destroyed, that I don''t believe it had any purpose anymore. What was his main purpose?"


    Both him and Kamala placed a hand on their chin, trying to remember the details of the Apostle book.


    "Kaios, the city ruled by the Borias family. Give me a second to remember."


    "You don''t have to, I remembered everything."


    Kamala interjected before Florian could rack his brain.


    "In the past, there was a large vein of precious ore on the side of the Talviera Mountain Range, and Kaios was built to extract everything from it. From ore to precious gems, everything was taken and given to improve the defenses of our cities."


    "Now that I think about it, it only recently completely thinned out, which might be the reason why he was so desperate to get his hands on Hocride."


    ''That was a really impressive vein if it held two millenium to be depleted.''


    In reality, it held until now because not many people were sent to mine it. Only the bare minimum was taken, enough to live luxuriously at least, but not the citizens of Kaios, the Apostles.


    "It seems that Kaios was close to its downfall anyway. It''s true that we haven''t heard good thing about the economic situation of the city."


    Florian seemed to have recovered his memories now that Kamala spoke of it.


    "We''ve been lacking the resources to improve our armies only recently, and no words came from Ivan about the situation."


    "He might have been scared to be seen as a worthless Apostle because of it."


    They both couldn''t care less about Ivan. He wasn''t a friend, nor a good person.


    "Next, we have Kelvin''s city."


    ''I didn''t hear the name during the ceremony.''


    Orion remembered the heated exchanges between him and the woman named Laylah, before leaving after humiliating her.


    "He''s ruling over Haravel. Now that you are familiar with the tragedy of Bandir, it will be easier for you to understand some things."


    "Haravel is located way south of Bandir. It was one of the city that got destroyed by the Azur Dragon."


    That caught Orion by surprise.


    "Wait! Are you telling me that Kelvin was the one that stole Monolavir''s eggs? Is this man a moron or simply looking for death?"


    Kamala answered this with a look of despise.


    "From what we learned, all of this came from his need to gift the supposed eternal life to Henrietta. He seemed to believe in that fairy tale quite strongly."


    "So he stole three dragon eggs, with only one making its way to the city. This was the beginning of the Dragon''s Rampage as we know it."


    Orion placed a hand on his brows.


    "How did his city survive? Did he build everything from scratch after that?"


    "Yes. After burning Henrietta to ashes, he returned to his burnt city and in less than a month, his city was back to pristine shape. He might have struck a deal with someone at the time, when we were unknowing of his previous actions."


    "Even after I looked at all of the documents related to Haravel, I couldn''t notice anyone having helped him. This is one big mystery we are unable to solve. Only by asking Kelvin could we get the answer, but I bet he would cleanly refuse."


    Being done with this story, Orion pressed the other matter.


    "So, why is this city so important?"


    Clearing his throat after understanding why Orion forced the topic away, Florian returned to the talk about the cities'' purpose.


    "It was important. Not anymore."


    "Why is that?"


    "The kobolds."


    Orion remembered that one of the two destroyed factions was the kobolds, and that Kelvin''s family, theDellthord, had something to do with it''s annihilation.


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Kamala continued where Florian left it at.


    "In the past, the kobolds had a few camps all around the south east part of Triazils. They bothered no one, or at least no that much. They were pranksters at heart, and liked to come into cities to play with the human children, or bother the many merchants of the time."


    "This was all there was to it. They never kidnapped a child, nor stole any merchandise. They were truly playful. But since they were weak, humans began to try and exploit them."


    "Sadly for them, they refused to bent the knee and began to fight back the invaders. They didn''t stood a chance, but managed to flee before total destruction."


    "The one that ordered this was one of the ancestors of the Dellthord family. He built a city near the south, and began to hunt the remaining survivors, one by one."


    "It took a thousand years to find the last kobold."


    ''I''m glad the girls aren''t here. This is an awful thing to learn about.''


    "Well, that was the only use of Haravel. Today, it''s just a city on the south east of Triazils with no purpose."


    The conversation seemed to stop for a moment. They all needed a few minutes to process the reality of things.


    Until Orion began to speak.


    "Do you realize that the more I learn about the human faction, the more I hear about how atrocious and unforgiving it is toward other factions? Even toward themselves they are awful."


    Florian and Kamala could only look down at the table.


    "I know you two aren''t the ones to blame. What has been done cannot be undone."


    They were once again reminded that the man in front of them wasn''t human, and that his last sentence most likely referred to the ''Purge'', the last recording of the angel and demon factions.


    Straightening their back, they looked at him in the eyes, and continued.


    "That''s all we have on Haravel. Let''s continue with the next one."


    But Orion wanted only one other name right now.


    "Instead, tell me what you know about that woman named Laylah."


    Surprise appeared on their faces.


    "Why?"


    "Isn''t she the leader of the Apostles? Of course I would like to know about her in details."


    They both nodded, understanding his reason for asking that.


    "Of course you would like to know, I apologize for questioning you."


    "Well then, let''s first talk a little about Laylah Oravis. She is, like you said, the Apostle that gives us orders when it is required. She is also powerful, and lives where no one else is allowed to."


    Orion interjected.


    "Let me guess, on Eogis?"


    They nodded silently.


    "It doesn''t surprise me. This family might be Elliot fanatics for all I know, wanting to stay where he his."


    "You have a keen sense of deduction. It is exactly that. Their family has been brainwashing each other for as long as they existed in believing Elliot is the savior of this world, or whatever he could be."


    "Their city, Paraviel, only exist to keep the remains of Eogis free of invaders, curious people, corrupted, while also being there to have Elliot near them."


    A wave of pure anger formed all over Orion, shutting both of them instantly.


    "I''ll be the one to free the place of these invaders! Eogis is my, my parents, and all of the demons and angels home, and you humans dared to step foot in there like you owned it? When are you going to learn not to overstep your boundaries?"


    "This is why we are in this situation today! It''s because none of you are able to behave decently in front of others, always wanting more than you can have, always being condescending toward others, and never accepting what is different."


    "When will you learn, tell me? Why, for two thousand years, us and other factions have been trampled, reduced to nothing by you? What is your reasoning? What legitimacy do you have in ending lives as if it was nothing to you?"


    "Two thousands. That''s the number of angels and demons that died in a single day. And that man, that took everything from me, is revered as a savior by you all? What a joke."


    His outburst settled down, and he looked at the two in front of him.


    "Sorry, that wasn''t toward you. I''ve been keeping this in me for far too long."


    "No, we understand. You have the right to be enraged. I am sorry that our faction''s mistakes led to this situation, where you have to fight a shard of the past that is still with us today."


    Florian sighed quietly, while wiping the sweat that formed on his forehead.


    ''This was terrifying. We have to be careful when saying anything, lest we''ll be bringing another repeat of what happened right now.''


    Orion returned to being neutral, and continued.


    "What else do you have on Laylah?"


    Kamala continued while Florian had to take a breath.


    "Nothing much, she is very secretive. What we know is that she uses the water element."


    "That''s not much indeed."


    Orion crossed his arms.


    "Alright, what''s next?"


    They began to explain quickly the remaining places.


    "Let''s be quick about it too, Amelia seems to be finishing."


    "We have Ryghs, which is closer to the Wall of Separation, all the way west of Turric. There''s not much use of it anymore, for two reasons."


    "Neon is the current ruler."


    Kamala spoke this little detail before Florian continued.


    "First, the arachnea disappeared around here. The current Apostle and his ancestors have either forgotten about them, or think they have killed them all. The second reason is that the wall has been erected to keep the Frigoria Plains'' corrupted out of the continent, and since it was there to stop any coming from there, it''s useless nowadays."


    "I''m sorry to say this, but why are all of the bad Apostles living in useless cities, while you four, my supposed allies, all live in cities with a purpose?"


    Orion realized that there was a pattern there.


    "Now that you said that, it''s true."


    Kamala agreed with him.


    "It''s not that we are useful by nature, it''s because we made changes to our city to make them evolve with time. Kamala''s city became our main source of currency, my city is the heart of the faction, Turric is the shield of the continent, and Noctelagia is our main source of food."


    "The rest, well, they never tried to do anything else."


    Florian, having recovered, returned to the conversation.


    "I can believe in that if it''s explained like this."


    Orion also agreed, understanding clearly the differences between the ones stuck in their past glory, and the ones trying to keep with the passage of time.


    They talked about the minor cities remaining, the ones that were completely useless, with no redeeming qualities.


    Nobeli and Juvern, Leonis and Julian''s cities, were existing just to pressure the Lamias on both side.


    Mounti, Pierre''s city, was built close to the Talviera Mountain Range to keep an eye on the dragons, but since they can''t see much being at the foot of it, its utility was close to none.


    Kristin was situated between Noctelagia and Albriar, further north. It was used to transport resources in the past, but with carriages and horses, it became useless extremely fast. This was where Dony ruled.


    The last one, Croates, was the most useless city of all. It was right below Albriar, and existed because the past Apostle of the city had a rivalry with the one of Albriar. That rivalry died with both Apostles. Horace had to live his life knowing that truth.


    "Talk about uselessness. Why are they still Apostles?"


    "Because they can use magic, and because they are more powerful than basic magic users."


    "That''s a shame. Now I''m glad that killing them won''t bother many."


    When he said that, Amelia and Karteira returned.


    "Orion, we''re done. Want to see?"


    "We''re done too. Lead the way."


    He smiled at her, and followed the girls, leaving the guests wondering if they had to follow.


    "We should follow, Florian."


    "You''re right."


    They stood up, and walked a distance away from them.