Rising to Fall

Chapter 2-8

The meeting takes place in a medium-sized room that has a round polished wood table in the middle with seven chairs around it, five of which are filled with Mitch and Adam enter. As they both take the last two seats, Mitch introduces Adam to each of the five Generals present.

General Jerome of the Baccas, a dark-skinned man with curly black hair and dark brown eyes, is placed with his army - the Baccas - a heavily wooded area to the north-east of the Benjas. Jerome is a well-built man who looks uncomfortable in his black suit and red tie, which makes Adam only feel slightly better that he's shown up in his dusty lumberman work clothes, even though he doesn't have anything else to wear.

Robert Woolf is dressed much more casually than Jerome, with his deep blue hoodie and black pants. His brown hair is neatly brushed to the side and he is lean and tough, much like the animal that his last name sounds like. His army, the Wolves, occupy a mountainous land in the far east and possibly had the hardest journey to get to Nad'ij.

Vikk is dressed even more casually than Robert. He only wears jeans and a branded shirt and his black hair is cut close to his scalp. His skin is a dark brown but not as dark as Jerome's. He and Robert are close friends it seems, as his army's territory (the Star Nation) to the south of Robert is the only place the Wolves don't have to cross the mountains to reach.

Lachlan, sitting on the other side of Jerome, has thick blond hair and a red hoodie. He is slightly familiar to Adam as his territory is on the Sky Army's west and his army, the Battle Crafts, had tried several times to make an alliance with them. They had been politely refused, of course. The Sky Army always refused alliances. Well, until now.

The last official member of the Pack is Preston, a man with tanned skin that has a slightly orange hue to it. His territory is mostly desert so his army, the Fire Nation, are very accustomed to the heat. He wears a suit like Jerome, with his tie a bright orange.

But the honourary member of the Pack is perhaps the strangest of all. Mitch introduces him as Seto of the Sorcerers, who has a territory that borders on the Benjas, the Baccas, the Wolves, the Star Nation and the Fire Nation. He has a deep purple and black long sleeved shirt and pants, with a long cloak flowing down from his shoulders. His brown hair is messy and only stays out of his eyes because of a white crown-like object around his head.

"He can't actually do magic," Mitch adds as he introduces the man. "I've already tested that."

"Why is your army called the Sorcerers then?" Adam asks Seto.

Seto grins slightly. "Who do you think discovered how to produce electricity and use it to make light?" he answers. "My army are inventors, not magicians, General Adam. What we do simply looks like magic if you haven't seen it before."

"This is General Adam of the Sky Army everyone," Mitch says. "His army was in charge before the Squids came in and got rid of them about 12 years ago."

"Oh, so you're the General of that army that Mitch has been going on about for absolutely ages," Preston says, grinning. Adam just shrugs.

"Can we dump the General title?" Vikk asks. "I hate being formal."

"I agree," Jerome rumbles.

"Sounds good."

"Alright then, let's cut to the chance," Robert says, leaning forward. "Why did you call us here on the basis that we're going to fight the Squids, Mitch? As far as I can see, they haven't caused any trouble for the past several years."

"That's because you live ages away from them," Mitch replies. "They're testing Jerome's, Lachlan's and my borders and I think that they're going to push them and try and take our territory."

"It's not as bad as you make it out to be Mitch," Lachlan says. "I told them to back off a while ago and I haven't had any problems since."

"As long as they stay reasonable, I don't care what they do." Preston sighs and leans back in his chair.

"What if they start pushing at our territory?" Jerome asks.

Preston shrugs. "We tell them to back off and give them warnings. There's no need to jump straight to battle."

Adam thinks that it's time that he takes a hand in this conversation. "So you don't care that they're slowly killing us then?" he asks Preston. "The civilians that they're supposed to protect?"

Preston stops leaning back in his chair and each of the men focus on Adam. The protection and well-being of the civilians who live in their territory is one thing that each of the Generals feels very passionately about. Adam suddenly feels nervous. It's been a long time since he's had as much attention as he's getting now and he suddenly remembers why he doesn't like it. But he keeps speaking.

"Look, I don't know what you guys think life is like under the Squids, but it's not nice. Some of my recruits were telling me that they have to steal from their own fields in their village to survive. In the Capital, the base of the Squids where I lived, it's just as bad. All the factory workers; lumberman, seamstress, painter, builder, whatever; we barely get enough to stay alive, much less to stay well-fed. You obey the rules or the consequences are harsh. One of my men was murdered in front of the entire Capital just because he did some graffiti on the walls about the Sky Army and rebelled a little. If that's what the Squids do to their own people, what do you think they will do to you if they get the chance?"

There is silence around the table for a moment as the Generals absorb this. Then Robert crosses his hands in front of him.

"Why would the Squids put your man to death just for talking about your army?" he questions.

"The Squids want to get rid of everything about us," Adam explains. "Every memory people have, every record, every mark we've made, they've tried to get rid of it. They've made a story that puts us in a bad light and they're trying very hard to keep it."

"Why do they hate you so much?"

Adam tilts his head to the side slightly, trying to figure out how to phrase it. "The Sky Army knows what the Squids want, and the Squids have something that the Sky Army needs."

More silence fills the room. Adam resists the urge to shift uncomfortably as each of the men think about what Adam has said.

"Alright, screw it," Lachlan finally says. "I'm helping."

"Yeah, me too," Vikk agrees.

"Mitch and I are already in," Jerome says.

"Well, since half the Pack says yes, I've got no choice," Robert says, a slight grin playing on his face.

"Seto? Will you help us?" Mitch asks.

"If it's against the Squids, any day," Seto says instantly. Then he quickly adds, "Knowing how they treat their people and all."

"We're gonna have to move fast, so let's start planning."

Shout-out to TheEnderWolf14 for correctly guessing Seto as the honourary member on her second try. Jules_Writer_Fangirl was also on the right track, so good job you two!