VERMILLION: The fall of Zaleon

Chapter 17

‘Let’s begin’ announced Paulina, standing up and darkening every open window in the room. She handed out a stack of files to every individual in the room, faced her large display that she had created and actually began. ‘Now, for all those of you who know nothing about the Vermillion, I’m going to fill you in. Should anyone have anything to add to this from the 4 of you, please feel free to do so. Let’s start with the Vermillion Witches. There are two of them. Siblings: Elize and Daraz Vermillion. They are the ones responsible for the torture upon Miss Genova during her captive times with Balthazar, and she is the one thinking she is the leader amongst the Vermillion, commanding this battle. She is an angry woman, who always thinks she is on top and frankly the type of person who nobody likes in a group. Her brother, Daraz Vermillion is a much quieter man. He is obsessed with Miss Amana Doirekh and up until recently was still very much in love with her. More on that later’ she paused, noticing Remo clench his fists in the corner of the room. The one thing Amana wished to do was comfort her mate, though she remained stationary, thinking it best to keep a professional stance in her first meeting with the  rest of the planet. ‘Next, is Liem Vermillion, perhaps the most dangerous of them all. A creature capable of taking the shape and form of any and every thing. Now as per his nature he is already far too dangerous, though it seems his personality is no better at all. It seems he as much of a lunatic in real life as are his abilities. There is much extensive history on all their parents, but we won’t dive into that right now as it is not necessary. Last but not least, the Doirekh’s, composed of the two Doirekhs in your presence and their brother: Stregov Doirekh, the eldest of them all. He is partner to Elize Vermillion and by the looks of it loyal to only her-’

‘Sorry to interrupt Paulina’ butted in Hayem, giving a weary look to the Doirekh siblings that sat in the corner. The commander paused, and said nothing against his interruption. ‘Stregov Doirekh, is after all, their brother. I don’t mean to sound rude, but how are we to know they will stay loyal to us? I understand their mates are a part of Amethyst, and believe me, I know the love of a mate, but how do we know they do? How do we know they won’t betray us and their mates for their brother? After all, they have spent their entire life with their brother, so why do they want to betray him in the first place? It seems a bit odd that’s all’ he briefly mentioned, and once again Amana and Dregov were put in the spotlight to explain themselves. 

‘Look, I’m going to make this very clear once and for all, and hopefully none of you will have to question us again. I was out of this war from the very first moment Elize decided to declare it. I had no part to play in what happened with Balathazar, and I had no part to play when she invited Eliana and Razaar to Crest for a meal, or to live with us. This whole scheme has been hers from the very beginning because she saw a prophecy and decided to hate upon the flame instead of trust it and find a peaceful way out. On many occasions Elize and I have fought, physically I mean, and on all those occasions Stregov has taken Elize’s side because she is his partner. Dregov has taken mine, because from the very beginning of time Dregov has been on my side. Stregov clearly doesn’t care about family enough, and that is just not our problem anymore. So to answer your question, there is no reason for us to be loyal to our brother when he has never been there for us. Dregov and I are there for each other, we have mates, and that is all that matters to us. Look, we are willing to do anything to prove it. You name it, we’ll do it’ she answered, and the look on Hayem’s face was satisfactory, though it seemed he hadn’t finished his interrogation just yet. 

‘Very well. Before we move on, however, can I just ask? What was Dregov’s position from the beginning? You mentioned you had no part in this from the beginning, what about your brother? I’m only asking because what if Dregov is working for-’

‘You’re right. I didn’t oppose Elize’s plans at first, because I didn’t understand what was quite happening. All I knew was that the Vermillion were threatened and we needed to do something. I only followed Elize at first because I didn’t understand the severity of the situation we were in. But I have always stood with Amana, and I would have ended up at her side eventually anyways because she is the one person I truly care about on this planet. The only reason I’ve never stood up to Stregov is firstly to avoid drama and secondly because I never wanted Amana to see her brothers fight like that, I didn’t want her to feel like we were a broken home, even though we sort of were. Everything I have ever done is for her greater good, so there is no reason for me to be loyal to my brother when he has never stood with our sister. All he cares about is Elize, and there is no reason for me to stand with him when he doesn’t stand with his own family. Please try to understand that the rest of the remaining 4 on Crest are true monsters. Liem is a psychopathic killing machine. Nobody knows what he does at home, or even where he lives, and if there were more of us on Crest, they would all be dead. Stregov is too whipped by Elize to think for himself, and Daraz is a love obsessed weirdo who craves s****l attention more than anything. Elize, is a downright b***h who just wants to win. I don’t know her real problem, but she’s just an angry person. My sister and I have each other, and it’s stopped us from going that insane. Now, with mates in our lives, we have absolutely even more reason not to betray you. So like my sister said, our decision is made, Stregov is not worth the sacrifice’ snapped Dregov, getting frustrated of constantly being accused of the same thing. Noticing his anger, Clea placed a hand on his to calm him down, and with a nod, retreated it so Paulina could carry on. 

‘Well, that seems a fair enough explanation to me. Mr Ilion, are you satisfied with their answers?’ She consulted, and Hayem smiled. 

‘I most certainly am. Thank you for your explanations. Like I said, I trust Eliana and Razaar’s judgement, but I had to make sure for myself, and my wife and kid’ he responded, and everyone around him nodded, including Amana and Dregov. 

‘Great, now that that is settled, shall I move on? Or does anyone have any other questions for myself, the Doirekh’s or the great Alpha and Luna of Gloarian?’ She asked, no one uttered a word. ‘Good, now, like I was saying and the Doirekh’s just proved, Stregov Doirekh is only loyal to Elize and only cares about her, which might make things easier in the long term. Now all of you here know that Mr Solonov and Miss Genova have received adequate training to battle against any Vermillion, and we will soon have a demonstration of this. I would like to get the Doirekhs and the immortal pair on the pitch for a duel, if that is alright with the 4 of you?’ She introduced, and the 4 nodded, seeing no issues at all. Razaar and Eliana had been through enough training for a lifetime, and Amana and Dregov really had no idea what they were looking forward to. ‘Now, the entire plan consists of the immortal couple of Zaleon to go to Crest, and live amongst them to find out their strengths and weaknesses to end them one by one, with the Doirekh’s available to us this will be much easier. However, the trouble seems to be that the Vermilion have discovered the secret that Eliana and Razaar are immortal. However, they have not yet discovered how to terminate the pair, as most of you here may not know, for good reason. Our job is to keep the immortal pair alive because they are the only ones that can terminate the rest of the Vermillion, and therefore I think it’s best if we keep that method quiet for now. The issue here, however, happens to be that our plan consisted of performing a killing or two, and having one member of the immortal pair dying to prove that they were not behind the killings, but with Elize knowing they are immortal, that is now unlikely to happen. Which means we need a new plan. After careful consideration I have summed up everything, and come up with only one solution: all the killings must happen in one night. Now that we have 4 people working from the inside, if each one of you picks one target, then it will make everything a lot easier for you. I’m happy to send team Vienna in to help you should you need it. Though I think that may be the best plan so far. The only thing we need to truly plan is how you might kill each individual within. Some will be easier than others’ she explained, and everyone listened carefully. The main people to assess this plan had been the 4 individuals who would have to carry it out, though mainly it was the Doirekh’s the only 2 people who knew more than anyone else. 

‘That won’t work’ Dregov concluded, and Amana nodded. 

‘And why is that?’ Posed Paulina patiently. 

‘If it was that easy to kill us, I think someone would have done so already. For starters, we don’t even know where Liem sleeps and exists-’

‘We do, Mr Doirekh. I believe Mr Solonov and Miss Genova have figured that out’ she interrupted and he shook his head. 

‘Still, killing him would be the hardest. Then comes Daraz, most nights he doesn’t even sleep these days because he’s so heartbroken about my sister outright rejecting him, and the lonely man ends up doing things of his own. Elize and Stregov spend their nights mating, and sleeping very little. Though Elize and Daraz’s minds are always on alert for danger. They could terminate us before even getting to them. Stregov will perhaps be the easiest target, the rest won’t be that easy to kill, it will definitely take more than one person to kill them all’ concluded Dregov, and Paulina nodded, intaking the information and finally taking a seat. 

‘Very well. I’m open to ideas if anyone has a better plan of execution’ she mentioned, looking around to open the floor to anyone and everyone. Most had been hoping to not have to get involved in the war, and were desperately counting on the immortal pair and Doirekh siblings to execute the job, and so they remained silent, letting the 4 and Paulina do their job. 

‘I say we have an open war’ Amana suggested, and most remained puzzled at her idea. Dregov, however, seemed to understand and nodded. 

‘An open war, what do you mean?’ Asked Eliana from the corner of the room, Razaar wondering the same. 

‘Well they have no way of entering Amethyst or Ivory territories because they have no blessing, and Elize cannot use her magic to get the blessing because her magic does not go to that extent. So if we execute Daraz, for instance, the 4 of us, and left, leaving them a note declaring an open war, then we might have a greater chance of defeating them. They can’t leave anyways, so they can only wait for us to arrive and fight them. If the 4 of us sneak in with Team Vienna to execute them one by one after that it will make things easier. It’s a way of making Elize thinks she has full control, when in reality, she does not’ explained Amana. Upon her words Eliana had an even better idea. 

‘I think you make a good point. However, what if we killed Daraz, and left a note saying we’re taking the 2 of you with us, and are going to keep you hostage? That would give us the advantage of them not knowing that the 2 of you are involved in this. Stregov will surely try to get you back, even though Elize doesn’t care, and when we return to kill them, and you 2 join us to do so, they won’t suspect you of betraying them’ she added, and Paulina had sat in the corner listening to ideas in pride. 

‘That, sounds like a good plan’ she voiced, before Amana interrupted. 

‘I don’t know. Elize already suspects Dregov and I, how are we so sure that she will believe that?’ Posed the Doirekh female, and this time Razaar stepped in. 

‘Even if she does, Stregov will probably still have faith in you, or at least in Dregov. Amana you’ve been out since the beginning of time, but to Stregov’s knowledge Dregov is only siding with you to get you back on their side, so we might even be able to get away with it. If anything it will come as a surprise to them which will make our mission to execute them the easiest. Albeit like you said, Dregov, killing Liem will still be the hardest, he is the strongest and most mysterious of them all. Though he needs to die before Stregov and Elize, so we will need to figure that part out as well’ stated the Alpha, and the rest listened in amusement as the brains of war discussed plans they would never be able to conjure. 

‘So it’s settled then, we plan a sort of discreet open war. You execute Daraz, leave them a note and permanently cross back into Tetra. Now obviously we will need to see how things are and we will act accordingly, but for now that seems like a sensible idea to me. Planning Liem Vermoca and the other pair’s executions can be done once you move back, we will have plenty of time, and we will be able to send you back from time to time to check on them. If not, my spies will take care of that. The other thing I wished to discuss with you all today, were the post war plans for Zaleon. As you all know, for the longest time Zaleon has been living a divided life of a hierarchy, one that we are trying to destroy as we speak. If all goes well, and they are all defeated, the borders will crash and Crest will be open to everyone, however, my question is, what do we plan on doing with this new territory after all? How do we plan on ruling the planet with no borders of intimidation?’ She asked, and this caused a flutter of excitement to flow within the bodies of every leader in the room. Every leader had naturally believed that they should have more, though there were certain obvious differences in the lives between the Ivory versus the Amethyst or the Vermillion. Being the poorest of them all meant that perhaps they felt the biggest need to get an upgrade, but how were they going to make that happen? 

Eliana leaned in front with a couple suggestions in her head, though she was tentative to speak, not knowing what every other leader was thinking about. 

‘Perhaps we should draw up plans for all of us to get more territory and more facilities. The Crest mansion has a room of requirements, of a sort, and we could all get access to that to get the upgrades we need, and expand our territory. I think the most important thing would be to remember that once those barriers break down we will all be equals. We may be leaders, but as leaders we will all be equals. We all believe our people deserve the best and we should do our best to deliver that to them, all the while not being too greedy and having the best of intentions for each other. Perhaps if we left the Crest mansion empty, or as a holiday of home of some sorts, that people can book and pay for to have a stay in, that might make things better. Maybe if we implemented a sort of human integrated approach to our living we could actually make life easier for ourselves. If not we could easily transform the mansion into an entertainment center, with a training area and other things, and have the woods open for anyone who wishes to shift’ she put forward, and most only nodded at her words. Everyone in the room only wanted a better lifestyle than the one they had, luckily no one was greedy enough to call dibs on the mansion that had been so glorified. 

‘I don’t know about the rest of you, but the mansion is not a great deal for me as it might be for others. I think if we’re all trying to be equals then Eliana is right, and we should perhaps leave the mansion as a place anyone can access, and only expand our territories across borders to make them a decent size. If all of us can live comfortably in peace, that would make life a lot easier’ added Hayem, and everyone nodded on the table. 

It had been extremely weird for Amana and Dregov to watch an interaction between the Ivory and the Amethyst go so smoothly, no fight,s no greediness, no hate, not impoliteness, and the siblings knew they had made the right choice. The image of peace settled well within them, and despite being used to the luxuries of the mansion, they too, cared not about losing their home, when they had found people that would show them the real meaning of home. A smile appeared on their faces as they looked around the room, admiring every leader on the table they saw. They all had their different shapes, sizes and abilities and yet they all worked together as a team, with no prejudices and no issues whatsoever. They had heard from the immortal pair of Zaleon that it had taken them a while to bring the world closer together, though their achievements had been absolutely worth it, and everyone was glad that it had happened in the end. 

The moment of peace that followed had been relieving for Amana and Dregov, who had been used to Elize’s constant chatter of hate and a toxic ambience in their own home, and they looked forward to thriving in an atmosphere where they could be themselves and be surrounded by the very love they had been lacking for so long. 

‘Very well, it seems that that was perhaps the easiest thing to discuss. We will have another war summit to discuss any further details or any change of plans. In the meantime I would like to thank you all for coming today, and invite you to stay the night before your long journeys home. Refreshments and food will be served shortly, so please help yourself and feel at home. We are one step closer to ending this war, and I have faith that we will come out on the winning side. Thank you all once again.’ Summarised Paulina, elevating from her seat and commencing the end of the first war summit. 

Dregov and Amana had yet to personally meet every leader on the face of their planet, and having noticed this, Eliana and Razaar thought it best to initiate that process. 

One by one, they moved around the room, introducing them to all the leaders of Amethyst and Ivory, and it had surprised the siblings just how little they had known of their own planet. Creatures they had never even thought of existed amongst them since the beginning of time, and still they had been unaware. It seemed more and more plausible for them to win the war the more people they were introduced to, and for the first time in their lives they felt like they were home, truly home.

The immortal pair of Zaleon had shown them around territory, and taken them to their own home land before returning to Crest that night, after the newly mate pairs had bid each other farewell, and soon they all returned to their ridiculous temporary homes with a new encouragement in mind. They were more desperate than ever now, though they knew just how far they were willing to go to end the war once and for all.