Liutpold was quiet during the walk from the council chambers to Valdemar’s private study. They took so many turns down different halls that he almost began thinking they were walking in circles. Finally they came to a dead end hallway with a simple door at the end of it.
Valdemar leaned against the door as if listening to hear if anyone was inside. Liutpold waited patiently for a moment before Valdemar finally opened the door and they stepped inside.
The study was a bit sparse having only a desk and a few chairs scattered about the room in a haphazard manner. The walls were painted a deep violet color and had nothing remarkable on them. Valdemar took his seat behind the desk and leaned back in his chair.
After making sure that there were no wrinkles in his fine clothes Liutpold sat down carefully making sure there wasn’t anything ‘undesirable’ in his seat.
“Now what exactly did you want to talk with me about,” Valdemar asked quietly.
Liutpold looked around the room nervously before leaning forward and replying, “I think there is something about Germania you should know.”
Liutpold again checked the room and slowly scanned it with his second sight. He found nothing out of the ordinary. Satisfied that all was as it should be he continued, “A few of my house have been having dreams of late that tell of a great war being brought to our doorsteps.”
Valdemar listened carefully and looked Liutpold in the eyes and asked, “What do you find important about these dreams?”
Liutpold leaned even closer bordering of tipping his char up in the air a tiny bit and swallowed before answering, “Each kindred that has had these dreams, has had the exact same dream.”
“In these dreams they are busy doing their nightly tasks or sitting in their havens when a strange kindred unlike any they have seen before walks out of the shadows, the start is always unique but after the stranger shows up they are all exactly alike.”
“Wherever they are fades away and they are given a Birdseye view of Europe. They can see kindred killing kindred and houses warring with houses, the armies of France marching across Europe and Austria swelling to massive proportions, those pesky Turks even have a few rampages across southern Europe. They see inroads by other great houses into our dominions. House Umbra even makes a strong comeback and pushes my kind almost into the sea. Lupines in great numbers storm through our lands and your house brings death upon any who stand in their way.”
“The worst is they see creatures of steel traveling across the beautiful landscape and turning everything grey in the ash of their flaming breath. Huge metal birds soar high above the ground and spew countless arrows like I have never seen before and mortal armies carry the strangest bows that can spit arrows hundreds of yards away with enough force to punch holes completely through people. Finally, they watch a massive metal bird lay a massive metal egg and this egg falls to earth and creates the grandest fire ever seen, and for hundreds of miles people everywhere turn to ash. The wars end as the mortals fall one by one. Our kind slowly becomes weaker and vast numbers of kindred of all houses fall to this evil fire. And out of the flame rides a pale horse and upon this horse is a knight with black amour. The knight removes his helmet and stares into the eyes of those dreaming,” Liutpold continued a little shaken.
“The Knight’s eyes burn with color the same as the fire and the dreamers can hear a multitude of voices in their ears whispering words in a myriad of languages that we do not understand. The Knight points at the dreamers and issues a strange phrase and they feel themselves burning sensation before waking up screaming,” Liutpold finished and leaned back in his chair.
Valdemar thought carefully for a few moments reprocessing everything Liutpold had said. “Do any of then recognize the strange kindred,” He asked.
Liutpold replied as he was staring at a fingernail like it was a rotten fruit, “No but they do say that the kindred and the knight are the same.”
“Have you had this dream,” Valdemar asked.
Liutpold didn’t answer but from his posture Valdemar could tell that Liutpold defiantly had.
“What do you think of these dreams,” Valdemar questioned.
Liutpold had decided that he was done talking about the subject and stood as if too leave. Valdemar raised his hand motioning him to wait.
Valdemar rose from his chair and walked around the desk and leaned close to Liutpold’s left ear and whispered, “I too have had that dream. And I do know who that kindred is and also a few of the words in my head in the dream.”
Liutpold was unconvinced and took a step to leave, but before he could go farther Valdemar grabbed his arm. With his free hand Valdemar opened his robe to reveal a burn mark on his chest. He asked, “Do all of the dreamers also have this mark?”
Liutpold nodded slowly and Valdemar could see panic welling inside the normally controlled kindred. Liutpold’s pull became a little stronger and Valdemar had to put more effort into not letting him slip away.
“I’ll tell you the phrase that you hear in your head. Every morning when you go to sleep, you have the dream don’t you,” Valdemar inquired.
Visibly panicked Liutpold’s eyes became wide and he began attempting to wrest himself away and flee in terror.
“The Phrase is ‘Nex est hic’,” Valdemar whispered.
Liutpold shrieked and managed to pull himself away and rushed out the door.
Ok Here’s the Key:
1) House Pedragon
2) House Dravidian
3) House Tolomato
4) House Umbra
5) House Valdemar
6) House Grey Wolf
7) Unclaimed Lupine Territory
8) House Draconis
9) House Malkov
10) House Constantine
11) House Scorpius
12) House Serpentis