Grapevine (Zetheria Series #1)

Chapter 9: The Air Base

"Is there any way to kill it?" Selene inquired with a straight face.

She was sandwiched between Sanjiv and Prince Damian, sitting on a long table along with the other generals.

"None that we are aware of."

The gloomy soldier answered. His eyes were filled with exhaustion, the dark circles under it were a bit more pronounced than Selene's and the duke's.

He was the Marshal of the Hesperia Base, which they had lost yesterday from the dark army.

"The first prince's investigations is yet to reach a conclusion. For now, all we have are various ideas to deal with it, or immobilize the thing at least. But, most of them require us to sacrifice a portion of our own army."

Prince Damian clicked his tongue at the mention of his older brother.

"If it's alright. Can I ask why we can't just fly through it, surround the abomination and shoot mana balls until there's nothing left?"

One of the generals answered her question this time. This one seemed like he still had a lot of fight left in him, his bright eyes were brimming with intellect.

"A passive spell will activate when you are at a certain distance from it. This spell causes you to lose control of your own body and magic. Many had fallen because of their magic being used against them. Any sort of attack will only backfire."

Selene nodded her head.

"How are they able to cast a spell when they had lost control of both their bodies and magic?"

"That... there is a short amount of time before the spell activates, presumably. Although, we didn't get the chance to confirm it."

"Oh... "

Selene's mind was filled with questions. The other generals gave her judgemental side glances, that's why she decided it was unwise to continue pressing on for answers. She settled with keeping her thoughts to herself.

Plus, she had been feeling Sanjiv's elbow poking at her side for a while now.

He shifted on his seat, threw Selene a warning look and turned to the bright general.

"What would be our next course of action? Are we going to relocate the nearby bases to patch the breach or are we going to set up a new camp?"

"The camps and bases were positioned in a way that if the dark army advances, we will be able to stop it in time. They could be in all directions. We've lost two from last month and now, three. It's recommended to expand the scope for monitoring, but currently we don't have the resources to support the relocation."

"So, we're setting up a new camp."

"Well... what choice do we have? Prince Reagan gave his permission."

"I don't see him here. Where is he now?"

It was a woman with a husky voice who asked. Selene didn't see her as she was sitting in the same line, out of her vision. What she did notice, however, was the displeased man beside her.

Prince Damian seemed to hate hearing about his brother because Selene could see his eyebrows twitching from her peripheral vision. Unfortunately, the bright general failed to notice his sour face and continued talking about him.

He glanced briefly at the woman. But, his answer was directed to the second prince.

"The first prince left for another base right before your arrival. I'm afraid you have missed each other."

The second prince leaned back on the backrest of his chair. "Oh, what a shame..."

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The generals had already left the strategic planning chambers, leaving Selene, Sanjiv and Prince Damian enveloped in silence.