The End of Eternity

Again

They sat in a conference hall in the citadel of Castello di Montagne, around a large round wooden table for twenty people. The conference hall was richly decorated with silver. There was a big fireplace with a. . .

"What the hell is this?!" Antonius's eyes made a quick tour around the table.

"Davena!" Janus cried out and he was not alone, Aurora Clara Lucilla added her "Aaaah" shriek to the cacophony of shrieks and cries. Despite being the Silver Sword knights, they struggled to restore the disciplin for a considerable while.

"But I am dead. . ." Aurora still did not believe the sudden change of events.

"Then we have a zombie in our ranks. Do not worry, I have a feeling nothing can surprise me anymore." Isaias cheered her up.

"Am I really. .. ?" He managed to confuse Aurora entirely. She began to examine her body, touching herself gently, as if she could have found a rotten flesh instead of her skin.

"Of course not. You are here as everyone else, alive and kicking. By the way, why do I have a feeling we already had this meeting?" Isaias asked the question, which could be seen in the faces of everyone present.

"We have simply jumped through time." Janus cracked his fingers. "Just like that." Everyone slowly began to understand the situation. Before an another word could be spoken, Antonius had seized the initiative.

"First things first, Davena go relocate Marius to our highest security prison, using him as a bait was a mistake. For now, I assign your whole battalion to guard him. " Antonius issued an order impatiently. "Whatever the situation, we must keep up to our enemies"

The Gladio Argentum consisted of five armies, with four battalions each. One battalion had roughly three hundred knights. Two armies were stationed at the castle of Castello di Montagne. There was no way for the enemy to sneak in if the order was serious about defending it.

"I am on my way, sir" Dawena drifted away to fulfill her duties.

"Is it safe to leave such a task to her? She has been in contact with Marius more than anyone else lately. " Said Isaias, even he had his doubts about this order. "And we have no knowledge about the week after their fall."

"I know her well, she couldn't be corrupted so easily. " Antonius brushed their anxiety off. They waited a while, until Davena executed her orders. Upon her return, everyone felt a bit cooled off and the discussion could go on.

"Honestly, I do not know at all why we have ended up here. We need the cooperation of a magic guild to solve this mystery." He looked at Isaias sharply. "Go visit the local mages right after this meeting, we are goig to need their help with this. And send someone to the capital, I need to discuss the situation with the king. Next, I am interested in the events I have not been informed about. " Antonius looked at the knights which were out of his reach for many days.

After he listened to all of his subordinates, Antonius thought about the future of his knights. In silence, he tried to reconstruct the bigger picture of the events everyone spoke of in his mind. While he was thinking about the events that concerned many deaths of his knights, including Aurora, Davena asked in an anxious voice.

"What happened here, while we were gone?"

"Many things, it was like a nightmare, but one that won't disappear with the next morning. The crash was less devastating than we had expected, but in that point our luck ran out. We do not know, if the whole thing was prepared, but as a matter of fact, an enemy army began its invasion as soon as they crushed into our continent. They connected their continent to ours by a wide reef, leading their forces directly into the city of Centonde We tried to press them back to prevent their army to spread out on our land, but our quick response was not able to stop them."