Together?- A SOPHITZ fanfiction (UPDATES ON HOLD)

The many tasks

The strange darkness of the room disappeared and a new scene appeared. Sophie was in the Tribunal hall, a huge building made out of emerald green crystals. Yet again, she was standing in front of a tribunal. The other 11 Councillors were sitting on their shimmering thrones, faces placid. Sophie unrolled the scroll on the podium and read the title.

Second task: Perform a tribunal

Sophie skimmed the scroll and gulped. The tribunal was for someone who was demanding a divorce. Never before had this occurred in the lost cities for the matchmaking process was usually incredibly accurate; it took years to find the match and even longer to officialize the union. But Sophie knew she had no choice to perform the task. If she didn't, she would be stuck in this task for who knows how long and Sophie was already aching to go back to her comfy dorm bed. She began reading off the scroll...

⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂

The scene faded away as Sophie pulled at her eyelashes. This particular task was particularly strenuous since it had consisted of a couple arguing, the woman arguing that her husband, a beguiler, had beguiled her into marrying him while the man insisted that his wife, a telepath, had warped his memories into falsely making him love her. It was a very tricky situation that ultimately ended in a hasty divorce after what felt like a day in court. The dark room appeared and Sophie waited for the next task. Only 10 more to go, she thought.

⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂

Third task: Perform a Nobility Ceremony

The lengthy ceremony was complicated and very specific in the actions that had to be completed- Sophie spent a large chunk of time working through the perfectly choreographed steps of the ceremony that she frankly considered unnecessary.

Fifth task: Perform a meeting with Ogre ambassador

It was a catastrophe for the Ogre did not respect Sophie's power or status. He had soiled her imaginary carpet, almost attacked a goblin bodyguard, and threatened to cook Sophie over the ashes of her castle- once he burned it down. Sophie had managed to calm him down after lots of struggling and a bit of bribery.

8th task: Perform a Probe with a suspected criminal

The tasks were getting harder. The past two tasks were narrowly avoided catastrophes; the tasks consisted of a dinosaur that had escaped one of the sanctuaries and had been spotted by humans and a landslide had destroyed the dwarf city, Loamnore. The 8th task was a probe with a suspected former Neverseen member. Sophie tried not to hide her anxiety but the nightmares nevertheless came back, her echo always ready to pounce.

10th task: Perform a peace summit to negotiate the Human Problem

It had consisted of a lot of arguing and no real conclusion- the humans would be left to their own accord, elves sometimes stepping in to fix the problems they couldn't (or didn't want) to fix themselves.

11th task: Perform an investigation on War rumors

This one was particularly stressful- there was palpable hostility in the air as the council (fake) pitted against one another on whether committing treasonous acts- breaking the treaty agreements to try to find out if the trolls would be planning an attack on the lost cities. Sophie felt mentally exhausted after that one, the what-if's still clouding her thoughts.

Finally, the last task arrived and Sophie braced herself for the worse. She bid a silent farewell to the strange dark room, eager to get the next task over with. If only she knew what lie ahead of her...

⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂

12th task: Perform an emergency response to a breach of privacy

The final task was perhaps the worst of all. A Neo-Neverseen group had ousted the Lost Cities' secret locations and the humans had attacked one of the cities, capturing elves to study them and stealing everything in sight. Then, the group had retaliated by attacking Washington D.C., the capital of the United States. Sophie was thrown between the Lost Cities and the human cities in a desperate attempt to mediate peace while all the telepaths were scheduled to destroy the memories of the humans who had found out; the equivalent of a New York City population's worth of minds to erase. The task was the longest and hardest and when the scene faded to black, Sophie felt ready to pass out. The real world came into focus and Sophie crumpled to the ground. The last thing she saw was a pointy-eared elf grinning.

Sophie woke up on a leather couch, Elwin gingerly tapping her face. "There she is! Ms. Foster is back with another ailment." Sophie groaned, desperately wanting to go to sleep. "Tsk tsk, Sophie. You have not been sleeping. It's a wonder as to how your mind didn't shut down while in the Rearview, but you performed quite astonishingly, according to Councillor Bronte. I don't know what you did or why you're here but I'm not going to ask what you were doing either. You seem to get into messes often, after all," he joked. Sophie grunted and tried to sit up. Her head hurt but she otherwise felt fine. Bronte's crystal castle was dark, illuminated by a few crystal chandeliers, the light of day long gone. "Sophie," barked Councillor Bronte. His voice then softened. "You did well. I do not doubt that you will be... successful in your inflicting finals," he said, peering at Elwin. The bushy-haired elf shrugged and packed his medical bag. "Sophie just needs sleep. She's been working too hard, so sleep!" He then waved goodbye and disappeared.

"So, Sophie. You did remarkably well. I'll send the results and a sort of summary of how you did to the other Councillors but I am glad to say that I think you're ready. We'll need to train you on the ceremonial things since you are not in a great position with that but it'll work out." Sophie almost rolled her eyes. Leave it to the Ancient Councillor to compliment you then insult you. Sophie nodded and smiled but yawned. Bronte scowled disdainfully. "You may leave now. You're obviously not in any position to discuss more. I'll call for you in a day or two after you've had adequate sleep." "Thank you very much," Sophie said as she lowered herself into a shaky bow. Bronte waved his hand at her. "Stop that. You'll be a Councillor soon, none of that is needed. Now go," he ordered. Sophie didn't think twice and light leaped to her dorm, where she collapsed onto her bed and fell instantly asleep.

⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂

So sorry for not updating! Things have been pretty crazy. I'll try to update more this week. Love, OrbitAstra 💫