"You're infatuated with him, aren't you?" The General spoke matter-of-factly, his voice cold and calculating. But the elder man had always had that kind of air about him. The military life seemed to have sapped away the last remaining remnants of his humanity, so all that was left-over was a cold shell of his former self. He sat at the head of an immense rectangular table, the heads of the eight most powerful forces lined along either edge of the table. All of them were giving him - and the young Captain he was speaking to - their rapt attention.

"Captain Selfet, perhaps the sorcerer has you under one of his powerful spells. But either way, we can no longer trust your opinions on this important matter. Due to this recent turn of events, I feel that it would be wise to place the sorcerer in the capable hands of Captain Kria's squad. Starting tomorrow you will return to patrolling the Wasted Deadlands to make sure the demons are adhering to our shaky peace treaty."

Captain Refeh Selfet ground his teeth together in both anger and helplessness as he best decided how to approach this situation without infuriating or offending his superior officer. "Sir, wether or not I have feelings for him shouldn't matter! He has been telling all of us from day one that he and the evil sorcerers chambers sealed chambers were somehow mixed up! And I for one believes what he says! My unit has been guarding and keeping him under lock and key for the six months since the sealed chambers opened, and not once have I seen any evidence of malicious intent from him. If the missing sorcerer is really the good one, then why has he been hiding all of this time? There must be some reason for it. And I certainly can't think of one."

The men sitting around the table looked startled at the Captain's sudden outburst, and most of them turned their gazes to the military General. They were both eager and wary of how he was planning on handling this increasingly awkward situation.

Lacing together his fingers atop the glass table, the sandy haired General leaned forward, surveying the younger man before him with dangerously narrowed brown eyes. "Captain, you have heard my orders already and I expect them to be carried out. Infrom your squad of patrol duty and relinquish the sorcerer tomorrow as appointed. You are dismissed." When the stubborn young Captain made a move to protest the General's decision, the superior officer was on his feet swiftly, anger leaking onto his distinguished features. "Captain!" His voice had raised to a volume that echoed throughout the spacious room. "I said that you were dismissed!"

The sounds of the young Captain's hurried footfalls soon faded into silence and the General retook his seat, looking in turn at each face of his eight worried comrades. "My friends, we may have a larger problem on our hands then we had first anticipated."

The eldest gentleman at the table - who was sitting directly to the General's right - nodded his head in somber agreement. He was the emperor's right hand man and as the leader had recently taken ill, he was appointed to attend this council of war in the emperor's stead. "Your son is hot-headed General Selfet, but I do not doubt that he is a good man, and he means well. But if what he has been telling us proves to be true, then I fear that the war that has been brewing will start all too soon. For if the sorcerer we have not yet found is really the evil one, then he's had plenty of time to plan the downfall of our world with the demon lord while we've been keeping the good sorcerer as our prisoner."

Sitting directly across from the stand-in-emperor was the head negotiater of the peace treaty between the demon overlord and his world. She was a formidable women with a no-nonsense attitude and a stern look to accompany it. But her usual stern look had been replaced by one of deep anxiousness that caused her voice to waiver when she spoke up. "Perhaps what you speak of has already begun. As you should all know, the overlord himself has failed to attend all of the peace negotiation meetings these past few weeks. He's been sending some of his demon underlings to meet with us, but these last two meeting no one even bothered to meet with us at all."

All of these powerful people had a grim look in their eyes that remained even as the council of war continued into the late night hours.