Fallight Midit

Lothar 2: Unstable Group

"do you believe your group will be able to stand up to her powerful union? You do realise that you are going to need allies to defeat her, right? If you only attack Ismilda so directly, the union will continue and remain structured in her image. If we are going to be able to live in peace, we are going to have to ally with some higher powers. The biggest hurdle to that though, is how are we going to find powerful allies. Our victory will be obtained through overwhelming power" my mother's thoughts on the matter are quite in-depth, similar to mine.

"I do agree, there will be a lot of trouble with even gathering a small force to fight Ismilda. But once her union has over-extended, the powers of the world will have to act. But I still need to ask you about your decision, on whether or not you will remain in the group when all of us are given the choice of living in that temporary home" my mother sighs and looks back to my two siblings.

"all three of us will remain with the group when that choice is presented to us. We are your family, so we will be with you even after this journey ends" I feel very happy knowing that I have such a loving family. This will be one more variable added to the list of reasons why I need to win this coming battle against Ismilda and her growing power.

"that is great to hear. I am going to return to walking around the bus to ask everyone else now" my mother nods, and my two siblings: Sarah and Albert also nod. I turn back and continue walking towards the back of the bus. Thaniel quickly rushes to my side, opening his mouth to finally give me his opinion on our current situation.

"when that time comes, when we will face down Ismilda and her most powerful fighters, I want to fight right by your side" Thaniel very evidently cares about Erin deeply, so I am not surprised that he wishes to be on the front lines for the fight against Ismilda.

"I know. Just like everyone else in our group, you will be fighting with the rest of us" Thaniel makes a slightly-annoyed expression and places his hand on the back of his neck.

"no, that is not what I mean" Thaniel looks back to me, and makes a face of strong determination as his eyes pierce into mine, "I want to be your sword, as your best friend. I want to be like a blood-brother to you, as someone who you can trust. I want us to be an unstoppable duo who will defeat Ismilda together" that is something that I can definitely envision. I return Thaniel's expression with a strong one of my own, clenching my hand into a fist as to further support my claim.

"I feel like we would be unstoppable as a duo. I can see our victory against Ismilda much clearer than just me alone" Thaniel smiles and nods his head to me.

"with a group as unstable as ours, we are going to need an unbreakable bond between two people who can lead the group side-by-side" If anyone was to be leading the group by my side, it would have to be Thaniel, so having him propose this idea makes me happy.

"I am looking forward to fighting Ismilda with you by my side" Thaniel nods with a strong grin, supported by an expression of determination.

"we will defeat her, with no casualties" that may be a high reach, but I trust that we will be able to reach it if Thaniel and I can fight Ismilda together. We continue walking through the bus, quickly reaching another family gathering. This time, it is Emily's mother and father: Idania and Carhide. Just like their daughter, they are showing expressions of judgement and scepticism.

"hello Idania, Carhide. We are coming around to ask whether you will be remaining with the group, or moving into the temporary home when we reach Toulouse" Carhide stands up from his seat, with an almost monotone voice, he casts his words to us.

"my wife will be living in that temporary housing, but I am going to be remaining here. I want to continue to observe your actions as our leader. You are Emily's leader, so I want to see if you are worthy of having the title and position of leader" I would much rather not have that additional pressure, but what can I do? If we are to have a stable group, we will need the trust of everyone, and Carhide could be a good start. The pressure will be cancelled out by my determination, my will to prove myself worthy in the eyes of those in my group.

"that sounds good to me. I will meet your expectations, I promise" Carhide's expression does not change, but it also seems that he is not breathing at all.

"we will see" I guess we will. We have already obtained our desired answers, so Thaniel and I should continue on with asking around. I turn to Thaniel and begin to walk away from Carhide and Idania, waving to Thaniel to join me.

"we will be off then, we will speak again soon enough" Thaniel follows shortly behind me, and we return to walking through the bus. Each and everyone of our group members and their families will have their separate reasons for either staying, or leaving. Our success might solely depend on how many people we will have with us when the final battle against Ismilda finally comes to it's boiling point. But if our numbers are too low, we might have to just improve our individual combat abilities to their maximum points. Indeed, we would be able to hand Ismilda utter defeat. Those in our group such as: Erin, 7I, 13V or 14J could become very powerful, and could be our key to victory. But should we put them in dangerous situations just so we are closer to victory? Before I can continue my trail of thought, we find another group of family members gathered together. This time, it is Sarina's family: Reina and Albert. Thaniel steps towards Albert to explain why we are here to speak with them.

"Hi, we are coming around to ask about whether you are going to be remaining on the journey or moving into the temporary home" Reina scratches her head, her fingers moving through her silver-purple hair. She looks to Thaniel with a face of shame.

"unfortunately, I will not be remaining in the group when that opportunity is given. I will be going with the others who are not going to be useful in battle. But my son here, Albert, will be remaining with the group. He wishes to help his sister on her journey" well, at least we will have a few people staying with us to help fight against any enemies that we might come across.

"we will be happy to have Albert with us on our journey. We are going to need everyone we can get, since the battle for peace will be a hard-fought one" I expect a lot of fierce fighting, and a lot of casualties. But if we can keep the casualty number at zero, then it will be a perfect victory for us. Thaniel looks to Albert with a uncertain face.

"we will need you to be present at every training session we hold, I do not want anybody in our group dying from a lack of training" Albert looks at Thaniel with surprise, but quickly follows up with an agreeing nod.

"I will make sure that I am ready for a fight with Ismilda's henchmen" Ismilda's forces can range from lackeys, to overwhelmingly powerful creatures of godly might. But from what I have seen, the possibility of more powerful entities existing seems to be ever-increasing. Are there other groups as powerful as Ismilda?