Swept

Everyone was in a large meeting hall that was central to the mansion.

There was no ceiling, well there was a ceiling but it was on the fourth floor of the building while the meeting hall was on the ground floor.

Bands of brilliant light pooled throughout the room from the glass ceiling far above.

The next level above them was one of the main libraries in the structure and was lined with books. Above this the floors had balconies with arching bridges connecting the west wing of the building to the central area.

The hall itself had a transparent ceiling that only allowed light to enter but did not allow anything else to enter or leave.

People could only enter and leave the room through the two main doors and three hidden doors within the room.

Anis stood near the sapphire blue pool in the center of the room. Much of the light entering the room it the pool and was distributed to far corners of the room.

She had a slight smile on her lips and in her eyes.

"What are you smiling about?" Rachel's eyes were narrowed and her words came out in a hiss.

Rebecca and Anis laughed together. "You know exactly what she is smiling about. You look like an annoyed toddler."

Anis held in her laughter as she looked at Rebecca and slightly shook her head. "Sister it will be fine. Haven't you been teaching us all along? If it were not for you we would not be so strong."

Anis' eyes darkened "Even Shain has become incredibly strong." She shrugged "Now we will have to become stronger and more active. "

"She is right Rachel. We are all Azmins, we should have been more active in the protection of our realm."

Rachel looked towards Emil as he spoke but she said nothing.

Cramnal sighed and stood. He looked to everyone and smiled sadly "What will we do about Shain?"

They all fell silent.

It was taboo for Azmin blood to be spilt within the realm and even worse if by another Azmin.

"We do not need to worry about him for now." Rachel looked up to the high ceiling. "We first need to understand the cause of the chaos and formulate a plan to neutralize it." She shrugged "If Shain is the core of the chaos we will have to figure out how to neutralize…"

She abruptly paused. She looked to Mis. "Mis you are our scholar. You will have to research our history and see if what he is proposing is even possible."

Her brother, who had been slumped on the sofa set up straight and slid forward in his seat. "I can do this." He nodded "We have extensive information on the realm and Azmin history." He thought another moment. "But what does it matter? We can not allow you to step down Rachel."

"For now just look into it. I want to know if our brother was deceived completely or if he is a traitor to the family."

Everyone was quiet for a long moment.

Mis answered with a shrug of his shoulders."Okay... I may need to go to the great library on Tibunous continent."

Anis came and stood next to her twin. "I will go with you. We all know that the great library still has sealed traps within some of the archives."

Rachel looked to Struns "Go with them and keep an open communication with Cramnal."

Struns firmly nodded and a slight imperceptible smile creased his lips.

"Emil look into medical texts and think along the lines of curses, possessions, and parasitic causes."

Emil nodded, his hand beneath his chin as he thought, "Very good idea Rachel. There are some enchantments that manifest as parasites within the brain, heart, and soul well. I will look into these. I may need to go to the great library with the others as well. The medical hall has many resources but the Great Library has been passively accumulating information for over two millennia."

Rachel nodded at this. It made sense. The great library was not just the repository of information about their realm but once someone from their realm stepped foot into another realm all information belonging to said realm would immediately be deposited into the great library.

Thr problem was avoiding "issues" within the Great Library while pursuing knowledge.

"Fine the rest of us will look into the chaos and its origins and current state. For the realm to be in a state of confusion it must be something that runs deep."

Bre set forward in his seat and met the gazes of everyone in the room. "We will need to start with Trannisa Conglomerate. They are the ones who wanted this ritual and Shain is a CEO there. The chaos has to be, at the very least related to the Conglomerate."

"Not necessarily brother." Bre looked to his brother Cer.

Cer usually didn't speak. He was the shortest of the siblings with amber eyes a short pudgy nose, and a broad mouth. None of it seemed to fit his slim face. He always seemed to be in a corner when out in public, observing. Rachel smiled at her brother, somehow missing the sound of his voice.

"I mean why all of a sudden has the Conglomerate decided on this course of action. Shain joined them because we were concerned about how some of the weaker continents were being treated and now Shain wants to kill our sister to gain control over the realm? It seems to smell of outside sources to me."

He thought for a moment 'Let's look into the Conglomerate but with the mindset that some outside entity has infiltrated. I feel that this is more feasible."

Bre smiled nodding his head "I like how you are thinking about this little brother. This is a good lead." He looked to Rachel "Cer and I will look into this. We both have political connections, control the guard, and Cer has connections with Small Color."

Rachel frowned "Small Color? You think the penal continent may be involved?"

Bre shrugged "Where else can an unknown slip in from?"

He had a point. When people entered from other realms and broke laws they were given trial periods for reform and if there seemed to be no change they were sent to Small Color.

The continent was called this because it stayed close to the darkness below and color became dull the closer one got to that abyss with colors disappearing all together until only black and white could be distinguished.

Of course thus happened to all with the exception of Sibba's crystal.

Rachel shrugged. "I am not sure there are too many possibilities." She looked to Cramnal "What do you think?"

"I think we need to think things through a bit more. Struns, Anis, Mis, and Emil can go to the Great Library and we can see if we can discover chaos in traditional ways before we make judgments."

Rachel nodded she understood what he meant. "Okay. We will go with Cramnal, Bre, and Cer's plans. We will all train our soul wells for the next three days so we become more sensitive to chaos and the natural balance of the realm. In three days we go on our specific missions. Rebecca with me and Cramnal with Bre and Cer."

She stood and stretched. She slowly moved to the sapphire pond.

"And where are you going now?"

Rachel looked at Anis with a smile. "I am going to speak to our brother. Didn't you notice that he entered the north wing of the house? His rooms are also the best place for you to complete a fate map."

Before anyone could react she had vanished from the room.