Nero's eyes were glued onto the screen. The pressure on him had faded, and instead spread across the entire crowd. But maybe that was not the pressure of aether. Maybe that was just the pressure of laying eyes on something that could change the world forever.
It was the pressure of dreaming of a realm beyond that of sages, the pressure of an age changing before their very eyes. Whether what they sought existed or not was uncertain. But if it did exist, then the only place to search for it would be in the Eldrim ruins.
For nearly a thousand years, since the time the emperor brought forth the Eldrim cards and changed the course of history, people had been looking for new and unexplored ruins. For a thousand years they had been searching, and it wasn't as if more hadn't been found. But even if they were found, they were always out of reach.
Whether it were the spires of a city only vaguely visible through the fog that covered Lake Natura, or the towers clearly visible deep within the Jagged lands, or heck, even the ruins sometimes visible through the fog in the Aether Mountain range near the border of Kolar and Dolziya, many of them had been found. But all of them were out of reach.
Crossing into the fog that surrounded the six countries was death, plain and simple. Even if, on particularly windy days, the fog cleared a bit, after hundreds of years of trial, no one dared venture in anymore - not unless they had a death wish.
Similarly, the fog covering the depths of Lake Natura were nearly just as sinister. The fabled Mirage isle in the heart of the fog was named so because it might as well be a mirage, for no one had ever reached it. Though admittedly, sailors could technically enter the fog in the lake and return alive. It was just that they were more than likely to die, than not.
As for the Jagged lands, it was hopeless. Despite being the only discovered set of ruins that were technically accessible, it was just too dangerous. Even sages were not guaranteed survival against the numerous dangerous monsters that inhabited that place, let alone anyone else.
So throughout history, the ruins remained out of reach. Until now.
Nero could not shift his gaze from the visage of the city, seemingly still half buried. He could see the tops of buildings and towers, jutting out from the ground at the base of a mountain side. The way the city was spread, it almost seemed to continue into the mountain as well.
The most bizarre thing was how well preserved the city actually seemed, now that he was focusing on details.
Sure, there were some places where the tower walls had collapsed, and there were quite a few buildings which seemed to have caved in. But upon closer observation, one could also tell that all of these were recent additions.
The earthquake which had caused the landslide which revealed the city must have been responsible for at least half the damage, with the landslide itself causing the other half.
Even so, each and every tower was still rich with design. Careful grooves and channels were carved into the buildings, creating works of art that seemed to carry their way up the building.
Vibrant colours, red, green, blue, yellow and more were still visible under the layers of dirt that gripped the outer walls. Nero felt like he even saw remnants of a statue, though the way it had been blasted indicated that maybe it had been destroyed more recently, and on purpose.
They were called ruins, perhaps because they were old, but they were in much better condition than Nero could have imagined, especially considering how old they must have been.
After all, even one thousand years ago, the emperor still only encountered ruins.
The wonder of what he was seeing almost distracted Nero from the fact that the sage had just declared that they were at war. Almost.
Nero had to rip his gaze away from the screen to look at the sage. Despite his immense self confidence in his skills and power, Nero could not help but feel nervous. War was an entirely different kind of beast compared to fighting against curses. It was hard to say which one was more dangerous.
In the face of war, all his plans were void. How could he ever plan to steadily climb the ranks of the army and raise his cultivation, when every day might be his last? While that was equally true for curses, the thing about war was now they had to watch out for curses and other humans!
The number of things trying to kill them had effectively doubled, if not tripled.
He wondered if…
"To be honest, this is not what was planned for today," Haiden continued, disrupting the thoughts of everyone who was staring at the screens. "Today really was supposed to be about appreciating the heroes who rose up to the occasion, and protected one another. It was supposed to be about honouring the dead. It was about recognising heroes.
"But the events of yesterday, and especially last night, have changed plans. Now, more than ever, Kolar is in even greater need of heroes. As of right now, Kolar is entering a battle ready state. Curfew and states of emergency will be implemented across the country. A level 3 draft notice will be put into effect. Everyone, this ceremony is over.
Return to your homes and report to your local enlistment office to determine if you are supposed to report for duty. All active war protocols are officially in effect as of yesterday."
Haiden turned to look at Nero once, and gave him a soft smile, before once again flying away. No doubt he had countless things he needed to take care of now that they were at war.
What Nero didn't understand was… if the plan had changed, and they were at war now, why did he still put so much attention on Nero?
The life of a political prop was not easy.