Beyond the Bloodline-Chapter 345: Council of Races

The hall was vast and circular, grand in every sense of the word, its domed ceiling layered with intricate designs and glittering crystal chandeliers that bathed the entire space in soft, diffused light.

Ornate carvings lined the edges of the room, and the polished floor gleamed beneath the light’s touch, giving the entire place a pristine, ceremonial air.

Over a thousand beings occupied the hall, seated across massive thrones that curved upward in a wide incline, forming rows that ringed the space like the terraces of a colosseum.

Each throne was distinct in its design, with some forged from metal, others carved from wood, crystalline structures, or even hovering constructs that floated inches above the ground. Some thrones held living, breathing occupants, while others displayed holograms in their place.

It was evident that the seated figures were divided by affiliation.

Every throne in one section was occupied by human men and women alike, some of them bearing youthful features, while many others appeared in their later years.

Elsewhere, another cluster sat filled with beings of notably long, pointed ears and slender frames—the elves, whose graceful bearing made them easily distinguishable.

Adjacent to them, another group sat composed of figures whose eyes glowed in hues of red, amethyst, or violet, every pair of which bore vertical slit pupils. Their ears, too, were slightly pointed, though not as prominently as the elves’, and when they opened their mouths to speak, sharp fangs became visible. These were the vampires.

Further along, another racial faction made their presence known through unmistakable features. Their ears, which were like those of wolves, sat upright atop their heads rather than at the sides, and their sharp fingernails bordered on claws. These were the werewolves.

Next to them sat a shorter group. Their stocky builds, full beards, broad shoulders, and thick arms made their lineage obvious, and their deep voices carried a grounded weight whenever they spoke. These were the dwarves.

Beside the dwarves was another race whose members bore long horns and eyes with slit, reptilian pupils. Some had faint scales tracing along the sides of their necks, while others showed no such traits and appeared entirely humanoid. These were the dragons, though several among them kept their racial features hidden.

Next, in stark contrast to the dwarves, were towering figures with wide shoulders, broad chests, and trunks built to support their sheer size. These were the giants, whose very presence demanded space.

Across from them sat another horned group, yet their horns differed distinctly. Unlike the dragons, whose horns came in various tones such as white, brown, red, and green, this group’s horns were always of darker shades: black, grey, or a deep, shadowed brown. These were the demons.

Directly opposite the demons sat a group whose presence radiated an opposing energy. Many among them bore faint, intangible halos hovering just above their heads. These were the angels.

Toward one side of the chamber was a faction composed entirely of women, the only group without a single male presence. Many of them wore pointed, wide-brimmed hats, and draped themselves in robes of varying colour. Witches, they were.

Directly across from them, as though by deliberate design, sat a faction composed solely of men. Most of them wore similarly styled robes, though heavier and adorned with magical sigils, and their arms were marked with tattoos that reached the sides of their faces. These were the warlocks.

There were those whose appearance seemed almost too ordinary at first glance, bearing subtle traits of other races, but the elemental energy radiating from them told a different story. These were the spirits, some in fully corporeal forms, others maintaining half-spiritual, intangible states.

Seated between these major players were members of lesser-known or independent races, scattered throughout the chamber without any defined grouping.

Among the many present, some were there in the flesh, others appeared only as holograms, and some, while physically present, were mere clones, proxies for their true bodies which remained entire universes away.

Even then, many seats scattered throughout the grand hall remained unoccupied.

The auras in the room varied widely. Some radiated intense, almost oppressive force, others radiated faintly perceivable auras, while a rare few emitted nothing at all, looking like ordinary people. But that absence of aura was itself a sign that they were anything but ordinary, as they had mastered their power to the point of complete concealment from perception.

The hall was filled with the sound of ongoing conversations. Some sat in silence, fingers drumming against the armrests of their thrones or tapping their feet against the floor in growing impatience. A few wore visible frowns, while others had already begun to doze off, heads tilted just enough to blur the line between feigned attentiveness and open indifference.

Suddenly, the massive double doors of the grand hall swung open, the sound drawing the attention of many within.

Stepping through them was a woman whose presence was at once both composed and chaotic, her long, glossy purplish hair slightly dishevelled and curling lightly at the ends, strands falling here and there in a way that made it unclear whether the disorder was accidental or intentional.

Either she’d just come from a battle or a 48-hour shift and had no intention of hiding it.

Her facial features were simple, clear-cut, and elegant, unadorned, but far from plain. Her skin was clear and smooth, her nose straight, and her lips neither thin nor full, but balanced in a way that complemented the overall harmony of her face. Her left iris matched the same violet hue as her hair, while the right held a calm, piercing blue.

She looked young, unmistakably so, the kind of youthful appearance that would make most guess her age to be around 20, perhaps 23 or 24 at most.

She wore corporate attire, the trousers of a fitted pantsuit paired with sneakers and a shirt with its first two buttons undone. Her tie was absent from her neck and instead hung loosely over her left shoulder, as though she had hurriedly removed it in frustration and simply never put it back.

Her hands were full, carrying a disorganised bundle of tablets stacked loosely in her arms, and as she walked in, she was rapidly switching between them, eyes moving from screen to screen as though searching for something specific.

The moment her foot touched the polished floor of the hall, one of the dragons seated along the upper incline of the chamber narrowed his eyes, and faster than any other voice in the room, bellowed out with deep disdain.

"You’re late, Miranda Scott! You dare to keep us waiting?!"

Without so much as flinching, she looked up from her tablets and stared at him directly, her tone calm.

"Yes, I dare to keep you waiting, because I was dealing with the mess that the dragon YOU, in particular, recommended for the position of Main Entity of Death caused."

Without breaking her stride, she pulled a tablet from the pile in her arms and flung it toward the throne where the dragon sat, the tablet spinning mid-air before slamming hard into the wide armrest, its screen already lit with what was clearly some form of report.

"If you haven’t heard, then Heilong, your personal recommendation, caused a pretty big incident in the Pinecone Galaxy exactly 156 24-hour days ago."

Her gaze shifted away from the dragons and moved to the vampires seated across the incline as she added.

"Last I checked... the Pinecone Galaxy is the territory of Lapis ARGERYAN."

The moment she said the name, close to half of the vampire faction reacted immediately. Eyes narrowed, they turned towards the dragons, some filled with open hostility, while others simply wore displeased expressions.

"And every single person in this room," Miranda continued, her voice as calm as ever, "understands the contributions of Tiris Argeryan during the war against that which should not be named. She was named an Honorary Royal by the vampires, and not only was she the only human to ever receive that title, she was also one of just five outsiders in the entire history of the Zanerth Universe’s vampires to be granted that recognition."

She let the weight of that statement settle before continuing.

"It was in Argeryan territory that Heilong thought it would be a brilliant idea to resurrect the Amorphous Space Beast, recently discovered to be a minion of you know who, and have it attack the Amphitheatre of Eternity."

At the mention of the Amphitheatre, as if on cue, the Angels, who had been simply watching the show, joined the vampires in directing displeased gazes toward the dragons.