Luckily for the council members the chairs that were still standing when they made their way back inside. 11 of them sat down as Neferus made her way around the others and helped cover up their new injuries again and putting what magic she had to spare into helping whatever injuries that they did have to heal at a faster rate, bandaging up the larger injuries that would take longer to heal. There was a silence that surrounded them, the feeling that they knew what was out there and how just looking at them made them all free made them frightened. They had already fought battle after battle and they had been failing, they had to rely on someone who wasn't a part of the council, who didn't even live anywhere close to the Main City.

"We need to do something," Xelqua said, "We need to get better. Those watchers and admins were able to petrify us by just standing there and looking at us! We barely even managed to survive the last attack and they- they're even more powerful than them,"
The young watcher was freaking out, everyone was but he was currently the only one vocalising it. Erin was the next to say something, "I'm scared. We aren't prepared for them, no one is,"
Everyone else seemed to agree with the sentiment but many of them didn't feel like talking they all knew that they weren't powerful enough to protect them, that even though they were some of the most powerful of the generation they had nothing on the generations that came beforehand. "Have we heard anything from the High Leader? Because we could really use some more power at the moment," Blaze asked, the second part was said under his breath.

Gryff and Lysabel looked at each other for a second, pain visible on their face when the High Leader was mentioned, they both turned back to the rest of the council members and Gryff said, "We still haven't heard anything,"
Then under her breath, Lysabel said, "Even if she should be here right now,"

Xelqua didn't really know what to think of the High Leader at the moment, and from what he faintly heard Lysabel say, she wasn't sure either. He cast a glance around the room after the question had been answered and he could see the strain on the faces of the rest of the council members and that hint of distrust barely visible but it was there. It was hard to still place the same amount of trust in her when she wasn't there now that they needed her more than ever. Even though Xelqua lost some of the trust that he had in Astaria at least she was there, she had helped him remember what was right and helped free everyone from the alternate reality; she chose to no longer keep herself hidden so she could help; she helped push back the first appearance of the attackers from 600-700 years ago so that they were able to be more prepared; she helped save him from Mirinn who was prepared to kill him before coming out and being the main factor of getting rid of the attackers and then again pushing back the attackers until she had run very low on magic.

He trusted Astaria more than he did the person who stop the admin and watcher war, it was hard not to. Astaria held many secrets, and he wasn't completely sure that she didn't hold more, but he had known her for less time than the High Leader and he had been a part of the council for a while at this point. He knew that the High Leader had many secrets and never shared them, such as how no one had ever seen her face, even Lysabel and Gryff who had known her for 100 years didn't even know her hair colour. So much was going on and he was still wrapping his head around how Astaria was actually related to him, his mind was still going over that information when they were chucked into two battles.

"So I assume we aren't going to wait for the High Leader to come, so are we going to actually do something?" Zyrex said, and then under his breath, so only Xelqua and Blaze, the two that were standing the closest to him, were able to hear, "Since it doesn't she actually gives a ⎓⚍ᓵꖌ,"

Gryff, who heard the annoyance in Zyrex's voice, calmly said, "We will start with having as many high-ranking admins and watchers help those who have lower rankings help improve their abilities so that way if another similar attack happens we can have better control, or any control if the attack increase as their power increases,"

Lysabel then turned towards Xelqua, "If you can, let Astaria know that we could use her to help improve our own abilities as well and help as many people as possible improve theirs as well, for both admins and watchers,"

"I'll tell if she doesn't already know, she can read lips using watcher vision and after everything I assume she would want to know what is going on," Xelqua said.

"So what will we-," Via was about to ask when she stopped, and a bit of frustration seemed to lace her face.

Blaze was the next to look where Via was and the frustration and anger were more visible on his face, and then the same feelings spread across everyone else's faces as their eyes turned up to where the twins were looking. Xelqua's own frustration was quite visible on his face but it didn't compare to Lysabel's let alone Gryff's, who were both fuming, and since Gryff rarely got this angry which sent its own chill throughout the room. Their eyes were drawn up to a set of double doors that were behind a balcony that look over the room where the council members were sitting. As the doors closed the sound echoed around the silent room, where a pin drop could have been heard. Standing on the balcony was a watcher with a mask covering the whole of her face. They were frustrated because the High Leader had finally turned up, too late for anyone's liking. 

WC~ 1041

A/N: Update on how the prequel is going - only have three chapters left to write. I was originally aiming for 1000 words per chapter but it has ended up being closer to 2000 words. Have a good day/night!

Also I'm actually on time for once!