The king of the Sea Tirites had called an urgent meeting with his councillors and wise men, and with a swish of his royal robes, he entered the large meeting hall. All the men were already seated at the large round mahogany table, except for the chief of Tiritia's army who had only just rushed in looking half-asleep. He earned a glare from the king before hastily stuffing himself between the armrests of his high-backed chair.

"We are here to discuss our last and final attack on the Sen Cyrians," the king began in his gravelly voice. At the age of 34, he was fit, strong, and quite handsome for a Sea Tirite, but a battle wound to his throat had damaged his vocal chords, making him sound like a 74 year old.

"Yes, yes, we have been discussing this for weeks now, what's new?" someone a few seats away mumbled. An irritating buzz arose as others began complaining about the awful hour of the meeting.

"Silence!" the king shouted. "If you had let me finish," he glared at his advisors, "you would've heard that we just received new information. The Sen Cyrians have summoned outside help to defeat us when we come. We don't yet know who or what, but I dare say nothing much could withstand our mighty forces. However, we still need to take every threat seriously," he paused for effect as his subjects solemnly waited for him to continue. "I say we march out within the week to conquer their land and peoples once and for all!"

This unexpected announcement was met with a hubbub of surprise. "A week! Is that a wise thing to do, Sire?" "What back-up could they possibly find?" "What if they do defeat us?" "Bah, we could wipe them all out tomorrow!" "Yes, let's destroy them all as soon as possible!"

One of the king's wise men, Hashbaz, piped up rather timidly with his slow, aging voice, "Our most honourable Sire, what if, after we kill our greatest enemy, Cyrus, the legend proves to be true? and this whole universe ceases to exist?" "Yes," someone else dared to agree, "What would happen to us then?"

"Fools!" the king shouted. He had a habit of shouting when his advisors disagreed with him. "Do you think I, Haemon, the great King of Tiritia, would believe that stupid Sen Cyrian fable? They only shove that lie down our throats to stop us from killing them! I will not rest until every Sen Cyrian is dead, including the evil Cyrus himself." His eyes met each other pair around the table, "I now declare, in six days on the new moon, the last regiment of troops will be marching out toward the Land of Sen Cyrus!"

"Hooray!" "Long live the king." "It will be done as you say, Sire." "Let's get the nasty Sen Cyrians!" "We will rule over all." The room echoed with words of cruelty towards the peaceful Sen Cyrians, as their deaths were plotted and strategies were finalised to bring about universal destruction.

But, in the shadows of a doorway, a young male servant watched on from behind a marble pillar. He had heard what he needed to hear. He knew what he needed to do. As soon as the meeting would end, he would be on his horse galloping off towards the Land of Sen Cyrus.

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Emily absent-mindedly twirled the straw in her glass. She had come home from the beach exhausted but relieved. Super relieved that Billy was safe, and she couldn't keep thanking God enough for that. She had been praying to Him non-stop the last few days, and when she saw Billy riding a wave on his kayak this afternoon, her heart nearly burst with thankfulness.

She enjoyed a nice long, hot, shower before throwing together a quick dinner. She wasn't really hungry, so she just made a quick green smoothie. Now, as she sat on her back porch beside her flower pots, contemplating the recent events, she was asking God to give them all strength and guidance as they navigated these choppy waters. How would Billy get people to believe his story? How could he round up enough men to go and fight an unknown enemy in an unseen world? Did she even really believe him? Billy needed her faith, but she needed the strength from God.

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Emily went over to Billy's house bright and early the next morning to discuss what to do next. He and his parents only lived a few minutes' drive away, and as she knocked on their front door Billy greeted her with a huge grin and pulled her inside. "Dad has decided to go along with my story for now, and help me save the other universe!"

"Wow, really? That's great," she gushed. "Why the change of heart?"

"I don't know really. He said he prayed about it all night, and felt like it's the right thing to do," he followed her into the kitchen where his mum was making mulberry pancakes.

"Well, I've been praying about it heaps too," Emily spoke between mouthfuls of delicious pancake, "and I think the hardest part will be finding 200 men who are happy to just swim out and get swallowed by a killer whale. How in the world are we gonna convince them to do that?"

"Yeah, I figured that too..." Billy offered her a glass of juice. "But, if God wants us to save this other world, then He'll give us everything we need to do it, right?"

"Exactly," Billy's mum, Alice, joined in. "God has already sent you to the other world to get the message, and He wouldn't have given you an impossible task."

Billy's father came in from watering the plants outside, "Good morning, Emily. What did I miss?" his wife handed him a plate of pancakes after he kissed her on the cheek.

"Hey, g'morning," Emily smiled at him, "We've just been discussing what to do now..."

"Well, I reckon we should make an announcement at church tomorrow, then maybe as many churches as we can get to afterwards," Jay told them all his idea. "Perhaps God will make some men listen to us and want to help. I mean, no one in their right mind would believe such a fantastic story...."

"You're right," Billy agreed, "but I'll talk to our pastor and some of my friends today. We need to organise the men as soon as we can."

"Is there a deadline for this? When did the governors, or Cyrus or whoever, say they needed the men by?" Alice questioned.

"Good point, I didn't think to ask. I'm pretty sure they just said to find them straight away. Who knows when the fatal attack might come on the Sen Cyrians?

~~~

But someone did know, and he was riding for all he was worth to bring the terrible news to Cyrus himself.

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"How long do you think it will take for Jace to find 200 strong men?" Roakin put his question forward at a meeting with the other 3 governors and Cyrus. They were seated in an antechamber of Cyrus' private manor. The large sandstone house sprawled on the edge of Whale Lake, lending itself to amazing views of the peaceful water and majestic mountainous backdrop.

"Give him time," Cyrus said assuredly. "God will help him and he will complete this first task soon enough. I have every faith in him that he is the right man, as I have only chosen him because of God's prodding." Cyrus took a deep breath, smiling like he knew a secret, and poured himself some more sassafras tea.

"There is something I must share with you, my loyal friends. When God gave me the power to create this universe, He told me that one day the very existence of it would be threatened. He said that He would give another human being the power to ultimately rescue it when the fated time comes," Cyrus gazed solemnly out the window, enjoying the cool breeze blowing in from the deep blue water. "Well, over the last thousands of years, everyone has been so peaceful that I almost forgot what God promised. But now that the Sea Tirites have almost destroyed us completely, I am beginning to think the time is near."

He studied the expressions on the men's faces as they urged him to continue with his prophetic tale. "I believe Jace is the man who will lead us into victory, and with God's power and strength, save our entire universe. We will leave everything to God's timing, and trust His Will will be done."

Just then, without warning, the heavy wooden door to the chamber burst open, and a teenager dressed in dusty servant's garments staggered in before collapsing onto the cold stone floor.

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Ok, so this is the nasty King Haemon!! I know, I know, he's bad but he can still be good-looking right?!? x)
So....what do you all think? So many things happening in this chapter!! :) :D if you liked it, don't forget to vote and leave a comment if you want to B-) Thanks for reading :)