The sun beat down mercilessly on the desert, but inside the stone-walled chamber, the air was thick for an entirely different reason. Tension crackled in the space between the gathered leaders.
One day had passed since the battle at the pyramid. The blood had dried, the bodies had been buried, but the war was far from over.
Morpheus sat at the long stone table, his expression unreadable as he leaned back in his chair. Across from him, Tenzin, the ICW Head, sat with his hands folded in front of him, his face impassive but his gaze sharp. To his right, Albus Dumbledore sat with that same look of mild amusement he always wore when things were getting interesting.
The room was filled with representatives from magical governments across the world—Grigori Petrov from Russia, Mei-Lin Zhao from China, Adebayo Okafor from Nigeria, and others. But the man who seemed to be barely holding back his frustration was the same ICW officer who had confronted Morpheus the night before.
He leaned forward, his hands flat against the table. "We're done playing games, Everglade. You created the Anchor Points. You know what they are, where they are, and why these things are after them." His voice was low, tight with barely restrained anger. "You're going to start talking. Now."
Morpheus exhaled slowly. "You already know what they are," he said, voice calm, measured. "They were broadcasted to the world, weren't they?"
The officer's jaw tightened. "We know what they do. We don't know how they work. And we don't know how to defend them."
"You just saw how we needed to defend them," Morpheus murmured, tilting his head slightly. "You should be asking how we stop the invasion entirely."
Silence.
Then, finally, Mei-Lin Zhao spoke. "Is it true? If they break the Anchor Points, the Veil will fall?"
Morpheus met her gaze. "Yes."
A ripple of unease passed through the room.
"The Veil," Grigori Petrov muttered under his breath, shaking his head. "It's the only thing keeping them out."
Adebayo Okafor let out a slow breath. "And how many of these Anchor Points do we still have left?"
Morpheus didn't answer right away. He could feel their eyes on him, waiting, expecting.
Finally, he said, "Enough to hold—for now."
The ICW officer slammed his fist against the table. "That's not an answer."
Morpheus gave him a lazy smile. "It's the only one you're getting."
Tenzin raised a hand, silencing the growing murmurs of frustration. His expression remained calm, but there was something expectant in his gaze as he looked at Morpheus.
"The past is irrelevant now," Tenzin said. "What matters is how we move forward. How do we defend these Anchor Points?"
"Irrelevant." Morpheus muttered as if he were tasting the words, "No the past is relevant, it is the entire reason we are in the situation we are in now. You want to know why I do not tell you all where they are? Because I do not trust you, the past has proven to me people will easily throw their ties to humanity away for a nip of power."
A heavy silence fell over the room.
Dumbledore, who had been silent until now, finally spoke. "We cannot treat this as an isolated incident. This was not an invasion of a single location. It was a test." His blue eyes flickered toward Morpheus. "And I suspect our enemies learned exactly what they needed to."
Morpheus inclined his head slightly. "Yes. They learned that we aren't united, the ICW not being there in the beginning wasn't good." He paused. "They also learned I still have more than enough strength to hold them back."
Tenzin exhaled. "Then we fortify." His gaze swept over the room. "Reinforcements will be needed at every known Anchor Point. We cannot afford to lose one."
"Agreed," Mei-Lin Zhao said. "But we need more than just wands and warriors. We need to know how they're targeting the Anchor Points. Are they tracking them magically? Is there a pattern?"
Morpheus sighed. "There's no pattern. No spell to break. They know where they are."
Adebayo frowned. "How?"
Morpheus met his gaze. "Because this war has been going on for centuries, battles like this are just the beginning. They know were the anchor points are because they've had countless years to find them."
The ICW officer let out a slow breath, shaking his head. "Then we're always going to be on the back foot. We'll never see them coming until it's too late."
Dumbledore's expression turned thoughtful. "Not necessarily." He looked at Morpheus. "You created them. You understand them better than anyone. Is there a way to reinforce them? Strengthen them? Move them?"
Morpheus considered this.
Then, slowly, he said, "we can improve the defenses but moving one isn't an option. An anchor has been moved once before but it was damaged in the process."
Albus looked pensive for a moment before sighing, "You need to tell us where they are Morpheus how will we be able to help defend them if we are always on the back foot."
Morpheus nodded a grin slowly spreading to his lips, "They are spread across the world, there is one in Asia. Mei Lin, you will have to work with the headmaster of Mahoutokoro Kazuki is an old friend and is familiar with the anchor over there."
Mei Lin instantly scowled, "Kazuki?" she bit, "He knows and he didn't mention anything?"
Morpheus ignored her, "Albus there is one in England but not to worry, it is heavily guarded by hundreds of wizards and witches for now." he said with a smile
"Really?" Albus asked raising his brow, "Where?"
"Not to worry it's safe, ah there is one in America inside the Grand Canyon." he mentioned, "And of course the one here."
Tenzin looked skeptical, "You said you won't tell us but now suddenly you are telling us all of the locations what changed your mind?"
Morpheus chuckled, "You all changed my mind of course!" he then stood, "Now if you will excuse me I need to see to the injured."
"We haven't even touched on the ghost of a pharaoh and jackal you call Anubis inside the pyramid." Tenzin said standing as well
"All anchors inherently have defenses, Khufu and Anubis are the ones for this anchor. There are others that should be here as well to help the defense but, they seemed to have run off." Morpheus replied
"And you?"
"What about me?" Morpheus asked
"We haven't even begun to talk about you, your supposed brother who is one of the most renowned dark lords to date. Nor have we discussed the final anchor, humanity. You should be jailed Morpheus." Tenzin rattled anger fueled his veins
Morpheus's eyes narrowed at tenzin, "You mistake me for one of your little soldiers tenzin. You are but a child in a war that you and everyone else have no idea to fight. And why you might ask, because you and your ancestors decided to forget about them. I didn't forget! My brother a dark Lord? There was no such thing during those years. And humanity? Let me be clear with you all, I would rather humanity go extinct than have them rule over us once more."
The silence inside the room was deafening.