The morning began far too quietly.
There was no urgency, no guild summons, no servants running through the halls with unexpected messages. The mansion felt suspended in time, as if the outside world had decided to ignore us for an entire day.
And that, strangely, bothered me.
I woke early and walked to one of the upper-floor windows. The garden was damp with dew, the leaves shining under the soft sunlight. Everything looked… normal. Beautiful, even.
"This stillness is strange," I thought.
I went down to the main hall and found Vespera sitting at the table, cleaning her blade with excessive calm.
"You woke up early," I said.
"I couldn't sleep," she replied without looking up. "Too much silence usually comes before trouble."
I smiled slightly. "You always think like that."
"And I'm almost always right."
Soon after, Elara appeared, yawning, her loose hair falling over her shoulders.
"Good morning," she said, pouring herself some tea. "Did someone die during the night, or did the world decide to give us a break?"
"A break," I replied. "For now."
Liriel was the last to come down. She walked slowly, still sleepy, but with that attentive look that never completely disappeared.
"I dreamed of noise," she commented. "Like something large was moving, very far away."
Vespera raised her eyes. "That doesn't help."
We had breakfast together, something that had been becoming routine. Light conversations appeared and died quickly. None of us wanted to directly touch on the subject that had been hanging in the air since the previous day.
Three Generals.
The words didn't need to be spoken to be present.
After breakfast, each of us followed our own pace. Elara decided to explore a rarely used wing of the mansion. Vespera went to train in the inner courtyard. Liriel stayed in the improvised library, flipping through old books the king had sent as part of the "gift."
I simply walked.
I passed through the wide corridors, touched the well-crafted stone walls, observed tapestries that narrated ancient battles. Stories of heroes who won wars, but almost never showed what came after.
"Did they also have moments like this?" I thought. "Before everything collapsed or exploded?"
In the courtyard, I watched Vespera fight against the air. Each strike was precise, controlled. There was no anger, only discipline.
"You fight as if you're waiting for something," I commented.
She stopped and took a deep breath. "Because I am."
"For what?"
"An answer."
I didn't insist.
In the afternoon, we received an unexpected visit. A guild messenger, far too young to carry that weight in his eyes.
"It's not a summons," he said quickly, as if wanting to avoid misunderstandings. "It's just… information."
He handed over a small scroll and left without waiting for a response.
I broke the seal.
Nothing explicit. No direct threat. Just fragmented reports: strange movements in distant regions, silent cults being dismantled, lesser demons acting in a less chaotic and more coordinated way.
"They are organizing," Elara commented while reading over my shoulder.
"Or someone is organizing them," Liriel added.
Vespera crossed her arms. "Deceptive calm."
The rest of the day passed slowly. There were no missions. No orders. No alarms.
At dusk, we all sat on the veranda, watching the sky change colors.
"Funny," Elara said. "If this were a story, this would be the moment when the narrator says everything seemed fine… but it wasn't."
"You've been thinking too much about stories," I replied.
"Or you've been pretending not to notice the signs."
I didn't argue back.
When night fell, the mansion was lit by soft torches. The servants retired early, as if they felt the same discomfort we did.
I went to bed earlier that time. The exhaustion didn't come from the body, but from the mind.
I closed my eyes trying to convince myself that we deserved that rest. That there was nothing wrong with enjoying the peace for one night.
But something, deep inside, whispered otherwise.
The war had not stopped.
It was only breathing.
And I had the clear feeling that, when it started moving again, it would not give us time to wake up.