After discussing all the details with Rugidigus and Marus, the commander of the Naughts, the previous night, I did my daily duties of eating meat and drinking water so I could start the plan as soon as possible.
I was pretty sure the Naughts were willing to cooperate with us since they had already faced the danger. I just had to convince the Draughts on my side. Doing so would make the common enemy the new threat and unite both sides for a while.
The Naughts were roaming around after their full healing. The healing campaigns had completed their objectives, so the medics were moving back to their usual work. The Draught guards were keeping a close watch on the Naughts for security reasons.
Let's see, what can I do? I'm the hero of this tribe, so I think my words will have a lot of weight when I tell them about the situation, right? Hmm, let's do that.
I walked to a freshly built stage which I had told Rugidigus to build overnight. A bell was placed on it to alert everyone to attend the announcement. I grabbed the rope hanging from the bell and shook it gently. The bell chimed, and everyone started to gather around the stage. Hmm, there are a lot of people. They are diligent.
I held out a paper marked with a magic circle and placed it in front of my mouth as I spoke. Apparently, it was enchanted with magic that amplified the voice coming through it.
I took a deep breath, the enchanted paper cool against my lips. The murmuring crowd of Draughts fell silent, their eyes fixed on me. I could see the suspicion in some gazes as they noticed the Naughts also lingering at the edges of the gathering, listening intently.
"People of the Draughts!" My voice boomed, amplified and clear across the entire camp.
"Today,I stand before you to talk about a serious matter. The Naughts were not our only enemy. They, too, have been attacked."
I gestured towards the Naughts. "Their leader, Cherry, a warrior of immense strength, lies near death in our camp. Not by our hand, but by a creature of pure darkness that appeared out of nowhere. A being which is after both species. A being that declared it would return... for all of us."
The silence was now absolute, thick with tension.
"This ancient war between us was built on a lie, a poison seeded by a shadow long ago to divide us! That same shadow has now shown its true face! It does not care if you wield magic or aura! It sees only two races it wants to wipe out!"
I slammed my fist into my palm, the crack echoing through the magic amplifier. "I will not let that happen! Rugidigus and Marus, commander of the Naughts, have already agreed. Our survival is now bound together! This ends now! The fighting between us ends today!"
I looked out over the sea of faces, seeing fear, confusion, but also a dawning understanding.
Suddenly, a voice came from the crowd. A young but muscular Draught spoke up, "Why are we helping Naughts? We should be strong enough to defeat the dark being ourselves!" Several other fellow Draughts nodded along with him.
"Strong enough?" I repeated, my amplified voice echoing his challenge back at the crowd. "Is that what you believe? Then answer me this."
I paused, letting the silence press in. "If we are so strong, why did this 'strong' Naught leader, who fights with an art we do not understand, lie broken and defeated by this very enemy? An enemy that, according to their scouts, had the power to regenerate from every attack? Only a legendary technique from their tribe was able to banish it temporarily. It was not a permanent death. It will come back again!"
I leaned forward, my gaze sweeping across the doubters. "Pride is a luxury for times of peace. This is a time of survival. This dark being is a predator. And a predator always seeks out the divided, the isolated, the weak. It knows that a herd that fights within itself is easy to pick off, one by one."
I pointed at the young Draught who had spoken. "You are brave. Your spirit is what makes our people great. But I am not asking you to lay down your arms in friendship. I am commanding you to aim them at the true enemy!"
I gestured to the Naughts again. "They are not our allies out of love. They are our weapons out of necessity! Their aura can disrupt this creature in ways our magic cannot. Our magic can bind and strike it in ways their fists cannot. Alone, we are a puzzle it has already solved. But together? Together we are a storm it has never seen!"
I let my voice drop slightly, the tone shifting from a roar to a grave, unwavering command. "So I ask you again, not as a request, but as your Hero: Do you want to be 'strong enough' and risk annihilation? Or do you want to be victorious? The choice is yours, but choose wisely. Our future depends on it."
There were several murmurs after this. I could see them discussing the matter with each other. What will they do? That was the question now.
Another voice spoke up, "Should we forget all the mass murders the Naughts did?" Then, another voice responded back from the Naughts' side, "What do you mean? Your side also killed a lot of our members for no reason!"
The situation was escalating. Perfect. This was the core conflict, and it had to be confronted head-on.
I let the angry shouts from both sides volley back and forth for a moment, allowing the raw, painful history to fill the air. Then, I raised my hands, and the magic in the amplifier pulsed, not with sound, but with a wave of pressure that demanded silence.
"ENOUGH!"
The word cracked through the square, stunning everyone into quiet.
"You are both right!" I declared, my voice ringing with grim acknowledgement. "You are both right! Look at each other! See the hatred? See the pain? That is the proof of the Void's victory! It did not need to lift a sword for centuries because you have been wielding them for it!"
I stepped to the very edge of the stage, my gaze sweeping over both the Draughts and the Naughts.
"Every life you have each lost to the other... is a life that will not be here to stand against the true enemy. Every grave you have dug for your enemy is a monument to the Void's success in dividing you. It has used your own hands to weaken you for the slaughter that is now coming."
I let that terrible truth sink in. The air was thick with the weight of it.
"I am not asking you to forget the dead. I am asking you to avenge them! Their deaths were not noble. They were not necessary. They were a trick! A cruel, centuries-long trick played on both of you! The being that orchestrated this war is the same one that nearly killed your leader. Honor your fallen not by continuing its game, but by ending it!"
I pointed a finger, first at the Draught who spoke of murders, then at the Naught who shouted back.
"That anger you feel? Good. Do not let it fade. But do not aim it at each other anymore. Forge it into a single, unbreakable blade of vengeance. The enemy that truly deserves your rage is the one who made you orphans, who made you widows, who made you childless. It is the same enemy that will return to finish the job."
My voice lowered, becoming intense, almost a whisper that the magic carried to every ear.
"So I ask you now: Will you let the shadow win? Will you die for its lie, having killed each other until the last of you falls? Or will you finally, after all these generations, turn and face the real enemy together?"
I let the question hang, a challenge and a plea fused into one. The silence that followed was no longer just tense; it was the possibility of a new, bloody, but united future.
Several Naughts and Draughts were looking down in sadness and understanding. They knew what I was speaking was the truth. Some of them were looking at me with new hope and determination.
This was the turning point. The energy had shifted from defiant anger to grim, painful understanding. Now, I had to give that energy a direction—an immediate, tangible action.
I looked over the crowd, meeting the eyes of those filled with new determination.
"That fire in your eyes... that is what we need. Not the cold embers of an old hatred, but the forge-fire of a new purpose." I let my voice rise again, not in a shout, but with the force of absolute conviction. "The time for words is over. The time for action begins now."
I turned to Rugidigus and Marus, who were watching intently from the side. "Leaders! Form the War Council. Select your captains. Now!"
Then, I addressed the crowd again. "And for the rest of you! You want to honor your dead? You want to prove your strength? Then follow my commands."
I raised a fist high into the air. "Draughts! I want your best magic-wielders, your rune-carvers, to assemble on the eastern perimeter. You will begin constructing the greatest defensive barrier this land has ever seen!"
I then swung my pointed finger towards the Naughts. "Naughts! Your warriors, your aura-smiths, will join them! You will inlay your power into their magic. You will work side-by-side. You will learn each other's rhythms. You will build our shield together!"
A few looks of hesitation remained, but they were overwhelmed by the determined nods.
"This is not a request. This is the first order of our Last Stand. We will not wait for the enemy to find us. We will prepare a welcome it will never forget!"
I jumped down from the stage, landing squarely between the two factions. "The first joint work begins immediately. Let's move!"