The city of Stellaris is usually a humble peaceful city. Not much activity, with not even a total of one million people on its land. Stellaris has everything a city needs or wants. The governmental buildings, the embassies for other nations, markets and centers of shopping along with hotels, businesses, food, restaurants, transportation, docks, shipping yards, railyards, various amounts of entertainment in parks, sporting tournaments, racing, clubs, libraries, and much more, and centers of learning, and of course, the living space for all the citizens of Stellaris. The roads are paved unlike a lot of other areas that aren't cities, as horses with carts trot down delivering freight or people. Because of the middle of winter, the Stellary sea has frozen over, and the transportation of ships have halted in Stellaris. The trains continue their routes upon the stations and rail lines, moving back and forth from the islands and the mainland. Multiple trains travel and the steam rises into the air as the whistles pierce the sound of the city.
During the middle of the day usually, the marketplace and restaurants and the shopping centers are bustling with both tourists and citizens. The giggles of young children can be heard as they run around and play, as the chatter of people is everywhere, and the clomp of horses and the sound of wheels on pavement. The footsteps are everywhere as people walk to and from the places they were at and where they journey to next. The streets are bustling, as people meet up and chatter.
But not today. The streets are silent. The market is closed. Shops are empty. It looks like a ghost town, until you head to Coven Leader Malice's castle... where it seems the whole residence of Stellaris is protesting, yelling, screaming, two sides against each other. One side is for war. The otherside is for peace. Protests scream and holler out as they continue to protest. Guards and police officers hold back the protesters, and nothing has gotten violent... yet. It seems like the whole nation's news stations and reporters are there as well, getting opinions, getting facts, eating up everything for the press.
Inside the castle, Coven Leader Malice is in her study, at her desk made of spruce, writing on a piece of paper with her quill. She pauses, looking at the paper, and then dips her quill into the ink pot again, and continues to write. She is soon finished, and yells out "SALLY! GET THE MESSENGER PIGEON! IT'S HEADING TO THE NEW WISCONSIN EMPIRE!" A female voice yells back from the hall "GOT IT!"
Soon the window of Malice's study creaks open, and a pigeon flies out heading North West, towards the nation of the New Wisconsin Empire. Malice hears the protesting going on, and she sighs, adjusting her hat. She mumbles that she is getting too sick to deal with the Coven, but she still insists to the Council that she is still well enough to lead, and with Lilia in a foreign country, not yet married nor not even close to being taught about how to run the Coven. Malice sighs, and puts on a pair of boots, tying them. She sighs again, taking a heavy breath, and says "Time to go deal with this..." She exits the study, and heads down the stairs, and a guard runs up, panting, and says "There are so many protesters... they are going to just overflow like a wave it seems..." Malice nods and pushes the guard aside, and she walks out of the castle, walking calmly down the path to the gates. Her boots barely make any sound as she steps along the dirt and gravel path, and she steps through the gates.
The instant the populace see her, people are screaming and yelling, people pushing forward, reporters yelling and notebooks floating. Malice calmly stops and yells at the top of her lungs "ENOUGH!" The populace doesn't hear her and continue screaming and yelling. Questions are thrown at her like rocks, and Malice sighs and says "First time I ever had to do this..." She opens up one of her books floating next to her, and with using the power of the wind itself, she makes a wind blast carry her voice which is so loud and spread so far, it could be heard in other nations, even in space. The word she yell is "SILENCE!"
As the gust dies down, the populace slowly quiets down, and Malice coughs and says "People of Stellaris! I know what you are thinking! Some of you want war against the enemy, wanting to invade the territory, kill the soldiers, and show them what hell feels like! But others want peace! Want diplomatic ways! Want to have harmony between us and the Wisconsin Empire. I have sent a letter, to the leader of the New Wisconsin Empire, and, I shall not tell you what is in that letter, as it is Council business. Just know that you can safely sleep tonight knowing that you and your families are safe." Malice stops, waiting the crowd to process this information. Murmurs are heard. A couple arguments break out but are not that bad... Malice calmly says "I have not said this yet, for I did not know how it would affect the Coven... but I am sick. Very sick. The Wither Curse has affected me. In a matter of a couple of weeks, I will be no more than just ashes on the ground." The crowd gasps, shocked as the thought of the Wither Curse, especially upon their leader, was unimaginable.
Malice slowly turns around, and walks back through the gates, staggering in breath and pace, as reporters start to yell questions and the crowd erupts into chaos again, questions flying everywhere like bullets on a battlefield.
