'They must be stopped' came the rallying cry, the voice behind it deep and powerful, seeming to resonate as deeply as a war drum around the walls of chamber, gathering in power and force as it rolled around those that stood assembled. 'And to do so adequately, we must escalate things before the humans do. No more parlour tricks, no more warnings, no more signs of our displeasure.' He stooped for a moment, giving dramatic pause before continuing. 'Swift vengeance, swift justice, swift death.' The clamour of voices that began to sound in the wake of his speech was enough to deafen a mortal man - shrill high pitched voices, mingling with those much deeper, clashing together as hundreds of voices seeked to make themselves and their opinions known at the expense of their neighbours.<br/><br/>'We would expect nothing more from beasts such as yourselves... And to make it sound as if you are awaiting taking such action is nothing more than an insult to us all - we know all too well of your attempt upon the life of one of the humans, of your attempt to crush him with his own machine...' the voice that came in reply sounded as if several voices had been compressed into one, each voice a millisecond out of time with the others. 'They are not beasts - unlike your kind, they can be reasoned with. It is only a matter of time.' Once more another round of shouting began as those assembled threw barbed insults and cheers of support in equal quantities.<br/><br/>The barrier in the centre of the chamber rippled slowly - the magic's that allowed the two courts to communicate wavering like the waters of a pond across which the settling suns rays skipped, shimmering with an unearthly beauty between the two speakers. Behind them, the chamber appeared to be split into two distinct halves - each side of the shimmering barrier distinctly different from the other. The chamber upon the side of the first speaker appeared to be hewn roughly from the rock itself - a darkly oppressive rock shot through in numerous places with veins of a dull metallic grey metal that gleamed menacingly in the light that spluttered forth from the few braziers dotted around that side of the chamber, braziers constructed from twisted rivet covered metal that seemed to exude more in the way of dark greasy smoke than they did light. Upon the far wall of this chamber, behind the collection of menacing creatures that filled it, there hung a tattered banner adorned with an eight sided star. The speaker that stood before the barrier upon that side of the chamber appeared to be of vaguely human proportions, but were one to try to focus upon his form they would find themselves unable to - as if they were looking at a shape through intense heat haze.<br/><br/>The other side of the chamber was a pleasure to look upon - a construction of pure white marble which appeared to glow from within, bathing the room and the considerably more friendly looking creatures within it in a soft golden light that gently pulsated. The speaker that stood upon that side of the barrier appeared to be little more than a bright golden light, dimming occasionally just enough for one to see the merest flutter of gossamer wings and the outline of a feminine body before the glow would become too much for the onlooker to continue their study. 'You know as well as I that we must tread carefully here, lest we risk the humans disturbing the Ancient... Already his slumber is disturbed, already we see the physical manifestations of his dreams here - it will not be much longer before those manifestations find their way to the mortal plane.'<br/><br/>'Save your words. We have dealt with the repercussions of his stirring here without issue unlike your feeble Court. We will not allow you to interfere - I have nothing more to say.' A simple wave of his hand, and the barrier dissipated into thick black smoke like that which poured forth from the braziers - revealing the rest of the rough hewn chamber, empty of seats.<br/><br/>A grin spread across the face of the speakers he turned to the assembled host behind him - not that many would have been able to see such a fleeting show of emotion upon his face. There was never any chance of him and his kind helping their Court, but the debate between them was still necessary so that they might think they too wished the Ancient to remain within his centuries old slumber, that they would not realise until it was too late that they in fact seeked to hasten his awakening and had helped the mortals to that effect secretively over the past months.<br/><br/>'It is time my brethren. We must see to it that the Ancient is awakened, we must suffer no interference from mortal or fae, for when he wakes  it will usher in a new age for us - an age where we will be able to walk freely upon the mortal realm without need to hide ourselves. Let them reap what they have sewn - and let us collect the spoils!'