Downclaw looked down at the pedestal before him and took a deep breath in. He lifted his eyes to see the mass of people stood before him, all waiting with bated breath, to hear what he was about to say.

“And so it has come to this, my dear compatriots. It has come to this.” Downclaw nodded slightly, his expression grim, his furry white eyebrows furrowed.

He moved his hand to readjust his grey suit jacket, his blue piercing eyes scanning the crowd for the one - the key to their future. Had she turned up? She must be here. She must be.

“The enemy,” he began, his voice booming over the tannoy, “has gained ground. There is no denying it. Many of our fellow citizens have fallen. Witches, wizards, fairies, centaurs, elves, dwarves, and on and on. So many lives lost to this… This venomous force.”

A heavy silence shrouded the audience, the air thick with grief. He could feel their hearts scream and contort with the decades of fight they had had endured. His fear though - well, his fear was that there may not be any fight left in them at all.

They were tired. They were tired and injured. But most frightening of all, was that their hope was but a flickering ember. And he must not let that ember extinguish itself. He must reignite the flame, no matter how impossible it might seem in this moment.

“I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all. My darling children, Mabel and Milicent. My wife - my heart, and my life. Members of my extended family, close friends, colleagues, neighbors…

“My story is not unique. I know this. I look into each of your eyes, and I see the same sorrow staring back at me. We have all lost loved ones. We have all been tested far more than we ever thought possible.”

He placed his hands on the pedestal as he scanned the crowd more closely, his eyes alert and flitting from face to face, until…

There she was - three people deep and off to the side - Adelis Oceantree. So unassuming, so little in stature.

He lifted his chin, his chest puffed a little now that he had seen the key to it all, standing in their midst.

“For this, I thank you. I thank you on behalf of those that you fight for. On behalf of those whom you have saved. And for those whom you have fought for, despite their falling.

“I would be lying if I told you they had not knocked us down.” he smiled grimly. “We all know that they have. But times are changing. Because now, we have something that the opposition does not.”

The hall went silent.

“Because we have the High Orb.”

The crowd erupted with chatter, and the energy in the room immediately began to bubble with excitement. It took all his might not to look at Adelis, knowing that people would be watching his every move.

Downclaw raised his hands and waited a few moments for the chatter to calm.

“We have found the High Orb. And they are standing in this room.”

The room gasped and erupted again in chatter as people eyed each other curiously, wondering if they were standing next to the High Orb themselves.

Downclaw waited a minute of so, knowing that any attempt to quieten them at this moment would be futile. This was the news they had been hoping for, for years now. To know that the High Orb had finally been found, and that he or she was standing amongst them. Well, that was encouraging indeed. The first good news in a long, long time.

“I cannot, of course, tell you who the High Orb is.” Downclaw said, when the chatter had died down. “But I can tell you that they are with us. They will stand with us.”

The crowd cheered, louder and louder, until Downclaw fought to have his voice heard over the whoops and applause, spirits raised, and smiles now dancing on people’s lips.

“With the High Orb at our backs, we will become shadows in the night. They will not know which of them are foe, and which of them are ally.”

Raucous cheers now permeated the hall, reverberating against the great hall’s walls.

“We have struggled to fight them out in the open. But we take a fresh approach now. An approach where we will cripple them from within. And all the while, they will not have a clue of what is happening, WHILE WE STIFLE THEM FROM THE INSIDE OUT!”

By the time Downclaw had finished screaming his last word, the cheers from the crowd were deafening. The room had become buoyant, reinvigorated. People hugged and whooped, and jumped up and down. People who, a few moments ago, were downtrodden and at the end of their wits.

Downclaw risked a momentary glance at Adelis, who stood quietly, looking up at the celebrating people around her, a serene smile on her face.

She was so calm, so untouched by her environment. Unsurprising, of course, for she was the High Orb. Even so, it was a spectacle to behold.

Just before Downclaw was about to look away, the High Orb met his gaze. She held it for a few moments, a slight smile cocked to the side. She slowly nodded once towards him. And as her smile widened even further, she faded away from view, her disappearance unnoticed by the revellers around her. Revellers who would come to know her as the High Orb - the child who saved the world.