Along the Heaven River Coast, above the Cold Sky River, stood the March Council.
At the river's most turbulent stretch stood March Hall, where the council convened. Three frosty moons hung above the silver palace. Its roofless structure was half open to the sky, yet above the churning waters of the Cold Sky River, the palace seemed utterly still, bathed in quiet moonlight.
It was like a full moon suspended over the riverbank.
Inside March Palace stood three seats cast from mithril. They looked like thrones made for giant kings, so immense that anyone who approached them felt impossibly small.
Three Moon-Ring Wizards appeared in those seats. The three highest-ranked wizards along the Heaven River Coast were holding a meeting.
As speaker of the March Council, Jikongyue could control March Palace and draw at will on its magic power, which came from the Cold Sky River. Even a Sun-Ring Wizard would struggle to gain the upper hand against him.
Wizard Jikongyue said, "More wizards have come to the Heaven River Coast from other regions in the past few days than in the last hundred years combined. They've come for one thing: the Heaven River Banks Fund."
"This is an opportunity for our Wizard Land, but opportunity comes with danger. I'm old. We're all old, so we must handle this properly for the younger generation of the Heaven River Coast. I hope we seize this opportunity instead of letting it become a disaster. Otherwise, we'd be letting down the wizards who came before us here. Do you agree?"
The council's other two members were a Moon-Ring Witch and a male Moon-Ring Wizard.
Both were elderly, their hair white. As council members, all three could call upon March Palace's wartime wizard formation. March Palace was, in essence, a Sky City built for