The day was cold. A surprising event, as it was the end of the winter months and the last week had been quite warm, but a fact nonetheless. At least it wasn't raining, though there were many large clouds in the sky, looming over the many towns and mountains and other spots of land below, with the imminent threat of bursting into heavy rain. This was not a surprise. At the end of the winter months, there was always an assortment of huge clouds and terrible weather waiting to strike the people below. It was only mid-day; there was plenty of time for that to happen still.

The weather had an effect on magic as well. A subtle, unconscious effect that dampened the inherent auras of magic users. Minor, but useful. This is what Akaros Kune was expecting. Every edge helped, especially when there was a good dozen powerful magic users in one place.

The place was a particularly old and beaten fort, set in a vast mountain range that served as the border between a warm, tropical climate and the vast sands of the south. The walls sagged, no longer wishing to carry their own mass. The place could have been made a thousand years ago by some ancient civilization. Perhaps it was. But that wasn't the issue.

Along with its age, it had a dampening effect of its own. A trivial reduction of power for everyone within, with the benefit of also heavily dampening the auras of the mages within. Yet another measure to remain undetected. While inviting a dozen quirky strangers was insecure, he was otherwise rather paranoid. Perhaps understandably - after all, the world was after him.

As for him; Akaros Kune, a mage that looked like he would rapidly decompose any minute. Powerful, yes. The air around him practically oozed with the arcane tweaks that he cast on himself over... a century? Two? It would be hard to tell, ancient mages looked the same, though typically because of an illusion to look far younger than they actually were. He plainly didn't put much work into his illusion; he looked like he was easily 80 or 90 years old. His skin practically rested on his bones, all covered by a black cloak that looked as old as he was. He sat on an old chair, or perhaps throne. It looked more like a throne, though it did not have ornate carvings, and it was a construct of stone.

The only thing that stood out was his eyes, deep blue orbs that looked human, yet had a piercing stare that any capable magic user would know was beyond the stare of any normal human. His eyes scanned people, quite literally, and his orbs checked every person to enter the room. It was a fairly large room, practically a throne room in fact, but with a long rectangular table running down the middle with chairs on each side. Everything was made of solid stone, so there was hardly any comfort to actually sitting in the chairs unless someone liked cold stone for their rears. Or magically enhanced the seats.

It was a wonder he was able to get messages out at all, as he didn't move at all from his seat, but that did not matter. He introduced himself by name and title as "just a mage", and he began business from there. The first hour was spent on waiting for people to arrive, starting with the first person to come in. The next hour, he didn't speak much at all. He merely repeated that he summoned them all to form a team, and the team would be hunting demons, rogue mages, and many more things. After his brief introduction, a life came to his voice.

"Now that we're all here-" yeah, right, there was almost certainly going to be someone walking in late- "Ask me questions, meet each other, and decide where we shall go first. North, South, East and West, there are many things to be done..." He was certain there would be questions. After all, he didn't actually tell them much. It was an ad-hoc summons using any means that would get the mages to come along, and he didn't even explain how he magically knew where each of them was and that they were magic users. The man himself remained a complete mystery to his audience...