Underneath the capital city, seven people decided the fate of the nation.

 A quiet girl sat in the back of the room. She couldn’t have been more than twenty, but in her eyes she carried knowledge far beyond that of the average adult. She scanned the room for signs of danger every few seconds, seeing every movement as an attack, every word a threat. She wanted nothing more than to slip away.

 Another girl sat perched on a countertop, swinging her legs and giggling. She, too, was young, but her youth was much more obvious. The urgency of the discussion didn’t seem to phase her. It seemed like a joke. This girl had grown up among the same caliber of man she was surrounded with now. Nothing could surprise her. She, more than anything, wanted to be impressed.

 Speaking was a tall, intimidating man with dark eyes and scarred hands. His words had driven crowds to action in mere moments, had sparked riots and protests and fights, and had nearly ended a war. Here, though, much like in the place he desperately wanted to reach, his words were powerless. His greatest wish was to be heard.

 Listening intently to his words was a younger man, beady eyes staring down the people he saw as prey. This man had taken it upon himself to rid the world of all that he hated, and he stuck to his mission well, though the list of things he disliked grew longer each day. He wanted revenge.

 A attractive boy in a suit sat lazily across a bench, drumming his fingers on his knee and rolling his eyes every few moments. He came from money and power, and relinquishing it to anyone, even for a moment, caused his extreme distress. He was an actor at heart, playing the role of whatever suited him best at the moment. He, above all else, begged for attention.

 A woman with bags under her eyes and wrinkles too plentiful for her age stood against a wall, leaning on a cane for support. She was the strongest of them all, battling sickness and death every moment, searching desperately for a cure to her ailments. Her aching bones weighed her down just as the strength of her spirit raised her up. She hoped to be free.

 And in the center of the room, watching the proceedings with well–hidden dissatisfaction, was a figure behind a mask. They were the reason this was all happening, the force that had brought the other six together. They promised to reshape the world, to raze and then rebuild. They promised power.

 Underneath the city, seven people readied an attack that would change the world. And above them, two people promised to destroy it.