Katelin sat down at the table, and ran her hand over the smooth aging surface. The leadership team from Nine Swords had all received a memo this morning to meet in the meeting room just off of the Nine Swords library.

There was no way, at this point in time, that my thoughts could do anything but lapse - it is already almost six years since the calling. So much has changed, so much has developed .. though there has never once been a moment of regret or of questioning my decision to take the journey with the other founding members of Nine Swords. Now the blindfold is off, our leadership team know why we are meeting each other today. I feel a slight unease, but can only reflect on the acceptance and reasoning from before. You see, when Nine Swords was created.. when we originally came together. The hurdle then seemed great. But reasonable. No wonder Durendal became our commander, everything Durendal ever explains to us ends up sounding reasonable too. No idea how he does that. He sure has a lot in common with whoever was speaking to us that day.

Nine Swords, when it founded was such an unlikely mixture of members. There was no common goal - and there was little common history. Our cabal flourished from that though. The mixture of the old guard meets the new. That clash of tradition meeting modern ways - that clash that grew into a formidable organisation. Different backgrounds, methodologies, beliefs... to fight on all fronts, the rising darkness, the other factions. Brought together in our, The Templar, common mission of protection, service, and duty.

Well, now our focus has shifted slightly - we have learnt a lot over the last 5 years. The friendships we have built - the challenges we have faced with not only Templars, but with all those who are fighting for a shared goal. And that is why we are sat here today.

Durendal enters the room and sits down beside me, in his chair at the head of the table. He takes my hand and squeezes it. We already talked a lot about today. It felt like it came all at once.. but that we expected it. Especially considering the situations we have found ourselves in over the years. More often were we joined with Dragon and Illuminati when facing the threats in this world - the fight against each other has diminished so much, and instead strength, knowledge and teamwork has been cemented.

More of our leadership team have entered the room now, shared smiles and nods of acknowledgement. Nine Swords is about to embark on the next part of its journey, one that all those years ago could never ever have been foreseen.