Chapter 44: The Arrival of the Saintess [2]

A few minutes before.....

The afternoon sun spilled over the artificial garden as its golden light filtered through the flowering vines that climbed the marble pavilion.

Butterflies drifted lazily among the blossoms, their wings catching the warm glow as they moved from flower to flower.

It was a peaceful, almost dreamlike scene—completely at odds with the night that still lingered beyond the palace walls.

This garden was a pocket dimension created by an artifact, a private space sealed off from the outside world where no sound could enter or escape.

Inside this hidden sanctuary, the sun always seemed to shine, and the air always carried the faint sweetness of blooming flowers.

At the center of the garden sat a small, secluded pavilion where two men sat facing across each other at the circular table.

King Alistar von Valerion leaned back in his cushioned chair as his golden hair caught the artificial light.

His sharp golden eyes fixed on the man seated across from him with barely restrained patience.

Between them, the table was cluttered with a dozen empty wine bottles.

An old man with long grey hair and a thick grey beard that nearly reached his chest was pouring himself yet another glass of wine from a nearly empty bottle.

He was Nicholas Hughes —a Tier 9 Monarch and Headmaster of Astralspire Academy—dressed too simply for a man of his station—a plain mage’s robe of deep blue, unadorned except for the silver embroidery tracing delicate patterns along the cuffs and collar.

"Mind explaining why you’re here?" King Alistar asked in a calm voice. "And don’t tell me it’s for the wine. You’ve already drained half my cellar."

Nicholas looked up from his glass as he raised his one bushy eyebrow.

"Half your cellar? Alistar, if this is half, I’m deeply concerned about the state of your reserves. This is barely enough to wet an old man’s throat."

"It’s enough to put a lesser man under the table."

"Fortunately, I am not a lesser man."

The old mage took another sip of wine, savoring it with the air of someone who had spent decades refining his appreciation for such things.

He set the glass down on the marble table with a soft click as he folded his hands in his lap.

"Can an old man not attend the coming-of-age ceremony of his great, great niece without being interrogated?" He continued. "It’s not every day a princess turns eighteen. I felt I should make an appearance."

"I’m grateful you came." Alistar said in a voice carrying the weight of genuine respect beneath the formality. "But I know you well enough to recognize when you’re avoiding something. And you’ve been avoiding that for the past hour."

"Have I? I thought I was drinking."

"That too."

Nicholas set his glass down with a long sigh, his brief playfulness fading.

"You’re perceptive as always, Alistar. It’s one of the things I’ve always appreciated about you. Your great-grandfather was the same way.... could see right through a man before he’d even finished speaking."

Nicholas Hughes and Alistar’s great-grandfather had been close friends, brothers in all but blood.

And Nicholas had been the first real teacher his grandfather ever had, the one who had shaped a young prince into the King he would eventually become.

"So if you know I can see through it." Alistar said, "Why continue the pretense?"

"Because the truth is exhausting." Nicholas replied simply. "And I’m old. I’m allowed to be exhausting in return."

"Nicholas."

"Fine, fine." The old man waved a hand in surrender. "I came to see the ceremony and to drink your wine.... And to tell you that I’m retiring."

Alistar blinked. "Retiring?"

"Retiring from my position as Headmaster of Astralspire. I’ve handed over the reins to someone else, so I don’t need to worry about that anymore."

"You’re stepping down after all these years? Who did you hand it to?"

"Sophia Ellert."

"Archbishop Sophia Ellert?" Alistar repeated as his eyes widened for a moment, his King’s mask slipping before he composed himself. "She actually agreed?"

"She did." Nicholas chuckled at the King’s expression. "Surprised me too, honestly. I’d asked her half a dozen times over the past few years, and she always turned me down flat. But this evening, she contacted me out of nowhere and said she’d take the position."

He shrugged.

"I didn’t ask what changed her mind. I was too busy saying yes before she could take it back."

"Sophia Ellert as headmaster of Astralspire..." Alistar shook his head slowly. "The political implications alone—"

"That’s precisely why I chose her." The old man’s crimson eyes glowed with faint light. "She’s a Tier 9 Monarch. She’s respected by all Seven Churches. She’s been courted by every noble house in the Empire, and she’s refused them all. She has no political ambitions, no family connections to leverage, and no tolerance for the petty games that the academy’s board of directors loves to play."

He picked up his glass again.

"She’s perfect for this role. And more importantly, with Sophia there, the future generation will be in good hands."

Alistar absorbed this in silence as his fingers drummed against the table.

"And why such a sudden decision to retire? You’ve always said you’d die at your desk."

"People change, Alistar. Even old men like me." Nicholas swirled the wine in his glass, watching the light play through it. "Besides, with Sophia there, your daughter will be in good hands. Better hands than mine, perhaps. The world is changing, and the academy needs someone who can change with it."

"Can you get to the real point instead of talking in roundabout ways?"

The question came out sharper than Alistar intended.

He had known Nicholas for most of his life, had been taught by him, had argued with him over strategy and policy and the endless complexities of ruling an empire.

He knew when this old mage was deflecting.... and he had been deflecting the questions since the moment he sat down.

"...."

Nicholas didn’t answer immediately as he took another slow sip of wine.

"Do you remember Saintess Cecilia, Oracle of the Dawn prophecy?"

Alistar frowned.

"The Saintess’s prophecies are recorded in the church’s archives. You’ll have to be more specific."

"The one she made twelve years ago."

"I remember." Alistar’s golden eyes narrowed. "She spoke of a great change coming to Aetheris. A transformation that would reshape the world as we know it."

He paused.

"But she never gave specifics. The Churches have debated the meaning for years."

"She didn’t give specifics in public." Nicholas corrected. "But privately, she told a small group of trusted allies. She said the change would begin twelve years from the day of the prophecy. Which means..."

"The change has already started." Alistar finished the Headmaster’s remaining sentence.

"Yes, for years. I wondered what she meant. Some thought it was a warning of war. Others believed it was an apocalypse. A few even thought she was speaking metaphorically about political upheaval."

He paused, his crimson eyes meeting Alistar’s golden ones.

"But now I think I finally understand."

"What do you mean?"

"A few months ago." Nicholas said slowly. "A crack was discovered on the Beastmen Continent, in the northern wastes of the Jagged Peaks.... A crack in the sky."

Alistar frowned.

"It was not like a rupture in a barrier or a tear in the Veil. It was something else entirely. Something that we have never seen before. It was like a fissure in reality itself."

"And you think this crack is connected to the Saintess’s prophecy?"

"Yes, but this isn’t just one crack." Nicholas shook his head. "Over the past few months, more and more cracks have been appearing all over the Aetheris. Small cracks that are barely noticeable."

Alistar raised an eyebrow. "How many have been discovered?"

"Dozens that we know of. Possibly more in remote areas that haven’t been reported yet." The old mage leaned back in his chair. "The scholars have been studying them quietly, trying to understand what they are and where they lead. And what they’ve found...."

He paused, as if searching for the right words.

"Each crack seems to connect to a different place--a different realm, perhaps. The environments on the other side are never the same--some are frozen wastelands, others are burning deserts, others are lush jungles that stretch as far as the eye can see. But they all share one thing in common."

"And what is that?"

"They’re all teeming with life. Or what passes for life in those places."

Nicholas’s expression grew distant. "Strange creatures that we’ve never seen before. Some are dangerous, some are not. The scholars have started calling these places the Mirror Worlds. Because they seem to reflect our world, but.... distorted. It was like looking at Aetheris through broken glass."

Alistar absorbed this in silence, his mind already racing through the implications.

"You said some of these creatures are dangerous. How dangerous are we talking about?"

"Dangerous enough that the first expedition into one of the larger cracks lost half its members. But it’s not dangerous enough to require an army of awakeners. It’s dangerous, but at the same time they’re also..."

The old mage paused, and something flickered in his crimson eyes.

"They’re also profitable."

"Profitable?"

"Do you know what the researchers found in the third expedition? The one into the frozen wasteland realm?" Nicholas leaned forward. "Elythium."

"?!"

Alistar’s eyes widened, for the first time since the conversation began.

"Elythium?" He repeated in a voice barely above a whisper. "You’re certain about it?"

"Completely certain. It was enough to make the researchers weep when they saw it." Nicholas’s lips curved into a grim smile. "That metal has been lost for thousands of years in the Shattering of Aetheris. And now we’ve found more.... just sitting there, waiting for us."

Elythium was lost with the great Shattering of Aetheris thousands of years ago.

It was the same metal once used to construct the ancient teleportation gates, and it conducted essence with near-perfect efficiency--so pure that even the finest modern alloys felt clumsy by comparison.

Its rediscovery would change everything.

Artifacts, enchantments, the very foundations of essence engineering--all of it could be reshaped by a single working vein of that forgotten metal.

The metal that had once been the foundation of the ancient world’s greatest achievements.

If the Mirror Worlds contained Elythium, then it might also mean....

"You understand now." Nicholas said quietly. "Why, I think this is the change the Saintess predicted. This is a new frontier. The Mirror Worlds could be remnants of Old Aetheris--pieces of our world that were torn away during the Shattering and scattered across dimensions. The knowledge we lost, the resources we exhausted, the secrets we thought were gone forever.... they might all be there."

Alistar’s hand moved to his glass as his mind spun, trying to process the magnitude of what he was hearing.

"If this is true.... if these Mirror Worlds are really fragments of Old Aetheris...."

"It’s just a theory. But if it’s true... Then we’re standing on the edge of something unprecedented." Nicholas said in an excited voice. "The scholars are already talking about the possibilities, lost technologies, forgotten magic, resources that could reshape the balance of power across all the continents."

He paused.

"But it’s not without risk. The Mirror Worlds are untamed and unpredictable. And there are things in there that we don’t understand yet."

"You said the creatures were dangerous but manageable."

"Most of them are. But we’ve only explored a fraction of what’s out there. We’re still making sure there isn’t something worse lurking in the depths. That’s why the expedition is being organized to map the Mirror Worlds and determine what we’re dealing with."

"And you have decided to lead that expedition?"

"Yes. Some--"

He stopped mid-sentence when suddenly...

Both Alistar and Nicholas felt a soul resonance of the World Will.

Someone’s awakening.

And this was not an ordinary awakening.

The resonance was too strong.

Nicholas and Alistar were on their feet in the same instant as their eyes met, and in that shared gaze was a single, wordless understanding.... they vanished from the Artifact’s pocket dimension.

*****