Chapter 156: Seafront

Nimue scoffed. “That’s so rude of you, Guin-Guin.”

“Sorry! I love you,” Guinevere said. “But I want to gossip with my friends.”

Nimue waved a hand, chuckling. “Sure, sure.”

[What happened?] Zeris asked.

[I kicked her and Hakohnzo off my group chat,] Gwen sent. [So, you, Caen. What do you mean you got a scholarship?]

He shrugged. [I performed very well in the trials and was awarded a Patronage slot.]

[Holy shit! You’re actually Herb Mask!]

[Gwen, he’s literally told you that a million times,] Zeris said, laughing.

[You used Stormsong properly! Ohmygod! That sword is so awesome! I can’t believe you did all that!]

[Ancestors, Gwen. You’re shouting into our brains.]

[Sorry, sorry. But I have tons of questions. How did it feel using it? How are you even alive? I thought you said it was harmful to its wielders.]

Caen tried to answer as many of her questions as she allowed. She kept asking more, as this was a topic she was very excited about.

[Wait, you met Hera-Lienixur?] Guinevere asked. [What did she say?]

Caen felt the oath tighten around his soul. [She swore me to a Contract. I can’t tell.]

[Every time you say that, it just makes me want to know more,] Zeris sent.

Caen had told Zeris about his meeting with Hera-Lienixur earlier. He couldn’t mention anything about what Stormsong had said or implied, though.

[Anyway, did you see his fight with Pahanai and Yeishi?] Zeris asked.

Guinevere laughed. [I did! It was fun to watch. And oh! Yeishi’s actually a student at the Citadel, did you know?]

Caen nodded. He’d learned about this from Zeris some time ago. [Fahptis, too. And Anomis, apparently.]

[Were you trying to make future enemies or something?]

[Not like I had a way of knowing they’d be going to the same academy as me,] he replied. [Anyway, it doesn’t matter. None of them knows who Herb Mask is.]

[Unless something goes horribly wrong,] Zeris said ominously.

He gave a flat look, and she laughed.

They continued to talk about other things. Guinevere added her sister and Hakohnzo back to her telepathic link. The world bled away around them as they flew over farmsteads, rolling hills, open plains, and towns.

About an hour later, Hakohnzo dove towards a shimmering hole in the rocky ground. The hole was round and framed by complex inscriptions and crystalline constructions.

Caen and everyone else were held in place as Hakohnzo moved through the hole and into the Plane beyond. Pinpricks washed over Caen’s skin as they hurtled out of a green sky.

The entire scape was suffused with noxious-looking gas clouds that glittered between the colors of green and blue from certain angles. The breeze within Hakohnzo’s pocket of air died down, but still kept the gases out.

[Whoa!] Gwen sent, looking around. [What’s this Plane called?]

[Some call it Glaucous Bane,] Nimue said. 

Caen could make out movement far beneath them through the gas clouds. Long trails of… something crawling over the uneven terrain below.

Soon, a large rock wall loomed before them. Hakohnzo made for the jagged, shimmering Aperture on the rock wall. 

In the next Plane, Hakohnzo wove through tall stacks of rectangular blocks that rose high up into the air. Some Valiants were fighting spherical objects on the ground.

A few more hours of travel, and they went through yet another Aperture. 

Caen Mimicked Zeris’s Divination affinity and began performing a few exercises. 

After about fifteen hours into their flight, Hakohnzo dropped onto a low outcropping on a mountain range in the Spovan subcontinent. The cold air here was thin but still breathable. A loud howling wind assaulted his ear. Clouds trailed a few feet above them. Red and green streamers danced in the night sky.

[I’ve never seen Southern lights before,] Caen mused. [Not in person, at least.]

[The ones up North are much cooler,] Guinevere said, as she slid off Hakohnzo’s back.

Nimue set up her tent. It was as luxurious as Caen remembered, from the plush carpeting to the large, rounded cushions with pillows on them. The temperature within was warm, this time, to counteract the chilly weather.

[I have safety measures built into my tent to alert us if anything comes within a mile of here,] Nimue said as she produced four low wooden seats with backrests from her spatial storage. [Also, my aura is stretched all the way out in case of trouble. Regardless, we’ll be sleeping in shifts, so at every point in time, no less than two people will be awake. It’s not necessary, but I don’t want you to get comfortable with bad habits.]

[I thought Percipients didn’t need that much sleep,] Zeris said.

Nimue huffed. [I’m still human. I mean, I could easily go days without having to sleep. But why would I do that? I love sleeping.] She sank into her chair with a pleased sigh. Hakohnzo floated in the air beside her. [So, we’ll sleep in two rotations with at least one Percipient awake at all times.]

They sat by the tent, and for dinner, they had soup with chunky pieces of beef as they chatted. 

[I’m surprised your parents aren’t escorting you to school,] Zeris said.

[Oh, they’re busy in a Plane,] Guinevere replied. [But we’ll meet them at Seafront after my exams.]

Nimue set aside her bowl of soup as she watched Caen. [I know Zeris is something of a budding Space mage, but what about you?] 

[Er… a little bit of everything,] Caen said.

[Surely, you don’t mean General Studies,] Nimue said with some measure of incredulity.

Zeris chuckled.

[Seriously?] Guinevere asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Caen had met with a family representative who had given him a detailed rundown of the available programs at the Imperial Citadel of Magic. He’d known that this was the one for him once he’d heard it described. [I love learning about magic,] he said with a shrug.

[Yes, Caen. We all love magic,] Nimue said. [But every magic? Wow. You realize you'll have to work so much harder than the average student, right? And I’m not even talking about academic excellence. That’s just to get by.]

Struggling for the bare minimum had always been a feature of Caen’s life. It didn’t sound so bad. [I don’t mind the challenge.]

She squinted at him. [How many disciplines can you competently cast in?]

[Ten… sort of,] Caen replied.

[I mean, that’s not bad, but you’re in for quite the challenge. Hardcore surfeitists like you are rare in the Citadel. Well, I wish you the very best of luck.]

[Thank you, Nimue.]

They chatted some more before Nimue retired to the tent with Guinevere and Zeris.

Caen and Hakohnzo kept watch for a few hours. He used his whorl gem. His mana control was well beyond average, but it could still improve. He’d gotten even more complex and taxing configurations from the restricted section of the Ser-gwu library. Nimue had warned that their mode of travel would bring exhaustion, and Caen had begun to feel quite tired as time passed.

Caen and Hakohnzo went to sleep, while Zeris, Guinevere, and Nimue took their place keeping watch for the rest of the night.

Before sunrise, they had a quick breakfast and were soon moving through Planes again. The sensation of pinpricks spreading over his skin occurred periodically. 

They arrived on the continent of Pectos about ten hours later, exiting an Aperture that opened into a hillside town. 

A few more hours of Interplanar flight brought them to a border town in Thermon, the largest nation on the continent. 

Hakohnzo got intercepted by a woman riding a large bird with a vicious looking beak and intelligent eyes. She was dressed in a dark blue uniform.

“Air Control!” she said. “License and identification.

Nimue produced her flying license and explained where they were headed.

The city official nodded and zoomed off on her bird.

They joined air traffic: floating carriages and beasts, like on Ser-gwu, moving in separate streams.

Caen watched below as complexly built structures rose and fell.

They left the town and, not too long after, arrived at the Seafront Peninsula.

It projected into the Pristine Sea, as it was called. There were high, flat-topped buildings all around. Some of them bore floating carriages and grounded flying beasts. People in uniforms floated in the air, diverting flyers to these flat-topped buildings for inspection.

Hakohnzo touched down on one of the flat-topped buildings. There were crowds of people here.

[They’ll get us processed here,] Nimue told them. [I’ll handle all that. You guys just stay put.]

Caen nodded absently as he took in the city.

It was perhaps the busiest city he’d ever seen in his life. On the streets below, people walked about with purpose or rode in open carriages.

Glowing signboards signaled the districts and buildings in Thermish. Elaborate and unfamiliar architectural styles marked the buildings here. Both the tall and squat ones. There were quite a number of cylindrical mage towers in the city. 

North of Seafront, the Pristine Sea stretched out all the way to the horizon, as still and reflective as glass. Not a single wave could be seen on the vast body of water.

Far, far in the distance, a single crystalline spire rose into the sky, surrounded by barely discernible floating isles, each with its own mage tower.

The Imperial Citadel of Magic.