Aurelion chanted.
✦ Aetheris ∴ Vaal’thren ⟡ Solmirex ☾
⟁ Nyxara † Velquorin ✧ Thal’Zyreth ⟡
The obsidian stone which was dull in its arc, filled with blueish light to the brim. This indicated the gate was ready for use now.
HA HA AHHH HA, UNCLE HANDSO, I HAVE THE HIGH GROUND.
Aurelion with his trademark weird and moaning laugh cooked up more weird thoughts in his mind as usual.
Then, he entered the activated teleportation gate and walked through it.
"WHAT THE—" He reacted.
The sight on the other side was sothing completely different from what he had been expecting. It was bright warm, light from candle flas ca, the wooden floor creaked. And the most shocking thing was not actually a thing but a person.
"... So, how was your little picnic over there?"
It was Caelion. He was dripping in his aura farming pose, with legs crossed, his head resting sideways on his wrist and back straightened on a throne like chair. He had a newspaper in his hand.
Aurelion turned behind in lightning speed, but to his surprise, there was nothing behind him. Even if he had chosen incorrect coordinates by mistake, there still should have been a gate behind him to return to. It was not though. He gazed around the room, being peculiar about everything and still not able to understand the situation.
"... Your neck might start aching, my dear nephew." Caelion said, "... We can not take that risk since you already suffering from stomach ache." He said in a sarcastic tone.
"... HOW?" Aurelion said, "... JUST HOW AM I HERE?" He yelled with an annoyance. Only Caelion was in the room, Aurelion finally recognized the room. It was Caelion’s private study.
Aurelion and Stefan were suddenly standing in Caelion’s Study when they should have been standing in Silvercurrent City Or any other near the Royal Capital. "... What did you do? How am I here?" He repeated.
Caelion rested his hands behind his back as he spoke in a calm tone, as if he was explaining a minor adjustnt rather than a breach of imperial or continental infrastructure. "...The teleportation gate was not a single pathway but a network of anchored coordinates layered over stable mana nodes. Each authorized destination was simply a pre-registered signature." He said.
In simpler terms, He had not destroyed or overridden the system. He had just inserted a temporary coordinate which was his study room into the gate’s routing address. By subtly rewriting the terminal addresses at the receiving end and synchronizing them with his own mana imprint. He explained to Aurelion.
SO, IN A ROUND ABOUT WAY, YOU ARE JUST TELLING THAT YOU SIMPLY HACKED WHILE SITTING IN YOUR STUDY WITH A NEWSPAPER IN YOU HAND. Aurelion thought.
"...Also" Caelion added, "...did you forget the person who installed the teleportation gates throughout the the continent, not just the Empire." He flexed.
"... You have beco too arrogant that you think, you will be able to best a Grand Archmage and that too, when I happens to be one of the three strategies of the Continent too."
Caelion lowered his leg and took a casual pose. "... Well thanks to this mischief of yours, I got to see two interesting things today." He recalled his interaction with Rhael, "...One happened a little earlier and as for the another one," He gazed his eyes on Stefan, standing behind Aurelion, "... It is interesting, very interesting." Caelion grinned with his devilish smile.
It was a complete defeat for Aurelion. His first in this almost invincible life till now. Caelion gestured Stefan to move out of the room and only leave him and Aurelion alone on the room.
"Now, ti for the main event..." Caelion snapped his fingers, a pile of books equivalent to a mountain in the room appeared. "... Let’s start with Cramming. Ohh by the way, this is ten tis the amount I was planning to give you."
"Nooooo" Aurelion cried.
Aurelion sat at the long wooden desk with a stack of books piled high enough to block half his view of the window. Caelion stood nearby with his arms folded, his expression leaving no room for negotiation. One by one, Aurelion flipped the pages with reluctance, eyes moving across lines of dense script. Every few minutes he would pause, sigh quietly, and glance toward the door as if calculating escape routes.
The candles beside him burned steadily, casting light over diagrams and marginal notes he was clearly not enjoying. He tapped the edge of the page once, then forced himself to continue reading. He understood the importance of the books Caelion was making him read, but that did not make morizing nas of generations of people any less tedious.
Across from him, Caelion occasionally interjected with a short, pointed question, ensuring that the prince was not rely staring at the books. Most ti, Aurelion answered correctly, though with the faint irritation of soone who would much rather be blowing his flower vases at midnight rather than studying.
The last line was intensely gazed at till its end. Aurelion finished the mountain of irritation. "...Finally." He yelled with excitent. He looked outside the window, the sun was up and at its peak too. It was afternoon, they had pulled an all nighter without realizing. "...Great work. Have so rest, then you can leaving after having sothing." Caelion said.
Aurelion slept, he needed to with those big dark circles under his eyes. He woke a couple hours later, Lyra had already done so of the preparations needed for the departure till then like packing Aurelion’s stuff n such. Aurelion woke up, got ready and went out to eat sothing. He took so ti while eating and was the only one at the table today.
All preparations, Royal Carriage, clothes etc had been done. Stefan was waiting outside at the main gate and was having a conversation with Duke Lunaris. Aurelion exited, Lyra and the other familiars were already standing outside. Rhael, who was standing beside Caelion moved towards Lyra and whispered in her ears.
"DON’T FORGET ABOUT OUR DATE, MY FAIR LADY"
[To be Continued]
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