TBATE A new God

Ch.7 S.5

(Caera pov)

After shaking off the embarrassment grey had given me I then approached the dormant portal and carefully reached toward it. When my fingers brushed the transparent oval, they passed cleanly through and I felt nothing. I waved my hand back and forth, but the movement didn't disturb the shape.

"At least no one can chase after them," I muttered.

Too restless to sit around, I began pacing the small suite.

Thoughts of Sevren came to me. I remembered so clearly when he'd left on his preliminary ascent after only his first season at Central Academy. It had felt a lot like this: the excitement tempered by disappointment that I couldn't follow him or fight alongside him.

Withdrawing the white-bladed dagger from my dimension ring, I unsheathed it to reveal the symbol at the base of the blade. This dagger had been his first accolade. He'd carved the aether rune into it while telling me all about his ascent, still so excited about his adventure that he'd practically been vibrating.

It broke my heart to think of him now, dying alone in the Relictombs, a victim of some hideous monster. I thought he was going to be the one to unlock the secrets of the Relictombs. I'd been wrong.

But I didn't think I was wrong about Grey.

As my thoughts turned to him, I realized that Grey had been gone for a couple minutes already. Considering how time functioned differently in the Relictombs, he should have been able to activate the relic and return already.

"What if it wasn't actually an ascension portal?" I muttered, fidgeting with the tip of the dagger's blade. Bending down, I peered at the half-relic, but it told me nothing.

Even if the portal did take him into a zone, it was possible he was in danger and hadn't been able to activate the other half of the relic...or perhaps we'd been wrong, and he couldn't immediately return. He could be trapped there, forced to clear the zone and find a descension portal before returning. The second half hadn't contained a crystal, which could mean—

I squinted against a bright amethyst light as the portal flared to life again, the ghostly outline solidifying into opaque pearlescence. The figure that appeared from it looked a lot like Grey, but his fine clothes were in tatters and his face was coated with blood and grime.

After grey and Seth fully stepped out with Seth not even having a scratch nor even a speck of dirt on his clothes. Grey then looked towards me with a grin, "what?" I asked not sure why he seemed happy.

Grey: "well it works"
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
(Art pov)

It was still early morning and the campus was mostly dark, with a spray of pink and orange highlighting the distant horizon. Despite the hour, students were already active around the campus, exercising or working through drills. Flashes of occasional magic lit the campus like fireworks, but it was whisper quiet atop the tower. Perfect for thinking.

"So, you really think we should stay, huh?" Regis said, sniffing at the wind. "With the relic..."

I leaned my head back and stared into the blue-black sky. "The ascension half of the Compass stays in place when we enter the Relictombs. Even though we can come and go at will, we still need a safe place to activate it."

Regis looked back at me curiously, his glowing eyes intelligent. "And is this place really that safe? We could go back to Darrin Ordin, or hell, just find a cave in the mountains somewhere or something."

"That's another set of variables that I can't account for. Here, I know what to expect. We're at risk no matter where we go in Alacrya, but at least we have a story here, an identity."

As a professor, not only did I have a cover story and political protection, but I'd come to realize that the respect inherently offered to my position was its own kind of shield. Whatever curiosity or doubt my students and co-faculty might have about me, it was unlikely that they would ever suspect I was a Dicathian spy. There were a host of simpler explanations for any missteps I might make, and the wealthy and powerful would always assume any mystery somehow fit into their own pet intrigues.

"Besides, we don't fully understand the Compass yet."

Regis stretched before lying down lazily. "Don't we? It seems simple enough to me."

I took out the descension half of the Compass from my storage rune and stared idly at its curved and unblemished surface as if waiting for it to refute Regis.

He was right though. While one half of the relic created a portal into the Relictombs, the other allowed me to return, although not by creating a second portal. It had taken me some time to piece the functionality together, as the second half of the relic had not reacted in any way when I entered the Relictombs, forcing me to clear the zone. However, when I imbued aether into it near the zone's exit portal, the second half of the relic had blazed to life, outlining the portal with a brilliant light. When the glow faded, I could see my rooms on the other side, Caera waiting impatiently for me to return.

I then thought for a moment thinking of the benefits or rather what my brother warned me about. Maybe this can also be like a safety bunker for my family when ever that things happens.

"I don't think that will work" Seth said as he appeared out of nowhere

Grey: "what do you mean it won't work?"

With those places just leaking out aether I'm pretty sure he will destroy those relic tombs since he wouldn't want anybody to hide in there.

Grey: "then is there no where for our family to hide at?"

Satan: "there's one but no matter where you hide he can still people by one miss step but it would be worth a shot."

(Chapter end)