Horizon's Edge

by TurtleMe

  “ARTHUR!! You’re alive!” Her face was already buried in my chest as she finished her sentence.

  “Yeah…”— I gently petted her hair— “I’m alive.”

  I turned to Virion, and I swear I could almost see his petrified body crumbling into bits with his lonely arms stretched out.

  His head turned like a badly oiled robot, revealing his gaze, which was anything but automatonic by the image he projected.

  Traitor.

  Grandpa should still come first.

  You’re dead to me, Brat.

  These were the thoughts that might as well have been tattooed across his forehead by how blatantly his foul mood was leaking out.

  Giving Grandpa Virion a sympathetic smile, I looked back down at Tess who was still in my arms. Only when my old robe, that she had been wearing, slipped slightly off of her bare shoulder, did I remember that she was completely naked underneath.

  “KYUU!”

  Sylvie was bouncing up and down trying to get Tess’ attention as the latter clung onto me like glue, but to no avail.

  ‘Twas a shame Tessia wasn’t fully developed…’

  “The last thing I remember was you handing me over to someone. I can only recall bits and pieces of what happened after because I was in too much pain then. B-but I heard broken pieces of conversations about how you didn’t make it out,” she said as her arms were still clinging onto me like an infant koala. The way she looked up at me with those tear-filled eyes made me almost lose myself.

  “I’ll fill you in on what happened, but for now”—I peeled her off of me, wrapping her tighter with the only piece of clothing covering her— “let’s get you decent, Princess.”

  “What are you talking…” was all she managed to say before looking down, her eyes widening in horror.

  “KYYAAAAAAAAA!! NOOOOOOOO!”

  *BOOOOOOOOOM! *

  Without even the chance to react, Grandpa Virion, Sylvie, and I were knocked back by a surge of mana that seemed to have come out of nowhere.

  I managed to recover in time, landing on my feet. As I looked to my side, I saw that Virion and Sylvie were both uninjured. Surprised, but uninjured.

  Not even caring about the throbbing pain in my chest, I stared, slack-jawed at the sight before us.

  Tess was at the epicenter of a storm of translucent emerald green vines, dozens of meters in length, all snapping and whipping around chaotically. What was even more strange was that it looked more like an extension of the bright green aura surrounding Tess, who was now curled up in the fetal position.

  “T-this… mana formation of this magnitude… shouldn’t be possible for her!” Grandpa Virion’s stood there, gaping.

  “You have got to be kidding me,” I mumbled to myself.

  Cupping my hands, I yelled out, “TESS! YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN!”

  “SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP! GO AWAY! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU DIDN’T TELL ME I WAS NAKED!” she screamed, her eyes still shut tightly in embarrassment. Something told me that those semitransparent tendrils responded to her emotions because they were swaying even more fiercely right now.

  “Didn’t you learn that telling a screaming girl to calm down never actually calms her down?” Grandpa Virion said, shaking his head in mock disappointment.

  Of course… I’m the ignorant one I guess.

  What good was having been a king? Psh… only the strongest in my country? What good does all of that do, Arthur, if you can’t even quell the anger of a 13-year-old girl.

  “TESS! It’s your grandfather! Open your eyes!” Virion shouted out this time.

  “Huh?”

  As Tess peeked from one eye, she finally realized what was happening.

  “What’s going on? What is all of this?” The flustered Tess looked to us for help.

  “Try controlling your emotions, it’s making your mana flow go out of control,” I tried to explain in a more reasonable tone.

  Tess looked to Virion, who was nodding in agreement with me.

  As realization dawned on her, Tess closed her eyes and began meditating, the translucent emerald vines slowly dissipated, fading out of sight.

  The three of us rushed to where Tess was curled up as soon as the vines, that seemed to be made up of pure mana, disappeared.

  “Quick, Gramps, check her mana core.”

  I was going off on a hunch, but I was kind of scared to hear the truth.

  “That’s just what I was about to do, brat.” Virion rolled up his sleeves and imbued some mana into his palms.

  “Wait! Art, turn around!” Tess was obviously out of breath but she was aware that something was different with her body.

  “Sigh… I already saw everyth—”

  “NOW!”

  “—yes ma’am.”

  “Psh…former king? More like whipped dog,” I mumbled to myself as I turned my back to them.

  “I-It can’t be… Ha ha ha… W-what in the world?” I heard Virion’s trembling voice.

  “What? What is it? What stage is her core at, Gramps? Dark Yellow? Don’t tell me… she’s at Solid Yellow like me?” I was itching to turn around.

  “Half step from Initial Silver. She almost broke through into the Initial Silver stage.”

  “WHAT?!” I whipped my head back, causing Tess to wrap the robe covering her even more tightly.

  Ignoring Tess’s glare and protests, I put my hand on her abdomen... over the robe.

  He was right… Even when sensing directly, I couldn’t recognize the extent of her mana core, which meant she was at a higher level than I was.

  Both Gramps and I fell straight to our bums in utter disbelief.

  She broke through out of Light Orange and into the Dark Yellow stage not too long ago. That means she skipped through all of Yellow and straight into Initial Silver?

  This gravity defying news was hard for me to swallow. I took my body’s composition for granted; because I’m a quadra-elemental mage, it was a lot easier for me to break through, it became distinctively harder to get past bottlenecks once I reached the Dark Yellow stage. Not to mention the fact that I broke through at 3 - much earlier than everyone else.

  The “gifted” students in this academy have ten years to pass the final exam in order to graduate. There is no set stage that a student’s core has to reach in this time but on average, alumni tended to be around Light Orange stage by the time they graduate. After reaching that stage, they would be given a seat among the upper echelons of practically anywhere they go.

  For even the most talented dual-elemental mages, it should take exponentially longer for them to make breakthroughs if at all, but Tess had just been able to break that common sense and skip straight into the threshold just before breaking into the Initial Silver stage. That’s potentially a couple decades of cultivation condensed into merely a fortnight…

  The absurdity of it all...

  “What the hell did you give her, brat?” Virion asked. “I’ve never heard of a Beast Will tempering a mana core. Or did it perhaps have anything to do with that orb you threw at her?”

  “What do you mean half step away? What orb?” Tess’ echoed, puzzled by our conversation.

  “I-I thought it was just some kind of elixir…” I was at a loss for words.

  What the hell was that vanishing elixir shop?

  “Arthur, if there ever was such an elixir that could do what that orb did just now, wars would break loose in hopes to win it,” Grandpa Virion shook his head, still in shock, as he imagined everything he just told me, ”How did you get your hands on whatever orb that was anyway?”

  Oh you know, I got it from a homeless looking fellow that owned a disappearing Elixir shop…

  “Ha ha ha haha... I got it for a silver coin, Gramps.”

  Virion gawked at me incredulously. By his expression, I bet he would’ve been less surprised if I told him I stole if from a god.

  “I don’t exactly know myself, I kind of got this orb from a peddler but that’s as much as I know…” I let ou
t another small laugh in helplessness.

  “Can you tell me what’s going on? You guys weren’t actually being serious right?” Tess immediately began focusing on her mana core. “No way… m-my mana core is light yellow now… and it already has so many cracks on it,” she said as her voice trembled.

  “H-honey… you’re actually a peak light yellow core mage now,” Grandpa Virion mumbled, almost whispering.

  *Thud*

  Tess’ eyes rolled back as she fainted, her body slumped against Sylvie’s back as my bond moved just in time to catch her.

  “This girl just can’t stay awake…” I grumbled as I positioned her more comfortably on the grass floor.

  “She’s sure to be exhausted after having gone through all of this; her body was under constant stress, and breaking through more than 3 stages at once took a toll on her mind as well. I guess the realization was the tipping point, haha,” Virion let out a chuckle as he picked her up.

  “I’m going to take her back to Elenoir through the gate. She needs some rest, and I’m sure my son and daughter-in-law are still worried. Kukuku, I’m kind of looking forward to how they’ll react to this. Sigh~ Imagine… Tess, a Silver core mage at the age of 13,” he boasted with a wide grin on his face. “Do you want to come with me?”

  “I’ll pass on that. I know Tess is safe, and she knows I’m safe as well; that’ll have to do for now. We’ll catch up when she returns to school,” I replied.

  “Mm. I have a meeting with The Council that I’ve been avoiding ‘till now, so I won’t get to see you for a while. Get some rest, boy.” Grandpa Virion throws me wink and walks out of the training room with Tess in tow.

  She was at a higher level than me now…

  My mind kept going back to the homeless man and his elixir shop. Was the orb he gave me really the reason she was able to break through like that? There wasn’t any other explanation otherwise.

  “Kyuu~” ‘Papa, I’m hungry!’ Sylvie hopped back onto the top of my head and kept thumping my forehead in complaint.

  “Haha, me too, Sylv. But before we go back, let’s visit your Uncle Elijah,” I replied, rubbing my bond’s ears.

  “Kuu...” ‘…But, food.’

  _______________________________________________________

  “ARTHURR!!” Elijah roared as he nearly head-butted me.

  I had an eerie sense of déjà vu, but this scene wasn’t nearly as heartwarming.

  “Haa~… there there. Yes, I’m still alive. You can’t get rid of me that easily,” I said in consolation, patting my best friend’s head.

  *Sniff* “I know… You’re like a cockroach.” *Sniff*

  This brat…

  I peeled him off of me; again, very similarly to what happened just thirty minutes ago, but the person in front of me had a string of mucus hanging off of his right nostril, the other end of the slippery secretion attached itself to my shirt.

  A friend… my best friend. Elijah was an entity I had now in this life that I so wanted in my previous one. A person I could let loose and be a child again with, no matter how old or grand I was before.

  “Haha! It’s good to see your disgusting face again, pal,” I grinned at him, patting him on the shoulder.

  Chapter 77: Allies?

  CYNTHIA GOODSKY’S POV:

  Standing before the heavy iron doors, I took a deep breath. Beyond this entrance were the six former kings and queens of this continent. It wasn’t their titles that were making me apprehensive, but more so the fact that they were ultimately the ones who would shape or destroy the future of this continent.

  Even with an augmented hearing spell, I was unable to clearly hear what was being discussed on the other side, leaving me to wonder what their course of action might be.

  What was I to tell them?

  What was I able to tell them? I truly had to be meticulous in the words and actions I use.

  I’ve only gotten a glimpse of the consequences that I would face if I didn’t abide and I knew I had no way around it.

  It just wasn’t worth it…not at this point.

  Was there no other way around this? Was I to just sit and watch this peaceful continent that I’ve grown to love crumble without being able to do anything?

  It couldn’t be helped; I’ve deviated too far from what I was originally supposed to do.

  My hopes in establishing myself and the foundations of Xyrus Academy up to what it was today was for the sake of this continent. That we might have some hope…

  It’s been too long since the time of war, though. Students wanted to get strong; not to protect and fight for what was right but for their own conceited pride. It’s been a long-going struggle to not only shape up the level of magic in this continent, but also instilling proper values.

  The only thing I could do for this country now was to prepare the next generation as well as get rid of anything that might hinder their plans. I’ve been personally getting rid of more and more spies that were being sent out from my homeland.

  They were getting impatient. I could tell by some of the toxic traces affecting the dungeons that they were beginning their next phase.

  It was beginning to become rather difficult for me to keep up my current pace, though. I could tell Arthur was becoming rather suspicious at times. I had been careless in exposing the wound I received from one of the affected mana beasts.

  I’m just not sure anymore…

  Was I doing the right thing? Would what I’m doing even give us a chance?

  I once thought so, but I’m not so optimistic anymore.

  Sigh…

  The two mages standing guard on either sides of the door were carefully observing me, probably wondering why I wasn’t going in. I noticed one was at the Initial Silver core stage while the other, slightly thinner mage, was at the Mid Silver core stage; they would be considered peaks in this continent, but only in this continent.

  I signaled to the guards that I was ready to go inside, letting them inform The Council.

  “You may enter,” the knights announced, opening the doors fully.

  “—AND I SAID THAT WE CAN’T JUST BE LYING HERE ON OUR ASSES WAITING FOR MORE DEATHS! ALDUIN, MERIAL, WHY AREN’T YOU SAYING ANYTHING! ONE OF YOUR LANCES IS DEAD!” I saw Dawsid Greysunders, former king of the dwarves standing up with his finger pointed at Alduin Eralith, former king of the elves, who was seated with his arms crossed and eyes closed.

  “Calm yourself Dawsid, before we rashly try and hunt for whoever or whatever killed Alea, we need more information. This might be somehow linked to communication failures with the Dicatheous. What if, like we suspected, the unknown continent is involved and we end up… Ah, Director Goodsky. We received your sound transmission; please, have a seat.” Blaine Glayder, the former king of the humans stretched his arm to direct me to a nearby empty seat.

  “Yes, but it seems that my message was unnecessary,” I respond while taking a small bow before sitting down. King Greysunders also reluctantly took a seat in the chair that seemed a bit too big for him.

  “Yes, Alduin was alerted almost immediately after Alea passed; unfortunately, we have no way of knowing how she was killed. Do you happen to know anything, Director Cynthia?” Merial Eralith, former queen of the elves, as well as the mother of my only disciple, asked me.

  I should’ve realized that they might’ve already known thanks to those bestowed artifacts I was informed about.

  “I apologize. Truth be told, I was not the one that found her body.” Taking out the adamantium tag that belonged to Alea, I handed it over to Lady Eralith.

  “Who was it that found her body? We need to bring that person here.” Glaundera Greysunders, former queen of the dwarves, slammed her palms on the table we were situated around.

  “That… may be a bit troublesome,” I said, hesitatingly. “You see, the person that found her body was one of my students, and that was only by accident.”

  “No matter! Just bring that student here. We need as much detail about this di
saster as possible before we can start slowly unfolding it to the public,” Lady Greysunders continued.

  “I ensure you, that, the student does not know any more than what we might be able to guess. This student simply stumbled into the scene after the battle was long over,” I replied while shaking my head.

  “Still, are you sure he wasn’t hiding anything from you?” King Eralith spoke up solemnly.

  “This student is but a child that recently enrolled. He has no reason to hide any details from me. I fear he will only be more intimidated if we brought him here, causing him to make up details to gain The Council’s favor,” I lied.

  I didn’t want to involve Arthur in all of this. Not yet. He wasn’t ready.

  “Cynthia offers a valid point. There’s no use in interrogating a student that might make up facts to feel like a hero. Besides, she already questioned the student,” Priscilla Glayder, former queen of the humans, defended.

  “Yes, I was even able to find the scene of Ale...Code Aureate’s death,” I hurriedly replied. Maybe they will be able to find something. Indirectly helping them like this might prove to be fruitful.

  The plan that I was informed of before I had come here seemed to have hastened for some reason, but I knew for a fact that it would still take years before the first course were to come to fruition. Until then, I had to somehow indirectly help them prepare for whatever was coming. Hopefully, I had enough time.

  “All right. Then the next course of action is settled”—King Glayder motioned for a secretary to come— “dispatch our best tracking mages. We’ll have them find any sort of evidence that the perpetrator might’ve left. In the meantime, what is the current status on the remaining Lances?”

  “Yes your Highness, our best trackers are already assembled and ready. As for the Lances, Codes Zero, Ohmwrecker, and Balrog were the first to arrive. We’ve received word that Code Thunderlord and Code Phantasm entered the premise not too long ago,” the secretary hurriedly announced while his head stayed bowed.

  “Good. We’ll update them soon. Until then, make sure not a single word gets out that one of the Lances was killed,” King Glayder finished his statement while looking at me.