Keith woke up to the touch of soft lips planting kisses all over his face, and when he opened his eyes, he met a pair of enchantingly beautiful red eyes, staring right into his soul.
"Good morning!" Ingvild brightly smiled and then mischievously stole a kiss from his lips.
"Good morning, Princess." He nudged his nose with hers and then slowly sat up.
He could hear the clink of cutlery and the soft murmur of voices at the breakfast table downstairs; something warm and sweet drifted up the stairs, the faint spice of tea lingering in the air.
"I will be there in a few minutes," he promised her, and Ingvild stole another kiss before she skipped out of the room.
"Don't be late!"
"I won't."
As promised, he arrived downstairs a few minutes later, having freshened up and gotten ready for the day. The table was laid with fruit, fresh bread, and steaming cups, and they stayed there for well over two hours, since it was going to be the last time in a long while that they shared a meal.
Though no one showed it on their face, Kiara, Alana, Ingrid, and Ingvild were quite sad to part ways with Rebecca, Avriel, Marianne, and the rest. The laughter came easily enough, yet there was a quiet weight beneath it.
Who knew how long it would be before they met again?
The walk towards the Teleportation Tower was unhurried, and even Keith took his time looking around the City of Azensday, letting the morning light gild the rooftops and banners.
"So the Guild decided not to sell the Tauron Magnus to you?" Safa curiously asked, and Rebecca shook her head.
"They did not reply. Perhaps they found a better offer." She shrugged, and the older Azvir nodded her head in understanding.
She curiously looked at the Beast Storage Rings that Kiara, Ingvild, and Alana were wearing on their hands. Even after several years at the Cirian Gallery she had never seen this exact make. There was no doubt in her mind that these Beast Rings were of a very high grade and capable of storing multiple Beasts inside them, which she had witnessed earlier.
Kiara had stored two cute foxes inside it as well as two black Zaverian Horses.
However, what interested her even more was that Rebecca was wearing a pendant that worked as a Beast Storage Space. Again, she had never seen a necklace-type Beast Storage Space, but she knew that such things did exist. They were rare, but not unheard of.
"What type of Magical Beast is Void?" Daim, who was also curious, could not help but ask.
"I don't know," Rebecca giggled. "But he is cute and strong," she informed them, and the younger Azvir grinned.
"He is cute," he agreed, having spent quite some time trying to convince the little black cub to let him pick it up, but the prideful creature did not even let him touch it the entire morning.
The Realm Tower, or the Tower of Realms, was situated right next to the City Lord's Tower, and as soon as they entered its vicinity, several eyes locked onto them, trying to see past their disguises. The paving stones thrummed faintly with Formation lines, a quiet pulse beneath their boots.
As expected, the security here was on High Alert, and they had to go through several checkpoints before they finally made it inside the Tower.
"Only those who are leaving the City of Azensday can enter the Hall."
A tall guard, who was easily over eight feet in height, stopped them at the end of the lobby of the Eighth Entrance. The oppressive feeling of his presence announced that he was a Martial Tyrant, someone in the middle ranks of that Realm. For a Martial Tyrant to work as a guard at the Tower of Realms showed how strong the defence forces of the City were.
"Are you all leaving the City of Azensday?" he asked, scrutinising them, and then glanced at the watch on his left wrist, checking their details.
"No, only five of us are leaving," Keith said and stepped forward together with Kiara, Alana, Ingrid, and Ingvild.
"Where are you going?"
"We do not wish to reveal that information." He shook his head, and the guard simply nodded to his words, not prying into the matter.
"Say your goodbyes here."
"We already have." They replied, and the words brought a smile to the guard's face.
"Welcome to the Tower of Realms. Hope you enjoyed your stay in the City of Azensday and will visit it again," he politely said, and then pointed at the pedestal by his side. "Please submit your Identity Bands here. Thank you."
The five of them did as asked and removed their Identity Bands, placing them on the pedestal, which suddenly opened a mouth and swallowed those bands with a smooth, mechanical click.
"We will be back," Kiara cheerfully said to the muscle-head, who reminded them a lot about Victor, and then she dragged Keith and Ingvild inside the Hall.
There were quite a lot of people present in the Hall, entering and exiting from twelve different gates, and then there was the Ticket Office, where dozens of booths were active to facilitate the travellers. The air buzzed with overlapping conversations and the crystalline chime of Formation bells.
The girls curiously looked at the bearded Dwarven man behind the desk, who did not even look at them when they approached the booth.
"Where to?" he asked in a bored tone.
"Anywhere in Westesia," Kiara replied, not telling him where exactly they were going.
Her answer caused the old man to raise his head and look at them, but then he simply nodded and prepared their tickets, which were in the form of beautiful wooden tokens, bearing the key runes that pulsed faintly like a heartbeat.
"That will be 10,000 Stones," he said after they accepted the tokens, which Kiara paid for in Stones, not using her Bank Card. "Ninth floor, Formation Booths 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17. You have ten minutes to leave the Tower of Realms."
As soon as he finished speaking, a countdown started on the tokens in their hands, and they said their goodbyes and left for the door that led to the ninth floor.
"See you on the other side!" Kiara playfully said as she entered Formation Booth 13, and one by one, all of them entered their respective booths.
Keith curiously looked around the booth that was more spacious than the lifts. The walls hummed softly, and after he pressed his token on the small Formation in the wall, where it fit like a key, a holographic screen appeared in front of him, listing the names of all the cities in Westesia that they could go to.
He selected the Crystal City, their destination, and the token simply vaporised, starting up the Space and Time Formation that lit up the booth in clean white light.
And then everything turned white.
It was a much rougher experience than using his own powers to teleport, like being pushed through a bright, narrow tunnel; and sure enough, seconds later, when he felt his weight again and exited the booth, he saw the unsightly expressions on the faces of his daughters.
Alana clearly felt quite nauseous, and she scrunched up her nose as she glanced at the booths that they had just exited.
"I don't want to do this again." She expressed her feelings, and Ingvild nodded her head in agreement before scanning their surroundings.
The first thing she noticed was that the Tower of Realms in the Crystal City was made of crystals, and if what they had read about this city was true, almost every building here was made out of glass and crystals. Light fractured across the floor, throwing soft rainbows at their feet.
Secondly, there were a lot more people here than in the City of Azensday. Even on the floor that they were currently on, there were dozens of people, and her brows furrowed at all the noise.
In an instant, they all realised that they had entered a very chaotic city, which was a far cry from the peaceful haven that the City of Azensday was.
And as if to confirm their belief even further, a group of mercenaries walked towards them, wearing stupid grins on their faces.
"Why are you hiding your faces, Ladies?" someone asked, and immediately an answer came from the woman by his side.
"They must be too embarrassed to show their faces in public. Not everyone is blessed like me." Even her voice was irritating, and Ingvild furrowed her brows and looked their way.
The woman who had just spoken was slightly above average in looks, and seeing the complacency in her eyes, she did not even bother to retort her.
"We will charge you 10,000 Stones to keep you safe in the City, girls. This place is not safe for travellers who are in the First Martial Realm," another man spoke up, and even though his words seemed polite, his lustful thoughts were bare to all of them.
The girls finally understood why these people dared to approach them, and it was because they had forgotten to hide their Cultivation Realms after coming out of the transportation booths.
Suddenly, a dreadful presence washed over the group of mercenaries, which made their knees go weak. The air seemed to thicken, heavy and unmoving.
Snap!
And then one of them dropped, imitating a chain reaction.
"Forgive us, My Lord!" the woman screamed, now looking at Keith in horror.
If they had known that the man was a Martial Tyrant, they would have never dared to act so rudely.
"Fighting is forbidden in the Tower of Realms!"
Suddenly, two guards entered the aisle, both at the peak of the Martial Master Realm. Armour plates clicked softly as they moved.
"Please restrain your anger, My Lord." The second guard, who was smarter than his partner, politely said. "You can deal with them outside. Just not here, please."
Keith glanced at the guards and then at the mercenaries, who looked quite relaxed now.
He stepped forward and gently tapped some points on the faces of the strongest of them, his fingers precise, and then just turned around to leave the Tower.
Seeing him leave, the guards heaved a sigh of relief and then curiously looked at the faces of the mercenaries, trying to see why the Tyrant had touched them, but there were no visible changes.
Even the mercenaries were confused, and it was not until ten minutes later that they realised they had been poisoned as their faces turned purple and their hearts slowed down, forcing them to fall into a coma.