"Why don't we just capture them then?"
Zyta looked at Morch as if she were speaking to a small child. She opened her mouth, but her brother answered for her, "Because we know too little. The only thing we know about the two men is that the black-haired one is very, very powerful. As for his companion, he could be even stronger or significantly weaker. What if they resist our attempt to capture them? Do you think you could defeat one of them, let alone both?"
Morch and Kia remained silent.
"And even if we manage to capture them, who knows what kind of destruction it would cause," Julius continued, "our main task as members of the Order is to protect humanity, not to cause destruction that could have been avoided."
"What if they are traitors from one of the other continents?" Kia asked cautiously.
"Then we will find that out sooner or later and act accordingly, but the probability is quite low. They would not have killed the Lizzian if they were a spy from there, let alone a spy of the Reils, because why would they intervene then? They only benefit from our conflict with the Lizzians."
"Maybe that is exactly their plan," Zyta murmured. "Maybe it was all just a show to make us feel safe."
"Why would they do that?" Julius did not sound convinced.
"So they can blend into our ranks without drawing suspicion."
Julius looked at his sister skeptically. "But they were not the ones who approached us, rather they actively avoided meeting us. They don't seem like they want to integrate into our ranks, at least in my opinion. But either way, they are hiding something, and we need to find out what it is, but that must wait. We won't be able to get any more information out of them for today."
"So we just leave like that?"
Julius sighed. "It is not like we would accomplish more by waiting here. I have already assigned Karel to observe them; if they do anything suspicious or unusual, he will report it to us. For now, we must take care of the damage the fight with the Lizzian caused in the Timeren Alley. There are quite a few reports to fill out!"
With that, he stood up, immediately followed by Morch and Kia. Only Zyta remained seated, looking grim. Julius looked at her. "Would you please come with us too, my dear sister?"
She let out a resigned groan and stood up. "Fine, but only because you asked so nicely."
With that, the mages finally left the tavern. The innkeeper stood in a corner. "You still have to pay…" he muttered quietly, but made no effort to collect the debt. It was not important enough to him to risk dealing with mages over it.
---
Meanwhile, Eleanor and Nero had returned to their room. "Should we leave?" Eleanor asked, directed at Nero.
Nero thought about it for some time. They had not been here long, which meant they still had almost a month before the rift would open again. They had already found out quite a bit, and Nero doubted they would learn much more in this city, at least not in public libraries. Still, he did not want to give up, not yet.
So he shook his head. "Not yet, not before we have at least visited the other libraries."
"Do you think Julius and the others will leave us alone from now on?"
Nero laughed lightly. "Of course not. We will have to be even more careful now, because they will keep a close eye on us. Sooner or later, they will come back to us when they lose their patience."
After that, Eleanor said nothing more, but simply lay down on his bed and closed his eyes. It did not take long before he fell asleep. Ever since Ester turned him into a mage, his body constantly felt exhausted, as if he had been awake for dozens of hours.
Nero, on the other hand, was not tired at all, his body and mind strengthened by his magic. On average, he only needed to sleep once every two to three weeks to be fully rested. So he stood by the window, watching the rising sun in deep thought as it painted the sky a bloody red while slowly climbing above the horizon.
Suddenly, a strange feeling overcame him, digging deep into him. The world around him fell into shadows as every source of light disappeared, leaving nothing but absolute and impenetrable darkness. But this was not a natural darkness like one would find in a lightless room; it was not merely the absence of light, it was like being deep underwater. It gave off a similar feeling to the shadows Nero created with his magic, yet this darkness was... purer.
Nero wanted to take a startled step back, but he could not move; his entire body did not obey him. Pure, uncontrollable panic spread through him, a kind of fear he had almost never felt before in his life. Not when he saw his mother die, not when he and his sister were imprisoned, not when he was sent deep into the mines to live as a slave, none of it compared to this ultimate fear.
It was not the fear of death; it was the kind of fear one could only feel when complete annihilation was imminent, the feeling that in the next second everything would end, not only your body, but your soul, your mind, your entire being, and with you the rest of the world. Nero knew this fear, because once before he had felt it, when he had first entered the world of Scur.
He had almost forgotten that moment, but now the memories rushed back to him, the two glowing moons high in the pitch-black sky shining down on him.
In that moment, visions of destruction and pure chaos spread before him, vanishing as quickly as they had appeared. There were seven images, some meant nothing to Nero, others felt familiar. Then the spectacle ended, the world lit up again, and the darkness was gone as fast as it came.
Nero's skin had become even paler, and he stood at the window, breathing heavily, covered in sweat. His pupils had shrunk to the size of needles, and his heart was racing, but slowly he calmed down again. He was plagued by severe headaches as he blinked as he tried to remember the images, but like a dream one cannot fully recall, only knowing that one had dreamed, the details were missing. He knew they were important, yet the more he tried to remember, the worse his headache became. So he eventually gave up. Slowly, the last memory of what had happened faded until it was completely erased from his mind.
…
Very, very far away, in a world unknown, uninhabited by any kind of being, a world made only of sand and stone, a young man slowly opened his radiant eyes for the first time in a very long time. He hovered slightly in the air above the surface of the planet, but now he gently set himself down. His feet sank slightly into the sand heated by the burning sun above him. He snapped his fingers, and before a heartbeat had passed, another person suddenly stood before him, immediately dropping to one knee.
"My lord, you have finally awakened?"
The man slowly placed his hand on his subordinate's shoulder. "Rise, Jinhai," he said in an incredibly gentle voice. Slowly, Jinhai stood up, but did not look his leader directly in the eyes.
"Were you successful, my lord?" he asked cautiously.
His lord nodded slightly. "It was not easy, but I have finally succeeded. I have found the origin of chaos."
"Wonderful!" Jinhai exclaimed. "Where is it? In one of the other two sects?"
This time, he shook his head. "No, it is only a small seed of chaos, far at the edge. I could not determine its exact location, but I know the direction."
"Then I will immediately send out a group to locate the seed!"
The man nodded and slowly turned toward the setting sun. After he had not spoken another word for some time, Jinhai cleared his throat politely.
"Is there anything else, Jinhai?" he asked curiously.
Jinhai nodded. "My lord, will you now return to the capital? We need you; the other sects are already on the brink of war after you have not shown yourself for so long."
"Ah, Jinhai, they will do nothing," he said calmly. "They are only testing us. As long as we do not appear weak, they will not act against us. You should know that."
Jinhai sighed. "That may be true, but they are already causing trouble at our borders and are secretly trying to take over some unimportant resource points. But if you show yourself with all your power, they will retreat again!"
The man merely clicked his tongue and gave no answer. These lower conflicts had long since ceased to interest him. He looked upward, his gaze piercing not only the planet's atmosphere but extending across his seemingly boundless domain and far beyond.
"Something is changing," he murmured.
Jinhai frowned. "What do you mean, my lord?"
"The age of order is coming to an end, my old friend. Beings are stirring deep within the fabric of fate, so ancient that they have faded from the pages of history and vanished from the memory of the galaxy. A tide of change is gathering on the horizon and threatens to sweep us all away." He looked directly at Jinhai, who met the white eyes of his lord. Those endless eyes that radiated so much knowledge, so much power, so much strength, yet deep within them, Jinhai could see something new, something he had never seen before.
Fear.