The supreme mages had countless questions for Galeazzo, but they restrained themselves after seeing how badly he had been affected by whatever had happened to him. The man had been given clothes to wear, and that was the last time he spoke. He now sat on the luxurious boat in silence. A heavy cloud of shame and vengeance hung over his head.
By his side sat the vampire Agrafena. She was similarly silent, but her eyes were filled with even more rage at whatever had transpired. It had been hours since they were rescued, and they were now headed to the Seamless Realm—the ancestral home of the Staranse Mage clan.
This was where the third Key of Destiny had been kept for centuries. Cate had originally approached Galeazzo with hopes of entering this realm to steal the key, but that plan had failed spectacularly.
The expensive and beautiful boat flew over the water at an incredible speed that most things could not match. The vessel was on the Eridanus, the Celestial River in Italy. When Galeazzo was informed by the elders that he was being taken back home, he was a little shaken, though more than a little excitement was hidden in his eyes. After a few minutes, the boat approached the Ponte Vittorio Emanuele I bridge.
Ponte Vittorio Emanuele I was a majestic stone bridge which connected Turin's Piazza Vittorio Veneto to the Church of the Gran Madre di Dio. It had five elegant arches that spanned the Po River, framing stunning views of the lush hillside—creating a scene out of fantasy and dreams. It was a truly beautiful sight.
Galeazzo stood up at this moment. He wanted to see what was about to happen with his own eyes. The boat did not slow down at all as it approached the bridge. The driver, in fact, increased the speed until the boat broke the sound barrier. In less than a second, the boat passed under one of the arches and disappeared. It did not come out the other side.
Galeazzo watched all this with his eyes wide open, and yet he was still shaken by what the Staranse clan had built in this place. The bridge was the gateway to their home. If one wanted to enter the Seamless Realm, they needed to know the location of this entrance and cast a specific spell created for the task. Countless mortals passed this bridge daily, but they could not enter the Seamless Realm since they lacked the necessary magic.
One moment, Galeazzo was looking at a majestic bridge, and a second later, he was surrounded by water as far as the eye could see. The boat was now on some sort of ocean he had never heard of. He breathed in deeply and was shaken by the high concentration of magic in the atmosphere. This concentration was not far from that of the Immortal Realm created by the High King.
"Welcome back home," one of the supreme mages said.
Galeazzo nodded at this. He looked out at the world with a myriad of thoughts going through his head. The boat suddenly began changing from its mortal, human appearance. Galeazzo looked down and could see the floor shifting. After a few seconds, the boat became something truly not from the human world. It appeared to be a machine that combined magic and technology—something one would expect to have been designed by ancient thinkers like Archimedes, Ctesibius of Alexandria, or Leonardo da Vinci.
The boat grew larger, now seeming to have more than enough space to carry a thousand people and a few hundred elephants together. Galeazzo could no longer see the engine that had been roaring until just a few minutes ago. The ship now had six pairs of golden, bird-like wings that spanned several hundred feet each. The ship was made out of a type of wood that felt far stronger than any metal.
The wings flapped once and the ship shot into the sky. Another flap of the mighty feathered wings saw the ship cutting across the sky at an impossible speed. A film of energy appeared over the ship, preventing the powerful winds from slamming into the people on board.
"We cannot delay any further. Your father is eagerly awaiting your arrival. He is very worried about you," one of the mages said.
Galeazzo just nodded once more. Agrafena moved close to Galeazzo and whispered into his ear. "Now that you have entered the Seamless Realm, will you let my brother go?" she asked with hope in her voice.
The man before her was not her best friend, Galeazzo. It was Cate, who had turned Galeazzo into her avatar. This man was Cate, and this was a fact that Agrafena had come to accept.
After turning Galeazzo into her avatar, Cate wanted to do the same to the twins, but she realized that with her current power as a supreme sorcerer, this was the limit of her capabilities. She could not create another avatar until she broke through to become a Legendary Sorcerer. Even though Cate was at the peak of the Supreme realm, reaching the Legendary realm—the next level of magical understanding and power—was not an easy feat.
Less than one percent of magicians ever became legendary. To cross the gap between these two realms was akin to closing the gap between good and evil, heaven and hell. It was a truly daunting task. For now, Galeazzo was her only avatar, and the only way she could create another was if she killed Galeazzo and replaced him.
For now, Galeazzo was more than useful. Through this avatar, Cate was closer to getting the third Key of Destiny. Cate needed the twins to stay by Galeazzo's side as they had done for years. The friendship of these three people was well known; they were always together. If the twins suddenly disappeared, Cate feared she would attract more attention to her identity. She did not want the Staranse clan to doubt her at all.
Since this was the case, Cate decided to hold one of the twins hostage and go to the Seamless Realm with the other. With the relationship the twins shared, Cate was sure that Agrafena would do whatever she was told in order to get her brother back. So far, she had done exactly that.