Moonlight rested over the Flamel estate like silver dust.
No animal sound.
Even magic itself seemed to breathe slower here older, quieter, watching.
Seraphine and Aldric appeared without flash or sound, stepping onto the same cobblestone path as before.
But something was different.
The garden no longer felt welcoming.
It felt aware.
Subtle pressure brushed against their minds not a spell, not intrusion, but… examination.
Aldric whispered:
"…They are already testing us."
Seraphine did not slow.
"Yes.
Which means the meeting has begun."
Before either could take another step, a soft voice drifted through the night.
"Good evening."
Nicholas Flamel emerged from the shadows no wand drawn, no shield raised, yet danger coiled around him like a silent serpent.
Perenelle appeared beside him not behind, not after.
As always one.
Aldric and Seraphine bowed not submissive, but equal, as instructed.
Nicholas observed them with an expression that was neither warm nor cold.
Merely aware.
"You returned."
His tone carried neither surprise nor approval.
Seraphine answered first, graceful:
"You asked us to."
Nicholas nodded once.
"Yes. I did."
Then his eyes sharpened ancient intelligence flaring behind them.
"And yet… you did not bring the one who sent you."
"That was intentional," Aldric replied.
Perenelle finally spoke her voice soft but edged with unmistakable steel:
"Because he fears us?"
Seraphine smiled subtly.
"No.
Because he respects you."
A flicker almost imperceptible crossed Perenelle's face.
Not flattery.
Sway.
Recognition.
THE FIRST TEST LANGUAGE
Nicholas stepped closer, lifting a hand.
"Tell me," he said, voice shifting seamlessly into Old Alchemical French, a language dead for six centuries:
> "À qui prêtiez-vous allégeance avant tissé du métal et pensée étrangère?"
(To whom did you owe allegiance before metal and foreign thought reshaped you?)
Aldric answered without pause in the same extinct dialect:
> "À personne. Seulement à pouvoir. Maintenant à cel qui le transcende."
(To no one. Only to power. Now to the one who surpasses it.)
Nicholas blinked.
Once.
Slowly.
Perenelle's gaze slid to Seraphine.
Her question came in another dead tongue Aramaic.
> "Et l'âme? À qui appartient-elle?"
(And the soul? Whom does it belong to?)
Seraphine responded in flawless Hebrew.
> "À celui qu'en fait usage, pas à celui qu'en revendique la possession."
(To the one who uses it, not to the one who claims ownership.)
A long silence followed.
This time, it was acknowledgment.
They had passed the first gate.
THE SECOND TEST INTENT
Perenelle motioned toward a stone table beneath an ancient fig tree. Four seats. Two empty.
Invitation not command.
They sat.
No tea.
This was not a social visit.
Nicholas began voice gentle, words sharp:
"Explain your purpose here. Without strategy or presentation."
Seraphine folded her hands.
"We seek collaboration."
Aldric added:
"With someone whose understanding of alchemy is beyond our current capability."
Nicholas did not respond.
Perenelle did.
"You mean his Stone."
Aldric nodded once.
"Yes. And the knowledge that built it."
Perenelle leaned forward slightly.
"And what do you offer in exchange?"
Seraphine inhaled.
Then spoke truth.
Not rehearsed lines.
> "A future where your work does not die with you."
Nicholas looked at her and for the first time, something flickered in his eyes:
pain.
Aldric sensed it and pressed:
"You extended life.
Preserved legacy.
But time does not fear stone."
Nicholas' jaw tightened.
"You presume much."
Aldric met his gaze steadily.
"You fear being forgotten."
Silence.
Not insulted.
Just…
Seen.
THE THIRD TEST POWER
Without movement, without gesture, without wand
Perenelle released magic.
It was not an attack. A reality check.
An alchemical pulse rippled outward bending the air, distorting space, testing the structure of the enhancements within Aldric and Seraphine.
Their breath hitched nanites reacted, magic stabilized, minds sharpened.
The network hummed.
Perenelle whispered:
"…Interesting."
Nicholas joined her power two ancient signatures intertwining, pressing like deep ocean pressure around the envoys.
Aldric clenched his jaw.
Seraphine kept her gaze steady.
Neither fell, broke.
retaliated.
That more than strength was the answer.
Nicholas finally withdrew his magic.
His voice was quiet, but undeniable:
"You speak of future.
legacy.
evolution."
Perenelle finished:
"But evolution has a cost."
Aldric answered:
"We know."
Seraphine finished:
"And we accept it."
THE SHIFT
Nicholas leaned back.
For the first time
A small smile.
Not warm.
Interested.
"You will return," he said softly.
Perenelle added:
"And next time, we will speak not of fear or past."
Nicholas nodded.
"But of what comes after eternity."
The garden lights dimmed.
The meeting was over.
Back aboard the ship
As the envoys rematerialized, Zack received the data stream in full.
Microexpressions.
Power signatures.
Intent probability curves.
Then he spoke calm, controlled, satisfied:
> "They did not decline."
Aldric exhaled.
"No. They tested."
Seraphine smirked softly.
"And we survived."
Zack nodded.
Then delivered the only verdict that mattered:
> "Phase Two begins."
The future had shifted.
Not won.
Engaged.