Holding the glass of water, the two youngsters entered the beautiful Mansion, walking through the long hallway.
Along the hallway, Gabriel noticed lots of portraits hanging on the wall. Unfortunately, the Portraits were blank. There was nothing but a white blank in the portraits.
"Is there a reason behind having blank Portraits?" Gabriel asked. "Any significance?"
"They aren't blank," the maid responded without looking back.
Gabriel once again observed the portrait, but he still couldn't find anything. There was nothing he could see in them. They were certainly blank.
He got close to Lira and asked, "Do you see anything in these portraits?"
Lira shook her head. "I can't see anything either. You need something special to see what's in the portraits and we don't have it. Only Lambard does."
Along the hallway, there were many doors, each having a beautiful carving on them. Some had a floral design carved on them, while others had constellations carved on them.
None of the doors were where the maid stopped.
After walking nonstop for ten minutes straight, the three stopped at the end of the hallway before the biggest door they had seen so far.
The twenty-foot tall metallic door had two goblets floating on each side of the door, which surprised Gabriel. How were these two goblets floating in the air?
Unlike the other doors, this door seemed pretty ordinary in itself since it had no carvings. It was plain, but the floating goblets made this place even more intriguing than the others.
"This is why we were given the water." Lira reminded Gabriel as she moved over to the left goblet. "You take the right one. Pour the water into the goblet at the same time as me."
Gabriel was confused as to why they were doing it, but he did as she said.
He took a few steps to the right to stand right before the other Goblet.
"On the count of three, pour all the water in."
"One..."
"Two..."
"Three."
On the count of three, Lira emptied her glass of water. Gabriel did the same. Both of them filled the goblets with the water they had been carrying along the way.
Lira placed the empty glass back on the tray of the maid. Gabriel did the same as he kept glancing back at the goblets.
The goblets that were floating at their chest height started going down slowly after being filled as if they were getting heavier.
With each passing second, the goblets sank a few inches before ultimately the floating goblets touched the ground.
The metallic doors in front started opening as soon as Goblets touched the ground.
The phenomenon surprised Gabriel to some extent. He had seen doors that opened on their own in the mystical realm where he found the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy. To see something similar here... This made him really curious as to what kind of place this was.
"You two can go in." The maid instructed the young man and the lady.
Gabriel and Lira entered the place. The doors closed behind the two. At the same time, the water which was filling the gauntlet started disappearing slowly.
****
Gabriel entered the hall, which was massive. The hall appeared to be over a hundred meters wide and a hundred meters long. Everything here was stark white, from the roof to the walls to the floor.
Despite being such a massive hall, the place was completely void. There was nothing here except a throne which was placed at the exact center of the hall. Two seats were placed before the throne.
"Lambard, I know you want to show off with the newcomer, but it's not the time for a grand entry. Come out this instant!" Lira declared as she held Gabriel's hands and went ahead.
"Oh, why spoil this old man's fun?" A man's voice fell in the ears of two youngsters as a hand landed on their shoulders.
Gabriel turned around to see who it was, but no one was behind him.
"You're looking in the wrong direction, young man." The voice, this time, came from a different direction.
Gabriel turned once again, this time to the Throne in the middle. He could see a young man sitting on the throne. It was unclear how he appeared inside the closed room without them noticing.
The young man on the throne appeared to be slightly older than Gabriel, in his early twenties. He was dressed in a really majestic attire, wearing a grey robe on top of his blue attire.
The man had long, deep blue hair with a few streaks of silver in them. His skin appeared to be so flawless that it was hard to know if he was a man or a woman just at first glance.
The man had what appeared like a burnt mark on the left half of his face. His eyes also seemed so fascinating, with his right eye being red in color and his left being a lighter shade of blue.
The man appeared to be an enthusiast of accessories. He had an earring in each of his ears. He wore a ring on each of his fingers, and all those rings had different designs, some looking very fascinating.
The man also had a silver bracelet on both his hands and a silver pendant around his neck.
"Lambard, there you are." Lira stepped closer to Lambard with Gabriel.
"It's good to see you as well, Lira. It would've been even better if you hadn't killed my guards though," the young man lazily rolled his eyes.
"Not my fault. Those idiots tried to stop us," Lira explained before taking a seat.
Gabriel also did the same, sitting right beside Lira while facing Lambard.
"Get to the point. What brought you here with a Mage of Light?" Lambard inquired while observing the Mark of Light in the hands of Gabriel.
"I brought him here because I need something from you," Lira chimed in since even Gabriel didn't know why he was here.
Lambard sat more comfortably with his back resting against the cushion in the back of his throne.
"I never thought I would see the day when you will work with a Light Mage. Whatever, it's none of my concern. You know I don't deal with Mages, but since it's you, I'll listen to your request. If I find it fair, I might lend you a hand."
He glanced at Lira with intrigue, wondering what she would ask for.
"I want something that you hold very dear to yourself, but only temporarily. It is an absolute necessity for what we have to do," Lira stated.
She knew she had to phrase everything just perfectly, or this stubborn guy wasn't going to listen.
"Don't circle around." Lambard chided Lira lightly. "Just tell me what you want."
"Old man, I need your..."