The moment Rethys' surroundings changed, his eyes instantly snapped around to take stock of them, scanning everything around him.
He was, as expected, on yet another teleportation platform attended by many mages, looking pretty much identical to the ones he'd seen before. His surroundings beyond that, however, changed immensely, as this teleporter was not in an enclosed room but rather out in the open, in a large, sunlit terrace containing other teleporters and surrounded by gardens as far as the eye could see.
Rethys' second time experiencing teleportation was many times easier than the first. There was even less confusion than the first time, and looking down at his hands, there was no magical mishap either.
The same could not be said for Ester, who once again experienced symptoms.
He approached her and extended a hand toward her to help her up. She smiled at the gesture and took his hand, and as her hand touched his, he knew instantly that the magical disruption she was suffering could be alleviated by his Origin element. A single Stabilize spell would do it, he thought.
"I hope this stops happening at some point." She grumbled as she straightened herself and squinting her eyes. "Gods, it's always too bright here. I miss the north's clouds already."
Rethys nodded at her before turning around again. It truly was too bright.
It was the first time he had seen a sky as starkly blue as this one. Its brightness, the feeling of the sun's rays on his skin, and the warm wind blowing around him, all were quite novel experiences.
He looked past the terrace, at the manor adjacent to it and saw the same banners that hung from the Archduke's castle. He then looked at the other teleporters, seeing some coming active and being attended to by more mages.
Beyond the terrace and the whole estate, he could see tall buildings of ivory stone stretching into the sky, mostly spires ending with strange shapes carved into the stone of their summits that he recognized to have some magical significance.
'Those must be runes.' He thought to himself.
"Come." Ester motioned for him to follow. "We need to greet the Archduke and move to the academy."
And as he followed her lead, the two walked through pathways that ran between verdant gardens bearing all manner of strange greenery. Hedges bearing colored leaves, flowery plants that followed Rethys as he moved past them, tall white plants with that spread a pleasant scent throughout the whole manor's grounds, and much more exotic and eccentric magical flora that covered the area with their auras.
'Quite the exotic collection.' Sevi commented.
"Impressive isn't it." Ester remarked, noticing his curiosity. "Our gardens back home can't compare, especially now..."
The centerpiece of it all came in the form of a majestic tree that emitted a powerful aura and stretched far upwards into the sky, bathing a large swath of the grounds in dark shade. Yet that wasn't its most eye-catching feature, as that would be the fact that the tree was unbound.
'What the...'
Putting last month's training into practice, Rethys released his Origin senses on the tree, which revealed that it was alive and active beyond the capacity of any regular plant, as well as attuned to the elements of Life, Restoration, and Creation. And as he stared at the tree for longer, he could feel its gaze thrown back at him.
Sufficiently startled, he looked away, at which point, whatever that tree was also seemed to lose interest.
'Off to a great start...' He sighed inwardly, hoping that what he had just seen was not the norm.
"We're here." Ester announced, as the two stepped into a wide hall entering into the manor itself.
On the way there, they passed by many other youths donning the same uniform as theirs, who all paused in turns to greet them.
Rethys found the noble greetings to be burdensome and tacky, yet after a while around nobles found it in himself to go along with all of it. Yet even if he didn't, the sight of Ester receiving the other aspirants was surprising to say the least.
She did not display either her usual bubbly self nor her cold and sharp battle demeanor, instead responding to greetings with calm cadence and measured words. Rethys knew her to be eloquent beyond her age, yet she never ceased to surprise him with her sheer competence.
"...in any case, I am sorry for wasting your time so, Lady Valros." Announced the last of the noble youths to perform his greeting, a green-haired kid that seemed to be slightly older than Ester herself.
"Nothing of the sort, Lord Coseth." The girl responded. "I look forward to meeting in the Academy as peers. Now if you will excuse me."
She then continued onward to the manor proper and, to Rethys' surprise, led him through to the other side of the manor's grounds.
"Didn't you say we're going to the Archduke?" Rethys asked.
"Eh." Ester shrugged. "We don't need to. He wouldn't mind, really. I've already done my part, and already told Mel and Heyen to deal with the rest."
Rethys tried his hardest to remember who those two names referred to. They were the attendants that came with them to the capital, he recalled.
"We just need to be there on time for the entrance ceremony." Ester explained. "Gods was it bothersome, dealing with them..."
Rethys frowned. She seemed completely in her element when dealing with the noble heirs and navigating the convoluted conversations they insisted on having.
Eventually the two completely left the Archduke's manor's grounds and joined the capital's streets, and the spectacle that greeted Rethys was shocking.
Wide streets extended as far as the eye can see, bordered by tall buildings made from the same alabaster stone, as well as boulevards of great fountains and gardens filled with vibrant greenery. Great, red banners of the kingdom hung from many surfaces, gently rustling along with the wind.
The streets were very busy, with mages, servants and nobles of all sorts walking to and fro, their chatter filling the atmosphere with a lively buzz. The streets were also empty of carriages, having only pedestrians and the occasional mounted knight or mage.
The capital's guard looked very different to the ones Rethys was accustomed to seeing, wearing black armor and garments instead of the usual dull and silvery steel or rank-alluding mantle. Their auras were also quite pronounced and spoke of danger, marking the first time Rethys felt genuine threat since leaving Yvtar.
The guards even radiated this air without particularly trying, and without focusing on him, which was both comforting and frightening, and this was not mentioning the clearly abnormal horses they rode.
Another surprising sight was that of imposing giants of runed metals patrolling the streets of the capital in slow and heavy steps, magical golems.
They possessed a roughly humanoid shape and stood at a towering height of five meters tall, with large upper halves and massive arms. Rethys once expected them to be made in the image of humans, yet these didn't have a face or a head for that matter, instead having a large etherstone in their torsos that looked like an eye.
"Move along." He heard the golem say as it passed by him.
He was about to run his senses by it when Ester called to him.
"Come." She said, snapping him out of his observation.
She led him through some very busy avenues and toward some elevated parts of the city. And from such elevation, Rethys could see much more of the Great City of Naldras around him, streets and promenades of snow-white stone wrapping around and even above minor districts, and stretching very far into the horizon before finally reaching what seemed to be the walls of the inner district.
'Mage-crafted stone as far as the eye could see...' Sevi sighed wistfully.
And far into the distance, he could see a great and majestic castle of gilded white stone, rising higher into the clouds than any of the city's spires or towers, its shape contrasting greatly with the structures surrounding it, and its magical aura discernible even from where Rethys was.
"Oh." Ester suddenly interjected. "Actually, we don't have much time at all. Come, we need to go."
And as Rethys followed her lead, she took him to what seemed to be the center of the capital, an area where buildings became scarcer and greater in size until there was not but massive domed structures amidst vast courtyards. And amidst those stood a great spire that seemed to reach into the heavens themselves, the top of it, if it had one, concealed by its sheer height.
The crowds also gradually thickened as the two approached the great spire, and at some point, the increasing hubbub of activity and its movement made it hard for them to navigate their way through.
"The academy isn't actually here, rather only its entrance is. We're... we're going to take another teleporter..." Ester explained, not pleased with the fact. "Let's find the others."
It didn't take long for Ester to find her attendants near one of the surrounding gazebos, and joining them, the group of four approached the great spire and stepped along its great entrance, though Ester guided them through a series of side corridors.
"Milady, it is not befitting to elude the entrance ceremony again." Mel chided.
"It's fine." Ester shrugged. "I've already seen it many times before and I doubt Reth wants to waste time there when we could get things squared away sooner. Isn't that so, Reth?"
"Yeah." He nodded. Everything she said sounded great.
"That does it then! Farewell you two."
The two attendants seemed apprehensive about the whole ordeal, yet eventually bowed their heads and headed back out. Now undistracted, Ester led Rethys further inside, eventually reaching what seemed to be another teleporter room.
"So, this leads to the academy?" Rethys asked looking at the barely staffed teleporter.
Only two red-caped High Mages were here, fiddling with the teleporter's runes so intently they didn't notice the two youths' entrance.
"Yep." Ester replied. "Don't worry I know these guys. Hey Merofesh, can you take us through?"
One of the mages turned around and, noticing the two, arched his eyebrows.
"Ester." He nodded. "You do know the entrance ceremony hasn't even started yet, right? What are you doing here kid?"
"Asking you to use the teleporter." Ester answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
The gray-haired man stared at her for a while before shrugging and voicing a nonchalant "Yeah, sure" and turning around to carry on with his work.
Ester then approached the platform, which didn't even have a stairway leading up to it, and then leaped up to climb it. She then extended a hand down to Rethys.
"Come on." She urged him.
"Are you sure this is okay?" He asked as he took her hand.
She quickly slung him upward unto the platform, which instantly began powering up.
"It's fine." She shrugged. "They know what they're doing."
The teleporter charged up quickly, and before Rethys knew it, he was in another room entirely, a small workshop manned by a single mage, which took a glance at Ester before nodding at her and returning to her work.
'Greater noble privileges, I guess.' Rethys thought.
It was surprising how easily Ester got around, yet he could quickly accept it and focus instead on helping the girl up. She really didn't seem to handle teleportation well.
What he couldn't accept however was that his sense and magical abilities now told him he was so unimaginably far away from where he had been mere moments ago that he had a hard time not panicking.
He first wondered if the teleportation went wrong and delivered them somewhere unintended, yet the fact that Sevi remained silent and no one around him displayed surprise helped keep him somewhat calm.
He helped Ester on her feet and together the two left the workshop and headed out.
"We're in the Academy now." She announced as the two walked through busy corridors until they reached a main hall and then were out into the open again.
Rethys looked around, seeing the building they just exited and three more in the distance, with a particularly massive one sitting in the middle, presumably the main building of this place.
"Hey, Ester, where did you say the academy was?" He asked.
"Uhm..." She paused for a second, surprised by his question yet seemingly not wanting to leave it unanswered. "Some patch of wildlands somewhere around the Kingdom, or so I've been told. They put it here for safety and to help in learning, the woods here are very important."
"I see." He answered.
'A peculiar decision, to situate such an important facility as they did.' Sevi chimed in.
Yet Rethys could tell that they were not, in fact, anywhere near the kingdom.
His sense for his position relative to the world around him never deteriorated, and combined with his newfound connection to Tevohs' great masses of ice, which he now knew were the world's poles, he was able to more or less instinctively tell where he was on the map.
And it felt that now, he was in another continent entirely.
"Come." Ester called again. "Let's get you registered before things slow down later."
She led him through the gardens that lied between the academy's buildings, and toward the northernmost structure, a great tower.
Ester once again waltzed in without the slightest shred of hesitation, ignoring the very busy red- and even white-caped mages moving from here to there, and they too ignored her.
Eventually the two arrived at an office, which Ester knocked on its door instead of casually walking into.
"Come in." A gentle, female voice resounded from within, after which the two entered.
Inside was a great office decorated with all manner of strange magical items from glowing spheres of light contained within floating lamps to strange, revolving contraptions made entirely of what seemed like solid ether. And behind the office's desk sat a woman seemingly in her forties.
She had pale skin and a beautiful yet stern face, as well as long, flowing black hair that gave her a much younger and gentler appearance. Her outfit was also strange, having not only a black mantle but also a completely black outfit.
She was an Ascendant Mage Lord of Gravity, a rare element Rethys knew little of.
"Ester Valros." She voiced, turning back to the papers on her desk. "How am I not surprised that you are here now."
"Dean Iandria." Ester bowed. "I have come to register my foster brother, Reth."
"I see." She said as she took her eyes off her work and fixed them on the two youths.
Her eyes looked unnerving, being completely black pits of darkness. If not for his magical senses, Rethys wouldn't even know she was looking at him.
Her aura was also unsettling, seeming more akin to that of a daemon from Yvtar than a normal human.
'What the...'
"Rethys of Kalantor, I assume?" She said.
"Yes." He answered instantly.
He wouldn't bow, but the weight of her aura felt stifling enough to force some decorum out of him.
"Wrong." She retorted. "You are now Rethys of Valros, here to learn magic in the Royal Academy of Naldras for the benefit of the land and its people. Do not forget that Rethys. All must know their place here, be it you or I, as servants of the crown and the people, first and foremost."
"I understand, Lady Iandria." He replied.
"Madam." She corrected him while scrutinizing him with her gaze. "That is madam Iandria for you."
"Yes madam."
She studied him with her gaze for a bit more before rising and pulling a small magic tool from one of her desk's drawers.
"Sit you two." She ordered as the tool in her hand extended into the shape of a small, ornate wand.
Both Rethys and Ester sat down at opposite seats while the Dean approached them.
"Your hand." She requested, at which point Rethys extended his hand.
She rolled back his sleeve and pressed her wand against his wrist, quickly drawing intricate symbols on his skin.
'Even her nails are black.' Rethys noted, noticing her element's influence on her.
"This may hurt." She said, yet the pain never came.
He recognized what she was doing. She was inscribing a curse of sorts, and judging by Ester's reaction, or lack thereof, this seemed like standard procedure.
"You would usually receive this spell with your future classmates during the entrance speech, but I suppose we have to indulge Ester's impatience, don't we? "
'It seems like an information embargo curse.' Sevi chimed in. 'That means you would not be able to speak of some things out loud, presumably of the academy itself. Brutish, but effective.'
Now having received Sevi's insight, he waited for the process to be over before a warmth spread through him and the noblewoman retracted her wand.
"There." She announced. "I will finalize your registration later, and you may attend classes tomorrow just as normal. Now both of you, scram. I have work to attend to."
"Thank you, Dean Iandria." Ester bowed toward the Mage Lord as she rose.
"Thank you, madam." Rethys voiced in turn.
Ester then led the two out of the northern building and back toward the center building. They passed by training grounds of all sorts, and then into the main building itself, where every corridor seemed to end in a lecture hall. Ester expertly navigated through the place's endless halls until she found an office from which she took a list of the lessons available.
It seemed that apart from a few essential lessons, each student had the opportunity to choose subjects they were interested in and attend accordingly, and they could attend as many as they wanted through the course of a week, if they were able.
Aside from profusely advising him to join the swordsmanship classes, Ester didn't pressure him to choose any specific lesson, and told him that he would learn more about them in the coming week before having to choose what suited him most.
"We wouldn't see much of each other in the academy, what with you being in the first year." She said with a pout. "Aside from the elemental Discipline classes, we'll meet there. You'll love those lessons! Master Zeritel is stern, but I have a feeling you'll like his lessons."
She then gave him a short tour of some of the academy's locations, which weren't all that interesting considering this was a place of learning and not a noble's home, before ending her tour at the building where Rethys' quarters were located.
"And here we are, the boys' building." She announced. "I have to go now, take care of my own business. See you tomorrow Reth!"
"See you tomorrow." He echoed back at her. "And thank you, Ester."
Hearing him, she beamed a wide smile.
"You're welcome Reth!" She answered. "See you tomorrow!"
Rethys watched her leave, walking through the hedges, gardens, and gazebos with a spring in her step, before turning around and heading inside to find his quarters.
'She is a good girl.' Sevi remarked.
"Yeah." He whispered back.
He didn't know why she was so nice to him, but appreciated it nonetheless.
It took him a while to navigate through the mazelike and repeating halls of the dormitory and find his own quarters. The building was nearly empty aside from a few servants running here and there.
It was still noon, and so it'd be a while before the entrance ceremony was over and he would see any other student, his roommate included. He hoped that, like Ester said, they'd put someone who would understand him.
'Why even assign roommates?' He wondered inwardly. 'They're nobles for crying out loud.'
It took a while before he found his quarters. And laying his hand on their door's surface, the door surprisingly responded to him and swung open. It seemed they had it attuned to him before he even arrived here.
It also felt strange, even after spending nearly a month at the Valros estate, for magical doors to open normally for him, having been used to disenchanting the very magic on them to get inside.
'Ah, yes.' Sevi's voice resounded in his mind. 'I have arranged so that we do not have a roommate, by the way.'
"What do you mean?" He asked as he entered the room, finding an expansive quarters with many rooms and enough space and amenities for two people.
Yet his eyes were instantly drawn to a nearby table, where two magical stone of the Mind element, a simple etherstone and a powerful spellstone, lied in wait.
"Finally..." Sevi sighed as the door closed behind him. "We have our own base of operations, away from prying eyes. Come now, Rethys, there is MUCH to do, and so little time."