"Wait here!" Professor Addilyn opened the door and closed it fast behind her.
Vega sat down gratefully on the stone floor trying to catch his breath. By the time they reached the top of the tower, he was gasping for breath. The air on top was a lot colder than he had ever experienced before. Stars decorating the clear night sky can be seen clearly from the glassless window opposite him. He never realized that there was a huge tower that existed deep inside the academy. But in his defence, he recalled many magical formations he had to get through before reaching the tower, which probably managed to keep the tower well-hidden.
The first formation he passed was when he was finding his way passing several dense trees. There, he saw several wooden buildings decorated with some skeletons and bones outside. Feeling a strong mana pressure scanning him, Vega continued his journey walking past the buildings and found a solid rock wall.
After placing his medals, the rock dissolved and showed him a pathway leading to another area he had never seen before. This area was wider than the previous, where he could see some fields being taken care of by several apprentices. He also saw another two buildings releasing thick smoke from their chimney. Taking a right turn, he faced yet another formation where two elders waited and scanned him. He felt a huge pressure descend upon him as the elders did several scans on his body. His legs felt weak. He almost couldn't stand straight.
Finally, Vega was led to the last formation where the elders took out two gleaming medals and placed them on the indentation on the gate. The gate screeched open and opened the path for him. Following the stone pathway, he saw a simple bird statue surrounded by palm trees.
When looking at the statue, Vega remembered clearly the whole atmosphere turned strangely quiet. The bird blinked at him. Vega wiped his eyes a couple of times, making sure he didn't hallucinate, and finally heard a sound inside his head telling him to show his medal. The statue nodded and asked him to approach closer. Vega thought the statue was too similar to the rare bird known as Fenghuang, commonly found near the mountainous regions where the practitioners live. It symbolized longevity and renewal.
The bird statue looked at him with intelligent eyes waiting for Vega to climb it. Vega braved himself and touched the surprisingly soft realistic-looking feather made of stone. The bird screeched and flapped its wings taking off to fly. Vega looked around and finally saw the full view of the academy. Behind the clouds, he saw the clutters of houses circling a huge man-made lake that was probably reserved for the upper area.
Not far from where the apprentices lived, he finally saw where the port was complete with two boats docked quietly waiting for several apprentices who planned to leave the island. Vega also saw the lone building towering over all the other buildings at the port. That's probably where my mentor live. I wonder how she will access the tower. Vega's head snapped back after hearing a melody overcoming the sound of the wind around him.
His mentor sat on top of a small flying boat. Vega blushed looking at her mentor who wore a blue silk cloak with a golden cotton belt. She sat gracefully, complete with her golden bangles in each of her arms. She smiled and nodded at her apprentice.
Vega saw the top of the tower surrounded by the white clouds. The bird statue circled several times before landing at the edge of the stone gate. Vega waited for his mentor while observing the elaborate garden behind the gate. He counted several statues and two fountains decorated the garden. Several huge trees stood tall, blocking the view of the tower itself.
"I hope you had a pleasant flight here," her mentor greeted him.
Vega looked back, not realizing that his mentor stood taller than him with her flying boat nowhere to be seen. He closed his mouth and swallowed, "Yes, mentor."
His mentor led the way and opened the tower's door, but instead of a beautiful spacious room, Vega was met with rickety wooden stairs as complicated like a maze. The climb up was tiring. After several times taking his time to rest, he reached the top of the tower.
When Vega finally realized he could breathe normally again, he stood up, exploring the tiny room on top of the tower. The room's size only reached two arm's length with a huge window, a door, and the stairs. He tried looking down the stairs but stepped back regretfully after feeling a little dizzy. Two torches on the wall surrounding the door helped him see its intricate design. Several silver vines intersected on top of each other, making the door somewhat look ominous. He leaned closer and observed the vines, their tendrils poking through the doorway.
"What are you doing?" Professor Addilyn looked down seeing his apprentice squatting down.
Vega jumped, hearing the voice, and stood straight bowing at his mentor, "Sorry, mentor. I was just--"
"Let's go!"
His mentor opened the door wider, and Vega finally saw the room on top of the tower. Several stacks of books on the floor and a couple of papers laying around changed his perspective toward the elusive academy's principal. He saw a tall, elegant chair that looked really comfortable to sit on. But when Vega laid his eyes on the person sitting on the chair, he gaped at the sight.
Vega finally saw the person who held the highest hierarchy in the academy. With shirt cuffs undone and a scruffy beard, he didn't look like someone important at all.
"Ehem! Professor!" Professor Addelyn shouted at the person sitting on the chair.
The bearded man looked up, shocked, and smiled, "Ah, sorry, Addilyn, I was trying to finish this letter for him." Then the man looked toward Vega, squinted his eyes, and scrambled across the table to find his glasses and put them on. "Ah, you are the one who caught Addilyn's attention. How do you find your journey so far? The view was beautiful, eh?"
Vega bowed and answered the principal, joking. "Yes, principal. I found the bird statue the most interesting one."
"Hahahahha!" A booming laugh from the man. "Oh, yes, yes! A gift from one of the practitioners in the west. He and I are close friends, you know. A spirit puppet, he said. I would say it was even better than any spells we have here in the academy, no?"
"Yes, certainly, sir." Vega smiled even though confused that the principal of him was too friendly with the abominations. He heard the whispers and gossip of some attacks happening outside the academy. They even took Dion those bastards. Vega recalled that he even stabbed his sword into one of them following the instruction from one of his masters.
"And so, I heard that your sound magic had gone well? Nasty, that one. I heard Addilyn played once before and you can't imagine the destruction she caused with a pluck of her strings. Now, I contacted my friend to bring his apprentice here so you can get any sort of closure. Addilyn is afraid you're going to venture to the dark side if you don't meet this noble friend. Who is his name again? Dion, is it?"
"No, professor, we don't have that much time," Addilyn spoke to her better with a slight scorn on her face. "I think it's better if I explain to him myself on our way there."
"Yes, yes. Don't keep you too long here. Wait..." the man scratched something on the paper before folding it together and sealing it with wax. He then hovered his hand on top of the letter before giving it to Professor Addilyn. "Here. I think this letter would find it easier for you to negotiate with him. But I don't think it would be hard with your history, is it?"
Professor Addilyn bowed and bid goodbye to the middle-aged man. Vega heard the door closed with a bam behind them and several clicks, locking the room.
"That's the principal for you. I hope you won't be like him. We sometimes train our brains so hard until our brains become too creative like him." She said and led Vega down through several flights of stairs.
The walk down was surprisingly easier and faster than the walk up. Vega reached the bottom of the tower, and when he opened the door, the usual island air hit him. He could even feel his body started to get warm a little after being outside of the tower again.
"I'll explain more when the time comes. Now you practice your spells, and I'll contact you when it's time for us to visit Dion."
"Yes, professor. Do I have time to practice again with you before that?"
"No, I don't think so. I have to go first, convincing Dion's master to agree to meet with you, but don't worry, it will be done."
####
"The descriptions of dire wolves."
Vega waited until the letter in the book finished dancing and read it. A social group of animals with a carnivorous diet. They are commonly found near bushes where they build their nest.
"How about a fairy?"
Vega recalled the first book he ever laid his hands on about the fight between two fairy courts. It was the first fantasy book he had ever read that made him fall in love with reading in the first place. When he copied the information here, Vega waited for the letters to stop rearranging themselves while trying to recall any mention of a fairy.
Fairies or faes are believed to be long gone from the world. Some reported their meetings with the creatures, but the guild hasn't seen any evidence. Vega closed his books and finally realized that the book's information was limited to anything he had ever copied inside. Actually, the book had its own advantage because if he and the book had the same amount of information, he basically had two sets of brains solving the problems together. The book was, of course, faster.
Vega calmed himself down and finally set his eyes on the rusty potion in front of him. First, while the book searched for information about the ingredients list, he prepared the cauldron. After waiting for the water to form bubbles, he looked at some of the descriptions of the herbs. He slowly separated the stem from the leaves and put the leaves first inside the cauldron. He crushed the stem and collected the liquid when the leaves started dissolving. After he counted ten breaths, he put two drops inside.
A sizzling sound filled the room. Reading the instruction fast, Vega now preparing some other plants. One needed to be crushed, the other needed chopping, and he had to change it into powder. He finished his potion by stirring the cauldron three times to the right and finished by putting the fire out. A disgusting smell worse than the smell of wet socks filled the room. He closed the cauldron fast and looked for something to erase the smell.
After opening the windows, he spun his blanket, making the smoke escape from his windows. After clearing everything up, he sat near the table, jolted down his process of making the failed potion, and wrote all the little details he remembered. After asking the book to figure out what was wrong, he discovered that all the ingredients needed to be added together in the correct order.
Sighing looking at his empty pouch with no ingredients left, he decided to try making the potion tomorrow. He checked his connection with the medal and tried to connect to Dion. Finding that the medal didn't bulge even a little, he gave up and started his daily meditation.