"Kamar-Taj is a hidden magic sanctuary deep in the Himalayan Mountains, this is the central control of all magic sanctuaries on Earth, and also the place where the former Supreme Magician and his disciples resided and practiced."
Strange's voice echoed in the room, and the picture on the screen became brighter and brighter.
It was a massive snowstorm that seemed to submerge the world's highest peaks, countless fluttering snowflakes fell from the sky, burying all the hidden paths to the depths of the Himalayas. A group of mages in yellow cloaks trudged slowly in the knee-deep snow.
Kamar-Taj is a well-known magic Temple, a temple located deep in the north peak of the Himalayas, boasting an East Asian architectural style of wooden structures, upturned eaves, and brackets. Decorated with Central Asian motifs and domes, the temple almost hidden in the snow evokes a deep admiration for the sanctity from every traveler who gets to see its true appearance.
The Karmatige Magic Academy is deep within the Kamar-Taj Temple, in a hidden valley of the Himalayas that has never been tread by humans. The whole academy is built against the cliffs, countless winding corridors lead to school buildings full of oriental classic charm. When the glistening tiles are completely covered by snow, it brings a touch of ancient beauty.
Numerous dazzling wooden structures supported seven main buildings of varying heights, along with countless corridors, plank roads, and ropeways interweaving. The returning mages led their horses in a row, walking along the extremely thin corridors carved out of the cliffs, their presence hovering yet steady as they entered the school.
About two hundred metres from the deepest part of the valley is a rest pavilion, but the mages didn't stop. They climbed to a place five to six metres high, then sent their horses into the barn there, made a left turn at the first walkway, and had their first sip of hot tea in the firewood room filled with warm stove heat and the fragrance of herbs.
"The Supreme Magician said there will be a few new students today. They're so unlucky to have run into such a big snowstorm. Should we go to the village to pick them up?" An elderly female mage with white hair at her temples took off her hood, shook her head, and asked while blowing on the hot tea in her hands.
Another, heftier male mage put his magic wand by the door and added firewood to the stove, speaking with a deep voice, "The Supreme Mage has thought of everything. How could he make the children endure such heavy snow to climb the mountain? The admission will probably be postponed."
"That's good too." Another taller, thinner mage, who sounded younger, said, "There are more and more children. I'm getting overwhelmed. I hope we don't have another little troublemaker poking their own eye with a magic wand."
"At least we get to breathe a sigh of relief." The female mage took a sip of the hot tea, exhaled a curl of white fog and said, "Although the mountain hasn't been this lively in many years, it's been a bit too lively recently. I used to be so fond of these young and energetic calves. Now, surprisingly, I'm even annoyed by their noise."
"Master Song! Master Song! Are you here?" A more youthful and lively female voice came from outside the door.
"How many times have I said that my surname is Song, alright, we're not expecting you to get it right." The elderly female mage, known as Master Song, slowly put down her teacup, walked to the door, opened it, put her head out and asked, "What's up, Sheryl?"
"Three children were teleported from the Supreme Mage's study room, they are probably the new students he said would arrive today. Please hurry over."
"What? They are already here? We'll head over right away!"
"So how did you transport them over? I mean, you two." Shiller's gaze shifted from Bruce, pausing on his face for a moment before moving onto Strange's face.
But Strange, not feeling the slightest bit guilty, joined Shiller as they both looked at Bruce. His eyes glinting with a mischievous hint, suggesting someone else as the culprit.
"Lucifer."
It didn't surprise Shiller when Bruce revealed this name. He drummed his fingers on the arm of the sofa and pressed on, "I know it's him, I'm asking 'how'?"
"Stories from his childhood are circulating in Heaven now, of course, this wasn't my own doing. But rumours are like aubiquitouse spring water, seeping out of every crevice."
"You're starting to sound more and more like your tutor." Constantine crossed one leg over the other, gently shook his foot and said, "Stop beating around the bush, genius detective."
"He wants these rumours to disappear. It's hard to tell whether it's because the embarrassment of his childhood stories being revealed, or he wants these memories to be shared only between him and his father. But either way, both father and son agree that Lucifer's childhood stories needn't be known by too many."
"So, he used helping you as a way to buy you off?"
"Actually, he didn't need to do that." Bruce shook his head, "He has an easier way to solve all this."
"The key lies in the timing." Shiller pondered and said.
Bruce nodded and said, "Gabriel disappeared, no one knows where he is. Not even God knows. This is shocking considering there shouldn't be anywhere God doesn't know about."
Constantine paused with the cigar in his hand and said, seemingly hinting at something, "God is supposed to be omniscient and omnipotent, but even he has exceptions."
"It doesn't matter where Gabriel is, What's important is that God can't find him and God really wants to find him. Because of this when Lucifer went to find God, he came up empty."
"Can you imagine it? For the first time since his fall, Lucifer took the initiative to find his father, but for the first time his father wasn't there waiting for him. God knew he would come, but he wasn't there waiting."
"He's panicked." Constantine said with a broad smile, "Even the arrogant Lucifer has his day."
"Nobody waits forever for anyone in this world." Shiller sighed lightly, and then said, "People only appreciate what they have once they have lost it. This is true for both God and Lucifer."
"But you didn't say why Lucifer would help you," Zatanna pointed out.
"Isn't that obvious? He wants to stir up trouble, perhaps to attract God's attention, possibly with some resentment and discontent. He wants to cause great trouble for both himself and Heaven."
"That's so childish." Strange commented.
"But it's not surprising. These perfect and powerful beings, being so flawless and strong, have never experienced hardship, not even setbacks. So it's inevitable they seem light and frivolous. That's their greatest luck." Bruce said.
"How did he help you?" Shiller asked again.
"I guessed that this Supreme Magician must have arrived here through some special means, I asked Lucifer about this method, and he said a certain special entity had forged a path invisible to ordinary people."
"So you utilized this path?"
"No, due to the nature of the entity that forged this path, only individuals from another cosmos can use it, we needed a path of our own."
Shiller arched his eyebrows slightly, then heard Bruce continue, "Lucifer has created a new path that only our side can use. Fair enough, wouldn't you say?"
"Would he go through so much trouble?"
"The hard part is locating, the void is infinite, no one can find a clear direction within it. But if there is a certain anchor point, if both sides know of each other's existence, the distance becomes infinitely short."
"It's a matter of time?"
"Not a problem." Bruce shook his head, "The speed of time flow differs in all cosmos, but they can be synchronized in observation. The concept of cosmic distance follows the same principle."
"When a cosmos is 'known' by another, the physical distance between them becomes unimportant. When one cosmos is observed by another, their speeds of time flow are necessarily synchronized during the process of observation."
"It seems this has inspired you," Constantine said, looking up at Bruce who was walking to the liquor cabinet.
"Actually, this is a theory that has long been proposed in the field of physics, but for humans, it is still too early." Bruce said while inspecting the liquors in the cabinet, "The countless cosmos in the void are like particles, they are not billiard balls, they won't be neatly placed on a table, but are probabilities, they don't go from one point to another, but eternally jumpy among some possibilities."
"When a known possibility is anchored, it appears at that point, we can describe it through the properties of this point, that is, we 'know' it, its fixed properties at this point come from our cognition, and observation is a means of cognition."
"So, as we gaze at it, our concept of time anchors it. Therefore, among its infinite possible properties, the property of time identical to ours becomes the only property of time at this moment. This achieves the unification effect of time field theory."
"Didn't understand a word," Constantine said bluntly.
But Zatanna thoughtfully stroked her chin and said, "It's as if, the world I imagine will necessarily have my concept of time, because that's the only concept of time I can understand."
"Not 'as if.'" Bruce returned with a bottle of liquor, placed it on the table and said, "If we look at this from such a macroscopic perspective, a cosmos that is enormous to us is just a particle of an even larger entity. Then a small idea to us may also be a cosmos on a much finer level, and our ideas, our understanding, our concepts, will become the rules of these universes of thoughts."
Bruce picked up the bottle again, calmly poured the liquor into the glass, and spoke in the same even tone, "And perhaps, the rules that our cosmos has, also come from the understanding of the world by some superior entities."
A flicker of surprise passed through Shiller's eyes, he looked up at Bruce, Bruce's eyes were as blue as ever, only the clear and comprehensible color within them was diminishing.
Shiller murmured to himself as if no one was present, "This is why I often regard education as a miracle. You can only sow the seeds, water and fertilize, but you cannot control what grows out of the soil."
Then he looked up, caught Bruce's gaze as Bruce stood pouring the liquor. Bruce bent down, pinched the upper rim of the glass, passed the half-filled glass into Shiller's hand, lowered his head and dropped his eyelids, and spoke.
"But a good teacher wouldn't say he had no inkling at all, because he clearly knew that this seed was different from the rest."
Shiller placed the glass against his lips, sighed and said, "Much too different indeed."