"You"re finally finished!" Greyson heard his sister"s familiar voice call out to him. Turning towards the origin of the sound, he saw that the group all exited the Altar already. The twins also completed their business with the Amians and regrouped with the rest. Laughing joyfully, he was about to Rosalie the good news of his advancement.*SMACK*
Before he could even get a word in, Rosalie"s smiling expression quickly turned to anger as she whacked him on the back of the head.
"Ouch! What was that for?"
"What was it for? I can"t believe you are actually asking. Is it impossible for you to just be like everyone else and come out after half a day? Do you know how long you were in there for?!"
"...A day?" Greyson guessed warily.
"A day? A day you say. No, if it were a day, at least I could still expect it. It has been almost 2 days!"
"2?" To an ignorant listener, one more day would not seem like a significant difference. However, with the altered time inside the altar, one more day was a long time. Anything could have happened in that time. Even Greyson was surprised by this answer, but after thinking about it, he a.s.sumed it was when he pa.s.sed out after pa.s.sing the fourth level. He did not keep track of how long he was out. With no mana, heavy injuries and the spell backlash, he was probably unconscious for a good number of days. Without purposeful meditation, the natural absorption of elements is extremely slow.
"Alright, alright. Rosie, calm down. He did not even do it on purpose. Once one is inside it is too challenging to try to keep track of the real time going by." Aeos cut in with a small chuckle. Rosalie bit her lip before finally reining in her anger. Greyson noted this short interaction, and, for the first time, perceived something unusual. There was something odd, yet he could not quite place his finger on what it was. The thought came as quickly as it went and he soon threw it to the back of his mind.
"Hey, but isn"t there something different about you, Grey?" Hayze chimed in. From earlier on, Greyson saw her observing him as if something had changed.
"Hehe, I advanced!" Broadly grinning, Greyson announced the happy news.
"Already?!" Almost in sync, the group yelled back in surprise. Once one reaches the magister level, breaking through the stages gets considerably harder. Each stage requires a much more extensive time to break through. It had only been around a few months since he broke through and he already felt like he is on the cusp of the fifth stage. At this rate, it would merely take one more push before he could attain the next stage. All that desperate fighting really brought out some latent potential and sped up the process. There was still a little over half a year before he turned fifteen and he was hoping to become a great magister before he turned twenty. Honestly, it was an unrealistic goal, but if he did not push himself he would never know if it was indeed impossible or not.
"That"s excellent! You"ll be catching up to me in no time." Rosalie wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him into a tight hug. Warmth filling his heart, Greyson hugged her tightly back. For all one knows, it could be these small things were the best part of having family.
"Ah, heartwarming family scenes~" Cerul remarked. Then, glancing over at the twins, "how come you guys never congratulate each other this way?" Both Fervis and Ferno"s expressions became odd as they looked at each other. Seemingly picturing a scene like that with the two of them, they suddenly shuddered and looked away in disgust. No way.
"Brothers congratulate each other a little differently, alright?" They retorted in unison.
Hearing their little banter, everyone broke out with laughter. Camaraderie was difficult to find, but Greyson felt he had found his own little circle of friends.
Cerul broke the chatter and transformed into his dragon form.
"Where to next guys?"
"Well, the Water Altar is on the other side of the empire. Let"s go to the Wind Altar first." Rosalie suggested while looking over at Greyson. He just shrugged leaving the decision-making up to the people who understood the geography better.
...
It seems that they were never meant to fly peacefully. All eight of them soon sensed another group tracking them. Cerul had the best long-distance vision, so he concentrated to look at their appearances. Many miles away, there were many flying magic beasts with their riders following after them. His eyes narrowed as he recognized the familiar Lightning Ravens. There could be such a coincidence, but he did not think this was an instance of chance.
"Guys, I think they are part of the same group as the previous ones who ambushed us. They are even riding Lightning Ravens. All covered in black." Detecting his solemn tone, everyone"s expression turned grim. These people would probably be stronger, too. No one was foolish enough to send a group at the same power level if the last group all died. Aeos eyes clouded over as he looked blankly into the sky seemingly calculating things. Everyone knew of his ability, so they just silently watched him. When his eyes cleared up once again, he looked towards all of them.
"We need to split up. This seems to be the best course of action against them. Try to elude them. If we try to all fight against them together we will lose. They must include someone at least at the great magister level stage three with them." His tone grave, Aeos delivered the bad news to everyone. "Grey and Rosie should go with Cerul. He is still the fastest and you guys cannot fly." Both of them nodded in agreement. However, before they set off, Greyson was surprised to hear another voice calling out to him. Zephyr! He was begging to be let out to deliver Greyson to safety. Although Greyson knew he was fast, he was probably not fast enough. Rejecting him outright, Zephyr roared anxiously claiming he had a new ability that could help Greyson escape.
Greyson: Really?
Zephyr: Definitely, yes! Really!
Greyson: Are you sure it will work against such formidable opponents?
Zephyr: I"m certain.
Finis.h.i.+ng up his mental conversation, Greyson decided to trust Zephyr this time.
"I will fly on my own guys." Greyson informed them.
"What?!" They all spoke out to reject his idea. A mighty roar broke out to interject as Zephyr was released. His graceful silver scales and purple eyes stared curiously at the rest of the group. They watched as Greyson"s silver dragon tattoo faded away at this moment.
"Partner beast?" Eyes brightening, everyone finally understood. They forgot about Greyson"s human bloodline which allowed for him to have a partner beast.
"But, is he fast enough?" Aeos questioned.
"I don"t know. He was telling me he awakened a new ability after I broke through to the magister level and that it will help me escape." Jumping onto Zephyr"s back, Greyson was signaling for him to start. All of a sudden, Zephyr"s scales s.h.i.+mmered with mist until both their bodies disappeared. The group looked on with shock and could no longer sense the location of their friend and his dragon. Apparently, it was a combination spell with water and s.p.a.ce called s.p.a.ce Mist Escape. The mist would reflect the surroundings so that their bodies would be invisible while they are furthermore in a different s.p.a.ce field which would prevent other from detecting them.
"Wait, s.p.a.ce?" Greyson was shocked to realize that Zephyr could actually use the s.p.a.ce element. "But I can"t..." Shaking his head, he knew that now was not the time. Zephyr lowered the spell so his friends could once again see him. Seeing that Greyson was still right in front of them, the group were shocked but they quickly calmed down.
"Alright, let"s split up now! We will meet back up where we planned!" Turning into their dragon forms, the rest of them all roared at each other before flying away as quickly as possible. Greyson turned to Rosalie who was mouthing something to him.
Stay safe.
Nodding, he said the same back before disappearing into the azure sky. To his surprise, the group of a.s.sa.s.sins did branch off slightly, but almost all of them stayed together and followed in his direction. Did this mean he was the primary target? Letting out a sigh of relief, he noticed the spell was working and they all pa.s.sed right by him and could not discover him. This allowed him time to ponder carefully about why he was being targeted. What had changed recently? It started after he had gone into the Earth Altar...
Could it be? Spreading his palm, it revealed two keys, brown and red. Although it was a long shot, he felt it could be these keys. However, there were another mult.i.tude of reasons. Maybe someone found out about his connection with Lucius, or maybe it was Snow and Gold"s enemies who had poisoned them. On top of that, there was the Young Master of the Dragon Kings. He loathed Greyson because he wanted Rosalie. Ma.s.saging his forehead, Greyson suddenly realized that he acquired a lot more mysterious enemies than he thought.
Thinking of that cute Sun Moon Leopard, Greyson summoned her out of Al"s sh.e.l.l.
"Daddy! It"s been forever, I thought I would die of boredom!" Snow happily perched onto his shoulder and rubbed her face into his lovingly. Already used to this type of address, Greyson did not pay any mind.
"Sorry, I had many things going on. I will try not to stow you away so often." His heart stinging with guilt, he realized he had left her cooped up in Al"s sh.e.l.l for long amounts of time. Stroking her softly, he heard her purr with pleasure. Smiling, he was reminded of Lucius suddenly. That idle cat would always laze on his shoulder like this too. Worry cropped up again as he hoped he would be able to find that stupid cat this time near the Wind Altar.