Legacy of the Dark Sage

The anomaly in the skies of Meliora had reached the nearby cities. The city lords, along with the city guards, had already gathered, preparing for any emergency.

All factions who sent out a team to take a closer look at the location where the fissures had originated, were also waiting for an update. At the same time, they sent out orders to each of their branches near Meliora and its surrounding cities, to prepare for the worse case scenario.

At the Royal Army Headquarters in Meliora, the remaining personnel and soldiers staying there were on edge. With only a few High Masters supervising them, they were at a lost of what to do.

These High Masters knew they had to investigate the cause of the anomaly. But none of them possess a clearance high enough to dispatch soldiers. Even if one of them had such clearance, there were already less than a third of the original number of soldiers left in the headquarters.

Army protocol stated that in any given situation the number of soldiers stationed in the army headquarters in Meliora must not go lower than thirty thousand— the same number staying there at the moment. This number was to ensure the army could respond in emergency situations such as surprise attack, unexpected calamity etc. that might befall the capital of the empire.

Although the anomaly could be considered an unexpected situation, it could not be considered a 'calamity.' At least, it had only brought disturbance in the sky and had not done any damage.

While the remaining soldiers in the headquarters were mulling over this fact, the noble families led by the Boyd Family had already sent a few of their members to retrace the tracks Lira and the others had taken.

It had been a few hours— more than three hours to be precise— since Fiona had reported to them and so far, there had been no word of their progress.

On one side, the Lumley Family called for a meeting with the Courtenay and the Montgomeray Families after the incident in the Courtenay Land. Although what happened there had not spread yet, with the news of Noser's fall, they believed it would only be a matter of time before the whole empire would fall in a state of unrest, especially when the identity of the perpetrator was revealed.

Unfortunately, only a couple of elders from the Courtenay Family and a young representative from the Montgomeray Family, attended the meeting. This infuriated the Lumley Family who had their Patriarch and some of their Elders present.

In any case, the Three Noble Families agreed to form a group consisting of their most promising and talented mages to investigate.

When the group was formed, Mimi and Zuri led the Courtenay and the Montgomeray Families respectively. The one leading the Lumley Family was Claudias, the female representative whose Fire magic manifested the legendary beast Pheonix.

With these three young women leading the investigation, the leaders of each family believed they could produce result faster than the other factions. Frankly, the Lumley Family was only worried of the Conclave getting hold of crucial information before them.

Meanwhile, the Lumley Family secretly dispatched another group. The objective of this group however was to keep an eye on the Conclave's movement. Leading this group was none other than Tobias, with Matias following his lead.

The attack in Noser and the anomaly in Meliora had not reached the farther cities in the east, south and west regions of the empire. As a matter of fact, a different situation happening there, which mainly affected the Royal Army. Details of the situation was yet unknown to the public, however, there were already rumors stating that the situation involved the army's supplies.

In Kilead Town, a small town south of the empire, two figures— one big one small— in a black and white hooded robes walked down the market place. Since it was still a few hours before the sun rises, the streets were quite empty. Only a couple of locals preparing their stalls were awake and was moving about. Nevertheless, they did not pay attention to the two figures walking down the middle of the street.

After walking for some distance, the two figures finally arrived at the town's north gates. However, when they passed through the gates, none of the sentries looked at them. It was as if they did not even notice the two passing by.

As the two figures went to a secluded part of the forest outside the town, the smaller one took out a dark purple disc before examining the surroundings.

"It should be here somewhere. Let's split up and find it."

The bigger one only grunted in reply before going to the left.

These two, were none other than Max and Reuben. They had come to this town after receiving Kyran's coded message telling them to return and meet up. As to where they would meet up, the latter had not told them. Instead, he instructed them to come to Kilead Town and find a remnant array outside the northern side of the town's forest.

Apparently, there was an old transportation array there that they could use to go to the place where Kyran would meet them.

Reuben knew Array theories. However, knowing the theory behind an Array was different from understanding it. Thus, he did not know how to create arrays, much less revived an old one. He told Kyran this, and was assured by the latter that the array would activate if they used the purple disc he gave them. Reuben did not know how such a small disc could revive an old transportation array. But it did not matter, since he had no way of understanding the logic behind how Kyran's magic work. At the very least, Reuben knew the disc in his hand was made of Void magic.

Ten minutes later, Max called Reuben after finding the said array.

When Reuben met up with Max, his brow did an involuntary twitch after seeing the array.

There was nothing 'old' about this array. Even if he only knew Array theories, he could still recognize a recently created array. And the array before them was one.

Max was also uncertain about the array, which was why he called for Reuben to check it. They only needed to check if the disc Kyran gave them would resonate with the array.

Actually, the 'old' transportation array Kyran mentioned was not that old. He only said that because according to his 'time,' he created that array five years ago. In real-time though, he only created it two to three months ago. It was the transportation array he created to help the Chamber of Commerce transport materials to the Tower of Conclave.

Reuben moved at once. He roused his Sigil's mark and inserted some of his magic energy in the dark purple disc before placing it at the center of the array.

The disc emitted a light purplish glow as soon as it touched the array. Soon after, the array responded and also emitted a faint purple light.

"Well, it seems this is really the array he talked about."

"Hm," Max grunted in disbelief.

"Let's go then."

As the two stepped inside the array, the faint purple light enveloped their bodies. Soon, the dark purple disc at the center began to spin. Slow at first, then faster by the second. There was a sudden flash, and in a blink of an eye, the two, including the dark purple disc disappeared.

Fifty meters south of the Tower of Conclave, Kyran stood at a small clearing. On the ground before him was an array formation.

The array formation was actually one of the transmission points connected to different transmission arrays that each of the Conclave constituents had in each of their buildings. Normally, this array would only connect to one point. But after Kyran made a small modification, it could now serve as a receiving point of any transportation array he created. Of course, this was only under the premise that the person using the transportation had a dark purple disc.

A fluctuation appeared on the array formation and Kyran felt the back of his hand where the Sigils' mark turned warm.

Soon the array formation glowed and with a flash of purple light, Max and Reuben appeared.

The moment the two regained their bearings and adjusted their eyesight, their mouth fell open in shock.

They were not shock to see Kyran meeting them, but of the thing they could see behind him.

A few meters from where they were standing, Max and Reuben could see a tower. As they were part of the Templar Code's Elite Team, they were privy to information on other factions. Because of this, they recognized the tower behind Kyran.

"You.... this place...." Reuben started but failed to properly convey his words. Though Kyran already told them about his connection with the Conclave, he did not think he would have them appear in their homeground!

"Don't space out, we've got things to do," Kyran told them and turned.

"Wait, aren't you going to explain first what..." Reuben's voice trailed off as he caught sight of something in the sky.

Max had noticed it first given his height, and his expression turned grim.

"What in the world is happening here?"

Kyran looked back at them. Seeing both of them looking at the sky, he also gazed up. His eyes flickered with emotion as he looked at the fissures.

No.

He could not call them fissures anymore because a huge jagged hole had already tore up the sky.