Act ii: The Great Dilemma of the Unseen 8 & The War Against Worlds.
Other POV
Location; Arcadia – Tower of Topaz- 134th floor- Conjurers Secret Hall.
Two figures stood by the face of a tall mirror. They were clothed in deep blue robes with soft golden brown inner material lined on the edges. Golden patterns meshed against the right chest and sleeves respectfully, and a symbol of a golden half-moon was etched on the back of their robes.
Standing to the right, the elderly man folded his arms, suggesting he was either bored or annoyed. His grey and brown beard was forked down to the top of his chest, with large whiskers and a smooth back silver head of hair tied into a short ponytail. Against his thin cheek, he adorned blue markings, tiny stars etched across his nose.
Beside him was a mature woman clothed in identical robes. Only one side of the hem of her long skirt was grey. She stood a foot shorter than he did, a slender, voluptuous frame with brown and gold straight hair. Marring her fairy-like beauty was an old twisted red scar, carved from the tip of her right brow down to the bottom of the right side of her lip.
Her willow-shaped brows were furrowed in a glare. Most people who felt the displeasure of knowing her were accustomed to her cold look.
On the other hand, the grey-haired elderly figure carried a more globally esteemed eminence. He held his two hands clasped behind his back in a more relaxed manner. His half-closed eyelids were so low you thought he might fall asleep at any given moment.
Silence was the song between them both, up until the moment a tiny budding blue light spirited in the middle of the mirror. The firm glass fissured, and tiny waves rippled against the shimmering surface.
The woman took one step forward.
"Tsk! Took them long enough." She folded her arms, tapping her forearm impatiently.
The elder Wizard joined her soon enough. Stroking his forked beard in deep watch, the portal door slowly changed again. Darkness filled the mirror.
A soft crackle sound echoed, followed by the fluctuating sounds of heavy winds. Overlapping the outdoor noise, a male's voice filtered through the shroud of black.
"L-l-Lord…a-re…y-y-yo…Wiz…."
Wizard Simmera narrowed her brow impatiently. She had held on for just about as long as she could take. And her rage had bubbled past the containment point.
"I can't hear anything? What's going on with the connection? Did …did someone mess up the incantation placements? Hey! Which one of you idiots forgot how to draw a communication portal array? Go on, own up you shitheads?"
The portal fissured erratically as static crackled and whined the darkness into motion. Finally, a clearer voice filtered through, and Simmera's ire was noticeably cooled ever so slightly.
"L-Lord Wizard Dune, ah! L-L-Lord Wi-wizard Si-Sim-Simmera." A young man appeared on the other side of the mirror and bowed solemnly two times. He was dressed in a hooded grey robe with dark brown stitching. Hard-to-miss orange runes decorated the hem of the sleeves. There was a small added layer of anxiety the moment he beheld Wizard Simmera. The buxom woman stood gallantly poised with folded arms, gawking directly towards the mirror.
Wizard Dune cleared his throat to save the awkwardness from spilling over; he took a short breath and opened his mouth.
"Giles, glad you're safe. I trust all relics are safe as well, then?"
The man on the other side of the portal nodded his head gently.
"Y-y-yes Lord Wizard. Our team reached the target area 4km below the previous check-in point. As we had predicted, the Tomb seems to be a 1:1 inside entry system. High-tier monsters are throughout but are mostly avoidable with the cloaking spells we prepared."
Giles took a moment to gather himself before continuing.
"The relics are all fine Lord Wizard. We were forced to use the Eye of Fontaine to deal with an exceptionally strong monster. Other than that, the four relics are relatively in the same condition."
The silver fox nodded his head, noticeably pleased. Simmera took a few more steps forward, practically almost pressing against the portal. Giles held a delayed reaction but noticeably took a step away from the communication mirror, seeing this.
"Get to the good bits then; tell us about what you found down there?"
Her voice was sharp as ever. Even Wizard Dune struggled to handle her personality at times. And as such, could only idly watch.
Giles noticeably tensed up before nervously, slowly nodding his head in response. "O-okay then." His expression turned grave as he twisted his head and gestured for whoever controlled the communications array to follow him. Giles rose from his crouched state and crept around a large stoned pillar he was sitting behind. The cave was a deep grey tint with thick shadows and hardly any light. Clearly, the team used spells to guide their way to this point.
The scene panned to the back of Giles, making his way carefully around a thick boulder. He moved quietly and quickly. With a few more yards of manoeuvring, Giles held his movements, swiftly raising a single hand above his head.
He turned to face the communication array before gesturing ahead of him. Very slowly, the array handler manoeuvred the feed around Giles, pointing the array beyond the thick boulder. Both Wizards narrowed their eyes forward.
"What are we looking at?" Simmera questioned.
Wizard Dune was silent.
A fractured bright shadow cast against the ground. The feed slowly moved around the boulder until it could see the cause of the light. Standing in the far distance, beckoning against the side of a tall grey wall, was an oval-sized doorway of bright white gold.
Wizard Dune and Wizard Simmera shared uncomfortable looks.
The voice of Giles could be heard faintly in the background describing the phenomenon.
"We've observed what we believe is an unnamed portal, which has consistently remained untouched for the last seven days.
Under the orders of our voyage here, we've not made contact without the permission of a wizard with higher authority as per our training.
Our team has a wave sensory expert who confirmed incredible mana fluctuations mixed in with unknown energy. The main issue with getting closer to that thing is…well. If our findings are correct, it's sucking in mana."
Simmers clicked her tongue and cursed.
"Shit."
"We are yet to see anything enter or leave the portal…but."
Giles appeared in the feed again and directed the onlookers towards a sleek path moving away from the portal on the left side. Using an incantation, the communication feed zoomed towards the path leading deeper into the cave. A set of footprints leading into the unknown appeared against the floor.
Against the wall were consistent clawed markings around 6ft above the ground.
Wizard Dune noticeably exhaled a deep breath.
"So we were right." Said the aged Wizard.
"Right about what? This doesn't change our early assumptions. As far as we know, someone found a way to keep a special grade portal going for so long. Only, there shouldn't be an incantation that allows one to stay open without the caster sitting nearby. Or one of that size without a special relic involved."
Wizard Dune agreed with Simmera's words.
"Giles, use the Fheren Clove; check for any other nearby relics."
"No need, Lord Wizard. I personally oversaw the Relic finder incantation. It took four of us to cast it other than the relics in our possession. Nothing else was fou-w-wait did you hear that."
Static fissured against the communication. All voices fell quiet briefly before a rumble quaked across the cave.
Simmera unfolded her arms. "Did that noise come from the cave? What's going on over there?"
The communication feed began fading in and out, with muffled voices barely audible in between. But the two wizards couldn't make out the ruckus on the other side of the mirror.
Echoes of stones erupting, and distant howls filtered through the blackened view.
Wizard Dune's face turned grave. "Giles! Status report. What is going on over there."
For a few minutes, the crackling distortion swallowed any form of sound from filtering through. The wizards stood idly in wait until the communication feed finally found a stable connection, but the view panned towards the grey-stoned ceiling. From this angle, they could see nothing but jagged stones.
"Oi is anyone still there? Can you hear u-"
*Screeeech*
"L-Lord Wizard-Lord Wizard I'm still here (gasps)"
A panting voice staggered through relaxing Wizard Dunes nerves.
"Thank the Goddesses, what's going on over there? Was there trouble in the cave?"
There was a brief pause before Giles voice arrived again.
"Ye-yes…well…we think there was some kind of…some kind of explosion."
"Giles something's…the portal look."
"Shit, the grounds shaking again- we need to get out of here."
"Everyone keep it down and find cover-look, the portal."
"Shit-what the f*** is that?"
Simmera's fists were clenched so hard her knuckles turned white. But this was more due to frustration rather than anything else.
She twisted slightly to the side and glared with malice towards Wizard Dune.
"I told you this was a bad idea. We should've at least hired a few Invokers for this. They're sitting ducks out there. We need to call this in Reptus."
Wizard Dune wore a look that couldn't deny the words of his slightly younger colleague. He had known a while ago the risks taken for this quest were beyond what a secretly assembled team of Conjurers could handle.
"Yes, I think you're right we should- "
"Lord Wizard! We-we have a problem" Giles voice abruptly resurfaced again.
There was an eagerness etched against the elder Wizard's face, one hardly usually seen. But a testament to how dire the situation was.
"So-something...No... someone else is here?"
"Who is it? Another school? What colour robes are they wearing? is it those Invokers scum?" Simmera whipped furiously.
"N-no... No, it looks like...A person, their robes...look...look different. L-l-like a s-s-age? White...gold...w-wait-this is weird. They look like they came from...This doesn't lo-l-W-wait-something else is here-"
A loud ruckus could be heard through the communication feed.
"WATCH OUT!"
"RUN! QUICKLY!"
"SHIT! N-NO-NO-WH-WHYS IT SO-ARGHHHHH"
The communication feed ended, and the mirror returned to normal. A stiff silence hung in the air briefly until Wizard Simmera was the first to break the tense calm. She breathed loudly whilst massaging the bridge of her nose.
"What do we do now?"
"What else. We find out what happened. We know their coordinates. There is a strong chance we can recover the relics if we act swiftly."
Simmera tossed a shocked look towards the elder.
"You still mean to...co-continue this? Are you insane?"
"I don't understand, what's the problem? We are Wizards, no? Aren't we all crazy?" Wizard Dune said a matter of factually. Simmera wore an expression suggesting she was looking at a madman.
"Th-thats not what I'm! Tsk! Damn it! Why are you hell-bent on keeping this in-house? This is risky. You know it deep down; this smells like an S-class threat level. At best, an A-Class with a damn anomaly. That portal sounds like trouble, Reptus, so why the hell are we-"
"Orders!" His voice climbed above her own.
"We...are under strict orders from Great Lord Tius. And I don't believe you are in a rush to defy an Archimage's call...are you?"
Simmera lowered her gaze. Her answer was plain to see in her silence.
"Sigh, under normal circumstances. I would've already dispatched this case to the Celestial Court myself. And swiftly washed our hands-free of this problem. But...In the wake of the 8 Archmages, of the 8 unseen colleges gearing up to hold their 10-year sit down."
Reptus Dune smoothed his palms over his slicked-back grey hair. His profound gaze stared into the empty air.
"Great Lord Tius has already started moving pieces into place. War is never too far away between these unhinged, egocentric leaders of the wizarding world. And our Great Lord has decided to hold his cards close. For who can say what the benefits will yield if we manage to secure passage to...say, another dimension perhaps?"
Simmera noticedably jolted upright upon hearing that. She searched her colleague's face before her eyes lowered slightly in deep thought again. She was still stuck in her mental discord between what she believed was right and wrong.
Wizard Dune beheld her in deep thought. His eyes traced against her noticeably endowed chest beneath her robes. With dull eyes, he shifted his attention back to her face soon enough.
"So then, are we in agreement? Or will this conversation prelude a fight to the death between us?" He spoke coolly as though the threat of a death battle between was as casual to him as swatting a fly.
To this, Simmera merely creased a cruel smile.
"I don't need a reason to kill you Reptus. But this won't be one of them...sigh. Fine, I'll keep quiet. But tell me something. Do you know what our Grand Lord is hoping to find?"
Reptus Dune straightened his loose sleeves over his aged hands and placed a distant look against the still mirror. After a brief thought, his mouth finally moved.
"He...he wants to become the bridge. Or shall I say, the first point of contact to 'those' he believes exist beyond our current reality?"
"Wh-what does that mean?"
"It means Archmagus Valko Tius is confident there are multiple worlds out there. And he believes, sometime soon. They will one day invade our world."