Chapter 04: Through the Gate

The look in his eyes softened as he read the letter. He then looked at me, and it didn't take an expert to know that, the look in his eyes said that he had been waiting for this for a very long time. His expectant gaze was mixed with hints of confusion and deep thought.

The man returned his attention to the items of the envelope and picked up the crystal. He was as confused and curious about the item as I was.

He let out a heavy sigh. The sigh sent waves of pressure enough to dampen my curiosity and reawaken my fear. I once again remembered where I was and was doing my best to keep a straight face. My hands couldn't stop shivering.

"You are," the man inquired? His voice was heavy and deep. But also worn and solemn. The deep voice of his resonated with the surrounding. Albeit soft, it echoed in the emptiness of the space around us. I felt goosebumps and shivers running down my spine. His voice was comforting and I unknowingly grinned at the amazing deep voice of his.

"I am," I responded in a mesmerized trance, "Elian. Elian Hartley."

"I see," he responded melancholically. After a brief pause, he continued, "Please follow my familiar."

The man gently placed the contents of the envelope back in the packet. One of the other shadow covered figures suddenly walked stealthily past me without making a single sound. The man handed the envelope to the shadow and went back into a meditative state.

As I was watching him, the shadow moved forward, past the man. As the shadow walked on, the other shadows disappeared into the darkness around me and once again, there was nothing there.

The same happened for the man before me. His body got swallowed by the shadows of the emptiness around us. The cold chilling feeling was back.

Despite being one of the best Shadowmancy users from where I hail from, I couldn't recognize the skills or tricks used. Afraid of being lost in the nothingness, I hurriedly followed the shadow leading the way with the envelope.

We stopped before a large door. The door was white with faint light blue mana emitting from it. The gate was comprised of two symmetrically designed wings with marble-like texture rising and merging into an arch. The white jade-like material that the door was made of had a strong luminescence and strong concentrations of mana leaked in the form of white vapours.

The doors were decorated with relief carvings of a great-sword, almost as big as the door, with its axis overlapping the split between the two wings. The sword was positioned with the top of the blade pointing to the base of the door and the end of the grip pointing to the apex of the arch.

The grip of the sword was detailed with a scale-like pattern. The hilt was a simple base and the blade was engraved with sharp and frenzied lines. The blade was also coiled by vines, whose stalk grew thicker, downwards, towards the tip of the blade. The leaves on the vines were hastate.

The tip of the blade was hidden behind a field of tall grass decorating the base of the door which also concealed the foundation of the vines.

The shadow waited for me before the door and handed me the envelope as soon as I approached the large gate. The overwhelming presence of the gate was one that I could not miss or forget. For the very first time in my long life of 800 years have I come across something so overpowering and daunting.

The shadow disappeared into the darkness just like the others after handing me the envelope. I stared at the engravings on the door and made futile efforts to link the engravings on the gate to my memories of the Aether I once knew.

Nothing came to mind.

The heavy gates clicked open on their own with a loud bang. The wings spread apart with a muffled squeaking of the stones accompanied by the grinding sound of the stone rubbing against the floor.

On the other side of the door was a large empty hall. The hall was in fact a throne room made of white jade, now in ruins with leftover soot and singed remains. Half the roof of the hall was absent making a window for the starry skies.

At the far end of the empty hall rested a throne, on which was seated the same man I saw outside the gates. With the only difference that he was not as skinny as the one outside and his entire body was overflowing with mana. Other than that he was exactly the same from the unkempt look to his tattered clothes.

I slowly stepped forward looking around at the empty ruined hall. There were clear signs of aftermath of a large battle. However, there were no weapons, art, decorations or anything. It was all empty.

I stopped before a threshold of three steps which separated the throne from the hall.

The man down looked at me with his iridescent glowing eyes. My instincts immediately knew that I couldn't defy the one before my and any wrong move would result in my doom.

Without a single word, I presented the envelope in my open hands.

The envelope floated in the air and moved towards the man. He controlled the envelope through telekinesis using mana. The ability to control and move objects with just mana. It was a simple skill but still required a lot of mana and skill, therefore only high-level mana users could use the skill.

"Elian… Hartley, was it?" The man spoke in his real voice without using mana. It had the same level of force and depth as it did outside.

"Y-Yes," I responded.