'Sh*t! Which b*stard said this job was easy?!'
Coughing, he quickly began speaking.
"We're to guard you to Arcadian prison"
"Oh" Ezra lit up. "Why didn't you say that at first?"
'I guess it's time'
*Cough*cough* "I-I didn't know"
"Okay" Ezra nodded. "Lead the way"
"Ye-Yes?"
"Lead the way"
After a few seconds of astonishment, the man nodded and turned. "This way"
With only the braces on him, Ezra followed him without a word, letting his eyes take in the castle.
It would be the last time he saw it in a long time.
They walked for a time, before Ezra stopped in front of another cell, one bigger than his own.
"Hmm?"
"Give me a few minutes"
Standing in front of the cell, its inmates came into the light.
Apparently, Johan, Theron and Ashton were kept in the same cell.
He would know, because they were standing in front of him, dirty and dusty as well.
"I'm leaving for the Arcadian prison" he said. "Tell the others. They better not get lazy just because they're in cells"
"Ah…" Theron was stunned. "Sure," he smiled.
No other words were needed, Ezra nodded.
"Why is this happening to us?"
Johan clenched his fist, his face crumpled.
"We've only been training since, yet somehow, we're in this situation? Why?"
Ezra stared in the eyes of Johan and Ashton. "I don't know, and besides, it'd be better if you stopped worrying about things you couldn't do anything about"
"Sometimes life play's tricks on you, this is one of those times"
Clang!
Johan smashed his fist against the metal cell gate, denting it.
"What I know is this. Sometimes, no, a lot of times, we find ourselves in situations we can't control. In those situations, it isn't the situation you should worry about-but your next action" Ezra said. "Because while you can't control situations-you always control how to respond to it"
After a while…
Johan hollered. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"That's for you to find out" Ezra perfunctorily replied, turning away.
"Hey, hey, hey, give me something concrete, stop talking in parables Dammit!"
Ezra said, "Take care" and walked away.
Watching Ezra's figure disappear, Johan clicked his tongue.
'How annoying'
Walking to the royal hall floor, the Master suddenly heads for a wall and then pressed down, unlocking a secret compartment.
"Go in"
Ezra narrowed his eyes. "And you?"
"I can't go in"
Unease came about as Ezra stared at the dark corridor built with black bricks.
'Are they going to kill me?' he wondered, before shaking his head.
'No, if I was to be killed, the Emperor would have done so already'
'But then, why is it there?'
Taking a large breath, Ezra walked in.
As he realized, his fears were unfounded.
Entering, he heard the door close behind him, and then the little light within was shut out, plunging him into darkness.
He could see fine though, and his darkness affinity made it easier for him.
He walked, and kept walking. After a time, he met a man standing.
It was Bolton.
"Please follow me"
As a master, torches were unneeded to navigate the cave.
Reaching a point, Bolton stopped, pushed in a brick and subsequently a new room opened up.
A fairly large one from what Ezra could tell.
Entering, he finds two other people there.
One of them…
"There you are"
Elisa, head of the royal academy.
She stood in shimmering purple clothes, a wooden staff, gloves of black and blue, brown boots and a long hat to finish the getup.
"Why are you here?" Ezra inquired.
"To make sure you don't die during the transfer" she pointed at the visage sitting at the side. "He called me"
The Emperor.
He sat in black clothes, his arms crossed, looking into space.
Ezra stared, nodding.
"So, I'm going to be warped to Arcadia?"
He didn't know because his past life informant had been unconscious during the process.
"Yes" Elisa nodded. "This is how it's always handled, Arcadian inmates are all highly wanted and coveted" she pointed at him. "If we sent you with a carriage, many will come to take your head or kidnap you, and the Emperor can't be attending personally attending to an inmate"
"I understand"
"Good" she threw him a black cloak. "Put this on"
" ...?"
"Arcadia is quite a distance away-it can't be done with one warp"
"Okay. But can't I clean up first?"
"No, you'll do that in Arcadia"
Ezra was annoyed, but wore the cloak without complaints.
"Normally, you'd be unconscious during this process, but I decided against it"
"Why?"
*Shrug* "I want to talk to you while we go"
Ezra nodded absentmindedly.
"Yes" she added. "Bolton will be following as well"
*Shrug*
Standing to her right side while Bolton lay on her left, she blinked rapidly.
"You're tall" she said.
The difference in height wasn't that noticeable from afar.
But when he stood beside her…
"You're really tall!" She exclaimed, 'Wait, what am I doing?'
Before coughing to avoid embarrassment, she stomped her staff and the ground lit up, the runes on it Illuminated.
She turned to the Emperor. "Would you do the honours?"
The Emperor stomped his feet. Infusing mana into the ground.
Like so, a warp hole formed, dark green it was, starting as a dot before expanding into a warp hole larger than average.
"Now then, let's get going"
Elisa stepped in, then Bolton.
Ezra turned to meet his father's gaze, giving a nod and a light smile before entering as well.
The next moment, he found himself in a dark compartment.
Bolton stood, rather, sat to his side, panting, while Elisa watched him.
Stepping out, they let the warp hole recede, resetting the last destination.
"The Emperor's help let us cover a lot of distance in one go" Elisa spoke. "Unfortunately, while space magic has less on me as a space mage, and you with you have Grandmaster constitution, Mr. One eye here was affected quite a bit"
"Don't call me that," said Bolton. "I'm fine, give me a few minutes"
After a few minutes, Bolton was good to go.
Then Elisa opened the warp hole, this time to another place.
"We have to be quick, I'm no Grandmaster, so my mana reserves aren't as robust"
Nodded, Ezra and Bolton went through in haste.
Ending up in another compartment, Elisa arrived soon after.
Without closing the warp hole recede, she changed the location-a perk for space mages-and had them go through.
They repeated this four times, before coming to a halt. Elisa needed rest.
Without going out the compartment, Elisa took out food from her space ring to eat and gave Ezra some.
Bolton packed his own lunch.
Taking a bite of bread, she spoke.
"So, how did you a Grandmaster would arrive"
'As expected'
He expected this question.
"I could feel whenever my life was in danger" he said.
Elisa raised "Could?"
"It stopped after my meridians were broken"
"Oh" she nodded.
No it didn't, but he staved off further questions in advance by saying such.
He wasn't going to give them any hints on the coming apocalypse, you never know what kind of changes would take place.
For him, except it was to his advantage, Ezra rather have the future as close to that of his last life as possible.
More importantly, he didn't want anyone stopping the apocalypse-he needed to happen so he could recover his strength.
"At the time, I was at Master rank. So, I concluded the attacker to be a Grandmaster, and then you arrived"
"So…" she was dumbfounded. "...It was just a hunch?"
"You could say that" Ezra nodded. Changing the subject, "By the way, how's Valentine?"
"I don't know" she muttered.
"Huh?"
"I don't know" Elisa spoke loudly, reminiscing. "She suddenly went into indoor cultivation without a word, and hasn't come out since"
She glared at him. "What did you do to my daughter?"
Ezra coughed. Sweat rolling down his cheeks.
'Maybe I shouldn't have asked'
Quickly, he changed the subject once more.
"By the way, why do we always land in a dark place?"
"I built small huts around my fixed warp holes. This is one of those places"
Ezra nodded. The one in Gattitse was in a small hut as well.
After a hearty sleep, the journey continued, for two more days and twelve more warps.
And then, they arrived at a place.
Usually, it was sunny and bright contrasting their routine of darkness and gloom.
In the place of decorum was the sound of leaves falling, winds howling and birds chirping.
"Where are we?" Ezra inquired.
"The location I was told to arrive at. We're waiting for someone else" Elisa replied.
After half an hour, a warp hole opened, this one blue, and then a person walked in a grey cloak, radiating pressure.
With hair to match the cloak, shimmering gold rings on each finger, blue eyes and jeans with a sword strapped on, he looked stylish, if nothing else.
He bowed. "Pardon my lateness, I was eating"
Ezra was surprised. 'He's a space mage?'
Ezra was expecting an old man with a skinny body on the short side dressed in flabby mage robes and a pointed hat with a short staff.
Though he was short, the other things were off mark.
The most intriguing was…'He' Young'
The boy in front of him couldn't be older than twenty six.
Then…
'That accent, he's not a Nitonian'
Ezra wasn't sure but he felt his suspicions were close.
The boy noticed him as well. Stepping towards him. "You must be Ezra. I'm Maximus"
Ezra nodded. "Good to know"
"I'll be taking you to Arcadia"
'Unlike what we're told, I don't think Arcadia is in Niton'
He'd first thought they were warping to confuse him about the destination.
But it might very well be…
'That I'm on another continent!'
