The tremors shook the ground and Andar and Mira would have fallen down but they unconsciously carried themselves into the air with a burst of Aether. Andar pushed Mira to the side and followed her as half the room collapsed as if it was flattened by a giant hand.
Another blast erupted that was so loud it was almost as if it carried its own weight and it pushed Mira against the wall with so much force her body left cracks on it, Andar easily shrugged off the blast and carried Mira in his arms and rushed deeper into the apartments.
It was a three-room affair and he went deeper inside, shutting the heavy doors behind him, but that did not seem to reduce the sounds of battle and screams coming from outside.
Mira pushed herself away from Andar and began bringing out various Runic Devices as she tried to activate them all without any success.
"What the hell is happening?" Mira whispered, "I can't contact my father or anyone else, it's also not the only thing that is down! None of my Runes, Talismans, Puppets, Scripts, or Artifacts are working."
Andar checked his Aegis Scripts and arched a brow in surprise, there was nothing wrong with his Script, if he wanted he could easily summon Cloudy. He grabbed her hands and looked at the numerous Scripts dotting her skin, they were beautiful and appeared very vivid,
"Are you sure about that, you cannot access anything at all?"
"Eh… yes, I'm sure, what is happening? There is a battle above us, but who is the enemy?"
Andar wracked his mind, almost sure he understood what was transpiring, but he could not figure out why it was happening at this time, it was maddening to see the effect of something but not the cause.
"Wait, something is wrong," Mira looked at Andar in horror, "I can no longer access my Interspatial Storage."
It was at this moment that everything went silent. The screams and the rumbling ceased at once and if not for the ringing in Mira's ear she would have thought it was all a hallucination.
Andar frowned as he sensed something shift in the air around him before he turned to Mira, "I think I might know the reason for why this is happening, and if I'm right, part of their objective must be because of what is happening today."
"What?… Andar, how… is it because of your mother? Everything changed when she arrived, it has not been long since she did and I'm sure it cannot be a coincidence."
"Yeah, partly…" Andar said, his instincts were screaming at him that something was seriously wrong and for a moment he almost regretted delaying his advancements for a stable foundation.
If he was a Rank 4 Mage, he should be able to understand a small percentage of what his body was indicating to him, but he could not do so with his current level of comprehension and that frustrated him, seizing Mira by her hand he began walking towards the end of the room,
"Come on, we need to leave this place and hide. If I'm correct, then we only need to buy a little time and everything will be settled."
Andar dragged Mira almost making her fall to the ground, they did not go through the door, but instead, he pressed an unassuming spot on the wall, and a passage opened in the floor of his room that revealed a tunnel.
There were staircases that descended this passage and from the faint light that reflected off it, the stairs appeared to go down for miles.
"Thank you, master," he whispered and dragged the stunned Mira after him.
"There is such a hidden tunnel here? How can such a massive project be placed beside the testing area? No, this place should not exist." Mira called out in surprise.
"No it should not, but I created a special spell that used the permissions from the Artificial Spirit of the Black Tower to create pockets of stable structures that would tunnel through any place I find myself in, while inside the Black Tower, and the best part about the spell is that it's pretty impossible to be detected by anyone because it doesn't use Aether but the Artificial Spirit Fluid–Mass. So one moment it doesn't exist and now it does. Fascinating stuff I assure you."
"Eh, Andar, I don't understand what you mean, I am just focused on Talisman Creation you know, not everyone is as knowledgeable as you. This is good, we need to hide away until the true bodies of the Archmages arrive and wipe out whatever disturbance is occurring above. Also, I did not understand half of what you told me about this tunnel."
"Oh, I mean I can easily create escape paths anywhere I am while inside the Black Tower."
"Oh, got it. But you know that should be impossible right? Whatever it seems, I should be educated on what is considered impossible and what's not."
"You will be surprised how that line gets blurred," Andar whispered to himself, feeling a persistent itch at the back of his neck.
They hurried down the tunnel, taking the steps three at a time, and Mira suddenly stumbled, she laughed self-deprecatingly,
"Andar, It is not my intention to sound like a broken record, but something else has changed, I can no longer access the Aether in the environment. I can feel it, but I can't touch it. What the fuck is this, it is like I can touch it, but at the same time I can't touch it… this is messing with my mind."
Andar paused his movement and regarded Mira carefully, before he asked her, "Similar to the way your communication device can no longer access the Aethernet isn't it?"
"Now that you mention it, yes."
"We need to hurry then, whatever is happening is getting worse," Andar knelt, "Let me carry you, I will be able to move faster."
"Don't mind if I do, with my Spirit Body, I don't need Aether in the surroundings as much as other Mages, but whatever battle or obstacles that could happen ahead, I need to be at a hundred percent. I know carrying me would not strain you." Mira wrapped her legs around Andar's waist as he stood up and began moving faster down the stairs, his legs were a blur,
Mira was silent for a few seconds but the passageway seemed to get darker as they descended as if they were heading down the stomach of a beast, her voice shattered the gloom,
"You know I would most likely be enjoying this if whatever is happening outside must be so terrifying that up till now I cannot wrap my head around how something like this is possible, Andar what have you speculated about this matter?"
Andar seemed to be focused on running, silver light wrapped around his legal boosting him until he was leaving faint trails of heat in the air due to his speed.
Despite the fact that he could no longer access Aether in his environment, he was not worried because had never needed to depend on the outside world or any other resource to generate Aether. His Spirit Body produced more than enough Aether for him, but he had discovered that any spell he tried to cast instantly fizzled out when it left his body.
All this while, he had been constantly trying to teleport to no avail. Andar understood that Mira had discovered that she could no longer access Aether in the environment, but soon she would come to the realization that even her spells would no longer work.
As he ran down the stairs, he snapped his fingers and invisible flames erupted in his palm, a weight he carried in his mind went lighter, and he continued downward without pause.
Andar did not depend on spells like other mages because of his control over the element and Aether was so advanced because of his sensitivity to supernatural forces, also he could memorize far more knowledge than the average Mage, and he never needed spells when he could control reality around him using Aether.
Aware that Mira had asked him a question two seconds ago, he opened his mouth to reply to her, perhaps she might be able to complete the puzzle in his head, and throw light on the problems happening,
"What did you see when my mother arrived at the testing field?"
