“Seven Planes, that was amazing,” Nolan said. “I didn’t realize storm magic had any way to teleport.”

“It does,” Derrod replied. “But I don’t use it in combat. It’s not very efficient. What you saw was just speed, not teleportation. In fact, Damien’s magic is much the same if I’m not mistaken.”

Damien nodded reluctantly. “I’m folding space, so I’m not technically teleporting when I use Warp Step. I’m just making the area I pass through a lot smaller.”

“A good technique,” Derrod said approvingly. “But your face and body give your intentions away too well. You’ll have to work on that or get a mask if you ever get to more dangerous opponents.”

“I think he did pretty well,” Viv said. “He’s only a second year student, but it looked like he nearly landed a few spells on you.”

“It wasn’t a bad showing,” Derrod agreed. “I’m actually curious to try my hand against a few more of you kids, but my wife is already peeved that I’m fighting at home. She’s glaring at us through the window.”

Hilla, who was indeed at the window, gave them all a wide smile when she realized she’d been spotted.

“I suppose I should take you all back to Delph, then,” Derrod said with a sigh. “If I stay here much longer, word is going to get out that I’m home and half of Ardenford’s council will be knocking at my door.”

“Don’t you want to spar with Damien more or something?” Yui asked. “You only get to see him once in a while.”

“I think we’ve said enough to each other with our fight,” Derrod said. “And I think I’ll be around the Blackmist area a little more than normal in the foreseeable future. We’ll have more than enough time to catch up when all of you aren’t waiting on us.”

Derrod drew one of the swords from his side and drew a line down through the air, leaving behind a trial of crackling blue energy. When the blade reached the floor, the line split open and formed into a square portal. The energy it put off was enough to make Damien’s hair stand on end.

“Go ahead and head through,” Derrod said. “This’ll take you right to Blackmist’s obsidian courtyard. I’ve got a few more things to take care of here, so I won’t be following.”

“Thanks,” Damien said, more than happy to head through the portal. He turned back and waved in the direction of his house. “Bye, mom!”

Hilla pushed the window open. “Don’t wait so long to visit this time, or I’ll come find you at Blackmist myself!”

“I won’t,” Damien promised, then stepped through the portal. Magic tickled his skin as the world went blue. The world twisted around him, warping and swirling like a whirlpool. His foot hit solid ground and the obsidian floor of Blackmist’s portal courtyard greeted him.

A wave of vertigo washed over Damien, but he pushed it down and managed to collect himself in time to stagger away from the portal before anyone else could come through. Sylph was the next one through, and Nolan emerged a second later.

To Damien’s surprise, the portal didn’t close. Elania, Viv, and Eve popped out from within it. Following them was Yui and her attendants.

“Uh… I think my dad forgot to change the location of the portal for you,” Damien said. “You might want to go back through before he closes it and tell him he messed up.”

“No, this is the right location,” Yui said. “We’ll be visiting Blackmist for a while, and we won’t be the first. That artifact you and Sylph brought back from the Crypt turned out to be quite important, and my mother is buying it off Blackmist.”

“I didn’t get the impression Whisp or Delph were willing to sell it,” Damien said, cocking his head. “Whisp was deadest on getting her hands on it.”

A grin tugged at a corner of Yui’s lips. “I don’t think she’s giving them much of a choice. In exchange, Blackmist will get access to a portal that leads beyond the frontlines and into the ancient city of Forsad.”

“Forsad?” Damien asked. “I’ve never heard of it. I didn’t realize we had access to anywhere beyond the frontlines. Even if we can get there, aren’t the monsters too strong?”

“That’s the thing,” Yui replied. “Forsad’s barriers are still active, even though the city was destroyed. The strongest monsters can’t get there, but there’s supposedly a huge amount of Ether in the area. It’s a great training area with a fair bit of lost magic, so Blackmist will be bringing a bunch of their students as well as those from any colleges able to buy a spot from them on a training mission.”

“You’ve already bought a spot, then?” Nolan asked, not sounding particularly happy about it.

“It was part of the deal my Mother struck,” Yui said. “Goldsilk bought three spots as soon as they heard.”

“And how have they heard already?” Sylph asked. “Was it announced while we were at Ardenford?”

“It hasn’t been announced yet, but Goldsilk has more than enough favors to cash in and learn about anything of import happening,” Yui said with a shrug. “Everyone wants a chance to make their top students look better, especially after a rather humiliating defeat at the intermural. I’m sure there’s a fair bit of interest as to what Blackmist has changed in their teaching methods.”

Damien grunted. “It sounds like the Crypt again. Why doesn’t everyone always train at this place, then?”

“Activating the portal is incredibly difficult. My mother herself has to do it, and it leaves her weak for a while after activation. Don’t you worry – we’ve had soldiers search the city for years. There shouldn’t be anything ground shaking left over, but we might find a trinket or two.”

“And when would this be happening, since you already seem to know everything about it?” Nolan asked.

“Probably a month or two from now at the earliest,” Yui replied. “Blackmist will have to announce it, choose what students are going, and then see if they want to sell any more spots to other schools. Of course, if things with the Corruption get too bad, it might not happen at all.”

“But, long story short, we’ll be hanging around for a while,” Viv said. “We already got some rooms set up when we first visited.”

“We’ll have to meet up again for dinner, then,” Damien said. “You’ll have to excuse me and Sylph, though. We’ve got a fair bit of work to do now that we’re back, since we were technically skipping out on school for the past week. Delph isn’t going to let us off easy.”

“Is Mark going to come?” Elania asked. Viv shot her a sharp glance and Elania cleared her throat. “Dinner it is. Thanks for the invite.”

Damien hid a laugh and waved farewell to the others before he and Sylph headed through the portal and continued up to their room on the mountain. Once they’d gotten back, Damien sat down on his bed across from Sylph.

“What happened with my dad, Sylph? How do you know him?”

Henry slipped from Damien’s shadow unbidden. He sent a pulse of purple energy out around them, stopping the sound waves from leaving the room so that nobody could overhear their conversation.

“I’m not sure I should say,” Sylph said slowly. “I don’t even know for sure that I recognized him. It could have been someone that just looked similar. The person I’m thinking of didn’t go by Stormsword. I mean… he’s your dad.”

“Barely,” Damien said with a scoff. “I see him like once or twice a year. Sure, he’s really busy with the work the Queen gives him, but I don’t even know what that is. I don’t know the guy in any meaningful way. My mom is the one that raised me.”

Sylph studied his expression, then nodded. “I think he was the head inquisitor in charge of trying to figure out if they could make me into a weapon for the Queen.”

“Eight Planes,” Damien said. “Did he…”

“Nothing that bad,” Sylph said, shaking her head. “He was always kind, I suppose. When I was released, he was also the one that pulled the strings to get me into Blackmist without a real companion. He was still responsible for keeping me locked up, though. The whole thing ended as soon as he decided I wasn’t worth the effort.”

Damien’s hands clenched. “I’m sorry, Sylph. I had no idea.”

“I know,” Sylph said. “And I don’t hold you or your mother responsible for his actions. He and the inquisitors are technically responsible for my release, I suppose.”

“They also kept you locked up afterwards,” Damien said. “That doesn’t excuse them.”

“People do a lot of things when asked to by their leaders. Honestly, I’m not totally convinced it was even your dad. He didn’t seem like he recognized me.”

“I was watching for that as well,” Damien admitted. “But he might have been hiding it. If he works for the Queen, he’s got to have a pretty good game face. He clearly had me fooled. I never knew he was some bigshot agent, going around and kidnapping teenagers.”

Sylph laughed and shook her head. “I was just worried he would try to take me back or something. There’s no point losing sleep over it now, I guess. Your dad is crazy strong, both in magic and political position. He could do just about whatever he wanted and face no repercussions for it. If he wanted to do something to me, he could have done it there and not even Yui would have been able to stop him. I just didn’t expect to see him and it brought back emotions that I thought I’d buried.”

“I guess that’s good,” Damien said with a frown. “But I’ll make sure he stays away from you as much as possible – not like that’ll be very difficult. He mentioned that he’ll be in the Blackmist area, and I bet that’s got something to do with that Forsad city that Yui was talking about. We probably won’t see him until then.”

Henry’s body flickered and condensed, changing into his spherical form. “You’ve got company at the door. I’m dropping the sound ward.”

Damien and Sylph both turned to the door in surprise as it swung open and Delph strode inside, his cloak rippling behind him.

“I see you two have enjoyed your vacation,” Delph said, letting the door close behind him. His cloak didn’t stop rippling, even though there was no longer any wind. He flicked it irritably. “Havel, stop it.”

The cloak froze.

“Why’d you send my dad to get us if you weren’t hunting monsters?” Damien asked, crossing his arms.

“That’s an odd question. I thought you’d want to see him.” Delph raised an eyebrow. He glanced from Damien from Sylph, taking in the mood. “Ah. Daddy issues, then.”

“They aren’t daddy issues!” Damien snapped, but Sylph couldn’t keep a snort of laughter from escaping.

“It was probably a bad idea, but not for the reasons you’re thinking,” Sylph said. “I have to say, Dove is a very pretty name.”

“Seven Planes, that pompous piece of flaming shit,” Delph growled. “He told you my name?”

“And here I thought you liked him,” Damien said, then paused as a thought struck him. “Wait a minute. Did you send my dad just to give him extra work?”

The look on Delph’s face answered Damien’s question without any words, but he confirmed it anyways.

“It might be a possibility,” Delph admitted. “If it helps, I didn’t know you were his kid. He was pretty uptight with his home life when we worked together.”

“You do know him, then,” Damien said. “Can you tell me more?”

“I probably shouldn’t,” Delph replied. “But that’s never stopped me before. Anything you want to know in particular? Stormsword isn’t someone you can summarize easily.”

“Maybe start with how you learned he was my dad?”

“That’s an easy one. The Queen told me. She’s the only one he doesn’t keep secrets from.”

“How did you meet him?” Sylph asked.

“On the frontlines. He’s a strong warrior and a terrific mage. Terrible dinner guest, though. Don’t ask more than that, I won’t say.”

“Why not?” Damien asked. “Did the Queen order it or something?”

“Nope. That bit is personal. I’m happy to share information that will inconvenience Stormsword, but not anything that bothers me. You get one more question, I don’t want to spend all day here.”

Damien couldn’t keep himself from laughing. “Fair enough. Then, one more question. What kind of person is he? I know you more than him, and I don’t know what to think.”

Delph’s lips thinned. “He’s reliable. When he makes a promise, he keeps it - but only if he promised. Stormsword is ruthless in his service to the Queen and he values nothing more in his life. If he had to choose between anyone and her, he’d choose her. Does that answer your question?”

Damien was tempted to press further, but the look on his professor’s face stopped him.

“Yes. It does.”

“I’ve got one unrelated to Stormsword,” Sylph said, then nodded at Delph’s cloak. “Who’s Havel?”

“Stupid little bugger. I told him to be still,” Delph muttered, but Damien didn’t get the sense he was talking to them. “Havel, you might as well come out. There are enough secrets flying around this room already, one more won’t hurt.”

As he spoke, gray light washed over him in a similar manner to Henry’s sound ward. Delph’s cloak twisted around his side and flipped onto his shoulder, detaching from him and folding into the shape of a small man.

“It’s good to meet you both face to face, boss mans,” Havel said, dropping into a small bow. “I’m Delph’s unpaid slave.”

“He’s my companion,” Delph said irritably. “And he’s recently gotten into the notion that he should be paid for his work.”

“I should!”

“What would you even use the money for? It’s worthless to you!”

“It’s about the principal,” Havel said, crossing his tattered cloth arms.”

Delph’s eyes narrowed. “Was that a pun? I told you about what would happen if you said any puns in my presence.”

“You should maintain your decorum in front of students,” Havel said quickly, hopping off Delph’s shoulder and scurrying over to Sylph. “A professor shouldn’t lose his cool.”

Delph’s eye twitched. “As you can tell, my companion is a bit of a handful.”

“I’ve never seen one like Havel,” Damien said. “Nor have I read about one. What is he?”

“An artifact,” Delph replied. “A very old one.”

Sylph’s eyes widened. “Your companion is an artifact?”

“Yes, just like you used to have,” Delph said, waving his hand dismissively. “You’re lucky yours was inanimate. Havel is a pain in the ass.”

Havel turned his nose up. “Your students treat their companions better than you do.”

“Hardly,” Henry scoffed. “Damien barely lets me stack goats and he made me break Sylph’s original companion.”

Havel drew in an affronted breath. “That’s horrible.”

“That’s enough, I think,” Delph said. “I’ll not have our companions start plotting against us.”

Havel let out an amused chatter and unfurled, fluttering through the air and attaching back to Delph’s neck.

“Any more ill advised questions?” Delph asked. ‘’Maybe you’d like to know about my dating life as well?”

“Well, if you’re offering…”

“I am not,” Delph said. “And, believe it or not, I came here to get a few things accomplished.”

“We aren’t stopping you,” Sylph said with a grin.

“I’d like to see you try. You’ll both be resuming your training tomorrow. I expect to see a full manifestation from both of you in the coming month. In addition, it’s time to start learning more powerful spells. Aside from Warp Step, your magic isn’t up to the level we need to fight the Corruption.”

He reached into a pocket and pulled out a small book that he tossed to Sylph.

“Nothing for me?” Damien asked.

“Your companion has clearly been teaching you magic,” Delph said. “Nothing I have is better than what it knows, but Sylph is now using a mixture of dark and air, so she needs help.”

“Smartest thing you’ve said today. I’m a genius,” Henry said.

Delph ignored the Void creature. “There are a few more things to cover, but they can wait. For now, I’ve got the reward Whisp promised you for getting the artifact, even if it has been commandeered by the Queen. You’ll get them tomorrow, when you meet me for personal training.”

“Two hours before sunrise?” Damien asked.

A small smile tugged at Delph’s lips. “Two hours before sunrise.”