He really didn’t appreciate being awoken two hours before dawn to investigate the sudden appearance of this mage who was approaching the Academy at an ungodly speed at a ridiculously high altitude but seeing what was rapidly descending was not in the realm of even his wildest imagination. The edifice in front of the mage was massive. He called it an edifice since he knew no other apt single-word description for what he was seeing. If it was a cloud, it was like no cloud he has ever seen before. He wasn’t sure what it was so he was going to call it an edifice in his mind for now. The first hints of dawn were approaching and in the dim light, he could also see the outlines of a monolithic circular stone construct which may be best described as either a fortress or palace occupying one corner of the massive edifice. An edifice on top of another edifice with the capability to fly.

What a monstrosity! He shuddered and grasped the reins of his ostrich harness tighter. He had no idea who Aurian brought with her but he couldn’t imagine any mage to possess such power. This obvious usage of an enormity of ether manipulation and artifact creation most likely meant a divine entity, whether a demigod, daemon, or heavens forbid, one of the gods themselves. Mages were taught from an early age to stay away from the divine and he who respected these unwritten laws carefully observed that. He hasn’t even stepped foot inside a Temple since he entered these hallowed grounds of the Academy at the age of five.

No, I can’t show fear. We are the mages of the Academy. We’re not some backward peasant who’s never seen any magic. With that thought, he steeled his back and barked. “Get ready everyone!”

Four voices immediately answered in unison. “Yes, Mage Grath!”

Surveying the four, the mage named Grath realized that he only recognized one of them. In the mad dash to gather companions to converge with Aurian’s location, he had picked out the first four mages he encountered on his way here. Fresh graduates all of them from the looks of their youthful and bewildered faces. Several of them including the fellow he knew named Lait something was noticeably fidgeting with worry. If Lait gripped his Warding Staff any harder, he might break it.

There was only one girl amongst the four and she was a pretty little thing. She was also the most visibly agitated. A thin girl with delicate features and tumbling ash brown hair, her arms shook as she held a dim flickering lightning ball between her hands. She was barely maintaining a Tier 1 spell. He sighed internally. They were all too greenhorn for what they’re about to face.

As the senior among them, he felt that he needed to demonstrate courage. His right hand dropped the rein and he casted his signature spell -- a Tier 3 Fire Orb. Aside from his master here, he knew of no other mage who could cast a Tier 3. When he willed it, it could shoot fire bolts at a speed that would be unavoidable for any human at twenty feet. Its temperature could char a wild boar (or an unfortunate human) to well-done in scarcely five seconds.

The fire’s illumination and warmth had an immediate effect on their demeanor. Lait relaxed his hold on his Staff and raised it from the ground. The lightning ball held by the girl steadied and grew brighter. Grath nodded encouragingly. “We have no idea what Aurian has brought us but be prepared for anything. Do not worry! If anyone with Aurian mean us harm, we mages of the Academy will let them know that we are not to be trifled with.”

The pretty girl glanced up at him. “Why would Aurian bring an enemy to our doorsteps?”

He shook his head and grimaced in annoyance. “I have no idea why that girl ever does what she does. I don’t think anyone does.”

Just thinking about the girl brought an onset of a headache. Aurian has always been a fishbone in his throat with her frequent questioning and then flouting the established laws of the Academy. She was also quite vocal with plenty of colorful phrases on what she thought of the older mages such as himself. If it was not for that old fool Master Arbon and that senile Master Usura, he had little doubt that the girl would have been expelled her first semester here with that foolish incidence of bringing several lightning bugs she caught from one of the wildwoods into his Elemental Magic 101 class.

Unlike the mundane woods, the wildwoods around the Academy had creatures which manipulated ether as naturally as it breathed. The imbecile had purposely released the lightning bugs from a jar and they had flown around emitting lightning. The students in the classroom were able to capture all of them except one. That particular bug then somehow flew into one of the Power Crystals and shocked the Crystal causing a cascade of power failures which shut down the entire school power for half a day.

Aurian had the gall to not even properly apologize for her behavior. She was apologetic in noting that she should have been more aware of where she was releasing the lightning bugs but did not apologize for actually wanting to do so. She went on and emphatically stated that she wished to demonstrate how lightning bugs used ether in a more efficient manner to generate lightning than how mages are currently doing with spells. It was absolute rubbish! Grath knew that she had very little respect for him as a teacher and no doubt this was her way of sowing chaos under the guise of pursuing science.

Even assuming that she was motivated by the pursuit of science, the theory was absurd. How could a minuscule bug with such a tiny organ for manipulating ether be more efficient at generating lightning than humans?

Foolish, reckless and rebellious. These three words summed up the best way to describe Aurian in Grath’s eye. The current situation was the latest case in point. From the moment she left a week ago, he knew it was a bad idea for the Academy elders to approve her going with Master Arbon into the city. He was too young to be on the Academy Board or he would have certainly voted against it. The overly optimistic fool Master Arbon had apparently presented some rather eloquent arguments that bringing Aurian on these trips would engage her attention and energy elsewhere leaving her less likely to cause disruptions at the Academy itself.

How long is that old fool going to stay on the Board? Most masters on the Board usually retire within twenty years due to the overwhelming stress but it looks like he has gone swimmingly along with barely any further graying of his hair. Grath realized that he was breathing rapidly and took a moment to take a deep breath. There was little to be gained in falling into anger. The descending edifice was the immediate gigantic problem.

With a soft thud, the edifice finally landed. Grath told himself that he was not afraid. If the worst happens and Aurian did bring an enemy here, I’ll make sure these young ones survive.

“Um, hello? Can you hear me? We don’t mean to do any harm. I just brought a few friends.” A disembodied voice called out from the top of the Cloud.

The voice sounded like Aurian but Grath wasn’t sure. “I refuse to speak to someone I cannot see. Come down first.”

A head appeared over the edge of the cloud. The face was indeed that of Aurian. She shouted. “I’ll do that if you guys put away your spells. I’m not about to have my friends and I get blasted to pieces.”

Friends? For that obnoxious girl to make friends was a miracle. As far as Grath knew, in her entire year here, her only friend has been Mirella. Now in scarcely a week she has gone and made more than one friend? He asked suspiciously. “Who are your friends?”

“Oh, hey it’s you. Mage Grath! I haven’t seen you since Elemental Magic 101. How’s it going?”

How was it possible that just a few sentences from the little girl could evoke such anger in him? Grath let his features remain impassive. He didn’t want to give the girl the pleasure of knowing how much she’s starting to irk him again. “You haven’t answered my question, Aurian. And to you, it should be Master Grath. You’ve been here long enough to know that students need to show some proper respect to teachers.”

“Sorry, slip of the tongue. I guess I’ve fallen into the habits of the world of the mundane. My friends? They are fellow mages from the southern continent.”

“What southern continent?”

“Exactly! That’s what I said when I met them. Apparently, there’s an entire southern continent we don’t know about!”

Grath chuckled internally. The girl clearly thought he was an old fool. He decided to play along. “And the mages there figured out how to make this gigantic edifice that looks like a Cloud here? And they somehow traveled to our continent?”

“Exactly again! Wow, you’re smarter than I thought. I should have given you a little more credit as a teacher.”

Ignoring that jibe, Grath continued his line of inquiry. “Assuming that I even believe your rather ludicrous tale, why are they here? And why are you here? You’re supposed to be with Master Arbon.”

In a hushed tone, he informed his companions. “Do not put away your spells. She may be a student here but she has absolutely no regard for the safety of the Academy. She is also a notorious liar.”

“Oh, didn’t Master Arbon already tell you? Apparently, two mages met him in the city at the Galacia Club and he informed them to show up here. They’re very interested in the magic we have here and are willing to share their knowledge as well.”

“Where are they then?”

“They’re right next to me. They’ll introduce themselves.”

In a lower volume, Grath overheard her add in the Divine Tongue. “Come on, you two. Grath there is all bark and no bite. Well, he does think he’s good at fire but he’s too much of a stickler for rules to throw that carelessly around here. A fire would burn down this entire plain. Besides, his spell is probably all flash and no bang.”

Hearing this left him flabbergasted. Was this girl completely blind to the Fire Orb right next to him? If the occasion called for it, he would be glad to show this girl what his Fire Orb could do. If she was truly a traitor, burning her would be a blessing. Another voice called out from above interrupting his thoughts speaking in the Divine Tongue. “Oh, hi! I’m Ada Newth and this is Leanne Syrana. We are mages from the Southern Continent called ... uh Australia.”

Taking a closer look, he saw two girls peering down at him. From his vantage point, he could see that they were almost as young as Aurian and only a tidbit taller. Was he to believe that two mages barely past their teens were able to construct and fly this edifice? How was that possible? The girl’s grasp of the Divine Tongue was almost impeccable though it did carry a trace of an accent he couldn’t identify. There must be a Divine entity here. Should he continue to play along? As a staff of the Academy his first priority is to ensure the safety of the school.

One step at a time though. There was little probability that a Fire Bolt could hit any of them from where he was situated and the same could be said for any of the spells prepared by the other four mages. “If we are to talk like proper mages, you three need to come down.”

Aurian spoke in the Divine Tongue, probably for the benefit of the two foreign “mages”. “Can you guys put away your spells? They didn’t come here looking for a fight.”

Grath scoffed. “I’m afraid not. You do not have the sterling reputation which you presume yourself to possess. Telling us to put away our weapons gives you the perfect opportunity for a first strike.”

“Come on! Don’t be such a drag! There’s …”

The girl’s voice died away as the girl who self-identified as Ada held up her hand. She spoke simply but forcefully. “We will come down and you can keep your spells ready. But note this. We did not come here to fight but if you mean to attack us first, we will be obliged to defend ourselves.”

“Aurian, are you saying you are on the side of these foreigners?”

Aurian struggled to find an apt answer. “I’m …”

Ada continued. “She is not on our side. From our time with her, I can assure you that she is loyal to the Academy. I want to add that I would like to think that we’re all on the same side.”

Everyone knew the incidents that Aurian had helped to or personally created in the Academy over the last year. Grath looked around at his four companions to gauge their thoughts. The pretty girl was nodding as if she believed the words of that Ada. Lait also looked pensive. Young idealistic fools. He was glad to see that the other two men shared his look of skepticism.

Grath nodded. “Come down then and we shall talk.”

Scarcely has he uttered these words did a smaller flat Cloud detach from the main edifice carrying the three girls (he refused to think of them as women) and floated gently down to the ground. He noted that the girls upon landing did not leave the Cloud. For two mages supposedly both from a southern continent, they looked very different. The girl named Leanne looked like she had Tesian features with her pale skin and soft brown hair while the girl named Ada looked like she could possibly be from the Southern Isles with her coarse dark brown hair. They looked even younger than the four mages with him and as ordinary mortals would be wholly incapable of the immense magic required for that edifice to exist much less function.

He was wary. One or both of them must be related to the Divine somehow. The two sides stared at each other as if they were about to go into a duel. If this would end in bloodshed, Grath suspected that his side would be the one bleeding. His heart was beating rapidly. I am a mage of the Academy and I would not be cowed by even the Divine. He repeated the mantra to himself several times until he calmed down.

Aurian broke the silence. “Well, we’re here now. Let’s talk?”

Grath nodded. “Let’s.”