It was exactly as the spymaster had said. A full moon later, Hazelmere once again received a letter summoning her to the palace. There, she had another conversation with Rowena. She expected the spymaster to be there too, but he was nowhere to be found. She didn’t complain though.

They agreed that the base of operations should be at the holy site of Treadmondo. The reasoning was simple: if it was true that the Sun elves used that site to travel between the worlds then, perhaps, it could offer them some advantages they weren’t aware of yet. And it also helped that the ruins where the scrolls were found were nearby. Especially since their detailed exploration was still in progress, meaning that any new findings would be available to the mages in the shortest time possible.

So, all the conscripted mages were summoned to Treadmondo. The base of operations was set-up even before they’ve arrived. As the mages from all over the empire gathered, she directed the engineers, ensuring the base has everything necessary for over a hundred mages to do their craft properly.

It wasn’t through Hazelmere’s initiative though. The engineers had no idea what they were supposed to build since no one has built anything similar in thousands of years, so Rowena figured it was an excellent chance for Hazelmere to gain some experience in directing people.

“So, you did manage to build the thing,” Rowena approached Hazelmere amidst the bustling workers, confused mages, and even more confused personal servants.

“Oh, look who is here,” Hazelmere’s didn’t sound enthusiastic.

“What, already tired?”

“No, actually … the engineers were surprisingly reasonable. At first, they were completely lost. But, once we started talking about what we will need, they started coming up with the ideas themselves! I’m very pleasantly surprised! And I had no idea just how useful the culiars are!”

“Oh, yeah. They’re very useful creatures, but they creep me out to no end. They look like cursed creations of some twisted god.”

“Well, you are much closer to the truth than you think. According to the legends, they used to be people like you and me, but the gods cursed them and took their souls away when they tried rebelling against the heavens themselves. Anyway, it is not that I am tired. You just got here at the wrong time. Maybe you didn’t notice how busy the place is?”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed. The engineers seem to know what they’re doing, but the mages are completely lost. It’s as if nobody told them where they’re supposed to go and what they’re supposed to do.”

“Well, excuse me, but I’m too busy at the moment!”

“There’s nothing to apologize for, that’s why I’m here! His highness sent me here to be his eyes and ears during the opening … can we call it a ceremony?”

“Not at all! We won’t be celebrating anything. I will just tell them what the rules are, what we are supposed to do here, what teams they are in, and we will start with the work right away. I bet everyone is eager to see what those scrolls are all about.”

Rowena didn’t look that interested: “Although I was sent here to observe, nobody told me I’m not allowed to help. So, how about you tell me where you’ll be holding the opening speech, and I’ll make sure the mages get there.”

Hazelmere looked Rowena sideways, looking surprised.

“What?” Rowena sounded a bit offended, “if you don’t want my help, just say so!”

Then her face turned to dejected for a moment: “Look, I love teasing you, but not out of malice.”

“Sorry, I just … I mean, sure! Why not?”

---

The order soon followed. With Rowena’s help, the mages, all of them females, were quickly arranged in neat rows at the dominant plateau. She even found a suitable improvised stage for Hazelmere, a conveniently placed pillar.

Some veteran soldiers, who served as the guards, helped Hazelmere get on top of it. It took her some time to adjust to the difference in height.

Using the ingredients she prepared ahead of time, she cast a spell that hovered in front of her mouth. It took the form of light-blue, half-transparent magma, slowly flowing through the invisible round container suspended in the air.

“Check, check … can you hear me?” The volume of her voice increased as it passed through the spell.

The mages on the plateau nodded their heads.

“Are there any distortions in my voice?”

This time the mages shook their heads left to right.

“Okay,” she cleared her throat, “we all know why we are here. And I know none of us are happy. Trust me, I am not happy either. Nobody tried anything similar in thousands of years, and we are too well aware of what can happen if only a single spell goes wrong. Nobody here wants to summon yet another portal to hell.”

She put her hands on her hips.

“But … we have a duty! No soldier wants to go to war either, but they do it nonetheless! Because there is something much more important than our feelings! It is our duty towards the fatherland! It is our duty towards its people! We don’t get to bail out the moment we are feeling inconvenienced! And, while I don’t look forward to being in charge of this enormous undertaking and taking all the blame for its possible failure, I have no other choice but to face all my fears, all my uncertainties, for the sake of serving the emperor and the people! And the same goes for all of us! It is now that we will see how much each of us is worth, who among us has what it takes to be a proper mage, and who are the cowards that will take the easy way out the first time their skill gets put to the test!”

That caused the gathered mages to shift in place, with visible frustration on their faces.

“But … we have a huge help! We won’t be dealing with the unknown! Yes, nobody tried these spells in several thousand years, but we have unearthed the scrolls which tell us exactly what is needed and how it needs to be done! Therefore, the first task will be to study these scrolls! For that purpose, I will need all the archmages to gather in the designated tent where we will collaborate. That is probably the most critical part of our achievement, which is why I will need our best and brightest minds to work on it. I also welcome the transcendent priest to join us, so we can share our findings with him and his council of archpriests to ensure no demonic taint is present anywhere.”

As she said that, she extended her hand towards the person in the first row. The transcendent priest sat there, in a comfy chair which was being carried around by his trusted servants. The archpriestesses surrounded him on all sides who were, in turn, surrounded by the paladins in full plate armor.

“The transcendent priest will monitor everything we do so that we can stop the spells immediately if any trace of anything demonic is detected. And, while the archmages are focused on studying the scrolls, the rest of you will be pouring your energy. You will have nothing to do until the scrolls are deciphered, so it would be best to start collecting the energy immediately.”

“You mean mana?” One of the mages spoke. Hazelmere recognized the voice immediately, making her sigh in frustration.

“Mana is a term used by trained mages. Therefore, very few other people know what it means. And, since we will be working with the people who aren’t mages, like the archpriestesses, for example, it would be nice if you would be considerate enough to use the term energy. Yes, that is a general term, but it is much more understandable to the people without magical knowledge.”

“Anyway,” Hazelmere continued, rolling her shoulders, “speaking of the energy gathering … I have some bad news for you.”

That caused a stir among the mages.

“I see most of you already know what I am talking about. And yes, it is absolutely necessary. We will have to be extremely dedicated if we are to succeed. We can’t waste our energy on unnecessary things. We have to be as disciplined as we were before we received the gift of magic.”

The mages started clamoring quite loudly.

“Therefore, you are forbidden from engaging in any carnal relations as long as we are working on the portal.”

Now the mages started protesting loudly.

“But I became a mage only two moons ago!” An especially loud cry stood out from the chorus of voices.

“Well, that is just too bad!” Hazlemere responded, leaning in, “Listen, I am not the one who has decided to summon the portal, but you can be sure I will do everything in my power to make it a success! I know, I am not happy about it either, but we have no choice! If we don’t preserve our energy, we will spend decades feeding the spell! I would expect all of you to be well aware of that. Those are the basics of spellcasting we are talking about!”

“With all due respect, royal archmage,” a pretty female spoke from the crowd. Her striking feature was her golden hair. It didn’t have the color of shining gold like some high-born elves have, its tone was much darker. But, for a timkik, that tone was as close to the golden hair as she can get.

The same spell Hazelmere used was floating in front of her mouth, increasing the volume of her voice without making it sound aggressive, “With all due respect, it just won’t work. We all know what you are talking about. We all agree we have to preserve our energy, but completely forbidding any relations is simply impossible. You know what the mages are like. That rule will certainly be broken many times.”

“Do you have any ideas?” Hazelmere asked in a friendly voice, sounding as if she’s genuinely interested.

“We can certainly reach an agreement. We can all agree to tone it down to, let us say, a few times per week?”

“That is too much! But I can agree to a once per week allowance,” Hazelmere responded.

“That’s not how romance works!” The familiar, loud cry interrupted her once more.

“Listen!” Hazlemere continued with a deep frown on her face, “I don’t know what you expected coming here, but we will all be monitored regularly! The soldiers you saw around here, they are here to make sure you do your jobs right and don’t waste your energy on stupid things! So, unless you intend to do stuff like that while being observed, you don’t really have a choice in the matter!”

“Fine by me!”

“Listen here, you twat!” Hazelmere’s face disfigured in a fit of rage, “I don’t know who you are, and I don’t care, but what I know for sure is that you should be really, really grateful I’m willing to arrange for the soldiers to leave you alone once per week! Ok, I get it. You became a mage only recently, I was in your shoes too. Forget that, I still am! For two centuries I held myself back, watching everyone else have their fun while I had to stay a virgin! I am not looking forward to this any more than any of you are! But this is way too important! If you could hold it for an entire century, then you can accept this too!”

“I am not looking forward to it, but once per week sounds reasonable,” the golden-haired female agreed.

The other mages started nodding their heads reluctantly.

“Ok! Now that we are finally done with it, I will read the names of the mages I will need by my side, the ones who will work on deciphering the scrolls. The rest of you will go to the tents with the crystals, so you can start storing your energy right away. The sooner we do this, the sooner we will be rid of the restrictions.”

It took some time for the crowd to disperse. The unhappy and somewhat agitated mages started arguing about and debating on the restrictions imposed on them, meaning that most of them stayed there for some time.

Once everything was over, Rowena approached Hazelmere.

“You did well.”

“Thanks. But it is easy to get it right when you have the others write the speech for you. And it also helped you had Natle direct the conversation in the proper direction.”

“I knew you didn’t even think of writing a proper speech, and we can’t have you stumble on the first step. You’ll never get your points across unless you have someone supporting you in the crowd. But, then again, you’re expected to be a walking tome of arcane knowledge, not a social events organizer.”

“Thanks, I am in your debt.”

“Putting that aside … I’ve heard the stories, but that was absolutely absurd.”

“What?”

“I can’t believe that the major issue you were discussing was about getting laid.”

Hazelmere rolled her eyes: “Axulla, the goddess of magic, is the one to blame. She only gives her gift to virgin females.”

“I told you I know about that. That also explains why the majority of the mages are so ugly. Although, curiously enough, all the archmages are pretty. Makes you wonder.”

Hazelmere gave Rowena the look of disapproval: “Do you have a problem with that?”

“It’s just … strange! You mages are seen as some of the most powerful people in the world, and here you are, acting like teenagers.”

“It is the classical forbidden fruit story. If you are forbidden from doing something your whole life, you will start acting like an unchained beast the moment that restriction is lifted.”

“Doesn’t that completely defeat the whole point of it though? You’re forbidden from having sex to prove you have your desires under control, but what’s the point if you do the exact opposite the moment you’re not required to follow the rules?”

Hazelmere shrugged: “I don’t know, I don’t make the rules.”

“And why males can’t become mages?”

“Uuhhh …” Hazelmere started shifting uncomfortably in place, “Axulla doesn’t like males. A male scorned her once upon a time and, ever since then, she hates all of them.”

“So, she refuses to gift any male with magic?”

“Yes.”

“Ok, fair enough. But that doesn’t sound like something a kind deity would do.”

“Well, that is the thing. Axulla isn’t kind. Her magic can be used for both good and evil.”

“I see.”

Rowena leaned towards Hazelmere, grabbing her shoulder in a friendly manner: “Now, with that out of the way, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

“Oh, no.”

“What, what is it?” Rowena shook Hazelmere’s shoulder gently.

“The last time you introduced me to someone it was an old, shaking, grandpa. And he wasn’t a kind one, that bag of bones wanted my list so he could threaten people. So please, forgive me for being skeptical about the people you’re introducing me to.”

“Well, in this case, it’s a young knight!”

Hazelmere’s eyes brightened immediately and her tail became lively.

“It’s a young, fit, dashing knight who will be personally responsible for your safety. He’ll be commanding the soldiers stationed here and, if something goes awry and you somehow manage to summon another portal to hell, even though you had everything you needed to summon a proper portal, he’ll be the one to defend you from the onslaught of the demonic monsters.”

“A young, fit knight you say … hmm.”

Rowena narrowed her eyes knowingly: “Weren’t you telling the others not to engage in any carnal relations not so long ago?”