I was just about to step through the portal when I heard a voice call out to me.
"Hey, Thoma?" Ed asked, stepping forward from the crowd. Mom, Syldir, Vauv, Widner, and Ysevel had already gone through, while only Bernar and I remained. I turned to face my recently resurrected friend with a warm smile on my face.
"Save it. You don't need to thank me," I said, putting up a hand to stop him. "Oh, no, I've already done that. I mean, I would do it again, but there'd be no point. I was actually going to ask if you knew when we'd be able to see each other again," he said with a slight shuffle of his feet.
"You know, I've got a sneaking suspicion it will be a few years," I said, taking a few steps forward and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Better get as strong as you can. Kalia's one brutal teacher, but she's easily as good, if not better, than even Taegin," I said accidentally, unsure of whether I'd ever told him the Master's real name.
"Taegin. Why does that name sound familiar? It's like I heard it in a dream almost," he said distantly. "My grandfather, the Master. That's his real name," I said, figuring there'd be no harm in letting him know or just refreshing his memory. His eyes widened in surprise, and I could sense there genuinely were memories of me having said something before surfacing in his mind.
"R-Right. I knew that," he chuckled. "Probably not. Get strong. I'll definitely need you at a level where you can keep up with me if things go how I think they're about to," I said, patting his shoulder twice before moving back toward the portal. "See you in a decade!" Bernar said with a pair of fingers flicking away from his forehead in a mock salute.
Ed's eyes widened, but before he could ask me anything else, I stepped through the portal.
Polarion's bright, twin suns lurched into reality around me. The familiar yet unfamiliar weight of mana that circulated the air was palpable, but far more manageable than I'd remembered it being the first time I was there.
"It's good to have you back here. All of you," Vauv said with a bright smile as she turned to face us. "I feel like I can formally welcome you to your, uh… What do you call it? Home away from home?" she said, trying her best to recall a common expression from Kavrass.
"Thank you for the warm welcome, Vauv. We're honored to be here, but why did Lord Ryfon summon us?" Mom asked, but the response she received from Vauv wasn't what I had expected. Her bright smile faded, and I could sense there was a weight to her next words that hung heavily on her heart.
"To make a very long and complicated story short, Lord Ryfon needs you all to undergo specialized training. Not that you didn't know that already, but with what my father, Karthus, and he have discovered lately regarding who our enemies are, it would be beneficial to all of us if you did. After all, you are considered dragonlings, now," she said, allowing a flash of a smile to cross her sharp features.
"This means that our duties to protect the balance of the Twilight Sea now also befall you. Of course, that does not mean that we expect you to be at the level of a full-blooded dragon quite yet, but we must begin somewhere," Syldir added as we continued down the path toward their home. "Makes sense to me," Bernar shrugged. "I can't wait to start!" he said with an odd amount of enthusiasm.
You've never liked training, I sent him with a raised eyebrow. Not true. I've never liked having to hold back during training, he said with a grin. Fair enough, I scoffed.
The tower imbued with spatial magic my mind could hardly comprehend at the time loomed overhead as we passed beneath the gate's threshold. The guards posted just outside glared at us with no small amount of confusion, but with a wave of Syldir's hand, they immediately snapped back to attention and didn't dare to disobey her silent orders.
"You know, it's not the first time we've gotten weird looks like that," Bernar noted idly, prompting Vauv to raise an eyebrow. "When I went to help Leona in Harut, there were more than a few people there who didn't welcome us in the least. Even in our own country, we're still often seen as the strange, mana-wielding freaks, so we're used to that kind of treatment," he continued.
"They do what?" Syldir asked with a not-so-subtle hint of anger in her tone. "Oh, don't worry. That was long before you shared your blood with us. Although I do wonder what they would think of us now," Bernar said with a finger to his chin.
Mom and Ysevel immediately elbowed him in the ribs in response. "Shut up," they said with a unified glare. "No, he's right," Vauv added with a solemn nod.
"The Twilight Sea as a whole has always regarded us as being outsiders, even though we're the ones who have always helped them. It can be a truly thankless job at times, but brave warriors such as Erumon are known throughout the realms for their prowess and have earned at least some respect from the masses," she continued, looking up at the tower reflectively.
"We will teach you the same way we would our youngest warriors, though my skills are severely lacking in comparison to those like Kanarin and Erumon," she said over her shoulder.
"You always doubt yourself, daughter. You are, and always have been, an exceptional guardian. Do not belittle yourself before me again," Syldir said, immediately letting us all in on their family dynamic.
It hadn't occurred to me until that point that while they were incredibly powerful, there was always room for self-doubt and a minor lack of confidence in their abilities.
If even they are capable of doubting themselves, I actually don't feel that bad about some of the things I've considered, I thought idly.
"Thank you for the reminder and the compliment, mother. However, I still understand that not even I can hold a candle to someone like Erumon," she said with no small amount of admiration, prompting Syldir to sigh and shake her head.
"Much of Erumon's experience came from lessons learned in blood, not talent. His strength is to be admired, of course, but it is also a stark reminder of the pain that comes with it," Syldir said, and I could feel through our connection just how shared that truth really was.
Batch, Ilsa, and all the others who had fallen since the start of our journey were all reminders of why we needed to keep moving forward, train harder, and carry forth their wills. It became evident that not even dragons were immune to those kinds of pains, but exactly how they were affected was something I was only beginning to understand.
We continued on in silence after Syldir's words, but we all understood that the pressure was building for everyone, not just us.
Eventually, we made our way into the tower, and the moment we crossed the threshold, I could feel a thin membrane of mana pass through my entire body, signifying that we'd entered into the realm of its spatial magic.
There was a flash of an image I didn't have time to understand because it was gone in less time than it took me to blink. I felt a sense of warmth and cold at the same time, but it was difficult to discern exactly which was stronger.
"Did you feel that? It was like I just got splashed with a bucket of cold water," Bernar asked the rest of us. "I thought it felt more like a warm towel being draped over my face," Mom added. "And here I thought I felt a gentle breeze. What about you?" Ysevel asked me, but her expression suddenly shifted into one of concern when she noticed I hadn't been able to reply.
"Thoma? What's wrong?" she asked, but I physically couldn't move my mouth to speak, so I had to send her exactly what I was feeling through our connection.
To this day, there is no easy way to describe what that felt like, since all of their statements were both correct and incorrect at once.
I don't know why, or even how, but I think I saw Codrean for a split second, I sent her and the others with difficulty. "Wait, what?" Bernar asked as he moved toward me; however, it was Syldir who seemed to understand what was happening.
"Ah, I see our spatial magic triggered what you might call a glimpse," she said with a bit of a smirk as she moved toward me. With a tap of her mana-infused finger to my forehead, I was suddenly knocked out of my stupor and could feel my entire body grow a little weak.
Not enough to knock me unconscious, of course, but I would be lying if I said that I didn't stagger at least a little.
Taking a brief moment to steady myself, I took in a deep breath and tried to comprehend what she meant behind her words. "I know that you must be confused right now, but what you just experienced is similar in nature to that of what the Eyes see all the time," she said in a tone that reminded me of Taegin giving a lesson.
"You see, spatial magic is borne of a collection of different types of mana. Aurae, for example, can wield two different types through an innate trait of the Ansuz clan known as ambivalence. Think of it as being able to split your consciousness more than once to gather mana from different realms simultaneously," she began as I and the others tried to follow along with her explanation.
"However, since this tower is not entirely a living being, we were able to discover a way to harness multiple different kinds of mana and fine-tune them to suit our needs," she continued, raising an eyebrow at the confused looks on our faces.
"Ah, it would seem I have forgotten to mention that each one of these towers you see scattered across Polarion houses a fallen dragon's core. They are both monuments and memorials of our fallen kin, and it is an honor for us to live within the reaches of their eternal vigilance," she tried her best to explain.
Talk about a culture shock, Bernar sent the others and I, to which I don't think anyone disagreed with.
"Will it happen every time I cross the threshold of this tower? I'm not sure I'd be overly fond of becoming little more than an ambulatory potato each time I need to go somewhere," I asked, trying my best to keep my tone light.
"That will entirely depend on you," she replied with a slight tilt of her head. "While the others may have gained the artificial Authority, yours is much more deeply ingrained into your being. I suppose we could factor that into your training as well. But worry not, since for the time being, most of your time here will be spent within the confines of this tower," Syldir said before continuing to lead us along the main hallway of the tower.
That's… comforting, I thought, getting a thin-lipped smile from Ysevel.
"Vauv, please escort them to their rooms. I must speak with your father and Kanarin about the methods they wish to employ," Syldir said, offering us all a curt nod of leave. "Of course, mother. Now, if you'll all follow me," Vauv said as she turned to face us.
Leading us down one of the side halls, I noticed that there weren't any paintings or ornaments of any sort hanging along the halls. Instead, there were a number of indents that held certain artifacts within them as if I were walking through a hall of display cases, but instead of glass, there were thin sheens of mana.
I took a moment to inspect one of these by slowing my pace a little. It was… difficult to identify what the strange, metallic cross with embedded jewels could be used for, but I merely shook my head and continued onward.
That couldn't have come from Kavrass, or even Vareluth, I thought, considering everything I'd seen in those realms.