"Hmmm, is that so?" Sora asked, tilting his head slightly. Then, after a brief pause, he added, "I'm not going to the academy. Though I could, I don't feel like it. Sounds like it would be a hassle, and the attention would be annoying. I'd rather go when I'm of the same age as everyone else."
Celeste raised an eyebrow, her lips curling into a teasing smile. "Are you scared of a little challenge, little brother?"
"Save the provocation, sister," Sora replied casually. "It doesn't suit you."
"So you're not going to the academy?" she pressed.
"I already said so, didn't I?"
Celeste exhaled in defeat, rubbing her temple. "Okay, fine. Can you at least keep try it down? Some of us like our peace and quiet."
"Well," Sora said, closing his tome with a soft thud, "I'll do my best."
With that, Celeste gave him a long, knowing look before leaving. She glided gracefully into the air, rising higher and higher until she vanished from view, leaving Sora alone on his peak.
He opened his grimoire again, his eyes scanning the page detailing the instructions for a movement buff spell. Following the runic patterns carefully, he began to channel mana through his body. A faint glow shimmered around him before his figure blurred—then, in a flash, he was standing at the far end of his courtyard.
A grin spread across his face. "It worked," he muttered. "From one end to the other in a second."
But then, a thought struck him. 'What if I try an instant teleportation from one end of this mountain to the other?'
He paused, flipping through the tome. There was nothing about a teleportation spell. "I've never heard of one," he murmured. "But all I really have to do is use mana to link my body with the space around me… then set the coordinates for where I want to reappear."
He took a deep breath. "Okay, let me try."
Closing his eyes, Sora began to focus. Mana shimmered faintly around his body, rippling through the air in translucent waves.
Vrmmm!
A heartbeat later, he vanished.
A moment passed before he reappeared a few meters away, the air around him warping with the sudden displacement.
"Huuu…" He exhaled, steadying himself. "Didn't go far. Probably because I didn't use a lot of mana."
He frowned thoughtfully. "Let's try that again."
Once more, the air began to hum as mana surged around him. His form flickered and then disappeared completely. A gust of displaced air followed, and in the next instant, Sora stood at the base of the mountain peak, looking up at the towering cliffs above him.
"Okay…" he muttered, eyes gleaming with curiosity. "I used about one percent of my mana there. Took me all the way to the base of my peak." He paused, tapping his chin. "I wonder how far I can go if I use half… maybe across the whole kingdom?"
...
Two years later.
Suspended in mid-air, Sora floated silently within what looked like a laboratory. The air was thick with energy, runic circles glowing faintly across the floor. Below him, a long, glass-like tube pulsed with light, faint tendrils of mana swirling into an orb inside. Holding a journal in one hand and a quill in the other, Sora wrote something down with precise strokes.
"The core has started reacting to any lifeforms that approach it recently," he murmured, eyes never leaving the glowing tube. "That's most likely a self-preservation mechanism—to preserve the life inside."
"Esme," he called out, and his shadow simply split in two.
"Yes, young master!"
A young woman with green hair appeared to his side, her footsteps echoing lightly across the polished floor. She wore a long white coat over her form-fitting attire, spectacles perched on her nose. Adjusting them with her index finger, she looked up at him expectantly.
"How long until my father arrives for his visit?" Sora asked, still jotting down notes.
Esme hesitated, fidgeting slightly under his steady tone. Her eyes darted away. "Uhm…" she began softly. "His Majesty, the Emperor… is already here, young master."
Sora's quill froze mid-stroke. He turned his gaze down toward her, his expression unreadable.
"He's here already," he repeated slowly. "And you didn't think to call me?"
"Forgive me, young master!" Esme stammered, bowing quickly. "B-but he asked that I not disturb you until you came out yourself."
"And if I decided to stay in here all day?" Sora asked, his voice calm but laced with quiet reprimand.
Esme's head lowered under his scrutiny, her voice shrinking to a whisper. "I… I would have waited, young master."
Sora sighed quietly, setting his journal down on a table and said, "Let's go."
He and Esme left the laboratory, stepping into a long, brightly lit corridor. The walls shimmered faintly with arrays of light runes, and the hum of mana could be felt in the air. Like his siblings' , Sora's residence was not a simple home, it was a grand mansion and many other structures built along the mountain, a sprawling estate with laboratories, gardens, and training courts, built atop one of the thousand peaks that made up the royal domain of the human race.
The royal family had called these mountains home for millennia, each peak belonging to a direct descendant of the Emperor, and his immediate extended family. Every peak was so vast that its rooftops vanished into the clouds.
Esme walked a step ahead, her movements composed but brisk. When they reached the main hall, she opened a wide, gilded door, leading into a luxurious lounging area.
There, seated on a couch of dark obsidian leather, was a familiar man, the Emperor, Aziel himself, eyes closed in quiet repose. Two experts stood behind him like silent statues, radiating controlled but immense power.
Sora stopped on the opposite side of the low table that separated them. "Father, sorry to keep you waiting," he greeted evenly.
The Emperor's eyes opened slowly. He gave a faint nod in acknowledgment.
One of the guards behind him frowned at Sora's lack of formality. Everyone, even the Emperor's children, was expected to kneel in his presence. Everyone knew that. Yet Sora never did.
He had always treated his father with distant respect, never submission. Still, since His Majesty never said anything, the guard dared not speak further, though his expression remained tight with disapproval.