Trinity of Magic

Viola blinked slowly, staring at the two figures in the very center of the hall. After proclaiming that the time had come, the twins gave no further instructions. They merely stood there, like immobile statues.

Was she... was she supposed to do something?

Her confusion was shared by the other members of her team, who started exchanging whispers and uncertain glances as the silence stretched on.

”...Shouldn’t we be boarding an airship?”

”...Maybe heading to the portal room?”

Viola frowned as she extended her senses. A sudden, inexplicable change in the air around them had made her wary.

The air... had gone still.

There was no other way she could describe it. It felt like an unseen hand had gripped every individual particle that made up the space and forcefully held it in place. The sensation stole her breath away.

”Everything alright, Fay?”

”I... I don’t know...”

Sweat was running down her back, and her throat felt dry. This phenomenon was utterly incomprehensible, something that went against everything she knew to be possible.

Just then, Keiran finally broke his silence.

”If you would, teacher.”

The words seemed to have been spoken to nobody in particular, and yet, the emptiness responded with a sigh.

”Very well.”

With the voice, a tremendous pressure descended. Compared to the earlier stillness, which had mainly affected the air, this suppression was absolute. Not only Viola, but everyone else in the room suddenly found themselves immobilized. Some had even been caught mid-blink and were forced to endure in complete darkness.

The only exceptions seemed to be the twins, who remained completely unaffected by the pressure.

Keiran removed his mask once more, revealing his youthful visage. His lips slowly opened.

”Safe travels.”

The words had barely left his mouth when the world began to change.

The colors drained away first, bleeding from everything around her until even the nearby walls began to fade. Viola couldn’t blink, couldn’t move. All she could do was watch as the world collapsed in on itself, like a watercolor painting left out in the rain, its shapes running together as the last traces of color were washed away.

And though it looked and felt as if the process lasted an eternity, some instinctive part of her knew that no time at all had passed as the strange phenomenon closed in around her.

All too soon, there was nothing left.

Viola found herself completely alone, trapped in a state of utter nothingness. Darkness surrounded her on all sides. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, couldn’t even blink.

There was no sensation of falling. No sense of direction. No sound.

Nothing.

It was like being trapped inside a nightmare, forced to remain conscious while the entire world ceased to exist.

And then it ended.

Viola gasped the very moment the invisible force holding her vanished. She wasn’t actually out of breath, but the sheer terror of the experience sent her heart hammering against her ribs.

One moment, she had been alone in an endless darkness.

The next, the world returned all at once.

The floor. The people. The...

Viola’s gaze snapped toward the nearby wall.

It was gone.

Instead of the confines of the old hangar, open air stretched out before her. Buildings rose on every side, and beneath her feet lay the broad stones of what appeared to be a city square.

”What the fuck was...” Grent started to curse before cutting himself off as he noticed their changed surroundings.

Without the need for any spoken orders, the original team moved. Grent and Sebastian covered their back and front, while Viola, Irina, and Bernard remained in the center of the formation, back to back.

The new members looked around in panic, unsure of what to do. Rex alone cast his signature spell, [Blood Spike], as he scanned the surroundings warily.

The city square was not deserted, with hundreds of people milling all around them.

But... these people didn’t seem to care much about them.

Some shot a few curious glances in their direction, while others completely ignored them.

That, more than anything, made Viola hesitate.

A few dozen heavily armed strangers had just appeared out of thin air in the middle of a city square, yet barely anyone seemed surprised.

Was this... normal here?

”No need to panic,” somebody said from close by.

All gazes snapped in his direction at once.

The man who had spoken had long, unkempt hair the color of fire. He had a relaxed, almost slouched posture, and the uneven stubble on his chin gave the impression that he didn’t care all that much about his appearance.

His most notable feature, though, was the eye patch over his left eye and the fact that he seemed to be missing an arm. His coat had even been tailored around the absence, leaving no empty sleeve hanging at his side. At first glance, it was hard not to take him for a washed-up vagrant.

His long leather coat, decorated with some kind of epaulettes, was the only indication that he might be somebody who carried authority.

”Who are you?” one of the men standing closest to him asked. ”And where are we?”

”You may call me Kaelyle,” the stranger said, pointing at himself. ”As to where we are... that should be obvious...”

The stranger’s single ocean-blue eye twinkled as he grabbed the flask hanging from his belt and took a deep sip. After that, he sighed contentedly before gesturing toward the city all around them.

”This is Rukia, of course.”

”Rukia...” the same man echoed. ”Were we teleported to the capital, then?”

The stranger, who had introduced himself as Kaelyle, smiled strangely. ”Not quite.”

”Enough with your riddles, man,” somebody growled. ”What is this place, and how did we get here?”

”Ayo, ayo,” Kaelyle lamented. ”What an impatient bunch. I was getting to that...”

The text was copied from the author’s official page without consent; readers support the writer by reading the chapter where it is published.

Despite his words, the man didn’t hasten to explain anything and instead took another long sip from the flask at his hip. Every single one of his movements was done with deliberate slowness. Viola would have bet everything she owned that the man was doing it on purpose just to piss them off.

However, unlike some of the others, who seemed on the verge of lashing out, Viola felt her vigilance toward this stranger rising.

Though he seemed laid-back, something about this man made the alarm bells in her mind ring.

Perhaps it was the way he held himself.

His posture was loose, almost careless. He didn’t at all appear concerned about the dozens of armed Mages surrounding him.

Her intuition was telling her that the man called Kaelyle was no simple character.

Finally, the flask returned to his belt.

”You are in Dragon’s Perch,” Kaelyle said. ”The pearl of the North.”

”The... North? How could that be? I’ve never heard of such a city. How could...”

”Enough, enough.” Kaelyle waved his hand back and forth as if swatting away a fly. ”You’ll learn about all that in due time. For now...” His eyes swept over the gathered mercenaries. ”All of you who are not currently under a recognized group leader, step to the left. If you would.”

Nobody moved at first.

Viola could almost see the realization spreading through the crowd. Some of the people who had failed the examination exchanged uncertain glances, while others looked toward the five groups that had managed to secure a leader.

Only now did the significance of the twins’ test truly seem to sink in.

Eventually, the first few people started walking. Once they did, the rest soon followed. It took about a minute before only the five group leaders and their teams remained in front of Kaelyle.

At that point, the attendants who had come with him moved. They began herding the remaining mercenaries down the street and out of sight.

Rex’s gaze remained locked on the backs of his former teammates. ”Where are they going?”

”To the General Barracks,” Kaelyle answered leisurely. ”If they’re lucky, they’ll be picked up by a group soon.”

That seemed to be enough for Rex, as he didn’t ask anything else.

”Well then,” Kaelyle said. ”Shall we?”

Without even a glance backward, the man began walking.

Viola exchanged an uncertain look with her comrades before slowly following the strange man. At least, for now, there seemed to be no harm in simply going along with him.

So much had happened in such a short time that Viola still found it hard to get her bearings. Minutes ago, she had been in Tradespire, facing the twins. And now, she was in an unknown city somewhere in the north of Rukia, following a strange one-armed man who seemed entirely too comfortable ordering them around.

Not for the first time, Viola found herself glad for the presence of her teammates. The situation would have seemed far more threatening if she had been facing it on her own.

As they walked, she finally found the time to properly study her surroundings.

The first thing she noticed was the road.

It was paved in pale stone, nothing particularly unusual in itself, but the longer Viola looked at it, the stranger it seemed. Every block appeared to be exactly the same size. Their edges formed perfectly straight lines that stretched down the entire road, with barely a chip, crack, or patch of discoloration anywhere in sight.

The buildings were much the same.

Although their shapes and sizes differed slightly, there was a uniformity to them. The same pale plaster covered most of the outer walls, the same dark timber reinforced the structures, and even the windows seemed to follow only a handful of standardized dimensions.

There were no crooked additions built onto older houses. No mismatched roofs. No patched walls where one generation had built over the work of another.

Everything looked... new.

”That’s the General Barracks over there,” Kaelyle called out as he motioned toward a large building that stood out from the rest. ”If you find yourself lacking teammates in the future, that’s where you’ll get them.”

Viola glanced toward the structure as they passed. Even the enormous building shared the same materials as those surrounding it, though its broad entrance and sheer size made its purpose obvious enough.

”That’s the Life-Palace,” Kaelyle said next, pointing toward a tall spire in the distance. ”It’s the place to go if you have serious injuries. For scratches, any of the triage centers around the city will do just fine...”

Life-Palace?

Viola craned her neck slightly to get a better look.

She couldn’t remember ever hearing of a medical institution called that, but before she could think too deeply about it, a chorus of shouts drew their attention.

”What’s going on over there?” someone asked, pointing toward the spectacle.

Two Mages seemed to be locked in bitter combat in a large open area beside the road, surrounded by dozens of cheering spectators.

Kaelyle glanced over for only a moment before answering. ”Ranking challenge, most likely.”

”What’s that?”

”A good thing,” Kaelyle said with a particular glint in his eyes. ”It’s when somebody challenges their superior.”

”Why?”

”Why else? To steal their position, of course.”

”...What?”

Viola’s attention snapped fully toward him.

”That’s just how it is around here,” Kaelyle continued. ”There are no fixed positions. Every title can be attained through the challenge system.”

Viola nearly stumbled from sheer shock. What sort of an insane system was this? And what sort of a lunatic would actually implement it?

”...Every position?” somebody asked, with more than a little greed in their voice. ”Then couldn’t I, for example, challenge Lord Leo?”

To everyone’s surprise, Kaelyle nodded. ”In theory.”

”Why just in theory?”

”You can only ever challenge your direct superior. That means you’d need to beat the Supreme Commander first before challenging Sir Leo.”

Viola stared at him.

So he really had meant it.

The entire idea was utterly foreign to her. In the Windt?nzer family, positions were determined by blood, political influence, personal strength, seniority, alliances, and a dozen other factors that had been refined over centuries.

Here...

Here, apparently, you could simply challenge the person above you and take their position.

”Supreme Commander? Who’s that?”

Kaelyle’s expression changed subtly at the question, but he got it under control before anyone else seemed to notice.

”Don’t worry. You’ll meet her soon. All newbies get to meet her.”

”...Whether they want to or not,” he added in a much quieter voice, though Viola still heard him thanks to the wind carrying every word to her.

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

”Aya. Where was I? Oh, right, that over there is the Emerald Grove. Won’t find a better dinner in all of Rukia. And that over there is...”

Viola whipped her head left and right as Kaelyle continued pointing out various landmarks. Some appeared useful, such as weapon shops, armories, and bathing areas. Others, including several gambling dens and what appeared to be a fighting pit, seemed suspiciously more like places Kaelyle personally enjoyed.

Eventually, Viola stopped trying to remember every single one.

She found herself paying more attention to the city itself instead.

The strange uniformity continued wherever she looked. The roads were straight and broad, the stonework almost unnaturally precise. Even the smaller side streets seemed to have been laid out according to some greater plan.

It wasn’t ugly. Quite the opposite.

There was something strangely satisfying about the order of it all.

But it didn’t look like a city that had grown.

It looked like a city that had been made.

”And this,” Kaelyle said, finally coming to a halt in front of the largest building yet, ”is the Mission Hall. It’s where you’ll receive and turn in your missions in the future.”

He turned to face them again with a wide smile. ”Questions?”

Sebastian slowly raised his arm.

”Yeah, you.”

”You said that we are in the north, but I’ve never heard of a city called Dragon’s Perch existing in that region.”

Kaelyle’s smile widened. ”Technically not a question, but I’ll answer it anyway.”

He cleared his throat, as if to make the announcement sound more official.

”Dragon’s Perch was built by the Hohenheim family and placed under the stewardship of our glorious leader Leo von Hohenheim.”

”...Praise to his name,” Kaelyle added, clearly as an afterthought and without much sincerity.

Viola’s jaw nearly dropped. Her neck creaked like a rusty hinge as she craned to look at the splendid cityscape around her once more.

How... how long had she been asleep?

Had decades passed?

More?

”That seems unlikely,” Sebastian countered calmly. ”The war ended less than a year ago.”

Those words finally managed to slow the rapid beating of her heart, but they left her amazed for an entirely different reason.

If the war had ended less than a year ago, then this entire city had been built in that short amount of time.

Viola looked down at the pristine road beneath her feet.

Frankly, that seemed even less possible.

Kaelyle merely shrugged. ”Hey, don’t ask me. I don’t know how they did it either. I got here less than a month ago.”

”...What?”

This time, it was Rollo, the leader of the first group, who called out.

”You’ve got some nerve, man, swaggering around like you own the place when, in truth, you’re nearly as green as the rest of us.”

Kaelyle simply grinned and made no move to defend himself. ”Any more questions? If not, I’ll take you inside to see the Supreme Commander now.”

Viola exchanged glances with the remaining members of their team. Clearly, they still had more questions, but nothing that couldn’t wait until afterward. It certainly didn’t seem wise to make the Supreme Commander wait while they indulged in idle curiosities.

When nobody spoke again, Kaelyle nodded.

”Come then.”

He led the group inside the Mission Hall.

The building immediately opened into a massive chamber. Several people who seemed to be clerks were working at different stations, in front of which mercenaries stood in neat queues, waiting their turn. Others moved between large boards covered in notices, while armed groups came and went through several adjoining corridors.

Unlike most mercenary halls Viola had seen, there was remarkably little shouting.

For a place filled with this many armed people, everything seemed strangely orderly.

Kaelyle didn’t slow down.

He led them past the main area and deeper into the building. After a few more turns, they found themselves standing before a particularly sturdy door.

Kaelyle knocked gently.

There was a moment of silence before a voice called from inside.

”What?”

”I bring the new teams for your... inspection.”

Viola glanced toward him. Inspection?

”Is that you, Kaelyle?”

”It is.”

”Fine. Bring them in.”

Kaelyle opened the door but didn’t step inside. Instead, he waited beside it and gestured toward the room.

The first to move was Rollo, who had taken the lead all this time, followed by his team. However, just as they were about to pass Kaelyle, the man spoke one last time.

”A word of advice,” he said, his voice more serious than Viola had ever heard it before.

”Do not lie to her.”