Magister Yessica marched through a few hallways, coming upon an area for residency within the Palace.

She found one of the rooms, knocking on it before hearing the small voice behind it.

"Come in."

She opened the door, finding the pair of girls who had been with her earlier. She hadn't seen them after they ran away in a most unsightly manner, not only disgracing John Cooper, but also causing conflict between his fiancée and a dragon.

They were still blindfolded, the two of them sitting on the bed with books in their hands.

They stood when they saw her, bowing slightly.

Yessica glanced at the one who vomited, her name Cassie.

"I want an explanation for what happened today. From both of you, but let's start with Cassie."

Cassie's head drooped, her hands closing her book. She was silent for several seconds before muttering.

"It was John Cooper."

"Did he do something I didn't see? Do you know him somehow?"

An impossibility, Yessica knew, but she had never witnessed her students do something like that, so she just couldn't know.

Cassie shook her head.

"No, I don't know him. And he didn't do anything, not exactly…"

She paused for a bit, the other one, Amelia, taking the chance to speak up.

"Magister, after being spiritually enlightened, we're able to see certain things about the souls we gaze upon. When we look at people, we can see and understand a few things about them. We can get a deep glimpse at the kind of person they are. We can see the stains upon them, the virtues within them, and to some extent, what things they did to earn them."

Yessica listened. She wasn't enlightened herself, so while she had heard similar things before, she would never know what it was like to personally see those things.

Still, these students of hers were incredible. The Church trained them to be pure in spirit. Not sinless, not blameless, but pure in their thoughts, actions, and words. Part of that was placing them among people just like themselves. Before each other, there were no secrets. They saw everything. Every little nasty vice, sin, and wrongdoing.

It made her morbidly curious about what they saw.

"So? What did you see within John Cooper?"

Both of them paused, Amelia speaking first.

"Well, most souls are usually pretty white. We've seen soldiers from the Church before, Templars, even some Raiders from the Order. Their souls are blindingly white, despite the stains on them."

"Okay?"

"John Cooper though…"

"He's a fucking monster!"

Cassie suddenly cursed, her eyes burning through the blindfold over them.

"Do you know what he's done?! He's murdered thousands of people, and he enjoyed nearly all of it! He doesn't just lack regret or guilt. He remembers every single one of his murders in perfect detail and he enjoyed committing every single one!"

Yessica recoiled, unable to get a word in before Cassie continued.

"He looked at us like we were nothing but walking bags of flesh and blood. I actually saw myself, another stain on his soul that showed how he was going to kill me, as if he had already done it! I saw my brains on the floor! I saw your dead corpse, Amelia's, and that of every single dragon, adult and child! The man had already killed all of us in his mind, and he felt absolutely nothing but glee at how much fucking material he would have to use for Crowns! He's killed the old and young, massacred entire towns by the thousand, has tortured dozens in such clarity that I could feel the blade stripping tendons from my bones! I-I can hear the screams! He remembers all those screams!"

Cassie nearly screamed herself, Yessica watching her with barely contained horror. Not so much at what she was describing, but Cassie's visceral fear while doing so.

Amelia looked only slightly better, her eyes flashing with her own memories of it all.

She stood up while Cassie trembled on her bed, walking over and bringing Yessica to a corner of the room.

Amelia took another glance at Cassie before taking a deep breath.

"...The thing about our vision of souls is that what we can see, and how clearly we can see it, depends on the memory of the person we're looking at. John Cooper has a perfect memory, so we could see every little stain not just in perfect detail, but as if we were living it. Looking at his soul didn't just expose the memories, but tried to impart them.

"How tainted a soul is also partially relies on the feelings of the person. People who, say, killed in self defense and regret having to do so won't be stained by the memory. Murderers who revel in killing are usually far darker, but despite having tainted souls, they still don't have that many stains. They usually never get so far. Not that far…"

Yessica listened carefully. She hadn't been on the island very long, and she wasn't the one who taught spiritual enlightenment. This was important information for her, especially as it pertained to John Cooper.

Amelia faced her dead on.

"He's a psychopath, Yessica. I don't even see the virtues in him. I didn't see his fiancée, that woman. I didn't see any good he's done. I don't want to believe that he's truly done no good, but that just means he doesn't consider his virtues to be significant. Whatever the reason may be, his being in this place can bring no good."

Yessica remained silent, Amelia looking back at Cassie and seeing her calm down.

Yessica pondered before asking.

"What about Umara? What did you see in her?"

"She was normal. She had stains and virtues, and her soul was bright. She takes no pride in her stains and regrets many of them, feeling guilty about others. She's far purer than most, and she shouldn't even be standing next to a man like that, let alone marrying him. That he is her greatest virtue should be a sin in itself…"

Yessica didn't respond to that, looking at both of them before nodding.

"Alright. I'll keep this in mind while escorting the two of them. I'll keep you all away from him. But be careful, Amelia. John Cooper is an extremely powerful man with Lady Luna's favor. You know little about him and what he does, but it's clear that the one thing you do understand is how dangerous he is. Do not earn his ire, or that of his fiancée's."

Amelia nodded under Yessica's stare, hugging herself for comfort.

Yessica sighed and turned to leave.

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"You and Cassie take care of each other. I must attend to other things."

……

…

October 12th, 628

"Oh God, they are just so cute!"

Umara squealed when she sat down at the small table. When she looked around, she could see all kinds of small Dragons and Owlykats running around to all the customers, begging to be played with or held.

After letting Pup out to go and play, she looked at John, who was smiling at one Owlykat that had scampered up to his feet, sitting there patiently and staring with big beady eyes.

He put out his hand, the Paragon flapping its wings a bit and jumping into his lap. It nudged its head against his hands, two more Owlykats already on the way over after the first got accepted.

Umara was quickly surrounded by a few Dragons as well. She happily invited them, three of them jumping into her lap and onto her shoulders. Another wrapped itself around her calf while one disappeared into her cloak.

She laughed and messed around with them, a waitress bringing snacks and drinks.

It was their second day within the Commons of Gateway and after doing some sightseeing, the Paragon Cafe had called their names. Seated on a balcony over 50 stories in the sky, the two got an eyeful of the surrounding area.

It was nothing but natural landscape as far as the eye could see. There was some forest, some grassland, a few flower fields, and a massive river that led to a desert. The atmosphere was dense with a harmonious mix of the three magical energies and underlined with an impressive concentration of pure Magika.

Umara couldn't get enough of the sights, constantly gazing at everything around her. The city, built into nature alongside the Paragons, had an incredible way of making one feel at ease.

She sighed, feeling the breeze that came with being so high in the sky.

"I've never felt this content even in the Capital. Something about being amidst natural forces like these eases my soul."

"Yes, their architecture was impressively done. Someone obviously studied their geometry."

A few more Owlykats circled John, clawing their way onto his body and shoulders.

Umara shot him a cheeky smile when one landed on top of his head, snuggling down into a loaf.

John took a sip of a brewed orange drink, smacking his lips before nodding and setting it down.

"Tastes like a blend of mangos and silver coin."

"Pfft."

"Anyway, I'll be heading back tomorrow so I can return to the Glass Desert. The Magisterium's next visit is coming up and I need to help prepare since they'll be on the Maginot Line."

"Is that safe?"

Umara frowned a bit in concern, knowing her sister would be there and eager to do anything she could to help.

John shrugged, in his arm two Owlykats.

"I dare say it's the fourth safest place on the continent."

"What are the top three?"

"The Holy See, the Whetted City, and in the sky on a plane."

"Well, I guess since the defense hasn't gone full tilt yet…"

Umara sighed, a Dragon wrapping around her neck like a scarf.

She saw a few more Owlykats paw onto John's body as he nodded.

"Faey will be alright. They'll spend time learning and if the Line gets attacked, maybe I'll put them behind a turret for some fun. Regardless, if I couldn't guarantee their livelihoods, I would be a failure of a Commander."

"Just make sure to keep an eye on her. Sometimes I struggle to understand that she can take care of herself, but still."

"You worry too much, dear. I'll be there personally, so just focus on doing what you do best."

Umara looked at John, his entire body covered in Owlykats. When she saw one on his shoulders swing around and put its rear end in his face, pushing its long fluffy tail into his face, she broke out laughing.

"Hey, we're having a solemn moment here. Stop laughing."

"Haha, you're not allowed to say that while being clothed with Owlykats. Are they attracted to your Psyka?"

"Who knows, but one of them snuggled under my armpit and is suffocating itself."

"Oh God, how many are in there anyway?"

Umara glanced into John's coat, noticing several pairs of large eyes glowing in the shadows and corners. His body looked bigger than usual. She was pretty sure there were some in his sleeves.

She started laughing again as one popped its face out next to his hand. Then she suddenly squealed when a dragon puffed some frozen air into her neck to get her attention, her hand giving it a quick smack before going back to petting.

A short distance away, Pup was getting tackled by a dozen Dragons, pawing and kicking as customers laughed at the sight around him.

……

…

Several hours later, Umara walked through a grand hallway, her footsteps on the marble floor the only thing to be heard. She couldn't help but think about how the hallway was only made for humans. Zirion obviously couldn't use it.

Now that her personal classroom had been completed, Zirion had finally invited her for their first lesson. She found the double doors to his study and pushed one open, entering the room where the colossal dragon rested on his stone slab.

Zirion looked at her, a dozen items nearby moving away from him and being set down on some tables with magic. Umara could feel the horribly dense mana in the air that made the room feel more stuffy than otherwise.

"Umara, it is good to have you here for our introductory lesson."

"I thank you again for having me, Master Zirion."

"Please, enter your new study. You must inform me of your criticisms of it."

Umara was ushered to a side room, the small door nearly lost amidst countless esoteric tools and structures.

She entered and found a huge circular room almost as big as her study back home. It was almost completely empty besides a few tables and bookshelves lining the walls and some devices in the center of the floor.

The mana within was even more dense than the dragon's study, concentrated into the relatively small area.

The roof was almost completely gone, allowing the Dragon to look inside with his large head. Umara looked up at him, pretty sure he didn't have to get up from his slab to simply peer inside.

"Uh, Master Zirion, is the Mana supposed to be so dense?"

"Indeed, my student. It will deepen the level of information you will receive from the world around you, allowing a more seamless understanding of what transpires when you activate your spells. It's all about precision."

"I see… If I may make a request…"

"Of course."

Umara smiled.

"If we could get rid of the density and make it ambient, I feel that would be best. You see, my Aura specializes in collecting information. I have no need for the assistance of dense mana."

"Oh?"

Zirion's head moved a bit closer, some enchantments in the room activating and sucking all the Mana from the atmosphere. Its weight lightened significantly, returning to ambient levels and allowing Umara to feel freer.

"May I see this in action? If you could transcribe the level of information collection with Mana in regards to, let's say, the air currents around us."

"Of course."

Umara's smile widened, and suddenly, Mana started pouring from her body, filling the room once more.

Zirion watched as hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of runic formations appeared in the air. They were so dense and small that they began to form waves and flows.

Zirion quickly realized that he was seeing the air currents themselves, the runes describing the attributes of every unit of atmosphere and then flowing along with the thousands of others.

The entire study was filled to the walls with complexities of information and observation, filled only further by Umara's Aura.

After millions of runes had outlined every air current and eddy in the room, Umara finally stopped and took a long breath. She looked around and nodded.

"A rather good exercise."

"Indeed, my student. Your Aura is incredible. We Dragons acquire details about the world so effortlessly that many never practice doing more. Only the most senior Dragons like myself could compete with you, and yet, this level is effortless for you."

"Well, so long as one disregards the mental load."

Umara smiled wryly, remembering the amount of blood she shed from her eyes and nose. She hadn't had many more situations like that since getting her Crown, which was also the only reason she could perform this impressive feat.

Zirion chuckled, looking back at her.

"Indeed. But that pain is a blessing. It instantly solves the biggest problem all high level warlocks are faced with, above all as it pertains to spatial magic. Most spells simply force the world to bend. In one way, spatial spells do just that. In another way, you must bend the spell to the world so that you can achieve what you desire. It's not enough to simply make a portal. One must establish a start and an end, as well as the tunnel connecting both ends.

"You must be extremely clear with your parameters. Failure to do so can kill your spell at best and kill yourself at worst. Today, we will get to the root of your struggle with spatial magic, and from there, we will resolve each parameter one by one. I will impart as much conceptual knowledge as I can and help you with your spellwork. At the end, I will even impart some of my own magic. Anything that can assist you with your operation, I will do."

"Thank you, Master Zirion."

Umara beamed with a bit of thrill. Getting trained by such a powerful Dragon was incredible by itself. But to receive his personal magic? Umara wouldn't be surprised if her combat power and utility doubled after this.

She wasted no more time, eagerly diving deep into her troubles and spells. She wasn't sure how long it would take to resolve her issues, but she would pull every ounce of information out of Zirion during that time.

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