CHAPTER 17: A BIG MISTAKE, P5
~17.5~
*****
Alethea held up her right hand and released her aether all over the scene. She teleported everyone out. She looked at every single trace of mana and aether, some smaller than what even the Magic King could detect.
Space mana mixed with dark mana. The spell… She closed her eyes and focused on the trace of mana. In her mind, the trace grew in size until she could see each individual mote of mana. The way motes were arranged told her how the mana was used. Short distance teleportation, not more than a few hundred feet. If I spread out my aether, I can find another trace. She held her right hand in the air and began releasing an enormous amount of aether in all directions until the entire palace and royal grounds were covered.
Every single person on royal property was caught off guard by the sudden wave of silvery white aether that covered everything in sight.
“Alethea?” Adele said.
“Shh, she’s focusing,” Michelle shushed.
After a few moments, Alethea teleported to the next trace, which was outside in midair, and examined it as well. More dark aspected space mana. She studied that trace and found that it was used to cast the same spell. I’ll have to really flex my aether now. She clapped her hands together as if praying and began chanting, “Soul of my love, I call to you in seek of your aid. Our daughter is lost and I seek to find her.” As she spoke, her aether flooded out in all directions beyond the border of the royal grounds. Slowly, it creeped across the city and academy. “I am Maya the Second. I have much aether to offer. Illuminate all before me, that I may find our child.” The expanding aether covered the entire city and academy but showed no signs of stopping. Alethea was slowly ascending the entire time. As she rose into the sky, more and more land became illuminated with her aether. She didn’t stop climbing until she could see the very curvature of the planet. “I must find our daughter and I will protect her with my life. I need only see. Eye of Providence.”
On the ground, Allison and the others were outside watching, each in awe at what Alethea was doing. Of the group, only Allison had any knowledge of the spell Alethea was casting. Even Adele and Michelle, who were Adele the Third and Adara the Fourth, did not know of the spell.
“Does anyone know about that spell?” Michelle asked. “I’ve never heard of it.”
“Me either,” Adele said. James and Layla replied the same.
“The Eye of Providence is among the most difficult and advanced spells,” Allison said. She could not cast it, but she knew of it. Even so, she was in awe at Alethea’s performance. “It is beyond the ultimate-tier. It is one of the few spells listed in the world-tier.”
“World-tier?” James asked. He glanced between Allison and Alethea. “What in the world? That exists?”
“Yes. In my training a long time ago, a teleportation destination appeared to me in the system menu. It was a place of pure white with a virtually uncountable number of books and such. It’s named the Zen Library. In the archive that we have access to anywhere via administrator privileges, the world-tier list cannot be accessed. It doesn’t even appear as an option. However, in that library, it can be accessed.”
“I didn’t know that existed,” Adele said.
“Me either,” Michelle said.
“And as Adele Athas and Adara Athas, we were married to Elysia for nearly our entire lives. How in the world do we not know about that…” She turned to Allison, “but you do?”
“That spell is not an offensive spell, which is likely why she’s able to cast it,” Allison said. “To be honest, I’m surprised she knows of it, even considering her real identity. She would have learned it from either Elysia or Alfia. I didn’t teach anyone except those two world magic.”
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“You remember more of Seris, then?” Michelle asked.
Allison nodded. “I remembered everything.”
“What does that spell do?”
“Eye of Providence allows one to see anywhere that one’s mana has blessed. It seems she’s spread her aether as far as the eye can see, I wouldn’t doubt if it’s gone even further. Times like this really remind me of just how much raw power she has. The aether isn’t being channeled into her body through the soul corridor. She’s putting out far more aether than she should normally be able to manage, even with an awakening and aether drive. It’s as though I’m peering into a bottomless pit of aether.”
“Maya and Elysia are special, even among the ninety-nine,” Adele said. “Maya alone has more mana than the rest of us combined. And Elysia’s mana is even more unbelievable.”
Before anyone could say another word, Alfia appeared next to them. “I received a system alert that an abnormal level of mana was being channeled. I see that it’s Alethea. What’s going on? Why is she casting that spell?”
“To find Rei.”
“Rei? What happened? Did she teleport from the palace? With how young she is, she couldn’t have gotten far. The Eye of Providence is a bit overkill for that.”
“No,” Allison said. “She was kidnapped.”
Alfia’s eyes widened.
After a while, Alethea’s aether began to disperse, and she returned to the ground. Her expression was sad, with tears in her eyes. “I tracked every mote of that mana… it leads across the continent and stops on the southern shore. There’s a heavier concentration of mana traces that were used to cast an extremely long distance spatial movement spell. They went off-world. I can’t track them through space. The distance is too much, even if I took the best space suit we have. I can’t manually fly to another planet to follow the trace.” She collapsed to her knees, and her tears flowed freely. “I can’t find her.”
Alfia clenched her fists. “To kidnap a child…” I will not stand idly by. “I’m going to Eli.”
“What are you planning to do?” Michelle asked, reaching out a hand slightly.
“Eli will be distraught. I need to go to her before she does anything drastic.”
“How do you know she knows? And how do you know she’ll do something drastic?”
“Maya prayed to cast Eye of Providence. Eli knows. She will have heard the prayer, as did Atalante and myself. And I know she’ll do something drastic, because I would.” A torrent of silver mana began to swarm around Alfia.
“But you are not her. She could-”
“Don’t say something you don’t believe, Adara. You know damn well how protective Eli is. She’ll do anything for her children. And so will I.”
Michelle’s eyes glowed, and she looked into Alfia’s soul. She’d never been able to see it before, but she sometimes tried anyway. Alfia knew when she did it and always blocked it. Until just then. Michelle gasped and covered her mouth. “Your soul… It’s…”
Still on her knees, Alethea reached out and grabbed Alfia’s hand. “Alpha, please. Save them.” Alfia smiled with tears in her eyes, patted Alethea’s head, nodded to Michelle, and then disappeared.
Adele kneeled down and Alethea cried into her chest. Michelle grimaced, looking away while holding back tears. Layla was crying into James’s chest. “Is this what would have happened to Kye if we hadn’t caught that man? Why take such a small child? Have we not been at peace since World War III? Crime like this should be impossible!”
Allison was looking into the sky, wondering the same thing. That’s right. How are they bypassing the crime detection magic? We’ve never allowed the core for Scale of Justice to run below 90% capacity. It’s running properly right now… so how? She looked at the crying mother with a tinge of anger in her eyes. Once Kye finds out… The people that did this… they have made a big mistake.
*****
At the same time, on Elea, a certain blonde was getting ready to leave the Akaishi compound and return to the cathedral. She teleported from the compound to the cathedral and walked in. As she approached the big doors leading to the central building, she collapsed to her knees.
“Soul of my love, I call to you in seek of your aid. Our daughter is lost and I seek to find her. I am Maya the Second. I have much aether to offer. Illuminate all before me, that I may find our child. I must find our daughter and I will protect her with my life. I need only see. Eye of Providence.”
Her vision was overcome with an image of Alethea casting a spell with an enormous amount of aether. What is this? After the spell was over, Alethea landed and started crying on her knees. Her own emotions were shattered as she heard what Alethea said. No… no… NO! The cathedral and the surrounding area were briefly blanketed in a bright silver-tinged white light. When the light faded, Kye was gone.
*****
Revision: 2024-6-10