-Leo-

Gods, what a disaster. The first time was bad enough, the lurching and quaking, but this time was one million times worse. Leo’s body hurt all over because of how abruptly Walibeld accelerated and decelerated, and he still felt sick. That’s not even mentioning that move he pulled off at the end. Why did he think that was a good idea? Oh yeah, test the new maneuver while holding the two traumatized children. Now was a great time. Leo should’ve given him a piece of his mind…except he felt really sick and didn’t actually want to. He wasn’t much prone to anger, being more reserved most of the time, so it wasn’t really like him to yell at Walibeld. Maybe he would have a civil conversation with him about it later. Yeah, that sounded much better.

“You coming, Leo?” Trenton said, looking back at him lagging behind.

How did he do it? It didn’t seem to matter what was thrown at them. He always just rose above it. Meanwhile, Leo always just wallowed amidst the worms, managing to consistently fail no matter the circumstance. It wasn’t easy, of course, so Leo being so harsh on himself was a bit unfair, but with a perfect example of what he wanted to be right in front of him, it was hard not to bash himself. Next time. Next time for sure.

“Yeah, I’m coming. I feel a little sick, still,” Leo said, jogging to catch up to Walibeld and Trenton.

“There’s a lot more structures outside the cities than I thought. I was always told no one lived outside the cities,” Trenton said, looking around at the lush scenery.

It was no understatement to say this place was gorgeous. Whoever unkempt it, Rema, most likely, did a wonderful job. The foliage was all well trimmed and neat. The various flowers and plants strewn about were vibrant and bright, almost certainly having been watered earlier that day given the light dew settled on their leaves. And, despite the fact that there weren't a lot of trees in this part of the cliffs, this one area had quite a few trees strewn about. Rema must have planted and watered them herself. But if that were the case, how old was she? The trees were pretty tall, decades old at least.

“That’s mostly correct. There’s practically no one living outside of the cities, but there are some. Mostly, it’s just magus with enough power to defend themselves against the monsters roaming about. Most anyone wouldn’t last long doing that, but there’s a handful of mages able to do so. I’m pretty sure Mally’s actually living out in the wilds somewhere in the east right now, although I’m not sure where. If you recall the list I gave you, Rema is an archmage herself. Although, you could probably figure that already,” Walibeld said, stopping before the door to the tower, a quite grand structure.

“Right, Rema the Mad Witch. I would never have guessed,” Trenton said, Walibeld ignoring the snide comment completely.

“Why are we visiting her again? I don’t know if I really want to meet her anymore,” Leo said, shifting awkwardly in place.

“She’s not bad, I promise. Or, at least she’s not an enemy. It’s important to keep your guard up when you’re living on the plains, which isn’t to say she didn’t take it too far, but we’ll find safe dwelling here,” Walibeld said, looking back at Leo. “She’s an associate of mine, in a sense. She conducts field research for Era. Because she’s a spatial mage, she can teleport across the continent with relative ease. It makes her very useful for investigating anything of note. She can be there and back in the same day. I’ve brought us here to catch up on what she’s been working on, as well as what I’ve been working on. So, there’s no debating the matter. This is technically part of my job. Plus, staying here for a couple days will give you two some much deserved rest. She has amenities here, good food and even hot water, so I think you’ll enjoy our stay.”

“Wait, if she’s that powerful of a spatial mage, then why doesn’t she just teleport the lot of us over to the Academy? It would save us months of traveling by foot,” Trenton noted.

“Well, her magic isn’t well suited for being used on others, or in large quantities. It’s why she was going so easy on us for so long. I’ll let her explain it. She loves talking about her aspect,” Walibeld said, turning back around to rap on the door.

Easy? Sometimes Walibeld didn’t even seem like a real person. Just as he touched the doors, they swung inward, a woman with a broad smile standing just inside. She was a stout, pretty short and with curly, shoulder length white hair.

“Walibeld!” She exclaimed, throwing her arms wide and diving at him for a bear hug.

Walibeld easily side stepped, watching as she sailed into the stone path instead. Leo cringed as she landed, imagining how her skin must tear as it scraped against the unforgiving ground, but she simply popped right back up, her smile dampered, but her body uninjured.

“Absolutely not. You do not deserve a hug after what you just did. What the hell was that?” Walibeld chastised.

She stood there, suddenly bashful under Walibelds glare, “Gosh, you’re so mean to me. It’s our first time meeting in a decade, and this is how you open?” Rema said, her face twisting into a pout. Was she four? What was happening?

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“Please, I could say the same thing. You tore the valley to shreds…again. I had to carry the two boys all the way here,” Walibeld spat out, still eyeing her.

“You could have teleported.”

“Unlike you, I can’t easily teleport. You know how much strain it takes to cast worldling magic.”

“Whatever,” she said, suddenly looking over at Trenton, her face lighting up. “TRENTON! Oh my goodness I’ve heard so much about you!” She rushed forward, taking one of Leo’s hands in her own, looking into his face with a luminous gaze.

“I’m not Trenton. That’s Trenton,” Leo said, nodding to (believe it or not) Trenton.

“Oh, of course,” Rema turned on Trenton, repeating her approach, “I can’t believe we’re finally meeting! I’m Rema! Walibeld sent me so many letters about you,” she leaned in close to Trenton, putting up her hand to block her mouth from Walibeld, “the guy’s practically obsessed with you,” she said, pointing her other hand towards her head and spinning it in the classic “coo-coo” motion.

“Really? Is that so?” Trenton said, pushing Rema back, and raising his eyebrows at Walibeld.

“I sent one letter, which briefly mentioned I was training a boy named Trenton, to which you sent 816 letters back asking about him, questions I never once answered. Don’t make me pull them out. I still have them,” Walibeld said, glaring at her.

She paused for a moment, looking at Walibeld, before turning back to Trenton, “He’s shy. Anyway, let’s go inside. We have so much to talk about,” she said, starting to push Trenton towards the interior.

“I can walk on my own. Please, no really I can just walk you don’t have to push me. I’m not-Leo give me a hand here!” Trenton shouted back, Looking over his shoulder at Leo, at which Rema stopped, squinting her eyes at the boy that she just moments prior talked to.

“Oh yeah…who are you?” Reme said, eyeing Leo. Of course. She knew Trenton, but Leo was a complete mystery.

“Leo. I’m a friend of Trenton’s. We’ve been-” Leo started.

“Yeah, yeah, right, right. You can give me your life story once we’re inside,” Rema said, continuing to push Trenton inside despite his requests.

Wow, that kind of hurt, actually. That was really mean. Leo and Walibeld followed behind Rema, Trenton forcefully leading the charge. The interior to the tower was clearly of a meticulous design. The circle opening chamber was tall and domed, the walls lined with alcoves filled with various scrolls and books. Strewn all about the room were various tables and structures littered with different papers and instruments. Standing all around the room, bustling about, were translucent white servants made of spatial magic. It was a little village made entirely of Rema’s magic. Leo didn’t even know such a thing was possible, automating one's magic to create living servants, but as he looked around, he noted their quite adept movements and versatile stances. No wonder Rema was able to maintain such a lavish tower out here all alone. She wasn’t alone. Her magic had taken manifest to create her own little servant hoard.

“Come, come. Don’t mind them. They’re just attending to some of the menial work,” Rema said, pushing Trenton onto a large stone platform in the middle of the room.

Once they were all standing on it, Leo still watching the various workers bustling about the room, Rema slammed her foot into a big button at the center of the platform, its mysterious mechanisms spurring to life. The platform began to rise, its wide base easily supporting the lot of them as it traveled towards a platform-sized hole at the top of the domed ceiling.

“D’you like it? It’s called an elevator. Real simple graviturgy runes on the base make it go up or down, and you can control it with this button in the center. I…convinced one of Era’s mages to install it for me. Real handy guy, that Sevil,” Rema said proudly.

“You mean you kidnapped Sevil, so that he would make you an elevator because you were too lazy to use stairs,” Walibeld snided, not even bothering to look at Rema.

“He offered to make it for me.”

“No he didn’t”

“You’re right, he didn’t.”

The elevator ride lasted several minutes, the platform slowly rising through dozens of different large rooms, each with their own purposes. One seemed to be a storage area, one seemed to be a kitchen, one seemed to be a lounge area, one seemed to be general use, one seemed to be a sleeping area, and so on. The whole tower was massive, and there were certainly many rooms they weren't able to see behind various doors or other nooks hidden around. Walibeld wasn’t kidding. This place was practically as luxurious as the Fairfelt’s manor, a nice taste of home even. Eventually, the elevator stopped at what was presumably the top floor. It was a large, spacious room with various areas to gather and relax, tables, chairs, couches, and more all placed about. There were also two big holes in the wall, each one leading to a balcony overlooking the landscape below. Rema started to move towards one of these balconies, but turned around halfway and decided to head to the one in the opposite direction.

“I kind of tore up the ground pretty bad, so we probably shouldn’t sit on that balcony. It wouldn’t make for great scenery,”

The other balcony, the one they actually decided to sit around, was open, with a beautiful stone railing guarding the edge. Right by the railing, there was a nice table set with steaming plates of food and drinks. Well, three steaming plates of food, three warm drinks, and weirdly enough, only three chairs. Rema pulled out a seat, forcefully pushing Trenton into it, before taking the one right next to him. Walibeld pulled out a chair for himself across from Trenton and took a seat. What the hell? Where was Leo supposed to sit? Trenton looked over at Leo, his expression a clear plaster of helplessness and pity.

“This is all I have on hand,” Trenton said, materializing his warhammer and reshaping it into a little stone stool.

He shrugged at Leo, handing over the paltry excuse for a seat. At least someone was looking out for him. Leo took it, squeezing into a spot between the railing and the table to sit. Behind him, there was a gorgeous scene of wild grasses, flowers, trees, and animals interwoven into a display of the purest form of nature, a crystalline lake off in the distance reflecting the setting sun's evening rays. But of course, Leo couldn’t see any of this because he was placed at the one spot around the table unable to see the scenery.