Kallad left some of his personal ravens on Jin’s farm to watch over Rai and his family. He could look through their eyes as if they were his own. That was one of his legacy skills as part of the Raven family.
He left Rai with a task; a seed that would hopefully sprout into something amazing over the next few years. There was a reason that Kallad left Rai with a lot of advice and information.
Kallad morphed into a raven, and started to fly towards Ms. Talvier’s house. He told Rai that it was an illusion, but Ms. Talvier was just one of his agents in the Udra region, and her home was one of the ways into and out of the Underworld. He whispered to her what to say to the boy, in the hopes he could speed up Rai’s growth.
Rai was already growing at a mind blowing pace for someone his age, but if he took too long to get past this roadblock then it would stifle his growth in the future, which Kallad couldn’t allow. A genius talent like that can’t be left to waste.
He landed outside Ms. Talvier’s house, and morphed back into his humanoid form. Kallad’s divine form was simple, he could morph into a creature he’d seen before. A shapeshifter.
A chubby old elven lady came outside to greet him.
“Master.” Ms. Talvier bowed.
“Please, I’m no master. Just forget the theatrics and kindly open the gate will you?”
“Of course, Master.”
Kallad groaned, then walked into the house.
The gate was a pathway into the Underworld, and could only be accessed by Kallad or people who were part of his information network. These were private pathways that only they could access. They weren’t available to the rest of the Deception clan.
Ms. Talvier pushed a number of vases and moved a number of books, all in some kind of chaotic order.
The open hallway between her living room and kitchen transformed into stairs that led somewhere deep below her house. Kallad would’ve wanted to avoid using the private pathways, but he decided to take this trip himself, so he had no choice.
At least they installed the lifts. I can’t believe the previous Deceiver actually had to walk all the way down those stairs since there’s at least a few thousand of them. How... barbaric.
Kallad shivered, then went down the stairs.
After a few hundred steps, he came into an open cave area that spanned at least a hundred metres wide. There were two cage-like contraptions on either end of the cave.
Kallad stepped into the one on the right side of the cave and pushed the lone button.
There was a whirring sound echoing throughout the cave, then the cage shut. The cage walls became inlaid with a number of runes and magic formulas, then it shot downwards. I’m glad the Tinkerer was open to designing these for us. He always seems to want to make the strangest things. The cage flew through premade pathways in different directions. The formulas and runes on the cage stopped the traveller from feeling any of the effects that would have come from moving at such supernatural speeds. Kallad was quite proud that he helped contribute to the contraption's creation.
Within minutes, the cage started to slow down. I can’t wait for this part, it’s always such a sight. Moments after, he was no longer flying through closed pathways. Kallad was greeted by a soft red hue, mixed with oranges and yellows, as he laid his eyes upon the Underworld. As he looked down at it, it reminded him of the shape of an eye, with the Castle in the middle representing the iris, surrounded by the buildings and infrastructure that spread out over miles. Far in the distance, lava visibly poured out from the walls into a lava river that surrounded the entire region. The masonry in the city was elegant, and even the poorest of its denizens lived in a huge home. It was a pity that there were few schools in the Underworld, and even fewer guilds that had a base there. But one thing was for sure, Kallad thought the Underworld was the most extravagant region in all of Zenith.
Of course, that wasn’t considering the parts of the Underworld that weren’t linked to the capital city that Kallad lived in. His views were coloured by his own experiences, and that much was clear in his internal monologue.
After taking a second to revel in the glory of the region he ruled over, Kallad reminded himself of the business he had yet to finish. The cage he was in flew directly towards the Castle.
A huge window opened in the Castle wall, revealing a platform within. The cage flew through the window and landed on the platform.
Click!
The runes and formulas powered down, and the cage door opened. The window behind Kallad was now closing.
A very well groomed man in a sharp suit was stood next to the landing platform, ready to greet him.
“Welcome back sire, the Princess wondered where you went. I elected not to tell her; I take it that was to your wishes?” He bowed deeply, searching for validation.
“No, I don’t really care if she knows where I am. In fact... call her to the study. I have much to tell her.”
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The well-groomed man widened his eyes in surprise, then quickly returned to his stoic façade.
“Very well, she shall arrive by the end of the hour.”
Kallad nodded in acknowledgement, then began walking to the study.
The Castle was massive, way too big of a home for just him and his daughter. The king of the Underworld fitted the Castle with many maids, servants, and various personnel to fill its rooms. He treated them like family, and he was proud of that fact. Kallad was a very prideful man. However, he was not so vain that he would hang pictures of himself all over the place. He could never understand why royalty and nobility felt the incessant need to do so.
As he made his way through the Castle, Kallad would greet all of the people who came across his path. After minutes of doing so, he made it to the study door. It was far simpler than the rest of the Castle. A plain oak wood door with no trimmings or gems embedded within. Just a solid wooden door. Kallad felt the study best represented him out of all of the rooms in the Castle, though many of the Castle residents, and even some nobility who thought they knew him, would argue otherwise.
He opened the door, and was met by a man with his long black hair tied into a ponytail.
The man turned to him from where he stood near the desk, revealing the scar that ran down his right eye.
“You’re late, Kallad.”
“How am I late? Just because you’re early doesn’t mean I’m late. I’m perfectly on time.”
Jin rolled his eyes as he sat on one of the puffy leather chairs in front of the desk.
“If your guest is here before you, then you’re the one who’s late.”
“I’ll never win with you.” Kallad moved to sit behind the desk on the slightly larger looking leather chair.
“You got that right.” Jin affirmed. He looked around the room, at the bookshelves along the walls, the lone shrine of achievements that Kallad amassed over his lifetime, and the bust of a woman who Jin didn’t recognise.
“She’s Sin’s mother. Long dead now, died just after Sin was born.”
“I see. You did a good job raising her by yourself.”
“It was hardly by myself. Her teachers and maids have been with her all her life, probably even more than I have. But there’s... more that I wish I could’ve given her. More that she deserved to have while growing up.”
“Can’t always be perfect. Parenting often means that you’re doing your best to learn from your own mistakes.”
Kallad breathed a sigh of relief. At least Jin understood how he felt as a single father.
Jin waited for the conversation to fizzle, before starting a new one with the important topic at hand.
“You helped Rai then?”
“Yeah. He was hitting a wall, and I know you wanted him to surpass it as soon as possible so you could teach him to fight in that... Stormflow of his. He’s ready now.”
“Stormflow? What kind of stupid name-”
“He’s a child Jin, let him name his techniques as he pleases. Besides, how can Stormflow be stupid when you named your technique Sword Dance? How much of a genius does that make you? You're just the epitome of creativity aren't you.” Kallad hid none of the sarcasm in his voice.
Jin’s eyebrow twitched, but he conceded that Kallad wasn’t exactly wrong.
“... Touché.”
“Just remember he’s not one of your old subordinates. Those guys were monsters, but they were also soldiers. Rai’s just a kid, experimenting with magic and swordfighting. He may become a killer, or he may become a scholar, or something completely different. As you said, his path is his own.” Kallad sounded like a father now.
The door to the study slammed open, with an out of breath Sindyl panting in its arch.
“Where... Where...” She took a huge gulp of breath, “Where were... you?”
“Why are you so out of breath?”
Sindyl hobbled over to the seat next to Jin, not even noticing his presence.
“Me... first!”
Kallad drew a mischievous grin on his face. “I went to see your boyfriend.”
Sin froze up, and her face grew redder than her hair.
“He’s not...” She only just noticed the wolf-like amber eyes staring at her, and then promptly fainted at the sight of Rai's grandad.
Jin stifled a laugh.
“Eh?!” Kallad stared at her, got slightly annoyed, then clicked his fingers with a spark. Sin awoke, and her fatigue was gone. “Okay, he may not be your boyfriend yet, but I'm fairly sure that one day-”
“Enough, just tell me what you were doing there!” Her face was as red as a tomato.
“I went to give him some final advice. Afterall, I won’t be able to talk to him or Jin-” He pointed his hand at Jin, which Jin felt was a pointless gesture considering the girl was keenly aware of his presence already, “- for a few years. Neither will you.”
The bombshell dropped like a ton of bricks. Sin’s face was no longer red, but her eyes were growing heavy.
“What... Why.” It was all she could muster without breaking down into tears.
“It’s political. The Justice clan is aiming at the Life clan, and it’s all I can do to keep Rai’s family safe. We have to avoid seeing them now. Not for ourselves, but for their sake. The Arbiter will use anything he can to justify taking them down, and possible collusion with our clan would be enough for him to make big strides. We'd be putting Rai's family in danger.”
Sin listened attentively, with tears already flowing. She knew her father was right, but she couldn’t accept it.
“He’s my friend! My only friend! I don’t care about the clans or politics; I just want my friend!...” Sin choked her words out as her voice cracked. Tears bounced off the chair she was sat on.
Kallad hated this. He really really hated this. All he wanted was to make Sin happy, but he knew that he couldn’t afford the risk. Neither could Rai or his family.
“The Arbiter has agents in Acies, I can’t risk the future for our own greed and desire...” He wanted to give his daughter some good news at least, “BUT! It’s not like you can’t talk to him at all! I’ve set up a message link. You can’t meet with the boy, but you can still talk with him through a kind of messaging system.”
Sin’s eyes were sore. She couldn’t muster anymore words, so she simply nodded with a brief smile at her father.
“It’ll be a long wait, but you’ll be able to meet him again at Aether Academy. He’ll be going there when he’s sixteen.” Jin said.
He knew that they were close friends, and that their bond would last far beyond their time at the Academy.
Sin simply nodded again. Her hands were paler than normal as they were balled up into tight fists this whole time. After waiting to see if there was more information she had to be aware of, Sin excused herself and left the study quickly with tears falling from her face as she practically ran.
Kallad deflated in his chair with a sigh of defeat as the door shut behind her. “Whew. That went better than expected.”
Jin stared at Kallad questioningly.
“If that was good then I don’t want to know what bad looks like.”
“Well, since she met the boy Sin’s had far fewer tantrums than normal, and she’s seemed happier than before. I do hope she doesn’t go back to being cold and detached because of this.”
“I wouldn’t know, taking care of children was never my forte.”
Kallad and Jin shared a moment of camaraderie between them, as fathers of daughters. Then Kallad called for the meeting to end.
“It’s time for you to go back now. Rai’ll be wondering where you were. You’ve also got a lot to teach him now that he’s opened the gates.”
“He’s growing fast. Don’t be surprised if he’s leagues beyond anyone at the Academy in his year. He might even surpass some of the teachers by then.”
“I look forward to it.” Kallad replied.