Ziyad described the child's appearance to the other High-Magicians while looking at Sefra, Nora and Rosalie in turn. The group had them guess that the little girl was one of the three women among them, but none of them could remember such a situation. The mages talked about it for a while and only came to the conclusion that the girl was either a future family member of theirs or would later become a mage. Otherwise, none of them would have any idea who this child was supposed to be.
None except Cale. He covered his mouth with his hand as he awkwardly recalled the situation. Cale was pretty sure that the girl had to be himself, back when he had first completely changed his appearance. It must have been the day he had stolen from an Anuxer, who had chased him afterwards.
He kept the statement to himself, however. Since the other mages now knew for sure that Cale was from Groka, but had joined the Magistrat at the same age, he was simply not sure how to explain the situation. That this should have happened to him in Altona would only upset the others unnecessarily, and if he told them the truth and mentioned Sylve, they would probably just ask him more questions.
Questions that Cale could not answer.
Only Aaron seemed to have any suspicions at all. For a while now, the 3rd seat had been staring at Cale, but not voicing his suspicions. Cale was not sure where this reaction came from, but he suspected that he had caused it himself. Normally, he would immediately start drawing the child, similar to what Aaron had done at that moment. But this time he let Ziyad finish speaking first, so he did nothing for the first few minutes, wanting to make sure he wasn't mistaken.
"What about the rest - Joshua, Rosalie, Caleb? You haven't told us about your insight yet", Rangar raised, causing Rosalie to look nervously to the side.
"My insight, is a little...", Joshua finally began, scratching his neck tensely. "I saw a dragon talking to itself."
Surprised, Cale looked at the man. Joshua had a dragon? What dragon? Where? Was it the same dragon Cale had seen in his insight?
"What did the dragon look like?", the Eldest reported instantly, which is why everyone felt excited to stand up and wait for the 11th seat to answer.
"The dragon was quite large, had golden scales and pitch black eyes. Its mana... gave me goose bumps. I only felt something like that this one time. The weird thing was that the dragon was complaining about someone the whole time, like he was talking to someone, but he was alone."
Cale became nervous and in the next moment a soft call from Rosalie could be heard. Following the sound, the mage stared at Cale with tears in her eyes as she held her mouth with both hands.
"What is it, Rosalie? Do you have any idea what kind of dragon that was?", Nora inquired, touching her friend anxiously on the shoulder, which made her turn to her and dry her eyes afterwards.
"No, I'm afraid I don't know what kind of dragon that was either", she quickly replied, shaking her head before turning back to the group. "Caleb, what did you see in your insight?"
Puzzled by her reaction, Cale paused. Why was she reacting this way about the dragon's statement? Was there a possibility that she had a similar insight of the future, as well as the Eldest did? The Eldest knew that Cale was not on the side of the dragons, but what about Rosalie? How would she react when she learned of his insight?
"My insight?", Cale finally raised, sticking to his decision not to mention the dragon from his insight. He didn't trust the other High-Magicians well enough for that. "I stood in the mountains between Altona and Sylve and watched both lands from a distance. I couldn't see much, however, but it seemed quiet and peaceful. I'm not sure if that was before or after the attack with the creatures. I've never been in the mountains, at least, for obvious reasons."
The statement seemed to satisfy the others, so attention turned back to Rosalie. Only Cale exchanged glances with Joshua briefly before looking to the Eldest. The blond-haired man asked him with a brief eye movement if there was any truth to Joshua's story, so Cale answered unobtrusively with a nod.
"In my insight, I also saw this big golden dragon", she finally lifted in a soft voice and looked at Joshua. "That feeling of power, I can relate to it. It was like it was swallowing you up. I have no idea what kind of dragon it is, but it must be pretty strong. And dangerous..."
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Her tone betrayed that she wasn't quite finished.
"In my insight, I saw the dragon killing people. I don't know exactly who the people were, but I recognized Caleb among them immediately."
Cale fell into shock. Instantly, cold sweat ran down his forehead as he braved the iron gazes of the others. He could feel her grabbing Grischa's arm, but did not turn to him. Rosalie had not seen the black dragon, but the dragon queen. The dragon queen who had been responsible for Cale's first death.
"A dragon killed him?", Joshua spoke up concerned.
"Does that mean we're really going to encounter a dragon in the future?", Rangar interjected.
"What about the other people? Were they one of us?", Sefra also asked.
The conversation escalated. Almost everyone had a comment to make after that statement, be it positive or negative. They instantly began to theorize, while Caleb and Rosalie looked at each other wordlessly. For some time, the conversation kept piling up until Rosalie was the first to give in. She lowered her hands and formed "I'm sorry" with her lips before turning her attention to Nora. Cale's heart raced before he looked to the Eldest. The man seemed to know exactly what Cale was thinking about.
Rosalie had seen his first death. The other people she hadn't recognized were Aletta, William, Philippa and Ben. There was no longer any doubt about that. She had seen a future that had happened long ago.
Grischa's grip tightened so that Cale's arm began to ache. Astonished, Cale turned to his friend and was about to ask him what that was all about, but he looked into a face contorted with pain.
"You said there was nothing wrong with you", Cale abruptly spoke up and held Grischa, who leaned forward a bit and tried to open his eyes.
"I don't know what's happening", he replied quietly. Cale was about to hold the man when he felt a gaze on him and looked up. Malte was standing right behind them, looking at the two with a horrified expression on his face.
"What's the matter? Do you have a headache?", he spoke up, but Grischa did not answer. Therefore, he turned to Cale and repeated the same question again. "Does he have a headache?"
"It's probably from the mana poisoning. I actually thought it had improved", Cale lied softly, raising his finger in front of his mouth to signal the mage not to make a drama out of it. Malte immediately understood the implication and merely nodded.
"Is it that late already?", Sefra snapped everyone out of their conversations instantly. "I have to go, I have class in some minutes. Is there anything else important we should discuss?"
"Not on my part", Aaron confirmed, and the other High-Magicians also agreed with him. They said that they would inquire a bit about the insights and be able to talk about it again at their next meeting.
"Good. Eldest, if I may?", Sefra spoke up in conclusion.
"Yes, go ahead. I hereby declare today's meeting closed. Thank you all for being so open with each other today. For now, we'll leave it at that."
Cale watched for a moment as the others began to move before turning his attention back to Grischa. He always seemed to have a headache, but did his best not to show it openly.
"You should take him to his apartment", Malte noted before leaning back and Cale nodded at him in affirmation.
Sefra and Odin were the first to say goodbye and instantly disappeared, followed by Nora, Rosalie, and Malte. They still seemed to be talking about the dragon as they walked out of the room. Rangar followed them unobtrusively and then the rest left the room in one go. Cale and Grischa had also stood up and approached the Eldest, who was saying goodbye to the others. In his hand, he held the crystal with Aaron's head.
"Is everything all right?", the Eldest spoke up when only the four of them were left. His worried gaze turned to Grischa, who was standing behind Cale, looking intently ahead.
"He said he had a headache", Cale explained, turning skeptically to the rear.
"From the mana, maybe?", Aaron noted, prompting Cale to merely shrug.
"Possible, yes. I'll take him back to his apartment for now, if it gets worse I'll call Aletta."
"It's okay, it's not that bad", Grischa interjected, but Cale ignored the statement. He bowed to the Eldest and said goodbye to the two, which Grischa did likewise, and then pushed his friend out the door. Quietly, the two High-Magicians walked down the hallway, passing a few other mages who bowed respectfully, as they had in the first place.
"You have to tell me something like that right away", Cale admonished his friend as the two descended the stairs and headed for Grischa's apartment. Cale caught a brief glimpse of the courtyard as they walked down the empty, wide hallway. The wind made the tree's large branches move as the sun shone weakly down on them through its cloud cover. For a brief moment, two figures walked across the beautifully landscaped courtyard before disappearing behind the nearest hedge.
"I know, sorry. Everything was fine, just from one moment to the next I had this unbearable pain", Grischa explained in a created voice. They reached his apartment and it was Cale who opened the door. "It came out of nowhere. At first, I thought it was an isolated incident, but when Rosalie told about her insight, there..."
Grischa fell silent and in the next moment held his head again while he stepped backwards slightly, trying not to fall over.
"Grischa!"
Instantly, Cale pulled his friend to him and let the apartment door slam behind him before using both hands to hold Grischa upright. Grischa hissed with his teeth before a soft scream was heard. He slouched forward and lost the strength in his feet, causing him to sink to the floor. Horrified, Cale crouched beside him, holding Grischa upright with his hands.