Gerome Harkleson, one of the most famous people throughout the continent, has faced various trials throughout his illustrious career, including a ferocious lava dragon, the sinister Unknowns in the Deep Trenches, even emerging victorious from the filthy machinations of palace politics.

However, today might just be the most discombobulating, and alarming, day in his life.

Although Gerome couldn't see any visible spell work, he felt strong rippling waves of magical energy emanating from the black-haired young man in front of him. It was the opposite sensation of what he felt earlier from Madam Schroon's writings. While her fate magic made the universe cave into her words, Gerome now seemed to be standing beside the maw of a bubbling volcano on the verge of eruption. He was surprised he didn't sense a spell of such magnitude while in town.

Despite being buffeted by the waves of energy, Gerome managed to mutter a quick anchoring spell and stood up shakily. His efforts earned him the approving smile of the tabby cat on the tree, as well as a cursory nod from the black-haired man.

"Gerome, that's Tabby. I'm Lee." Lee said as Gerome steadied himself. "It's good that you're here, not that we need your help now anyway."

Gerome would even scold the king even if he was spoken to dismissively. However, his experienced told him that Lee's attitude was not borne from intentional rudeness, but from the extreme confidence an apex predator has once its prey is fully cornered.

"Sir Lee.., the Soothsayer?" Gerome humbly asked.

Idiot, soothsayers can't use conventional magic, Gerome immediately thought once the words left his mouth.

"Was, not is." Lee replied. "Schroon, the scamm.. fortune teller you met, is the closest candidate to being the actual Soothsayer."

"Thanks for delivering the note, by the way. Soothsayers and other fate-seekers can't communicate with each other directly, what with the Weavers' rules and all." Lee remained perfectly still as he spoke, beams of energy flowing from his arms towards an intricate, multi-layered lattice of spells hovering in the air. While magic was usually a mechanised affair, Lee's spell was not just technically impressive, it was even artistically sublime.

"Don't blame the three sisters, you were the one who imposed that nonsense," Tabby remarked. Lee grunted but continued focusing on his spell.

How beautiful, Gerome inwardly exclaimed. While he originally thought himself to be approaching the pinnacle of magic, his former arrogance was instantly crushed at the spellwork in front of him.

"That's nothing," Tabby walked over and sat beside Gerome. "You should see what he used to create a refillable fridge compartment though, now that's much more impressive."

Gerome was currently too surprised that he was unfazed at another talking cat. Surely a cat that drinks ale can talk, right?

Moments later, Lee stopped channeling energy towards the spell. He flew up to inspect his work more closely, nodding in satisfaction as he landed back on the ground.

"So," Lee clapped once, broking Gerome out of his concentration. "Now that we have a few minutes left before that thing goes live, let's have a quick chat."

Lee stepped once on the ground, causing the thick roots from the nearby trees rose to form several gnarly chairs and a compressed mound of soil and grass to form a flat table. He gestured for Gerome to take a seat.

As Gerome apprehensively sat down, Tabby collected the empty mugs of ale and placed them on the table. He grinned when he noticed Gerome's discomfort, before theatrically covering both mugs with a red cloth he somehow conjured.

"Ta-da!" Tabby pulled the cloth away with a flourish, revealing three full mugs of ale on the table. Gerome was not unfamiliar with such parlour tricks, but he kept his mouth wisely shut.

"Thanks Tab. Ahhh...." Lee exhaled in satisfaction as he drank. Unlike his previous voracious gulps, Tabby chose to lap the ale in his cat-form; Gerome's mug remain untouched.

"If I want you dead, you will be dead before you know it." Lee glanced sideways towards Gerome as he continued drinking. Sighing, Gerome took his mug and a mouthful of the hoppy, fruity ale.

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Deciding that being courteous was the safest bet, Gerome politely asked Lee: "How should I address you?"

"Lee is fine. None of that Soothsayer nonsense." Lee replied.

"Alternatively, you can call him the Immortal, the Continent's Strongest, Guardian of Harez-Hamuv, Divinely Favoured, Explorer of the Land, Zookeeper Supreme, Archivist of Fate and History, and the most Terrible Demon Lord." Tabby dryly remarked from the side, straightening one finger for every title. "Oh, you can also call me the Mysterious Prowler, but Tabby is okay too."

"Stop joking. Our guest is going to break down." Lee frowned at Tabby when he noticed Gerome stiffening in alarm. "You become a Demon Lord once for altruistic reasons to promote social equality, but nooooooo you become known as the most 'Terrible' because your super-effective and liberal policies caused other countries to be economically and financially ruined. That was only for two freaking years. Imagine what title I will get if I stayed in power for another ten."

Lee slammed the mug down after his rant and Tabby winked at Gerome. Gerome originally hoped that he heard the words 'Demon Lord' wrongly, but his hearing was unfortunately sharp.

"Anyway, we really should tell our guest why he is here." Lee tried to show a benign smile towards Gerome which obviously backfired. "You don't need to actually do anything, just sit down here and watch."

Gerome blinked. "Watch... and then?"

"And then, you go tell the king that, I don't know, the spirits were trying to show you a grand convergence in outer space or something? You're smart enough to make something up." Lee answered. "In exchange for being my witness, you get to see up-close and personal one of the grandest feats of magic being performed since the Shattering Wars two hundred years ago."

"While I'm honoured that you invited me to be a witness, I am still unsure why me? You are more than capable to destroy our nation singlehandedly that some small fries won't bother you." Gerome bowed and asked.

"Two reasons. First, I need my movements to be hidden from the Organisation. I have something extremely dangerous which they want very, very badly and I need to find a humane way to handle it." Gerome unconsciously stroked his beard when he heard Lee's words.

"Second, I have someone important who is just as, if not more dangerous, which I need to deliver safely back to her mom."

"While I don't dare to interfere with your first matter, surely I can relieve you of the second?"

"Really? Can you confidently and safely open a stable portal to the Upper Levels and send someone up without risking an apocalypse? He's got guts." Tabby exclaimed cheerfully and yelped when Lee smacked the back of his head.

"Oh... I better stay a witness then." Gerome softly replied after some moments of silence. "By witness, do you also mean that I am a red herring for the Organisation?"

"Good man." Lee stood and patted Gerome's shoulder. "That's exactly what I need you to do."

Gerome sighed. He should have stayed at home, unfortunately he will be busy fending off assassins in the foreseeable near future. Not that it's anything new, of course.

"As an added bonus, I will even give you an extremely useful piece of advice. Come here." Lee floated towards the pulsating spell. Noticing Gerome's shaky flight, Lee yanked Gerome over, enabling the both of them to hover steadily side-by-side.

"Your treatise of layering spells and patterns atop one another to augment their collective function is quite good. However, I am sure you have noticed a huge limitation, namely that only specific combinations work or else the overall structure will destabilise." Gerome nodded, pleasantly surprised that Lee was familiar with his old work.

"There are several ways to overcome the issue. The simplest method is to do this." Lee pointed at a particular spot where two separate spells were connected by a thin stream of mana. The mana stream was composed of glyphs and symbols running to and fro both spell circles.

"Rather than layering then compressing, you can instead change the spell structure slightly to only connect the parts you want to augment. For example, what you see here is the calming attributes of a forgetfulness spell augmenting the negation effects of a barrier spell, ensuring that the mana waves will not crash against the barrier, but dissipate gently against it." Gerome brightened up in understanding as he finally realised why Lee's magic was undetectable from the village below.

While the both of them conversed, the spell slowly stopped spinning and gently came to a complete halt. Gerome felt the strong undulations of the mana waves die down.

"Well, that's all for now." Lee said as he gently lowered both Gerome and himself on the ground. Meanwhile, Tabby had turned the tree roots and the soil back to their original states. He also somehow managed to plant a mug of ale in the ground which was already miraculously sprouting.

"With us gone, this town could use another tourist attraction." Tabby explained and pointed towards the planted mug. "A magical ale tree will do the trick."

Gerome stayed silent while Lee just shook his head and conjured a portal. Tabby waved and left.

"One last thing," Lee handed the mug Gerome previously drank out from over. "Afterwards, can you help throw this to that spell? Thanks."

Gerome received the mug blankly, but nodded after some slight hesitation. Lee took one final look at the festival below. After taking a deep breath, he shot an invisible magical ray towards the large bronze statue.

"Goodbye Cormed. See you soon, Gerome." Lee turned and walked towards the portal, patting Gerome's shoulder as he left. The portal fizzled out of existence once Lee passed through.

Gerome looked at the spot where the portal once was, then at the silent spell hovering above his head, before finally glancing down at the festive village below. The mug seemed unusually heavy.

Sighing, Gerome threw the mug towards the spell. All he could remember after that was a bright flash.