The shape in front of them gradually took form. A strange animal materialized before their eyes.
A majestic panther stood before them, its black coat glowing with green runes. Its intense eyes shone like emeralds and emanated an absolutely phenomenal magic. The sublime animal turned to face Devion, and rested its head against his, causing a strange power to be invoked in the form of black smoke.
After this surprising contact had dissipated, the smoke thinned, the panther stepped back and behind it, still stood Devion. His gaze still lost in the void, the scar on his cheek had taken on that strange, larger, brighter shape that resembled an animal scratch.
A panther's claw?
The young magician still didn't seem to react; he was carried away as if lost in a flood of thoughts, his gaze lost in the void.
"What the hell is going on." Carla took a determined step towards Devion, intent on bringing him back to his senses.
"No, wait a minute. We don't know what this animal is." Caspian blocked her path.
"That animal is coming out of your damn pendant so you'll bear the consequences if anything happens to us." Carla replied, pushing the third-year away with one hand.
She stopped once she'd reached Devion, raised her hand and the scar from her neck began to glow more and more. If all they had in mind was fighting, then it would be up to her, as the princess she was, to reframe them.
"Stand up, Devion."
An absolute concentration of magic lay at the tip of her hand, pointed at Devion. She closed her eyes and the ball form of energy she'd summoned began to dance about itself, ice at its center, wind around its outline.
She released the energy discharge, hurling it straight at the boy. At that moment, the strange animal, which didn't seem to have the slightest interest in what was going on around it, jumped as Carla released her spell. The shock caused yet another explosion.
This majestic panther had just stopped a spell from a double element user at the advanced Ascendant stage.
What was this strange creature that looked like a panther with black fur and strange green runes scattered across its body?
Carla stepped back, the panther looking at her sitting opposite Devion, watching Carla as if to tell her not to come any closer. The princess stepped back and stumbled, terrified, she didn't dare look away from the creature staring back at her.
"Devion wake up, I beg you." She took a few more steps on the ground. All around her, no one dared to make the slightest move, all petrified by this fascinating being.
Devion. Devion! Hear me, Devion.
The young magician was surrounded by a vast expanse of water over which he could, astonishingly, walk. An ocean stretched as far as the eye could see, decorated by a dark night sky with luminous stars that reflected their dark yellow glow on the choppy water.
He stood up and looked around him. Everything seemed endless, and he didn't know where to turn in this deep starry night.
He felt something soft and pleasant rubbing against his legs. He looked down to see a majestic animal, a sort of panther with cat-like features. Instead, the animal was clad in a dark coat of black hair. On its sublime coat were numerous markings. Scars? Runes? They glowed a pure green, reminiscent of the clarity of the creature's eyes.
"Who are you?" Devion bent down to stroke the top of its head. The panther responded affectionately, rubbing its head even more. "You're a sweet one." He smiled, then lifted his head to look around again.
Devion. Listen to me, we don't have much time.
The voice calling him was completely different from the one he'd heard so far. Where previous voices were deafening and gave him an absolutely horrible headache, this one was soft, pleasant and soothing.
"Who are you?"
I can only communicate with Umbra's help, my boy. It is very difficult for me to maintain a fictitious form even in this world.
"Just tell me who you are?" Devion turned in every direction, searching for the slightest shape, the slightest silhouette, the slightest sign of life other than the strange creature standing proudly beside him.
I'm sorry, kid. I can't tell you who I am right now. I can only tell you that I'm a former student of Orpheion, I was years ago.
"Where are you now?"
It's been years since I left this world. I was able to maintain a form of existence through this medallion thanks to Umbra, the animal at your side. She's what we call a mythical creature.
"An animal in a pendant?" Devion fidgeted, looking around again. "Why did you bring me here? And why?"
One question at a time, Devion. I'm unable to appear before my family at the moment, which is why I wish to entrust you with a mission. Umbra awakened at your side because she felt you were suited for this mission. She is a creature with whom I have made a pact to pass on my soul to this pendant if I ever left this world.
"Your family... Wait... The necklace belonged to Caspian's father. You're Adrian Robertson."
Devion, listen to me carefully. Umbra is a mythical creature with an elemental type that is unknown to most magicians in Thepra. This element is a cursed element that has been awakening in the erebusian lands for decades. I entrusted Umbra with the mission of sealing my soul in this necklace upon my death, and to awaken it only upon contact with a magician she deemed suitable.
Umbra circled around Devion, occasionally stopping to stretch, and looked gently at the magician before coming to rub against him again at his legs. So this strange animal was a mythical creature, a superior being? The dark-haired man had heard of such beings from Cristael, but she had told him that he was unlikely to come across many of them in his lifetime, as many had been used as weapons during the war and so had fallen in battle.
If Umbra has decided to bring you here, it's because the powers of this element have awakened in you, and you're fit to use them. Nevertheless, you don't yet have the necessary skills to face this growing evil in Erebus.
"Why should I face a power I possess?"
They must have already manifested themselves. You hear voices, don't you? It's the void drifters trying to draw you in, and it's also one that attacked you before Umbra brought you here.
"How can you be aware of what's going on outside if you're dead?"
Umbra communicates with me. Devion time is short and I must send you back to your world. Please keep our exchange to yourself, Sian and Caspian mustn't know. Train, grow stronger and be chosen for the mission to Erebus when the time comes. Go to Erebus and penetrate its mysteries. Don't listen to the voices calling you and concentrate on mastering this new power. Only a void user can kill another void user. Beware of others, Devion, you must face the trials. A long battle awaits you.
"What? Wait! Come back!"
Devion began to run, the water gradually splashing against his clothes. Umbra followed him and, little by little, they sank together into the waters of this strange, ephemeral world. Before sinking and sinking into the waters as dark as night, the boy shouted one last sentence, hoping that the deceased magician could hear him.
"All right, I'll be stronger! But come back to me if I call you!"
I will and Umbra will protect you.
Devion sank completely, swallowed by the waves.
"Oh Devion!"
When the magician regained consciousness, Carla was standing over him. Lying on the floor, he was slowly waking up as the princess shook him violently causing him another headache.
"I didn't think we were that close yet."
Carla blushed and jumped away from the boy as quickly as she could, earning a giggle from Devion, who struggled to his feet with one elbow on the ground. Umbra tucked her head under his arm to help him up.
"Thank you." He scratched her head and stood up facing three completely lost students. "Meet Umbra, my new pet." He moved towards Caspian, who had resumed his usual muteness. "Ah, and sorry, but I'm keeping your weird necklace."
He gradually moved away, heading for the institute's castle.
"Boëlthorn." Caspian replied in a strong, cold voice. "We deserve some explanations."
Devion paused and huffed, he was right, but it was so difficult to explain such a situation and especially if he had promised the father not to tell the son. It had to be said that, given Caspian's character, it was indeed wiser not to tell him that his deceased father had contacted him to ask him to carry out a mission he felt he was better suited to accomplish than his own son.
So he decided to mix truth and lies.
"Umbra is a mythical creature. She was sealed in this necklace and obviously your father didn't know about it, because it had been there for a long time."
Caspian frowned and hardened his gaze.
"Go on."
"Hm." Devion hesitated. He didn't know if talking about the void element and void drifters was a good idea. Resolute, he resumed his sentence, once again mixing a bit of the true with the false. "It seems that these creatures who attacked us, the void drifters, are users of a new element, void. Umbra can use it, and so can I."
"What?" Carla exclaimed.
"Well not completely let's just say I need to work on it, right now I'm at stage zero."
"How do you know all this?" Caspian, more talkative than usual, asked the question with a tiny part of his powers still activated, probably still wary.
"I can communicate with Umbra." Devion paused, catching his breath. "And obviously these creatures come from Erebus and only a void user can defeat that element."
Kaelor and Parvana were subsequently shaken by new announcements from the Orpheion academy. A strange new element had appeared: void. This power, as powerful if not more so than a double element, was totally unknown and had not been mastered by any magician in the whole of Thepra outside Erebus, a nation from which strange malevolent creatures called void drifters were born.
In the weeks following the appearance of Umbra, a mythical creature capable of using the void, and Devion, a young student and adopted son of Cristael Boëlthorn, the word spread throughout Thepra.
However discreet Cristael had wanted to remain in order to keep her beloved son secret, it was impossible to conceal the truth. Devion, who fortunately had not seen his face revealed to the general public, had subsequently seen his reputation among the academy's students change once again. Fear or interest.
Fortunately, the dark-haired man didn't care. He continued to attend classes, more or less interesting for his taste, impatiently awaiting the physical education classes. Devion had become the attraction of Orpheion, rather in spite of himself. The truth could be changed, but it couldn't be hidden, at least not indefinitely.
Felix Roffer entered the teachers' assembly room and greeted his colleagues politely. He then sat down beside Sian Robertson, who was nervously rubbing her hands. He nodded to her, hoping to reassure her.
Merrily Mendoz was twirling an ice crystal between her fingers on another chair at the other end of the big table, and Kel Shapper was on her left, fidgeting all over the place, which always annoyed the professor.
Finally, Darlene O'Sullivan sat proudly, erect as a spike, in stark contrast to her more cheerful and imposing neighbor. Angus Steele scratched his beard, unaware that he was taking up too much space in Darlene's way.
Finally, Cristael and Jaz were seated on a small platform facing the assembly of professors. Their gaze was proudly directed at four other prestigious guests. The respective leaders of Kaelor and Parvana entered the room.
Lazarus and Nymeris Morwynn followed by Wendell and Kara Artheimer took their places at the far end of the table. It was rare to see the kaelian and parvanian rulers join them for a teachers' meeting. The entire faculty understood that this meeting was unlike any other.
"Your Majesties Kings and Queens Morwyn and Artheimer, my dear colleagues, I have the honor of gathering you here to announce the next steps taken by the Orpheion Institute of Magic in the face of the Erebusian threat. We have decided to send our students for intensive training at Pinevale to the north of Orpheion in the kaelian lands."