Velrion's reaction came in a sharp and unguarded way that rarely happened anymore.

His body stilled for a moment before he turned fully toward the spirit behind him. His eyes narrowed with clear surprise that broke through the usual composure of an Archmage.

That voice was not one he expected to hear without warning like this. It carried familiarity that reached far deeper than professional connection, and for a brief moment it pulled him out of the present entirely.

Memories surfaced quickly, vivid and unrestrained.

They had studied in the same academy, walking the same halls filled with eager minds and rigid expectations, yet even then Yohn had stood apart in a way that few could match.

Despite being the same age, Yohn had advanced one year ahead of him, a detail that had quietly spread among students and instructors alike with jealousy and recognition.

It was not just talent. It was clarity, a kind of instinctive understanding of Magic that made complex structures seem almost simple in his hands.

Velrion had seen it himself more than once in the way Yohn approached problems not as obstacles but as challenges waiting to be unraveled.

But even during those years, Yohn had already shown where his true interest lay.

While others focused on refining spells, mastering combat systems, and securing their future within the kingdom's hierarchy, Yohn had turned his attention elsewhere. Magical beasts.

Not toward common Magical beasts that populated forests and mountains, but toward those that existed at the edge of understanding.

Creatures spoken of in fragments, recorded in incomplete texts, or dismissed entirely as myth.

Velrion remembered watching him pursue those ideas with a quiet intensity. He would disappear for days into restricted sections of the library or return from excursions with notes filled with observations no one else could verify.

It had not surprised him when Yohn eventually made his decision, but that did not lessen the weight of it.

While others competed for positions within the Arcane Authority, shaping their paths toward influence and recognition, Yohn had stepped away from it all without hesitation.

He chose isolation over prestige, curiosity over power, and a path that led far beyond the structured world they had both been trained to serve.

At the time, Velrion had felt something close to disappointment, though he had never spoken it aloud.

Not because Yohn had failed, but because he had chosen not to stand where someone like him naturally belonged.

With his ability, his insight, and the way he grasped Magic at its core, Yohn could have risen higher than most.

There had been a quiet understanding even then that if he had remained in the city, the seat or Archmage Velrion now held might not have been his at all.

Time had stretched that distance further. Their paths diverged completely. One rooted in authority and responsibility, the other drifting through the unknown edges of the world.

Their contact with each other became rare, reduced to brief exchanges that happened only once a year.

Yohn would report in just as part of an old agreement tied to the Arcane Authority to give a simple confirmation of his safety and that he was still alive.

And now, that pattern had broken.

Yohn had reached out first.

The realization settled heavily in Velrion's mind as he stood there, facing the spirit.

For someone who had spent years choosing silence and distance, this was not something done without reason.

Whatever had driven him to initiate contact now was definitely not trivial.

It meant something had changed, something significant enough to pull him back toward a connection he had long kept at arm's length.

That was enough to unsettle him.

His gaze just remained fixed on the spirit for a while without saying anything. Then, the lingering weight of memory slowly gave way to the present as he sighed and steadied himself.

The faint flicker of surprise in his eyes faded and became more controlled, even though the tension beneath it did not disappear. He was still worried.

He had spent too many years mastering composure to let it slip for long, but this was not a normal interruption. Not from Yohn.

He stepped closer, his voice lowering slightly as he directed it toward the spirit, knowing it carried his words across the connection.

"I'm fine," Velrion said, his tone firm. "But you don't usually reach out like this. It's not time for your report yet. What happened?"

The spirit wavered faintly, as if adjusting to the flow of communication, before Yohn's voice came through again. This time it was clearer but carrying a solemness that had not been there before.

"Something big is happening," Yohn said. "And I need to talk to you about it."

Velrion's posture stiffened almost immediately.

The words aligned too closely with what he had already experienced these past few days. The strange disturbances in the air, the subtle instability that had crept into the world's flow of Magic in a way he could not fully define yet, and the intrusion to the Sky Anchor sites.

His mind moved quickly connecting the pieces. If Yohn had felt it as well, then this was no minor anomaly.

Of course he would notice. Velrion's eyes darkened slightly.

Yohn had always been that kind of genius, the kind that did not just study Magic but felt it in ways others could not.

If something fundamental had begun to shift in the Magic energy of this world, then it made sense that he would be among the first to recognize it.

"What is it?" Velrion asked. His voice sharper, the weight of urgency beginning to surface.

There was a brief pause on the other end before Yohn responded, and when he did, his tone carried a firm finality.

"I can't explain it through this," he said. "Not like this. It's too complicated… and too important. We need to meet."

Velrion did not hesitate.

"Alright," he said immediately. "Then we meet."

"Tonight," Yohn said. "I'll send you the location. Come alone for now."

Velrion's eyes narrowed slightly at that, but he did not question it.

"Fine," he replied. "I'll be there."

The spirit flickered once more. The connection weakened as the exchange came to an end, leaving Velrion standing alone in the chamber once again.

But the silence that followed felt different. He already knew this meeting would not be simple.

—