Her ascent paused for a slight moment before she continued rising, the purple dot over Andar followed her and the noises from the arena entered his ears with a rush and he felt countless minor sonic booms that could barely be detected even with his enhanced perception.
Andar’s internal clock resettled itself and he understood that his mother had seemingly frozen time around them.
This occurrence made Andar pause in deliberation, he knew that the act of stopping time was considered to be impossible, and what would appear as time stop to most laymen was simply the flow of time in a certain area that was slowed down to such an extent that it would appear as if time had stopped.
Depending on the proficiency of the caster, time could be slowed to a crawl or nearly a stop, but never completely and over a small area.
Whatever his mother just did had covered both of them in a bubble that would make her actions undetectable by anyone else. As far as anyone was concerned she was never near his position and the conversation he just had never happened.
Although it would seem as if time had been slowed down around him, Andar could not shake the feeling in his heart that what he had just experienced was truly Time- stop. As ridiculous as this sentiment might seem, his Meditation Art made his body and Spirit manifest an unusual sensitivity and understanding of the reality around him.
This was what informed him that although everyone considered it to be impossible, what he had experienced was a total stoppage of time. Andar had learned to trust his intuition because the fact of the matter was that his physique and talents were so powerful that it would be impossible for him to interpret all the information it was passively collecting, and the best he could do was to trust these instincts.
If that was the case it would mean either his mother was truly one of the most talented Archmages to have ever lived, he doubted that very much, or something was wrong and she had acquired power that was not her own.
The question was where and for what purpose.
“Magus Andar… excuse me Magus Andar!!”
“Oh, I’m sorry, my mind is a bit occupied with the presence of the Archmage and my upcoming test, I did not realize that something like this would happen.” Andar smiled apologetically to the flustered Rank 9 Mage who had been trying to draw his attention for a while now.
Andar had been trying to process the words of his mother because his instincts had been screaming at him that something was wrong, and his perception of the outside world had been reduced to zero.
“No problem, it is as expected,” Barah smiled at him and Andar tried not to grimace at the sight of a human mouth embedded in the body of a flying squid.
The Mage had shrunk her body and was floating near his head, she was not speaking loudly, and her eyes were peering intently around Andar’s body as if to verify that he was unharmed. Andar could feel the touch of the monitoring spell like thousands of spiders crawling along his skin, it was very uncomfortable, but it was not her fault, he doubted that she was aware of the effects of her spell on him.
Her examination must have come out with a positive result because she sighed in relief and began speaking louder,
“Due to the unexpected presence of an Archmage in the testing site, and the destruction of Aethernet puppets broadcasting the event to the Magus Worlds, we have adjusted the examination to six hours from now. Magus Andar you should take this time to relax and prepare yourself after that, um, abrupt interruption, you shall be informed when it is time to begin.” .
“Okay, thank you Magus Barah,” Andar clasped his hand and he turned away before he stopped, “Oh, I hope no one was hurt.”
“What? Oh, you can put your mind at ease, everyone is fine, including me, if you were wondering. Not that anyone here would ever dare to complain.”
She sighed and Andar imagined he could see a dreamy expression on her face, “The honor to be in the true presence of an Archmage. Do you know how rare that is? Most of us would go our entire life without ever coming into contact with something like this. The chance to be near greatness… I know of many civilizations that would do anything for the honor of being near an Archmage, including murderimg an entire species and much worse… Already I can feel the endless surge of inspiration bubbling inside of me,”
The Mage giggled, seemingly forgetting herself, “You know I focus on Body Modification and my Aether is Aspected towards Darkness and Poison?”
Not waiting for him to reply, the excited Mage continued speaking, “I can feel my Aether, especially those related to my poison beginning to rise and transform. I don’t know who this Archmage is, but she must be truly…”
“Toxic…” Andar whispered to himself and turned away, quickly walking to his assigned quarter while dodging the host of Mages who were beginning to clear the field from the debris of the Alchemical Puppets.
Something was wrong. He could feel it inside him. Wasting anymore time with the excited Mage was not what he should be doing, because he suddenly felt that he was on the clock.
His heart suddenly skipped a bit and an instinct made him look at the sky. At the edge of the horizon, he could see three bright stars that soon resolved themselves into the form of a planet and two moons that were slowly getting larger in the horizon.
Which planet was being shifted? Was it his homeworld? Andar knew he had accomplished many things but he doubted it was enough for the elevation of his planet, perhaps it was because his mother was now an Archmage, maybe this was the reason.
Yet the sight of the growing planet increased his trepidation.
A pattern was emerging that he was on the verge of understanding but he was missing a crucial detail, he walked faster trying to piece together all the little hints that his instincts were blaring out to him that the journey from the field to his quarters passed by in a blur.
He hurriedly opened his door and shut it against a growing press of Mages who had noticed his presence and were coming forward to try to make contact with him.
Andar sighed in relief, “What am I missing? Six hours before the start of the test, was this delay deliberate? I should contact my masters, something is not right.”
He felt the air move behind him and alarm grew in his heart but before he could respond a shadow slammed into him.
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