Kai stood at the edge of the warp gate platform at the academy, shadows curling around his boots.
A giant light blue crystal hovered in the air and sound slowly.
Below the crystal, four blocky archways made from obsidian pulsed with dim light, a ripple of runes etched into their surfaces. Inside each of the gates was a torrent of visible mana, rippling like water in a boiling pot.
The hum of mana was calming, almost seductive, but Kai's mind was anything but still.
He could've gone to the forest for more training. Gods knew he needed it. The Arcane Crucible was coming, and his progress with sigilcraft and live combat conditioning had slowed to a crawl. But today wasn't about strength. It was about something else.
'I need to find her,' he thought. 'Elva. Merri's sister.'
When the light of the warp gate engulfed him, the world twisted into folds of white-blue streaks, and with a flash, he was no longer at the academy.
He stood at the barrier gates of Ylthara.
