The academy was strangely quiet.
Or at least, as quiet as it could be after a kidnapping attempt, an invasion of nobles, and the discovery that Kael Veyron had beco a political problem.
Kael walked through the gardens with his hands in his pockets.
Beside him, the Little Fat King advanced with the dignity of an emperor.
Occasionally he would stop to observe the students who moved out of his way.
As if expecting a bow.
Most of them did.
Out of fear.
Kael yawned.
The window kept appearing every few minutes.
[Estimated arrival: 45 hours, 27 minutes.]
Every ti he saw it, he felt a knot in his stomach.
He didn’t know what was going to appear.
He didn’t know if it would be friendly.
He didn’t know if it would destroy a mountain.
And most importantly, he didn’t know if the Little Fat King would approve of its existence.
He looked at the cat.
The cat ignored him.
Definitely not a good sign.
"Hey."
"ow."
"Do you know what’s coming?"
The Little Fat King began licking his paw.
Kael sighed.
"Right. Stupid question.
Sotis I forget you’re a cat."
He kept walking until he reached the most remote area of the campus.
A small forest surrounded the academy.
It was peaceful.
Quiet.
And almost no one went there.
Precisely why he chose it.
He needed to think.
Think about the Church.
About the nobles.
About the second entity.
About the fact that every day seed to get more complicated.
He sat under a tree.
The Little Fat King settled beside him.
For the first ti, he didn’t move away.
Kael smiled slightly.
He still didn’t fully understand the cat.
But at least he was starting to understand him a little better.
A noise among the branches caught his attention.
He looked up.
And found Aurelion.
Sitting on a high branch.
Watching him.
As if he had been there for hours.
Kael blinked.
"How long have you been there?"
Aurelion tilted his head.
"Does it matter?"
"A lot."
"For about twenty minutes."
Kael pointed at him.
"That’s unsettling."
"I know."
Aurelion jumped down from the tree and landed in front of him with surprising elegance.
The Celestial Mirage appeared briefly behind him before dissolving into fragnts of light.
The Little Fat King opened one eye.
Looked at Aurelion.
And closed it again.
That seed like an improvent.
Last ti, they had almost destroyed a combat arena.
Aurelion sat down next to Kael.
Strangely serious.
No smiles.
No jokes.
No that relaxed expression he always wore.
Kael frowned.
"That’s scary."
"What?"
"You looking like a responsible person."
Aurelion let out a small laugh.
But it didn’t last long.
"My family sent a letter."
Kael waited.
Aurelion continued.
"I told them what happened in the dungeon.
About the Church.
And about the Fat King."
Kael tensed.
"And?"
Aurelion looked toward the forest.
"My family has a private library.
Very old.
With records that date back to before the founding of the kingdom."
Kael didn’t understand where the conversation was going.
But he didn’t like it.
Definitely didn’t like it.
Aurelion took a small notebook from inside his jacket.
The pages were full of notes.
He opened one in particular.
Then looked at Kael.
"They found sothing."
The wind shook the leaves of the trees.
Even the Little Fat King opened his eyes.
For the first ti.
He seed interested.
Aurelion read aloud.
"When order becos too rigid and the world forgets how to laugh, the absurd entities will return."
Kael blinked.
"That sounds like a bad play."
"There’s more."
Aurelion continued reading.
"Their arrival will announce the awakening of chaos.
Laws will lose aning.
Logic will be questioned.
And that which should not exist will walk again among mortals."
Silence.
Kael pointed at the Little Fat King.
"Well, that does sound like him."
The cat looked at him with evident disapproval.
Aurelion closed the notebook.
"The text repeats several tis.
Always with different nas.
But they all refer to the sa thing."
Kael swallowed.
"To what exactly?"
Aurelion looked directly at him.
"To the arrival of the absurd entities."
The air seed to grow colder.
For the first ti since he had received the system, Kael felt like sothing was clicking.
Too many things.
The destroyed mountain.
The Abyssal Beast.
The dungeon murals.
The relic.
The Church of Order.
Everything pointed in the sa direction.
Everything seed connected.
"And what exactly are those entities?"
Aurelion shook his head.
"No one knows.
The records are strange.
Inconsistent.
As if each civilization had interpreted them differently."
Kael crossed his arms.
"How differently?"
Aurelion flipped through the notebook.
"So describe them as gods.
Others as natural disasters.
So as heroes.
And others as the end of the world."
Kael looked at the Little Fat King.
The cat stretched lazily.
He definitely didn’t look like a deity.
But he didn’t look like a normal cat either.
He had seen him make a mountain disappear with a slap.
That wasn’t normal either.
Aurelion put away the notebook.
"There’s sothing else."
Kael looked up.
"Of course there’s sothing else.
There’s always sothing else."
Aurelion nodded.
"The records ntion that the absurd entities never appear alone."
Silence.
Kael felt a chill.
The window appeared before him.
[Estimated arrival: 45 hours, 12 minutes.]
Aurelion watched the ssage.
He didn’t look surprised.
"So it was true."
Kael lowered his hand slowly.
"Can you see it?"
"No.
But I can feel it.
Actually, not that either — but you’re always looking in a specific direction."
The Celestial Mirage appeared briefly behind Aurelion.
Its body of light trembled.
As if it were nervous.
Or uncomfortable.
It was the first ti Kael had seen that reaction.
Aurelion frowned.
"He doesn’t like it."
"What does that an?"
"I don’t know.
But my summon never reacts like this."
The Little Fat King opened his eyes.
Looked at the window.
Then at Kael.
And for the first ti, he looked worried.
Just a little.
But Kael noticed.
Aurelion stood up.
"My family will keep investigating.
I want to know what these things really are."
Kael also stood up.
"And if you find out sothing bad?"
Aurelion smiled.
This ti it was his usual smile again.
The smile of soone who enjoyed facing the unknown.
"Then it’ll be fun."
Kael sighed.
"I forgot you’re crazy."
"That’s what my parents tell ."
He began to walk away.
But stopped after a few steps.
Without turning around.
"Kael."
"Yeah?"
"Be careful."
That surprised Kael more than anything else.
Because Aurelion rarely spoke seriously.
And when he did, there was always a good reason.
The tree guy kept walking until he disappeared among the garden paths.
Kael looked at the window once more.
[Estimated arrival: 45 hours, 10 minutes.]
He looked at the Little Fat King.
The cat was still looking at the spot where Aurelion had gone.
As if he were thinking.
Analyzing.
Rembering sothing.
And for the first ti since he had t him, Kael had the strange feeling that the Little Fat King knew much more than he let on.
Much, much more.
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