Multiverse of Magic & Mistakes (Completed)

1.3.26 Chapter 26

The Mages College of Verdyn, Verdyn, October 2019.

"Vi, Reynold's here, go! We'll stall him as long as possible!" Theo's hurried voice echoed into Vi's mind.

She had heard the cries and shouting coming from the courtyard but thought it best to wait until Reynold was definitely outside before infiltrating his office. A few seconds ago, she had seen a glimpse of dark red and a heard stomping boots, as he stormed out of his office, down in the courtyard, as expected. The corner Vi and Mallory were waiting behind were in the opposite direction to that which he was heading.

She gestured to Mallory, who was covered with Anti-Detection and Glamour Runes and nervously waiting. He had agreed to be the lookout, whilst Vi portalled into Reynold's office. Out of all of them, he was known to be close to Rho and could concoct the most believable reason as to why he was waiting for Reynold if needed. He was also much more experienced in detecting spells than Violet was.

Mallory quickly stepped forward and placed both of his hands-on Master Reynold's sealed office door. His eyes clenched tight as he cast a complex charm that Vi did not recognise. Tendrils of yellow light shot from his palms stretching up and across, the corridor, then faded away into nothingness. He swiftly stepped back and gave Vi a sharp nod to proceed.

She reached out and pushed on the familiar dark wood, arched door, just in case it would just swing open as on her previous visits. Of course, the door didn't budge, and it had locked strongly behind Reynold as he stormed out to investigate the disturbance. She wasn't expecting just to be able to walk in. Vi pictured the familiar spot, the space in front of Reynolds tall cabinet, where she had now cast several entry and exit portals. For the entry portal, she picked a spot right in the corridor, near where Mallory was pacing. And she willed the portal into existence.

The usual circular void of pure black, with edges fringed with glowing light purple, popped into existence. Vi smiled. A small part of her had expected to fail at the first hurdle, for Reynold to have warded his office against portalling, like most of the College, but it appeared that he had not yet got round to re-instating his office's anti-portal warding after last night. It was unlike the Governor of the Mages College of Verdyn to be forgetful; perhaps he kept the wards down to enable him to travel via portal into the City directly from his office. And who would dare to steal from the Governor of the Mages College of Verdyn?

"Good luck!" whispered Mallory as Vi took a step forward and found herself yet again in Reynolds office. There was the solid hardwood floor where she had curled up into a ball and sobbed, just the previous night, upon realising Rho hadn't come back through the portal with her. There was the large deep brown desk, Reynolds high-backed chair, and the two uncomfortable chairs located opposite it. She let the portal close, not wanting to leave the obvious entry portal in the corridor with Mallory.

Vi scanned her surroundings looking for the large black bag full of red crystals which she had given to Reynold the previous night. Reynold had put it away somewhere, but then again, she hadn't expected him to just have left the crystals out upon his desk. Not now she realised the power and potential they contained. And that was how she was planning to locate them.

Vi closed her eyes, and tried to focus on the First Rune, as she had the previous night in the cave, and reach out to detect nearby power sources. Unlike in the cave, she could immediately sense the magical atmosphere of Verdyn, the even level of magical energy that infused the air, the soil and the atmosphere of the Mages College. That was like the standard background level of magic that she would expect to detect anywhere around here. Vi focused and reached out again, searching for that strange feeling of a solid bubble of contained pure magical energy as she had detected coming from the red cave crystal. She slowly paced around Reynolds office, reaching out as far as she could, searching. And then suddenly she felt something. A huge, unexpected bubble of power, then another, then another. Her eyes snapped open and rested on the source. Reynold tall cabinet. Of course. She should have checked in there first.