Aspiration to the Heavens: Becoming the Supreme Mage Vol 2- Descent of Darkness

Episode 46: Taking Another Step Forward

"The Path the future holds for one is unknown, but trust in the one who created you to guide you"

*Magus Maximus Daisuke*

I was rummaging through the two-foot tall pile of papers on my desk when suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"I can't right now, I am busy," I said, setting aside file of papers. They were records of a certain Mahoulympics of old. One that had taken place in Kyuu Seishin and few to this day remembered. It was for the best that they didn't. If they knew about that realm and the future we faced then surely there would be chaos. One day we would face the same threat as eight years ago, but fail to push it back. That was said to be our inevitable fate, not only of Xeleria but of the other realms as well. But I wasn't going to stand by and do nothing.

"Your Highness is going to be late for the council meeting," the woman on the other side said.

Darn, I had forgotten all about it.

I rose from my desk and strided toward the door. I was met with a pencil thin smile from my dear wife, Edith. She was clearly mad at me for 'almost forgetting'.

"I, I remembered," I said, crossing my arms over my chest and leaning against the frame of the doorway.

She sighed as she turned her back to me. "I honestly doubt that. Now let us not delay further. This meeting is urgent after all."

I grumbled. "No need to tell me that."

After the trial of the boy called Lei, I had given the magic council the task of deciding whether the Mahoulympics were to continue or be suspended until further notice. We didn't wish for a repeat of said Kyuu Seishinian Mahoulympics.

Edith walked on ahead of me with her hands behind her back. "Though I'll say we have little to worry about. My brother is fully prepared for everything that could go wrong, and you know how meticulous that man can be. He is also doing it to defend his grandson."

I stared at my wife who was walking with her head lowered. "You thought the same thing I did when you saw that boy, didn't you?"

Edith smiled. "Yeah. Not only him though, but that girl he was with, the current High Priestess of Xian." She glanced up at the ceiling which contained paintings in the Xianian style, art her father had added in order to make her mother feel at home. "Both remind me of my parents."

"Well, both of them are their great-grandkids," I said, shrugging.

My wife shook her head. "No, it's not only that." She looked down and chuckled. "Maybe I'm simply overthinking things."

"That's unlike you."

"Master Daisuke, Lady Edith!" a voice called out. Both Edith and I came to a halt and turned around. Running toward us with a tablet on hand was a young man who was struggling not to trip as he ran.

"Easy now, don't trip," I said, trying not to laugh.

The young man came to a halt and took a deep breath. "Right, sir," he said, putting a hand on his chest as he caught his breath.

"What's the matter?" Edith asked, frowning.

"Hou King Kadriya has informed us that the other day a strange figure in red was spotted gathering crystals from abysmals. He believes the man might be working with others. He also fears that they might pursue the boy who was devoured but survived the darkness in order to extract the powers he absorbed. Sir Kadriya recently had Lei and his friends leave Miha through an old underground tunnel built during the creation of the second Xelerian Empire in order to avoid detection."