Warlock Apprentice

There was a natural boundary that separated Parmigi Highlands and the Evernight Kingdom. One side was barren land and broken boulders while the other had patches of grass that slowly turned lush and abundant as it reached out to the forest-covered mountains in the distance.

A space rupture suddenly appeared in the cloudless sky, which began to release raging energy ripples to the surrounding area. A careless fowl moved too close to danger and was instantly shredded to pieces by unseen blades made out of pure energy.

When the energy died down a little, two individuals stepped out of the rupture.

“This is as far as we can go. Any further and the dimensional energy will go out of control.” Sunders glanced at the tunnel behind him, which was slowly phasing out as it turned unstable. “Either a plane fusion happened nearby, or someone opened up a space passageway in a VERY incorrect way. I’d say it’s the latter because a plane fusion would always seal off a large area and let us see it from afar.”

“So there is another plane passageway nearby, sir?”

“Yes. It’s possible that the two monsters I mentioned did this. If this is the case… The passageway is likely connected to the Nightmare Realm.”

They both knew what would happen if such a tunnel showed up in the wizarding world. Even so, they had to arrive at the scene first.

“We’ll need to fly from now on. Let’s move, the Sleepless City is only several hundred kilometers away,” said Sunders as he glanced at Angor’s wrist.

Obviously, he meant to use Angor’s Gondola.

Angor didn’t understand why his teacher requested so when they could probably get there faster by flying on their own. Even so, he couldn’t say no to his teacher for such a simple matter.

Before going for his bracelet, however, Toby, who had been staying on Angor’s shoulder, suddenly left him and turned into an elegant griffin with a flaming tail.

The now bigger Toby hastily called at Sunders.

“Toby says he can take us there,” Angor explained.

Sunders nodded without saying anything, yet Angor believed that he noticed a tiny hint of disappointment in his teacher’s eyes.

But Toby can fly a lot faster than Gondola. Perhaps… Does the professor prefer sitting on Gondola?

Angor wondered if he should give Sunders a Gondola as a gift. Something told him that Sunders expected so, but the gentleman just did not say it out loud.

It seemed that Toby couldn’t wait for him to figure out an answer now. Toby already spread his broad wings and readied the power of gravity, which appeared as gray energy ripples around his form.

Toby knew that Greya was in trouble. Receiving Greya’s “hellish training” did not prevent Toby from worrying about the wellbeing of his former master.

Angor moved onto Toby’s back and put a hand on his mane. “Lady Greya will be fine! You know she has all kinds of amazing items like a Section Ephemera that can help her escape.”

Those words were intended to comfort Toby, but Angor knew for a fact that Section Ephemera only worked in stable areas. The surrounding area around Sleepless City was anything but stable. They could almost see the dimensional energy ripples going berserk with their bare eyes.

Thankfully, Angor’s “partial lie” still worked—Toby managed to calm down and his unnecessarily tensed muscles became relaxed.

With Toby settled, Angor looked at his professor again.

Earlier, Sunders summoned him to Phantom Island and briefly explained the situation in Sleepless City. He then immediately opened a plane passageway to get there.

Angor had no problem following Sunders to the rescue mission since Greya had been very nice to him. Besides, she was Toby’s master. And this time, Angor would follow Sunders’ command instead of foolhardily rushing into danger like how he did during Twilight Auction.

This was also what he told Toby—no matter what happened to Sleepless City or to Greya, they had to stay calm.

“Sir, when I fell into the passageway in Midnight Sovereign, how did Froggy and Fox escape?”

Angor had learned that it was indeed Twilight who pushed him into the plane passageway toward Pocratee. Ever since then, no one knew where she went.

He also knew that it was Sunders and Devildare who handled the second monster nest, which was located at Twilight Auction House. “Fox the Harper” and “Froggy the Aria Singer” were both there.

“When I lost sign of you, I immediately headed to Lady’s Juice to check. When I didn’t find you and returned to Twilight Auction House… the monsters were already gone, including the clown card.”

Sunders explained some minor details but without mentioning anything that Angor wasn’t supposed to know, such as how he took great risk and woke a certain dark presence up just to obtain the Mystery item held by Fox.

When Sunders realized that something unexpected had happened to his student, he immediately gave up on his plan and went to rescue Angor. He did not mention this either.

“They… waited for a year while hiding somewhere, and came to Sleepless City? What do they want?” Angor mumbled in confusion.

“Most nightmare monsters will have their strength weakened in this world. Just like your teacups and toy soldiers, they needed nightmare aura to stay energized. And if they cannot, hiding from plain sight is a reasonable choice. As for why they’re here… we need to find out whether they came of their free will first.”

“Their free will?” Angor soon understood Sunders’ hint. “If they came on their own, we can tell that they caused the disaster in the city. And if not… it means someone else is behind this?”

Sunders nodded to approve Angor’s wit. “You’re almost correct. Personally, I hope it’s the latter because things are easier to explain that way.”

“If something forced them to come here…” Angor pondered and said, “it might be that they can foretell when and where a tunnel to the Nightmare Realm will show up so that they can come in advance and absorb the nightmare energy they need.”

“Precisely. But I still cannot explain this unusual darkness. This never happened in the previous cases when a nightmare tunnel opened up.”

Their discussion took them several minutes, which was enough for Toby to travel several hundred kilometers. When Angor looked up again, he saw the silhouette of Sleepless City ahead, as well as the giant, black barrier around the city that was supposed to provide unending light.

“There it is. The eternal light has turned into an everlasting prison…” Angor exclaimed.

A group of apprentices in blue robes suddenly showed up in their path. As they were still far, they looked like a flock of bluebirds enjoying the sky.

Angor looked around and noticed there were more supernaturals scattered about. These supernaturals wore different clothes and uniforms, which suggested they came from different places.

But the blue-robed apprentices were the only ones who tried to block Toby’s course.

“The area ahead is too dangerous and is off-limits now. Turn back!” someone warned them using Distant Sound spell.

Angor frowned. “Off-limits? Are you guards from the city?”

Angor traveled through Sleepless City last time since the city was a teleportation hub closest to Brute Cavern. During that time, Angor learned that the uniform used in Sleepless City was a white robe with golden trimmings; the apprentices ahead definitely weren’t wearing the same thing.

“Lord Harris put us here to stop anyone from going into danger! Trust me, this is for your own good. Over a hundred thousand people are already lost in there!”

“Harris? Are you referring to a certain coward from Edge of Night?” Sunders spoke from behind Angor in his usual hoarse voice.

Sunders’ words were far from friendly, yet no one dared to retort.

These apprentices did come here following Harris’ command. Harris would like to discourage more people from entering Sleepless City so that he would have less competition when going after the Mystery item.

Harris wasn’t the only wizard with such a plan. In fact, most of the apprentices waiting outside the city were left here for this very purpose.

However, the blue-robed apprentices knew better than to offend someone who referred to Harris as “a coward”. Trembling, they silently watched as Toby flew past them.

The horror grew worse when they noticed a certain man sitting on the strange yet elegant creature. Some of them even sighed with great relief.

They were looking at Sunders—the “killing machine in the south”.