255 A New Journey Again The End of Volume III (1/2)

”Mr. Evans?” Sandra looked at Lucien a bit confusedly. She did not understand why what she had just said was surprising at all.

”Uh… My hand just trembled, from the reflected damage from the ring…” Lucien quickly found an excuse and picked up the book.

What Lucien said was not true, and the truth was that he was shocked by Sandra's words, because Viken was not the only sorcerer who disappeared before the War of Dawn. Maskelyne also did.

Although Sandra and Charlie knew part of the story, they did not know those details: Maskelyne, the Prophet, went missing deep into the World of Souls, together with his several friends mentioned in his notes, and at that time, they were all working on some important magic experiment. The whole thing got even more weird with the fact that Maskelyne could make divine items with magic, and his symbol, the Grand Cross, looked very much like the Church's Cross of Truth.

This made Lucien think whether Viken was one of Maskelyne friends and whether he was part of the experiment. Also, did the experiment had anything to do with the special summoning rite? Lucien wondered if the ultimate secret of the world lay deep inside the World of Souls? The place must be very, very dangerous!

”One day if I can become a grand arcanist, or even a legendary archmage, I'm definitely going to explore the World of Souls.” Lucien decided to keep this information to himself, but when he was ready, he wanted to invite other legendary archmages or grand arcanists he trusted to go together with him.

Neither Charlie nor Sandra doubted Lucien's words. His words made totally sense.

”No matter how curious we are, the last thing we should do is to try the rite.” Sandra reminded them. As a sorcerer who specialized in Summoning, she was very concerned with such a creepy summoning rite and its unpredictable consequences.

Lucien smiled, ”I'm not gonna touch it before I become a senior-rank. I don't think I can handle the demon right now, and I believe that the Congress will soon gather more information about the demon.”

”The Congress should. If we had had more information, we would not have been so lost when facing the demon.” Charlie agreed.

Sandra nodded, ”The Congress can take away some pressure, so we don't have to worry about it too much, but I still want to read Pain Fable to see whether it is as desperate as what Scott described.”

”Me, too, but I still need to borrow a few other books from here first,” said Lucien. Then, he asked Alex to find him some basic arcana books in the schools of Force Field and Necromancy and basic magic books in other schools.

Charlie put on his hat and said, ”I've still got some other stuff to deal with, so I have to go now. Nice to meet you, Mr. Evans, Ms. Sandra, and I hope we can work together again in the future.”

”I'm heading for Allyn City Library as well, Mr. Evans. You're not that kind of arcanist who can only survive in labs. You're reliable, and you're a good leader.” Sandra was also going to leave, and before that, she shook hands with Lucien.

Lucien said to them in a humble manner, ”You two are very experienced sorcerers, and I've learned a lot from you two. Without you, Sandra and Charlie, I would certainly have died in the castle already. We should stay in contact with each other to exchange ideas from time to time.”

...

At the bottom floor of Aalto Abbey, a female voice was humming an old and solemn tune, as if the sky was being covered with dark clouds before the storm came. The voice was a bit hoarse but sexy.

The pitch got slowly higher, and the voice became softer but sad. Then, the melody got faster and more pressing, like rain drops hitting the ground and wild wind blowing.

After a while, the female eased in a soothing and gentle tune as if an isolated but pure mind was recalling all the memories with emotions in the storm. And in those memories, lightnings were forgotten; thundering was forgotten; harsh raindrops were forgotten; and as well as all the depression and sadness, and even the whole world.

The storm was still lashing her mind, but soon, at the end of the first movement, the melody became warm and nice.

Natasha finished humming the major melody of Storm Sonata, and then she looked at the letter in her hand. It was the one Lucien sent on July 30th. She was very satisfied with the sonata, her birthday gift from Lucien.

”Although Storm Sonata is not as outstanding as Pathetique and Moonlight, it is still impressive, and it shares the same theme and spirit with Symphony of Fate—perseverance and faith. It's a great birthday gift,” Natasha murmured in a low voice. Then she looked up and started to read the rest of the letter again. It was all about Lucien's interesting experiences in Allyn, including how he tortured the apprentices with lots of exercises, those apprentices complaints and jokes, the story when he was mistakenly invited to the conference because of his name, and so on.

Natasha was comforted by Lucien's letter. She felt that Lucien, her old friend, was telling her all those stories right in front of her relaxedly.