He walked out of the magical lift alongside Gilmore and Master. They travelled through a narrow hallway which progressively widened the further along it went. The hallway eventually opened up, and Aleister gazed upon Crystal Lake.

  Magenta and indigo crystal formations covered the entire cavern and illuminated the otherwise dark terrain with a faint light. The streams of water he saw earlier poured out of their holes and straight into the lake. In the surrounding air, he noticed small winged creatures with a vibrant glow moving around. Their flight and motion created a soft and pleasant white noise, preventing the area from being dead silent. Looking up revealed a pitch black environment that not even he could see through. He took several steps forward on the firm yet supple ground and arrived at the waterfront.

  The water was crisp and clear to an impossible extent, yet still maintained a pearlescent shimmer that glistened and reflected everything. On top of the water, various coloured flowers and lilies floated across as white and black fish splashed and frolicked about.

  “Take a sip,” Gilmore said as he stood next to him.

  Aleister nodded and bent down on one knee. He cupped his hands and plunged it below the surface, causing goosebumps to grow all over his skin. At first he took a small sip, but after it hit his mouth, he couldn’t stop himself from drinking all of it. The water tasted crisp, clean, smooth. It was actually how he imagined how a crystal, such as the white onyx one, should have tasted and felt as if it had a liquid form. Besides the taste and texture, he also felt as if his thoughts had become much clearer and his head much less clouded. He also noticed how the next couple of breathes he took were icy and much cleaner and more efficient than normal.

  “Such is the effect of the water from here,” Master said, opening her eyes. “Unfortunately, drinking it in such a raw and unbridled form wastes its effects.”

  Gilmore sighed. “Unfortunately indeed.”

  “I’m getting conflicting messages from the two of you,” Aleister said. “You made it sound like it should be refined before consumption and you made it sound like it wasn’t possible to refine.”

  “The answer is that yes, I can refine it,” Master said, “But doing so in the manner I have found so far is such a waste of resources. So much so that she denied my access to the water from here for a decade and a half.”

  “An absolute catastrophe.” Gilmore winced as he remembered the events that occurred.

  “What happened?” Aleister asked.

  “What happened is a good question indeed,” said an unknown voice to Aleister. A lithe feminine figure with two fluffy ears on the top of her head, dressed in regal black and gold robes, stepped out of the shadows. “Who gave you permission to take a single step in here so soon? As far as I’m concerned, you still have another three years, which is still not long enough.”

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  With an annoyed look, Master said, “All of these years later and you’re still so ungrateful for what I’ve done for you.”

  “Of course I’m grateful for what you did,” the woman said. “Or else you would be barred from here for life! You could have—”

  “You can stop talking now as I refuse to partake in this argument again,” Master said, in interruption. “Besides, there’s no harm in showing my grandson around, is there?”

  The women gasped before looking over at Aleister, who stayed silent but was just in as much shock and confusion as he learned about this new relationship. She stepped closer and smiled at him, but this only made intimidating presence even more apparent. This step also revealed seven black tails behind her. She turned her gaze over to Gilmore and said, “First, you’re back after over a decade, and I’m not even going to mention the fact that you didn’t even tell me your own sister about where you went, and you come back with a child who is clearly too old for you to have conceived during that time frame, so you better not tell me that he’s an illegitimate child or else you’re going to be in very big trouble.”

  Gilmore let out a mischievous chuckle before he said, “Hey Emi, it sure has been a while hasn’t it.”

  “Don’t you dare hey Emi, me,” the women said, crossing her arms under her chest. “Start talking.”

  “How have I been doing? Well, I’m glad you asked,” Gilmore said.

  “I didn’t ask,” she said.

  Gilmore pretended to ignore and continued. “Overall, it hasn’t been that bad except for—”

  “You’re right, I’m actually not grateful,” she said to Master.

  “Hey,” Gilmore stopped talking. “Words can hurt, you know!”

  “You know what else can hurt? No words!”

  Gilmore scratched his beard. “Sorry, I couldn’t tell you for not just my sake, but yours as well. Besides, you aren’t supposed to worry about me, I’m supposed to worry about you.”

  “Have I ever given you a reason to worry about me?” she said, with her lips pushed forward.

  “Yes, many times actually,” Gilmore answered. “In fact, consider me surprised when I learned that Osetia had not actually been razed to the ground when I arrived. Truly impressive work.”

  “Ignore my stupid brother,” she said to Aleister in a pleasant tone. “Hopefully his annoyance hasn’t rubbed off on you, but it’s nice meeting you. I’m Emi, what’s your name?”

  “Aleister,” he said.

  “Aleister, huh?” she said. “Interesting name.”

  “In a good way, I would hope?”

  She shrugged her shoulders. “Perhaps.”

  “Eh?” Master asked with perked ears. “When did you start acting so mysterious? Just say you only said that a generic response.”

  “Who gave you permission to open your mouth?”

  “I gave it to myself,” Master said with a smirk. “And what are you going to do about it?”

  “I’m going to leave,” she said. “Unlike you two, I actually have duties that I need to fulfil, so I can’t waste my time pissing other people off.”

  Gilmore scratched his beard again. “Well, not quite how I expected you to meet her.”

  “I didn’t know you had a sister, although, I can’t say I’m too surprised,” Aleister said.

  “Not just his sister,” Master said, gleeful. “But you would more commonly recognize her as the Empress of the Lillium Empire.”

  Aleister didn’t quite know how to react to this information.