Tale of a Hedonistic wizard-Chapter 457: Meeting the serpents

The magical thread—a thin, luminous filament of pure arcane energy—materialised in the common room of The Twisted Candle, where Eradarin sat contemplating an old text.

The sage's eyes stared at them as the silvery strand wove through the air, leaving a faint trail of sparkling motes in its wake.

To ordinary patrons, it would be invisible, but to a seasoned practitioner of the arcane arts, its message was clear.

"Jaegar," Eradarin whispered, closing his tome with a soft thud.

He rose from his chair, his weathered fingers closing around his staff. The magical thread—a communication technique taught only to the most gifted students of the Academy—pulsed with urgency.

Jaegar was calling for them. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Something had happened.

Ironshade looked up from the corner where he'd been sharpening his massive blade. "What is it, old man?"

"Jaegar has sent a summoning thread," Eradarin replied, already moving toward the door. "Something's amiss."

Bruna, who had been keeping watch by the window, straightened immediately. "I'll come with you."

"No," Eradarin said firmly. "One of us must remain here in case Angelina returns. You have the keenest senses—you'll know if trouble approaches the inn."

Reluctantly, Bruna nodded.

Ironshade stood, sheathing his sword. "I'll accompany you, then. The streets grow dangerous after dark."

Together, the aged sage and the warrior followed the pulsing thread into the labyrinthine streets of Amnohdet, its glow leading them through the gathering twilight.

-

High in the Witch Spire, Angelina stood in a circular chamber lined with bookshelves that reached the vaulted ceiling. Across from her, a woman in deep green robes listened intently, her expression a mixture of concern and disbelief.

"The signs are unmistakable, Mirabel," Angelina insisted. "The Serpents are gathering their forces, and they have allies within the imperial family itself."

Mirabel, once Angelina's most promising student and now a respected member of the Witch Council, paced the chamber with growing agitation. "These accusations against Lord Angus... they're extraordinary, Master. The Council will require proof before—"

"We don't have time for the Council's deliberations," Angelina cut in, her voice sharp with urgency.

"The Child of Chaos in your keeping is not safe here. None of them are."

Mirabel paused, studying her former mentor with shrewd eyes. "You know where the others are, don't you? You've been finding them."

Before Angelina could respond, a familiar silver thread materialised in the air between them, weaving and undulating with insistent purpose.

Angelina's expression shifted instantly from conviction to alarm.

"Jaegar," she breathed, reaching out to touch the thread lightly with her fingertips.

"Jaegar is with you?" Mirabel asked.

"What's happened?"

Angelina was already moving toward the door. "I must go. Immediately."

"Master, wait!" Mirabel called after her. "The Council needs to hear what you've told me. And what of the child under our protection?"

Pausing at the threshold, Angelina fixed her former student with an intense gaze. "Prepare her for travel, Mirabel. When I return, we'll take her somewhere safer than this tower."

Without waiting for a response, Angelina hurried from the chamber, following winding staircases downward through the Spire. The magical thread led her forward, guiding her through the tower's labyrinthine interior toward the city streets below.

As she reached the Spire's main entrance, a distant bell began to toll—an alarm.

Angelina quickened her pace, her weakened state forgotten in the surge of concern for her grandson.

-

In a small square near the artisans' quarter, Jaegar walked alongside Melusina, listening as she explained her situation.

"I've been coming to the outer courtyard of the Spire for months," she said, her unusual purple eyes catching the light of the street lanterns. "One of the junior witches took pity on me and started teaching me basic cantrips. I have some natural ability, but..." She trailed off, gesturing vaguely to her eyes. "This marks me as different. Dangerous."

"Chaos magic isn't inherently dangerous," Jaegar replied. "It's just... unpredictable. Harder to control."

Melusina gave him a sidelong glance. "You speak as if you know a great deal about it."

"I've studied many forms of magic," he answered carefully. "The Academy's curriculum is quite comprehensive."

"Wait," Melusina stopped abruptly, turning to face him fully. "You trained at the Cledwarys Academy? Are you—"

Her question died on her lips as Jaegar suddenly tensed, his entire demeanour shifting from relaxed to alert in an instant. He raised a hand to silence her, his gaze darting upward to the rooftops surrounding the square.

There, silhouetted against the darkening sky, stood two figures in flowing cloaks that seemed to absorb the very light around them. Even from this distance, Jaegar could sense their power—a cold, oppressive aura that made the air itself feel heavier.

"Melusina," he whispered, not taking his eyes from the watchers. "When I tell you to run, head straight for The Twisted Candle. Ask for Bruna."

"Who are they?" she whispered back, fear evident in her voice.

"Trouble," Jaegar replied grimly.

The taller of the two figures pushed back their hood, revealing a woman of striking beauty and terrible coldness. Her skin was pale as moonlight, her hair black as a starless night. Even at this distance, her eyes gleamed with an unnatural violet light—not the warm purple of Melusina's chaos-touched irises, but the cold glow of consumed souls.

"Elsbeth," Jaegar breathed, the name falling from his lips like a curse. "The Black Witch of the Night."

She was the most wanted criminal; even the ministry had placed a bounty on her. Jaegar has seen her wanted posters in the Sphephet Circle.

Beside her, the second figure also lowered their hood. A man with sharp features and symbols etched into his very skin—arcane tattoos that writhed and shifted like living things across his exposed flesh.

"And Shaewyra, the Dark Arcanist," Jaegar continued, slowly moving to place himself between Melusina and the two figures.

He knew him as a former professor at the Cledways Academy. After an incident in the academy, he had left the academy. The reason he wasn't aware, but ever since then he left the wizarding world and lived in the dark, so they said. Jaegar couldn't understand why those two people were doing here. He looked beside him, and instantly, he wondered, are they also part of the Bande de serpents?