Chương 48: New Horizons

The next day, Cyril led Noah and Ava into the basement of Starbell Manor. Lux followed beside them, floating lazily through the air as if stairs were a personal insult. The deeper they descended, the cooler the air became. Older. The polished halls of the manor gave way to stone corridors wrapped in thick roots. They coiled along the walls and ceiling, pulsing faintly with life, as if the Great Tree itself were breathing around them. Eventually, the corridor opened into a vast underground chamber.

At its center stood the gate. It was formed from enormous intertwined roots, spiraling upward into a great arch. Crimson, emerald, and sapphire gems were embedded throughout the wood like stars frozen inside bark. Ancient runes pulsed faintly along the grain, glowing and fading like a heartbeat. It did not feel mechanical. It felt alive. Cyril stared at it for a moment.

"It's beautiful every time I see it." His voice was quieter than usual.

"To think the Mad Emperor, Sirius Blackwood, invented this before he went insane." Noah stepped closer. The air around the gate hummed against his skin.

"What is this device for?" Lux drifted beside him and took a bite of black licorice.

"It's a teleportation gate." Noah looked at her.

"Sirius created the blueprints before his death," Lux explained.

"The man was a genius. So much of this world's technology began as something he planned." Her gaze moved over the glowing roots.

"Valor later took the project and placed one in every major city." Ava folded her arms.

"So they connect to each other?" Lux nodded.

"As long as you receive permission first, these gates can teleport you to another connected gate." Noah stared at the arch. A device that could cross entire regions in an instant. Something so impossible, yet quietly sitting beneath Starbell Manor. Ava looked up at the runes.

"Literature, construction, transportation…" Her voice softened.

"So much of the world changed because of Sirius Blackwood." She frowned.

"I wonder how someone that brilliant could go so insane." Lux's smile faded. For a moment, her eyes looked far older than her small body.

"I have my suspicions," she muttered. Her voice was too quiet for anyone else to hear. Noah glanced at her. But Lux only floated forward, pretending she had said nothing. Cyril stepped up to the control device beside the gate. It looked like a pedestal grown from the same ancient roots as the arch. Several gems were embedded across its surface, each one glowing with a different color. Cyril placed his hand over one of them. The runes along the gate brightened.

"Destination," Cyril said. The roots groaned softly, as if waking from a long sleep.

"Lævateinn. Region of Muspelheim." The moment he spoke the name, the air inside the arch began to twist. Noah watched as the empty space within the gate rippled like disturbed water. Then a crimson glow spread across its surface. Heat poured out. Ava raised one hand slightly against the sudden wave of hot air. Noah narrowed his eyes. Muspelheim. A scorching hellscape of burning winds and endless heat. A land only habitable because of the five great oases scattered throughout the region.

Each major city had been built around one of them, clinging to life in a world that seemed determined to burn everything away. The City of Festivals, Lævateinn, was no different. Its oasis was the reason it existed. Its festivals were the reason it survived. And now, somehow, it had become the center of everything. Lux stared at the crimson portal.

"Muspelheim, huh?" Her voice was quieter than usual. Noah glanced at her. Lux's usual smile had thinned.

"I hate coming back here." She floated in place, staring at the light. The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Too many bad memories." For a moment, she looked nothing like the teasing god who drank beer and ate black licorice just to enjoy the awful taste. She looked old. Tired. Regretful.

"At least we're not going to Habakiri," she muttered. Noah caught the name. Ava did too. Habakiri. The City of Vacations. A tourist city famous for its gentle climate, warm springs, and skies that rarely saw clouds. A place where nobles, merchants, and tired soldiers went when they wanted to pretend the world was peaceful. But Noah knew the truth behind its beauty. Habakiri had been built on a grave.

It stood where the Third Hero, Felix Anderson, the Hero of Equality, had died in battle against Anastasia Everfallen. Hero and Apocalypse. Child and monster. They had died together in a fiery explosion that scarred the land and changed the climate around it forever. The Hero of that era had only been eight years old. Noah looked at Lux again. The sadness in her eyes was impossible to explain. But it was there. Deep. Buried beneath centuries of jokes, masks, and bitter smiles. Then Lux blinked.

The expression vanished. She took a bite of black licorice and pointed toward the portal.

"Well?" Her voice returned to its usual lightness.

"Are we going, or are we waiting for the heat to politely leave?" Noah did not answer immediately. He only stared at the crimson light. Beyond it waited Lævateinn. The City of Festivals. The next trap. The next battlefield. And perhaps, if they were lucky, the first step toward rebuilding Gram. Cyril looked at Noah and Ava. Then he smiled.

"Good luck, you two." His gaze lingered on them for a moment longer than usual.

"Try not to cause too much trouble." Noah grinned.

"Nah." Cyril's smile faded.

"Noah."

"I'm going to release all hell on the upcoming tournament." Ava sighed. Lux scoffed.

"This tournament is going to be way out of your league, you know." Noah looked at her. Lux counted on her fingers.

"At bare minimum, you'll have to deal with some of Helheim's generals, at least one or two of Valor's children, and definitely a handful of Crows." She raised her mug.

"In other words, a nightmare." Noah's grin only widened.

"Then I'll just take each and every one of them down." Ava laughed.

"Don't start crying when I knock you out in the first round." Noah turned to her.

"You?"

"Yes, me."

"You would really betray me like that?"

"It's a tournament."

"We're engaged."

"And?" Noah placed a hand over his chest.

"I see how it is." Cyril watched them with a tired expression.

"You two are going to be the death of me." Lux smiled.

"Probably." Despite everything, laughter filled the chamber. For a moment, it almost felt normal. Then Noah, Ava, and Lux turned toward the portal. The crimson light rippled before them, carrying the heat of Muspelheim into the underground chamber. Cyril stepped closer.

"I've already informed the lord of Lævateinn that you're arriving." Noah glanced back.

"Let me guess." His smile weakened.

"He's difficult."

"He's useless," Cyril corrected flatly.

"Don't piss him off." Ava tilted her head.

"How?" Cyril gave Noah a long look.

"By breathing." Noah stared at him.

"…Rude."

"Accurate." Cyril stepped back. His expression softened.

"Go rebuild your home." Noah met his gaze. The words settled deep in his chest. Gram. His father's land. His mother's home. The place that had burned. The place he would bring back. Noah nodded.

"I will." Ava reached over and squeezed his hand.

"Ready?" Noah looked at her. Then at Lux, who floated beside them with a grin that promised trouble. Then back at the portal.

"Ready." They stepped forward together. The moment they crossed the threshold, heat wrapped around them like a living thing. The world folded. Light consumed their vision. And in the blink of an eye— They vanished. Muspelheim greeted them with fire. Not the gentle warmth of summer. Not the dry heat of a hearth. But a suffocating, oppressive blaze that clung to the skin and filled the lungs with scorching air. Noah stumbled forward as his boots sank slightly into sand.

Ava raised one arm over her face, squinting against the glare. Lux floated out behind them and immediately groaned.

"I hate this place." The land stretched endlessly in every direction. A golden ocean of sand beneath a white-hot sky. Heat shimmered along the horizon, bending the world until distant shapes wavered like illusions. Far away, jagged black mountains rose from the desert like broken teeth. And ahead of them, surrounded by walls of pale stone and banners bright enough to challenge the sun, stood a city built around a miracle of green. Lævateinn. The City of Festivals. Even from a distance, Noah could hear it. Music.

Cheering. Laughter. The roar of crowds. A city celebrating as if the world was not quietly arranging itself into a battlefield. Noah tightened his grip around Ava's hand. Ava looked at him. Lux smiled.

"Well, young Hero…" Her eyes turned toward the city.

"Welcome to the maw of the beast." Noah stared at Lævateinn. Then he stepped forward.

"Good." His voice was steady.

"Let's see what's waiting inside."