The subsequent nine hours spent in the room with Mirayoung, after Holz had left, was one of lengthy discussions, brainstorming and refinement to the strategy to ensnare the wraith.

During the process, Mirayoung had used the Cabal Network to sustain communication with a few other mages of authority, mostly from within the Guild but there was at least one on an assignment in the far-flung city of Ohai, further than even the Eastern Nations.

When Mirayoung called it a day, they were satisfied with the plan and at the end of their strength. She left to speak to Kas about setting up the trap, insisting to leave Jerius out of it, while he headed straight to the guest room, skipping the evening meal in favour of a well-anticipated nap.

He woke up many hours later, full of abruptness and disoriented. He had had a loathsome dream of Nox's destruction, where he remained helplessly trapped in the Cell. It roused him from his sleep with a sudden jerk; a potent word of power rose but ultimately died in his throat. The nightmare-induced sweat had stuck strands of his dark fringe to his face, as he breathed hard and adjusted to reality.

The room was shadowy as he did not light the candle by the wooden table or open the window to let in the soft glow from the artificial illumination that hung above the mage's city. He exited the door, feeling the cold air whistling around him. Then he made a sharp left to the dining hall, guided by his grumbling stomach.

Nearing the dining hall, he was surprised to hear the low voices of other inhabitants in the Administrator's Hall. He then saw Edeli heading in his direction, whose face lit up with something approaching a mixture of joy and surprise.

Smelling of alcohol, the Gatekeeper greeted Jerius. "It's good to see you again, Jerius of Nox. Didn't have a chance to reconnect since our fortuitous meeting at the town square."

Jerius responded in kind. "Good to see you too, Edeli of...the Guild. I was expecting you to join us in the strategy room. Catching a wraith is the kind of task where the more brains to pick, the better."

"You must have been told I've volunteered to be the bait. The...spirit essence, for a lack of better words, trapped in me will be exceedingly tempting to the wraith. The whole afternoon was spent on these..." Edeli said, rolling up his left sleeve to show strange runic symbols that interlaced with each other. "Additional protection. Can't have the subject dying under the masterful plan of several archmagi."

"I am told," Jerius said.

"Dome right?" Edeli said, looking towards the right in the general direction of the Dome as if he could see through the walls. "Never fully fond of that place. Others see it as a majestic, olden-world place for assembly, but it always feels like a dismal cavernous hall for me. I was born in a cave. Long story for another time. Perhaps that contributes to my perception."

"You're in good hands, Edeli," Jerius said. "Truly. I came here cautious and uncertain but having met Lady Mirayoung and even Administrator Fermand‒granted, we had some initial friction‒they proved to be reliable and excellent allies I can trust."

"Don't mind me," Edeli said. "I get a little pessimistic in grave circumstances. It was only several days when I knew so many deaths had occurred within the Guild, and most of the other Gatekeepers, many of whom were personal friends, had been killed. I was merely lucky I was later in the order."

"It means fate has more things in store for you," Jerius said. "Thank you for helping us with the wraith, and in extension, in stopping Aderis."

"I must go, Jerius of Nox," Edeli said at last. "Holz is in a talkative mood as he always is when he's intoxicated. If he catches me loitering at the passageway, he will surely force me through a few more rounds of wine. It is a scenario I actively want to avoid."

Edeli left, and that gave Jerius a pause but the hunger pang compelled him. He rounded the corner into the dining hall, seeing a man then hearing a rumbling alcohol-thickened voice.

"Noxarian boy, what slayed your sleep?"

"Responsibility," Jerius said, despite himself.

He sniffed once, almost tasting the strong smell of malt and fruit in the air.

"Then drink with me," Holz said, holding a thick wineskin. "A drunken stupor treats, nay, cures insomnia."

"I'm just famished. I need no help sleeping," Jerius said, brushing him off. Then he remembered the words from this morning, and in a slightly roguish tone, he referred to Holz's role as the guardian to the Gatekeepers and said, "A drunken warrior makes a terrible guard."

"Those are the ignorant words of a young boy from a western city, who had not crossed paths with the easterners from the tribes or even the Beastmen of the Icesia North," said Holz. "Many drink before a fight, and fight they do with ferociousness and depth. Like a dance, except one of death and blood."

"I do hope for Edeli that's true when the wraith attacks," Jerius said, crossing to the large table where glowstones shimmered in a mini-stand, illuminating over loaves of bread in a basket and goblets of water. Holz sat there too, pouring down the content from the wineskin in a large swig. Jerius observed that in the night, he looked a different man‒mellow, haunted and strangely vulnerable.

"That was clever and bold...the way you came to the Guild," Holz said when Jerius drew near. "Not mincing my words that it could have ended in different ways, far from what you intended. The nub of your plan was Mirayoung. What if she were away on an assignment? What if she did not link the spell's signature with that of Lyvia?"

Holding a piece of bread, Jerius said, "Mistress Lyvia could not share about the Guild but she talked at length about Lady Mirayoung. Her habits. Her reclusiveness. Enough information for me to take a gamble."

"Bring me that goblet if you would," Holz said.

Jerius passed the goblet over.

Holz said, "It could have ended differently for you as a Noxarian mage. Fermand freed you from the Dual Cell, despite your allegiance. That could have gone the other way. You could have been executed or imprisoned in the cell, never seeing the sun again."

"So I heard," Jerius said. "Lady Mirayoung said her dislike for Noxarians has festered over the decades, but I never learnt why."

After gulping down the goblet, Holz said, "The grapevine spoke of her son, a sickly child with delusions of destruction he claimed to be prophecies. He suffered from intense fear of a Noxarian who seeks to destroy the world, committing suicide."

Jerius grimaced. "Her son died from a disease of the mind. Not a sword or a spell cast for or by Nox. B-but perhaps that prophecy foretold of Aderis and his plan to enact the Ritual of Keys."

"Perhaps that's why she freed you," Holz said. "You're the enemy of her enemy. Fermand discharged her duties religiously. A dedicated administrator who runs the Guild impartially, but when it comes down to her son..she loves her son. All rationality and logic are thrown out of the window when her son comes into the picture. I've never met another person who loves her son this much...maybe just one other," Holz said, his voice trailing off before he snapped back to reality again. "You're lucky, Noxarian boy."

"Perhaps I am," Jerius said. He did, in the dim candlelight, catch the emotion carved into Holz's scarred and lined face. It was grief, but he was not too curious. There were sob stories aplenty in most people, unsurprisingly for one who lived as long as Holz. And Jerius was not invested enough to peer into the cauldron of emotions, and lend an ear.

"Lyvia..." Holz asked back. "Did she perish in Nox's destruction?"

Lyvia remained his weakness as Jerius could not help but be quick to defend her honour. His eyes darted at Holz as he said. "Mistress Lyvia would have protected Nox. She left before that...in the Vanishing."

"A Realmwalker."

"What?"

"That's what the Eastern Nations called those who Vanished," Holz answered. "The Vanishing is not unique to the mages of the Cities and the Guild. The eastern battle-priests called the most senior of them who travel to other realms seeking greater truths, Realmwalkers. It is said time does not flow the same in many such realms, and a minute in one may be a year in ours. And this is why those who Vanished never come back to us for many lifetimes."

"She will. As mages, we endure through the passage of time. I look forward to the day I see her again," Jerius said.

"Are you her boy-lover?"

"No," Jerius said, irked again. "You've a penchant for setting off others."

"The world is simpler if everyone just speaks their minds and asks the questions they want answers for," Holz said.

"You do you," Jerius said.

Holz placed his wineskin on the table. "Drink, Noxarian boy. I'm not your enemy. The night is."

"You learnt that from your time at the warmongering Eastern Nations?" Jerius said, but he did drink the strong-tasting ale and feel the once-familiar burning sensation gushing down his throat.

"Warmongering? So said the boy whose allegiance lies with the warmongering Nox of the west, worshippers of the Kush'Tar spirit and self-proclaimed conqueror of conquerors," Holz said in a low rumble.

"Nox relinquished wars, defended the coast from the Yandi pirates and dismantled its military might over the last few decades. The same decades I swore my allegiance to them," Jerius said. "Dare I say my allegiance lies with a reformed peacekeeper of the west."

"For now. Who is to say a revived Nox will continue this peaceful path?" Holz asked. "An older Zenvix may not think the same as the current him. He does have the blood of Vladimos the Deranged, no?"

"You spoke of a dark ancient time, of deeds that should only be used to judge a deranged man, not a bloodline. Plus, I'll be there to guide Nox. A revived secular Nox without the warmongering beliefs of the Kush'Tar spirit," Jerius said. "Nox, like other Cities, are not characterised only by wars. They've cultures, values and beliefs. There's incentive for peace. I don't see that with the Eastern Nations that put war in the centre of all the things they do."

"Ah! Do they?" Holz said. "I spent seven years in the Eastern Nations, living among them. Living like them. While they are tribal and seek the old laws of the world, they are honest and forthright. Solving conflicts was always simple, with blades, bows and fists. On the other hand, the kings and mages of the Cities engage in politics and fight over ideological and theological differences in unprincipled, deceitful ways. Yes, there isn't always war but oh, as you get closer to the history of the nights...you wonder if open, simple-minded war is a higher moral ground."

"It's death and suffering either way," Jerius said. "There's no higher moral ground or lesser evil to pick here. In the least, the Cities are in peace, fragile as it is and skirmishes as there are. And then there are exceptions like Aderis, whom I seek to uproot. But that's an individual. The Eastern Nations as a whole still abound with the ambitions to conquer Elaria. Isn't that why we have the Tower of Eternal Watch?"

"Indeed they still do, but you think a trifling garrison of eight hundred can stem the horde of fifty thousand easterners that hail from a place of constant in-fighting and bloodletting? Where the strong reigns and expands, and the weak perishes?" Holz said, more intrigued than irked.

Usually Jerius would not entertain such discourses but both the late night and the strong-tasting ale were affecting him. His posture relaxed but his voice stayed firm. "It's a gesture, a symbol that the armies and mages of the Guild and the Cities had repelled them once. Forced them to a shameful retreat with their tails between their legs, and a promise to not invade for a thousand years."

"Utter horseshit!"

Taken aback a little, Jerius turned to face Holz fully. "Don't take me a fool. It is well documented in the History of Elarian Wars. Did the Guild espouse a different truth? The Tower of Eternal Watch formed after the Eastern Nations' rousing defeat at Dead Man's Plain, where the tower now stood."

"There were some battles, some small wins but the Eastern Nations never lost the war. They would even turn the tide given time, but they made an agreement with the kings of the Cities. The details of the agreement had since been lost with time, quite carelessly for one as important as that which had prevented a massive bloody war. If I must say, it was intentionally scrubbed from history and known records, and replaced with the falsehood of the Eastern Nations' shameless defeat because of the pompous pride of the kings of the Cities."

"That was only three centuries ago," Jerius said, unconvinced. "Many mages, hell, even you and Mirayoung were around then. Why were the details and the reason behind the agreement not known to any of you?"

"The world is big. Even the agreement wasn't known to many then as it was sold to the common folks of the Cities as a resounding victory," Holz said with a smile, but it went unseen in the dim light coming from a few candles set at the small table near them. "The kings, officials and generals who were involved were long dead, living normal life spans. And only a few mages, such as some of Cabal when they still existed as individuals, helped form the agreement. Those surviving ones refused to acknowledge the agreement, deferring only to the falsehood that is the defeat."

"No one ever tried to dig more into it?" Jerius said.

"I did," Holz said. "That's why I know there was no defeat, only an agreement."

"You learnt this during your time at the Eastern Nations?"

Holz nodded to the question.

"How did you know it was not their lie to bury a shameful past? Hardly a surprise for a warrior culture that ties their self-worth to the number of ears they cut from the fallen."

"Their culture does not know lies. The word and its derivations do not exist in the easterner's native language," Holz said.

Jerius mused for a second.

"What purpose did you seek living among the easterners?" He then asked.

"You asked for the purpose? A mage's highest purpose is to seek knowledge, and I'm no exception. I was there to learn more about the easterners' way of living, fighting and fucking. It was glorious."

"How crude," Jerius said, understanding why Edeli retreated to his room soon enough. "Only a mage of the Guild has the luxury of time and freedom to seek knowledge as the highest purpose. The mages of the Cities are burdened with other things at hand: the protection and prosperity of their people."

"The mages of the Cities, just like the mages we send on assignments to these nation-cities, can advise as much as they want. It means horseshit in the face of weak rulers with fallible human hearts," Holz said. "They will not act on the counsel of wiser men and women. They will actively decide based on their emotions."

Jerius looked unconvinced.

"You can see that in the cities that we built and the history we woved, " Holz explained. There was a time where the cities were united under fewer banners. Tahoa, Jeopall and the Trio Cities of Wita formed the heart of the human empire called Elaenia, ruled by three brothers whose sons eventually fought and fragmented the cities into the uneasy peace they have now. They were matched only by the Noxarian empire of the west of which I would spare the details, and in the southeast, by the Rurvone empire that ruled over the southern sea. The Rurvone empire fell apart because two royal princes fought each other to death to wed the infamous beauty Lila the Graceful. In the end, she chose a maiden and fled in the Southern Sea, only to drown in an ill-fated storm. The end point is, they all splintered because of fallible hearts."

"All the historical examples you have stemmed from Elaria's collective shame," Jerius said. "But there are many precedents that speak to the contrary."

"Fallible hearts can swing events either way because they are driven by emotions. Good ones may not always continue to stay good, while bad ones may not always be bad. Sometimes people undertake bad things, believing in a good outcome, or good things that lead down the rabbit-hole of carnage and misery," Holz said.

"Yet some like the Ritual of Keys Aderis pursues, are bad things pursued for bad outcomes," Jerius said. This is a long night.

"From our perspective," Holz said. "No one pursues the Ritual of Keys without a strong driver. He is motivated by a reason unknown to you but more important to him than the lives of the city he swore to protect, and the world he lives in. Do you not want to know the driver behind his actions?"

Jerius paused for a long moment. "No. Nothing can excuse him or change my mind about him. He betrayed Nox. He betrayed us all."

Holz said nothing as he drank the last from the wineskin.