33 Risen#re

Taliyah smiled lightly when she heard her masters name being called out, before the expedition she planned to have Lirian and her master sit down to clear the air between them.

This banquet was a good opportunity to write off all their troubles, it was more crowdy than she hoped it to be, but she figured that having a crowd might make Lirian a little more reserved if only just a tiny bit.

A short while later when her make up and hair was done, Taliyah heard that the trumpeters had gone to rest from Belinda, it meant that all the invited nobles had arrived, but the best news of all for her was that she wouldn't have to see the trumpets when she went down.

The emperor and empress always arrive last so it was finally her turn.

Taliyah's aides led the way as she trailed behind them, a golden carpet was spread out wherever she had to walk, and the aides walked on both sides just an inch away from the carpet.

As Taliyah got to the stairs she suddenly shot an angry glance at Belinda, as the trumpeters were still there standing patiently and at her appearance they all exploded with earth shaking noise.

"My apologies your majesty, I must have heard wrong," Belinda said to her via voice transmission in a very innocent voice, and her face looked as innocent as a little child.

"Introducing the saviour of Scavanour, the breaker of…" the barker began to introduce the empress, but she quickly cut him off.

"Be a dear and skip the hundred titles, I have a party to attend to and I'd prefer to attend it today," Taliyah said with a feigned yawn.

'Huh, every time,' the barker thought with a sigh, not once would she ever allow him to recite her titles, so he gave the abbreviated introductions to the crowd.

"Now then would everyone please join me in the gardens, the party will officially begin once my son arrives," Taliyah said to the crowd and they soon obeyed her desire as they filled in through the halls and made for the rear gardens where the portals had been set up.

"Master would you care to join me for a walk," Taliyah smiled into the crowd at Telamon.

As if expecting the invitation Telamon came forward through the crowd and gave a small bow to Taliyah and a warm smile crept onto his aged face, "As if I've ever been able to deny my favourite students invitations," he said and hooked his arm around hers like a true gentlemen.

"You look beautiful child," Telamon whispered to her as they walked at the back of the crowd.

Taliyah smiled in response and pulled her master closer, "Master have you heard why the teleporters aren't working properly?" she whispered with worry in her voice.

"Ah, child you worry to much, I got a report from the base, some strange phenomena occurred and it messed up all the systems, it took all they had to get a message out to me, but they said the problem will disappear on its own," the reports that he got were all feigned by the emperor's AI so even Telamon was in the dark on the matter.

Telamon would be lying if he said he wasn't completely at ease, he discovered that only some of the zealots had died, he had life crystals attached to them, and four of them went out in close proximity to each other but the rest didn't.

They were all supposed to commit suicide in the end, yet most of them were still alive, he could only hope that it was because they wanted to transfer some intel to him before dying, but they couldn't due to the interference from the phenomena.

Only one of them was supposed to return alive to return the submission disc, after that that zealot would also commit suicide.

"However there is some bad news Taliyah, I've heard that a few students died!" Telamon whispered softly, and he felt Taliyah shake slightly at his words.

He gave Taliyah a gentle smile, "You know your son better than me I'm sure that he isn't one of the casualties, unfortunately they were tight lipped about it in the report, so it's either some one of no importance or one of the candidates," Telamon consoled her and stroked her fears in a single breath.

But he was certain that the death was Lirian's, with everything he invested into killing him, it would be impossible if Lirian had an intact corpse.

Taliyah shook her head, "When you say it like that it gives me even more of scare," Taliyah complained with a pout.

"Haha," Telamon chuckled merrily, "I'm sure that Lirian will return with some great achievements, enough to stun all the nobles here, and make them drown in envy," Telamon said with an exaggerated air to his words.

"Oh," Taliyah suddenly opened her eyes wide, "I've really been stupid panicking, Albus has already told me about Lirian's achievements, you won't believe it but Albus claims Lirian killed a third grade mammoth, hell I'm his mother and even I couldn't believe it," Taliyah said practically skipping with joy as she bragged to her master, but she felt Telamon suddenly go stiff.

"Are you alright master?" Taliyah asked with concern.

"It's nothing," Telamon said forcing his calmness, "Was his majesty truly observing the expedition?" he asked but a little worry unconsciously crept into his tone.

Taliyah shrugged her shoulders, "He was probably just monitoring Lirian's scores from time to time, you know him, he rarely ever dedicates all his attention to a single thing," Taliyah said with a slight pout as she thought about Albus.

"Why, this seems to have you very concerned master?" Taliyah said with a teasing smile while holding onto Telamon's arm tightly, the aides looking from the side were surprised by how easy-going Taliyah was with Telamon it was like in his presence she became a child again and wanted her master's attention.

"I just fear that the noble's will think his majesty to be favouring Lirian if they find out that he was monitoring the expedition," Telamon said tactfully but his eyes started to wonder around with a barely concealed panic.

"Master you're always such a worry-wot, Albus did the same with all our children, and no one ever learnt of it," she whispered secretively as they arrived in the gardens.

"I take it that it was his majesty that wanted this banquet to be held," Telamon said with a knowing look in his eyes, "It's no wonder it was on such short notice, it was because of Lirian's performance that he suddenly decided to have Lirian take the unbeatable challenge," Telamon said more to himself than to Taliyah, deducing the situation.

"Master is as smart as ever," Taliyah praised with glittering eyes, her master was always exceptional at deducing, he always said that it was what made such a good advisor, deduction was the key, to form crazy theories and use deduction to confirm or deny the possibility of something.

Telamon had a bad feeling, earlier it was just a slight worry that things didn't go smoothly, but now if the emperor was involved it was very likely that his activities were exposed, if that was the case then this entire event was one major trap planned, to make him let his guard down.

'A bold move,' Telamon thought feeling distress, 'This is totally unlike the Albus I know he always tries to be discreet with his actions unless he has no choice,' Telamon thought and that's when it hit him, this was a very bold move, and the only person who held anything against him that was so bold was undoubtedly Lirian.

'The emperor is aiding Lirian,' Telamon concluded with fine drops of sweat appearing on his head.

"Taliyah…" Telamon started but his voice was drowned out by Taliyah who started to say something at the same time.

"Sorry master," she apologized, "But this is important to me, do you remember before the expedition, you were supposed to meet with Lirian to clear the air between the two of you?" she asked nervously not looking directly at her master, she was embarrassed by Lirians treatment of her master so she felt extremely ashamed of herself.

Telamon nodded absentmindedly, but he was looking around with fear in his eyes.

"Master would it be possible for you to have a nice long discussion with Lirian when he returns, I know that's its his fault but he's just a child, and you know how jealous children can get when their parents praise other people?" she said with an embarrassed smile as she looked at her master again.

"Are you sure your alright?" Taliyah asked seeing that he was dripping with sweat.

"Yes I'm fine child," Telamon said forcing a smile, "You know what you're absolutely correct, so in the name of making things right between myself and young Lirian, would you allow me to return to the academy, I have a gift in mind that I'm sure young Lirian will appreciate," Telamon said still forcing a smile.

"I knew you'd understand," Taliyah said with a bright smile and released Telamons arm, but just as Telamon was about to leave, someone shouted from the portal control panel.

"Someone has infiltrated the system and they are changing the coordinates we are receiving from!" one of the portal technicians shouted in alarm, and that got the attention of everyone else.

As the nobles started to question if it was some sort of terrorist attack, none of them panicked they were the people that stood at the pinnacle of the world so there was no way they would be afraid.

So, aside from the younger generation the nobles all stood their ground when the portal opened up.

"Where is the gate opening from?" Taliyah questioned calmly.

"Your majesty it's…" the technician looked at the coordinates with confusion, then looked up in the sky, "It's coming from up there," he muttered as if not sure himself as he pointed to the sky.

Just then the gate opened and a figure came striding through the portal.

Everyone saw the silver hair first then the blindfold wrapped around the persons eyes and the golden earing with the Clovis home world map engraved into it, the person was dress in an extremely well-tailored black suit with a red inner.

They had all seen a photo or a recording of Lirian at one point and they all recognised him instantly as he whipped out his walking cane and stepped into their view.

"Telamon Dao, why are you in such a rush to leave, this banquet has only just begun!" Lirian called out loudly, his voice was cold and chilling as it grated every ones ears but most of all it made Telamon feel chills, the same chills he felt when he saw the shadowy figure in Efrideet's vision.

It was the voice of a monster.