The Black Tower.

Both Thufrat and Alenia were nervous beyond belief. Alenia was nervous since she had to deliver the news of her mother's untimely death, while Thufrat was scared that she would reject him. If that happened, he had no idea what he was supposed to do. After calming herself down a little, Alenia went up to the inconspicuous door and knocked softly. To her surprise, no one opened the door when she knocked, and she could hear no movement on the other side of the door.

Since no one was going to open it for her, she slowly pushed the door open herself. Inside of the massive tower, was a small lobby. A countertop made out of fine marble was in the middle of the lobby up against the wall. Behind the counter was a small middle-aged man clad in dark robes with the insignia of the Heavenly Beast Pavilion on it. As he heard the slight creaking of the door, he looked up from the piece of paper he was looking at.

"How can I help you, young lady?" He said with a slight smile.

After hesitating for a second or two, Alenia finally spoke up. "I came to see the Heavenly Beast Master. It's very important."

The man squinted as he heard this, he then opened up a drawer and took out a small parchment. "State your name please."

"Alenia Chaehorn"

After hearing this, the man quickly scanned the paper, and to his surprise, the name was actually written on the paper.

"Any identification?" He cupped his hands gently and tried to be as courteous as he could.

Alenia only handed over her identification papers as she was prompted to, and waited patiently. The man looked through her papers to the best of his ability, and upon confirming their authenticity, he told Alenia to wait for a little. After scribbling something down on a small piece of paper, he got up from behind the desk, revealing his height to be no more than 150 centimeters. After walking up to a small hatch, he opened it, put the paper inside, and closed it.

After pulling on a small lever, he then sat down behind the desk once more. Both Thufrat were a little bewildered by this series of events, but since they were told to wait, they waited and inspected their surroundings a little more. The inside of the lobby was actually very cozy as the only thing that kept the darkness away was the existence of a few torches that hung on the walls. The only doors in sight were two doors to the right of the entrance, otherwise, there was nothing really special about the place.

No stairs could be seen anywhere, puzzling both Thufrat and Alenia. Meanwhile, the letter that was thrown into the hatch had flown at an incredible speed, all the way to the very top of the tall tower. At the top of the tower, a middle-aged lady was quietly sitting behind a grandiose desk and working. The desk seemed to be made out of some mysterious high-quality wood, and it was sitting at the back of the room. The room itself looked a little like an office.

The lady was clad in almost the same dark robes as the man in the lobby, the only difference was the materials the robe was made of, and some minor design. The lady also wore a badge on her chest. In front of her desk stood a couple of chairs, whereupon a young man sat on one of them. After hearing a slight sound, both the young man and the lady looked to the small hatch in the wall. The young man promptly stood up and went over to the hatch. After retrieving the letter, he gave it to the lady without even so much as glancing at it.

The lady was pleased with his attitude, and she read the letter leisurely. After reading through the entire letter, slight surprise and confusion were apparent of her face. After about 5 seconds passed, the lady stood up, adjusted the hood of her robe, and walked toward the door of her office. The young man looked at her inquiringly, but stood up shortly after and started to follow her.

On the bottom floor, Thufrat and Alenia both waited with patience. Even though they both grew a little restless, they still just stood there and waited. They didn't even know what they waited for, but they did it nonetheless. After a couple of minutes, they could hear a dull sound coming from behind the two doors before they swiftly swung open.

A lady and a young man stepped out and headed straight for them. The young man walked a step behind the lady, and the lady walked at a very brisk pace. When she came up to Alenia and Thufrat, she stopped for a second.

"Excuse me, are yo-"

In the middle of her sentence, Alenia was interrupted by the lady sweeping her off the floor and into her embrace. The lady spun around in a circle a couple of times before she reluctantly set Alenia back on the floor again. Alenia was flabbergasted and a little dizzy. The lady didn't even try to explain anything, she only told them to follow her, and then went through the two doors again.

On the other side of the two doors was a small room. This small room was only about 4 square meters, but the roof was nowhere to be seen, and both Thufrat and Alenia had no idea what they were doing in here, or what the lady and the young man had been doing in here. The only thing in the small room was a lever, which the young man pulled after they had entered the room. A dull explosion could be heard right underneath their feet before they were suddenly traveling upwards at an insane pace.

Feeling the floor beneath them press them upwards and moving at incredible speeds, they couldn't help but marvel at what they were experiencing. If Ark had been present, he would've instantly thought of an elevator when he saw this, unfortunately he wasn't. The floor they were standing on was made out of a special type of wood that was both highly resistant to magic, as well as force absorbing. When you pulled the lever, an explosion of fire magic took place beneath the floor that propelled them upwards, the force of the explosion was absorbed by the wood, which meant that the people using the "elevator" wouldn't get hurt.

After the initial burst of fire magic, constant wind magic was applied underneath the floor to keep it going at a consistent and safe speed. Thufrat and Alenia had no idea about this though, and they just marveled at the feeling of traveling like this. After ascending for some time, the lady pulled the lever again, which made the elevator slow down before it came to a complete stop.