Novel Full Chapter 308: Haven
Alexander, along with his two armoured guards, led Elion deeper into the forest, away from the camp, until they reached a secluded clearing.
“This is far enough,” Alexander said.
With a small flick of his hand, he gestured toward the one called Youm.
The guard stepped forward and produced a golden, flat talisman that looked almost like a sheet of paper, though far more refined. It was covered in intricate black markings on both sides of its flat surfaces.
“Everyone, stay close together,” Alexander instructed, his gaze settling briefly on Elion.
“The talisman will activate a teleportation circle with a radius of three metres, so make sure you remain within that range.”
Elion gave a small nod.
He understood that those instructions were mostly meant for him, so he stepped a little closer without being told twice while his eyes remained fixed on the talisman in Youm’s hand.
He wanted to see how this worked.
Youm took a slow breath, then lowered the talisman toward the ground.
The moment it left his hand, it didn’t fall as you would expect it to. Instead, it hovered in the air, suspended just above the forest floor.
Slowly, a faint golden glow seeped from the markings etched into its surface.
At first, it was subtle and barely noticeable to the naked eye, until it began to spread and the light expanded outward in thin, intricate lines, tracing itself across the ground in a perfect circle around them, in a radius of three metres, just as Alexander had said.
’Wow!’
Elion’s eyes widened slightly as he tried to quickly study the pattern of lines. They were precise and beautifully interwoven into a pattern complex beyond anything he had seen before.
Many symbols formed from the patterns until everything connected together, each line and symbol feeding into the next as if guided by an invisible hand.
The air suddenly grew heavier and dense with mana.
Elion could feel it swirling, gathering and compressing around them, converging into the circle forming beneath their feet.
The talisman at the centre burned even brighter, almost like a miniature sun, its glow intensifying as the circle completed itself.
Vrrrrrrmmmmmmm!
A low, resonant hum filled the space.
“Don’t move,” Alexander said calmly.
The circle beneath their feet pulsed once, then again, and then everything flashed into a blinding white.
The world twisted and space folded in on itself.
For a brief, disorienting moment, Elion felt like his body had been pulled apart and stitched back together at the same time, and a momentary silence filled his ears.
The light faded in an instant, and the forest was gone. In its place, a completely different sight filled Elion’s vision.
He was standing on a cliff at the edge of a mountain, and down the slope, a vast, sprawling city stretched out before him.
The sun hung higher here than it had in the forest, its bright rays reflecting off the endless blue waters that lay just beyond the city.
“This is Haven?” Elion asked out loud.
The capital was…
Massive to say the least, and very beautiful. He had never been here before, but the architecture alone was breathtaking.
He could see the docks clearly, where ships lined the edges of the city as it met the ocean. Further inland, there was what looked like a central district, a wide, open plaza dominated by a towering statue, with hundreds of buildings radiating outward from it.
And those buildings were unlike anything he had seen before.
Back in Grimholt, the tallest structures barely reached three stories, excluding the academy’s towering spires that were obviously higher
But here, some buildings stretched ten stories high, maybe even more. And every single roof was layered with red, sprawling tiles, creating a uniform, almost mesmerising pattern across the entire city.
Elion could hear seagulls echoing through the air, their cries blending perfectly with the ocean breeze.
The atmosphere was breathtaking. It all felt… alive.
“Welcome to Haven,” Alexander said, a light smile resting on his face. Elion didn’t respond to the boy’s statement.
Instead, he took a few more seconds to look at how the streets were structured.
The roads were wide, and the buildings were arranged in orderly blocks, with no more than three buildings standing side by side before being separated by another wide road, followed by the next block.
Everything felt like it was done purposefully to maximise efficiency. His gaze shifted toward the central plaza once again.
There were four main roads that converged at the plaza, each one noticeably wider than the rest, and it was obvious why.
’Whoever planned this city is a genius…’ Elion thought. Those wider roads were meant to handle the flow of traffic during busy hours, especially in the mornings, like now.
Elion was looking at Haven at its busiest hour. From behind him, one of the guards, the one whose name he didn’t know yet, spoke up.
“Impressive, isn’t it?”
Elion nodded slowly.
“It is. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Come,” Alexander said, turning away from the view. “We shouldn’t linger here.”
Elion gave the city one last glance before following.
The moment he turned his gaze away from Haven and toward the path ahead, something else caught his eye.
A structure he hadn’t noticed before, farther in the distance.
A towering, ancient-looking castle that seemed to dominate everything around it.
Its walls rose like a monument carved straight from the history books, vast stone layered upon stone, weathered by time yet standing firm. Tall spires pierced the sky, and even from this distance, Elion could feel the weight of its presence.
It stood above the city like a silent ruler.
’…That must be where we’re going.’
The path they were walking along curved around the mountain in a wide, circular band, hugging its length as it descended, so it felt like they were constantly shifting around the curve of the mountainside.
Before long, they came across a fortified gate. One of many, he would bet. It marked the entrance to what looked like the outer court of the castle.
A narrow but tall tower stood beside it, rising sharply into the air. From its base, a short stretch of wall extended outward before merging seamlessly into the rocky face of the mountain itself.
At least ten armed guards were stationed in the area; however, a pair stood directly at the gate. The moment they saw Alexander, they bowed respectfully, perfectly in synch.
“Your Highness.”
The gates opened without delay, and the four of them were allowed through without question.
As soon as Elion stepped across the gates, he immediately noticed the difference. The rugged, unkempt mountainside vanished behind them, and in its place, the refinement in design and care that was put into this place truly shone through.
The natural aesthetic of the mountain had been preserved, but transformed to make it even better. The outer court had been turned into an extravagant garden.
Lush greenery spread across the space, winding paths cutting through carefully arranged flora, trees pruned with precision, and flowers blooming in clusters of colour that stood out against the stone backdrop.
It was beautiful. An intentional contrast between nature and guided growth, only groomed to perfection.
Elion even spotted a beautiful, blue-haired, young female gardener hard at work.
However, this ’gardener’ was a mage. He watched as she used some kind of magic to control the plants around her. The vines shifted, flowers bloomed, and branches bent at her command.
Elion’s eyes widened slightly.
“Is that… plant magic?”
“Nature magic,” Alexander finished for him.
Elion looked back at Alexander, who seemed to be enjoying watching him gawk at literally everything with mild interest.
Alexander continued, “Her talents would be better used elsewhere, in my opinion… but my father has a habit of employing mages with rare affinities.”
He paused briefly.
“And he pays them handsomely too.”
A faint smile formed on his lips.
“Odd, don’t you think?”
Elion gave a small nod in agreement.
“Yeah… a bit.”
He didn’t have much interest in what a possibly quirky king was interested in…Or how he chose to spend his obviously overflowing coffers.
After walking through the sprawling gardens of the outer court, they eventually reached a point where Elion could see the towering castle clearly before him.
They stepped into the paved inner court, where numerous smaller structures were scattered about, some standing alone, others connected to the main castle itself.
They passed through these without stopping until they reached a pathway that led directly into the castle. There, they encountered another group of four guards.
This group was more imposing and a lot more scrutinising than the group they encountered at the gate. Their presence alone made it clear that this area was far more secure.
The weakest was a high mage, while the strongest, to Elion’s surprise, was an Arch-Mage. Even though Elion was accompanying the prince, he was still stopped and checked thoroughly.
It seemed that being with royalty didn’t exempt anyone from protocol. Only after a brief inspection was he allowed through.
The large double doors were opened for them. From the way the doors were positioned, this didn’t seem to be the main entrance, more like a rear access point.
They stepped inside, and an immaculate white corridor stretched out before them, polished to perfection.
This area felt far more active than the empty exterior. A few servants moved about busily, tending to their tasks, adding a quiet sense of motion to the otherwise pristine space.