Chapter 240: 006 – Prologue 4: The Road To Nebula 2
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Mordred walked into the academy for the first time since they left for the expedition, everyone had taken their own time in returning and his was two weeks.
It was strange returning to this place when everything was suddenly different, the first four floors of the academy were pretty much the same except for all the pointing as he walked through the corridor and reached the elevator.
He couldn't even get a break in the elevator, because a bunch of students followed after him, but just as he thought he was going to experience an agonising ride someone came to his rescue.
"Stop bugging the survivors and get to class," a voice rang in the students ears and they all turned to see the princess candidate Media coming close they moved aside and did as told, with glum expressions, clearly they wanted to speak to Mordred and get the first bit of gossip about him.
"Thanks for that," Mordred said appreciatively as Media join him, after that no one entered and the doors shut, leaving them alone.
"That's okay, no one will leave any of us alone anymore after what happened, they've started to label everyone who returned from the expedition as 'The Survivors' and they've even given everyone a number, you're 'Survivor 5'," she said to Mordred just making a little small talk to fill the silence.
Mordred nodded he had heard all about it before returning, it was mainly because of the attention the survivors were getting that he took so long to return.
The door suddenly opened as the elevator opened up, "This is me," he said and got out, "Thanks again for earlier," he said appreciatively as he left.
"It's no problem, take care of yourself," Media said with a sweet smile that was a deep shade of red as she headed to her floor.
Mordred began to move through the corridor, though it was eerily quiet, those halls that were usually bustling with students, there were always a few that would be running through the corridors making a racket, but not today, they probably never would be the same again.
Each grade had about 600 students, his grade had only 18 survivors seven of them were from his class as for the rest they were all dead and buried on 'The World of the Serpent', that was what everyone was calling the outlier planet now.
Media's grade had the most survivors 62 in all they were called the 'lucky ones', as for Media she was like the queen of the academy currently, Edith and Wentian were dead and Tobias had gone missing mysteriously.
No one had a clue as to what had happened, the staff from his manor said that he left in his limo with his head guard to do something, but they never heard a word from him ever since, and Cole he was currently receiving treatment for his injuries.
As for Lirian after that intel about him spread, reporters went rushing to the manor but it was completely empty, all the servants were gone and so were, the empress, her aides, the emperor, and Lirian.
Just as Mordred was about to reach his class he was walking past a broom closet when he heard some strange sounds which helped him take his mind of things a little and a mischievous smile filled his face as he hurried to his class, while pulling out a flask of water.
"Hi," he greeted as he got into the class there were only 5 people inside, including him that made 6, Lucas Halts, Karen Eden, Sarah Jane, Damien Uldwin and Eido they were the other survivors also the only one not present was Shen Xia.
Her long time childhood friend Shen Lim died in the expedition and everyone used to say that they were more than friends, as it turned out the gossip was true, even now she was still in mourning.
"Hi," they answered back but their energy was lack lustre only Sarah seemed a little enthusiastic, though Mordred felt more awkward around her since her involuntary confession to him.
The only thing he could feel grateful for was that that neither Sarah nor Mizuhara had died, he wasn't sure if he loved them but the thought of them dying did scare him.
Feeling the stifling silence was a little too much for Mordred so he opened his flask and took a sip of water as he walked to his desk, but he suddenly tripped and the water went spilling everywhere making a mess.
"You're always so clumsy," Sarah started to scold him immediately as she ran forward to help him.
"Ah, crap, I messed water everywhere," Mordred complain in an exaggerated tone, "Hey Eido, can you grab me a mop from the broom closet?" he asked earnestly.
Eido seemed extremely earnest to be able to do anything, the little devil girl had been practically left out now that her only two friends in the class were dead, so she was happy to be able to do something, as she rushed out of the class a grin formed on Mordred's lips.
Just seconds later a shrill scream echoed through the empty corridor, and another two voices were heard yelping, the members of the class all stood up on alert with looks of terror on their faces.
"That's Eido," Helen said with a worried expression and the rest of the class all followed her to the door while raising their guard.
But just as they reached the door, Eido came charging in her purple skin was a hundred shades darker as she squirmed from embarrassment.
"M-m-m-miss Hira and Mr Alastor," she said while shaking her head nervously and pointing at the broom closet, "They were busy in the closet," she said in a fluster.
"Hahaha," Mordred was the first to start laughing and the others soon followed, they didn't laugh much but it was probably the first time any of them laughed since the expedition.
A short while later Miss Hira came rushing to the class with her clothes in order but her hair was a mess, as soon as she got to the class, she looked at Eido and prepared to speak to her alone, but seeing that her students were giggling when they saw her, she knew that they all knew.
"Not a word of this to anyone!" she said sternly, but she was glad to see that their faces were less gloomy.
The students nodded seriously while some of them held their sides to stop from shaking, but after a few short moments a secretary came knocking on the door, "Mordred Pendragon," she said instantly spotting him, "Come with me you have a visitor that wishes to speak with you,"
A few minutes later Mordred found himself in one of the fanciest rooms that the academy used to entertain guests, it was the room that was actually reserved for the usage of the emperor and empress should they visit.
That came as a huge surprise to Mordred, but not as much as the next surprise he received, a woman was sitting in one of the chairs lounging in a carefree style with her legs dangling in the air.
Mordred gulped audibly as he looked at the dark skinned long meaty legs, and the body it was attached to that had every curve a man could ask for when he reached the woman face however she would just qualify as pretty, but she had the body to make up for it.
The woman saw his heated gaze and didn't seem to mind, in fact she seemed to be purposely flaunting herself as if wanting his opinion.
"What do you think?" she asked expectantly as she placed a hand on one of her juicy thighs and looked at him.
"You look amazing, b-b-but who are you?" Mordred answered and asked nervously as he became very self-conscious.
"But how amazing?" the woman asked with a flirty smile, "On a scale of 1-100," she added mischievously.
"1000," Mordred blurted out without even thinking, it was a hands down answer.
"HA!" the woman suddenly shouted with an ecstatic look on her face, "Damn that impudent brat, he dared say that I need to wear some make-up," she yelled with a scowl, which quickly turned into a light smile as she looked at Mordred.
"Thank you for that dear," she said to Mordred who was feeling confused, but he was also slightly disappointed the earlier heat she was giving off seemed to vanish once he gave his answer.
"As for your answer I believe this will suffice," she said and showed him her palm, an image began to take shape on her hand and Mordred saw a severed dragons head and underneath it a 'ɱ' rune appeared.
Without even thinking Mordred fell to his knees and banged his head against the ground, "Lady Matriarch forgive me for my earlier impudence," he cried out in terror.
The ancient families were very fragmented and scattered throughout the universe, rarely did they meet with one another, and the matriarch, Morgana Pendragon, was a very elusive figure, so Mordred naturally didn't know what she looked like.
His parents had merely gotten orders from the family to send him to the academy the Clovis empress's new son was going to attend and that was the end of it.
"Quit being so terrified kid and sit down I have something I need to ask you," she said and with a twirl of her finger energy flowed from her in strange patterns that Mordred had never seen before and lifted him into a seat.
"I have heard that you managed to take down a drake on your expedition kiddo, which already makes you a Pendragon," she said making his position official.
"Now tell me, how did you kill the drake?" she asked while looking at him intently.
Mordred had actually feared being asked this question, because technically he didn't kill the drake.
"Lady Matriarch please forgive me but I didn't kill it alone, I know that I lied, I'll accept any punishment," he cried out desperately, he was so nervous in the matriarchs presence that he knew it was impossible for him to continue the lie, so he just offered the truth from the start.
"Kakahahah," the matriarch snorted and laughed at him while holding her sides, "You, take down a guardian of the forest alone!" she said in an incredulous tone.
"Who would believe that," she chuckled while slapping her juicy thigh and shaking her head, "Now tell me kiddo, how you contributed to killing it?" she asked in amused tone.
A look of relief and sadness entered Mordred's eyes, he was glad that he wasn't in trouble, but he felt disheartened by the lack of faith, after all he really did risk his life to take it down.
So in order to hype himself up to the matriarch he created a magical tale about how he mounted the drake with Lirian, he made it seem like it was his idea and made up a part about how he helped Lirian climb the drake.
Then he said that due to the extensive he research he'd done before the expedition he learned that all rock elemental creatures had cores that had to be destroyed, and after his valiant efforts he found the spots of the cores.
But just then a mighty eagle knocked Lirian and just when Lirian was about to die, not only did he save Lirian he even took down the eagle after a desperate struggle, that was the only true part of the story, but due to his exaggeration, one wouldn't be surprised if they were told the eagle was a second grade mystic beast.
The only part he gave Lirian his true credit for was the part where Lirian swung down and smashed the second orb, 'that Mordred managed to find'.
Morgana listened to the story and nodded along with enthusiasm, pugilist's were empty headed in general so she believed him for the most part, and her eye especially lit up when Mordred told her that he destroyed the core under the wing.
It was just like that final page of the script said.
When Mordred finished his tale, Morgana pulled an empty page and showed it to Mordred, "Do you see anything?" she asked flipping the page around and letting him see both sides.
Mordred merely shook his head as he looked at it in confusion, a moment later Morgana offered the page to him and told him to concentrate on it really hard.
After a while Mordred shook his head and handed it back, and just when Morgana touched the page a sudden change occurred, strange lines began to pour out of the page and wrapped themselves around Mordred.
Mordred was shocked at first but then he started to panic as the lines began to pierce his body and filled him with indescribable pain.
Before long he collapsed to the ground with his body twitching, he was in so much pain that he couldn't make a sound.
Morgan looked on in shock, she was rendered immobile by a power being released by the page and as she looked at the page a set of lines began to appear.
'The waylines have served me well, now it is time that I return them to my successors with a little something special extra,'
When she finished reading it, the page caught fire and disappeared freeing her from its hold and she rushed to Mordred quickly inspecting his body and what she saw startled her.
Three sets of waylines linked up his centres of power, granting him the waylines of saints, pugilists and warlocks, it was identical to the waylines she set up for Lucian three years ago, and as she thought back to the words of the page she shook her head.
"It can't be," she muttered in disbelief, but she thought back to Lucians eyes and how it was exactly as Arthurs were described, she shook of the thoughts and attended to Mordred.
She quickly found out that she was worried over nothing, there was some power in the page that kept healing Mordred as the waylines entered his body which definitely saved his life, and a few minutes later he woke up looking like he'd been reborn.
"What happened to me?" he asked in disbelief as he clenched his fist feeling confused by the power coursing through his body, and there was also a bunch of info, about fighting techniques, spells and perfect second grade techniques in his head, that he had no idea how to use.
"I'm not sure, but it seems like something good," Morgana said as she looked at the transformation, the thing that took her the most aback was a set of scales that appeared on Mordred's face.
Morgana felt excited seeing his transformation and a brilliant idea formed in her mind, "Kiddo, how would you like to become this beautiful woman's successor?" she asked, in the back of her mind she was sad that the script was gone, because she felt that it would have been hilarious to watch the boy struggle with its incessant crap.
"Lady Matriarch please don't patronise me," Mordred complained, he was on a high from the new power, but his Matriarch's teasing brought him crashing down.
"You think I'd joke about this kiddo," she laughed, "I'm serious, but if you accept just know that you'll have to beat all my records before I declare your status to the old crodgers," she said enthusiastically.
Mordred was taken aback by how serious his Matriarch was being, but seeing that she was serious and that he had his new found power, he felt like he could take on the world.
"I'll do it," Mordred answered and no sooner than he answered did he feel himself become weightless.
There was a loud explosion that he heard, and when he looked around he found that he was in the middle of the air in the distance he could see the academy and a big gaping hole in the top floor of the fifty storey building.
"You could have used the door," Mordred cried out loud as his Matriarch soared through the sky and pulled him along into a ship that was hovering in the sky.
"Doors are for wimps," Morgana laughed aloud as she entered a set of co-ordinates into the ships.
"Where are we going?" he asked as the ship began to move.
"To a very special training grounds kiddo, the first thing you need to know is that I your Matriarch have made history, that no one in the empires can compare with, I completed the unbeatable challenge," she said in a bragging tone.
"And if you want to be my successor you have to beat me, unfortunately the world I went to is being restocked by the empires with… merchandise… so I can't take you there, but the good news is that there are 6 other worlds like the one I used,"
"I used the fourth world, but since it's currently being restocked I'll one up the difficulty which is in line with my expectations of you kiddo, so you can go to the fifth world," Morgana said with a large grin.
"Lady Matriarch forgive me but I really have no idea what you're saying," Mordred complained as he stared back at Xelia which was quickly escaping his view.
"Oh my, you are so clueless about the world kiddo," Morgana laughed manically, "I'm taking you to a very dangerous world, but if you can't conquer it then I'm afraid that you aren't qualified to be my successor, it's a world called Nebula-5, you'll love it once you get there," Morgana said with a wide grin.
"Boy what do you keep looking back for?" she asked when she realised that he wasn't paying attention to her.
"Couldn't you have at least let me say my good-byes, and grab my stuff?" Mordred complained as he continued to stare at Xelia in the distance, it was quickly becoming a dot.
"Your stuff won't have much use where you're going, and you can give you friends a call, but don't tell them where I'm taking you, the last thing I want is the empires finding out where we are going!" Morgana said with a shrug and set the ship to autopilot.
Target destination : Nebula-5
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Mordred walked into the academy for the first time since they left for the expedition, everyone had taken their own time in returning and his was two weeks.
It was strange returning to this place when everything was suddenly different, the first four floors of the academy were pretty much the same except for all the pointing as he walked through the corridor and reached the elevator.
He couldn't even get a break in the elevator, because a bunch of students followed after him, but just as he thought he was going to experience an agonising ride someone came to his rescue.
"Stop bugging the survivors and get to class," a voice rang in the students ears and they all turned to see the princess candidate Media coming close they moved aside and did as told, with glum expressions, clearly they wanted to speak to Mordred and get the first bit of gossip about him.
"Thanks for that," Mordred said appreciatively as Media join him, after that no one entered and the doors shut, leaving them alone.
"That's okay, no one will leave any of us alone anymore after what happened, they've started to label everyone who returned from the expedition as 'The Survivors' and they've even given everyone a number, you're 'Survivor 5'," she said to Mordred just making a little small talk to fill the silence.
Mordred nodded he had heard all about it before returning, it was mainly because of the attention the survivors were getting that he took so long to return.
The door suddenly opened as the elevator opened up, "This is me," he said and got out, "Thanks again for earlier," he said appreciatively as he left.
"It's no problem, take care of yourself," Media said with a sweet smile that was a deep shade of red as she headed to her floor.
Mordred began to move through the corridor, though it was eerily quiet, those halls that were usually bustling with students, there were always a few that would be running through the corridors making a racket, but not today, they probably never would be the same again.
Each grade had about 600 students, his grade had only 18 survivors seven of them were from his class as for the rest they were all dead and buried on 'The World of the Serpent', that was what everyone was calling the outlier planet now.
Media's grade had the most survivors 62 in all they were called the 'lucky ones', as for Media she was like the queen of the academy currently, Edith and Wentian were dead and Tobias had gone missing mysteriously.
No one had a clue as to what had happened, the staff from his manor said that he left in his limo with his head guard to do something, but they never heard a word from him ever since, and Cole he was currently receiving treatment for his injuries.
As for Lirian after that intel about him spread, reporters went rushing to the manor but it was completely empty, all the servants were gone and so were, the empress, her aides, the emperor, and Lirian.
Just as Mordred was about to reach his class he was walking past a broom closet when he heard some strange sounds which helped him take his mind of things a little and a mischievous smile filled his face as he hurried to his class, while pulling out a flask of water.
"Hi," he greeted as he got into the class there were only 5 people inside, including him that made 6, Lucas Halts, Karen Eden, Sarah Jane, Damien Uldwin and Eido they were the other survivors also the only one not present was Shen Xia.
Her long time childhood friend Shen Lim died in the expedition and everyone used to say that they were more than friends, as it turned out the gossip was true, even now she was still in mourning.
"Hi," they answered back but their energy was lack lustre only Sarah seemed a little enthusiastic, though Mordred felt more awkward around her since her involuntary confession to him.
The only thing he could feel grateful for was that that neither Sarah nor Mizuhara had died, he wasn't sure if he loved them but the thought of them dying did scare him.
Feeling the stifling silence was a little too much for Mordred so he opened his flask and took a sip of water as he walked to his desk, but he suddenly tripped and the water went spilling everywhere making a mess.
"You're always so clumsy," Sarah started to scold him immediately as she ran forward to help him.
"Ah, crap, I messed water everywhere," Mordred complain in an exaggerated tone, "Hey Eido, can you grab me a mop from the broom closet?" he asked earnestly.
Eido seemed extremely earnest to be able to do anything, the little devil girl had been practically left out now that her only two friends in the class were dead, so she was happy to be able to do something, as she rushed out of the class a grin formed on Mordred's lips.
Just seconds later a shrill scream echoed through the empty corridor, and another two voices were heard yelping, the members of the class all stood up on alert with looks of terror on their faces.
"That's Eido," Helen said with a worried expression and the rest of the class all followed her to the door while raising their guard.
But just as they reached the door, Eido came charging in her purple skin was a hundred shades darker as she squirmed from embarrassment.
"M-m-m-miss Hira and Mr Alastor," she said while shaking her head nervously and pointing at the broom closet, "They were busy in the closet," she said in a fluster.
"Hahaha," Mordred was the first to start laughing and the others soon followed, they didn't laugh much but it was probably the first time any of them laughed since the expedition.
A short while later Miss Hira came rushing to the class with her clothes in order but her hair was a mess, as soon as she got to the class, she looked at Eido and prepared to speak to her alone, but seeing that her students were giggling when they saw her, she knew that they all knew.
"Not a word of this to anyone!" she said sternly, but she was glad to see that their faces were less gloomy.
The students nodded seriously while some of them held their sides to stop from shaking, but after a few short moments a secretary came knocking on the door, "Mordred Pendragon," she said instantly spotting him, "Come with me you have a visitor that wishes to speak with you,"
A few minutes later Mordred found himself in one of the fanciest rooms that the academy used to entertain guests, it was the room that was actually reserved for the usage of the emperor and empress should they visit.
That came as a huge surprise to Mordred, but not as much as the next surprise he received, a woman was sitting in one of the chairs lounging in a carefree style with her legs dangling in the air.
Mordred gulped audibly as he looked at the dark skinned long meaty legs, and the body it was attached to that had every curve a man could ask for when he reached the woman face however she would just qualify as pretty, but she had the body to make up for it.
The woman saw his heated gaze and didn't seem to mind, in fact she seemed to be purposely flaunting herself as if wanting his opinion.
"What do you think?" she asked expectantly as she placed a hand on one of her juicy thighs and looked at him.
"You look amazing, b-b-but who are you?" Mordred answered and asked nervously as he became very self-conscious.
"But how amazing?" the woman asked with a flirty smile, "On a scale of 1-100," she added mischievously.
"1000," Mordred blurted out without even thinking, it was a hands down answer.
"HA!" the woman suddenly shouted with an ecstatic look on her face, "Damn that impudent brat, he dared say that I need to wear some make-up," she yelled with a scowl, which quickly turned into a light smile as she looked at Mordred.
"Thank you for that dear," she said to Mordred who was feeling confused, but he was also slightly disappointed the earlier heat she was giving off seemed to vanish once he gave his answer.
"As for your answer I believe this will suffice," she said and showed him her palm, an image began to take shape on her hand and Mordred saw a severed dragons head and underneath it a 'ɱ' rune appeared.
Without even thinking Mordred fell to his knees and banged his head against the ground, "Lady Matriarch forgive me for my earlier impudence," he cried out in terror.
The ancient families were very fragmented and scattered throughout the universe, rarely did they meet with one another, and the matriarch, Morgana Pendragon, was a very elusive figure, so Mordred naturally didn't know what she looked like.
His parents had merely gotten orders from the family to send him to the academy the Clovis empress's new son was going to attend and that was the end of it.
"Quit being so terrified kid and sit down I have something I need to ask you," she said and with a twirl of her finger energy flowed from her in strange patterns that Mordred had never seen before and lifted him into a seat.
"I have heard that you managed to take down a drake on your expedition kiddo, which already makes you a Pendragon," she said making his position official.
"Now tell me, how did you kill the drake?" she asked while looking at him intently.
Mordred had actually feared being asked this question, because technically he didn't kill the drake.
"Lady Matriarch please forgive me but I didn't kill it alone, I know that I lied, I'll accept any punishment," he cried out desperately, he was so nervous in the matriarchs presence that he knew it was impossible for him to continue the lie, so he just offered the truth from the start.
"Kakahahah," the matriarch snorted and laughed at him while holding her sides, "You, take down a guardian of the forest alone!" she said in an incredulous tone.
"Who would believe that," she chuckled while slapping her juicy thigh and shaking her head, "Now tell me kiddo, how you contributed to killing it?" she asked in amused tone.
A look of relief and sadness entered Mordred's eyes, he was glad that he wasn't in trouble, but he felt disheartened by the lack of faith, after all he really did risk his life to take it down.
So in order to hype himself up to the matriarch he created a magical tale about how he mounted the drake with Lirian, he made it seem like it was his idea and made up a part about how he helped Lirian climb the drake.
Then he said that due to the extensive he research he'd done before the expedition he learned that all rock elemental creatures had cores that had to be destroyed, and after his valiant efforts he found the spots of the cores.
But just then a mighty eagle knocked Lirian and just when Lirian was about to die, not only did he save Lirian he even took down the eagle after a desperate struggle, that was the only true part of the story, but due to his exaggeration, one wouldn't be surprised if they were told the eagle was a second grade mystic beast.
The only part he gave Lirian his true credit for was the part where Lirian swung down and smashed the second orb, 'that Mordred managed to find'.
Morgana listened to the story and nodded along with enthusiasm, pugilist's were empty headed in general so she believed him for the most part, and her eye especially lit up when Mordred told her that he destroyed the core under the wing.
It was just like that final page of the script said.
When Mordred finished his tale, Morgana pulled an empty page and showed it to Mordred, "Do you see anything?" she asked flipping the page around and letting him see both sides.
Mordred merely shook his head as he looked at it in confusion, a moment later Morgana offered the page to him and told him to concentrate on it really hard.
After a while Mordred shook his head and handed it back, and just when Morgana touched the page a sudden change occurred, strange lines began to pour out of the page and wrapped themselves around Mordred.
Mordred was shocked at first but then he started to panic as the lines began to pierce his body and filled him with indescribable pain.
Before long he collapsed to the ground with his body twitching, he was in so much pain that he couldn't make a sound.
Morgan looked on in shock, she was rendered immobile by a power being released by the page and as she looked at the page a set of lines began to appear.
'The waylines have served me well, now it is time that I return them to my successors with a little something special extra,'
When she finished reading it, the page caught fire and disappeared freeing her from its hold and she rushed to Mordred quickly inspecting his body and what she saw startled her.
Three sets of waylines linked up his centres of power, granting him the waylines of saints, pugilists and warlocks, it was identical to the waylines she set up for Lucian three years ago, and as she thought back to the words of the page she shook her head.
"It can't be," she muttered in disbelief, but she thought back to Lucians eyes and how it was exactly as Arthurs were described, she shook of the thoughts and attended to Mordred.
She quickly found out that she was worried over nothing, there was some power in the page that kept healing Mordred as the waylines entered his body which definitely saved his life, and a few minutes later he woke up looking like he'd been reborn.
"What happened to me?" he asked in disbelief as he clenched his fist feeling confused by the power coursing through his body, and there was also a bunch of info, about fighting techniques, spells and perfect second grade techniques in his head, that he had no idea how to use.
"I'm not sure, but it seems like something good," Morgana said as she looked at the transformation, the thing that took her the most aback was a set of scales that appeared on Mordred's face.
Morgana felt excited seeing his transformation and a brilliant idea formed in her mind, "Kiddo, how would you like to become this beautiful woman's successor?" she asked, in the back of her mind she was sad that the script was gone, because she felt that it would have been hilarious to watch the boy struggle with its incessant crap.
"Lady Matriarch please don't patronise me," Mordred complained, he was on a high from the new power, but his Matriarch's teasing brought him crashing down.
"You think I'd joke about this kiddo," she laughed, "I'm serious, but if you accept just know that you'll have to beat all my records before I declare your status to the old crodgers," she said enthusiastically.
Mordred was taken aback by how serious his Matriarch was being, but seeing that she was serious and that he had his new found power, he felt like he could take on the world.
"I'll do it," Mordred answered and no sooner than he answered did he feel himself become weightless.
There was a loud explosion that he heard, and when he looked around he found that he was in the middle of the air in the distance he could see the academy and a big gaping hole in the top floor of the fifty storey building.
"You could have used the door," Mordred cried out loud as his Matriarch soared through the sky and pulled him along into a ship that was hovering in the sky.
"Doors are for wimps," Morgana laughed aloud as she entered a set of co-ordinates into the ships.
"Where are we going?" he asked as the ship began to move.
"To a very special training grounds kiddo, the first thing you need to know is that I your Matriarch have made history, that no one in the empires can compare with, I completed the unbeatable challenge," she said in a bragging tone.
"And if you want to be my successor you have to beat me, unfortunately the world I went to is being restocked by the empires with… merchandise… so I can't take you there, but the good news is that there are 6 other worlds like the one I used,"
"I used the fourth world, but since it's currently being restocked I'll one up the difficulty which is in line with my expectations of you kiddo, so you can go to the fifth world," Morgana said with a large grin.
"Lady Matriarch forgive me but I really have no idea what you're saying," Mordred complained as he stared back at Xelia which was quickly escaping his view.
"Oh my, you are so clueless about the world kiddo," Morgana laughed manically, "I'm taking you to a very dangerous world, but if you can't conquer it then I'm afraid that you aren't qualified to be my successor, it's a world called Nebula-5, you'll love it once you get there," Morgana said with a wide grin.
"Boy what do you keep looking back for?" she asked when she realised that he wasn't paying attention to her.
"Couldn't you have at least let me say my good-byes, and grab my stuff?" Mordred complained as he continued to stare at Xelia in the distance, it was quickly becoming a dot.
"Your stuff won't have much use where you're going, and you can give you friends a call, but don't tell them where I'm taking you, the last thing I want is the empires finding out where we are going!" Morgana said with a shrug and set the ship to autopilot.
Target destination : Nebula-5
Mordred walked into the academy for the first time since they left for the expedition, everyone had taken their own time in returning and his was two weeks. It was strange returning to this place when everything was suddenly different, the first four floors of the academy were pretty much the same except for all the pointing as he walked through the corridor and reached the elevator. He couldn't even get a break in the elevator, because a bunch of students followed after him, but just as he thought he was going to experience an agonising ride someone came to his rescue. "Stop bugging the survivors and get to class," a voice rang in the students ears and they all turned to see the princess candidate Media coming close they moved aside and did as told, with glum expressions, clearly they wanted to speak to Mordred and get the first bit of gossip about him. "Thanks for that," Mordred said appreciatively as Media join him, after that no one entered and the doors shut, leaving them alone. "That's okay, no one will leave any of us alone anymore after what happened, they've started to label everyone who returned from the expedition as 'The Survivors' and they've even given everyone a number, you're 'Survivor 5'," she said to Mordred just making a little small talk to fill the silence. Mordred nodded he had heard all about it before returning, it was mainly because of the attention the survivors were getting that he took so long to return. The door suddenly opened as the elevator opened up, "This is me," he said and got out, "Thanks again for earlier," he said appreciatively as he left. "It's no problem, take care of yourself," Media said with a sweet smile that was a deep shade of red as she headed to her floor. Mordred began to move through the corridor, though it was eerily quiet, those halls that were usually bustling with students, there were always a few that would be running through the corridors making a racket, but not today, they probably never would be the same again. Each grade had about 600 students, his grade had only 18 survivors seven of them were from his class as for the rest they were all dead and buried on 'The World of the Serpent', that was what everyone was calling the outlier planet now. Media's grade had the most survivors 62 in all they were called the 'lucky ones', as for Media she was like the queen of the academy currently, Edith and Wentian were dead and Tobias had gone missing mysteriously. No one had a clue as to what had happened, the staff from his manor said that he left in his limo with his head guard to do something, but they never heard a word from him ever since, and Cole he was currently receiving treatment for his injuries. As for Lirian after that intel about him spread, reporters went rushing to the manor but it was completely empty, all the servants were gone and so were, the empress, her aides, the emperor, and Lirian. Just as Mordred was about to reach his class he was walking past a broom closet when he heard some strange sounds which helped him take his mind of things a little and a mischievous smile filled his face as he hurried to his class, while pulling out a flask of water. "Hi," he greeted as he got into the class there were only 5 people inside, including him that made 6, Lucas Halts, Karen Eden, Sarah Jane, Damien Uldwin and Eido they were the other survivors also the only one not present was Shen Xia. Her long time childhood friend Shen Lim died in the expedition and everyone used to say that they were more than friends, as it turned out the gossip was true, even now she was still in mourning. "Hi," they answered back but their energy was lack lustre only Sarah seemed a little enthusiastic, though Mordred felt more awkward around her since her involuntary confession to him. The only thing he could feel grateful for was that that neither Sarah nor Mizuhara had died, he wasn't sure if he loved them but the thought of them dying did scare him. Feeling the stifling silence was a little too much for Mordred so he opened his flask and took a sip of water as he walked to his desk, but he suddenly tripped and the water went spilling everywhere making a mess. "You're always so clumsy," Sarah started to scold him immediately as she ran forward to help him. "Ah, crap, I messed water everywhere," Mordred complain in an exaggerated tone, "Hey Eido, can you grab me a mop from the broom closet?" he asked earnestly. Eido seemed extremely earnest to be able to do anything, the little devil girl had been practically left out now that her only two friends in the class were dead, so she was happy to be able to do something, as she rushed out of the class a grin formed on Mordred's lips. Just seconds later a shrill scream echoed through the empty corridor, and another two voices were heard yelping, the members of the class all stood up on alert with looks of terror on their faces. "That's Eido," Helen said with a worried expression and the rest of the class all followed her to the door while raising their guard. But just as they reached the door, Eido came charging in her purple skin was a hundred shades darker as she squirmed from embarrassment. "M-m-m-miss Hira and Mr Alastor," she said while shaking her head nervously and pointing at the broom closet, "They were busy in the closet," she said in a fluster. "Hahaha," Mordred was the first to start laughing and the others soon followed, they didn't laugh much but it was probably the first time any of them laughed since the expedition. A short while later Miss Hira came rushing to the class with her clothes in order but her hair was a mess, as soon as she got to the class, she looked at Eido and prepared to speak to her alone, but seeing that her students were giggling when they saw her, she knew that they all knew. "Not a word of this to anyone!" she said sternly, but she was glad to see that their faces were less gloomy. The students nodded seriously while some of them held their sides to stop from shaking, but after a few short moments a secretary came knocking on the door, "Mordred Pendragon," she said instantly spotting him, "Come with me you have a visitor that wishes to speak with you," A few minutes later Mordred found himself in one of the fanciest rooms that the academy used to entertain guests, it was the room that was actually reserved for the usage of the emperor and empress should they visit. That came as a huge surprise to Mordred, but not as much as the next surprise he received, a woman was sitting in one of the chairs lounging in a carefree style with her legs dangling in the air. Mordred gulped audibly as he looked at the dark skinned long meaty legs, and the body it was attached to that had every curve a man could ask for when he reached the woman face however she would just qualify as pretty, but she had the body to make up for it. The woman saw his heated gaze and didn't seem to mind, in fact she seemed to be purposely flaunting herself as if wanting his opinion. "What do you think?" she asked expectantly as she placed a hand on one of her juicy thighs and looked at him. "You look amazing, b-b-but who are you?" Mordred answered and asked nervously as he became very self-conscious. "But how amazing?" the woman asked with a flirty smile, "On a scale of 1-100," she added mischievously. "1000," Mordred blurted out without even thinking, it was a hands down answer. "HA!" the woman suddenly shouted with an ecstatic look on her face, "Damn that impudent brat, he dared say that I need to wear some make-up," she yelled with a scowl, which quickly turned into a light smile as she looked at Mordred. "Thank you for that dear," she said to Mordred who was feeling confused, but he was also slightly disappointed the earlier heat she was giving off seemed to vanish once he gave his answer. "As for your answer I believe this will suffice," she said and showed him her palm, an image began to take shape on her hand and Mordred saw a severed dragons head and underneath it a '' rune appeared. Without even thinking Mordred fell to his knees and banged his head against the ground, "Lady Matriarch forgive me for my earlier impudence," he cried out in terror. The ancient families were very fragmented and scattered throughout the universe, rarely did they meet with one another, and the matriarch, Morgana Pendragon, was a very elusive figure, so Mordred naturally didn't know what she looked like. His parents had merely gotten orders from the family to send him to the academy the Clovis empress's new son was going to attend and that was the end of it. "Quit being so terrified kid and sit down I have something I need to ask you," she said and with a twirl of her finger energy flowed from her in strange patterns that Mordred had never seen before and lifted him into a seat. "I have heard that you managed to take down a drake on your expedition kiddo, which already makes you a Pendragon," she said making his position official. "Now tell me, how did you kill the drake?" she asked while looking at him intently. Mordred had actually feared being asked this question, because technically he didn't kill the drake. "Lady Matriarch please forgive me but I didn't kill it alone, I know that I lied, I'll accept any punishment," he cried out desperately, he was so nervous in the matriarchs presence that he knew it was impossible for him to continue the lie, so he just offered the truth from the start. "Kakahahah," the matriarch snorted and laughed at him while holding her sides, "You, take down a guardian of the forest alone!" she said in an incredulous tone. "Who would believe that," she chuckled while slapping her juicy thigh and shaking her head, "Now tell me kiddo, how you contributed to killing it?" she asked in amused tone. A look of relief and sadness entered Mordred's eyes, he was glad that he wasn't in trouble, but he felt disheartened by the lack of faith, after all he really did risk his life to take it down. So in order to hype himself up to the matriarch he created a magical tale about how he mounted the drake with Lirian, he made it seem like it was his idea and made up a part about how he helped Lirian climb the drake. Then he said that due to the extensive he research he'd done before the expedition he learned that all rock elemental creatures had cores that had to be destroyed, and after his valiant efforts he found the spots of the cores. But just then a mighty eagle knocked Lirian and just when Lirian was about to die, not only did he save Lirian he even took down the eagle after a desperate struggle, that was the only true part of the story, but due to his exaggeration, one wouldn't be surprised if they were told the eagle was a second grade mystic beast. The only part he gave Lirian his true credit for was the part where Lirian swung down and smashed the second orb, 'that Mordred managed to find'. Morgana listened to the story and nodded along with enthusiasm, pugilist's were empty headed in general so she believed him for the most part, and her eye especially lit up when Mordred told her that he destroyed the core under the wing. It was just like that final page of the script said. When Mordred finished his tale, Morgana pulled an empty page and showed it to Mordred, "Do you see anything?" she asked flipping the page around and letting him see both sides. Mordred merely shook his head as he looked at it in confusion, a moment later Morgana offered the page to him and told him to concentrate on it really hard. After a while Mordred shook his head and handed it back, and just when Morgana touched the page a sudden change occurred, strange lines began to pour out of the page and wrapped themselves around Mordred. Mordred was shocked at first but then he started to panic as the lines began to pierce his body and filled him with indescribable pain. Before long he collapsed to the ground with his body twitching, he was in so much pain that he couldn't make a sound. Morgan looked on in shock, she was rendered immobile by a power being released by the page and as she looked at the page a set of lines began to appear. 'The waylines have served me well, now it is time that I return them to my successors with a little something special extra,' When she finished reading it, the page caught fire and disappeared freeing her from its hold and she rushed to Mordred quickly inspecting his body and what she saw startled her. Three sets of waylines linked up his centres of power, granting him the waylines of saints, pugilists and warlocks, it was identical to the waylines she set up for Lucian three years ago, and as she thought back to the words of the page she shook her head. "It can't be," she muttered in disbelief, but she thought back to Lucians eyes and how it was exactly as Arthurs were described, she shook of the thoughts and attended to Mordred. She quickly found out that she was worried over nothing, there was some power in the page that kept healing Mordred as the waylines entered his body which definitely saved his life, and a few minutes later he woke up looking like he'd been reborn. "What happened to me?" he asked in disbelief as he clenched his fist feeling confused by the power coursing through his body, and there was also a bunch of info, about fighting techniques, spells and perfect second grade techniques in his head, that he had no idea how to use. "I'm not sure, but it seems like something good," Morgana said as she looked at the transformation, the thing that took her the most aback was a set of scales that appeared on Mordred's face. Morgana felt excited seeing his transformation and a brilliant idea formed in her mind, "Kiddo, how would you like to become this beautiful woman's successor?" she asked, in the back of her mind she was sad that the script was gone, because she felt that it would have been hilarious to watch the boy struggle with its incessant crap. "Lady Matriarch please don't patronise me," Mordred complained, he was on a high from the new power, but his Matriarch's teasing brought him crashing down. "You think I'd joke about this kiddo," she laughed, "I'm serious, but if you accept just know that you'll have to beat all my records before I declare your status to the old crodgers," she said enthusiastically. Mordred was taken aback by how serious his Matriarch was being, but seeing that she was serious and that he had his new found power, he felt like he could take on the world. "I'll do it," Mordred answered and no sooner than he answered did he feel himself become weightless. There was a loud explosion that he heard, and when he looked around he found that he was in the middle of the air in the distance he could see the academy and a big gaping hole in the top floor of the fifty storey building. "You could have used the door," Mordred cried out loud as his Matriarch soared through the sky and pulled him along into a ship that was hovering in the sky. "Doors are for wimps," Morgana laughed aloud as she entered a set of co-ordinates into the ships. "Where are we going?" he asked as the ship began to move. "To a very special training grounds kiddo, the first thing you need to know is that I your Matriarch have made history, that no one in the empires can compare with, I completed the unbeatable challenge," she said in a bragging tone. "And if you want to be my successor you have to beat me, unfortunately the world I went to is being restocked by the empires with merchandise so I can't take you there, but the good news is that there are 6 other worlds like the one I used," "I used the fourth world, but since it's currently being restocked I'll one up the difficulty which is in line with my expectations of you kiddo, so you can go to the fifth world," Morgana said with a large grin. "Lady Matriarch forgive me but I really have no idea what you're saying," Mordred complained as he stared back at Xelia which was quickly escaping his view. "Oh my, you are so clueless about the world kiddo," Morgana laughed manically, "I'm taking you to a very dangerous world, but if you can't conquer it then I'm afraid that you aren't qualified to be my successor, it's a world called Nebula-5, you'll love it once you get there," Morgana said with a wide grin. "Boy what do you keep looking back for?" she asked when she realised that he wasn't paying attention to her. "Couldn't you have at least let me say my good-byes, and grab my stuff?" Mordred complained as he continued to stare at Xelia in the distance, it was quickly becoming a dot. "Your stuff won't have much use where you're going, and you can give you friends a call, but don't tell them where I'm taking you, the last thing I want is the empires finding out where we are going!" Morgana said with a shrug and set the ship to autopilot. Target destination : Nebula-5
