Ragnar Daybreak, the current Emperor of The Daybreak Empire was less than ten years away from his 20,000th birthday. 

The only child his parents were fortunate enough to conceive, he himself has four wives (one of whom is already deceased) and sired twelve children, ranging from 10,000 to 10 years old.

He revitalized the Daybreak Empire after one of its longest lasting periods of decline since its founding by the first Faea, Daybreak, billons of years ago (just a few hundred years after the conception of Pangea itself) through his exceptional; battle sense, strategic sense, Magical talents, and ability to make friends out of enemies.

He stood at the same height as Bellamy, with a slightly more muscular physique, fair skin, silver hair and eyes, alongside the traits Characteristic of Faea.

When Malikai and Maeve entered the study he was standing in front of the panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows behind his desk, with his back to the two of them.

“Both of you have a seat.” He spoke with the same air of authority as when he told Maeve to enter the study alongside Malikai.

Following his instruction the two of then walked forward and took two of the available seats arranged before the desk, sitting in silence as Ragnar continued to stare out the window in contemplation.

After a few minutes of tranquil silence he turned from the windows and took his seat on the other side of the desk.

He looked at them both with an indecipherable light in his eyes and simply stated, “I spoke to Loki.”

“You did huh?” Malikai asked with the smallest hint of sarcasm coloring his usually unaffected tone, while Maeve on the other hand, chose to maintain silence.

“I did.” Ragnar nodded in affirmation as he placed on hand on his desk and the other on the arm of his chair, tapping his long, elegantly shaped fingers.

He then continued on, “And I didn’t call you here to here any bullshit. I quite simply called you here to tell you; that while you would indeed be capable of understanding the full extent of the events that took place five years ago, resulting in both the loss of your eyes, and thereby your physical sight and your sister, my daughter, Talia, if I gave you certain information. You would not, be capable of doing anything about it, as the force, or should I say the person, who orchestrated those events is not currently something you can contend against. Or for that matter, that even I can contend against if it wasn’t for The Sword of Daybreak, and even then my victory would be far from assured. And seeing as that is the case; I want you to hold off on actually making your visit to Samsara until I give you the go ahead. You are more than welcome to continue making your plans of course, and seeing to all of your preparations. But do not act on them for now.”

“Is that understood?” He trained his intense gaze on both of them in turn.

Malikai nodded and stated in response, “Though it pains me to say, you are fully understood.”

And Maeve replied with a simple, “Fully.”

“Good.”

Ragnar the opened on of his desk drawers reached in once and pulled two letters out, handing them to Malikai as he stated, “One is from me, its contents explaining the intricacies of the current situation and the history of the conflict involved, and the other is from Talia. She wrote it a few days before her death and asked me to give it to you in the event that she didn’t live to reach 21. You will know when the time is appropriate for you to read them, either together or individually.”

Malikai attempted to maintain an expression of calm as he received the letters, yet the smallest of twitches was visible as he grasped the letters and slid them into one of his robes’ internal pockets.

Maeve cast him a glance as he did so, before her focus shifted back to Ragnar who had placed his hand back into the drawer pull out two items, placing one on the desk before either of them.

He placed an orb made up of a seemingly lusterless pitch-black metal before Malikai, and a crown fashioned from a dark silver metal before Maeve.

“Eternium, and Mythril.” Malikai inspected either of the objects in turn and could discover nothing about them besides the materials they were made from.

“They’ve been sealed.” Maeve declared.

“By someone using Paragonic Power.” Malikai affirmed and turned is father in inquiry and Maeve did the same.

“This,” Ragnar indicated to the crown and spoke to Maeve, “Is the Crown of Maeve, your namesake, the Paragon of both the Aether and Pangea’s Spatial Boundaries. It enhances  it’s contacted owners talent in and attunement to, said Principals exponentially.”

He then indicated to the orb and told Malikai, “And this is know by many names, most notably; The Crown of Solomon, and The Infinity Crown, among several others. It was originally created for and by King Solomon, The Paragon of Souls/Reincarnation, and the Ruler of all other Paragons. It, like all other Immortal Class Artifacts, including the Crown of Maeve, has been endowed with a Soul and chooses its owner. This Artifact can change its shape based upon the suitability of its owner, and endow said owner with numerous abilities such as; the power to Awaken and Strengthen/Purify the Bloodlines of the descendants of Solomon, alongside numerous Domains.”

“Why do you have these, and why are you giving them to us?” Malikai asked the foremost questions on his mind after his father finished introducing the items.

“The answers to both of those questions are in my letter, alongside the method to release the seals that have been placed on the Artifacts. Though I do suggest, that if you decide to read the letters in the near future, that you wait until after the entrance exam when you’ve settled down in Exemplar to unseal these treasures as their auras will be quite noticeable. And quite a few powerhouses have been looking for these things, with Exemplar being one of the few places, if not the only place, that is off-limits to those that would use more underhanded methods in order to lay claim to such items.” Ragnar replied in as concise and intentionally vague a manner as he could.

Malikai and Maeve turned to each other before nodding in agreement and stating simultaneously, “We understand.”

They then both reached forward to pick up the respective Artifacts and put them away.

Malikai then turned back in his father’s direction and asked, “Is that everything?”

“No, there was one more thing,” Ragnar replied as he closed his desk drawer before continuing on, “When she left to visit your grandparents a few days ago, your mother asked me to tell you something.”

“Did she now, and what would that be?” Malikai asked brusquely.

In response to the latter’s tone, Ragnar shot Malikai a sharp glance and continued, “She said to tell you that you should open up to the possibility of forming relationships with your classmates, if not other students in general after you pass the Entrance Examinations. She also wanted me to express that you living a life of social isolation is exactly what Talia always directed you away from when she was still an occupant of this World, and is something she would still continue to guide you away from if communication was viable across Planes of Existence. And I must say that I agree with that sentiment. Don’t you Kai?”

He then turned to Maeve and directed the question to her, “And Maeve, would Jasmine want you living a life wherein your only purpose, your only drive is avenging her death. When it should be a balance of both living for yourself and pushing this one to fulfill the entirety of his potential as his Sentinel?”

Malikai descended into a contemplative silence.

Maeve on the other hand, nodded in acceptance and spoke in a tone lacking her usual neutrality, “I understand. I’ll do better to look after both him and myself.”

“Good.” Ragnar recognized the resolve in both her tone and demeanor, and approved of her response.

He turned his attention back to Malikai who still had his head lowered in contemplation and asked, “And you?”

Malikai raised his head and began to fidget with the blindfold tied around his face once more before speaking quite a bit more seriously than usual, “I understand the sentiment completely, and in fact hold it to be quite true myself. But as per usual when it comes to our handling of emotions, regards for rationality, and our desire for social interaction; this is somewhere the two us would disagreed. Especially in a situation such as this one where those three things have to balanced out with our long-term goals and/or current preoccupation.”

“And in this case based upon the information I already had before waking into this study, and any inferences I can draw from both the request you made of us and the items you just placed into our possession (and there are quite a few of those); I have come to the conclusion that it would be best not grow to close too any new right now. For quite a few reasons, chief amongst them being to avoid putting anyone not already at risk at risk, and in order to limit all possible distractions from my current goal. Can you understand that?”

“I do.” Ragnar nodded.

“Then may we go? Its about time for us to head for Exemplar.” Malikai returned to his normally off-handed tone.

“You may. But I request that you at the very least take your motgher's desires under advisement.” Ragnar assent with an added caveat.

“We will,” Maeve answered for both of them, and asked Malikai with a tone of inflexibility that she typically regarded for matters related to his safety, “Won’t we?”

“Fine,” He assented with a sigh, “I will take her desires under advisement going forward. But I make no promises as to either; how impassioned/enthusiastic my attempts to expand my circle of friends, or if any of said attempts will actually bear fruit.”

Despite the fact that Malikai had added a caveat of his own, Ragnar was satisfied with the former’s response and turned to Maeve, “Thank you for looking after of him.”

“Its my pleasure.” She replied with a small smile.

“I bet,” Ragnar laughed in amusement before assenting to Malikai’s previous request, “And yes the two of you may now go.”

“Thank you for your time Your Imperial Majesty.” Maeve responded and got to her feet with zero hesitation; grabbing Malikai’s arm and pulling him to his feet, in a desire to drag him out of the study before he could continue speaking.

As a result all Malikai could manage was a wave goodbye as Maeve hauled him out of the study.

***

Around ten minutes later the two of them arrived outside the Teleportation Hall.

The hall’s doors were wide open and both his Guard Troop and the Gatekeeper stationed in the Teleportation Hall could be seen gathered standing at the base of the Gate.

The was structured primarily from grayish-black stone, marked with numerous inscriptions of very high complexity, resembled a circular platform in shape, being about three to five feet high and thirty feet across.

When the two of them entered the hall, both the twenty guards making up the troop and the Imperial Mage stood at attention.

“At ease.” Malikai spoke when they arrived at the stairway leading up the platform.

He then led the way up the stairs, and when they arrived up top he told the Gatekeeper to activate the gate.

The Gatekeeper got to work immediately activating the Magic Inscriptions embedded on the Gate and control its Mana flow as he locked onto their requested destination.

A few moments later a portal leading to Exemplar appeared at the center of the platform.

Immediately after the portal formed Malikai and Maeve lead the troop through.

After they passed through the portal the Gatekeeper allowed it to close behind them and reclaimed his seat on the stairs below.