Once again, Atticus gaze snapped open, this time slightly annoyed. This man was becoming all to used to moving him without any heads up.
He shot magnus a stare but made very well sure to be subtle about it. He was so piss about the situation that he hadn’t thought about the pointlessness of trying to be subtle. There was no being subtle in the presence of a paragon.
Magnus paid his grandson annoyance no heed, simply facing forward as though he hadn’t done anything. But the slightly curled up lip betrayed his real emotion; he was clearly enjoying this.
The duo descended downwards, slowly landing soundlessly on the earth. It was then Atticus focused on his surrounding, his features showing slight intrigue at what he saw.
He was back at the large expanse they had all gathered at before the entrance test and just infront of him was the imposing and large form of an airship.
It was parked just in front of them and had immense size and sleek, silver exterior that screams of the extent its durability.
Panels of shimmering metal covered its surface, interspersed with glowing energy conduits. The Ravenstein sigil, resembling eight swirling elements, was etched on each sides of the airship,
‘It’s smaller than what brought me to the academy but feels more powerful,’ Atticus noted.
Turning his gaze back down, Atticus saw Magnus walking forward and immediately followed. Even though they were on the ground already, the tendrils of lightning snaking around Atticus was still present.
Atticus didn’t bother asking why, it was entirely obvious enough, Magnus wasn’t letting his guard down. It was for his protection.
The hatch of the ship was already opened, and Atticus could see the figures of a few white haired individuals as they approached.
Despite still being a little distance away from them, they had all long gotten on their knees, each of their heads bowed and awaiting their arrival.
Atticus couldn’t help but wonder why Magnus hadn’t just landed directly infront of the ship; why bother to walk.
However, despite his curiosity, he didn’t ask. They both reached the ship, a loud greeting filled with reverence and respect sounding as each of the kneeling figures greeted in unison,
“We greet master Magnus and young master Atticus!”
Atticus had noticed immediately he set eyes on them, the whiteness of their hair were impossible to miss. ‘Ravensteins. Are they the airship’s attendants?… no not all of them,’
They had each offered their greetings standing at the sides of the lowered hatch, leaving a free path into the airship.
Atticus scrutinized each of them carefully. They were about 15 all together and the majority of them wore identical attires, looking as though it was crafted from lightweight, durable fabric interwoven with nanofibers, providing both protection and flexibility.
Along with a form fitting dark jacket made from a dark, materials.The shoulders and chest areas were reinforced with armored padding.
Their identical attires left Atticus to assume that they were probably the crew of the ship. However, what shocked Atticus was that all of them were at the master+ rank.
Magnus simply nodded at their greetings, speaking succinctly,
“Set off immediately,”
“As you wish!”
Atticus followed Magnus into the airship, and as soon as the rest of the crew entered behind them, the hatchet ascended and closed. Promptly, the crew immediately scattered, each to their respective stations.
Atticus turned his gaze behind and saw that two men had remained behind and were unsurprisingly the only two who hadn’t been wearing the crew uniforms.
Amongst the two, only one of them had white hair with the other having a crown of black hair on his head and a cleanly shaved beard on his chin. They both approached, immediately sinking into one knee without uttering a word.
“Introduce yourselves,”
The two men immediately followed Magnus’s command, the one kneeling on the left speaking firstly,
“Young master, My name is Dario and I shall be your attendant from now on,”
The man, Dario who had just spoken sounded Mellifluous. In simple words, his words sounded sweet and smooth.
Atticus immediately got a weird feeling from him, as though he was used to speaking and buttering people up.
His appearance matched his voice, with deep blue eyes, framed by thick lashes, and a straight and slightly narrow nose, giving his face a classical, well-defined look.
He had a lean but muscular build and was dressed in well tailored, unpretentious clothes, favoring soft, neutral colors like light blues and greys that complemented his soothing demeanor.
The second man didn’t waste time and also spoke, “I was given the name Yotad and I shall be your Ravenblade, Master,” unlike Dario, Yotad had a Raven black hair and spoke in a humbling tone.
Atticus could immediately noticed a certain similarity between him and Arya; Anastasia’s Ravenblade. They both had some kind of dark aura they radiated either consciously or unconsciously.
Hearing Yotad, Atticus gave Magnus a subtle confused look,
“After the academy, it is mandatory for every important member of our family to be attached to a Ravenblade,”
Atticus frowned slightly,
“What about Arya?”
Magnus shook his head, “She bounded to your mother already. Unless you want your mother to remain without any protection, It’s best you get your own,”
The kneeling and bowing figure of Yotad and Dario showed an intense amount of shock on their faces as they heard Atticus and Magnus converse.
Neither of them wanted to believe what they were currently witnessing!
Not even Avalon, the family head could talk to Magnus this way! Why the hell were they so casual?
It was insane, the absurdity of the situation was even more evident given the fact that they were still kneeling and hadn’t even raised up their heads the entire time. Regardless, none of them dared to speak or say anything .
Magnus immediately noticed the hesitation on Atticus’s expression. He stretched his palm forward, two golden folded papers suddenly appearing on top of it.
“Each Ravenblade has already swore their loyalty to the family and the one they’re attached with. I am well aware of your misgivings so I will give you these. Draft your contract yourself,”
Atticus collected the contracts from Magnus gazing at them for a few seconds.
‘He’s right, there’s no way I’ll trust this,’ Magnus was right. He might have assured Atticus that the Ravenblade was already bounded but it would take way more than that for him to allow someone follow him everywhere.
