Chapter 75 Teleportation [Part 2]

"Dina, is something wrong?"

"What if the Draken Empire sent those ships here not to attack, but instead to create a teleportation marker across the continent" Dina mumbled, but it was loud enough for both of them to hear.

"Is that a possibility?" Kat asked, her voice filled with urgency.

"You just mentioned problems that needed to be solved before teleportation can be possible, how would Draken Empire have been able to solve all six of them?" Aiden asked.

"I don't know, but the thought simply crossed my mind, those six problems are what I encountered, it isn't necessarily going to be a problem for everyone, and besides, I stopped focusing on teleportation a while back because I can't spend my time on something that wouldn't work"

"So you mean it's possible, shouldn't we be searching for something like that?" Kat asked in a loud voice.

"I said the thoughts crossed my mind, but it's highly unlikely now that I think about it"

Dina said as she tapped her pen against the book.

"To create a marker, you need a mage who is strong enough and familiar enough with teleportation magic to create it. If the Draken Empire really created something like that, then they would need someone who understands spatial magic at an extremely high level. And that person would have to travel all the way here without being noticed."

"But the ships came from Draken, passing through the red pass and came under attack by the leviathans, most of the fleet was destroyed leaving only three ships, what are the odds that among those three ships, a mage like that is among them?" Aiden asked.

"Exactly." Dina stood up and began pacing around while thinking.

"So the chances of the mage surviving is extremely low, and it all comes down to luck... Unless all ships had at least one mage skilled in teleportation" Kat spoke.

"So that means the other 27 were sacrificed letting just three land, but if indeed they had figured out the means of teleportation, I still don't understand why they needed to attack the church, they could just do that and focus on their teleportation?" Dina asked.

"A distraction" Aiden spoke.

"A distraction, I see your reasoning. If their goal is to establish a teleportation marker, you can't ignore the fact that the kingdom would take notice of the debris or find traces of an army in three ships, so most of their forces came to attack, while the rest slipped away to create the marker" Kat spoke and soon her expression turned serious as she thought about it.

"Imagine that you are in Draken and want to teleport to Elaris. You can't just create the destination marker from Draken. Someone or something has to establish it here first. Let's assume there are three mages on those three ships with the knowledge required, it would still take a considerable amount of time to establish a portal that large" Dina added.

Aiden remained silent but the idea which he had on a whim was beginning to make sense.

"Then why attack the church and specifically targeted priests, refugees were drive away die to their attacks, most of them ended up dying at the hands of the leviathans, but that was months ago, why attack now?* Kat mouthed.

"The plan was already in motion months ago, but the mages were probably still working on the spell trying to perfect it, and now that they are ready, they attacked" Dina answered.

"Why didn't we think about this before?"

"Don't get too excited. We're still guessing. There could be another explanation. The attack might have genuinely been their main objective, and I'm only connecting things because you asked me about teleportation."

Aiden looked towards the entrance of the underground library. "If they really created a marker, where would they put it?"

"Somewhere protected, somewhere we won't think to look" Dina answered immediately.

"Definitely somewhere protected. Something like this isn't what you'd would leave in the middle of nowhere. It could be destroyed, discovered, or tampered with."

"Then somewhere hidden" Aiden said.

"Possibly."

Kat stood up, "I know we're still guessing here, but if they're truly planning a teleportation marker, why wouldn't they create it inside a dungeon, it's hidden, protected and put of slight unless by adventurer"

If the Draken Empire had really been preparing a teleportation route, then the destruction of the church could have been more important than they initially believed.

Aiden looked at Dina.

Aiden looked at Dina. "What do you think?"

Dina stopped pacing and looked at him for a few seconds. Her eyes moved toward the old books scattered across the floor before she slowly adjusted her glasses. "A dungeon..." she repeated. "Actually, that isn't a bad idea."

Kat frowned. "You sound surprised."

"I am surprised because I never thought about a dungeon as a place to create a teleportation marker." Dina walked back toward the table and placed both hands on the edge of it.

"But when you think about it, it makes sense. Dungeons are strange places. Their internal structure can change, their mana levels can be extremely high, and some of the deeper ones have existed for hundreds or even thousands of years. Most importantly, people don't usually investigate every corner of a dungeon unless they have a reason to. Adventurers enter them to hunt monsters, collect materials, and search for treasures. They aren't exactly looking for a hidden magic circle buried behind a wall."

"So the dungeon itself could protect the marker," Aiden said.

"Exactly." Dina pointed at him. "If they built the marker deep enough inside a dungeon, it could be possible, but there is another problem."

"What problem?" Kat asked.

"The marker needs to remain stable." Dina picked up the quill and began drawing a rough magic circle on the paper. "A normal magic circle can be destroyed by breaking one of its important parts, but a teleportation marker is different. It has to maintain a connection with another location. If the marker is damaged, the connection becomes unstable. So whoever created it would need to place it somewhere where it wouldn't be disturbed. A dungeon is perfect for that."

Aiden stared at the circle she was drawing. "But wouldn't the monsters inside the dungeon attack them?"

"Of course they would." Dina smiled. "Which is why they would have to be strong enough to deal with them. Or they could choose a dungeon that isn't very dangerous. They wouldn't need to go to the deepest floor either. They just need somewhere hidden enough that normal people wouldn't find what they built."

Kat crossed her arms. "There are dozens of dungeons across Elaris."

"Then we narrow them down."

"How?"

Dina looked at her as if the answer should have been obvious. "We look for the dungeons changed around the time of the Draken attack. We also look for places where the mana suddenly became strange. A large teleportation marker wouldn't simply appear without leaving some kind of trace."

Aiden's expression became serious. "Unless they managed to hide the trace."

"Yes," she said quietly. "Unless they managed to hide it."

The room became silent again. The only sound came from the faint movement of the pages as Dina turned another page.

Aiden looked around the enormous underground library. Hundreds of books were stacked on shelves, while several others were lying open on tables and on the floor.

They had entered this place searching for information that could help the elven Queen, but now they were discussing a possible invasion route that could change the entire situation between Elaris and Draken.

"There's something else," Aiden said.

Dina looked at him.

"If Draken already has a teleportation marker here, why haven't they used it?"

Kat's eyes widened slightly.

Dina immediately started thinking again. "That's a good question."

"Maybe they haven't finished it yet," Kat said.

"Possible."

"Or maybe they don't have enough mana to activate it." Aiden spoke.

"Also possible, or maybe they are waiting for something, and that's the one that worries me."

Aiden looked at her. "Why?"

"Because teleportation isn't something you build and began transporting your army, they might want to test it first. If they went through all this trouble they can't afford to let a mistake destroy their army" Dina spoke.

"So if they complete the portal, they might be preparing for an invasion."

The words hung in the air.

"What if the attack on the church wasn't meant to destroy Elaris?" Dina spoke.

Kat looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"What if destroying the church was only meant to remove the people who could interfere with their real objective?"

Dina slowly raised her head.

"The church has priests across the kingdom. We have people who can sense certain types of magic, people who can investigate strange events, and people who can provide information to the kingdom. If Draken wanted to secretly establish something as dangerous as a teleportation marker, the church would be one of the biggest problems they would face."