Kallistos opened the door and he saw the mysterious figure at the end of the hallway. Now he was sure that he wasn’t just imagining things.  As soon as the mysterious figure sensed Kallistos the person ran. Not wanting the mysterious person to get away, Kallistos ran after him.

“Hey! Wait! Stop! Who are you?!” Kallistos shouts as he ran after the cloaked person. The mysterious figure stops at the portrait of the first matriarch.

“Aha! Got you! You can’t run away now!” Kallistos said as he unsheathed his sword

“Now tell me who you are and what is your purpose for entering the Marquisate” Kallistos asks the mysterious figure as he points his sword at it. The mysterious figure seeing Kallistos has had him cornered, turns to the portrait and jumps into it. Sensing that the mysterious figure was about to leave Kallistos hurriedly tried to capture it but was unsuccessful. 

“What the?!? How did he go through the painting?!” Kallistos touched the painting but it was solid. Kallistos searched around for clues to an opening or a secret mechanism. Kallistos couldn’t find anything, there were no secret mechanisms nor are there magic circles. 

“He couldn’t just have teleported… There are no traces of magic being used” Kallistos searched some more but had found nothing. 

‘What am I missing?’Kallistos thought as he took a closed look at the first matriarch’s portrait. And then he saw it. He noticed that one of the First Matriarch’s rings had a small and almost unnoticeable magic circle. 

Kallistos activated the magic circle and the wall instantly opened a passageway. The passageway was dark and eerie, as Kallistos stepped into the passage the passageway lighted up and the entrance closed behind him instantly. Kallistos went frantic trying ways to open the door but soon calmed himself and analyzed the situation. The passageway led down and there wasn’t anything on the wall that closed up. 

‘Guess I’m stuck here’ Kallistos sighs

‘The only way is down so I should head forward’ Kallistos went down clutching his sword. Weary he went down the stairs and as he was going down he analyzed the surrounding structure. The passage looked like it was old but had been well maintained. The passage was also well lighted by mana stones. 

At the end of the stairway there was a room and there Kallistos saw the mysterious figure.

“Who are you!?” Kallistos shouts

“Why have you led me here?!” Kallistos questions the mysterious figure as Kallistos figured out that the mysterious figure wanted to lead him here

“You will know soon enough, Kallistos A—“ The mysterious person spoke but the last word was incomprehensible and hurt Kallistos’ ears. Kallistos covered his ears until the ringing stopped

“How do you know my name?! Who the hell are you!” Kallistos shouts as he gets curiouser and angrier.

“All will be known to you in due time”  The person answered and slowly he began to disappear, dispersing in the air. 

“Wait!” Kallistos run towards the man

“For the time being, I have left two things for you here, only when you attain them will you be able to get out of this room” The person said before vanishing completely. Kallistos halted as the man vanished. As the person vanished no trace could be found of him. The trail of mana that Kallistos followed had disappeared as if the person was never there.

So many questions filled Kallistos’ head. But despite all of the questions in his head he began to explore the room. The room was magnificent, it looked like an old study of an aristocrat. There was a desk in the middle, and a coffee table at the center. The coffee table had food on top of it, some biscuits, water and a sandwich. 

Kallistos could feel the rumbling of his stomach and went to sit on the couch beside the coffee table. Kallistos examined the food and used mana to make sure the food was good to eat, one of the tricks that his late mother taught him. As soon as he made sure the food was safe he started eating until there was no more food on the table. Contented with how much he ate he started observing the room once more. 

Portraits were hung all across the room but all were destroyed beyond recognition.

‘Whose study is this?’ Kallistos thought to himself. 

‘Maybe it’s the first matriarch of the Valentins’ Kallistos speculated 

‘Alright now let’s try to find the gifts that were left by the mysterious figure’ Kallistos doesn’t know why but even though he was wary of the mysterious person, he also knew that he posed no harm and could be trusted. 

He stood up from the couch and explored the room. And there he saw a sword, the sword was magnificent, Kallistos has not seen anything like it. The sword glowed magnificently there were also jewels embedded on it. The pattern of the handle was exquisite. The sheath also had a similar pattern with similar jewels. But the sword looked incomplete and the gemstone in the middle of the handle was missing.

Kallistos picked up the sword to examine it further, he was amazed at how lightweight it was and he knew that this sword was built for efficiency in cutting down its opponent. As Kallistos unsheathed his new sword a strange glow illuminated the sword and before he knew it the sword created a vortex and pulled Kallistos in. The sword disappeared along with Kallistos.

To be continued…