A little longer than two hours later, Lith was woken up by a clerk, prompting him to go back to the Headmaster’s office. The sleep hadn’t been much, but enough to take some of the edge off his mind and partially reset Invigoration’s effectiveness.

Velagros welcomed him, giving Lith a copy of their agreement and keeping the other for himself, before Warping out the office.

They materialized on a grassland, in the middle of nowhere. Lith looked around, instinctively searching for familiar landmarks, finding none. The only structure in sight was a circle, formed by rectangular wooden rods, from which they had emerged from.

The rods were about 2 meters (6.5 feet) high and 3 centimetres (1.8 inches) thick.

Each of the four sides was engraved with bright red runes, pulsing with power, that went opaque as soon as the portal closed behind them. Waiting for them there was a group of three women and two men, all dressed like Velagros, and with various weapons dangling from their belts or backs.

They immediately started to disassemble the circle, storing the rods in dimensional amulets.

“Is it your first time seeing a temporary waypoint?” Lith nodded in response.