The lobby of the Tower was as impressive as its outer construction.

  Stepping through the entrance, you could see the layers of floors that made up the tower at first glance. The natural sunlight that shone through the windows of every floor gave the lobby a feeling of warmth, and the open atrium drew your gaze upward towards the colourful banners that hung from in the middle.

  Mages clad in Commission standard robes, as well as a few foreign mages dressed in their unique outfits wandered about the lobby. Some crossed over the Commission boundary to enter the Tower elevators for their various work. Others engaged in deep conversation about the various chairs and tables strewn about the first floor.

  A long reception desk sat at the center of it all, outlined by a stone wall chiseled with the inscription of the Magic Commission. The lines carved on the smooth glossy floor divided the inquiries for the Commission into sections.

  There was the magecraft permit counter, where mages certified their skill levels. The patent counter, for those discovering new formulas or publishing research. And most importantly, the counter for reporting magical anomalies.

  The duo made a beeline for the bureaucrat in question, queuing up behind a few other individuals for their query.

  “Damn, I can’t believe how extravagant the Tower is! It’s even crazier than I imagined!” Aurelius commented, temporarily ignoring the panic that he was just in.

  “Yeah, it was constructed under the supervision of Hero Rodric and his party after the war after all.” Tiberius replied, agreeing with his sentiment.

  The Magic Commission was a relatively young institution, established by the Hero Mage Rodric and his party after the Great Greenwich War. And it had been the heralding of the current era, the catalyst for a reorganisation of the world’s power.

  No kingdom had the right to refuse his demands after the war given the power that the party had amassed at the time. It would have been a political impossibility for the Royal Families of the time.

  The following establishment of The Commission had separated Magic from the Royal bloodline, causing a clear distribution of power in the world, and allowing for the advent of incredible opportunities for the world.

  It stood as a pillar of stability and the world’s most powerful international institution, keeping peace across all 3 continents, as well as controlling the natural and magical disasters across the land in conjunction with the Adventurer’s Guilds operated by the Royal Families.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

  “Good afternoon gentlemen. Please give a brief summary of the incident you’re reporting.” The brunette mage in her blue Commission robes started smoothly with a professional smile.

  Aurelius lost his nerve to speak, unnerved by the prospect of an invisible blade that seemed to hover his neck.

  “W-W-We’d like to report a lich in the Academy of Aethernalis.” Tiberius stated, stepping up in place of a shuddering Aurelius.

  “A-A-A-And the return of Q-Quetzalcoatl…”

  Aurelius rubbed his neck, blinking rapidly as he sank into deep thought about how many different ways he had to die over the course of his predicament.

  He had not much doubt about the legitimacy of Quetzalcoatl’s claims. After all, House Corvinus could enact some small scale temporal magic. A time loop was in the realm of possibility for such powerful magic, although the scale of the magic seemed rather… excessive.

  Furthermore, the fickle god had decided to trap him, the single most mediocre mage in the world in this divine miracle. It smelled fishy in all the wrong ways. Yet, Aurelius was not in much of a place to question a god.

  Even if He had been lying, the fact remained that Dr. Varian was possibly a lich. The Commission was an attractive choice given the circumstances.

  If the Commission killed him, he would simply restart and run away into hiding from the next loop. If they killed him, or sent him off into an asylum, that would be a much much better alternative to whatever terrors that the lich would inflict on him in pursuit for Aurelius’s secrets.

  The Commission would pursue him for his truancy from the Academy anyway if he ignored the problems at the Academy. Lastly, if he really did die, that was still quite preferable to falling into the grasps of thc lich.

  These was the mental calculus running through Aurelius and his mind as he contemplated the Commission and their possible actions.

  The brunette mage frowned at them.

  “I’m not sure if you’re playing some prank. If so, I advise you to immediately stop it.”

  “However, following the Commission policy, you will need to sign this notarised document after filling it out with your statement.”

  “Please proceed to one of the tables and chairs by the side and return with the document.”

  The Commission mage was very professional, handling their outrageous statement with utter competence, and humouring their claims. After all, it would be horrible if the Commission missed out on a magical disaster simply due to the nature of a statement.

  Aurelius and Tiberius took the magical incident report in their hand, and headed for the nearest bench.

  “Well, you should write the statement Aurelius. I’ve only listened to your account after all.” Tiberius commented, as he sank himself into the comfortable cushions of his chair.

  Glaring at Tiberius, Aurelius snatched the incident report, and started to hurriedly write down his statement in more detail.

  Thinking for a while, Aurelius considered the wording of his statement. These notary documents could only ascertain the truth of a statement, as believed by the writer. And it could not distinguish perfectly between half-truths and full truths.

  He glossed over the timeloop, and the soul blueprint, instead simply claiming that Quetzalcoatl had guided him to the realisation that Dr. Varian was working with the Fae Queen as part of His divine revelations.

  Divine revelations weren’t uncommon, and Aurelius hoped that the Commission would focus more heavily on the fact that a lich was identified and was on the loose.

  He didn’t feel the need to court death so much after all!