Chapter 256 - Return To Ishgar {32} Paradise Island, Part I

The group ended up staying another day just like Amell said. They had to work all night to round up the others and explaining the situation to them. It was now dawn the next day and the group stood on some ice on the water far away from the tower.

"Master Amell, the real tower inside the shell is practically all etherion. I shouldn't need to explain the difficulty of destroying such a structure. I don't know how you plan to do it, but I can assure you magic won't work here." Jellal was aware of some of Ishgar's most powerful magical weapons, yet he knew they would not work in destroying this tower. How Amell planned to do it, he was eagerly waiting to find out.

"Jellal, have you no faith in me? I didn't become one of the two most famous mages on Ishgar for nothing. Watch this!" Amell raised his hand and very slowly started to close his hand. The tower began to slowly disintegrate from within itself. The shell, the layer of metal surrounding the real etherion tower began crashing towards the ground as the thing they were built into started disappearing.

"T-This is incredible. How are you doing this?" Jellal couldn't take his eyes away from the sight of his tower slowly disintegrating into absolute nothingness.

"Jellal," Millianna pulled on his shirt, "What's he doing?" She was just as curious, but among the people here. Only Jellal and Touka could understand the miracle Amell was pulling off. Touka was over a hundred years old and had a great understanding of magic. And, Jellal had genius-level intellect. You could say he was a more advanced version of Sherria. Even though Sherria was absolutely brilliant in her own right. She learned pretty much anything the academy threw at her, and her magic control was off the charts good.

"I don't know, Millianna. What he is doing should be fundamentally impossible. It's like he is bypassing the laws of reality itself. My best guess would be that he is controlling magic at its most primal and fundamental state, which again, should not be physically possible."

"Why not?" Orga asked. He belonged to the quiet, yet intelligent type of human. He would rarely speak, but still had a great understanding of magic, and he was great at taking in and storing information.

"First of all. The sheer amount of magical power you would need for that is maddening in its own right. We mages use our spells and weapons as catalysts because we can't do what I presume he is doing now. This is absolutely incredible to witness. I understand why the council refuse to give up your name, even after your absence."

"Done!" Amell closed his fist and right ontop the island appeared a massive rift at almost the same size as the tower. "Hold onto something." He said and the rift started swallowing the remnants of the tower. After a minute of that, the entire island, and every part of the tower was gone.

"Grandpa, what was that magic? Was it ancient magic like you teach me?" Briar and Touka were sitting down on the ice with her sitting between Touka's legs and leaning back against her chest. It looked like she was super comfortable in that position.

"No, it was not. Jellal was right. You are extremely intelligent Jellal. But, back to the topic. I don't need to use spells or weapons. I directly control the fundamental forces that make up the universe. If I want to go somewhere, I do this." Amell cut the air with his index finger and a smaller rift opened up. He closed it again before Sherria had the chance to dive through it.

"You're incredible, master Amell. How did you manage this?" Jellal asked. He was completely enthralled by the mystery behind Amell's power.

"I went on a very long journey that lasted over a hundred years." Amell thought back to his time trapped in that mirror world with Vaatu. It was there he first discovered this incredible bending art called spirit bending that later evolved to Cosmic bending as Amell calls it now.

"So, this form of energy manipulation was what you discovered on your journey. While the world thought you had died, in reality, this is what you were doing. You were training." Jellal was amazed. He felt his mind open up and everything he thought to be impossible suddenly felt possible.

"Something like that. More on that later, Jellal. We need to go now. Our next destination is my island. There, we shall begin your training."

"Finally! I can't wait! Let's GOO!!" Sherria pointed north with a fully outstretched arm. "Where exactly is Paradise Island located?" She looked back at Amell

"Oh, you know about it? Do all of you know about it?" They all nodded.

"We talked about it in my wizard history class. I think that island classifies as one of the world's wonders. I'd bet money that it's more famous than you, the one said to have created it." Everyone nodded their heads again. Even Orga nodded along. "I didn't know your full name until you came to the dungeon. I only knew you as the Eight Saint, like most of the world. But, Paradise Island, everyone knows that." He said.

"Wow, Orga. That was your longest sentence yet." Touka clapped, and Briar did as well. Sherria also joined in. Millianna wanted to be apart of this little bonding moment, but she was too shy and since Jellal didn't clap, she didn't either.

"hm," He made a sound and nodded.

"Okay, now that we have had our fun. Let us be on our way. We are going to be travelling quickly so hold onto each other." He tapped his foot on the ice and it disappeared at lightning speed.

This planet was massive so even with how fast they were travelling, it took a couple of hours to arrive. When they got close, Amell tapped his foot and the ice stopped moving and just floated on the water surface.

"Is this it? I don't see an island anywhere?" Millianna said and spun around her own shoulder three times, but still saw nothing.

"That should be obvious." This was her moment to brag about her knowledge, so Sherria raised her metaphorical glasses that sat on her nose. "No one has ever located this island, even wizard Saints have failed in that. Jose and Makarov are two of the Saints that tried but failed. Why do you think that is?"

"They got lost?"

"Of course, but WHY do you think they got lost? Including those two. Most people got pretty close to its supposed location, but never saw any part of it. Jose claimed for a while that he caught a glimpse on it, but after much public ridicule he admitted to having lied about seeing the island."

"Don't know!" Millianna said. She was frustrated because she wanted to know the answer so badly she thought she would explode.

"Magic! Whenever you can't figure something out, the answer is ALWAYS magic."

"That is correct!" Amell said and waved his hand in front of him. As soon as he did, a heavy mist appeared from every direction, it made even the water difficult to see. Sherria who stood at the front couldn't see Orga who stood in the back. So thick was the mist around them.

"Wow, where is the island?" Briar asked from her comfortable position in Touka's embrace. Amell pointed forward. "Right there!" The group saw the mist starting to fade away and the first thing they saw was a massive silhouette in the distant that only grew bigger the closer they got.

"Look at the water! So pretty!!" Millianna grabbed Jellal by the arm and pulled him closer to the water. "LOOK!" She said very loudly right into his face. The water in here by the island had been refined by Amell's magic power for over a hundred years. It was sparkling beyond belief and Millianna and Jellal could see their reflection perfectly, even the smallest detail. It was like staring into the cleanest mirror in the world.

"Waaaaaah..." Sherria stood in pure awe when she could finally see the island. Just the beach and the water lived up to the name.

"Wait until you see what lies beyond that cliff. Beyond that cliff is Paradise island. Are you kids ready to see the most beautiful and magical place in this world?"

"YEEEEES!!!" Sherria was dangerously close to jumping straight into the water and swimming to the island.

"Then, I welcome you all to my home. Paradise Island!" Amell spread open his arms and bowed his head.

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End