On the contrary, Sylas was in no hurry to go to Valinor.Valinor would always be there; whether he went sooner or later made little difference. More importantly, once one departed for Valinor, returning to Middle-earth would not be easy.
"No, Legolas," Sylas said calmly. "Arwen and I intend to remain in Middle-earth for a while longer."
Seeing this, Legolas did not press the matter further. After all, Sylas and his family were different from him. Legolas had chosen to leave because the Woodland Realm was fading and no longer had a future. Sylas, however, possessed the Earth-Ring Kaiya. Even without sailing west, he and Arwen could maintain a lasting paradise in Middle-earth and live there peacefully for ages.
Six months later, at the Grey Havens, Sylas once again saw off Legolas and Gimli, bidding farewell to his last close friends beyond his family.
From that moment on, almost no familiar faces remained.
Sylas no longer served as Headmaster of Hogwarts. That position had long since been passed to his son, Elroth. The professorships of Hogwarts had changed many times over the centuries, gradually being inherited by former students. They revered Sylas deeply, but no longer shared the close personal bonds of the first generation of professors.
Sylas spent most of his time with Arwen in Rivendell. When Elrond and the elves departed, they left behind an immeasurable ocean of knowledge. Sylas immersed himself in the vast elven libraries, absorbing the wisdom of ages.
As for Lórien, Arwen entrusted its governance to their daughter, Elseth.
Beyond reading and study, Sylas and Arwen traveled extensively across Middle-earth. They did not rely on broomsticks, Apparition, the Floo Network, or Portkeys. Instead, they disguised themselves as ordinary humans and journeyed aboard a castle-like mobile vessel, walking the world at a mortal pace.
Their footsteps reached every corner of Middle-earth, from the far north to the deep south, from the western shores to the eastern seas. They visited Minas Tirith, ruled by the descendants of Aragorn, and Annúminas, capital of Arnor, passing through Rohan and the Kingdom of Anduin.
Especially Anduin, founded upon fertile volcanic lands once ravaged by war, had become a human haven. Its soil was rich beyond measure, producing grain exported to Gondor and Rohan alike.
Old friends had long since passed away. Beorn was gone. The dwarves of the Lonely Mountain expedition were gone. The early Hogwarts professors were gone.
Only three old acquaintances remained:
Radagast, living quietly in seclusion deep within the forest;and the two Blue Wizards, Alatar and Pallando, still far in the East, suppressing the last remnants of Morgoth and Sauron's corruption.
Even Sylas's most loyal butler, Edward, refused the Elixir of Immortality. He chose to age naturally, and one quiet morning, he passed away peacefully. Only his youthful portrait remained in the castle, continuing to paint the world from within its frame.
By the 500th year of the Fourth Age, humanity had spread across nearly all of Middle-earth.
Beastmen and trolls had vanished into legend. Hobbits became wanderers. Their former lands were absorbed into human domains. Dwarves survived only in deep mountains, rarely seen. Elves became myths and songs carried by traveling poets.
Hogwarts was no longer merely a castle, it became the name of an entire region, stretching from the Great Bridge in the east to Brandywine Bridge in the west, from the North Downs to the South Downs.
Surrounded by the Kingdom of Arnor, this land was known as a land of freedom.
There were no nobles, no kings, no lords. Only elections held every ten years, where free citizens chose a mayor. This freedom drew countless people who rejected oppression.
Thus, Hogwarts became the most open, free, and artistically vibrant region in Middle-earth.
Hogsmeade had existed for an extremely long period. Over the centuries, it gradually transformed into a purely wizarding city, inhabited exclusively by magical folk.
The Ministry of Magic, acting as the governing body of the wizarding world, was responsible for managing Hogsmeade and all other wizarding enclaves. Its foremost duty was to ensure that magic never became known to ordinary people and that wizardkind remained hidden from the wider world.
Hogwarts Castle remained a sacred place in the hearts of all wizards. Every wizard completed their education within its halls before entering their chosen profession. Though hidden, the wizarding world was never isolated.
Within the Hogwarts territory, Bree City and Hogsmeade existed like two halves of a whole, yin and yang. They appeared unrelated on the surface, yet beneath that calm exterior lay countless invisible connections.
Every successive Mayor of Bree was aware of the wizarding world's existence. Quiet communication and information exchange were maintained between Bree's leadership and the Minister of Magic. The Ministry's role was not only to govern wizards, but also to covertly safeguard the Hogwarts territory, ensuring that no surrounding power could interfere with its independence.
The monarchs and high officials of Arnor, Gondor, Rohan, and Anduin were likewise aware, at least partially, of the existence of wizards. That was precisely why the Hogwarts region remained untouched for over a thousand years. Had this unspoken understanding not existed, Arnor, surrounding Hogwarts on all sides, would never have tolerated such a privileged and independent land.
Beyond Hogsmeade, this was the largest wizarding settlement in Middle-earth.
Far to the west of Rohan, in the Eisen region, several thousand wizards resided, forming a small wizarding town. These were descendants of the ancient Wizards, tasked primarily with maintaining communication with the fire dragons of the nearby Dragon Farm and preventing those creatures from wandering into the mortal world.
Eisen, too, was concealed by powerful magic.
Over time, wizards gradually formed an independent realm, quietly incorporating Hobbits, Dwarves, Elves, and other races who wished to live beyond mortal conflict. In the Misty Mountains, protected zones were established where orcs, wolves, and trolls were preserved as endangered species, preventing their total extinction.
Long ago, Hogwarts Castle had fully become a school of magic.
Sylas and Arwen had long since moved away, choosing to reside between Rivendell and Lórien. The wizarding world had grown mature and stable, requiring little direct intervention from Sylas. As a result, he had not appeared before wizardkind for a very long time.
To most wizards, he had become a legend.
Even the professors of Hogwarts knew him only through the portrait of Sylas that hung quietly within the castle, preserving fragments of his wisdom and presence.
In Lórien, phoenixes and thunderbirds danced among the Mallorn branches. Unicorns and swift horses raced through the forest, while Wood-elf maidens sang ancient songs beside the clear waters of the Silverlode. It was a living painting, tranquil, eternal, untouched by time.
Sylas and Arwen stood together upon the highest terrace of a Mallorn tree, gazing out over the golden forest. Warmth filled their hearts, as though they could remain there forever.
Bathed in the light of the setting sun, Arwen seemed almost divine. Her beauty was gentle, sacred, timeless.
At last, still unwilling to look away from the thousand-year-old landscape, she sighed softly.
"I wonder…" she said quietly, "will I ever see such a sight again? I truly don't want to leave."
...
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