While Daniel was training in The Plane of the Three Musketeers, Maria returned to the capital. When Maya entered her Mansion, she saw several master-level cultivators guarding the inside of the Mansion.
Usually, anyone who has the responsibility of guarding the Mansion is not allowed to enter. Maria was stunned as she saw tens of Master Level cultivators on standby. Maria was about to ask one of the guards about the reason why they were allowed to enter the mansion when, at that moment, Master Quintan walked down the stairs.
Maria looked at her Grandfather and bowed.
Master Quintan said gently," Come upstairs, Maria. I need to talk to you"
Maria nodded without hesitation and followed Master Quintan into his Study room. Master Quintan's study room was quite simple, consisting of a chair, a table, some important documents, some relics that were encased in enforced titanium glass and an ordinary-looking sword that stood beside the table. One would know that this sword was known as Heaven's Edge, the oldest and most powerful sword in the Whole of somerland. The sword was believed to be used by an ancient god thousands of years ago. The only person who is known to have drawn some of his powers was Master Quintan's Mentor, and even he was not able to draw its full power. Master Quintan kept this sword close, studying it and even practising with it, hoping to comprehend its power.
Master Quintan gestured for Maria to sit down. As Maria sat, she noticed that her Grandfather's expression was full of uneasiness.
Maria was stunned. Her Grandfather would always have a calm expression no matter the situation. This would be her first time seeing her grandfather's expression other than calm.
Maria asked worriedly, " Granpa is everything alright ?"
Master Quintan did not answer. He kept gazing at the horizon and sighed. Master Quintan then looked at Maria and said in a stern voice, " You will not be leaving the house until I give an order. Do you understand?"
Maria looked at her Grandfather and asked, " What happened, grandfather?"
Master Quintan increased his voice and said, " You will not leave this house until I say so. Do you understand!?"
Maya was stunned and subconsciously replied, " Yes, Grandfather"
Master Quintan sighed and said worryingly, " Good I had to make sure"
Maria was about to ask why is that her Grandfather is so troubled but before she could Master Quintan said " I know that you have a lot of questions and I will answer them"
Then Master Quintan sat on his chair and asked " You know about the Celestial stargate, don't you ?"
Maria replied " Yes Grandfather, I know. The Celestial stargate magical stargate connects different Realms."
Master Quintan nodded and said " The Celestial Stargate has been present since ancient times. It's been said that a long time ago when humans first discovered fire, an ancient god descended from the beyond and built the Celestial Stargate. It's said the mighty being that built the Stargate intended to use it as a means of transportation to other Realms. It's however unknown what happened after that and the Stargate was never used as the mighty being intended for it.
Since ancient times several times the Stargate was opened, but it was never us that opened the stargate.
Master Quintan further explained " We have tried opening the Stargate to learn the travel between realms but we were always unsuccessful. There were times when we managed to open the Celestial Stargate. But all that came from the other side were hideous monsters who fed on human blood and meat.
All of the Grandmasters were called and we managed to seal the Stargate but at a heavy cost. Everything around the Celestial stargate in a radius of 20 kilometres was completely decimated, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of lives lost on that day."
Maya was shocked she knew that the Celestial Stargate would have some history with it but didn't realise it went back to ancient times.
Maya then asked " But why are you worried ?"
Master Quintan sighed and said " Recently the Stargate is trembling and showing more signs of opening. Before that, we deduced that the Stargate would have opened in the next 5 years but that duration has been shortened to 2 years."
Maya asked worriedly, " But is there any reason for such time shortening? I mean, why would the Stargate react like that?"
Master Quintan sighed and said, " It might be related to the incident in the Southerland district."
Maria thought for a moment and gasped " Grandfather, you don't mean it's related to Danial isn't it ."
Master Quintan replied " Not necessarily, it may be related, or it's just our misconceptions because till now all of our guesses lead to him, but we don't have any concrete pieces of evidence till now. I have personally sent my men to keep an eye on him and report any abnormalities to me ."
Maria sighed, and suddenly a thought popped into her mind and she asked curiously, " Grandfather, you said that you tried to open the Stargate Multiple times, but have you ever been successful?"
Master Quintan looked at Maria and said cautiously," The Celestial Stargate was opened, but it was never opened by us; it was opened by someone else. At that time, no one knew who he was. He single-handedly opened the Stargate and stepped inside.
We rushed to catch hi,m but he had already stepped into the Celestial Stargate.
After that incident, we tried multiple times to reopen the Celestial Stargate and we succeeded but we were able to keep it open for a few seconds before it forcefully closed."
Master Quintan waved his hand and said, "That's enough I have told you what needed to be told but I can't disclose any further. Maria, now you can..."
Just when Master Quintan was about to finish his sentence a loud explosion was heard.
Master Quintan turned his head and looked at the explosion with a gloomy expression.
Master Quintan gestured for Maria to stay put and never leave the house and then disappeared from his spot.
Inside the Sedgegan Mountain, where the Celestial Stargate was located, several officials and officers were running around trying to disperse and calm the situation.
If one had to see there was an entire base built in the mountains which spanned several thousand kilometres.