Under Augustus's orders, the gray-haired elder of the Hawthorne Lineage sealed the Frost Fruit in a box. Not daring to delay, he hurried out of the High Tower Institute.
He headed straight for the center of the inner city and entered a magnificent building crowned with an enormous silver-white dome.
This was the Council Palace, the seat of the Federation's power.
Rather than venturing farther inside, the gray-haired elder took a hidden passage into the basement. Before long, he stood before an inconspicuous iron door.
The walls on either side of the door writhed, revealing two expressionless faces. Their sockets held no eyes, only darkness that seemed capable of drawing away a person's soul. They stared unblinkingly at the gray-haired elder.
The elder turned his hand over, revealing a badge in his palm. The two pairs of dark eyes lingered on it for several breaths before the faces sank back into the stone walls.
The iron door had silently swung open.
The gray-haired elder strode inside. After walking more than a hundred meters, he reached another door directly ahead.
No faces appeared on the walls this time. Instead, there was an electronic device for matching palm prints.
After passing through four doors in this manner, the elder arrived before a red wall. There was no path ahead, but he showed no surprise. Sure enough, after only two or three breaths, the red wall shuddered with a hum.
Specks of firefly light drifted out of it and formed a crystal sphere in midair, gleaming with a soft radiance.
At the sight of the sphere, the elder sent a strand of mental power into it. The sphere flickered, seemingly verifying something.
With a click, the red wall parted to reveal a concealed elevator shaft.
The elder entered the elevator and felt himself