"Yah!"
Ciri and Geralt were having a spar after Vesemir's lessons, to which she just shrugged off as she already got tutors from a certain raven-haired. She didn't like everything single second of it, she'd rather doze off and make love in bed than study, but she was thankful.
The ashen-haired spin her body and held the sword upwards in a twirl which caught Geralt off-guard, but managed to cast a small 'Aard' sign on the girl, "Wow, if I didn't know you, I would've thought that you've done this for decades."
Ciri grinned and jumped back, avoiding the sign and white particles surrounded her immediately, surprising Geralt, who gripped his sword harder. The girl then disappeared to slash his back, but his witcher senses kicked in time for him to block it. "You keep surprising me every time!"
"Heh! When you have a monster like Dante teaching you, you can't help but get strong!" Ciri disappeared again, but Geralt was ready this time and parried her sword, rotating his body and grabbed her free hand.
"Cheap mistake, remember, don't use the same tactics twice," Geralt schooled her while his sword was on her throat, "That only works for dumb folks."
"If the same tactics don't work twice, then I only need to go faster," Ciri pouted and released the tension from her body, "Faster than the eyes can see."
Geralt only sighed and sheathed his sword, "Perhaps, if you keep that up." He said and ruffled her hair, "But don't be too hard on yourself, that might stunt your growth. Where'd you learn that trick anyway?"
The girl just pushed his arm away and smiled after he asked, "Dante! He said I had this space and time thingy. He taught me a week before you guys arrived."
"Oh," Geralt widened his eyes in surprise at Ciri's talent, it's only been three days since they arrived at Kaer Morhen and Bastion, Eskel was considered as the fastest Witcher to learn and master the signs, yet he only got the basics down after a year. "It seems like you have the talent!"
Geralt raised his voice but coughed a little bit, he was proud of the girl so it made him 'talk' uncharacteristically.
"And I see that too..."
Both 'father and daughter' looked to see who said that but the older one knew who it was, that tender, soothing yet cunning voice.
"Yen... when did you get here?"
Yennefer, dressed in black, came out of a portal and placed her hands on her sides. "When you asked her about her powers. It's good to meet you again Geralt, I missed you."
She didn't waste time and sprinted to the white-haired to kiss him.
It was romantic, but Ciri only stared at the woman. She knew her as Ciri saw 'Yen' on her dreams. 'Now that I'm up close, she's really beautiful.'
Deciding it was enough, both Yennefer and Geralt departed from each other's lips. The raven-haired woman then moved forward to Ciri and hugged her, making the girl widen her eyes. "You're so beautiful!"
Ciri could only blush as she heard the compliment. She was accustomed to Dante telling her how beautiful she was but hearing that from someone else kinda embarrassed her a bit. "Y-you too, you're really beautiful..."
Feeling left out, Geralt sighed and coughed to announce his presence, "I believe we're done for the day Ciri, why don't we head back. I bet Dante's done experimenting at the forge. Maybe he's going to cook afterward too, After all, it was me who did everything yesterday."
"My-my Geralt, this might be the first time I'm hearing you speak that long." Yennefer covered her mouth, giggling.
The white-haired just sighed while Ciri scoffed, "Such a sore loser, he beat you in Gwent. AND you're always thinking about his cooking!" she yelled and pointed at his face.
"Speak for yourself, you sit and bang the table when you smell food." Geralt fired back, making Yennefer, who previously giggled, irritated.
"Geralt, I can understand you teaching the child, but you shouldn't bully her." Yennefer folded her arms, while Ciri agreed, nodding her head rapidly.
However, she stopped and widened her eyes in realization, "Hey! I'm not a kid, I'm a teenager."
Geralt could only sigh wryly, one minute he was kissing the love of his life, the other the two started doubling upon him. "Let's just get inside..."
He turned his back to walk inside, and the sorceress nodded her head after. "Alright, I'm eager to know about this Dante that you're speaking of." She followed him.
Ciri, for some reason, got irritated by what she heard but she didn't know why.
XXXXXXXXXX
The man they talked about was currently standing on the ground floor, millions of small glyphs gloating in the air. Vesemir wanted to forge something so he decided to stop his crafting experiments and focus on miscellaneous runes instead.
'A failure, I'm done with setting out the formulas on each perimeter and connected all of it... what made it fail?'
Dante was currently setting up an invisible forcefield that will deny anyone who had malicious intentions towards Kaer Morhen. He was so close to finishing it but clicked his tongue in confusion.
"I thought you were at the forge with your toys?" Geralt's voice sounded at the direction on his back, making him turn around.
'Was I too focused? I didn't even sense anything at all.' Dante thought and greeted in return, "Hey, Vesemir wanted to make something. I bet it's a horseshoe."
Dante laughed at his joke while Geralt stayed silent, "Come on man, you're such a downer!" He joked again, this time making Geralt smile, "I see there's a guest?"
The woman walked near Geralt and bowed elegantly, "Yennefer of Vengerberg, that's a great set of runes. Although I should say, you are the guest, I've been here long before you."
Dante only scratched his head sheepishly but looked to Ciri in the confirmation. They didn't have telepathy but they were conversating very well using their eyes.
'Is she the one on your dreams?'
'Yeah...'
'So a lover it is...'
'Yeah...'
'You okay?'
'Yeah... she's beautiful...'
Dante wanted to slap his head in a deadpan but didn't do so as it would make it awkward. "Nice to meet you Yennefer, judging by your dress, you're a sorceress right?"
'Her shoulders are a little lopsided, can't she fix that with her magic?' He thought.
"A great deduction," The woman nodded as the male raven-haired sighed.
"So that's why..." Dante muttered.
"Excuse me?"
"Ah, I wondered why my craft didn't activate. It turns out, your portal distorted the space and connection of the runes." Dante started to explain and looked at Ciri, who smiled in return.
"So," Yennefer grabbed his attention, "you're saying that portals distort some kind of space?"
Dante raised his eyebrows in question, "You're a sorceress and you don't know?" he said, "No offense."
"None taken, do you have something to prove your theory about space?" Yennefer questioned as Ciri excused herself and vanished to Bastion for a bath, leaving white particles. Geralt too went to his room upstairs after.
Dante cupped his chin in thought for a few seconds then nodded his head, "If you don't know about space, I assume you use magic in the surroundings or your personal reserves to make a portal, then leave your signature as a mark to locate it and teleport there?"
"That's wonderfully accurate," Yennefer nodded and praised him a little bit, "Ciri's lucky to have a smart man in her life."
'I'm not even done yet...' Dante sweatdropped, but proceeded to explain.
"Thank the books for that one... Anyway, there are many types of portals, but I'll discuss how it connects to space. You see, space is everywhere, however, it has nothing. \its only responsibility is to keep things how they are. When you open up a portal, you're technically controlling space as you're maneuvering it to make you go in a direction after entering it. That may sound like nothing but space is the biggest contributor to why you're still intact after leaving a portal, if you're not controlling space enough, it will fight against you and guess what happens after that..."
Yennefer listened attentively as he shared his knowledge, "The body doesn't leave the portal intact..."
"Yes," Dante nodded his head, "That's the relation of space and portals, without your magic, you won't be able to control the space, and without space, you won't be able to create a portal. There's also time, as space and time are very related. However, it's really simple to explain yet hard to grasp. Essentially, time is the reason why you arrive at your destination so fast. Time speeds everything up in the portal, including the travel, excluding your body. I'm surprised you're not in pieces or ashes right now, considering your lack of knowledge in this department."
Yennefer tried to keep her composure as she coughed a little bit, "We weren't taught this far..."
Not minding it, Dante nodded in understanding. "That's alright, I mean that's not alright. But it's fortunate you're still kicking, very lucky... Here, I'll prove it to you visually so you'll understand better, maybe learn something from it."
Dante gathered some energy in his hands and extended it, creating four portals, two entrances, and two exits. "What do you see?"
The portals looked the same, the height, width, the color, but there was something the sorceress noticed, "I can feel magic radiating from the two portals on the left, but there's none on the right..."
Dante nodded and smiled, "Yes... I used energy, or magic if you will, as the source to open up the two portals on the left. This side on the other hand," he motioned for the right side. "I created them using nothing but space and time themselves."
The woman opened up her jaw in shock but kept her composure, she was good at it, "To open up a portal without actually using magic, fascinating..."
Nodding his head, Dante finished his 'lesson', "Yep, and now... I'mma activate the forcefield now." He cut off his connection to the portals and extended his hand to the runes, using a bit of his power which made the whole keep shake.
Ciri, who felt this knew this wasn't a natural one, appeared in white particles as to inspect the situation to find her handsome lover extending his hand on the set of runes. The same could be said with all the witchers, but only Eskel was grumpy.
"What happened?" She asked both raven-haired individuals to which Yennefer shook her head.
"I want to know as well," She said, "that was a big quake so something must have happened."
"Dude, do you know how hard it is to hunt deer at this snow? I thought someone just attacked the keep!" Eskel fumed comically, but inside, he was thankful nothing happened.
"Sorry, I'm going to explain what happened..." Dante apologized sheepishly, he forgot to explain about his creation. "This is a new invention of mine, it's extremely useful as it's a forcefield that denies anyone who has the wrong intentions towards the keep. Ultimately, they won't be able to get in, no matter how much force they put in."
He compressed the runes into one, carving it into a slab the size of a book. He then manipulated the space around it to make intangible and placed it meters below the keep.
"Hmm..." Vesemir folded his arms and cupped his chin thought, "Extremely useful indeed, you've done a great favor to Kaer Morhen my boy, that's ought to be rewarded."
"N-no, please! That's the least I can do for the kindness you guys have given me for the past few months." Dante sincerely insisted, "Besides, it isn't really that hard to make these kinds of runes."
All of them looked at him as if he was crazy, but only Yennefer replied, "Please refrain from being too humble, anyone could mistake that as boasting. Especially us magic-users, it's a hard blow to our pride after all."
The raven-haired could laugh sheepishly, "Apologies..."
"Say, you're a mage, but you smith?" Yennefer asked him, wondering how Dante was so good at the magical aspect when he has his mind focused on other things.
"No, I'm no mage," Dante positively replied, "I'm just a normal guy who studies the wonders of life."
"The wonders of life, if peasant would hear that, he'd immediately think you're looking for a good life. But is it right for me to think that these 'wonders of life' are dangerous situations that you'll encounter every time?" Yennefer asked, repeating the phrase 'wonders of life' in her mind.
The raven-haired shrugged, "Maybe? Not every time though, wonders of life could mean anything, I just coincidentally want to be a strong normal human." He said, "Does that make sense?"
"Hmm..." the woman tilted her head in thought, "well it doesn't really matter what others think, you be you. By the way, I noticed you were slightly annoyed when you mentioned being replaced by Vesemir at the forge?"
Dante coughed when he heard her, "Umm... I was smithing something special..."
XXXXXXXXXX
They were all currently in a long dining table, waiting for Dante's cooking as they were talking about random topics to fill the boring atmosphere. Ciri introduced more about Dante behind his back to Yennefer and even shared what the witchers don't know about.
"So you're saying he's from another universe, am I right?" the raven-haired woman asked, getting a nod in return. "If that's true, then do you know when he's going to return? Not to be a bummer to your relationship but that's going to happen."
All of the witchers flinched, although that was the truth, they've gone accustomed to Dante being here and him being gone is like taking a piece of their soul away. However, the one that's biggest affected was Ciri, he was her first love.
"We talked about it..." The ashen-haired shared, "We talked about it under the stars..."
XXXXXXXXXX
"Tired already?"
Ciri woke up to the sound of Dante coming into the room, she was studying the books he gave her because, after every week, he would test her knowledge and examine her, both physically and mentally. "Huh? I slept?" She muttered.
"Why don't you take a break for a while, I feel like I'm being too hard on you..." Dante knelt beside her seat and caressed her head, lightly scratching it, making her want to sleep even more.
"It's okay, I'm wide awake." She insisted, only for him to sigh in return.
"Okay, but take a break first, let's lay on the bed..." He went to lay on the bed and pattied the side, motioning her to come.
The ashen-haired nodded and stood up sluggishly, she only gets to sleep five hours a day since she trains with him early in the morning with her waking him up. Then break starts at lunch to release the muscle stress, then goes back to studying when night falls.
She laid in the bed and immediately went to him, using his arm as a pillow and hugged him. "Comfy..."
The lad chuckled and manipulated the bed to fly up and outside their mansion, slowly moving so that the girl won't get bothered. Mission failed though as Ciri opened her eyes and looked upwards, admiring the stars.
"Beautiful..."
"Heh... I know, right? They shine so bright that everyone can see them despite being so far..." Dante smiled, playing with Ciri's hair before pointing at a random star that was shining a bit brighter than the rest. "I bet, that's my universe right there."
He joked a little bit but it made Ciri thought of something, "You know, I noticed you been teaching me left and right, it's like you're in a hurry..."
"Am I?" Dante laughed a little bit, "Sorry, I knew I was too hard on you..."
"Are you eager to go back?" Ciri didn't look sad or anything but inside, she was preparing for the worst possible scenario, only to be pinched by Dante in the cheek.
"Don't be so gloomy about it..." He said, then kissed her other cheek. "I need to go back and check if there's still anything left, if there is, I'll bid farewell to a friend of mine so he won't destroy anything."
Ciri widened her eyes a little bit, but got the real answer, "So you'll come back?"
"Hmm!" Dante nodded his head as they continued to gaze the stars, "Of course, do you think I'd just forget about you and go?"
Staying silent, Ciri didn't answer as he looked at her eyes.
"Wait, you really thought so? And I thought you had faith in me..." He grabbed his chest in pain but was only met with a pinch on the belly which made him yelp a bit, "S-sorry hehe... won't joke about that again."
"It isn't funny..."
They stayed silent for a while but Dante broke the silence, hugging her much tighter, "You know, I'm surprised you're not trying to come with me..."
"No way, are you kidding? You said people there destroy planets, you think I'd survive that?" Ciri laughed a little and slapped his chest. "Plus... I'm contented here, at Bastion, Kaer Morhen..."
"Ah..." Dante smiled, at the very least, she understood. He preferred her going with him but they might come across situations where he can't protect her, so it's better safe than sorry.
The ashen-haired stopped gazing at the stars and looked at him deeply in the eyes, "I'll wait for you..."
"Please do..."
They looked at each other's eyes, they could remember the first time they got lost at each other's eyes, the moment when they confessed their feelings towards each other. Ciri closed her eyes and leaned to his face, making him smile and do the same, kissing her lips.
'I'm so lucky...'