Alice Catch.
Adam's voice cut through the air like a thread of stillness. Without even looking, he flicked his wrist—and sothing flew through it, gleaming.
Alice's hand moved on reflex.
Thunk.
She caught it with ease.
A small orb sat in her palm now. Smooth, glassy, but faintly pulsing. Colors shifted inside it—soft purples, deep blues, a spiral of silver light swimming like a nebula inside a marble. It felt warm.
"…What is this?" Alice asked, blinking at it.
Adam turned slightly, hands still in his pockets. His expression unreadable, as always. But his eyes—those eyes sparkled faintly. Like he knew sothing no one else did.
"It's a gift," he said. "From to you."
Alice frowned faintly, tilting her head. "A gift?"
Adam nodded. "Absorb it."
She looked at him. Then looked back down at the orb. "What's it going to do?"
"See for yourself," Adam replied, almost lazily.
"…Hmph." Alice exhaled softly. Then, without another word, she closed her eyes and pressed the orb to her chest.
Fwoom.
In an instant, the orb lted into her skin—dissolving like liquid starlight. Her body jerked slightly. Her eyes snapped open.
Then—
BOOM.
A shockwave exploded from her.
The earth cracked beneath her feet. The air twisted.
Everyone stumbled back from the force.
"What the—" Joshua staggered.
"Whoa—what the hell?!" Alfred shouted, shielding his face from the blast of wind.
Alice's body lifted off the ground—levitating as glowing rings of runes spiraled up around her. The sky directly above began to warp—turning violet, stars flickering in broad daylight.
Aria squinted through the wind. "What is happening to her!?"
Draken's mouth dropped open. "That's not mana…"
Kael'Thar narrowed his eyes. "That's dinsional force…"
The magic around Alice had no center. It didn't swirl like fire or flow like water—it folded. Space itself seed to bend around her. One second she was five feet away. Then, just for a blink—she wasn't. Then she was again. Like reality was lagging.
Alice's hair whipped wildly, her calm expression cracking into one of shock.
"I—I can feel it…"
CRACK!
Another pulse of energy shattered the ground in a perfect circle.
She gasped, clutching her chest. Her pupils dilated—turning into fractals of stars. Her veins glowed a vivid silver, running through her skin like rivers of cosmic force.
"I… I can feel everything," she whispered.
Space.
Every distance.
Every coordinate.
Every fold in reality.
It was like her brain had unlocked a map of existence. She didn't just know where she was—she knew where everything else was too. She didn't move to step—she just was, wherever she wanted to be.
"I can…" she whispered. "I can be anywhere."
Adam smirked slightly.
"Congratulations," he said softly, almost teasingly. "You're the Absolute Monarch of Space now."
Alice slowly descended, her feet touching the cracked earth again. But she didn't stop glowing. The aura around her pulsed with authority—reality itself seed to lean away from her, like it recognized a new ruler.
Aria gawked. "She—she just ascended…"
Veyrion's eyes narrowed. "…just like that?"
Alice looked down at her hand. She opened her palm, and space around it folded in, like a tiny black hole ford and closed within a second.
She blinked.
Then, in a shimr—she vanished.
Not a sound. Not a ripple. She was just gone.
Alfred gasped. "Did she just—?!"
"Wait, look—!" Joshua pointed upward.
They all turned.
Far in the sky, above the clouds—Alice hovered. She had reappeared without warning, arms crossed, looking down at them with wide eyes.
Then—bam. She was on the ground again.
No transition. No trail.
Just instant.
"I can teleport…" she said, stunned. "Without even thinking."
"Not just teleport," Adam added, his voice low. "You can rewrite space. That includes creating it… tearing it… locking it."
Alice looked at him. "This was inside the orb?"
Adam nodded. "It's not just a power-up. It's your power, unlocked. I just… helped."
She stared at him a mont longer, like trying to figure sothing out.
Then her gaze dropped slightly. "…Thank you."
Adam blinked, then smiled. "You're welco."
Alfred walked up slowly, staring at her. "So… can you take us to Karyon Sol now?"
Alice tilted her head. "I could. But like Veyrion said…"
She raised a hand. Reality bent around it like glass.
"I could kill myself if I screw up the coordinates," she admitted.
"But?" Aria asked.
Alice slowly smiled.
"But now… I think I can handle it."
A faint portal—no, a tear in space—opened behind her, showing a warped, glimring image of distant lands, glowing towers, and golden skies.
The others froze.
"Is that—?"
"Karyon Sol," Alice confird. "Roughly a mile from the entrance gates. I locked onto it."
Veyrion stepped forward, cautious. "You sure?"
Alice nodded, her expression calm. "Try it. It won't pop you."
Adam walked up beside her. He didn't speak—but gave her a small, approving nod.
Alice, the Absolute Monarch of Space, turned to the rest.
"Well?" she said softly. "Let's go."
And one by one—they stepped into the portal.
The world shimred behind them.
The wind stilled.
The portal snapped shut behind them with the soundless precision of folding silk.
And then—
They stood on solid ground.
A golden plain stretched before them, veined with roads of glowing silver stone. Enormous spires soared toward the sky, their surfaces pulsing with light—not from torches or lamps, but from runes embedded deep in the architecture.
Above, twin suns glided across a lavender sky, and a third, smaller orb of blue fla hovered in orbit behind them—a celestial lantern trailing energy like a cot's tail.
"…Whoa," Alfred whispered. "This is…"
"Karyon Sol," Veyrion confird, his voice soft. "The last city of the Shattered Age."
Alice glanced around, her aura slowly dimming as she adjusted. The gravitational pull here was different—lighter, more fluid. Space was less rigid. She felt it in her bones. Her powers whispered constantly, detailing every spatial contour of the environnt like a living radar.
Aria approached her, looking up with concern. "Are you alright?"
Alice nodded. "Better than alright."
Joshua stepped beside Alfred. "So this is where the Star Council ets?"
"No," Veyrion answered. "This is the city built above their chambers."
Draken's eyes sharpened. "Which ans the real entrance is beneath us."
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