I raised my hands.
"Then what the hell happened to her?"
Marcella gulped before frowning. She went to say sothing before she stopped. Fear spread over her before a resolve replaced it. She said.
"It was an agent from-"
She blinked before she snarled at herself. A mont later, blood began dripping from her nose. It poured out of her eyes, ears, and mouth. She trembled as her skin began lting even through the protective barrier of the antimagic shackles.
"It was an agent from Cygna, the Silent."
As the words left her mouth, a wave of palpable apprehension passed over . Althea took a step back before reality around us rumbled. Marcella gazed at her sister, Rebecca's mind empty and hollow. Marcella closed her eyes, and her tears intermingled with her blood. She murmured.
"I'm sorry."
From above, energy coalesced. The clouds around us reverberated before condensing into solid water. They crashed down in a heavy wave as the ground around us caught fire. Like gasoline, the water plud up in a spreading, magenta-shaded blaze. I opened my pocket dinsion, and Althea dove into the portal right before the flas consud her.
They enveloped , and they burned all in their path. My skin bubbled as arcane energy effused my being. My mories faded, the fire eating away at my sense of self. Above, the clouds shimred as strange, esoteric patterns erupted over the sky. They circled a singular point, a horizon-shattering ritual forming on the spot.
It blood into a magenta-shaded ball of energy. Beside , the dirt began disintegrating into nothing. Air funneled in from all directions as the arcane mana destroyed all around us. I gawked in awe, my lucidity robbed from . No pain racked my body. No dismay urged my mind forward. Only emptiness hugged from all sides, the sensation more peaceful than any sleep.
Around , tears in spaceti ford. The energy cleaved even the area itself apart. It dismantled ti here, debris and objects frozen in place. Even outside of ti or space, this terrifying energy siphoned all to nothing. It built into an enormous, universal sun overhead before crashing down onto Marcella and Rebecca.
They long ago burned away, but the lightning robbed them of more than a physical body. I blinked, wondering who I was just thinking about. Peering around at hellfire and arcane surges, I forgot where and who I was. My body bled away into silent oblivion as the world surged into an immaterial stasis.
I watched it all crumble away, awash in peaceful bliss. It reached , and I beca nothing. After an unknown amount of ti, my eyes opened. All around , reality bled as several tears in space spread in all directions. They congregated into a singular, massive hole in reality. It dwarfed the lunar rip, and this single tear threatened all of the Shattered Spires.
Maybe the world.
I burst into action, instinct guiding through the process. I grabbed segnts as I stumbled around. Even if I didn't understand the why, where, or how of my situation, I knew letting this energy spill onto our reality would destroy all I loved. To prevent the fall of my planet, I scrambled to gather the pieces.
I bolted from tear to tear, grabbing the rips and pulling them together. As I amassed a growing rupture, the interdinsional energy tingled my skin. A spreading, icy cold infiltrated my body and mind alike. My armor grinned and fed on the substance, my aura running wild in the dark. I let it have its fill to help stifle the overwhelming surge.
As I grappled with the portals, I pressed the ruptures into a singular point. Like bubbles connecting in the air, they snapped together, becoming an evergrowing void. I handled them all, grabbing the portal at its endpoints. Spread out to the limits of my reach, I tugged at the dinsional edges. They resisted my pull, the rupture steadily growing in all spaces.
A roaring panic surged in my chest. I peered around, trying to find sothing to help, but a crater surrounded . As if an antimatter asteroid collided where I stood, I suspended myself using the tiny dinsions I carried. Whenever I attempted to pull at gravity, nothing responded around either.
Sothing stole the fundantal rules of reality for this space, and I struggled against a growing hole all the while. The veins in my arms burst, and my skin split as I held the edges of the gap. My bones ached, and corded ligants frayed at the edges. I wielded my dinsional wake in tandem, yet it only slowed the growth.
Taking a mont, I racked my brain for solutions. Nothing presented itself. At this rate, the rupture would consu all of the Shattered Spires and destroy our world. I gritted my teeth and snarled at the void, the spreading wound infesting our world like cancer. The jagged edges of the rupture slinked away from my hands, and it drew across the sky like an ink-drenched snake.
Desperate and out of options, I called at the back of my mind. A dark, abhorrent entity awakened, its hunger unending and brutal. It had eaten the avatars and shards of the Old Ones. It must eat this rupture. As I called it forth, it wouldn't heed my call. As the gap spread in my hands, a realization crossed over .
It wasn't so separate being. It was . All this ti, I had access to this horrifying ability. Of course, I did. I could devour mana, physical matter, even my own body and mind. However, I never attempted to consu another person's thoughts, soul, or spirit. And yet, I could. I always could, and I never allowed myself to take that step.
I held myself back out of fear of what I'd beco. As I gazed at the endless eternity before , I wanted nothing more than to close the gap. Despite that desire, I never wanted to awaken this evil. A part of wished I had never touched the armor orb whenever I fought Baldag-Ruhl.
I wanted to be a normal man. I could fight monsters and live a simple life. Instead, I grappled against monstrous entities that devoured realities.
Regardless of my wants, I learned long ago that he who fights monsters becos them. I closed my eyes and surged a dark shade of myself to the surface. Event Horizon unlocked sothing as if I opened a gate. In a sudden, raging oppression, I devoured all in my aura.
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The matter oozing forth. The latent thoughts infesting the ether. The unbridled and corrupting energy. I indulged in all of it as my surroundings devolved into a mass of destruction. So piece of my body rumbled in satisfaction as I absorbed the interdinsional energy in vast waves. It siphoned towards , my body akin to the arcane surge of before.
I beca a void.
As I absorbed my surroundings, the rip around shrank. Without the volatile energy sustaining it, the tear no longer expanded. It continued shrinking as I engorged on the interdinsional energy. My entire body writhed as the power surged across . It left icy pricks in its aftermath, and an itch ravaged my skin, eyes, and even my mind.
It grew into an overwhelming sensation. I imrsed in it, sothing at the cusp of my mind swelling and surging. So part of myself ballooned, growing overlarge as I reached a defined limit. As the warp beca a manageable size, a rumble echoed from inside the portal. My eyes widened, and I gawked at the endless dark.
It bore into , a wave of fear erupting in my chest. I shivered as so behemoth arose in the dark. I only knew of its existence because of my dinsional wake. Without it, the monster would've been imperceptible. It gazed at , its body amorphous and its thoughts ineffable. It pressed down onto using so unseen force.
I blanked out before coming too once more. I still held the portal open, and I fed on the outpour. If I stopped, the rupture may grow to a point where I could no longer stop it. By now, cracks had ford on my armor, mana surging in my blood and causing my insides to glow. The entity had left, and I scrambled to close the rupture.
It reached a manageable extent, being the size of a standard room. I wrapped reality like a towel, folding it over itself. My hands shook as I struggled against the overwhelming force. On and on, I continued wrestling the violent rupture into a stable, docile crack. It kept shrinking until it pulled together and disappeared.
As it did, I tried to think of what just happened. Rembering the interdinsional behemoth, I leaned back, my mind splintering. All turned to black. Once more, I awoke. Around , the crater lingered below like a scar on reality. I gazed up, finding a circle above where no clouds dared enter. I hung as a limp body on the tiny dinsions I hid throughout myself.
Taking a breath, I lifted my shaking hands. Scars traced my body, each mark a bright gray and sensitive to all stimuli. I could hardly call forth mana, let alone move my dinsions. I blinked, trying to recall why I was even here and where I was. Gawking at the horizons, I couldn't help but appreciate the absurd beauty.
Wherever I was, it mirrored a painting that reflected a childhood mory, one sweetened by ti and imbued with aning through stories. I gawked at it, my mories of the previous events cloudy at best. Taking a breath, I tried moving. Everything in my body hurt. My head rattled in my brain, and each thought ignited a spark of discomfort.
My back felt old and worn, and my legs trembled at the thought of supporting my weight. Since Schema's system arrived, I'd never felt so worn and ragged. It wasn't the sa as an injury itself, more akin to a lack of sleep, a hangover, and soreness molded into a singular, salient sensation.
I let out a breath, sending ssages to my guildmates. After a while, I checked the rest of myself to see if I could do, well, anything. I opened my eyes wide. For so insane reason, I put Althea into my pocket dinsion. I facepald before letting out a grunt of pain. Even a light tap hurt. I shook my head before pulling Althea out, and I let out a sigh of relief as I did.
My pocket dinsion didn't slice her to ribbons or trap her forever. As she floated out, she put a hand on my chest.
"I could feel sothing weird while I was in there. What happened?"
I blinked.
"I...I don't know."
Althea made wings and flapped them to keep herself in place.
"Why are you covered in those marks? And were you able to save Marcella and Rebecca?"
I frowned.
"Who?"
Althea rolled her eyes.
"Ok, now you're just ssing with ."
I looked at my hands and back to her.
"Who's Marcella and Rebecca? Are they guildmates?"
Althea furrowed her brow.
"you can stop doubling down. The joke isn't funny."
I spread my hands.
"I an it. I have no clue who you're talking about."
Althea's wings grabbed at the air as she swung her hair back.
"Ok...It looks like we have a ss to clean up."
I gazed down.
"I can't move. The spatial tears are holding in place."
Althea frowned.
"Why not leave them behind?"
I winced.
"I can't. The true tear will vomit interdinsional energies out."
Althea flew over before landing on my shoulder. As delicate as a feather, she avoided putting pressure on my scars.
"Then let's start parsing together what happened. So uh, first off, Marcella led New York-"
She explained everything that had happened over the last while, and as she finished, I pointed at the sky.
"So after Marcella said a na, everything I can kind of rember happened. Do you think her saying that na is why the thunder struck down?"
Althea nodded.
"I would think so. After a bit of thought, I don't think she would've been able to even say it if she wasn't wearing those shackles. Also, I...I'm not saying the na she ntioned."
I raised my palms.
"Please, for the love of all that's holy, don't."
She leaned down and put her hand through my hair.
"You don't have to tell twice. I don't want to beco fried chicken like her."
I sent a ssage to Torix about Marcella before shaking my head.
"It's strange that nothing you've said has rang any bells as we talked. I expected so fine wisps of mory to flare up as you spoke, but nope. Nadda. Zilch."
Althea leaned down, one leg hanging off . She drew in the air with her hanging leg.
"Well, you were near that weird lightning and fire. It could've ssed with your mories."
I shrugged.
"It wouldn't be the first ti. Shalahora, the psionic fluid from L-7, and even Eonoth disturbed my mories before. The thing is, all of that was temporary. I can't rember this even after regenerating fully or you describing the situation in full. It's all just a void."
She opened her own storage using one of Schema's spatial rings. She pulled out so breath mints.
"These always help concentrate."
I nodded before we popped the mints into our mouths. Instead of regular peppermint, a spicy tang flooded my mouth alongside a bit of primordial mana. It oozed out in a controlled, consistent fashion, and it offered a minty blast from actual cold, not the flavor itself. I relished the treat for a bit before I turned to her, my body slack on the portals.
"Wow. Those are great. Did you have them ordered from so other empire or maybe from the exchange store?"
She puffed out her chest in pride.
"It's one of my special pharmaceuticals."
I raised a brow.
"You have pharmaceuticals?"
She gazed at , her eyes piercing.
"Of course. I started a company with Kessiah to make them."
I grinned.
"What? That's amazing. You gotta tell how that started."
She smiled back.
"Yeah. I've been watching movies and shows from your old world with her, and everybody used all kinds of substances. Alcohol was by far the most common, but people took pills, teas, brews, and other drugs as well. I figured I could add mana and other enchantnts to their formulas to create sothing better than the original."
I leaned back.
"Wait a minute. Don't tell you gave these to test them?"
She put a hand on her chest.
"Of course not. I gave them to you to share in sothing that brings joy."
A pang of guilt went through my mind.
"Ah, sorry for assuming-"
She chid.
"Now, if you'd like to carry these around, then I can offer them for free. If you accept the offer, I'd like to be able to say the guildleader uses these mints on the boxes we sell."
"Aaaand there it is."
A mischievous glint crossed her eye.
"Oh, co on. I can't miss Goody Two Shoes all the ti. Just most of the ti."
I nodded.
"Fair enough. I never thought about making a business, actually-"
A notification rang in my ears. I opened a ssage from Torix, and confusion washed over .
Torix Worm, The Harbinger's Erudition | Level: 18,000 | Class: Archmage - Now, I do understand that my mory has failed before, but I must reiterate this point: who is this Marcella yor and Rebecca you keep speaking of? I've never heard their nas in my life.
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