Andrew and Sophia lay in the grass in a state of extreme undress. After going over what had happened to Andrew and going over the details of his current condition, they’d kind of gotten carried away with the marriage talk.

One thing led to another, and between their mutual sentiments and their relief at Andrew’s continued survival, the two eidolons soon found themselves rutting in the field like beasts.

Now it was over, and a slightly out of breath, Andrew gazed up at a three moon sky that was far more blue and clean than his homeworld’s. He frowned at this new planet’s extra moons and then looked over at his new fiance. He was troubled to find that she was looking a lot more translucent than normal. The tall waving grass of the field showing up murkily behind her.

“Um...Soph? You’re looking a bit ghostly there.” said Andrew. Keeping his tone light to hide how alarmed he was.

Sophia looked down at herself and sighed as she saw that her supple alabaster skin and the muscles, organs, and bones within had all turned to clear crystal.

“I know…” said Sophia.

“You know? Good. Then I’m guessing it’s probably not anything too bad.”

“Yes...Like I said before. You are an outlier. An anchorless anomaly whose scale is so excessive that until you reach full maturity you’ll often find yourself popping into other worlds and realities in the same way a man might drift between lucid dreams...In comparison, ordinary eidolons like myself are generally too weak to manage transdimensional travel on our own. Though I can come to you temporarily thanks to our connection, if I really wish to follow you on your journey between the worlds, I either need to build a gate of some kind like we built to leave Abwickeln, which would probably draw some unwanted attention from the immortal leadership of the Blackrose galaxy, or I’ll need to wait till I’ve done a bit of growing.” said Sophia.

“Oh...That sucks...Maybe this is something bad after all.”

“It’s not that bad, hoheit. After a two to three day refractory period I’ll be able to crossover to you temporarily again. Plus, it’s not like you’re going to be staying here for too long.” said Sophia. Sitting up and adjusting her dress.

“I’m not?” said Andrew.

“Of course not. Don’t you remember what I said before?”

“I’m gonna be honest and say that a lot of what might or might not have been said a few hours ago was lost the moment you took your clothes off.” said Andrew. Only half-joking.

Sophia shook her head and rolled her eyes.

“Silly, hoheit. Fine then...I’ll repeat myself. You Andrew Oddvar-Luce.”

“Woah, woah, woah...Oddmar-Luce? We’re going the hyphenated route?” said Andrew.

“Yes. Is that not acceptable? I thought that this would be the culturally appropriate trend for a clanless individual being married into an affluent family.” said Sophia. Arching a brow.

“Eh, not really I guess.” said Andrew. Rubbing the back of his neck and trying to decide how he felt about the name change. He decided he liked it, but it would require a change of wardrobe because his mental image Andrew Oddvar-Luce was a little more posh than his image of plain old Andrew Oddvar.

“Returning to the matter at hand…” said Sophia shaking her head at Andrew as she watched him ruminate.

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“You are in your world-eater phase. Your body is now entering a stage of accelerated growth and you’re going to need to gather a large amount of nutrients, i.e. power, data, and laws to sustain the process and countermand some of the symptoms.” said Sophia.

“Symptoms like randomly getting teleported to other worlds?” said Andrew. Pulling up the trousers that were bunched around his ankles.

“Exactly.” said Sophia.

“Alright...And do I have swallow this planet or is any planet in this new universe, or do I have swallow the universe of itself?” said Andrew. His expression turning grave as he considered what it meant to be a “world-eater”.

“None of the above...It’s nothing that dire. The phrase world-eater does refer to being that survive by consuming the essence of a world, but that doesn’t necessarily mean one needs to consume the entire world.”

“This planet’s name is Alma...It might just be the perfect world for you to start this new stage of your life in. It has a diameter of roughly 1,240,093 square miles, and a surface area roughly 14,000 times that of planet Harlow.”

“Really?! Shit...How am I even standing right now with this frail human body?...And why isn’t everything on fire?!” said Andrew. Recalling that Harlow itself was already almost two times the size of your average garden planet.

Sophia shrugged.

“Differing universes operate on differing universal constants. It probably also helps that the amount of magical energy present in this universe many times that of your human universe’s. It makes the laws more flexible.” said Sophia.

“Nh...Alright. So do we have a game plan?”

“I...I was thinking. You go around, you find sources of magic. You find a ley nexus or two and plug yourself into them. Then you get home. If you can collect the required amount between now and the next four months, the time differential between the two worlds is such that you could be back with only a week having gone by in the home world.”

Andrew considered the plan and his normally sleepy brain woke up just enough to offer a few suggestions and optimizations.

“Nh...so we have a big ass world...filled with magic...How would I go about harvesting that magic again.”

“I imagine the the methods you used when conquering Abwickeln for the former-lord and then for yourself, would suffice, hoheit.” said Sophia.

Andrew nodded. Sophia’s words were an affirmation for the thoughts that were going through Andrew’s mind.

“...The parts of my mind that weren’t going insane with pain took some data readings on the ‘unfolding’ phenomenon and the process that lead to my displacement into this reality. I came up with a few models tell me what you think.” said Andrew. Passing a data packet over to Sophia through their connection.

Sophia frowned. Her eyes glowed and their thick, silver-white, lashes fluttered, as her mind parsed through the hefty data packet. Then the glowing stopped and she looked up at the boy with a look of appreciation.

“An interesting proposal…I thought you said you weren’t paying attention, hoheit?” said Sophia. A soft pur entering her voice as she traced her finger tip down his cheek.

“Nh...Well, I technically said I lost track of what you were saying not that I wasn’t paying attention.” said Andrew.

“Hmph...In anycase, I think the plan could work...You’re proposing laying down roots. Spreading your weight across multiple realities to reduce the frequency of your displacement.” said Sophia.

“Yes...But actually, I’m thinking a little bit bigger. Not all eating has to be with teeth. I can use metaphysical resonance to tap into the magic of this world and use that power to tap into the magic of this universe at large. All I need to do is create a system of markers, lay down a few roots. Like you said...It’s a question of anchoring and scale.” said Andrew.

Sophia smiled. Her golden eyes glowing.

“Indeed, I did. I imagine there’ll be a number of worlds you end up from feeding from.”

“Including home because why not…” said Andrew.

“Yes. We can create a root system that’ll feed both our growths. With our talents it won’t be hard to make it into untraceable, undetectable, an impenetrable collection system..” said Sophia. Her words growing more crisp and the pitch of her voice more low as she grew more excited.

“Do you want to start things up back at home while I start things up here?” said Andrew. Noting that his companion was now almost completely see through.

“Yes...I’ll also make sure to have a duplicate with your appearance attending your classes just in case things take longer than we think.” said Sophia.

Andrew smiled.

“You think of everything don’t you?”

“I try, hoheit...I try.” said Sophia.

The girl looked down and saw that her body was now almost faded into nothing. Alma and its universe were pushing her back to whence she’d come. Sophai sighed, wrapping her arms around herself in a self-soothing gesture.

“Be safe, my love. There’s too much left for us to do.”

Andrew pulled her into his arms, his tongue briefly explored the familiar confines of her mouth, before he pulled away.

“Don’t worrry, Sophia Oddvar-Luce...Didn’t you say I’ll only be gone a week?” said Andrew. Putting up a brave front.

“A week at home, hoheit...That’s four months in this world. A lot can happen in four months.”

“Kek...You don’t trust me at all, do you? Didn’t you know? I was already taking care of myself for a whole sixteen years before we met.”

“Silly...Of course I know. That’s exactly why I worry. I remember how bad our condition was before we met.”

“Well, I figure with all those eons of care and nagging you’ve put in, four months will be far too short a time for all your hard work to be undone.” said Andrew.

“Hmph.” said Sophia. Not bothering to grace Andrew’s statement with a response.

The young couple kissed a final time, then Andrew was left standing in the field alone. Holding nothing. A warm wind blew over him yet Andrew felt himself grow chillier on the inside. Then after looking up at the sky and its three moons, Andrew shook himself.

“Well, I best get to it if I want to get back home.”