CHAPTER 42.

Amber could hardly believe her ears. She could understand that he returned to the birthplace of Primordial Spirits. Sure, she was surprised that the spirits weren’t native to Vir. But all the information she had received combined with the brief vision she saw… it was a bit too much.

A land without a System. A land where the weakest creatures could spell catastrophe for Vir. A land where Primordial Spirits aren’t even the strongest.

Ill’hine is a place where gods aren’t the strongest…

Amber immediately opened her mouth. “But aren’t Primordial Spirits gods?”

“Yes, but not all gods are equal, not everyone has the same strength.” The Primordial Spirit waved dismissively. “For example, Ax’thra is considerably stronger than me even though we are both gods. Only reason the Arcane Council didn’t come for me is due to all my outside relations⁠— attacking me would draw too much attention.”

“Right…” Amber nodded at that. “I see… So barely anyone knows of Ill’hine?”

“Aside from us, the primordials, the gods, very few mortals in history have been made aware of it.” The spirit tilted her head as if thinking. “Probably less than all the digits of your hands.”

“Less than ten in history…?” Amber blinked.

“Indeed.” She nodded. “And that is including you.”

Amber’s mind spun for a moment. She didn’t understand⁠— she was supposed to take this super secret almost no one has heard of at face value. She was supposed to believe what was being told⁠— and she did. But she found it odd, she couldn’t understand it. She felt lost for a moment before she looked up.

“But why me?”

The Primordial Spirit smiled. “Because Ax’thra deemed you fit of it. He said that once you were much stronger he’d tell you, and then⁠— the Arcane Council came.”

“Ha?”

Ax’thra held me in such a high regard? She had no idea, but then again she always felt that the Primordial Spirit was fond of her, though she didn’t think that it was to that extent. It was… something incredibly unexpected, but also something that cemented her resolve in looking for him.

“He said, he told me, to tell you this:” The Primordial Spirit took a breath, her voice shifting to resemble his. “Amber, the road to truly test your limits is long, now that you know this, you better not become the Knitting Hero of Vir.”

Amber chuckled at that. “Tell him that I won’t become that.”

“You can tell him yourself, relay it to him, but make sure to bring some knitting needles to scare him a bit first,” she said, evidently amused.

A smile spread across Amber’s lips, but while she enjoyed the moment, she couldn’t revel in it. She had important information to learn. However, before that…

“Before I ask more, I should give you back your cube,” Amber said as she reached for the straps of her battered armor.

But in response the spirit shook her head.

“Keep it, it doesn’t belong to me, it was just in my possession. It belongs to a different Primordial Spirit.”

Amber paused at that.

“Right.”

“Anyway, what do you have in mind?” the Primordial Spirit asked, smiling.

Ambed nodded. “You said it’s a land without a System, what do you mean?”

“Well there is no System, plain and simple.” She tilted her head. “Of course, your System will still work but it’s not something that is inherently present in Ill’hine. After all, the System was a creation, something made, not a natural phenomenon.”

“That… makes sense…”

Amber wasn’t all that surprised given the Primordial Spirits could tinker with the System itself, but the idea of creating something that could grant so much power still seemed hard to believe, so she never even thought about… questioning it. She just took it as a fact of Vir. Though to some it may have been obvious but to Amber it was still a revelation.

“I know the Primordial Spirits allowed the sapient creatures of Vir to access the System, does that mean that you all created it?”

The Primordial Spirit grinned, evidently proud of herself. “Yes and no. I didn’t play a hand in the creation of the System, the First made it.”

Amber paused. “The First? Who is the First?”

“Who is the First?” The spirit smiled. “Well, he is the first-born of the stars, the original Primordial Spirit. The one who started it all, and the one that created everything; a true god. Our forefather; the First.”

Amber slowly nodded at that. There was admiration present in her voice.

“He devised the System as a way to grow stronger, to gain more power, that is why we Primordial Spirits are so strong, because we have access to the System and to the other power.”

“The other… power?” Amber asked. “The power of the stars or something?”

The Primordial Spirit laughed. “Of course not, it’s not something that mystical. I’ll explain it to you later.”

Amber nodded. “So why is Ax’thra in Ill’hine and what exactly is Ill’hine?”

“To answer your former question, he was injured, hurt, during his battle, and he’s decided to recover in Ill’hine. Dargon barely escaped with his life, and I hear he is severely weakened. Maybe you could even kill him.”

“Right.”

“As for what is Ill’hine?” The Primordial Spirit pondered. “There are monsters as big as mountains. Grand beings that the denizens of Vir cannot fathom. Here, I’ll show you, I’ll enlighten you.”

Amber blinked at her words, and watched as she waved her hand. In a single moment, the surroundings changed⁠— all that remained static were the two couches and table, the vicinity however, it became akin to the cosmos itself. Dust that sparkled like stars passed as if it was wind, and a moment later they were in a grassy plain.

There was lava not too far away and the grass looked dry, the sky had a myriad of suns and even then, the cosmic formations beyond could still be seen. And then, she looked at the surroundings and saw the mountains, numerous ones⁠— ones that were at the very minimum twice the height to the ones she had seen in Vir.

And then, a loud roar echoed. It was ever-present, Amber couldn’t figure out where it was coming from until the Primordial Spirit spoke, a single yet simple word.

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“Above.”

Amber looked up only to see a gigantic maw opening right at them, its dimensions of massive proportions, easily able to swallow an entire city⁠. She found herself frozen, its massive body disappeared into the sky above, blurring into it. It was bigger than a lot of mountains, bigger than anything she had seen before. And at that moment an orange light came from its maw⁠— and it blasted⁠—

Amber winced as the attack struck and yet, nothing happened. She opened her eyes only to see an orange deluge engulfing everything.

“Relax, it’s just a projection, an illusion,” the Primordial Spirit said. “There are monsters here that soar the stars like that Celestial Scourge, and there are monsters that live deep below the surface, swimming in the iridescent magma.”

Amber blinked, and a moment later the vision changed. They were now in a different plane, and a few hundred meters away there seemed to be a rift in the air itself. Like a crack.

“The land is broken and has fractures that are interconnected. This is one of such fractures, and a small one at that. Though rare, they are connected with other regions in Ill’hine, while others lead to other realms. However, you cannot really access it without being powerful because if you tried…” She rubbed her chin.

Amber waited a second but no continuation came.

“If I tried…?” she asked.

“You’d be ripped to shreds by the forces at play.” The spirit nodded in confidence. “Die in an instant. I wouldn’t recommend getting close to one. As for their dangers⁠— sometimes monsters come out of them.”

Amber watched as the rift distorted and then⁠— a monster as big as a house came out, soaring into the skies with its dozens of heads and multitudes of wings. She couldn’t really understand what she was looking at⁠— it was akin to a flying hydra mixed with a bird.

“Like that one.”

“Right…” She stared at the monster fly far away. “Is this land just monsters or are there civilizations?”

So far her impression was Ill’hine was that of a savage land, one that was unforgiving and ruthless. One that couldn’t support any form of organized life. Amber expected some sort of answer along the lines of there being settlements, or only the gods had any form of civilization but instead⁠—

“There are even whole empires.” The spirit grinned.

“You mean that as in: similar to the ones of Vir?” Amber asked.

The Primordial Spirit nodded at that. “Yes, you could technically live a fulfilling life there too. In a way Ill’hine is not that much different than Vir except everything is much more lethal, but in other ways it’s completely different.”

“What do you mean?” Amber asked.

“Well, for starters there are only a small amount of humans that are in this realm, a lot of the sapient life will be foreign to you.” She tilted her head. “For instance…”

She flicked her fingers and the surroundings shifted. The sky darkened and the plain changed to a massive sea, one that had sparkling lights inside of it, reminiscent of a simple night sky. Then, Amber’s eyes caught a ship in the distance. It had around eight masts and it was hundreds of meters long, there were dozens of sails pushing it and there were people.

She squinted her eyes and saw that they looked tall, and rather brutish, they all had four arms and elongated ears.

“What do you think they are?” the spirit asked.

Amber hesitated before answering. “Orcs…?”

“No, high-elves. And surprisingly, they don’t care for metallurgy like elves in Vir do.”

“Uh…” Amber’s mind drew a blank. “Do elves here have four arms?”

The spirit smiled. “No, they look just like you but with long ears.”

“Right…”

And then, there was a silence. The Primordial Spirit was evidently awaiting for more questions, and Amber hesitated. Was it time for her to ask about the power of Ill’hine or was there more for her to find out? She didn’t really know. And she paused.

“Wait, since the Primordial Spirits are native to Ill’hine, how did y’all end up here?” Amber asked having a realization.

“Well, the same way you ended up here, we woke up here one day,” the spirit replied simply.

What… Amber blinked. “Really?”

“Pft⁠— no.” The spirit laughed. “But that could have happened, it is a possibility, it just didn’t.”

Amber shook her head at that and the spirit began to explain. This time, there were no illusions to aid the explanation.

“There is a place we call the void, it’s a land that contains access to all dimensions. Unpredictable and chaotic. A broken place,” she said, the emotion in her voice unreadable to Amber.

“It’s filled with powerful monsters and without enough power to navigate it, it might kill you or teleport you to somewhere else due to its nature. It might send you to uncharted lands, to your death or to…” The spirit pursed her lips. “Vir. That’s my theory to how you ended up here, you came into contact with the void.”

Amber blinked. “That makes no sense… wouldn’t I be dead?”

“Well, I told you it can teleport you too,” the spirit shrugged.

“But I was in my apartment, how the fuck did the void just invade my home when I was asleep in the middle of civilization?” Amber asked, befuddled.

“Don’t know, not something I posses the knowledge to answer, it is just a conjecture,” she stated.

Amber sighed and the spirit continued.

“It was in this void where the dimension that contained Vir was found by us. Given Vir is peaceful we took a liking to it. You know, given we are the only gods and all.” She waved her hand dismissively.

“And has no other god found this place?”

“Yes but that is a matter you are not privy to,” the spirit smiled.

“Right, what about the demons, are the demons from there?” Amber asked.

“Yes, the demons are from Ill’hine. Any other questions?”

“I don’t know.” Amber shook her head.

Amber went silent, she didn’t know what to say anymore. She was still trying to process all the information she had gotten, it seemed to be too much at once. There was a whole realm, a whole other world⁠—

“Then, do you want, do you wish to know about the primordial power that is weilded by the likes of me and other creatures of Ill’hine?” the Primordial Spirit asked.

Amber paused at that and hurriedly nodded.

“I want to know.”

“Very well.” The Primordial Spirit smiled.

And then, she stood up. The illusion of the sea remained though, so she was standing on water. However, Amber paid that no mind, instead she focused on the crimson Primordial Spirit. She brought her hands together and began to speak.

“Ill’hine is a vast land and has many names and properties, but it’s the land where the dust of dead stars is present, where the energy of life and death is latent. It’s where all kinds of life is born. All of that energy, all of that life essence, is this power.”

She separated her hands and Amber watched as bright red particles whirled, almost a double helix, they sparkled and glittered. It was just like the magic she had witnessed from the System, except it felt distinctly different, foreign. Its mere presence told Amber that it didn’t belong here.

“The System is just a part of what makes a Primordial Spirit strong, this is the other part. Essence,” she explained.

“Essence?”

The Primordial Spirit nodded.

“The Essence of life itself, of death itself, that is what we harvest and use for our gain. We obtain it, we polish it, and we make it our own.” She separated both of her hands and lifted only one as a ball of red energy remained. “That is Essence, a power that comes from life itself, from our surroundings, from ourselves, and from the enemies we fell.”

Amber gulped as red particles began to be sucked into the mass of red energy at incredibly fast speeds. It was almost like a black hole that absorbed anything. Her hair was ruffled by the violent winds and she had to squint her eyes as the red currents began to crackle.

“Essence is something natural to the environment of Ill’hein and yet hardly present in Vir.”

With her words, the energy began to shine⁠— it grew increasingly brighter and brighter until⁠— it vanished. The spirit had closed her fist on it.

“And this is the power of Essence,” the Primordial Spirit said, lowering her hand as a shining crimson marble remained.

Amber stared at the glowing object. “It looks… underwhelming.”

The spirit smiled at that. “You’d think that, but…”

She lightly turned, and raised her hand with the marble on it. The small sphere was perched on her thumb, her index cocked behind.

“Just watch.” And then⁠— she flicked.

The shining object streaked through the air in an instant leaving a trail of red behind, one that slowly went lower and lower, until it hit the ocean and⁠— exploded. The whole sea erupted, like a deadly bomb that caused the water to splash upwards hundreds of meters in the air.

And then came the shockwave⁠— and even though it was illusory, Amber still found herself being pushed against the couch she was sitting on.

“That is enough to destroy a country…” Amber said muttering.

“Well yes, destroying a country is trivial to me,” the spirit said dismissively. “But as you saw, Essence is different from the System.”

Amber nodded at that, and a moment later all the illusions ended. They were back in the ornate room as if nothing had happened, and yet Amber found her heart racing. She didn’t know if it was excitement or fear for what she had just seen, but it took her a few moments to compose herself.

“I don’t think I have any other questions…” Amber said with finality. “Or well, I do have one last one.”

“What is it?” the spirit tilted her head.

“How do I acquire Essence?”

The spirit smiled. “The answer is simple, you just have to find a certain Primordial Spirit, they have a purple light and their body is similar to Ax’thra’s except a lot more muscular.”

Amber nodded even though she wasn’t quite following.

“Last I heard, a thousand years ago, a millenia ago, this Primordial Spirit was in the Great Desert. Find them and show them the Cube of Stars, they are its original owner. Ask them for help and then tell them you have been entrusted with the secret of Primordial Spirits.”

Oh…

And the spirit continued.

“Then, they will show you the path to become a god.”