Chapter 280

A Magical Mishap

(40 Minutes Ago)

Reality was breaking down right before our eyes.

Well before my Angel’s Sight, as I could see what was happening and was desperately trying to avoid apparently having the normally instantaneous bridge in space breakdown right before us.

“What is going on?” Mallory called out.

“Lots of things but keep up.” I shouted behind me, as I tried desperately to move forward in space and time.

I never had much time to see the in-between of a portal before like this. It felt odd, like I was somehow able to see the innerworkings of the cosmos and finally able to make useful insights that might never come into play ever again but were oddly both logical and sad that I apparently missed them.

“This must be how people who are in a plane crash feel when they look at their next plane ride home.” I state.

“Plane crash?” Mallory asked, her legs pumping wildly, though it was hard to tell as all I could see was a magical outline of a princess running with her wedding dress hiked up over her ankles so she could run faster.

“Way to focus on the operative words there, Mallory,” I shoot back trying to hide the embarrassment I am now feeling at having my own Teleportation bridge to Timult shattered and spiraling out of order.

Oddly enough, the main tunnel is fine. In fact everywhere we are running is remaining interconnected portions of the Teleportation bridge? Tunnel? Hard to describe wormhole that both exists and doesn’t exist within space and time.

For outside the fractals and broken structures of the Teleportation tunnel is space itself. Not the world we were in, but actual darkness of space, threaten to suffocate you in a second space.

Yet, oddly enough it is only in this space that I can see even a possible way forward with our task.

How we got here?

Well that was simple, we were given a quest to save the world.

WORLD QUEST FOUND: Go To Timult, Stop The Being of Indescribable Horrors From Fully Entering Our Reality. You have been tasked with going to Timult, the capital of the Legrand empire and stopping a being of extreme power from fully entering our reality and thereby breaking BiPrism as we know it. Rewards: Continued Existence, Failure? Well good luck.

Sort of cliché, but hey these are the days and times that we are apparently living in. That said, this world saving condition does seem slightly different than others. Well let’s be honest, this is the first time that breaking reality became too much of a thing.

Well, no, that isn’t entirely true. There were those messages like Don’t Ever Do That Again, and similar messages, but this one has a note of agency to it. Particularly with the way I was finally supposed to do something, versus not doing something.

Honestly, I already felt that things were sort of odd, as magic had been moving rather slowly around me, but I just chalked it up to the world halting. Which I guess is partly true, but also misleading as magic seems to be fighting its natural course now.

This spell in particular, Teleportation, a spell I had grown up using for years, now seemed to be breaking down and shattering despite my knowing that this is how the spell is supposed to work.

The only problem, is that seeing where these breaks in space are occurring, I can see that I was cheating. Or maybe the magic system I had been teaching myself had always been cheating. Effectively, I was the scientist who only tested experiments in a sterile laboratory environment and then was suddenly shocked when different variables altered my expected outcome when exposed to nature.

Once I made that discovery, I felt a slight shiver of fear run down my spine as I realized something that I didn’t quite want to put into words.

We were running, well I was running and Mallory was doing her darndest to keep up with me. I needed to create a new connection tunnel that used the same principles of Teleportation that I had grown to understand. The only problem was that what I knew of as workable and what I was seeing happening to my basic understandings were so close, that I could almost not see a difference between the two.

That was the main reason why I didn’t want to try anything here, at least not now. Not before my stable lab conditions could be reestablished.

That was why we ran.

Not to avoid the shattering reality around us, reality that would quickly give way to the vastness of space and the all-encompassing void of darkness that reigned beyond.

But because I needed to find a glimmer of hope, one last unblemished line of my reality that I could work with and use.

Finally, I saw it, the one line.

With that line so close, I had to move quickly as I was pretty sure that my magic would summon the world breaking reality towards my new tunnel as well. As such we had to be quick.

Knowing that we only had one chance, I reached out Telekinetically to Mallory, where I grabbed her and pulled her closer.

At least I tried.

Crackle!

But once again, my use of sterile magic seemed to summon more adverse effects on the world around us as yet even more pressure came from the outside, and seemed to try to suck away the energy of my Telekinetic pull of Mallory.

While I had done enough to make it so Mallory was now right next to me, I made it so that initial entrance was now crumpled. Well pixie sized, and I don’t think Mallory would like the idea of boogie boarding through space.

“Keep up,” was all I managed to say as I began purposefully walking. Well running without use of my wings so Mallory could see where to place her feet and keep up.

This was where Mallory’s heightened Attributes paid off heavily, as she was able to keep up and follow in near perfect form the steps I took and the way I moved. Even when I jumped up and kicked off the wall, she did so, her wedding dress flipping and flying wildly in the background.

The entire thing looked odd and for a moment I was reminded of that one princess that always ran around with those plumbers. I remembered thinking how odd she looked at the time, jumping around with a full-on dress, and thought the entire thing seemed too unbelievable at the time to accept. But here we were, having life imitate art.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Shatter.

In my mind, I had an epiphany at that thought, as I realized this was life, at least a variation of life. Oddest of all was it was the only life I had known and accepted up until this part.

Yet, here I was so close to seeing that what I saw, what I experienced was but a microcosm of the true existence of life that, well I didn’t really know as I was currently trying to survive.

Not just myself, as I could deal with doing something stupid on my own, but having Mallory here, an innocent party to my misunderstandings caused me to pull deeper and find yet another tunnel.

This one was shorter, but somehow more of a straight shot to where we wanted to go.

Almost as if it was designed for us to go through this particular tunnel.

Even odder, I could almost feel a third form of energy holding this tunnel tightly in place. It was a trap, clearly a trap, and yet with the reality of this simple Portal shattering and breaking down around me, while part of the energy was being drawn in by the vacuum of space around us, I couldn’t help but accept this trap.

“Grab my hand,” I said, reaching one hand behind me, as I began getting closer and crafting the spell for Teleportation. This time, I create the spell almost at the exact moment that Mallory grabs onto my outstretched hand and grabs with a death grip. Which is good as the next second the Portal opens, I see the tunnel into space, and then multiple things happen all at once.

First the third form of magic, a seemingly protective box, maybe a brown looking elevator car would be the best way to describe it. The odd magical elevator car-box thing closes around us just as we enter my tunnel.

For a moment I think we are going to die in the box, as it is so dense and complex that I don’t think I could break it down if I tried. There are weaves that I have never even experienced before. Spiral fractal weaves of mana that seem both natural and completely alien all at once.

It is clear whoever cast this magic was a master far beyond my limited comprehension, for they seemed to be able to take in nature and natural forms of life and incorporate those forms into their magical designs.

The best way to describe would be saying I was doodling in my basement for years, drawing stick figures albeit very nice stick figures, only to go out and finally see the Vatican and realize that I was completely inadequate for my chosen profession.

Simultaneously, the box car, living coffin, magically sealed tomb thing that we were in began moving and sliding along the magical tunnel that I had created.

Then just as I sort of expected, even this shorter tunnel was attacked and began to be crushed by the external force of the void around us. A void that was all consuming in its relentless attempts to devour all magic.

Thump.

The void even attempted to devour the magic of the box we were in, but somehow the box around us held, and suddenly I felt the way submariners might feel, when their nuclear reactors suddenly go out, and they are left drifting lifelessly in the ocean, waiting to be crushed to death should anything happen.

This was the same, all except I wouldn’t also have to worry about drowning, just suffocating, which would likely be worse? I’m assuming. I don’t want to die in any of these ways, which was why I just sat there and waited, and waited.

Then after a few moments, I realized we were still moving. Those first few seconds of inertia, and the tunnel I had created were enough to guide us, now all we had to do was make it to the end, safely.

For the first time in forever, I felt truly powerless.

Worse, I had power, but I knew that just trying to use it would likely lead to not just my death, but Mallory’s as well.

With that we found ourselves falling down through the seemingly endless void.

I don’t quite know what I expected from Mallory. Anger, rage, fear, a whole myriad of emotions that were incomprehensible to understand. I expected them all, as I felt most of them at myself. I was so angry that I got us into this mess, and I had no way to get out.

Then as if answering my question about what Mallory was thinking, I heard her.

“Mmm-hmm-hmm,” Mallory hummed.

“What?” I asked, momentarily confused as I realized that Mallory was happy. No, not just happy, but she was smiling and humming to herself.

“Hmm-mmm-hmm,” Mallory hummed again, this time directing her hum towards me, a glowing smile filling her face.

“Are you crazy?” I found myself asking.

“I’ll stop the world and melt with you…” Mallory began.

“What?”

“There’s nothing you and I can’t do…”

I was dumbstruck as I sort of understood the song, but was having a hard time placing it.

“I’ve seen the difference and it’s getting better all the time…”

“Is this just because you are out of the wedding?” I ask, wondering if she has finally cracked from all the pressure she is under.

“No, come on. Look at it, space, the universe. It is so beautiful. Just look,” Mallory stated and then gestured out to the area beyond us. To the areas between the fracturing Teleportation tunnels that even now were shattering and dissolving into the nothingness of space around us.

Then beyond the dissolving remains of my magical construct was nothing for miles in all directions.

“I can’t see that far,” I admitted.

“It is a shame, probably one of the most amazing moments of my life. Any lifetime I’ve had really,” Mallory admitted, her voice full of awe and wonder.

Mmm-hmm-mmm

And again, Mallory kept humming the words to that tune.

“You aren’t afraid that we are going to die horribly out here?” I ask, not trying to be a buzzkill but wondering if Mallory has truly lost it.

“Two things,” Mallory states, while holding up two fingers on her left hand.

Only now do I realize that she still has my left hand in her right hand in a death grip, albeit slightly lighter of a grip than just before we started Teleporting.

“Two?” I ask.

“Yes, first I know we are not going to die here,” Mallory admitted.

“Oh, and how do you know that?” I asked.

“Simple, you are calm and no longer frantically zipping around, letting me know that you feel confident that we are safe, if only for the moment.”

Hearing that I could only nod my head in agreement.

The moment I saw the magical box car survive impact with the void, and that we were still roughly heading in the correct direction, I realized that this was the best we could offer at the moment. Yes, I could freak out and try to pierce through the intricately created spiral fractals, or I could just sit back and wait for an actual moment that would cause problems that were within my weight class to fix. Which was sadly a far smaller weight class than I originally thought.

“And secondly?” I asked, realizing that Mallory said there were two points.

“Secondly, I accepted that you would be the death of me a long time ago, and I’ve accepted that fate.” Mallory replied, squeezing my hand to let me know she was just mostly kidding, I think.

Still, it was an odd moment.

We were set to save the world, but we couldn’t do anything, until the magical construct we were in started to break down, which didn’t seem to be happening anytime soon.

For a moment we just sat there, Mallory clearly staring off into the distance of space, apparently watching the stars flow past.

All the while I opened my third eye and began truly trying to dissect the spell patterns that were before me.

Not going to lie, it felt like it took me an extra long time to figure out that the spell went from right to left. Or from my side to Mallory’s side. Then I could see that there were multiple woven layers of magic that overlapped with three other spells, before ending and then repeating. Starting at the bottom, the fractal layers stacked on each other, leaving a quarter of their overall length exposed, but even that was covered by three additional layers by the time the spirals created a fully complete box.

Again, why it went for the box shape rather than a cocoon-like shape was lost me, but it did allow for more strengthening and folding of the corners that was hard to comprehend.

It was a work of art and elegance, one that I don’t think I could replicate. Particularly as each individual fractal layer was wholly unique and distinct from the others, like snowflakes, but that also made it somehow stronger.

For the first time in my life, I felt like I was seeing alien magic and for the first time in a long time, I realized there was so much more to learn. What I had thought of as magic was just pushing energy around in a semi organized manner. But this, this was magic.

“What are you thinking about?” Mallory asked.

“I am thinking that I thought I had learned almost everything about magic, when really all I could do was count quickly. Now I had to worry about learning how to multiply by myself after seeing an end equation.” I answer, trying to express my thoughts.

With that Mallory just nodded.

Silence.

I went back to trying to understand this magic, as even now I could see the squared off edges starting to fray and unwind. Mentally I wondered if I could reach through this protective bubble with magic to then interact with the fraying edges and try to seal them.

I was just going through the possibility of that breaking down the structural integrity of the spell bubble more, when Mallory spoke again.

“Well, since you clearly aren’t going to ask, I will just tell you. I was thinking that sometimes I might push you too much. Though know I don’t mean to, it’s just that you are the only person I know that I can hand an impossible task to, and you will somehow solve it and be goofing off fifteen minutes later joking around as if nothing ever happened.” Mallory began.

Then after pausing for a second, she continued.

“You truly are amazing, and again. Thank you for doing everything with me, and for the guild.”

“Awe Mallory, I’m going to cut off this apparent death flag event, particularly with the edges of this spell unraveling. I don’t want you to start tempting fate.” I state.

“Well, it is going to come to an end, as the ground is right there…” Mallory stated, again pointing with her free left hand at a spot off in the distance below us.

I of course couldn’t see at first, but then after a second or two, I saw what she saw.

Then quickly, I grabbed Mallory in both arms and began flapping my wings tirelessly.

HEAVE!

Mallory was heavy. That or this space made it somehow harder to fly.

Regardless, by the time we landed, I managed to get us off the ground by a quarter of an inch.

Splash.

The spell landed on the ground and pooped like a water balloon.

For a second we were still safe, then the residual fractals of the alien spell structure dissipated, as clearly the spell had met its ultimate conclusion.

Instantly I recognized the area we now found ourselves in, for we were in the heart of Timult. Where I had been only a few days ago.

Yet, looking around it was clear that multiple things had changed.

Chills.

With the protective barrier around us removed, I instantly felt a biting chill. Despite this capital being near the tropic line of heat. Though the lack of heat was clearly due to the chilling void that started at the center of the city, right near where I first appeared earlier to drop off the three converted spies.

Sad that such an act led to this, but looking around I could see that much of the artistry of the sterile world I had lived in was now stripped away, discarded and laid bare for the world to see how it truly was.

In place of the normal art and seamless symmetrical lines were layers of nature magic. Or what I was now considering to be the true magic one might find in nature.

Then as if to draw further attention to what we were doing, a long semi-familiar tentacle of condense dark magic appeared and twisted its way around the open portal to the fully eroded half of Timult.

“Is that what we are here to stop?” Mallory asked, as slight twinge of fear in her voice.

No, falling through the vastness of space in an uncontrolled magical elevator car was nothing to her, but suddenly seeing a magical tentacle creature was too much for her?

Still this was not a time to console Mallory, as it was now time to act.

For despite the now twisted layers of fractal magic and muscles, I could feel the true entity that controlled this tentacle. A tentacle that now twisted around and made a beeline towards the two of us.

Seeing the creature, I went into full on fix it mode.

“Oh girl, you’ve let yourself go…”