Abigaël Chase, alias Abi, finally succeeded. After so many hardships and sacrifices, she was finally able to step into the causality realm. She was overjoyed as she realised that no one could stop her now. The causality realm was a strange place which stored all the information about the multiverse. Everything since the beginning of time till the end of time was visible there. Of course, Abi couldn’t see everything as the information was encoded. Only beings with powerful magics had the right to enter this place. Although some things were hidden from her it didn’t matter. What she was looking for was not hidden.
This realm was a pure white space stretching as far as the eyes could see. It was not just an illusion though. In the causality realm, there was no concept of space and time. All that one could see was just the result of one’s consciousness which tried to interpret the information available. If one wanted to find something specific, one had to search for it. Abi focused her mind on specific memories. She tried to gather everything she knew about Earth, her home planet. However, she remembered too few things. After all, even if technology was well developed in 2016 when she left the planet, few things were known about the universe. Even worse, she was not very knowledgeable about astronomy. All she knew was that Earth was the third planet of its solar system and the name and characteristics of the other planets of the system.
Abi had been an ordinary woman back on Earth. She recalled the day she had been transported to another world. It was a Monday, a beautiful day, the sun was shining in the cloudless sky of the north of France. She had freshly obtained her PhD in particle physics not long ago and was moving in France for her new job. Working at the European Council for Nuclear Research had always been her dream. Although a researcher didn’t gain much money it was still a dream job for physicist. She had been in high spirit that morning as she was driving towards the CERN. She had still been on the road when it occurred suddenly. A dazzling light enveloped her body before transporting her in a totally different world. Hell had begun that day, years of living hell.
Clenching her fists, she muttered under her breath with a voice full resolve.
“I will find a way home no matter what. And I will come back with help to deal with you all. What you did to me in the past, I will repay you a thousand-fold.”
The white space flickered a moment before bookshelves appeared out of nowhere. The book titles were formed according to the result of Abi’s search. Of course, the bookshelves didn’t really exist nor did the books. They were just a projection of Abi’s mind, a mean for her consciousness to interpret information. After seeing the books, she shivered. There were too many of them! The bookshelves extended nearly to infinity. She first thought that finding the right book would take forever before she remembered the characteristics of the causality realm. Time didn’t exist here. She could pass years in this place without a single second passing in the real world.
After that realisation, Abi strengthened her resolve and read book title after book title. She had so few memories of Earth that countless planets were compatible with her memories. They all resembled Earth, a blue planet covered with oceans, the third planet of its solar system were lifeforms looking like humans and animals she knew were living. Despite such specific characteristics, there were too many planets like Earth and Abi wasn’t astonished about that fact. The multiverse was too vast and billions upon billions of habitable worlds existed in it. And trillions would exist in the future. However, that didn’t discourage her though as she continued her search, book after book. She was so focused on her task that she didn’t noticed strange mana fluctuations traveling the causality realm.
Somewhere, although space didn’t exist, a strange being materialized. I didn’t have a precise shape, just a cloud of white mist whose interior was strewn with countless tiny red electric discharges. The cloud was obviously intelligent as it searched for the source of an anomaly within the realm. Soon, it found what it was searching. The troublemaker was a creature it had never seen here before and that made the mist churn with astonishment. Nothing really astonishing happened normally in this place. The causality ream was just like an enormous library only accessible by a handful of people in the entire multiverse. Those people were all legendary beings whose spiritual development had already surpassed the realm of mortals. The troublemaker was not one of those beings. The mist cloud wondered how the creature had arrived at this place. Pondering a little, and not finding a satisfying answer, the mist cloud decided to move. The troublemaker must be destroyed.
Abi was not aware of the impending disaster. She continued to browse through the bookshelves in search of her homeland. At one point, she eventually felt something but it was already too late. A bubble of white mist was surrounding her, blocking all means of retreat. A single glance convinced her that the mist was not friendly. It was emitting a domineering aura, full of hostility. She wanted to withdraw immediately but realised that she couldn’t go back to the material world. It was as if something was forcing her to remain in the causality realm. No need to be a genius to realise who or what it was. The mist cloud was already changing its shape and its colour. It was becoming blacker and blacker. In the meantime, the electric discharges inside of it were becoming bigger and bigger. Soon, she found an enormous black could towering above her head while shooting big red lightning bolts.
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Abi realised right away that she was in big trouble. She didn’t need to know what that black cloud was to conclude that she was at a disadvantage. The causality realm was not the material world! None of her most powerful magic spells worked there. Only few special abilities could still be used. Suddenly, the cloud shot a thick lightning bolt straight at her head. Lightning bolt was one of the quickest attack possible which would arrive at the target in the blink of an eye. Having no time to mount a solid defence, Abi sent mana towards her eyes which made them shine with golden radiance. A spherical transparent barrier materialized all around her. When the lightning reached the barrier, the latter cracked before shattering into pieces. A defeating sound spread in space mixed with Abi’s roar of agony. Although her barrier had worked, the lightning bolt had not been totally stopped as a part of it had reached her. It had caused a terrifying pain. It was as if her consciousness was being torn apart, being erased out of existence.
She shivered in fear when she realized that she couldn’t take another attack like that or she would definitely die! Acting decisively, Abi sent mana into her eyes again which made the causality realm suddenly shuddered. Soon, a gigantic mountain appeared out of nowhere surrounding her completely. It was made by the most resistant material she could imagine. Afterward, she mobilised all her remaining mana, an insane amount of mana in fact, to perform a spell. The entire realm shuddered once more as if in fear or in rage. All her remaining mana headed towards her eyes, the sources of the spell. They became to glow like two golden suns as they were shining too brightly. If one looked closely, one would see that her eyes were not normal at all. The irises were golden in colour and smaller than in normal eyes. Numerous extensions existed beginning from the iris outer perimeter and extending outward. When looking into her eyes, one could see the resemblance with the sun. The iris was like the sun whereas the extensions were like the solar corona.
Her spell didn’t remain unnoticed. Sensing that something strange going on, the mist cloud formed numerous lightning bolts which it sent slamming into the mountain. The latter trembled violently as a good part of it volatilised. It couldn’t obviously last for very long. Inside the mountain, Abi was struggling with the only spell which could save her life. Even if common magic was not usable in the causality realm, some abilities could still be used. There were special abilities like Abi’s eyes. Their powers were ingrained into her spirit and were usable in any circumstance. She had long wondered the origin of those eyes and after several years, she had concluded that it was a racial ability. She had called them [Divine Eyes].
Her eyes were truly mysterious and their ability … monstrous. They could see karma itself and, if one was strong enough, allow one to alter karma. What was karma if not the whole of the natural laws of the multiverse? Those who could alter karma directly were above gods and devils. Within the entire multiverse, this kind of magic was unrivalled. Why was that humans from Earth possessed such a terrifying racial ability? No one knew, not even Abi. In the beginning, she had used her power without restraint and without caring for the consequences. After all, she was all alone far away from home. She had done everything possible to survive while searching for a way to return to Earth. Over the years, powerful beings discovered the source of her power which prompted them to seek to end her life. Once she was killed, they would search for Earth location and exterminate all humanity. They didn’t want an entire race with such ability to spread in the multiverse.
Thunders and red lightnings tore the sky. They were tribulation lightnings, the weapon the heavens used to punish those against its will. Abi had accessed the causality realm without authorization and would be punished for that. Thick bolts of lightning descended from the sky before striking the mountain. It trembled and cracks appeared everywhere. While Abi was incanting the spell to alter karma, more and more lightnings were striking the mountain which began to show signs of weakness. The mountain was the most powerful barrier Abi could imagine. Normally, it should give her sufficient time to flee but tribulation lightnings were not common magics. She performed the incantation as fast as she could while chaotic thoughts ran through her mind.
“What the hell!? I haven’t even found the location of Earth yet. I can’t believe everything I’ve done was for naught.”
The mountain was already on the verge of crumbling as numerous cracks appeared on its sides. She was using her remaining power to cast a spell called [Karma Permutation]. The name was mysterious and its effect … terrifying. This spell exchanged the karma between the caster and a target. As the karma was tied to the physical body, the spell made 2 persons exchange their physical bodies. Normally, Abi needed a trigger, something from the target to make the spell work. A strand of hair or a drop of blood was sufficient as trigger. Unfortunately, she was in the causality realm with only her mind at her disposal. Without trigger, the spell would work randomly. She had no means to predict the outcome. If she had the choice, she would never attempt such a stupid move.
She didn’t want to die even if dying had little consequence. Indeed, after death, someone would just reincarnate and obtain a new body. The true problem was that she would lose all her memories which she wanted to avoid. She had to remain herself, with all her memories. She had to return to Earth and to tell the whole world of the dangers lurking in the void of space. She wanted revenge, revenge against her enemies, revenge against the people who had chased her across the multiverse and had made her life a living hell. Above all, she must not die, for the sake of all humanity, she must survive and warn everybody.
[Karma Permutation] activated the exact moment the mountain collapsed. A gigantic web of lightning rushed through the debris straight to Abi. Before the lightning destroyed her though, her body flickered and disappeared. She was unexpectedly replaced by someone else who didn’t have any indication about what was going on. The new person didn’t have time to do anything before the tribulation lightnings reduced her into dust.