Approximately fifty thousand miles east of the battle with the wyvern. Team Vorthe was facing a nest of fire dragons. They fared far better than Team Alvric on their way to the mountain. One could say they were far more experienced in this regard and had far better resources.
Gleaming red scales reflected the light of the sun as the dragons beat their wings to stay afloat in the air. They were enormous with three sets of limbs each. Reaching up to 300 feet from head to tail-tip, their wingspan reaching several hundred feet.
There were three dragons, each exuding pressure as powerful as a Spirit Realm expert. Forester split his team of fifty into three. Surrounded by three enormous fire dragons, the members of team Vorthe were calm and got into formation. They were all covered from head to boot with the Vorthe family’s signature golden aura glowing around their bodies.
Even the dragons felt hesitant to attack; not for fear of the Sprouts in front of them, but for fear of the golden aura they were exuding. Jerome watched as the dragons intelligently chose to hesitate, he too had noticed that this golden aura was not the same as when he fought with Idrienne or Forester.
“This must be the work of the Sovereign,” Jerome said as he watched the fight that was about to happen. “Now I know how they were able to pass the Children’s blockade without any resistance,” He hovered midair in an ethereal state watching the faceoff from a vantage point—or at least that was his perception of himself in their midst. It didn’t take long for him to find Layla in the midst of the Royals. She was also covered from head to boots with the Sovereign’s aura.
As if by agreement, all three dragons attacked without warning. The golden glow intensified around the Sprouts as they shot forward wielding their swords with dexterity. Elaine and Elena, the white-blonde-haired twins fought side by side, they rushed toward the dragon facing them and slashed out a dozen times in a single breath while dodging the dragon’s fiery breath.
Jerome whistled to express his admiration. That required as much skill as it did speed. A normal Sprout would have taken at least a few hits. The Sovereign’s aura will protect them, but their execution wouldn’t be as perfect as the twins’. With assistance from others in their group, they took down the dragon in merely a dozen breaths without killing it.
“Magical beasts can’t wield any other element besides what they are born with," Achilles said. "It’s in the root of their bloodline—but humans can choose whatever elements they want to comprehend. This makes your kind progress faster. But magical beasts make up for this by being far more resilient than humans and breeding faster, making them a nuisance when their population rises and they threaten human cities.”
The last of the dragons to be attacked saw this and wanted to flee. Without flapping its wings, it pushed off the air with its hind feet and shot forward with a booming sound, covering three miles in one thrust. Rings of cloud were left in its wake as it broke the sound barrier.
“What the…!” Jerome couldn’t help but exclaim. “I thought that was a fire dragon!”
“Dragons, on the other hand,” Achilles continued, “could learn to wield any element available. Though the element they were born with cannot be changed, like humans, they can comprehend other elements to increase the weapons in their arsenal.”
“How the hell is that possible?!” Jerome was flummoxed.
“Older dragons can do much more," Achilles continued. "You can liken them to the Fae—far more intelligent than normal magical beasts. They’ve got a language of their own—spells too—and can perform feats just as powerful as the Fae.”
Jerome’s head reeled from all the information as he watched the battle below him.
Forester looked coldly at the fleeing dragon flying away at high speed. He raised his sword, pointing it skywards, and its blade glowed with a golden light. A pulse of energy far greater than anything a Sprout should be capable of commanding, shot out of the sword's tip into the sky, blasting air and pressure in all directions.
The sky darkened as if all color was drained from the world—as if the sword had devoured it all. The dragon, miles away sensed that something wasn’t right, it spun itself around, belly to the sky, to look back only to see a gigantic golden hand reach out for it from the sky. With that hand bearing down on it, the fire dragon was paralyzed from the pressure it exuded. The next moment the hand grabbed the dragon and imploded.
“Remind me to steer clear of the Royals when I head North with Csala,” Jerome said, a little shaken.
“Wise choice, Xerae. A man should know his limits and work around them.”
Jerome scoffed at that. He had found power and access to practical knowledge, but it seems the world just got a kick out of making him the weaker guy. Every time. It pissed him off to no end.
The sky brightened up again and color returned to the world. But the dragon had disappeared from Terra Praeta. The last dragon had also been taken down at this point. Two of the sub-leaders of the three sub-teams pointed their swords at the remaining two dragons and just as with Forester, the world dimmed as if the color was drained from it again. Strong pulses of energy shot out of the tips of their swords covering the air dragons in golden light. The next moment the light disappeared along with the dragons.
“Where is the mountain?” someone asked.
“What?” Forester exclaimed and looked in the supposed direction of the colossal mountain that should be right ahead of them.
There was only sky.
“This cannot be happening. After all that effort?!” Forester said in anger.
The world had reshuffled them again!
Elaine and Elena looked at each other in shock as they knew they had both made a discovery. Although they had been reshuffled, their team was not split up. That could only mean the reshuffling didn’t have as much power over them when they were airborne.
~~~
“Those dragons aren’t dead, are they?” Jerome asked Achilles as he returned to himself. He looked down at himself to admire the loose-flowing black robe Achilles had printed him. It was patterned with a blue design like flames in the form of a dragon flying around him—the same design on the robe he wore to watch the Royal Banquet.
Jerome smiled. It was a beautiful robe and as he lazily stroked it, scripts lit up on its surface to show Achilles’ efforts in making even something as simple as a robe for his protection.
“No, they are not, Xerae.”
“So they have a type of storage for them?” Jerome said almost absently. It was more of a question than a statement.
“No, Xerae. All three dragons have been safely tucked away in Vorthe.”
“Really?” That got his attention and he drew up one of his knees to sit comfortably.
“Vorthe’s Sovereign is a very powerful individual. His house has also been collecting magical beasts for millennia.”
“I’ve never seen any magical beast in Farryn. I mean, you’re saying they collect them to make them sacred beasts, right? Sacred beasts are—”
“They’re magical beasts that have been bonded to sacred artists and trained,” Achilles interrupted him, “They only hunt down the best, but never reveal them. None of the Great Clans do.”
“Would be nice to have a sacred beast,” Jerome said with a smile. Perhaps a dragon. A fire dragon? An air or sky dragon would be nice too. He shook off the feeling moments later though, “That’ll bring too much attention and trouble.”
“Hence the reason why the wise never show off their power,” Achilles added.
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Jerome nodded at that. If Farryn was filled with sacred beasts, there'd be too much chaos. After all, a man's greed is like a snake wanting to swallow an elephant.
“There’s no telling if Vorthe’s Sovereign can extend his senses to reach Terra Praeta as I do to reach your world,” Achilles said, and Jerome, who was about to stand up from the floor cushion he was sitting on paused, his heart skipping a beat.
“Of course, I’ve taken precautions to prevent any such surveillance on Sanctum and its environs. I can do nothing to stop him from spying on the rest of Terra Praeta, though. But he sure won’t be spying on us, especially since you’re here.”
“If my guess is correct, he wants that weapon you told me about,” Jerome said with a sigh. “How do I get myself into these kinda situations? Now I’m gonna have a Transcendent after me. Will he be able to sense you in me?”
Achilles chuckled, “Do not underestimate me, Xerae. He never will.”
“What about when I leave Sanctum?”
“You’ll leave like everyone else. Disappearing immediately after stepping off the mountain. I’ll send you as close to the North as possible.”
“Send me close to the Alvrics,” Jerome said. Achilles truly had prepared for every eventuality.
“Yes, Xerae.”
Jerome nodded, lost in thought. He was still inside the chamber filled with the dream aura, making the atmosphere serene and dreamy, but he wasn’t affected by it since his mental fortitude had skyrocketed.
“To think that I, as the first fated Dark One to enter Terra Praeta, would be the one to inherit the power that Sanctum promises…” he muttered.
“It is fate, Xerae. You should proudly accept it.”
“I do. I had learned from Csala that Fae could talk to the Earth. It wasn’t until I consulted the memory stones that I discovered that it was a lot deeper than that. It was more like the Fae had a sort of communion with Mother Nature, a romance of sorts…”
“They were one with nature—at least the natural element or force they had an affinity to,” Achilles added, “This was why you were probably sent near the mountain…because you’ve been communing with Mother Nature all this while.”
“Affinity…are you saying they had bloodline roots like magical beasts?” Jerome asked.
“Yes, Xerae. And like dragons, they could wield more than one element. But could only commune with the elements of their root. They could also comprehend and wield other forces as well. But there never was a Fae who went down a Path with more than one force or element.”
“Humans have Paths with a combination of forces and elements," Jerome said, "How do you explain that?”
“True. But even with that, a dozen Transcendents could never withstand a single Fae who's at their level of strength,” Achilles remarked. “The reason being that the Fae communed with nature and humans do not.
“Until you, Xerae.”
Jerome sighed peacefully in his heart, dropping the subject. He didn’t have the strength to discuss Harun. He should be proud of himself. But such pride would breed arrogance and complacency. He shook his head to clear it of such thoughts.
He was sure only Sprouts were capable of entering Terra Praeta. If not, this mountain would not be here today. And even if it was, it would have been cleaned out completely. He made up his mind to explore the rest of Terra Praeta after he was done here.
“We should prepare to create your void space, Xerae. You already meet the requirements needed to create one.”
“Requirements?”
“A very powerful psychic base and a mental plane. What I prepared for you was a dark space with little to no light, fifty square feet, but imagine my joy when I found out you had one of your own. Autumn, is it?”
“Fifty square feet, that’s small.”
“We are running out of time, Xerae.”
“How long—” Jerome wanted to ask.
“You have seven more months in Terra Praeta before you all get kicked out.”
“That sounds to me like a lot of time.”
“Oh no, it’s not. It takes time to create what we want to attempt—months.”
Jerome nodded and stood up. Funny enough he hadn’t thought about how long he had left in Terra Praeta since he was chosen by Achilles to inherit Illyrrah’s legacy. He was about to activate the portal array when a thought hit him.
“Achilles, is there a way to use the portal array without the array being visible?” he asked.
“Of course, Xerae. You need only get a transference stone. Or a transference rune, which is more reliable.
“But I do believe you also want to know if you could jump chunks of space outside Sanctum. In that case, a portal array would need to be set up in multiple locations to anchor your jumps until you’re ready to rip open the fabric of space on your own.
“Vorthe's assassins use transference stones. They call them void bridges.”
“Hmm. I’ve seen people pop out of thin air before. This explains much,” Jerome said, nodding as he thought back to Rihal and Layla’s mother popping out of thin air.
“The Royals set up arrays across the whole continent so they could reach anywhere in a few breaths. You should see the ones in Vorthe, Xerae. They cover whole cities and overlap with each other.”
“That must be an incredible sight to behold,” Jerome said. He could just imagine the portal array magnified thousands of times to cover a whole city. “I guess there are no shortcuts then,” He had wanted to see if there was a way around ripping open the fabric of space to teleport independently of an array.
He disappeared in a flash of gold and reappeared in the library. This time around a blue stone pushed its way through the school of memory stones hovering in the air toward him.
“Change of color…nice,” he set down his floor cushion and sat down in a meditative pose ready for his next lesson.
Jerome spent the next five days studying and cycling. He checked on Csala from time to time, to make sure she was doing okay and not thinking of sneaking off. The older succubus, Muna, would definitely be waiting for her somewhere.
After the fifth day, Jerome had a pretty good grasp on how to create a void space of his own. Creating a void space was just the first step to opening a void world, which had two major requirements—both of which he had met by some stroke of luck. He felt that lately, he had been very lucky. And indeed, he had.
“I suggest we stick to the void space for now, Xerae. Opening a void world requires you to have a great command over the required elements and forces, as well as your own psychic energy. And much, much more.”
Jerome didn’t want a void space. He wanted a void world. void spaces were just spaces with nothing in them, perhaps only air. Void worlds, however, were as they claimed—worlds of their own: you’d have land for cultivating crops, and ambient essence in the air and soil. You could live there perpetually.
“Is the key going to be a physical substance?” Jerome asked.
“We can make it so, but I advise against such, Xerae,” Achilles said.
“Just checking. I also wouldn’t want it to be something that can be taken away from me.”
Even void spaces needed locks and keys, apparently. Better to have something no one can physically take. Not like the void space could be sensed by just anybody.
“We should begin,” Achilles said, pulling a timekeeper out of the void.
Jerome observed the flat cylindrical device floating an inch off the ground with a smile. He had suggested the vintage pocket watch as the first design and Achilles had helped gather the materials to put it together. With the lightspire table, crafting the timekeeper was a walk in the park.
Jerome took a deep breath and closed his eyes, cycling and reciting his earth mantra to stimulate the vital aura. Achilles had advised him to do this for the next 48 hours before beginning the process. The spell was going to take a huge toll on his body so this much time to gather vital essence was necessary.
~~~
Jerome felt like he was at death’s door.
He had finally completed the last part of the spell for the void space, all that was left was for Achilles to do his part. He had known this wouldn’t be a walk in the park but he never expected it to take this much vitality out of him. His psychic energy was also severely depleted. He looked like a corpse that would collapse at any moment. Most of his hair had fallen off and his eyes had sunk in. His skin was dry and flaky, and his muscles were atrophied.
With great difficulty, he cycled continuously and kept muttering the earth mantra. His eyelids would droop from time to time, but he would force himself to stay awake. Although, he cycled in his sleep. Jerome didn’t know what would happen to him if he fell for the temptation of sleep in his condition. It was better to stay awake than to die without knowing how one left the world.
Could he even die? His mind drifted to the memory of Hedon stabbing him in the heart and twisting the blade, but here he was. Did the Sovereign bring him back then? Not a chance. Probably only the Sovereign could truly kill him. Jerome was torn between gratitude and…he didn’t know what the other feeling was. He shivered slightly and banished the thought away.
Days passed this way and turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. Until one day his eyes glowed with a soft golden rune imprinted on both his pupils. Jerome was elated. He stretched his senses to judge the working of the spell around him but his psychic energy was not evolved enough to sense the warping and folding of space.
Achilles had said that space would begin to fold in on itself around him when the spell was at full strength. Jerome looked around to inspect his surroundings. He couldn’t sense the folding of space but its effect was laid bare for his naked eyes to see. It was like seeing the effects of a strong wind but being unable to see the wind itself.
Strands of his hair that had fallen off and had been blown away some time ago gravitated toward him and disappeared just before they reached him. The memory stones hovering in the air were shaking continuously as if an invisible hand was pulling on them and they were resisting. Other than these two things, Jerome had nothing else to go by.
But he could imagine just what a sight it would be if he was outside the mountain in the forest. He was going to suck in a lot of things into the void created.
“I would give you a peep, Xerae, but it's far beyond your current Realm," Achilles said with mirth. "Whatever it is you see would just go over your head…like a humorless joke.”
In other words, I’d be incapable of understanding the concept of space. Jerome thought.
“You probably do, Xerae. But you can’t touch upon it. To you, it’s just a concept…like say, ‘kindness’,” Achilles said, his voice filled with the arrogance Jerome had come to attribute to his origin and connection to the Fae.
Jerome would’ve scoffed if he had the strength. He was too weak to give a rebuttal so he closed his eyes and concentrated on preserving his strength until the void space was fully formed.