Chapter 87 Demidimension
“Holy shi-” Isaac began.
“In Lua’s name.” Lenna whispered in awe. The sight before the trio was unlike anything either of them had ever seen or imagined. Nine copies of the same impossible sight were scattered around a thirty foot area. Each in a different orientation that took physics and threw it into the fire. Each of the nine ‘Breaches’ looked like someone had stabbed a molten sword through unbreakable glass. The navette shaped missing pieces of space were surrounded by white cracks that spiderwebbed out from them along the same two dimensional plane. Inside them was all the same view of a massive room made of stone blocks and lit by an omnipresent soft gray glow. Each breach seemed to choose its direction at random but they all seemed to be an equal distance from where the center of the portal used to be.
Milling about under the stab wounds in space, which were really just the representations of the connecting points between real reality and manufactured reality, where a few dozen skeletons in various states of damage and disrepair. A moment later the trio found out why. A skeleton from inside the demidimension attempted to leave it and the chaotic nature of the breaches proved their destructive potential. Out of the nine portals, seven of them took a chunk of the skeleton. The top half of the skeleton’s spear fell out of one breach, half of its head took another, both feet found a third, the left elbow took the fourth, four ribs took the fifth, only the pelvis took the sixth, and the rest toppled through in a heap out of the seventh. Another skeleton immediately followed after it and it only lost a foot to portal number three while the rest of its body landed face first after a ten foot drop out of portal number nine.
“Number three likes feet.” Isaac commented.
Lenna tore her eyes away from the awe inspiring spectacle to stare dumbfoundedly at Isaac. “What?” She asked in a mixture of shock and confusion.
“The third portal from the left, from our perspective, took both the feet from the first skeleton and a foot from the second.” Isaac explained. “Look, there are almost exclusively boots piled under it.”
Lenna turned to regard the portals and realized that Isaac was right. As she looked at the ground under the other portals she noticed a similar phenomena. “One likes weapons, actually, no, it likes right hands and the weapons they hold.” She observed.
“Each breach corresponds to a different part of the portal that used to be there but only when they feel like it. The seventh and ninth portal seem to be the main ones. Look,” Isaac said and pointed at the portal the furthest to the right. “There are a lot of mostly intact skeletons under it.”
“I think they’ve noticed us.” Lenna commented. She was right, all thirty or so skeletons had turned towards them.
“Yeah, we could have been quieter, it was just quite the spectacle.” Isaac replied.
“Gather them up and I’ll annihilate them all in one strike.” Lenna told her mate.
“On it.” Isaac replied and vanished. Soon enough skeletons were being tossed into a pile and yanked backwards into each other until almost all of them were in a tangled heap of steel, rust, and bone.
Lenna opened her hand and held it out from her at around her waist height. Her palm pointed towards the ceiling and in one motion that was accompanied by two words she raised it to eye level without bending her elbow. “Hellflame Strike.” She said with a cold fury that dredged up all of the wrath and anger she had suppressed and forgotten about. She felt herself heat up in her armor as the feelings brought with them a physical heatwave that radiated out from her skin. That was not the only heat wave, however, as the chant and motion had summoned forth a geyser of burning death and destruction that reached for the sky and turned everything caught within it to ash and dust.
Isaac whistled as he appeared next to her. “That is some serious power.” He commented. “That has to be at least four times as hot as a fireball without the shockwave. If you catch someone in it, and they are still, they will get stuck with a few thousand degrees of agony for almost two seconds. I wonder how reality shield’s will hold up against it.”
“Reality shields don’t really transfer heat.” Lenna replied.
“But they still do transfer some.” Isaac pointed out.
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“It’s a good thing it does as much damage as it does, I can’t cast very many of those in a row.” Lenna said and walked towards the breaches. “Let’s get this over with, Shamesh, any ideas?”
“None, my Lady. I am afraid that any assistance I may offer will need to be directed by someone else.” Shamesh replied with a slight bow.
“Send a telepathic message to Alexander and inform him of the situation. I’m sure he will want to see this.” Isaac told his retainer. “Lenna, try casting a Fireball inside the demidimension.”
“Come forth ember of a dying star.” Lenna ordered and pointed into one of the breaches. The fireball attempted to form from half a dozen fragments that resulted in a small snap and flash and a general raise in the ambient temperature around the breaches. “The spell was scattered as the mana tried to pass through the breach.”
“It breaks things up both ways, got it.” Isaac replied and teleported next to a crawling skeleton that was missing its bottom half from Lenna’s Hellflame Strike. Isaac planted his boot through the skeleton’s rusted helm and its skull in short order.
“Court Magus Alexander has informed me that he is on his way. He has requested the ability to scry on our location so he can see where to teleport to.” Shamesh informed them.
“Ask him if he can scry on you or if it has to be on Lenna or I.” Isaac replied.
A moment later Shamesh relayed the return message: “He has informed me that without the ability to see you, there is a risk of the teleportation failing from him attempting to teleport into the same space as you.”
“Tell him that Lenna and I are standing behind you.” Isaac replied. “Turn around before you tell him that.”
Shamesh nodded and did as he was told. A few moments later a ripple of magic and transfer of space brought forth the Court Mage. “Hel-” Alexander cut himself off as he got a good look at the breaches with his own eyes. “Holy Halya.” He swore under his breath. “This is unlike anything I have ever seen.”
“Yes, it is pretty neat.” Isaac replied. “How do we get rid of it?”
“What?” Alexander asked dumbfoundedly. “What do you mean ‘get rid of it’?”
“That,” Isaac said and gestured towards a skeleton that was in the process of falling through four breaches at once. “keeps happening. That would be fine if half of them didn’t remain intact enough to cause a problem.”
“I’ll set up a quarantine zone and bring my equipment out to study it.” Alexander replied and looked like he was about to teleport away.
“Wait.” Isaac ordered the wizard. Alexander froze in place.
“Have you forgotten where we are?” Lenna questioned the young man. “How exactly do you plan on avoiding drow spies, drow assassins, drow raiding parties, wandering Phase Widows, wandering Tunnel Horrors, Shadow-wolf packs, loose skeletons, and potential Doppelgangers because you are out here alone?”
Alexander was entirely still, like a mouse under the gaze of a cat. Not only was that the most he had ever heard Lenna say at one time but every word of it was true. She had just pointed out a dozen different ways that he could die in one run-on sentence that had taken her three breaths to complete. “I, yes, you are correct, Lady V’Nova, I may have been a bit hasty. I will have to consult with his grace over how to handle this situation.” Alexander replied with a lowered head.
“That’s all well and good but what are we supposed to do about our bounty to get rid of the skeleton problem?” Isaac questioned the wizard.
“The breaches are far too far apart to surround them with an anti-undead ward.” Alexander thought aloud. “How many skeletons do you think are left inside?”
“I only ever see a few of them at a time. It’s like they are wandering towards the breaches and just falling through at random.” Isaac explained. “It could be five or five hundred thousand. The other side of this is Shamsha’s demidimension. I would like to get inside too.”
“For the riches of an ancient lich?” Alexander questioned.
“Exactly.” Isaac replied.
“If you could wait here for a time, I would like to consult with the library and maybe another court wizard who specializes in dimensional magics.” Alexander requested. “He may have a way to dismantle the demidimension from this side. If that is something that we can do, then according to my sparse knowledge on the subject, everything inside of it should be shunted out into real reality.”
“What if there are a million skeletons inside of it?” Lenna questioned.
“We will be properly prepared, unlike last time.” Alexander said with total seriousness. He had no intention to repeat his previous tactical mishap.
“We can wait, as long as you bring hot food back with you when you return.” Isaac told the mage.
“And it happens within the day.” Lenna added. “I do not want to sleep in a crater.”
At Lenna’s mention of a crater Alexander took a moment to actually take in the surrounding area properly. There were half a dozen craters the size of the first floor of a family home. Scorch marks and shattered stone covered the area and it was only then that he noticed the fragmented remains of the fort that used to exist around them. “What happened here?” Alexander questioned in awe. It was destruction that showed a magnitude of power he hadn’t ever witnessed directly before.
“Shamsha dropped an extinction level event on top of himself, and us, in a last ditch attempt to win.” Isaac explained. “It smashed through his portal,” He gestured towards the breaches. “hence the current problem. Jala and Fen said that the breaches only appeared later because Jala has been bleeding Shamsha dry, so he can no longer work as the anchor for the demidimension, or something.”
Alexander nodded to himself in thought. “I see. That is technically possible but I did not think it could actually happen.” He mumbled under his breath. “Alright, yes, I will return post haste.”
“With hot food.” Isaac reminded him.
“Yes, with hot food.” Alexander agreed with a smirk. “Heed my command magic and space, take me to this imagined place.” With that, Alexander was gone.
“Shamesh, take this time to regenerate your mana. Once you are full, I’ll need to send you back into my shadow. We don’t want any foreign court mages getting the wrong idea and calling the inquisition.” Isaac instructed his familiar.
“As you say, my Lord.” Shamesh replied with a bow.
“Lenna,” Isaac said and turned to his mate. “let’s clean this place up a bit. I don’t want a skeleton trying to bite my ankles later when we sit down for dinner.”