My fingers touched the edge of the pristine pond of water; a brilliant, luminous white orb floated in the centre, and small, rhythmic ripples washed over my hand.

[Pain Tolerance lvl2 --> lvl3]

[Unknown Inequality...]

[Analysing Error...]

[Soul Essence Error Found...]

Soul essence? I only just heard about it, and it's already a problem...

[Chronoscopic Remnant Alignment Incompatibility.]

It's happening again... The words are echoing in my mind, yet most of it doesn't make any sense to me.

[Chronoscopic Remnant Alignment Incompatibility.]

Does it sound desperate?

I wanted to try and ponder on it, but any kind of thinking sent a sharp pain through my mind as if I'd just cracked my skull on the ground.

"That statue... it's alive."

Without warning, a voice came from not too far away, but I couldn't hear it, and only an intense grating, like a knife scratching at the inner-walls of my ears, flooded my mind.

I'd give anything to move to a senseless void right now.

[Chronoscopic Remnant Alignment Incompatibility]

What does that even meeeeaaaan.

[...]

[System framework lacks foundation. Unforeseeable catastrophic error has occurred.]

Then. Fix. It.

[...]

[Searching for a system-prerogative solution...]

"Stop it, Kesef; we have no idea what's going on."

Ohhhh shut up, shut uppp.

[None]

Great.

Excruciatingly, I turned my gaze to the three angels looking on from a distance.

[Searching for Generalized Solution...]

Whatever expressions they'd had, they instantly changed as soon as they saw my face, and, after looking at each other, there were a slew of emotions passing between them that I couldn't discern right now.

[Searching...]

Unable to think, I let out a hoarse cry and clenched my teeth. My arms shook under their own weight as renewed waves of pain coursed through my body.

It was like my blood had become acidic.

[Searching...]

[Recommendation: submerge yourself.]

Thanks, sys.

My arms gave out, and relief swept over me.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

[Searching...]

The cool touch of the water caressed my skin as I began floating across its surface.

Every pore felt vitalized, and my thoughts began to clear while my breathing became smoother.

[Solution Found]

[99.7% Probability of retaining suitable framework integrity interval [95, 100] ]

I don't really know what it's saying; I only know it's found some kind of solution and that it'll hurt like always.

I looked up and took in the skies of my tiny world—at the endless mystic mirage of colours climbing up to infinity; it's relaxing, and my breaths instinctively slowed as I allowed myself to relax on the waters surface.

Mentally, I had prepared myself.

[Exp Store: 2052 --> 0]

[Simulating Soul Essence Error]

[Approximating Function...]

[Truncating Function for Error: 0.0001%]

[Solving for nth-dimensional singularities within the Opase Field...]

[Found...]

[Adding emulsion coefficient function to avoid singularities.]

[Simulation Complete.]

The words washed over me like the gentle ripples of this softly warming pond. It's all mere noise to my ears; I may as well enjoy myself while I can.

This... feels oddly nostalgic; perhaps this is what the amber egg felt like.

[Enacting Solution.]

I shivered, and tension wrapped around me, all of my hairs standing on end.

Abruptly, the inner-world shook, the water absorbing much of the impact.

Then again.

Again.

And again.

Soon, it became drastic; the shaking was like a violent strangle from a murderous outburst, and yet... the water grew more calm; the raging fluxuations on all sides were inevitably cancelling their respective rampages.

There was no pain, and I was granted a strange sense of ease and calm despite the chaos.

I simply watched, unsure of how to feel while conflicted over my attachment to this place, despite only seeing it a few times.

It weighed on me, or maybe that was just the pressure of my soaking clothes.

The once-dancing colours flitted across the sky, erupting into chaos. If they were once water, they are now a plasma turbulently compounding into strange and volatile, spasmodic radiant clusters of light.

Still... no pain.

I relaxed, and the ground suddenly began cracking apart like squeezed, freshly baked bread.

Lightning began lashing through the air and brutally whipping at the walls.

It was infrequent, but the translucent bounds would grasp at the thunderous stray bolts, sometimes managing to find a firm grip and forcing them to submerge into the outer bounds.

My ears, slightly submerged, thumped with the dull blows echoing through the water—it felt almost like a relaxing massage.

This is... strangely cathartic to watch.

My inner-world seemed to be falling apart, and yet I found it to be a beautiful scene.

Glancing to the side, I watched as the white crystal—supposedly a fruit—began to pulse with a radiant rhythm.

A fine white dust broke away from its surface and intertwined with the various incomprehensible energies in the air.

Some fell into those light clusters, dimming and calming them until they formed these prismatic orbs that warped in the air like some kind of viscous liquid planet hanging alone in space.

The rest dispersed and congregated at the walls, which resembled an old taut drumskin on the verge of tearing apart; but quickly, it thickened, growing rigid and whole.

I couldn't tell how thin it was before because I had nothing to compare it too...

This all felt like the ending arc of a great climax; however, the shaking only became more intense.

I spotted the panicked Angels, clinging to each other and the ground for stability.

It did little, however, as a massive crack suddenly tore the ground apart.

Seconds passed in flashes, and the crack was rapidly widening into the gaping maw of an abysmal ravine.

It cut directly through the centre of the inner-world, conveniently detouring around the pond before cutting through to the other side.

Across the gap, the Angels further separated from me as the bottomless pit opened its jaws and bared its sickly black fangs.

Erroneous popping sounds came from below, and I winced at the rigid noise ripping through the water and punching at my ears.

I can hardly see what's going on, but the shaking... it's subsiding.

Subtly, the inner-world began to stabilise into its new form.

So it didn't fall apart?

Relief washed over me; the crisis appeared to have been averted.

[Solution successful: Catastrophic failure avoided]

[Due to error, system framework lacks adequate soul essence foundation. For an unknown reason, Light magic is only partially compatible with the user, and, due to contradictory soul essence, all frameworks would have collapsed.]

[Solution Applied: Potential emulser class antagonist, partitioner, partially derived and utilised to balance frameworks from falling into a zero energy state.]

Hmm, yes, I see.

I wanted to nod firmly to myself, but my wet hair pulled me back down into the water.

To be honest, I'm most interested in why the system seems to gain some unique features whenever something like this happens...

Can I keep the voice by any chance? That would be useful...

I'll figure it out later.

At least time moves faster here, so maybe I can take a moment... just a moment; I kinda need it.

[Your soul has been split and partially emulsified to retain cohesion. A fine balance has been found...]

[Recommendation: Evolve your inner-world to further stability]