Just when I think these hallways are never going to end, I find a far more secured door than the others. At least I assume it’s more secure, given all the runes washing across it like a barrier.

(Yup, barrier,) Nyx confirms.

Well, what now? I’ve been traveling dematerialized since it’s so much faster than putting one foot in front of the other, so I experimentally manifest an appendage. And then, I touch the barrier. I’d expected something like pain, but all I feel is a strange pressure, and a feeling of separation. I inspect the appendage – a strange way to say I’m observing it, but, I don’t have eyes, not really. And a section of it is just missing.

(Don’t act so surprised. You’re a Spirit, basically mana made form. Yeah I could get more technical about how your Akashic Self is basically operating as a template projected onto mana and being used as a lattice to hold your manifestation in the real, but I’m gonna spare myself your confusion. What we need to do is disrupt it.)

Ok, sure I guess. And how in the hells am I supposed to do that?

(Manifest some patience while you’re at it, I’m getting to that. Runic formations have a stabilizing pattern, otherwise they’d stop after one revolution. We just need to destabilize it by breaking the pattern. Give me a minute.)

Nyx silently observes the barrier for a few moments. As I watch, I could swear I see a golden overlay in front of her face. It’s probably related to runic magic as well, considering it’s awash with similar symbols as the barrier. And then she stops and turns.

(Bingo, genius. This,) she gestures at the overlay following the movement of her head, (is one of my only skills that still works now. And it’s one reason why I know this is the pattern we need to scrub.)

As she points one finger between us, three runes appear floating above it.

And how do we do that?

(We, don’t do anything. Intangible, remember? You are going to make another one of those smoke tentacles, loaded with as much mana as you can, and jam it into the sequence when it passes.)

And that’ll just work?

(Sure. Trust me.)

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

The look on Nyx’s face isn’t remotely trustworthy. But, since I don’t have a better idea, I guess I may as well. So I watch the runic patterns flowing by in the barrier, trying to catch where the one she indicated is. It’s certainly not as easy as she made it look though.

With a massive sigh, she points. (It’s right there.) Her finger traces above the surface. She probably has a skill for this or something, but I choose to ignore her irritating behavior anyway. I focus and take a portion of my being – since she keeps referring to me as made of mana, I assume that’s what she means, and she doesn’t correct me – and focus it into materializing another feeler. This one feels far more dense. I position it near the barrier, and right as the pattern passes, I strike.

***

(Oopsie.)

Yeah, sure. Oopsie.

(Hey shut up, it’s the first time I’ve seen this done first-hand. This is just how wraiths historically overwhelm barriers, okay? They get lucky and smack the right part with enough mana. And usually there’s enough of them there that nobody’d know it probably obliterates the one who did it, yeah?)

Would have been good to know, but I guess there’s no point in fixating. Something inside me tells me it shouldn’t be this easy to move on, but I’m having a very hard time caring right now. Even though three quarters of my... of my me is gone.

(Two things there. First, Spirits aren’t natively tied to the real, so of course you find it easy to move on from events there. Second, yeah, you’re made of mana, and the chain reaction consumed it when the barrier went critical. Sucks but it worked, see?) she gestures at the big hole in the wall, and the walls around it, where the barrier and door used to be. (Ok so another thing. I’d really really appreciate it if you’d stop thinking things like you’re asking a question. Compulsion, remember? I have to answer all that crap, especially the stuff you should already know! Or would know if you would just, look into it yourself or something! Gods, my jaw would’ve fallen off by now if it was material.)

I mean, you could always just piss off instead.

(You’d think that, wouldn’t you! You freaking did too. Except I can’t, genius! Watch what happens!) and at that she turns and starts walking away, and turns a corner at the end of the hallway. (And here I freaking am again!) exclaims her disembodied voice just outside my perception of vision, needing only a glance to the side to find she’s right back, no more than five feet away. (The closest thing I have to a body now is tied directly to your perception of me having one. You’re stuck with me, pal. For better or worse. Aaaand no, not like that either! I’m into folks with some semblance of a material body, those freaking tentacles don’t count!) She petulantly stomps her feet.

I’m sensing some baggage there, but I still can’t bring myself to care. So instead of wasting any more energy on Nyx’s ongoing tantrum, I continue through the opening ahead of me. There I find a small, simple room with a raised platform with a runic pattern etched into it. I decide to give myself a small break from her continuous explanations and complaints and instead head directly toward the platform. She is mercifully silent as I move onto the metal surface, and feel myself diffuse to nothing once again.