“Abyss take this…!” Lyca ground out as she and her sister had to dance through the minefield of portals that swirled open and close at random all around them. The closer they had gotten to the wraith the more numerous they had become and only thanks to their Crimson Change had they been able to keep their reflex on par with their speed.

The fact that the portals had lessened again after it had slipped through another portal was of no real relief as it meant they had failed. It had reached the basin before them. And now all they could was hope to catch up in time.

“… how is this possible?!” Crya added onto her sister’s curse with angry, narrowed eyes. Hand in hand, they pulled each other out of the way or gave a boost to dodge just in time. What should have been an easy and quick climb up the side of the Crystal Well was made arduous in both length and exertion.

Throughout Gaia weird, magical and elemental phenomena weren’t exactly common but if you knew where to look it was pretty easy to either hear stories about or experiences all sorts of strange events. Frozen lightning bolts, floating tornado rings or even twisted gravity. Portal chaos like this wasn’t too much of a stretch then. Still, the more unbelievable part here was that all of this chaos seemed to have originated form the water wraith. It was a power few beings were able to call upon and even Babylon didn’t have much interaction with Incarnates or Asdes to even begin to understand how powerful they actually were.

Lunetia, the Goddess of her name-given Theocracy and capital city, was the only being that would be able to easily take control of this chaos as far as the twins were aware. But that much was to be expected from the last known Goddess left on Gaia.

These idle musings came to an end as a familiar voice startled them out of their thoughts and pulled their focus back on the matter at hand. And the scene they just managed to glimpse at first was nearly enough to distract them from their concentrated dodging.

“…hey…!” Max called out to them as he rushed through a passing portal, hot on the tail of a young wolf cat who they recognised as Jak after only a moment.

They vanished through another portal only to pop out nearby again, Max now waving a pair of reserve goggles towards the sisters.

“Get these goggles…!” Max shouted as loud as he could over the noise, his voice echoing weirdly as he rushed from portal to portal, only for his voice echoed from the top of the Crystal Well a moment later as the portals eagerly opened up to swallow Jak again. This continued again and again, transporting Jak to on random location around the Crystal Well after the other and Max always managing to stay right by his side.

As Lyca and Crya edged their way up the side of the Crystal Well, these portals began to open up more and more often near the twins. By now Max had to repeat the next part of his explanation a few times because his voice swallowed by another portal before they could really hear him.

“…and look for opening and collapsing gates…!” Max finally was able to continue his explanation as soon as they were close enough for him to be certain they could hear him.

“You can’t miss them!”

“We need one leading to the docks to…!”

“…to get Jak out of here and Dampfstadt!” The wires in Max’ hands waved and they understood.

“My legs are freaking killing me…!” Jak shouted with an aggravated and pleading half-growl, half-sob as he stumbled through portal after portal, sheer stubbornness was the only thing pushing him forwards and kept him from collapsing into a loose pile of sore limbs on the spot.

“Will do!” The twins called out as one as they snatched the pair of goggles out of the leopard’s hands as he appeared close enough and strapped them over their eyes. Immediately they felt their Arc weaken as their bodies weren’t a single, uninterrupted plane channeling their Crimson Change anymore. It was one of the most annoying aspects of their Arc, clothes were literally a disadvantages and even any weapon or tool they had to hold in their hands weakened their power.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

But the advantage of being able to actually see where the portals formed, however, was well worth the trouble of having speed and reflexes partially reduced because of this. Both understood the chaotic mass of ambient Amber even less than Max did, but the coalescing frames of the portals didn’t need an expert to notice.

Their desperate dance of before was now yielding to graceful steps around the forming portals, finally allowing them to split their focus beyond just dodging and climbing to instead also search the locations that laid behind the gates.

Finding a portal to or even near the docks was pretty difficult, though, as while they knew vast part of the city, that didn’t mean they knew every alleyway or even every hundredth. And certainly they didn’t know the insides of literally every building either. More than a few shocked, even scandalised faces stared at the nude, crimson shining she-wolves before portals collapsed again. And there were some awkwardly embarrassing moments when some particular… fans of their bodies got a surprise glimpse at the real deal. Neither Lyca nor Crya knew how to really feel about that. Maybe they should ask their girlfriend later.

But finally there was a portal. Opening up atop the roof of one of the docks’ many warehouses it gazed out onto the ocean ahead. It was also one of the most unstable portals, the docks right at the edge of the current phenomenon, and already it had started to flicker just after having opened. There was no time to be wasted.

Lyca rushed forwards, taking the lead as her goggles were discarded and her Purple Halo gleamed with crimson light around her waist to reaffirm her full body change. She trusted her sister to warn her from any further portals opening and with her Arc at full throttle she was able to just so reach the portal before it could close again. Her was high enough that it was bare possible to follow her image with the naked eye.

She leapt, partially stepping across the threshold and came to a halt. Immediately Lyca could her reserves drain at rapid speeds trying to keep the portal open.

“Got one!” Crya shouted, already speeding after the current location of Jak and Max. She had sliced off the straps of her goggles and was giving the muscles around her eyes a work out as she squinted hard to keep them from falling off. Every little bit of uncovered surface allowed her Crimson Change to work at ever greater potency. But she still needed to see the portals forming because any mistake now was much more costly than before.

“Woah…!” Jak gasped startled as Crya suddenly appeared at his side, grabbing him by the shoulder and pulled him into her arms. He was far too exhausted to really care about those soft breasts pressing into his back.

With powerful legs, Crya pushed herself as fast she could towards her sister who was grimacing painfully at the drain. And Crya grimaced to as Jak’s presence against her body was enough to disrupt her Arc. She had to suppress the caustic effect of her Arc’s aura that reflexively activated otherwise and would’ve burned some painful scars into Jak’s body that were likely to have left scars.

“I’m keeping all portals open for you…!” Max’ voice echoed after them, his wires rapidly spooling out of his pockets as he had attached them to Jak just early. Quickly the leopard was left in the dust behind them.

Slowed down by Jak as she was, Crya was extremely thankful for the extra safety net as she was barely able to keep up with the portals that eagerly threw themselves in their way, drawn towards Jak for still unclear reasons. But even with her reduced speed, there had only been one portal where she had to quickly leap back before it could drain Max of his remaining reserves.

Finally her sister was just ahead.

“H-hurry…!” Lyca hissed loudly through tightly clenched teeth, feeling her own reserves growing nearly bone dry.

A ripple surged through one of Max’s wires and it shot forwards a second time, detaching itself from Jak, and pierced through the portal. Immediately Lyca let out breath of relief as the drain was split equally between herself and Max.

“Red marked crates. Get inside. Don’t leave! The bigger the better!” Crya hurried to remind Jak before she hurled him through the portal. And then an exhausted panting Lyca stumbled into her sister’s arms and the portal fell close behind him before he could manage to get back up on sore feet.

The Sister’s Arcs intertwined and Crya’s own reserves rejuvenated Lyca as much as possible until they were back to equally split strength. Less than fourth they each had left.

The chaos of portals was still whirling around them, but it felt like they were much more evenly scattered across the Crystal Well even as they still swirled more tightly around here than the rest of the cavern. How much had Jak’s presence affected their formations? A question that would have to wait until much later, if ever, to be pondered on.