The discovery from that faithful meeting didn’t go unnoticed. Rem already made it the official policy that transparency between the fellow members must never be compromised. Of course, Rem left some loopholes. The draft said nothing about reporting on a personal issue. However, when it came to magical discovery, the rule was working at its top-gear.
“So Satholia contacted you last night and said something about a Primordial,” Rem surmised. “She showed you some epic moon-making vision and declared that [Conceptual Seal] is more than it seemed.”
“Yep,” Hikma said and bit into his corn beef. It was a good corn beef. Not surprising given that Cytortia was a cooking prodigy. “So, what do we do next?”
“I am glad you ask,” Rem gave him a rarely seen warm smile. “First, we are going to fix Mel up, and then we will run some tests.” Rem turned toward the waking Melody. “I have a feeling it will be fun.”
…
2 hours late
“Umm,” Rem said to Hikma, who was slumping like a bag of potato after his marathon. “It is not about the heart rate.”
“I don’t think it is,” Hikma said, lying flat on the ground and huffing on the ground like dead meat.
A distance away from Rem, Cytortia was grilling Melody.
“I saw dragons,” Melody said as Cytortia started noting her words. “After Hikma did his thing, this image came over me.”
“Uh-huh,” the goddess wrote. She already took the demoness’ blood-pressure, analyzed her blood, and her heart-rate. Cytortia even looked at her diet for a possible cause of the migraine. So far, she got no hint.
Melody continued.
“I remember standing on the desert of grey sand, and the groundbreaking down beneath me. I fell down the darkness, and I think I see this--I don’t know--spiral of cosmos.”
Cytortia nodded. Meanwhile, Scathach and Luxinna looked confused. As Melody continued her description, the tone she used turned more and more frantic.
“I think I saw a swarm of dragons emerging from that spiral. There must be a million dragons of different species coming out of that light. Some are more real than another. I recognize about thirty of them, but the rest, I can’t even believe some of those can scientifically exist. There is this one dragon that somehow made of bubbles. That one is barely recognizable. Although I prefer the black one with the galaxy pattern.”
Scathach turned toward Luxinna.
“I think she lost it,” the honey badger spoke.
Rem started scribbling.
“No, I think the problem is mental rather than physical. Let me get the event order. Last night you read a book, had a dream, got contacted, and woke up with psychic power?”
“Yeah, but the psychic power parts come much later.”
“Um,” Rem said. “Bring me the book?”
…
An hour later
Melody closed the book and deactivated her [Heavenly Eye].
“There is nothing special about this book as far as my eyes can discern,” Melody tossed the book back at Rem. “It is a normal fairytale.”
Rem nodded. All of this narrowed them down to only one theory. Beside him, Luxinna also came up with the same conclusion.
“We need to receive that vision,” Luxinna said. “I suggest we get the bed.”
“No need,” Cytortia placed a tray of bottles between the three. “I already prepared this an hour ago. This medicine will send you into a dream-like trance.”
“That is fast,” Melody said, grabbing the bottle and popping of the cork.
“Because the potion is essentially child play,” Cytortia commented. “No heating. No extraction. No Expensive Ingredient. You just ground the herb in the correct proportion and dissolve the powder.” Cytortia looked doubtful. “I will be damned if something this cheap could trigger a goddess-induce vision.”
“You guys are acting ridiculous,” Scathach said. “It is probably a stress-based hallucination. If someone could learn a levitation spell from reading old stories, Grand Empire would lock those books in a vault instead of allowing it to circulate."
“You are right,” Rem drank the potion and sat on the camping chair, waiting for sleep to arrive. “But we have to get to the bottom of this, wasting a few more hours sleeping doesn’t seem like a terrible idea.”
“Well, it is up to you, kiddo,” Scathach said.
However, Rem no longer listened. He already sank into the land of sleep.
…
Rem founded himself on the plain of grey sand, watching the bloody creation of a moon.
“Well, I will be damned,” Rem said. “It works.”
‘Yes, a beautiful place, isn’t it?’
Rem turned to see a column of fading light. He quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
“Hello, boss,” Rem said. “I am waiting for your contact for weeks. What is happening in the Venistalis? Why don’t you contact us much earlier?”
‘I no longer have the window, Rem,’ Satholia replied. ‘It takes me everything to contact you through the Astral consciousness. Our enemies already start a ritual to summon a World Enemy strong enough to tip the law of the world. My ability to contact you is weakening exponentially ever since that annoying ant began to nibble at your reality.'
Rem realized what she meant.
“The Primordial,” Rem guessed.
‘Yes, it is one of many World Enemies that you can categorize as a planet-buster,’ Satholia said. ‘Rem, you must stop its summoning ritual at all cost. If that thing get summoned to Phantasia, there is nothing you can do to stop. Only a True Magic-user who masters all their Legend, and nothing else, can stop it once it fully materialized.'
Rem froze. Luxinna told him about the Legend--the evolution of True Magic. Out of all of them, only Luxinna got one of hers, and she was still a newbie. All the countermeasures he devised for this mission curled over and died. He had nothing to use against that kind of raw power.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
However, that fact raised another question.
“Why would anyone summon an omnicidal monster they couldn’t control here?”
Satholia snorted.
‘Because they don’t even know they are summoning an untamable planet killer. The summoner probably plans to tap the creature to power his design. The good news is that the World Enemy will only arrive when the ritual stops. Rem, whatever happens, don’t allow anyone but Hikma to dismantle the ritual. Only a specific Arcane can end the spells without releasing the World Enemy.'
Suddenly, the skies around them turned static. Rem had a bad feeling about this.
'I don’t have much time,' Satholia’s voice started to fizzle out. 'Rem, listen to me. Arcane is a technique to alter reality by recalling a specific feat the multiverse witnessed and transplanting it into the world. A specific catalyst can aid this process. I arrange Hikma’s recruitment partly from his heart and partly because his True Magic is the universal catalyst for all Arcane.'
“Wait!” Rem shouted at the fading Cytortia. “Can you explain what Arcane is again?”
Another static arrived, and the sky darkened.
'The Primordial stirs,' Satholia scowled. 'The Arcane you need is from the Holy Book of Immortal Sun. Hikma will know which one when he get his hand on it.'
Sinkholes appeared across the desert as the dream world started crumbling. Tornado of sand roared, but Rem still managed to catch his goddess parting message.
“Tell Cytortia to read the Lost Divine,” Satholia yelled. “It will tell her exactly what to do about her stunt growth rate. Only through that Arcane can she gain her Legend!”
And the world faded to black.
…
Rem woke up in a dark chamber of stone.
He took one look around him and decided that this must be the place the PR agents went to die. The décor was the ultimate publicity murderer. Skeleton adorned the cavern’s ceiling like a catacomb from hell. The skulls embedded into the wall gleamed with dirty emerald light. It was a black pit with no trace of hope to find. Meanwhile, the cracked stone-floor leaked with the sinister green light as the castle of darkness rumbled like the belly of an oppressive beast. Rem couldn’t feel or hear anything from the vision, but given the raw depressive power of this hall, he expected to find of wailing souls and the world's worst metal band somewhere in this pit.
Rem turned to face a stair of alien-looking bone leading up to a cloud of darkness.
It was then that Rem saw a hooded man climbing up the stairs.
The newcomer looked horrible. His coat was full of tears and holes. Rem thought that this guy must have been dealing with the constant attack for months to look this bad.
However, his back still stood upright as he proudly marched up the stair. He was wearing a smooth, white mouthpiece, and black goggles. Rem watched silently. Even when he covered most of his face, something about him gave Rem a familiar feeling.
The man climbed, and Rem saw a symbol on the back of his coat: a stylistic shield sigil of a man praising the sun. Rem had a feeling this symbol spoke something to him at a deeper level.
The man finally walked past the last step of the stair. He rose to meet a figure in a dark hood waiting for him. Behind the hooded figure was an image of Venistalis in ruin. The rampart had collapsed in several sections. The once prosperous Water-quarter laid in a pile of rubbles. Flame rages across the Earth-quarter. Rem couldn’t see what happened to the Wind and Fire section, but he was willing to bet it was in lockdown. At the center of it all, the once shining palace cracked in dozen places as corpses and battle-scars dirtied the building. A bolt of green lightning struck in the distance, sending the plume of green fires that could be seen from a kilometer away.
Amid that hellish backdrop, the two men began talking. Rem couldn’t hear their conversation. His vision didn’t come with audio, but the masked man nodded to himself sadly before pulling out a metal handle. The hooded figure summoned a cloud of green flames and a bloodthirsty skeleton in response.
The man flourished the handle, a 1.6-meter-long metal protracted from the hilt and flashed with sigils of power. Rem watch the man shifted into a very familiar defensive stance.
The hooded figure pointed and released a swarm of undead fire at the masked man. In return, the man threw up his hand and created a circlet Rem knew very well.
“[Conceptual Seal],” Rem spoke. “Hikma?”
The circlet unleashed the torrent of scarlet flames. The green and red deluge of fires clashed, blasting Rem out of the vision.
…
Rem woke up in the evening in the middle of the concerned crowd. He quickly relayed what he had seen to the group. Each of them took the news differently.
“You saw me?” Hikma asked
“Yes, unless someone else has the [Conceptual seal],” Rem said. “I believe I know how you can use the Arcane now. You need to use it’s through the seal, Hikma. That is how you in the vision do it. I guess that using it without a catalyst would drain your stamina. That is why you fainted.”
Melody wrote that down. The young demoness put the pen away and asked the question that was pin-balling inside her brain.
“Aside from the fact that we have a world-ending event on our hand,” Melody said. “How did Rem see what I assume to be the future.”
Scathach nodded and stretched her hand.
“Rem, your Status ID, please.”
Rem handed the silver card over without much of fuzz, and Scathach showed it to the gang.
…
Rem Breaker
Paladin
Stat
Str: 403 [C]
End: 457 [B]
Mag: 800 [B]
Wis: 1255 [B]
Dex: 720 [C]
Skill
Active
Arrival of Dream [N/A]
Tactical Form [C]
Supercharge [A]
Knife Throwing [D]
Future-sight (tactical) [B] ***New***
Passive
Territory [D]
Reality Breaker [Ex]
The Way of Optimism [N/A]
…
“Oh my god,” Luxinna only felt dread. Rem was already too unpredictable without an ability to see the future. Now the evil bastard who didn’t mind waterboarding people to get what he needed could peak into the future. She glanced at the sky, fearing it might turn acid green as the sign of Armageddon.
Melody shared the feeling, but she was better at prioritizing.
“Let put the fact that Rem has the ability that half of Phantasia will kill for and focus on what is important. How do we stop Rem’s prediction? As much as I dislike the Grand Empire, I prefer their capital intact.”
Rem stayed silent before muttering out loud.
“I have no idea.”
Melody and Cytortia looked at each other. Then they broke out laughing.
“Rem, this isn’t funny,” Cytortia gasped. “People are in danger here.”
Rem visibly sank.
“Come on, you always have an idea,” Melody said. “You are more creative than all of us combine. You must have a plan, right?”
Rem refused to look at her.
Melody smiled vanish. Luxinna’s mouth hung open from shock, but Cytortia took it worse of all.
“What the hell, Rem?” Cytortia yelled. “You must have a plan! A secret countermeasure just for this! I went into your room, Rem. I know you have a plan in case Tai Hua launched a surprise invasion on Earth. I saw the one you created in case a sentient continent stole the Isle of Knowledge’s superweapon and dropped it on Hokkaido! You must have a solution to this.”
“Venistalis have a population 12 million and the area the size of New York,” Rem listed the static. “There is no data collection. The authority uses spells, and millions of spirit familiars, to maintain security and they can't find anything. There is no way I can cover that area. Moreover, I know next to nothing about the ritual. We have no way forward and knowledge to progress. I am not a wish-granting machine, Cy. I can do nothing about this, but look at the clue from the future.”
“Then do that then!”
“Cy, this thing manages to block Satholia from giving us more hint. Do you think I can do better with my new [Clairvoyance].?”
Cy sank into the sofa.
Everyone turned silent. Finally, it was Cytortia who spoke up.
“It can’t be True Magic, and no Cultivation technique can do otherworldly shit like that. The ritual must be a spell,” Cytortia said.
“Yeah, kinda obvious,” Melody said sarcastically. “How could that help us?”
“My best friend has eyes everywhere in Venistalis,” Cytortia said sternly. “And she collected enough ancient spell and ritual to become an expert on it.”
Scathach suddenly worked out what Cytortia was thinking.
“Wait, you are going to her? Are you sure she can ever be trusted?”
“I trust her with my life, Scathach. She is my best friend.”
“Hold up,” Luxinna said. “Who are we talking about?”
“Shyme Enma,” Scathach said. “She is the 2nd fastest rising star of Enma clan and this dolt only friend before you guys got in the picture.”
“Wait, we are going to ask the motherfucking Enma clan for help?” Melody wanted to gag herself. “Do you remember what Enma enterprise does to my bloody continent.”
“You won’t,” Rem said. “You and Hikma needed to research the Arcane. I, Cytortia, and Luxinna will negotiate with the member of capitalistic divine beast men.”