“Shit, shit, shit!” Andy yelled at their handiwork.
“How bad do you think it is?” Cal asked
“I don’t know. Someone get Ralth now!” Andy screamed at the crowd. There was evident panic in his voice. Cal wasn’t used to hearing that out of Andy.
“On it,” Stan answered, managing to keep his voice calm.
“Where are you going?” Andy asked Andrew, who had started to move away.
“I’m getting a camera. We need to see what’s through that crack. I doubt it’s the hotel anymore, and I’m worried just what it could be.” He answered.
“Yeah, fair, okay. Dammit. Why didn’t I think this all through better? I swear my brain has been fuzzy all loop.” Andy’s face now matched his voice’s panic.
“Andy, it’s going to be okay. Yeah, there is something going on with you, but we will figure it out. I noticed it earlier when you mentioned the trip with Bug. But it will be okay.” Cal smiled at his friend reassuringly.
“How did that, of all things, give away my brain fog?” Andy asked.
“Well, for one thing, you shouldn’t remember it. It took several loops before you became loop-aware.” Cal answered.
“Oh,” He looked like he was about to say more but was cut off by the arrival of Ralth, who had brought along one of the imprisoned Cyclopean aliens.
“That’s new.” Ralth’s voice didn’t have the usual calmness to it as he looked at the partial crack that remained.
“You guys really are new to all this shit. Yer real lucky I heard your mates yelling for yer buddy here when I did. That there is a giant fucking problem.” Twonger looked over at Cal as he spoke.
“So what do we do?” Cal asked, staring back at the man who had killed him so many times before.
“We need to seal this room separately from the rest of your house. Get as much monitoring equipment on it as you can. I think I can slow the growth, but I can’t stop it. It will eventually reopen.” He responded.
“Okay, why is it so horrible.” Cal followed up. He didn’t like the look of it, but he wasn’t entirely sure why everyone was panicking as much as they seemed to be.
“I think it’s a tear into the area between dimensions. You said Marley called it the Abyss,” Andy answered, surprising Cal. His friend had been quiet so far since the alien arrived.
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“Well, at least you rubes know about the darkness. Yeah, yer friend is entirely right. This right here is a giant beacon to the monsters that live beyond reality. Man, some of those things would just love to be able to pass into our world without having to return to a larval form. How did you even idiots even manage this? Before Cal here woke up a world seed inside himself, which, by the way, sorry for trying to kill you, for I had no idea you were that strong. There was nowhere near the energy needed to punch a hole into the abyss.” Cal glared at the alien, his apology was not at all accepted.
“Let me try something. I can feel it pulsating strangely.” Ralth moved closer to the crack and began to touch it gently. The intense color dulled slightly.
“Whatever yer doing, big man, keep it up. I’m going to try to zip this thing more closed while you drain that energy.” Twonger joined Ralth directly in front of the tear.
“I cannot hold this for long. The energy I’m pulling from this is like nothing I’ve ever touched before. My mana channels are having issues moving it at all.” Ralth’s voice was full of both pain and struggle. His face was scrunched into concentration. “Go faster.” he managed to utter with his teeth now clamped together.
“I’m going as fast as I can. There’s already something big on the other side, and it’s fighting us. How the fuck are you even able to channel any of this energy. DAMMIT CLOSE!” The alien screamed as the mana he was pushing into the tear flared into visibility.
“Ralth, hold on, I’m coming. I think I can see what you’re doing. Let me help.” Bill’s hands reached out to tug on an invisible force from one of Ralth’s palms. He gave it several pulls before screaming in pain and doubling over.
“Bill, are you…” Cal wasn’t able to finish his words as Melissa shoved him aside. Most of the void house occupants were now in the room attracted to the noise.
“Move,” Melissa screamed as she leaned down over Bill. Cal saw her hands start to channel mana directly into the capybara, and the blackened marks on his arms faded. Bill now looked to be peacefully asleep. She then stood up and put both her hands on Ralth’s back.
“Alright, big man, I’m going to pump you full of as much healing energy as I can. I don’t want to touch whatever that is you are pulling from the crack, so you need to channel it through your body to where it needs to go, got it?” She asked.
“YES JUST DO IT!” Ralth yelled back.
A large, bright discharge of mana flowed from Melissa’s hands, coating the entirety of Ralth’s back. It had a green shimmer to it as the energy worked its way inside. Ralth noticeably slumped less, and he unclenched his teeth. Cal was sure that he was routing the mana around himself as best he could.
“There, that’s as much as I can zip it. We will want my brother to take a look and see if he can add some containment protection to it, but it should hold for a decade or two like this. Even with that thing on the other side. Here’s hoping it’s not a leviathan.” Twonger was smiling despite the situation.
“Is the Gryalth and the merc locked up?” Cal asked.
“Yeah, Gramps was helping secure them. I ran back here with Bill.” Melissa answered.
“Alright, I want everyone, and I do mean everyone, that talk, except our two newest prisoners in the situation room in exactly two hours. Andy and Dad, you’re in charge of Twonger. If he tries anything stupid, do whatever you need to do. Melissa could look after Bill, please. I need to go check on our prisoners. Ralth, you’re with me.” Cal looked around the room at his ever-growing group of friends, acquaintances, and enemies as he spoke. He could tell this was about to be a very long loop.