Setting conditions to the Order of the Seven Moons wasn’t a wise move in most circumstances. Being a mage somewhat put things on an even footing, though not quite. It was only when the request was so insignificant from the order’s point of view that it didn’t ruffle feathers. Depending on the circumstances, it could even be viewed as a positive.

Dallion had made his involvement subject to three conditions. The main was that no one outside of the order be made aware of the deal. This was seen as reasonable from all sides and immediately guaranteed through another Moon vow. The second was free access to the copyette ruins beneath Nerosal. If nothing else, that was the location of the magic vortex. Regardless if it was related to Adzorg or not, Dallion wanted unfettered access to it. Given events in the past, the request posed a bit of alarm, but was ultimately fulfilled.

The last condition was a bit trickier. It had taken a lot of convincing, but ultimately, Dallion had managed to obtain another vow that upon the successful completion of his mission, Adzorg not be killed. In addition, the Order would help Dallion remove his own curse, or at the very least tell him how to do it. Since they had experience in the area, it was unlikely to present a problem. On his part, if Dallion failed to stop the rise of a new Star, he’d be facing greater issues than the Order’s bad side.

None of Dallion’s guardians said a word as he made his way to the city’s arena. In truth, he himself wasn’t thrilled to be going there. That was a place that the general frequented, and the man was still owed one favor.

“I won’t be visiting him,” Dallion said, sensing the tenseness within his realm. “Besides, I’m a mage now.”

You know as well as me that he won’t let that stand, the armadil shield said. You won’t be the first mage to owe someone favors, making him a lot more eager to collect.

There was no denying that. As a precaution, Dallion cast an invisibility spell on himself as he entered the arena. With the festival over, and unlikely ever to occur again, the place had become alarmingly empty. All the Priscord family banners had been removed, along with many of the statues and portraits. One could get the unmistakable feeling that this was a foreclosed building awaiting new owners.

A few city guards were scattered about the vast corridors, just in case someone unwanted tried to steal anything of value that was left. Sealed doors and stairways ensured that no one could freely venture into the lower areas, but for a mage that didn’t present any challenge. Even without flashy or destructive spells, Dallion had picked up a few ways to enter a place without the use of doors or other openings.

Upon reaching one of the entry points, Dallion drew his harpsisword and tapped it on his boot. The blade vibrated, allowing him to seamlessly stick it through the wall, then extend his magic to create a magic portal on the other side.

You’ll need more if you’re going after the mage, Harp said, her voice a combination of vibrations that formed words.

“I know.” Dallion completed the spell, then pulled the weapon out. “That’s why I’m heading for this vortex.” He needed to increase his magic trait as many times as possible, and that meant absorbing every vortex he came across.

A second portal formed on the wall, allowing Dallion to walk through into one of the old stairwells. From there, he continued downwards.

Darkness was complete. Even with his present perception level, it was impossible to see a thing. In the past, Dallion had used Lux to light the way in such circumstances. This time, he chose to rely on another spell.

You’re relying too much on magic, Ariel criticized from Dallion’s domain.

“Maybe.” Dallion replied. From his view, he wasn’t relying enough.

The descent continued for another ten minutes. Then, finally, the “modern” staircases ended and the ancient glory of the copyette ruins began. There were many things that could be said about the imprisoned races at the height of their power. Pan claimed there was nothing that could rival a copyette city. Of course, he tended to be a bit biased on the topic. Seeing his share of ruins during his time as a hunter, Dallion had witnessed the majesty of many forgotten wonders of architecture. If he had enough time he would have gladly roamed through what was left of the ruined city in an attempt to recreate it in his mind. Sadly, his focus wasn’t anything built by copyettes, but the vortex that had appeared there.

After another minute walking through chambers and corridors, Dallion took out his aetherizer and looked at it. The purple dot appeared close.

It’s in the middle of the next corridor to the right, boss, Gem said. Dallion had offered to make the aetherfish the guardian of the device, but Gem had refused—he enjoyed exploring the real world too much to be stuck in another realm.

Less than fifty steps later, the purple glow of magic became visible. It was just as Gem had said… or rather, close enough. While part of the vortex was indeed visible in the corridor, its main part happened to be in a small room leading off of it. Dallion tried to look in, but the magic intensity was too high for him to see a thing.

Looking closely at the outer threads, Dallion was able to read a small part of the magic instructions, most notably that the vortex had ceased to exist over a month ago, possibly even three.

Afterglow, he thought.

Just as powerful vortexes gleamed before they appeared in the world, after images were also present long after the fact. One significant detail was that afterimages could allow a mage to absorb the tower as if it were the real thing.

“Ready?” Dallion asked.

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The vortex was different from the ones he’d seen before. Back in the Academy, he was dealing with lingering concentrations of magic energy. This had the appearance of a tower… very much like the one during his failed awakening trial.

“Ruby, slash the walls.”

The shardfly flew off Dallion’s shoulder, sending a small tornado of wind slashes. Sections of the walls crumbled, revealing more of the vortex.

As Dallion suspected, the vortex had the general shape of a tower. The threads of the outside formed a solid impenetrable surface, at least for everyone who didn’t know where to look.

“Stop,” Dallion said after a while.

If Nil were here, he would have said that destroying a tunnel while still in it wasn’t the best of ideas. Thanks to Dallion’s scholar skills, he was able to make an adequate assessment of the situation. It also helped that he was constantly splitting the entire time.

A few of his instances examined some of the newly revealed parts of the vortex. In one case, Dallion tried placing his hand on the magic tower with the hope that he’d trigger a response. No such thing happened. Even so, it soon became clear that every seventeen thousand and six hundredth thread was visibly dimmer than the rest.

At least it’s not the top, Dallion thought, then infused his harpsisword to slice a sliver of an opening.

VORTEX AWAKENING

The familiar purple rectangle appeared. The moment it was gone, Dallion found himself on a floating chunk of rock beneath a purple sea above.

You are in a level 4 VORTEX

Defeat the guardian to Absorb the VORTEX

An upside-down world? Dallion wondered. Glancing at his shoulder, he saw Ruby still there. That suggested that at least gravity was normal for the moment.

Cautiosly, Dallion split into two instances. Some vortexes were temperamental and didn’t react well to combat splitting. The moment he did, a wave formed on the sea above.

A bird of blue flames emerged and after making several circles round him perched on Dallion’s free shoulder. Ruby flicked his wings. Vortexes were the only places in which Dallion’s realm and real world guardians could interact effortlessly, sometimes leading to the occasional grumble.

“Check for anything suspicious, Lux,” Dallion said. “Don’t fight. I don’t want any mess-ups like last time.”

With a loud chirp, the firebird darted off, disappearing from view.

“Harp, Onda, anything you can tell me about that?”

Neither of the guardians replied. For some reason, whenever a question was presented to both of them, Onda would remain silent unless Harp responded first.

“Harp?” Dallion asked again.

I can’t give you advice, the nymph replied.

That, in a way, gave Dallion his answer. Just to make sure, he took his harpsisword and did a spark infused point attack straight up. Force shot out from the tip of the weapon, as a white beam within the realm of purple. The moment it hit the sea, a vast amount of water moved aside. A hole briefly emerged, though it was short-lived—the volume of magic water wore down the force of the strike until it had no further effect. Loud splashes filled the created space, sending ripples throughout the sea in the form of giant waves.

Send an echo to check out the water, the armadil shield suggested. I know your thoughts on the matter, but it’s the safest way.

Ignoring the advice, Dallion cast a flight spell and slowly flew up. He strongly suspected that there was some trap laying in wait. Either the ocean itself was going to react to him, or something beneath it. Even with the differences between types of vortexes, that principle never changed.

Knowing that he remained safe in the air, Dallion burst into instances. Waves covered the entire sea, raging as if a massive storm had begun.

One single instance of Dallion increased its speed, flying faster towards the surface. Over five hundred feet away, the reaction everyone was expecting took place. Spikes of water shot up like tentacles, aiming to pierce the instance. Before they got a chance, Dallion ended it, choosing another to become reality.

“So, that’s your game,” he said.

The sea was nothing less than a barrier shielding the vortex guardian. In order to reach his destination, he had to somehow puncture it and move to the space beyond.

Lux, Dallion thought. Have you found anything?

There was a loud pop a few feet from Dallion marking the firebird’s return.

Nothing, boss, the familiar replied. I’d say send little bro to check out the water. He’s good at this.

“I’m sure.” Jellyfish were at home in water. However, with Gem’s level still so low, Dallion didn’t want to risk it. It didn’t help that he remained uncertain how the creature was supposed to level up. Originally, he thought that feeding it magic would do the trick. That hadn’t been the case.

Focusing on the water, Dallion this time combined his magic and layer vision. Surely enough, the appearance of the sea changed. No longer was it a monolithic liquid, but millions of magic threads, a fraction of the size of a human hair. Interestingly enough, they didn’t have any firm connections to anything, but were freely moving about attaching and detaching at will.

Concentrating harder, Dallion tried to spot any anomalies or thread instructions, but his current level of magic prevented him from doing so. After half a minute, slight tension emerged in Dallion’s temples.

“Harp,” he said, closing his eyes. “Without giving any advice, is there an easy way through this?”

Yes, the harpsisword replied. But not for you.

“I thought so.” Dallion opened his eyes. Despite his many tricks, he was going to have to rely entirely on magic. Still, that didn’t exclude combining it with any of the other skills he had.

Unsummoning his weapons and gear, Dallion extended his internal magic. Minuscule threads emerged from every part of his body, surrounding him like a defensive mesh. Now he had a layer of defensive skin, very much like a platypain. That was just the first part of his plan.

What exactly do you intend to do? Harp asked from within his awakening realm.

“Have a violent swim,” Dallion replied, commencing a new spell. “A violent swim in the world’s largest potion.”