Tala hopped in place, trying to settle her nerves.

It’s fine. I’m fine.

-Tala. You’re not in a good way about this. They can extract the core another way.-

Yeah, but then they won’t let me drain the dimensionality with Kit. They need the whole thing as a lever to get the cell-core out.

-...so, you’re doing this for Kit?- Alat’s tone made it clear that she knew the answer already.

Not at all. I’m doing this for me. I want Kit to be bigger.

Alat chuckled within her head. -Fine.-

Flow was waiting off to the side. The weapon wouldn’t help in the Doman-Imithe, and she didn’t want to risk it.

A bit more than two days had passed since her unit had opened the cell and itemized the contents.

The ‘powers that be’ had gotten back to them through Mistress Sigyn, and it was agreed that they should recover the cell-core.

Perfect.

She’d informed them about the ‘murder-eye,’ and the response was simple.

She was not to engage with it. If that made retrieving the core impossible for her, she was to leave it for an extraction team.

Because challenging my capability is going to get me to leave it be.

-They were probably serious, Tala.-

Oh, I know they were. That makes it worse. She gilded herself. She could do this.

First, though, she needed to empty the cell.

The door was open beside her.

Tala formed Kit as a pouch in her hand before she tossed Kit through the open door, against the wall of the short tunnel.

-You know, you could have just made her appear there with your aura.-

Yeah, but it feels more natural this way. I’ll adjust eventually.

-Alright.-

Tala smiled toward her newest bond. “That’s ours, now. Have fun, Kit.”

There was a flare of power as Kit drew even more deeply upon her gate, exceeding even her entire throughput and forcing her to use voidchannels to make up the needed flow. When the needed inflow was satisfied, the dimensional storage grew across the opening, and Tala lost sight of the cell.

To be utterly clear, all her perspectives and threefold sight lost view of the cell.

Previously, she had been able to see a tunnel leading away from the superficial into the void, and then she’d been able to see the entirety of the cell wedged in there.

It had looked odd, but once the door was open, she had been able to see it.

Now, it was…obscured?

As Kit’s inherent magic tore the space apart, eating the dimensionality along with everything inside it, she had a hard time seeing it clearly.

With each metaphorical ‘bite,’ Tala felt a resonance with her soul.

I am the ravenous, jealous devourer.

The cell was hers, and she was devouring it through Kit, who was just an extension of her soul, now.

It felt… good.

Each bit of dimensionality added to Kit felt like Tala’s own body, mind, will, and magic were loosening, getting more room to move somehow.

This had been the right choice.

This was the only real path forward.

Classically, when a cell-core was recovered, the sequestered space had reentered Zeme to… interesting results.

This way—with Tala taking what was hers—the cell-core could be taken, and the shear forces exerted on reality would be minimized.

Apparently, at the time of a cell’s creation or destruction, dimensionality of the whole region could be thrown off, as it was usually a ‘circle’ that was removed or added.

In the case of cell creation, the area was left such that walking along the right path could allow a traveler to move vastly more than expected.

But that was the positive side.

On the negative, as Zeme normalized with the new reality, physical integrity of basically everything in the area could be compromised as it was compressed or expanded in vain attempts to fix the disjointment.

Things usually calmed down in a couple of days, but they were apparently always chaotic days.

Kit solved the problem quite nicely, and Tala got to expand her sanctum.

In less than ten minutes, all that was left was a one-foot deep passage to nowhere, and a satisfied seeming pouch sitting on the ground, waiting.

Tala’s soul felt somehow raw, even as she knew that her aura was a bit more green than before.

Well, alright then. Leaning into who I am can help.

-Not a lot, but yeah. At least a tenth of a percent.-

More than that, Tala felt like Kit had been resonating with her gate in an odd way.

She’d need to check with Master Simon.

Even so, the last barrier to her unpleasant task had been removed.

It was time.

She hopped up and down again, shaking her arms unnecessarily.

Mistress Cerna stepped up next to her. “We can find another way, Mistress Tala.”

Tala shook her head. “No, no. I’ll… I’ll make it work.” She chuckled wryly. “I’ve just made the regular way impossible, so…”

The woman gave her a long look before nodding. “Is there anything that I can do?”

“Thank you, but no.” Tala smiled. With a small flexing of will, Kit vanished, losing all physical manifestation.

There, I remembered this time.

-Still feels weird though?-

Oh, so much so.

Tala refocused on the task at hand then reached forward, coating herself in void and pulling open the door directly beside the entrance to the cell.

Before anchoring it with iron—let alone stepping through—Tala focused on the view through the doorway.

That’s the Doman-Imithe alright.

-...it’s happening again.-

…yeah. That did not bode well.

She needed to verify before actually putting herself at that thing’s mercy once again.

Tala and Alat worked together to focus closer, adding power to their perception and enhancement scripts.

Finally, the actual view through the door snapped into focus.

The eye was sitting right at the threshold, looking out at her.

A happy kitten waiting for their owner to die so that they could feast.

“Gah!”

Tala stumbled backward, the portal snapping shut.

Her unit took a step toward her, but she held up her hand. She had forcibly grabbed onto her physiological and emotional reactions and locked them under her strict control “Wait.”

They pulled to a stop, even as she stood back straight.

“That was my mistake. I opened a door at the same location as before, after my magical signature was all over the very thing I’m after.”

The murder-eye was waiting… What about…?

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

-Oh! That’s an interesting idea.-

Yeah.

She smiled. “I think I have an idea to try once more.”

Mistress Sigyn gave her a calculating look. “Are you sure?”

Tala nodded. “I am.”

“Alright, but I will be right beside you. I’m not risking a broken one coming through.”

She turned to regard the Paragon. “A broken one?”

The woman grimaced. “Mythologically, the Sovereigns of the Doman-Imithe, but their power isn’t sufficient to be worthy of that title.”

“They would be too weak to be considered Sovereign, unless they are broken somehow. You believe they are Sovereigns whose power is broken?”

“Exactly. Regardless, they are even more hated by Reality than gated humans. They shouldn’t be able to come through, but they also should be vanishingly rare, so finding one by chance shouldn’t be possible.”

Tala found herself nodding. “I think I can understand that.”

She took a few long, steadying breaths.

Here we go. I don’t have to enter, I just have to snatch the cell-core from what seems to be a fallen god of sorts.

-Don’t be overly dramatic. Sovereigns aren’t gods.-

…fine.

This time, when she reached through, she grabbed a different part of the void, much closer to the open cell beside her.

In fact, she tried to grab onto a part of the void in order to access the Doman-Imithe directly above the cell-core.

In theory, a cell was suspended in the infinite void between its locked entrance in Zeme and an anchor of some kind in the Doman-Imithe.

Therefore, grabbing closer to the cell should bring her closer to the cell-core, which was the fabricated anchor for this cell.

The theory was sound; she just hoped that it worked that way in practice.

She carefully pulled open the way, but just enough to see through.

Then, she forced her perspective and mind to comprehend what she was seeing through the window into the Doman-Imithe.

What she beheld was the backside of an omnidirectional being.

It was the remnants of pure water, after it had evaporated.

It was the sound of the inhale after a body’s last breath.

It was nothing.

Tala reacted on pure instinct, iron slamming around her, engaging her existence shield.

It turned toward her and existence burned.

She felt incredible pressure against her existence shield as whatever sort of attack it was somehow struck straight at her gate, even though the opening that she held was at eye level.

The defense dimpled inward, the pressure forcing the defense back into her flesh.

The flesh that was exposed to the ongoing attack simply ceased.

To say it had ‘ceased to exist,’ would imply that it vanished.

Instead, Tala felt like that part of her had never existed at all.

The attack was aiming for her gate.

Tala threw the entirety of her ability behind her existence shield, trying to force the attack to at least deflect downward.

At the same time, Tala held onto the void with her fingers as she jerked back and twisted, orienting the portal to face downward.

It was now a hole in the air, oriented horizontally so that she could look through to see the ground within the Doman-Imithe.

The attack continued, seemingly self-sustaining.

Worse, by their reactions—or really their lack thereof—her unit couldn’t seem to sense the attack at all. They likely couldn’t tell much about what was happening in large part due to her defenses.

Even so, she wasn’t going to fail in her mission.

Through the hole she could see it. It was there, just as she’d hoped.

The cell-core, resting on the ground, just waiting for her to grab it.

The attack finished passing all the way through her, having pushed her existence shield so far that it contacted itself at the small of her back.

She’d succeeded in deflecting it downward after all.

Small blessings.

Then, like a soap bubble that was pinched, her existence shield formed two, distinct sections.

Her own magics instantly becoming an incredible issue.

Her existence had been divided into two, fully separate sections.

The upper was being maintained by her gate, her will, and her actions.

The lower had nothing any more.

Thus, as it was cut off from all other existence, it simply vanished.

Truthfully, it was likely somewhere, but she would never find it.

In fact, it might even still be attached to her, physically, but she doubted it.

She dropped, her upper body now unsupported.

Thankfully, she kept hold of the void-door into the Doman-Imithe, and as she fell, she moved her hands downward and outward to make the opening big enough for the core.

With barely any cognizance remaining, Tala slammed the mobile portal against the ground, even as she let it snap shut.

She’d done it. Her plan had worked.

The cell-core rested on the ground, having risen up through the portal as Tala slammed the void-opening down.

Even so, there had been a cost.

She couldn’t hear anything except an indistinct buzzing. Her mirrored perceptions were broken, her inscriptions disrupted—but blessedly not reversed—leaving her with only her mundane eyes.

She couldn’t draw breath. That was largely due to the fact that she didn’t have intact lungs.

The odd, resonant silence was clarified by its absence.

She had no heartbeat.

She had no heart.

She was gone below the middle of her chest, the scooping cut swept downward from about halfway through her torso to end at her low back.

Everything below that was simply gone.

Her blood was seeping out slowly, no heart to pump it free, no inscriptions to hold it back.

In a moment of utter clarity as she balanced on her two hands, one on either side of her prize—the cell-core—she knew she was in a very bad way.

I haven’t healed. I’m not going to be healing.

That had to be why.

It made no sense, but her body was both connected to her, and irreconcilably severed.

The separate existence was still trying to connect to her, somehow.

The dust was still billowing upward from her hands slamming down.

Her existence defense was gone, and her unit-mates were taking in collective gasps of horror, even while some of them were already moving.

Even so, Tala pushed backward, called Flow to her, and cut herself through the chest, just above the line where she could no longer feel.

This cut was clean through, taking a much shorter path through her body.

Something fell away, and Tala’s magic suddenly snapped back into existence, but her inscriptions were gone along with most of her reserves.

Even so, her natural magics and those remaining on her upper body were enough that she began to regrow.

Her blood no longer leaked free as it was now properly contained, and so that helped as well.

Tala’s bones grew back first, then her circulatory and nervous systems grew over top.

Finally, her organs, muscles, and all the rest came into being, slowly forming like molasses on a cold morning.

Her elk leathers followed at the pace of her skin, slowly creeping downward to cover her nakedness.

Tala felt Mistress Sigyn’s magic manifest on the part of Tala’s body that she’d cut off and whatever else was attached to it.

The magic felt like hearing about a city’s funeral pyre.

It was an unquestionably powerful and cleansing power, but she didn’t feel even a wisp of heat herself.

-Can you hear me? Tala!-

I hear you. Tala pulled in a shuddering gasp as her diaphragm spasmed, causing her to cough.

-Oh by the stars, I thought I’d somehow lost you.-

How are you here? How were you here?

-Your magic was entirely interconnected. It couldn’t be divided, so it was—I was—in a sort of half-state. Only your severing allowed your magic to snap back to your gate. I… I saw everything, Tala.- Alat shuddered within Tala’s head. -Please don’t go back to the Doman-Imithe? Not until we understand it better and are better prepared?-

Tala nodded sluggishly, continuing to breathe in the sweet air around her, keeping herself from truly thinking about what had just happened. Keeping herself from thinking about her current state.

Mistress Vanga was beside her, talking to her, but Tala was still not properly processing the sound.

Tala saw concerned faces, and felt waves of magic from the healer and the Paragon pass through her before everyone seemed to relax a bit.

-You’re clear of outside influences.-

Yeah, I understood that. What’s going on? Why did I not start to recover until I cut off more?

-There’s a dissonance in our magic. It is passing. We lost a chunk of iron, and it was voided. That added stress.-

Great.

-We should recover quickly enough… I think. We won’t be convalescing beside Rane. -

That made Tala let out a coughing laugh.

Mistress Vanga leaned in. “Mistress Tala?”

“Oh, hey,” Tala responded weakly. “I can hear you now.”

The healer smiled. “Welcome back.”

“Happy to be here,” Tala forced out.

Mistress Vanga looked incredibly concerned. “I’m doing my best to feed your own magics. I think your greatest issue is lack of reserves, and I’m filling the role of those as well as adding in my own healing as appropriate. Keep in mind, I can’t refill them, our magics work too differently for that. You’ll have to refill on your own.”

“Thank you regardless.” Tala gave a small smile, all that she could manage. She just felt so tired.

“You’ve lost all your lower inscriptions, Mistress Tala. The upper portions are… sparking against the lack. Your natural magics are bearing the load for the moment, but we need to get you reinscribed as quickly as possible.” The healer glanced down. “Well, as soon as you have a lower body to reinscribe.”

Tala groaned but nodded. “I’ll be up for it in another minute or two… maybe ten.”

Mistress Vanga nodded as well. She knew about Tala’s reinscriber within Kit. “If you’re up for it, while you’re taking that time, you’ll want to see this.”

Tala nodded, and Mistress Vanga lifted her up so that she could see.

Tala’s gaze immediately fell on the cell’s door.

What is going on?

Her desire to see more clearly kickstarted her will, and her threefold sight reignited.

The superficial was weird.

It reminded her uncomfortably of the Doman-Imithe, even if only barely.

The small tunnel—which was all that Kit had left of the cell—was now a true feature of the cliff, the stone around it having been shoved aside dimensionally.

Even so, there was nothing maintaining that dimensional alteration, and so the stone was trying to move back into the space it should have occupied.

It obviously couldn’t.

Thankfully, most of the inserted space had been air, and that moved away easily, but what happens when three feet of space was shoved in between two sections of stone that are covalently bound?

Is that even the right term?

-Does it matter?-

It didn’t.

Regardless, Tala was able to watch reality force order back into place.

Alat Archived the whole process.

Throughout, her body was slowly rebuilt with a combination of her own natural magics, and Mistress Vanga’s healing, as well as her ability to add to Tala’s stores.

Finally, Tala was fully grown, ready to get up.

“Thank you, Mistress Vanga. I think I’m feeling better.”

The healer smiled her way before helping her stand. “Let’s get you into your sanctum for reinscription, then. In case it wasn’t obvious, we’ll be taking you off of active duty when we get back to Alefast.”

Tala grunted. “Yeah… that’s fair.”