“So this… is the Prison Dimension. Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful!” The leader said.
The entire sky is grey, mist surrounds everything that the eye can see, silence is everywhere and there is no sign of life anywhere at all. The Gathering slowly advanced into the endless mist, following the path that The Unknown is taking. Finally, they found themselves in front of a gigantic Gate.
“Insides this gate is where the Ancient Beasts haves been sleeping for eternities. Please steps back while I use my magic to open the gate.”
The Unknown slowly allowed his mana to flow through the gates, the gate clicked and the mechanisms shifted, then the gate slowly opened up.
“Follow me closely, inside the Gate is an environment that will swallow you whole if you are not careful.” The Unknown said.
Inside the gate is another world altogether, everything is dark and nothing is visible. The leader threw up a ball of light, lighting up the environment. They appear to be inside of a Creature itself, the walls look like flesh. One of the Members poked the walls, and a deep growling noise came from deep within the Gate.
“What do you think you are doing? I did said no fooling around, did I not?” The Unknown growled at the Member.
“I’m sorry.”
They continued walking deeper into the Gate. Then their path forked into 6 chambers.
“Each chamber corresponds to one Ancient Beast. I will gives each of you a mana stone. Places it on the magic circle that the Ancient Beasts are sleeping on. The stone will breaks the magic circle that is causing them to be asleep. Once you have done so, returns here.” The Unknown said.
Each of the Members, excluding the leader, obtained a mana stone from The Unknown and went down one path each. They all found the Ancient Beasts and the gigantic magic circle that they are sleeping in. All of them placed the blue glowing mana stone on the edge of the magic circle itself. Then they quickly gathered back at the convergence of the road. Deep grumblings and roars can be heard from deep within the Gate.
“Who has awaken us from our deep sleep?” A deep voice came from one of the chambers.
“Who, who indeed!” Another voice came from another chamber.
More rumblings and trembling followed as the Ancient Beasts came out of their chambers.
“Oh, so it is you who freed us, The Unknown.” One of the Ancient Beasts spoke softly.
“We offer our great thanks from freeing us from the spell that Zealus once set on us. There is no greater humiliation to have Infinity level magic and yet put into sleep by such a low level spell.”
“Alright. Time for all of us to resume and finish what we should have done many eternities ago.” The Unknown said.
“Indeed, indeed. To fuel Magic’s power. He is hungry for more power and we are supposed to feed him. He must be severely drained of power by now.”
“Not yet. He is severely weakened, but not completely dead. The fact that we are able to cast magic is a proof of that.”
“Now, let us enter the Normal Dimension!”
“Innight, can you now explain to us about the Ancient Beasts, now that they are invading our world?” Nicki asked as we all sat down in our house.
*Sigh* “This is going to be a long story, so listen closely.”
“I previously mentioned that the Ancients Beasts were created as a result of us, me and The Unknown meddling with magic. Together with them there were also The Avatars. They are the personification of the Elemental Magic itself. They begin as how many things did, a small flame of magic dancing in the midst of The Void itself. They were tame and gentle, they feed on magic and mana to grow, which is understandable.”
“They soon hatched from the flames of magic itself. There were 6 Ancient Beasts and to accompany with them there is 6 Avatars as well. The Sylph is the Wind Beast, Phoenix is Fire, Undine is Water, Dragon is Earth, God is Light, and Devil is Darkness. Each Avatar has its own Ancient Beast to accompany with it, and together they rule over the initial Elemental Realm. A period of peace was ensued, and they ruled over their respective Elemental Planes wisely, and back then there was no fights between the Light and Darkness Elemental Plane.”
“Then one day, a Creature− Actually it is just closer to say it as a thing, I do not think it is even alive− a thing came by the Elemental Planes. I cannot even begin to describe it because it is a ball of magic, purely magic, mind. The only possible explanation for it is that the ball of magic came from the Astral Realm though a portal of some sort. It has no visible facial feature nor does it have any sign of being alive. It stayed in the Elemental Realm for a period of Time, being absolutely harmless. However, I suspect it has other intention, yet because it is created using magic, I cannot simply use magic to drive it off. I could not question it either as it appears not be even alive in the first place.”
“Then one day, fights broke out in the Elemental Realm. I do not know why or how, but I suspect the ball of magic has something to do with all this. I trapped the ball of magic in a Dimensional Pocket and begin to question it.”
‘’’What are you exactly?”’
“Then for the first time, I felt the mana in my body quiver and shook. I can feel the entire magic present in my body moving. Then the ball of magic answered:”
‘”I am what you have perceived it to be. I am exactly what you believed I to be, I am Magic itself, coming from the Astral Realm.”’
“’What have you done to the Elemental Realm?”’
“’Nothing much. I wanted to have a little visit to see the Creatures consuming my power to fulfil their own needs. Is there a problem with that?”’
‘”I have seen you whispering with The Unknown whenever I am not looking at you. What is your real intention?”’
“’I was just having a small talk with him. It is nice to get to know users of Infinity level magic.”’
“Back then, I distrust Magic itself. I can sense that it is lying. However I know that nothing will come out of me continuously asking it, because all that it is going to answer are lies. I decide to turn into The Void and approach The Unknown and Magic during one of their conversations. What I have overheard during that conversation was devastating.”
“’So Zealus itself have not found out anything, that will be good.’ Magic said.”’
“’I hope our deal still stands.’ The Unknown replied.”’
“’Of course it is. I want chaos to fuel myself, and as a reward for helping me fuel my power, I will grant you a portion of myself. We shall both grow in power, while Zealus can remain the same as ever. Once you are strong enough, seal him away and you can rule over The Existence on your own!”’
“I was shocked. My impulse was correct in the first place. I knew that Magic is up to something by being here. Also, The Unknown is betraying me, this is unacceptable. I will have to lecture him about peace in the Elemental Realm.”
“I waited for them to take their first move. I finally found them sowing evil magic into the Elemental Realms. That caused the wars and fights to begin in the Elemental Realm. The Ancient Beasts and Avatars were most affected by the magic, each Ancient Beast then takes on the role of a Sin itself, I sense that The Unknown also takes on a role of Sin itself, and that is the beginning of the Seven Sins. They are Pride, Greed, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Wrath and Sloth.”
“War and fights broke out in the Elemental Realm soon after they did so. The worst was the Ancient Beasts, they commanded the Creatures of the Elemental Planes to fight against each other to gain more power and control over the Elemental Realm. As I have mentioned countless times before, the last thing I like to see is battles and war. There is nothing more that I hate to see Creatures dying. I know that I have to stop this madness before everything in the Existence is wiped out.”
“I created Dimensional Pockets to isolate the Elemental Realms, but the end result is no better, because without anything to battle, the Creatures begin an internal war, fights that involves killing their own kind. It is heart-breaking for me to see Creatures to be battling against each other. I have to, in the end, wipe out all the Creatures of the Elemental Realm using The Void because I cannot stand seeing them fighting against each other.”
“Then there is the Ancient Beasts, they have Infinity level magic so I myself cannot destroy them without using an extreme catalyst or a ritual that I do not intend to perform at all. I cannot keep them in the Dimensional Pocket for long as they are powerful enough to break it, soon all of them came together and started a fight against myself.”
“Wait a moment, Innight, what about the Avatars?”
“The Avatars are connected to the Ancient Beasts. They are inseparable. However I will come to it what happen to them later. So, continue from where I left off, the six Ancient Beasts came together and begun fighting against me, their Creator. The Unknown, all the while, is not visible at all anywhere at that moment. Now that I come to think of it, I suspect he hid away from the situation to avoid getting dragged into the fight.”
“Whatever it is, the Ancient Beast went against me at that time. I cannot destroy them at all because I couldn’t and I can’t. I then used a power draining to drain them of their power so they could not fight at all. Next, I have to separate the Avatars from the Ancient Beasts as they could not be sealed together. When I have done that, the Avatars drained the magic of the Elemental Planes and counterattacked me. I then realised that they could not be left alive because they will drain the Existence dry of mana even if left sealed. I then used an ability of mine to erase them, draining myself in the process.”
“Without the Avatars on the Ancient Beasts, the Beasts are then extremely weakened. I can then easily cancel out their attacks. I imprisoned them in another Dimension and put them to sleep using a high levelled spell. After the entire incident, Magic itself vanished from the Elemental Plane and The Unknown continued to sow seeds of discord in the repopulated Creatures of the Elemental Plane.”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Innight, what is this erase spell?” Charlotte asked.
“It’s a secret. I cannot tell you because it is too dangerous to be performed.”
Then an alarm sounded.
“Looks like they are here. We have to evacuate everyone now.” Master said.
“I can’t perform Dimension Break. My magic appears to be blocked. I suspect they brought along Magic itself as well this time. Magic must have had identified my magic signature and locked it away from me. So I am actually powerless now.”
“HUH?! Then the Existence is going to be completely destroyed!” Everyone in the room shouted.
“Looks like I don’t have the ability to help out at all this time. Gather all the magic casters in Singapore to counterattack first. I will pay a visit to The Ruins to see if there are any records about Magic itself. We have to defeat Magic first before I can do anything at all.”
“Are you sure that The Ruins have any records about it?”
“I don’t know, honestly. However it has records over many other topics in relevance to the World of Magic. It really makes me wonder how those Creatures that previously lived here knew all this. Perhaps are Omniscient? I wonder if any of them are left in the Existence.”
“We will all visit The Ruins together. You might step into trouble and without magic, you might die, for real.”
“That is a good suggestion.”
Then the announcement came.
“Singapore is currently under attack from strange Creatures coming out from strange portals all over the island. Please evacuate into the underground shelter under further notice, I repeat. Si−“
The announcement is interrupted by something else, right after a garbled and distorted sound continued the announcement.
“I know you are hearing this now, Zealus, we have come to pay back what you have done to us many eternities ago. We have brought Magic together with us this time, he is currently disabling your magic. If you want your magic back, then meet us at the port of Habourfront. We will be waiting for you there, including your old friend who brought us back, The Unknown. We shall be having a battle of the legendary there, with you facing all of us at once.”
“Master. Keep the girls safe here. I will have to use the failsafe method to stop this madness once and for all.”
“Do you mean the one you told me?”
“Yes. Please keep the girls safe. Do not let them go near the port at any cost.”
“What do you mean Innight? Why do you not want us to be there for you?” The three girls cried.
“I’m sorry, my dears. You cannot help out, this battle is between the Creatures of Infinity level Magic, and even Master could not approach this without getting a few fatal injuries. I promise you, I will return to you someday. I will not die that easily.” I said these as I ran off.
“What do you mean someday? INNIGHT?!” Time shouted and ran after me, but Master used Imprison Soul to prevent the three girls from moving at all.
“I’m sorry!” I shouted at them, tears begin to flow down my face. I quickly wiped them off.
I ran all the way, from my house to the port. It wasn’t a great distance since I lived near the sea itself. Finally I see them, wreaking havoc in the harbour. I ran as fast as I could towards them. Then they spotted me, and begin firing lasers and balls of spells towards me. I accelerated Time on my side and dodged them, then I felt magic returning to my body once more. So they did fulfil their promise. I stood in front of them.
“Welcome back, Zealus.” The Unknown and the Ancient Beasts harmonized.
“Can you please not drag others into this?”
“We cannot guarantee that. Magic needs chaos to fuels itself, and hence we are able to cast spells, without magic, many things you are seeing now will not exist. It is essential to fuel magic itself to keep many things alive.”
“I have a few words to tell you before fighting. First, I do not want to drag anything further into this entire mess. So please do not use humans as meat shields anymore during this battle. Second, I had enough for all of you messing around, so this battle will be a battle to the death. Third, goodbye to all of you.”
“Huh?”
I take in a deep breath and puff it out, then use my ultimate ability.
“Rewrite: Erase.”
This is my hidden ability. This is what I have used many eternities ago to erase the Avatars, seeing now how Magic is corrupted to the core, and all of the Seven Sins are gathered together, I will have to Erase them once and for all from the Dimensions. It is an extremely powerful ability, but it is also a double edged sword. Every time I use this ability a small portion of myself is removed together with the target. The stronger the target, the larger the portion of myself that will be removed. I have already prepared myself for this, that once I Erase these Creatures, together with magic itself, I will be completely removed as well.
At least I know that once I have done that, the world will be rid of Evil completely as all the actions of The Unknown will come undone itself, the Seven Sins will be removed completely. That is a great compensation for my death.
“Crap! He is going to use his Erase ability! Run away!”
“I have trapped all of you in my magic circle, you cannot escape now.”
“When did you…”
“We are doomed!”
A blinding light emitted from me and devoured the Ancient Beasts, The Unknown and Magic.
“Goodbye, world.” I said these as I closed up my eyes.
“Hey. Is he dead?”
“Wake up, Innight! You are going to be late for school! If you don’t wake up soon I’m going to give you a kiss!”
Huh? Aren’t I supposed to be dead? Why can I still hear people calling me?
I opened my eyes. 3 familiar faces, with one stranger came into view.
“Goodness, so you are not dead after all.”
“Don’t say such nonsense, Inoxion. Good morning, Innight.”
“Well, if someone just refuse to wake up no matter how much calling, common sense will tell me that he is dead. Ouch! Why did you knock my head?”
Ignoring the black skinned boy beside her, Time took my hand and pulled me up from the bed.
Am I in an alternative dimension? Wait a moment, I will ask them.
“Time, can you still use your Time magic?”
Time looked at me as if I’ve went mad.
“Magic?” She giggled. “There is no such thing as magic! You must still be dreaming, Innight! Come on, get dressed and come down for breakfast. We are going to be late for school if you don’t hurry up!” Saying these, she, Charlotte and Nicki left the room. Leaving me with the black skinned boy which I suspect is Lord Inoxion.
“Master…” I begin.
The boy shushed me. He then looked around to see if there is anyone. When the he saw that the scene is safe, he let out a sign of relief.
“So, Innight. You still retain the memory of the old world?”
“I very much did. So what exactly happened?”
“After I you Erased Magic, I felt all my magic is instantly drained, then at that point in Time space begin to collapse and everything is destroyed by a swirling whirlpool of The Void that appeared in the cracks of Space itself. I closed my eyes as I know that I could not do anything to save myself. When I opened my eyes again, I saw myself in your house, and my body turned into human. I cannot cast any magic, nor did I feel any form of magic flowing through the entire Realm. I suspect the World recreated itself into a version where Magic did not exist.”
“That will explain it. But then why only us retained the memory of the old worlds?”
“Perhaps only those with sufficient magic can retain it, while those that are weaker have their memory erased.”
“I wonder what then happened to the Elemental Realm and the Astral Realm.”
“Perhaps those does not exist anymore. Those only came along with Magic. Once magic is Erased those cannot exist anymore and is thus erased from existence as well. I wonder about the other Creatures of the Elemental Plane, what actually happened to them, that is my greatest interest.”
“What are you boys doing? You are going to be late if you dawdle any longer!”
“Let’s move, or else your wife is going to go mad.”
I quickly dressed into my school uniform and went downstairs for breakfast. Normally it is I who will wake up the earliest and wake up the others, and I am the one making breakfast for all of them. In this world, it appears that things are different. Time seems to be the one waking us up and cooking breakfast for us. Also, Master Inoxion appears to be living with us, for some reason or another. Is really everything over? Magic has been completely banished from the world? The Seven Sins are removed as well?
We then cycled to school, with Master alongside us as well. When we are in the school itself, I found Richard is still alive. I approached her to see if she remembers me, however…
“Who are you? I have never seen you before.”
Alicia no longer has the princess attitude, she is just like any normal school girl. For that I am indeed glad about. Everything else is as per normal. During break time, I gathered up Master and the 3 girls and approached the Principle’s office.
“Ah, Innight. Is there anything that you would to have from me?” Mdm. Lillie asked.
“This is going to sound strange to you, Mdm. Lillie, but have you experienced Magic?” I asked her.
She gave us a poker face.
“So I guess you do not remember about the old world as well.”
“I have no idea what you meant about the old world. If you have nothing important to ask, please leave.”
“So, there used to be an old world where magic is dominant on this Earth?” Time pressed on to me. We gathered in our home class, no one is in the classroom now as everyone is off to have their lunch.
“Indeed. However after I Erased Magic using my ability it appears that all memories of the old world is removed from weaker magic casters. There were also the Elemental Realm and the Astral Realm, both of which, I suspect, were destroyed with the removal of Magic. So now in this world, the only power operating behind everything is Science.”
“And Unstable Magic.”
“Who said that?” I turned and look around. It was Master.
“What do you meant, Unstable Magic?”
“It is a new form of magic, fuelled by something else rather than mana, but by using Dark Matter. It is forbidden to be used as the name suggested itself, it is unstable. The spells casted are powerful, but they can backfire and consume you instead. For that reason, and the rarity of people capable of using Dark Matter, there isn’t any records of anyone using it, nor there are any spells developed in that field.”
“I see. We should not need to worry about any battles or wars as such, should this be the case. After going such a big round, we have finally reached our objectives, though with much sacrifices. There is finally peace and quiet in the Existence itself after so long. I should have did this in the beginning, and not sealed the Ancient Beasts and The Unknown instead.”
Then suddenly I felt something went into my body. To be precise, a soul of a certain someone that I think I recognize. I quivered and shivered. Then my consciousness is shut down.
“Innight?”
“It is too late. All of you.”
“Something is not right. This is not Innight. His power signature is not present. This is someone else.”
“That’s right. I am the Leader of The Gathering and the representation of Envy, Glurori von Flors!” the body laughed maniacally.
The others looked shocked.
“Inoxion, you told us there are no more magic present!” Nicki cried.
“Indeed. But this is not magic. It is a form of soul possession. It does not require mana or magic to be casted. As long as the user is able to utilize the movement of souls they will be capable of doing this. Why have you taken over Innight?!”
“The Ordeal was so close at hand, yet it was ruined by Zealus, my body was destroyed in the process as well. So to revenge on him, I will take control of his body now!”
I then regain partial control over my body. Materializing my Dark Matter Sword, I gave it to Master.
“Kill me.” I muttered. “She is the only remaining evil of The Existence. Killing her will finally bring about what we have dearly wanted.”
Master and the 3 girls were taken aback by my wish.
“We cannot do so! We have been through so much together and we have a long life to go!”
“I know. But if you let me live, you are giving her a chance to attack and kill all of you since she is practically evil. Master, I have something important to tell you before I die. Inside my second drawer of my desk there is a diary, publish it to the world to let them know about how this world used to be. That is my only wish. Promise me you will fulfil it and kill me.”
“I will. I will grant your wish, if that is what you have wanted for so long.” Master had tears in his eyes as he says these.
“No way am I going to die so easily! Endorsement: Unseen Hand!”
“Shut up! Magic Disability!”
The purple Unseen Hand materialized for a moment before being cancelled out by my ability.
“I will never die…”
Master swung the sword upwards and swept it down on me. I closed my eyes.
After what Inoxion did happened, Inoxion and the 3 girls were expelled from the school for murder. There were eyewitnesses of the entire scene and they did not understand the context, the girls and Inoxion did not fight for the case either so they were all charged to be hanged. Before the hanging was carried out, Inoxion pleaded to let him publish the book Innight wanted him to. The judge agreed to the condition.
So now that you have read the book, realize that this world that you live in now is a result of many sacrifices. Now you should go out and live a happy life, learn that the world has a positive side instead of constantly harbouring negative thoughts. The world, and more so for the Internet, has an extremely ugly face coated on it. But it has already been weakened by the action of Innight, learn to know that there is always a worse side of things, it is only that you have not discovered it yet.
The End?