Lurona city [southern shores of Fuminao Legacy Kingdom], local time [1794.01.16]

Zeph was trying to understand the full scope of the past events in the light of what she said.

Unexplainably, he knew that his strange being wasn’t lying. He didn’t dwell on that fact, though. He was in the process of redrawing the whole timeline of the events that took place in the vicinity of the Brenn Peak. From the very beginning, they were operating under scrutinizing gazes of Onjis and other beings – like the supposed, small Fean here – he just wasn’t sure as to what extent. It didn’t feel like he and Makani were outright manipulated, but it was becoming clear just how much higher-strata beings were influencing the events here.

The little emanation of the Faerie—as the System once called her species—wasn’t going to give him time to process the information, though. Worse yet, more breaking news was coming.

“As for why I am looking here—on this stratum—I knew about you, Terrien.” She said, sitting midair in an invisible chair. Zeph’s thoughts froze instantly after hearing that. “Yes, about you, your friends, and the others,” she said, resting her head on one of her hands while rotating the other one as if swirling a glass of wine. “And not without reason. We, as a race, have visited your world long before it became accessible to others.”

“Why contact me then? I should be the last to come here…” He shook his head. “No, why not seek help on Earth if you just need humans?”

“You are the last one left with Soul fragmentation. And on Earth, your people are useless,” she answered briefly and leaned forward. “You may all have the Greater Willpower – as the System Onji likes to call it – but it means nothing if it’s not realized.” She paused and tilted her little head. “I will explain more but before we continue – are you aware that this is an exchange? A deal? I am not convinced that giving you any more information for free is worthwhile.”

“Heh,” he laughed derisively. “Your majesty isn’t interested in attaining yet another thrall?”

Suddenly, a deep shadow fell ominously over her form. Which was telling something, taking into account their environment.

“You think I am playing with you? My moral code aside, what I am proposing cannot be done without an agreement. You should be able to guess as much—”

That was too much, even for his most patient side.

“Like hell I should!” he shouted angrily. “I have a body made of nothingness, a mind that is adrift and without support. If you aren’t going to explain things anymore, at least give me time to THINK over what you just said!”

He glared at her for a second longer, then turned away and started flying away.

Zeph didn’t care if he offended her anymore. She was the one wanting help. She was the one who brought him here. Of Faen nature or not, powerful being or not, she failed to notice that he wasn’t able to follow the conversation. That his mind wasn’t whole. That he was absolutely lost in this situation.

He flew out of the tetrahedron, sitting down cross-legged – deceiving his own mind that there was a floor and legs to begin with, which was becoming easier to do with time – he looked into the void and took a few deep imaginary breaths.

It took a long minute of mindlessly staring into the static-obscured blackness before his nerves calmed down.

He started to slowly comb through his memories, applying new information where appropriate. The process itself made him realize that he wasn’t really thinking until now. Not in a way a human would. Without a brain, he wasn’t processing information in the background. He had to focus on consolidating all new data himself which was drastically reducing his cognitive ability.

After an excruciatingly long time, he finally finished sorting out his knowledge. At least, cursorily.

I want my subconsciousness back… he lamented internally. I think I can do that in real-time now but… it’s so arduous!

He shook his ‘head’ dejectedly before revising what he had learned.

It seemed that Earth wasn’t as isolated before the apocalypse as he had believed. Worse – despite that fact, humans weren’t of use to the visitors. Meaning – they could do nothing more than suffer as they always did.

Maybe Prana would change that… but how long would it take? A generation? Two? A thousand?

Leaving behind his dark thoughts – an act that was way too easy to execute in this strange space – he concentrated on more pressing matters.

The gods are trading with information. My presence was discovered by a third party despite the System’s help and rules put in place. Even if it doesn’t seem that normal people have access to that knowledge, I can no longer trust Onjis’ assessments anymore. Precautions have to be made.

A Nether-infected Faerie is dying. Supposedly, the System—and other Onjis alike—don’t want to wait until that happens. It definitely didn’t sound like that when we had a talk about the incident in the forests of Peak of Brenn. The System was sure that her race couldn’t be taken over by a Netherbeing without dying… But dying wasn’t a problem in that scenario. At least, it didn’t sound like it was anything special.

Which means, the Faerie’s current state is what spells trouble. Being ‘taken over’, most probably. But Custur is trying to help her… He grimaced. Which means that refusing her—whatever is that she wants—would probably spell trouble for me. And taking into account the requirements she stated, she is planning a Soul transplantation… he deduced. Or rather, a Soul implanting. I don’t think Gru needed my Soul fragmentation when transplanting his Soul fragment… He did an exchange, but my fragmentation stayed stable.

Nodding to himself, he changed the line of thought.

The trials in the High Peak of Brenn are executed to either support the Faerie or to experiment on Souls… Probably both. As much as it’s done with consent, I doubt that those two are explaining the scope of the ‘trial’ to the people... I wouldn’t call that ethical, but it’s not pure abuse either. I am more worried that the two of them seem to not care at all. Even if they are old beings, desensitized to the deaths of the short-living races, calling that a fair chance is simply too much. It sounds suspiciously like self-glorification.

And let’s not forget about the girl’s ‘thralls’… I need more information.

Feeling that he finally had enough gasp on the situation to form meaningful questions, he stood up and unhurriedly returned to the tetrahedron structure.

There was more on his mind, but he had more important things to worry about. He had questions that needed answers sooner rather than later.

Arriving at the center of the structure, he found the white silhouette hovering dejectedly in a circle, kicking an invisible pebble from time to time. She had to be quite deep in thought to not notice him outright, but she perked up instantly when she did.

Quickly flying closer, she stopped at the height of his perception and bowed deeply.

“I apologize. I was all kinds of rude and insensitive. I should have done better.” her head turned slightly upwards. “It’s just… you seemed so stable and coherent that I just… erringly assumed…”

He sighed mentally. “Let’s just start over. I wasn’t fully aware of my own state until I did some retrospection.”

She deflated visibly. “I should have been, though…”

Raising an imaginary eyebrow, he ignored the comment. Instead, he introduced himself, bobbing up and down to imitate a nod. “Zeph Einar. Human from the Earth. Shaman and Generalist.”

She straightened up. “You can call me Mabia or Mavis. Spelling or translating my true name isn’t possible. I am a Soul fragment and a construct, of the Faen race. Created specifically to manage the Nether infused within me, and to make contact with you in a humane manner.”

He hummed in his mind with curiosity. “You mean, the original ‘you’ isn’t as… communicable?”

“Well…” she scratched her tiny head. “The thought process and language my original uses aren’t exactly compatible with how you do it. I was made to be more human-like, even if not in the shape of our typical manifestation. Without preparing me specifically for this job, the contact would intimidate or estrange you, most probably. That’s why…” he said depressingly, yet with an undertone of anger in her voice. “It’s so infuriating that I messed up at the very beginning.” Her little fist clenched and started trembling. “I was given all the knowledge I needed, and yet I have made such a stupid mistake!”

She stopped herself, then slowly floated up and down, as if taking a deep breath. He waited until she spoke again. “Your dependency on Will is far greater than anticipated. That is… a major problem.”

“Haven’t you forgotten about a few other things too?” he asked, some of his frustration leaking into his voice… which wasn’t a voice at all, he finally realized. Another strange projection that came naturally to him.

“There is something we are missing about the brain, I think. As for the Soul, it’s… complicated,” she hesitated.

He shook his head mentally. “Okay. Before I hear you out, I need some answers. I need to know what is happening. What am I even? What is this place?”

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She didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she flew closer to the center of the structure and sat on an invisible cushion, gesturing for him to join her.

He used the same trick and made himself comfortable as she conjured a tea for herself. At least he assumed as much, seeing as she started sipping something elegantly.

“If I am not mistaken, you know of the term ‘dimension’?” she started.

“Yes. Our scientists were defining the number of dimensions as a minimal number of coordinates necessary to describe an object’s position.”

“in the space, you mean?”

“And time. We had a basic model made out of four dimensions for our world – a spacetime.”

“Hmmm… not that precise then. There is more to them than that abstract description…” she said, bobbing her head from side to side. “Dimensions have a physical manifestation – in a sense, you can touch them.”

“Yes, that’s how we tried to apply field theory and describe the gravitational interactions. Along with building theoretical models for black holes and extreme versions of stars, like a…” For the first time in a while, he couldn’t find any proper word that would fit. He wanted to give an example of the neutron star but it seemed impossible without a long explanation, so he quickly gave up. “I don’t have a name for it… Anyway, we build up quite a number of theories working in their scope of application. Relativistic theory for extreme speeds and energy levels, Quantum theories and models for describing the smallest molecules… Again, I don’t have words for them.”

She nodded. “That’s okay. I think I have a general idea now. So, how many dimensions did they find?”

He frowned. Or would have, if he could. “Only one theory – that I know of – was mentioning more than three and the time. It had a few versions, though. I remember hearing about 10, 11, 21, and 26, but… I think there were more, depending on the underlying assumptions. It was all guesswork, though.”

“Oh!” she perked up nonetheless. “What is the name of it? That theory?”

“The string theory. Its most basic assumption was that the frequency of vibration of one-dimensional strings was responsible for describing matter, energy, and other phenomena. A theoretical fundamental building block of reality. Don’t ask me how, I never had time to learn it,” he said with some disappointment.

“Fascinating… It’s such a shame I won’t be able to visit Earth again. But maybe Onji Togana will find something in the future…” Feeling his unimpressed gaze landing on her, she paused and nonchalantly took another sip from the non-existent cup. “Right. That, actually, sounds very close to how my original perceives the world. But let’s leave that for another time.”

She wiggled her body a little to straighten up in her ‘seat’, turning to look right into his eyes.

The proverbial ones, of course.

“This universe has at least 24 ‘basic’ dimensions, counting the timelines as separate ones. Timelines are slightly different in nature but… Let’s keep it simple, okay?” she asked with hope.

“Sure. It’s not needed now,” he easily accepted. If he wanted more information, he could ask later.

She nodded. “Normally, most dimensions are of a spatial nature, but there are some exceptions. Timelines are of a temporal nature, Springs of vis nature, and Oblivions of entis nature. Those are the four basic ones,” she explained, using a very old dialect to name the last two – vis standing for energy, and entis describing a state of being or information. Truth be told, he never realized he had knowledge of this dialect and those terms until she spoke the words.

“I may have used some old expressions here… are you okay?” she asked after a few seconds of inaction on his part.

“Just… give me a moment…” he focused on accessing his memories and actualizing them. Linking the two streams of information was quite time-consuming if he had to dig in the old knowledge he had gained when entering Corora.

Finally, after a minute or two, he nodded to her to continue.

She noticed that, despite him not really moving. “Good, then let’s resume. With rare exceptions, dimensions either stay as a singlet or manifest as triplets. Not all triplets are made from dimensions with a spatial nature. Meaning, they don’t always form 3-dimensional spaces,” she sent him a meaningful look. “I will omit those strange combinations, though. Just be aware that they exist. The triplets are almost exclusively forming 3-dimensional spatial spaces while the singlets can be of any nature. Singlets and triplets are called sets because they can exist independently. A group of sets in which each set interacts directly with every other, is called a reality. Just as you know best – a spatial triplet with a temporal singlet, forming a spacetime, is an example of a reality.”

He nodded in understanding. Also, he agreed with her - going further into the topic of strange combinations was a waste of time at this point. But he had one question.

“If you are talking about singlets and triplets… what about the others?”

She nodded. “They do exist, but they are not stable. Some higher combinations may be, but I don’t think my original ever saw one. In fact, my original suspects that Earth is now dealing with the creation of a partial septet… at least according to the information gathered by the Custur. Which isn’t much to go by.”

He thought about it for a moment but, in the end, all he could do was just shrug. What could he do with that information? It potentially could explain why a huge part of the stars suddenly disappeared from the sky, or why Prana suddenly suffused the world, but the real reason and any other intricacies would elude him. And that would stay true for the foreseeable future.

“Not important. I am not going to go back any time soon. By the way, if we strike a deal, will your knowledge stay available?”

The almost-blank face of the little being once again split in the darkest of smiles. She was courteous enough to speak with him freely after her mishap, but the real topic of her visit was finally resurfacing. “Correct. That and more, all readily available. It would become a part of you, not merely an access point to the System’s Soul-database.”

A cold shiver ran down his non-existent spine. Both, in anticipation and trepidation. “Good, but spare me the sales pitch, please. I am on your mercy here.”

She pouted. “So uptight. But have it your way,” she said, turning around to her back and laying down on an incorporeal couch. She continued while swinging her legs in the air above. “Besides the spacetime, other combinations of sets can take place, of course, but not all combinations are stable – it depends on their nature, physical characteristics, and overall number of sets in a reality. the best example is two vis singlets – those would never form one reality. Spatial triplets also don’t like that kind of interaction if their physicality isn’t drastically different. Which means that not every set can interact with all others, or at least not without a proxy,” She paused for him to process it.

“In summary.” She pointed into the air. “We have universes. Each has a number of dimensional singlets and triplets—a similar number for most cases, by the way—the dimensional sets. The physicality in two sets of the same nature can still differ – like in two spaces with drastically different gravitational constants or matter distribution. Then, those singlets and triplets form cohesive groups – realities – with further influences the physicality of every set in the group.” She stopped for a moment, thinking about something.

After nodding to herself, she expanded on her explanation a little.

“Sharing a few dimensions with another reality happens rather often. Adjacent realities—we call them—are easier to reach for, for obvious reasons. But be aware that none of the other dimensions is truly out of reach – they all form this universe, even if most of them have no significance to this reality.”

He nodded. The lack of interaction between dimensions would explain why there could be more than empirically available. He could also see why dimensions not interacting with their reality’s timeline wouldn’t exactly be perceivable. Even if such a dimension was interacting with the space, it would be more like a universal constant or law of nature – at least, that’s how he was imagining it. On the other hand, particles moving back in time suddenly started making more sense... But he could think about that on another occasion. The Faerie’s knowledge was becoming quite valuable in his mind, though.

Feeling his focus returning, she continued. “Until now, the Faen had found two timelines, four singlets, and six triplets overlapping in this universe… plus abbreviations, but that knowledge isn’t something you would need for now… A-anyway”—she stuttered and turned her head away after feeling the displeasure emanating from him—"I don’t know about Earth’s universe. It should have been similar – as most hospitable words are – but they always differ in some ways. The number and nature of dimensions available is just a basic outline to the possible interactions, so besides some standard requirements for a habitable reality, a lot can be different.”

“Let me guess,” he said, sighing. “Soulscape is an entis singlet, making it a combination of triplet and two singlets on Corora. Netherworld is an adjacent reality – a triplet that shares Corora’s timeline and Soulscape, but can interact with our triplet of space only through the Soulscape?”

She sat up with renewed energy. “Good! You understand. But no, the Soulscape—as you called it—isn’t a pure singlet anymore.” She hopped off her bed and started pacing around while scratching her chin. “For the longest time, it interacted with dimension combinations containing spacetime and living beings within. Those living beings are filling it with information which, as a side effect of fueling the interdimensional interaction, creates additional energy in connected worlds. Like Mana on Corora, for example. The number of connections is reaching a stabilizing point. Its nature is more of a doublet of vis and entis, despite the lacking dimension. Which crates quite a conundrum!”

“Okay, stop! That is not the point of this discussion,” he had to intervene before she buried him under the avalanche of theoretical physics – just like any physics professor did when you hit the right topic.

She stopped midair and meekly sat on an imaginary cushion. “S-sorry…”

He sighed with relief. “Well… we can talk about that later. But what does that have to do with anything anyway? Even if the Netherworld is a neighboring set of dimensions, you didn’t explain much about… this.” He pointed vaguely to their surroundings by turning around.

“Well, this space is a simulation of their set,” she said nonchalantly and shrugged. “Possible because of the entis nature of the Soulscape.”

His eyes would squint if they existed. “Are you saying that I am a simulation of Zeph?”

“No, no, no,” she started shaking her head faster than he could see, leaving afterimages in his vision. “It’s real in the sense that it really is a Nether space,” she spread her arms. “That’s how they can transfer through. It’s different in that it’s not… connected to their physical dimensions directly… It’s a ‘physical’ imitation. You could probably call it a pocket dimension if not for how horrendously misleading that term is. Ugh…” she deflated. “I can’t explain it simply. But it’s almost 100% accurate, this space. In an entis singlet like the Soulscape, spatial dimensions don’t matter. Just the information contained in the simulated pattern. Which means the expansion of your Soul was a success!”

He blinked in disbelief. “My WHAT?” he shouted.

“Ah… well… um…” she started floating away slowly, making placating gestures. “It’s not like anything changed yet, you know? You are still the same strong Terrien, hehe. Just… with a potential to manifest in Nether dimensions… You know, in the place your physical body can’t exist?”

Trying to calm himself, Zeph released a… puff of black smoke in all directions. It was partially a sigh, partially an instinctual release of digested non-matter.

The fact that he understood what it was, and the fact it wasn’t a conscious effort, made him angry again.

“Explain. Explain before I explode.” He was really close to doing that, actually. Emotionally speaking.

“Um. Yea. So, did you ever wonder why the Netherbeings only take Souls? And why they can manifest in this universe (along with other, similar ones) but we can’t do the same in theirs? Why even Onjis can’t?” she asked, carefully moving closer. Like a little bully of a devil that noticed their spiel was working; that the hook at the end of the line found a solid purchase.

Her antics aside, it made him pause for real. Why indeed?

“My original took great efforts in observing how she was being consumed. And what the Netherbeing was trying to do with her and her surroundings,” she stated proudly, finally regaining her composure. “She learned a lot, but at a great cost. That’s why we are looking for help…”

He reluctantly relaxed, then sat down on his imagined sofa. After a moment, he nodded for her to continue.

“Ahem,” she theatrically cleared her throat, flying higher to be seen better. Not that she needed to – being the only white object around. “Firstly…”