Instead of a familiar pull through the vortex, Robert felt as if he was falling. And it wasn’t a free fall sky diving in the slightest. No, it felt like he was sliding inside a narrow tube, which not only was constantly spinning, but also its segments were in the move, regularly changing the width of the aperture. Taking into account the fact that the wall was made from a whirlwind, capable of tearing his flesh apart after each, even the tiniest contact, was a life-threatening experience. Moreover, this tube seemed to be additionally attached to a shaking world, sending periodic tremors across its frame.

Long gone was all metal that Rob managed to take with himself. Turned into scraps, it was later grindded into dust only to be completely erased from existence. Robert, himself, was barely holding. Covered with metal from the sides, he was constantly patching the gaps in his protective layer. All extraneous thoughts died out. His mind was fully focused on this task, extracting all his energy for the purpose of survival. Soon Rob was overwhelmed by the amount of work needed just to keep him safe.

He wasn’t strong enough to reform his defensive capsule all at once, while the simultaneous appearance of multiple holes had pushed his brain to the limits. Maybe before his “power up” he could deal with hundreds of them without breaking a sweat, but now even ten felt like an enormous task on the verge of being impossible. To locate the gap in time before manually fixing it – just a single spot took the toll, and he had many. However, the desire to live was a huge motivator to squeeze everything from himself.

At some point, Robert felt the two sources of the connection, which were attached to his inner being, to his very soul. One was a pull. Unstable, forceful, alien, it felt like someone’s tentacle had dug into his ethereal guts. Luckily, this disgusting limb was already falling apart, barely holding the grip with the tips of the claws. The other one was more like a mountain brook. Flowing down under gravity through a long-established route, it was permanent in its speed. Calm and natural, it felt like the root of his life-essence. Its fuel. And Rob’s strength.

Acting on instinct without any second thought, Robert willed to widen the pathway. Wishing for more energy to fight back the destructive force of the half-broken summoning channel, he pushed his intent into the brook. He desired it. He demanded it. He ordered. He pled. And, surprisingly, it answered, turning into a bigger stream in one swift motion. It took a single blink to fill it again to fullness. That brought more power, instantly easing the reconstruction of a protective layer. However, the changes didn’t stop on it.

The increased flow of energy brought pain as if the ground itself was not ready for growth. Rob didn’t know that his soul could ache, but it did, transferring a tremendous amount of suffering across his nervous system. It was like the load appeared to be too huge to lift, and his victorious achievement turned him into a cripple just from biting off more than he could chew. There was a clear feeling of disapproval and warning, coming from the origin of the stream. Then Robert heard the snap as if an alien tentacle lost its grip. He still felt a few claws, dug deep inside his inner being, but it was a tiny portion from the previous level of grip. However, before he managed to proceed with everything, the pull lost its strength.

Following strong hits almost crashed him, denting the self-made shield. It felt like he was dropping out from the portal for a split second, meeting the reality with his physical body only to disappear a moment later. Chaotic, and irregular, they didn’t give him any opportunity to brace himself. Rob only did what he could – made the steel in front of him thicker and continued to endure. Unfortunately, it didn’t help much as the next “flash” brought him against the metal wall.

The collision was horrible. Rob felt as if he was hit by a fully loaded train, which going on at full speed without even trying to stop after seeing another idiot on the railways. The soul strain after his experiment with unknown consequences only intensified terrible feelings. His half-conscious mind only managed to register a few humans above him with worried expressions before a piercing alarm sounded from the surroundings. Making everyone halt in fear, it made a few howling rounds before being changed into a woman’s voice.

“Attention! Demon’s alert! I repeat – demon’s alert! It is not a drill…”

There were more in this panicked message, but Rob’s surroundings already started to fade into the darkness. He tried to tell them that he wasn’t a demon only not to avail as his dried lips just refused to listen to any of his commands. He still felt the connection to the Wepwakor, which tried to pull him further. Alas, the force had decreased dramatically, turning the link into a string, which barely could handle it. That was the last thing he felt, before diving into oblivion.

The mixture of nightmares and odd dreams with impossible events clouded Robert’s mind. Jerky images changed each other, completely avoiding any order and logic. Covered with a haze, they sometimes were barely understandable to his exhausted mind. Especially with the touch of madness, which they had plenty to share. Rob tried to do something with it, to fight back, but he couldn’t. Fortunately, when he rose up with a harsh breath, the thick mist had enveloped all scenes, dragging them into the deep corner of his memory, where everything was covered under a layer of dust. Robert still spent almost a dozen seconds to take in control of his emotions, before looking around.

He was lying on the double-sized bed in what looked like an ordinary hotel room. Rob had never been in one and could rely only on the movies as an example. Be it a small sofa against the far wall, the wide closet up to the ceiling, the frontal door with a huge mirror near it, or the bareness of personal belongings – everything screamed about it. The only strange things were the contours of what seemed to be a retractable table and chair. However, after finding a possible spot for the TV screen and noticing an empty frame, Robert understood that it was for space optimization.

No alarm… and no one near me. Am I locked?

Listening to the silent surroundings and hearing nothing, he turned his attention to a noticeable damage on the wall that might be his doing. On the contrary of his expectations, there were no signs of fallen plastering or brick as the surface was made from some kind of polymer. Currently, it had clear cracks, but overall managed to withstand the impact with honor. On the opposite side from the place of his landing, there was a smaller door with quite an obvious purpose.

Let’s check the exit first.

Standing up, Robert made a few steps only to pause in an attempt to understand what was wrong with his body. He still felt the strain deep inside from his forceful increase in mana flow. At least that was how he could describe the painful act of widening the stream. The pull from God was also still present. The Status screen could bring light to the event, but diving into an unconscious state in the unknown situation was a bad idea. However, other than that his body didn’t feel anything different. Maybe only lighter.

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Different gravity? Or did the mana reinforce me and make me stronger? Questions for later.

The door’s handle was plain and ordinary. That couldn’t be said about the panel to the side of it, which was clearly touch-controlled. Unfamiliar letters automatically turned into an understandable “closed” sign. Grimacing as if before making a decisive step, almost a leap of faith, Rob tried to open it with hidden hope. The reality appeared to be cruel, confirming his suspicion. He felt he could break the handle, but the locks wouldn’t react. The same was true with a panel, which repeated the same message again and again – “Failed Authorization”. Robert’s fear of being misunderstood after his shocking appearance through the portal came to life.

There was no response after his few loud shouts and several kicks against the door. That led him to redirect his attention to himself. Looking at the reflection in the mirror, Robert couldn’t complain about the reaction of those people. His appearance wasn’t helping his amiable image. The tattered rags barely covered his huge figure. Broad shoulders, thick arms, enormous back made him look burly. His chest was much less developed in contrast to the bodybuilding standards but was still nothing to scold about. The same went with his legs, which were big but not so big that it made it hard even to move. There was a limited definition between muscles with abs barely visible behind a layer of fat.

However, his giant height, his bold head with a short messy beard, his rough facial features with an aquiline nose, and his heavy gaze from dark green eyes added weight to this unfriendly image of a brute. Dangerous, and pressing, it was intensified by a margin with marks of blood and dirt that covered him from all events, starting from the explosive ride on the dirigible.

No wonder they thought I was a demon… I would shit myself if I met someone with this appearance before my journey through the world. I look like a villain… Or his muscled sidekick, whose role is to hit, and not to think. Only a few terrible scars are absent to fit the picture. Luckily, I can’t get one… Okay, bathroom, here I go.

Taking off his remnants of clothes, Rob shoved them into the bin before proceeding with his cleaning procedure. By this point, he understood that he was in a world with a higher level of technology. There was not a single button to control – only a similar touch-screen panel. What was more, even the mirror in the bathroom itself could show his face from different angles, including from behind. With just a few simple commands he could change his haircut or its color in the reflection – everything in real time without a single delay. Still, this fun option couldn’t hold him for long as the shower caught all his attention.

Standing under the torrent of hot water and scrubbing all the filth out from his body, Robert finally felt that the trench war had ended for him. The thing that created quite a few mental traumas for him, had shown a horrible side of humanity, the cruelty and dirt of the battlefield… and organized his meeting with Beth. She wasn’t the single happy moment in this period, but definitely the brightest.

Maybe our breakup was for the best. I would be summoned no matter what, and it would be more painful in that way – to disappear without a trace, giving a false hope of finding me. Until I can control my transitions between realms, no serious relationships, Rob. On the other hand, with my link being so weak, maybe it wouldn’t be long before I can be free. Let’s finally check the messages from the system.

Sending a mental command to open Status, Rob got nothing instead. Few more following attempts had failed miserably in the same manner. Feeling anxious, he instantly conjured the steel coin before sighing with relief. The absence of reaction for the Wepwakor’s given system didn’t affect Rob’s own abilities. Reminding himself that it was just a self-checking thing and not meant to grant powers by itself, Robert calmed down.

Akashic Records. It called itself Akashic Records once. It was a single time when it answered my question – right after I damaged the link to Wepwakor. What if…?

This time Robert turned his attention inside, right to the stream of energy that was connected to this mythical entity. It was the first when he felt this flow – as mana was steadily moving into him to fuel his body, to strengthen it, to be a source of his conjuring. It was oddly pleasant to feel the control over this power. However, this was not the time. Therefore, Rob focused on the stream itself, pushing his consciousness further and deeper in an attempt either to feel or to see the point of origin.

He didn’t get much from his try nor did he know what to do, nor did he have capabilities to trace the energy. Fortunately, it wasn’t needed. It seemed that his intent was enough to establish the connection. And Rob was sure he did as grandeur's presence almost overwhelmed him. It appeared so enormously huge that he could barely take a breath. It felt not anything alive but more likely an unconscious power of nature, the law of the universe, the strength, comparable with thousands of stars. Too big for his limited mind to grasp.

Rob was suffocating, barely able to hold himself from being torn and sucked into this endless black hole. But then the memory reminded him of that single message from Akashic Records when the latter spoke about the System being a misery visualization. So, Robert imagined him being in the small room in front of an enormous screen that took the space of a whole wall in front of him. Even before the image managed to stabilize in his mind, the surroundings had already shifted into the exact same copy. The pressure had dropped greatly, leaving a mentally exhausted Rob on the floor.

“Thank you.”

I just followed the wish request to decrease the toll from communication with me.

The huge letters appeared on a screen, instantly forming a message. Robert spent a full minute looking at them while thinking about the possible direction of their conversation.

“If I am correct, you are not alive. If you compared yourself with Akashic Records just to show me the closest thing to your existence, then you are much more than that. Adding my own feelings from an attempt to grasp your being, I would say you are definitely not alive in the classic sense of this world. Same as gravity or time – it can’t be alive or dead.”

Simplified, but correct.

“And… Can I call you Aether? As far as I remember this is a direct translation of the word Akasha. I assume that you will not mind.”

Correct.

“So, Aether, currently you are the source of all my mana, which fuels not only my own body to sustain my life but also my ability to conjure steel. I assume there is more, yes?”

Yes. The system that was granted for a self-check of your progress and your ability to understand others is also the result of my influence. Later I can help you to travel between realms.

Stop, why did the Status screen disappear then?

It was created by another Transcendent being for its puppets to make them believe in the world order he made up to set his own superiority in their eyes.

Well, mind reading, check…

“Then the story about the Gods, battle for the crown, artificial apocalypses, Transcendent groups, and Primal Dragon – everything is a lie? Not surprised after seeing the fakery of that floating rock among the stars.”

Only partly. The Transcendent had set a filter on all given information to adjust your point of view according to his liking and his own spoken explanations.

“Wait, but you were the one who gave this information!”

Correct. Following the request of the Transcendent, the modified information was given by me.

“But why did you do it?”

Because it was the request of the Transcendent.

“And why are you telling me this?”

Because you established a connection with me in the role of Transcendent.

“And when did I become a Transcendent?”

When you established a connection with me.

No shit! Calm down, and do remember that you are speaking with an all-mighty being… but why does it feel like I am speaking with AI?

Because I was indeed created as a tool and never stopped working to fulfill my purpose of existence.

“And, Aether, what is your purpose?”

To expand the world by creating more realms.