Chapter 111 - Second Phase
Vern stood entirely still amidst the tide of powdered glass as thoughts not his own assaulted his psyche. Soft murmurs played in his head, and whispers he couldn't make out seeped into his very being.
His perception seemed to flutter into many states, a hint of color slipping into the grays. However, he clenched his fists and ignored all the oddities, focusing solely on suppressing the invading thoughts.
This was the result of forcefully using Instability Inducement when he didn't have a proper interpretation of the manipulated objects.
It started as a simple ringing in his head, but he'd chosen not to stop partway. If he did, that would've messed with Cedric's probability amplification, essentially dooming his plan before it even started.
Hnghh! He gritted his teeth and thought to himself, Even I am not immune to these whispers, huh?
But it was okay. They were far from overwhelming him. He just needed to focus for a while and assert his singularity.
Seconds ticked by as he stood there, dizzy, gusts after gusts of powdered glass and snow blowing past him. Cedric soon emerged out of the dissipating fog and walked up to him.
Maybe not noticing Vern's situation, he eyed his book with a suspicious look and relayed, "The numbers are looking good, but I am warning you again, kid, the increasing trend is never a good sign."
Vern finally managed to have enough spare thoughts to rub his temples, and he replied, "I am not changing my mind."
It was getting better. The whispers that seemed to peel at the insights within his thought space calmed down, and the flow of invasive notions ebbed by a lot.
Breath after breath, he inhaled the sharp, cold air, and his mind became clearer. Cedric shook his head and sighed, "Then get in there and finish it before the probability of danger converges to certainty. Just remember, even if I rush in, I might not be able to get to you in time. So…don't be stupid and escape if the failure is guaranteed."
Vern nodded. Time was of the essence. Most of the glass in their vicinity had been destroyed, so with Cedric's guidance, all the spirits had converged in the only place with intact mirrors.
Luckily, this district was sparsely populated, and on top of that, this block had a metal scrapyard on one side and a rail track on the other—neither known for being good mirrors. Otherwise, he'd have had to account for many more reflective surfaces.
After all, it appeared that Cedric's Vision worked more as a suggestion rather than a strict binding. Hopefully, the vast distance to the next intact mirror and Cedric's guidance would make it so the spirits wouldn't bother wasting their energy to relocate until he was ready.
"All of them are in there, right?"
"All fourteen of them," confirmed Cedric.
"Good."
Soon, all the lingering whispers in his head died down, and he was back in complete control.
Closing his eyes, he wholly cleared his perception—discarding the grays, fluctuations, and odd colors, leaving nothing but a blank canvas.
Time for the second phase.
His plan hinged on a simple yet bold strategy—to corral all the spirits within his sight at once. By doing so, he could immobilize them, setting the stage for the amulet's power to take effect.
This was what he'd come up with after racking his brains hard. He'd realized that trying to cleanse them one by one was nothing but a fanciful dream. They would keep finding ways to counter his tactics, and his bag of tricks would run out sooner or later.
So, he had to make a single move that would end it once and for all. This was why he had to bring all of them together into a single venue.
Yet, herding the spirits was easier said than done. Shattering the glasses of the whole block was a straightforward process, even if mentally taxing and fraught with the danger of whispers.
This, however, was a direct confrontation, where he'd have to adapt to any deviations from the plan in an instant. He would be in their close vicinity at all times, and a single mistake would see him swarmed from all angles.
.
.
.
Vern took a deep breath, I got this.
He unleashed his perception again, this time focusing on the emporium's interior. From his prior survey, it was a two-story storefront hiding a glass forge full of apparatus needed to melt, shape, and store the special sand.
Generally, a store without an owner in the outer districts was an invitation for looters to hop in and steal everything of value, but clearly, the terror of spirits had ensured no one dared to try their luck.
So the display hall was still full of hundreds of glass trinkets—earrings, showcases, jars, cutlery, necklaces, and anything one could think of producing from this construct of molten sand.
In this situation—with all the spirits concentrated in this building, they were akin to time bombs, potentially granting his enemies unrestricted teleportation access throughout the building.
Or were they?
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What if he could instead leverage all these glass constructs as variables for a controlled experiment? An experiment where these apparent liabilities could be transformed into a tactical advantage.
Vern recalled the Second Axiom, Comprehension of an object's representation is necessary to perceive it.
The axioms had earned that name for a reason. They didn't apply just to him; the spirits were also bound to the same rules. It was a universal restriction.
His lips extended, Time to turn this emporium into a controlled testing grounds using the side-effects of axioms.
Bracing himself, he held the store's lock and unleashed a pulse of stability that surged outwards from him as the epicenter, radiating a force of calm control.
He observed the gray depiction of every glassy object he had meticulously mapped beforehand, turning them a shade brighter, essentially making them subjective.
Glancing at Cedric one final time, he asked, "Still in there?"
The man stared at his book for a while before nodding heavily.
It worked!
In his experience, the spirits were almost always 'behind the mirror' unless he caught them in the middle of the act.
This meant they had to 'come out' if they wanted to confront him. But what if he denied them the opportunity?
That's what this active stabilization hoped to accomplish. By constantly envisioning every reflective construct within the emporium, he'd essentially trapped them behind the mirror.
Yes, they weren't behind the glass in a literal sense. Still, they surely used some kind of twisted form of observational vision to emerge into reality—using the reflective surfaces as the point of entrance.
By stabilizing these entrances, he changed their underlying representation, making them unable to be observed by the spirits and hence blocking them out of reality.
That by itself didn't achieve his intended goal of cleansing the spirits, but this was a necessary step to bring his overall plan to fruition.
What was even better was that the spirits hadn't left the emporium even after he'd blocked their entry points.
A sharp look crossed Vern's eyes, Now, all that's left is to bring them together in a controlled fashion.
Vern's initial apprehension about the plan started to fade as he witnessed two of its most uncertain elements fall into place flawlessly. The relief was immediate and significant, eroding his earlier doubts and bolstering his confidence.
This turn of events shifted his mindset, readying him for the next steps with a renewed sense of purpose.
He still had to physically verify whether the spirits were really blocked from entering reality or not, but he was quite confident because of the weight the word 'Axiom' held.
He would be out of his depth if they could exit even after all this. No shame in backing out if things turn out to be like that.
Swinging the door open, the dim ambiance of the storefront greeted him, all the lights and candles long since dim or out of fuel.
Nevertheless, it didn't matter. The picture he had in his perception of the place was so crisp he could create a lifelike drawing of it if needed.
He squared his shoulders, ready to face the challenge ahead. This is it.
Ignoring the reproach in Cedric's eyes, Vern coiled the amulet of restoration around his fingers and walked in, shutting the door behind him.
Long counters ran on either side of the door, showcasing jewelry and ornaments encased within glassy walls, reflecting the purple light of his lamp.
Yet, there was something different about their reflection. He was actively stabilizing all these trinkets, and it seemed to have some effect on them—one he couldn't pinpoint.
Well, it doesn't matter.
He didn't go farther in and waited close to the entrance—his heartbeat echoing in this dark silence. When a minute passed by and no pale entities jumped him, he clicked his tongue, "It seems they aren't called Axioms for nothing."
The spirits really couldn't come out of all these mirrors. This meant he was ready for the next part of the plan.
Focusing on the stocking room at the far back of the emporium, he stopped stabilizing one of the tall mirrors. The white rectangle turned back to its gray shade, and Vern waited in eager anticipation.
Tick
Tock
Tick
Tock
His pocket watch cut through the heavy silence, but nothing happened.
Vern frowned, Why aren't they coming out?
He'd finally gifted them a chance to emerge out of the mirror and come at him. Given how they hadn't missed a single opportunity to hunt their prey, this didn't make sense.
Even if Vern was far from the entrance, this should have roused them to take action, right?
He pulled at the strands of his hair and looked around him, Did they leave the emporium?
.
.
.
No. Cedric would've rushed in.
Then, what happened? Did they suddenly became pacifists?
However, a peculiar possibility crossed his mind, "Can they not…sense me?"
The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Surely, they had some kind of method to sense their targets and threats.
However, he'd 'blocked' off all the mirrors around him, which could mean that they were essentially blind right now and didn't even know where Vern was in this whole emporium.
Well, this is easy enough to test.
He directed his perception to one of the small rings sitting inside the showcase and stopped stabilizing it.
This action triggered a sense of imbalance within his thoughts, a sensation Vern anticipated and eagerly welcomed.
It was a calculated risk that acted as a second layer to his strategy—embodying the core tenet of his vision—instability before stability.
Hnnng
The moment the ring became ordinary, corrupting darkness appeared on the accessory as well as the tall mirror across many walls in the stocking room.
The darkness on the ring retreated soon after, failing to emerge out of that small opening, but the corruption around the tall mirror at the back only grew larger and larger.
Vern ignored the rest of the grays for a second, and his perception made it seem like he was watching a grayed-out painting of the happenings in that room from a short distance.
He leaned with his elbows on the counter, a thoughtful expression on his face, That worked. And not just that, they seem pretty eager, too.
Vern 'watched' these happenings with sharp focus, and the moment the dark shape was completely out in reality, he stabilized the mirror as well as the ring again in a snap.
It was a little taxing, given how the grays depicting them had been corrupted to an extent, but it was well worth the cost.
He couldn't have more of them coming out of the same mirror. How could he maintain control over the experimental setup if he allowed the test subjects to act unrestrained?
Vern swiftly ascended the stairs to the second floor, tracking the corrupt entity's movement. It prowled steadily towards the entrance hall he had just vacated.
It can't see me, huh?
Because if it could, the entity should have rerouted to take the stairs that directly connected the second floor to the stock room.
This…
A rush of adrenaline flooded his veins, sending shivers down his spine. This is better than I thought!
With a quick mental recalibration, he reassessed all potential entry points, integrating this pivotal discovery into his strategy.
His plan, now refined with precision, promised a more controlled experiment.
Vern's grin widened, eyes alight with the thrill of the imminent challenge, "Time to play hide and seek."