Lila tried opening her eyes through a haze of pain, feeling warmth on her skin.

Her right eye opened, but her left eye was unresponsive.

That's slightly worrying.

What's going on?

Staring upwards, the first thing that she noticed was that the sun was in the middle of the clear sky.

Her head started spinning as she sat up, her thoughts whirling around, still trying to make sense of the situation.

That's strange...

Wasn't it dark just a few minutes ago?

As an incessant ringing started pounding through her head, she squinted her eye and tried to focus on the surroundings.

The remains of the manor stretched around her, Burnt wood scattered in erratic patterns, shattered glass spread across the warped surroundings, reflecting the midmorning sun.

Trying to move, she hissed in pain. She could feel the fractured bone in her right leg grinding against the ground.

Seriously?

Another broken leg?

This happens entirely too much.

Crawling over to a nearby pillar, she propped herself up and she shakily looked around able to finally notice the true chaos of her surroundings. The manor that she was just standing in looked like a fever dream came to life. The rich wood was twisted into unnatural shapes, the marble was fractured and sharp pieces were laying around the room. The walls around her were collapsed, and holes ensured that she could see outside the confines of the manor.

Her right eye widened, her mouth fell open in shock and she dropped back to the floor, her leg screaming curses at her.

She couldn't feel it.

Her vision tunneled and the air became suffocating.

The city stretched out below the mutilated manor on the hill, giving a picturesque view of the city.

Tears welled up in her eyes, falling on the torn floors of the manor, obscuring her vision of the small city.

The city that treated even someone like her as family, even though she had just arrived.

The city with music and people dancing in the streets.

The city that now lay broken, without an ounce of life present.

It all seemed so far away.

Did I cause this?

A response rang out of the emptiness that she felt inside, confirming her guess.

Her world tightened, her every breath felt suffocating, and she started to hyperventilate when a voice spoke in her mind.

I don't think you caused this, at least, I don't think it was only you.

Her breathing hitched, and her eye opened wide.

I think that something else was at work here, but you certainly were the catalyst.

Trying to slow her breathing, she tried to make sense of what that thought had implied.

Closing her eyes and putting on a smile, she pushed away the impending dread and opened her mind fully. A blue glow overtook everything as she retreated to her mindscape, the objects around her turning transparent and starting to writhe as if they were alive.

With a small breath, she engaged the conversation.

"So, I'm only half responsible for the deaths of everyone in that town?"

No, let me explain. And there was surprisingly few deaths. You should be glad some people in this town were prepared.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

A small white ball of light manifested on the ground, rolling around in a surprisingly human-like gesture.

Well, that's a relief.

Is it... Pacing?

"I've never known you to dance around a topic."

Well, The issue is a little complicated.

The white mass abruptly stopped, "facing her" and appeared in front of her eyes, floating.

Let me start at the beginning of this event, and then I'll explain the complicated magic stuff.

Nodding her head, she resolved herself for a long conversation.

You did everything perfectly when you were stealing that dagger.

"But I-"

A needle and thread materialized out of the hazy blue air and stitched her mouth shut.

No questions, just let me talk kid.

Even if you messed up terribly, the enchantments would have likely blown up that little house at most. It would not have been able to cause an event of that magnitude.

I believe that you are just a victim of being in the wrong place at an inopportune time.

The unsealed enchantments encountered an error in the surrounding magic, a rift, if you will.

The enchantments reacted in a strange way, and seemed to exponentially increase the power of said rift.

Rifts in the magic of your world are not uncommon, they are just too small to change anything significant. The biggest natural rift I have even encountered has torn a single hair off of a human's head. And I have lived for a long time.

The enchantments and another complication somehow effected the rift enough and widened it to the stage where it could start absorbing ambient mana on its own. The "complication" expounded on this, and the rift gathered an essence of "Possibility".

I don't want to explain essences, but what you do need to know is that "Possibility" is empty and full. It could or could not be anything. The combination of Nothing and Everything, along with the ambient mana the rift stole resulted in random effects that popped into and out of existence. The event could have theoretically gone on forever, but then basically something tipped the scales and "Nothing" won out in the end, resulting in the event stopping prematurely.

Basically.

Onto the effects, A few people died, a lot of people were saved, and a few aren't really people anymore, but overall, it didn't end the world so it was a pretty good outcome for you.

Now, onto the other complication.

I think that this event has been a long time coming. Something has been trying to come here for a very long time.

It might be older than I am.

It might not even be sentient.

I think that the "complication" unintentionally caused this, by introducing the essence of "Possibility" as a side effect of long-distance travel.

The thread that held her mouth loosened, and the little white ball left one last comment.

After you retract your mindscape, you should go search for that complication. It should be around here.

The blue world faded away, and Lila sat in thought.

Deciding to push off the issue, she stood up once again, and winced when she felt the bone that was broken in her right leg rearranging.

Ugh, I hate that feeling.

Still, cant complain about still having a usable leg.

Looking around at the destroyed manor, she put her hands together and said a quick prayer for any person that might have been in this house.

Her eyes wandered over to the city through the scars in the house, and she found herself feeling a bit better now that she knew she hadn't killed all of those innocent people.

"Well, I guess the job was completed, one way or another, so im free to go anywhere again."

Guess I should look for the Complication first though.

Didn't he say it was near here?

As she had the thought, the touch of residual magic scratched her senses.

A very old magic.

It was coming from outside the manor.

Testing out her leg, jumping up in the air and running around a bit, she concluded that her leg was functionally healed enough to investigate.

Walking over the the nearest tear in the walls, she dropped down to the burnt grass outside.

Following her senses, she found an impact site near the fence that used to surround the perimeter of the manor.

Well, I'm guessing that's where the complication is.

What could have caused that?

Burnt grass and melted stone was covering the surrounding area, leading up to a deep crater, and a faint white smoke rose from the area.

Walking up to the crater slowly, Lila peeked over the edge cautiously.

What?

A kid.....?

What is a kid doing here?

There's no way.... Right..???

A child, still in their teen years was almost nestled in the bottom of the crater.

Jumping down, Lila hurried over to the kid and picked them up.

Little help with the jump? Maybe?

Trusting the guest that watched over her to help, she crouched and jumped.

Her usually weak legs carried her out of the crater easily, and she said a quick thanks to nobody in particular.

Quickly scanning the kid with her working eye, the first thing she noticed was the shocking white hair framing the kid's delicate face. They also had quite the slight body, so she assumed it was a girl. Who were they though?

Well, If this kid is the complication, I guess the first priority is to learn more about her.

Is she alive though..?

She doesn't seem to be breathing.

An intrusive though suddenly appeared in Lila's head: That child is still alive, but they do not seem to require oxygen. There should be some healers in the city who could help you. Bringing in an unconscious child should be normal considering what they just went through.

I guess my first stop should be the city then. Thanks for the help.

Hoisting the kid over her shoulder, she started the trek back to what was left of the city.