They grew close to the wall. After so long in the depths of the Abyss, Ike had almost forgotten about the walls that closed them in. Sure, they were there, but they were in the distance. The horizon. Not an immediate concern. Often, he couldn’t even see them. In the dense forest, the trees blocked his view. In the grasslands, the high grasses hid the walls. So it was only as they drew close to the edge of the Abyss once more that the walls loomed large.

Ike stared up at them, taken aback by their height. Did they grow, since I came down here? A second later, he rolled his eyes at himself. No. Don’t be stupid, me. They didn’t grow. I just went deeper into the Abyss.

“Impressive, aren’t they? If you were a fool, you’d think they’d be harder to climb for their height,” Wisp remarked. She knelt and picked up a stone, then lobbed it at the sky. The stone flew up, up, up, so far Ike had to use his Sensory Enhancement to track it. Abruptly, it jerked to a stop in a shower of red sparks. The sparks faded, and the stone dropped back to earth. “But when the primary issue is a city lord’s barrier, it’s exactly those places that appear well-guarded where the city lord grows careless and doesn’t ensure the barrier is perfectly closed.”

“Looks pretty closed to me,” Ike commented.

Wisp rolled her eyes. “I didn’t aim at the hole, idiot.”

Ike snorted. He peered upward, shading his eyes with his hand. Tentatively, he extended his energy upward, but it stopped long before the spot where Wisp’s rock had fallen away. “But there is a hole?”

“Yup.”

“And you haven’t escaped yet because…?”

“Because I didn’t want to. Now I want to. Problem?” Wisp asked, crossing her arms.

Ike raised his eyebrows. Is it just me, or did she actually get angry about that one? I wonder if there’s something forcing her to leave.

He shrugged to himself. If there was something forcing Wisp to leave, it wasn’t a bad idea to go. After all, she was vastly more powerful than him. If something left her feeling threatened, it could probably squash him with a twitch of a finger.

Ike looked over his shoulder, back at the depths of the Abyss. He’d traveled all over the forest, and found nothing that should scare Wisp. What was he missing? What hadn’t he seen?

In the distance, beyond the oversized forest, the Abyss wound down to its narrow end. There, the land grew dark. Clouds clung to the earth. He caught a glimpse of a river through the cloud, deep, flat, and gray, before the clouds closed the gap once more. Coldness emanated from the space. An intense chill, beyond mere lunam.

A shiver ran down his spine, unbidden. Ike ran a hand over the back of his neck and looked away. That’s… not a place I should look at too long. There’s something dangerous there. If Wisp told me she was scared of something from that place, I wouldn’t doubt it for a second.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

He nodded at Wisp. “So? Where are we going from here? Which way is out?”

Wisp pointed up.

Ike rolled his eyes at her.

She managed to hold a serious expression for another few beats before she broke into a grin. “There’s a place where the barrier grows weak, here. The deep-Abyss’ strong aether and the northern Abyss’ strong lunam weaken the mana-based barrier here. I think the two energies are eroding whatever the city lord used as the barrier’s foundation.” She paused, then looked at Ike. “You know how barriers work, right?”

Ike nodded instinctively, then paused. He shook his head. “Not at all, actually.”

“It’s pretty simple. You find places where the energy you’re using to form the barrier is strong, then drive conduits inscribed with barrier enchantments deep into those spots. The conduits draw out the energy from the earth and apply it to the barrier. Since barriers are long-term spells, they can’t be powered by one person, or even many people, so that’s why mages tap into the earth’s energy flows instead.” She paused. “That is a vast oversimplification of barriers. And there’s many types of barriers. Some do use the personal mana of one extremely powerful individual. Others are based on ancient artifacts or complex spell arrays. But this one is a conduit-based spell.”

Ike nodded. “Is it a conduit-based spell because the natural land has such an immense mana flow?”

“Well, it has an immense lunam flow. Honestly, I don’t really understand the barrier. It’s inverting lunam to mana, or something…?” Wisp said.

“Oh,” Ike said, pressing his lips together as everything fell into place. Inverting lunam to mana, huh? Like the dolls. The city lord’s specialty, the dolls filled with that lunam-to-mana black goop. And who set up this spell? The city lord.

“Anyways, my wild theories about exactly what’s happening to the barrier aside, the barrier is flawed here. There’s a way out. It’s very thin, but as long as something penetrates the barrier, anything can.”

“Huh?” Ike said, lost.

Wisp held her hand up, palm down. “A barrier is meant to keep things out, right?”

“Right.”

“Think about a waterskin. You know, a hide that holds drinking water. If the hide is intact, nothing gets from one side to the other, right?” With her other hand, Wisp pressed against the top of her hand. Nothing got through.

Ike nodded, following.

“But if you have one little hole…” She pressed a single finger through the gaps in her ‘barrier’ hand’s fingers, then wiggled all her fingers on the other side. “All the water gets out, and your waterskin empties.”

“Yeah, agreed,” Ike agreed.

“If a barrier is whole, nothing can get in or out. As long as it has a hole, everything can escape. Just like a waterskin,” Wisp said.

Ike raised his hand. “Water is a liquid. I’m a human being. I have bones.”

“Don’t worry. You’ll be fine,” Wisp said, waving her hand.

He gave her a look. “Do spiders have bones?”

“No. We have exoskeletons. It’s honestly somewhat inferior to actual bones, but when I shed and get all soft for a few minutes, I can squeeze anywhere, unlike you stiff-boned humans,” Wisp said proudly.

“And what if I can’t shed and get soft for a few minutes?” Ike asked.

“You’ll be fine,” Wisp repeated.

Ike eyed her. I’m suspicious. I’m very suspicious.

“In any case, the hole’s right… around…” Wisp leaned back and forth. She frowned, then picked up a new stone. Hauling back, she threw the stone with all her might.

The stone soared up, up, up. Sparks clipped against the edges of the stone, but it zipped through and out onto the other side.

Wisp grinned. “Found it.”