"This is fascinating," Kefira said, her hand reaching halfway to the tear in reality before dropping again.
"What's fascinating about it?" Reivyn asked.
"Well, the space fissures and gates I'm used to seeing aren't nearly as 'deep.' When someone makes a portal to travel to a distant location, the path that one walks is relatively close to the Realm. When I look through this hole, though, I can see that it goes far beyond anything I've ever encountered. It leads to the outside. Even the most powerful portals, traveling hundreds of thousands, or even millions of miles, will only create a bridge on the surface of the Realm.
"Does that make sense?" Kefira turned her attention away from the hole and glanced at Reivyn. Reivyn's eyes weren't trained on her, though, and his eyes followed something she couldn't see that apparently came out of the tear.
"Maybe?" Reivyn looked back at Kefira. "So what you're saying is, if the Realm is a ball, we're located in the center, and when space magic is used to travel, the further the distance, the closer to the edge of the ball the path is created. This hole doesn't do that, it goes straight to completely outside of the ball."
"Yes, exactly like that," Kefira nodded. "I knew that you had mentioned being on the bridge to another Realm before, and I intellectually understood that you had to have stepped completely out of the Realm for that to happen. Seeing something in person, though, is much more interesting."
"Can this space fissure be used to travel outside the Realm?"
"Oh, no. Absolutely not," Kefira vehemently denied. "I'm guessing the gateway containing the tear did something to make it safe, but if anyone tried to go through this hole to get to the outside, it would tear them into thousands of tiny shreds almost immediately.
"Luckily, it's not a complete tear, and the membrane of the Realm is preventing corporeal forms from traveling through it at this time. If it continues to grow, though, that membrane might snap and drag people to their doom. If left unchecked, this thing could be a huge disaster."
"Lovely," Reivyn sighed. "Can you fix it, though?"
"As it is, now, yes," Kefira nodded her head confidently. "If we had waited until it had broken the membrane, like I just described, then I'm not sure. It'll take some time, though."
"Ok, well, I'll let you get to it."
"Sure."
Kefira didn't watch Reivyn walk away, her focus was entirely on the space fissure. To her perception, it was just a sliver of a few inches wide, but it went from the floor to almost twice her height. Using her Space/Time Affinity to Observe the fissure, she could somewhat see through to the far side, out into the void between Realms.
She couldn't really see anything beyond that, though. It was just a black line that simultaneously appeared right in front of her and impossibly far away. The space fissure was a great opportunity for her to further her understanding of the Affinity.
It's so weird, Kefira thought, marveling at the phenomenon. It's like I can see a tunnel with the different layers one would use when normally Casting Space Spells, but it's also like a flat piece of paper at the same time.
Kefira twined her Mana together, infusing it with Space/Time, and sunk it into the hole. Deeper and deeper it went, but it seemed like it was still just floating at the surface. She knew it wasn't, and she could feel the difference, but it juxtaposition between what she felt and what she saw was difficult to parse.
She caressed the edges of the tear with her Mana, feeling the jagged edges of the interior of the space crack. It wasn't a smooth tunnel, with sharp spikes that would easily lacerate anyone foolish enough to try and move into the fissure. The deeper her Mana delved, the more frequent and sharp the jagged edges became. By the time her Mana finally reached the far edge, reaching out into the void, it was a complete mess of crisscrossing serrated daggers.
Kefira allowed herself to operate on instinct. She pulled her Mana back to the front of the hole, and using her Space/Time-infused Mana, she slowly began to smooth out the jaggedness. She didn't think about what she was doing or what the next steps would be. This was beyond anything she had ever done before, but she knew that she was capable of fixing the problem. All she had to do was let the System assist her.
It wasn't always necessary to learn how to do everything before you did it, as long as your Skills and Affinities were high enough. The assistance the System could provide could be the most valuable learning tool available. Just do what needs to be done with the guidance of the System, and then reflect on the actions you took to learn backward.
It wasn't always possible to be able to do so, however. Instances of coming into a situation you had learned virtually nothing about yet or contained the ability to do were very rare. Kefira wouldn't give up this opportunity to learn something that would be incredibly hard to receive instruction on. Not only was it rare for people to have talent in Space or Time, but those who did most likely never ran into a similar situation as this, either.
The people who had come down to investigate what happened continued to move about, inspecting things here and there. They were only marginally within Kefira's consciousness, though, and she didn't let their presence distract her. In the back of her mind, she was aware of the arrival of many more people, but she didn't turn to see who they were.
Reivyn was never that far from her, and she was more acutely aware of his presence than anyone else's, even Serilla's. In her state of letting herself be guided, her subconscious mind made many connections that she hadn't previously thought about, and some of them floated to the surface as she worked.
There seemed to be some sort of intangible thread connecting her to those close to her, just out of her ability to perceive, but, just like how she knew she could fix the space fissure, she just knew that they were there. Her mind tried to reach out to those connections, and the deeper she fell into her unique state of mind, the clearer those connections became.
Just on the edge of perception, Kefira could sense threads similar to Mana, but of a completely different nature. She didn't know what they were, and she couldn't interact with them in any way. There was an entire tapestry of moving parts creating an intricate web between herself and everyone down in the hole with her. Most of the threads were ephemeral and seemed like they could snap at any second, but three of them were much thicker and more solid than all of the others.
Of the three most powerful threads, the weakest one connected her to Serilla, who was standing not far away with a watchful eye on everyone around her. The next thread connected her to a presence still off in the distance, but she could tell that it was getting closer. This thread was very solid, and it seemed just like a powerful Mana weave with many threads woven together to create an incredibly solid link.
The second thread, however, paled in comparison to the final one. It was like a shiny steel beam, and it connected to Reivyn.
There's something strange about this connection to Reivyn, a stray thought entered Kefira's mind as she moved her Mana in accordance with the System guidance. All of the thoughts and perceptions about the threads connecting her to other people were going on in the back of her mind, and she was only vaguely aware of them. This thought, though, just barely broke through the surface and made her slightly more aware of it for a brief moment.
It's like that connection existed before I even met him.
The thought that flitted through her mind was a bit of a shock, and it brought her out of the depths of her state of mind. Her vision focused once more and she was once again fully focused on repairing the space fissure. All the vague thoughts and perceptions of the threads linking her to other people fled her mind, and she was simply left with the slight impression that she and Reivyn had been connected before they had ever met.
She shook her head to clear all the stray thoughts. She turned her head to find Reivyn, subconsciously remembering his position from the connection she had felt, and beckoned him over to her.
"Yes? Did you find something?" Reivyn asked.
"No, it's not that," Kefira shook her head. "I just wanted to see if I could help you get something out of this, as well. This is a great opportunity for experiencing the Space Affinity. I know you already have an offshoot of Time, and it would be really hard to get anything related to Space, but you're incredibly talented. Maybe you can get something."
"Ok, that sounds good to me. What do I need to do?"
"Just send a thread of Mana out and mix it with mine," Kefira instructed. "Just let me guide it along my own, and see if you can feel anything from it."
"Alright."
Reivyn sent out a thread of Mana and attached it to Kefira's. The contact was more intimate in a way that she couldn't really describe than she had anticipated. It wasn't uncommon for people's Mana to interact with others, but blending them together in the way that they were was a different story. Usually, when Mana threads connected between different people, there was a distinct delineation between them, but Reivyn's Mana seemed to submerge perfectly into Kefira's.
She was able to feel the exact position of his Mana, despite how well it blended together with her own, and she was able to guide along her own thread into the space fissure. She took it and guided it along to feel the jagged edges that she was working on smoothing out.
"Can you feel that?" Kefira asked.
"Yeah," Reivyn answered breathlessly. "It was like we were moving along smooth glass, but then the surface turned into rough stone. The further along it goes, the rougher it gets."
"Yes. Now, feel how the surface is changing as I smooth the roughness out of it."
Kefira continued to guide Reivyn's Mana, and the two of them explored the mysteries of the space fissure. Without knowing it, the two of them had drawn their bodies together. Reivyn stood at Kefira's back, and the two of them lifted their arms towards the tear. Their hands were placed together, and their fingers were interlinked.
Anyone who didn't know that they were working on an important mission to heal a rent in the fabric of reality would think that they were having a private moment together.
----------------------------------------
"The horses are practically useless out here in the loose sand, so we've grounded the cavalry," Major Rolik said as he walked alongside Kayzor. "We've had to send the light infantry to chase down the remnants of the spider horde. Luckily, they're mindless beasts and have left very clear tracks on where they went."
"Good," Kayzor said. "Just make sure they don't get too spread out. That was a lot of spiders. They're no threat to our troops when handled appropriately, but if a squad separates from the rest and runs into several hundred, or thousands, of those nasty creatures, we might have some casualties. No reason to take unnecessary risks, as all the civilians have been accounted for, and there should be no other people around for hundreds of miles in any direction."
"Yes, sir. I'll remind the commanders." Major Rolik gave a salute and turned to see about his duty.
Kayzor made his way to the gaping hole in the center of the desolate sands. Soldiers from the volunteer army raised by Count Yaolo were busy sweeping the spider corpses together, and the Mages set them on fire. There was apparently a situation down below that would require some time to solve, and there was no reason to remain in a field of corpses.
It wasn't strictly necessary to handle the spider corpses in this way so deep in the dry desert. Chances of disease springing up were low considering the circumstances, but that wasn't the main purpose of burning the bodies. The soldiers were just incredibly uneasy being surrounded by so much death, even if they were just disgusting monsters.
Major Dobrik, his sister's subordinate, had his own men well in hand, and there was no reason for Kayzor to interfere with their command. If the enemy army was still around, it would make sense to establish a firm authority over them, but that was no longer going to be necessary.
He had thought that they had made it in time to thwart the plans of the invaders, and victory seemed well in hand as he defeated the enemy "commander." It turned out he had just wasted his time fighting a body double, and the invaders simply took their spoils and left. He felt incredibly frustrated at having to rush out here over the past month with his army to only feel like he punched cotton.
His spirits lifted a bit, though, as he began descending one of the ropes into the deep hole in the ground. It had been a couple of years since he had seen his youngest sister in person. They had spoken briefly over their communication magic items, but that had been all business.
Kayzor quickly descended the rope, half his bodyguards went down first, and the other half followed behind. His guards spread out to keep an eye out for any danger, and they made their way in the direction that had been laid out by the adventurers that had come down before them. It was a large open space, so it wasn't hard to navigate, but they had put down markers to show the way toward the problem. It was a small city-sized circle, after all, and if you didn't know the exact location, you would have to waste a little bit of time searching for it.
After several minutes of rushing along the path, Kayzor's face finally lit up into a smile as he saw Serilla standing next to a couple of people standing in a wholly inappropriate manner.
If Serilla is there, then Kefira can't be far away, Kayzor thought. But why would she tolerate that kind of behavior right next to her? I'm surprised she hasn't yelled at them until they were quivering in their boots.
Kayzor looked around for his sister as he got closer and closer to Serilla, but he didn't see her anywhere. His smile turned into a frown, though, when he finally got close enough to see the face of the girl standing in that man's embrace, and he immediately started rushing forward, hands clenched. He was brought up short before he could reach out and throttle the man who dared stand so intimately with his sister, though, as Serilla stepped in front of him.
"Don't interrupt them," she said, giving him a warning look.
Kayzor was taken aback for a moment, and his frown turned into a look of confusion.
"What do you mean?" Kayzor questioned. "You're supposed to be down here handling some sort of problem, and yet you're just letting a man brazenly take advantage of my sister."
"That's not what's happening," Serilla shook her head. "If you look closer, you'll see that they're investigating the space fissure together. Princess Kefira was exploring the fissure with her Mana, and then she called Reivyn over to help him see if he could learn something about the Space Affinity. They just kind of, um, subconsciously ended up like that."
"Subconsciously, you say," Kayzor frowned again. "They look like they're a lot closer than just 'subconsciously' standing together, hands clasped."
"They are."
"They are? That's all you're going to say."
"Yes."
"Need I remind..."
"I don't work for you," Serilla cut him off. "I serve Kefira."
Kayzor stared at Serilla for a few seconds before letting out a sigh.
"Alright, I will withhold judgment for now. I'll give Kefira a chance to explain things."
Kayzor turned away from Serilla to watch the two standing together. He hadn't been born with a great natural talent for Mana, though he did have access to it before Tier 4. He was much more focused on his Martial Skills, and not having developed his Mana Sense and Sight Skills very high, he was unable to perceive what the two of them were doing.
Instead, he smiled as he watched his sister for a few moments before turning his attention to the man she was standing against. The man was much younger-looking than he had thought he would be, probably around the same age as Kefira, which was another surprise. He had never even heard of another individual being anywhere close to as talented as his youngest sister, but if this Reivyn character was the same age as she was, then he might be close.
He could admit that he was objectively good-looking, but that didn't mean he was a match for Kefira. His sister was the cutest, most bestest girl in the world, and she deserved no less than an imperial prince as her suitor. He could see that the muscles in the young man were well developed, and even while concentrating on the task of investigating the tear with his Mana, he stood in a way that he was ready to react to any external threats or attacks.
He could see the explosive power just lying underneath the man's exterior, and Kayzor nodded to himself in grudging approval.
He's barely adequate in the physical regard, but I remember Sophia saying that he had been accepted into the Magic Academy through Kefira's recommendation, Kayzor thought. If he's put so much effort into his Physical Stats and abilities, then his Mental Stats and Mana abilities must be lacking. What can someone like him accomplish? Kayzor snorted in disdain.
"I know what you're thinking," Serilla said, bringing him out of his thoughts. He turned to look at her once more, an eyebrow quirked.
"Oh, really?" He asked.
"Yes, and you would be wrong."
"We'll see."
Kayzor returned to waiting for the pair to finish their little flirting session, impatient to speak with his sister once more.
"Do you see that one?" The boy, Reivyn, suddenly said. "There's another one just behind it."
"I think I can catch a vague glimpse of it," Kefira said.
Wait... he's teaching her? Kayzor thought in shock.
"I don't think we should let any more of them come through," Reivyn said. "There has to already be thousands of them on this side, and that can't be a good thing."
"It'll take some time to block off their access, though," Kefira responded.
"I think that should be your priority if you can."
"What are they talking about?" Kayzor leaned over to whisper to Serilla.
"Look around," Serilla waved her hand around in a circle.
Kayzor turned to look for what she was indicating, confused. It didn't take him long, though, to spot the dozens of transparent figures walking about aimlessly. Some were little more than a wisp, and others were almost fully corporeal.
As he watched some of them walk about, their features shifted dramatically. It wasn't just that they would sometimes look slightly different. They would grow and shrink considerably. Their facial features and clothes they were wearing would be completely different, and often times they switched between genders. One moment one of the apparitions was a tall, fat man, and then the next moment, it was a short, slender girl.
"What is going on?" Kayzor asked, dumbfounded.
"Not entirely sure," Serilla answered. "One of the Mages mentioned that they were likely souls from the River of Souls beyond the veil of the Realm."
"Hmm, that actually makes sense," Kayzor said. "Why do they shift about, though? Why are some more transparent than others?"
As he watched the apparitions, he witnessed two of them walk into each other and merge into one. The transparency of the new ghost was much less than the two that had made it up.
"None of us can see it, but Reivyn had mentioned that there are little floating sparks floating around, and as they combine together, they form these apparitions. He said that those sparks are most likely the actual souls."
"Yeah, and they gain strength as they combine together," Reivyn said, turning and approaching Kayzor and Serilla.
Kefira remained in place, concentrating on the space fissure, and Kayzor finally got a good look at the young man's face. He had only seen him in profile as he stood with his sister, but now he got a look at his whole face.
Hmm, he's almost good-looking enough for my sister, Kayzor thought, keeping a neutral expression on his face.
"You must be Reivyn," Kayzor said. He didn't extend a hand in greeting.
"That's right," Reivyn nodded. He also didn't extend a hand in greeting. Nor did he offer a salute of any kind. Kayzor could see Serilla smirking at him from the corner of his eye.
"A captain, I see," Kayzor squinted his eyes as he scrutinized the young man in front of him. "Well, Captain, would you mind elaborating on these so-called souls?"
"Certainly," Reivyn nodded. "I don't know for sure that they are souls, but I have seen them before. They're pretty harmless when they're floating around by themselves, but they can be..." Reivyn trailed off as his eyes widened.
"I can definitely see some now!" Kefira called out. "Something's causing more and more of them to come through, and now it's pretty hard not to see them."
"Get that hole sealed!" Reivyn shouted.
Kayzor frowned at the urgent tone in Reivyn's voice. As he was about to open his mouth to say something, he noticed several of the more corporeal apparitions wander over toward their little group. They stepped into each other and began to merge together.
The merged apparitions no longer looked like several different people existing in the same space, flickering between themselves, though. It morphed into a strange, shining blob. It just floated in place for a moment, seemingly trying to gain its bearings.
Suddenly, it shifted into a hand and it lunged at Reivyn, trying to snatch him up. Kayzor and Serilla took a step back in shock as Reivyn dodged away from it. The apparition had ended up in a spot between Reivyn and Kefira, and it hesitated as it seemed to consider who to attack. Kayzor leaped between the blob and his sister, just as it launched itself at her.
The ethereal hand passed through him, and pain like he never experienced exploded within his head. It threatened to drown out all conscious thought, and he fought to maintain his sanity. He screamed at the top of his lungs as it passed through him, and he could feel his vitality get sucked away. The very core of his being felt like it was trying to be dislodged, sucked into the entity that passed through him.
He collapsed to the ground, shivering and sweating profusely, and he felt a powerful Mana shoot out over him to lasso the soul creature. He got to his knees and looked up to see what was happening, and he spotted ropes of Mana looping around the creature, holding it in place just mere inches away from his sister.
"Mages!" He bellowed. "Get all the Mages down here!"
He didn't know how many of those sparks that only Reivyn could apparently see made up the soul apparition, but if he and Kefira were right, and more and more were coming through the veil, then they would need all the Mana they could to defeat this thing. He was entirely sure, based on how it had just moved right through him, that only Mana would be able to affect it.
I really should have worked on my Mana Skills a bit more, Kayzor mentally kicked himself.