"The output is stable, continuing to increase the fuel intake," sounded a mechanical voice from a metal disc inscribed with glowing blue pathways, forming a circle diagram, which pulsed with mana.

"Check the valves around the rim," answered the woman in dark goggles. She stood behind a glass wall, her face illuminated by orange flashes coming from a giant circular hall outside. With her hands behind her back, she had all her attention on the experiment.

"On it!" came a response.

"If things go well, the Firefly Corp will secure its place as one of the leaders in Hive," she said to her assistant.

A skinny man, with his eyes also protected by goggles, looked up at the woman, "Hive? Are we making this for a Hive?"

"Why the disgust? Half of our staff comes from the Hive."

"But they live underground in mines!"

"I came from Hive."

"Ugh," man awkwardly stopped.

Woman sighed, "You wouldn't understand how much a simple sunlight means to those who come out to surface once a year..."

"Fluctuations are rising. Should we reduce the flow to mana injectors?" said the man on the other side of the disk, his voice riddled with the hissing static.

"No. Increase the speed of top stabilising rim, the reaction is rising from the fuel injected," she instructed, carefully observing the sight. In front of her was a glowing star, struggling to maintain its spherical shape. The fiery orb pulsed and spewed out arcs of matter, which hit an invisible shield and redirected to top and bottom of the machine, towards the stabilising rims.

"We observe the pull on Astral Plane."

"Good. Maintain the load." she asked before turning to her assistant, "Add the improvements on shielding to the list."

"Done..." said assistant, before hesitantly asking, "Say, miss Korwilde?"

"Hmm?"

"Uhmm... What is it like to live underground?"

"I am glad you asked... Add the light ducts to the list as well. You see, when the Hive was first organised during the times of Magic Empire, its purpose was to reconnect the two sides, former Kingdom and Republic. The mountain ridge separated them after the war, and the only way of trade was with the help of Breezeborne."

"Flying ships of Federation?"

"Yes, them. It was easy to sail along the leylines, but the way around the mountain was too tedious. So, both sides dug towards each other through the mountain. Many mages perished during the project..."

"It was before they found the crystalline mana veins?"

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"They found them almost immediately. My grandfather told me that their team took notice of them during digging and avoided an explosion... Anyways, the path was open. Yet, people wanted to mine those crystals. Careless picking at the walls caused a cave-in, once again cutting the road."

"I know the rest, the Emperor started a new project aimed at mining, and so the Heart of the Hive was founded, every kid is taught that at class."

"What they don't teach you, surface dwellers, is that the conditions at those mines were terrific. Therefore, not many people wanted to move there. But Nulls... They had no work on top, so they volunteered."

"The whole city of Nulls!?"

"Not the whole, of course, but a sizeable part of population was insensitive to mana. But so you know, not being able to sense mana doesn't mean a person is dumb. They began making tools to deal with their shortcomings," she sidestepped with a metallic clank, not letting her eyes off the pulsing orb.

"Uhm... Miss Korwilde? Do you feel it?"

"No, I don't," she answered before saying into the disk, "Stabilisers on max output, stop the injectors, equalise the balance of levitators. Hold tight, the reaction is supercritical."

"But how do you not feel it? The whole world is getting sucked into it!? Are you?..."

"A Null, yes. It's like you know me since yesterday. Get a hold onto your Soul. The leylines are approaching."

The beam of light that powered the star from below gradually reduced in size, redirecting the power to other components. The whirring mana began rattling the loose items on their desk, but Korwilde was unfazed. She waited for reaction to become self-sustaining, and for that she had to cause a small cataclysm. Her smile widened, as she felt the tingling feeling on the back of her head.

"Buckle up! Hold your Soul and pray for the best to whatever God you believe in! The connection is imminent in five!... Four!..." the rumble of the facility intensified, and the star's brightness increased, scorching her face. "Too fast... Scrap that! NOW!" She ducked, avoiding the incoming flash.

The disk emitted the mind-numbingly loud screech, drowning the strained grunts of the assistant. A couple of seconds later, everything quieted down, with only the deep hum of the machinery filling the room. Korwilde carefully peered out of the window.

The glowing star was perfectly spherical, with occasional arcs lifting to the edge of the shielding layer. It's size was impressive, barely a meter wide, but the light it emitted was barely different from that of the real sun... And that is all that mattered to her.

"...wil... ...iss Kor..." came the voice from a disc. "...uc...eed?"

"Are you alive?" asked Korwilde, finally leaving her post and walking towards the assistant. He was crouching and covered in sweat, but otherwise unharmed.

"You are... insane..." he mumbled.

"Sorry for that, I underestimated the pulling force. Can you stand up?" she stretched a hand to him.

"Not now... I'll stay here for a bit..." he said, out of his breath.

"Sure. I'll be in the control room. Come after you recover," she patted his shoulder and walked out of the room, a metal clank resounding through the corridors every other step. She was getting used to her new leg quickly. Most importantly, she had taken more countermeasures against incidents since the last disaster, which took her limb in the first place...

"Miss Korwilde! We succeeded!" yelled a man, while running towards her from the control room. He reached miss Korwilde and began walking alongside her.

"Yes, we did, Strum! Great work! Are people in the control room alright?"

"Yes, the shielding and distance helped a lot! What are our plans for the future?" excitedly asked Strum, while fixing his glasses.

"Now we need to observe it for a couple of days, and measure the power and light output. If everything is in check, then we can show it to leaders of the Corp."

"We recorded the fluctuations at the moment of leyline collision. I thought you will like that."

"Fluctuations?..." she mused, while checking the report. With a frown, she asked, "Where did this peak come from?"

"Our guys believe it is the outcome of some outside interference. But..."

"No one is so powerful, apart from the rulers. Unless... Someone great is looking after us."

"Do you yourself believe in it?" Strum raised an eyebrow.

"Nah, I'm joking. I saw the piece of pipe fly inside the star after the startup," she laughed lightheartedly. She was the only one watching the experiment through the glass. People would believe her.

Even if there was no pipe...