CHAPTER 277: HARD TO ACCEPT?
Report by Cécile Leroux.
This is strange.
That was the first thing that came to my mind.
The reason is quite simple... This world does not seem to be corrupted by ‘Chaos’.
At least not as those who went to the other side of the first portal explained... It was an unexpected situation.
We expected a dark world, corrupted and devoured by the ‘Chaos’ of the void, but we found a green jungle full of insects, animals and wild beasts.
They were strange, six-legged creatures, beasts with multiple eyes and even animals with what we might call hands.
None of them were intelligent, which made it difficult to find information.
The good thing was that most of our group showed up together and the first thing we did was report to the other side.
The abysmal portal that would be the way out was not close, but once our large group was organized, setting up a long distance signal network and using communication crystals, we found the others quickly.
We were in an unknown place and faced unknown dangers, our priority was our safety.
Our space mage moved in with an advance team while we concealed the camp.
I had summoned various creatures, birds, beasts and my goal was to use them to investigate our surroundings, but my summonings were different than normal.
Summoners on Earth can bring different kind of creatures and some of them known on Earth, but my new research opened a door for me to summon different creatures.
Such an ability was adapted to this world, allowing me to summon creatures very different from those on Earth and most of them were creatures similar to the one found in this world.
In the future, I will try to create a spell to summon these creatures on earth, but for that I will have to wait until when I return....
I apologize, my eagerness for magic won me over.
Back to the subject.
We are in another world. Such a statement was a fact.
The sky has no stars, and it is hard to see outside, but there is a moon that gave the appearance of having stuck multiple moons at the same time and there is also a red sun.
We had brought technological equipment of all kinds, from a machine designed to try to communicate with the Earth, telescopes and scanning drones.
Each of these was a Cosmos Enterprise design and another report will detail the results.
For my part, I have to mark two notable events.
The communication machine allows us to receive signals from Earth, I don’t know how they did it, but we can receive orders or updated information, however, we cannot communicate... At least our messages have no answer, maybe the machine is not powerful.
They have not given us too much information on that subject and I guess the designers must know the reason.
Another noteworthy issue.
Following the orders they had not given we wanted to look at the stars with the telescope... When that thought came to our mind, we all stopped as we felt a sense of danger.
Looking at the moon from this place was simple, but the danger appeared when we tried to look at it through a telescope.
We commanded the telescope’s AI to check and project the details through a drone and we managed to capture the truth.
What is in the sky was not a moon... They are strange shapes that make up what appears to be the moon of this world.
They have even been seen to move.
According to our theologian from the Church of Time and Space, it is quite possible that the thing... Are the ‘Guardians’ of this world.
Such a claim cannot be proven or confirmed, but that we have felt a danger in trying to look at it, makes it clear that perhaps the person looking directly at it would not have survived... At that level was the existence that made up the moon, at a level that just looking at it can cause problems.
Our theologian has been excited to study such an aberrant existence and his most superficial conclusion is that possibly the guardian deities may have merged.
As I am writing this report, I am still amazed at such a conclusion.
This place looks nice as a green jungle full of life and the danger seems low, but if we look at it another way... We have the guardians or gods of this world forming a moon with different parts of their body.
Did that existence that opened the portals warn the ‘guardians’ of this world?
That doubt is gnawing at the minds of the expedition members.
After all, we have heard what happens to ‘invaders’ in some stories brought back from Terra nova.
No one wants their home invaded by dangerous insects and to our regret, we are those insects.
Maybe I’m overthinking it and they are not really deity level ‘entities’, but there is a need to increase guard against either circumstance.
For now we will prioritize the search for information before we act.
*****
An old man wearing an Archmage’s robe looked at the horizon.
The place he stood was black and white, there was no other color in his vision, but the world was still shaped with those two colors.
It wasn’t that he was getting old, this world was shaped by those two colors.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Still, that man stroked his white beard while observing the surroundings attentively.
Sometimes the surroundings were distorted, and sometimes small voices could be heard in his ears.
“Captain Vladislav. We have gathered our entire group and checked the communication machine. The sky seems to have stars if you look directly, but sometimes we see strange figures,” said one of the expedition members and lowering his head, he muttered. “Everything else is not working. Neither the drones, nor anything related to technology, there seems to be some external influence in this place. Maybe it’s the rules of this plane.”
Vladislav Vasilyev gazed intently at the surroundings listening to such words.
Rules?
No, Vladislav knew clearly.
The ‘rules’ of this plane were similar to that of earth... No, to say ‘similar’ was to let on that there was some difference, which was incorrect. The rules were the same as earth.
As an Archmage of SS rank, Vladislav understood it perfectly through the elements.
This place was governed by the same rules as the Earth and that meant that the magical rules and some physical rules could be similar.
What changed was this world.
The gravity was less which made the body light and as for there being no color, it was due to what was happening in this world.
Space in the distance became distorted and a low wail came from far away giving the feeling that those who heard it were hearing voices in their heads.
The land was dry as if there was no vitality, but it was not ‘corrupted’ by ‘Chaos’.
It was very different from the report of the first portal and the worst part was that it made everyone disoriented.
Why were they in this world?
Why was an abysmal portal opened?
And the biggest question... What was the task they were supposed to do?
If this was a teaching, then it meant there was something to learn and something to do.
Vladislav scanned his surroundings until he could again notice how in the distance it distorted and this time he could grasp the truth.
It was not ‘space’ that was distorting, it was the layer of reality that divided the ‘spiritual’ from the ‘physical’.
And at that moment an unfortunate soul extended its lament, and they heard another whisper in their ears.
Vladislav had decided to participate in the portal in secret because of the danger and now a strange and fascinating phenomenon had been encountered.
“Do you believe in ghosts?” Vladislav asked with a big smile.
His team member gave him a strange look, but he ended up smiling.
“Then you will believe.” Vladislav muttered as his eyes filled with magical energy.
He was not a spiritual Archmage, but he had certain means to see what was beyond the physical and now he strove for that sight.
His vision changed, and the deserted land of black and white, began to change in his vision.
It was filled with hundreds of thousands of figures of a race that could only be called aliens, wailing, piled together, as if desiring salvation.
This world was filled with ghosts and spirits, letting out painful moans and groans, lost and uncomprehending about their surroundings.
This world of black and white, was a spirit world... Or at least the ruins of one.
And now they were surrounded by all manner of spirits and ghosts.
“Prepare to send a report,” Vladislav ordered with a serious tone and after thinking about it, he commented. “We won’t do it through the Goddess of Order, but through the God of Time and Space.”
The Primordial Goddess of Order would purify the surroundings and such an action would bring unwanted results to this spirit world.
What was it that they had to do in this world?
The answer to that question was the one they needed to answer using any method possible... Even if it meant interrogating those persistent spirits.
Still, they had to move carefully.
A weak spirit might have no memory or be lost, but if an evil spirit or some higher force existence appeared, then they might be faced with something they couldn’t see clearly.
After all, no matter that they had no self-awareness, in their most primitive nature spirits yearned for life... And they would steal it from those who had them.
******
Aurora read for the third time both reports from the two portals.
Vladislav Vasilyev was one of the SS ranks in Russia and Aurora was surprised to realize that such an individual had entered the portals.
Quite possibly the Russian authorities kept it a secret or that ‘Grand Archmage’ demonstrated the unpredictable attitude for which he was known.
Still, the point that both situations were extremely different from each other gave food for thought.
The Church of Time and Space gave him this report, but surely most of the world’s authorities were wondering the same thing.
What were the abyssal portals for?
If this was all about a task or a teaching, then quite possibly no one had a guide or a guideline.
Now they were in the dark trying to see if it was possible to superficially grasp some of the truth.
The most impressive and frightening thing was that they no longer encountered humans, elves or any other known race from Terra nova.
Vladislav had detailed the spiritual appearance of the natives of that world, at least he did so superficially because some spirits still retained their old physical form.
At least in appearance.
Supposedly light blue skin, skinny and with three eyes in a humanoid form... Such descriptions for Aurora were certainly too shocking.
On Cecile’s side the moon was made up of the ‘guardians’ and if her analysis was true, then they were fused together.
How shocking was such information?
It was quite frightening if one thought about it carefully.
Perhaps some former players had more experiences when relating to these kinds of shocking matters, but for her part she had never seen or heard of a ‘God’.
It all felt unreal... Too unreal and such a situation made her feel small.
Aurora sighed slowly.
“Hard to accept?” Alice asked as she entered the room and saw her going through the reports again.
Was it hard to accept?
“Terra nova exists, and that lessens the impression, but there is no doubt that my perspective changes,” Aurora replied and seeing her friend give her a curious look at her emotions, she explained. “This world is already big, and suddenly we are connected to other worlds. Facing the unknown.”
It was true that Terra nova always gave that sense that Earthlings were not alone, that there was something bigger and the feeling that they were small, but she in this world already felt small.
Outside of Africa she was ‘small’ in many ways and now when she added the abyssal portals that smallness increased even more.
It was true that she was not ‘alone’ in that smallness, but, even so, she did not deny that it gave the feeling that her actions only stirred a small wave around her.
She had felt some pressure in feeling small when she had faced the ‘Big Worm’, but now such a situation was increasing to an enormous extent.
If those were not the only portals and if it was as her master said she had to get used to... Then in the future she was likely to encounter more difficult situations.
Africa was huge, but in this place she had a greater chance of intervening and that meant that at some point she would face another abysmal portal.
“Will feeling small stop you?” Alice asked with some curiosity.
Stop her?
No, it was impossible for such thoughts to stop her.
She knew that gods existed and although she did not like to think about it, slowly such entities were showing another very different attitude.
She did not know the reason and objectives of such deities, but it was impossible for her to be stopped.
However small the repercussions of her actions were compared to how immense the reality was becoming, she could still cause an effect with her actions and that effect generated greater repercussions when merged with the actions of others.
“No. I don’t know where I want to head, but what I do know, is that I’m on a good path.” Aurora declared standing up earnestly.
Alice gave her an equally solemn look and a moment later her smile slowly grew.
It was true that she didn’t know where she was headed.
There was no goal or objective in her path, she was just walking surrounded by a haze that represented uncertainty.
Still, she knew she was on a good path and that was because every step she took she always did so thinking about what would be best and following her own ideals.
“Then don’t worry about those issues. When the time comes, I will help you,” Alice said and looking at her with her black eyes, she announced. “No one will stop me.”
Her emotions had gotten Alice motivated, and it was a rather impressive motivation.
Aurora kept her gaze on her sister’s eyes, understanding that she had already decided to move.
Then she smiled.
Her sister was indifferent and lazy, but just as she said she was unstoppable once she made up her mind on something and the most impressive thing was that she always succeeded on her own.
“I’m glad to have such a reliable sister,” Aurora said getting Alice a little embarrassed and winking at her, she hesitated. “I’ll have to up the payment on food, won’t I?”
Alice’s eyes sparkled in a different way than before and Aurora giggled.
She felt like she was feeding her secret weapon to use in time of need and strangely she couldn’t deny that part of that thought was true.