Leviticus enters my study soon after I send Winter for him. "What is it, sir?" He asks.

"Leviticus, I want you to answer me truthfully. Where did you first obtain the Thaumonomicon? I know the crimson cult couldn’t have wrote it themselves considering it even they can understand Thaumaturgy."

Leviticus’s eyes shoot around nervously for a moment before he inhaled deeply. "Well, long before you arrived here, I was the first one cast out to this place. I was but a child then. Over time, I gradually found more and more people trapped here, and together, we built the tower. At that time, we were nothing but a collection of people trying to survive. One day, however, about five years before you arrived in the Emptiness, a man veiled in shadows found his way to our tower and gave us the Thaumonomicon. He didn’t say his name and we don’t know what he looked like, but he gave it to us and told us to guard it for the arrival of the doomed soul, and if we did, we would have a chance at escaping this place. So, we did. And you arrived, and now we are no longer bound here."

"I see. Did the man tell you anything else?"

Leviticus thinks for a moment. "Not that I recall. Sorry, sir."

As he leaves, my head tosses and turns with ideas and theories. Who is this man? If he had the power to cross dimensions, he must have been a god of some sort. If this is true, it would mean his power far surpasses mine…

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I now focus on my other large question. So far, I have only encountered individuals misplaced from my own home dimension. Why is this? There must be an explanation.

I think back to my surreal experience that happened right after I died. I recall sitting in front of the Veil, then falling, falling far, far down. Could it be perhaps my home dimension is at the very top, somehow overshadowing the other dimensions in size? Would this make it the root dimension? I am intrigued by this thought. It would make sense if the parallel universe theory somehow explained this; after all, all dimensions I have come across so far have the exact same base set of properties as my home dimension. For now I will have to settle on this theory.

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The tower is bustling with praetors and new recruits as we prepare for the next excursion. I see the newbies training in swordplay in one room, and another room lined with several new curative vats I had to make to accommodate the growing of new bodies. Wanting momentary reprieve, I step outside into the vast sea of darkness and purple glow. It’s very dreary, but there’s some ethereal beauty about it. I decide now is as good a time as ever to test out something.

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I put about five football fields worth of distance between myself and the tower. At this distance, nobody over there should be affected. I slowly remove my grinning mask, extremely cautious not to be too rough with it. As I remove it, I can feel my warp exponentially grow in strength to the point where it leaks into the local aura. This causes the fog to appear once again. I look around me, alerted as I hear the growls of the entity that tore up the priests once again. I hear it growl behind me and spin to look at it. I cautiously place my hand on my primal cutter and prepare for a fight. However, to my surprise, rather than attack me, it stops approaching about a foot from me and kneels. Interesting.

I take this opportunity to get a closer look at it. It has no head, and the gaping mouth on its chest slowly pulsates. It’s extra-long limbs twitch every so often. The most interesting part, however, is that while it has a normal media signature, it has no visible soul to speak of. Finally, its body is wholly composed of Tenebrae (Darkness) Essentia.

"Can you speak?" I ask. It does not respond. "Are there more of you?" This time, it does respond. It stands up and releases a low-pitched screech from its chest cavity. Immediately, about five more entities just like it emerge from the fog and assume a kneeling position. The only explanation I can think of is that these creatures are created by my warp out of existing Tenebrae in the local aura, along with the fog. If this is the case, they will be a great asset.

Shaking my head, I put on my mask and they retreat back into the fog as it vanishes. No. I saw what they did to the priests. I must be conservative in my use of them.

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When I return, I find everyone to be ready to execute the fifth excursion. As I go to my study to make some final modifications to my armor and spell foci, someone enters, and I recognize them to be one of the people we saved on the fourth excursion. Presently, they inhabit the body of some sort of deer-like entity.

"Thank you so much for what you’re doing for us," they say. "Everyone we came with agreed to have someone go thank you. None of us could ever repay you."

"First Peter 4:9: ‘Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.’ I am more than happy to help. Think nothing of it." Clearly overcome with thankfulness, they decide to leave before they cry.

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The praetors and I, along with a few of the new recruits capable of combat, stand before the sealed flux rift. Julius and Jack have elected to stay behind this time to train. Ican has decided to come with me, but since his skills and magic won’t work here, I’m not sure how useful he will be in a fight. No matter. I channel my flux into the sealed rift and it opens. "Let’s get going."