“We’re in the Void,” I told Guinevere.

I looked about me in warry apprehension. I’d never been here physically only when my soul had been drifting from my body when I was at death’s door.

“How did we get here,” Guinevere asked.

I could feel her arm tighten around me as one went over her stomach protectively. Her voice was also getting higher as she panicked. I had to understand that while I was relatively familiar with the Void to others it was the place of nightmares.

“Gods put up a barrier around Talba,” I said. “We bounced right off and something went wrong with the portal.” I sighed. “It’s my fault, I had to use ethereal to open the portal. I knew it could alter it but I took that risk anyway.”

“What would have happened if you hadn’t?” Guinevere asked.

I was silent.

“What would have happened?” Guinevere asked again, her tone firmer this time.

“It would have sucked out my life force to complete itself,” I said.

“You idiot!” Guinevere said, slapping the back of my head. “You knew that could happen, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” I admitted. “And I didn’t tell you because I knew this was how you would react.”

Guinevere opened her mouth then closed it. “What do we do now?”

“Try to find a way out,” I said looking around. “And avoid being eaten by what’s in here.”

--

We kept flying. I felt like I was moving down and forwards but… no real gravity, no sky I didn’t even know if there was ground. We just kept drifting and drifting.

There is ground here right? I asked Voidra.

I don’t know, Voidra said with a mental shrug.

What do you mean you don’t know? Ares asked. You’re a native.

I’ve never been physical, she said with a mental shrug.

I’ve picked up a rock that was supposedly from here, I thought. But the System implied that matter here was rare.

The System doesn’t exist here, Voidra scoffed. What would it know about what is and isn’t common here.

You’re implying that matter isn’t uncommon here, Karnen butted in. I thought you said you didn’t know, which is it.

I don’t know if there is ground or isn’t ground, but matter and immaterial are more thoughts than reality here, Voidra clarified.

I paused. Explain that more.

We aren’t physical beings so we don’t create a physical environment, Voidra said. We also don’t see the way you do so no light or color either.

Your saying the Void is the way it is because you don’t imagine it as something else? Ares asked.

Not exactly, but close enough, Voidra said.

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My feet touched down on ground.

Where did that come from? Karnen asked.

I imagined it, I answered.

The ground was spongy, and it sort of felt like I was sinking into it but I could stand on it. It was black but there were lines of silver and white light running through it like black marble. Guinevere slid out of my arms and stepped onto the ground. It rippled whenever she took a step like a stone skipping across a pond. The silver and white lines twisted and contorted in the black semi-solid stone as if they were living beings before returning to a state of stillness. They produced light, not much but it was a faint glow that stood out in the complete darkness of the Void, it also showed that the “ground” only extended out for a few dozen yards in either direction.

I took a step, the ground rippled and I noticed the edge of the ground spread out from my feet, it wasn’t far just a yard or so. I took a step and it happened again, I looked back but the stone created by just imagining it hadn’t receded. I bent down running my hand over the black marble stone. It was smooth as glass with a vaguely slippery feeling as if it were both somehow both wet and dry.

“Void-Dragon’s Armory,” I said.

Nothing. I could turn raw energy into crystal, I could break Artifacts and compress them down to the size of my thumb but this… nothing.

“What is this?” I asked. “Why can’t I affect it?”

“It’s not real, neither are you technically,” Voidra said.

“Who said that?” Guinevere asked, whirling around.

“How did she hear you?” I asked.

“I’m real,” Voidra said.

“So, the ground and him aren’t real but you are?” Karnen asked.

Guinevere stared at me and I could feel the panic she’d been suppressing rising up.

“It's just the spirits in my head,” I said. “For some reason you can hear them now, you couldn’t a moment before which is weird.”

“Not really,” Voidra said. “This is the realm of souls, physical reality doesn’t exist here.”

I was suddenly starting to panic.

“What are you saying?” I asked.

Voidra let out a sigh. “I didn’t want to tell you this because it would make you panic but… your body isn’t here, it's nowhere. You have a body right now because you think you have a body.”

My head snapped to Guinevere and her stomach.

“You're saying I have a body because I’m self-aware, what happens to a baby with no concept of self yet?”

Guinevere’s hands went to her stomach pressing in and I could feel her panic matching my own.

“She would still have a concept of existing,” Voidra said. “She can hear you, she feels warm, all of that. She’ll keep feeling the exact same way because subconsciously that’s what she expects to keep feeling.”

I relaxed. “So she’s fine.”

“For now,” Voidra said. “You're going to have a problem though.”

My shoulders tensed. “What?”

“Guinevere is still going to give birth soon,” Voidra explained. “You can’t stop that, both your mind and body expect that to happen, the problem is going to occur when your idea of giving birth conflicts with your daughter’s sense of what it means to exist. Something like this has never happened, there isn’t any precedent for this.”

I started pacing back and forth.

“Status,” I said, trying to reach out to the System.

Nothing.

“I was able to check your Status the moment you touched that barrier,” Ares said. “What do you want to know?”

“What’s my maximum mana and mana regen rate?” I asked.

“Eight-million-three-hundred-sixty-two-thousand-five-hundred-and-thirty, mana regen is one-hundred-twenty-five per second.” Ares answered.

“My mana was empty when I got here,” I said. “That means I have a little over eighteen hours before it’s refilled to max and I can open a portal.”

“Only you can’t open a portal,” Karnen objected. “I kept track last time you’re a million short on the mana you need.”

“Can I imagine a storm and use that?” I asked Voidra.

“Not a real storm either,” Voidra said.

Guinevere took my hand and squeezed it. I could feel a tremor run through her but she kept the fear off her face. She was doing the exact same thing I had done suppressing her own fear to try and make me feel better. I breathed out, pushing out the fear.

“There are creatures in the Void,” I said. “How many?”

“Millions, billions even,” Voidra said. “My parents and their peers create us out of thought, we are formed from emotions after feeding on lost souls, there are more of us than can properly even feed.”

“Good,” I said. “Shadow, I’m glad you’ve been quiet but you’ll be happy to know we’re going with your plan.”

“His plan?” Ares asked with apprehension.

“Group us as many enemies as we can and try to force open a portal,” I said.

“You did read the part where the System said it would annihilate you if you tried to go back right?” Karnen asked.

“It’s a risk we have to take,” I said.

“So what do we do?” Guinevere asked. “There aren’t any landmarks, where do we go?”

“That way,” I said pointing.

“Why?” Voidra asked.

I blinked.

“I don’t know,” I said slowly. “I just feel something in that direction.”

“Then follow it,” Voidra said. “This is the Void; it is based on thought, feeling, sub-conscious desire.”

Guinevere and I started walking into the endless, fathomless, infinite.