“I’m assuming you intend to create a portal of sorts for your crew visit this place in your absence, since you keep talking of leaving while hurriedly erecting these shambling messes you wish you could call mana wells,” Cira could barely hear the ancient sorcerer’s voice over his echoing in her head. As if teaching her a lesson for her arrogance, each word he spoke was like another fist, straight to the soul. She felt it start to bruise like a melon and the only measure Cira could think of to prevent serious damage was to pull it into her aura, which had filled up before he even opened his mouth. “But how? Did you intend to enchant the lake itself? You’ll be at it for weeks.”
Finally, Cira was afforded a moment to breathe as he finished his rant. “You bastard…” She couldn’t be that mad, as she shared the opinion that she was weak—such was not uncommon for young sorcerers. “Can’t you at least cool it on the mana until I go to bed or something?”
“Fool.” A window in space opened up and showed hundreds of exhausted pirates running in circles and crying to the sky in anguish to accomplish a single pushup because they couldn’t stay on their feet any longer. There were literal pools of sweat in the low spots of the smooth golden earth, as well as sparse bloodstains for some reason. “You think dumping mana on you in your sleep will make you any stronger? Half of those people out there are putting forth more determination than they probably ever have in their lives with hardly a shred of aura between them. Are you, the proud ‘intermediate sorcerer’, afraid of a challenge more suited to your level?”
Cira looked into the dead man’s bright white eyes, “I am the daughter of the Great Sage. No trial scares me—”
The bottom of the ocean disappeared, as did the rest of it which she had slowly spread her influence through. She was blind, as was the world pure black. It wasn’t darkness—just nothing. The lack of pressure of any kind, be it physical or aethereal, was profoundly jarring to Cira. She felt her flesh try to bulge outward, requiring her to contain it actively, and she felt as if her entire body would turn into ice if she didn’t consciously regulate her body temperature.
Had she not the temperament of a sorcerer who expects at least something unfortunate to happen at any time, it would have been too late.
Apparently, the absence of the concept of heat was just cold—unfathomably so. She had hoped against all logic that it would be somewhere in the middle, but alas.
The highly impressive daughter of the Great Sage instinctively triggered a domain burst to assume at least consistent conditions to what she was used to, but it was for naught. She ended up allowing a great deal of mana to burn up as fuel for the indomitable nothingness she found herself in.
“W-what did you do?!” It felt like her mind’s words went nowhere at all, so Cira was relieved to hear a reply.
“Foolish girl. Have you never heard of true void? That which predates the aethereal plane. You have nothing here but that which is your own.”
“O-of course I’ve heard of it!” Cira wasn’t used to people aside from her father knowing significantly more than her, so being instructed was a foreign feeling these days. It almost felt wrong learning from some random old guy. “What’s your point?”
“This is another pocket realm I spent a very long time developing in anticipation of your arrival, my dear successor.”
His last three words were imbued with mana as if to spite her.
“And… what am I supposed to do here?” Cira looked around but there wasn’t anything to see nor perceive in any other manner.
“You will find out soon enough.” His ominous words somehow echoed through her mind, “But until then, I think I will take over the role of instructor for you.”
Cira felt the connection to his mind slowly dissipate and started to panic. It was in essence the last exterior feeling she had left, “Hey wait, what do you think you’re doing with my students?!”
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“If you have a problem.” He laughed, “Come find me.”
Then the connection was gone. Cira was alone in a sea of nothing. The darkness grew darker by the second, while seconds stretched further and further. In moments, Cira was unclear if time was even passing.
“…” She opened her mouth, and nothing came out.
“Prismagora!” But nothing appeared.
“Aquon…?”
Still nothing.
No matter how far her Spatial Sight spread, it never left the bounds of her body. Cira had read about the actual void in theoretical textbooks, but this was something she never fathomed she would experience. In a last desperate attempt to do anything, she called on the waters in her soul and they refused to leave her body.
Even my will is stifled in this place… I don’t know where I am in relation to Paradise. I can’t even feel Breeze Haven. What is… this place?
There was no surrounding aether or space, it was just nothing. Unfortunately, Cira needed mana to sustain her form and existence down to the very thought. Despite being overloaded several magnitudes more than ever, her mind subconsciously calculated how long she could maintain here, and her heart started to beat faster. Counterproductively, that only drew on her aura further.
She could last years to be sure, but the fact that she could see such a very clear end did not sit well with her.
I expend far to much mana simply in an idle state… No matter how much I reduce that rate, it will never be zero. This place will be my grave if I don’t do something… I have to get out of here.
___
“Was this a trick all along?!” Jimbo collapsed to his chest and beat his fist into the ground, bruising his knuckles. “It’s been five hours! We’re gonna die!”
“Speak for yourself, chump.” My own jog slowed as Cira’s harem strode past in a line, led by that cunning girl, Ember. It was a shorter blonde one who spoke out, I think her name was Goldie—Wick’s second favorite. Not a great fit for Cira’s harem, if I’m being honest. “You should just give up.”
“You watch your mouth, bitch.” I thrust out my palm using the same form as Cira and toppled her a good few yards, through one of the sweat puddles. “Your beloved mistress would expel you from the harem if she heard you talking like that.”
It was beyond me why Cira retained the harem. I’m pretty sure two or three snuck in from the city too. She was certainly too stupid to make good use of it, though perhaps their collective wiles could fix that. That was certainly Ember’s goal, at least.
Goldie was out cold, and most of the others looked at me with fear or shock. Pearl’s teeth were clattering as she was close enough to feel the gust brush by her face, “Y-you… you can’t just do that!” I had nothing against her particularly, but she needed to shut up.
“As a matter of fact, I can, as I am Cira’s direct disciple.” I didn’t like being haughty any more than my absent master, but in this case it was the fastest way to resolve the issue. I felt perhaps I was understanding something about being a sorcerer. In any case, Pearl instantly folded. She didn’t like Goldie either, but she scared easily.
Ember was the only one who continued jogging in place after the harem froze, and she looked at me with a chuckle, “You don’t have to be so rough—” Her words died off and her cheeks lost all color.
“Sometimes, a heavy hand is necessary for the especially dense—” My own words died as I noticed Ember was not looking at me, but over my shoulder. Her expression gradually grew more dire. I felt a subtle breeze of mana at my back then a hand settled on my shoulder.
“Well said, young Tawny.” My blood chilled. I… I recognize that voice, don’t I? When I turned my head, I was looking straight into the eyes of the high chancellor from that memory, but finely shrouded like a damp painting. “My successor may be a fool, but I am glad to see those around her have some sense.”
“Who the hell’re you?!” Jimbo’s peg leg was in his hand faster than a whip could crack. He also neglected to wait for an answer before stabbing away. Though it didn’t pierce the old sorcerer. He simply moved aside as the leg knife slid off his ambiguous robes.
“You may refer to me as Grandmaster Ionath.” A pressure descended on the island, and everyone was forced to their knees or the ground depending on if they were running or otherwise. I barely stopped my face from slamming into the earth. “Cira unfortunately does not have a lot of time and will be tied up in her own training for a bit, so I will be your instructor until she returns.”
“What… are you doing?!” I managed to croak out.
“You bastard!” Apparently, Captain Shores was still in the game, but he was further away. “What have you done with her?! I’ll kill you!”
Surprisingly, he was the first to plant a foot on the ground, but lost balance and rolled over under the pressure.
“Your master is gone,” His words were cold, and even I couldn’t figure him out, “And unless she succeeds in her trial, she will remain that way. Not that any of you can help her, but if you cannot stand on your feet by tomorrow you may as well join the junior division.”
___
“What do you think’s happening down there…?” the young Mayor Jule asked from the Council’s Agora.
“It’s best not to worry about that until Cira gets back.” James watched a few hundred pirates fall to their knees before a powerful stranger that Cira seemed to know at the base of the hill and turned away, “You were saying, about produce from Dolliver…?”