Aluun was happy to finally get somewhere she could thrive. Before Vel realized, Aluun had already disappeared and went somewhere. Vel simply shrugged and went to explore the world on her own. It was strange how advanced everything was. Just about everything was automated using technology, there didn’t seem to be any magic users around.
Vehicles flew through the sky. Vel had no idea what they were nor how they worked. She just watched them from below. She wandered around the city which had technology incorporated everywhere. Rather than being completely baffled by all this advanced technology around her. She just thought of the technology like it was a substitute for magic. Everything she saw had an equivalent she was used to. Perhaps she would appreciate this world more if she could actually understand any of it.
She wandered around and noticed that she could never shake the feeling of being watched and monitored. It was an off putting feeling that didn’t go away no matter where she went. She wanted to use wind magic to fly to somewhere where she wouldn’t feel watched. However, she didn’t want to use magic in a magic-less world where there are so many prying eyes. She didn’t want to potentially cause issues for Aluun.
She simply sighed as she wondered if this truly was goodbye and the end of their partnership. Despite Aluun’s luck Vel’s portals only followed her wishes for adventure and interesting sites. She hadn’t seen Aluun for a while and then a familiar voice called out to her from behind.
“VEL we gotta leave now!” The familiar voice yelled. Vel looked back and saw a familiar friend. Aluun was currently running in Vel’s direction, but so were a lot of people. Vel looked towards where the people were fleeing from. In the distance there was a massive reptilian creature destroying everything in its path. The robot guards were being destroyed the moment they started to fire on the beast.
“Just a giant lizard is that what you're afraid of?” Vel looked over at Aluun; she had expected more from the reaction Aluun was giving. “Sure it’s massive but it’s nothing I can’t deal with.”
“No, not the massive lizard. The thing I’m worried about is that black cube behind the lizard.” Aluun pointed at a small black cube that floated in the sky behind the lizard. Vel didn’t think much of it until the waves started to emanate from the cube. Three instances of waves were felt before a big chunk of the city was just gone without a sound. The large reptile which had been fleeing from the cube was erased as well. Vel's relaxed expression disappeared and was replaced with one of slight panic.
Before Vel opened her portal the black cube in the air had been sniped from afar. However, rather than stopping it without issue. The cube emitted waves at a far more rapid and aggressive tempo and bit by bit squares of matter were being deleted from the world and it only spread more and more. Vel opened a portal and she and Aluun escaped the collapsing world.
The new world they had been dropped into the air was toxic and Aluun began choking. Vel then opened another portal and they both went through. Only to end up at the interdimensional police department. They quickly escaped from there before being noticed.
They kept hopping through dimensions until they found one that Aluun wouldn’t perish in. Although there didn’t seem to be anything where they were. It was completely empty, but they were standing on something. Though it was an unfamiliar material. Vel and Aluun walked straight towards what seemed to be a light in the distance. Vel felt a gaze upon her coming an unknown source as she approached the light. The light led them to a wall. It had writing on it that said. “Congratulations on making it to the edge of all realities. This place is beyond any dimension or reality.”
“The edge of all reality?..” Aluun took a deep breath. She furrowed her brow before sighing. “Vel your portal took us to the LITERAL EDGE OF REALITY! How does that even happen? You know what, I'm going to go to a different dimension all by myself. I can’t possibly survive if I stay by your side. Good luck on your travels because you’ll need it. If I see you again then maybe I’ll treat you to something, but I need to go somewhere nice and relaxing. Goodbye Vel, and I hope the next time we meet it won’t be somewhere unsurvivable for me or apocalyptic.” Aluun activated her dimensional travel device that she repaired in the hi-tech dimension. It opened a portal and she leapt through and disappeared.
Vel sighed. “I can’t say I didn’t expect our paths to diverge from one another. We were in constant danger due to my portal destinations. I gotta say it was kinda fun having someone around. She’s lucky enough to survive for a while so I’m sure I’ll see her again.” Vel spoke aloud and then went back to looking at the seemingly endless wall. The light was still illuminating the text which she read.
“I’m kinda curious about what language this text is written in.” Vel took a look at the message while purposefully suppressing her automatic translation. She was surprised to see the language that she had once grown up with. It was the language used in Magiem. She made a small ball of light and illuminated more of the wall. She noticed that the wall had all sorts of languages written upon it. But for her only the Magiem one glowed.
“Does this place have some sort of system that detects a person’s home dimension and guides them to the corresponding text.” When Vel used her translations all the words were the same as the Magiem one. The feeling of something watching her when she approached hadn’t gone away. Vel wondered if there was anything beyond the wall. She channeled magical energy into her fist and the punch as hard and as fast as she could which made a massive shockwave upon impact. However, no damage was done to the wall.
She waited for her mana to regenerate. Afterwards Vel then opened a portal to lead somewhere new. Once again there was seemingly nothing but a white floor and endlessly white space. “This is the complete opposite from the last place I was in. It seems pretty boring, there isn’t anything in here.” Vel went to open a portal to leave. However, her magical energy was being extinguished the moment it left her body. She was confused and she tried again and again.
After none of her magic worked she decided to use her last resort. Her eyes began to glow and her hair’s amber colored strains revealed themselves. However, her portal still refused to manifest itself. Despite using incredibly high quality mana. She tried to repeatedly open a portal or do anything magical but the only thing she could manage was coating her body with magical energy. She swung at the floor but just like that wall at the supposed end of reality it did nothing. “DAMN IT. How can I continue my journey if I can’t escape this prison of a dimension!” Vel cursed. My body’s stamina will run out if I continue using Mom’s mana.
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
After Vel repeatedly attempted to break the ground. She released the more she hit and concentrated on her mana which coated her body. The finer and more attuned it became. Her knuckles were bleeding despite them being coated with mana. She kept hitting the ground until she heard a crack. She gave one final swing downward using her fist which was coated in blood and tempered high quality mana. The ground beneath her shattered and she began to fall into a dark place. The white light from the top of the area she was in became further and further away.
Somewhere else someone or something was watching Vel’s efforts. “I was going to let her free from that prison after some time. But I never expected her to have powers strong enough to shatter the floor which is made up of a material that lesser deities of the multiverse wouldn’t be able to scratch. How interesting, I should’ve expected her to be special given how it took some effort to influence her portal’s destination. Although destroying the floor was a mistake. Because she has entered the den of the world eaters. I wonder if she will survive long enough to exterminate them all or somehow escape.”
Vel’s landing was slightly softened by the bodies of fleshy creatures. Their bodies looked like many different animals but all corrupted and twisted. However, they were immediately hostile towards Vel. Vel could only see glowing eyes in every direction. The ceiling had been repaired so Vel was in complete darkness aside from her eyes glowing alongside the beasts. “That was a mistake wasn’t it. I was so desperate for a way out that I stupidly destroyed my only footing. However, it seems I can use magic here.” Vel smiled and tried to open a portal after blasting apart all of the monsters around her with a whirlwind. However the portal didn’t stabilize and dissipated. Vel sighed as she had a lot of work ahead of her if she wanted to make it out alive.
“Aluun left at the perfect moment huh. Well I’m not going to die to some creepy ass creatures. There may be many of them, however I’d take an army of things I can hit versus one being beyond comprehension I can’t.” Vel readied herself by taking a deep breath and tempering her mana. “Traveling through the different realities is dangerous.” She then began the battle for survival against the horde of evils. Vel noticed that the floor was a black tar like liquid and if she wasn’t careful she would sink.
The beasts had no regard for their own safety and only attempted to attack Vel. There wasn’t a hint of strategy to their attacks. The creatures just lunged at Vel, attempting to bite or slash at her. However, every time they would get close Vel would obliterate them with tempered wind magic. The moment they perished their corpses sank into the black sea.
Vel had killed and killed and killed and killed and killed and killed. She kept killing and killing. Their numbers never seemed to end. She knew that the moment she let her guard down or ran out of mana, she would be torn asunder. She had to keep killing and killing.
“It’s kill or be killed here.” Vel muttered. She coughed up a small amount of blood from mana overuse. She then healed herself and continued to kill the incoming creatures. She continued to and perfect her methods of killing the evil beasts.
In order to satisfy her hunger she cooked edible looking meat from the monsters she killed with fire magic. While protecting herself with wind magic she ate. The creatures were ripped to shreds by her wind magic. Though like everything here the moment they hit the floor they sank down. Despite the, at this point hundreds of thousands of monsters she had slain the corpses never piled high enough to reach the surface of the liquid. Though Vel had no clue if there was a bottom to sink to, or if they just sank eternally. Vel’s adrenaline, will to survive, and occasional snack was keeping her from completely burning out despite constantly using her blood’s special mana.
The overuse of the mana made Vel’s blood heat up. However, her natural constitution and regulation using healing magic was keeping her from completely burning up. She wasn’t gonna let her own physical body prevent her from surviving this ordeal. The wind magic she consistently used alongside the occasional punch or throw only improved. She was only using basic low cost wind magic attacks. She had likely done the same magical blasts of wind over a thousand times each. The constant fight for survival was pushing Vel past her limits. The constant use of wind magic made the air thicker. Which slowed down the beasts’ movements.
Despite the war of attrition being seemingly hopeless. Vel refused to go down without a fight. The constant roars of the beasts never ceased. However, Vel became quite adept at tuning out their noises as she slaughtered all of the creatures in her vicinity. Thanks to Vel’s efforts her mana was absurdly refined and powerful. She was able to fly while using far less mana than before. Most importantly, she was actually able to fly in this prison of a dimension.
She flew up and away from the monsters in order to potentially return to the empty room she was in before. After she flew higher and higher. She went faster and faster and by the time she made it to the ceiling. She went right through it and completely shattered it. She had once again made it into the white area again. However, this place had no ceiling and she seemingly was going to fly on forever.
Vel eventually stopped going higher. She attempted to open a portal with her newly refined mana. However, the portal refused to manifest itself to the amusement of Vel’s captor. Vel instead felt the energy of the distortion effect of the magic. She attempted to grab ahold of it and the energy became coated and mixed with her mana reinforced fists. Whilst Vel was in the sky she noticed that the monsters from below had begun to stack on top of one another to reach Vel. Millions of the seemingly infinite army of monsters were quickly building a tower made of their own bodies.
“I wonder what would happen if I used these newly enhanced fists.” Vel spoke aloud, and before the monsters could reach her. She started to speed down towards them with her fist pulled back and readying for a downward punch. The moment before Vel was about to collide with the creatures. She slammed her magically enhanced fist down onto them. The resulting impact completely annihilated the tower and the shockwaves which were enhanced by dimensional energy. Destabilized the entire reality and also created a portal out of there. The devastating effects were caused by the combination of Vel’s refined mana, the speed, and most importantly the dimensional energy.
To the absolute shock and utter surprise of the being who had created the dimension. It had been destabilized to the point of collapse and the world was unsalvageable. Vel’s demonstration of power and endurance was something to be praised.
Vel had escaped and made it out after who knows how long. The portal she made led her to a beach. She promptly coughed up blood and passed out after clearing the blood off with magic. Vel felt her magical energy spike in amount which told her how long she had been in there.