Is it already another Month? The Caravan came and with them… Edgar… This is annoying, but what shall I do?

“Sir Mordred? I have a Message for you from Lord Null.”

“Oh? What is it?”

“Please be a bit quieter. This time we will not directly barter, as you might not have much time. The Second Storage on the Left there is filled to the brim with pickled Vegetables. Please just exchange everything you have with them and be ready to leave right away.”

“Something bad?”

“Really bad, Lord Null is in a stressed mood. Just quickly exchange and be ready to leave. Do not tell those people with you, as they might use you as a shield if bad comes to worse.”

The Colour drains on Mordred’s face and orders his People to just unload at the Storage and change the Goods with the ingredients quickly. While Edgar is aware of the rather strange atmosphere he walks with determination in the direction of the Castle.

His determination seems he would even incapacitate someone who would stop him, but no one does, as I already told everyone to just leave him. I am now strong enough to even frighten those guys. I am not here any more for a long time to begin with, so my goodbye is a lesson in humility and to never mess with the people I leave in this Crater ever again.

…

At the front gate we see Edgar and with him three more Arch Mages. One might even be close to a Grand Magus, but whatever. His soldiers are also the best of the best, with the most shiny armour and from the feeling pure magical Metals. Those might be worth more than a small fiefdom each. He really wants to make me scared, huh?

On our side is Snow to my right, Esther to my left and Leafy at the back. Nothing to do, but show some of my people to ‘greet’ him.

“Null, for your attack on our fiefdoms, we will need a plausible explanation and remuneration, or you will be seen as an aggressor and taken care of by Telk. If you do not wish to be in a bloody war, speak now!”

“That’s it? I really had thought more of you Edgar. So many tries to get my Lands and you come here with a delegation for an answer you already know. You sent spies in our Domain and tried to find weak points for attack. Now we gave a warning and you ignored it and came without a good reason. Did Kirk not tell you before you were going here, the risk is too vast for such a small gain?”

“How do you know that?! Do you have spies in Kilt? This is also an affront you need to explain!”

“You had sent so many spies already, most of them came back dead, and now you insinuate I am the evil mastermind? You just do not get it. You want this land, but the Land is nothing without me. Without us here there would be no Mana Vein.”

“Has the Mana gone to your head? This place is too good for you already. You attacked a whole Country and now need to suffer the consequences!”

A little bit and the stars are right. Somehow I think Fate did that too. How can it be, the exact time the Rift would be at the best angle would be now? I really am annoyed by those happenstances. Since meeting those Cultists everything suddenly clicks perfectly in time and place like something just puts them there. I hate it! It feels so rushed as if something wants me to hurry up.

“You want this barren land? Without me here, there is no Mana well, because…”

The other six runic Circles already started up but needed time to fully run to create Mana in quantities, now it works perfectly. Wait, I have an Idea!

“because…”

The Mana streams get redirected. Not to the Dimension Circle but… to my Portal. Absorbing so much Mana is the first for me, but for effect I need it right now. From one Portal into the Ring Gate and out of my body with a typhoon of Mana that is visible with the naked Eye. Not even Willard was able to send so much Mana out at once. Obviously, as I do not do that either, but Eddy and his posse does not need to know that.

“I AM THE MANA VEIN!”

Ah, shit… The Mana rams right into the shield at the top and pokes a scary hole inside. I repair this later, I am such a klutz…

“Looks fun, me too!”

Snow said that and ejects her Darkness. Better boost her too, She is connected to me, so why not giving her ample Mana and Darkness Miasma. Somehow she is still different than a Witch, as it melds right together rather being two different energies.

“Then, me too?”

Esther also wants to brag? Sigh Why not? So now there are three pillars… ugh, you too?!

“Nature is me and I am Nature, so see my power.”

Such cringy words Leafy… Ah well, here is the Nature Miasma I have, but better more Mana for you, I do not want you to mutate, Petal would chew my ear off, if she saw anything growing on you, she never explored before… whatever…

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“Whh… wha… What in the Abyss… What is going on here!”

“You wanted to know, why this place is like it is? Because I came here! I am the Mana Well you are searching for. Try to fight me, try to kill me, but what you have at the end is a wasteland inside a crater without life! You never thought about thinking the Place might just be like that because of the People who live here right? So now you know! I am rather busy right now, so would you kindly take the hint and… FUCK OFF!”

Mordred is finished and hunkering down, so better make this quick. The vertical Mana geyser goes horizontally and just washes the peanut gallery away, in snaking through the air, with their guards in tow.

I really just wanted to use the Mana pressure to make them fly right out of the tunnel, but seems like they hobble too much in the currents, a small shield and they fly steady. Mordred looked spooked as he saw the blue beam in the distance just go right through the Town and dragging something unseen but shouting bloody murder out of the tunnel. Great, now there is too much Mana on the fields. So much to do…

“Lord Null said, you need to go now. Hurry out of the Tunnel!”

“Understood, I do not know what is going on, but it looks bad!”

And with that Mordred escapes. After exiting he sees the delegation either knocked out, vomiting or shaking like twigs in a hurricane.

“Oh, we almost forgot!”

Out of Nowhere Esther just appears. The fear still inside their bones the Ivory Tower makes defensive manoeuvrers, but have a rather hard time to even get a proper formation.

“Mordred, be a dear and give me the Amulet.”

“But without it, we will…”

“Do not worry. Lord Null wishes to let them go! They shall go to their own country and do not have our protection afterwards!”

The wind rustles through the leafs but nothing else was heard.

“Good. They understood, and now give me the Amulet.”

In a daze Mordred gave the Amulet and wants to still ask questions.

“Ah! Not now dear. We are rather busy and I have to go back now. Better to close the door behind me.”

With a wave the Runic Circle originally in place stops and a seal with extremely complicated Runic structure just engraves into the rock. Afterwards a silvery field just made the entrance vanish like a impenetrable metal Shell.

“Good, we have now work to do. Maybe we see not each other again for a very long time. Better not mess with anyone in here any more, if you want your souls stay intact, little ones.”

After the talk Esther just disappeared and everything was quiet. The pressure of the Forest though seems to have increased like it does not want them to dawdle that much.

Mordred wanted to just run back with all his might, but still tries his best to wake those high Nobles out of their stupor first. The words ‘monsters’ and ‘inhuman’ were told often by the still shivering delegation. Even Mordred does not know what to make out of this event, as he has no clue what happened and does not know anything about how Magic works.

…

Resetting the flow was hard, but I got it in time. The Runes devour Mana like a never ending sponge. In the middle of the Circle is a small… egg. The inside is not visible as the shell is made out of the stuff the Geode is made out of. It is rather thin, so better be thorough and send it with all I can muster.

Aligned Stars… If Baphomet did not tell me about it I would not have noticed. The World Shard is vibrating more and more inside the Dimension. Like it noticed it’s Homeworld being near. Funny how there is a near and far in that chaos. Everything in there is endless and right next to each other, but whatever is up with the Void, I could never make any sense out of the rules or non rules inside.

“Lord, the worlds are close. I see the folds aligning in time and space.”

For this endeavour Baphomet hurried their Monsterification. They are unstable but said, it would help them to see better into the Ends of reality. Two more eyes were there, but while they are still underdeveloped I feel somewhat sorry for Baphomet, as those two are forced open and drop tears of blood. So much pain...

I would have waited for another hundred years, if I knew… No, if I said that, Baphomet might think of it as pity. Better be strong and accept their conviction. They were not even so long with us and still…

“Thank you Baphomet. For all you did, thank you from the depths of my heart.”

“We are honoured. Be relieved, we will make it work.”

“Of course, I trust you. You are Family Bapho.”

A smile came on their face. Still looking at the bend space on the top of the Runic circle. The vibrations of the egg get worse and worse. Please hold little one. You have a destiny to fulfil.

“Please do your best little Egg!”

Snow encouraged the little thing. When she is cute, she breaks all scales somehow.

“The runes are nearly filled. It is fascinating to see those ones work. They break all rules by spawning more Runes just by existing to create different effects… They feel alive and so alien!”

Good for you to have fun Esther. Better to have a genius of Runes here for this. We do not know what will happen, as three of the full set of Runes are missing. Please just work!

“I feel Dimensions with the same smell as the one you seek Lord!”

Finally!

“Open!”

Breaking the Rift open with my will Baphomet kept it stable with their powers. Nothing but Void and chaos on the other side… No wait! There is something glimmering like a small speck of dust reflecting moonlight!

“FIRE!”

The Runes start to inject their powers inside the Circle and engulf the Rift with an enormous explosion. The little Egg was… gone. Something just rammed the rift and destabilized it. While the Rift bent out of shape like lightning it broke through the ceiling and got further and further. The Shield around the Crater… I just repaired that! The Rift stretches right out of sight and when I thought it would break it came back with vengeance!

Protection magic on all people made it a bit bearable but the Room is toast. Luckily the rest of the Castle still stood. What a rebound!

Miasma got ejected like geysers from the depleted runes but I used my Portal to absorb it before it kills everything inside the Crater. The rift… is still there. Something I haven’t felt long long time wafts out of it. This feeling.

“Success! This is the feeling! The place I wanted to find is on the other side! It is the right place! I will be back soon!”

Ertralis!