TREE OF AEONS 3

Then we had lunch. A collection of fishes, some small lotus plants and seeds, stir fried. After that, we visited one of the newer lily pads and walked their magical rope bridges.

I was afraid of the rope bridges. The swaying when the two massive lily pads moved so subtly made me feel dizzy. Lumoof wasnÆt, and yet he noticed my discomfort. - I suppose a tree must feel uncomfortable with such movement. -

- Yes. - I really felt dizzy, and Lumoof made it quick.

The Lilypod Builders were part - druid, part - builders, since their little rituals and movements resembled that of druids, where they called on magic to - grow - the Lilypad into the supporting pillars. These were the beginners. The lady soon brought us to a beautiful demonstration of a master, where the lily pad itself seemed to bulge up and then peel apart to reveal a beautifully completed structure.

Then the Lily Temple. It was located on the largest and some say the oldest lily pad. A massive structure molded from the flesh of the lily pad itself, it was an imposing, ominous sight.

- This is where the king convenes with the Will of the Lake, - the guide explained briefly.

Lumoof nodded. - So this is their valley. -

- Indeed. - Here, I could feel Lilies presence was strong, but not the strongest. I believed their true body was somewhere beneath the lake; no, it was spread throughout the lake. They were the collective will derived from the mass of roots and tubes underwater. Smart, and explained how theyÆd survived for so long.

- Could we go in? - Lumoof asked the guide, and the guide shook her head.

- Access is only for those chosen by the Will. -

It was then a strange, masked man approached the group. - Guide, the Will have spoken that this man will be allowed entrance. - He wore a mask that formed the shape of a fish, but it was a fearsome one with massive teeth and two black eyes. Strange.

Lumoof nodded but asked about the two accompanying Valthorns. - My friends? -

- Only you. -

This time, the fishmask man led us into the temple. There was nothing inside, except a large spiral staircase that led downward into the lake bed. We walked down. and the fish - masked man stopped.

- This is where I stop. Please go ahead. The Will awaits. -

The staircase got narrow, and the walls closed in. Lumoof had to keep going. But it kept going and going down, and it took an hour to get to the very bottom, where we reached a large room at the end. It was very dark, but then a faint magical light turned on and revealed thousands of skulls, overgrown with roots. Then all the thousands of skulls moved. Each of them had one little fire in their eye socket.

It spoke in unison, in a choirlike voice quite familiar to me. The skulls rattled, and their jaws moved.

- We welcome the avatar of the tree, to the roots of our ancient body. - This wasnÆt their true body, but perhaps this was close enough. If their intent was to scare the living hells out of anyone, this was pretty effective. - We are made from the minds and memories of the thousands that died, and we cull and select the best of the dead to form us. -

Lumoof nodded. Here, Lilies presence was overwhelming, but he was unfazed. He, too, was already a step into the divine.

- We thank you for coming, and we wish to show you an item. Something we found recently, when it washed up on our shores, - Lilies said again, and the skulls shuffled around. Then one of the roots moved and dragged out a large chunk of broken wood. At a glance, it looked like any other driftwood, but when we examined it in greater detail, we noticed strange marks.

It was a set of symbols.

- ItÆs etched with words we do not understand. Runes. -

- ItÆs from another ancient time. -

- Yes. But we fear to reveal it to the wider world. So we keep it here. -

Lumoof examined it and then pointed at a row. - These symbols IÆve seen once, in Margmar. I canÆt remember where. - But I could, and I quickly tapped my memory. It matched those on the temples.

- Oh. You have seen them! - Lilies said in surprise, and this time, I sent the images through my rootnet. Lilies received them.

Still, I had so many questions. Why would it appear on a wooden log? Unless it was only disguised to look like a log? Perhaps it was a trick. The fact that the log survived for so long unnoticed meant it wasnÆt meant to be noticed. How did Lilies pick it up? - What made you notice it? -

- When it wouldnÆt break when we wanted to consume it. - Ah. Lilies consumed driftwood; that was something I didnÆt know. When the driftwood resisted, they examined it closer. A simple discovery by accident.

- I see. - I spoke through Lumoof. Lumoof held the log in his hands, his strength augmented by his levels. - We will have to put these through a biolab. -

Lumoof then said, - I feel a faint presence. something divine. - I felt nothing, but then Lumoof was the priest and he was a lot more sensitive to such things than me. No, actually, if priests were naturally more sensitive to divine energies, would they be able to detect the presence of mind alteration from the gods?

- We feel it, too, - Lilies responded, and one of the skulls moved. - Which is why we kept it here and do not speak of it. This area is shielded by our strongest magics, and yet we do not even know whether the gods still can see it. -

- So what if they can see it? - I asked. I mean, so what if they can see? I do not fear the gods. Clearly their powers are restricted if all they can do so far is summon heroes, send divine messages, and some subtle mind alterations. - Their powers are weak. -

- Do not take them lightly. Ages ago, their powers were strong, if not stronger. -

- Then what happened? -

- We do not know. - Were the gods fading? No. I somehow didnÆt think so. There must have been something else. One of the skulls moved, and some skeletons appeared. They took the driftwood. - Do you have a way to take it back? Without it ever touching the sunlight? It is an old saying that all things under the sky can be seen by the gods. -

- CanÆt we just hide it in a bag? - Lumoof asked plainly.

- Preferably not. Their eyes can see through magical items, but strangely not through thick layers of earth. -

- How strange that the gods are stopped by mere dirt, - Lumoof said. - Perhaps it is a lie. -

- If they could see it, they must have noticed when it floated on the lake. - I thought briefly. - But yes. If you let us create a tunnel directly here, we could transport this log secretly. - Out of respect, just like with Reefy, my roots did not travel through or under the realm of other spirits. So my roots merely connected to Lilies at the edges.

- LetÆs make the tunnel. -

21

YEAR 174

We managed to transport the log, secretly, through a chain of tunnels, never once close to the surface back to Freshka. It took almost a week of getting my best underground beetles to carry it and walk the distance. I had Lumoof escort the log the entire way, just in case there was any divine shenanigans, but thankfully, none.

The log itself was the bigger problem. We studied them in underground labs, so they never got anywhere near the sky. The log. revealed nothing. Though we detected the faint presence of the divine in the log itself, there was nothing to see.

We didnÆt give up, so we conducted more tests. ItÆd take a while, so inspired by my meeting with Lilies, I decided it was a worthwhile idea to explore and meet with the other spirits.

The wind of the north was cold, and I felt the sensation of the chill on LumoofÆs skin. I was unaffected, and by extension, so was Lumoof. I could share my Main Body Environmental Adaptation , and though the weather didnÆt affect me, I did not enjoy the feeling of sailing at all. The wobbling of the ship as it crashed into the rough waves of the northern seas was an uncomfortable, nauseous feeling, and so I often disconnected it.

But we were getting nearer. The waves got smaller as we closed in on the island covered in ice and snow. Massive ice chunks floated all around us, and everyone kept their eyes open for monsters. But LumoofÆs presence scared them away.

- Travelling with a small ship this far north is normally dangerous, - Johann said to Lumoof. It was a really small crew, only ten, all my high - leveled Valthorns, all given a familiar from my Court of the Deitree . Just so that I could pull them back if shit went south.

The ship had been magically reinforced. Two of the crew members were a mage and a druid, and they used their powers to strengthen the hull and create a protective sphere to withstand the impact of the high seas.

LumoofÆs eyes glowed as I shared more of my powers and took in more of the environment. The subtle presence of another being at the Domain level should be easily detected, and indeed, it pricked my senses like little snowballs hitting an imaginary skin.

The Frozen Tree.

- It should be there. - Lumoof pointed, and our domain senses led the way. Already, we saw monsters prepared to greet us. Most of them were level sixty to seventy. Giant White Bears. Wolves. Birds. Hundreds of them waited but did not attack.

The small ship closed in on the shores of the island, hidden away in the north. This was the home of the Frozen Tree, land of the master of frost. The Tree itself was hidden in a thick blizzard, and the island was perpetually dark from the snowstorms.

It was essentially a little no - go zone for most adventurers, and the Frozen Tree promised no gifts, no rewards for reaching it. Only the insane, or those who wanted to meet spirit trees, like Gerrard, would make the journey.

- Do we wait here? - the mage and druid asked as they surveyed the hordes of beasts that observed our arrival.

Edna looked around. - Lumoof? A/ ? -

- I think IÆll go alone, - Lumoof said. - At most, with Edna. -

Edna thought about it momentarily. - I donÆt see why they need to wait here. If anything happens, A/ can just warp us back. LetÆs all go. We can leave the ship. -

- All right. -

The monsters did not dare to approach us here, even though both Edna and Lumoof restrained their domains. We decided to do so, as we wondered whether the Frozen Tree would find it offensive that we came with our domains pressing against theirs. Best to play nice.

We could feel the gaze of the various beasts, all staring. Waiting.

Perhaps they were waiting for a signal from the frozen tree, whether to attack or leave us be. This time, unlike their earlier excursion to the main northern islands, this island was far away from civilization, so everyone came fully equipped with magical equipment, clothing, and weapons.

The druid waved his wooden staff, and a bubble of comfort sprung out around us. It was an ability called Bubble of Home , which simulated our home environments and kept out the cold. It drained at his mana a little bit, unlike my natural passive.

The walk was uneventful, a climb up what was a rather gentle, snow - covered slope and then a crater in the middle surrounded by a perpetual blizzard. As we approached, snowballs and icicles smashed into EdnaÆs shield.

- DoesnÆt seem like it welcomes us, - Edna said.

- It is just a challenge. Tree spirits are flighty, after all. Spirits wonÆt let just anyone approach it so easily, well. except Lilies, but thatÆs an exception, - the druid responded. Even then, LiliesÆs true body was hidden. Only the surface was exposed, and that was hardly Lilies true body.

We waited momentarily as I channeled my senses through Lumoof. I felt a presence that now permeated the entire snow - filled crater. Once we went a little further, it was likely we were within range of the Frozen TreeÆs full abilities. Edna noticed, too, and quickly signaled everyone to prepare, and no talking.

We pushed ahead, the presence of the frozen tree more pronounced. The little metaphorical snowballs that gently touched on my domain were now a torrent of snowballs. The other members of the expedition were clearly feeling uncomfortable, as they lacked the ability to shield themselves from a domainÆs oppression completely.

Still, we pressed on, and the blizzard was not a huge problem. We saw more beasts, all of them either white or a light gray, and they all kept their distance. Where were the ice giants that Gerrard saw?

Eventually, we came to a large frozen lake, with a massive ice sculpture in the shape of a tree in the middle. It was smaller than me, for sure, but through LumoofÆs eyes, it was still an imposing sight. It was a little like seeing a towering Christmas tree for the first time as a little kid. It seemed the rest of the Valthorns shared the sentiment, as they all gawked at the beautiful ice sculpture for the first time.

The frozen tree. Well, I channeled my senses through Lumoof and my spiritual vision saw that the ice sculpture was. hollow. It was just a magical creation. The real spirit was beneath. Was that a rock? No. I wasnÆt sure what it was, hidden underneath all that ice and water.

Was it really a tree?

The ice tree changed shape and grew, and then a human - shaped ice appeared.

- Visitors, - it said, strangely human.

I thought I should do the greetings, so I spoke through Lumoof. - Greetings, I am A/ , and IÆm speaking through my Avatar, Lumoof. These are my companions for the journey to your island. -

- Greetings. What do you seek here, A/ ? -

- I merely wish to meet and speak to a spirit IÆve heard of after all these while. - I supposed I could locate the elven tree spirit, too, but it seemed that it was lost a few decades ago during the Rottedlands era.

It didnÆt respond, and for a brief moment, I felt like we were magically touched.

Domain has blocked attempted scrying.

Edna gave me a look that told me she got it, too. At that moment, we felt the entire island shake. The tree of ice grew, and then two giants made of ice emerged next to the tree.

- You are not heroes. -

- We are not heroes, - I repeated. The two ice giants were imposing, but I thought we could take them. Edna didnÆt look too bothered. - But I believe you have met Gerrard. -

- . Gerrard? - The ice sculpture seemed to be struggling to recall. - Oh. That one. The one who came with the fragment of ancient times. -

- Yes. IÆve come to meet, share, and perhaps learn of what you know, - I answered honestly. The part about going against the gods, that was a secret for another day. I needed to know where this spirit stood.

The ice sculpture thought and then pointed at Edna and Lumoof. I felt another attempt at scrying, and it was more powerful. Again, Domain has blocked attempted inspection . - This day came a lot earlier than I expected. Only the two of you may stay. -

- All right. - The eight retreated, and then I activated my recall ability. In an instant, they were all warped back to the valley. Still, the sudden transportation across the continents caused half of the eight to vomit, and the remaining half looked incredibly uncomfortable.

Edna looked around, and the blizzardÆs intensity increased. The Frozen Tree whispered into the wind, and two ice chairs appeared like magic. Edna sat, and so did Lumoof.

- Where should we begin? - it asked. - No. The right place to start is. who are you, A/ ? -

- I am a Tree Spirit of Freshka. -

The frozen tree seemed thoughtful for a moment. - Allow me to elaborate. A tree spirit does not behave the way you do. From what I have heard, you seem to have an expansionist streak, and your growth, relative to other tree spirits, has been exceptional. I also have not detected your presence in the world until. seventy years ago, and it seemed with the passing of every demon king, your presence is clearer in the fabric of the world. -

Fabric of the world. This was the second spirit to have said it, after Lilies. How did they see this fabric? Was it that sensation of prickling? IÆd have to ask Lilies someday.

- Something about you is foreign. ItÆs almost as if you have a bit of mortality in you. -

- I have memories of another life. A mortal life. -

There was a long, awkward silence. Maybe it wasnÆt very long, perhaps just a minute of silence where we could hear the wind howling around us. - Ah. an accident, - the Frozen Tree answered. - . Like a part of me. -

What?

Suddenly, a different voice appeared and asked, - Did they make you roll a wheel, or was it a die? Or have you picked a card from a deck? -

- . a wheel. -

- I see. LetÆs properly introduce ourselves. IÆm Aispeng and Aria, - the Frozen Tree answered. - I am what they call a merged soul. -

Like the wolf and the shaman?

- ItÆs where a local object plays host to a foreign soul and then, perhaps due to that soulÆs weakened situation, is absorbed by the host, - that strange voice answered. - Aispeng is the will of the ice crystal, and I am Aria, the will of a former. traveler. -

- Aria? -

- Yes. We are also not a tree. We are actually an ice crystal, - that strangely female voice answered. I wondered if Alexis fused with me back then, would this be the outcome?

- I guessed that, from how the entire crater is filled with your presence. -

- Anyway, it is strange and perhaps fate to meet someone like me. So allow me to begin explaining how I got here, - Aria answered.

Lumoof just nodded on my behalf.

- I wasnÆt a hero, but when I got sent to this world, I lucked out on my card draw and could reincarnate as a mage, a half - elven mage. So, even though I didnÆt have many advantages, I still fought the demons together with the heroes. Mainly because I thought they might have a way to get me home. They are heroes, and they have fancy powers. Thinking back, I still felt this was really silly to me. We defeated the first demon king, but then I got overconfident and died when we faced the second demon king. -

Once more, we just nodded.

- I thought I died, but the fates were cruel and decided to bind my spirit to a lump of ice and crystals. I spent the first two hundred years growing as a glacier on this very island, consuming whatever animals or fish in this area. ThatÆs me. How about you? - AriaÆs voice was strange compared to Aispeng, which sounded shriller and more alien.

Her story sounded quite similar to Kei, and in KeiÆs case, she turned into a golem.

- . but you were not a hero? How did you keep up? -

- I was not, but I didnÆt fit in with everyone else, either. The heroes were the only ones who knew of home, so I stuck with them. Silly me, I thought I could try to be useful with my magical skills, but I was wrong. The demons detonate themselves after their loss. In fact, this island is where I died along with the other heroes. The bodies of those heroes are down there, beneath all this ice. -

I see.

- Well, how about you? HowÆd you end up as a magical tree thatÆs now a demigod? -

- I died, rolled the wheel, and got a tree as my start. Spent half a century doing nothing but watching the world burn, really. I spent another few decades in various stages of burning and regrowing, but I got stronger over time. -

- Wait. You were directly reincarnated as a tree? That meant. You kept the fragments, right? -

- . yes. -

- That. that explains a lot. I lost mine when I died the second time, and it took centuries just to level. How many did you have? Three? Five? -

- . a lot more. - I didnÆt see a reason to share the exact number.

- I see, - Aria answered in a knowing voice.

- So how long have you been stuck here? -

- Maybe. three thousand years Or more? I lost count. The days just flash by. -

- HowÆd you see and talkÆ? - I mean, the first problem I had was actually seeing and talking. How did a lump of ice overcome those problems?

- Uh. magic? -

- What kind of magic? -

- I received a skill for an ice form somewhere around level fifty or so, and my talking and seeing problems went away then. Before that all I had was vibrations as my ice expanded, and I essentially saw the world through vibrations as my ice expanded. -

Oh. I suddenly didnÆt feel so bad about my half year of misery.

- So yeah, since I had absolutely no sense of time, I have no idea how much time has passed, other than people dying and heroes dying all the time. Thankfully I still received the notifications. -

- You could count the number of demon kings and multiplied by ten. ThatÆs a good approximation. -

The Frozen Tree thought for a while. - I donÆt know. My notifications were all lost. -

- You donÆt have a clock? - I mean, that was the puzzling part to me.

- No, I donÆt. - Huh. A timer wasnÆt a default skill for them? Maybe it was because trees had an inbuilt biological clock to respond to the seasons, thus it was a necessary thing for a tree, but for a lump of ice, the time or year didnÆt really matter.

- So. -

- So, anyway, now thatÆs out of the way, I can tell you what I know. I honestly donÆt know much about the world because IÆve been freaking stuck here! - Aria complained rather childishly. - Aispeng keeps my personality and soul asleep almost all the time, except when dealing with visitors. -

I soon learned that the Frozen Tree was the metaphorical equivalent of a hermit. It lived here, alone, and didnÆt intentionally seek out others. Apparently, its earlier experiences with people left it a little scarred, so it decided to just exist quietly, away from everyone.

It did, however, make a lot of ice weapons infused with a bit of its crystal, which it distributed to those who it saw as worthy. Those ice weapons functioned like an equivalent of a familiar and allowed Aispeng to gain a bit of experience every time the weapon was used to slay monsters. Over time, it got stronger. The Frozen Tree survived monsters, demons, and even defeated a few demon champions, and gained its domain after about thirteen hundred years. Relatively fast, thanks to its ice weapons circulating out there in the world.

- I donÆt think the weapons I make can do that. -

- Are you sure? Have you tried? - Aria asked.

- I made a lot of weapons before. Pretty sure they donÆt give me experience when used. -

- Strange, - Aria responded. - But the system is confusing like that. -

- So. you are from Earth? - I asked.

- Earth? -

- Yes, Earth. -

- No. I believe my home world is called Bumi. -

- . I see. - It suddenly occurred to me that the heroes may all come from alternate earths. If so, truly the idea of defeating the demons at the source may be too tall an order. The first order should be to hide the world away and make this world safe. A counterattack could be made if we had a safe home world.

Aispeng and Aria learned of the world from its limited interactions with heroes and adventurers that came to see it. Aspen harbored a bit of distrust of the heroes after some tried to attack it after it gained its domain. It was by sheer luck that it managed to hide most of its presence deep underground, that the heroes could not fully destroy it. Heroes clearly didnÆt have exceptionally good detection skills; their abilities had all been to counter demons. But what if one did?

- I realized that the gods also have short - term memories. Once the next generation of demon kings came along, they seemed to have forgotten about me. -

- Hmm. - Why did they do that, then? What was the point of sending heroes after someone who ascended? And then forget? Was it really because of short - term memory or something else at play? The system itself?

- But they didnÆt send anyone after me? - Edna wondered.

- Maybe they didnÆt realize you gained a domain. The gods are not exactly a responsive bunch. They only seem to react to certain types of events, like demon kings. and perhaps they only target non - humanoid beings who gained their domains. -

Hmm. were the gods therefore speciesist? Did the gods dislike non - humanoids?

That certainly was a possibility. If Reefy was to gain a domain one day, it would have to face heroes? I shuddered at the thought, because that would just cause Reefy to interpret all heroes as enemies, and it would react violently at all subsequent hero encounters. Reefy wasnÆt the type to back away from a fight, and Reefy taking the aggressive role could be a point of conflict in the future.

There wasnÆt much else to talk about, at least, not during our first meeting. I would like to continue speaking to another fellow spirit, and Aispeng already had an item to create that sort of communication channel. The ice spirit gave us a large mirror made of ice.

- This is a magical ice screen. ItÆs synchronized to an ice screen here, so what appears on the other side will appear here. -

Gerrard should have asked for this. But I supposed the heroes with their default chatgroup functionality wouldnÆt need it. Anyway, Aispeng also gave us a few of its ice weapons as souvenirs, and on my end, we also brought a mix of herbs, our own wood weapons, and stuff. I would take the weapons home for studies on how to replicate the experience gained from weapons. My suspicions were that it had a familiar in the form of the weapon.

The return was easy.

Stella returned, and she was different. She aged, quite significantly. She came back on VallasiraÆs back, her body covered in scars. She lost one arm, and one of her legs had a stub. Her face was partly burned.

- What in the world. -

It was Vallasira who spoke. Time flows differently in the other worlds. She has spent the equivalent of forty years across two different worlds.

Kei and Lozanna came to see her and were shocked.

- Forty years IÆve spent on the other worlds, and she gave Kei and Lozanna a hug. I missed you two. -

- What is it like, in the other worlds? - Kei asked.

- ItÆs a long story, and right now, I yearn for the comforts of. home, - Stella responded.

Kei frowned at the word. - This isnÆt home. -

- I thought about it during those forty years there, and I believe I truly found myself here in this world. IÆd say itÆs home enough. -

Still, I let the three girls catch up and checked on the zaratan. Vallasira nodded. I must go and rest. Much has been spent to train her.

Thank you. Well, I would interrogate Stella later.

May you succeed. Even we need a safe world.

22

YEAR 175

Back home, Lumoof and Edna had a meeting. They had questions, of course.

- A/ , regarding that conversation with Aria. - They were concerned, of course. Strangely, not of the origins but whether I, too, sought to return - home. - Do you seek to return, the way it obsessively possessed Stella and the previous heroes? -

A valid concern. - Yes. I admit that I have memories of another life. You may even consider me like her. But I firmly believe I am one of this world. Those memories are so faint these days, and I no longer believe there is a place there. My goal remains to stop this foolish cycle. -

Lumoof breathed a sigh of relief. - The faithful would not take well to losing their god. -

Nah. I was a semi - divine being here, and honestly I did quite enjoy this state of perpetually playing an RTS game. Why would I return to that old life? - No. But does it cheapen it to know that your god has otherworldly origins? - I asked.

- No, - Lumoof said firmly. - All gods are otherworldly. I have looked into the histories of the other churches, and none of them ever set foot on our world. Only their avatars and their spokesmen. -

A year of preparation, as one of the rifts opened. With my new Astral vision, and StellaÆs return, we could see that one of those tendrils that stretched out into the great beyond was far brighter than the others. In fact, when the rift itself opened, that tendril glowed in a light reddish color.

It was as if that signified the pathway was used.

Then my magical sensors rang as they detected the rifts again in the Southern Continent. I quickly passed this information to everyone who mattered.

- Quickly! Get eyes on the ground and find out what kind of demons we are facing! -

It took about two weeks to locate the rift itself. At such distances, my sensors were not accurate. The demons from the rift were typical hellhounds and horned demons with claws.

- Strangely typical. Nothing particularly different about this batch of demons. - It was too easy, so we kept up the surveillance. I felt that the past few demon kings had been throwing curveballs, so something must be up.

At the same time, we also monitored the daemoliteÆs astral tendrils as the rifts activated. They didnÆt seem to particularly change.

I therefore made a preliminary assessment that the daemolite was nothing more than a - thereÆs a planet here - kind of marker. Where the rift opened on our world was still in the control of the demons; I supposed they had a way of controlling it. It was like, - HereÆs a ticket to Earth, but you can still choose which airport to land. -

Of course, could I interfere with the tendrils? If I cut off the tendrils or found a way to confuse the tendrils, would the rifts be redirected or fail? It seemed there were still things I could not see, even though the rifts were clearly little magical tunnels through space and worlds.

So, now that Stella had returned and IÆd also restored her body back to an optimal state, we discussed this idea.

- Interfering with the tendrils as they come to our world. IÆm afraid I did not acquire that skill, - Stella said flatly. - My training focused on opening the doors to the other world with void mana and doing what the demons are doing. -

- So. -

- I know how to open portals, but closing others portals. not so much. -

Okay. What use was this information? As it was, if their home worlds were filled with demon kingûlevel creatures, assaulting their home world with StellaÆs portal clearly was a suicide mission. I should only attempt this when demon kings were trivial opponents. But if I never got to that power level, closing down was my best option.

- But you can open portals, right? -

- Yes. Temporary ones, large enough for a few people, and no more. I still need to wait about half a year before doing it again. -

- All right, there is something I donÆt understand. You said you spent years on the other side. How does that work? -

- When a portal or rift is open, the time of both worlds are temporarily locked together, as if flowing at the same speed. -

- And how big is your portal? -

- Uh. for a few people. - That wasnÆt much.

- Can it fit Hytreerion? -

- Hytreerion? Who is that? -

- My walker. - Ah. I forgot that Stella may not know about my walker. - I will introduce you to it later. But first, what constraints do you have with your portals? Is it mana? -

- Yes. Void mana is one of the key constraints. I donÆt have a lot. -

- But we have daemolite, and those can store void mana. LetÆs try it. -

- That means I have to recharge the void mana myself. For all of them! ThatÆll take months! - Well, yes. That was expected.

- ThereÆs a lot we need to plan. We will first consider and test out a few with daemolite, whether it really augments your range. Next, if it succeeds, we will build larger formations with daemolite in order to allow you to channel more void mana and for longer periods. -

- Normal runes donÆt work with void mana. -

- Then weÆll find one that works. Point is weÆll have to work with the restrictions we have. -

- Third, I want to attempt disruptive void mana injections into those tendrils. ThereÆs some we can test now, so we should test it as soon as possible. -

Stella rolled her eyes. - Oh lord, IÆm going to be busy. -

- Well, you went on a training arc. Naturally we need you to show off your newfound powers. -

- All I did was go to different worlds and explore their powers. -

- Wait. -

How should we truly leverage StellaÆs ability to travel worlds? Was I thinking about this too. typically? I supposed anyone who had StellaÆs portal ability would use it to escape from the demons, but from what I understood, the demons were also attacking the other worlds, and just like us, they had their own cycles. One world had it on a fifteen - year cycle, and another one also had a ten - year cycle. They, too, summoned heroes to meet their foes.

Few things I clearly didnÆt understand was, if time moved relative across worlds, then why the cycles? Surely some worlds moved - faster - than others and thus should have either significantly longer or shorter cycles?

Stella couldnÆt answer this; it was a theoretical question that sought to understand the underlying mechanics. Her training arc focused on her individual levels and skills, and she was a level seventy - five Void Archmage with a smattering of portal - related skills. I also did not understand why the other worlds had the same rules as ours. That they had classes and levels, too.

So I summoned everyone for a big brainstorming session. How did we properly use portals to gain an advantage?

Edna was first to wonder, - Is there a way to take advantage of the time difference between worlds? Is the speed difference between worlds constant? -

Stella touched her hair and thought for a while. - No. ItÆs like a wave. Sometimes faster, sometimes slower. Each world moves and bobs on its own speed on the greater interplanar void. IÆm not sure of the difference, but each world moves along its own, uh. cycle. - I supposed it was like how the distance between planets changed as they moved across their own orbital planes?

- What sort of creatures are there? - Lumoof asked. - Do they struggle with the demon kings? -

- Their situation is not that different. They face demon kings, and their gods summon heroes. -

- Their gods. Are the gods different? -

- IÆm not sure. They are called differently, but they do have similar practices. - Were we dealing with a god that was present in multiple worlds, or was each god just locked to one world? No. In order to answer this question, I must first be able to not just sense divine presence, but discern whose divine presence.

All the attempted divine forces IÆd seen so far did not differentiate who and what did it, so it could be it was just a single god at the back of it all, and all these other gods were nothing more than shadow puppets. Or, if there were multiple gods, I wanted to know which one was friend, which one was foe.

IÆd have to ask the other spirits for ideas.

Can you tell the difference between the gods? First I went to Lilies. Each time you detected divine presence, can you tell who did it?

. no.

Okay, no.

I went to Aispeng and Aria next and activated the new ice mirror.

- Hi. Quick question: do you know how to tell the difference between the gods? - I felt like I was asking a colleague for some corporate work - related thing. At least, the way I asked it. It just laughed.

- No. -

Huh. Did the gods hide themselves behind divine energy? Or was there a way to tell? Perhaps there was a unique signature in every use of their divine powers that could be linked back to them?

Anyway, that went through a path I wasnÆt expecting, so I went back to Stella and the gang. - So how else can we capitalize on our new portal? -

- I think it is an effective escape route. We can send some of us over each time to avoid the damage of the demon king. -

At that point, I had to wonder. - Question. Can your portal transport heroes? - I wondered whether I could essentially pool the heroes of all the linked worlds together and use their combined might to crush the demon king. It would significantly improve the survival rate of heroes, even if that did lead to the related problem of too many surviving heroes.

Stella paused. - I. IÆm not sure. ItÆs loaded with void mana, and unless thereÆs a way to package them so that their star mana doesnÆt interact with the void mana that flows throughout the portal. -

Wait, if I could forcibly pull a hero into the portals, could I instantly kill them that way? At this point, it was Kei who thought of the implications. - Can a hero be forced into a portal without their permission? -

- I donÆt know. - I stored this possibility in the future. If I could create a small void portal, I may have a secret weapon against misbehaving heroes.

- How different are the magic and weapons of the other worlds? -

Stella thought about it for a moment. - ItÆs very similar from what IÆve seen, but I have not seen their higher - tier magic or items. -

- We have lots of gaps in our knowledge. -

- Yeah. cause most of the time IÆm with the zaratan, practicing my portal magic and learning the way of navigating the ever changing paths. - Stella sighed. - If you guys desire, I could arrange a trip. -

- But how would we come back? StellaÆs our only chance to return, and if we lose you, weÆre done for. -

- . thatÆs true. -

- So you must condense your knowledge and teach a few more. If we have a few more void mages, then we can safely make that trip to the other nearby worlds. -

Stella paused and quickly disclaimed that statement. - The concept of nearby changes. Each world bobs along the great void ocean, and the distance between worlds changes. So far only two worlds are reliably close by, perhaps drawn together by some unknown force, but there are worlds that get close and then drift away. Uh. I think itÆs a bit like the worlds have their own orbits, but these three worlds are like a stable system, which is why the zaratans just mainly travel to these worlds. -

Kei frowned. She did not leave for the south yet. Instead, she spent her time with Stella now that she returned. - That sounds like planetary movement. -

- Yes. ThatÆs a close metaphor, but rather than circular orbits, it might be fairer to say that certain worlds behave like comets with unstable orbits, while these three worlds have more stable, more circularish orbits that never get too far from each other, even if the distance oscillates. -

- Ah. -

- So when a portal opens, itÆs as if both worlds are frozen? -

- Kind of. ItÆs some weird void - world thing. I canÆt quite explain it, either. -

- WhatÆs the void world? -

- ItÆs the space between worlds. ItÆs really more like a massive, massive jungle where there are paths to each world, and unless you know where to look, you are more likely to get lost. Which. leads us back to the demonÆs tendrils. I believe they are kind of like trail markers, so that the demons can continue to find the world no matter where it moves along the void, - Stella speculated.

- If so, if we managed to get rid of the daemolite, can we pretty much hide the world from the demons? -

- Probably. Potentially. IÆm not sure. The demons may have a different understanding of the void that may result in a difference in how the void presents itself to them. -

- I donÆt understand any of that, - the crowd of the senior Valthorns responded.

Stella paused and thought. - How do I say this? Uh. erm. In a way, what you see in the void is shaped by what you believe it is. -

- ThatÆs crazy, - Kei answered.

- ItÆs a bit like a projection. I donÆt know how else to say it. The voidÆs this bundle of everything and nothing, the primordial soup, really, so what you choose to see, you can see in it. So, uh, itÆs really quite a crazy, trippy place. Vallasira helped guide me to see the void as a big dark forest that connects the world, but the demons may see it differently. Everyone will see it differently. -

This was going too far. - LetÆs come back to the issue of portals. We can test whether itÆs possible to return using other means. -

- Huh? -

- If Lumoof is willing, he can be the guinea pig. I am interested to know whether my shared senses, and my recall ability, transcend worlds. -

I could sense the glimmers of understanding in those present, like it just clicked into place. Sure, maybe Stella couldnÆt open another portal or something happened to Stella, but if I could - recall - them even from another world, then the risk was minimal.

Lumoof gulped uncomfortably. - A/ , travelling worlds isnÆt something I consider a priestly thing to do. -

- Unfortunately, IÆd like to see the other world for myself, so it has to be you. Think about all the new people you can convert to my cause! -

- Ah, yes. -

- IÆll need some time to prepare. If weÆre going to hold the portal for a long period of time, I need to charge up the daemolite as well. -

It took Stella two months to charge up a roomful of daemolite with void mana. Even then, I could see the tendrils pulse, and each pulse seemed to coincide with something. I wasnÆt sure what, but perhaps it was a sign that the - rift - was transporting things?

- All right. The world you are going to is called Varash. - Stella gave Lumoof a briefing of what could go wrong and an overview of the other world. The area had been arranged to facilitate the interworld portal. He had an emergency kit, equipment, and supplies enough to survive for months.

Stella prepped and then opened the portal. From my perspective, using my spirit vision, it felt like a piece of paper was cut up and pulled apart. Reality was being bent to open the portal. It wasnÆt big, the size of a garage door. Perhaps a truck could drive through it, but Hytreerion wouldnÆt fit. I would need to find more compact means of invading other worlds.

Lumoof gulped and then stepped in. StellaÆs portal did not require any specific mana regulation. It seemed that her - spell - did it for her. Still, when Lumoof stepped through, she suddenly jerked and quickly drew on the stored void mana. At that time, I tried to share LumoofÆs senses and was glad to find that I could still see. For a flicker of a moment, all Lumoof saw was bright flashing lights, similar to Star TrekÆs warp, and then, they stopped.

Grass and a faint pinkish sky. Lumoof was in another world, and the portal flickered behind him. I felt my mind split suddenly. I could see through Lumoof, and home, but doing so drained on my mental resources. I could hear PatreeckÆs voice in my mind. - Master, your mind activity is spiking incredibly. -

Trying to see through another world and home was too much for my mental faculties. Not both at the same time. I temporarily surrendered vision of home and handed control to Patreeck. I focused on LumoofÆs senses.

- IÆm on the other side, - Lumoof said. It was a struggle; the worldly distance meant I felt like something was constantly hammering on my head. - This. this is another world. -

- All right. LetÆs test it out. - I switched back home, and that instant I was pulled back across the world. The mind - bending headache vanished. - Stella, close the portal. -

The portal closed, and then I tried to reach out to Lumoof again. I could feel him, but I could not tell where he was. It was like he was located off map.

- Hmm. All right. Lumoof, are you there? - I decided to not use the shared senses and just tried mentally communicating with him across such distances. There was a time lag. A really long time lag. Thirty minutes.

- IÆm here. - Each message took thirty minutes, and I presumed that Lumoof was replying instantly. Even the system had a - speed limit. -

- All right. LetÆs test out. Recall . -

At that very moment, I felt a mind - splitting headache again, and a good thirty minutes later, Lumoof popped out and instantly started vomiting. He looked green and pale, and I felt like he took damage. I quickly hauled him to a biolab for healing.

Stella was truly impressed. - All right, so interworld traveling works for your ability. -

Lumoof took two days to recover, and we had a postmortem.

- So we learned a few things. One, the system itself is a means of transportation across worlds. - That was my first conclusion. My ability clearly hitched on the system to pull them across worlds. - Second is that my abilities work across worlds. -

- DoesnÆt this just mean all the worlds obey the same system? - Kei wondered. - Then why is Earth so. different? -

- We donÆt know. - Stella sighed. - I asked the zaratans whether itÆs possible for me to get home, and they said it is, but itÆs going to be very hard. They donÆt know of any hero or person that has ever returned, though a few have attempted it. -

The fact that all these other worlds obeyed the same system led me to believe they were actually all in the same universe, but perhaps each of these worlds were just in their own astronomical - bubbles, - whereas Earth may well be on an entirely different plane of existence. That meant all these demon worlds or other stuff wasnÆt really a different dimension, but just different pockets of a universe that was structured very differently from ours.

Lumoof frowned. - That trip back was really nasty. I felt like I was being flung through the sky. -

- If we do send something or someone across, it should be a somewhat permanent arrangement, - Edna proposed. - More to collect resources or harvest certain types of materials? -

- But whatÆs useful there? -

- WeÆll have to see. -

Stella quickly added, - Before we get there, I want to say that when Lumoof went over, it drained a lot more void mana than I expected, significantly more, and I suspect itÆs because he is either leaking more mana or heÆs just stronger overall. If not for the batteries of void mana, the portal would have collapsed. -

- So youÆre saying if we send someone weaker, itÆll cost less? -

- I donÆt know, but it certainly didnÆt cost me anywhere near that amount of mana to send someone over. -

- CouldnÆt it just be a not - me penalty? Some spells have a penalty when the subject is not themselves. ThatÆs a common thing, - one of the senior mages opined. - We can easily test it out. LetÆs send a mouse or some animal over. -

They tested it on a few smaller animals, then some larger ones, and StellaÆs theory was quickly proven true. Sorry, animals. It did cost more to send stronger creatures, and it scaled with power. I wondered how this happened. A door was there, and why did it make a difference what walked through it?

More specifically, why did it scale with strength, not size?

Was there something in the great void that interacted with power? Or levels?

The envoys of Aiva returned with a message that more time was needed. For a bunch of gods, they sure were indecisive. Or maybe. it was just time dilation from their perspective? That they were talking to their followers and they experienced these huge - lags? -

The Southern Continent continued to face regular demons, more hellhounds, and typical giant winged demons with massive axes or swords. They also finally spotted a champion, which, boringly, was just a massive winged demon with two axes and a perpetual flameshield.

Stella started a void magic school, and we helped fund it, of course. A plot of land, slightly further away from Freshka than the other schools, was allocated, and they started building. There was a bit more interest now that Stella was an actual void archmage . Previously, everyone thought it was a path that led to death, so a successful magician in a once - disregarded path was awarded a reputation as a pioneer.

The motivations were simple. Many wanted to go to other worlds, and the idea appealed to some mages at a spiritual level. Like, to be one of those who could step to another world.

Void magic, and the practice of it, required a tremendous amount of healers on standby. That meant they naturally worked closely with Lumoof and the rest of the other Treeology priests. Every other day we had a case of the void curse , and to my great pleasure, some of the priests had their classes changed to cursebreaker .

As part of growing my understanding of the void magic, I also took the chance to look at StellaÆs inner soul realm. Her soul spring was. a deep blackish liquid that was incredibly smooth and actually sparkled at some angles. It was as if the night sky was made into a liquid. The pieces around her well or spring seemed to be made of a kind of black marble that had glimmers of faint stars in them.

I thought back to my two new mini - gods. One immediate difference was that their soul spring was significantly larger than before. I would say easily five or six times larger, and they had a solid platform that surrounded their soul spring. IÆd not seen this platform ever, except in these two.

Black. The entirety of StellaÆs mana pool was now void mana, and yet her body, physically, wasnÆt significantly different.

Stella explained it during one of her first classes with future void mages. Void mana needed to be - stabilized. - It was a bit like a combustible - gas - or - petrol. - It needed to be controlled and stored correctly, and adapting the body to store void mana was one of the first tasks. In short, void mana had a stable state and an unstable state. Some mythic beasts naturally had the means to process void mana and then store void mana, like the water - worldwalking zaratans.

Still. no particularly obvious solution jumped out. Void mana seemed particularly only used for the manipulation of the void. It felt like I found one of the keys that led to the answer, and now I needed to find the correct lock among the thousands.

23

YEAR 176

StellaÆs attention temporarily focused on training new void mages and recharging the daemolite crystals harvested. IÆd mostly decided that the daemolite would be destroyed at a later date, and for now, they were used to study. The value of the other worlds temporarily outweighed the risks of maintaining the status quo.

The other worlds represented opportunity and potential allies, a chance to learn of things done in other worlds, their history, and how the demons and heroes interacted in the past. A chance to see and compare things. DaemoliteÆs ability to store void mana meant we could augment her range to reach the further - worlds - that occasionally drifted into range.

Still, it was a long process of experimentation, and training new void mages wasnÆt something we could achieve in a year or two.

In the south, more rifts appeared. I knew this first hand, because the wispy tendrils through - space - seemed to glow more frequently, and I noticed all the different tendrils grew a little brighter. I wondered how they achieved this, and Stella couldnÆt explain it, either. The way the demons used their void magic was different. Stella certainly couldnÆt see - tendrils, - not the way I could. To her, this - outer - world was really, really dark, and all she saw was little faint markers.

A dark forest. Maybe the wider world was just a dark forest and gods were just the magical equivalent of superpower civilizations taking shots at each other, all hiding and keeping themselves unseen, because once they were seen, they were attacked.

Then again, it didnÆt make sense. If it was truly a dark forest, this world should be doomed.

Back to the south, the local militia of the respective southern nations seemed to be holding their own. The typical nature of the demons meant the local forces were quite well equipped to deal with these - normal - type demons.