Chapter 29 – Playing with space

Sitting on the ground in this unfamiliar place I bring out the panel with my chat with Levia and I am... not particularly surprised to see three messages there.

Levia: Helia! What happened?

Levia: Are you alright?

Levia: Where are you?

I don't wait till she manages to send another message and worry even more than she probably already is and quickly type a reply. I would use a video chat, but I don't think it's a good idea now. Might be faster and easier, but I'd prefer to stay quiet and not out my identity as a Wayfarer if something came up.

Helia: I'm alright.

Helia: The guy is dead, but he teleported me with him.

Levia: Thank god you're alright. Where are you?

Helia: I'm in a sort of stone room. I've no idea where it is, but I think deeper into Beholder's Eye. Mana density is much higher here.

Helia: I'll try to figure out where I am, but I'm not sure if I'll manage before I need to log out.

Levia: Okay, should I go somewhere? Or wait for you? Oh, and your legs are here.

Helia: You can absorb the legs, I'll regrow a new pair.

Oh, how funny it sounds. I was tempted to write she can eat them, but I think that would be pushing the line. Absorbtion though is acceptable, since she gets energy from that and I don't leave body parts laying around.

Helia: And I guess you should go back to Riverside. As much as I don't like it, it would be really hard to find each other in inner forests.

Helia: Or, hold up.

I seem to recall that my Heart of the Star connected us, that is me and Levia, in some way. Can I maybe use that somehow?

I look into myself and at my Heart and I focus on it, trying to spot a connection to somewhere or anything of the sort, and I immediately notice a thing that might be what I'm looking for. It's a kind of... incredibly thin thread that connects to my body... somewhere closer undefined and stretches out, disappearing around the edge of my magic sense. Oookay... that's something to start with.

Helia: Actually, I know the direction you are in, though unfortunately can't tell you where you would need to go.

Helia: Hopefully I'll know in a while.

Levia: Alright. For now I'll go a bit deeper.

Helia: Sure.

Well, alright. With that done, let me see where the hell this guy threw me. First though I need to stand up, and for this lemme guide demonic energy to my legs, and left wing for that matter, with the purpose to heal and regrow, and I feel a really weird sensation of my legs growing, which feels just about as it looks, so like flesh and skin wrapping around a bone. Only a while though, because just a second later my legs are good as new... well they are new, aren't they? No matter, the point is I can stand up, and that's what I do.

I look around and see the room I'm in to be a large dome around a hundred meters in diameter. I'm right now standing just next to a column that supports the walls of the dome. Behind it there is a sort of... terrace... oh, shit, it's an arena, isn't it? Yeah, it looks just you would imagine an underground arena, past some minor details like being a huge dome and having no visible entrance to the arena itself. Though they wouldn't be needed if teleportation was used, and considering that... whatever race that man belonged to probably uses teleportation on daily basis, it seems to be a likely explanation.

Well, I say teleportation, but that's generalized. It might be a portal or displacement as well, or yet something else, but it's not like I can check that now.

As I'm thinking unproductively I suddenly notice something flying in my direction at incredible speed, but quickly realize it won't hit me. I don't even try to tilt my head to the side as it whistles next to my ear sharply and embeds into the column on my side. As I look at it I notice it's a sharp and rough, pointed stone. Well, who would have expected that, huh?

I turn to where the stone came from, sharpening my eyesight to see better, and spot a woman of very similar looks to An'Ghnor standing on the terrace on the opposite side of the arena. She's similarly thin and has almost the same stony hair, merely her figure is round in certain places and thinner in other and the stone covering her body, especially her chest, seems smoother. Contrary to that, her face, right now twisted in a frown, is very, almost unnaturally sharp. Honestly, her image is nice in the way that she looks... very imposing and elegant despite lack of anything on her person past a simple, white skirt reaching half her thighs.

And her mana density seems incredible, though I can't judge very well without seeing inside her. But it's definitely much larger than that of An'Ghnor, so she might be a good enemy. Not like I'm planning to fight her, because I don't think it's her intention.

"Hello~." I say loudly, melodically. "You can get my attention in another way, you know? I could kill you for that if I didn't know better."

The woman seems to almost spit out a response, but she swallows it down and replies in calmer, but still hostile tone. "I have detected a spike of Aether in the arena and came to investigate. And I enter the arena to the sight of an unkown person with the corpse of Viell'Heirr by her feet." She says in formal and... grand tone, leaving the question unsaid.

Viell'Heirr? That's the name of their race, I assume? Fancy. I wonder what it means.

"Well~. The corpse is from a guy who tried to convince me for a source of greater power." I say, hiding the fact there was also Levia there since she doesn't need to know. "He introduced himself as An'Ghnor." I raise my eyebrows, though I doubt she sees that from this distance of around a hundred meters.

"...I do not know any person by the name of An'Ghnor. It is likely he was too low in our hierarchy to be worthy of mention, or he was from a faraway branch." The woman replies after a while. "And may I know why you are here?"

"After I explained to him without a shred of doubt I'm not interested in his offer, he tried to attack me, I assume wanting to take me forcefully. Seeing he has no chance to defeat me he tried to escape, but his spell seems to have malfunctioned as it shredded him to pieces and took me there."

"...I see." The woman nods. "You can call me Ave'A. I am the grand priest of Viell'Heirr on God's Eye. Would you mind coming with me to talk, as there seems to be conflict between you and our race I would prefer to avoid?"

I barely stop myself from wiggling my eyebrows in suprise and interest. First of all, grand priest, which suggests she is on the very highest position among her people, or at least in her church. Second, God's Eye, which I assume refers to what I know as Beholder's Eye. Then, no matter how you look at it, her attitude is almost suspiciously calm and... not friendly, but far from hostile. Save for the spike at the beginning, but I think it was more to get my attention than intimidate.

"Sure." I nod with a small smile. "You can call me Helia." I say and quickly cross the arena under the woman's watch.

"Am I correct in assuming you are a Demon? A Primordial, if you would prefer?" The woman asks suddenly when I'm halfway through the arena and I stop in my tracks.

"May I know how you got to this conclusion?" I ask cautiously, flaring my wings and jumping at the height of the railing Ave'a is leaning lighlty on. I look at the woman from slighlty higher position, but she seems not to mind it.

"I sense a peculiar type of extremely powerful energy from you. High priest Typhor, a friend of mine and fellow Viell'Heirr, once summoned a Primordial to assist with a task. I had a chance to spend a short time with that Primordial and the energy I remember from him was very similar to what I feel from you." She explains calmly with a faint smile, looking up at me with no hint of... anything past mild pride and elegance. Where she had a bit of hostility before, right now I can't tell her feelings at all. But it's not that she's hiding them, it's just... natural.

A Primordial though... summoning a Primordial even. I'm interested, let's say, not only because I would like to meet another of us, but that summoning sounds like something I could use or that could happen to me. Later though.

"Well, you're perfectly right." I grin. "I am indeed a Primordial." I approach her slowly, beating my wings regularly, and I finally see inside her. And it is... incredible.

Ave'A has three types of energy inside her body, including mana of density around twenty times that of Geru and two hundred times base size. Or close to a thousand times my Flame. In approximation, of course, because with such difference it's really hard to tell the exact amount.

The main attraction though is Aether, which is a few times denser than An'Ghnor's, though similarly I can't accurately say how much it is, and another calm, orange energy in tiny amounts that seems to be on similar level to Aether. Both are visible to me as tiny spots inside her body, most likely the cores, but they are not infused into her body, just like in A'Ghnor's case. That's... dangerous. Even for me. If we fought, I don't think even my demonic energy and affinities would compensate for my lack of simple power.

As I think a bit about her strength I hear the woman sighing and refocus back on our conversation.

"Greedy bastard." She startles me as she spits out quietly, so quietly I wouldn't have heard that if I wasn't using demonic energy to boost my hearing. After that she continues in the same calm tone as before. "I believe that fool sensed similar energy from you and wanted to convince you to undergo our ceremony to obtain your power. Please worry not, for I know very what Primordials are and I will not be trying such foolishness." She pauses for a while, making a thoughtful expression.

"Alright." I nod. I wonder what this ceremony is, but I don't think I'll have a chance to get to know anytime soon. Though I wouldn't be surprised if it had a lot to do with three cores in Ave'A's body, because I very much doubt she had three when she was born.

"My policy is to offer power to the desperate and to the willing." She continues. "You do not seem to be either, not to mention I have no power to give you that wouldn't be greatly inferior to yours." She nods lighlty and turns around, walking higher between the seats of stone to make space for me. I make good use of it as I land on the floor softly and walk up behind her, approaching the top of the construction where Ave'A is waiting beside an open door made of carved stone.

She walks through the door, indicating me to follow her and I walk through the corridor a meter to her back and left.

"What is your relation with, as humans call, them Stone Aberrations? An'Ghnor mentioned something about them and, to be honest, it really caught my attention." I ask carefully and Ave'A snorts, almost making me jump in surprise at the unexpected from her sound.

"That is a fair question most visitors ask first time they come." She says with a small smile. "We are Viell'Heirr, the masters of the mountains, the highest caste among our people and the core of our church. Below us are Viell'Tienner, unworthy or not strong enough to wield Aether. What you are talking about are Viell'Mengde. They are the result of the ritual used to create Viell'Tienner performed on corpses. The resulting beasts are generally mindless monsters without even a soul, and we often use them for labor, but if one gains a soul, they very often escape our control. I believe they are what you encountered and are asking about."

Hmmm~, interesting. In case of the few strays we killed, sure. But the horde we fought that included the snake that sent the signal was most likely being ordered by An'Ghnor. I wonder what he wanted to achieve. Though I don't think I'll be able to get anywhere past blind guesses for now. Though...

"That's likely." I nod my head as Ave'A glances at me. "But just before meeting An'Ghnor I encountered a large group of fifty of them or so." I say, leaving the question unsaid, and the woman sighs deeply.

"In that case it was most likely him controlling it." She replies. "As much as those sound like empty words, I assure you I have no knowledge of his movements. His actions, and his death, are his own responsibity."

"I understand." I nod. "I won't be pursuing the matter as his death should be more than enough to repay for everything he did."

We have meanwhile approached a large door, heavily decorated both physically and with mana in intricate patterns, likely forming spells. It is at the end of the hallway we entered after exiting the arena, and some hallway it is with at least two or three hundred meters of length and door on each side every ten or so. Makes me wonder why there are no other people, even in the range of my magic sense and not only in the corridor, and why the building doesn't remind me of any church at all, but it would be rather impolite to ask about it.

Ave'A opens the door and indicates me to enter, then closes the door and follows after me into a relatively small room with a large desk in its middle. I notice two small strings of mana and Aether extending from her to somewhere and a moment later two identical, simple stone chairs appear on two sides of the table.

"Please sit." She says and stands beside one of the chairs as I am looking around the simple room with practically nothing inside past the table. All the walls built on octagon plane are covered in tiny, intricate carvings, and there is a small door on the opposite side, but past that it's completely empty. Oh, and there is a sort of symbol on the wall behind the woman that looks quite like a rough outline of a star with a circle in the middle. Hm.

Well, no matter. I nod in Ave'A's direction and sit down on the chair at the same time as her. Huh. She really emphasizes she's not better than me, doesn't she? She might have had some history with the other Primordial.

"Since it was one of my people that brought you here, despite the fact it might have not been intentional, I can offer to take you back where you were before, provided you can give me a detailed enough description." She says in a serious tone, seemingly starting the actual talks.

"I'd like that, but I can't provide any details past that it was close to the edge of inner forests in southeastern direction." I say. "If it's about getting back, I think I'll do fine on my own. Could you just show me where we are right now?"

"That I can, though, similarly, the exact position is not something I am comfortable exposing." She says and extends a string of mana and Aether, and a moment later a beautiful, topographical map appears on the table. How is she doing that? It must be a premade spell, because I don't think it would be as simple as it looks.

"I'm fine with that." I nod with a smile. "And I understand why you wouldn't want me to know where this place is."

Ave'A nods with a tiny bit of relief visible on her face and leans forward a bit to look at the map. "In that case, I can teleport you out of our city to the surface, and from there you will find your own way. The city is built in one of the valleys in the Highlands, less than three hundred kilometers from the ceneter of the island. That's the reason for relatively high mana density in this place." She points at a closer undefined point on the map more or less in the middle of a ring of hills and valleys. "Where human capitol lies is almost on the same radius." She points at a city miniature on a deforested area close to the edge of the island and looks at me questioningly.

"Alright." I nod, glancing to the right where I spot a few much smaller miniatures of cities and town, with the last large one most likely being Black Harbor. Oh, and Riverside and Aver's Crossing are also here. Hm. "This will be enough for me. May I ask how have you obtained such detailed map? I have never seen any of such quality among humans."

"I created it." She replies with a smile, and with a hint of pride. "We are one with the mountains. Sometimes they obey our wishes."

I wiggle my eyebrows at that. I mean, could she have said that more cryptically? But no matter.

...

"Please come in. You should already be able to see the other side." Ave'A says as she finishes manipulating larger amount of mana and Aether and a portal forms before her. Damn, it does wonders to my magic sense.

We have talked a bit more pleasantries, but in the end we came to discuss sending me back and other things related to my arrival in this place, not to exchange small talk. So here we are now, after changing places to a small room on the side of the corridor with a large, heavily decorated with multicolored gems portal frame inside. Those gems also seem to assist in creating portals judging from what my magic sense tells me.

And as the woman says, the other side of the portal is visible. It is a huge plain of waist tall grass, small trees and other plants. It is actually a large, flat hill a few kilometers high, most likely surrounded by steep slopes with rivers flowing on their bottoms.

I nod to the woman and cross the portal, feeling a small decrease in mana density. Actually, speaking of it, it's... confusing how my mana sense works here. I have like... two overlapping circles, one of them, centered on the portal and showing me the outside, getting larger as I approach the portal, and after I exit, the one showing me the stone room gets centered at the portal and starts decreasing in radius. The interesting and a fair bit disorienting part is that as I focus where they overlap, they seem to show me the same place, but I can distinctly see what is from one side and what is from another. Unfortuantely I don't know where the other area is, and crossing the portal doesn't help.

Well, space is always weird. It's not something you can wrap your head around with only surface understanding and half-assed effort.

I see Ave'A crossing the portal without turning back and she stands on my right and looks at me. "This is where I can take you. The human capital should be directly to the front. Are you fine with only that much?"

"Yes." I nod, turning to look at her and smiling lightly. "Now that I have a point of reference, I'll find my way."

Ave'A nods and stands there, seemingly waiting for something. Um, is she waiting for me to go? Um, okay. Let's do it now then, give her a small show. I smirk, turning back to look to the front, and look inside myself at the thin thread that is right now pointed almost exactly forty five degrees to my left.

I turn my head there, noticing Ave'A glancing at me with what seems to be curiosity, and accelerate my perception, focusing on the thread.

I want to follow it to arrive where Levia is. How do I go about it? Let's first try to sense the other side. If the portal allowed me to see across space, then... hm... Come to think of it, how was this portal made? Judging how my perception passed directly through it, it wasn't teleportation, but most likely folded or compressed space. Should I try something along those lines? Maybe compress the thread?

I first will some of the flame to cover the thread to allow me to manipulate it, then will it to compress the very base, the space on which the thread lies to compress... for now twice, let's say. Success! While it's not easily noticeable, I can tell I see a longer distance along the thread.

Now compress it more... and more... and more... and more... I think it's a few of kilometers already. My reserves of demonic energy... no, I should call it Primordial Energy. Surprisingly there is almost no change to them. It's likely what I am doing needs very little energy to work, or maybe just its small scale reduces the usage to negligible amounts. Why is it using so little though? When I was accelerating my perception in the fight with Elena, I drained a ton of energy very quickly, but now it's still almost full. There is definitely something I'm not aware of going on here.

No matter, I'll think about it later. Let's continue. I compress the space even more, and even more, and- oooh! I see her! I see Levia! She is right now running and weaving between huge trees, a black longbow in her hands. She is inner forests from the looks of it. I mean, from how she moves to the sides and changes direction a bit every now and then, because my perception range isn't nearly large enough to see the place properly. The distance to her, by the way, is around two hundred and fifty kilometers, if I didn't make a mistake in calculations or in compression.

Okay... so we're good on this front. Now what? Hm. The portal Ave'A created was... probably compressing the space to the point it was almost nonexistent. Actually, thinking about it now, I'm almost certain the stone gate was made to block the sides of the portal where space is compressed. It... might actually be something incredibly dangerous. If you went out of compressed space, where the density of your body was normal, to not compressed space without any preparation, your body would probably explode. Or simply fall apart if you did vice versa.

Either way I'm not inclined to try any of that.

The point is that I probably need to compress the space even more. So I do just that till the stretch of space is just a few centimeters long. Hm~, what now? I have three options now, I think. One, create a portal. But I'm not really keen on doing that, because I don't want to have witnesses to making a portal, and especially not Ave'A. Two, compress myself, though I don't really want to risk it without knowing how space works. Third is to cross into... fourth dimension, kinda?

What I mean is to move the surrounding space in... depth, I guess? I once read a theory that our four-dimensional space-time continuum is merely one of the layers of five-dimensional space-time... something continuum. I'm not sure if that was all of the name, but if it's another layer of space I'd be crossing to, it would be probably four-dimenional reality and five-dimensional continuum. Because the fifth dimension is time.

So... lemme just say goodbyes.

"Ave'A. Is there anything else?" I ask, accelerating my perception back and looking at the woman.

"...No, I don't think so." She says after a moment of confusion.

"I'll be going then." I say with a small smile. "It was a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." She nods back and backs away to the portal.

I accelerate my perception back and push the space surrounding me inward, in depth, and suddenly... I don't sense the grassy plain. My eyes see only darkness... correction, only pitch black nothingness, infinity of simply lack of anything, even space itself. My pereption stretches to around one meter around me, the space I pushed out, plus the twenty or so meters around Levia. Oookay... I think that's a success. I wonder how it looked from Ave'A's perspective. Must have looked interesting, because at the very least I created a bubble of vacuum there.

I notice offhandedly that the air around me kinda... dissolves? The mana starts leaking a bit into surroundings and dispersing, but I lose sight of it as it stops touching the space either directly or indirectly.

Now what to do from there? Lemme look at the thread first... um, decompress it a bit for easier access... hm. It seems... to be in completely another dimension, I think. Because it doesn't stretch out of the small bubble around me, and yet it doesn't go out to the real world... um, can I call it real world? Anyway, the thread only appears there somewhere in Levia. It's sort of in between there and there, but also not really, because it's not between, but somewhere on the... side, I guess. Um.

Blergh, damn, it's confusing. All of that space fuckery. Let's get out of here and investigate it sometime when I have less matters on my head. And preferably more brains to think about all that.

Hmm, let's for now try moving along the thread. Let's... pull on it? I will my flames to pull along the thread, and I start moving, pushing a lot of energy there, and suddenly the distance shrinks to half the previous value.

Uh, what? Did I compress the space by accident? No, I didn't... oookay... holy shit, that's something. I just moved, um, over a hundred kilometers in a tiny fraction of a second. Shit, what about the reserves of my Primordial Energy? I glance at them in alarm and notice with both relief and shock they have reduced to less than fourth of the maximum value. Could have been worse, I guess. I don't want to know what would happen if I ran out of juice in my current situation. And, still, it's crazy efficient. I wonder why. Is it because there is no friction? Hard to say, but that's likely.

Well, so now we wait, I guess. Till my reserves cap at max, and then I go back to Levia. It's not like I'm... oh, shit, I need to log out soon. Not now, but, like, real soon. Half an hour would already be stretching it dangerously.

Hm, shit. Let's call Levia, then we'll think.