The winding tunnel of spatial magic stretched onward to near infinity. Scale marveled at the sights as she slipped through the fabric of reality. Occasionally a magic storm would erupt from the void beyond the tunnel. Those storms would intersect the tunnel and struck Scale’s body more than once on this long journey, but her powerful body withstood these attacks without issue. She was more fascinated than bothered, taking her time to study the void and the magics beyond her known universe.
The whispers of powerful beings crossing her path tried to nudge her towards madness but her reason held strong. Her curious mind, hardened by years of toil in the mortal realm and then sixteen years as a dragon, was too powerful to be swayed by the mutterings of minor gods. Star patterns shined in the abyss like consteltions and Scale realized that she weighed heavier than any of them. The starlight that made her corporeal form wasn’t something so fragile.
Hours. Days. Years. Eons. Time was meaningless here. Scale shattered the spatial tunnel formed by The Archmage’s magic, not intending to follow it to whatever barren world he had deigned to send her to. Now she had learned enough to make her own way across the cosmos. Her powerful intuition seemed to guide her. Her magic and body swelled with power.
Where her mother devoured the moon, Scale devoured all the stars in the sky. She became the Judge. Following the tides of emotion that brought forth miracles, she found other worlds.
Being a lonely soul, she went to these worlds in hopes of finding a pce to call home, but each world she found held nothing of value. They were wastends full of chittering bugs or destroyed refuges of sentient species.
As her travels lengthened she found herself thinking back to her first life as an engineer on Earth. She wondered how much time had passed there and if her old father and sister were still alive. She reasoned it was unlikely, but the more time she spent learning the more she understood the true fluidity of time.
She could always return to her mother’s side, but something about the transient nature of mortal life attracted her like a moth to a fme. Eternal companions would always be there waiting, but a human life could only be witnessed in a human frame of reference.
She found herself perfecting her transformation. Now she looked to be a young woman around 25 years with delicate and slender features. White hair, a soft nose, and piercing pale blue eyes. Her magics could not cast illusions so she could not falsify her form. She didn’t necessarily care to be a woman but she didn’t mind it anymore. She didn’t feel attraction to humans during her travels, no matter how beautiful, and instead only found them cute like how she would view a puppy or a cat. Perhaps one day she’d meet another dragon that made her heartbeat quicken, perhaps not… She hadn’t had much of a talk about that kind of subject with her mother and reasoned such a thing could be done at a ter time.
After such a long time journeying the universe, Scale finally found something interesting. A powerful joined magic formed from many Consteltions had created something called [The System]. It wove through many worlds.
She recognized it even though she had never witnessed it in person. This [System] allowed for those on her home world to awaken. Excitement welled in her and she howled for joy. She immediately followed the threads of fate. Eyes turned towards her from across the cosmos but none dared to meet her gaze. Those that administrated the [System] bowed their heads to the Judge.
And at long st Scale found Earth. The weave of time here moved slowly and she realized that only about five years had passed since her first death. There was hope she could find her first family. She considered simply sponsoring them from the outside as a Consteltion, but then reckoned such mediocre commitment wasn’t something she believed in. What Judge could truly bance the scales from a distance?
Besides, wasn’t it more fun to join them in person? A mischievous smile crossed her lips.
Scale found a spatial tunnel connecting to Earth and used it to infiltrate the world, following another Returnee who had finally made it home. The [System] screamed in pain as Scale hacked into it.
[System World Announcement: Returnees ‘Bde of Wrath’ and ‘Princess Scale’ arriving.]
Two shooting stars crossed the vast sky. One nded in China, and the second, a bright white star, nded in America on the outskirts of Response City.
-
Alyssa Altiman scowled as she looked at the arm on her phone. She dressed herself in her combat gear quickly.
“Dad, I'll be back,” she said as she ran towards the front door.
“The news says there are Returnees!” Her father’s voice called back from the living room. “Maybe it’s Jacoby.”
The hope in his voice made Alyssa wince. Her heart ached and she didn’t have the resolve to tell her father the odds of her brother coming back. As an unawakened sucked into a rift, his survival chance was below one percent. Still, at least one corner of her heart still held hope.
She reached the emergency elevator and, without waiting, opened the doors with her hands. She jumped off of the walls of the elevator shaft and climbed to the rooftop exit before opening the doors there too. Once on the open rooftop, she leapt from the highrise apartment and jumped from rooftop to rooftop towards the east, where a monstrous magical signal was falling towards the ground.
Returnees arriving weren’t a new phenomena. Several hundred had come back over the years, but every time the spatial disturbance their entries caused would create rifts and gates. As one of the 33 S-Rank hunters in America, it was Alyssa’s duty to respond.
Returnees were incredibly valuable assets to the Association, even the weak ones, so it was important to protect them. Most were C or B ranked awakeners, but there were at least 10 known S-Rank returnees worldwide.
Judging by the radiating mana this would be a major gate. The power of the monsters and gates that spawned were often unreted to the power of the returnees, but every S-Rank returnee had been accompanied by S-rank gates. A C-rank returnee could be accompanied by an S-Rank gate, but an S-Rank returnee was *always* accompanied by an S-Rank Gate.
Alyssa sighed as the measuring device on her arm started to scream. Today was going to be a long day.
She looked down at her watch and said, “Computer please call Portal. We’re going to need a lot of backup.” Her watch beeped in response. The green light on it turned red. Ayssa kept moving. The Gate in front of her was the single rgest one she’d ever seen. The Returnee was probably not going to make it out alive unless they were particurly strong.
Alyssa joined the group of awakeners standing outside the gate. There were already soldiers bringing in barricades and digging trenches with equipment. Voices were screaming across the clearing.
“Mana readings show double S!”
“Erosion at 21% and climbing!”
“We need to prepare for a break. Estimated time is one day!”
The man in charge of the scene wore a bck suit that seemed too small to contain his rippling physique. His bald head shined under the morning sunlight. Alyssa wasn’t sure how he got here before her considering he wasn’t as fast as she was and he had to come a farther distance. If she asked he’d just say something stupid like ‘Association Chairman Powers’. He turned towards Alyssa and smiled, but he couldn’t hide the worry on his face.
“You’re here, Watergss!” Said the Chairman of the American Awakener’s Association.
“I told you not to call me that,” Alyssa replied. Her brow furrowed. It was a nickname from her childhood. She didn’t mind it in the past, but in the st five years she’d snap at anyone that used it.
“Fine, fine. You called Portal, right?”
“Yeah,” said Alyssa. “No response yet.”
“That’s fine. We’ve got some time. Help set up in the meantime.”
-
The news spread worldwide within an hour. The rgest gate in recorded history had formed in America just outside of Response City. Specutions ran wild as the mana measurements were released and evacuation orders started coming in. Hunters, Heroes, Awakeners, whatever they were called had a firm opinion on the matter: ‘Run the hell away.’
Double S. SS-Rank. The first in history. The estimated break time was within 24 hours. The evacuation of the city started immediately after the mana measurements. Powerful fighters from across the world were moved to the city to assist. The hero Portal, possessing the ability to create long distance portals, was invaluable for securing allies.
Of the 33 S-Ranks in America, 16 of them showed up. No foreign hunters responded to the S.O.S.. A very brave camera crew arrived and began live-streaming the scene from a distant helicopter, but they would struggle to see individual humans in detail. They were here to record whatever gigantic monster would come from the rift. Tensions ran high and many people prayed.
The White House prepared to call in a nuclear strike if the gate broke. Three hours passed and in total, 16 S-rank hunters were joined by almost 80 A-ranks. Numerous guilds had arrived despite the risk. The attack would take pce soon. They were going to try to clear the gate.
“Erosion at 34%!”
“Attack team line up for rations here!”
“Where is that idiot Bdelight?”
“Bdelight is already on a private jet heading to China.”
“THAT BASTARD ABANDONED US? If we stop this break I’m calling President Moore and asking for him to bar reentry!”
“Are we getting any signal from the drones we sent in?”
“No signals. Magic interference is strong as hell. None of them have returned either.”
Alyssa sat on a chair and fiddled with her combat uniform. It was a sleek leather armor that looked more like a cross between tactical gear and something out of the Lord of the Rings. She would rather have had a fshy cool outfit but the production awakeners weren’t all that skilled yet. She did like the cape, though. It had environmental protection, cloaking, and shielding built into it. It was a good cape. The fact that she was fiddling with it, though, showed her unease.
[The Consteltion ‘The Mists of the High Waterfall’ says: “Do not be concerned.”]
Alyssa’s frown faltered at the sudden message from her Consteltion. Judging by the sudden reactions from all the other S-rank awakeners around her, their Consteltions sent a simir message.
“What are you saying?” Alyssa asked aloud.
[The Consteltions gathered here say: “The Returnee this time is very very scary.”]
The entire square went silent. A group message from several Consteltions was a rare event. Even rarer was those arrogant gods from beyond the world referring to an individual as ‘Scary’.
“What the fuck?” It was the Association Chairman’s voice. “Wont saying that make us worry for an entirely different reason? How can a Consteltion think a Returnee is scary?”
[The Consteltions say: “Leave us out of this. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please.”]
“Ohhhhh fuck.” It was unclear who said this, but everyone present dry swallowed at the same time.
“Gate erosion dropping!” A cry came from the spectro-magic analyst. “Down to 20%. Dropping fast! The Gate is almost cleared. Wait, the erosion is spiking again? 90%! What is going—”
A loud thunder cracked from the gate. A monster four stories tall and covered in blood, resembling a demon from myth and radiating more magic power than any S-Rank monster in history, cmbered from the gate. Molten va flowed from its jagged, bck skin. The air temperature spiked so high the nearby tents ignited instantly. All of the awakeners backed up a step, those under S-Rank hit their knees from the heat and magic density alone. The creature was beyond a camity…
But something was wrong. All of the awakeners could tell. This monster forced its way through an unbroken gate to escape from something. It had a look of terror etched onto its face.
“Prepare for battle!”
A loud hurrah was quickly stifled as the monster, not fully out of the gate, screamed in pain. Even Alyssa had to cover her bleeding ears to protect herself. The beast’s upper body fell to the ground and then slowly, inch by inch, was dragged backwards into the gate behind it. Two massive gouges were left in the ground where its cws desperately tried to dig into the earth to hold it back. Then it was gone.
A pin dropped.
“E-erosion 5%. Erosion zero. The gate is cleared.”
The wall of magic shimmered for a moment and then began to turn translucent. In its wake a single being stood: a young woman with white hair, a slender build, and pale blue eyes. She was naked as the day she was born. Her eyes gnced over the crowd before pausing on one person in particur.
Alyssa felt her heart stop as the woman pointed directly at her with a trembling hand. The Returnee opened her smiling mouth and yelled at the top of her lungs, “WATERGLASS!”
The air burst apart. The woman wasn’t standing at the rift location anymore. She was now gently hugging the bewildered S-Rank hero Alyssa Altiman.
“I missed you so much, Lyss.”
Alyssa looked down at the naked woman and her breath hitched.
“J-Jacoby?” She asked, her expression breaking apart.
“Yes. It’s me. I’m home. But please, from now on, call me Scale.”
