“Shit,” Scale cursed as she looked at her naked body. The friction heat from her reckless dash burned away everything from monster blood to the clothes previously on her back. She clicked her tongue and transformed her body into a half-dragon state, hoping it would provide some manner of cover on the off chance someone could observe her. She would prefer her complete form, but the issue of body size held her back. She never considered things like decency during her travels through the dimensional outer bounds, and that fact weighed on her mind; the realization that she was being influenced by the culture of Earth despite only being back for a single day was sobering. A part of her wondered if she’d feel naked even in her full dragon form now.
Scale moved towards the dimensional gate and entered, this time without interruption. Her understanding of spatial travel and overpping dimensions dwarfed most consteltions, but even she struggled to fully understand the magic of the gates. That said, she didn’t need to completely understand something to use and abuse it. She passed through the shimmering magic screen and felt her body being washed by the spatial magic. It felt cozy, like sinking into a warm bed or sipping a hot drink on a cold morning. It wasn’t supposed to feel like that.
Something interfered. She let it interfere.
Scale blinked and her surroundings changed. All feelings of comfort vanished, repced by a distinct unease that drilled to her core. The shimmering magic screen, now behind her, was the only familiar scenery. In front stretched a twisting, pulsing tunnel. The humid air hummed with a distant rhythmic thunder. A faint red glow illuminated a damp path and bck tendrils of cursed magic wriggled through the air, vibrating like plucked guitar strings.
“Gross,” said Scale. She closed her eyes for a moment and tried to use magic to sense her surroundings. “No branches; a single path. Ribbons of bck magic; biological environment. A horse?”
She wasn’t sure if her magic detection was operating correctly. The frown on her face looked like an upside-down checkmark. Her nose wrinkled and her eyes narrowed. She stepped forward and her foot made a squelching, wet noise as it nded almost like she was walking through a swamp. A shiver went up her spine. She wanted to go back through the gate. She wanted to leave and take a very, very long shower to cleanse the icky feeling… But she couldn’t. If she left this alone more people would suffer—perhaps people she cared about. Responsibility was a bitch. With a groan, Scale continued moving forward.
The enclosed space narrowed and widened irregurly, and the path curved at odd points. The mana density thickened with every step. The rhythmic pulsing sounds deepened, becoming more clear the further Scale traveled, taking on a structured two-part beat that she could feel in her bones; the crackle of static intermingled.
She walked. Time stretched and compressed here. As a timeless entity herself Scale noticed the accelerations and oddities with her perception. At one point she witnessed herself walking ahead, as if following a desynced phantom, until her figure overpped with and then passed her past self. Her expression grew grim. The mana density climbed until it resembled the shadow of a threat. .
The path opened into a wide room, a dead end. Scale came face to face with the entity at the heart of this cosmic joke. The living, rotting corpse of a horse.
“Why a horse?” Asked Scale.
[Why not a horse?] The entity answered the question with a question.
“It’s weird.”
[I think horses are cute.]
Scale couldn’t refute the statement; it was a matter of personal taste. She sat down in a chair that seemed to have been set for her.
The horse remained standing. Its eyes didn’t blink. The thunderous sounds from before were now whispers with a verifiable source: the distinct beating of the horse’s exposed heart. Exposed bone and sinew glistened in the moist air. Writhing maggots dug between muscle fibers and savored a never-ending meal.
Scale waited but the entity didn’t speak. She grew impatient and asked, “If I kill you will this dimension colpse?”
[Probably.] The creature paused and then spoke again in a mocking tone, [If.]
Scale ughed and said, “I think I can.”
For the first time since her arrival to this dimension, Scale smiled. Her lips curled upward and her smug aura glistened like moonlight reflected on the surface of deep water. Her mana started to rise.
The horse reacted physically to the threat. Its body flinched and then trembled. Pieces of discarded flesh fell to the soft ground and turned into bck smoke-like mana, diffusing into the environment and drifting towards the distant rift entrance.
[What do you want?] The tone was accusatory. [You are an outsider. A usurper who did not sign the Contract. Do you think the others will just sit and watch as—]
A terrible light interrupted the horse and began breaking it apart. Scale’s voice echoed, bright and clear, “Yes. I think they will.”
[This is just an avatar. I am ‘The Darkness Behind Stars’! You cannot fathom the depths of the water you tread!]
“Depth?” Scale ughed. “Perhaps I was too gentle when I first came back to Earth. Let me make something clear.”
The light burned away everything. Atomic bonds disintegrated. The ws of gravity fell apart. Space churned like butter. Magic ripped at the seams. The horse’s thunderous heartbeat drowned under the roar of overflowing light.
The horse watched in horror as Scale opened her mouth to speak—
[The Consteltion, ‘The Judge’, says: “Fuck off.”]
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[Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error.]
[System failure detected. Recommend reboxzyt bezhdsdaf adfzcxzxczzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzz zzzzzzz xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxx 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510…]
“Hello Chat! This is Hana the Gossip coming to you live from the banks of the Lewis River!” She had her silly sherlock hat on but it didn’t match the rest of her outfit. The white button-up blouse and bck skirt looked more like an office-worker’s outfit. “As you can see, a few S-ranks are already at the scene! There’s Heavy Tomtom! Oh, and there’s Watergss!”
—the ass-ociation really screwed the pooch on this one
—a gate undetected for years in the middle of a city?
—[Bald Emote] [Fire Emote] [Bald Emote] [Fire Emote]
—Hana so cute!
—HanaFLEX
“I wish they’d let me get closer but, as you can see, I’m stuck behind the perimeter with the other press!” Hana made a sad expression and mimicked crying. The camera turned and showed a litany of reporters and journalists all waiting behind a barricade. Most were giving the streamer nasty looks.
“Now chat let’s not get too rude. Mods ban the guy who called the association the ass-ociation. Thank you! Now everyone knows that underwater rifts are harder to detect. Magic tends to diffuse in water, after all!”
—Expin! Expin! Expin!
—is magic sugar?
—[Bald Emote] [Fire Emote] [Bald Emote] [Fire Emote]
—will the new returnee show up?
“Mana and magic are weird and underwater rifts are really hard to handle. The oceans are teeming with monsters because we can’t detect and close underwater rifts easily. There are Awakeners specialized for underwater combat but there aren’t a lot of them. Among the S-ranks, only Watergss is good at fighting underwater.” Hana was looking directly at the camera and started talking about numerous things to her ignorant audience. “This rift has been reported as high ‘A’ to low ‘S’ rank for its magic output, but the raw output isn’t the only thing that matters with rifts! There are typically three factors they take into account when grading rifts: variability, mana output, and—”
—Streamer turn around! Streamer turn around! Streamer turn around!
—Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
—[Bald Emote] [Crying Emote] [Skull Emote]
“Why is chat acting—”
“I TOLD YOU TO STOP CALLING ME BY THAT NICKNAME!” Watergss’s voice roared.
A beam of water spped Hana from behind. She threw her hands up while making gurgling noises as she was washed away in a fsh flood, camera and all. The stream caught the entire sequence on video and the chat exploded with ughter. None of the nearby reporters escaped either.
Alyssa cpped her hands and walked back towards the group with a satisfied smile. The journalists were getting annoying, so she was happy to take on the role of the ‘bad guy’ to get them away from the scene. As an Association Affiliate she didn’t want their reputation to drop any further.
“So you’re saying an awakened woman went into the rift alone?” Heavy Tomtom, one of the few other Association affiliated S-ranks, was currently interviewing the north side’s local superhero.
“I’ve told you I’m not sure. She was hel strong and said she had something important to do in the water. I tried to follow her but she took me down in one hit.” Starlight Man spoke earnestly and didn’t seem to be holding a grudge despite the clear fist imprint still on his right cheek.
“Can you describe what she looked like?”
“She was about this tall and had white hair. She was wearing—”
Alyssa had a good idea that the woman in question was Scale. It was both reassuring and concerning. Her and Heavy Tomtom’s eyes met and it seemed both of them had the same idea. He had been present at the double S-rank rift too, and had seen Scale’s real appearance.
“Thank you, Starlight Man,” said Tomtom. “You should head back, now, and leave the rift to us professionals.”
“Please let me help—”
“You’re not qualified and don’t have the proper...” Tomtom walked Starlight Man away, expining why he needed to shut the fuck up and leave (albeit in kinder terms).
Alyssa was gd she didn’t need to step up. She sighed and looked down at the water. A team of analysts were currently in scuba gear near the riverbed with measuring devices. The gate had broken long ago and released at least one massive monster into the river but it had already been dealt with.
“If Scale went in this whole situation is going to be solved soon. Not sure why we’re wasting time and money, here,” said Alyssa with a frown. She leaned against part of the fence that separated the riverwalk from the actual river. Suddenly the radio on her hip came to life as one of the analysts reported from the river bed.
“This is Carl. The gate appears to be an overpped double double type. Our reports are showing an S-rank overpping a B-rank. Erosion rates are—”
The communication stopped abruptly. Alyssa’s chest hurt. She felt her heart seize. She coughed up a spurt of blood without warning. Her stomach felt like it just did a front flip. Strange and incomprehensible [System] messages started to pop up without warning. She stumbled and looked up to see all the other awakeners, like her, doubling over in pain. The ground started to shake. Someone was screaming—
The [System] was—
And then everything returned to normal. All the awakeners on scene opened their eyes and looked at each other, their confusion and fear apparent. Most were on the ground.
Then the phones started to ring. Panicked people reported the strange phenomena.
“This is Carl,” the radio line from the Analysts revived. “All of us just… The rifts are both closing? What’s going on?”
