Siegfried Fors

  “FUUUUAAAAAAA!”

  “HAAAA!”

  My eyes shot open as if someone had poured ice-cold water over me on a winter night.

  "Fuck! How many times have I told you not to wake me like that?”

  My voice echoed strangely.

  I rubbed my eyes vigorously to clear the haze. The blurriness vanished, but the world remained black.

  Is it still night? It is too dark, even for a moonless—

  "Fua!!"

  Faux moved directly in front of my face. He spun around fast and his tail hit me right in the face. “Ouch! What the—”

  Everything came rushing back in a violent flood.

  The time dungeon.

  The unending demon.

  Serena.

  Darkness.

  And the Stab.

  I looked at Faux again. He was the only thing truly visible in this place; his vibrant reddish-orange color had been drained away, replaced by a luminous white. I looked down at myself and realized I was completely naked, but surprisingly, that was not the most important part. Half of my body was pale white, while the other half was a deep black. I could only make out the black side of my body against the rest of the world because of a faint outline.

  "Just... where are we?"

  I tried to move through the black space, but pain answered immediately in multiple parts of my body. I looked down and realized my right arm was gone. There were jagged stains of red on the white half of my torso where the limb had been severed. A large, ugly red mark marred my chest where the spike had pierced me. It was hard to believe I was still conscious, let alone floating, after such an assault.

  I don't need to breathe. My wounds aren't bleeding out or getting worse. But I am not able to use any spells. It feels like I am caught in some kind of suspended state where time has no meaning.

  "How do we get out of here?" I asked, looking at Faux for any sign of a plan.

  "Fua." He simply shrugged his shoulders, his eyes scanning the nothingness.

  "So cold... Help..."

  A helpless, innocent-sounding voice drifted up from below. Faux and I both looked down. At first, I saw nothing, then I narrowed my eyes, straining to see through the dark. Far beneath us, barely visible against the absolute black, was the outline of a humanoid figure. It wasn't very big; it looked like a child lost in the deep.

  "Hey! Can you hear me?" I shouted, the sound of my voice feeling thin and small in the infinite space.

  No response came.

  So rude.

  "Helllllooooo!"

  Again, there was no response; the figure simply continued its slow, silent descent further down.

  I couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for the small, falling shape. Ignoring the pain from my missing arm and pierced chest, I tried to kick my legs, forcing my body to descend through the weightless void.

  "Damn that Goddess of Time..."

  I turned toward the voice instantly.

  A screen formed in the blackness, like a reflection on the surface of still water. Through it, I could see Serena hovering within the timestream, that familiar blue orb circling the area as it emitted a scanning light.

  "She just sent the black hole away and ducked out," Serena muttered, her face contorted with irritation.

  The blue orb ceased its scanning and rotated toward its mistress. "Statement: My Great Lady, without intervention from the Goddess of Time, the black hole’s expansion within the timestream would have resulted in total existential collapse."

  "Stop defending her! Did you find the boy or not? The darkness must have made a backup of the demon's soul. We need to find the boy before Valka Fors mistakenly kills the demon outside and it emerges from the Source here.”

  The orb pulsed once.

  "Scan Results:

  Mana Signature Search: Everywhere.

  Blood Match Analysis: No Correspondence Detected.

  Overall Assessment: Negative."

  "It would have been much easier if that fox we followed hadn't vanished into thin air."

  Fox?

  I look at the one hovering next to me. Did they come together, or…

  No!Wait! Am I inside the source of the darkness itself? Ugh, this is definitely not a great place to be, but I suppose it is still better than being inside the demon’s stomach.

  "Miss Serena!! I am here!! O great beautiful lady Serena. Hellloooo!" I shouted, waving my one remaining arm frantically at the watery image.

  To my growing frustration, she didn't even flinch. She continued her conversation with the orb as if I were a ghost, her gaze passing right through the space where I floated.

  "Do you think he is conscious?" Before the dark thoughts could take root, Serena spoke again.

  "Assessment: Resistance dependent on soul strength. Based on observed mana capacity, probability of resisting dark influence is within acceptable parameters."

  "True. His bloodline should allow him to resist the darkness or even control it."

  Control it?

  A serious look settled over her face. "There is only one way."

  "Come forth." As she spoke, red and yellow orbs materialized beside her, joining the blue one. She moved closer to the surface of that watery reflection.

  Slowly, she pulled the glove from her hand. I froze, my breath catching in my throat as I stared at her exposed skin. Her fingers weren't flesh-toned; they were black, tapering into points that were slightly too long, slightly too sharp to be human.

  Is she not human?

  She extended her hand forward.

  "Woah."

  To my surprise, the physical outline of her hand pushed through the watery screen, entering this black void.

  Purple light gathered in her palm as her voice resonated directly into this space.

  “Siegfried Fors. I am here. I am here. Follow the voice. Take my hand.”

  Hope surged violently in my chest.

  I moved upward in a hurry, kicking with all the strength left in my legs to reach for that literal lifeline.

  “Prepare to destroy the Source. We will get rid of it the moment we get him," she ordered over her shoulder to the floating orbs. I stopped in my tracks, my hand inches from hers.

  Destroy the Source?

  I looked down to where the small figure was drifting further into the abyss. His outline was starting to diminish, fading into the absolute nothingness below.

  If the Source is destroyed, what happens to that child?

  I clenched my teeth.

  I can't think about him right now. I need to save myself. I have people waiting for me. That is a stranger. I don't have any reason to help someone I don't even know.

  The helpless, shivering cries from a moment ago resounded in my head, echoing against the silence of my conscience.

  “So cold… help…”

  It is none of my business.

  None of my…

  Agh, FUCK IT!

  I reached out and slightly brushed my fingertips against the back of Serena’s hand, just enough to inform her of my presence.

  "Hmm? I just felt something?" she whispered, her brow furrowing as she noticed the touch.

  Ignoring her confusion, I turned my body around. I tried to float downward, but the movement was difficult. The small wound on my leg hurted with every kick, making my progress slow.

  A soft pressure touched my back.

  I glanced behind me to see Faux pressing its head against my back.

  Fau fue fau.

  Shut up. What do you mean, 'Always the hero'?

  But still, his support made it easier to move down.

  I let out a weak laugh.

  "Hah, you are really on fire today, aren't you?"

  Fua.

  "Hey! Can you hear me?" I shouted.

  As I reached the proper depth, Faux moved from my back to his usual position on my head. I drifted slowly through the weightless dark, my hand outstretched toward the fading outline of the child.

  “Can you hear me? Hey!”

  Still, there was no response.

  I reached out and managed to grab the small, barely visible hand of the figure.

  It felt cold.

  I pulled him toward me with a sharp tug. "Wake up! Come to your senses!"

  For a brief moment, his eyelids fluttered, slowly opening to reveal beautiful, haunting golden eyes with serpentine pupils. For a second, they locked onto mine before they slid shut once more.

  "Don't go falling asleep again!" I groaned in frustration. I wrapped my only remaining arm tightly around his waist, pulling his limp body flush against my chest.

  I started kicking as best I could to move upward, but the extra weight, no arms to use, and the pain in my leg made it difficult. Still, I pushed on. Faux did his best to support me, his tiny paws pressing against me as he did his best to push me up. Serena’s message was still echoing through the gloom, her outstretched hand visible through the watery screen.

  Just a little farther.

  I tightened my hold on the child.

  Life has a way of playing cruel jokes on me, and it chose this exact moment to play the worst one yet. On the screen, I saw it. A long tendril burst through Serena’s abdomen.

  No. No. No. Wait!

  Her body arched slightly from the impact.

  As I pushed upward desperately, her extended hand and her entire figure were yanked violently upward, dragged away from the surface. The tendril began to shift and thicken, taking the unmistakable shape of a massive, clawed hand wrapped around her waist.

  “Did you truly believe your presence would escape my notice?”

  The demon’s voice slithered through the void as his form manifested completely. The tendril hardened into a massive arm, its grip tightening around Serena’s body.

  “Damn it,” she spat. “Did you get killed outside already?"

  At that question, the demon’s smile widened with a sickening glee. “It is a recent acquisition,” he said, tapping lightly at his temple with a clawed finger. “I can now sustain multiple streams of thought at once. Using the darkness, I may manifest as many bodies as I require. So, even though I am fighting outside, I can deal with you here.”

  "Hmph. Split Cognition." Serena’s voice sounded mocking despite her position. “How quaint. You landed one fortunate strike.”

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  As she spoke, a blade of pure light chopped through the demon’s neck. The light originated from a triangle formation created by the three orbs.

  His head separated cleanly.

  At the same time, Serena’s form blurred. She phased out of the demon's grasp, her wound closing and her clothes restoring themselves around her stomach in an instant.

  The demon raised its hands in a hurry, using them to clumsily adjust its chopped-off head back into place.

  “You will not reach that child before I do.”

  Serena scoffed. “Says who? You, who is still struggling for control of the source against the being inside it?”

  Being inside it? Right, there was supposed to be a being with the power of ‘Entropy’ inside the Source. We feared the demon might devour it and take over both the Source and Entropy itself.

  I slowly looked down at the small, unconscious child in my arm.

  Is he? But he is just a child.

  "Maybe I shall learn from you humans for a change. If you cannot win a fight alone," the demon said, and suddenly multiple fists manifested in the air around Serena. She vanished, reappearing high above the chaos. "Then bring in some allies!"

  Multiple copies of the demon spoke at the same time, their voices overlapping into a discordant, haunting choir.

  Serena raised her spaff downward. The three orbs spun rapidly around her, releasing waves of prismatic light.

  “Even a hundred weaklings remain weak,” she replied coldly as a brutal, high-speed fight ensued. Explosions of mana rippled across the surface of the screen. The timestream trembled with each exchange.

  Looks like I’ll have to find a way to get out on my own.

  I forced my breathing to slow, my eyes scanning the oppressive void. I didn't believe in dead ends—only poorly documented exits. If I had fallen into this place, there was an entry point. And where there is an entry, there is always a way out. I just had to find it.

  “I will handle the ones coming from the north myself.”

  Grandpa? I looked up again as another watery screen manifested beside the first one. My heart hammered against my ribs as it displayed a view I knew by heart. It showed the barony.

  They are under attack? Why is the sky so dark there?

  I drifted closer.

  I kicked through the weightless void to move closer to the new reflection. On the screen, I watched Grandpa take flight, his face etched with a grim determination I had rarely seen. He was fighting off waves of descending Darkkin, swinging a massive mace made of their own crushed bodies to keep them from the streets. Their bodies shattered and were absorbed into the weapon itself.

  He looked like a storm given shape.

  But there were too many.

  He is doing his best, but they will be overwhelmed soon if this keeps up. Where are Mother and Uncle? Why aren't they there to help him?

  "All or nothing."

  A third screen shimmered into existence right next to the others, like a window opening into a different corner of the chaos.

  My eyes widened.

  I saw a sprawling army of Darkkin and Sky Titans locked in a desperate struggle with our group.

  Woooowwww, Ashar, you absolute dawg! What is with that big fiery thing? You never told me you could do something that insane.

  On the screen, he was completely engulfed in a torrent of flames that had taken the shape of a colossal humanoid figure of fire towering above the battlefield. Each movement sent waves of heat crashing outward.

  Nearby, Tavian stood amidst a spiraling storm of spirits that were weaving massive, localized tornadoes, lifting enemies into the sky before tearing them apart.

  Then I saw Mother. She was there, beating down the demon. But she wasn't alone. Hovering in front of her was a terrifyingly beautiful creature, a large white being with six powerful arms.

  Even through a screen, it exuded such an incredible presence... What is that?

  "Fua fau fee."

  Hmm? That is a spirit too? I honestly didn't know there were such impressive ones in existence.

  Faux's tail smacked the back of my head.

  “Fa fu fa fack fuu.”

  "Alright! I get it! I get it! You are cool too, okay?" I grumbled.

  He huffed.

  Despite everything, a faint smile tugged at my lips.

  Then the smile faded.

  Everyone is fighting so hard. They are putting their lives on the line for me, for the home we built. I can't just float here and watch.

  I let go of the child, allowing him to float weightlessly next to me, but I quickly hooked my leg around his to ensure he didn't drift away. I pressed my palm flat against the screens, but my hand only sent a dull ripple through the surface.

  Serena’s hand came through from that side, so there has to be a path. There has to be a way out here.

  I tried to channel my mana into the screen, but the moment the energy left my skin, the darkness around me seemed to drink it, dissolving my power into nothingness.

  On the screen, I watched Grandpa clash with a massive Darkkin wielding a flaming hammer. The impact was violent, sending both of them crashing back.

  GRANDPA!!!

  In a fit of pure desperation, I clawed at the edges of the screen, trying to forcefully pour every drop of mana I had left into the water like surface.

  More mana.

  More mana.

  More mana.

  More mana.

  More mana.

  More mana.

  MORE MANA!

  It disintegrated again and again.

  I clenched what little mana I could hold onto and slammed my fist against the surface.

  All it did was send more useless ripples across the images of my family in pain.

  WORK!!!

  Beside me, Faux snarled and began slamming his head into it.

  On the battlefield, Grandpa turned and began a mad sprint toward a giant wave he had absolutely no chance of stopping alone.

  I started hitting the screen harder and harder, the pain in my missing arm and chest dulling in the heat of my rage.

  BREAK! BREAK! BREAK!

  My knuckles burned.

  BREAK! BREAK! BREAK!

  I wouldn't let him die. I wouldn't let any of them die while I sat in this dark, quiet hole.

  The ripples intensified.

  Tiny fractures began to spread across the view of the barony.

  I pulled my fist back, reinforcing my entire body with as much mana as I could. I felt heat flare into my right eye and slammed my hand into the center of the fracture at the exact moment Faux struck it again.

  The screen shattered.

  Fragments burst outward like shards of glass, catching the faint, ghostly light of my own mana as they spun into the void. For a heartbeat, the images of my family, the barony, and faces of everyone I knew hung suspended in the air around me.

  Then in an instant everything was sucked in.

  I did not know what was happening.

  I could not understand anything.

  I floated in an ocean of stars, the light of distant galaxies stinging my eyes as I drifted through the infinite quiet.

  Then I began to see moments.

  Not memories.

  Moments.

  A nucleus at the center of existence, protons and neutrons bound tightly together. Electrons orbiting in precise, probabilistic dance.

  Hydrogen nuclei colliding inside the heart of a star. I watched the complete proton-proton chain reaction as it birthed the very light that sustains life.

  I noticed a Singularity compressing beyond the Schwarzschild radius.

  I saw how, at the moment of death, a person's soul crucible breaks. Their mana mixes with the ambient mana, and their soul moves toward Aethelhum.

  Moisture condensed into cumulonimbus clouds, heavy with the promise of a storm.

  Tectonic plates shifted with a subterranean groan, continents drifting like ice on a pond.

  Inside my own form, I watched my Actin and myosin filaments sliding, the mechanical reality of my own movement laid bare.

  It kept coming.

  Atomic decay.

  Neural impulses firing across synapses.

  Gravitational lensing bending distant starlight.

  Cells dividing.

  Entropy increasing.

  Order forming.

  Breaking.

  Reforming.

  No… It was not that I could not understand…

  It was the opposite.

  I could understand everything.

  Every process.

  Every reaction.

  Every law governing existence unfolded before me as if I had always known them.

  Knowledge… Knowledge poured into my mind constantly, a relentless flood of truths that stripped away the mystery of the world.

  I looked at my arms. There, I saw emerald green lines glowing with a pulsing light. No, it wasn't just my arms. The lines mapped my entire body, glowing through my skin like a web of living jade.

  "Are these my... Mana veins?"

  But Mana veins are not supposed to be visible to the naked eye. They are sort of like blood vessels, but for mana that spread through the human body; a person develops them the moment they first awaken. All the veins originate from the soul crucible. They don’t physically exist; they exist on the astral plane within the Mana body, meaning no blade may cut them and no physician may find them beneath the skin. We use the soul crucible, which is connected to that mana body, to draw upon mana.

  All of this wasn't in 'Ways to Master Magic' book.Granny did once say during our study sessions that the workings of the soul crucible are more advanced than a 'simple container of mana,' and she told me she would teach me more about it later.

  I did a little study on my own... from what I remember, not everyone's mana veins are similar. They differ from person to person and decide one’s future as a mage. They can be ranked using Quantity, Quality, and Composition.

  Quantity. The total number of veins a person possesses. A greater number allows for faster activation and a wider distribution of mana throughout the body.

  Quality. The thickness, resilience, and structural integrity of the veins. Thicker veins withstand greater mana flow, producing higher output.

  Composition. The intrinsic nature of the veins themselves. Some carry peculiar traits, affinities, or rare properties.

  Suddenly, my perspective changed. I was no longer inside my body. I was like a ghost, looking down at my own form.

  What just? How?

  I didn't know what had happened, but this made it easy for me to look at my veins. With a single glance, I knew I had a total of 421. I didn't know if that was a legendary number or an average one, but the greater the number, the faster the activation. As for composition, which basically meant the presence of unique traits, I could tell mine were special. The more mana I used, the stronger they became, meaning they would grow more resilient and improve my physical reinforcement.

  Physical reinforcement? I wonder if it's related to my Fors blood trait, which allows us to hold mana in our muscles.

  My eyes moved up to where all the veins connected to the crucible. Suddenly, my outward appearance vanished. I could see inside my own body. All my internal organs and the mana veins woven over them became much clearer. And then, there was my soul crucible. I couldn't believe I was seeing it. It was just like how Zayn once described; it looked like a drinking glass or the mouth of a hose, waiting to spill mana into the world.

  I tried touching it. My body suddenly changed again. My soul crucible and all my internal organs vanished, leaving only my mana veins. The inside of my body was filled with a soft, light green mana, and over that, the emerald green mana veins were situated, glowing like neon.

  Is this my mana body? Is this how it looks on the astral plane? It feels as if, one by one, I am removing the layers of my own existence.

  A mana body exists on the astral plane just like the veins, but the veins were visible before with my physical body. Why was that?

  A soul needs a physical body to anchor it to this world, and the soul crucible resides within the soul. So, perhaps mana veins interact with the physical world via the soul to some degree.

  So it must go like this… A soul starts gathering mana from the very second it is born. It keeps collecting until it has enough. This "enough" is defined by one’s own soul capacity. After reaching that capacity, the person awakens and forms the soul crucible within the soul, with the mana body and veins manifesting in the astral plane.

  But a person doesn’t always awaken like this. Sometimes, even after reaching “enough” they don't awaken. It can require a physical or mental stimulus, or even outside interference, like Faux was in my case.

  I studied my mana body. Curious, I lifted a finger and touched the surface. Another rush of knowledge, a violent torrent of information, came pouring into my consciousness. I pulled my hand back in a hurry, gasping as the weight of it threatened to crush my mind.

  "This..."

  The information wasn't about the laws of the world or the distant cosmos like before. This was about me. My own fundamental information.

  I understood now what the mana body truly was. Other than acting as a vessel for mana, it contains the complete backup for metaphysical blueprint of a being. Everything was there: physical structure, psychological state, memories, potential, and even my deepest flaws, all encoded within the soul.

  This information was fascinating, a map of my own existence, but two other things I found out about myself in that rush were far more appealing. I also felt someone watching me; I am sure it wasn't Faux or the child I saved. Let’s ignore that for now. I need to focus on the information I just learned.

  The first was my right eye. It was a Mysteral Eye. This eye allows one to have far greater ‘energy’ perception and processing ability than any normal human could dream of. It has the power to see all types of energies in extreme detail and to process that information with extraordinary efficiency. It automatically reveals all physical, chemical, or cosmic processes happening in the environment as long as they involve some sort of energy.

  It’s a good thing I keep this eye closed and under an eyepatch. With it being partially active all the time, my brain would be fried from the sheer stress of processing that much data. But at the same time, it is such an overpowered ability, If only I could learn to use it at will.

  I could still feel someone’s gaze locked onto me.

  Ignore… The second thing I found out... I looked at my own mana body once more. As if responding to my will, the light receded, the mana body vanished, and my physical body with all its internal organs reappeared in its place. There it was. I hadn't noticed it before. Normally, hearts are supposed to be on the right side of the body, and mine was right where it belonged, beating with a steady rhythm. But on the left, there was another heart. The only difference was that it wasn't beating. It sat silent and still, which explains why I never realized I was carrying a second heart within my chest.

  I have studied the human body a little during my alchemy classes, but there was never any mention that humans in this world possess a second heart.

  Could it be another blood trait? I wonder if Grandpa and the others also have this.

  Right! Grandpa!

  At that thought, the sea of stars around me vanished. Suddenly, I was hovering above the barony. I looked down and saw Grandpa sitting on the grass. The terrifying wave of darkness that had been threatening to consume the town was gone, as if it had never existed.

  What happened here?

  Perhaps it was because of the new clarity about my eye, but I could tell with a single glance that Grandpa only had one heart.

  The scene shifted again, the world blurring until I stood where Ashar, Aifa, Tavian, and Uncle were fighting. I scanned them as they moved, and they too only possessed a single heart beating in their chests.

  I looked back at Mother, who was still locked in her struggle. There, I heard it clearly. The distinct heartbeat of two hearts.

  Did I inherit this from her?

  The location changed once again, I was back in the timestream where Serena fought the endless copies of the demon. Amidst the sounds of spell firing and claws striking, I heard it again. Two heartbeats, echoing in perfect synchronicity.

  She also has it… What’s the common factor between her and Mother? Is this related to that 'Paradeus' thing? The demon called Mother and Serena by that name, and it called me a 'halfling.'

  I wonder...

  “... Do you know anything?”

  The question slipped out of my mouth as I lifted my gaze upward.

  This time, the world didn't answer immediately. I stared for what felt like seconds, or perhaps years, waiting for someone to speak back.

  The world shifted once again, pulling me away from the visions of my family and back into the sea of stars.

  The mysterious watcher finally revealed itself.

  As the many gazes locked onto me, the 'heat' in my right eye turned into an agonizing cold. My spine snapped taut, arching backward as a scream died in my throat. I watched in horrific slow motion as a pale, clawed arm, deathly white and inhuman, forced its way out through my iris, reaching for the very being I had been questioning.

  [Nascent Arcana: Hacker 001 Activated]