Year 218

From the Mountainworld, there were other worlds that we could visit. Like how each ‘planet’ has a field of vision.

Every new place we went widened our field of view, and pulled back the fog of war.

Stella thus proposed a visit, since her research to decipher the alphabets of the rift gates relied on her expanding her knowledge of the many worlds beyond. Essentially, based on the current star structure, Treehome was linked to the Mountainworld and Threeworld through the void forest, and Treehome was further linked to the Cometworld and Parasiteworld through my clone. Mountainworld was linked to two other worlds, and was not linked to Threeworlds.

My void [domainholder]’s travels through the void space took a really long time, which she described as, ‘space is actually really freaking huge.’

She even asked Snek how they even managed to hitch a ride on heroes, because that sounded like trying to catch a bullet while it’s flying to its target. A point which Snek described as, “Hitchhiking.”

Snek explained that in spiritual form, they could create these tiny threads that form a kind of web in the void forest, which allows them to attach themselves to heroes as they appear. It’s really difficult, of course, and most of the time they’ll fail. In fact, Snek was equally surprised by his own success with Ken.

“It really sounds too convenient, Snek.” I knew he wasn’t lying.

“I don’t deny it. My success was the result of an exceptional combination of circumstances that I am not sure can be replicated successfully.” Snek answered. “Just as how it took an exceptional set of circumstances to create a void [domain].”

Stella nodded. “Well, I suppose the fact that we are even all here together, is an exceptional set of circumstances.”

Snek had adopted a wooden-sculpture of a snake as it’s body, but even then, I found Snek’s soul structure to be extremely similar to my relatively new ability to give souls an ethereal form. Or actually, it was the other way round. My ability to give souls some kind of ethereal-ghost type form that was very similar to Snek’s soul structure.

That implied Snek’s society had significant development along the spiritual-soul magics, which allowed them to do all the things they’ve done so far. This, of course, supported why we wanted to learn from them.

We only hoped that we were not too late. We didn’t know how long had passed, and as Snek described it, time spent in the void forest is like being trapped in a bubble. There’s no real perception of time, no reference frame.

Lumoof decided to go with Stella to these other worlds.

“Well, what can we detect from afar?”

Stella frowned, and agreed that was a good thing to try. “Hmmm... nothing from one world, and the other... I feel the presence of people.”

Her senses when it comes to the void space was far sharper than mine, so I could only trust her.

“Nothing is strange.” Stella repeated. “Let’s go there?”

“I agree.”

***

When we arrived, it was a massive purple world, with hugely strong winds. It wasn’t anti-magic at least, but it was very, very dim and dark, and cold. No ice, but it was really, really cold. It didn’t take very long for both of them to cough. A bubble of air immediately protected them, and they realised there was no ‘oxygen’ in the air. Just dust and sand.

“Strange. Do you detect any magic?” Lumoof said, once they regained their breath. It wasn’t magical.

“No. It’s... like it’s the moon.” Stella said as she felt the unusually quiet presence. Lumoof activated my avatar, and then, I felt great... emptiness in this world.

Lifeless. Lumoof touched the ground, and through his fingers, I felt the strange purple soil, and this world was what they called a ‘barren’ world. It’s a common thing in space-based 4X games to have barren worlds, I guess, I just didn’t expect this to be one.

It’s so barren there are no demons here.

“This seems like the perfect place for a starbase.” Stella quipped. “The kind of world where the resistance builds a secret base.”

“I didn’t know you were a fan of Space Opera.” In a strange twist of curiosity, fantasy fiction was a rising field on the Central Continent, and with it, the heroes did some writing of their own. It was a little strange, for me who came from a world without magic, to see these people with magic do their own fantasy fiction. At first, more fantasies were mostly about their world, but some were a lot more interesting.

Like attempts to create an origin story of myself, or the origins of the Systems.

“Eh. I know enough.” My void mage answered, as I took some of the soil samples and sent them back for investigation. The constant winds and the purple sandstorms were a huge irritant, but why was the world dead?

Lumoof spread vines and used them to push himself all the way to the top, because I want to see the sun and the stars of this world.

Stella came too, and as we slowly got closer to the sky, I saw what was an extremely small sun. It was... very faintly blue?

It was so small that it’s probably just a really, really bright star. The skies were a deep purplish hue, between black and purple.

A small light-blue sun, and I felt strange about it’s rays. Not anti-mana like the burning sun of the Antimagic world, but this one felt corrosive in a different way. Stella frowned, her layer of void mana encased her in a shell.

“Feels exceptionally small for a sun.”

Lumoof took out a magical telescope, and pointed it at the sun. When we looked at it, we noticed that the small sun wobbled extremely quickly. It spun, quickly.

“Is this all?” Stella asked, as she looked at the rest of the world from high above. Lumoof encased her in a bubble of vines, protecting her from the rays. From here, it was just all purple sandstorms. “This is a lifeless world. We should go.”

“I think you might be right.” Lumoof kept staring at the sun, and I realised it might be a white dwarf or a neutron star. The rays of this sun were ‘weak’, ‘unenergetic’, so the world didn’t have ‘energy’ from its star, thus it remained a barren world.

This was the slow-mo equivalent of a Cometworld’s death. Stella smiled. “I feel like we’re space tourists, traveling the multiverse in search of unusual star systems. I wonder how many other worlds are like this.”

It was frustrating that I kept stumbling into new issues, new questions to be answered, but very, very few answers. Was this what scientists had to deal with? New issues, new questions, but their datasets didn’t tell them much? Constant dead ends?

I remember when the Cometworld collapsed, it said it’s world’s sun died. But then, what was the link between the star and the planet’s core? Did this world have a planetary core too?

Actually, what ‘are’ stars in this world? Have I been assuming the stars of this world to be the same as the ones back home, when I should clearly investigate whether they are something else, entirely, since the core of worlds are also different?

Not just that, I thought back to the anti-mana world and then the black suns, and wondered.

“Are demons some kind of race that were able to control their suns, OR, they are natives created by some unusual sun?” The first one implied they were up there on the Kardashev scale, which fit their abilities so far. Then again, it’s not right to apply science fiction concepts to this world.

Stella shrugged. “Thinking along those lines, if we can destroy stars, we can destroy the demons, since that would mean we have the means to destroy those black suns.”

“To destroy the demons, be the destroyer of suns.” Lumoof quipped. “Turn off the ‘lights’ of darkness.”

“That’s one way to put it.” Stella looked back at the dim, bluish star above the Barrenworld. “Well, Let’s go visit the other one?”

***

My labs back home analysed the soil samples from the Barrenworld and found that it’s chemical composition was mostly normal. The purple color came from some kind of purple-quartz they had, but in itself, it does nothing.

I made a note to send some miners to that world, and see whether they could get to the core. If the core’s dead, what did that look like?

***

The other world, thankfully, was a lot more normal. In fact, the first thing we saw were goats, and a large, really large lake.

“Wow.” Stella said, as we arrived at the shore of the massive lake. “Looks like it’s an inhabited world.”

We both looked up and from the sky, we saw only one astral path to the demon world. It was really dim. “This world hardly gets invaded. Only a single one-”

[Domain prevented attempted intrusion]

“Lumoof. Did you get that?” Stella said, as she lifted her void staff.

“Yes.” We looked around, and I spread my senses. The land was a field of grass, and my roots, through Lumoof, connected to them. Through the grass, I sensed a group of people far away, a party of sorts.

Then, an angel. An actual angel with a halo and wings flew through the sky and landed nearby. The angel itself had very human-like features. “Greetings. We received reports of unidentified individuals. This is the natural wildland preserve of Gallama. Please display your entry permits to utilise the dungeons in this area.”

Stella and Lumoof looked at each other, and then my priest smiled. “Greetings, we’re lost. Our teleportation spell did not work properly and we have landed here. Please, could you get us out of here?”

Stella could teleport both of them out instantly, but waited to see the angel’s response. The Gallama Angel waited for a while. “So you do not have a permit?”

“No, we do not.” Lumoof added.

“Under subsection 144 paragraph 92 of the Gallama Wildlands Preservation Act, you will be subjected to a fine and a hearing before the High magistrate. The minimum fine is 400 General Coins and maximum fine is 40,000 General Coins.”

Lumoof looked at Stella. “Oh lord.”

Stella smirked. “We’re in Lawyerland.” She had also used [inspect] on the angel, and discovered that this was probably around Level 50.

Lumoof looked back at the angel. “Any room for appeal or negotiation?”

“You may plead your case before the High Magistrate.” The angel took out a fiery staff, the tip of it glowed with a golden flame. “I will now place the two of you under arrest. [Firechains].”

Chains of fire attempted to get close, but then, the moment they attempted to latch onto Lumoof, it just withered away. It did work on Stella, but just as quickly, her [domain] also protected her, and the chains of flame just snuffed itself out.

The angel wasn’t fazed, and Lumoof just answered. “Are there any exemptions for otherworldly visitors to laws? We would like to visit your... leaders.”

That, however, did faze the angel. It had a look of shock, and then began to recite. “Under the Foreign Visitors Act, engaging with Foreign Visitors shall be restricted to the Grand Magistrates and in the specified containment areas.”

It’s firestaff glowed, and it shot a flare into the sky. Within minutes, Lumoof felt the presence of other things approaching at high speed.

“This world also seems to have it’s act in order.” Lumoof quipped. “Think we’re not needed here.”

Stella nodded as we waited. “I agree.”

The first to arrive was a human lady. Lumoof could tell, because the wings was clearly an attachment, and she didn’t have a halo. Instead, she had a burning trident.

“Gallama Patrol Angel. You have activated the High Tier Emergency Beacon. State the emergency.” The lady stated with a stern voice, the angel immediately pointed the staff at the two visitors.

“These two claim to be otherworldly visitors.”

The lady turned to face Lumoof and Stella.

[Domain had blocked attempted [inspect].]

“I see.” The lady took three steps back once the error popped out. She looked at the angel. “Full update.” The two stood a distance away and protected themselves in a bubble, and it seemed like the angel briefed the lady.

“You think we should just bail right now?” Stella asked. My roots was all the way in the ground, and it soon spread further and further.

This preserve was actually quite massive and there was a city half a day away by foot. “There’s a city in that direction. We could teleport there, but looking at it, we’ll stick out like sore thumbs. Everyone seems to be an angel, or human.”

“It’s a good thing you didn’t send Alka, Roon or Johann, then.” Stella smiled. “Humans really do seem to dominate the multiverse.”

“If Aeon’s to be believed, that’s not a good thing.” Lumoof shrugged. “There’s another city in that direction, and it’s also part human and part angel.”

“In Earth’s religion, angels are creations of gods. Are they creations of a god, or they are just some kind of winged humans? Like harpies.” Stella asked, as she used her magical [inspection] abilities on the two. From what we could identify, the human was higher level, and seemed to be part of an organisation of law enforcers.

The cities of this world were entirely devoid of vegetation, and their buildings were made of marble. That made it a little harder for me to spy, but I noticed multiple ‘angels’ all over the area, and they also had smaller tower-keeps that functioned as the ‘base’ of these angels.

The angel and the human lady finished their conversation, and then the lady came to greet them. “Greetings, again, visitors. I am Layal, a senior law enforcer of Legatia operating under the Legatia Law Enforcement License. As required under the Foreign Visitors Act, I shall now escort you to the nearest Grand Magistrate for your hearing. I’ve instructed for your earlier misdemeanor to be expunged from your records.”

Stella couldn’t help but chuckle. “Sure.”

“Are you two familiar with flight?” Layal spread her magically-attached wings.

“Yes. Both of us-” Stella answered but she was interrupted.

“-No?” Stella looked at Lumoof, and Lumoof shook his head. “I can propel myself forward with vines and roots, but not fly. I don’t consider throwing myself through the air at high speeds to be a form of flight.”

“Fair enough.” Stella said as she punched Lumoof on the arm lightly. “I’ll carry you. Magically.”

Stella floated, flight was a small matter for mages at her level of power.

“Lead the way, Enforcer Layal.”

The lady led the two through the air, and I felt a little sick. I didn’t like flight very much, but even despite my sickness, I had to admit this was a beautiful world. The terrain seemed perfectly manicured, like every tree and flower was exactly where it should be.

The land we were headed to was a tower of ivory and marble, it shone in the bright light of the sun, and as we approached, we noticed a lot more flying angels everywhere.

“I think our visit here will be shortlived.” Stella said. “If they’ve got their act together, then we’ve got nothing to give them.”

“That’s fine, actually.” Lumoof said. “Let’s not poke our heads where we are not needed.”

We landed on a large white circular platform at the side of the towers. If there was a disney-ish castle, or city, this seemed to be it. The city was built upwards, filled with spires and balconies for fliers to land.

Enforcer Layal landed, and more angels came to meet her. She immediately walked to them to brief them, and then escorted the two to another room. We noticed how most rooms had two doors, one on top for fliers, and one at the bottom for those who walked. It naturally meant every room had really high ceilings.

A short wait later, we eventually met someone who was a Grand Magistrate. He was an angel with four wings, and a large burning halo.

“Enforcer Layal states you two claim to be foreign visitors, but I don’t sense the energies of a hero within you. It also certainly is a few decades too early for a hero to arrive.” I mentally flinched at ‘a few decades’. Goddammit some worlds have it so lucky. “That means there are two possibilities left. One, some of the otherworlders have learned how to use portals, or Two, you two are accidental summons.”

Stella smiled and she saw no reason to lie. “We learned how to use portals.”

The Grand Magistrate stared at Stella, and sighed. “I must admit I am a little annoyed that my [sense lie] does not work. So I must ask you the old fashioned way. Are you telling the truth?”

Lumoof couldn’t help but chuckle and Stella nodded. “Do you wish for a demonstration?”

“That... can wait for the greater councils. If you speak the truth, what is it that you’ve come here for?”

“Honestly, we came to visit.” Lumoof said. “We are seeking out more worlds to ally ourselves with. More allies in our war against the demons, which we fear will soon escalate to a greater level.”

“Demons? We have that mostly under control, here. Mostly, because we still get them every few decades. How bad is it over... over in your world?” The Grand Magistrate seemed curious.

“Every ten years, give or take.” Lumoof answered. “In hindsight, it’s a miracle the world survived for so long.”

“The Power of Light is not so easily vanquished.” The Grand Magistrate answered. “Ten years is... intense.”

Stella smirked at how mildly he put it.

“Indeed.” Lumoof seemed perfectly in sync with the magistrate. “So we are looking for allies. 10 years is difficult for us to absorb on our own.”

The Grand Magistrate paused, and nodded. “I shall take your request to the higher council, but I foresee some visits will be necessary.”

“That can be arranged.”