I leaned closer towards Thomas scrutinizing him with great attention.

My mind dug through the memories of Archmage Zariya Grimmaldri, which defined Thomas as a conceptoid belonging to the Dead Zone.

Accompanied by his mates, which I could only describe as blob-cucumber-slug-like creatures, Thomas lacked specificity and seemed to have no apparent theme. As I lifted my gaze towards the infinite breach that fractured the sky, I couldn't help but feel a sense of awe mixed with trepidation. The shear was an error in space-time, a fissure in reality with great and terrible potential.

The memories of Archmage Zariya brought forth vivid recollections of the USSRA Dead Zone research foundation. These recollections informed me that this fissure was a self-sustaining and unguided Autogenesis substrate.

As I looked back at Thomas and his ambiguous companions, I realized that they were nothing more than a vague idea of life. Their existence was blurry and poorly defined, and it was the shear that manifested them. The longer I observed the blinding flickering fissure, the more I recalled and understood about its nature.

The breach was an inversion of a void engine, the opposite of a black hole. It was a white hole, a region of spacetime and singularity that was impossible to enter. The shear emanated energy-matter, light, information power, and magic in radiant waves, causing lightning flashes that painted the landscape in patterns, refractions, and colors that made my eyes water.

Zariya knew about white holes!

In 1964, USSRA Archmage Igor Dmitriyevich Novikov and his team of explorers discovered white holes in the Dead Zone Oceania territories surrounding USSRA. They documented these reality-fractures and studied how they warped and molded life around them.

I recalled how most of the magi in Novikov's expedition went insane and perished. They had become seduced, enraptured by the manifestations of their dreams and desires and were eventually devoured by their own nightmares.

The white hole was noise and chaos, an out-of-control singularity turned inside out. If I were to lower my hex shield, my human thoughts would be exposed to it, and the inverted singularity would imbue them with power and life, twist them unnaturally, combine them with each other, and set them skittering like bugs all over this dead world.

The tear in reality was a well of power, and luckily for me, it was completely unguarded, not corrupted by thoughts of people around it yet because the neutron detonation had vaporized every single human on this version of Earth.

Thanks to my Vitality threads, my body was being constantly rewound backwards in time, burning through Zariya's mana. These threads were keeping me alive in this dead world, ensuring that my blood had enough oxygen, but I couldn't help but wonder how long they would keep doing that. The lack of food and water was a looming problem that I definitely needed to solve.

As I weighed my options, my mind drifted towards the white hole before me. It was Infinity unbound, a substrate of unconstrained limitlessness. I wondered if I could bind this fracture and give it form. Could I make it less of a chaotic mess?

The answer was a resounding... yes. With enough focus and dedication, I could theoretically loop the white hole into itself, turning it into a fractal engine that belonged to me.

I mentally went over the hexagrams that I knew, trying to find the one concept or idea that matched me best. And then it came to me. Of course, it had to be that one.

Determined to see my mission through, I set myself upon the task at hand, slowly circling the shear. Every hundred steps or so, I stopped and drew an infinity hexagram on the ground with a sharp rock.

Thomas, the ambiguous life-form accompanied me, jiggling and undulating as if it tried to understand what I was doing. It was likely attempting to leech thoughts from me, to become more coherent. I smiled at it and resumed my laborious, slow process.

. . .

As I opened my eyes, I rose from my comfortable couch, feeling a sense of renewed energy coursing through my veins. I was back on Earth, back in the comfort of my own home.

Pavel was peering down at me from the chair by the computer, clearly eager to hear about my latest misadventure.

"How did your leap go?" he asked, his voice laced with anticipation.

"I got... exactly what I wanted," I replied.

However, just as the words left my mouth, Cassie's memories came crashing down on me like a tidal wave. The loss of everything and everyone she held dear was brutal and monstrous, and I couldn't help but choke on the overwhelming pain that she had experienced.

I buried myself in Pavel's chest, seeking solace from the emotional pain that threatened to consume me.

The sense of loss didn't last long. I was a being that was made up of the dreams, hopes, desires, nightmares, and fears of a multitude of the various possibilities of me. I was a monstrous jellyfish, a conglomeration of all the souls that had comprised me - Cassie, Yulia, Juni, Zariya, Leon and more. Cassie's pain was merely a small thread getting stabbed, and it didn't skewer all of me. I was greater than the individual souls that had come together to form me.

"I..." I muttered finally, my voice low and contemplative. "I skewered a teenage-girl-me named Cassie, who was doomed to die. I shielded her with the power of the Archmage-me as her world burned to ashes. And now, I have an empty planet and an infinite fissure in reality... a white hole at my disposal. From what I understand, it is both a blessing and a curse."

As I looked around the familiar surroundings of my home, I realized that most of me was still in that distant corpse world - a place where I was slowly taking control of the white hole and working tirelessly to shape it to my will.

The vision of that dead Earth, one hundred million years in the future, wasn't just a mere memory - it was happening right now, in the present.

I saw a sky that was a sickly orange color, polluted and thick with ash and dust, while the ground under my feet was barren, cracked and dry.

The other me, Cassie, was being motivated by a primal, animalistic urge - thirst and hunger, by pure will to survive. I didn’t want to lose my life upon that doomed world, didn't want to give up. I kept going even though I knew that there wasn’t enough time to fully bind and use the white hole before Cassie’s body succumbed to exhaustion.

As I turned back to Pavel, I could see the curious expression on his face in the dimly lit room of my grandfather's cottage.

I could also see the sand-covered ruins of a once-thriving city of Eureka, now reduced to islands of hexagonal-textured metal. Cassie’s small footsteps made a gargantuan circle around the shear binding it with the remnant of her will.

I also saw as Arcmage Zariya was unceremoniously pulled from her office, handcuffed and shoved into a grey, metal room by the USSRA NKVD. Wizard Revolution had caught onto what I was doing. I was running out of time.

As I continued to stare at things with three pairs of eyes at the same time, I felt a sharp pain in my head. It was as if my brain was boiling from within, struggling to accommodate thrice the amount of information.

I rubbed my temples, trying to focus.

"Migraine?" Pavel guessed. "Want an Advil?"

"You know, Pavel," I muttered. "I don't think that Advil will help with being freaking superpositioned."

I automated most of my mental activity that was taking place on the surface of the corpse world and within the confines of the metal room and focused on Pavel.

My friend’s inquisitive expression urged me to tell him about my experiences as Cassie Lazari Nova, a girl born in Eureka, from the moment when she put on the Neural Interface helmet designed by Dr. Nova and Dr. Gromov on her head.

"So, why exactly did everyone perish on that ill-fated planet?" Pavel inquired, interrupting me.

Taking a deep breath, I pondered for a moment before responding, "Well, the reason behind the annihilation of the planet was due to the accidental creation of a white hole."

Pavel's eyes widened with amazement as he questioned, "A white hole? Are those even real?"

I nodded in agreement, "Yes, they are. White holes are the opposite of black holes. Instead of drawing everything in, they spew matter and energy outwards. The dark matter reactor was engineered to confine black holes, not white holes, so when the white hole unexpectedly ignited into existence, it released a massive energy pulse that turned everything organic on Earth into dust."

Pavel's face twisted into a frown, "Well, that's... horrifying. So, what caused the black hole to transform into a white hole? Did that happen because of something Cassie did? And what was that eerie melody that you heard right before the black hole turned inside out?"

After considering his questions, I speculated, "I believe that melody was Infi's doing. She freaking loves her enigmatic riddles. The song was likely a reference to the concept of infinity, which is present in all singularities. As for why the black hole inverted, I'm not entirely sure. It's highly unlikely that the scientists on that planet would have given an untested AI based on a human mind immediate access to a dark matter reactor. But, then again, I am only thirteen there, and nobody disclosed such details to me.”

“Right,” my friend said, rubbing his orange beard.

“As a USSRA Archmage Zary, I didn't have much exposure to white holes either, as they are generally surrounded by terrifying, unkillable monstrosities,” I explained.

Pavel quipped, "So, one cannot just walk into a white hole?"

I chuckled at his jest, "No, one cannot. White holes are incredibly hazardous. Anything living that comes within their event horizon gets transmogrified into something else. Even Archmages have to exercise extreme caution and absolute shielding while approaching a white hole. There's always the possibility of being assaulted by an Autogenesis thought-manifestation that's half elephant, half human, and half lasers."

Pavel quipped once again, "So, don't think about pink elephants near white holes?"

“Correct,” I replied with a smirk, "Don't think about anything near white holes."

Pavel let out a sardonic chuckle, the corners of his lips drawing upwards. "If I ever have the chance to encounter a white hole, I'll make certain to clear my mind like a Buddhist," he said, amused by the thought.

I rolled my eyes, but couldn't help but smile at his lighthearted remark. However, his tone quickly shifted, becoming more serious as he turned his attention to me.

Intrigue filled my friend's voice as he posed the question, "Yulia, what do you plan to do with the white hole?"

His concern was palpable, and I could feel the weight of the task ahead of me. I paused, taking a deep breath as I considered my options. "First and foremost," I replied, my voice measured and calm. "I need to ensure that the white hole is fully stabilized, for it is a force of immense power that must be handled with care and precision."

"I have faith in you," Pavel nodded, his expression thoughtful. "Sorry, I can't be of more help."

I felt grateful for his words of encouragement, but also a sense of determination.

"Unfortunately, I don't have much time left," I sighed. "Cassie's body won't last long, and I must act quickly to ensure my survival."

Pavel's curiosity piqued as he asked, "Can't you magic food or water into existence?"

I shook my head, "Alas, there is far too much interference from the white hole there to manifest food or water that won’t suddenly come alive or poison me."

I sighed and drew my attention away from my cozy cottage.

With my eyes fixed on the horizon, I knew that the task ahead of me was not an easy one, but I was determined to see it through. I would shape this damned white hole into something that would aid my survival and potentially secure my future.

. . .

The passage of time seemed to accelerate as I remained focused on etching hexagrams onto the ground, each symbol imbued with a magical intent that would bring me closer to my ultimate goal.

The effort was grueling, and with every passing hour, my body felt weaker and weaker, but I persevered with an unyielding determination, knowing that even the slightest pause would be my undoing.

Suddenly, a sound - faint, distant, but unmistakable - broke through the haze of my concentration. My eyes shot up, scanning the sky for the source of the disruption, and what I saw took my breath away.

A colossal pyramidal warship, wrapped in iridescent shields, materialized above me with a thunderous detonation that displaced the very air around it.

USSRA had somehow managed to track me down, finally figured out why Zariya was being drained of her magic!

Panic seized me, and my heart raced as I watched in stunned silence, my hand dropping the stone tool I had been using to etch the hexagrams into the sand.

The air in front of me shimmered and folded in complex patterns, weaving a distinctive human figure into existence. It was a woman, dressed in a black leather uniform that seemed to accentuate her already formidable presence. Her appearance was reminiscent of a black, red, and white version of Che Guevara, complete with a white star shimmering on her beret. Her figure wobbled ever so slightly at the edges, as she was made from semi-transparent dots of ink that hung in the air.

I lifted my hand towards the invader of my domain, shaping my fingers into the shape of a gun, concepting my Endy-gun, ready for whatever came next.

"Wizard Revolution," I uttered, my voice trembling with trepidation.

The Soviet-god-manifestation wasn't going to take me alive.