Chapter 412 – The Dangers
“You have my son’s ring,” the Iblis, clad in armor said to Damion in Tal. “Tell me how you acquired it.”
This was only the second Iblis he had ever seen, but this being looked quite similar to the first one. Three meters tall, hairless, with a dark skin tone and all red eyes. The only difference he could really see was the six horns on this one’s head appeared to be larger.
“It was given to me a while back. I can only assume that the person who gave it to me was your son, or perhaps someone he entrusted the ring to,” Damion answered.
“My name is Visneer. Commander of the Central Legion and Overseer of Ardnet.”
“Damion Wells,” Damion greeted. “Are you the Visneer that Straus said was interested in finding the true mage that sent him to your world?”
“So, you ran into Straus? This is good, I thought letting him have free rein to train and clear Realm Breaches would benefit him, I never imagined it would benefit myself as well. I can see we have much to discuss. And since you are a true mage, I can tell you now, I and my son are the ones who interacted with Willem Straus. I am very pleased that you have found your way here.”
“And why is that?” Damion asked. He knew the Iblis wanted something from him. The tidbits he had gotten from Straus, the information Elicia had relayed through their dream, even the Iblis giving him the spatial artifact over a year ago revealed small signs of expectations. Now he was here, it was time for someone to put all the pieces together for him.
“In due time,” Visneer said. “I would first invite you into our city.”
Visneer motioned towards the city and then began flying towards it. Taking this as an invitation, Damion flew after the Iblis. A few minutes later the pair landed on the rooftop of a building that also served as a landing pad for one of the warships that had encircled him not long ago.
“Follow me,” Visneer said, though Damion was not sure if it was a request or a command.
The Iblis led Damion through a large set of doors to a lift that took them down several floors. They exited the lift into a large corridor, at least to Damion it was large, to Visneer it was probably just slightly larger than average. As they walked along the hall, there were numerous Iblis working in various side rooms. Once they reached the end of the hall, Visneer waved his hand in front of a device next to the door and it slid open.
Inside was what Damion guessed was a command center. Dozens of terminals with Iblis working at them. The most impressive object in the room was of course in the center. A large table with a circle in the center projecting upwards an image of a planet, complete with rings and moons. There, several Iblis were working around the central table, having what sounded to be a heated discussion. Occasionally, one would hit a button that would change the image, zooming in on one place or another before the image was restored and the group continued their debate.
“This is the command center for Ardnet and by extension, the Central Legion. Though I don’t do much in the war any longer, still I keep an eye on it, should I see an opportunity for my troops.”
“This is all very impressive,” Damion said honestly. “However, I don’t understand why you are showing me all of this.”
“My reasoning is simple. I want you to understand what is at risk. What not only my world, but yours, stand to lose should we not find a way to end this war.”
“You want my help with a war on your world?” Damion questioned. “I’m not even A Rank yet. How could I possibly help you or your people?”
“By removing the reason for the war,” Visneer said simply. “Ah, here is my son, Visault. I believe you two know each other.”
“Know would be a strong word,” Damion remarked. “We met only once and then he was only B Rank, now he is at A Rank.”
“Very true,” Visault smiled, showing off a mouth of sharp teeth. “I have risen in Rank but so have you. Already upper B Rank. Soon you will be an A Rank as well. And to think when we met you were only a C Rank mage.”
“I’ve made sure to exercise regularly,” Damion’s voice was filled with sarcasm, but he was not sure if the pair of Iblis recognized it. “This reunion is nice, but I want one thing, a way back to my world. If you have that, then we can help each other, if not, then perhaps I am better off searching for my own way.”
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“There are three ways to return to your world, unfortunately, none of them are within our current reach,” Visneer said. “However, I would advise not abandoning our hospitality just yet. At least wait until I finish explaining to you the danger you are in.”
“The Alfar.”
“Yes, the Alfar,” Visneer answered, seemingly impressed that Damion had some idea of the situation. “The Alfar wish to answer the question of excess mana on our world by continuing the practice of creating pocket dimensions, or Realm Breaches, and shunting the excess mana there to be fed from our world into other worlds.”
“There approach seems to be working. The ambient level of mana in the ruined city I appeared in was quite low compared to here, all because beneath the surface there are dozens, maybe hundreds of Realm Breaches.”
“Are you familiar with the principles of actions and reactions?”
“For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction,” Damion replied, remembering a physics lesson drilled into him more by driver’s ed than science classes.
“Precisely. The Mother World has been feeding mana to other worlds for many generations, yet the amount of mana she produces still increases. This has caused a number of changes in our world that continue to compound. Once, the pocket spaces were nothing but safe farming places we could control, but now they are filled with magic creatures, created by the excess mana trapped within.”
“Demonic Beasts,” Damion realized.
“That is what your people call them yes. These creatures are no different from naturally born magic creatures of our world, yet they are constantly recreated inside the Realm Breaches. Making our once safe farming places dangerous.”
“I’ve already guessed at this much, what is it that you want from me?”
“To explain you need to understand the other dangers present. Because so much mana has been expelled from our world, realms that were once barren, devoid of all mana, have begun to produce their own mana, possibly in the future reaching the level of the Mother World themselves.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Your world already has begun to create Realm Breaches and expel mana, much the same way the Mother World is doing. One such Realm Breach has already caused a beast wave in the goblin territories.”
“Nice to know we are not the only ones to encounter them.”
“My last concern relies on your knowledge of the concept of conservation,” Visneer said, he then looked at Damion expectantly.
Damion remained silent for a long moment, thinking on what Visneer could mean by the concept of conservation. The Iblis’ first concept was a physics one and it stood to reason that this would be as well. While he seldom considered how physics and magic could work together, Damion knew they did. The technology of Nerotath relied on magic just as on Earth it relied on electricity. Energy was energy, wherever it came from. Though, of course, on Nerotath you had runes in the ancient language instead of microchips and computer programing.
As he was considering the different types of energy and their cycles, Damion felt he stumbled on the answer. Energy had to come from something and after it was used, it was turned into something else. Conservation of mass and energy.
“You can transform energy and mass, convert it from one form to another, but not destroy it.”
“To add to that, something cannot come from nothing. Magic is no exception. The Mother World is producing mana and expelling it to other worlds. Eventually, whatever fuel in the Mother World that is used to create the mana will be exhausted, and our home world will eventually wither and die.”
“Wouldn’t that be inevitable?” Damion asked. “I mean, wouldn’t it eventually run out anyway?”
“Perhaps, perhaps not. Before the Mother World began increasing the mana output, the world was a closed cycle. Mana was made, then used, then returned to the Mother World. Now part of the mana that is used is expelled.”
“And what is it that you want me to do?”
“Humans created this problem. During an ancient war that humans were losing, they decided to abandon the Mother World, but there were no other worlds that contained mana. Thus, they caused the Realm Breaches to connect to other worlds and thus transport mana from the Mother World to these seed worlds. Only it would take time for the mana to reach acceptable levels, and the other problem was that if they took too much mana too quickly, the Mother World would fight them. To solve their problems, they increased both the number of Realm Breaches formed and the amount of mana the Mother World produces. Placing a magic seal on the controls they integrated into our planet itself, which is keyed to human mages.”
“You are saying my ancestors left the sink on and the now it is overflowing, and you want me to find the faucet and turn it off.”
“A crude way to state it, but accurate enough.”
Damion paused to think for a moment. If everything Visneer said was true, and nothing changed, then eventually, the Realm Breaches on Nerotath would get out of control. It was possible even that the ambient mana would rise too high and cause reproductive problems in humans, as it apparently had for the goblins. And the Alfar were okay with this problem, which told him either they were delusional, or they had another method to solve the problem, but decided not to fix it until they were the only people left on the Mother World.
*Ding*
{Quest Completed}
[Quest: Learn the truth of the Alfar – Status: Complete – Reward: 1,000 Experience, 1,000,000 Store Credits]
*Ding*
{New Quest Available}
[Quest: Coming Together]
[Description: After learning what the other races want; you must find a way to work together to accomplish the task.]
[Reward: 1,000 Experience, 1,000,000 Store Credits]