Sacrifice Mage

The mana core turned completely white, both my mana and the foreign one embedded within the swirling whorl of compressed, solid energy. I breathed in harshly, my eyes peeled like a skinless potato as I waited to see what it gave me.

[ Sacrifice

You have Sacrificed 1 [Major] Nether Vein Mana Core [1] / 1 [Major] Soulshard of an Ascendant’s Work [2]. Windfall bonus activated.

Reward [1]: Compressed mana creates a hurricane of magic in caster’s spirit. Mana to be compressed to second mana co—

<ERROR>

<Current Reward host possesses insufficient Attributes to contain full Reward.>

<Energy exceeds allowable parameters.>

…

<Host has already once undergone overwhelming mana imbuement and subsequent dissolution.>

Re-evaluating…

Reward [2]: Soulshard link with host established through overwhelming mana in caster’s spirit.

Transcending caster… ]

The world began cracking apart in my line of sight. I didn’t even get the chance to yell out at Revayne, to warn her to leave me behind and get going with the others. Couldn’t even pull my hands away from the hole in the metal wall where the mana core should have been, because even my hands were disappearing.

A mountain of sheer absoluteness slammed into me. I had no other way of thinking about it. It felt like the energy the Sacrifice reward talked about had turned into a presence, a will, one that was unstoppable.

I had to thank my lucky stars for finding the time to read. Even as the world disappeared, the blue screen stayed for a bit. My only companion.

My only warning.

The energy the Sacrifice reward spoke of immediately stabbed deep into me, probably all the way to whatever I had for a soul on Ephemeroth. I could feel it digging, crystallizing, taking over some integral parts of me that I wasn’t even fully aware of, much less capable of safeguarding somehow.

It… wasn’t the Netherthreads. There was something else. Something even further beyond the Monumental Opus of an Ascendant that was scouring through me.

And it had found purchase thanks to Sacrifice.

It felt like I was being ripped to infinitesimal shreds. Atomized bit by bit. I wanted to scream, but in my new condition, I had no mouth. No corporeal body at all.

A new reality was superimposing itself on the one I normally existed in. It took a few moments, but I realized the Nether Vein wasn’t gone. The wall of metal, my body trying to reach into and get a hold of a mana core, none of that had disappeared. Rather, it felt like I was existing in two places at once.

One was the physical realm of the Nether Vein.

And the other…

“Welcome to my little predicament,” Se-Vigilance’s voice echoed in the new realm I was inhabiting.

I couldn’t see her. Technically, I couldn’t see anything beyond the mundane world. But there were impressions I could somehow localize. Streams of invisible energy that existed only in this seemingly parallel realm ran far overhead like they were tunnels or roads. Dots glimmered in the far, far distance, like the twinkling blanket of a clear night sky.

The Councillor herself was something like a wisp of power, a piece of mist lost against the far greater might that swirled through our new reality.

“Where…” I couldn’t hear anything normally, of course, but the impression of my voice felt weird.

A film of ethereal energy had replicated everything from my recent existence into ghostly apparitions. There were the Nether Vein’s metal walls, now translucent as glass. The Netherthreads were just rivers of pure light and power floating everywhere. All the glinting mana cores really were stars, so bright that I was sure if I had real eyes, they’d have burned away by now.

Beautiful as it all seemed, the fact that I was dissolving undercut my appreciation a lot. I still felt like my new reality was trying to pull me apart, like sugar in a drink that was already sweet enough to instantly contract diabetes.

“Fight it,” came Se-Vigilance’s voice again. “Fight it. Hold yourself.”

I wished I could have taken a fortifying breath. Wished I could have clenched my fists, felt my heart thundering in my chest, wished I could experience anything real to ground me in this moment.

All I could depend on was myself. On what I had set out to accomplish here.

I wasn’t sure how long it took before I reached some kind of equilibrium. The stability didn’t exactly stop me from being torn into pieces, but at least it returned the bits of me that got ripped off. Mana wasn’t just splitting off me at a tremendous rate now. I was pulling it back, dragging it in at the same pace. It was almost like using Gravity.

No way was I going to let this weird spiritual space drown me.

I still couldn’t figure out Se-Vigilance’s actual presence. There was no shape, no real definition, not even a sense of proper location or direction to her. I just knew that she was present in the same strange space that I was, which was the major reason why she was stuck.

Well, that and the fact that she was literally trapped. I could finally sense it, now that I wasn’t in immediate danger of losing myself.

Just like I could sense her presence, I could also tell that the overarching framework of the space I now inhabited had locked her down. I got an impression of a storm of threads tangling her up, each one regenerating whenever she destroyed it and moved on to another thread.

“And now, you are trapped as well,” Se-Vigilance’s voice floated in.

Was I? I wasn’t so sure. It felt like my presence had come under the scrutiny of the same being that was holding down the Councillor.

“I don’t think so,” I said. It wasn’t really speaking, much the same it wasn’t really listening when Se-Vigilance spoke. “I didn’t come here just to be trapped as well.”

My first impulse was, as always, relying on my Aspects and other capabilities. On the powers that were part and parcel of me now. Except, they weren’t really there. In the same way I didn’t have a proper sense of self anymore, physically speaking, I didn’t have access to the Weave. That’s what it felt like, at least.

“Ingenious, isn’t it?” Se-Vigilance said. “To trap us in a way where what we normally rely on is simply… inaccessible.”

I felt like grunting, though I wasn’t sure I achieved it in my current state. But it made sense why the Councillor had been stuck for so long now. Deprived of her powers, unable to exercise the full might of what made her a Councillor of Zairgon, she couldn’t do much against the force keeping us trapped.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Not that it meant she was completely helpless.

I got the impression that she was pointing off into the distance. Even that was somehow warped. Like distances didn’t make sense any longer. Nevertheless, I managed to follow her indication and locate what she was trying to highlight to me.

“He hasn’t trapped you yet, I see,” Se-Vigilance said.

He was a strange thing to call the writhing presence from which the framework that was holding us in place emanated from. I could only experience it as a smudge of darkness, though filled with so much intent, there was no way I could mistake it as anything but a person. No wonder Se-Vigilance had been so sure.

She was resisting it as strongly as she could. Her presence alone had an ingrained power, Weave or not, and with it, she was safeguarding herself to an extent.

For the being wasn’t just intent on keeping her here. It—he—was trying to crush whatever he had ensnared in his threads.

In the strange version of Netherthreads that existed here.

So what was my ingrained power? I took a moment to think. Everything was so connected to the Weave, it felt impossible to think of anything I could do as something separate from it. How was this being even doing this separation?

And yet, Se-Vigilance was right. Whatever it was attempting, it couldn’t make those ensnaring threads land on me. It couldn’t trap me the same way it had done her.

The key lay in finding out why.

Between us, between me and that distant figure, it felt like there was a cosmic ocean gulfing the gap. A galaxy that held nothing but the faintest glimmer of stars. And across that vast distance, that meaningless yet fathomless gap, he was reaching towards me.

And finding his grasp simply disappearing.

I got it then. I understood what was going on. If I could have gasped in my current physical condition, I would have.

The suctioning sensation I kept feeling, the one that had almost ripped my consciousness from my presence, was what kept making the Netherthreads fail to latch onto me. I felt terrible, yet I felt like I was safe.

The juxtaposition was hard to actualize in my brain. My current circumstances really wasn’t helping.

“More,” Se-Vigilance said. “Draw it in more, Ross Moreland. I am not one to seek a sacrifice from anyone, much less from a man I see much potential in, but if you would come this far, if you would reach beyond the world that you inhabit, then I will not stop you. If anything, I will implore that you commit.”

I felt like swallowing, like sinking my feet deeper into soft ground to make my footing steadier. Because I was acting exactly as Se-Vigilance wanted. I had come this far. It only made sense that I wouldn’t falter now, no matter what.

The drain intensified. It turned echoing, hollowing, like everything within me was being excoriated out.

What was worse was the fact that I couldn’t scream. I could only experience the overwhelming sensation, and somehow, the sensations of the others around me. Se-Vigilance was growing stronger too, preparing to fight back against that distant adversary of ours. The smudge himself was turning more volatile somehow, becoming angrier and more agitated, pushing out more and more power.

Me? I refused to relent. In fact, I didn’t think it was possible for me to stop what was going on. I could no more halt our connection than forcefully eject myself and Se-Vigilance back into the real world.

“I don’t fully understand what’s going on,” I said. “But if you need an opening, now’s your chance.”

“Thank you,” she said. “Your sacrifice is greatly appreciated, Ross Moreland. I will explain, after I end this.”

She was true to her word. Her power grew, twofold, threefold, tenfold. I didn’t know how she was doing it, where she was gathering that sort of strength from. Sure, she was a Jade-ranked Councillor, but wasn’t the Weave basically inaccessible? I suppose she had been here longer than me to figure out how she could exercise her capabilities.

I got the sense that I was acting as a sort of decoy. A sinkhole drawing in all of our aggressor’s power, leaving Se-Vigilance free to act.

At least my current circumstance wasn’t diminishing my vision.

It was somewhat amazing to both see and experience what was going on at the same time. The world was a pandemonium of colours and powers, waves of brilliant, multihued radiance crashing through spaces too vast for me to even comprehend fully. Some emerged from our distant adversary trying to lock us down, while Se-Vigilance countered with her own.

There was a distinct difference between the man’s malintent and the Councillor’s response. Hers was pure and blistering, like the light itself was an attack on its own. His was threaded with darkness, with the real form of the Netherthreads I was familiar with.

Their clash was frightful. An apocalyptic spray of detonations turned the cosmos into a cataclysm. I briefly wondered what someone physically there would experience.

But my greater focus was on my drain. On the connection with insane mana transfer that had existed since the moment I had entered this otherworldly realm. I stopped trying to fight it. This time, I let the drain take its full course. I let it run my existing mana core ragged.

It wanted to take. Then it was time to see just how much it could drink.

Of course, there was the side-issue that allowing the connection to flourish resumed dissolving my being. I had a horrible suspicion that I’d die for real if I let myself turn into space dust in this extraplanar realm.

But it was working.

“NO!”

The roar echoed through the vast distance. That smudge representing our adversary pulsed and writhed, contorting into something more like a person’s figure.

His scream came as a result of the Netherthreads pulling away from his cosmic clash against the powers that Se-Vigilance was commanding. They were coming for me instead, seduced by the sheer amount of magical energy my endless core was pulsing out, forgetting their duty to fight back and halt the real threat.

“NO!” he screamed again from the distance. “Stop being distracted. That one isn’t a real god. Just a fake upstart. ENOUGH!”

There was so much force behind every syllable, I felt like my presence was getting punched in the gullet repeatedly. But his screams didn’t work fully. Yes, whatever will he was exercising was drawing back the Netherthreads forcefully. Too little too late, though.

Se-Vigilance’s galactic avalanche of prowess was cascading on our adversary’s magic. It was being crushed, consumed, completely flooded away and eradicated as the Councillor pressed her advantage with unrivalled fury. I could sense her ferocity. It was such a different flavour of determination from her usual serene demeanour, I was almost shocked.

“I can’t hold it on for much longer, Councillor,” I warned. I really couldn’t. The pace at which I was fading grew faster with every second.

Going by her voice, she wasn’t worried one bit. It was uncharitable to assume it was because she wasn’t the one dissolving into motes of cosmic energy, but that was the case, so… Still, the surety of her words was relieving. “This will only take a moment.”

Her words were followed by her actions. Obliterating actions. With a series of explosions that I could only liken to the death of every star in a galaxy all at the same time, I watched her eviscerate everything our adversary had flung at us. I watched as the universe itself cracked at the sheer madness she could unleash in this unhinged state we were both submerged in.

“NO!” he screamed. His vocabulary seemed kind of limited. “I had you trapped, witch! I had you where I wanted! That upstart should never have interfered. ARGH!!”

His final scream was even louder than Se-Vigilance’s detonations at the end there.

Something clicked into place somewhere I didn’t even know existed. A feeling of confidence, a sensation of rising clarity. I didn’t get the time to decipher it.

“It’s done,” the Councillor said. “Finally. All—”

I got the sense that the man, or whatever he was now, really was dead just as the Councillor claimed. But his death was accompanied by gargantuan fractures that ran through space itself. I could only watch as the cosmos cracked apart.

“Ross…”

Even Se-Vigilance’s words were fading. I felt like I should have been panicking, but the terrific stream of energy drawing away from me still wasn’t gone. I continued dissolving to nothing.

A pressure was building up within me, now that the Netherthreads were no longer involved. I felt Se-Vigilance’s presence disappear completely. And now the pressure was outside me too. I wasn’t sure what was going on. Pits, I hadn’t had any footing since the moment I had finished my Sacrifice to get transported here.

But now, I was sure I was in the presence of… others. Beings who were beyond anything I had experienced so far. The faintest smudge of them was visible through the cracks of the cosmos, titanic figures outlined in starlight that were each big enough to cradle galaxies in their palms.

Their regard was obliterating me. Along with the stream of magical energy trying to consume my being, I was more or less being torn apart.

I was done. Enough. Se-Vigilance had succeeded. I had finished carrying out my part in all this. So, I focused on my trusty Sacrifice again. The Weave was gone. No, the Weave had been gone. That clicking feeling a few moments ago signalled its return as its oppressor died.

A part of me wondered at the capabilities of a man who had found a way to suppress the Weave itself. The rest of me was latching onto the stream of energy I had taken to be mine by force.

As Sacrifice finally worked, I felt myself floating away, barely able to read through the blue screens as my vision faded.

[ Sacrifice

You have Sacrificed 1 [Monumental] Stream of the Beyond. Windfall bonus activated.

Reward: Super-condensed mana now floods the caster’s spirit. Requisite properties discovered within caster. Requisite properties: Path [Suitable], Divine Blessing [Processed], Netherthread Infestation [Excised; Ineffectual lingering traces remaining].

Connection established with the Beyond—

<ERROR>

<Current Reward host cannot exist in the circumstances of the Reward.>

<Excess energy MUST be diverted to prevent erasure.>

<Ongoing Transcendence discovered…>

Re-evaluating…

Reward: Repositories of mana forced into existence. Repositories form: Mana Core [Ongoing Discovery], Path Evolution [Unfit] ]

[ Path-bound Core

Second mana core has now arisen. Bound to Path: Path of Auric Hierophant.

Core Primary Property: Exceptional circumstances imbues core with properties of the Beyond. ]

[ Path Evolution

Your Path of the Auric Hierophant is now evo—

<ERROR>