Two days later the group stood outside the first really safe place in this realm. Before they had simply not known about the danger, they had effectively been swimming in shark infested waters without a care in the world. Now they knew the danger. They knew that if they made the wrong move they would be chased from here to kingdom come. To make matters worse, they were still unused to their lacking natural strength because of the oddity of the world. Any skill that was sheathed in their soul would be able to work easily, the same with objects that relied on batteries, but if they wanted to create blades from nothing, reinforce their bodies or simply staving off hunger and thirst for long periods of time. The only thing they could really do was activate their cultivation given abilities, and even then they could not use extremely complex skills with any sort of regularity. It was a trying situation, but not one they could not escape from.
Law walked around the mound, frowning as he thought about something. He had been doing it for almost an hour, and it had bugged Cleo to begin with. Now she was getting angry. He knew how important every second was, yet for some ineffable reason he was wasting time like this. This circle however was the one he seemed to have completed whatever he was doing. He put down four black stones that pulsed with power, which was worrying enough, and then came over and advised that the entire group went and hid behind the hill as he was going to do something dangerous.
“Whatever happens from this point on, do not leave that side of the hill. I cannot stress this enough. You all will need to be ready to run once I say, and to avoid being close to that hill while I act,” he said. Cleo frowned in response. She had never known Law to be anything but reckless when it came to his inventive answers to problems. This time was likely no different, but he had actually warned them about it. It was disconcerting. She could see that Jim and Louisa were as confused as she was, while Winoa was completely clueless. The real hint at the danger was Yun. The normally stoic, stone faced boy had paled and there was obvious fear in his eyes, but at the same time he had a disgusting grin on his face. It was one that she saw Law use often, when he found something that piqued his unending curiosity. It was something truly worrying for Cleo. The boy was about to do something truly insane.
They quickly retreated behind the nearby hill, but Cleo stayed at the top and looked over the edge. She was soon joined by Yun and Winoa, but Jim and Louisa refused to stay anywhere near the top. They obviously knew something that she did not, which only made her worry more. Law had never exactly been the most stable person, but his actions were all beneficial to them in one way or another. As he placed down another four stones, surrounding the hill, there was a pulse of raw power that rippled out. Despite the ton up flow of mana in this world Law was wielding enough of it to stun the inhabitants of Spirit and possibly kill hundreds in the surrounding area if used inappropriately. It was insane to Cleo that she could feel the rich energy that suffused the area with her skin, she could even see it without employing any tricks like funneling her own mana though her eyes. She could see a net of deep, rich blue weave itself out of beams that came from the stones. First they simply joined up and laid across the mound, but then they began moving. The stones spiralled around cutting the hill out of the earth before lifting it into the sky, hiding place and all. Shards of rock were cut as the entire area began to smooth off and the net began spinning quicker and quicker, all the time with Law standing around five metres away from the event.
Yun stood up, looking in rapture at the magic before him, the wind that was being whipped up by the ritual in general buffeting him and attempting to force him off his feet, but he was having none of it. He was learning something from this event, but what Cleo could not tell. Finally Yun’s eyes went wide and he immediately dropped to his stomach next to Winoa. He grabbed both Winoa and her heads and pushed them against the hill, letting them see the act but keeping them as low as possible.
More shards of rock sped past them as they watched the spiralling blue orb and the silhouette of the boy in this manastorm before finally the orb winked out of existence. At first there was silence, complete and utter deathly silence before Cleo hear the crunch of Law running back towards them. The sheer amount of mana in the air allowed the boy to finally use his uncanny strength and speed so in less than five seconds he managed to crest the top of the hill and reach Cleo who was almost two hundred metres away at the time.
As Law stepped up to the top of the mountain there was a crunch, and a screech that instinctively terrified Cleo. Law was blasted off his feet and sent spiralling down the hillside as the sound began, as she, Winoa and Yun stared at the monstrosity that had appeared behind Law. There was a jagged hole in the air in front of them, where the hill had stood mere moments before. It was almost five metres high and was producing the most awful screech as it struggled to suck everything in the surroundings inside while also collapsing under its own weight. The spiralling purples, greens and blues wrapped around each other and struggled to get out of the rend in space. There was something very primordial about it all, but Cleo still felt that if she was anywhere near it when the rend had spawned she would have been torn to pieces by the ancient and wild energy.
She simply could not take her eyes away from the hole, but also could not help but cover her ears at the sound. It was like a thousand cats screaming out while sheets of metal were torn apart. It was an entirely unnatural sound, and yet so natural that it inspired instinctive fear in all who heard it. A hungry, all consuming fear that chewed through Cleo, begging her to run away and avoid the oddity in front of her. She glanced at Yun and Winoa but could not help her surprise. Winoa seemed as frightened as she was, but Yun was grinning, eyes wide, as though he had just discovered the greatest secret of his life. She had never seen him so feral before, but it was calming knowing that there was someone who was not afraid of the tear.
After what felt like an eternity the rend closed up, as if it had never left, but the damage to the area persisted. Shards of rock littered the area around the gorge that had formed where the hill used to be, and rich streams of mana suffused the area, spiralling around the area in a clockwise motion. It was so thick that Cleo could see it without any effort, as a mist that had settled over the landscape. She could not help but stare in wonder as her body felt more invigorated than she had in weeks. The mana here was richer than anywhere she had ever seen, truly archaic and resplendent, but not as overwhelming as she had been expecting from such a massive amount of the glorious substance.
After revelling in the sight of the mana cloud that had formed, it slowly dawned on Cleo that the stone soldiers, the golems as Law had called them, they fed on the mana and could hunt it. Such a massive vent of mana would attract all the golems in the nearby area, perhaps even all of the ones in the country. They had to leave now, before they were swarmed by the golems. She grabbed Winoa and Yun by the collar and dragged the two of them back down the hill, to where Law was lying, laughing uproariously at what he had done. In his hands was a thin band that seemed to look like it was made of stardust. It was black with swirling, spiralling patterns that seemed to move independently of the band. Seeing the band, Yun ran over and looked at the band, then at Law, then back at the band.
“Did you make it?” He said breathlessly, looking at his brother.
“Of course I did. It’s not the manifestation though, just a minor creation that will grow over time. Enough for everyone to hide in, and we can take turns rotating and resting, which will be mighty beneficial to us. Unfortunately it still needs some time to stabilise”.
“Umm, can either of you let me in on what you’re talking about? You’re being awfully awfully cryptic,” Cleo butted in as she scanned around for Jim and Louisa. After thirty seconds she saw the two of them running back over to them.
“It’s pretty simple really,” Law said. “You know how I gave you guys the storage rings? Well they aren’t exactly stable. They degrade over time and once they degrade they will collapse and you will lose anything stored inside. They are relatively easy to make for a practitioner of the Book of Creation though. They last for around a century normally. Anyway, what I did was make a more stable version of that, one that people can even go inside. The issue with them is the place you create, the minor world, is more stable the more of the real world you rip out. As I only ripped about forty metres squared of land it will take about two weeks for the minor world to stabilise and begin growing”.
“What.” Cleo said, a blank look plastered on her face. “Law, are you telling me the reason for that THING that just happened was that you tore a section of reality out and stuffed it into a piece of jewelry?”
“Umm... Well yeah. What else did you think happened?”
“You!” Cleo was lost for words. Her mouth was frozen open at the boy’s response. She could not believe him, sometimes he was excellent as a companion and a leader, but other times he was a reckless fool who disregarded everyone's safety to get what he wanted. “You idiot! Now was definitely not the time for a stupid passion project of yours! We need to leave, the stone soldiers are definitely going to be coming soon!”
“It was for the future!” Law protested. “In a week, only one person at a time will have to travel through the land at a time, while the rest of us can cultivate in the minor world I created. Then we can rotate the person who carries the bracelet and it will speed up travelling tremendously!”
“Well we have to survive a week before we get any use out of that,” Cleo replied, clipping Law on the back of the head with her hand. “Everyone it is time to move!”
Jim immediately used his pointer ring and directed them back through the crater that Law had made. He looked at Law and mouthed the words “you're insane” at his friend as he walked by. Cleo could not help but agree.
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