Standing in front of the small, black pebble calmly lying on the side of the road, I was frozen in place, unable to decide whether to use it or not. Despite how hard it was to understand everything that Bonger tried to explain to me, I had the general idea about the meaning behind his words.

*But wait, I remember you telling me to imagine the y-axis as well before you started talking about the values of the x-axis and multiple dimensions… But what about that Y-axis? What does it represent?*

While I knew that sooner or later I would have to traverse through the portal in order to check on Eve there wasn't much difference between doing it right away and waiting a few moments before taking this steps, especially if those few punny moments would enable me to understand what was going on through the transportation process and maybe even stealing away a bit of knowledge about the negative realm!

"I see you didn't forget about this part either… Have you ever wonder where was the place for entropy in this picture? Or rather, let's start with the basic change in your idea of what entropy is. According to your eathy knowledge, it's just a statistic describing how chaotic a closed environment is, with the rule that it can only increase or remain the same. But here, just like magic can be positive and negative… entropy can be negative as well, turning into something of a degree of stability… While this example does not really adhere to the model I told you to imagine, you can tell that in this word, the more energy there is, the more entropy there will be?"

Thinking about this, no matter what kind of place I was, the amount of entropy contained within the magic always remained the same. But what did Bonger want to tell me by pointing at this rule?

"As I said, it doesn't really work in this way, but you can imagine the entropy level, both positive and negative, to be reflected on the said y-axis. That means, the greater the energy of a place from where you are transfering, or rather, the greater the difference between basic entropy between the place from where you are coming from to the place you are travelling to, the greater the hurdle on both the traveller and the gate itself. That's also what happened for real when you opened the gate by yourself, without understanding the underlying concept for it. While your soul extending its part towards the negative plane played its role, it was the damage done to the structure of your body by the sudden change in the entropy around you that bared your soul of its natural defences!"

Out of nowhere, my question about the model of the world that I was trying to comprehend suddenly turned the question of travel from something quick and comfortable, to a potentially dangerous adventure! But if there was even a small chance that something could go wrong with it, Bonger would never propose it in the first place, would he?

*Okay, okay. Don't scare me any more. I get it. Instead of thinking about such deep matters, for now, it will be better to just gnash my teeth, and deal with the most important matter of Eve's health. So… Can you open the gate for me?*

"Okay, I'm not gonna bother you damned cheating lovebird for now. Enjoy your reunion, no matter how happy or painful it will be!"

With those Bonger's words resounding in my head, the black pebble rose from the ground into the air, stopping as soon as it reached the height of my chest, only to suddenly explode in a flat plane, turning into a perfectly circular, black gate. While I attempted to look at the other side, something was continuously blocking my normal eyesight, and with everything that Bonger told me about the nature of this portal, I had no guts to dare to extend my energy vision towards it.

Holding my breath as if this single step could spell the end of my life, I resolved myself to whatever that would happen and pushed my body forward, allowing the gate to swallow it whole.

Considering how I would most likely go back in the exact same way as I came, and with the prospect of seeing my beloved once again, I didn't dare to try to see anything during my passage. If something were to happen to me because fo this, then I would simply pay the price for my own recklessness, but I couldn't risk my own health unless I could finally find the way to save Eve from the clutches of the death!

But despite how grand this event was in my own understanding, the reality didn't care about my way of perceiving its wonders. As if it was the simplest teleportation ring present in most of the fantasy or even sci-fi stories, the second I felt my body falling towards the emptiness of the gate, my stepping leg instantly felt the stable ground under it, prying my eyes open only to flood them with a bright light!

After taking a short moment to accommodate my eyesight to the present conditions, the outline of the familiar stones making up the wall so my stronghold tower finally came to life, instantly calming my heart down. But that fake feeling of peace didn't last long, with one thought taking over my entire mind, and steering my steps down the stairway towards the secret passage connecting the insides of the tower with its most important place.

Rushing down the stairs, it took me only a moment to reach the hibernation chamber. Yet even after pushing its simple doors open and stepping inside, I was unable to stop my heart from beating madly as if I just won a damned marathon.

Lying down on her usual spot, with the exact same, ugly hole in her chest, Eve seemed like the time didn't move even a single millisecond for her since the last time I saw her. With all the events constantly occupying my mind, I was unable to pay her a visit almost at all ever since my first visit to the neighbouring island, only increasing my feeling of guilt.

*Bonger? How is… she?*

Every second of my system's silence only served as a great feast for my worries. Unable to stop myself, I approached her frozen bed, and disregarding the pain that it caused to my hand when it entered the space of absolute lack of heat, I caressed Eve's cheek with the outer part of my fingers, hoping that she would be all right.

"I have both good and bad news."

Butting in, in this intimate moment between the two of us, Bonger broke me out of my hypnotic state, forcing my senses to finally push my hand out of the sphere of influence of the hibernating bed.

*Hit me with it.*

Looking at the calm face of my beloved, I couldn't wait any longer. At this point, the past rage that I felt when thinking about the bastard who dared to create this wound reappeared, making me doubt all of my life choices so far.

Who cared about the new realms? Who cared about the knowledge? Unless I would drive thousand miles of thorny rope through that fucker's heart and throat at once, I would never be able to rest easy!

"I will start with the bad one then… No matter your own improvements, as long as she remains on the bed, her own state won't be able to improve to your own level, cancelling the most obvious way of saving her life."

I could expect this one, yet it didn't change the fact of how this simple set of barely two sentences managed to drive a hole in my soul.

"As for the good news… It seems I might be able to connect your minds and allow you to at least have a short talk!"