It began to feel like he was back in his mindscape. Whatever absorbing the Omphalos did to him, time itself felt wonky. He knew that considerable time had passed, that he was standing, that Elena was crouched against the wall. And yet…

The world around him was moving much slower than normal, like he was wading through water.

Or like I’m using tachypsychia.

Maybe this was what Inanna’s version of tachypsychia felt like. Perception increased to god-like speeds.

“It is a simple principle,” Inanna explained. “I create a link between two connected points of energy. Then I make the energy indicate which way it is flowing.”

It was a scrying spell.

A spell. Not a Skill, but a spell. The mere word drew in all kinds of references to fantasy literature, from the Lord of the Rings to Harry Potter. But those, of course, were works of fiction. This was anything but.

“And what are the two things?”

“My pendant and my true self, both of which are intimately connected to me. My pendant houses me, a reflection of the real Me. And my real form, trapped within Ereshkigal’s domain, is where this reflection originated. The trick is to use this existing thread to locate our destination.”

“I see.” Lukas had no doubt the spell was more complicated, but she clearly simplified it for his tiny mortal brain. After everything they’d shared, she was finally going soft on him.

“At least, that is the way it should be done.”

He resisted the urge to sigh. There was always a complication.

“Knowing my sister, it is possible she has my true form hidden behind layers of divine and demonic enchantments to foil any attempts at scrying.”

Lukas frowned. “You make it sound like she knows you’re… well, alive. Uhm— you know what I mean.”

“Your wisdom grows by the day,” she dryly observed. “But in truth, there is no way to be certain. She may or may not be aware. Ereshkigal knows better than to expect I have no failsafes.

“But?” he ventured.

Inanna smiled. “I am the Queen of An and Ki. Even if my dear sister now sits upon my throne, there will be others, those who would want the Truths I held as my own. Those who would want to curry my favor by setting me free. Those who would want to scavenge upon my weakened form in a paltry attempt to gain strength.”

Lukas shivered at the thought.

“That is why we must try a different avenue. My real self, even as a corpse, is a denizen of Ereshkigal’s domain. That means I am one as well. I wonder if that is why out of all possible choices for anomalies, we now find ourselves in a subterranean one.”

She cupped her chin.

“This deserves some contemplation.” She waved her hand. “Later, that is.”

Her mannerisms were so cute that Lukas couldn’t help it.

He chuckled.

“Regardless, a connection must be wrought. Between a reflection of a denizen of Irkalla, and Irkalla itself. The sister of Ereshkigal, and Ereshkigal herself. A shade of the original trapped in a subterranean chamber, to the Underworld itself. Three connections. There is always power in threes.”

The logic seemed a little flimsy to him, but Lukas nodded anyway.

“Unlike lifeforce, manacrafting happens within the mind of the caster.” Inanna hands began moving animatedly. Despite her being an illusion, Lukas knew she was actually casting this spell because it was all within the mind rather than entrenched to reality. “I will eventually teach you how to attach ideas to objects and use them as props for manacrafting. However, for this particular occasion, I shall perform it…” her hands finished moving and came to rest on either side of her, “directly.”

Lines of mana exploded out of her in different directions— moving in straight lines, only to change directions, then moving straight again. Meanwhile, a thin strand of light spun a circle around her. As the spectacle slowed, Inanna stood in the eye of a pentagon, with a circle touching its vertices in perfect symmetry.

“This is a pentacle. My symbol of Order. Five points. Five sides. A perfect representation of the five elements— Air, Fire, Earth, Water, and Spirit, precisely in that order. The circle represents my hold upon the mana crafted here, molding the spell to obey my orders. Force within restraint.”

Lukas watched with rapt attention.

“And now we perform the spell.”

Inanna’s lips moved, but he couldn’t quite catch the alien syllables that came out of her mouth. He could hear and understand what she did, but as soon as the sound of the words vanished, so too did his comprehension.

“Be warned. Something may happen.”

For a second, everything went completely silent.

Then, there was a dull disturbance in the air as a sinister crimson sheen began pouring in from seemingly nowhere. Lukas felt his power rise up like a tidal wave and meet the crimson sheen, becoming one with it, vibrating, expanding, contracting, deepening—

And then a deluge of pure, violent, blinding, nauseating pain blanketed his world.

Lukas was in agony.

The earth beneath his feet felt barren and icy. He opened his eyes and looked up at the cold, grey sky. He was standing, but his muscles and ligaments felt stretched beyond their limits. His own heartbeat was torturous. The mere act of breathing sent jolts of pain down his spine. His arms, his chest, his face— everything burned.

He tried to scream, but to no avail. A slow, gurgling moan came out instead as he coughed blood into the mana-charged air.

“I should have expected this.” Inanna’s voice made his entire body thrum. “I truly believed this could be done without fuss, but—”

“Wha—what is happening?” he croaked, as a vast roaring sound tore across… wherever he was.

“Something unexpected.”

She pointed her right arm towards the sky and shouted something furious. A streak of crimson dashed across the stormy sky as an enormous, swirling form emerged overhead and fell upon them, throwing them into a state of—

Void.

Silent, colourless, empty.

And then, there was light.

It was difficult to describe. One moment he was standing next to Inanna, and the next moment, the world around him was coming closer, as if it was moving relative to them. His mental surroundings shifted. Animals, plants, terrain, craters, cities, kingdoms, landmasses, oceans— everything became visible, dabbed with threads of colour and distinctive mana patterns.

The spell traversed everywhere. Up. Down. Right. Left. Within. Without.

—Endless desert. A lost kingdom. Frost growing on the edges of sand. A woman’s face. Solar flares coming down like the judgement of a wrathful God—

The world moved faster.

—Blasted cities, smoke, tears, screams. Blood ran in the gutters like water. Columns of greasy black smoke rose from altars, temples, shrines decorated with skulls and crusted with the blood of sacrifices. A hidden chamber. Sigils on the floor. Artefacts, relics, an axe that defied Reality itself—

And faster and faster!

—A world of broken citadels. A serpent sleeping in the shadows.. Fire rising out of ocean floors. A behemoth swinging a sword so vicious that it could fell mountains. An old, emaciated thing opening a single eye—

The spell exploded in all directions as more and more power came pouring out of Lukas, enough to support even a hundred khorkhoi. It roared like a feral wind, stormed like a vicious storm, and ravaged its way out of him as more and more energy was used to fuel the spell that continued to expand and expand and expand—

—Space. Endless space. No landmasses or oceans. No moon. No stars. Endless space, and then lush, green earth. Plants. Weird things. Chimeras. Serpents. Bolts of blue lightning coursing through the sky like vengeful gods as the seven suns shone.

A storm engulfed his mind. It tore at his perceptions, flooding them with random images and smells and sensations. It was like standing in a sandstorm, only instead of inflicting pain, every random grain was an experience— a memory —so disjointed and intense and rapid that there was nothing to hold on to.

Energy Reservoir — 51%.

Initiate SHUTDOWN of Spell Process? Y/N

“NO!” Inanna snarled. “I am close. I need more time. It has to be somewhere. It has to be—”

Every inch of Lukas’s body painfully protested. If not for Neural Suppression dumbing down his senses, he’d have been rolling around on the ground like he was on fire. And despite Inanna’s words, he knew the Screen would never show him something like that without reason. The absorption of the Crypt of Fiendish Worms had given him power— lots of it. Power that could be used in more productive pursuits than a universe-wide search for something that didn’t even—

—More space. Endless darkness. Land. Brown and black. Ash falling from the sky. Gears of metal hanging nowhere. Vast, endless plains of sand with nothing but coffins and coffins and more—

—exist. Not that he’d ever tell her that.

“Where is it?” Inanna’s voice rumbled. “Where is it? Where is it? WHERE IS IT?!!”

Lukas could feel the anger and tension and anxiety consuming through her. Not that it was unexpected. This was her sole chance at finding her way home, and he’d be a hypocrite if he disapproved. After all, he too once wanted to find a way back to Earth. If only it didn’t hurt so much—

—Ice covered everything. The land, the sky. The endless night above had no stars. Instead large pores opened across the horizon, pumping up crimson-hot lava—

FASTER! FASTER! FASTER!

“I cannot find it!” For the first time since knowing the goddess, Lukas heard a trace of anxiety in her voice. “No matter what I do, I just cannot find it!”

—the realm looked like a skull. Something humanoid, with an entire world growing out of it. Floating in space. Mining colonies. Ships. There was no water, but instead tentacular creatures that could devour minds like—

Energy Reservoir — 15%.

Initiate SHUTDOWN of Spell Process? Y/N

“NO!” Inanna warned him, her eyes shining with a demented zeal. “I WILL FIND IT! HOLD YOUR GROUND, MORTAL! IT HAS TO BE HERE!”

Lukas screamed and screamed as power flooded out of him. He was weak. Weaker than imaginable. The spell was taking everything. All the power he’d gathered. Everything he had gained. All that—

—Complete darkness. This was underground. No plants. No creatures. Nothing except the earth and half-formed golems. No fire. No water. No ice. Only distorted wraiths that lay trapped and screamed and screamed and screamed—

Energy Reservoir down to 7%

“WE CANNOT STOP NOW!” Inanna screamed. “IT HAS TO BE HERE SOMEWHERE! I KNOW IT IS! I WILL— I CAN FIND IT! ALL I MUST DO IS—”

BURNING AUXILIARY SOUL CAPACITY TO MEET SPELL POWER REQUIREMENTS!

[HUMAN ADJECTIVE] UNACCEPTABLE!

[HUMAN ADJECTIVE] UNACCEPTABLE!

ACTIVATING FAILSAFE!

SAFETY — ON

OVERRIDING ANOMALY-HOST-MIND

OVERCLOCK REMOVED

Lukas’s vision left him. His already dumbed-down senses were now shutting down entirely. He tried to remain standing, but he couldn’t tell which way was up. His body felt deliriously warm and monstrously tired. Sleep, something that had evaded him for quite some time, returned to him with its arms wide.

ALL SYSTEMS SHUTDOWN.

RESET.

It was quiet.

Nearly. He could hear her screams in the background. Her screams of rage and despair. Her threats to not give up. About holding his ground for just a little more. To keep pouring energy until that spell—

In the distance, Lukas could make out a faint light. He wondered if it was the light at the end of a tunnel. Maybe an approaching train? It felt warm. And nice. And blurry. And—

Darkness.