Lord Joyde The Madman: Heylo, everybody! How are you all doing?

Hello.

Its been a while!

Hn.

I need some coffee.

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

A few moments later... - Sorcierre (Headmaster's Office) - Alice's Point Of View...

"Never before have I seen someone get so Portal Sick from just one, regular blink spell." The headmaster muttered under his breath in pure contempt. He must be thinking that I'm faking this but dear gods, I have never wanted to vomit so badly as I do now."A.. regular.. b-BLRG!-..uugh, a regular blink spell does no-Urgh... not, take someone across half a city."

Adhana then rose with pride."Hmph, well not every mage out there is as talented as I!" I shook my head at his antics."How the hell does the blink spell even work, anyways?"

Now this caught his interest as I continued doing my best to listen, despite wanting to throw my guts out of my body."It is a rather simple arcane spell, truth be told. One merely needs to create a portal from one location to the next with their mana and use the Void as the intermediary, or a pathway, a road that goes everywhere, if you will."

Quirking an inquisitive eyebrow at the man, I asked."So you just... make a portal out of mana and hope to the gods that it takes you where you want it to take you?"

He blinked towards me in equal confusion and contempt, as if I just said something offensive to his person yet also managed to bring up a valid point."... no, not really. One does have to visualize both their starting location and where they want to end up perfectly. If they do not do this, then they may get lost in the void for eternity, or even be thrown back in time. Thankfully, most of the latter end up as withered corpses by the time they arrive at their desired location."

Now it was my turn to blink as I quickly scanned the room around me, but I did not manage to find what I was looking for."Hmm? Did you think that I used one of my raven familiars to provide me with vision in order to teleport us here? How interesting... It would seem that I have underestimated your intelligence, Lady Pendragon."

That is the first time that he referred to me by my title and surname."I guess that assuming that you only have one way to enhance your vision was foolish. Anyways, that's not why we are here, right?"

The headmaster's expression suddenly twisted into a rather uncomfortable stare before he finally sat down into his chair and basically forced me down into one."So, do tell me this, how exactly does a young girl become a servant of the Cosmic Beast?"

I blinked and tilted my head before offering a rather disgusted and betrayed look to him, something which caused the headmaster to do a double-take."... Servant of the Cosmic Beast? What.. how exactly did you come to this conclusion, if I may ask?"

He promptly took out a crystal ball from under his desk."Show record number two thousand, eight hundred and seventy three." The energies within the ball swirled into focus to show what seemed to be me leading my troops into battle with crimson eyes, lusting for blood and carnage. My hair recoloring itself to a bright, shining red."Show record number one thousand, sixty five." Another battlefield came into focus, this time of a rather scantily clad beastkin man who tore through the ranks of the enemy. He was a minotaur, a bull with shining crimson eyes and snow-white fur. Features exactly like mine."Skewerhorn or Karnil, The Blood Lord of the beastkin north, favored son of the Cosmic Beast. Or well, he was the favored son, a thousand years ago or so."

Noting my silence, the headmaster then weaved a string of mana into my pocket and dug out the amulet of the Cosmic Beast from my pocket, the one I took from the ratkin back in Kilnchapel."And also this... thing."

"So basically, you've been spying on me all this time is what you're saying?" My accusation made the headmaster quirk an eyebrow."Spying? Fine, call it that if you will, but I am merely acting in the interest of protecting my city and its inhabita-"

"Bullshit." I rudely interrupted him."If you were acting to protect this city, I would not be here right now but at the deadly end of whatever arcane spell you decided to kill me with."

Now it was his turn to tilt his head."... Hm. I see. So you do not trust me at all, do you, Alice?"

"Trust you?" I quirked an eyebrow towards him."Is that what this is then? Teleporting me here is supposed to be a sign of your trust and definitely not you showing just how easily you can kill me if you wanted to?"

This made the old man retreat deeper into his chair in shock and silence."I-.. I don't.. I am... speechless." Shit, maybe I've taken this a bit too far.

Letting out a massive sigh, I leaned back into my own chair."Look.. I'm sorry. No really, I am. Recent events have rattled me, somewhat."

Now this made the headmaster let out a laugh."You don't say? A little girl gets assaulted by vampires, gets her arm chomped off by a monster, is nearly killed by people she trusts and all this has merely... rattled,you, Alice?"

"What can I say? I've grown rather accustomed to insanity recently." My answer seemed to revitalize the man as I ignored the more meaningful pieces of his reply."Is that so? Do tell."

Another sigh escaped me as I picked up the amulet of the Cosmic Beast off of the table and said."Look, you've been spying- sorry, monitoring me so I think you already know this but I took this amulet from an old ratkin who had features similar to mine back in Kilnchapel."

A nod was my answer, a clear indication to continue."But regardless of this supposedly damming evidence, I do not serve, the Cosmic Beast. The only divine I've even prayed to is Vytar.. but to be honest, I haven't really prayed to her either in a long while now."

"And why is that?" He asked with interest as I quirked yet another eyebrow at him."I don't really know, to be honest? Just... I guess I didn't really see the need."

"People usually pray to the gods during trying times the most, Alice. Yet it seems that you have managed to do the opposite." A nod was his answer."Yeah, ever since father died and I inherited this curse.. life has been... trying, I suppose you could say."

"The Curse? So you are saying that it really does exist? It isn't some stupid story made to cover up your connection to the Cosmic Beast?" I shrugged towards him."In a way, it is both."

"Oh?" Now that made him confused."But before I explain that part, I need to make something clear. I do not have a connection to the Cosmic Beast. The Cosmic Beast however, does have a connection to me."

"That makes absolutely no sense." He blinked, causing me to let out a hearty laugh."Okay look, to make an insanely long story slightly less long, there was once a hero of my lineage who fought against the Cosmic Beast and scored such a victory against it that the Beast decided to curse him and his bloodline for eternity. That curse is now mine to bear, though not even I completely understand it or its inner workings. I think that its supposed to make my life miserable or something but... honestly, ever since I've actually managed to inherit the curse itself, I've stopped being all that affected by it."

"Stopped being affected by it? You mean that you're experiencing a loss of emotion?" A nod was his answer."Along with other side-effects... such as seeing things that aren't real, blood-stained reflections of myself in the mirror acting independently of me and so forth. Like I said, I've grown rather accustomed to insanity in the past few weeks."

"I see... So you are the descendant of an ancient hero who got his bloodline cursed and are now suffering under this curse? The curse itself acts as a connection to the Cosmic Beast, much like a prayer does for priests and their gods." He began to scribble these tidbits into his notebook. The man always seemed to have paper at the ready.

A true magus, indeed."Alice, this may be too much to ask but... what exactly do you think that the Cosmic Beast is?"

"A cancer." This made him stop taking notes and look me in the eyes."A.. cancer?"

"Yes, a cancer. A festering, pus-ridden piece of diseased meat cut out of a much greater whole. A greater whole which just so happens to be implausible in every sense of the word, so implausible indeed, that the cut-out cancer managed to gain its own sapience after being removed from its host." My answer sent shivers up and down the older mans spine."So... you mean to say how there is... something more powerful than the Beast... out there?"

Another nod was offered."H-how.. how can you be so sure of that, Alice?"

I blinked and lowered my head for a moment."Headmaster, can you see the memories of other people?"

He seemed to deflate at this question for some reason."It is.. not exactly a simple spell and I do not use it often but... provided that you are willing and sure that there isn't any other way for you to explain things then.. yes, I can see the memories of others."

"I'm sorry but, I don't really have the words required to describe things or explain anything to you, headmaster. In fact, I'm quite sure that the words do not even exist in the first place." He let out a massive sigh and then nodded before rising from his chair and approaching me.

And then he slammed his palm into my forehead."... ow?" I offered him an inquisitive glance."S-sorry, force of habit."

... habit?"Wait, back when you were still part of the elven empire, what exactly was your occu-" He interrupted me with a rather ashamed look on his face."Another time, please."

I blinked and nodded."As you wish, headmaster."

"Thank you. Now, for this to work, I need a point of reference. Something, like a word or name perhaps, that I can use to link the magic to the event you want to show me." I nodded and then went deep into thought. With closed eyes, I finally replied after what felt like an eternity of silence."The Red World. Connect your spell to *The Red World*."

My eyes remained closed but I could feel him nod somehow.

A surge of mana rushed into my brain and then.. all was no more.

Beyond Reality and Beyond Time - "The Red World" - Alice's Point Of View...

My eyes finally reopened and... I found myself staring at... nothing.

Nothing at all.

Yet... everything, at the same bloody time.

A mass of stars and universes expanded before us, the headmaster standing paralyzed next to me.

... Did the spell fail?

"Uh.. this.. this isn't right. Headmaster, this isn't the place I wanted to show you..."

"On that note Alice, just what the hell.. is.. where are we?!" He began to panic, his ancient mind clearly being overloaded from all the visuals around us. Universes flying, eternity passing by in seconds and cosmic winds striking against our faces.

Even though there was no cause for such winds to even exist here.

Where-ever we are...

Were?...

Will be?

It seems uncertain.

A splashing sound could be heard next to me and I noticed that the headmaster was on his knees, staring hungrily at the ground we stood on. The ground which was made up of.. meat. Fresh, juicy flesh.

Another splash.

And I was forced to swallow down my sudden hunger and I too collapsed to the ground. My stomach churned and twisted and turned.

This was more painful, so incomparably torturous that even getting my arm bitten off could be equalized to the bite of a flea.

Yet, as soon as we both reached for the ground with our mouths, the scenery twisted into itself.

IT IS NOT YET YOUR TIME.

The headmaster screamed and I suddenly felt soulless.

For a moment, it seemed as if we were both drifting in eternity, lost in the void and then...

A blink.

And we were both right back where we started, the headmaster was on the floor, a yellow liquid drenching his robes." -I... I mu-.." He shook his head and promptly drained the piss out of his clothing before somehow managing to recover enough strength to sit back into his chair. I was still a bit paralyzed, but somehow my eyes moved around easily."Umm... Hea-"

"Alice. I believe you. I believe everything..." He suddenly muttered, a crazed look etching itself upon his face, his eyes drenched in liters of flowing blood. Magia Insanium... and yet, he seemed to be completely unfazed by the fact his eyes were about to burst open. In fact, one of them just did.

Yet he drained the liquid from his papers and healed his eye back without missing a beat. Something has changed within this man... something drastic."Leave me, I have much.. MUCH, to do!" He suddenly exclaimed and grabbed several months worth of paper and ink, eyes spontaneously bursting open with every passing second.

I ... decided that I didn't want to stick around any longer.

HE IS CORRUPTED... YET HIS TALENTS MAY SAVE HIM FROM MY WRATH.

"Words! Eyes- thoughts, MEANING ETCHED DIRECTLY INTO MY MIND LIKE A THOUSAND BLOOD-STAINED NAILS HAMMERED INTO A PIECE OF WOOD!" Adhana screamed out like a madman as I approached the doorway to the outside by walking backwards. Then his expression calmed down, his eyes no longer bursting at the seams as he said."Oh and by the way, Archbishop Delathar and the Martial Instructor Fredrick Von Kravenheim were looking for you earlier today."

"T-t-t-Thank you!" I promptly made my way out of the headmasters office and into the hallway.

As I walked down the strangely empty halls of the Academy, I could swear that every stone construct was staring directly at me.

... good gods...

What have I done?!

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

Well then~.

There is a reason why Chaos is so picky with her followers, after all.

Hope you've enjoyed the chapter!

As per usual, I will edit out mistakes sometime soon!

Anyways, read and review! And Good Morning/Day/Night to you all! ADIOS FOR NOW!