THE SOURCE

Light shone blindingly, causing the sky to appear woefully white and the world beneath to reflect it like a mirror. It was a surreal scene, as the sky as it was remained beneath the feet – in the mirror – while the sky itself above was nothing but an endless spectrum of white.

Lynne and Thalia landed in the middle of nowhere, right next to each other. Endlessness spaced as far as the eyes and senses could reach as the two stared around in the confusion. After a few moments, Lynne spotted a single difference – a small, palm-sized spherical object floating above the ground, not reflected beneath.

It shone densely, but not too vastly, and it didn’t appear to be moving. As the two approached it, they felt the temperature rise and gravity decrease their speed until, as they reached about few meters away from the spherical object, they found it impossible to move any further.

“… great choice.” Thalia said as she turned around and walked away.

“Yeah,” Lynne said, his eyes still focused onto the spherical object. “Do you know what it is?”

“No idea,” she replied as she sat down where the gravity didn’t affect her much. “Considering the gravitational effect it has, though, my best guess is that it has something to do with… gravity.”

“No way!”

“Well, you’re the one asking dumb questions.”

“Isn’t this the part where some mystical creature or an old bearded dude appear and explain some shit?” Lynne broke off the gaze as he joined Thalia in rest.

“Well, by all accounts you’re mythical,” Thalia said, smiling lightly. “And you’re old and bearded… and you’re dude. I think explanation is due, old man!”

“You and I stuck here forevermore, because we have sinned?” Lynne said as he leaned back.

“Someone certainly has sinned.”

“Hey,” his tone suddenly grew serious as he glanced sideways, his eyes shimmering brightly. “I’ve never gotten a chance to thank you.”

“Thank me?” Thalia looked at him, arching her brow.

“For coming to my rescue,” Lynne chuckled lightly. “And for taking care of me while I was out.”

“Oh. Don’t worry about it.”

“Come to think of it, that was the second time you caught my pretty much broken body,” Lynne pondered as he spoke. “That can’t be a coincidence.”

“It’s not,” Thalia chuckled. “You just have tendency to break yourself quite often. And I have a tendency to follow around reckless boys.”

“I really am, aren’t I?” Lynne sighed as he asked. “I can’t remember the last time I saw something odd and just decided to walk away. Ah, those were the simple years.”

“What did you do before Highlind fell anyway?” Thalia asked. “Excluding women, that is.”

“Ha ha,” the two laughed lightly as Lynne exhaled deeply before answering. “Wander, mostly. In my eyes, that small city was massive, and within it laid mysteries at every corner. Those years weren’t as eventful as my recent ones, but, to me, they are just as exciting. I once discovered an underground lake that had these massive trees sprouting sideways, while the fruit the branches bore would ignite in various colors. The lake, at those times, was – is – the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life. What about you? What did you do before the whole Magic thing?”

“… I don’t know,” Thalia said after a short thought. “For as long as I remember, I was with my Master, learning Magic. I did visit a fair share of beautiful places while my Master traveled. One time, I’ve even witnessed a star explode in sheer brilliance I’ve never seen since.”

“That must have been something.”

“It was,” Thalia nodded. “But, I can’t imagine I’ll ever get to see it again.”

“Well, look on the bright side,” Lynne said. “You’ve survived it.”

“Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Were you… were you ready to die when you began casting whatever Spell it was towards the end?” Thalia’s eyes glistened in strange sheen as she gazed into his eyes. Lynne’s expression remained placid, seemingly indifferent, after which he smiled lightly.

“Yeah, sort of,” he said. “At some point, I realized I had no chance of winning,” he explained. “And I began wondering what I was doing there in the first place. Hah, kinda late, no? But, then and there, I realized…” he paused, looking at her somewhat strangely. “I realized that there were some things, some people even, that are worth fighting and dying for. So I figured I’d at least go out with a bang.”

“I thought you’re a coward.” Thalia chuckled lightly.

“I was,” Lynne said. “Maybe I still am, I don’t know. It’s only a matter of knowing where to draw courage from, after all.”

“And you’ve figured it out?”

“Eh, I had to eventually,” he said, smiling. “Besides,” he got up, stretching and yawning. “Diving headfirst into everything isn’t really courage in my book. Just good ol’ stupidity.”

“Yet, here we are…”

“Hey, you didn’t have to follow me!”

“Don’t put this on me!”

“You don’t put this on me then!”

“… who else is there?!”

“Alright, alright,” Lynne shook his head as he spoke. “Instead of bickering, let’s figure out what the hell can we do.”

“I don’t sense any space,” Thalia said. “Where the hell are we anyway?”

“Now that you mention it,” Lynne’s eyes grew sharper as he glanced around. “We… there really isn’t any space. What the hell?”

The floating spherical object suddenly shimmered brightly as its energy expanded outwardly, blowing Lynne and Thalia backward in a storm of energy, flinging them hundreds of thousands of kilometers. As they crashed, the mirror-like surface beneath cracked, spreading out like a web, as the shine of the sky above weakened, and whiteness turned to darkness. The spherical object grew and expanded, reaching the size of a mountain before stopping.

Suddenly, as if pricked up top, it cracked, slowly splitting in half down the middle as eons of energy flew outward into the sky, commanding light back into existence. From within the object a figure appeared. White cloth danced about her as if it had its own sentience, while her face was veiled, with only brilliant, star-like eyes showing.

She floated down gently, landing in front of Thalia and Lynne who couldn’t muster an ounce of strength to even move. Cold sweat broke out from their foreheads as shivers ran down their spines. The woman floated gently before them, cloth fizzing left and right, coiling around her before spreading outwardly, while silence coveted the realm.

“Wh-who are you?” Lynne asked.

“Isn’t that question a bit rude?” the woman’s voice was ethereal, as it seemingly spread throughout the World itself before entering Lynne’s ears, causing his body to shake lightly. “You attempt to rob my grave, and then ask me who I am?”

“… yeah, because I totally expected to meet a grave’s owner.” Lynne said, slanting his eyes.

“Y-you’re…” Thalia suddenly stuttered as her eyes widened in shock. “You’re Divine Sage Meredith!!”

“Correct!” the woman said as her eyes shifted back onto Lynne. “She gets a point, you get nothing.”

“… didn’t know dead can be petty too.”

“Idiot,” Thalia suddenly slapped him on the head. “Show some respect!”

“I am!” Lynne protested. “I didn’t try to hit on her yet, have I?”

“She’s dead! You just said it!!”

“Looks pretty alive to me.”

“You’re disgusting!”

“I’m opportunist!”

“You’re sick!”

“Hey, I wouldn’t actually do it!” Lynne barked back. “It’s a joke! A joke!”

“… you two are interesting,” the woman suddenly chuckled as she listened to the two. “I’ll give you an opportunity.”

“Opportunity?” Lynne looked at her strangely, feeling a sense of foreboding.

“You can walk out of here with my life’s worth of knowledge given to you,” the woman explained. “But you have to kill the other in order to so.”

“Why are beautiful women always the most insane ones?” Lynne sighed as he got up.

“Is that a no?” the woman asked, her voice growing solemn.

“Of course it is, you bitch!” Thalia roared out as she stepped in front of Lynne. “You’re just a remnant of energy. The most you can do is keep us here for a few centuries!”

“Do you even know where ‘here’ is, young lady?” the woman asked.

“I wholeheartedly do not wish to learn!” Lynne exclaimed.

“What do you want?” Thalia asked.

“I’ve already told you what I want.” the woman replied.

“And you won’t get it,” Thalia said plainly. “So either go back into that weird sphere to save energy, or do away with the charades and just let us go.”

“Yeah, what she said!”

“…” the woman’s eyes narrowed as she inspected the two. “Why?” she suddenly asked.

“Hm?”

“I can sense he has no desire for my knowledge,” the woman said. “As the matter of fact, it’s kind of offensive how little he cares. You, on the other hand,” she looked at Thalia. “Your heart is desperate for it. Yet, at the same time, there’s even larger desperation fighting it back. Strange.”

“…” Thalia lowered her head slightly as she looked away.

“Look,” Lynne interrupted strange silence. “I came here because I figured you’d tell us something about the World. Not because I wanted to play some strange games with a ghost. So, what about it?”

“… what do you wish to know?” the woman asked, glancing at Thalia.

“What did you mean by ‘End’?” Lynne asked casually.

“What else could I mean but the End?” the woman replied, chuckling mockingly. Suddenly, a flash of crimson light exploded out of Lynne as a small child appeared next to him, his eyes and hair scarlet red. After another golden flash of light, the Spirit appeared on the other side of Lynne, looking strangely at the woman. “No wonder you don’t desire my knowledge,” the woman chuckled as she recovered from the shock. “It’s a drop in a pond for you.”

“What do you know about the War?” False God asked.

“Which one?” the woman looked at him. “There are about a hundred being led at any given time across the realms.”

“You know which one.” False God. “The one that’s been in the making even before you were born.”

“Oh, the one for the Origin of Time and Creation? Not much,” the woman sighed. “Only that there’s no one bearing any weight in the World who won’t participate in it.”

“This place,” the Spirit’s eyes suddenly shone brightly as he looked at the woman. “I recognize it! You found the Nothing?”

“Oh?” the woman looked at him, surprised. “Someone still remembers it?”

“Halt, halt, halt!” Lynne suddenly interrupted.

“What?”

“Can you guys speed up? I don’t want to be here for eternity.”

“…”

“What? Just skip the whole foreplay part and head straight to the climax.”

“…”

“How many Divine Mages exist at any time?” the Spirit asked.

“Not many,” the woman replied. “While I was alive, there were only three of us. I can see where you’re going and what you’re doing, but Divine Mages will be the least of your problems if you’re trying to prevent the War.”

“… why?” the False God asked, furrowing his brows.

“The Source,” the woman explained after a short pause. “It will want the War to happen.”

“…”

“Don’t look so confused,” the woman chuckled. “Its entire purpose is survival. If a war on such a massive scale were to occur, there’s no question about the number of casualties. It could extend the World’s lifespan by a large margin. It doesn’t even care about its direct children, let alone some offset accident that we are.”

“There has to be another way,” the Spirit said. “If that war happens, nearly all of the realms would be erased from existence.”

“If there is, I don’t know of it,” the woman said. “You’re the ‘alive’ one, figure it out.”

Lynne listened the conversation attentively despite pretending otherwise. As thoughts and conclusions circulated through his mind, he had come to understand it all much better, and even much more objectively. A thought suddenly sprung up inside his mind as his eyes widened and he uncontrollably muttered:

“Isn’t the reason for this imbalance simply because there are too many creatures using Magic?” he said. “Isn’t the solution to simply… to stop teaching it? Or to rip it out of those who’ve already learned it?”