Chapter 2

P.O.V. change - Elsie ( biker chick )

After the greater purify had failed we all knew we were in big trouble. Any undead that can shrug off a major blessing like it was nothing and then make fun of us afterwards is not something amateurs like us could handle. We should have known something was wrong when the naked man came out of the coffin. Even though it was inappropriate at the time, I couldn't help but be mesmerized by his sheer beauty, that should have been our first clue that we were up against something we couldn't defeat. It was as if his entire body was carefully sculpted by a goddess of lust to be everything a woman could ever want in a man, carefully calculated to entrance the senses of the opposite sex and hold them prisoner to their own desires. We should have noticed that no normal undead could have such piercingly electric blue eyes that seem to hold the power of a wild storm in their depth, and after the greater purify failed to even affect him , we knew it could only be one creature we were facing ,a creature of legends and nightmares ,an elder vampire.

An elder vampire required a raid party of at least fifty experienced adventurers to defeat. Four desperate kids had absolutely no chance against such a monster. I could see the same thoughts going through my team member's heads as they backed away from the monster. Suddenly as if some unknown signal was given we all simultaneously turned in four different directions away from the alcove where we dug up that god damned coffin and ran away as fast as we could. As I felt the cold sweat going down my back and my breathing became ragged, I kept imagining I could hear its footsteps behind me gaining on me, I kept imagining that I could smell its putrid breath as it was descending on my nape to end my life. At one point I thought I heard someone screaming and I hated myself because some part of me was relieved that it went after one of my friends and not me. Finally as I got out of the dungeon and collapsed on the grassy field outside I knew I probably will never see one of my friends again and now all I could do was wait and see who made it out.

P.O.V. change- John( MC )

Before I could say another word to the strange quartet all four turned in four different directions and ran away as if the devil himself was after their soul. Well that was just rude , I mean I'm not that ugly or scary am I ?

"You know if I didn't know for a fact that you had an IQ of 290 I would think you were a certified moron." Apparently mistress Julia has decided to pause her laughter enough to make some more snarky remarks."You aren't in Kansas anymore john. You need to adopt quickly or you might not survive your next encounter with the natives."

"And what do mean by that Jules, non of this is making much sense to me. What the hell happened while I was out? Did I get transported to another world or something?"

"Nope, you are still on good old earth, except remember those strange energy signatures I told you about? Well they have a very strange relationship with what we perceive as reality. Remember that obscure hypothesis by that Russian , Alexei Abrikosov?"

I was thunderstruck. I had an inkling of where this was going , one of the greatest secrets of the universe, she was talking about 'the source code theory'."No that's impossible , there was no evidence to support his theory. Another level of reality that projects our reality, like our reality is just a shadow of a five dimensional reality...." I was gobsmacked . If that is what she is saying then...

" He was right john. This new energies they allow us to directly manipulate the five dimensional space. You saw those inscriptions on their armor, that was simple fortification. By manipulating their corresponding fifth dimensional object, they change the very nature of the armor in ways that were previously impossible. "

"But Jules, how in God's name do you know that the fifth dimensional space even exists?"

"I noticed that the energies, which I have tentatively decided to call mana , seem to make reality rather malleable and my sensors were able to pick up some "glimpses" of this space, so after the emp event blew all my sensors, let's just say I made you a pretty special set of eyes"

At this point I was sitting down butt naked on the cold hard floor , but I hardly noticed. My mind was going a hundred miles per hour processing not only a giant info dump but a radical shift in paradigm. This changes everything. With mana there was literally infinite possibilities. You could literally mold reality to your wishes.

"Jules, show me everything you got on mana, we are gonna have a lot of research to do."

"Finally there is the old john I know, for a moment there I thought the coma gave you brain damage...... I might usually give you a hard time but seriously its good to have you back john."

I could only smile and reply, "its good to be back."