this has now been proof read so you wont cry tears of blood while reading it :P

---------------------------------------------------POV Vacare-------------------------------------------------------------------

The portal was heavily distorting. It looked as if it were going to collapse at any second. The spells I had casted, for good measure, took effect and forcibly held the gap in space time open. A battle between the laws of this world and the formations built to inhibit them was violently fought as the ambient mana levels notably dropped. I called out to run into the portal as it looked like the laws of the world were taking effect and slowly overriding the formations I had casted.

Vinoessa move with great haste through the portal. Able and Novae jumped through soon after. I followed thereafter. I winced in pain as I entered the chaotic void space that resided outside of existence itself. Void space is something hard to explain buy nature. It is not really a space as per se but more an effect of the conflicting spaces of the portal. Normally the anchor points would remove this conflict but it looks like the safety mechanisms on both sides have failed.

The acute pain was not a problem for me I was more worried about the effect it would have on Novae and Able. I continued on through the portal when a feint sound came to my attention. It was indistinct, hazy and omnidirectional; being heavily drowned out by the disjointed and strong static of the conflict of the two spaces.

“Help” A phantasmal, ethereal and sublime, yet resigned, voice seemingly plead as the space to either side of the void space began to contort.

“m-”[SYSTE]”-e-”[M NOT]” ple”[IFICAT]”-a-”[ION: you have entered the ]

I hastened my step and fell out on the other side of the portal. My line of sight was full of nothing but sand as the gravitational fields of the two spaces normalized. I fell, face first, to the ground making a rather spectacular impact; if I do say so myself. I stood back up and patted my tunic to remove the copious amount of dust I had collected on my little escapade with the ground.

I looked towards Able; being worried for her wellbeing. She looked to be fine. Novae looked to be heavily-muddle headed but otherwise fine. I then turned my head to Vinoessa who looked to be quite nauseous and was muttering something in a quiet voice. I then turned my head towards the anchor point that held the portal open on this side. It was violently pulsating with crimson sparks arcing between each of the engraved runes.

…That’s not good. [1]

The intervals between each pulse got increasingly shorter as the ferocity of the lightning like arcs got fiercer.

“Is that supposed to happen?” Vinoessa forebodingly questioned.

Able turned her head and looked at the anchor with a slight tinge of fear. “This is bad… who doesn’t put in protection against feedback loops.” she mumbled. “Can you stabilize the positive feedback loop that has formed Vacare?” she gravely questioned.

Positive feedback loop… that’s not good. Looks like two of the fail-safes are repeatedly triggering each other for one reason or another. Given that there is no cut of points for the amount of mana that can be passed through the portal as, by its nature, it requires a colossal amount of mana to run it looks like it is beginning to overload its power source. Ironically all those fail-safes made it fail-deadly [2].

I looked back at Able and said “Well I guess I can try?” while giving a slight smile. I attempted to build a magic formation that would hopefully break the loop but building form out of such chaotic manner is incomparably difficult. Every time I attempted to cast a formation it would be washed away by the rampant and chaotic mana. It was like trying to draw a fine painting in the sand while the tide was coming in.

“Mabey using the portal was not such a good idea?” I dejectedly remarked.

Vinoessa looked at me with a forlorn expression and just muttered under her own breath “The damn know it all can’t do anything? Are we all dead?”.

She ran to the edge of the pocket dimension and hit against the bound of the space. Able looked to be coldly calculating something and novae was still looking round in a very strange and bewildered manner.

I looked back to the half destroyed monolith before me. It was now shining incredibly bright red light and was beginning to notably contort. Able quickly dashed towards the incredibly dangerous tower and struck it with a stone she had picked up on the way. The rampant mana went berserk and began to create slight spatial distortions.

“What the hell are..” My voice was cut off as multiple high level barrier formations were auto-cast by the anchor subsequently pushing Able back. A mechanical, highly distorted, artificial, and monotone voice said in a different tongue to the language typically spoken in this world.

[MaUual override initialiZed: ForceddD-d shu-Utdown in ef-Ef-Ef fect…

…

Err- Or: ManA LimIt Has BeEn ExceeEded bY -2,147,483,648%[4]

…

…

…

…

Containment field initialised: scanning for living entities.

…

Scan successful 3 Found!

….

Forcibly ejecting all living entities from protected space.

]

A small gap opened up beneath my and Vinoessa’s feat. Able was holding Novae as a whole opened up beneath them too. My vision faltered before fading to white as I was forcibly expelled from the pocket dimension.

I awoke on the ground; still slightly jarred from the forced teleportation. I stood up and looked to where I was. Verdant grassland covered my immediate vision. This grassland slowly tapered off into an arid volcanic wasteland with seemingly active volcanoes in the far distance. Great plumes of volcanic ash, emanating from the precipices of each volcano, created colossal spires that rose into the sky supporting massive clouds of ash. The entire sky was tinged in various shades of indigo as if the world were locked into perpetual sunset.

“Vinoessa? Able? Novae?”

“Yes.” A meek and feeble voice replied from an indistinguishable source.

I turned to look for its source. A small draconian girl was sitting on a fallen tree just in front of me. It was novae. Her face was slightly pale. But that was not the surprising part. Beyond her lay, what looked to be, monoliths of the distant past. Engines of war laid sprawled out in a disorderly and inconsistent manner. They looked to have been abandoned in great haste. Whomever they belonged to looked to have been readying for something. This was evident from the large caches of ammunition, imbued with the slightest traces of mana, piled up against the various guns and tank like constructs that covered the entire horizon.

Beyond the mechanical graveyard stood a colossal metropolis eroded by the passage of time. What stood looked to be built to last; as many of the buildings, though worn and decrepit, still stood. The slightest traces of mana could be felt off them; suggesting strenuous reinforcement, by use of magic, had been applied to the buildings. The buildings in their own right were of varying size and structure with a general trend of getting taller and thicker as they encroached upon the centre of the dystopian city. The most notable buildings were hundreds of meters high and didn’t pale in comparison to the skyscrapers of my old world. At the very centre of the city stood a particularly notable structure; of multiple miles high in height. It looked to have collapsed from intentional damage given its jagged top that remained inconsistent with surrounding structures.

I made my way towards Novae who was looking highly disconcerted with no sight of her normally extraverted personality. I arrived at the side of novae and sat on the log with her.

“Have you seen anyone else?” I grimly questioned.

“No…” she replied in a near whisper acting far more introverted than she would normaly.

“How long have you been awake?”

“No…”

“Are you ok?”

“No…”

“What’s wrong?”

“No…”

“What happened? were you left in this scary place for too long?”

“No…”

“Are you willing to answer anything?”

“No…”

I reached out and held Novae’s hand. On the instance I touched her I felt something was off about her. Something indeterminate, an inexplicable void, a loss of complexity; like trying to reconstruct a 3 dimensional object from its shadow. Novae suddenly took in a deep breath and began hyperventilating before suddenly falling limp. I held her and casted a magic that would check the condition of someone’s body. It failed.

The surrounding air was odious. There was something wrong with the condition of the air surrounding me. The atmosphere was off; it was too acrid.

Poison!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1]No shit Sherlock !

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_feedback ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUKQfMFKfjk

(some details about what they are talking about if my poor explanations are good for anything :P )

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2147483647_(number)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for reading! (short chapter this time round but my AS exams are over so more soon (or not because i'm a lazy shit))

If you find any contextual or grammatical mistakes please reply

Spoiler : I was too influenced by this lol