What does it feel like to fall forever through the darkness, unsure up from down?

Well, it wasn’t the first time it had happened to me, but the way it had happened and how I was falling, this was new.

We’d been standing atop the obelisk when a figure had appeared, a man with shining silver hair, halfway transparent like a ghost.

“The Hell?” I remember stating aloud, unsure what I was seeing.

The figure turned to me, a half-smile on its ghostly face. “Ahh, yes, the young sage can see me.”

The silver-haired man turned away, looking between us, his smile turning down for a moment.

“Once more, I ask both of you, what do you desire?”

I was too lost, too shaken at seeing the mystery figure. Was it a ghost or something else?

So when a hand caught me in the chest, I failed to react.

Then I was falling through the darkness; the last thing I saw was the quickly dwindling image of Iris atop the obelisk, her arms still outstretched when she shoved me off.

Why?

After that, I fell.

And fell.

And fell.

It reminded me of when I’d been transported through space, but this wasn’t magic. It was the unforgiving darkness of a very real space, one that I was sure would eventually end with me as a lifeless corpse at the bottom.

Why?

Why did she push me?

Why?

For how long I fell, I wasn’t sure. As with all things, it would eventually reach its end. I felt the darkness caressing my skin turn cold, falling through a foggy mist. The sudden change was the only warning I had, and looking over my shoulder to the darkness beneath me, I saw a quickly nearing grey floor of dusty stone.

This is it.

I closed my eyes. There would be no surviving a fall like this.

At the very least, it will be painless.

As I fall, an endless dark void surrounds me, falling for what feels like an eternity.

What do you want?

That was the question I was asked, again and again, and again.

I didn’t want to die. That much I understood about myself well.

What else?

I wasn’t sure.

What else?

Falling through the endless darkness, I felt my face crinkle in concentration.

What else?

I wished I could have seen my mother one last time.

And?

The voice in the darkness was searching, searching for something else, something more than what I had offered.

Why? I wanted to know why.

Why had she pushed me?

The void went silent, no longer questioning me. With that silence, I continued to fall, my only companion in the darkness around me.

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

“That is acceptable.”

My eyes snapped open as I suddenly lunged upward.

I was falling, falling through the darkness when-

My breathing slowed as I realized I was no longer falling.

In fact, I was lying on dusty grey stone, a contemplative feeling fog lightly obscuring my vision as gentle blue wisps of light floated through the air, the only thing illuminating the area.

“Where am I?”

“The Rift.”

My attention snapped to my right, where a figure formed, a ghostly body from the mist that looked as if I could wave a hand straight through it.

“You?” I stared at it, sure I was losing my mind. “You’re the one from the obelisk.”

“That I am.” It nodded. Framing his face, a silver mane of ethereal hair gently flowed through the air as if submerged underwater.

“Who are you?” I asked before looking around for a second time. “And what exactly is this place?”

“I told you already.” The silver-haired man shook his head as if exasperated. “This is the Rift. As for who I am, I’m sure you know the answer if you look inside yourself.”

I frowned, looking down at the ground.

You know the answer.

I did, but it didn’t make sense.

“You’re him. The Sage of Wisdom.”

“Correct.” The figure nodded before tilting its head. “Or almost.”

“Weren’t you dead?” I recalled the last lines of his final report; he had made it clear what his intentions had been at the end.

“And that is why you’re almost correct.” The ghostly visage of the Great Sage nodded. “I am not He. Or rather, I am, but only in part.”

“I… come again?”

The Sage looked down at me before pointing at my arm. “You’ve been to the Pond, correct?”

“You mean the Pond of Elvermarzon?”

“That would be the one.”

“Then yes,” I confirmed.

“Then you are familiar with the notion of vestiges. In essence, that is what I am.”

“But-” I scratched at my chin, trying to put my thoughts together. “I thought the vestiges of Sages only existed at the Pond?”

“Ahh, and you show your close-minded understanding of the world, young Sage.”

“I’m, I’m not really a Sage.”

“Nonsense.” The dead Sage said, rebuking me. “You’ve two Sage rings and a third one halfway to completion. You are all but at the point where you would be officially recognized as a potential apprentice, qualifying you as a Sage whether you accept it or not.”

“Okay, but that still doesn’t answer my question.”

The ghost sage sighed, looking away from me.

“You would be correct, vestiges normally are found within the Pond, but there were few Sages, even amongst the Great Sages, who were as capable as I. The Sage of Wisdom likely left behind two vestiges, one that I am sure you would find within the plane of remembrance located at the Pond, and myself, of course.”

“I don’t know how you leave a vestige in the first place, so I’m not sure I should even bother asking.” I shook my head, still far too lost for my liking.

A Great Sage stood before me.

Or sort of.

“It’s simple. The more power you possess, the greater you affect the world around you. The weight of your soul has a prominent degree of identity that possesses the ability to exist beyond your finite mortal shell. You can think of the leftover remains of our power, our essence, as a recording of who we were in life. We Sages bound that essence to the Pond, and thus how it came to be a bastion of near infinite knowledge.”

“Right. So explain yourself, considering this isn’t the Pond.”

“The Sage of Wisdom spent much of his time here; this was his facility where he did research into his prime directive as a Sage. His identity became woven throughout the very stones of this Hallowed site. Built upon a leyline as it was and aided by the presence of the Throne, it is not outlandish to assume a second vestige would form here after his passing.”

“Right, obviously.” My head was beginning to hurt, so I chose to ignore the bulk of what the vestige had just said. “Second question. How exactly am I still alive?”

“I assume you mean from your recent betrayal and fall?”

“Yeah.” I scowled; the image of Iris above me, arms outstretched as she pushed me to my death, would likely be burned into my mind for the rest of my life.

“You were granted access, of course.”

I raised an eyebrow but didn’t bother asking what he meant. If there was one thing I’d learned from sages in what few interactions I’d had with them, they seemed to revel in holding their knowledge over you.

The ghostly Sage waited several seconds before frowning lightly. “Are you not curious?”

“I am,” I answered flatly.

“But you choose not to ask?”

“Are you going to tell me or continue playing games?”

“It has been ages since I last interacted with others. Can I really be blamed for taking what liberties I can to enjoy it as much as possible?”

I rolled my eyes before responding, stroking the Sage’s ego couldn’t hurt. “Oh, Great and powerful Sage, please enlighten me.”

“Your sarcasm is evident, but I will take the effort for what it was. To answer, you were given access to the Rift.”

“How? It’s not like anything special happened aside from being pushed off?”

“Do you believe that the space you feel from just happened to be directly above the Rift? Before you bother, I will answer it for you. No, the Rift exists as its own separate place within this Dungeon, but as you carry on you a certain… key, you were able to traverse from the Sanctorum to the Rift.”

“The.. Sanctorum? Is that what that place was called with the night sky?”

“Indeed. There, the Sage of Wisdom went to peer through the cosmos and divine knowledge beyond the scope of our limited world.”

“But that wasn’t the actual night sky. Also, why do you constantly refer to yourself like that?”

“To answer your second question first, I am not the Sage of Wisdom. I am merely his vestige; I am far limited compared to the former Great Sage. As such, it would be an insult to claim his title. As for your first question, the sky you saw existed as reality and conceptuality, blending the physical with the metaphysical.”

“Was I supposed to understand any of that?”

“No.” It shook its head, the corners of his lips tugging upwards in a weak smirk. “I suppose not.”

“Wonderful;. So, I… just what, never landed? I was whisked away to wherever here is?”

“Of sorts.”

“Great. Then how do I get back?”

I was standing up, dusting myself off, when the vestige shook its head.

“That isn’t the question you should be asking.”

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion at the former Sage.

“And what do you mean by that?”

“I mean, you would die if you did so.”

“Come again?”

“Come now, young sage-”

“Rook.” I interrupted.”

The Sage frowned as if I’d just said something distasteful.

“What?” I questioned.

“Sages do not give their former names out so freely to one another. If you visited the Pond of Elvermarzon, surely you must have your own title?”

“I do, I guess...”

“Then refer to yourself as such.”

It was my turn to frown, wracking my brain for it. It had been years since I considered it, discarding the silly thing as some novelty gained from the dead sages of the Pond.

What was it again?

Nearly half a minute passed before I managed to dredge it from the murky depths of my memory.

“The Sage Who Flows.” I felt my cheeks heat up. Speaking the silly-sounding title aloud felt, unsurprisingly, quite silly.

“The Sage Who Flows.” The vestige nodded, mulling it over. “An interesting title. Well then, Sage Who Flows, the answer for why you would die is that you are not ready for what awaits.”

“You mean within the dungeon?”

“In part, but I meant that you are not ready to confront those who wish you harm.”

“Iris.” I exhaled slowly between clenched teeth.

“Do you believe that if you were to return to your group, things could return to normal?”

“No.”

“So then, what do you suppose you would do?”

“I could tell the others that she-”

“And there, your naïve belief of the world shows through once more. Even now, she speaks to them, tells them what befell you two at the end, of your valiant sacrifice to save her after it came to your realization that it was you who was responsible for the dangers of the Dungeon.”

“What!?” I wanted to jump up; the statement was preposterous. “Why would any of this be my fault? In fact, it was because of me that we-”

“Calm yourself, Flows.”

I’m just collecting every name under the sun, aren’t I?

“She is not entirely incorrect after all.”

“What?” I narrowed my eyes once more. “Are you seeing this really is my fault?”

“This Dungeon was designed to respond to the ability of those who enter it. Your group falsely assumed that simply meant referred to the mana capacity.”

“So, because I’m a Sage…”

“Indeed.” The silver-haired vestige confirmed with a nod. “But, even if you weren’t with them, they would have been slaughtered regardless. Your knowledge and perception of the Sages have been a large part of how they have managed to make it as far as they have. After all, this Dungeon was meant to only be conquerable to those who fulfill certain requirements.”

“So then, even if I told them that Iris pushed me-”

“It would matter little. I hear their whispers. If you returned to them as is and told them of the truth, ultimately, you would be turned upon, believing you some sort of trick by the Dungeon. Only the girl with the Dragon Heart would likely side with you. Speaking of, I have questions regarding how such an impossibility occurred, but those questions are neither here nor there.”

“So, what then?” I laid my hands out, devoid of other ideas or options.

“I, and by extension, the Dungeon has already looked within you, sought what you desire. I find your desires mundane, empty of greater meaning, but that is a curiosity. Few Sages had such… quaint convictions and goals, or the lack thereof. You are an anomaly, so with the authority of the Dungeon, its founder, and its creator, I intend to see you through with your most immediate goal, if simply for the sake of how you intrigue me, a prospective young sage unlike those I ever knew.”

“I guess- wait.” Something about what he had said struck me as odd. “Its founder and its creator, are those not the same?”

For the first time, the vestige smiled wickedly, a smile of pure thrill and excitement. “No.”

“No?”

“No.” He responded, still smiling. “The founder was, of course, the Sage of Wisdom, but it was not he who created this Dungeon. He left this facility behind as a proper space within the world, but someone else changed it, transforming it into a dungeon, twisted inward until it became a ‘meta-space’ as you have referred to it during your travels.”

“Who?” The question felt pressing, essential, but the vestige waved it off.

“I do not know.”

“Huh?”

“I am but a vestige, a shadow of the Great Sage, there are questions and understandings even I lack due to my… condition. Some answers can only be found by seeking them yourself.”

My head was buzzing with words, thoughts, and information, too much for me to process all at once. The Sage of Wisdom did not create the Dungeon, so who had? Then there was the curiosity of how I had been given ‘access’ to the depths of the Dungeon, to this place with the giant looming chasm.

How? Why? None of this makes sense.

“If you desire those answers-” The vestige spoke, waving toward the massive chasm that seemed to drop forever, a canyon through the empty void of space. “My advice for you, the first step to finding them, is to resolve yourself and prepare for the trials and tribulations that lay before you.”

“Are you like… telling me to jump down there or something?”

“Unless you enjoy the thought of being discombobulated and reassembled for the rest of eternity as your body and mind are recreated into infinitesimal possibilities, torn asunder by the distortions of reality, I would advise against it.”

I shirked back away from the chasm, grimacing.

“Um, what exactly is the Rift?”

“Now, you begin to ask relevant questions.” The vestige rubbed its hands together, eyes sparkling. “The Rift is an artificial leyline created by the Sage of Wisdom.”

“An artificial… leyline? That’s a thing?”

“Correct. The Sage of Wisdom originally found a place where the fabric between reality was weak. Then, he lured the True Dragon Lunahliss here and slew her. The uncontained might of the slain True Dragon strained the fabric to the breaking point, where the Sage of Wisdom then so expertly split space, ripping apart a void to the nothingness from which an endless source of mana was created, an artificial leyline.”

“That sounds… dangerous.” I wasn’t sure how else to phrase it, save for my most direct interpretation of the situation.

“Well, it is not all that different from how Ring Gates are created.”

“It’s not?” I found my curiosity piqued, the potential to be the first to learn how Ring Gates were made.

“Of course not. The only difference is in scale and intent. A tunnel connection is formed between reality when space is split during the tethering process of the Ring Gates. The degree to which space is split for a Ring Gate is magnitudes smaller than was needed to create an artificial leyline such as this, but the same relative method applies. Should this not be common knowledge?”

“Not exactly.” I shook my head. “It’s been some time since the Sages were around.”

“As I gathered.” The vestige murmured, looking away as if he were listening in on a far-off conversation.

“What is it?”

“Oh, it would just appear your group has found themselves at their next trial.”

I felt a swell of panic within my chest. There were so few left that they would be doomed if they ran into anything remotely similar to what we’d already gone through.

“You appear concerned. Why?”

“I-” I frowned for a moment. “I don’t want them to die.”

“Even after your betrayal, and the understanding that they would choose to side with the one who betrayed you?”

My frown deepened, but I nodded anyway.

“Interesting.” The vestige rubbed his chin, looking at me as if I were some rather intriguing curiosity. “Why?”

“Someone once told me people can be ugly and heartless when they’ve been hurt. I can’t blame anyone other than Iris for what she did to me.”

“So, you would prefer to see them survive?”

“Of course.”

“Even if it means they beat you to the final level of the dungeon?”

“Why would that matter?”

“Because if they destabilize the dungeon with you in it, you will be trapped within a collapsing meta-space.”

My eyes widened as I was treated to the thought of being trapped within this place for the rest of eternity.

“Yes, it appears you understand.” The vestige raised a hand, a ball of silver forming before dispersing in a thousand tiny lights that vanished after a moment. “I will do you a favor. I will temper the Dungeon, not so difficult that it is insurmountable, but not so lax that they can escape easily. But it is on one condition.”

“Which is?”

“You must be the one to claim the rights of the dungeon and not just that; I believe you understand that you must address the issue of your betrayal.”

“If the others side with her, I can’t beat her. I tried once.” I shook my head, remembering the feeling of her knife pressed to my neck.

“Use your mind, young Sage. What do you have that she does not?”

I opened my mouth to respond before closing it.

The answer was sitting upon my arm.

The Sage must have seen where I was looking-

If he’s connected to the Dungeon, does he even need to see, or does he just… know?

-because he smiled, satisfied.

“You may not be the brightest Sage I’ve ever met-”

“Excuse me?”

“-but you are bright enough. Yes, Based on your current level, your foe is out of your reach. Her magic exceeds your own, as does her mana, but she is not out of your reach. The development of her core was not guided with a practiced hand, and thus, she remains as she is. While your core, or lack thereof, also restricts you, you can continue to grow and advance with the power within your Sage rings. I shall guide and assist you in your formation of the fusion ring so that by your own hands, you will realize the strength necessary to best her even if she were to overcome her ceiling.”

“How, though?” I threw my hands up. “I’ve tried for so long, but I can’t figure it out. I don’t know how to fuse mana, and I don’t have the raw mana necessary to brute force it. The only reason I’ve got this half-formed ring in the first place is that I managed to siphon mana away from one of those obelisks.”

“Yes, I am aware, do not assume that I failed to notice your theft of the mana left behind by the Sage of Wisdom.”

“Err, sorry.” I lowered my head as I noticed his disapproving expression.

“It is nothing. It is in my nature to disapprove of such acts for the sake of being the vestige of the Sage whose mana you partook in. The Sage of Wisdom explicitly left this facility as a treasure trove for prospective future talents. If it truly were that much of an offense, I would not have allowed you to continue as you had in the first place. Now, as for your believed deficiencies, before the Rift, it is possible to overcome them and even to do so with unparalleled speed.”

“I can?”

“Of course.” The vestige waved toward the chasm. “Here, you have all the mana you could ever need.”

“But pure mana won’t work, you can’t fuse pure mana, and without a core, it’s impossible to add an affinity to pure mana.”

“Oh, young Sage, it appears you are mistaken. Tell me again, what you believe to be the mana from the Rift?” The vestige smiled at me. “Why don’t you look once more?”

Quizzical about what the vestige meant, I did as he suggested, carefully extending my perception to the Rift.

It was… a lot. I felt like I was peering over the edge of oblivion, a thousand burning suns nestled within. My ears felt as if they could hear the bellowing thrum of what may as well have been an infinitesimal amount of mana before me. I was straining, doing my best just to keep from being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of it all, but I forced myself to press on.

Oh.

What at first I had taken to be the impression of mana devoid of any elemental traces, pure mana, proved wrong after seconds of examination and retrospective insight. What had stuck out to me was that while pure mana felt as if it had no weight to it, like a solvent empty of any solutes, the mana from the Rift was the opposite; it was dense and impossibly so at that.

“It’s not pure mana.” I corrected myself. “It’s the very opposite. It feels like it’s made of every aspect and mana variant, which is why it didn’t stick out as having any specific affinity. It’s because it’s equally made up of every affinity.”

“The only mana aspects missing would be draconic and sage mana, or any other potentially unknown tangential mana aspects. Now, my question to you is whether you believe it enough?”

“Of course it is.” I nodded. “But, if it’s already a perfect fusion of every normal mana variety, can’t I just outright build my ring with it and skip the fusion process?”

“You could.” The Sage admitted. “But it would do little good for you in the long run. You already are handicapped compared to Sages of the past as you have no mana core. Surely your master had told you of such.”

“I have no master. Well, I did at one point, for about two months before he left. Also, he was a Void Mane, if that counts for anything.”

“And yet you have become a Sage regardless.” The vestige seemed to contemplate something before nodding to itself. “The situation is perhaps… unordinary, but I suppose it is high time that I finally take on my own formal apprentice.”

“You already said you were planning on helping me, though?”

“It is different from being my formal apprentice. Come here for a moment.”

I wasn’t sure what the vestige was up to but choosing to not go against the embodiment of the Dungeon, I walked closer until I stood directly in front of the vestige.”

“Stick your arm straight out.”

I did so.

“Good.” The vestige’s ghostly hand reached out, grabbing my forearm as it closed its eyes for a moment. It was strange; it felt like the hand wrapped around my arm was simultaneously real and non-existent, as if it belonged only halfway to the physical world.

“It is done.” The vestige opened his eyes a heartbeat later.

“What did you do?”

“I marked you.”

“Okayyy.” I let the word drag out, unsure how any of that mattered or what it even meant. “So, now what?”

“The answer is obvious.” The vestige rolled its shoulders as if it were the one about to undertake some tumultuous undertaking. “We begin your training in proper. By the waning of the third lunar cycle, you will have your third ring, the ring of fusion.”

“And if I don’t?”

The vestige gave me a cryptic smile, a feeling of unease filling me.

“Then you will likely have died trying.”