In a brightly lit chamber, surrounding a large, circular table, seven of the most powerful magi in Paege sat to discuss the status of their world. Their group, named The Council of the Magi, had the backing of almost all the world’s nations. Each magus had the power of a hundred mages, which had the power of a hundred magicians. They were each an unstoppable force, and they worked together to ensure the safety of the realm.

The leader of the group, The Immortal Magus, took the lead in the yearly meeting, and he announced its beginning, “The seven magi have met in the room of truth. Let this year’s meeting begin.”

Rays of light shot through a stained glass window that stretched all the way around the room. Brilliant shades of all the rainbow’s colors were cast into the chamber, and a skylight directly above the table provided white light to the entire area. No matter what time of day, the light from the sky always shone directly downward, and the light from the windows always passed overhead of the people sitting at the meeting table.

The Immortal Magus paused for a moment, then continued, “I propose the appearance of the bottomless pond as a topic of discussion. Members who agree?”

Following the magus’ words, three hands raised into the air. The circumstances surrounding the mysterious pond were enough to warrant The Immortal Magus bringing attention to it at the meeting of The Council of the Magi. Due to the very nature of the council’s objective, it meant that The Immortal Magus suspected the pond might have the ability to influence the world.

Of the three hands that were raised, two belonged to men who had lived for centuries, and one belonged to a relatively young woman. However, no matter what their actual age was, each of them looked no older than thirty. Even The Immortal Magus, who had lived for over a millennium, appeared only a few years older than his fellow council members.

He continued, and the three hands lowered, “Proposal passed. Within the last few months, an immensely deep body of water has appeared in one of the southern mountain ranges. I made a brief investigation, but I could not reach any conclusion regarding the depth of the water. It is approximately ten feet wide at the surface, and - I suspect - maintains that diameter the entire way down.”

One of the old men who raised his hand, The Magus of Reversed Death, spoke, adding his own knowledge after The Immortal Magus finished, “There have been reports of increased monster activity around the pond. In the last month, there have been over a hundred confirmed sightings of monsters.”

The other old man, The Magus of Time, slowly said, “This reminds me of the last invasion from Hellworld. I can remember at least three places where the demons used vertical water passages to move troops out of their fortresses, but I don’t remember any of their fortresses being around those mountains.”

“Yes, I remember the same thing, and I also don’t remember any demonic fortresses in the region,” The Immortal Magus said.

The young woman, The Magus of Ocean Currents, spoke, “I can investigate the interior of the pond regardless of how deep it is. If I do investigate, I request a follow-up meeting in one month.”

The Magus of Ocean Currents, as a relatively young and relatively new member of the council, wanted to show off her ability, and thus she volunteered to conduct the in-depth investigation of the pond. That, and she was the only one among them who had the water magic affinity.

“If it really is related to the demons, we can’t rely on only one magus investigating,” The Magus of Time said and looked around the table, quickly making a decision. “In addition to The Magus of Ocean Currents, The Multi-Magus should go.”

The Multi-Magus, a woman only slightly older than The Magus of Ocean Currents, immediately spoke back, “I can’t; I’m already defending Mildiva from The Magus of Thunderous Flames. Just coming to this meeting has put Mildiva’s army in jeopardy; I can’t spend a month checking out some hole in the ground.”

“If I go to Mildiva, can you go with The Magus of Ocean Currents?” the only magus who looked his age, The Anti-Magus, said. Though he could not use any of the spells that made someone classify as a magician, he earned his honorary magus title, and sat as equals with the magi around him.

“I don’t need any assistance with the investigation,” The Magus of Ocean Currents said, and she tactfully hid her frustration with The Magus of Time. She didn’t like to be underestimated, especially by a magician without a combat affinity.

The Immortal Magus leaned forward in his chair, causing the surrounding magi to pause whatever thoughts they were about to voice, and he said, “If The Magus of Ocean Currents believes she doesn’t need assistance, then she doesn’t need assistance. I am satisfied with the current state of this topic. Propose the next topic?”

Five hands rose, and the topic changed. Over the course of almost five hours, the members of The Council of the Magi talked about events happening inside every nation on the planet, and then some that happened in the unclaimed wilderness.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the seven magi ate a meal that consisted of fine foods from all around the world, and then departed.

In a room near the room of truths, three magi stood at one teleportation gate, which would teleport whoever walked through it to a certain city near where the bottomless pond had been spotted.

The Magus of Spatial Flux, who rarely spoke at the meetings, stood to the side while The Immortal Magus and The Magus of Ocean Currents prepared for to leave. The Immortal Magus made a crude map for The Magus of Ocean Currents to follow, which would lead her to the pond, but he didn’t doubt that she would be able to find it. She carried a spatial container, which held more items than its volume permitted, and she stepped into the portal.

The teleportation gates and spatial containers were made by The Magus of Spatial Flux, and they were the tools that allowed the magi of The Council of the Magi to conduct investigations across the world. Even though she would be trekking through a mountain range for almost a month of time, The Magus of Ocean Currents didn’t need to worry about a lack of supplies; she had everything she might need inside her spatial container.

A film of light covered the teleportation gate, and it allowed The Magus of Ocean Currents to see the other side before stepping through. The portal was located in an emperor’s palace near where the pond had been seen, and dozens of servants were waiting for a magus to arrive through the portal.

All around the world, the teleportation gates made by The Magus of Spatial Flux were placed in heavily defended areas, and they were often close to royalty or extremely elite people. The portal which The Magus of Ocean Currents teleported through was situated on the edge of an emperor’s grand hall, and whatever important meetings he conducted would be unceremoniously interrupted whenever the portal opened.

When The Magus of Ocean Currents stepped through, there was no meeting going on, but there were still many servants, royals, and the emperor himself who greeted her.

The servants softy spoke in unison, “Welcome, great magus of the council.”

Then, after them, the emperor said, “Welcome, it’s an honor to have The Magus of Ocean Currents visit my empire.”

“Ah,” the magus half-smiled and waved to the crowd in front of her, then said, “I’m only here to investigate the bottomless pond that appeared near your southern border.

“Yes, yes, we understand,” the emperor said, and the many servants dispersed around the hall. He then asked, “Is there anything we can provide for you on your journey?”

The Magus of Ocean Currents replied, “No, I’ll be fine with what I’ve brought with me.”

After a small exchange between the magus and the emperor - who shared almost equal status inside the empire - she exited the palace.

The doors of the palace opened up to a city built between two mountains, where all the citizens were housed beyond a thousand steps leading up to the palace. On her left and right, The Magus of Ocean Currents saw the magnificent city walls that were built upon the tops of the two adjacent mountains. In the center of the path of stairs that led to the city below, a marble statue of an ancient magus was erected. That magus had cleared the wilderness of monsters, and that newly hospitable land became the basis for the empire that stood today. He was, in many eyes, a magus to live up to.

The Magus of Ocean Currents didn’t stay long, and she activated her signature spell when she reached the opening of the stairs. Suddenly, directly in the path where she would have walked if she wanted to descend the steps, a rushing stream of water seemed to erupt from the ground and flow into the sky. The Magus of Ocean Currents stepped onto the stream, and it carried her high above the city.

The mystical water made a path for The Magus of Ocean Currents to soar through the open sky. Very few magicians could enable themselves to fly without using a movement type spell, but The Magus of Ocean Currents could not be restained by common sense among magicians. Her river in the sky moved with her, and it brought her across several hundred of miles of land in less than a week.

People on the ground stopped and looked up when they saw The Magus of Ocean Currents flying by. When small children questioned the sight, they were told stories about the fantastic deeds of The Magus of Ocean Currents, and how she defended freedom and liberty across the entire world.

The reputations of magi were not any less than the heroes and villains told in bedtime stories. There existed magi who worked to better the world, and then there existed magi who only brought selfish destruction. Among those who were revered by the people, the members of The Council of the Magi were the most famous.

After her week of traveling, The Magus of Ocean Currents descended into the valley in the center of a desolate mountain range. She repeatedly checked the map The Immortal Magus had given her, and it wasn’t hard for her to find her destination with her aerial view of the landscape.

Around the pond, no less than five enormous monsters were drinking from the blue water. On their own, each of those monsters could decimate an army of ordinary magicians, or they could obliterate a small city. However, when The Magus of Ocean Currents fell in their midst, she only required a few short seconds to kill them all.

She used her magic to sweep the bodies into a pile, then laughed, “I don’t need The Multi-Magus to deal with a few mutated animals.”

After briefly scouting the area around the pond, The Magus of Ocean Currents took her spatial container from her side and placed it on the ground. From within it, which only had a depth of half an inch, she took out a cloth-wrapped meal and sat on the edge of the pond to eat it, with her feet dangling inside the water.

She carefully observed the feeling of the water through her skin. Indeed, just as The Immortal Magus said, she couldn’t find the bottom of the pond from her initial observations. Apparently, if she wanted to find out more about the pond, she would need to dive inside.

After eating her fill, The Magus of Ocean Currents picked her spatial container up and tied it to her body. She then checked her clothes for loose attachments which might fall off in the water. If she couldn’t get to the bottom - however unlikely that was - she didn’t want to lose anything to the mysterious pond.

A few minutes later, entirely satisfied with her diving preparations, The Magus of Ocean Currents slipped her body into the pond and quickly disappeared below the surface.

She didn’t swim using conventional means, but instead used her magic to manipulate the water around her. She pushed herself deeper while constantly pushing against the pressure caused by the water above her. When she passed a depth of five hundred feet, she created a ring of light around her to illuminate the dark water.

As The Magus of Ocean Currents pushed deeper into the pond, she couldn’t help but wonder what kind of force created the pond. Indeed, even up till a thousand feet down, the width never exceeded that of the surface. The walls were, however, not flat, and seemed to have been made by spherical forces pressing against them. Small indents lined the entire surface, and The Magus of Ocean Currents could not easily guess what caused them.

She continued for a long time, but the involuntarily paused when she reached twenty thousand feet underwater. At that point, a wave of malicious mana swept past her and invaded her body, and she had to quickly activate her internal mana to block out the external influence.

Though she had never felt foreign mana seeping into her body, she understood the theory. It was foreign mana that made ordinary animals turn into monsters, and many magicians believed that humans were susceptible to the same kind of mutations. If either The Immortal Magus or The Magus of Time were there, they would be able to confirm the extremely dangerous situation she unknowingly entered.

The Magus of Ocean Currents hastily reversed her direction and pushed upward. A thin layer of mana already permeated into her body, but she managed to block all of the mana that attempted to enter her skull, where she kept her native mana. If the external mana were to mix with her internal mana, she would quickly lose control over her body and become nothing more than a mutated human without a consciousness.

Less than an hour later, The Magus of Ocean Currents rocketed out of the pond and fell onto the snowy ground beside it. In the time she had been underwater, two new monsters arrived to drink from the pond and eat the corpses of the monsters she killed, and it only took her a second to kill the new arrivals.

Then, when she was more or less in a safe location, she focused her mana on expelling the foreign influence. Her mana surged forth at a rate which would quickly leave her exhausted, but she knew she needed to get rid of the hostile mana inside her body no matter what. If she didn’t, it would mean eventual death.

For a solid week, The Magus of Ocean Currents fought with the forces inside her body, resting only to recuperate mana, but came out with no success against them. In the end, her body mutated to secrete a fine mist, which made her body drip water at all times.

During her week of fighting the invading mana, she received no breaks to sleep, and she also had to deal with random monsters approaching the pond. On several occasions, her mana reached dangerous levels, and the foreign mana approached slightly closer to her cerebrum.

The week passed, and she stood above the pond, staring angrily into it. Then, after having stared into the pond for several minutes, she stepped away and opened her spatial container. From it, she took out a small book, and she proceeded to write down her last grievances.

She placed her finished journal - to be posthumously named The Last Writings of The Magus of Ocean Currents - inside the spatial container, and she jumped back into the bottomless pond. She came to terms with her inevitable death, but she wouldn’t be able to live out her last days peacefully without knowing what laid at the bottom of the pond. Even if it killed her, she needed to see it with her own eyes.

A few hours later, two creatures were resting on the ground and looking up, waiting for something to happen. Neither had any intention of doing something useful with their time and instead continuously stayed in a near-sleep state for several days.

Then, something interrupted their rest, and they lazily stood up to check out what had fallen into their abode. Less than twenty feet away from them, a humanoid shape fell from the ceiling, and it instantly succumbed to the violent mana that flowed rampant in the underground cavern.

“That’s a human,” one of the creatures said and pointed at the writhing form.

“Ey, I didn’t think we’d actually see one,” the other creature said, and they both stared for several seconds as mana mutated the human into a monster.

“We better report this to the chief,” the first creature turned away and said.

“Yeah, I hope we can go on the next round of exterminations,” the second creature said.

He flexed his mind, and the body of the former human exploded into a cloud of dust. A second later, both of the creatures were flying away, headed to a fortress of their comrades.