“Did we take the wrong gate?” Thera muttered as they passed through, seeing the strange view beyond.

It was a question Ben was asking himself as well, even though he knew it couldn’t be the case. It was clearly marked before they went in, something he couldn’t have missed, but still he couldn’t help but wonder if there’d been some sort of mistake.

The last time they’d been through, the entrance had led into what had seemed like a pretty standard forest. Strangely lacking in animal life before they got to the town in its depths, but that was about it. Now though, they were both being confronted with a far more alien environment.

All of the trees that had stood there in the past, looking like strong, ancient things, had vanished, leaving the area as if they’d never been there, while in their place they’d been substituted with something that looked far more foreign.

With the shape of prickly cacti and giant succulents, strange new plants were stretching into the sky, all larger than he’d have any hope of wrapping his arms around, nor would he want to. Giant thorns were jutting out of them all, and bearing a distinctly blue colour, he didn’t want to make any bets on how poisonous they might be, even with his resistance to such a thing.

Stranger than that though was what seemed to be making its home in that unusual new land. Mushrooms and other fungi-like beings, not bound to the earth or plants around but instead wandering on mycelium legs, creeping silently through the thorns before digging into the trunks around, slowly feasting on the present life in their own strange way.

He knew there were plenty of lifeforms and sceneries that would look distinctly alien to his earthling sensibilities on the world he now called home and he’d seen a few in the past, but what was before him now was pushing it to a whole new extreme as he tried to take it all in and make sense of it before Funa moved to explain.

“There’s probably been one or two ecosystem collapses since the last time you were both here,” The dark spirit told them. “Some say you never walk through the same land twice, but that’s doubly true for this place.”

“Dad’s told me before, but it really isn’t the same as seeing it with my own eyes,” Thera spoke, completely captivated as she looked around despite her misgivings being there.

“And I’m definitely going to need more context,” Ben asked, doing his best not to get pricked while they walked.

Thus time it was Lux who explained, her affinity having the closest similarities to life as she took her own interest in what had formed around them.

“Overwhelming levels of life mana promote growth and change, and at the amount you’d find here, it’s at an unsustainable level. An ecosystem will rapidly grow and adapt until it breaks down after a few months or years, only for something else to take its place. It’s a constant cycle, though admittedly interesting every time. There really is no way to know what will grow or how it will change the location, it makes it worthwhile to poke your head through the gate every now and then so long as you aren’t particularly sensitive to the mana.”

“Wait, so you’re talking mass extinctions as often as every few months of life that never existed before?”

“That’s right. It’s beautiful in a tragic sort of way.”

Tragic was putting it bluntly, at least as far as Ben was concerned. Of all of the crafting paths he practiced, alchemy was one, and an important one too. It led to the advent of his strengthening potions, and its applications with smithing let him place more powerful enchantments on the things he would make before they would break under the magical strain. The very idea that so many creatures and new branches of life would die out before they could be properly studied genuinely hurt to hear. In the thousands of years of races joining the world, how many panacea and elixirs could have been made from the things that got to enjoy their short lives in the valley, if they’d only been discovered in time?

Of course, I guess you could say the same thing about a thousand lost worlds too. He sighed to himself. Basically none of them were technologically advanced global civilizations before being conquered, there were bound to be hundreds or thousands of magic secrets just waiting to be discovered that are lost forever now. Okay, going to stop thinking about this, it’s just going to bum me out.

If they weren’t all dead in a couple years, he resolved to put some of his money towards building a whole new research institute for studying and preserving seeds and samples of the things that would appear in the life valley to see if anything extraordinary ever popped up, but that was a future concern. He’d come for a completely different purpose, and as they broke through the strange forest they saw the same castle Vividus had the last time they were there and made their way toward it, going through the town as they did.

Like the last time they visited, the land was filled with a mix of races as Ben couldn’t help but wonder if any of them had been changed by the life magic they would give off too, seeing a diversity in body plans that seemed to be a bit more than he would expect of any typical mixed breed groups, while Thera dealt with a different bit of attention.

Life affinitied fairies, each no bigger than a hand despite their human-like shapes and one of the three mana-based groups that existed in the world were swarming her in a way they hadn’t during their first visit, landing on her shoulders and playing with her hair, buzzing around and laughing as they each tried to talk to her, all while she just looked more and more lost as Funa chuckled.

“Now that your magic’s awakened they can feel the life mana in you a lot more now than they ever would have in the past so it’s drawing them in. You probably look like a giant fairy in their eyes. If you’re having trouble with this then I don’t know how you’ll manage if you ever meet any dark or earth ones. They’ll go wild for you.”

“Oh, well hello, I’m not a fairy but it’s nice to meet you all,” She told them gently, holding out a hand as she would for any spirit and feeling them land along her arm to rub up against her. “They aren’t going to be charmed, are they?”

“No, all the mana-based have resistances similar to spirits. With how little you’re putting out with your brace on, they’ll be fine.”

“Okay, good.” She gently rubbed the cheek of one that was nestling against her thumb, captivated by their cute appearance before turning to Ben, feeling his eyes on her. “What?”

“Fairy princess.”

“I’ll kill you.”

He held in his laughter, settling for enjoying the intense grin stretched across his face as she did her best not to react, lest she disturb all of the fairies that were comfortable clinging to her before they finally arrived at their destination, with Lux gesturing at the fairies before they made themselves known.

“Now now children, we’ll be having a bit of a talk so we’ll have to play another time,” She told them, motes of light coming from her fingertips and luring them away as they waved their goodbyes. The entire exchange had been unexpected yet nice, exactly what they needed before knocking on Vivudus’s door.

Since it was Ben who was coming with a request, it was he who reached out to do it, stopping only as it opened itself, the great life spirit already behind it, looking at them all curiously.

“Well well, I can’t say this was really unexpected. Rather, I’m surprised you didn’t get here sooner,” She said, tapping her cheek and eyeing Thera. “Though I wasn’t expecting you two as well.”

The moment she opened the door, Ben couldn’t help but be distracted by one thing. The sounds of screams from somewhere within the mansion. It was quiet, subtle even, but it was there, and undoubtedly due to a single source. Iberu and the rest who had been knowingly involved with his project had been gathered, and he knew the spirits had been the ones to decide their fate, not giving room for any other race to voice an objection. He’d thought that had meant that they’d been killed, possibly tortured first, but if what he was hearing was any indication, they still weren’t being allowed to rest.

He didn’t feel bad for them. As far as he was concerned, they deserved whatever they got, but it did make one thing stand out in his mind. Even if he hadn’t known, he’d had his own role in the death of so many spirits, yet had still let himself get used to the acceptance of those around him that he wasn’t to blame.

Now though, standing before the one who seemed to be carrying out the punishment of the involved parties, he couldn’t help but feel his gut tighten thinking about just who he was looking to ask a favour. Someone who’d been willing to kill him before they had a reason nearly as strong as what they currently did.

Huh, you know, I think my greed might have begun trumping my survival instincts at a certain point, I wonder when that started?

He ignored his god, instead focusing on Vividus before him, who for her part wasn’t giving him a glance. Her entire attention was being directed at Lux and Funa, giving off an air of amusement as she did while the two others looked at her in silence until Lux was finally about to break it with a single word.

“How?”

“Why Lux, I really feel like I shouldn’t have to explain the details to you of all people, should I?” She asked back, a thin smile expertly created across the mana she was shaping to act as a face. “The details are as simple as you’d expect.”

“But when? We saw you just-”

“Only two weeks, don’t act so surprised. After a rather pleasant evening dealing with the murderer and his cohort that led to a breakthrough in my work, I was in a rather good mood and things just went from there.”

“Empty skies, you’ve really done it, haven’t you,” Funa spat out. “And to fight of all things? Why is it that every time I see you I’m forced to ask myself how the great life spirit values it so little.”

“Life is loss and change,” She told them, not blinking in her attitude. “Besides, it seems like only one of the other three will have a remote chance of being any use in the timeframe we’re on, what’s the harm in making a fourth?”

Lux looked at her with narrow eyes. “What do you mean, other three?”

“What, do you really not know?” Vividus asked in return, the calm confidence slipping as she let herself laugh. “Really, you should at least try to keep up with family a bit more Lux.”

The area grew thick with mana, a subconscious release that came with the great spirits’ desire to come to blows, with both Lux and Funa doing their best to hold back despite themselves, forcing Thera to do something she didn’t want to. She stepped in.

“Um, so why exactly were you expecting us Viv?” She questioned, not asking just what they were talking about for fear it would make things boil over. The great spirits were beings who could each individually hold back a gate by themselves, a fight between them with herself and Ben, not to mention an entire town so close by, could only be disastrous.

This time it was Vividus’s turn to look confused, focusing in on Thera and ignoring the moods of the other two.

“Did you not come to properly train under me again? You’re a saintess now, are you not? It would be a waste if you didn’t.”

The words weren’t meant to be harmful, but Thera looked as if she’d taken massive mental damage hearing them. “How do you know about that?”

“Word goes around. A mortal matching your description with seemingly unlimited mana healing as many as they could after the battle, it’s not surprising you would get the title, nor that there’d be people talking about you. Of course, I suppose you do live rather out in the middle of nowhere, don’t you? News must not have made it that far yet.”

Hearing that left her wanting to collapse to the ground, the thought of anyone in Stonewall ever hearing anything about that enough to give her a migraine while her aunt continued to look at her in confusion.

“So if you aren’t here to improve, what exactly are you here for?”

“Homunculi,” Funa told her, trying her best to keep under control. “Ben was looking to acquire some and we wanted to make sure you wouldn’t do anything rash again if you were left unsupervised. Of course, I suppose from the look of things you probably don’t have the mana to spare right now…”

“I’m not so weakened that I couldn’t make one,” She told them, sounding thoroughly offended by the thought before looking at him. “What characteristics do you need it to have then? Any particular cross you’re looking for or traits you desire?”

“Honestly, if you just make it as close to me as possible then that will work fine.”

“Is that all? If you’re just looking for soulless clones then that’s even easier. Give me just a moment and I’ll have four.”

It seemed the doubts of the other two spirits stroked her drive as she reached out, grabbing Ben’s arm and running her mana through it, causing a bead of his flesh to bud off of him while he watched in horror.

“Seeing that was actually worse than getting stabbed a few times.”

Nobody acknowledged his grumblings, instead watching Vividus as she dropped the living bead on the ground, spending her mana as it moved to devour the plant matter around it, growing bigger and bigger as it left a barren area in its wake before it split into four, each on continuing to grow with each passing minute as distinct features began to form.

Slowly they shifted into small heads, growing eyes and mouths to aid in their quest for nutrients, but before long they were sprouting a proper torso and limbs, continuing to eat to gain whatever mass they could in a horrifying display of the four Bens shovelling grass and dirt into their mouths, all just to grow.

It wasn’t an instantaneous process, taking over ten minutes, but nobody could take their eyes away from it as it was happening. The horror of it was too visceral to look away until it was finally done, four perfect copies of him standing there with Vividus speaking proudly at the end of it.

“Even if my mana is a little tight at the moment, this much is nothing,” She proclaimed, drawing eyes back to her and getting a wholly different reaction.

“Aunt Viv, what the hell happened to your arm!”

Thera hadn’t meant to yell it, but the shock was too great. Vividus typically took a form resembling a succubus as so many of the other great spirits did, following her father’s suit, but in the few minutes it took to cast her spell, one of her limbs had vanished, a fact that she seemed content to shrug off.

“I already said my mana was tight, this was just the cost of it. Don’t tell me you're worried child?”” She laughed, getting a huff in return.

“I wouldn’t waste it on you.”

“Ah well, I suppose you’ll be here a while anyway since you’ll need to be taught how to properly use one of these so come in already.”

“Uh, that won’t be necessary,” Ben told her, walking close to the homunculi and reaching out with his deep connection, filling each with his soul to guide them as he dug through his bag to hand out clothing, letting the life spirit watch as they moved under his command, all four getting dressed before turning to bow to her and speaking in one voice. “Thanks a lot though, really appreciate this.”

It was only then that she really looked taken aback during the entire encounter, still watching in surprise as they turned to go back to the gate now that their goal had been met.