[Book II Chapter 58] Silver: The Flux Planescapes

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Silver walked forwards and looked up at blurred wall of color which marked the edge of this plane. He stretched out a hand and concentrated, forming a wide multicolored magic circle over the distorted border.

The HEAVENLY DAO had constructed the Flux Planescapes immediately after the dark age. To the southwest of Enera, under the lands ravaged by the spiders of Arguen, the inners of the continent were drawn into the Ether. Every chunk of fractured earth was transformed into a realm, some the size of worlds. Periodically they’d collide with their neighbors and allow passage. Their stability, fixed relative location, and their extreme twenty time temporal modifier made them unique. They were collectively dubbed the planescapes.

Humanity quickly expanded into this vast expanse, settling the outer ring. Every planescape had its own climate, creatures, and potential resources. This age of exploration lasted five hundred flux years.

The first abnormality became apparent during this period. Those born inside the planescapes would perish minutes after returning to Enera. By the time this was properly understood, an entire generation was already suffering under the mysterious curse. Necromancers called in to determine the cause made a startling discovery: the souls of the afflicted were not traveling to the Abyss. No explanation was uncovered. Ultimately, inhabitants resigned themselves to never leaving their new home.

The space in front of Silver warped inward, forming a passageway. As a summoner, he could open gateways through the Ether’s chaotic space, an ability highly valued in this place.

The next abnormality was more dire. From somewhere deep in the planescapes, vaguely human-shaped entities emerged. They traveled outward from world to world, attacking every living thing in their path. The destruction would only end once they exited to Enera and dropped dead shortly after. No communication was possible. Devoid of reason, a primal instinct drove these entities to flee from something they’d no hope of escaping. They were a sign of what was to come.

There it is. With a reddish landscape coming into view, Silver released the energy held in his magic circle, and the tunnel widened instantly. The two planes were connected by a half circle portal a quarter mile wide. On the other side, in the distance, was a mismatched metal fortress.

“Glory to the holy trinity.” Rang out as thousands of soldiers in full body armor raced passed Silver. On each of their chest, a glowing blue rune was carved. Horns rang out from the fortifications, and cannons opened fire. Silver solemnly watching the bombardment decimate the charging army.

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“Still bothered, I see.” A grizzled man joined him in spectating the massacre. Dwaine had been Silver’s personal mentor for the last three years, a perk offered to summoners visiting from Enera. It was unusual for him to attend one of these excursion. “Most would have gone numb to it by now.”

Silver smirked wryly, “I am slow to anger, and that anger is slow to fade. This seems senseless.”

“But it’s necessary.” Dwaine responded. “Five thousand ordained must be sacrificed every day to sustain the holy trinity. At least this way they die fighting for imperium. Keeps the orks happy too.”

It turned out the entities weren’t emerging from any specific realm but from the space between. The Planescapes were engulfed in an area isolated from the rest of the Ether, and it was malicious and hungry. Any soul born within was claimed and absorbed after death. This all-consuming chaos was dubbed the Flux.

Fed a steady diet from its new settlers, the Flux began awakening. Outbreaks of madness became frequent, with entire populations turning depraved and murderous. Great alien armies materialized from nowhere and migrated outward from the heart of Planescapes: the hordes of berserker Orks, the machine legions of the Meklar, the devouring swarms of the Arcanids… Imperium of man was forced into an eternal battle for survival, trapped inside a living hellscape determine reap their lives and their very essence.

“Why did the HEAVENLY DAO do this?” Silver asked.

“Entertainment.” Dwaine answered. “The Flux was something it found and couldn’t resist making use of.”

Dwaine smiled at Silver’s grimace. “There is a another school of thought. If Enera was to be destroyed by Torak, the HEAVENLY DAO would need new realities to observe. Many believe creating the Flux Planescapes was preparation for that eventuality.”

“So it was practice?” Silver exclaimed in disbelief.

“Perhaps.” Dwaine said. “In any case, because the Flux owns everything here, our suffering has no effect on the deity. This allowed it to go wild in ways it couldn’t anywhere else.”

“I’ll be glad to leave.” Silver shook his head. When separating from Kate, he’d agreed on this extended stay in order to be the elder one. He’d been unprepared for bleakness that greeted him, witnessing the deaths of tens of thousands across hundreds of battlefields. I miss her badly.

“Is there still nothing for me to report back?” Silver hadn’t forgotten the important mission his mother had given him: monitoring for potential threats.

While those within cared little what happened outside, the feeling was not reciprocated. The population of the Flux Planescapes dwarfed that of Enera, with hundreds of billions spread across countless world. The same went for the malefic forces aligned against them. If any of these found a way to escape, the result would be apocalyptic.

“Nope.” Dwaine responded. “Everything is about as horrible as always. There’s no sign of the Dark Age having any effect at all.”

Silver frowned. With the way time worked here, decades would pass after he left. If some danger was to appear later, he’d almost prefer it’d do so now so he could bring warning back.

“Don’t worry to much.” Dwaine reassured. “Even after forty millennia, the Flux has never released its grasp on a single soul. It’s simply not possible to escape its grasp.”

Sighing, Silver turned his thoughts in a more joyful direction. Only a couple weeks before I can see Kate.