33 A Magnificent Message

The starry sky appeared bleaker the longer he looked at it; after all, it wasn't even real in the first place. Reed woke up not too long ago and had slipped out of the spire for a spell. He needed some time to think, to breathe, and to reflect on what he learned.

Reed shot up into the air like a rocket, hurtling into the deep blue, intent on reaching out into the great beyond. He'd been flying for several minutes at a monstrous speed into the upper atmosphere but eventually came to a crashing halt; he found himself unable to fly any further.

There was a mysterious, fog wall that stretched out across endlessly. After many attempts at passing through the massive fog wall, Reed concluded that it was impossible to go past it using conventional means. Every time he tried getting through it, he'd end up getting redirected back where he started.

Reed knew that there was some mechanism or property inherent to the damned wall that allowed it to bend the fabric of space, he just couldn't understand how it worked. It curved space-time in such a manner that anything that tried leaving would end up back at their point of origin as if it were a giant mobius strip of sorts.

"So, the dome truly does exist. The sky itself is nothing more than an illusion, albeit an impressive one," Reed thought to himself. Who could have ever imagined that such a thing was even possible? He suddenly wished he'd never learned the truth; it completely ruined his mood.

Reed stopped channeling Anima into his body and let gravity do what it did best — he plummeted down like a shooting star — passing through a sea of clouds on his way back to the ground.

He closed his eyes and counted backward from ten as he continued to fall aimlessly. Many thoughts raced through his mind as he fell: His future, the responsibility he'd been entrusted with and the immense weight that came along with it.

Eight.

Reed tore through the sky as the surrounding wind screeched like nails on a chalkboard. He instinctively channeled Anima into his body as he fell. A distant, almost imperceptible speck of light fell down from heaven.

Seven.

Why was he brought over to this world by the black shadow? What was his purpose in this world supposed to be? Reed felt lost; a tinge of anxiety sprouted up within him, but he quickly banished the feeling into oblivion. He denied himself the luxury of feelings and purged his mind of any unnecessary thoughts.

Four.

The shining meteor continued falling down, marking the firmament up above with a brilliant streak of golden light as it passed through the sky. Waves of turbulent, dense Anima formed around the meteor as it reached the ground, provoking dramatic transformations in the weather.

Three.

It was fine. He'd focus on the task at hand and put everything else on hold. Surviving was priority one for Reed. Nothing else mattered. That was he told himself, at least. The words rang hollow, but he pushed aside his conscience and resolved himself once more.

Two.

The meteor descended upon the earth with great velocity as it approached its final destination. Booming thunder and pouring rain heralded the arrival of the fallen star and then, suddenly, silence reigned across the frozen taiga.

One.

The earth trembled in fear, amber flames shot up into the sky, and the echo of a terrible explosion resounded across the land. A horrifying shock wave spread and turned everything within a five-mile range into dust and hot ash.

Everything came to a halt in the forests and plains that had been close to the impact. For miles upon miles, all manner of creatures stopped dead in their tracks. Even most ferocious predators of the forest flinched and kept quiet as they waited for something to happen...

"..."

"Where have you been, bud? We came over to check on you after Maya told us what happened to you," asked Astor. Everyone had tagged along with him after they heard that Reed had fallen ill.

"Oh, you know... here and there. I went outside to get some fresh air," Reed said. He smiled and shrugged his shoulders as if they had caught him red-handed.

The group looked concerned as they inspected Reed from head to toe, peppering him with questions about this and that. Reed knew they meant well and reassured them that it was merely a headache that got to him, that he slept it away and he was feeling better.

"You sure, man? If it comes down to it, you should still get yourself checked out just in case," Horatio replied. "The Spire's medical facilities are top of the line, even by the most elite standards."

"Mhm, I'll do that later," Reed said. If paying the doctors a visit would assuage his friends' fears a bit, he'd play along for their sakes. He doubted they'd be able to explain anything about his... unique condition, though.

Astrid perked up when she heard Reed's response and said, "For now, why don't we go the usual spot and go over what we've learned?" She jerked her head towards Astor's room and everyone regroup at their unofficial home base (to a certain prince's great consternation). He hated how these bastards kept eating his rations every time they came over.

Once everyone had settled into their usual spots, the Council of Sages started their discussion. The topic? Axtorius's mind-shattering lecture and their thoughts about the terrible can of worms they'd been given, so to speak.

"What do you think about it all, bud? Have any pressing concerns about our new arrangement? You look awfully calm given everything that we've learned," asked Astor. He grabbed Reed's shoulder and closed the distance between them.

"Even Horatio couldn't keep his steely expression after all of that," he whispered in a soft voice. Astor had still spoken loud enough that Horatio had heard what he said and snorted in denial. He roughly pulled Astor off of Reed and put him in a cobra twist in retaliation.

"I don't know where to even start... The fact that we're living in a cage to keep out the Infestation is depressing as all hell. It all seems like a big joke to me, if I had to be perfectly honest. A terrible joke that's become a reality..." he replied.

Sebastian nodded and said, "Yeah, that's pretty much on point. In short: We're fucked. Not only that but from the very start without a way of remedying the situation. It's completely hopeless."

Astrid stepped on one of Sebastian's feet and he yelped in pain and cursed at his cousin in anger, something he instantly regretted. She looked at him for a second and he curled up into a ball as if he was a descendant of a pill bug. There'd be a reckoning later, Reed surmised.

"It's not hopeless. Think about it, for thousands of years the empires have successfully kept Mulia safe from Infestation; it speaks volumes about the fighting prowess required to persist that long. What's truly astonishing is how much of a coward you are, Sebastian," Astrid said.

Her biting words apparently struck a chord with her lowly cousin because after that, he kept his mouth shut and ate Astor's snacks in silence. He looked like he was about to burst into tears.

"Now, now. Let's not get too heated; the only thing we can do is keep calm and handle these new developments carefully. I'm sure that if our circumstances were beyond salvation, even someone like Instructor Axtorius would have broken long ago," Ophelia stated. "But he from the way he spoke — the passion in his voice — I'm sure that it's not all doom and gloom as we might think of it."

Astor suddenly turned towards Reed and said, "Hey, where's Maya? I thought she'd be with you, buddy. She run off somewhere?" He coyly elbowed Reed as he winked his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

Reed snorted and said, "Stop it. How am I supposed to know where she went? When I came around, she was nowhere to be found, so your guess is as good as mine." He raised his hands in exasperation and shrugged. "Leave her be. Perhaps she had some urgent matter to take care of? None of our business, in any case."

The princeling shook his head in disapproval; this fellow wasn't cute in the slightest. He'd seen sea slugs cuter than this guy, for sure.

"What we should really be concerned about is our final mission, you guys," Horatio said. "It might sound like a simple task but there's bound to be some danger if we don't take it seriously. Although Instructor Axtorius said that our test area had a low Infested population, it'll be our first time out there in the real field.

Everyone finally got a bit serious, after all, this was an important topic to them. Astor said, "What do you propose then? Have any ideas on how to get an advantage for our upcoming test? Not like we can go out and scout the area beforehand, or study the Infested ourselves..."

The room went quiet. They all scrambled their brains trying to figure out a way to prepare, but none of them had any particularly bright ideas.

Reed blurted out, "Why don't we just get the next best thing aside from personally visiting the Outer Reaches ourselves?" It was worth a shot. It wasn't an original idea, but it would probably work. Probably.

"Oh? Did you get an idea? Spill the beans," said Horatio. Astor, Astrid, and the rest also had their ears perked up in interest.

"It's simple: Why don't we just ask Violett for help? I'm sure if we ask her, she'll teach us everything we'll need to know. When in doubt, rely on someone wiser than you, right?" he replied.

He leaned closer and said, "It's not against the rules to ask someone for a bit of advice, right? I don't remember hearing the old goat saying that we couldn't ask a more experienced contender for assistance, no?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Reed smirked and said, "I'll take your silence as an acknowledgment, yes? I'll get her to come over in a jiffy, just give me a second." He started writing a message that'd grab her immediate attention as he grinned in delight.

In the span of a couple of seconds he'd written the perfect message; Reed took one last look at it for any errors and then sent it.

Astor felt a dreadful pang of unease in his stomach and hurriedly asked Reed what he had sent to his sister. Something deep in his bones told him that trouble was coming. He knew it was something bad.

"Hm? I told her I was thinking about going out into the Outer Reaches alone for fun. Right now. I'm pretty sure the message will wor-"

A clap of thunder echoed outside of Astor's room as if a flurry lightning bolts had struck the dormitory. Reed looked at Astor and gave him a thumbs-up, almost as if he was proud of what he had done.

Suddenly, a chorus of shrieks and screaming reverberated past the door and a menacing, booming voiced struck everyone's ears.

"Reed! Get the hell out here and explain yourself! You have until the count of three before I fuckin' tear down this door!!"

"ONE!"

Everyone had been frozen in place as turbulent waves of Anima surged throughout the room. Reed, on the other hand, shrugged off the pressure and stared at the door in amusement. It was already too late.

"TWO!"

The room creaked in protest as the surrounding Anima raged wildly; Reed closed his eyes as he waited for the inevitable.

"THREE!"

Astor's room would need some renovations after today, Reed thought to himself as a blinding light broke through the door... His message worked too well, he concluded.

An angry beast had shown up.