Ventures into the Deep

Falling.

He was falling through the vast regions of the World Sea. Some call this sea, the Oceanic Abyss, or the Seaway. It was vast in its cosmology. World Seeds, known as spheres, are commonly found on this vast ocean.

No amount of spheres could fill the Oceanic Abyss, not even infinite. But, beyond this abyss were even deeper reaches; they were known as the ascension layers. Each layer was a stage of evolution.

"I've been falling… for ages." Yumi Yorgana, brother of the Great Witch herself, couldn't comprehend the limitless vacua of layers he fell through. It felt like an eternity to him, "I breached through the Oceanic Abyss, and the Humus… yet I'm steadily falling."

The Humus is the soil for the World Seeds to finalize and sprout into the Oceanic Abyss. The Humus also acts like a wall to prevent others from traversing the ascension layers into the Root World. The only way to breach the humus is through the Yggdrasil link, which is something Grimhild Yorgana and her team can do. But Beatrice had the capabilities as well, through sheer knowledge and research.

The Humus was important, existing beneath the Oceanic Abyss, but the Ascension Layers had a purpose as well. Spheres are created from the Root World, and these spheres are entire worlds, formed and compromised from conceptual materials that exist within the Root World itself. After hordes of conceptual material fuse together, a World Seed/Sphere is born and is sent through the ascension layers. Each ascension layer's purpose is to balance the sphere by implementing certain concepts inside of it.

Once the Sphere reaches the Humus, it stagnates and acts like a seed in a garden. The Humus would then sprout the World Seed into the Oceanic Abyss, where life can finally start. Due to the waters in the Oceanic Abyss having so much mana, that mana will transfer into each sphere, and create worlds with mana inside of it, which then turns into magic from the lifeforms there.

Yumi Yorgana could see everything. He could witness history unfold before his very eyes, decipher each magical formula throughout the Oceanic Abyss, see every spec of dust, and witness everyone's lives, simultaneously.

Through his ascension of layers, he eventually lost his sanity. Too much information was pouring deep into his mind and soul until he crumbled.

Yumi had halted his transcendence, stopping in one of the layers of evolution, stagnated. He couldn't do anything… not even move a muscle, until he opened his eyes, and scanned his area.

He would bear witness to unspeakable horrors.

"This world…" Baffled by this world's complexity, his eyes were instilled with fear, "It's death. Everything is death itself, in conceptual form." Standing up from the ground of corpses, Yumi became woozy.

Bones were rotting on the ground, mythological beasts were perishing into dust, dragons fell from the sky, and the terrain was twisted into a hellish nightmare.

Each Ascension Layer was a stage of evolution that the Sphere went through. Each layer held a different concept that would be implanted into the Sphere, like the concept of life, before they moved onto the next layer, and eventually reached the Humus so they could sprout.

Yumi was just unlucky that he ended up in the ascension layer where the concept of death existed.

"I'm gonna… puke." Covering his mouth from the foul stench of death, he leaned over and hurled on the ground. His eyes became teary, and it became harder to breathe the putrid smell of rotting corpses.

Wiping his mouth, he stumbled back and fell into a pile of bones, watching the vast distance of destruction take place.

"Why are there animals here? Do they represent their actual deaths in their World Seed?

Dragons turned into ash in the sky, releasing a ghoulish sound, but not only were they dying, but humans were as well. Yumi witnessed humans in the distance, perishing from different outcomes. Some were beheaded, while others died in fire. Some drowned, while some were stabbed and shot through the chest.

It was a horrible nightmare.

But this Ascension Layer was death itself, conceptualized into a world that represented the deaths of other people, animals, and even Spheres if they were to perish.

This was the actual form, that created lower representations of death. It was the true pinnacle of extermination for all things in existence. Within the Oceanic Abyss, death itself is in lower forms than the actual form, which is this realm.

It followed a theory of forms if you will, such as platonic archetypes. Each ascension layer was the actual form, to their lower representation.

Unchangeable worlds, that give meaning to the Spheres that cross them.

"I have to escape this realm… at all costs…" Yumi stood up from the piles of bones, manifesting something inside his hand. It appeared to be a magical clock.

(Flashback)

"I'll breach open a gate that you must cross from Yggdrasil into the World Sea." (Beatrice)

"How do you know that I won't die, Beatrice?! You said it yourself, this journey is dangerous. I probably won't make it back…" (Yumi)

Beatrice cackled, "Keheheh, I'm merely fulfilling your wish. If you die, then so be it, but the spell I placed on you should be able to resist the effects of the Gloom Waters from the Oceanic Abyss."

"Are you certain?" Asked the nervous Yumi.

"I'm not 100% certain that it'll work, considering the Oceanic Abyss is always becoming stronger from the Spheres sprouting inside of it."

"So I'll be risking my life?"

"Yes." She wickedly responded, "Are you willing to venture into the depths of the unknown, that only the fairies can reach?!"

Yumi glanced away, closing his eyes in fear. His body was shaky, and his mind was racing with negative thoughts, until he shook his head, and balled his fists, muttering, "Yes. Let's do this, for the sake of my family, I won't abandon them, even if they're dead."

"Very well. You're either a fool or very brave, Yumi Yorgana. I'll bestow upon you the Abysmal Clock; it's a spell I created that shows the time you have left for a phenomenon to occur. It reads the fate of all things. Use this, and read the time you have left for surviving your venture into the Root World." Beatrice drew a magic circle in front of them with her pipe, "Stick your hand inside, then decipher this magic spell. You'll need it."

(Present)

"The clock says I only have a few hours left. How am I gonna do this? Crossing infinite layers in finite time seems impossible with the amount of time I have left before I die."

***

"This trip will take me a few weeks at most, on foot?" (Fhiron)

Fhiron walked through the outside regions of Feerota Kingdom, carrying a massive bag behind his back, and holding it with one hand.

The other was holding a map as he looked down at its locations.

"This whole time I've been relying on my group for doing all the traveling, and I never really paid attention to my whereabouts and locations. Now I'm lost." Fhiron sighed to himself until he heard a carriage up ahead.

There appeared to be a dwarf who was controlling it, and carrying a few passengers onboard. Fhiron was disappointed. He wanted a ride.

"Ah, I'm out of luck." Muttered the Elf King, "I was going to fly, but I don't wanna ruin anything with Grimhild's Bag of Mysteries."

Walking past the carriage, the dwarf suddenly came to a halt.

"Hey, you there. I think I may know you from somewhere!" (Dwarf)

"Sorry, I rarely visited this world during my time here in Midgard, I don't know you." (Fhiron)

"You were with that group. The white-haired mage, Dark skinned Cyrodel, non-mana born, and Champion Wielder, weren't you?" (Dwarf)

Fhiron hastily turned around, scaring the passengers in the back, "And who may you be, lad?"

"I'm from the Village of the Gods, that place you and your group stopped by. You saved me and my family." The Dwarf hopped off the carriage and walked towards Fhiron, smiling, "That White-haired mage, she destroyed the God in the sky with a catastrophe spell. I was unable to thank you people in enough time before you left."

"Oh, I remember that time." Fhiron grinned, turning to face the dwarf, "I thought there were only humans in that village, where did you come from, aye?"

"Bwa ha ha! No, no. Me and my family were the only dwarves living there at the time. It happened out of nowhere; every single god in that village turned on us and decided we should be killed, so they could keep the village for themselves. Thus, they fused into one collective, which was that face you saw in the sky. They placed a mind control spell on the village, and made us kill each other."

"Ah, I see. I'm assuming the only reason the spell didn't work on you was because you were a dwarf, and it merely targeted humans."

The dwarf grinned, "Indeed. We were the minority there. The gods were egotistical bastards, wanting to eradicate us because we were a nuisance."

"Aye, lad. Well, for the mage who saved your life, I'll tell her you said thank you. I was actually delivering her stuff to her as we speak."

The dwarf widened his eyes, saying, "Really? As we speak?!"

"Yes indeed." (Fhiron)

Turning around, the small dwarf slapped his carriage a few times, "Get out! Move it, you've made it to your destination, the only thing you three need to do is walk the rest of the way!"

"What?! You cannot do that!" (Feisty Human)

"Hey, we paid for this ride. We won't allow you to do whatever you want with our money!" (Fatherly Human)

"Move it before I feed you to the Dogs of Hades!" (Dwarf)

"Ridiculous!" (Motherly Human)

The three in the carriage had stepped out, walking towards Feerota Kingdom on foot. It was only a mile away.

"Hahaha, you're a crazy old fool, aren't you?" Fhiron threw the bag into the back before hopping in.

"Damn right, I am! Those humans were getting on my nerves either way. Now tell me, where are we going?"

"To Mesnil Country." (Fhiron)

"Mesnil? That's quite the trip from here."

"Aye. Imagine how I felt on foot."

"Bwa ha ha! I suppose you're right! To Mesnil, we go!"