Arrival: Kan’na

A sigh echoed in a dark place, carrying incredibly far.

"Out of all the places!"

She lifted a hand and created a miniature magic circle. The runes began to glow faintly, but not enough to pierce the darkness. A small ball formed and a blinding light arrived. She had created a miniature flashlight, or whatever the magic variant of it was.

Her dark surroundings now being brightened by her creation, she was able to gain a proper look of her surroundings. It wasn't much, it was an incredibly large cave. With only a bit of exploring she realized that the cave was, in fact, a labyrinth.

Paths ending for no apparent reason, some branching into multiple different paths. All in pitch black darkness. Except for the area around Kan'na of course. She touched the wall of a cave, its shape unnerved her. It was strangely cylindrical, no signs of it being naturally, or man, made. It was smooth to the touch, and the ground wasn't flat.

She scratched her chin, an idea suddenly forming in her head. Outstretching her fingers she began to create several runes. These were slowly spun into a complex magic circle. She lowered the completed circle close to the ground and created four more, yet much smaller, magic circles.

"Now then."

She lifted her finger and manually wrote a few lines. Four straight lines of runes, lined up neatly.

It was an older technique, one of the first beta tests she did upon creating the language in her past world. The lines were much less efficient than the circles, but they still had their occasional use.

She then use the lines to connect the four small magic circles to the large one. Like wires transferring data. Because that's what they were, lines meant to transfer data.

Examining her work for any flaws she then snapped her finger, the magic circles then brightened. Out of the four smaller circles, a glowing arrow formed. These four arrows spun in a circle once before shooting off at incredible speeds.

The large magic circle then began to act, slowly it formed a map of the place. On the map were four arrow icons, they moved about discovering every end of the labyrinth.

She watched as the map formed rapidly, gaining insight on the ridiculous pattern of the place. It wasn't a labyrinth, it was like a toddler was asked to draw and then they proceeded to draw random squiggles.

Yet as the map slowed in its creation she noticed a strange part. She made a mildly surprised look, "While I put that just in case. . ."

Rapidly another magic circle was formed, copying the data from the map it formed a gps. Kan'na was a blinking dot, unmoving.

With a wave of her hand she dissipated the original map. She then created two more magic circles, which were placed at the bottom of her feet. They spun slowly and Kan'na slowly rose. Adjusting herself to the new sensation she than began to float across the caves at high speeds.

The blinking dot on her magic gps moved quickly, she followed it as she turned through the twisting path.

"It should be right-"

The magic circles around her suddenly vanished. Reacting quickly Kan'na landed and slid to a stop.

It was cut off, the area was devoid of natural mana. It even stopped her from using her own MP.

She backed up until she regained control. Sudden interest appearing she experimented with the area.

It was like a wall, a solid fine wall that cut off all mana. Exploring the place would be a death wish for her, someone who is reliant upon mana.

Yet she didn't mind be a cat in this situation, even if curiosity killed her.

Just in case however, she planted a magical anchor in the cave. Upon her death she should be able to find the area again with the anchor. However it would last a mere forty-eight hours.

Fishing in her bag she pulled out a random branch material. After making sure it wasn't poisonous she covered it in some flammable monster hide. Then with a magic spark she lit it aflame.

With the very makeshift torch she entered the mana deadzone, using the flickering flame to light her path.

The light was barely enough for her to see two feet in front of herself. Using her own sense of direction she continued to head forward.

After roughly fifteen minutes of on foot travel she bumped into something. She stepped back before inspecting what she had touched.

It was smooth and glistening, reflecting the flicker flame of the makeshift torch. It was divided into sections, and had abnormal toughness.

She stepped back again.

Suddenly a brightness entered her vision, temporarily blinding her. A piercing gaze from a brightly glowing green eye. The eye lit up more area than her torch could, revealing the head of a massive snake. The eye of said snake was larger than Kan'na herself.

A voice seeped into her head, 'So, you're the one who intrudes…'

Kan'na apologized, "I had no intention to."

'Hmm? You've come this far into my domain without intending to?'

"Well, I wanted to see why there was a mana deadzone, but I had no intention of disturbing you."

'Do you know where you are?'

Kan'na answered honestly, "No."

The eye blinked, 'That's a first, many intrude searching for some ancient artifact, or treasure. Yet this is the first time someone has come this deep without knowing what they were getting into. Many quit at the maze I left behind.'

"Well, I kinda mapped out the whole place. Then one of my beacons suddenly disappeared, so I came to find out the source. Now here we are."

'Beacons?'

"Lovely thing I made, small little mana arrow which follows any path it can. I then send the data to a magic circle which creates a map."

'You study in the language of magic?'

"I like to think I'm quite proficient in it."

'Yet. . . you do not know why mana fails to reside here?'

"No."

The eye blinked again. It moved closer to Kan'na, inspecting her for something. It then moved back and asked, 'What are you?'

"Human."

'Why are you here?'

"Accidental teleport."

'What is your intention?'

"To find out where I am."

'You aren't from around here.'

"What makes you say that?"

'The lingering scent, I have traveled across many places. Yet yours is foreign.'

"It might be someplace new that you haven't visited in a while."

'One simply does not change the origins of scent. Combining them to create new ones is possible, but its original form does not escape me.'

"Alright then, I traveled from afar."

'In your transport here, something went amiss and you found yourself in my domain.'

"That roughly sums it up. Now if you don't mind me asking, what are you?"

'One who has seen all this place has to offer, and decided to sleep to treasure what it holds dear.'

"Then the people who referred to before are searching for this thing you hold dear."

'That would be correct.'

"And what is that?"

'My knowledge.'

"Quite the treasure trove then."

'Indeed, or so I thought. Until you arrived, filled with foreign stuff.'

"Hmm. Then how about an information exchange?"

'. . . Interesting, I'll oblige. You can go first.'

"Why does this place hold no mana?"

'A formation created by me, meant to disable any who enter this place.'

"Formation?"

'It is my turn, why have you arrived here?'

"To gather information."

The snake's eye moved about as if annoyed, 'A formation is a structure created by the words of magic. It holds near infinite possibilities, all at various costs.'

"I came here to investigate the capabilities of this place, their advancements in technology and such."

'. . . Since you know not about formations, I take it we must study different languages of magic. May I ask for a demonstration?'

"Only if you demonstrate the formation."

'Very well, I have granted you access to your own mana.'

Kan'na lifted a finger and created a small magic circle. A small ball of light shot upwards and exploded like a firework.

'It is indeed different, you were capable of doing so without any points?'

"Points?"

'I can answer that question with my own promised demonstration.'

A five pointed star outline appeared on the floor, foreign runes filled the inside. Upon completion it flashed and remained glowing brightly.

Kan'na then noticed her MP was regenerating at a faster rate than usual, perking her interest.

The eye explained, 'Formations act under points, the more points a formation has the harder it is for it to activate. The format becomes more complex, and the cost rises heavily with each point. A Five Point Formation is a quite high standard. I'd say only talented Second Star fighters are capable of even forming one.'

"Second Star?"

'Are you not aware of the fighter system? You yourself are at First Star.'

Kan'na then realized that the foreign place didn't use Stages to rank their strength, but rather Stars.

"We use the term Stages, but I have a feeling that they are quite equal in strength."

'Stages, intriguing.'

Kan'na sat on the ground, "So what's your name?"

'I go by many, but you can call me Treylit.'

"And I'm Kan'na. So Treylit, how about a deal?"

'Go on.'

"How about we take this information exchange to a new level. You teach me about formations and this place's magic language. And I'll teach you my own."

'A highly tempting offer, I originally thought I have seen all there is to see. Yet you bring exciting new information. Very well, we have a deal.'