Chapter 67

With my portal open I was able to get a close look at the firebird and a grand view of the city beneath the spatial crack. Despite the incredible view, I wasn't able to shift my focus from the firebird.

Staring at the firebird, I quickly realized I might have made a mistake. My portal wasn't that close to the spatial crack, but the firebird was larger than I had expected it to be. The talons which were pushing against the spatial crack, were a pitch black and as long as I was tall.

Its beak was the color of molten gold, and curved like a scimitar. I didn't think it could swallow me whole, I was sure it could swallow half of me with no trouble. Besides its frightening arsenal, which didn't include the fact that it could spew fire. The beast itself was an incredibly noble creature. Not just because its feathers were an incredible mix of scarlet, crimson, and gold. It just had an air about it that set it apart from any creature I had ever seen, including Delilah's shadow wolf form. Especially its sharp golden eyes. They gave me a sense of intelligence that was at least comparable to my own, if not superior. It only took me a second of looking into those eyes for me to know that trying to 'catch' it wouldn't work.

While it clearly couldn't force its way through the crack in the sky, I wasn't so sure how far it could fit its immense head through my own portal, but I really didn't want to find out. Instead the firebird just stared at me with its swirling golden eyes.

"Wow, you are so much bigger than I thought you would be!" Enya stated excitedly as she flew through my portal to float beside the firebirds head.

The firebird tilted its head so one of its eyes faced Enya. "An elemental?" the firebird said aloud. Instead of English, the bird made some chirping sounds, but for some reason I was able to understand what it said without any trouble.

"Yep!" Enya replied with a cheer then floated closer to the bird and stroked the feathers above its eyes.

The firebird seemed to enjoy the feeling and partly closed its eye as it seemed to vibrate. It wasn't a purr, but to me it seemed similar. It only did that for a moment before it jerked away from Enya. "What is it you want little elemental." the bird asked in its odd chirps.

Enya flew back to my side. "My master has a powerful spatial ability, he would like to offer you sanctuary." she replied.

The firebird turned its attention back to me, "Is that true?" it asked me.

Our gazes met and I felt an incredible pressure land on me. While it was an uncomfortable feeling it didn't stop me from answering. "I am considering it." I replied honestly.

The firebird was silent for a while as it stared at me then it withdrew from the spatial crack completely. As it did I was able to get a good view of the world on the other side of the crack. Unlike my side which was located high up in the sky, the other side of the crack was close to the ground. I could see dark gray rocks and yellow trees with bright red leaves. Each of which had several neon small green fruits that resembled an orange in shape.

"Oh, pretty!" Enya exclaimed happily, then before I could react she had flown through the spatial crack to the closest tree where she fluttered around for a few moments then grabbed a pair of the fruit and flew back to me. She presented the fruit to me with a big proud smile. She looked so happy and proud that it was really hard for me to scold her. Karen snickered at my side then reached out to take the fruits from Enya. Enya placed them gently in Karen's hands then turned back to the spatial crack. Thankfully she didn't fly through again.

I turned my head to look back at Karen. I found that not only was Karen standing close behind me, Megan was too. Everyone else was standing a fair distance away. Probably afraid of the firebird. I felt my heart warm at the sight, my girls were by my side to support me despite the obvious danger involved. I smiled at them and received a smile in return.

After several moments I started to wonder where the firebird had disappeared to, and more importantly if it was going to return. Being so close to the crack in the sky, and not distracted by a giant scary firebird, I was able to get a much better look at it. The crack itself gave me an odd feeling. There was an incredible sense of danger, which given the fact that it was literally a crack between the dimensions, made sense to me. However there was also a sense of familiarity mixed in, which didn't make any sense to me at all.

The crack itself reminded me a lot of the portal I had just created, since it was an opening that spanned two worlds, but that was where the similarities ended. My own portal was edged with my own energy and very stable. The crack didn't feel stable in any way, instead the edge of the crack seemed to fluctuate and pulse irregularly and looking at the crack itself made my mind spin as my vision fractured showing me multiple different places all at once, none of which looked like the earth I was used to. After a few minutes I was even able to notice that the crack as a whole was gradually shrinking.

Losing interest in the spatial crack which I didn't really understand, and tired of the dizzy feeling that came with staring at it. I turned my attention to the city below. Doing so caused my blood to run cold from fear. Not because of the height, which was definitely higher than I expected it to be. Instead I could see that the spatial crack in the sky wasn't the only one. With a cursory look I spotted six more cracks at ground level, each was significantly smaller than the one in the sky, but there were things coming through all of the ones I could see. None of which seemed to be friendly. Worse still, I could see and hear the roars of many twisted in the city below.

"Delilah." I called urgently as I stared into a parking lot where several twisted had gathered together and were fighting a pack of bright red six legged wolves that I assume came through a nearby spatial crack.

"Master?" Delilah asked as she appeared from my shadow in wolf form.

As soon as she appeared I simply l pointed down at the sight that had me concerned.

"Those are not supposed, oh… that can't be good." Delilah said as her attention shifted from the six legged wolves to the twisted. The twisted I had seen and fought before had all had a single skin color, red for the big brutes and green for that other one I had fought in the intersection. The big brutes below were mostly red in color, but there were swirls of green, gray and blue along their legs, and arms.

"What does it mean?" I asked her. "Don't the colors represent the different mana spirits?" I asked.

Delilah tilted her head to the side as she seemed to consider that. "Possibly, it would make sense when you think about it, but I can not be sure. I have never heard of a world that has all of the mana spirits present. Add in the link to pure mana worlds, and…" she said then trailed off.

"What happened?" Micheal asked from the side of the portal. He obviously noticed my solemn mood.

I waved him over.

Micheal hesitated for a moment then walked over. As he took in the view I pointed out everything I had noticed. Micheal stared down at the sight fearfully. A moment later his face hardened into a grim determination before he strode away from the portal. "Everyone, get on your phones, contact everyone and tell them to get out of the city immediately!" he ordered loudly.

The others stared at him for a moment but his stern glare kept them from questioning them. Instead most of them let Micheal herd them back into the house. Bill and John came around to my side and looked through the portal, it only took them a few moments to understand what was going on. Then they rushed after Micheal to help.

"Daryl?" Megan called out sound a bit scared.

I reached out and took her hand then squeezed it reassuringly. "We have my ability, if things get too bad we can always hide." I told her.

"That isn't a long term solution." Karen reminded me.

"I am open to suggestions." I replied.

"It might be your only choice master." Delilah spoke up.

"What do you mean?" Karen asked looking down at the black wolf.

Delilah looked up at us for a moment before she spoke. "Your mother was correct on how many gates have opened, with the exception of the pure mana world. Which means there is a minimum of eighteen worlds attached to this one, maybe more if there are other pure mana worlds." she told us. "Which means there are at least eight more gate openings before the week starts over."

"Get to the point Delilah." Megan said worriedly.

"Everything will get worse as the mana density increases, including the spatial cracks." Delilah told us.

"You mean… those are going to keep happening?" Karen asked, looking through my portal to the spatial crack.