Chapter 10: The Location

1

'After you guys locate it, the council will send someone to go retrieve it,' explained Ozin, lying on a luxurious sofa alongside June, Ben and Sammy in the council headquarters. It was nearly 15 o'clock—the Alpine clock was split into 18 segments instead of 12. The average Alpine nychthemeron was six hours shorter than the German's. 'And then after we find all three, you guys can go home.' he smiled warmly. Sammy smiled back, but June was staring at the ceiling again, even quieter than she normally was. 'What's wrong?' asked Ozin.

June turned her head around, tears glistening in the dim light from the lamp. 'I want to go with them.' 

Osen sat up, speechless. 'How come?' 

She smiled wryly, 'I feel like I'm letting everyone down, that's all.' She sat up too, putting her palms onto her thighs. 'Ever since I got this curse—even though it still hasn't affected me that much physically yet—had already changed people's perspective on me.' Her eyes welled up with sadness. 'I guess they couldn't help it, and I don't blame them. Ever since we've been in this realm I had to constantly hide from people like I'm afraid of them—they're afraid of me. Ever since I saw how scared the hermits were when they saw my bloodshot leg like it was a disease or something, I've changed my mind about myself. I used to be self-confident. Not anymore. I used to be helpful. Not anymore. I am literally a truly deadweight who can't do anything except get dragged around and get in everyone's way. I am sick, tired, and distressed.' She spat those words harshly to let them sink in. 

'Have you heard what he said? "The second remnant that Gorowrath had terrified us with, had reemerged from the German Realm." He wasn't even trying to hide it. Don't you see? They look at me like I'm some sort of monster that will devour everything if set loose. I am a disease to them, a virus to them. "Let's just be ignorant and cold to them, since we can't exile them… or kill them" and "lock them up and monitor them."' She kept smiling, even when streaks of tears rolled down her dirty but smooth cheeks. 'I never dreamed of being the one having to be taken care of, or be cautious around.' She drew a deep breath and saw all of them were crying with her, which made her feel more included. 'Don't weep for me. I've made up my mind. I'm going to go. If I die, so be it. The curse would also die with me, so then everyone would feel better. I'm sure no one would mind right? Since I'm so contagious and helpless, you'll probably be almost glad to stay away from a – a –' She broke off, thinking of the right word, when Ben wrapped around her and kissed her a second time. They could taste each other's tears as they flowed out without any resistance. June didn't push him away. She didn't want to. After a solid minute or two, they let go, their teary eyes meeting.

'I would never, ever exclude you, or be afraid of you. You have never been a dead weight to anyone. Remember that,' exclaimed Ben softly. He remained close to her and put his left hand on her scarred leg. 'If this curse reaches me, so be it. I will take it without hesitation.'

'Why are you taking all of the risks for me?' she asked genuinely.

'Because… I love you,' he said openly. 

'You do?' she asked again.

'I do,' he confirmed.

After a long moment of ironic silence, Ozin broke it by blabbering, 'I can't help it, you guys are so sweet.' he sobbed. 'I was the one that was going to carry out the mission. I didn't want you to know because I thought I was going to be laughed at.'

'Well, now you have someone to talk to,' smiled June weakly.

'I'm going with you.' said Ben confidently.

'Me too,' said Sammy.

'You are insane,' said Ozin. 'From what we know, this could be a death mission.'

'I'm already pretty dead inside, don't you agree?' said June.

'By the end of this, we probably will be,' agreed Ben.

He wasn't wrong.

2

'Oh no! We overslept!' cried Ozin in dismay. He rushed outside—the sun was high in the sky already, and it appeared that everyone had gone out for the festival. He ran back in, calling them panicking. They woke up, still looking sleepy. 'What time is it?' asked June.

'10 o'clock, the full moon is due in four hours.' said Ozin.

'I don't know why, but I can't seem to stay awake,' mumbled June, who saw Sammy and Ben nod.

'The effect of the full moon's already upon you,' said Ozin. 'Your body needs to be semi-conscious to hallucinate the location, so try to stay awake when we get there.'

'Would coffee help?'

'Actually, I haven't thought of that,' he scratched his chin thoughtfully. 'Maybe. Good thinking though.'

They took off, once again. The journey wasn't as exciting as before. The steam train carried them off shortly and sped off in the direction of the Tower. The train was way faster than the chariots they had rode in—it zoomed through the grassy fields on its rails. There weren't many passengers on the train—they were alone in their carriage. The Tower of Oblivion was soon in sight. 'What's that city to the right of the Tower?' asked Ben.

'Gorowrath.' For some reason, Ozin saying the name was beginning to make them shudder.

'How unoriginal.' said June.

'Gorowrath was actually raised there. They changed it to his name after he was buried there,' explained Ozin. 'The old name was called Silverborne.'

'Honestly, I like the former name better.'

When they took a closer approach, the tower looked way taller than they expected, it extended into the clouds and they couldn't see the top. 'Do we have to climb all the way up?' asked June in dismay. 

'Well, no. There's an elevator that only reaches the 50th floor. We only have to walk the remaining 65.'

'You're not making it sound any more promising.'

'What's even in there?' asked Ben.

'Treasures, antiques. Valuables. Important stuff. It's like a vault in there,' explained Ozin. 'You can't even access the elevator without a pass from the king himself, and there aren't even any stairs to climb from the bottom 50 floors.'

'What if there was a fire and you're stuck in the elevator?' asked June worriedly.

'The whole place is built out of fireproof materials, and none of the things up there are flammable either I don't think. Even if there is a fire, safety mechanisms are installed on every single floor. The mechanism will instantly trigger when there's smoke or flames, vacuuming out all the oxygen. As for the elevator – it's controlled by magic, not electricity. A hermit can usually remote-control the elevator to move back down to the ground. If it drops, the hermit can still use magic and slow its fall. Basically, it's the safest place to stay in on Alpine Earth.'

'And if they were to rob the place?'

'They wish,' Ozin smirked. 'Once they enter, they'd have to crawl their way up the elevator shaft, which, as mentioned before, cannot be accessed without a pass. Flying and teleporting are nullified in there, so they'd have to manually climb. If they somehow broke into one of the fifty floors, which is empty, but they don't know that, they're stuck there pretty much. If someone was on guard then they'd be lucky and get rescued quicker—and sent straight to Chester's prison. If there wasn't though—they'll have to hope they don't starve.'

As he finished speaking, the train came to a halt. 'Oh look, we're here.'

The tower stood tall before them, its metal-encrusted structure looked ancient, and the side facing the sun was covered with rust. It's a tower of oblivion indeed. June thought. It was black and symmetrical, with a small doorway leading to the elevator.

'12 o'clock,' said Ozin, checking his watch. 'We can expect the moon to rise in two hours.' He looked at his companions—they were yawning constantly, with their eyelids threatening to shut.

'I can't help it,' said June frustrately. 'It's like all I want to do right now is sleep.'

'That means it's working, you've got enough synph in you,' said Ozin hopefully.

Going up the elevator, June saw the articles hung on the three sides, all of them displaying the same thing:

Pevio Ethra, Queen of Atlantis Missing—Several Suspects Captured

Yesterday, a missing persons report of the queen was filed out into Coral City. The queen disappeared at 7 o'clock this morning. No such thing as a corpse has been found in the palace. 'We looked everywhere, and we couldn't find [her] in the bedroom.' says a royal soldier. Bloody claw marks were found at the scene but the doctors couldn't identify its DNA. The queen was presumably killed by an assassin. Although none of the evidence can point to anything yet. A riot was happening outside the palace, angry Atlantas demanded to know what happened, even though the palace staff refused to speak. Several people were wielding knives and threatening and were captured and sent to custody. Further information will be updated in this article as soon as possible throughout all of the nations.

21 April 1935, 2116th Era

'What does this mean?' she asked, looking at Ozin nervously.

'Absurd things are happening across the world at the moment,' Ozin shook his head. 'The Queen of Atlantis probably got tired of governing and faked her death to go on vacation. Honestly, I wouldn't blame her. Who knows what will happen tomorrow?' The elevator abruptly stopped with a ding! The doors slid open, and a hallway with stairs at the end of it came into view. A young Alpino guard greeted them.

'The full moon's tonight. Hopes up, eh?' Ozin patted him on the shoulder.

'Yes sir,' he replied politely. 'This way. I was expecting you.'

Osen was practically cursing the entire time they went up. 'Whoever designed this, is a jerk.' He rasped between breaths, clutching his side. 'Oh, stairs! The torture!'

How many steps they took we would never know. All we knew was they eventually reached the top, and the sun was already beginning to set.

'I can't do this anymore,' mumbled Sammy sleepily, and collapsed on the cold, porcelain floor. The top was a large chamber, filled with strange antiques that they had never seen before. Going to the front of the chamber was a diamond-shaped opening that led to a lounge two thousand feet in the sky. The ceiling was transparent, made of black-tinted glass, where you can't differentiate if it was the night sky or outer space. Clouds drifted in and out of the room at this height, making the environment even more mystical than it already is. Ben and June leaned against the wall, their hands and arms against it to support the weight of their dead legs. The more stars appeared in the distance, the less conscious they had been. Ben couldn't remember which one of them slid to the floor first, before blacking out completely. The last image still vivid in his head was the empty pedestals sitting alone in the sunset outside on the open lounge. 

'It's the place where the Talismans were before they went missing.' informed Ozin, or had he just imagined that?

3

Darkness took over everything. Nothing was real; everything was real. She couldn't see anything; She could see everything. She raised one hand and clawed at nothing, nothing at all. She could feel the influence of the full moon drawing in her blood. She began to levitate, and let herself fly far. And suddenly she wasn't in the tower anymore, she was somewhere… creepier. The dark thunderheads above her covered the sky, blocking out the sun and darkening the entire Earth. She was flying, her ears deafened by the violent wind, over the fields of endless green grass, except… they were withered away and dried. A deep, dark forest comes from her point of view as she drifts over a river. Wait! Let me go back! Where are you taking me? She wanted to shout, but her voice didn't come. She tried to turn her head back around as if that would steer her away from the dark, looming trees that towered over her. It didn't work. It was like her entire body was being controlled by someone or something. All she could do was see and feel. The forest disappeared from her vision as she took a sharp turn to the right. She inhaled sharply as she soared away from the river. It was a field of rocks and craters. The lush green plains but everything was solid, grey terrain. 

The rock plains went on for miles as her head panned the landscape, rotating into weird angles as if she was taking scenic shots in a movie but she was the camera. A large boulder appeared in front of her. Horrified, she tried to turn to avoid it, flying into it at high speeds. Turn! Come on! She wanted to scream desperately, but she was muted by an unknown force. Even as she wove forcefully, she felt her right knee smack into the hard, jagged rock. A deep crack rang in her ears as she felt her kneecap shatter into pieces, but it didn't hurt. She was almost travelling at the speed of sound now, zig-zagging through the maze of rocks, dodging them freely. A large lake appeared in sight, leaving behind the rocky plain. She gasped at what she saw on the other side of the water—a large mountain, taller and larger than any mountain she'd ever seen. Its peak wasn't even there, it hid behind the clouds; its black structure vivid against them.---that's how dark it was. Lightning struck the mountain and she went above the thunderheads—

The peak was finally revealed, although shrouded by a thick, white mist. June could register her pounding heart as she went into a steep dive, back down into the thunderheads. The thunder was booming against her eardrums, unhindered by the wind muffling out most sounds. There was a blinding white flash… 'Come to me,' said a deep voice in her mind… she was speeding straight for the giant… nothing could stop her impact this time… she closed her eyes… and went straight through the surface… there was a cave system in there… a cave system… full of dwelling creatures… red, hellish crosses stared straight into her soul… 'June…' 'No.' she moaned helplessly. 'June…' A claw closed in around her neck… 'June!' Sharp teeth dripping with saliva… 'Are you okay?' Even as her vision blurred, she saw a burning red cube in the distance, with something engraved on it. A symbol. A glowing symbol… 'Can you see me?' Another blinding white flash and ear-piercing screeches exploded in her skull… 'June, can you

'...hear me?' asked Ben worriedly, his sweaty hand brushing her right cheek. She blinked—once, twice—and then opened her eyes. Barely. She felt herself lying on her back on the cold, black, porcelain floor. 

'What happened?' mumbled June, some of her hair sticking to her face. 

'You weren't waking up, Sammy and I thought you were gone,' replied Ben grimly, he seemed fully awake now. 

'I'm fine,' even as she said those words (a cave system… full of dwelling creatures…) she nodded in reassurance. She stood up and saw Ozin standing still at the edge of the opening, staring deeply into the full moon—dazzling yet mystical. The pedestals of the Talismans were still empty. There were three of them. June remembered Ozin say. Wisdom, Power and Truth. 'Wisdom, Power, Truth,' she repeated. Which one would it be?

'Which one of you saw it?' hissed Ozin.

'Saw what?' asked Sammy. 'I was dreaming of something… but I can't remember. It was probably something important.' He clenched his small fists frustratedly.

'The world is in disarray, everything blends in on itself,' Ozin muttered as he turned around to look at them, his eyes fiery dark green. 'Now which one of you remember?'

I did. June wanted to say, but the experience was too traumatising. 'I did. I remember,' she said finally.

Osen took two steps to approach them. 'What did you see?'

'I don't know what I saw… the place was beyond surreal,' she replied quietly. 'But I saw the talisman. I'm sure that's what the talisman looks like.'

'Where is it? Can you describe it for us?' asked Ozin.

'Maybe, but the memory is already starting to fade,' said June, hypnotised, 'This is all I could get—a tall mountain. Not just any ordinary mountain, the mountain was ginormous, and reaches a heavenly height.' Ozin flinched, but then gestured her to carry on. 'There was a cave system in there… full of… creatures.' She shuddered. 'They looked too uncanny to be humans, and their eyes… they were crosses.'

Osen drew a deep breath, his legs shaking—unlike him. 'It couldn't be,' he gasped in dismay. 'Why would it go there? I don't understand.' He sat down into a lotus position, wiping beads of sweat popping out from his forehead. 'This was worse than I thought, I'll give you that.'

'How bad is it?' demanded Ben.

'This isn't just bad—it's very bad. Oh, my god. I can't comprehend it—why would the talisman be there?' He cried like a banshee.

'Be where?' asked Ben breathlessly.

'Maybe my vision was… inaccurate?' asked June hopefully.

'It's accurate all right. God, it's so accurate,' exclaimed Ozin. 'But Gorowrath chose him? That's the most absurd part.'

'Chose who?' asked June desperately. 'Please! Tell me.' Ozin didn't answer or couldn't. He was just as shocked as she was.

'Can you at least tell us what the location is?' asked Ben impatiently. 'We're even more confused than you are.'

'The Sorrow Mountain,' he uttered those three words grittedly and slumped weakly against the wall, expressionless.

A noise came from the stairs. The guard walked up to them. 'Visiting time's over,' he said softly. 'Leave as soon as possible… Sir? Is something wrong?' He looked at Ozin concerningly.

Osen stared at him weakly and struggled to make out his sentence. 'Alert the council,' he rasped. 'We have to go back. The past cannot be easily left behind. Evil is dwelling inside the Sorrow Mountain.' With that, he fainted.

4

A Brief History Regarding Sorrow Mountain

By Atrius Greensage

The Sorrow Mountain was formed over 200 million years ago, even before the first era began, according to archaeologists. It inhabits the demons—ancient creatures that ruled over Alpine Earth before we arrived. The demon population has declined over the years due to human activities. The only sanctuary they have left is the Sorrow Mountain. The main structure is 12,968 metres tall—the tallest one on Alpine Earth. Even Mount Everest from the German realm is only about 8,000 metres. The mountain stands alone. Free from the mountain ranges. Natural cave systems are formed within the mountain, and freshwater streams flow down from its summit due to the heavy snow and rain that batters the top. The cave systems are covered with fungi—the only other thing that can withstand the harsh environment. Demons are omnivores—they consume the fungi daily. They used to hunt for raw meat as well—until they were forced into the shadows. Sometimes they would eat other demons during winter times when the fungi die out. Demons have an average of 50 IQ and can build basic tools for living. Not that they need tools—their tentacles can reach their prey from 10 metres away, and they like to set traps on the outermost layer of the caves, occasionally catching some meat. The higher you go, the more toxic fumes there are in the air. Demons are immune to the fumes as their bloodstreams can nullify and filter out chemical damage. Before the battle of Demonspit, there wasn't anyone who ruled over the ancient species until a Demonlord showed up and took control of their governorship. The outraged demons wanted to overthrow him, but Demonlord easily manipulated them and convinced them into a civil war with Alpinos. Even as times went on, Sorrow Mountain became an initial tourist attraction for a few short centuries before deaths were reported, and it has been isolated again ever since. Sorrow Mountain was never scathed by erosion or the change of climate, despite its peak reaching past the stratosphere and the huge difference in gravity between the 12,968 metres. The Sorrow Mountain itself breaks all laws of physics by extending past the troposphere. It was hypothesised that the mountain has extraordinary levels of flexibility to withstand the low pressure of the stratosphere. Another hypothesis states that Sorrow Mountain was constructed by the natural magic of the earth, itself being the impurified form of magic. Although theorists are still unclear about this fascinating force of nature, its mere existence proves that magic can affect the balance in constant physics. 

'Consistence simply does not exist when meddled with magic, and it is for this fact should we appreciate the consistency of things we still have.' —Award-winning speech by Pevio Ethra, Queen of Atlantis

A Brief History Regarding the Battle of Demonspit

By Pevio Ethra

On January 7 1935, 2115th Era, demons travelled all the way from Sorrow Mountain through the Rocky Plains and besieged the Alpino capital—Demonspit. It was an all-out war. 2,220 soldiers were killed and none of the civilians survived the affair. Alpinos may have advanced weapons on Alpine Earth at the time, but demons themselves are demolition machines. Commanded by the dictator, Demonlord, berserk demons were rushing down buildings and crumbling down walls like they were cardboard. Demons could only live a few centuries—only longer than Germans. But the demons' strange body properties make them extremely hard to kill. The war lasted seven months and seven weeks, making it the most brutal battle in history. Although the Alpinos won in the end, the damage caused to their capital was permanent and irreversible; the casualties of their soldiers and civilians were no doubt devastating. To this day, we're still unsure of what caused the demons to declare this outrageous war. Demons are usually neutral creatures—they won't usually kill people unless they're hunting for food—which they're desperate for nowadays. Demons don't have enough brain cells to unite together and cause riots. The Demonlord was strongly suspected to be the mastermind behind this affair, as he seemed to be a major outlier from other demons. Some say that he wasn't even a part of the demon species. First, he'd outlived eras longer than most demons had, who could only ever live one-twentieth of an era. Second, he has grown twice as large as any demon and can stand on his hind legs, unlike demons who can only perch. Third, he barely had any tentacles growing out of his head, and his horns were exceptionally large, crimson, and translucent. Some would describe him as a cross between a demon and a minotaur with the tails of a gryphon'. Very rough description in my opinion, as there are many more unidentified details that we've missed: we've only ever seen his face once—captured during Demonsplit. This had confirmed his existence. More debuts can be found in 'A Brief History of Demons: The Rise to Power'.

What was interesting though, wasn't the battle part of the war—it was the ending. As tough as demons could be, they couldn't withstand more than five shots from the 16-inch calibres. The demons were easily picked off from a range after Alpinos realised they had poor eyesight. In the end, all of the demon troops were annihilated, and Demonlord was restrained. The following text is recorded as a detailed description of the last minutes of Demonspit, written by anonymous personnel: 

'A few minutes later after the battle ended, a loud screech was heard in the distance of the battlefield. Dark crows cawed and escaped the metropolis as the soldiers looked at one another confusedly. A dark shadow rushed at them with supernatural speed. Residents all the way from Gorowrath could observe the terrifying ordeal: A dark mist engulfed the whole city as massive cumulonimbus clouds swirled in the sky threateningly, blocking out the sun. A blazing red light soaked from the clouds as the soldiers in the capital stared at it anxiously. Suddenly, a crack opened up across the city, swallowing up nearby buildings. Magma erupted from the fault as the dark shadow circled the city. The red light slowly descended through the clouds, revealed to be a massive ball of lightning. Static electricity zapped everywhere the shadow was, wreaking havoc. The red ball lightning expanded to great size as the blinding light weakened, revealing a lava sun that hovered over the city, scorching the trees as the city heated up. 'Bring him to me or your doom continues,' a high, cold voice echoed through every street, every valley. The soldiers hesitated—they knew who they were facing now, a foe that was so much deadlier than every single demon they had murdered combined. They knew had to turn the Demonlord in, but how? And why? After all, they were the ones fighting for their lives for so long and now they had to turn their prize in? Sweating from the heat, they aimed their sniper rifles at the dark shadow that circled continuously. After some time—no one knew who did it—a gunshot rang through a district of the city. To this day, the shocked expressions of the petrified soldiers, still standing at the place they perished, realising the onslaught of rage that the gunshot had cost them, were engraved permanently, on their dismayed faces.'

The written text was reflected back as controversial by the critics, relating to what happened to the people. Shortly after the devestation, Demonlord had disappeared. His ash-covered, petrified corpse simply wasn't there. Some suggested that the lava evaporated him before he could get petrified, others believe he'd miraculously escaped amidst the chaos and survived by submerging into Vessel River. Demons could already hold their breaths underwater for up to three hours and god knows how much longer Demonlord could hold his from his mutated genes. The lava ball submerged the city for three days and three nights. Nothing could have lived unless they got past the Lord of Blazes and Ashes, and went into the river, which was the only way to survive. 

The incident shocked the world. People from the Alpine plains migrated to other regions in fear. Meanwhile, the council declared Ashfang as their No. 1 threat, while also putting up wanted posters of Demonlord dead or alive. Nomadrian culture also peaked during this time, spreading to the rest of the world as people celebrated to cover up the trauma. The former Alpine king died a few centuries later, resulting in Sebastian being the sixth to be declared king. Many soldiers were buried near Heming, and the incident ended there. 

After many attempts to rebuild, most civilians decided it was better to migrate to Vastichæn. A few decades later, Vastichæn became the new public capital of Alpine and has thrived for two eras since. Ever since the explosive awakening of the Talisman of Truth, the magical construct of the world has been exceptionally stable for an era, allowing the magic industry to expand and develop, automating most of the old production factories. The destruction of Demonsplit caused much poverty and change, but that also made the old technology get replaced anew, and the world thrived. While there is darkness, there's also opportunity. Many people actually think that Ashfang made the new world for them, which is still a very controversial topic up to this date. Who knows, perhaps one day, Ashfang may become allies with us, wouldn't that be a dream coming true?

The story ends and begins here.

A Brief History Regarding the Ancient Era

By Ozin Greensage

Everyone was together once. The Alpinos, the Nomadrians, the Atlantas, and the dinosaurs. We were all together once. The stars, the moon, the sun. Everything was together once. Before the new eras began, we were all still living in what we call the German realm today. The Alpinos lived in the forests, the Nomadrians lived in the mountains, and the Atlantas lived in their own sacred sanctuary at the very bottom of the ocean. All in all, we were still the same kind, occasionally visiting each other. We were herbivores back then, back when the dinosaurs still had not yet ruled the Earth. Out of the Three Races, Atlantas were the best at adapting. They soon had built their own residences and stocked up on food while the other two races were still hanging out on trees, banging rocks together and yelling gibberish at each other. It was considerably harder to live under the ocean. Soon, Atlantas developed gills and fins and fish tails. We were peaceful, and there wasn't much happening back then. We would label ourselves as intelligent creatures as if we had our own unique languages and thoughts. Of course, we'd be miles off our intelligence levels today, but we were still pretty smart. The days went by, and millions of years passed as we experienced everything the past world had to offer. 

Then, one day, out of nowhere, the dinosaurs came. 

They hunted us, they competed with our resources. We were so defenceless against them. They had tough scales and sharp teeth; iron talons and flexible tails, and they were everywhere—dinosaurs in the water, dinosaurs on land and in the mountains. Some of them even had wings—they'd attack us from above, and we couldn't do anything about it. None of the Three Races had what it takes to combat this global threat. With our races being threatened by extinction, we began our great escape. Furthermore, one day, through some weird coincidence, we found magic. The magic in the German realm is rare and impurified. A simple camouflage would consume so much of our energy. Still, magic wasn't enough to help us. The furious dinosaurs were the last species in the German Realm to see magic being performed. They'd probably laughed hysterically at our desperate attempt to fight against them. Magic was even less effective and reliable than weapons Germans had invented in their Stone Age. But at least it gave a path to walk down. Even then, more and more of the three races were dying of poverty and predators. Furthermore, we began to cannibalise our own people. We hated the texture and flavour of meat and blood, but we had no choice. We had become a low-quality species by devouring everything we saw. Another few thousand years passed, and our numbers were down to ten thousand. At one point, it seemed that no miracle could save us, which was fair enough. We were a weak species collectively, and the weak are always doomed to extinction, it made perfect sense if we had died out completely, despite our situation. We were done for. We harvested all the magic from Mother Earth, and we could only have accepted our fate back then.

Our current mother earth. But that can be altered.

Realm travelling was fiction. But that's how desperate we were. Desperateness could sometimes create a miracle.

I'd like to acknowledge our species for creating something impossible at that time. Obviously, possibly came from impossible.

The people who'd suck dry all the magic in the German realm gathered together. With one, last, desperate attempt to save three whole species, the people who we call hermits today released all of their magic into a tight space and compressed it all into one singularity. The matter and concentration inside the magic were so dense that it released energy violently, the atoms pressed together by the magic. Eventually, an electron was broken, then another, then another. The reality was ripped open as the things inside the electrons engaged in escaping and went to another space at another time. The exhausted magic wanted to collapse but was held together by gravity, and pulled at the gap where the electron escaped to. Everyone was there, watching in awe and tears as one person went through—then another. They waved on the other side of reality, gesturing for the people to come in as the purple gateway glitched randomly, sending static through the portal. They all made it through in time. After three hours, the last of the escaping electrons flew across the gateway into the parallel world as it got tinier and tinier until finally, it disappeared completely with an abrupt white flash.

On the date I'm writing this, 21 million years have passed on Alpine Earth. Everyone was still around, safe and sound. This was supposed to be a high school exam but I guess I overdid it and it got published as one of the chapters in 'Alpine: A Brief History'. I don't care about fame. I was genuinely just glad everyone around me still is.