Multiverse of Magic & Mistakes (Completed)

2.2.19 Chapter 19

The Darkness, Theia, November 2019.

And the world stayed black.

Vi took another stumbling step forward, then another. She could see nothing but the total blackness of eternal night. No moon, no stars, nothing.

Well, it was to be expected from visiting Theia, the dead world.

Panic rose in her unbidden. Perhaps she had been wrong. Perhaps Reynold had really been telling the truth about this realm.

The air was empty. Well, she could breathe, so there was oxygen, and all the usual gasses, but there was no magic. And it wasn't the subtle emptiness-with-the-occasional-barest-hint-of-something that filled the air on Earth. Usually. But this was pure, complete nothingness. Theia was truly a world with no power of its own.

Vi drew up the tiniest slither of her own internal power and created a mage-light, holding it tight in her hands. She held her breath, wary that if this world was inhabited, by some dark creatures or hostile night-folk, then her light would be a beacon drawing them all to her.

But she had to do it, she had to see what was here.

Even with the mage-light, Vi could see nothing. Well, if she looked down she could see torso and legs, the blood soaking through her shirt, the burn chars, the fresh and bleeding would on her thigh. She could see her feet, clad in filthy boots, encrusted in blood and mud and sand from several worlds. But beneath her feet was nothing.

The ground was perfect smooth matte black vantablack, like the paint she had seen once on Earth.

She picked a random direction and continued forward, more certain in her steps now she could make out her own feet. The light continued to illuminate a sphere of nothingness all around her.

And then suddenly, she felt something. A tiny spike of energy rising up out of the empty magical landscape. Her heart leapt. Vi spun around, heading towards the source of the power, on careful slow footsteps.

The buzzing of the energy swelled as she approached, growing from a small spike to a mountain.

And then Vi saw it,

A bubble in the distance rising up from the floor. Vi gaped, for it was the very first structure, or thing or well anything, she had encountered in this empty world. It was three meters tall or so at the centre, and a perfect half-dome of Vantablack darkness. Vi hurried right up to the dome, then paused, placing her palms on its smooth surface. She could see the layer of runes and wards imbued into it, protecting what was inside.

But such runes did not keep out a desperate Stryder.

Vi opened a portal to the inside and stepped forward.

The world went black.

Then was filled with a rainbow of dazzling colour.

≠

She winced as her eyes took time to adjust to the brightness and to the vivid colours. When her vision finally cleared she took a good look around, scanning the space.

The dome was bigger on the inside. Of course, it was!

Half of the space was an extremely untidy living area. An unmade bed, piled with blankets, was pushed into one corner. There was a heap of clothes, a pair of boots, and a scattering of empty plates and mugs. And books, So many books and piece of paper. It resembled an explosion in a library.

Usually, Vi would have rushed over to examine the volumes, but instead, the other side of the room caught her attention. For it was filled with a collection of various crystals that would make a geology museum exceedingly jealous.