The Shadows of Nature

10. Here

All the Shadow-Trappers stood in Sylva Vita. Audrey was with the Demonic Creatures and Ariana amidst the Trees of Remembrance, and the others surrounded them with the six other Shadows of Nature standing at the brim of the circular patch of land. Trina was at the point on the circle closest to the tree on the left and Iris and Evelyn were at the analogous point for the tree at the centre and the right consecutively.

Audrey stood at the centre of the equilateral triangle formed by the three, facing Iris. The leader spun around slowly, taking the spherical view into account and seeing it all at once when she came full circle.

The world... her current world, all at once.

Audrey closed her eyes, focusing on the presence of Paliv Verasel that was concentrated a fair distance away. She let it flicker into existence in the space of her mind. Once it stabilised, she held onto it as if it were a part of her, and it took her to the planet's core in the Shadow Dimension.

A dot from which spanned infinite wires. A network like that of an individual, only this individual was the cosmos of Earth.

Audrey let go of Paliv Verasel and came to this dot, closer and closer. Something about it was oddly familiar, something very close to her. Something fairly new but in reality very old, as old as time. Something...

Like the last face she saw before she closed her eyes. Oh. Ohh. She has always been there. She is here, now, but she has always been present. Waiting for the right moment, something that was coming soon. 

For now, she would help the planet from the dot, because it was still Audrey's turn to fulfil her duty.

The vision of the space blackened and Audrey's focus shifted onto the creatures around her. She gathered each presence and carefully reached their core, holding onto all of the individuals simultaneously while her mind remained at the dot. All of it connected at once and another network came to life, a network that had come into existence fairly recently from the perspective of time.

Like an extra, unneeded limb that was awkward to use at first, then became accustomed to, then was barely used again. 

As the power of the dot shed light onto the information Audrey held together, the shadow saw it.

The cumulative energy of all of the Demonic Creatures was barely anything, as if they were illusions of little to no energy made true 

Ah... this is one of the reasons why Azrael wanted them to observe with the living things of Earth. All of the planet's energy that had resided within the Shadow-Trappers that perished by the hands of the Demonic Creatures hadn't integrated with reality properly, and in this manner the energy of the creatures could also thaw so that it wouldn't be frozen and fall out as blocks when it was time to leave.

Time to leave... everything was connected. Everything was in place. Everything was perfect, with the exception of time.

How was Audrey supposed to know the exact moment they had to let go? Did it not matter, or did a perfect moment exist? How could she possibly select it with complete precision? 

The Truth of Time, perhaps? Her Yuran did not exist here. How could she know when the perfect time would come?

Be on the lookout for what your instincts say, and listen to it.

Ah.

Audrey's mind traversed to the line between the Shadow Dimension and reality, spreading itself over the entire surface, the dimension of which was one less than that of reality. Its senses first heightened to the maximal possible capacity, after which everything other than a single sense shut down, and Audrey's mind became one thing only.

Pure hearing.

Waiting with the passage of Time, riding it as it was the only boat on the ocean that span infinity. A still surface, the boat's motion barely discernible as life often was, but the passage was felt properly. The ocean was silent with the exception of the tiniest disturbances that always existed. The boat remained perfectly balanced on the pure surface, somewhere within its composition a single grain of impurity moving about, floating to the surface. The boat waited for the moment it hit the surface.

Waiting.

Waiting, as they had done so many times for so many things.

...

It came accompanied with a nearly silent vibration, like a ripple of the lowest energy spreading itself from a point that was furthest away from the boat, the distance causing the ripple barely discernible yet simultaneously distinguished from the all pervasive noise. The energy was completely conserved and it would touch the boat soon. The feedback from the boat would lift it out of the ocean, no drop of water staying it with it. Completely unattached from reality, just at the moment the ripple hit the boat.

It was coming.

Travelling.

Here-

The Demonic Creatures and Ariana exhaled one last time in unison, and faded out of existence.

...

Silence.

Audrey was still connected to the network. She could see all of the seven lands. The Angels, the Demons. Azrael, Aqdas and Zephyr, all alone in their land now. Aurelia and the Phoenexias. Audrey opened her eyes, still maintaining the connection, to see all of the Shadow-Trappers. With her gaze peering at the horizon with the slightest elevated intensity, she could see the planet and its living creatures. Each aura and associated energy. The universe associated to this planet too, stretching to infinity. Other unknown beings. Infinite other planets and stars and recondite astronomical objects. This Cosmos and the six others that bound all of reality, somehow concentrated on this one planet bound to its six other counterparts by a fix in spacetime.

Audrey faded slightly out of existence too, maintaining her presence enough to come back while peering through the Shadow Dimension.

...

A moment passed before she came back. When she opened her eyes, every other Shadow Being did too, seeing the world as the animals of Earth did.

Across all senses, Audrey realised the nature of the shift.

.

The world was no different than what it was a moment ago.