Records of Rebirth

Eventually, I told him about the Grandmaster's journal, since it was the easiest of the three, and I promised there would be no more secrets between us.

Perhaps he could shed some light on the situation that I was missing.

[How do you know the journal is valuable without seeing it?] Typhon asked, catching on fairly quickly.

I couldn't exactly tell him how I knew without mentioning Sensei, so I simply said it belonged to a powerful elf.

[If it contains something valuable, we should open it.] Typhon replied, and if he thought there were missing holes in my explanation, he didn't mention it.

But he did bring up something important.

[If the owner is powerful, what stops them from coming after it?] He asked.

It was a valid concern, but once I told him the ring was designed to explode if worn by the wrong person,  his doubts were lessened. If the ring could be tracked, there was no need to resort to such an extreme as self-destruction if it were stolen.

And this only served to prove its value.

Typhon scrutinized the ring for a while before adding. [It would be best to take out its contents and discard it far away from us. We shouldn't take chances.]

I nodded. 

So far I hadn't spotted the elf girl or her party. After leaving the Valley, they briefly crossed the forest around Sylrin's lair, but they continued southward, seemingly heading towards the deserted landscape Cygnus's team had visited once. 

[Are you coming?] Typhon asked.

I refused because I felt I was close to figuring it out, and he eventually left.

I'd succeeded in separating some blank inscriptions from the real ones and this gave me real hope that the ring could be opened by separating the destructive trigger from the ring's main function.

However, implementing this past the theory stage was proving even more sinister.

Every inscription of the ring had a separate function but the ones I deciphered so far seemed to have two different types, based on their duration.

Once active, some only functioned for a frighteningly short time – like the self-destruct inscription, while others repeated their effects continuously as long as they had power – like the one to recognise the wearer's mana signature, amongst several others.

The mana signature had a longer duration, since it needed to be active at all times, however its function was linked to another short spell which would then match new mana signatures to the one it recognised. 

This happened as soon as the ring came into contact with a new wearer.

The issue with this was that the duration of this inscription was also short, and to make it worse, it worked in tandem with other shorter inscriptions, so amending it was near impossible.

Longer inscriptions were much more stable and could take to changes better as they functioned like a relay, while the shorter ones were far more volatile. 

The ring had to be worn to trigger an explosion, so another spell was needed to check the wearer's pulse before matching their mana, or else the ring would self-destruct at the mere passing of a creature with mana. 

If I attempted to change the mana signature and failed, this shorter inscription could trigger the ring before I could try again.

To cancel the ring's self-destruct function, I would have to overwrite the mana signature of the ring, all without interfering with other overlapping functions and those linked to recognition, as well as other spatial aspects that needed recognition to make the ring open successfully.

If either of these steps failed, not only could the destruction be triggered, but the ring's connection to its pocket dimension would be permanently lost.

And this, alongside everything else, was driving me nuts.

More hours passed, and several attempts later, I was no closer to bypassing the ring's simplest protections, which made me bury my head in shame.

What was this nightmare?!

The elf ring was looking more and more like a tool that had been sent to torment me, rather than a thing filled with 'otherworld' snacks that would be amazing to eat!

I was sulking miserably – the ring once again cast away, when Sensei spoke.

«I told you it would be difficult.» He said with a sigh. «Why do you insist on being so difficult?»

His voice was not smug or arrogant like I expected, rather he sounded drained – not that I cared, I was still angry at him. 

"I'm not speaking to you." I scoffed.

«Really, now?» Sensei's voice dripped with sarcasm. «So why did you call me?»

I raised my head with a hiss. "I didn't!"

Sensei chuckled. «Should I leave then?»

"No, wait! I need you to tell me something." I blurted out in annoyance. "What exactly is Abyss magic, and what does it make me if I'm able to use it?" 

Sensei paused to consider before explaining. «In many ways, Aeon was formed from the Abyss, so every living creature that exists on Aeon rightfully belongs to the Abyss, which means they both exist in the same timeline, but share separate realities.»

Hmm?

Sensei noticed my confusion and sighed.

«To put it simply, Aeon and Abyss are two sides of the same coin. It's only right to surmise that every creature born on Aeon has its own version in the Abyss. But no one has ever been there to confirm – you can't exactly return from the Abyss, so this is merely my conjecture…»

Heh.

What he really meant to say was that he didn't know.

For once there was something beyond his understanding, and I grinned – the Abyss was truly interesting!

«From my knowledge, life in the abyss – If you can call it that, exists as little more than shades until their equivalent on Aeon gets corrupted, then the shade in the Abyss becomes a conduit to draw life from Aeon. In exchange, the Abyss grants the corrupted creature the power to seek out more life to destroy.»

"Hold on." I had to stop him, as it dawned on me.

"I have the power of the Abyss now." I mumbled in panic. "Does that make me corrupted?!"

Sensei paused. «I can't exactly say that you are…I need to observe you for a while to make any conclusion.»

Wait. "What?!"

«There's certain…differences between you and them that I haven't seen before.» Sensei considered. «For one, you don't show any signs of corruption. Your behaviour is the same as before, not at all how a monster acts after becoming corrupted. It's almost as if... the Abyss itself has chosen to make you it's conduit on Aeon.»

"How is that possible?" I muttered. "Doesn't the creature getting corrupted need to seek out the Abyss? I don't remember doing that."

I didn't completely believe him, but somehow I felt dread.

«Like I said, you need further observation and I will definitely figure it out eventually.» Sensei nonchalantly replied, and my mind reeled in even more confusion.

"What if I just have really great self-control?" I doubted, but Sensei merely scoffed at me and began to snicker. 

This bastard was enjoying my misery! 

«Think about it for a moment.» Sensei spoke again. «You exist on Aeon while exhibiting certain traits of corrupted creatures. You even possess [Abyss Magic], yet you don't suffer any of the horrible consequences like excessive hunger or madness – none that I have observed so far anyway, besides the usual, I mean.»

I sensed an insult in there somewhere, but I ignored it. 

«You really shouldn't be fine, which is what I find intriguing.» Sensei pondered. «You may be a unique creature existing on the boundaries of the two, which should remain as long as you don't do anything to upset that balance. Or maybe, your side effects are delayed and will affect you in time…»

"Hey!" I scowled. Was this bastard trying to put a curse on me?

The only thing that had changed about me since evolving was gaining some new magic! I wasn't about to become a mad snake! 

However, Sensei's explanation provided some insight I didn't have before.

If everything on Aeon had a similar version in the Abyss, then [Abyss Magic] must be its own version of Ether, which likely contained some power that could help me solve my current predicament.

I was interested in understanding how the ring worked – but that only gave me a headache. 

It seemed my initial plan of using force was the best way after all. 

Screw trying to decode the mess that was the ring's inscriptions!

The main problem is that it didn't recognise my mana as its owners, as well as the destructive Ether crystals it contained.

If I drained every single Ether crystal in the ring with my [Dark Magic], it would render the self-destruct useless, but then, I would need something else to replace the Ether that could make the ring function.

And [Abyss magic] could take care of both.

Its mana signature was already mine as it belonged to me, and if it functioned in the same way as Ether, I could drain the crystals powering the ring and replace their Ether with [Abyss Magic], therefore bypassing its safeguards. 

It was brilliant, but I still had to test it to see if it worked. 

So, I retrieved some Ether crystals I had collected from the cave. These ones were yet to explode and were quite volatile, so I quickly set to work on draining them. 

The crystals that once shone a vivid Cyan gradually faded to a pale blue as I absorbed all their mana, and soon the crystals became clear.

«What are you doing?» Sensei asked, but I ignored him.

I'd never used [Abyss Magic] before so I needed to concentrate. 

However when I activated it, a tiny wisp of magic streaked across in the air, much like my shadows, only a vivid, almost pulsating red.

I immediately trained it on the drained crystals, and the red shadows inhabited them like they belonged there. 

The crystals were now glowing in a mesmerising red hue. 

I stood back to watch my creation, marvelling at their otherworldly beauty – It actually worked.

The crystals were quite stable too, so I quickly went to work on the ring's Ether crystals, draining, then repowering them with [Abyss Magic] until the first of the ring's crystals glowed in a similar red hue.

I paused for a second to see if it was stable, however, the next crystal on the circuit already lit up in red, and I froze. 

Why was it so fast?

Soon the entire circuit was filled, and it continued, the excess energy circling around the ring with nowhere to go. 

The power within continued to build, the entire ring heating up with excess – a dark red orb of light now pulsating around it.

"Sensei, is this supposed to happen?" I asked in a nervous panic.

«No, stop it now! » Sensei yelled.

But when I tried, I found the power was flowing through me freely like a ravenous substance that was intent on devouring everything in its path. 

I couldn't stop it.

It was completely out of my control.

"Sensei?!" I panicked as the power accumulated within and began to intensify with every moment.

But then, something in the ring seemed to give out, and the power, once contained, suddenly raged out of control. 

It broke through the crystal circuit, bouncing out of the ring to pierce through the walls of my room, a dark reddish wave of pure malicious energy sweeping out with me as the epicentre. 

I felt a strong blow that caused me to become dizzy but then, I heard a loud scream outside my room. 

I began to panic at the familiar voice and rushed outside, while trying to shake off my dizziness. But the scene in front of me sent my head spinning again. 

There, just a few feet outside my room, lying lifelessly on the ground was Ophelia.