The Newt and Demon-7.46 -Approaching the Twin Realms

Theo understood. The key to getting any stonework project done in town was to hook Ziz. Once the half-ogre had his hooks in a project, he wouldn’t let go. All the alchemists had to do was lay the foundation for the new colosseum for him to dive into the deep end. It took him about two days of work to get a basic foundation laid, but there was still much more work to do. He sat at the breakfast table with his companions, picking over fried eggs and thick lengths of bacon before starting his day.

“This competition is really going to liven up the town.” Tresk said. She had already eaten all of her food but still remained at the table. “Some adventurers are getting bored, especially with the closing of the dungeons.”

“We can’t ignore the dungeons to the north,” Theo said. “Not that we can manage every single dungeon on the planet, but we can at least keep our local area clean. Unless we want to come to the defense of Gronro against an army of dragons. Which I realize now is likely appealing to you.”

“Very appealing,” Tresk said, rubbing her hands together.

Whatever dreams Theo might have had to get his foundation completed would fail. Unfortunately, today was a spell space elf wrangling day. It wasn’t just a hard task, but also a dangerous one. The elves themselves provided little challenge. It was just that bringing them to the mortal plane would cause issues. And yet, those issues might have been diminished by the capture and transport of the shards. Elrin would be required to breathe life into those things, and that guy could be difficult to deal with.

Once breakfast was finished, Theo gathered the people he would need to sail across the void. Fortunately, Fenian had not left town, so Theo pulled him away from whatever perceived duties he had, rounded up Tresk, and retrieved Xol’sa. They gathered near the monolith and the statue of Xol’sa and his wife before preparing to head out.

“Remember, the goal is to capture them.” The alchemist said, regarding each person. ‌”I should have a spell that will work well on them, but I’ll be honest, I’ve never cast a spell on the void island, so I’m reluctant to do so.”

“Your spells should work fine,” Xol’sa said with a shrug. “But we should be enough to gather whatever stragglers remain.”

“Which makes you, my dear alchemist, the supervisor,” Fenian said with a mirthful chuckle.

“I would have liked to bring Elrin with us, but...” Theo paused, withdrawing the communication crystal from his inventory. He squeezed it, and nothing happened. “He isn’t picking up the phone.”

“Are you saying we’re not enough to make this happen?” Tresk asked, looking slightly offended.

“Nope,” Theo said, spreading his aura over the gathered group. “I said nothing like that. Are you guys ready to go?”

Once he had received enough nods, the alchemist dropped them into the void. The transition was always so sudden and could be quite jarring for those who weren’t prepared. Fortunately, everybody here was experienced in traveling through the negative space of the universe. He angled them directly towards the void island, and the alchemist couldn’t help but think that it was getting further from the central mortal plane. They really needed to get to work, either pulling the island back or withdrawing those crystals. If only Elrin had given him more information on how that was supposed to work.

“The energy is becoming more turgid,” Xol’sa said, raising an eyebrow as the Void Island finally came into view. “It’s odd to think that the combination of purifying and damaging energies worked together for so long, but not for much longer.”

As haunting as that statement was, the alchemist didn’t really want to consider it right now. Instead, he focused on landing them safely on the island. As always, it was easiest to land at the ziggurat in that jungle landscape. The group set foot on the moist ground, and the eerie silence of the area settled in around them. Theo shivered as he scanned the tree line and found several of the space elves waiting for them. He couldn’t help but think that they had taken on a more insane appearance than the last time.

“Time to get hunting,” Fenian said, rolling his shoulders as he giggled to himself. “For the record, I just tie them up and toss them in a pile, right?”

“That’s right,” Theo said with a shrug. “Just trying not to hurt them too badly. You’ll put more strain on our healers if you do that.”

Fenian vanished from the spot where he stood in the blink of an eye. An instant later, he was back in the same spot, this time with a hog-tied space elf draped over his shoulder. “That’s one for me,” Fenian said, teasing Tresk. “Oh, I hope the lizard can keep up.”

“Oh, it’s on like Donkey Kong,” Tresk said, cracking her knuckles.

Theo stood with Xol’sa. They watched as the pair rushed off into the forest, gathering as many elves as they could.

“They really are insufferable, aren’t they?” Xol’sa asked, shaking his head.

“Those two are the spice of life.” Theo said he didn’t disagree with Xol’sa’s assessment of how annoying they were, but if things always went well, would they truly be interesting? Anyway, let’s get to work. I want this to be over as soon as possible.”

###

The group had worked tirelessly for hours, transporting loads of elves between the Void Island and what they were calling the mainland. It was exhausting work, made doubly so by the strange time dilation that had set in on the island. Time was acting strangely, rubber banding between slower and faster. With each visit, the energy there was unstable to a ridiculous degree, and the alchemist wasn’t sure how long they could work without everything falling apart.

Xol’sa stood before one of the inert shards, holding a magical device in his hands and humming to himself. Theo approached and placed a hand on the man’s shoulder, startling him. “What do you have there?” Theo asked.

“According to the Guardian, if we attach this to a shard and toss both into the void, it will find its way back to the mortal plane with a bit of steering.”

The group had taken a break after a large batch of space elves was sent to the mortal plane. Theo understood little about how these magical devices worked, so he had little to offer. Everyone was taking a break before handling another load, and he was bored, so he had searched around the ziggurat to see if there was anything interesting. The most interesting thing, of course, was Xol’sa.

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“Another interesting thing the Guardian told me was that we can’t bring them all back at once,” Xol’sa said, “which has me concerned for the safety of this island.”

“Well, I mean that makes sense,” Theo said. “If too much void energy at once is bad for the planet, then sucking it all up at once won’t be good either. We really need to get in contact with that man.”

Xol’sa sat in silent contemplation, leaving the alchemist free to do whatever he wanted. Of course, there wasn’t much to do with everybody resting, so he fell back on a reliable way to pass the time. He searched the area for reagents, relying on the senses he drew from his core to steer him in the right direction. Several things popped into his awareness, but everything was so bathed in the void’s energy that it was hard to tell when one magical thing overlapped with another.

The alchemist knelt, pressing his hand against a patch of moss and feeling something in return. The system message was reluctant to appear, and it made sense. Despite Xol’sa’s reassurances, his magic wasn’t working as well as it could here. He tried to cast the Field of Despair spell, but it only caused the space elves to act in an even more insane manner, if that was at all possible. But eventually the message appeared, revealing what the moss was.

[Emberstone Moss]

[Alchemy Ingredient]

????

????

Properties:

[????] [????] [????]

Question marks in an item description could mean different things. Here, Theo suspected this was a rig that needed to be identified by a Loremaster. Although it had a name, everything else was blank. That made him worry it was tinged with too much void energy. So, he marched back to his resident space elf for a consultation.

“What do you think about this?” Theo asked, holding out a clump of moss for Xol’sa’s inspection.

“Yes, that certainly is moss,” Xol’sa said, taking it and rolling it over. “With a bit of dirt still on the bottom. Why do you ask?”

“Well, I just wanted to know if it was dangerous,” Theo said. “You know, since the stuff from the void typically isn’t safe.”

“I wouldn’t bring back a lot,” Xol’sa said. “In fact, I probably wouldn’t bring back more than one piece, but a single clump should be fine to handle.”

Realistically, that only left Theo with one option. He would bring one sample back for identification and then burn this one here, absorbing all the properties. At least then he could use it in an infusion-style potion. He held the bit of moss out and allowed it to decompose in his hand. What was left was the primal essence as dust and a vapor he inhaled to reveal the properties. It took a moment longer than usual for the process to complete, but when it was done, he viewed only three properties. The fourth one refused to reveal itself, and he didn’t like the idea of exposing himself to more void energy.

Theo inspected the new properties.

Properties:

[Comfort] [Soothe] [Inspire] [????]

“Well, that just sounds like a lovely reagent,” Theo said, chuckling as he looked at the description of the plant. Of course, nothing else had been revealed, just those three properties. He hadn’t seen them before, which, of course, made them valuable.

“This should be the last batch,” Xol’sa said, gesturing as Fenian tossed another elf onto the pile. The space elves squirmed, but once they were immobilized, they stopped struggling and fighting so much.

“I’m just going to do one more round,” Fenian said, wiping the sweat from his brow. “Then we can go.”

That’s something Theo appreciated about Fenian. He seemed haughty, but he could easily roll up his sleeves to get the job done. Once they had collected all the elves, the alchemists surrounded them with their aura again, and they set off. They didn’t want to bring any of the shards back to the mortal plane before they had the go-ahead from Elrin. Once they landed in the center of Broken Tusk, a team of people was waiting to take the elves from them.

“You’re really pushing us to our limits here,” Sulvan said with a smile. He clapped Theo on the shoulder and gave him a solemn nod. “Excellent work today.”

They only stood there in the town center for a few moments before a familiar shrieking sound echoed from the distance. Everyone froze in fear for a moment before letting out a steady breath. As if summoned by so many people thinking and talking about him, Elrin approached from the north, riding his dragon. At least he was kind enough to dismount far away and then walk the remaining distance.

“You know, you can pick up your phone,” Theo said, placing his hands on his hips as he assessed the man. He was wearing different armor and a new cloak. The gear he currently had on was slightly more ornate than his last set, but it followed the same design: heavy leathers with metal plates woven in between the gaps. It was all of the finest quality. “I see you’re crafting again.”

“The system has restricted me to two crafting professions,” Elrin said, annoyed to have been reduced to only two crafting professions. “But I’m trying not to complain.”

“Well, I have a question about the shards and the void.”

“Let’s go,” Elrin said, jerking his head to the side. Somewhere in the distance, his dragon turned to mist, vanishing from the spot. And somewhere even more distant, Tresk groaned in disappointment.

A moment later, both Elrin and Theo were sailing through the void, angling back toward that island. The alchemist wasn’t sure how much more he could take of the void today, but a few more minutes shouldn’t hurt. They soon landed on the now vacant island, the Shard in the ziggurat seeming to resonate with the man’s presence.

“We can bring one back today,” Elrin said, ascending those blocky steps with easy strides. “But any more might set the world off balance. Even this one is going to be difficult to implant.”

“And this will help with the void energy, right?” Theo asked.

“If I’m right, it should absorb all the energy,” Elrin said with a shrug. He approached the shard and placed his hand upon it. A flash of blue ran through it, and it shot upright, hovering with a low, humming sound. “There she is. Far weaker than she ever has been, but still alive.”

“You talk about them as though they’re people,” Theo said, cautiously approaching the shard but keeping enough distance. The energy it emitted was warm and comforting, but he didn’t understand enough about it to feel at ease.

“Because she is living,” Elrin said simply, placing one of his devices onto the shard. “If you drop us all into the void, this one should go to its home.”

Theo shrugged, expanding his aura and thinning the veil between places. One moment they were on the Void Island’s plane, and the next they were in the void itself. To his surprise, he saw the shard shoot off with a streak of blue. Beside him, Elrin smiled widely.

“Where exactly is it going?” Theo asked.

Elrin turned, winking at Theo. “Your city, of course.”

Theo clicked his tongue and angled them forward. “Well, there wouldn’t have been a better place for it. Perhaps the proximity to where they were planning to heal the space elves will hurry along the process.

The bubble surrounding them shuddered, and the alchemist felt something familiar.

“Oh, come on,” Elrin grumbled, narrowing his eyes as he looked to the side. A tiny, glowing rabbit appeared on his shoulder. “Can you fight?”

“Uh… Not really,” Theo said. “I mean, kinda. Why, what’s happening?”

But he didn’t have to wait for long. A system message appeared to explain it all.

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[Interdiction Event]

Your travel through the void has been interrupted by a divine being. This action has been sanctioned, passing the Seal of Judgement and the Seal of Passage.

Approaching the Twin Realms…