The Newt and Demon-7.75 - Paper World

Sarisa tapped her foot, looking over the spread she had placed on the dining table and frowning. Theo and Tresk had been late before, but she typically knew where they were and why. When the alchemist had ducked into his giant metal cube for some experimentation after coming back from another world, she assumed he would be along shortly after that. But there had been no sign of the errant dronon or the marshling. That forced both her and Rowan to wait around.

“Who misses out on steak?” Sarisa huffed.

“You’re giving them too much steak,” Rowan said, making his way over to the table with each much stealth as he could muster. He was soon hit in the back of the head by a flying spoon. “Ow!”

“Give them another half-hour.”

“Come on! I’m hungry. They won’t mind.”

Sarisa sighed. Her brother was right, but she took her job seriously. While she was more of a bodyguard than a maid, she didn’t want to discredit her primary title. Anyway, doing stuff like this got her more experience for her maid-aligned core and leveling that one made work around the manor easier.

Releasing a short scream, Sarisa turned to the door. It had been kicked open, slamming against the wall and falling from the hinges. Tresk stood at the threshold, drawing ragged breaths as her eyes darted around the room.

“Where’s Theo!?” she shouted.

“Why would I know!?” Sarisa shouted back. “You’re connected to him.”

“Yeah, and I can normally feel him no matter where he is in the universe. But he’s gone. Not like gone from this world, but gone.”

“That don’t make no sense,” Rowan said through a mouthful of steak. “What? Theo is missing. He won’t be late for dinner, he just won’t be here.”

Another spoon flew, hitting him square between the eyes. “Damn you!”

“You guys don’t understand,” Tresk said, flailing around. Somewhere outside, Alex released a mournful honk. “Ugh! I’ll be back.”

Tresk dashed outside without explaining further. Sarisa’s gaze dragged back to the table. After a beat, she shrugged. “Okay. Guess we’re eating.”

***

“You may release me,” the system said.

Tresk flailed, hands on the shoulders of the crystalline entity as she shrieked. “Where the hell is Theo, you weird gem-person!”

“I believe you should calm yourself,” Death said.

“I dunno. This is pretty funny,” Hallow said with a chuckle.

“Theo’s soul wasn’t released in any realm or the void,” Death said. “He isn’t dead.”

Tresk growled, twin daggers appearing in either hand. “He isn’t dead, but the gods can’t tell me where he went?”

“I urge calm,” Silver said. This was one of those new gods Tresk didn’t trust yet.

The marshling’s gaze snapped to the khahari god, appearing as though she might lunge at any moment. “Any ideas, meower?” Tresk asked, containing herself for a few moments.

“System, is it possible Theo accidentally jumped to another dimension?” Silver asked.

“All dimensions are connected to this one. The only possible action is that Theo Spencer was sent to a far-flung part of the existing universe.”

“Unlikely,” Death said. “I have another theory.”

“Kuzan, you dirty ghost,” Tresk growled. “Let’s hear it.”

“Theo recently visited a strange dungeon in the void,” Death started. “I have been researching the layering of dimensional spaces in our universe… This led to a theory I’m all too familiar with.”

***

Theo coughed some more, waving away the tendrils of smoke that lingered in the air. His jaw was set as he looked out over the landscape before him. The dull gray of the paper world stretched as far as he could see, strange creatures visible coming over a slow rise. Unlike the dungeon version, this one wasn’t segmented by islands. Instead, the landscape was continuous, resembling a gray paper version of the real world rather than a slice.

Reaching out for his connection to Tresk, Theo found it missing. When he searched for the veil to part, he also found that it was gone. Instead, he could only feel a constant dull ache from the strange energy that lingered in the air around him. Although it was similar to the ambient energy he was used to, it was different enough to send his senses prickling.

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“This might be the dumbest thing I’ve ever done,” Theo said with a sigh. He was only certain of one thing. His connection with the other planes had been cut entirely. Yet after summoning his attribute screen, he confirmed his connection to the system itself hadn’t been cut. “Good thing I’ve crammed enough crap in my inventory to last me a lifetime…”

Theo came up with a simple plan. He picked a random direction to walk in, and focused his willpower and mind on that fragment of the void he could feel. While it wasn’t exactly like he remembered, he figured it was a good idea to understand that before anything else. From what he could tell, it wasn’t a dungeon space. The entire area seemed more like a normal planetary space, like Iaredin or Tero’gal.

If so many weird things hadn’t happened to Theo, he might’ve panicked. He hoped all his experiences to this point would lead to a solution. For now, he walked forward. Much of the landscape seemed the same from a distance, but as he inspected it closely he realized the subtle differences. The thick paper floor beneath his feet ran deep, sounding more like solid stone than paper. Trees dotted the area, appearing as husks of the real thing made of the same material. When he surmounted one hill, the alchemist leaned against a stone wall drawn in the same paper as the rest.

“Is this more or less weird than the dungeons?” Theo asked himself, leaning against the wall. The landscape over the rise was more rolling hills that seemed to stretch on forever. Squinting, he spotted something that looked like civilization. Perhaps it was only another collection of fake stone walls, but it was a better target than the mountains rising in the distance.

Theo wasn’t sure how long he was walking for. He dug into his stock of food and water, avoiding the creatures as he went. At least he confirmed they were monsters—likely the same ones he had seen within the dungeon. He didn’t risk it, instead avoiding them entirely. A channel etched into the landscape ran far into the distance, cutting a path toward the mystery structure.

Before heading to the structure itself, the alchemist inspected the channel. It appeared as though it should have been a river, although whatever water was contained within had long since dried up, or perhaps the structure of this world didn’t allow for such a thing. His magical senses had been developing over the past few weeks. Theo had put concerted effort into it, ensuring that he wasn’t as abysmal at the act as he had been when he first learned magecraft from Xol’sa.

With nothing but time on his hands, Theo inspected his surroundings, finding the paper-like material all around him to be both strange and interesting. It was mostly uniform, but it was clearly there to mimic the normal structures of a planet. The paper beneath his feet was meant to act as dirt, although if he were to attempt to dig into it, he couldn’t penetrate the first layer. Just like the material in the dungeon he had visited with Elrin, this substance was hard. He couldn’t move it, even after withdrawing daggers and tools from his inventory and attempting to peel pieces off.

After being satisfied with his inspection of the landscape, he proceeded to the structure. On the outside was a wall that tracked the landscape in a lazy fashion. It was half completed, with an area that was clearly meant to be a construction site denoted on the left side. Theo looped around and entered to find a scatter of paper buildings here and there. The doors were functional, allowing him entry to each one, but within were just more questions rather than answers.

“Deep breaths,” Theo said to himself, looking around. Perhaps it was a secret wish of his to be freaked out by the situation, but he wasn’t disturbed by anything he had seen. He understood he was trapped here, but no panic settled in. Instead, it was only the determination that had been born of so many tribulations until now that drove him forward. He could concoct a plan to get out of here, and then there was always a trump card.

Thanks to Jan’s experimentation, Theo knew that drinking a Potion of Return would send him to the void, but there was an opportunity here. He didn’t have enough time to study the contents of the dungeon while he was there, and he wanted to attempt to pierce the veil on his own rather than relying on the potion. For now, the alchemists explored the area, making note of structures that seemed purpose-built for things that were analogous to those on the mortal plane. Although the river was similar enough to the one in Rivers and Daub, none of the other landscape matched.

After finding his way to the tallest tower in the area, Theo surveyed the paper town. It was strange to see such a drab landscape unfold before him. More concerning were the packs of monsters that roamed the area. They moved as one, unlike the normal paper monsters he encountered, which were solitary. Fortunately, the largest of the groups was far enough away from his position.

Yet the most disconcerting part of it all was the lack of a sun. It reminded him of his own realm before it was given its planetoid shape. There was light in the sky, but no sun to be seen. Instead, it was a smear of gray emitting a pale light that was hard to adjust to at first, but the alchemist’s eyes had adapted.

Atop the paper tower, the alchemist took a seat and gazed out over the area. He took steady breaths, focusing on the sensation of the veil he felt close at hand. It was within his grasp, but when he reached out to touch it, it seemed to back away as though avoiding him. He went through all of his menus, examining each piece of the system that seemed to be present here, and yet there was a distinct lack of that same system. Just like the veil, he couldn’t exactly touch it. It was more of a passive thing. All abilities related to Tresk seemed cut off. He couldn’t invoke any of them, not even their shared inventory. Not that he had much use for the junk she kept in there.

Taking steady breaths in and out, Theo fell into a type of meditative thinking. He pushed his will as far as it would go, watching as the shadowy aura spread out as far as he could send it. Yet he couldn’t force it through the dimensions the same way he did when he traveled into the void. It would only go out and up, not through. He continued this for hours, feeling the time slip away as he became more desperate with each attempt.

“At least I can say I tried,” Theo said. After another few hours had passed, he released a frustrated breath and stood. The paper towel wobbled below him as he made his way to the ground floor yet again. To collect more information, he tested the effects of the potions in his inventory. Everything seemed to work. His attributes were enhanced, and when he used a retreat potion, it sent him flying back a decent distance. Most aspects of the system worked; it was just those parts that he needed to escape that didn’t function. Eventually, he withdrew the potion he had in mind from his inventory and held it to his lips for a few moments. There wasn’t anything else he could think of trying besides exploring this world. So, he downed the potion in one go and waited for the system message to appear.

When it did, his heart dropped.

[Potion of Return Error]

You have quaffed a Potion of Return.

System unable to locate point of origin!

Recalculating…

System records indicate point of origin as: World B71…

World B71 has been destroyed completely.

Recalculating…

New point of origin for soul (Theo Spencer) by way of vessel (Belgar).

FATAL ERROR: Cannot connect through void network.

FATAL ERROR: Cannot connect through shard network.

FATAL ERROR: Cannot connect through system network.

Aborting Return process. Item refunded.