100. Accident

Mu studied the little girl in front of him. Since first meeting her, he had never examined her this closely. Her black hair fell like a waterfall, her green eyes shone like polished gems, her features were neat but not pretty; her body was thin and slender. Aside from those deep, beautiful green eyes, there was nothing in her that resembled Andrew-Anaga as he knew him. If it had not been for the information the Anaga disciples themselves had provided, he would never have imagined this small, slightly pale girl could be blood-related to the fearsome Andrew-Anaga.

Though he was full of thoughts, Mu’s expression betrayed none of them. Calmly he said, “It has been confirmed that your mother was once a lover of Andrew, and your conception date matches. But bloodline is a serious matter, so the Anaga clan wants you to come to the Natural Realm for a bloodline examination. Are you willing to go?”

Theresa listened to Mu’s question and felt a tangle of emotions. She had never expected that the goal she had clung to for two years—the one she labored for yet could not reach—would one day stand so easily before her. Such an abrupt reversal could never be only surprise and joy.

“I’m going!” she said, her voice firm. Her thoughts had already flown to that unknown realm she had not yet seen but had loved for two years: there was her mother who had died and been reborn, there was her father unseen for over a decade, there were the last dear ones she still had in this world. For those words “dearest kin,” she would go, no matter what, by any means.

The Empire and the Natural Realm lie far apart to the north and south. On land they are separated by the Orcish Alliance, and across the sea by several wide oceans. Yet distance does not mean they seldom meet. Every year, countless merchant ships sail to the Natural Realm, and even more adventurers cross the Orcish Alliance to travel between the two lands, perhaps because they have no directly adjoining borders. Relations between them are very good—no conflicts of interest, natural ease between them—so an interesting phenomenon has formed: in the Empire there are far more elves and half-elves than orcs or half-orcs, and the former are more welcomed than the latter.

For most travelers between the two realms, the choice is either ship or overland route, both consuming enormous time and carrying serious risks. But for truly influential people with wealth, power, connections, and skill, one can cross between the countries in only a few breaths by using the transland magical route. Its only drawback is cost: one transit demands hundreds of gold coins.

For Mu, who lacked neither money nor influence, the one thing missing was time. So he naturally chose the quickest path. That was expected by everyone—except no one had expected the mysterious and rare transland magical route to work for Mu so easily and comfortably.

…

This was Theresa’s first time entering the back yard of the old manor. Before this, her allowed space had been only the front yard and the inside of the house; the rear court had always been out of bounds. Without Mu opening it herself, she thought she would never in her life find her way in.

The back yard differed completely from the front. It was small, crescent-shaped, paved with thick slate blocks. At its center stood a raised platform about half a meter above ground, and from afar it seemed to shimmer with waterlight.

When she came closer she found the platform held, inside, a layer about five centimeters thick of what looked like water. What stunned her was that this shallow silver layer was in fact mana-conducting fluid—of a value that could be bought with a bottle for a thousand silver. Even that thin sheet would cost her a few thousand gold if purchased.

“Tess, don’t space out,” Mumu came over, pacing toward her, tugging her back to her senses. Theresa almost lunged to scoop up all of that mana-conducting liquid and pour it into her own pouch.

Mumu had always been Mu’s best aide, and now she was no exception. While Mu tapped and touched things along the platform’s edge as if activating something, Mumu explained the essentials of interland magical travel to Theresa one by one so Theresa could use them in an emergency. Even though such an emergency would occur only once in ten thousand, once in a million, it still had to be explained clearly.

Though her ears heard every word Mumu said, Theresa’s eyes saw only Mu. He tapped and pressed at the edge for a while, and odd bulges appeared there, turning the platform into a strange contrivance. As strange as it was, she was not unfamiliar with it; by her eye she could make out, on one or two bulges, some runes she recognized from other magical circles.

Perhaps to confirm her hunch, the liquid in the center of the platform suddenly surged up as if stimulated by some hidden trigger and dripped onto those bulges. In one instant silver light flared, and countless runes rose from the bumps, drawing in immense energy at a breathtaking speed.

“Shreeeik!” A sharp, shattering sound rang out. In the air above the platform, a streak of blue-green lightning formed out of nowhere. The lightning cracked in wild branches, as if tearing open space itself, and a blue-black rupture appeared aloft. A powerful gale of force blew from the rift, so cold it cut through Theresa’s body like ice. As she shivered, Mu barked, “Come here!”

Before she could react, a great force shoved her, stumbling and lurching her toward Mu.

Mu caught her hand and, regardless of whether she could stand steady, pushed her onto the platform. “When you see the mage on the Natural Realm side of that space rift, you are to charge straight through without hesitation.”

The gravity in Mu’s voice shook Theresa into compliance. She clenched her fists and nodded hard, eyes fixed on the rift swelling before her, too afraid to blink.

The blue-black fissure first expanded erratically. Around a meter wide, it hesitated for a moment, then suddenly the fierce violence drained away and its edges softened, as if it were becoming gentle. Strange, brilliant scenes slowly emerged within it. The calmer it became, the more Theresa felt her nerves tighten.

Then, as the blue-black rift suddenly displayed a lush field of green and a remarkably handsome elf in white robes formed hand signs and smiled at her, Theresa’s heart clenched. As she gathered herself to leap forward, the daylight suddenly dimmed in an instant, as if noon had become night in a breath, and at that same moment she heard Mu cry out in panic behind her.

“Good heavens—the Magic Eater! Tess, come back!”

By instinct Theresa tried to run, but the rift that had been compliant moments before suddenly turned wild again, and in a heartbeat swelled many times its size. In the blink of an eye, countless lights burst before her; her body felt as though it were falling from a great height, dropping, and dropping still faster.

To be continued.