Leveling up the World

Chapter 965: Sphere Realms

You’re a guardian, Dallion thought as Atol began the long drive to the airport.

Sure am, mate, the car replied. And you’re a talker. Tried chatting up the girl a few times, but she can’t hear a thing.

That explained one thing.

What race? Dallion asked.

What do you mean, mate? The car guardian sounded confused. I’m a car, but that’s not exactly a race.

When I enter your realm, what will you look like?

Enter my realm? You can’t do that, mate. Only divine—

SPHERE AREA AWAKENING

Dallion didn’t wait to find out, immediately triggering his awakening power. There was no guarantee that it would work. Thankfully it did, opening a realm the likes of which Dallion hadn’t seen so far,

You are in the land of CAR.

The land’s destiny has been fulfilled.

Defeat the guardian to improve the realm.

Seeing the rectangles again reminded Dallion of his awakening. In many aspects, it was exactly that, just better—the moment of pure bliss and thankfulness that came after waking up from a nightmare. Did all sealed feel that way? No wonder they changed so much afterwards. Now that he’d lost his powers once, Dallion was all the more conscious about it.

Reaching out, he tried to summon any of his weapons. Nothing appeared.

“Nox, Lux, Harp,” Dallion said, looking around.

There was no reaction. All of his companions seemed to have left him.

Humming a tune to counter the bubbling sadness within him, Dallion looked around. The entire realm was an Escher’s painting full of gears, pistons, pipes, and hundreds of other mechanical parts that composed one giant mechanism all the way to infinity. Nothing seemed dangerous or threatening, but this wasn’t a realm Dallion would like to live in.

“Car?” he shouted loudly. “Where are you?”

Several seconds passed, then several more. The guardian didn’t seem to have any intention of showing himself or even replying. Then. Dallion remembered one of the first things he had learned in the awakened world: guardians had to be found.

Items had their guardians locked within the guardian chamber, which had to be entered before any combat or conversations could take place. When it came to areas, the awakened had to scout the realm multiple times specifically to find the hiding place of the entity. Nox had made things easier, having the ability to challenge guardians directly. Magic allowed for a few similar tricks.

Concentrating, Dallion tried to shape the realm. He wasn’t a domain ruler anymore, and even if he was, he didn’t own the car.

“So, that’s how it is?” Dallion muttered. He was presented with two choices: spend several weeks’ true time seeking the guardian out, or leave the realm and continue his conversation. After several moments of thought, Dallion decided to go for the second one.

The reality around him disappeared like ash blown away by the wind, returning him to the car.

Wow, mate! The guardian explained. You have the gift! I’ve never seen anything like that!

Have you talked with other cars? Dallion asked.

Do I look like a divinity, mate? The car laughed. Talking to them is the same as talking to people—a bloody waste of time that never leads to a response.

There went that idea. Clearly, no one had the empathy trait on Earth, no one that hadn’t returned from the awakened world, that was.

You’re one of the few that have the potential. The car continued. All of you shine in pretty colors.

How many more have you seen? Dallion couldn’t let this pass.

You, the girl, and some random guy. Only saw him once, but he was as deaf as the girl.

That confirmed that there were at least three awakened. Dallion continued the conversation a bit longer, trying to figure out where and when the car had seen the third awakened, but the details were negligible to say the least. Unlike in the awakened world, items were a lot more limited here. They couldn’t see their surroundings particularly well, only noticing things and people in contact with them or—at the very most—a few steps away. The car didn’t even know where it was going. It divided its existence between still and moving, which seemed more than enough.

“Were you alive during the copyette wars?” Dallion switched the target of his conversation.

It had been ten minutes since they had left and during that time, neither he nor Atol had sparked a conversation. As awakened nobles, both kept their guard up at all times. Information was power, and they had gone to extremes to be vague when it came to anything beyond the obvious. Dallion had no idea if the woman had regained any other skills, just as she couldn’t be sure about his abilities. There was no harm in reminiscing about their historical past, though.

“I lived in the era of humans.” He took the first step in an effort to break the ice. “Millenia after the dryads tried to take over the world.”

“The dryads?” Atol almost choked. “They actually had a go?”

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“Yes, but it was long before my time. I only know what was written down.”

“Probably bullshit.” She smirked. “Everyone I knew would rewrite everything several times per decade. I never saw the point.”

“Were you alive during the Nymph Wars?”

“Now, that’s before my time. I was out and about during the Great Flower Renaissance.” She turned towards Dallion, expecting a reaction. When none followed, the woman sighed and focused back on the road. “Guess it wasn’t so great.”

“Several thousand years is a long time,” Dallion felt the need to say. “Do you remember the language?”

“Are you kidding? My nanny was a dryad.”

Although the difference was barely noticeable, Dallion could sense that she was a lot more relaxed now than she had ever been since the two had met. It wasn’t that she trusted him—her guard remained up—but she had become more comfortable engaging in small talk.

“Couldn’t stand the witch. She’d constantly make me train and study. You’re expected to take over the county, milady,” Atol said in dryad. “The whole world might listen to you one day, and they will expect nothing short of perfection.”

“Sounds like a blast.” Dallion laughed.

“That she was. She’d vine me each time I tried to sneak out.” There was a momentary pause. “Then again, she’d also vine anyone trying to break in and kill me.” The woman’s tone softened.

By the sound of it, her experiences varied significantly from Dallion’s. Assassinations had become special occasion events. It was a lot more efficient to use power and politics to take down an adversary, or all-out war, when that failed. The Tamin capitol had become a massive tangled web of lies and deceit, and most of the world had mimicked it to perfection. Of course, it wasn’t like they had much of a say in the matter: Simon had made sure to make it so, nudging everyone behind the scenes.

“Was the Order running the show?” Dallion asked.

“Are there seven Moons?” Atol shook her head. “Fuckers were always the real power. I’m told they erased my first crush. Even now I don’t remember anything about it, other than that it happened. My parents were similar shitheads. They put me in a new room, replaced all my clothes and items, and burned all my diaries.”

“That’s a bit extreme.”

“They also burned down several houses in the city. No reason, no explanation. I knew, of course, but wasn’t allowed to say a word. It’s always difficult when you have an echo stuck in your realm.”

Dallion felt a chill run down his spine. Cities were dangerous places, indeed.

“How will we handle it once we’re there?” The woman changed the topic. “They’ve seen me. Also, they’ve seen everyone I’ve sent.”

That was true. What made Dallion increasingly nervous was that he could only think of one awakened method capable of predicting the future. Combat splitting was impractical for long stretches of time. Technically, it was possible to rely on local technology—one could do wonders with drones and cameras nowadays, but somehow that didn’t seem right, either. More and more Dallion feared that they were dealing with actual prophecies and that, in turn, meant they’d be facing Simon.

“You listening?” The woman glanced towards Dallion.

“Yeah.” Dallion closed his eyes and leaned back in the seat. “I think it might be someone I know. He was skilled in foresight, though I didn’t think he'd keep that particular power.”

“Bullshit.”

“I might be wrong. Doesn’t matter, though. I have a way of tracking both of them down.”

“How?”

“Just take me to a place you know he’s been. I’ll pick it up from there.”

With several things on his mind, Dallion took the opportunity to take a short nap. Simon was the last person he expected to see, especially so soon. Back in the awakened world, the archbishop hadn’t given any indication that he was from the States, let alone that he had a family. If anything, he was the last person Dallion expected to have any attachments or interest. Obviously, time had changed him. There was every chance that the boy had returned twenty years in the past—just enough time to get used to Earth life, find someone, get married, and have a child that had inherited part of his gift. That had to be who Atol had tracked down—a reckless kid with the ability to have glimpses into the future, which he had used in one of the stupidest possible ways.

What will you do this time, Simon? Dallion wondered.

During the alliance of seven, the archbishop had made a vow not to hurt Dallion. That was before he had moved to Earth, though. Here, there was no Moon to ensure that the vow was kept. That meant he’d fight for real to protect his own child.

For ten minutes Dallion tried to fall asleep, but his mind wouldn’t let him. It wasn’t his concern about facing Simon that kept him up, but the discovery that he could enter realms. Even when faced with the prospect of facing a hostile awakened, Dallion kept itching to reenter another realm.

Opening one eye, he reached down into the backpack he had placed at his feet. There wasn’t much valuable inside other than his laptop and a few clothes. His broken phone was also in there, still very much useless.

Let’s see if I can fix things as well. Dallion grabbed hold of the casing, then slid a finger along the surface of the screen.

SPHERE ITEM AWAKENING

Reality shifted, placing him in the middle of a cyberpunk realm full of endless circuits. LED lights the size of buildings were neatly arranged around him beneath a massive cracked sky made up entirely of displays. Earth realms were definitely a lot more imaginative.

You are in the land of PHONE.

The land’s destiny has been fulfilled.

Defeat the guardian to improve the realm.

“Where’s your labyrinth?” Dallion wondered.

The realm was significantly smaller than the car’s, although still larger than a building. Approaching one of the LED buildings, Dallion attempted to combat split. A nauseous sensation quickly made him reconsider.

The effort was more than his body could handle. Gritting his teeth, Dallion persisted.

I’ve done it once, he thought. I’ll manage again.

Returning all the way to the most basic principles Vend had taught him, Dallion tried to create a partial instance of his hand.

The feeling of nausea increased, this time joined by a thumping headache in his temples. It had been a while since Dallion had experienced such a degree of pain. It felt like his own internal organs were rebelling against what his body was attempting.

AVERAGE WOUND

Your health has been reduced by 10%

A red rectangle appeared.

A wound? And just from trying? Only now did Dallion realize the boons that the Moons had given every person in the awakened world.

Waves of fear emerged, warning Dallion that if he didn’t stop, he might suffer permanent damage.

Fighting the pain, Dallion began humming to counter the increasing feelings of dread. The effect, sadly, was negligible.

AVERAGE WOUND

Your health has been reduced by 10%

Dallion’s head felt as if it would explode. His left hand kept moving, yet instances refused to emerge.

AVERAGE WOUND Your health has been reduced by 10%

“I won’t stop!” Dallion shouted.

His vision had become blurry, yet he still refused to give up. Then, for a fraction of a second, one of his fingers was in two places at once.

“You can rest now,” Euryale’s voice sounded, surrounding Dallion. “You made it.”