Secrets of the Universe

Countless information weaved around in her head as she tried to create a perfect picture of the situation.

Instantly, a bulb lit up in her head.

She got it!

"If you are able to see it, it is most likely the plane has started encroaching on the mundane plane...…..to be more exact, this continent. However, it is more intense in the Weeping Town," Kaleyx spilled out.

"An encroachment, you say?" eyed Jake.

"Yes. It's another stage higher than an overlap. It is what happens when a plane takes over another plane. If I were to use an analogy, it would be like a thin sheet of paper totally enveloping another thin sheet of paper."

Jake used his brain to find out the rest of the information, "So, it is caused by the increase in nether energy, right? Weeping Town had the highest concentration of nether energy, even higher than locations with nether rifts. But if that's the case, then the encroachment would have happened a long time ago."

He trailed his hand on his desk as he voiced his thoughts, "The nether plane is unheard of. The fact that I have no knowledge of it says it all."

He wasn't boasting when he said that. 

Jake had absorbed all the knowledge in the Aztec library. Bith the normal ones and the hidden ones.

His brain was filled with all sorts of secret pieces of information. His mind comprehended the passed-down mysteries of the planet.

If even he wasn't aware of the plane of nether, he reckoned that only a handful of people would know.

"The reason for it being unheard of is because it's new. Think of it. If what you say is true, then the connection between the nether realm and the mundane plane was a rigid two-party connection. However, after a period of time, a third party would have actualized…..a middle-man!" analyzed Jake.

"The plane of nether….," agreed Kaleyx.

She smiled as she went to the window side.

Taking a look at the strange blue clouds, she hummed, "The sun fell. The sky flipped. Tempests of lightning rampaged the land. The earth cracked. An old man watched as the stars abandoned them. He said as God's Judgement descended on them, "This is truly the start of a new era"."

Jake trailed on her words, "....the start of a new era, huh?"

He had heard those two words a few times.

Despite understanding what it meant, it still felt strange to him.

"Yes, a new era. The plane of nether was formed in this new era. After a long time, it was born.....along with other secrets," said Kaleyx.

Her eyes twinkled as she thought of many things.

"Ultimately, we will have to keep up. Nothing is the same as it was. We are proof of that," ambiguously said Kaleyx.

Despite her words being vague, Jake understood.

They were deviants according to Heaven. It wasn't hard for them to know what a deviant was.

It was a being that was unaccounted for by Heaven.

Jake was an outsider. Kaleyx was also an outsider!

...….

The two of them entered a period of silence. 

They suddenly understood the dangers that surrounded them. 

The idea of the plane of nether encroaching on the mundane plane would surely affect them.

It was not just them….. The entire planet was involved. No continent was spared.

"If you were to estimate, how long would it take for the encroachment to be complete?" Jake narrowed his eyes at Kaleyx.

He wasn't worried about anyone but himself. He needed to know the horrendous time limit he was on.

"Oh, about that. It would still take long, about a few more decades. However,….." trailed Kaleyx.

Jake helped her finish her sentence based on his calculations, "--However, that is not the main problem, is it? I was able to interact with the plane of nether. Give it two or three more years and I would be able to easily peer through it. Give it another one or two years and I would not even be in control of which plane I walk. It would be a kind of sleepwalking. One moment, I'm on the mundane plane. The next moment, I'm intruding on the plane of nether."

To Kalyex, his vivid description was possibly the most accurate she would ever hear.

She smiled at him, "The connection between the mundane realm and the plane of nether would grow forever,m making it easy for netherans to switch between the two planes. It would be faster than teleportation. A secret backdoor in case things goes bad for them. Think of it, the ability to move anywhere in your domain!"

"....It would give them the advantage in any battle. It's quite scary. It will even be scarier if it is what 'they' were aiming at," realized Jake.

Kaleyx eyed him, "Necro?"

She had heard all about Necro from Jake.

She knew it was the top threat of not just the continent, but also the planet. She also knew that it had the power to control zombies and make zombie hybrids.

"Yes," Jake sighed.

Necro's objective was to free all the nether rifts, which would increase the concentration of nether energy in the air...which would affect the connection between both planes.

It was a far-fetched guess, but it had a high amount of credibility.

After all, he had seen personally how confident the organization was.

With their resources, nothing would stop them. Especially now that things were getting in place for them.

In Jake's words, they had set the stage for their future events. 

He now knew how grim their fate was. They were dancing on a chessboard thinking they were safe.

"We need to leave. We need to leave this planet," sighed Jake.

They had been ignorant.

"Alright. Alright, but how do we leave?" chided Kaleyx.

Jake scoured his desk, looking for a particular pamphlet.

He dived in his mountain of books and finally found what he was searching for.

It was a thin pamphlet with words written on it.

Kaleyx read the title, "The Heritage if the Astral Sect lies among the stars."

She opened the pamphlet and read the first line she could see, "The history of the Astral Sect...."

She continued reading it, "A long time ago, after the conclusion of the third nether war, the Blue Cloud Planet became a lawless land. The numerous factions ruled in a burdensome way. It was hard for regular people to live here. Hence, a great faction that controlled numerous planets descendant on this planet and created their branch. Their aim was to mediate the conflicts....."

She continued reading until she finished the entire pamphlet.

After she was done, she revealed her enlightened eyes, "Are you sure that the Astral Sect would rely on their parent sect?"

"Yes. This matter is beyond them. I'm sure that Necro is also active in the central continent. Since the parent sect had come with a noble goal previously, I'm sure they wouldn't turn a blind eye to this crisis," Jake analyzed.

He had a good knowledge of how sects operated.

The parent sect and the child sect would still communicate regularly. Their connection would need to be preserved.

Also, it was highly possible that the parent sect possesses the means and resources to remedy the planet's situation. A parent sect would always be string than its child sect.

He revealed his thought-up plan to Kaleyx, "Astral sect would like to preserve their legacy in case of any mishaps. They would likely have a method of leaving this planet. Since the parent sect could come in, why can't they go out? Just like how any human would behave, they would want to safeguard the lives of the young ones."

It was the nature of all living beings to do that.

Jake knew of some absolutely evil men who passed all their accumulations to their children in their final breath.

It had to be noted that some of them don't even care about their children, while some of them could downright kill their children.

It was a survival instinct to want to leave something behind....to want the world to not forget about you…..to want to be remembered for eons.

So, Jake was sure that the Astral Sect would make that decision, but first, the southern branch had to regroup with the central; branch before they could make the decision.

The sect wouldn't be stupid enough to only take their members. They would also take those not affiliated with them and that was where Jake and Kaleyx came in.

The duo perfectly fits the criteria!

They were young and talented. They were good seeds. Their potential was too immense to be wasted away.

This was the scenario that Jake painted from all that he knew about the sect. He reckoned that at least he was seventy percent(70%) right.

"So, we bootlick them?" eyed Kaleyx.

She needed a good reason for her to discard her pride.

"No, we don't. We just have to be helpful," smiled Jake.

He didn't realize that his fake smiled was over the top. 

Even the words he said were choking to Kaleyx. She still hoped to see the day when Jake would help someone for something other than his own personal interest.