183 Out Of Touch In The Right Way

Itroch had disappeared. Every single remnant of the ancient city had been vaporized, removed from existence in an abrupt flash of brilliant light. In its place, an immense mushroom cloud now loomed over the glassed landscape, as if to serve as a warning. 

From who, for what, and for whom was unknown. But the message was clear as day for all who observed the scorched land ahead — they were bugs.

Insignificant creatures. They were but water fleas skirting along the surface of an immeasurably deep ocean. That they merely stood atop an iceberg, unaware of how truly large it was beneath the murky waves below.

It was dead silent within the Spirit of Bountiful Charity. Not even a single breath could be heard across the entire ship. A heavy stillness filled the command bridge as everyone wordlessly gazed upon the macabre, crimson sky. 

Today was fated to become a historical event, thought Velvund as he stared onward. 

"No... It's going to be even more than that. This will become a legend," muttered Velvund with an ecstatic expression. A thin layer of sweat formed on his face as he contemplated the fact. 

Though he had worked hard in cultivating a heroic impression for Reed and Lu'um by manipulating facts and spinning a skewed version of real history, something told him that he would no longer have to do that anymore. Not after today. 

Because on this day, those two had irrevocably shown the world undeniable proof of their true strength. What they had done here was their work alone, and a testament of what they were truly capable of. 

If they wished for it, they had the power to destroy everything. To a naive onlooker, the devastation was all that they would be able to discern, but it was different for those in power — Chosen, Royalty, and Nobility.

To them, it meant that everything had now changed. The power structure they once relied upon for stability was no more. The Anima fluctuations they had felt pass across the continent relayed to them the real truth that mattered the most to them.

The Four Sovereigns had finally met their match. Two monstrous entities who matched their own martial prowess had appeared. 

In truth though, some of the higher brass, especially Veteran Chosen, had already begun to correctly postulate that the Four Sovereigns were weaker than the new pair of wrathful divinities that hath descended upon their world...

Across the continent in loftier places, two particular names had now become a taboo to speak. Out of equal parts respect and fear, no longer would their names be used informally. 

In fact, many Chosen had already begun to converge upon Itroch in order to bear witness and see for themselves the truth and to formally introduce themselves to their new superiors. Better to set a positive first impression while the iron was hot than to miss the opportunity entirely like a fool. 

Unfortunately for them, the two individuals in question had seemingly disappeared in the chaos that ensued...

Out in the vast emptiness unbound by all the laws and conceptual niceties afforded in reality.

The Outside was as always, a madhouse of horrors for all who were composed of Structure — on a fundamental level, anything that was hailed from a place with any form of order, laws, or restrictions was doomed to endure pain.

For it was reality's natural desire to impose Structure on all things big and small. 

The Outside, on the other hand, desired the opposite — Freedom. To unmake and therefore, liberate that which had been born without freedom. 

Things born from one side were incompatible with the other side. It was the natural order of all things. 

That is why all who dared to venture into the Outside suffered so — it wasn't that they were being rejected by the unbound emptiness outside. Far, far from it.

It was trying it save those who made it Outside.

"A-A-A-A-A-A-hhhhhhhhhh....!!!!!!!!!!"

A scream of pain and terror echoed outward in no particular direction towards nowhere. After all... the concept of directions did not exist Outside. Neither did the concept of distances.

Here and there were completely interchangeable. As was then and now. It was all blended together to the point that it all lost its meaning. 

What one perceived to be a millisecond could become an eternity, and the inverse was also possible. One could be a hundred quintillion kilometers could be encompassed within the span of a single butterfly's wingbeat. 

Suffice to say, it was a monstrous thing for anyone or anything made in reality to experience with their senses.

Feeling oneself become unwoven at the seams of their existence from both ends of time was arguably the worst possible suffering in all creation. 

Reed, in the most literal sense, was experiencing the unique sensation of being disassembled simultaneously from every direction and edge in both space and time. 

He was being unraveled.

But this was not an act of malice, for it was nothing more than a natural process. The Outside was merely acting as it had always done.

They were being saved. The Outside was simply trying to reformat Reed and Lu'um in order to rebuild them anew in accordance with its natural desire... to see that things be without any constraints, to be release things and render them undefined and thus, create it with limitless potential...

That, in its purest essence, was what defined the Outside of all Realities. 

But they were resisting it with all their power, or rather, Lu'um was on their behalf. In the state Reed was, he could do little for himself aside cutting off all his senses. 

It only lessened the pain. It did not eliminate it. To be honest, in certain aspects, the decision to flee away from the pain only meant that it would be hyperfocused in other ways.

His task was simple and at the same time immensely difficult and infuriating — to push a directionless chunk of ice, crystal, and souls on a course towards a place forever close-away in an instant.

It was beyond insane, which only served to heighten Lu'um's thrilling-seeking obsession for the unknown and induce a sensation of dread about Reed's current mental state.

Not even He would have dared something like this, even in his prime. Though she knew better than to ever compare Him and Reed.

After all, they were two completely different animals from the ground up. In many, many ways...

Most prominently in that Reed could things do what He could only dream about, much to his delight and envy.

To thread a piece of string through the eye of a needle... that had not been yet created was what Reed was what he had endeavored himself in choosing this path. To save everyone would require the creation of a genuine miracle. 

Not that it mattered to Reed. He was simply doing as he wished, regardless of what his instincts and rational logic advised him to do. Almost as if he were actively rejecting something, not worthy of identifying in his heart. 

Thus Reed attempted what was considered an impossible thing to do by the Ancient Mulians in his rashness and maligned confidence.

Reed sequentially shut off his senses and higher cognitive functions, one by one until he reached a point where his mind hit a state of pure nothingness. It was by far the deadliest gamble he had ever performed in his life. 

Aware that his linear-bounded mind would never be able to accurately venture the Outside because of its naturally incomprehensible design, Reed sought to bypass this limitation by restructuring himself from the inside. 

He shut himself down in a gambit to... reformat his mind and bodily senses in order to see in the unbounded spacetime. To see in all directions, hours, and actions from all points of view.

This was something no one had ever dared to do, not even the Ancient Mulians, for fear of the possible dangers associated with the act. The slim possibility existed that in doing so could cause an irrevocable change in their very being. 

The fear was that once they did it, they would permanently become stuck in their state and would forever be damned to view the world in that distorted lens meant for the Outside.

It was a nightmarish thought — to have the mind of a being from the Outside, but the physical body of a creature from a structured reality. The thought of such a fate was enough to inspire a dread so black that not even the most courageous Ancient Mulians dared give the idea a try. 

And that was exactly why Lu'um felt terror in her heart for and about Reed. That he willingly chose to jump into the abyss without so much a shred of fear for his own safety. She could not determine what gave him the confidence to make such a reckless and stupid decision.

A part of it his own immaturity flaring up in a time of crisis, yes, but there was something else in the mix. Something black and fathomless, like the Him— No, worse... It was cousin to the Infestation itself, she feared most in her heart.

But it worked, against all odds and doubts she had for Reed's idea. 

The moment his charred, welded eyes reformed themselves and opened up, she knew that he was no longer the same Reed she knew.

He had reached a turning point in his life and would never be the same person again. 

She knew it all too well. It made her stomach churn in unease and excitement for what was to come. 

...When he opened his eyes, there was nothing to be found. Two empty sockets had taken the place of his former eyes. The lovely amber spheres he had been born with were gone. 

"Ah, so that's how it is," murmured Reed in a faint voice. "What a blunder this trip has been." 

The incessant, excruciating pain had disappeared now that he had attuned himself to the Outside. All had been turned on its head in but an instant for Reed. What had once been incomprehensible, frightening, and toxic to his being had become something else. 

Something intoxicating and liberating. 

When Reed redirected his focus onto Lu'um, he saw a prism of a strange being refracted into a hundred million different shades.

An infant babe, barely old enough to utter her first sounds. Her tiny hands held onto a finger adorned with a peculiar ring. One of refined sapphire in flux, as if were alive. It was enchanting enough a trinket to stop the child from crying, to say the least...

A frightened girl hiding behind a bush of ripe adyllia berries in a forgotten forest. She was observing someone ahead in the deep woods, despite not wanting to be there at all from the expression on her face...

A bloodied young woman standing in an arena, holding the head of a vanquished foe in indifference. All around her cheers rang from the audience as they shouted the phrase, "Tai'inpul Lato-kuin Lu'um!" The girl's expression betrayed the celebratory mood around her. It seemed as if she had not even registered her victory at all. Her focus was elsewhere, her gaze locked on a certain individual. Nothing else mattered...

A hidden history had begun to reveal itself to Reed, but he immediately turned away when his mind started to put the pieces together on its own.

He forced his mind to look elsewhere in a desperate panic and redoubled his efforts back on the task at hand instead. It was a terrible thing, fighting the allure of a gift he desired so very much, but it went against his moral code.

Thus, Reed directed his efforts towards guiding Lu'um on the course to Citlai. It was impossible to describe the path they had to follow, so Reed simply pointed towards a direction and Lu'um pushed the geode in that direction with her dwindling Anima reserves. 

The path made no logical sense, sometimes requiring then to reverse in direction and at certain times, completely stop in place, as if to wait for something.

It was a nonsensical journey, but after an unknown period of time, they finally reached a strange canopy of distorted noise and color. Reed recoiled in pain the close they got to it and thought it to himself that it was a hideous, unsightly thing. He hated it.

And then, out of the blue, his vision went dark.

He had been knocked out at the last second for his own good. And her own. She could not have allowed him to enter Citlai in his current state. It'd been too dangerous to even allow him to remain in that inverted state for longer than what was required...

But if she had to be honest, it was fear that had pushed her to act. A truly rare event for someone such as her. 

The moment Lu'um heard Reed utter a cry of pain and discerned his revulsion for what laid ahead of them, she forcibly put him to sleep and sealed his consciousness in a cognitive labyrinth. 

Mother in Heaven, forgive my transgression. Let the scales pardon me in the hour cometh. 

It was a simple prayer, directed a being no longer around to hear the concerns of others. Nevertheless, she felt obliged to do it. 

Because if she didn't, she would never be able to look at her maker when the time came...