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Chapter 182- The Myopan Realm
🕑 Added 2024-12-11 23:35:01 +0000 UTCArthur stared at the orc-shaped void in front of him with a complicated expression on his face. The world around it almost seemed less real... Fragile even. Iris' attack had met the tier-1 limits Arthur had once faced and then bulldozed through it as if it didn't exist. As durable as Arthur was, he wasn't confident lasting any longer against such an attack than Frankenstein.
It's like those flames operate under a different set of laws to the rest of us. What were stats to a fire that could burn the very reality you existed in? Arthur took a shaky breath and he realised that his hands were twitching rapidly. It had been a long time since his bloodstream had been flooded with adrenaline, a very human response to danger for a body that had long since left the realms of man. Arthur idly noted that he hadn't gained a single level from the fight, though such concerns seemed so mundane in light of recent events.
Iris' face was a mass of cold indifference, inhumane and aloof. Arthur would best describe it as a detachment from the rest of mortal kind as if her magic had burned not only her ether but the very emotions that made her human. Or fae, I guess. It took a few moments for warmth to return to her eyes, time in which the rest of them stared at her in shock. Arthur at least was happy that everyone else was as surprised by her sudden power reveal as he was.
Farrah suddenly materialised next to him, Bonak and Ayesha appearing beside her a second later.
"It was nice meeting you kid," the old elf said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I can feel fluctuations in the dimensional weave around us. We're about to be teleported off-world."
She pursed her lips and stared at Iris. "I'm sure our fae-princess over there will help explain things for you. Hah, I'm sure the two lovebirds are looking forward to finally being alone together."
Iris didn't react to the joke; she hadn't even reacted to the presence of her best friend, Ayesha, never mind the old elf.
"Make sure you stay alive until we meet again. Don't let any of those fuckers get to you."
Before Arthur could ask her what she meant, Farrah, along with the rest of Lady Sleyca's people were teleported away. Ayesha lingered for a second longer before she too was gone. Arthur walked over to stand next to Iris. He didn't say anything; just stood there in silence, staring into the horizon like the seer.
The fae hadn't moved since she'd unleashed her final attack and hadn't spoken a word of explanation. Arthur had a thousand questions bubbling up but he held them at bay. The answers would come in time or they wouldn't. He just had to be patient and if Iris wasn't willing to tell him anything, he'd have to live with it.
The beautiful alien didn't say anything for the next five minutes, but she did rest her head against his shoulder at the three-minute mark which Arthur counted as a win.
"My father's name is Ezron. He was born in a tier zero world just like you, one that went through System Integration during his childhood. He was born with an affinity for six magics, common ones, yes, but sometimes quantity is a quality all on its own."
Arthur digested that bombshell with a lot less shock than he probably should have. With four affinities, Arthur was the type of rare genius a planet with Earth's population produced once every three generations. Six affinities probably mirrored the same statistics, only across dozens of populated stellar systems. Rare didn't even begin to describe it.
"I'm going to have to give you some context so you can understand the next thing I'm going to say," Iris said, looking him in the eye.
Only a few centimetres were separating them and he could feel the warmth of her breath on his chin. This close, her eyes were mesmerising pools of inky blue.
"Realms, much like planets, have tiers and they too evolve. A planet's tier cap is generally limited to the same tier as the realm it exists within, though that rule has been known to be broken before. Our realm is known by many names, though the fae know it as the Myopan Realm, loosely translated as The Watcher's Hour."
She took a deep breath.
"It's a tier-4 realm consisting of one hundred and seventeen, no one hundred and eighteen dimensions since Alyssia came here. The System has spread across eleven of those dimensional layers so far, less than ten percent of this our realm's true size. Now as to why I'm telling you all this. Whilst my father is far more well known, my mother eclipses him in power just as I do someone with an ordinary class."
"She comes from a tier-5 realm, so powerful that she can't even exist here. Whilst we can speculate that beyond tier-5 exists, no such realm has ever been found. Tier-5 realms are also known as origin points or sometimes Prime realms; their existence bleeds over and influences the development of the thousands of realms beneath them."
She chuckled at the expression on his face.
"I know it's a lot to take in. The scale exists on a magnitude that's hard to comprehend. Millions, billions, I don't know how many countless realms are out there and our existence is limited to eleven dimensional layers on a tier-4 realm that's smaller than average."
"Why are you telling me all this?" Arthur asked, his voice hoarse.
"Because I want you to know who I am before you decide to date me. This is some pretty important stuff, so I'd rather you heard it from me rather than someone else."
"You'll know my mother's realm. It's bled over into your stories, across all cultures and races. There are many names for it, but they all cover the same concept. Hell, the underworld, purgatory, the realm of the damned. And my mother is one of the thirty-nine queens of hell," Iris said in a solemn tone with an air of gravitas she usually avoided, her eyes intently focused on how he'd react to the information.
"Damn. How'd your dad manage to get into her pants?"
Iris' brain short-circuited for a second and she stared at him in shock before bursting into laughter,
"Honestly, I don't know how that idiot managed to pull it off either. It's like a house cat trying to woo a tiger. My mother is a terrifying existence, the ruler of twenty-three realms, some of them bigger than our own."
Arthur tried to imagine that kind of power and failed spectacularly. What would such authority even look like? She controlled more worlds, no, more stellar systems than there were humans on Earth, and had so many people under her rule that Arthur didn't even know if a number big enough to describe it had ever been spoken. He also learned something else. Tier 5 was the known peak. He'd known a pinnacle existed all this time, but it had been an abstract thing. Now he had a tangible goal. Still, thinking about that kind of power gave him a headache.
"Shit, I know that look," Iris pulled him from his reverie. "It's less crazy than you're thinking. Only like, one in a million stellar systems contain a planet that supports life. The ratio for those worlds that have intelligent life is even more skewed and the vast majority of them haven't even evolved once. Most will never even know of her existence. She's less a ruler and more like the strongest around. What do your people call it? A nuclear deterrent to keep other powers in check? It's not exactly the same but that's the best way I can describe it."
"And this nuclear deterrent won't have a problem with me dating her daughter," Arthur asked, eyebrows raised.
He was only half joking. Against someone so powerful, it was a legitimate concern. Iris smiled at him.
"No, I think she'd approve of you. Maybe a little too much if I'm being honest. If she becomes a nuisance, I'll tell her to bug off, though you'll probably never get to meet her before you break through the level 300 class barrier."
"So that last attack. Magic from your mother's side, I presume?"
"Hellfire," Iris replied, "An affinity intrinsically linked with a higher realm. I can't use it here without paying a heavy price. It's not even supposed to exist here, but my unique status as a realm bridge, that's a title I get for being a child of two realms, makes such things possible. Doesn't make it any easier to cast though," Iris scowled and rubbed her temples.
Arthur noticed that a drop of blood was running from her nose.
"So what was that right at the end? You looked really pissed off. And what was it Frankenstein said? Your limiter was removed."
Iris sighed and smiled sadly at him. "Well, now that things have gone to shit, I'm allowed to tell you everything. You'll find out most of it in the next few hours anyway." She swore loudly, the vulgar language sounding strange coming from the normally reserved woman. "If I'd known that, I wouldn't have wasted a million credits trying to explain things back on the ship."
So that's why she got so annoyed before. She was fined these... credits. What are they? Some kind of Universal System currency.
"Honestly, it's a good thing I told you about realms. It'll help you understand this next bit better," Iris said. "What exactly do you know about the origins of the System?"
"Not much," Arthur replied. "I've been told it was made to help newly evolved planets better integrate with ether and make magic a more accessible skill. I suspect that's only half the story though. The System is as much a tool of control as it is a means to uplift the masses."
Iris looked at him consideringly. "That's honestly a much better answer than I expected. You're only half right though. The System's origins date back seventeen thousand years, a lot younger than most expect. It's not been around since time immemorial. In fact, many can remember a universe before it existed."
"Whatever you might think, the System was originally created to uplift the common people, and whilst none can deny that some less than savoury political ideals tainted its creation, most can agree that it has fulfilled its primary purpose admirably."
"And what was that purpose?"
"I'm getting to that. Don't rush me," Iris chided. "And now back to the topic of realms. The Etheric law of evolution dictates that everything in contact with this primordial energy must grow and evolve."
She'd adopted the tone of a teacher and Arthur could tell she was reciting something she'd been taught.
"Everything evolves; humans, fae, elves, monsters, beasts, plants. Planets evolve and so too do realms. What you've probably not realised because of the System's guiding influence, is that everything, even humans and fae, can fail an evolution. It's not limited to only beasts and monsters. It's just that the System has saved sapient species from suffering the same fate."
"Actually, I saw the reports for that man you fought. What was his name... Shade, right? He's a perfect example of a human who failed to evolve properly. When I said that a failure to evolve can affect everything, I truly meant everything. That includes planets, stellar systems... even realms."
"Arthur, what do you think happens when a realm fails to evolve?"
"I'm not sure, but I'm guessing nothing good."
"That's the understatement of the century. A fallen realm is a blight on the rest of existence. It is a corruption that festers and spreads, leading to the destruction of countless neighbouring realms. And right next to the Myopan realms, right on our very borders really, is a realm that failed to evolve to tier-5 seventeen thousand years ago," Iris revealed.
It was the final puzzle piece to complete the picture and Arthur's brain raced as he saw every interaction, every System mechanism in a new light.
"The System was designed to give our realm a fighting chance, to get powerful soldiers ready as fast as possible to stop our realm from falling."
"Is it working?"
"One hundred and eighteen dimensions in our realm, and after seventeen thousand years, the System has only managed to spread across eleven. There used to be one hundred and twenty-three dimensions one thousand years ago and one hundred and sixty-eight ten thousand years ago. We're losing Arthur, and badly at that."
"The realm is dying."
There's 2 more chapters left till book 4 comes to an end. One more chapter this week and the final one next week before book 5 begins.
This AN is going to get old very fast so you don't have to read it if you don't want to. It's copy pasted from before. Feel free to ignore it.
Author Note:
Thank you everyone for all the support during my stories launch. Things turned out better than I expected but worse than I had hoped. Self-publishing means my story is only as successful as I am capable in marketing it, and I have never before in my life marketed anything. It's been an interesting learning experience to say the least.
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