32 All Is Well In Heaven (1/2)

The world map flickered and the image twisted as it morphed into something completely different. It turned three-dimensional and a globe began rotating on a slightly tilted axis.

”This is Mu, the world we live in, and this, in particular, is the continent of Mulia,” Axtorius said. He pointed at the projection and a small-sized part of the planet lit up in response. ”That's our home... and the only area that hasn't been contaminated by the Infestation.”

Reed stared at the globe and couldn't understand what Axtorius was saying, or rather, refused to believe him. From the look of it, Mulia roughly took up ten percent of the planet's surface. That was an optimistic figure and he knew that. It meant that...

He felt his heart beating out his chest the harder the longer he looked that the sight. It felt unnatural, but there was something gnawing at him from the inside. This was a unique brand of dread that'd he only ever felt when he tried to confront that hidden, buried memory from before.

Axtorius spun the globe and pointed at it again; the image flickered and then it turned a dark, murky red color. The planet was almost entirely covered in the color, except for a single location.

”Everything dyed in red has already been lost to the accursed Infestation. It is best to think of it as nothing more than the enemy's domain. Over the course of the last four thousand years, we've built a massive construct spanning the entire perimeter of the continent to keep them out, the Time-Lock Spatial Displacement Boundary Field.” Axtorius chuckled to himself and said, ”It's a bit of a mouthful, isn't it?”

Axtorius flicked his right hand and an image of a dome appeared in front of them. The word 'massive' couldn't even begin to describe it. Reed thought the Reef was massive when he first laid eyes on it, but this... was beyond description. It was so enormous, it was easily visible from space if the globe's projection was to be believed.

The dome that covered the entire continent looked heavenly and sacred as a host of divine beings and not mortal hands had created it. Gigantic wings made of light overlapped on top of one another, forming a seemingly endless amount of layers that blanked the continent in a sphere.

Eerily, an immense aurora hovered above the dome's only pole, shimmering in and out of existence...

”We just call it Heaven's Gate instead of its technical name, so don't bother forcing yourself to remember the whole name. It's the crystallization of our efforts in deciphering the lost technology of the ancient Mulians. The four empires built it right after the unification wars ended, in order to give us some much-needed breathing room.”

”You're probably thinking the clock on the right is broken, right? It's not. In fact, it's working fine. Both clocks are perfect working order. Time inside Heaven's Gate does not adhere to the normal laws that govern the universe. The flow of time inside Heaven's Gate is nine times slower than real-time outside. For every year you spend in here, nine years pass by outside.”

He smiled and pointed at the globe and said, ”Not only that, the entire continent has been shifted into imaginary space, where standard coordinates do not work as intended. For all intents and purposes, we tore the whole continent out of real-space and put it in a bubble outside of reality itself.”

Axtorius's slowly smile faded and he brushed the projection out of existence. ”As you can see, we owe our survival to the ancient Mulians. Without the artifacts they left behind, we would have never stood a chance. You've probably been wondering where all of you come into this, no? We've finally gotten to your part of this story, so perk your ears up and listen carefully.”

He tapped his feet and a dramatic shift in scenery occurred. Space blurred and twisted around them; they'd teleported somewhere else. It was a giant warehouse of sorts, from the look of it. A wide variety of strange things were stored in floating glass containers.

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Some of these objects looked pristine and some looked broken. A few of them were large, taking up a dozen meters of space and others were only the size of a pencil. Reed immediately knew what the were: Mulian artifacts. He'd seen the same kind back when he visited Julian's home.

”You have to two duties as contenders; The first duty is to kill. That's the responsibility the Will of the World has given you in return for the blessing you've received: Alma. The Great Will rewards us with further blessings for every Infested abomination we purge from the planet.”

Axtorius looked and grabbed an odd-looking artifact that looked like a sword that did not possess a blade. It was just a handle. A second later, a menacing blade of light popped out of handle. ”Prove yourself enough to Will and it will grant you further strength in the form of a stronger body,” he stated. He took the blade and swung on himself, startling the class. Some wondered if the old man lost his marbles.

The blade shimmered as it struck the Axtorius's arm and an awful screech assaulted their ears as it struggled to cut through his flesh. It eventually couldn't handle the immense force that Axtorius put it under and the artifact exploded violently into pieces.

”I can assure you that the blade could have cut through any of you like butter, much less the hull of a titanium-plated sovereign-class warship. If you prove yourself enough, some of you might even receive the blessing of immortality in the far future,” he said.

He took the broken shards and assembled them back into the functioning blade in a single snap of a finger. It looked like time had wound itself back for the shattered artifact as it reformed into working order. ”The more blessings you receive, the more in tune you become with Anima itself to a certain degree, of course. How far these blessings increase your skills will depend on your own innate potential, unfortunately.”

The blade shifted between a state of disrepair and completion as Axtorius waved his finger in the air. ”If you're lucky enough, you'll even be able to manipulate some laws that govern the world,” he said. The artifact finally reformed and he put it back into the display case it had once been in.

Axtorius gestured at the entire warehouse and said, ”This is your second duty as contenders: to recover these precious artifacts for study. That's the responsibility you bear as contenders who enjoy the god-like power of Alma. You are the fine line that stands between the four empires and total annihilation.”

”Our detailed information about the enemy has come only from the ancient artifacts and ruins we've found across Mulia. All of our greatest technological advancements have come from them, too. It is of utmost importance that we continue uncovering what happened to them and what our enemy's weaknesses are.”