Infinite Mana In The Oasis

Vik was flying.

His body was thrown into the sky because of the impact of the two cars. Immediately, the car he was driving exploded, as it was already on the verge of exploding. Fortunately or unfortunately, his car was without a roof. Hence. His current weightless-like state.

His body was disintegrating. The mana bullets fired at him were already doing enough damage over time. It was inevitable that this disintegration would accelerate when the sole mercenary survivor of the incident shot at Vik while he was helpless in the air.

A streak of mana bullets was fired at Vik. The latter only realized he was being shot at when the mana bullets started impacting his body.

'Axela, start… fuck… start the Lazarus sequence for me.'

Vik commanded Axela when he saw the explosion that he had caused below him as he was still flying through the air. The explosion was still expanding. His body was getting riddled with more bullets as he watched the events of his own actions unfold in front of his eyes. His eyelids were slowly getting heavy.

The onlookers of this whole incident were everywhere. They stared at this scene with curious eyes. This wasn't an everyday event. But it also wasn't that rare for them to see something like this. This was Oasis.

Nobody saw a young man, the cause of this whole incident, flying in the air, away from the accident. He was flying towards a lone figure standing at a distance. Vik's eyes were about to be closed. His body was covered in white flames.

"Viktor Vladimir's Lazarus sequence has begun.

ETA for the process to be completed: 3.3 seconds."

A series of prompts appeared on the status screen meant to be seen by Vik. But he was too injured, too tired to keep tabs on his status. With his nearly-shut eyes and barely-there consciousness, he saw that he was going to crash on someone who was standing away from the crowd.

"ETA for the process to be completed: 2 seconds."

The lone observer of this whole scene had come here, in this part of the Oasis, through a backdoor. He only wanted to explore the world of people who were called Bourgys by individuals from his part of the world.

Vik could see that the person he was about to crash on had shoulder-length white hair with light blue highlights. He had blue eyes and a charming face. His glowing blue highlight was proof enough to tell the onlookers that he was a Metahuman. Human bodies were affected by the mana in peculiar ways depending upon the person and their element after all.

This young man was busy observing the crash. So he didn't notice Vik coming at him from the sky covered in white flames at first. And when he did, he was too late to dodge.

"ETA for the process to be completed: 0.89 seconds."

Vik crashed onto this young man who seemed to have different origins than him. When Vik's white flames touched this man, he felt that he had been thrown into the pit of agony with no way to return. Vik on the other hand was beyond the threshold of feeling pain. He had already closed his eyes.

Now both Vik and the observer's bodies were engulfed in white flames. These flames seemed highly transmissible and extremely flammable. They burned the observer's body at a greater speed than Vik, resulting in his soul disappearing first. The next to follow suit was Vik.

"ETA for the process to be completed: 0 seconds.

Lazarus sequence completed.

Result: Success (Error)

Result: Failure (Error)

Status: Undermined."

***

Vik found out that he was floating. Once again.

This time, it wasn't because he was thrown in the air due to some accident.

He felt like he didn't have a body for real. He was weightless. And formless. Only his subconscious chose a form for him, which was placed on the line dividing real and ethereal. His subconscious mind assumed that form for itself to make sense of his existence that he wasn't sure was real or not anymore.

Vik felt lightheaded and delirious. As if he was having the most enjoyable nap of his life while keeping tabs on everything that was happening around him.

It was as if he was immersed in a pool of water. But there was no water nearby.

This was a weird feeling for him. But not unwelcoming.

He found relief in this space. As if he was far away from all the troubles he had faced in his life so far. Away from all the miseries that had shaped him into a bitter, paranoid, cynic, and detached man he was. For the first time in a long while, he felt like stripping himself of all his emotions. And just stay there.

Floating aimlessly.

Without a care in the world.

'Hmm?'

Vik felt like someone was trying to talk to him. Or more precisely, communicate with him using an unknown medium. Unknown form.

This form of communication was personal and direct. As if words weren't needed for communication. Just having thoughts was enough.

Seek and ye shall find!

This is what Vik understood when some foreign thoughts entered his subconscious mind and tried to talk to him. They were asking him what he wanted at the time.

'What do I want?'

Vik asked himself as the memories of the past began playing in his mind. He felt like this question was as difficult to answer as it seemed to ask.

Vik let his thoughts wander endlessly as he sought to find the answer to that question. He felt that his current condition had allowed him to have a clear head even when it felt like he wasn't in complete control of himself.

Vik felt like his entire being had dissolved into space when he stretched his mind to find the answer to the question. His mind became aware of an infinite number of mysteries of the worlds that seemed to stretch far beyond his previous perceptions.

The information he received from trying to find the answer to that question was so overwhelming that he stopped looking. He realized that he wasn't ready to look for the answer to this question. His existence was not prepared for what was out there due to his fragile soul.

Ask, and it shall be given you.

Seek, and ye shall find.

Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

The space, which seemed to condense down to a drop of water, echoed its thoughts in Vik's mind once again. This time, these thoughts revealed more. This time, they demanded even more participation from him.

Vik was terrified when the door of the infinity was opened for him.