Tree of Aeons

315. The Onion Layers

Year 284

Twinspace.

The shipyards and drydocks of Port Tarfa were almost entirely new, and yet in the past six months, the twenty new shipyards each made a new warship every month. Each warship was able to ferry 100 to 150 battle ready warriors, along with all the new supplies. The warships were modifications of an existing design, aided by a few of the Order’s shipwrights.

The new yards, piers, drydocks, and structures made Port Tarfa the single largest port on this side of the main inhabited continent of Twinspace. The first of many more to come, but the first 30 or so warships would set sail for the islands located along the path would form the First Exploratory Fleet, while the remaining ships would undergo more preparations. 

They would set sail for the string of smaller islands that existed between the two continents and reclaim the string of volcanic islands from their native monsters. The fleet would then spend some time there and build those islands up, if they found a suitable location, and transform them into one of Aeon’s outposts. 

The sea-facing frontage of the port city was crowded, as tens of thousands wanted to watch the great sendoff. 

Three sea commanders would receive blessings today, from Hoyia herself, and through Hoyia, they would all receive a [Class Seed]. The [War Admiral] class would elevate their existing [Captain] variant classes and make them more effective for their assigned mission. 

On the largest pier Hoyia stood on a platform specially constructed for her, as she revealed her relic for the first time. Even if it was just a fragment, a fragment of god was still a fragment of god.

The entire city could feel it as Hoyia channeled her priestly powers and stood in front of the three seafarers. She commanded them to consume the class seed, encased and fused into a fruit. The priests began to sing, and the three dug in and ate the fruit, unsure of why they were told to do so. But it was then that all three of them felt their classes change. 

The surprise in their eyes was all the answer anyone needed. They were chosen as they were part of the loyalists. One of them was probably a skeptical believer, while the other two were zealots. 

The true zealots wept openly as they felt their [Captain] classes evolve, and they openly praised their god. They screamed, and one of them turned to face his ship.

“Sailors, warriors! Today we are blessed. Today he has made me an [Admiral]. And today, we set sail for the cursed continent and drive away the demons!” 

The crowds went wild, and the rumors flew. 

“Did you hear that? The Captain has an [Admiral] class!” Merchants said as the stories spread.

“This god claims to have the ability to evolve our classes?” The tales began to spread. They were whispered in the taverns and crowded inns of Twinspace. Rumors regurgitated by merchants as they walked the busy trading routes. 

“I saw it happen!” The merchant answered. “I was there at Port Tarfa, and I couldn’t believe it! It’s real!”

“You know there are abilities that can deceive your eyes!” The other merchant was skeptical.

“But the Saintess Hoyia, I cannot imagine it. If you’ve seen her you will know!” 

“You’re really smitten with that woman.”

“You’ve just never seen her.”

***

Back on the main continent of Twinspace, Hoyia continued to add more cities and nations into her growing Holy Empire, where she and her high council of priests existed as a ruling cabal. 

A holy empire, and again, in another year, she now controlled half of the Continent. The other half raised an army against her and promised to brutally slaughter anyone who spread her dangerous ideology. 

But they couldn’t stop ideas whispered secretly. Kings and Lords themselves met Hoyia and found themselves impressed by her presence, some charmed, some smitten. The competition for her attention only drove up the desire to prove their use. 

Her army grew, and her priests continued to spread. Hoyia had to call on a few of her peers back from the School of Treeology to set up a small school in Twinspace to train the next generation of priests and to continue carrying the ideology to even more places. 

***

Meanwhile, the journey to the islands took about three months, and the ships were about a third of the way to the cursed continent. 

The three newly promoted [Admirals] crushed the monsters along the path easily. The sailors and soldiers they brought were all around level 25 to 40, but the presence of a few Order operatives and priests ensured that victory was all but ensured. 

The archipelago was located somewhere close to the middle of the ocean. The ocean that separated the two large continents was generally known as the middle Ocean. The islands of the archipelago emerged from the oceans from layers and layers of underwater vegetation and corals.  So, the surface of the island itself wasn’t sand, but instead, small, disintegrated chunks of corals and other forms of decayed vegetation. 

The largest of these had risen over the years into a small hill. It didn’t have regular trees found on the main continent, instead, a land-adapted variant of the underwater corals were the primary form of vegetation on the largest islands. 

An actual forest of land-based corals made for an island filled with bright colors and unusual shapes. 

It was fascinating, and the few priests quickly ordered that samples be collected for further study. The place itself was magically quite dense, and so the monsters that spawned in the area were magically strong. 

In a different world, this unique place would likely be preserved as some kind of national park or place of interest.

“We could raise the earth and create artificial islands, like we did on Treehome.” One of the priests suggested to Hoyia. “It may not be necessary to tamper with the surreal beauty of this island just yet. Aeon would prefer to have such beauty remain untouched, as we did on the other worlds.”

Hoyia thought about it and realized raising the earth in a place where the seabed isn’t so deep was feasible.

So, a few Valthorn Earth mages warped in and found a patch that wasn’t that deep. The unique corals were quite spread out, untouched for centuries if not millennia because no one actually came here, and so, we selected a patch of soil and raised it up to serve as an outpost. We would need it in the future to supply ships and patrol the seas. 

The artificial island amazed the sailors, but they had to quickly get to work. The druids and mages quickly used magic to form structures, and the few builders also got to work setting up housing. 

The artificial island would be sufficient to house about 10,000 people once fully developed, but for now, all it needed to do was to provide anchor and shelter for the 30 ships.

***

Void Layers

Stella and Lumoof

Meanwhile, Stella and Lumoof took the opportunity to revisit the void layers, and we returned to find a place different from what we visited originally

“This place looks different.”

“I thought we went to the same place.” Stella double checked her magical calculations. “Strange.”

“I’m guessing our rules and magic don’t apply anymore?” Lumoof laughed as the pair wandered around the different places. The realm around us twisted before our eyes. The skies twisted, as if changing to be the land, and the land became the skies. There were rivers of color that seemed to stretch, and then later compress into veins that flowed in the sky. 

Stella looked around. “Was it like this the last time we’re here?”

Lumoof shrugged, as he began to walk. Though he walked forward, somehow he went upwards, as if the reality itself shifted him higher. 

Stella blinked, a little amused to watch Lumoof float upwards entirely caused by the world itself reacting to his movements. 

But just as suddenly, it stopped, and then he walked forward normally again. That made Lumoof stop, take a step forward and find himself moving normally. 

“Wild.” Lumoof said. Through our senses, it was hard to know what was changing, but we could feel it was. Our domains could assert our hold on the realm, but it was like trying to hold sand. A wave would just wash it away. 

Lesser beings, those who were not protected by the domain, or close to it, might experience rapid deconstruction.

The last time we came to the void layers, we left a small artifact here, which we hoped to use to measure the void layers and what it was. The small artifact would collect magical readings and record it within a set of crystals located within.

We couldn’t find it at first, until we suddenly recognized a massive, unusual object that was warped beyond its original shape. It was twisted, and transformed into a gigantic crystal filled with strange twists and turns to its shape. It was as if the crystal was a living octopus.

The only thing that made us realize it was the artifact we left behind, was the small logo carved onto its being. The twisted object lunged at him, clearly corrupted and twisted by the powers of the void layers.

Lumoof could easily still activate his abilities, but then we immediately noticed something. Our attacks changed when they interacted with the energies of the void layers. Our roots turned into something else, and then crumbled. 

We felt it again, a sudden shift in the void layers, as if a new set of commands or rules swept through the land. The crystalline octopus froze, and exploded.

It transformed into a frog, and jumped.

“You know.” Stella said. “I recognize this sort of thing. It’s like those cartoons where things get deconstructed.”

“I do not understand-” Lumoof said briefly, before he took in a bit of my memories and understood. “Oh. Ooooh. This place is the factory of worlds and so it is anything and everything, but nothing is permanent.”

“Unless our domains exert our will over it.” Stella said. Our objects resisted the effects of the void layer slightly, but the longer they remained here, the more they changed. “It is wise that we erred on the side of caution.” 

It was a different form of divine law. Just as some worlds had divine laws weaved into their entire world and forced things to operate in a certain way, the void layers were the primordial soup and those without domains could not walk this space. 

Lumoof paused and looked at Stella. There were weird puffs of smoke and clouds. They popped out of nowhere. “Aeon theorized there could be a way back home, through these void layers.”

“Ah. Yes. I thought about that as well.” Stella looked at the crystal frog, which suddenly transformed again, as if agitated by our presence. “But I don’t really want to go back.”

Lumoof said nothing, and merely just nodded. How deep did this place go? “Well, let’s keep exploring.”

“There should be a way to use these void layers as a way to skip the regular distances of the void sea.” She tried to meddle with the space, as if trying to command the environment to change for her.

It didn’t work.

Or more like, there were too many other things for it to work. The void layers were layered with multiple changing energies. Different strands of fundamental laws of reality that imposed itself on the void layers. Some of those laws vanished, and new ones took their place. 

There was no air to breathe. 

The two could walk the space because they were domain holders, and their existences could be sustained by magic. Both knew that their abilities allowed them to operate without air or water. 

“Let’s just follow the pulses.” Stella pointed, but even that direction was not a good guide. Direction was strange in the void layers, they could walk left and move right. The pulses came from the front, and suddenly they’d walk into each other. 

It felt like months. But it was only for a few days. The void layers. My senses through Lumoof were strained when he was in the void layers. It was as if I was dipped in a dark, pitch-black pool and I could sense nothing beyond the thin barrier created by our domains. 

We arrived at a gaping hole, where the only thing we could sense was more unusual energies. It wasn’t really a hole. Not always. It looked like a rift in space, and then its shape kept changing. But in all forms, it took the shape of a door. A hole. A gate. A crack in space. A small valley. Even the size changed all the time. 

From that gap, I could feel something constantly pushing against us. It sought to impose its will on us, but it couldn’t. 

Strangely enough, the system gave us a title.

[They who Saw The Void Layer Gates]

“You got that?” Stella said.

“Yeah.” 

“I’m going in.”

“You’re not worried you’ll be sent back home?”

“I don’t think so. Come with me, Lumoof.” Stella said, and we went in.

***

We were in another place, but it was the same. Well, different, same. For reasons I couldn’t understand, it felt like it was both at the same time. 

The Void Layer Gates sent us through instantly.

We were now in a place with strands, strings made of things I do not understand everywhere, and we were floating. It felt like being in the middle of a constant flow of strings flowing around us. Though there was no light around us whatsoever and our senses were limited, somehow, we just knew they were there. 

We floated, and here, we moved with thought. 

Strands. It’s as if they spoke of their presence to our souls directly, and thus their appearance took this strange form. 

These strands were everywhere. Stella used a small [light] glowing from her hands, because the spell collapsed the moment it left outside the protection of her domain. 

But the light from her hand allowed us to see, and the strands were all of a different set of colors. Some were rainbow colored. Some were pitch black. We were trapped in the middle of a constantly flowing river of strings, but there were little gaps here and there. Through the gaps, and through the little holes created as the strands stitched together, we could see little bubbles of worlds, and when we tried to walk towards them, or reach out to them, we couldn’t. 

It wasn’t real. It was as if we were touching projections of light.

“So, what do you think we’re looking at?” Stella said, as we kept walking. The path must’ve led somewhere, even if there was no reason for it to.

Lumoof now wanted to touch the strands that were in front of him. They were so close, but they somehow instinctively moved out of the way. As if space itself bent to create space for us. We couldn’t touch them. Even if they felt like they were in front of us, no matter how far we reached, it was always outside of the way. 

But even observing the strands themselves, we noticed they were only sometimes real. 

They flickered. Turning on, and off. Randomly. Sometimes for long stretches of time, they remained real, the others, some of these strands withered away like dry sand in the wind.

“I have no idea what we’re looking at.” Lumoof said.

“Let’s go. It should lead somewhere. Somewhere the void layers want us to be.” Stella sighed, as she floated. I wasn’t sure if we were moving.

“Now you’re saying the void layers want us to be somewhere?” Lumoof looked at the woman. The woman seemed sure. Suddenly. As if she felt something. “Are you hearing something?”

“Maybe.” Stella said. “Like, there is a voice somewhere. Let’s go.”

“Where?” We had no sense of direction. I couldn’t feel much beyond the boundaries of my domain, and what we saw changed all the time. The strands rotated, moved, and fluctuated. The only clue that we were moving was that the things just flowed out of the way.

“Let’s just follow me.” Stella said, as she held Lumoof’s hand. It was like swimming in an infinitely deep and wide ocean, filled with strings. Stella led us through the strands all around us. But we didn’t know how far we were. There was no frame of reference, while the strands surely changed, but what and where were we going?

They continued for days. And then the days turned to months. From afar, I was unsure whether we were moving.

But Stella assured us we were. The void layers had a waypoint somewhere. It had a marker that she could feel, and we were getting close.