The Vast Gulf

Anna only stared, unblinking. While she did so, thoughts appeared in her mind.

'What is that thing? Where did it come from? How come it's in...in my chest-'

Then, like a truck ramming into her, it all came together.

"𝗔𝗛𝗛𝗛𝗛𝗛𝗛𝗛-!"

Screeching, Anna backpedaled a couple of times before falling onto the ground.

'The pain, hurt so much. It...it-!'

"Ahh...AHHHH-!

The girl had never felt such pain in her life. She struggled on the ground, grasping at anything-anything! Her fingernails scraped the ground, only touching dry leaves and dirt.

Nothing helped her. Nothing will help her.

Anna choked, gasping for air. While she was twitching from the immense pain, she somehow heard footsteps near her. She could only blankly stare at the familiar figure that stood over her.

No, it wasn't a familiar figure, it was-

"I'm sorry, Anna. If you die...then at least I won't have to hurt you any longer..."

The figure, or 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 called. Abi made such a sad face and spoken in such a regretful sad tone, Anna almost felt sympathetic. If only there wasn't some strange black thing stabbing through her chest, then it would be more meaningful.

"What-what do-do you...mean?"

Anna tried to keep talking, but her words became softer and softer. Her twitchings slowly became slow, and her vision seemed to be becoming blurry.

Then, the black tendrils in her body ripped out from her, and another burst of pain flooded her sense.

"𝗔𝗛𝗛𝗛𝗛𝗛𝗛𝗛𝗛𝗛𝗛-!"

Anna screamed as another burst of pain flooded her sense once again. Her throes of pain didn't seem to stop as she rolled on the ground, and=

She abruptly stood up.

Adrenaline flooded her body, and her pain felt muted as she immediately dashed back into the trees, trying to get back to the center of the forest. It was her luck that she had to try to find Islafae or Amor first.

Abi only blankly stared at where she disappeared.

"...what?"

...

The silent forest that was once so beautiful was now entirely different. It was mysterious, hidden, entirely different than before.

Footsteps filled the silent forest as a girl with a hole in her chest ran for her life.

'And my status says I have "C+" rank Luck. How is this luck?'

Not having time to think while mentally cursing the world, Anna stumbled through the trees as silent as possible. Or at least try to wade through silently, but noise is unavoidable when one is largely inexperienced in stealth.

Also, she did experienced such pain for the first time. Did Anna also forget she had a hole in her chest?

Well, the adrenaline did help with blocking out most of her pain.

Anyways, Anna clearly had no time to think about it. That had to cut her some slack, right?

Stepping on leaves, the crunching of small branches, the sounds of ruffling leaves-those will inevitably make noise. Unfortunately even as small a noise as that may be, Abi apparently has good hearing.

Anna felt a chill ran down her spine, and she stumbled to the side as a black tendril shot from the ground in front of her, and speared towards her.

Somehow, with her mana-infused body and terrible luck. Anna managed to instinctively dodge it at the last minute, but once again with her terrible luck, she tripped and fell on the ground.

Gasping, Anna willed herself get up, but only to find herself surrounded by the dark morphing tendrils. Getting a closer look at them, she somehow had the thought to actually observe the tendrils in her situation. Each one seemed to have several symbols of some sort of language she had never seen before.

It was intriguing.

Unfortunately, at this stage, she won't be able to have a chance to understand them.

The sound of the crunching of leaves and branches came from farther behind her, and Anna felt anxiety building up within her as she slowly turned around to look.

From the shadows of the forest, from the hidden undergrowth, a girl slowly walked out from it. The girl's face was blank empty. However, instead of her white, pale face, it was white.

Paperwhite.

It's too white.

This girl was too vast a difference from the happy Abi she knows. This was why Anna was surprised when she saw Abi's face back at that small clearing earlier.

Seeing her, thoughts of preservation flooded through her, and Anna tried to keep herself awake by talking. Or try to stall the dangerous girl approaching her.

"Abi, wha-what happened to you? Wh-why-?"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry Anna," Abi monotonously spoke as she stopped a few yards away, her paper-white face shadowed by the trees.

Anna instinctively backed away, but she saw the strange pitch black tendrils worming around her.

"Perhaps...perhaps in our next life we'll be...be-!"

Abi then closed her eyes, and a tear fell from one of them.

"...be true best friends. So...farewell Anna..."

The tendrils all pivoted, and they speared towards Anna. Seeing them, Anna then felt a sense of...relief?

She relaxedly closed her eyes, and waited.

"..."

And waited.

"..."

And...waited?

Anna hesitated to open her eyes, but her curiosity helped her. So, she slowly opened her eyes...only to be greeted by a sight.

The sight of many blue lights surrounding her.

No, not blue lights. Butterflies. Butterflies fluttering here and there.

Butterflies, glowing and pulsing with a dreamy blue, came fluttering down from the tree tops, the branches, the sky-everywhere one looked, they were there. Everywhere Anna looked, it was full of butterflies. They surrounded Anna in a sphere of blue light, and as she watched, she noticed the dark tendrils that were once so horrid weren't able to pierce it.

As she looked on in amazement at the surrounding butterflies, she noticed that there was a particularly bright on within the midst of butterflies

There was only one butterfly that has been with her for the past week.

"Amor?" Anna whispered...and she felt no small amount of relief.

As if indicating that Amor had heard her, he fluttered from the swarm of butterflies, and landed on her head.

Feeling that she was safe, and with the adrenaline draining out of her, the weight of the situation finally fell on her, and she fell onto the ground.

Tears began flooding her eyes as she shakingly held them over her face.

"I-I'm so glad you're here. That you're a-all here," Anna whispered, stifling her tears.

She was only twelve, and with being in danger from her seemingly first friend, being in this alien world...it was only to be expected that what seemed to be a dam of emotions broke out from within her.

The butterfly on her head could only flutter his wings in what seems to be an apology.

...

As Anna settled down, she heard Abi murmuring from outside the barrier.

"Why...why must you all interfere? Aren't I helping you? Don't you know I'm helping Anna as well?"

They didn't seem to pay attention to Abi at all, only fluttering around Anna.

"If you won't answer...then I'll pry the answer from you."

As Abi said that, dark tendrils repeatedly struck the barrier. Each time it struck, a clanging sound was heard, akin to a sharp object hitting a steel wall.

Seeing this, Anna let out a sigh of relief. Finally feeling safe, she once again began observed Abi, and tried to find a way to get out of this mess.

'...'

Without her notice, the hole in Anna's chest disappeared. The ripped clothes she were wearing also disappeared

As if it was just a dream.

...

It was safe to say Anna did not-𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 find a way to get out of this mess.

She tried talking to Abi a couple times, but she had received no response from her. The girl seemed to be intent on destroying the barrier the butterfly's put between the two.

Slightly frustrated, Anna asked the transparent blue screen thing, but it neither answered her nor appeared.

Henceforth, time slowly passed.

Abi's dark tendrils were not slowing down-on the contrary, they were growing bigger, and each strike became more and more louder.

Then, the barrier started to crack, making Anna increasingly worried.

From her obvious observations, it seemed as if Abi was obviously growing stronger with each passing second. Anna could only hope that Islafae would find her in time.

...

Minutes passed, and the barrier cracks reached all around the barrier. Then, as if everyone was waiting for that inevitable moment, a larger, much more menacing black tendril rose from the ground.

Without any hesitation, it immediately headed towards the barrier, spearing and spiraling towards Anna.

It shattered, and some butterflies were blown away by the recoil. At that, Amor began quickly fluttering on Anna's head.

Seeing Abi approaching her, Anna felt as if the world had given up on her lost all hope. As she sighed, the lost girl felt a gust of wind passing her ear.

"The time has finally come. The stage has been set, and its actors, arrived."

"...Huh?"

Then, to Anna's surprise, Abi stopped attacking, and strangely go about looking around with a blank look. She too had heard the whisper, and looked around with a much more serious air. It was like a cat being paranoid, cautious too the extreme.

Then, they heard a whisper. This time, it was much more louder, clearer, sterner, and...

"𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲𝘀. 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘂𝗽."

Familiar.

Anna felt another sense of relief washing over her, and she sagged onto the ground again.

The whispers continued, it's airy, yet cold voice coming like a soft breeze, echoing throughout the forest.

"𝗪𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽. 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝗺𝗶𝘁."

"𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗼𝗻."

"𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘁. 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲, 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁."

"𝗔 𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘁𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝘀. 𝗥𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀."

Anna tried to look through the butterfly barrier, which was slowly being created once more, but she couldn't spot where the source of the whispers originated from.

"Your Majesty? Where are you-"

Suddenly, like a flash of light, a spear pulsating a bright blue color shot from the trees behind Anna, hurtling straight towards Abi. The paper-white girl quickly ducked, and in that next second, the spear shot sailed over her head. It speared through several trees before exploding in particles of black and blue light, destroying the entire area in a small radius.

Abi didn't seem fazed when she got back up. Then, she stared at Anna-no, to the right side of Anna, and spoke.

"'Your Majesty,' why did you show up?" Abi asked, and the once respectful tone was gone, replaced by...nothing. It was as empty as an empty box.

Anna turned around, and her eyes widened slightly as Islafae walked out from the right side of the tree. The tree that Anna was next to.

Walking past a few butterflies on the floor of the forest, Islafae halted her steps when she stood a few feet in front of Anna.

'When was she there?' Anna thought, confused.

She didn't hear anyone stepping near her at all. It was probably because she paid too much attention to Abi's relentless attacks?

Seeing Islafae unmoving and silent, Abi spoke up once more.

"It wouldn't make any difference. Sooner or later, I'll destroy your arrogance, and make you understand how powerless you are. I always did hate you. Your hubris truly made me grit my teeth."

As if responding to her, more tendrils rose from the ground, and they surrounded her, making Abi look more menacing by the second.

Islafae did not looked to be bothered by her threat and defamation. Rather she remained nonplussed, not disconcerted.

After many moments, the gray haired woman seemed to deem it was time to speak.

"With your newfound abilities and power, you have found pride and apathy. Was your show of naivety, innocence, and joyfulness all a stage show?

"..."

"That doesn't matter. What does matter, however, is that you have erred. Erring, you have forgotten something of utmost importance..."

Her staff, slightly raised, started to glow blue, and what seemed to be enormous amounts of blue mana surrounded the area around her feet, similar to ripples of water. The same blue that the butterfly's emitted.

Dust and tiny pebbles tumbled and swirled around her as the mana grew more and more brighter in quality and quantity.

One has to understand that raw mana is normally unable to be seen with the human eye. Even if one is a powerful mage, unless one accumulated and huge and vast quantities of concentrated mana, one would never see it.

"Only those with true power could freely be prideful and apathetic."

Abi backed away a little as the apathetic voice came from the vortex of mana.

"Now, I shall permit you to witness what true power is. Watch and see with your own eyes...the canyon that separates you and I."

Who she was saying that to, Anna wouldn't know. What she did know, however, was that the gray haired woman was right.

...

When Islafae said there was a canyon between them, there was indeed a canyon. Actually, it was not just a canyon.

A gulf.

Or it could be the ocean that seperates an island from a continent.

Whatever Abi tries to do, Islafae counters back precisely and calmly, remaining in one spot.

She waved her staff, and a wave of black mud with traces of blue markings, similar to the one when Anna and Abi both met Islafaes, rose from beneath the ground.

Towering over the trees, it flooded towards Abi, who scarcely managed to block it by covering herself with her tendrils.

After the mud had passed, Abi then tried to dash towards her, but Islafae simple waved her black staff, which then glowed blue once more, but this time with bits of black and red.

Abi suddenly jumped to the left.

Where she was, a blue slash suddenly appeared out of nowhere for an instant, with black and blue sparks scattering from it.

The moment Abi landed, she jumped again, and a blue spear, extremely similar to her staff and the spear that was thrown at Abi, but twice as large, came from the sky.

CLouds of dust and dirt washed over Anna, who was in her barrier of light. The butterflies continued swirling around her, and Amor remained on her head.

At this moment, Anna finally understood what being truly powerless was, watching the gray haired woman seemingly toy with Abi, and she herself only watching the one-sided fight.

It really did seem so one-sided, and this made Anna worried. Not for herself, but for Abi.

Even if Abi did try to kill her-and spearing her through her chest-Anna still wanted to know why. She wouldn't be able to hear it from Abi herself if she died.

Sadly, if she did try to intervene, she would most likely be a rag doll tumbling around from such ferocious might.

...

Time passed, and the battle hazardly continued. The ground was torned up, with trees being littered left and right, lying on the ground. Several small craters were created at several places, with no signs of anything that indicated life.

Abi began to be more impatient, and she started haphazardly throwing dark tendrils and spikes left and right.

Unperturbed the gray haired woman either blocked each tendril with a wall of mud, or just smacking it to the side. In quick retaliation, she launched spears that suddenly appeared from the dark sky. As an added bonus, several smaller spears appeared besides her, and Islafae threw them at her.

Anna, meanwhile, moved as far back as possible away from the battle, with the blue barrier of butterflies following her. She didn't want to be a nuisance, an obstacle, nor a free target.

Actually, she should've done this the moment they started fighting, but Anna truly was entranced at the fight.

The butterflies that were blown away somehow recovered, and were fluttering around Anna, almost as if they were scared of Anna being harmed.

"Amor, where have you been all this time?" Anna suddenly asked, looking at Amor on her two hands. All he did was flutter his wings.

Anna sighed. What did she expect when asked that question? The butterfly to talk? Perhaps what was happening right now and this place in its entirety has finally started making her mind unstable.

Sighing again, she turned to look back at the fight. Once again, she felt powerless.

It was common sense to stay as far as possible from the fight. Who would stay so close to a fight that she herself can't contribute to? She also has no experience whatsoever with fighting.

'I'm powerless,' Anna reminded herself once again.

Even so, the powerless girl was amazed at the spectacle.

'So...this is what magic is.'

A dance of black and blue. Blue spears, black with a bit of blue mud, and dark tendrils all clashing against each other. It was a sight to behold, especially since she had never seen something like this since...ever.

Anna, who was part city girl and now part country girl a few days back, only ever liked to stay indoors.

Finally, the climax of the battle has arrived.

Making up her mind, Abi dodged another spear, and she gathered all her dark tendrils. Within a second, it all quickly formed a big sharp point-a spear.

A very large spear-like shape.

With a huff Abi sent it towards Islafae.

It costed her.

Islafae waved her staff, and the black blue mud rose from the ground, flooding the spear-like tendril. Without stopping, it continued flooding towards Abi like a raging bull. Abu widened her eyes, as she jumped back.

Woefully for her, it was too late.

Anna could only look on in shock as Abi was quickly engulfed under the mass of the mud. Even if Abi did try to kill her, this was just overkill!

Even if, once again, Abi tried to kill her.

"She's too inexperienced."

The gray haired woman slowly shook her head, obviously disappointed.

"Your Majesty-!" Anna yelled, but she was interrupted.

"Little girl, do not be mistaken. She's not dead."

"Huh?"

As Anna could blink in surprise, something crawled out from the mud, gasping hoarsely with a scratchy sound. It was Abi, and by the looks of it, she wasn't hurt at all.

However, unlike what she looked like previously, her once blonde wheat hair now almost as white as her skin, her eyes completely dark and bleeding black liquid.

"She has grown to this state...how inconvenient," the gray-haired woman said.

Contrary to her words, there wasn't a tone of annoyance, nor did her face move a single muscle. The two only watched as Abi recovered, staggering as she stood up once more.

"𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘔𝘢𝘫𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘺-no, Islafae...I never...I never liked that you were arrogant and prideful, it sickens me. Who do you think you are, to prance around as if you own everything?" Abi rasped, her voice jarring and broken.

"Abi..."

Admittably, there was a part of Anna that was uncomfortable with how Islafae was acting all royal and stuff, but she still didn't mind. After all, Islafae never did anything to truly hurt her...besides a few whacks here and there.

So it came as a huge surprise to Anna when Islafae seemed to regard, or rather considered what Abi had said with some importance. The gray haired woman slightly lowered her staff.

Islafae only stared at the shivering paper-white girl. Some time passed, and after a while, a voice as monotonous as the color white emerged.

"You asked...who am I? Who I am? I am someone, who like you, has suffered and lossed many precious things in her life."

Shaking her head, the gray haired woman closed her eyes, and she looked...somehow different from her usual dead face.

This time...it felt more desolated. Utterly wretched and unhappy.

"However..."

Then, like the sun setting into the horizon, the lack of adornment came back, and her eyes opened.

"As I have lost, I have also gained. I do not deny that I am arrogant and prideful. Yet I do know who I am. I have not lost my way."

The woman then raised her staff, pointed at Abi. As if responding to her, the staff began pulsating and radiating with even more power.

"Knowing who I truly am, I have stayed true to my path ever since I came to be. I am the Queen-no, not any longer. I am and had always have been the First Apostle of the Seventh. With this, I now have a new purpose, and you are in my way."