To Noxtheīa!

I woke up back in my room at the 'Hand' hotel.

I sat up in my bed and looked out the window to see that it was early morning, and concluded that I must have been out for more than a night.

I looked at the automatically updating calendar embedded in the wall above the table, alongside the clock and thermostat.

It told me that I had not been unconscious for more than 18 hours, which meant that after Numoral had knocked me out and done whatever he did, he had sent me here instead of another lab.

Which meant one of two things.

One: That whatever the crack was, was much more important than the reason he had knocked me out for, or two: Whatever he needed me knocked out for had been completed very quickly and I was not needed for the near future.

I leaned towards the second reason, simply because Numoral didn't strike me as the kind of person who would knock people out for no reason. 

I got up and decided to go find out what happened.

The moment I opened the door, I saw Plot waiting outside, sitting opposite my door leaning on the wall.

He looked up when my door opened and sprung to his feet a moment later.

"Good morning, Sir!"

Sir.

I liked the sound of that word, unlike the word 'Mister', it was short and respectful. And it could be used to call people without accidentally offending them.

The same could be said for 'Ma'am', both suitable for formal use.

I realized that my thoughts had wandered when Plot blinked as I kept staring at his face.

"Good morning." 

Plot's facial features relaxed.

"What happened yesterday? What was that... crack?"

Yesterday's events were still very much fresh in mind, and I wanted answers to them.

"The power of a stage 5 Cor's all-out attack is enough to cause distortions in space, there were two of those colliding, which caused the dimensional rupture. That wouldn't have happened a hundred years ago, but with the expansion of..."

He trailed off, not finishing his sentence as he made eye contact with me.

"I'm not sure I am allowed to give that information away."

I nodded to show my understanding, but my mind still buzzed with questions.

How powerful is a stage 5 Cor? Why wouldn't it have happened a hundred years ago? What is expanding? Why did happen at the lab?

I didn't ask them aloud. I just waited for Plot to state his reason for being here.

He seemed to pick up on that.

"I'm here to take you to complete your initiation, as far as I know, you have learned some of the spells from Mr.Numoral correct?"

I nodded.

Numoral had taught me some spells early on in his experiments on me to see if there was any difference between my spells and the spells cast by other spirits.

"Okay, so there are only two things left, actual combat against the Cor and a little bit of basic melee training, which can both be done at the same time. We will leave when you are ready."

I nodded to show my understanding, and after some food, we made our way to our destination using a transport similar to the one Eric had called, just larger.

It seemed to belong to Plot as well, and it was much faster.

As we soared above the buildings, I noticed that we were leaving the city.

The total time our journey took was 4 minutes and 11 seconds.

We stopped above a location that had walls on every side, and a platform in the middle.

A person emerged from a building inside the walls and jumped up to our position, standing on nothing.

"You're from the science team, right? What are you doing here?"

The woman seemed a little frustrated as she spoke.

Plot took out a paper from his pocket and handed it to her.

"I'm taking Mr.Al-no, Alias here to complete his initiation, by Mr.Numoral's orders."

She took the paper and took a quick glance at it.

"Right, whatever." She handed it back to Plot. "I'll get them to activate it, you know the standard procedures correct?"

Plot nodded.

"Um-hum."

"Go on."

She waved us forward and went back into the building she came from.

We descended before the platform and Plot put his vehicle away.

"What are the standard procedures?" 

I asked.

Plot turned to look at me.

"The standard procedures in case of emergency and/or requirement."

"It's basic stuff, how many people are allowed to pass through, initiates should be accompanied by a team leader or warriors of a higher rank, what to do in case of sudden portal failure, locations to seek safety, etc, etc."

As he spoke, the floor of the platform lit up, showing what appeared to be a spell circle.

A moment later, a small green dot appeared above it.

As I looked at it, it spiraled counter-clockwise, growing bigger and bigger as it did, until it was three meters tall and a meter wide, forming a vertical ellipse.

Then its inside faded away to show a land covered in white sand speckled with black, similar to the sky above it.

"Follow me please."

Plot waited till I nodded before stepping through, with me right behind him.

I could sense that the 'Da' in the air here was much more intense.

"Welcome, to Noxtheīa."

Plot gestured with both of his arms, spreading them out to either side of his body as if to show something grand.

It was strange.

Even with the overwhelming amounts of white everywhere, I did not feel the slightest discomfort.

"Black and white." I remarked on the only two colors that I could see apart from the ones on Plot.

"Indeed." He affirmed my remark. "That is all that one will see on the outer edges of this place, there is more color near the inner rings, but those areas are much more dangerous."

A feeling of tranquility passed through me.

"It's very quiet."

I liked it.

"Yes, it is." Plot had lowered the volume of his voice as well. "Those who can afford it sometimes come here to relax for some time, taking a break from the regular work."

He sighed.

"Now then, let's go find some Cors for you to kill."