A curious mage arrives in another world - Part 4.

A somewhat ironic smile formed on Geoffrey's face as he looked around, scratching his head. He had just witnessed something few people had ever seen: a crack in the world.

The girls, on the other hand, had different reactions. Ametsa wanted to shout to the rooftops how happy she was for her master's achievement, but the preceding event had been terrifying for her. The mere thought that the crack could have swallowed them and that she might never see her master again because of it made her unconsciously hug herself as she trembled slightly.

Something similar was happening with Darlina; her thoughts were a mess. Everything she believed in and had been taught since she had memory had crumbled upon witnessing this event. If she wanted to tell another believer what had happened, no matter if it was the kingdom's princess, she would likely be sentenced, at the very least, to house arrest for heresy.

Kara, for her part, just looked with unease at the area where the crack had previously been.

It was a pitiful scene they presented.

"Alright!"... A loud clap accompanied what Fazil said. This made everyone snap out of it. "Ametsa, Kara, please prepare something for everyone to relax. I won't be able to finish explaining if you remain in that state."

Fazil perfectly understood what this meant. His reaction when he created one for the first time had been one of excitement and joy. However, he was aware that very few could keep up with him without getting lost.

A small sigh of resignation escaped the mage, who looked at the scene before him. If he had known, he wouldn't have done the preceding without warning.

The girls were slow to react, but they were able to obey the order and headed towards the kitchen.

***

Nearly twenty minutes had passed since that event. Everyone, including Fazil, was sitting on the library's armchairs.

"Thank you," said the mage, taking the cup of tea that Ametsa prepared for him.

The sweet fragrance entered his nostrils, gradually making his body feel light and relaxed. Just what everyone else needed at that moment.

Kara was the one who already seemed fine, as her cheerful aura had returned. This was perfect to begin dispelling the negativity that could be felt in the atmosphere.

Ametsa prepared the cup of tea for Geoffrey. Upon handing it to him, he drank it in one gulp.

"Burns, burns," he complained. Then he asked for another.

Darlina took small sips and only looked at the liquid in her cup. The two maids also prepared theirs and relaxed.

In the center of the table was a plate of cookies, but the only one eating them was Fazil.

"Terrifying, right? This is a historical milestone. Not only have I finally confirmed its existence, but I've also learned how to create them," he said cheerfully, stretching to take another cookie.

"Give us a break," Geoffrey finally deigned to also take a cookie. That tea had helped quite a bit. "But tell us, how did you learn to create them?"

Fear was still present in him. It would be hard to believe that the best warrior of humanity could feel it; there was no way that thought would cross anyone's mind.

"The answer lies in the planes themselves."

Darlina came out of her trance to pay attention. She had reflected on many things in this short period, and a soft blush could be seen on her cheeks. When she made eye contact with Fazil, she remembered some conversations she had with him some years ago.

"Why don't you want to marry me?"

In her memory, we could see a Darlina crying desperately as she looked at an indifferent-looking Fazil. She was wearing a beautiful dress decorated with meticulous details that revealed its high quality.

At that time, Darlina had tried to be as feminine as possible to capture his attention. Beautiful dresses, detailed makeup, accessories that further enhanced her beauty; everything she tried always resulted in a rejection from the mage.

"I have my reasons, so don't insist."

"If it's because of my father, I assure you he won't interfere..."

"Although your father is one of them, my main reason is another: you."

Fazil's gaze had no trace of pity or any similar feeling. The only thing he made Darlina feel was indifference and the fact that he didn't want to be with her.

Fazil turned around and left.

"Why can't you accept me?"

He stopped and looked back at her.

"Because I don't want to be... —Fazil had stopped abruptly. He seemed to think about several things before speaking again—. Because you are a believer. What would the church think of you if you had anything to do with a heretic?"

For the mage, Darlina's feelings had always been strange. She was a believer in the doctrines of the church. There was no reason for her to have those kinds of feelings.

He, at that moment, thought that the above, even if it was a lie, would be enough to drive her away from him.

She just stood there, saying nothing. And the least likely thing happened.

"Change me."

The words were barely audible, making Fazil tilt his head in doubt at the peculiar word.

"Change, what?"

"My faith. I don't care how long it takes or how painful it is for me. I don't care if someone else appears in your life during that time, my feelings for you won't change. If that bothers you so much, then make me change. And the same will go for me: I will try to change your beliefs and bring you to my side."

The Darlina whom many considered cold and aloof did not exist. There was only a girl who believed she was expressing all her sincerity and opening her heart to the person in front of her.

Fazil looked her in the eyes; something told him what he had heard was true. He simply turned around again and began to leave, stopping only to say a few last words.

"If you want me to pay attention to you, start by being yourself. In my opinion, you look prettier wearing your armor."

That had been the most important day in Darlina's life. The day she swore with the person she loved that they would fight for each other. Or at least, that's what she interpreted...

"Darlina..." Hearing Fazil's voice brought her back from that memory. "Are you alright? Do you need a little more time to relax?" Fazil asked, somewhat perplexed.

"Nothing," she smiled. "I was just remembering a promise from the past."

"A promise?"

She shook her head and told him not to worry about it. She knew perfectly well that for him that day meant nothing, and that, unless she reminded him in detail, he wouldn't grasp it.

Whether Fazil made an effort to change her was something she didn't know. She fought as much as she could to try to make him become a believer and tried not to get carried away by his experiments to confirm his theories. And in the end, she ended up giving in to believing the wizard's words, those that apparently claimed that this world is not as divine and sacred as it is believed.

Unfortunately, that fact so important to Darlina meant nothing to the wizard. He considered other things more important. But he couldn't prevent a word from resonating in his thoughts upon hearing about that promise from the past.

Change me.

"It shouldn't be anything important," he thought, so he continued without paying attention to it. "The cracks in the world are not created by something evil or divine intervention. There is no being creating them or anything like that. Their creation is simply the result of mere chance."

The wizard fervently believed that their reactions would be of astonishment once again. And to his surprise, they calmly continued drinking their tea while listening.

It wasn't something to be surprised about. After what they had experienced, Fazil's talks, which they barely understood, were no longer so impressive.

"I think the entrance turned out to be more impactful than the main course," he thought, coughing discreetly.

The wizard took out again from his magical inventory the two gems he had shown them at the beginning. Panic formed again on their faces.

Using his magic again, he made them levitate.

To the relief of those present, he only made them float in the middle of the table.

"In their current state, I can't call them Ether gems as such. The ones I used previously are the final result after the crafting process."

Fazil's gaze focused on one of the gems, precisely the one that didn't emit a faint glow around it.

He stretched out his hand, and then a small crackling sound was heard. Everyone watched as the gem began to shrink.

"If you're wondering... No, it's not a shrinking spell..." Fazil had difficulty speaking. Apparently, this was too difficult to do.

Spells to shrink in size didn't exist; it was something believed impossible to achieve.

"So, why is its size reducing?" Geoffrey asked.

"Its size is shrinking because I'm making everything focus on a single point."

Geoffrey didn't fully understand what he had said.

After a few minutes, the gem whose size made holding it with one hand barely possible was now about the size of a pea.

"That's already an Ether gem," said Fazil. His forehead was soaked in sweat, and he looked exhausted.

Ametsa quickly came with a handkerchief to wipe it.

It was very small, and yet they could feel the large amount of energy it emitted.

"I still don't fully understand how it works, but everything that makes up this plane, and perhaps others, is made up of tiny particles that are joined together, or at least that's what I believe," Fazil laughed casually, despite how exhausted he looked. "Although saying 'joined' is somewhat vague, because in reality there is still space between them. If we look at it in a simplistic way, although we can touch each other and be visible, for the plane in which we inhabit we are simply empty."

Faces of confusion arose once again among those present. Are we empty, but can we touch what surrounds us? It was something that seemed to contradict itself, or rather, lack logic.

"That thing..." Fazil pointed to the small gem he had just formed. "It may have that tiny size, but its weight cannot be measured."

There was something to mention regarding the color of the gems. The ones shown previously were amber in color; this one was white with light touches of blue.

"What do you mean it can't be measured?"

Geoffrey was the only one who seemed interested. The girls, for their part, were amazed by how beautiful the Ether gem that the wizard had created was.

"Its weight is so massive that the plane itself deforms."

The wizard stood up and went straight to the blackboard once again. The small gem followed him, but something wasn't right...

As it floated forward, the others noticed something strange. It was difficult to explain, as they had never experienced anything like it.

It was as if everything around the gem was bending. For them, there was no other way to explain what they were witnessing.

"S-Sir..."

Kara wanted to warn him, but it was Fazil himself who explained it.

"That's what I mean when I say deform."

He erased what he previously had on the blackboard and drew a new horizontal line and a small circle above it, placing it in the middle.

"A line is the simplest way to explain the planes. But I don't know the real shape of it, since a plane as such is both up and down, left, right, forward, and backward. But well..." Fazil began to draw another horizontal line, but this one wasn't straight, it was somewhat winding. "If I had to detail it a little more without losing simplicity, a plane would be like this," he said, pointing with his thumb and without ceasing to look at the others.

Once again, as if they were in a class, everyone paid attention to the wizard, who continued explaining.

I haven't understood anything he's said since he started, Geoffrey thought.

Luckily for him, the girls were the same, so there was nothing to be ashamed of.

Fazil had always been like that; he didn't care much if they understood him or not. Perhaps he would only care if Ametsa understood him, since after all she was his disciple.

"So are the planes like water in the sea?"

Ametsa knew she couldn't be left behind; she had to assert herself as the Savior's disciple.

"No..." Fazil's answer was quick and curt. "But it's somewhat similar in a way. Everything that inhabits the plane: us, my house, the continent, our world, the sun, the moon, and the stars; everything that makes up this plane, deforms it. Things like us, large structures, or even Mount Cennet, cause an imperceptible deformation in it."

Mount Cennet was the largest discovered to date. No one had been able to reach the summit. And all accounts of the few expeditions that have been made relate that, approximately halfway up, breathing becomes literally impossible.

Even those who call themselves the superior race, the dragons, have succumbed when trying to reach it.

How was it possible that something so gigantic wouldn't cause a deformation?

Fazil erased the winding line. Then he erased part of the straight line that was in the area of the circle he drew and joined the ends making a kind of narrow inverted arc.

"There's no need for you to try to imagine it. More than anything, since I wouldn't know how to define if this is an adequate interpretation. This is just a simplistic way of what I mean."

Fazil's face showed some resignation. Apparently, he spent a long time analyzing the functioning of the plane's deformation, ending up with something not very satisfactory.

Ametsa raised her hand.

"Master, if you say it's so heavy, why don't you apply what you call 'weight attraction'?"

The wizard showed a pleasant smile at his disciple's insight.

"Of course it does," Fazil said. With a face without much concern, he snapped his fingers.

At that very instant, terror invaded everyone's hearts. Without warning, they felt as if the small gem wanted to suck them in.

In a fraction of a second, everything returned to normal. They could say that what they experienced was perhaps their imagination, but if it weren't for the fact that there was a mess on the nearby bookshelves, this would start to scare them.

"What the hell is that thing?!" Geoffrey couldn't take it anymore. "What's this about weight attraction? And stop scaring us, damn it!"

Fazil smiled without any guilt. This small verbal interaction between the two of them helped to calm the girls down a bit.

The wizard quickly understood his friend's intention.

"No matter our size or weight, we all exert a force that attracts what surrounds us. This is related to the deformation of the plane, and before knowing the latter, I called this peculiar effect 'weight attraction'."

"And why don't we attract each other?"

"As I already explained, this is related to the deformations of the plane. In short, the force of attraction we exert is, so to speak, almost null." Fazil drew some arrows on his current drawing.

Geoffrey was feeling a headache from how convoluted all this sounded.

"Although I think they are related, I think they are two very different things. The massive object itself generates this kind of hole that will be deeper the more massive it is." The wizard began to draw other small lines. "The reason why that deformation doesn't affect us at the moment is because I stretch space in the opposite direction. But..."

"Fazil!" Geoffrey shouted.

Ametsa and Kara stood up immediately. Darlina also showed concern.

They were about to help him, but the wizard gestured for them to stop.

"It seems I've reached my limit," Fazil said. With another snap of his fingers, the small gem disappeared. It had probably been put away.

Fazil fell, supporting himself on one knee. He was bleeding from his left eye and nose.

Ametsa moved quickly and used a handkerchief to wipe it. Kara was preparing some tea to give him.

"Stretching the plane to prevent that minuscule gem from absorbing us requires a huge amount of calculations. Ha, ha. I reached my limit to be able to keep it at bay. It seems I can't handle three gems in a single day."

Ametsa asked him not to talk so much; to her, he looked in very bad shape. Kara arrived with the cup of tea, and Fazil took it before anyone could offer to help him drink it.

He understood their concern, so he tried to stand up to go to one of the armchairs.

"Do you feel better?" Geoffrey asked, arms crossed and with a serious look.

"Don't worry so much. This is more mental than physical exhaustion. I just need to relax for an hour or two."

Fazil wasn't one to lie in these kinds of situations. If it were a matter of life or death, he would have already let them know.

Darlina looked at the other gem that Fazil didn't shrink.

"Do you mean you'll do the same with it too?"

Fazil only showed an exhausted smile.

"That one is a little different. Try to touch it," Fazil said. Darlina looked at him with a worried expression. "Don't worry, nothing will happen to you."

The princess took a deep breath and tried to put her hand on it. Her eyes soon widened in surprise.

Her hand had passed right through it without showing any signs of resistance.

"What's going on? I don't feel anything no matter how much I try to touch it."

"The answer is simple: you can't touch it because it's something that doesn't exist," Fazil used all his strength to give her a smile that made Darlina blush slightly. "But at the same time it does..."

That romantic bubble that Darlina had created for herself was burst by the only phrase that came out of her mouth in response to such a nonsensical statement.

"Huh?..."