Irina sat in stunned silence, the weight of the future pressing down on her. The glimpses of events that unfolded over time had shaken her understanding of the world.
As she processed the cascade of information, doubts, and questions swirled in her mind like a tempest.
‘Was that even a future?’
The events that had unfolded from the vision that she saw…..There were many things that didn’t match what she knew and experienced.
Many of the things were different.
From what she had remembered, Julia wasn’t injured in the joint dungeon exploration, and none of the students died, even though a real yeti had appeared.
‘Things are a lot different from what I know.’
She remembered what happened at the Blackthorn Family banquet. Even though she didn’t know everything in detail, she remembered the attack.
That scene where she had seen such a large-scale attack for the first time was still engraved in her mind, even though it was not her first time encountering a demonic human.
But that wasn’t the end.
‘Mid-terms.’
The events that happened in mid-terms weren’t that different. Ethan ranked up once again. However, his rank didn’t increase by three digits but remained at 1110, and that was another divergence.
‘Astron hadn’t ranked up either.’
Astron’s name wasn’t mentioned, as he still seemed like he was the last ranked.
As she remembered his perspective of time-frame, she remembered he was approached after the mid-terms.
‘Academy curriculum.’
But, if she remembered one important thing, it would be the fact that the academy hadn’t introduced a changed curriculum after the mid-terms.
‘They did it in the second year.’
Nothing seemed to add up.
Even right now, the trip to the Phantom’s Land didn’t seem to make any sense. According to what she had seen, they weren’t supposed to be here but in the academy training.
‘And the attack in the final exams and Astron’s death.’
The person whose past she had witnessed died just like that.
“He can’t be like that. Astron can’t be a demonic human. I refuse to believe it,” Irina declared inwardly, her denial a desperate attempt to shield herself from the harsh truth.
The Astron she knew had vulnerabilities and struggles, but the idea of him succumbing to the darkness seemed impossible.
The trip to the Phantom’s Land, the altered mid-term events, and the tragic outcome of the final exams all painted a distorted picture of the future.
Irina grappled with the dissonance between what she knew and what she had seen, a battle between the reality she clung to and the unsettling truths that unfolded.
‘It can’t be, not again…..’
The fear of betrayal, a sentiment she thought she had overcome, resurfaced with a vengeance.
‘Please not….’
It was a visceral reaction, an instinctual attempt to protect herself from the heart-wrenching realization that those she trusted might not be who they seemed.
“I won’t believe it. Astron, please, let this be some twisted vision, a nightmare,” Irina pleaded silently, her thoughts a desperate plea for the reality she cherished to remain intact.
The suffocating fear of betrayal mingled with the anguish of uncertainty, creating a storm of conflicting emotions within her.
But at that moment, she stopped.
‘What am I doing?’
As if something danged at her, Irina abruptly stopped herself, her internal tumult grinding to a halt. The realization hit her like a sudden wave, breaking through the tempest of conflicting emotions.
The visions, the diverging futures, the unsettling revelations – they threatened to drown her in a sea of uncertainty.
“No,” she muttered, her voice steadying. “This is not helping. I can’t lose my sense of reality to these visions. What’s happened, what’s real, is what I’ve lived, not these fractured glimpses.”
Forcing herself to calm down, Irina straightened, her determination resurfacing. The visions might have shaken her, but she couldn’t afford to lose sight of her purpose.
She was here to understand, to unravel the mystery of the Phantom’s Land, not to succumb to the disorienting effects of glimpses into possible futures.
“Sigh….”
As she sighed, she looked around. ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛ ꜰʀᴏᴍ Novlꜰre.nt
She needed to know what place she was in.
‘These are definitely not the memories of Astron nor Ethan.’
It didn’t make any sense for her to see the memories of two different people from a third-person perspective, which also didn’t add the events that she knew.
‘First, I need to check what is different.’
With a resolute focus, Irina retraced her steps, mentally organizing the events that happened in the world she knew. The joint dungeon exploration, the Blackthorn Family banquet attack, the mid-terms, and the recent trip to the Phantom’s Land were the events she experienced.
She listed the differences in her mind, slowly and steadily.
Irina meticulously went through the mental list of events, comparing the memories she knew with the visions she had witnessed. The differences began to crystallize in her mind as she focused on each key moment:
Joint Dungeon Exploration: In the visions, there were discrepancies in Julia’s well-being, and some students faced fatal outcomes. However, in her lived experiences, no such tragedies occurred. Julia remained unharmed, and everyone survived the encounter with the real yeti.
Blackthorn Family Banquet Attack: The scale and details of the attack on the Blackthorn Family banquet seemed exaggerated in the visions. While she did recall a demonic human attack, the events she saw in the future diverged significantly from her own memory.
Mid-Terms: The rankings of Ethan and Astron didn’t align with her knowledge. Ethan’s rank remained at 1110, and Astron’s name wasn’t mentioned, contrary to her own experience where Ethan consistently climbed in rankings, and Astron was the last ranked.
Academy Curriculum Change: The vision portrayed a changed curriculum after mid-terms, while in reality, the academy introduced a revamped curriculum in the second year, not after mid-terms.
Phantom’s Land Trip: The current situation, being in the Phantom’s Land instead of the academy training, was a stark deviation. The events unfolding around her didn’t align with her expectations or experiences.
Attack in the Final Exams and Astron’s Death: The vision showed Astron meeting a tragic end, succumbing to becoming a demonic human. This contradicted the Astron she knew, leaving her in disbelief and denial.
With the differences laid out before her, Irina took a moment to absorb the information. The space she found herself in, the visions she witnessed, didn’t conform to any logical understanding of time or reality. It was as if she had stepped into a realm that transcended the boundaries of her known world.
“Sigh… What is this place?” Irina murmured, her eyes scanning the unfamiliar surroundings. The landscape seemed ethereal, shifting in subtle ways that defied conventional logic. The space felt both tangible and ephemeral, a paradox that added to the enigma surrounding her.
“Wait….”
At that moment, she saw herself in one of the visions. She was looking at the sky without knowing what to do.
Something danged into her head.
As Irina pondered the discrepancies and observed the surreal surroundings, a realization dawned on her. The visions, the ability to witness different timelines, the disconnected space – it all pointed to a place beyond the confines of her physical reality. It was as if she had transcended the limits of the world she knew.
“Wait… A place where I can watch myself… Others… Different timelines… Different people… Different locations…,” Irina mumbled to herself, connecting the dots between the visions and the space she found herself in.
Curiosity guiding her, she looked around, taking in the ethereal landscape that seemed to exist outside the rules of the physical world. It was then that she tried to sense her own body.
To her surprise, she realized she felt no physical constraints. It was as if she had become a mere observer, detached from the tangible realities that governed her everyday existence.
‘Wait…’
Then, a memory surfaced – a recent magical conference where a high-ranking mage and a scholar presented a theoretical framework on dimensions.
The scholars spoke of realms beyond the known, places where the laws of physics and the rules of the world diverged.
‘Diverging Dimensions Theory.’
“A high-ranking dimension,” Irina whispered, her invisible eyes widening. “This…..”
The landscape around her seemed to shimmer with the possibilities of countless realities, each unfolding in its unique way.
In that moment of realization, Irina came to terms with the truth. She wasn’t in the physical world anymore.
She had traversed into a higher-ranking dimension, a realm where time and space never even existed before.
‘Don’t tell me….’
That explained why she was able to see everything. If she was inside a dimension that was way above what any other person normally stayed in…
Then it would make sense.
“If so, then…..This is a parallel world.”
The realization danged in. The concept of a parallel world, a different timeline where everything unfolded in an alternate fashion, explained the disjointed visions and the discrepancies between her memories and the glimpses she had seen.
In this higher-ranking dimension, Irina found herself not merely witnessing events but existing in a space where time and reality took unexpected turns.
The landscapes she saw were reflections of a reality that deviated from the one she knew. The realization opened a gateway to understanding the intricacies of the parallel world she now inhabited.
“But, how? Why am I here? What brought me here?”
The moment she asked this question to herself, she remembered what happened before she came here.
“The Magic Spell. Dreams….No, not dreams.”
She thought it was a dream, but it wasn’t.
“My spell didn’t even work as intended from the start.”
If it did, she would be inside a dream.
“It was distorted. Because of something….Something outside of my control.”
It was because of that distortion that she ended up crossing dimensions.
“The entity.”
The entity whose existence she had discovered. The being that she thought was so formidable that she sought help.
“Because of its magic, I ended up here.”
At that exact moment, Irina started to question what those phantoms were.
“Crossing dimensions….Phantoms….Lost souls….”
Then she realized.
“They are not lost souls…..They are the souls of the people of parallel worlds…The reason why phantoms exist…..is because their original place is taken by their parallel selves….”
As if a revelation dawned upon her, she started mumbling like a maniac.
“The entity…..is the main cause why Phantoms exist. It makes the souls of the people cross dimensions and take the place of their parallel selves by force. And the ones that end up returning to the real world couldn’t find their places at all and become phantoms….”
“And the reason why I ended up here….is because Sylvie and my spell intercepted the path, leaving me in the alternate higher dimension that bridges the two parallel worlds.”
Her analytical mind, which was going to make her the best and strongest mage in the world, started spinning at a rapid speed.
She interpreted everything as she realized what was happening here.
“But why? Why is it doing this?” Irina questioned aloud, her thoughts racing as she grappled with the revelation of the entity’s involvement in the creation of phantoms and the distortion of dimensions.
As she pondered the motive behind the entity’s actions, a subtle shift in the fabric of the higher-ranking dimension caught her attention. A slit began to form in the otherwise seamless space, a tiny rupture that seemed to connect her world to something beyond.
Her invisible eyes widened as she stared at the developing slit. It was a portal, a disturbance in the delicate balance of space and time. The entity’s goal became clearer – it sought to create a specific portal, a conduit for something far more dangerous.
At that moment, Irina sensed an ominous presence emanating from the opening slit. A palpable feeling of danger and malevolence washed over her. Whatever lay beyond that portal was not only threatening but also held an air of humiliation to the point where she could feel the world would get destroyed.
The realization struck her like a bolt of lightning. The entity’s actions, the creation of phantoms, the disturbance in dimensions – they all pointed toward a grander scheme.
The slit in the space was a gateway, and what lurked beyond was a force that could bring about unimaginable consequences.
“We need to stop it.”
She mumbled to herself as she looked around frantically.
“But how?”