Mage Tank

I studied the loson carefully, mindful of her emotional state. I knew that she’d fully realized her first revelation while within the Training Expo, but she hadn’t yet discussed it with us. Given her history with the three churches, none of us had been willing to press her on it and so far we’d made it through the challenges without issue.

“Mind telling me what it does?” I asked.

Nuralie took a deep breath, then turned to meet my gaze.

“It is called the Revelation of Distinction,” she said. “Each of the three gods of the Eschenden are at once separate and the same. They branch from the same divinity, but I can also feel their history. I gained a vision of a time where they were singular.”

“I see,” I said. My own revelations had been very personal, but Nuralie’s were more focused on something that went far beyond herself. I wondered what that said about our personalities, or whether it had more to do with the source of the revelations themselves. “How does that manifest?” I asked.

“I have only used it once,” she said. “I can touch an object and feel the connections that make it distinct, trace its history to moments that define it.” Pause. “It is overwhelming and difficult to make sense of.”

“Putting aside how bonkers that power is,” I said, “it’ll tell you whether this is the same cathedral?”

Nuralie knelt on the ground and placed her hand upon one of my footprints. She closed her eyes and I felt an echo of power thrum through the air. She clenched her jaw, eyes darting from side to side beneath her eyelids. A few seconds later she struggled to pull her hand from the footprint, as though a great force was binding her to it. I reached down to help, growing alarmed over her pained expression, but she pulled free without me and staggered back to sit on the landing.

“It is your footprint,” she said. “Not a copy.”

“No,” she said. “It… the revelation goes beyond the immediate physical processes that define the object. I can feel its history as though I were the object itself, but also the context that defines it. I felt myself born when you walked upon me, each tread of your boot, the exact weight of your body, the resistance of the soil.”

“That’s uh…” I began but trailed off. I was struck by the instinct to apologize but realized the impulse was misguided. “That sounds like a lot.”

“It is,” she said. “There is too much information to absorb at once, but I can place boundaries on what I experience. I tried to limit my perception to the moment of the footprint’s creation and also its relationship to the space around it. It has not been moved. We are in the same place as before.”

“Damn,” I said. “You’d only used it once?”

“The revelation came with”–pause–“a great deal of guidance.”

“I guess my own experience was a bit unwieldy since I first gained Soul-Sight from an item.”

“I still cannot convey to you how strange that is–that you received divine insight through an amulet.”

“To be fair, there were some godly hijinks involved. It was created by a divine avatar.”

I held a hand out to Nuralie and she took my forearm, hoisting herself to her feet. She picked up her bow, and her brow furrowed as she thought over what she’d learned.

“I do not see how this is possible,” she said. “Your ability tells us that we are in a different place, but my revelation says that we are in the same place.”

“So we have three possibilities. One of our abilities is wrong, or at least our interpretation of it is. Both of our abilities are correct and there’s some force at play we don’t understand. Or, something else.”

“‘Something else’ encompasses more than one additional possibility,” she said.

“But it feels more approachable.”

“I do not think it does,” she countered, but a small grin had found its way to her lips. “Our walk through the hallway could have been an illusion.”

“Sure, sure, mind shenanigans,” I said.

“It is a Spiritual challenge. Mind control falls under that school.”

“I have a Wisdom of 40,” I said. “If something in here can break through my mental defenses, I doubt we’d have an answer. It may be a legendarily difficult Delve, but it’s still level 10.”

“Maybe…”

“Why don’t we start by not doubting our senses and trusting our abilities? We’re in the same spatial location as the basilica, but we are in the cathedral. We also know that the cathedral is in the same spatial location as it used to be, which is on the other side of the loop.”

“The easiest conclusion is that they are both in the same place,” she said. “Or that they are in both places at once.”

“Those can both be true,” I added. “If both of them are in both places then they’re both in the same place.”

“But… not at the same time?” said Nuralie.

“Ah.” I held up a finger, then dropped it to stroke my beard. “Hmm. I don’t want time travel to be the answer. I don’t want to have to figure out time travel.”

“Unless it is simply forward time travel.”

“I already figured that one out,” I said. “I just go to bed.”

“Or drink too much.”

“Drink spirits to solve the spiritual puzzle?”

“I am not against it,” she said. “But I doubt it would solve our problems.”

“My old therapist would have agreed with you.”

Nuralie put her bow away and crossed her arms. We stood silent for a time, looking over the cathedral, but its mood wasn’t doing us any favors. We decided to head back up into the hallway to hash out some more ideas. Eventually, we decided we needed more information and began walking the loop again. After 10 loops we’d run into the basilica 11 times and the cathedral 9 times.

There was no pattern we could discern, sometimes running into the basilica or cathedral multiple times, sometimes having them alternate for a stretch. While observed, a stairwell never changed. If we walked the hall until a landing was out of sight and then backtracked, there was a chance it would swap. Time seemed to hold no sway on the process unless it followed a pattern too long or too complex for us to recognize.

It was like Schrödinger’s church. A 50-50 chance, but we didn’t know what we would get until we got there. If both churches existed in both places at the same time, then the possibility collapsed into a single expression only once we arrived. Our sample size was admittedly small, but we were exhausted after gathering data for more than twelve hours. We took a break to get some sleep, bedding down in the comforting aura of the basilica and trading watches.

The next day involved teleporting.

While Shortcut’s description required line of sight, my Coordinated Thinker evolution let me break that rule. The radius of the loop was about 1.5 miles, which was half of my current maximum range if I abused Reckless Shortcut.

We began in the basilica and I reached out to feel for the space where I knew the cathedral to be. Its elevation was the exact same and it was a straight shot across the loop so it was easy to orient myself and find the space. All I could tell from a distance was that there was a viable location for me to appear, not what type of environment I would arrive in. It was the first time I’d done a blind teleport, but I managed to put my anxieties aside, activated the skill, and blinked away into the unknown.

I appeared 12 feet behind my original location and 3 feet off the ground.

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I stumbled and caught myself as I fell the short distance and Nuralie’s head snapped toward me, her eyes wide. It took me a few seconds to process what had happened, remembering at the last second to brace myself for the backlash of making the long-range teleport. It never came. By the time I checked on the skill, my cooldown was already up.

“What the fuck just happened?” I asked.

“You did not go very far,” Nuralie answered.

“I see that.”

I reviewed the steps I’d taken but didn’t see where I’d messed up. I knew that I’d targeted a spot more than a mile away, I’d activated the skill, and I’d teleported. I had no clue why I’d gone virtually nowhere.

“Let me try that again,” I said.

I found the space across the loop, activated Reckless Shortcut, and appeared slightly to the left of my original position. I landed more smoothly this time, my confusion overriding my irritation at having failed.

“Is something blocking my teleport?” I asked. Nuralie held her hands up to signal that she had no idea. “Shit. Well, we were already willing to split up for a bit. Let me walk out of here and see if I can teleport from the other direction.”

I made my way around the loop, finding the entrance to the basilica again. I walked down the steps with a frown, finding Nuralie sitting with her housecat-sized frog, Bertegog, on her lap. She was scratching it under the chin and it gave a loud croak of approval.

“Back already?” she asked.

I turned around and marched back up the steps and ran around the loop to the other side. I found the basilica once more. I kept running, finding the stairs to the basilica over and over again. Finally, after finding the glowstone-lit stairs ten times in a row, I walked back down to Nuralie. The loson now had three frogs surrounding her and they were literally engaged in a game of leapfrog. She paused in a low crouch, both hands on the ground, and looked up at me.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“No!” I said, throwing my arms up. “The entire loop is the basilica! I went around it five times. Nothing but basilica!”

She tilted her head in thought, still on all fours. Her tail swished behind her.

“Maybe if we are inside of one church,” she said, “it prevents us from accessing the other.”

“But how is the basilica on both sides? At the same time!”

“Your teleport indicates that it is not. There was no extra cooldown or damage done to you, which means you did not travel very far.”

“So, not only are both churches in both places, but both places are also in the same place. Right now, at least.”

“That is consistent.”

That evening I started breaking out some books. I’d been gifted a copy of Dimensionalism and You: Volume II by Umi-Doo way back when, and had since acquired the entire set. It was four volumes total, and each one focused on concepts roughly appropriate for a practitioner within a 10-level skill range, covering levels 1 to 40.

My skill in Dimensional Magic had made its way up to 30, which put all of the insights covered in the first 3 volumes well within my reach. Being on the precipice of moving up to the next bracket allowed me to finally begin making practical use of some of the guidance from the fourth volume, which was where I started finding some tasty nuggets that might apply to our situation.

The practitioner of dimensionalism feels a natural kinship to those spaces to which they are accustomed. Upon birth, our minds are set into this world as a seal in wax, its form defined by the substance into which it is placed. The limits of our waxen confines define our understanding of reality, as we are shaped from its base substances. However, it is seldom considered that the form of a seal is not in the wax itself, but the emptiness pressed into it.

Such it is that with sufficient learning and experience, the dimensionalist may realize the truth of the emptiness that grants form. We are connected to the wax, but we are not bound to it. In truth, our forms aerate into an expanse far greater than the wax itself. While we are inclined to look into the paraffin by instinct, our minds are capable of turning to the air and the greater world beyond.

The reader is encouraged to reach out with their magicks, to feel the world around them. As our power bends the spaces that we know, consider that this is merely the wax into which we are set. We exist also within deeper realms that twist and turn in directions unimaginable, and those who might sense them are limited to those most advanced in our school.

Seek a point that leads not away from oneself, but further inward. Step neither back nor forth, step neither to the side, nor rise or fall, but move into oneself. There you might find a seventh road to travel.

It is this understanding that sets apart the advanced student from the true practitioner.

The evening passed as I reviewed the volumes, my studies taking me through what we’d decided was the night. I was broken out of my academic trance by Nuralie.

“Are we pushing buttons today?” she asked.

I looked up from volume 4 and rubbed my eyes, tired from hours of crawling through the dense treatises. Even though I could read faster than ever, it took time to digest the opaque style.

“As much as I want to, I have some things I’d like to try out first.” She sat down across from me on the mosaic floor of the basilica and gestured for me to explain. “I think the basilica and the cathedral are in different places, but they’re separated by a direction we normally cannot perceive.”

She continued to watch me intently, so I cleared my throat and kept going.

“It’s simple in theory.” I pulled out a sheet of parchment and a quill, then began drawing. “The number of dimensions that an object occupies is based on the number of coordinates required to define a point within it.” I drew a line on the paper. “A line has 1 dimension since I can assign a single series of values to identify any given location on the line. If the line is numbered 1 at the beginning and 10 at the end, I can say 4 and you know that the point is here, just shy of the middle. There are infinite points, but we can add as many decimals as we want. The important bit is that there’s only 1 value needed.”

I added 3 more lines, creating a square.

“A plane, such as a geometric shape, has 2 dimensions,” I continued. “We need to know latitude and longitude to determine where a point is. So I can number the bottom of the square with 1 through 10 and the left side with 1 through 10 as well. Thus, I can say 4 and 6 to define this point.” I pointed to a location just left and up from the square’s center.

“Simple x and y coordinates on a graph,” said Nuralie.

“Right.” I rolled the parchment into a tube. “With three-dimensional objects, I need latitude, longitude, and altitude to determine where a point is. Basically, a point’s distance from the center–the x and y coordinates on a flat plane in the middle of the cylinder–and also a z coordinate showing its relative elevation. That’ll show us any given point within the cylinder. That’s also the number of dimensions we operate within.”

“Sure,” said Nuralie.

“The obvious follow-up is whether there are additional dimensions, or directions, that can define a specific location. On Earth, there are all sorts of mathematics that operate using additional dimensions, but I wasn’t a mathematician so my understanding is pretty limited. However, this dimensionalism book suggests that Dimensional Magic can be used to travel through such extra dimensions. You just have to… feel it out?”

“Very scientific,” said Nuralie.

“Yeah, well, magic and such.” I crossed my arms and looked down at the text. “I’m not sure why that results in a random chance whether we find the basilica or the cathedral along two locations of the loop.”

“Perhaps we can only access one of them at a time through normal means.”

“Like how the basilica is on both sides of the loop if either of us is inside the basilica? The cathedral could be totally inaccessible. That would explain why teleporting doesn’t help since I’m only moving through 3 dimensions. Even if our goal was to push both buttons in rapid succession, we’d have to walk the hallway until we found the cathedral. We couldn’t get to the second button very quickly. Either way, this could explain both churches existing within the same x, y, and z coordinates, while still being in different places along an… ‘a’ coordinate? I’m sure there’s an appropriate letter, but I don’t know what it is.”

“‘A’ works,” she said.

I had the acute desire to flip through the rest of the dimensionalism book and see if it listed the correct symbol but decided it wasn’t worth the effort for the moment.

“If the answer to the dimensional aspect of the puzzle deals with a fourth dimension,” I said, “then what is the spiritual component?”

“I found those threads,” said Nuralie. “You found the soul halo on the button.”

I stood and walked back over to the button, which glowed white and gray in my sight, shifting like mist in a storm.

“Do you mind trying to view the threads again?” I asked.

Nuralie nodded, then focused on the button. I felt Sage Advice tingling and moved into the lotus position, channeling the ability’s profound wisdom.

“If you come to visit, you’ll be bored to tears,” I said. “We haven’t even paid the phone bill in 300 years.”

Nuralie’s shoulders drooped and she placed her hands on either side of the altar, leaning on it.

“Does that ability really require you to say things so… dumbly?” she asked.

“My erudite observations stand atop the shoulders of giants,” I said, sitting up straighter. “Do not denigrate the elders of my world.”

“These are quotes from famous sages of Earth?” she asked.

“They are indeed, young master Nuralie.”

“I am older than you.”

“Only physically,” I said, then tapped my head. “Up here I possess the knowledge and maturity of a much older man.”

“I shudder to imagine your youthful mindset. What does your ancient Earth”–pause–“‘wisdom’ mean?”

“Perhaps the churches need to communicate, but can’t. Is there a spiritual thread that is cut off or doesn’t go anywhere?”

Nuralie refocused on the button, peering at it intensely.

“Yes,” she said, squinting. “There is one that does not lead to the entities beneath the floor. It goes somewhere… But nowhere.” She stepped back from the altar, blinking and shaking her head. “I do not like looking at whatever that was.”

“Great!” I said, climbing back to my feet. “I think we have a plan then. I just need to figure out how to use Dimensional Magic to connect the rooms through an imperceivable dimension incomprehensible to my corporeal mind while you monitor a spiritual thread crafted from atavistic magicks that passes between them.”

“Right,” Nuralie said, letting out a long breath and looking overwhelmed.

“Then, after the thread connects to whatever it’s looking for–probably the other button–we push them both.”

“And then what?”

“Profit!” I said with a shrug.

With great effort, Nuralie stood up straight and gave a single nod.

“Fine,” she said. “Easy enough.”

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