Chap 198: The Other Side of the Veil

One could not do sorcery without their Verge being open. But Tee had closed hers—forced it shut after it had been hijacked by someone she still had not uncovered. Was it really Elder Earvangar? Or something else entirely, something far worse hiding behind a familiar face?

Standing with her teammates in the mission base, she glanced over at the elder in the fierce orange robe, his bushy eyebrows casting shadows over deeply wrinkled eyes. He looked ancient—fragile, even. Time-worn. Was someone like him truly capable of something so vile? Or was that exactly what made him dangerous?

If he attacked her again, it would only appear as a split second in the real world. A flicker. A blink. She wouldn’t even have the chance to react outwardly, to confirm if it was him. Unless—unless the next time it happened, she fought through it. Overcame it. Saw clearly.

But that wasn’t the only problem.

There hadn’t been just one attacker. There had been many. Versions of herself. Twisted, relentless, overwhelming.

That didn’t make sense. None of it did.

The thought lingered, sharp and unresolved. But then she shut it down. Forced it aside.

She had a cure to find. And nothing—no mystery, no elder, no phantom version of herself—was going to get in her way.

Tee gave a firm, almost fierce nod, agreeing to help open the rift in the Veil and bring her teammates back after a successful mission.

“Now, time is of the essence,” said the Commander.

He placed his hands behind his back, posture rigid, gaze sweeping across each of the five young adults before him. His eyes lingered just long enough on each face to make it feel deliberate.

“Also,” he added, voice lower and more measured, “when you return, you will spend only a few more months here before being sent back to your home districts. You will forget about each other. We will handle your… miraculous returns after your so-called deaths, as applicable.”

A brief silence followed.

Zod and Miko exchanged a quick glance—sharp, uncertain, loaded with something unspoken.

Tee barely noticed. The Commander’s final statement slid past her, meaningless in the face of what consumed her thoughts. A cure. That was all that mattered.

“Now prepare yourselves,” the Commander continued. “We will only be able to hold this rift open for a few seconds… and we can only hope nothing comes through from the other side.”

Tee inhaled, then opened her Verge once more.

It resisted at first—like a door that remembered why it had been shut—but her will pushed through. Ether surged to life within her, raw and powerful. With precise control, she joined the Vergants and elders, weaving energy into the forming tear.

But excitement—no, urgency—got the better of her.

She poured in too much.

Far too much.

The rift didn’t just open—it tore wide, stretching unnaturally across the Veil, its edges crackling with unstable energy.

Panic rippled through the chamber. Every instinct screamed that something massive—something catastrophic—would emerge from that gaping wound in reality.

No one waited to find out.

Not a second wasted.

Tee and her teammates launched forward as one, diving through the tear and into the unknown beyond.

The moment the last of them crossed, the rift snapped shut—violent and final.

On the other side, Saeda staggered.

A force gripped her entire being the instant she arrived. Not physical—deeper than that. It pulled at her mind, her core, her very essence.

It was overwhelming. Consuming.

And without thinking, she turned toward it.

The second Tee breathed in the dark mana-infested air, a heavy thud slammed into her head.

A pull followed—sharp, invasive.

Her vision fractured.

She was back in her Verge.

Surrounded.

Different versions of herself crowded in from all sides—each one shouting, overlapping, desperate. Their voices clashed into a single unbearable noise as they clawed at her arms, her shoulders, her face, each one trying to drag her attention their way.

It was suffocating.

Tee clenched her jaw, forcing herself to move—forcing herself out.

She tore free from the Verge and shut it down again.

Hard.

Her body hit reality just as abruptly.

She dropped to her knees, breathing uneven, chest rising and falling too fast.

If that really was Elder Earvangar’s doing… then it shouldn’t be possible there.

They were on the other side of the Veil now.

He shouldn’t be able to reach her.

So why—

A hand rested on her shoulder.

Tee flinched slightly before looking up, pulled from the spiral of her thoughts.

Kie stood over her, his beautiful red eyes softened beneath knitted, concerned brows.

“Tee, are you alright?” he asked.

For a moment, she said nothing.

Something in her told her not to speak. Not about that. Not about what was happening inside her Verge.

If she was right—if being on that side of the Veil meant she was safe—then there was no reason to worry them. No reason to complicate things.

She needed her Verge open.

She needed it for sorcery. For the Omega Stone.

And nothing mattered more than that.

Nothing was going to stop her from getting it.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said, pushing herself to her feet.

She steadied her breathing as she stood, then lifted her gaze to the sky.

It stretched out in unnatural gradients—pink bleeding into deep purples at the far edges, like a wound across the horizon.

A flock of black birds passed overhead.

Each had four glowing red eyes.

They made no sound—only the steady, hollow beat of wings cutting through the air.

Even that felt wrong.

Though pink was Miko’s favorite color, her face twisted with unease as she took in their surroundings. The trees around them looked… frozen mid-motion. Their bark and branches were pitch black, curled and warped into unnatural shapes, like they had once been alive—reaching, twisting—before being locked in place.

The leaves told a different story. Bright yellows, burning oranges, and deep reds clung to the branches, too vivid against the darkness.

It didn’t feel like a forest.

It felt like something pretending to be one.

“Great,” Saeda blurted, raising both palms into the air as if bracing against something unseen. “Because I’m sensing something really strong. The strongest pull I’ve ever felt.”

“That must be the Omega Stone,” Kie said.

He lifted his hand and summoned a sword of pure Ultramana energy.

It formed—but wrong.

Instead of the rich, crystallized blue they were used to, the blade appeared thin, translucent… unstable. Weak.

The Lieutenant’s words echoed faintly in his mind.

Tee’s expression hardened slightly as she watched it.

“Dark mana flows through the very air in this dimension,” she said.

Zod chimed in, running his fingers along the skin-fitting material of his arm as if testing its response. “All monsters from the Reign of Severin were cast here and allowed to evolve over years. We have no idea what we’ll be facing.”

That didn’t help.

“We can use our compass locker to mark the direction of the Omega Stone,” Saeda said, already pressing a sequence of buttons on her telecom. “That way we’ll always know which way to go.”

“Great idea,” Kie replied.

He drew his hand in, pulling the Ultramana energy back into his palm. The translucent blade dissolved instantly, collapsing into nothing as if it had never fully existed.

Tee stepped forward slightly, her focus sharpening. “I can use my Ether-enhanced foreseeing to lock onto that location and see what we’re up against.”

She opened her Verge—

—and was yanked back into it.

Violently.

The world vanished.

Noise flooded in.

The versions of herself were already there, waiting—closer that time, louder, more frantic. They clawed at her, gripping onto her arms, her shoulders, her hair, dragging her in every direction as their voices collided into chaos.

“You have to do it!”

“Save us!”

“Save everyone!”

“The creators are too strong—we won’t win!”

Tee’s breath hitched.

Creators?

She forced herself out again, tearing free from the Verge with sheer will.

Reality slammed back into place.

She dropped to her knees, gasping, her mind spinning faster than she could steady it.

Eagor wasn’t behind that.

He couldn’t be.

And it wasn’t her teammates either.

Which meant—

Her chest tightened.

Those weren’t attacks.

They were… messages.

Real ones.

From the future.

A cold wave of terror crept through her as the realization settled in. What could have possibly happened… what could have gone so wrong… that she—out of everyone—would be the one urging herself to destroy the world just to save it?

Her fingers curled against the ground.

Then the word surfaced in her thoughts.

The creators.

The great minds behind the Alpha Seal. The Omega Stone.

If they were coming…

Then whatever followed them wouldn’t just threaten a city. Or a nation.

It would be Earth.

That meant the Harbingers were right.

Her stomach twisted.

And then another thought crept in—darker, more uncertain.

Sade.

The dark origin Seal she had placed on her.

What if that wasn’t what it seemed? What if it wasn’t some ancient mechanism at all—but something else entirely? Something deliberate. Something controlled.

Tee clenched her jaw.

It didn’t matter right now.

What mattered was if those interruptions kept happening, she wouldn’t be able to use her Verge properly. And without that… her sorcery, her enhanced foresight—everything she relied on—would be compromised.

“Hey, Tee, what did you see?”

Kie’s voice cut through, grounding her again.

She looked up at him as she slowly rose to her feet.

Their eyes met.

And for a split second, everything else faded.

The lies. The half-truths. The things she had hidden from him before. The moment he had looked at her—not with anger—but with something colder… when he had called her a deadhearted whore.

It all came rushing back.

Her chest tightened—but her expression didn’t change.

They weren’t ready for that.

None of them were.

What would they even say if she told them the truth? That her future self was begging her to destroy the world?

And of all times when they were that close to the Omega Stone… the very thing that could make that nightmare possible.

No.

Not yet.

“Sorry,” she said, steadying her voice, keeping it flat. “The dark mana in the air is affecting my sorcery.”

Kie took only a blink before responding, not doubting a single word she said.

“Alright, we’ll depend on our trackers and Saeda to lead us to the Omega Stone—”

He didn’t get to finish.

Every one of their senses screamed at once.

Danger.

They moved instantly—leaping from their positions in the same breath, leaving behind a hollow gap where they had just stood.

The ground exploded upward.

A massive set of jaws burst through the earth—large enough to swallow a truck whole. Trees were ripped apart like splinters as the creature forced its way up, its mouth lined with endless rows of jagged teeth.

It snapped shut—devouring nothing but air and dust—

—but it didn’t stop moving.

It kept coming.

Zod reacted first.

He thrust both arms forward, telekinetic force slamming into the beast’s head, halting its momentum mid-lunge. The ground trembled beneath the strain as the creature fought back, its body thrashing violently beneath the surface.

The earth split open around it.

More of it surfaced.

Long. Thick.

Its body resembled a massive, writhing rope—wider at the center, tapering toward the ends, its hide slick and unnatural.

That was all the opening the others needed.

In near-perfect sync, they summoned their energy swords and drove forward—blades piercing deep into the creature’s exposed body.

The strikes landed fast. Precise.

But before the moment could settle—

The ground ruptured again.

Two more jaws burst free.

Smaller—but faster.

With more of their bodies visible, the creatures revealed their true form—coiling, serpent-like masses that twisted with disturbing flexibility. They looped in on themselves, swallowing their own tails, rolling forward like living wheels.

Their hardened underbellies rotated outward—forming a moving shield as they barreled toward the team.

But it wasn’t enough.

The team adjusted instantly.

More energy blades formed and drove straight through them.

Clean.

Decisive.

The creatures convulsed as the swords tore through their defenses, purple blood erupting outward in violent sprays before their movements collapsed into stillness.

Then—

Silence.

Heavy. Sudden.

And in that silence, a voice echoed—not through the air, but through their minds.

Kie.

“I think we’re going to be facing a lot more of these attacks while we’re here,” he said, his voice steady despite the chaos that had just unfolded. “To remain more stealth, I’ll be linking our minds while we’re in close range to communicate.”

No one spoke.

They didn’t need to.

One by one, they nodded.

Tee remembered the last time she felt Kie’s touch in her mind. It had been during that quiet, stolen moment in her room at the Primus Vergant village. The memory still lingered like warmth beneath her skin. His presence had been so gentle, so careful, as if he feared even the slightest pressure might shatter her. When he looked at her, his eyes held a softness that made her breath slow and her heart beat in a strange, unsteady rhythm.

There had been something in the way he spoke to her—low, patient, almost reverent. As if every word he chose mattered. As if she mattered—a Xeno-victim.

She could still remember the closeness between them, the charged silence that had filled the small room. The air had felt thicker then, heavy with something unspoken. His gaze had lingered on her just a moment longer than it should have, and in that moment she felt exposed… not in a way that frightened her, but in a way that made warmth bloom deep in her chest.

Thinking about it sent a quiet heat through her.

She wondered if he had felt it too. That pull between them that neither of them had dared to name. The way his voice had softened when he said her name. The way his presence had brushed against her thoughts so intimately it almost felt like a caress.

And the question that refused to leave her thoughts was the same one that had lingered since that night.

What did Kie truly feel for her?

Would it all come bursting out if she was able to find a cure? 

He made it clear her dying too soon was a major reason they couldn’t be more. For some reason when she thought she couldn’t have more drive for finding the Omega stone, she suddenly did.

They all knew that from then on they had to be careful what they said in their head. 

 Their senses picked up once more. 

“What now?” Zod thought, and they all agreed. 

They turned slightly to one side and noticed the trees had grown thicker in that direction. Denser. Closer together.

But there was no sign of movement. No monsters in sight.

Still, something felt off.

They advanced carefully—small, controlled steps—

—and then the forest moved.

The trees ahead tore their roots free from the ground with a wet, ripping sound. Soil split apart as they rose, towering and unsteady, before stabilizing on twisted root-limbs.

At the base of their trunks, bark split open.

A massive, gaping maw revealed itself—stretching wide as jagged wooden teeth snapped into view.

They lunged.

The team reacted as one.

Energy surged forward—blasts fired straight into the open jaws before the creatures could close them. The impact was immediate and brutal.

The trees exploded into splinters and dark, blood-like fluid, their forms collapsing back into the earth in shattered pieces.

Then—

Stillness.

No more movement.

No more shifting bark.

Nothing.

They didn’t know if they had destroyed them all… or if the rest had simply chosen to stay still.

Neither option felt comforting.

But they didn’t have time to stand there and figure it out.

They moved.

Fast.

Tee and her teammates pushed forward, cutting through the forest as it fought to contain them. Vines lashed out from the trees, twisting together mid-air to form nets meant to trap and bind—but the team sliced through them without slowing, blades flashing as they carved a path ahead.

Eventually, the trees began to thin.

The forest opened.

And what waited beyond made their steps falter—if only for a fraction of a second.

Tall.

Far too tall.

Massive, long-legged creatures stood scattered across the open land, their heads disappearing into the low-hanging clouds above. Just looking at them made your chest tighten—something about their scale, their stillness, felt deeply wrong.

The four-eyed birds circled around their upper forms, tiny in comparison, their red eyes flickering like distant embers in the sky.

Luckily…

They hadn’t been noticed.

The team moved carefully, keeping low, crossing the open stretch with controlled speed.

They traveled far.

Farther than expected.

Strange creatures drifted through the air ahead—soft, white, almost like floating cotton. They bobbed and swayed gently, as if carried by a current no one else could feel.

But they didn’t react.

Didn’t attack.

Didn’t even acknowledge them.

The team passed through with ease, their speed working in their favor.

For a moment—

It felt almost quiet again.

Then something picked up their trail.

A pack of canines burst into motion behind them.

Fast.

Too fast.

They charged forward with snapping jaws, following their scent with relentless precision. Black flames streamed from their backs like wild, flowing hair, rippling with each stride. Their eyes were sunken—glowing red from deep within hollow sockets.

They were gaining.

Miko reacted without hesitation.

She summoned a blade mid-run, attaching an explosive to its surface in one fluid motion before hurling it sideways into a spinning arc toward the nearest beast.

The creature lunged—

—and caught it between its teeth.

For a split second, everything held.

Then—

Detonation.

The explosion ripped through the pack, tearing several of the beasts apart in a violent burst of force and flame.

The remaining creatures staggered, their formation breaking.

They slowed.

Then stopped.

The pursuit ended.

Only then did the team allow themselves to stop, their momentum easing as they caught their breath.

The silence that followed felt earned—but uneasy.

Zod’s attention shifted suddenly.

Something caught his eye.

Miko’s shoulder.

His voice echoed in their minds, sharp with alert.

“Crap, she’s going to freak out.”

Zod motioned subtly, signing for Miko to look at her left shoulder.

She did.

The detached tongue twitched—then began giggling.

Alive.

Far too alive.

Miko shrieked, her whole body recoiling as she whipped the disgusting thing off her shoulder. It hit the ground with a wet slap, still writhing, still laughing in that unnatural, mocking way.

She stood there, breathing hard, staring at it as it squirmed with disturbing energy.

Tee laughed.

The sound slipped out before she could stop it—sharp, familiar. It pulled her back for a moment… to simpler times. Messing with Miko. Getting reactions just like that.

She had always been so gullible.

The shriek didn’t go unnoticed.

Birds nearby burst into the air all at once, wings beating violently as they scattered across the sky.

“That can’t be good,” Kie thought.

“Let’s keep moving,” Tee said, her voice cutting through their minds.

They didn’t hesitate.

But it was already too late.

A swarm of massive flying beasts had picked up on them.

Their forms were grotesque—large bodies with unnaturally small heads, thin wings slicing through the air, their smooth white skin reflecting the strange light of the sky. Their eyes… sharp. Razor sharp. Built to see for miles.

And they saw them.

They dropped from the sky like missiles.

The team moved instantly, accelerating with everything they had. They chose not to engage—saving their energy, weaving and dodging instead, pushing forward in a desperate attempt to outrun what hunted them.

But the creatures didn’t give up.

They persisted.

The sound of rushing water grew ahead—loud, constant.

Relief… and danger.

They broke through the last stretch and arrived at the edge of a wide waterfall.

Pink.

The water mirrored the sky as it spilled endlessly over the edge, crashing into nothingness below.

Their trackers pulsed—pointing forward.

The Omega Stone lay somewhere beyond.

They paused—just for a second.

Just long enough.

The swarm caught up.

“They’re so many,” Miko thought, her voice tight.

“Just great,” Saeda added.

Kie turned, stepping toward the edge.

He extended his arm and summoned an Ultramana construct, forcing it outward—stretching it across the gap toward the other side.

But it faltered.

The structure shimmered, translucent, unstable.

The further it extended, the more it fractured—its edges splintering and shattering before it could fully connect.

He tried again.

And again.

Same result.

Even if it worked with smaller stepping constructs… the flying beasts would still be on them.

“I can’t use sorcery to enhance his construct and risk another attack,” Tee thought.

The others didn’t question it.

They already knew her abilities were being affected.

Kie made the call.

“Then we jump,” he said. “Maybe that’ll get them off our trail.”

What the—

Zod’s thought cut in sharply, pulling everyone’s attention back.

The ground trembled.

Then split.

A massive snout forced its way through the trees as a colossal beast seemed to materialize from nothing. It surged upward onto its hind legs and snapped its jaws—catching one of the flying creatures mid-air.

Bones shattered instantly between its teeth.

When it landed, the impact shook everything around them.

The remaining flying beasts retaliated, diving in with razor-edged wings and tearing claws—

—but their attacks passed straight through.

Like it wasn’t fully there.

The creature flickered—then vanished.

Or…

“Did that thing just vanish?” Kie questioned.

Tee’s eyes narrowed slightly, still tracking it.

“I can still see it.”

A beat.

“Great… it’s intangible,” Saeda thought.

“What did you say about jumping?” Tee shot back.

She didn’t wait.

She stepped forward—into the water.

The others followed immediately, wading in as the pink current surged around them. The deeper they went, the stronger the pull became, dragging at their legs, their balance.

Waist.

Chest.

Neck.

They linked hands.

The current pulled harder, dragging them toward the edge.

Behind them, the sound of massive feet tore through the water—loud, violent, closing in fast.

In sync, they took one last deep breath.