Rewrite That Witch
CH1225 · Rewrite
☕ Support

Chapter 1225: The Remedy (II)

“Is this also magic power?”

“Yes. There are so many varieties that I cannot catalog them all.” Lan rested her hands on the table. “Think of it as a force that transcends the four fundamental forces — the missing term in every theory of grand unification, if that framing means anything to you. But it doesn’t mean you can walk freely into God’s territory or interfere with the Battle of Divine Will. This world is independent. It exists inside a membrane, a sealed boundary. That membrane is why I can sit here and speak to you at all.”

The word membrane brought an image to Roland unbidden: a cluster of soap bubbles, iridescent and drifting, the Dream World sealed inside one of them. He asked, “How do I get through it?”

“The same way magic power enters our world — through the Erosion.”

“I’ll need more than that.”

Lan looked at him steadily. “You’ve already noticed that this world has changed.” His pulse spiked. “At first, it was simply a reflection of your mind. But things exist here now that never came from you. That began when you started collecting the Forces of Nature.”

“You even know about that?”

“I have wandered the Realm of Mind since I was born. I can feel even small disturbances.” She continued without pause: “Both the Dream World and God’s territory are sustained by magic power. We call the condensed form of it the Force of Nature. The more of it you gather, the more this world expands — and as it expands, it begins to overlap with God’s territory. That overlap is what produces the Erosions.”

Roland had heard a version of this at the Prism City orientation. The implication was clear. He said, “The Martialist Association has been collecting cores from fallen Forces of Nature for years. If you want to accelerate the accumulation, why not simply back the Fallen Evils?”

Lan didn’t flinch at the suggestion. She only offered a thin, tired smile. “Unfortunately, I’m only the Defender’s student. I have no access to the central hub in the Prism City.”

“But you wouldn’t object.”

“If it ended the Battle of Divine Will, no. Once the cycle stops, the Erosions stop — so I would still be serving the Association’s original purpose, in a way.” The smile faded. “But that child — she has put so much faith in you. She would be devastated.”

A regret Roland had not seen before crossed Lan’s face as she said it, slow and genuine, and then it was gone.

Garcia. That was who she meant. It surprised him — that a woman who had lived centuries, who had watched generations grind themselves to nothing in a war that couldn’t be won, still felt something particular about one young martialist’s disappointment.

Was it an act? Or had she simply been in this role so long she couldn’t find the seam where it ended?

“There may be other ways,” Roland said. He was reaching for his coffee before remembering the cup was in pieces on the floor, and drew his hand back. “You said I have to enter the Realm of Mind in both worlds at once. If that’s the condition, maybe by the time we’re ready, we’ll have enough cores through ordinary means. The real question is: how will I know when the Dream World has expanded far enough to overlap with God’s territory? And we can’t enter from the Erosion in the Prism City, can we? That hollow isn’t the same thing.”

“Correct. The hollow in the Prism City is an absence — a void carved out of the Realm of Mind. Completely different.” Lan nodded. “As for knowing when the overlap arrives: you will know. It won’t be subtle. But that moment will also mark the beginning of the destruction of the two worlds. You must reach the Bottomless Land before that window opens.”

“And then?”

Lan shook her head.

She had reached the edge of what she could say without inviting God’s attention. Roland accepted it. There was a possibility she was withholding the rest intentionally, but even with only this much, the shape of the task was clear: drive the demons from the Land of Dawn, eliminate the Fallen Evils, and reach the Bottomless Land in the north before the worlds began to unravel. He had already intended to do most of that. The primary change was that both campaigns might need to run in parallel.

He still didn’t know what he would find at the Bottomless Land. Lan had said nothing about that. If this was a trap, the lie was buried somewhere in the part about replacing God — Roland doubted very much that God would simply step aside once a challenger arrived. Everything remained vague enough that he would need to proceed with his eyes wide open.

There was also the question he hadn’t asked yet. The one that, the more he turned it over, felt like the most important of all.

Why him?

Lan could have chosen anyone. She clearly wasn’t human in the ordinary sense — her age alone ruled that out. She could have approached a demon, or someone from the Sky-sea Realm. The demons held the Bottomless Land already. They were more powerful than mankind by any measure Roland could apply. Kabradhabi had confirmed that the Sky-sea Realm’s enemies were overwhelming. Both races were already closer to the goal than humanity was.

Roland was not arrogant enough to think he was uniquely irreplaceable.

Zero, for instance. Zero could leave a mark in the Realm of Mind. He was nearly certain of it. The Battlefield of Soul she had once described seemed to be exactly a contest fought at that level. The Dream World itself had roots there.

He put the question plainly. “I suspect I’m not the first person you’ve approached.”

“No,” Lan said without hesitation. “I’ve sought help many times, across centuries.”

A weight settled in his chest. “Demons included?”

“I know little about the other world. After I left the Divine Land I lost the ability to contact other servants. But I can tell you that I’m not the only one who turned away from God.”

“Who was the last person you spoke to about this? Zero? Someone else?”

“The Dream Courier, Alfina. She lived eight hundred and sixty-nine years ago.”

The name meant nothing to Roland. “None of your predecessors succeeded?”

Lan was quiet for a moment. “You might think that reaching the point where we can sit and talk like this is simple. It isn’t. Most of them never managed the first step: stabilizing themselves within the Realm of Mind long enough for communication to be possible. And I had to phrase everything in terms they could actually process — in terms built from their world, their language, their framework for understanding reality. Only when they could grasp what I was saying could they answer usefully. That constraint applies to you, to the demons, to everyone. The closer the match of understanding, the more that can be transmitted.”

“A shared frame of reference.”

“Exactly. You are the first person with whom I have ever communicated effectively. I don’t know where you acquired so much knowledge — far more than your era should have produced — but I’m grateful I found you.”

Roland hesitated before asking the last question. “What happens if I fail?”

Lan was still for a moment, a stillness that had no performance in it.

“I continue to wait,” she said. “Until the next person appears who can understand me. I wait until someone finally frees me.” A brief pause. “Or until God decides to end it.”

Discussion

Suggest a change