Machina Arcanis: Two Worlds Collided
Chapter 148. The Impossible Outcome

“Not possible!” Zetius’s words spilled out as his fingers reached for his former prized possession.

“Ah~Ah! Keep your hands to yourself,” Nyrethein teased, pulling back and lifting her finger at him. Her alluring smile remained unwavering. Her silver eyes drew to the orb resting in her palm, its mythical beauty undeniable.

“The Primordial Essence of Nyxphaos. Quite a fitting name, don’t you think?” she declared, her voice echoing around them.

Zetius grimaced and obediently stepped back as he composed himself. “That’s simply impossible. As per Rule Zero of Arcana Magica, you can’t use an essence that isn’t yours. The affinity, prerequisite knowledge, creativity, the mana flow, and the complications are too great,” he reluctantly explained.

Nyrethein gave him a knowing smile. Her eyes narrowed with mischief. “Unless two parties are bonded…” She paused dramatically. “Deeply,” she added, her assertive tone softening into something erotic.

Feeling the heat rise to his face, Zetius barked, “Fat chance!” baring his teeth.

There was no way he would betray his oath to Lupus. His unyielding love for her meant more than any essence, more than power, more than fate.

“Owwww, that hurts,” she mocked, pulling a pained grimace as if wounded by his words.

Then, with deliberate mischief, she bent forward, letting her assets fall shamelessly into view.

“Are you not even a little curious about what I’m offering in return?” she teased. “It’s incredibly compelling... something that traces all the way back to the ages of mythos.”

Her voice climbed into a high, playful pitch on that final note, like a temptress singing an old fable.

“Not interested. You can keep it,” Zetius flatly rejected. She straightened up gracefully, hiding whatever flicker passed behind her eyes.

“However, Celestius Nyrethein Vale,” Zetius addressed her properly, arms folded across his chest, “riddle me this. How did you obtain it?”

“Huuuh?” Nyrethein cupped her lips in mock surprise. “You still haven’t figured it out?” She chuckled, letting the essence dissolve into her body with theatrical ease.

“So, you knew about my rebirth. Why did Master Ignius bring me back? And how?” Zetius pressed, his voice tight with burning curiosity.

Nyrethein’s piercing gaze slid down from his chest, lingering conspicuously at his crotch. She made sure he noticed.

“Well, such a miracle can’t be performed by one Celetius,” she purred, “why don’t you ask Vivian? She’s the one who carved that body of yours. Though something...” She trailed off, double-checking as her lips curled into a smirk, “Seems oddly misproportional.”

“She’s a lustful woman!” Cubie snapped, pointing accusingly at the Celestius.

Nyrethein burst out laughing, thoroughly amused.

Zetius flushed and pretended to adjust his coat, clearing his throat in a vain attempt at composure.

“Zetius, who’s Vivian?” Cubie asked, tilting her head in innocent confusion. She hadn’t been awakened when Jack and his party tried to cross Porand’s border.

“The Celestius Vivian Viberty, the Celestius of Virgo. I’ve never spoken to her directly. There was a Novitcius mage who acted as the medium. Her name is Terissa Mercier, we partook in one of a mission together.” Zetius clarified, closing his eyes as he recalled. “One that failed miserably.” He kept the last part to himself.

Cubie nodded, taking in the information.

“Jackpot! Hehe,” Nyrethein exclaimed, her eyes flicking to the distant mountain, which had now begun to crumble. No seismic waves. No rumbling. Just visual destruction unfolding in the far terrain.

“Well, I fear our time is limited. But this isn’t the end of it, you can count on to that,” Her fingers danced through the air in a ritualistic gesture. “Hehe, only if you’ve proven your worth against the gods’ challenge, of course.”

“Wait—” Zetius shouted, reaching forward, but everything turned to mist before his eyes. The ground gave way, and both he and Cubie plunged into the unknown.

“Zetius!?” Cubie cried in fear, eyes darting in every direction. But he clasped her hands delicately. His sharp eyes of the red sun locked into hers, reining her in.

“I’ll protect you, Cubie,” he reassured her. His confidence and seriousness gave her peace of mind. Cubie smiled as both of them began free-falling into the void.

“Just for the record, this is the ‘shallow’ level of the Dreamless…” Nyrethein’s voice echoed faintly, followed by her eerie laughter.

Darkness erupted and engulfed them as they passed into the next edge of the Dreamless realm.

As they exited, Zetius felt the sensation of gravity return. His hair and arc coat flapped in the wind as they descended. The downward force pulled them fast, wind howling in his ears.

Then a sudden churn stopped him mid-air, redirecting gravity’s pull. His stomach twisted uneasily as he softly landed on a surface of dark, still water.

The splash rang out gently, but it turned out to be ankle-deep. The cold enveloped his boots without soaking his socks.

“Huh?” Zetius grunted, puzzled at the shallowness of the water.

Cubie hovered above the surface beside him. Her blue locks floated elegantly.

“Where are we?” she asked, scanning the surroundings.

There were no distinct features, just still water. Mostly empty.

But Zetius spotted strange wreckage in the far distance. Battleships. Towers resembling abandoned lighthouses.

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“Those are artefacts from ancient times. No one travels by sea anymore, not since the early 20th century…” Zetius recited, recalling a history lesson from class.

Everything was dim, but not entirely dark. He and Cubie could still see, far beyond the horizon, where crimson shadows bled into the distance.

Zetius gazed at the eerie skyline, heart thumping with an emotion he couldn’t quite place.

Thrill? Perhaps, excitement. A wicked smile crept across his lips.

Fear excited him. It always had.

This setting, unreal and haunted, resonated with something buried deep in his heart. A silent terror. One that perhaps stirred in Cubie as well.

“Over there!” Cubie urged, pointing toward a greyish ashland that resembled a distant shoreline.

On the far side, strange architecture loomed around their landing zone. Long, massive spikes jutted from the ashen soil in an intimidating pattern, thousands of them, stretching beyond what the eye could see. The air reeked of threat, the kind that sparked a primal fear, one that warned all living things to stay away.

Cubie turned to Zetius, her face uneasy. “I think we’re still in the Dreamless Realm.”

“No doubt about that.” Zetius scanned the terrain. “I’ve heard of places like this in myth. It reeks of primal power… or perhaps just a fragment of it.”

“How do you know?” Cubie asked, eyes narrowed with suspicion.

Zetius tapped his temple nonchalantly. “In the Age of Mythos, there was a being considered the second most powerful among the divines. Darkness was her domain, Nyx, the goddess of the night.” He raised his arms slightly, palms up, as if invoking her name.

Cubie nodded slowly, unsure at first. Then, her lips curled. “You might be on to something, Zetius. Hmmm… you might be a genius—”

“A prime disciple,” Zetius corrected proudly, squaring his shoulders.

Cubie leaned forward, eyes sparkling. “Then who’s the most powerful god of all?”

“Of course, it’s Zeus! Haven’t you seen his statue atop the Crowned Balcony?” he said with a grin.

Her face lit up. “Oh! That beardy man!”

“Correct,” he replied, resting both hands on his hips.

Then, she tilted her head and tapped her lips with a finger. “If they were that powerful… where are they now?”

Zetius’s smile vanished. He blinked. “Umm…”

“Because everywhere we go, I only see stone versions of them. Did they leave or something?”

“Uh, yeah. Maybe. Except Gaia,” Zetius mumbled.

“Who’s Gaia? People seem to invoke her name a lot.”

“She’s… our world.” Zetius groaned in frustration. Cubie had entered that stage. The questioning stage like those three-year-old kids.

“Cubie, why don’t you search the arc comm? Don’t you have access to the library?” he snapped, pouting at his own lack of answers.

Cubie closed her eyes and hummed dramatically. After a long pause, she frowned. “No signal. I can’t connect to anything…” she said, visibly disappointed.

Zetius checked the bronze ring on his finger. His arc comm was silent. Nothing.

“It’s fine,” he said, forcing calm. “Let’s move on. You’ll be able to find your answers once we get out of this place.”

“Agreed. If your assumption’s correct, we might be dealing with something powerful up ahead.”

Zetius found himself agreeing and turned his gaze to the forgotten shore. “I’ve never seen architecture like this. Not even in the strangest places. But… somehow, it looks like a maze.”

He sniffed the air, but there was no scent. Nothing at all. Just dead atmosphere.

“W~what do we do?” Cubie asked nervously. Her eyes darted between Zetius and the unknown shoreline.

“We investigate,” Zetius said simply, stepping into the shallow water. Ripples spread around his legs, and the sloshing sound of his footsteps echoed unnaturally far.

***

Hours had passed as they traversed through sharp rocks that formed a path into a deep, narrow chasm. Jagged spikes jutted out erratically, as though designed to injure any intruder who failed to tread carefully.

“This place feels endless,” Zetius groaned, taking a long stride.

“Are you tired, Zetius?” Cubie asked, floating in front of him. At that moment, Zetius got a full glimpse of her face. She was uniquely beautiful, with a prominent nose like his, doll-like eyes and lips that reminded him of Aurelia’s, and slightly wavy, mythical-looking hair. Her skin, however, sparkled with a shade of blue he had never seen in any race.

Zetius seemed lost in thought as he studied her. Eventually, Cubie spoke up. “What’s wrong with my face?” she asked sheepishly, her glowing eyes staring at the ground.

“I just feel strange, seeing you this way. There’s such a stark difference from when you were just a floating cube. That version was a bit goofy,” Zetius said with a light smile.

Cubie chuckled and cupped her mouth. “Well, I guess I wasn’t just a cube after all.” She was slightly shorter than Zetius, but since she always floated, he had to look up to meet her gaze.

“Of course not. You’re my special one,” he admitted proudly as he brushed his fingers along her shoulder.

She flinched slightly before giving a small nod.

“Come to think of it, your anomalies have eluded me… Celestius Nyrethein did mention Celestius Virtius and his expertise in constructs…” Zetius pondered aloud, rubbing his chin.

Cubie nodded vigorously. “I need to know what I am… And more importantly, whether I’m just a construct,” she said with a hint of unease.

It was clear to Zetius that Cubie didn’t want to believe she was merely a programmed entity. His hunch confirmed it. “Cubie, you’re not a programmable construct, I can guarantee that. You don’t wait for my commands, and your stubbornness to disobey me or even Aurelia is proof enough.”

She smiled suddenly, revealing blue teeth. Not that it was surprising, everything about her was blue.

“Then I’ll keep being stubborn, hehe,” she giggled with delight, drifting in the air.

“Well, how did you materialise that Armatus part?” Zetius asked, tilting his head. That had been one of the last things he’d seen before descending into the Dreamless realm.

She fidgeted slightly. Her expression told him she didn’t fully understand it either.

“Maybe her power aligns closely with the Domoklasis,” Zetius reflected, poking his tongue into his cheek. Cubie stared at the gesture with fascination and tried to mimic it herself.

“What does that do? I never had a mouth before,” she asked, blinking deliberately. She opened her mouth, sticking out her blue tongue to one side. Even her insides glowed with the same hue. Zetius found that oddly intriguing.

“Oh, this? It’s just a habit I sometimes do when I’m thinking deeply,” Zetius explained with a faint smile. Part of him adored her innocence.

“Such a silly gesture. Inefficient!” she blurted, then giggled again.

After her echoing laughter subsided, Zetius’s lips parted as a bright idea struck him. “Well, let me ask you this. Can you try to imitate that again? I mean, we’re stuck here anyway.”

He glanced at the chasm ahead. Darkness loomed. Above them, the horizon was a dark red, void of stars.

“Hmmmmm…” Cubie hummed softly, hovering her hands in empty space, hoping for material to conjure itself. Nothing happened.

“Well… knowledge alone isn’t enough to create the arcane,” Zetius said, repeating the exact words Master Ignius had once told him. He cupped Cubie’s shoulder in consolation.

“Are you talking about will and imagination? I don’t understand either… None of them are logical,” Cubie admitted, glancing around uncertainly.

“Yes. We’re not so different, you and I,” Zetius said with a soft smile.

“How so?”

“See, we’re both trying to reach the destination using the minimum amount of effort. But in reality, it’s never like that,” Zetius explained as they strode down a corridor with almost no distinct features.

“Hmmmmm…” Cubie hummed again, poking her cheek with her tongue. “I don’t quite understand…”

Zetius sighed. “It’s fine. We’ll figure it out after this.” He continued forward.

One thing stood out to Zetius about the Dreamless realm, he did not feel hunger, thirst, or any of the mundane needs he would in a normal expedition.

Here, everything revolved around mana. It's ebb, it's flow, and the mastery of its manipulation.