In the end, Viktor sorted out the problem in classic Viktor fashion: by punching it. Specifically, he hit the canyon wall that the tracks had disappeared by. They hadn't disappeared but were rather progressed through some sort of stone wall.

What was interesting is that I could tell that the stone was recently created. It had a lot of stone Motes floating around in it - every so often I'd see one escape and disappear into the air after a bit. I committed the greivous error of informing István of this, we wound up having to drag him away from the wall after a minute or two since he was so interested in examining it. Normally I'd leave him to it, but we didn't have the time.

After all, it hadn't exactly been quiet when Viktor used 'violence' and received 'hole'. It'd been super effective.

The inside of the space had been a natural cave at one point, but it showed obvious signs of reinforcement and other activities designed to improve its utility as what was probably some sort of secret lair.

Considering the amount of cavernous underground spaces I'd encountered over the past couple of days, I was starting to feel nervous that the ground beneath me might just go all sinkhole without warning. Surely it was just a fluke, and there wasn't just a massive system of caverns undergirding the whole surface of the continent, right? That'd be kinda silly if it was the case, and also make me wonder why anyone bothered building anything above ground.

Here and there were crystal outcroppings that served as lights. The shape reminded me of the building we worked in, as did the texture of the white surface.

"What do you think came first, those crystals or the building we work in," I asked, voicing my chicken and egg question.

"That's a great question," István said, while Viktor just grunted. "As far as I know, the construction techniques for the buildings have been lost for a very long time. Apparently we did used to know how to fix them at some point, but that's gone now too. The historians I have spoken with believe that was lost around the point of the history cutoff, but we also know that the buildings are much much older than any of the oldest books, so I assume those were built first."

He laid a hand on one of the luminaires and the light flared brighter, "So yes, you were correct in that these are artificial. I can control them with my power... Nebula, you called it?"

I nodded, while Viktor looked up at us, as he'd been looking at the floor for a while now.

"Nebula?"

"Our protégée here says that is the correct name," István replied.

"Good to know." He went back to whatever it was he was looking at, no further questions asked. This reminded me of the thoughts I had about his interactions with István: if István said it, Viktor believed it. Complete faith. From the reactions in the prior battle, it would appear that István had the same total faith in Viktor's skills in combat and survivability.

Which put a question in my head.

"How long have you two known each other?" I asked.

The pair looked at each other and both smiled, apparently sharing some secret amusement.

"Forever, give or take a day," István replied, and Viktor laughed, the deep sound booming through the tunnel we were walking down.

"That's quite a while," I commented in the spirit of the conversation.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"Sure is," Viktor replied. Then he stopped walking, with István and I following suit immediately.

Viktor pulled a flashlight from his pocket, the small cylinder looking almost comical in his bear hands, like I would holding a pasta noodle.

Light burst forth from the end, and I realized after a few moments that I could see Nebula flowing from his grip into the structure of the thing, even though there was no Sigils of any kind to indicate a Seal being present. Maybe it was internal? I still had a lot to learn.

"Well, that is less than fortunate." István commented, while I was still looking around. Then I saw the wall move. Like the whole thing. It wiggled like a muscle spasm. It looked a lot like the rest of the wall, but as it twitched little splits and gouges formed, revealing that it was some kind of ooze covered in cave dust.

"Eww," I said out loud, just kind of throwing my thoughts out there.

"An accurate assessment," István commented. Viktor just grunted, which I took as a form of agreement. "But how do we deal with it?" István then asked. That got both a shrug and a grunt from Viktor.

Guess he was feeling chatty.

The unpleasant dampness reminded me of something I'd seen before.

"I might be able to deal with this," I said, "But don't quote me on that."

When the other two didn't respond, but just looked at me, I took it as a tacit agreement to continue and walked up to the surface. I moved some Nebula, which I'd been circulating slowly in my Streams the entire time, away from the Eddy nearest my head and focused it in my eyes - trying to get back the same vision I'd used before. It flared into existence, coating the cave in hues and showing the wall as it truly was. Sure enough, off in the distance I could see a shattered Core. It was just like the Extractor, some sort of failed product.

I realized at this point that I'd never tried to look at whip monsters outside our building to see if they were the same way. I kind of doubted it though, since those had been pretty normal looking people prior to… well that… happening to them.

Holding out a hand, I was about to set it on the wall when István cleared his throat behind me.

I looked back, and saw both him and Viktor jump a little, which was interesting. They looked quite surprised, and István took a moment to compose himself. "Are you sure you want to touch that? It does not seem wise." He was staring at me rather intensely, which was making me feel uncomfortable.

"Oh, good point, I'm not sure I actually have to," I said, all of which was accurate. I'd put my hands on the Extractor, but that surely hadn't been the smartest idea either. I turned back to the wall.

Copying my prior process, I moved a Mote out of my Core space and sent it down my arm. Doing it a second time, it did make me wonder if I was losing something irretrievable doing this. Did I have a finite amount of these? If so, how many. If it was thousands than using one or two to solve problems wasn't an issue, but if it was like a dozen, that could be very problematic. I made a mental note to ask Celistar next time I was lucky enough to talk to her.

I guess I'd have to start sleeping with the curtains open more often.

As it came to the end of my arm, I pushed a wave of Nebula out of my hand with the Mote, hoping to keep it intact. I did my best to form a cradle around it using the techniques István had shown me with the Artifacts, treating my Mote as if it was one.

I was surprised when the process went far smoother than it ever had with an Artifact, the Mote seeming to revel in the power around it and even enlarging somewhat.

The living wall, meanwhile, seemed to shrink back from the light now spilling into the space, seemingly having found its natural enemy. It pulled back slowly, until there was a depression in the surface in front of me, undulations rolling away from the center, similar to blowing on the surface of a hot cup of tea.

It wanted to run, and I wasn't about to let it. I pushed my Mote forward with encouragement, and it streamed out away from my hand in an almost eager manner.

Charge!

It sank into the wall, and I again watched as the glow flared into a bright conflagration.

"Shit." I said, before turning around. I had forgotten what comes next. By the time I had ran back to the pair of men, they'd gotten the idea and were running away themselves.

"How big is it going to be?" István asked, always the astute one of the group.

"Big," I replied, thinking back to the little Extractor. "Real big!"

Viktor, who was faster than the two of us, was already posted up around the next corner, his fingers in his ears.

"Farther!" I shouted as I ran past. I could hear a sizzling sound behind us. "It's going to be huge!"

We sprinted to the end of the tunnel, going out into the canyon and around the sides of the entrance.

Viktor was on one side, looking across at István and I, who both had our ears plugged. "I know it is going to be big, but is it going to be today?" He asked.

I looked at him incredulously. "How should I…"

Then the world exploded.

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