[Fragment Of Door]

  [Violet Doors Of Janus Quirinus]

  (Weave, Door, Spell, Ability, Technique, Movement, Construct)

  (Realm)

  Effect (Mortal): Chant, while imbuing the fingertips with the gentle creak of a dimensional doorway. Construct a pseudo-spiritual door which can remain active over extended periods of time. The [Violet Doors Of Janus Quirinus] connects the current location of the caster with a location visible to them.

  Weave natured spiritual energy is expended to transport items and living beings through the [Violet Doors Of Janus Quirinus] and the creation of another Violet Door while cause preexisting instances of the construct to collapse in on themselves.

  The distance that the Spell stretches over is determined through the amount of spiritual energy poured into it.

  Effect (Knight): Increases the maximum range between each instance of Violet Doors, allowing them to stretch over vast distances of space. [Violet Doors Of Janus Quirinus] now manifest a pseudo-spiritual dimensional space in between each Violet Door, allowing for the adjustment of ones intended destination.

  Layering a Fragment Of Realm atop his Fragment Of Door was done with the hope of transforming it into a triple-fragment pathway. Although the effects were rather lacklustre in Jon’s opinion, just the fact that it increased his teleportation distance was more than enough to satisfy his Knight-Ranked requirements for the Spell.

  One moment he was standing on the once busied streets of North Melbourne, gazing at the friend that he had known for more than half his life. He had pointed towards the television, hoping that Summer would glance towards it, allowing him to manifest his Violet Door.

  Opening it with a slight brush of his fingers, Jon stepped backwards, entering the pseudo-spiritual dimensional space that formed the “bridge” between his two Violet Doors.

  He gaze did not linger too long around him, lest something tried staring back at him.

  Another step backwards opened up his other Violet Door, wind brushing up against his cheeks, buffering against his hair and eyes. Jon did not so much as hesitate before leaning backwards, allowing himself to fall from Violet Door that he had manifested.

  More than fifty kilometres up into the air.

  His form becoming weightless, Heretical Chalk Protection manifesting across his upper body. Fragment Of Armour protecting him from the ultraviolet light that was dissipated throughout the stratosphere, figure shooting downwards with all the force of a raging-.

  “I’m thirty seconds out!” The voice of the Threaded-Heart Of Terminus Est whispering to him from the back of his mind. Jon nodding in response, reaching into his [Red Archives Of Mars Quirinus] and pulling out a spiritual item that he never thought he would have to use.

  An enormous arched gate, intricately crafted from Knight-level spiritual materials. Carved from some oak-redwood hybrid, it stretched more than thirty-feet in length, mimicking the appearance of a certain Boundless Heaven Gate.

  His hand placed squarely on the top of the enormous spiritual item, keeping it within arm’s reach of his current position.

  Winds buffering and crashing against the item, as gravity threatened to pull it back down towards the surface.

  It was a Knight Ranked spiritual item that Jon personally commissioned Maliq to create. Although someone from the Merchant Guild had carved the enormous arched gate, Jon himself had provided the Fragment Of Portal and Fragment Of Boundless which formed the basis for its abilities.

  Although he had not once considered using it since Vaa’mina and Yueli had died, he had not found the time to gift it to Shamael or Avahni, knowing that the two of them would be able to make the most of its effects.

  Glaucus manifested across his face and neck, shifting the position of several armoured-plates, preventing air from entering and exiting the thin-space beneath the armour. Overloading the Heretical Chalk Protection, Jon stretched out his arms and legs, hoping to increase his drag and reduce his speed enough for Song to-.

  “I’m here!”.

  The fifty-metre-long epoch-heart dragon bursting through the clouds beneath him, clawed-hands extended forward, delicately reaching towards Jon and the Boundless-Portal Gateway. Threaded-Heart Of Terminus-Est matching the descent speed of his master and summoner, allowing Jon to climb aboard his back, handing the spiritual item towards his summoned companion.

  “You know what to do!” Jon shouted, hoping to be heard over the buffering winds.

  Song Lian Yu nodding his head, tilting it back ever-so-slightly while holding the Boundless-Portal Gateway in two hands.

  “Are you sure we couldn’t have done this from the ground!?” Song replied, communicating through his Fragment Of Dragon, “Wouldn’t it be safer if you just used it from an abandoned building or from the bottom of a lake or something!?”

  Jon shook his head in response, extending the fingers of his Tabitha-Cedarspear Arm, so that it comfortably hooked onto the epoch-heart dragon. Wooden tendrils extending from each fingertip, allowing Jon to maintain his upright position on the enormous dragon.

  “The elevation could screw up my spiritual energy expenditure!” Jon shouted back, “At least from fifty kilometres up in the air, wherever the portal ends up connecting to, I don’t have to worry about crashing into anything!”

  Song merely nodded his head in response, warm air escaping from each of his nostrils. His draconic-scales were capable of resisting the ultraviolet light that pierced through the mesosphere, gleaming with a faint silverish-light.

  Jon flowing spiritual energy from his Weave Mana Core into his Fragment Of Dragon. Allowing Song Lian Yu to then channel said spiritual energy from his own Source into the Boundless-Portal Gateway. A rather adroit level of spiritual energy manipulation, one that combined both Jon’s excellent connection with the epoch-heart dragon.

  As well as Song’s precise level of mana control.

  The Boundless-Portal Gateway humming with a potent amount of weave natured and ice natured spiritual energy. Jon swiftly switching out several of his equipped spiritual items, cursing that he did not possess a Knight Ranked Boundless Talisman within his Red Archives.

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  Instead, settling for both a Knight Ranked Gate Talisman, and Knight Ranked Portal Talisman.

  “Are you ready Jon!?”

  The Princeps Of The Wandering Mutation gritting his teeth, pushing more and more spiritual energy into his Fragment Of Dragon. Although he did not make it a habit of overloading spiritual items, Jon continued doing so, in the hopes of improving the amount of distance the Boundless-Portal Gateway could take him.

  The enormous, thirty-foot tall arched gateway swinging open, revealing nothing but a world of boundless white light. Song Lian Yu narrowing his eyes at the sight of the smaller gateway, but launched himself towards it regardless, swimming through the air with a graceful and majestic beauty.

  The corners of his mouth curling upwards, revealing a set of serrated draconian teeth. Seir-Terminus Heart pounding within him, muscles coiling in expectation for the battle that they were about to leap into.

  ‘Finally,’ Song thought to himself.

  ‘We finally get to fight again!’

  Jon expressions unperturbed, concealed beneath Glaucus, and controlled through his Three Seas Of Knowledge.

  ‘This is it.’

  ‘No more hiding.’

  ‘Not anymore.’

  The two vanishing inside the Boundless-Portal Gateway. Said spiritual item disappearing alongside them, reappearing on the other side of the manifested gateway. Wisps of ice natured spiritual energy carried off into the wind, flowing between clouds and condensed raindrops.

  Stirring some unconscious presence. Somewhere within the exosphere, more than two thousand kilometres away from their previous location, pinkish-yellow eyes flickered open, sleep disturbed by the faint movements of Jon and Song beneath it.

  Feathers slowly falling down towards the surface of the Earth.

  Break.

  Humanity had long since stepped into the digital age. The creation of the internet and widespread use of wireless transmissions allowed even the most average and unassuming of individuals to access more than half of humanities recorded knowledge and history.

  It had created a world of instantaneous interconnectedness, where once ‘something’ was out, it was damn-near impossible to put said ‘something’ back into the box. Regardless of whether it was war crimes in a neighbouring country, or a president or prime minister sleeping with one of their assistants, once ‘something’ was out.

  It was forever cemented in the digital annals of the internet.

  Hundreds of thousands of not millions of men and women, from all over the world gazed towards their phones, computers or television screens, leaned forward. Eyes blinking rapidly, as if trying to see if their senses were lying to them.

  Dozens of news outlets all playing the same thing.

  Regardless of what channel someone decided to watch, everyone was still focusing on the exact same thing. Their gazes unable to turn away from such an unbelievable sight, yet the ‘impossible’ was clearly visible right in front of them.

  “… Approximately two hours ago, an unidentified creature made landfall on the shores of Syndey Airport. The two-headed turtle creature stretches over one-hundred-metres long and is capable of…”

  “… Producing blasts of superheated water that is capable of melting steel and reinforced titanium. Anti-personnel rounds seem to have no effect on the creature, nothing but the strange, almost magical abilities of…”

  “… Similarly identified individuals with human-esque appearances. One has been seen with scales, with another with ears eerily similar to that of an “elf”. Two are thought to have furred-limbs reminiscent of a cheetah or…”

  “… All individuals also possessing some strange, otherworldly abilities. The manifestation of fireballs and wind blades, alongside the manipulation of earth and concrete have been identified. One was even capable of harming the larger creature with a destructive blast of overwhelming light…”

  “… No explanation for their appearance but have assisted in the evacuation of the airport. Two planes have been forced to land within Sydney Harbour, rescue crews rushing to seen in order to retrieve the stranded…”

  While others, watched the various news reports and livestreams of the Sydney attack, commenting under the videos with awed expressions or scoffs of disbelief.

  “Yeah right! As if something like this would actually happen! This is so outrageous, its actually circled around to becoming unbelievable.”

  “But everyone is reporting on it!? Every channel, regardless of what country or language you watch it in!? How can we dismiss this, when the evidence is right in front of us!?”

  “Why are we even arguing about this!? People are literally dying!”

  “I’m more interesting in these individuals that the reports are saying possess ‘magical abilities.’ How have we not heard of them before? Why are they just appearing now? And what is their intents regarding our societies?”

  “I’m actually surprised that the military hasn’t arrived yet? Didn’t one of the other news channels report that the HMAS Melbourne was dispatched to assist in the retrieve of passengers?”

  “Why haven’t they been diverted to help kill the creature?”

  Tens of thousands of voices had been drowned out, in a sea of literally millions of comments. All over the world people argued as they watched the news reports flood in, dozens of articles created in a matter of minutes, only a handful of which linked the reporters that were currently on the scene.

  Summer watched from within the bar, alongside Kate and her friends, Claire and Amy. Although some within the establishment had turned their eyes away from the television, most keep watching, quietly muttering to each other.

  A few frantically texting relatives or friends that lived in Sydney, hoping to find greater clarity on the situation. Although most believed that the existence of the hydra-turtle was not a falsification, their worries exceeded their level of rational thought right this moment.

  Kate did ask Summer where Jon had gone after she had come out from the bathroom but-.

  “Holy shit! It’s attacking one of the terminals!”

  The sound of an explosion rung out from the television, the helicopter that the reporter was filming from reeling back after another violent blast of superheated water crashed one of the main terminals. Although it was reported that the inside of the building had been evacuated, there was still a handful of employees and security personnel surveying the grounds, looking for any stragglers.

  The camera panned away from the sight, dust and steam obscuring their vision.

  Several sharp gasps echoed out from the bar around them.

  Summer tightened her grip over the drink in her hand, narrowing her brows that the screen.

  ‘What the hell have you gotten yourself into… Jon?’

  Summer felt someone nudge her side, half-glancing towards Claire on her left. The girl, that she had been flirting with not even five minutes ago flashed her a smile, one that seemed to suggest something other than just playful banter.

  Although her eyes were firmly locked onto the live news report, she couldn’t quite help but turn back towards Claire, flashing her a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

  “Hey, I thought you said that you were going to take us to that restaurant across the street?”

  Summer hesitated for a moment, momentarily moving her gaze back towards the television screen. The incomprehensible size of the hydra-turtle seemed to suggest that it was more than twenty-metres-tall, making it even larger than most commercial boats.

  She nodded her head, gesturing towards her half-drunken glass.

  “We’ll leave just after I finish this.”

  “I promise it shouldn’t be more than-.”

  The sound of a draconian-roar silenced her. Breath hitching and fingers clenching as Summer, alongside dozens of other patrons lifted their heads back towards the television screen. The cameraman, still seated within the ascending helicopter roughly moved his camera in the direction of the skies above him, rapidly moving to discover the source of said sound.

  The television screen recorded nothing but black, dusk-filled skies, tinted with dark shades of purples and violets. The reporter swiftly dribbled some verbal nonsense about additional countermeasures that the military had moved to implement but was interrupted by the appearance of-.

  “Is that-.”

  “A dragon!?” Another patron exclaimed behind her.

  Summer, alongside hundreds of thousands of other views leaned closer towards their screens. The hairs on the back of their neck raised and their expressions morphing into one of blatant awe and disbelief.

  An enormous, fifty-metre-long creature flickering through the clouds above Sydney Airport. Its form thin and elongated, tail making up almost half of its entire length. Silverish-platinum scales glittering amidst the faint light, whiskers and frills similarly visible to those with a more discerning eye.

  Those even more perceptible, noticed something else as well.

  ‘Wait… what is that on its back?’ Summer thought to herself.

  Mouths dropping as the visible figure of a person rode atop the epoch-heart dragon.

  ‘This is it.’

  ‘No more hiding.’

  ‘Not anymore.’