Book 9, Chapter 13
Eternal Vortex
Knowing that they were close to the Eternal Vortex, Richard silently went through the action plan repeatedly in his head. Confirming that there were no loopholes, he brought Apeiron towards one of the most dangerous sections of the void.
The two reached their destination half a day later, and cold only marvel at the wondrous might of the world. This was a place where order and chaos interweaved, an immense vortex occupying one’s entire field of vision. It was billions upon billions of kilometres wide; even if he gave it his all while teleporting, it would take years before he could fly out of range.
In front of him was a purple fog that represented the power of chaos, and resplendent crystals within that typified order. The crystals revolved around the centre, slowly spinning upwards like a tiny galaxy. Flames raged on their surface as the power of chaos crashed against them, reaching millions of degrees in temperature such that no living thing could survive it. Even an epic being would be burnt to nothingness; not even ash would be left behind.
After this expedition, Richard thoroughly understood that any dazzling colours represented great danger in the void. The more beautiful the scenery, the more it had to be avoided. He felt relieved by the fact that he had brought along someone who had entered this place before. If he had to explore this place himself, he wouldn’t be able to find any clues even if he spent his entire life here.
“How should we get in?” he asked her, “It’ll take a decade to get to the core if we just go straight.”
“There’s a better way,“ Apeiron floated forward, sending a few purple lines of energy into the distance. A purple flash gave rise to a stone platform, “There are many natural portals here that can save time.”
Marvelling once more, Richard teleported them a dozen times to reach the platform. It contained a natural spatial passage, but there was no way to know what was on the other end. There were copper braziers on the four ends, three with the symbol of space and one with the symbol of time. There were some nearly-depleted magic crystals at the bottom of each, and from the looks of it they formed a beacon for adventurers in the void.
"Someone’s been here?” he asked as he watched her stabilise the passage.
“Danger breeds opportunity. Some fool tries his luck here every decade or so; these flames are prepared especially for those legendary blockheads. The Vortex is dangerous even for epics, and legends just die, but there are rumours that the depths can lead to the alter world. It only makes sense that there are treasures capable of boosting one’s evolution, just like the stonelord.
Apeiron continued to explain the history of the Vortex, giving Richard a broad overview of this place. Many past generations had sought it out, hailing from different races on different planes but with the same ultimate goal. Most of them were just legends, unable to traverse thousands of kilometres at a time like Richard could. A single trip could cost them a century, so they had to proceed very cautiously. These natural portals were a way in, but not all of them were shortcuts. Some were simply fatal traps; one needed to use their flesh and blood to tell which was which.
The first one to discover these portals was an epic being from Aquila. They didn’t hide the discovery, instead making the coordinates public and even building a Lighthouse of Time nearby for navigation. That being decided to head into the Eternal Vortex, and nothing was heard from them ever again. Many other portals were discovered after that, but in their memory most made it a point to construct some form of coordinates next to the portals for the convenience of future explorers. Generation after generation slowly progressed into the depths of the Eternal Vortex.
The portal in front of Ricahrd primarily used chaotic energy, and the other end wasn’t guaranteed to be safe. Once Apeiron finished stabilising it enough for epic beings to travel through, she turned to him and warned, “Careful, the other end is a land of chaos.”
“Guard,” Richard said in chaotic tongue, accompanied by a nod. Beas of purple light shot out from his body and encased him in multiple barriers, their defensive strength giving Apeiron a moment of pause before she used her own chaotic energy to protect herself. A purple blaze burned around her as she jumped into the portal, with him following closely behind.
This chaos portal felt entirely different from Richard’s previous experiences with portals. He completely lost all means to interact with spacetime, endless chaotic energy around him confounding his perception. One moment he felt like he was motionless, the next he was spinning around rapidly. There was no way to know which was real.
It wasn’t easy to get through that portal, and when he did he gasped in relief. In front of him was Apeiron, suppressing a mischievous smile. She had clearly known and chosen not to warm him. Grumbling to himself, he tried to fly towards her and suddenly flipped around in space a few times. His eyes went wide as he realised that his body hadn’t recovered.
Finally learning from the experience, he extended his perception and used his ability as a Lord of Space to anchor himself in spacetime. Testing and tuning each part of his body, he eventually nodded and flew towards her.
Surprise flashed across Apeiron’s face, “Not bad, you’re the first I’ve seen to adjust so quickly. Many can’t adjust even after a day.”
“So you just wanted to torment me.”
“Of course not! This isn’t even much. Go to the Outlands and you’ll meet zones spawned purely by primal chaos. Without the laws of chaos, you’ll die or go insane in mere days.”
“Sigh.” Richard shook his head. The brief experience had already been disorienting enough to convince him of her words. For someone to live in such environments for decades… He didn’t understand just how she had survived. In hindsight, pushing herself to the edge of madness was perhaps the best way; it could give her the determination to hold on.
Looking around, all he saw was purple fog and black smoke. Gathering some of the mist and observing it closely, he found that it was purely a manifestation of primal chaos, containing no substance at all. The black smoke was actually a little substantial, but that was because it had been sullied by order and other laws.
Richard’s skin felt quite prickly as he made contact with the fog. The chaos energy in here was extremely potent, and even spread out so far it hurt even his tough body. Equivalent to a grade 8 spell, it could kill a saint with enough time.
Looking at his surroundings, all he could find was the purple and black. From far away it had looked like a line as thin as a hair, but once immersed within one would realise that it was thousands of kilometres thick.
“Let’s go, I’ll bring you to the next point,” Apeiron waved to Richard, moving much more freely than him. He understood her meaning, but he hesitated for a moment. He normally just grabbed her by the waist and teleported her, but being the one dragged around would feel awkward.
“Hey, stop dawdling!” she eventually grabbed him by the armpit, bouncing herself into the distance. The two followed the flow of this swirl of chaos into its depths.