Chapter 268: Risk it for the biscuit (Patreon)

Following the decision to actually go on a mission to the Yin-Yang Realm, comes a flurry of preparations.

And of course, we’re not the only party involved in these matters, so we quickly ask Trisha to summon the Cinnamon Circle.

The wait for them to actually reconvene is only slightly more frustrating than the meeting itself, considering the amount of discussion about the minutiae of our mission—mainly due to concerns from Marty—but finally, the entire war council is willing to agree and sign off on our plan.

The scribbling of Trisha’s quill informs me that all the stress-eating is going to bite me in the ass eventually, but that’s a problem for future Emma.

With the plans and permissions settled, our mobile home swings by Herman’s shell to deliver some ‘supplies,’ and a short crate-ride later—with a lot of muffled swearing about elbows and sharp edges—we find ourselves inside a picturesque pocket dimension.

Because I have to say, between the bright pink sand, the clear green seawater, and the towering, bowl-like cliffs of white stone, Herman’s Haven really is gorgeous.

There’s even a quaint wooden shack with a straw roof and a merrily smoking chimney, with surfboards and various other water sport equipment stalled outside of it, and a wooden walkway leading up to a small dock.

Koko is naturally the first to notice our presence, but her excitement swiftly draws the attention of the others.

Within seconds, Kaitlynn is covered in a literal pile of massive ‘cuties.’ Meanwhile, Kirri smoothly sails out of the water and up onto the sand towards me, with Koko on her prow.

Suri just stands there, looking on coolly as we catch up and I bring them up to speed, until Herman himself comes out of the shack to greet us and starts making small talk with her.

Well, he’s actually only present in the form of a humanoid conjuration with a blue, crab-like head and limbs sticking out of his loud Hawaiian-style shirt and swim trunks.

I’m not even sure if his spiritform can enter this spatial pocket, or if it needs to stay outside to maintain it.

While not fully understanding this place puts my instincts a little on edge, I’m at least comforted by the fact that I can still communicate with the fabric.

It’s through that connection that I kind of start to sense what he’s done. Unless I’m mistaken, he’s somehow managed to get part of the fabric to fold outwards into an almost literal pocket.

It’s not a disconnected bubble like I thought; it’s more like a balloon, in the sense that there’s still an opening through which it’s connected to the outside, it’s just twisted shut.

At this point, all he probably needs to do to maintain it is keep control over that opening, and not allow it to untwist—unless he’s letting people in or out—or for any of his captured fabric to slip out.

And that opening appears to be tucked away somewhere around his belly, beneath his armoured plates.

It takes a while, but eventually Kaitlynn manages to escape from her enthusiastic pets, after Koko volunteers to keep them busy while we get to work.

Kaitlynn, Suri, and I board Kirri, and she wheels around on the pristine sand before sailing off onto the crystal-clear lagoon.

In the wooden shack, three odd objects are left behind within a locked cabinet: a tiny Rubik’s Cube, an intricately decorated crystalline vase, and a portrait depicting a family of four—featuring a familiar, blue-haired girl.

Those are naturally the respective anchors of me, Suri, and Kaitlynn, which Herman promised to personally guard.

Even if he somehow fails to do so, we’ve got back-ups in Trisha’s Traveling Teahouse. Incidentally, I feel like, with some practise, this might actually serve as a solution to our issue of sneakily getting around.

Because that’s the interesting thing about travelling between the Realm of Imagination and the Yin-Yang Realm; it’s something we can do on our own power.

That is to say, it doesn’t require the Apex to rip a hole in the fabric leading to the Realmvoid, because we don’t actually need to go there. This is something I previously hadn’t considered—as I took the explanation that it was easier due to being a ‘lateral’ shift for granted—but have since learned the actual reason for.

Put simply, despite existing in distinct Realmspaces—or perhaps because of it—there is some overlap between the Realm of Imagination and the Yin-Yang Realm. This is why we don’t have to actually enter the true Realmvoid, so much as pass through a kind of interstitial space between the Realms, which is a lot less chaotic.

It’s not a very straightforward process, however. For an analogy, imagine being in a mirror palace, and instead of just needing to find a way out, you need to somehow step into a mirror.

Yeah... Good luck with that.

Essentially, it’s a very unnatural thing to do, which kind of sidesteps the reality of this Realm, so the only way to actually do it is by having something guide us into the interstitial space.

However, we have a plan.

I got the idea from something that happened when Starmother first came to try and claim me. As she was arguing with Goddess about whose Realm I belonged to, the jagged end of my former mortal tether... reacted.

Specifically, it reacted to the concept of being One.

Interestingly, the reaction stopped after Goddess asserted herself and proclaimed this to be her Realm, which fell under her Laws, and not those of the Yin-Yang Realm.

Still, it’s clear that due to their close proximity, some of the Laws and properties of the two Realms bleed into each other. And the first Law of Being is, of course, All are One.

“Ready?” I ask once we’ve sailed a decent distance onto the lagoon.

Kaitlynn starts a little, but meets my gaze and nods determinedly.

Suri, meanwhile, has dropped her humanoid conjuration, revealing her cyan spiritform. “As I’ll ever be.”

“Then let’s get this party started,” I state, pushing down the nervous jitters as I sit down cross-legged on the front deck. It’s a bit of a tight fit with the three of us, but we make do. “Kirri, just drift for now.”

“Sure thing, Em.”

Truth be told, she didn’t really need to be here for this, but after hearing our plans, she insisted on sending us off. I hesitated to agree at first, but to be honest, the gentle rocking is quite pleasant, and moreover something I associate with travelling between Realms, so it might actually help.

Closing my eyes, I reach out a hand to each of my compatriots. Kaitlynn’s is firm and warm in mine, and Suri’s surface is cool and smooth. The last thing I notice through my tuned-in senses before I cut them off, is Kaitlynn reaching out to Suri to complete our tiny meditation circle.

More like a meditation triangle, I guess.

We inhale together—though Suri just makes the sound—and speak in sync.

“Body and spirit, are One.”

As before when we tested this, an itchy feeling erupts on the jagged end of my chain, and it moves ever so slightly, like a snake stirring from hibernation.

I immediately hone in on the sensation, focusing all my being on the tiny pull before it can fade.

I continue concentrating on the concept of being One, and the movement of my chain slowly becomes more pronounced, the attractive force growing stronger.

However, its direction remains difficult to pin down, as it seems to shift constantly.

Finally, after what feels like a long internal struggle, I manage to let go of the concept of three-dimensional space, and something clicks.

A vague sense of something distant appears in my mind, something that’s reacting and calling back.

The other end of my broken tether.

Yes!

Despite this not being the first time I’ve succeeded in doing this, I almost lose the ephemeral feeling in my excitement. Still, in the end I manage to hold on even as I give the agreed-upon signal of tapping twice with each of my thumbs.

Then I settle in to study the feeling of the distant pull as I wait for my two companions to succeed in finding their bodies as well.

However, what feels like mere seconds later, Kaitlynn returns the taps, and Suri follows not too long after with two pulses of cold.

Great. Now for the tricky part.

My heart beats in my throat, ’cause what we’re about to try is something we haven’t done before, and in fact, I suspect has never been done before.

At this point, I’m quite confident any of us could manage to follow the resonance back to their body. However, we have concerns. Specifically, we’re worried Starmother might have our bodies monitored. And the moment she finds out we’re alive and back, the shit hits the fan.

So, instead of following the resonance to any of our bodies, we’re going to try to follow the resonance of all three, and hopefully end up somewhere in the middle. In a sense, we’re hoping to use each of our connections to our bodies to triangulate our way to a relatively random location within Peilinor.

There’s obviously quite some risk involved in this.

First of all, there’s no telling if it’ll even work, if it’s even possible to end up in the Yin-Yang Realm like this, but we at least have our anchors to find our way back, so it doesn’t seem likely that we’ll somehow get irrevocably lost. However, if we do succeed, there’s a decent chance that there will be someone around to notice our sudden appearance. Of course, the worst-case scenario would be that our bodies are actually all stored together, and we just end up right in front of Starmother.

However, for this, I’m banking on the pride of the Peilor. I’m 99% certain that they would choose to give different treatment to a hostbody and a Peilor, and that we thus won’t be stored together.

Moreover, while Kaitlynn and my bodies need to be kept in Boreum in order to remain preserved, that shouldn’t be the case for Suri’s crystal.

In the end, this whole plan is a gamble, but at this point, we’re going to have to take some risks.

And so, I tighten my grip on Kaitlynn’s hand, while at the same time, Suri grows a pair of handle-like protrusions for us to hold.

I swallow heavily. “All right, here we go, starting on three. One... Two... Three!”

And on three, each of us starts to move in the direction of our respective bodies, while tightly holding on.

For a moment, there’s a stalemate, and with the natural resistance of the Realm combined with our hands and handles holding each other back, we don’t succeed in going anywhere.

“Okay, start building up force!” I bring out through gritted teeth, trying not to lose grip on the ethereal feeling of the distant connection despite the straining.

I tighten my grip once more as both Suri and Kaitlynn start pulling harder. For a split second, nothing happens, but then we start to slip out of the Realm.

It’s kinda like we’re greased up, and start to slip through a maze in the fabric. That’s really the only way I can describe the feeling.

The last thing I hear before the world goes dark, is Kirri shouting, “Good luck, Emma!”

Author's note:

Thanks for reading! ^^