121. Expansion (Patreon)

I collapsed into my bed atop the Lawmaker's Tower and rapidly drifted to sleep, my consciousness rejoining the rest of myself within my soul-space.

Thanks to the efforts of all of my soul-shards the old power plant had become changed was coming alive. It was starting to look less like a desolate, empty ruin and more like a rich, lush meadow.

A silver-gray dress sat upon my body. It wasn't a real dress, but a memory of a dress I had designed back on earth about five years ago.

The semi-transparent, numerous layers of thin fabric fluttered atop my body as warm wind blew from the large windows surrounding the space. Blades of green and violet grass danced with every whisper of the wind, the breeze tugging at my red hair secured by an emerald butterfly pin.

I crossed through a field of violet and blue flowers and stared up at the ceiling covered in blooming wines.

Rays of imaginary sunlight broke through the overgrown windows, blue sky visible behind them. Nature was reclaiming my memory of Chernobyl... my soul was healing.

I stepped closer to the windows and stared out of them into the distance. The previously indeterminate view of a vague blur now a vast landscape view of the outside, a lush green terrain of ocean-like forest.

The landscape before me breathed and lived. It was filled with hills and trees. The horizon was dotted with decaying and semi-intact, distant towering structures. Somehow, they felt very familiar, had a wholesome sense of "home" about them that was drawing my eyes to them.

"...are those?" I stared at the towers, asking myself the question the answer to which I already sort of knew.

"They're visual representations of our other Infinite Mirrors," Junezia spoke from behind me. "See, that ice-covered gray tower over there is Cali and that dead, burned out, hollow shell of one in the distance is Leon."

"That's amazing," I uttered. "So we can..."

"Go there someday and visit? Yes," Juneberry clapped her hands. "The closer a soul is to the Dead Zone boundary, the better the connection is!"

I stared at the distant towers for a bit longer and then turned around and sat at a mossy table already manned by the other three Junis.

"How are things going otherwise?" I asked.

"Better than expected," Junezia said. "The additional Infinite mirrors are providing soul stabilization. I think that we're onto a breakthrough."

"We can align our magic closer with Infinity, right?" I guessed what the other me was thinking.

Junezia nodded.

JP stood up and lifted her fingers up. The ghostly hand of the phantom-me suddenly came apart into void-like blades almost making me flinch.

"JP is closer to Infinity than any of us," Junezia said. "Almost all of her soul-threads are Endies."

"Right," I nodded. "I get the gist. She's perfect at killing Astral Phantoms."

"It's a lot more than that," Junezia smiled "Thanks to the Entrance ceremony at Nemendias, we now know exactly what the magical hexagram for Infinity looks like."

"The logo for the House of the Infinite Searchers?" I smiled.

"Yep," Junezia nodded. "JP, could you shape your blades into the infinite-hex?"

JP nodded. The black blades composing her fingers fluttered apart and then came together weaving a circle within a circle that warped into itself like a Mobius loop.

Staring at it was making me feel off. The fractal representing Infinity looked... wrong, impossible. It gave me the same sensation as staring into the heart of the Infinite Dungeon.

"This is the key," Junezia said.

"To...?"

"The key to limitlessness," my Intelligence Officer exhailed. "The power to break the System."

"Oh?" I tilted my head. "This key can do more than open the Eurekan gate, right? Do you think it could help us survive in Eureka or the Dead Zone?"

"I believe so, since the power of Infi is omnipresent in numerous Eurekan tools," Junezia said. "But also, this is key to..."

She waved her hand towards the enormous status screen. "Breaking the System of Andross that's currently counting our level and stats."

"Breaking it how?" I inquired.

"Infinity hates definitions," Junezia declared. "Numbers are definitions. I believe if we integrate, fuse this hexagram into the core of our soul we would be able to amplify ourselves, to create magic that magnifies what we are, violates our own boundaries."

"More Limitless magic?" I mulled. "That does sound handy. Are you not concerned about breaking the counters?"

"No," Junezia shook her head. "Eurekan Infinity like Endy is... conceptual. A full integration of an Infinite hexagram into our soul will maintain concept coherency but make our magic less confining to static calculations, give us the ability to pull mana from the other infinite mirrors that we're connected to. For example, we would be able to increase our current level due to magic pouring from Cali."

"Cali isn't a wizard," I pointed out. "She doesn't have a level or the system. She's just a human girl from a doomed world."

"She's not a wizard, but she is moving across the Dead Zone boundary," Juneberry pointed out.

"According to Infi, the Magisphere of Desire resonates from the Dead Zone itself," Junezia pointed out.

"So... if this works, we should be able to do magic anywhere, even outside of the Magisphere of Desire." I giddily rubbed my hands. "I... could wake up as Yulia back on Earth and do magic!"

All four of me nodded to each other.

"Right," I pondered. "Well, who's in favor of doing this thing and breaking the System?"

Everyone present raised their hand.

"Lets get to it then! To infinity... and beyond," I smirked as all four of me held their hands above the table and the core of my soul started to reshape itself into the impossible, limitless fractal.

I stared at my System stats as it happened. The numbers on the list suddenly blurred and started to flicker.

The fractal forged from infinity completed itself, bound itself into me and the System chart stabilized.

I looked at it again to discover the following:

Damn. I'm... level 0 to 12? I commented.

"Mhmmm," Junezia nodded with a cheerful smile. "Depending on which mirror we present to the world we can either be a level zero or level twelve soul!"

"All of the other stats have gone up too!" I commented.

"As expected," Junezia said. "See that name? The Network of human souls? The System no longer sees us as a single individual, but as an entity of sorts. My theory was correct, we're really pulling magic and experience from our other selves!"

"Ohhh! I know! We're sort of like Dawn now!" Juneberry declared giddily. "A tree... of souls!"

"I don't recall investing this many points into things," I pointed out. "Since when do I have two Limitless Michell Shields?"

"Since some of the stats finally carried over from me," JP commented. "I lost some parts of my soul fighting Astral Phantoms, but there were still a lot of things left."

"So, every new mirror we open gives me more power an a manner that's more effective than simply murdering and eating dungeon monsters to level up? Should we... open another mirror then?" I asked.

"Meeting more of ourselves is fun if a bit depressing in case of them being dead," Juneberry commented.

"Hopefully we won't ever encounter a supervillain version of ourselves that might attempt to destroy our soul through the connection," Junezia muttered.

"What, you think that a supervillain version of me can exist?" I blinked.

"I don't know, but anything is possible since Eureka manufactures so many worlds," The Intelligence Officer shrugged.

"We have to stay positive and focused," Juneberry said. "I think that the Infinite Mirrors are somehow intuitive like that - they're sort of like a self-guided Search thread that bounces across the multiverse until it locates another version of us in relationship to what we require at the moment."

"Right," I nodded. "Lets think positive thoughts as we open it then! I want to see if we can reach a world that still has its subscription on!"

Again, the four of me was in agreement. We brought our hands together and pushed power into the 24th Infinite Mirror.

It shimmered and its surface rippled, pulling information from and reaching out onto some distant beyond.

. . .

I fell onto the grass, sputtering and choking. Blue fluid emptied from my lungs as I heaved.

A tall, humanoid figure stood over me.

"Good tomorrow," it said in a cold, metallic voice that sounded a bit like a British butler.

"W-what? Where am I?" I looked in bewilderment around me. I was lying on the grass covered in some sort of quickly evaporating fluid. My mind was swimming. I couldn't recall who I was or why and how I even arrived on this well-manicured lawn.

I spun my eyes around, trying to get my bearings.

The human figure bent down to me and offered me a white, ill-fitting coat.

I pulled it on, discovering that I looked like a very skinny, very young teenage girl. My hair was dark brown and wavy.

I looked back at the mechanical human. From a distance he could have been perhaps mistaken for a man, but up close he looked like a plastic mannequin filled with clockwork. A brain was floating inside of a clear plastic case atop of the thing's head.

"I'm going to self-destruct in exactly forty two seconds," the robot said. "Your name is Alexa Terranova. You're the daughter of a supervillain, Dr. Terranova. You come from a long line of villains, your many-times-great-grandfather is Spring-heeled Jack. Beware, there are heroes aplenty who will attempt to kill you."

"Uhh... okay?" I blinked. "Wait... what?!"

"Your father is working inside the Saint Mary's cathedral behind you," the robot butler clicked, a metal joint pointing at the old, gloomy-looking gothic building that stood behind us. "The place from which you were banished."

I stared at the mechanical man, feeling utterly stupefied.

"The bracelet on your hand will randomly send you into the world of tomorrow," the robot butler said pointing at a black, hexagonal bracelet on my hand. "Figure things out. Survive. Become strong."

"W-what?" I stammered as I looked down at the weird bracelet.

"You are a disappointment. Your memories were erased because you learned too much. This is a punishment for defying me. Steal. Adapt. Grow. Become a true villain and find your way back inside. Goodbye," the butler concluded, clicked and detonated with a flash, showering the lawn and pelleting me in numerous plastic screws and plates. The brain in the jar ignited and the plastic parts comprising the butler melted and rapidly disintegrated, burning a scorched hole on the lawn.

I blinked, twitching.

"Okay," I said. "Right... I'm a daughter of a supervillain. I can work with this."

I stood up, shaking plastic screws out of my hair that dissolved upon contact with the air.

As I rounded the corner of the old church, beyond the old, rusted gate and the green lawn, I saw a road dotted by simple, well maintained two story houses. Weed grown yards abounded and azalea bushes bloomed in a riot of color along the paths to the doors. An old, Rolls-Royce stood in the driveway of the cathedral.

"Saint Mary's Street," I read the nearest road sign.

"I examined the old, gothic building. Pink and blue stained glass glinted in the sunlight. The sun rebounded off of it in shards of color and light. It looked like something was flashing, moving deep within the church, but I couldn't tell what exactly because the windows were very thick and colorful. It reminded me of looking into a kaleidoscope. 

Everything around me seemed to swirl. There were summer butterflies flitting around me, their wings opening into myriad patterns. 

Ah, I was dizzy from hunger.

The scenery was relaxing and picturesque, but I couldn't allow myself to relax.

My stomach growled, felt empty. I was feeling rather thirsty too.

"Hey!" I barked at the stained glass, banging on the frame. "I see you moving in there! This is bullshit... dad, give me something to eat!"

No response came. 

"Do you expect me to steal food from town? Is that it? Is this my villainous development arc?" I asked the cathedral. "Is this how villains operate? You erase your daughter's mind and dump her outside? Well, I'm not doing that, you hear me?"

Again, no answer. I sighed. It was worth a try.

My own reflection stared at me from the gothic windows. I had sky-blue eyes dotted with silver flakes and looked quite harmless, small and somewhat adorable.

Maybe I could find a kind old lady and beg her for a bit of food? It was a good plan than anything else. In fact, I might even get lucky, and one of the neighbors could confirm if I indeed lived here. 

My stomach rumbled.

I turned and walked away from the church doors.

I'm not sure what I could do, but if I found a police officer or someone in authority, surely they would help me? Maybe someone would direct me to a shelter or something. Those existed here... right? I wasn't sure, had no memory of this town.

I stepped out from under oak trees and shaded my eyes against the sun's glare.

As I looked up at the sky, my jaw dropped. A gargantuan ring hung in the blue sky far, far above me stretching from horizon to horizon. It looked like a million tiny, glittering stars had been affixed to its surface like a child piercing a black and white painting with a needle. A distinct layer of haze veiled the ring, softening its sharp edges and making it look like a surreal etching.

It was a truly giant space station, akin to a ring spanning the earth. Staring at it made me feel small and unimportant.

"Whoa," I muttered as I stared at the phantasmagorical, impossibly vast megastructure that hugged the heavens high above me.