Taken Horizon Origin, volume 1, Duality

Episode 2 ; silver explosion of hearts

[warning! Tutorial privilege ends in 1 hour!]

[please make sure you have gotten acquainted in your altered world!]

I wouldn't call it an altered world but a completely new and unreal one with where I currently am, I thought as I inspected my surroundings nonchalantly

The once empty white-walled rectangle that I had come to call a base of operations was completely filled with differently colored crystals.

They were the size of barrels and the shape of a slanting triangle, for each of them, a black rune was painted on them that both siphoned the new spawning ether in the air and held the already vast amounts of ether compactly inside of their smooth surface areas.

Some crystals glowed a bright violet color, others a glistening silver that blinded me. There were some mixed-colored crystals of both creating a violet-orange color that made me want to look away from it.

'There's barely any room left, pisspot! What the hell are you even planning?! You've been keeping quiet for hours now!' Thorn cried out angrily as he swam about in my chest preventing any ether from leaving my body.

"Just need one more, Thorn. Then you can have your fill as well." I answered slyly

'Well hurry up. It's stuffy in here and your rotten heart is not doing anything for my health!'

[witch queen fulfills her agreement]

A final crystal materialized from the air landing atop another filled to the brim with silver energy.

[please fulfill the terms of the contract!]

"Alrighty. This should be enough for what I'm thinking of. Purchase mind-write paper."

[2,000 shards consumed!]

A stack of white paper landed atop a triangle next to me. A faint, golden outline of a hand was atop the first paper in the stack waiting for me to place mine atop it.

[witch queen cannot hide her curiosity]

Placing my hand within the golden outline, words began to scribble themselves one by one as diagrams and arcane circles drew themselves page by page.

'Are you sure about this? We knew her as a god of deception before she revealed her true handle to you. Who knows how cunning this witch bitch is.' Thorn exclaimed, conveying his concerns.

I've got a lot more concerns about this than you do, Thorn, but don't worry. So long as I have something of interest to her she won't be brash. If she's as smart as I think she is then she'll be patient for as long as it takes. By the time she realized it was wrong to support me, I will already be out of her grasp and squeezing her neck.

Thorn gave an unsure grunt as I pulled my hand off the paper stack, now riddled with equations and thesis' on alchemy, rune crafting and little bits of info from earth.

'It's those that tell you they'll trick you that will betray you in the most destructive way possible, Strife.' Thorn quoted

Just trust me. I rang flatly. "I, Strife, fulfill my end of the contract by exchanging a portion of my knowledge in exchange for the gifts the 'witch queen' has given me."

[conditions fulfilled! Contract complete!]

The stack vanished and then continued messages came ringing in my ear

[witch queen is amazed by 'imaginatrix schematic']

[witch queen admires 'relative time' thesis]

[witch queen is enthralled by 'throne world analysis']