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Hey, Sun, did I ever tell you how thankful I am that you took charge and didn’t let any of your relatives roost in my sky?
Are you ignoring me? Am I even talking?
Ahem. Can you hear me?
{Ahem.} No, that doesn’t feel right.
[Ahem.] (Ahem.)
Wait, that last one felt different.
Oh, that’s nice! I gave them a moment to respond and to be fair, not sure what I was expecting. They’re pretty suppressed right now. But a feeling of warmth? Fits just right.
And now people are coming through the large crack in space. Only took a few years. Now, how many will it be?
1, 2, 3, 5, 10, and it keeps going? 100, 150, slowing down, 160, 162, and 3, and 4. The crack is destabilizing, so they should stop. 165. Okay, they should see it isn’t stable and should stop. Soon. 166. One Sixt–
Oh. That’s what happens when a crack in space destabilizes with someone partly through. I almost wish it was a clean cut. No, the crack collapsing on itself is in no way clean and shredded that dude.
I uh, guess the final count is 166 people? Mostly humans, a handful of beastkin, I think those three are dwarves, and an elf.
Now to turn my attention to the other thing that happened when the crack destabilized. Between the regular atmosphere and the Sun’s sky, a new layer is forming. A new sky is taking shape.
I’m not sure if this is in response to the larger than normal spatial crack or the sudden influx of mortal sapients. Whichever it was, the new sky pushed the sun and stars even higher. Also, this extra layer seemed to refine the Primordial Qi by removing some of the more hostile elements.
Anyway, the refined Primordial Qi mixed better with my Earthly Qi. A bad thing for the remaining beasts who hadn’t changed over to relying on regular Qi. Though it seemed to be a good thing for the mortals. They didn’t handle the Primordial stuff all that well.
A shame that the near two hundred mortals were some of the worst prepared I’ve seen since they first started showing up. It would be generous to say that all they had was the clothes on their backs.
I watched them for a while, but if they had any civilization before arriving here, they lost it right away. As a whole, they ended up as a loose alliance of nomadic hunters and their population stabilized at around a hundred people after a couple hundred years.
Yeah, I don’t have much hope for them?
Which is why I’m so excited that I just felt another large crack form! They went back to being small, three-person affairs for a while there.
Anyway, what kind of world is dying this time? Oh, right away, the world is drowning. The crack formed most of the way up a mountain, and down below there are floodwaters racing across the land.
Kind of looks weird as the water has formed into basically giant blobs that roll along. Though in the form of a wave about to break.
That aside, I won’t have to wait long for the refugees this time. There’s a camp a bit further down the mountain. And I don’t blame them, the water is out to get them as at the base of the mountain? There is a ring of water constantly crashing upwards before falling back.
Okay, they only took a month to notice the crack in space and decide it was worth the risk. So with less than a hundred people, they all get through the crack in space. And these people are much better prepared. They came through with multiple bronze tools, leather tents for everyone, and even a couple domestic cattle.
Their problem is going to be a lacking population, more than anything else. They even have five proper metal weapons. Sure, they’re just spearheads, but honestly? Spears are much more useful for mortals against the beasts than a sword would be. Too bad they got dumped basically on the opposite side of the continent.
Oh! Another crack already? It popped up even before every original refugee from the last crack passed on. Now, what’s up with this world?
Hmm, not seeing anything? Well, besides a complete lack of animals. Maybe there is poison or something?
Welp, shame, the portal collapsed on its own. Either there wasn’t anyone or they were trapped somewhere.
CRACRACK*
Double crack! Did two just open?
Seems to be the case. One world is overrun with rats, though they’re avoiding the crack. The other world may be all desert? At least, wherever I’m looking out on is all desert. It isn’t like that first world as there is only a single sun that I can see.
And lucky me! Both cracks have people coming through. Those from rat world look a bit nibbled on, but they managed to drag over two hundred people through. The desert had only 50 people come through and they broke down crying as the crack was right next to a lake. So yeah, going with the “everything is a desert” hypothesis. Or at least all the water is gone.
I think the desert people are going to meet with the nomadic hunters? Oh, yep, they’re meeting. The desert people seem to have the upper hand. Wonder where this will end up?
5xCRACK
Right after I go and check out these five new cracks! At least none of the big spatial cracks have opened up on a world being invaded. This holds true.
More extreme weather and animal swarms. One had the sky falling? Not sure what that means, but it’s happening!
Anyway, four of those cracks had people come through with over 200 people each. One is close to the flood world people. They seem to get along?
Okay, now things are getting silly! I’m not even getting a century between cracks. Still checking each world for any invasion nonsense, but it’s getting to the point where I’m sure cracks will be showing up next to existing populations.
And speaking of the population, I think they might all be humans? Everyone is getting on with everyone else and the default result seems to be a human child. I can see that causing problems in the future.
Though maybe it isn’t that they’re all humans, but rather that humans are the mutts of this magical multiverse? Sort of like carcinization, except with humans instead of crabs. I think those beastkin might either be beasts slowly becoming human or humans with the bloodline of a beast. Though after a certain point, does it really matter?
Not to me! I’ve got bigger problems than to worry about how to classify some beastkin, especially when both could be true at once. Even for those from the same realm.
Anyway, spatial cracks are opening all the time now. Thank goodness most are small one to three person affairs. If it wasn’t for the fact I seem capable of keeping everything that is happening within me under active view I might have missed a few of the attempted incursions.
The only pattern is that they never come from a large crack. At this point? I almost guarantee this is because the dying realm doesn’t have enough Qi hanging around for large cracks to form. The invaders having extracted most of the Qi by the time the realm tips over into dying.
Zap, zap, zap goes the Heavenly Tribulation. Though thinking about it, maybe it should be Earthly Tribulation? I mean, it does come from “the heavens”. Not the skies, but the upper atmosphere for sure. However, it uses my Earthly Qi. Eh, I know what mortals will call it.
Though I feel these spatial cracks are about to reach a breaking point. There are simply too many and I have more than enough mortals! Now my realm needs time for them to settle and organize themselves.
And since I am the realm and the realm is me, that must mean We are getting fed up with this interloper nonsense on every level. So it will stop.
Of note, I was not expecting that to work so well. Though something is building. My declaration seems to have paused the formation of cracks, but they’re building up.
Gathering.
To a crescendo.
SHATTER
Oooh, my. Like you had a pressure headache, only for the pressure to vanish in a moment! Though there are, like, a couple thousand cracks of all sizes. Which includes some extra big cracks on the edge of the continent.
There are also 71 connections to realms with invaders. And they had clearly been waiting? I guess holding back the cracks didn’t hold back their existence. So right away, people pour through all of the cracks and 71 locations have new craters.
And as all those people, including what looks to be a few thousand from each of the biggest cracks, enter my realm I feel something that has become familiar. A third sky is forming.