Chapter 8: Closed-Door Cultivation
Danke and Wis blinked out of the 127th layer and into a place that wasn't a layer at all. It was more like a revolving nothingness with multiple plateaus of stable space swirling straight through its center.
A human mind who saw it up close would see it as something similar to a massive revolving escalator. A human mind that saw it from far away would see it as something like a massive drill or pump.
Inhuman minds and those human minds that had gotten a peak at how the cosmos really worked would know better.
Danke and Wis were in the drain. It was a giant stabilized 'anti-'space that Abwickeln used to get rid of things that it had no use for. What these 'things' were varied. Ranging from ordinary trash in realms that were ordained for cleanliness.... to beings of the void that managed to sneak into the unwinding world and didn't learn to make nice, forcing their inevitable deaths. Which naturally meant that the world had to get rid of the parts of their bodies that it couldn't safely use.
Everything that fell into the drain would eventually fall into Abwickeln's great black sea. The sea would dissolve everything converting it into either magic, or data, or cosmic law.
Figments and few others were willing to bear the risk of being dissolved by the world's sea, could use the drain as means of quickly travelling between the layers.
Ordinarily, unless one was incomprehensibly powerful, or was following a prepared path with anchors to help bridge the gap, teleporting between the layers was impossible. The space between them was just too vast, and the energy required to make the trip too steep.
Thus most people and beings would have to travel to the drain and make their way to their anchor of choice from their. Figments were no exception, no matter how much they were loved by the world. At least that was the case for the young figments.
"Master, let me ask you the question that you're the most fond of asking…What exactly are we doing here?" said Wis. Pacing the little block of stabilized space they'd landed on. Arms crossed in a self-soothing manner.
Danke chuckled, tugging on one of his long fuzzy ears.
"I...uh...there's two answers to that. The one that sounds good and the actual answer. Which do you want to here first?"
Wis gazed at the fuzzy little figment and then sighed.
"Actual answer, please."
"I've no clue what I'm doing here. I was just trying to get us away from that guy before he caught us or killed us. That dude's level was four, maybe five times my level." said Danke. Looking upwards as the platform they were standing on continued to spiral downwards into the endless darkness of the drain.
Wis sighed a second time.
"A wise judgement, master. It seems you were listening when I told you to avoid fighting or flee if the other side's level is many times that of your own. Just for curiosity's sake, what would the good sounding answer have sounded like?"
If Danke's stitched mouth could mouth, he would have been smirking.
"I brought us here because after three months of doing nothing but sleeping, hunting birds, and absorbing their data I've learned enough about my powers as a dream-hopper, my powers as a figment, and the synergistic possibilities of both to feel it was time to move on to an important next step..."
"Ah...That was almost convincing, master." said Wis.
"I know, right?!" said Danke.
The truth was his "good sounding" answer wasn't completely hoccum. They'd spent three months in the plain of birds. Danke had used that time to rest. Learning how to best make use of his dream absorption power. He'd also used the time to hunt. Making the best of his ability to turn to real objects into absorbable, consumable dream objects.
This was how he was able to combine the data he'd gained from the birds with his mimicry ability to create wings for Wis and himself. Using that same data to imbue the two of them with the knowledge of how to fly.
It might have only been three months, but it was three months that he'd spent diligently working. Studying the difference between reality and dreams and how blurry he could make the line of separation.
As he worked, and hunted, and slept, more of Danke's inherited memories unlocked and supplied answers to his biggest questions. Now he felt himself on the verge of understanding something. A key something. A something that would be utterly ground breaking for him if he could take advantage of it properly.
"Wis?" said Danke.
"Yes, master."
"Is there a layer here that sits at the crux of several dead or dying lucid worlds? Preferably in one of the emptier, or abandoned layers, since I kind of don't want to be bothered by another version of that winged asshole." said Danke.
Wis tilted her head to the side. Tapping her pale chin in thought.
"What you ask for is a bit much but...I do believe that there is a sublayer in a layer 798 that would fill your requirements. The path would be too dangerous and the environment too hostile for most, but you are a figment and in this world you enjoy certain special privileges. Such as your ability to teleport. Congratulations, on awakening that power by the way. I meant to say so but was distracted by everything else that had happened." said Wis.
"Thanks. I was kind of surprised when the knowledge popped into my head a few days ago and I hadn't expected to have to use it so soon…. Anyway, so there actually 'is' a place like the place I described."
"There are several such places, master. It's just that most of them are neither as isolated nor as quiet as you asked."
"Cool. Can you guide me there?" said Danke.
"Guide? Hm...Honestly, by the point a figment gains the ability to fold space they've usually absorbed their puppe already and have the overall layout of the unwinding world imprinted within their souls….I...One second. Let me see something." said Wis. Sounding unsure and lost one moment and then becoming determined the next moment.
Wis walked over and picked the plush figment up. Holding him to her chest. Danke a felt a warmth flow into him as Wis extended something through their connection. Then suddenly he knew exactly where the 798th layer of Abwickeln was. He also knew where the sub-layer Wis had mentioned was.
"Did that help, master?" said Wis. Sounding shy.
"Yep." said Danke.
The space around them rippled and suddenly they were in a desolate hill covered in ornate but craggy outcroppings. The hill was covered in mist and above was a pitch black sky with a single massive silver moon dominating it.
"This is… different." said Danke. Frowning up at the hill.
"This is the memorial of Zerbrechen." said Wis.
"Zerbrechen?" said Danke.
"The graveyard of shattered keys and broken doors. Every day worlds are born and every day a world dies. This is just the nature of the cosmos. It's only when the birth and death is capable of shaking the very fabric of the higher realms that Abwickeln takes note. There are countless sublayers dedicated to such...memorializations. Zerbrechen is the graveyard of lost possibilities and shattered dreams."
"Shattered keys and broken doors…" said Danke. Understanding what the puppe had meant now.
"The cosmos does its best to protect and collect worlds with unique possibilities and potentials. Sometimes those possibilities and potentials are too minor for too much effort and energy to be expended, and a world is lost. Zerbrechen was made in remembrance of those unlucky worlds."
"Ah…. Bummer." said Danke. Looking at the hill and the seemingly endless number of gravestones that covered its surface.
"Yes, master… Indeed." said Wis. Her voice soft and wistful.
For a time neither the figment nor the puppe said anything. They simply stood at the bottom of the hill contemplating all the death that had to take place for the memorial to grow to its current scale.
"Why did you want to come here, master?" said Wis. Turning to her plush liege.
"Huh? Oh, yeah...I figured out a lot of things about dreams. I figured out that even the dead can dream. I figured out how to distill reality into dreams and dreams into reality and vis-the-versa...or at least I've started to figure those things out." said Danke.
"All excellent achievements, master. But I'm still not clear why you asked me to bring you here."
"This seemed like the best place for me to figure out even more things and absorb even more dreams for me to further my evolution. No one is using these dreams, right? So it shouldn't hurt if I just hole up here and gorge myself for a fee millennia."
Wis looked up at the hill and then looked down at the little figment and then she looked up at the hill again.
"Master ...Are you telling me you are capable of consuming even faded dreams from long dead dreamers?"
"Well...Yeah, that's I how I stopped myself from absorbing you. Don't you remember? I can absorb anything if it's made of the same sort of…'fictive' energy." said Danke. Wondering why Wis was acting so surprised.
"....."
Wis gazed at the figment with more than a hint of fanaticism and madness in her gaze.
"Truly, master ...Of all this world's children I think you might be one who truly resembles Abwickeln's true nature."
"Huh?"
"Nothing...It's nothing. So You just plan to stay here for a while?" said Wis. Shaking her head and hurriedly changing the subject.
"Well, yeah...What's the point of having a cheat power if I don't properly take advantage of it. I mean? The alternative would be being an utter dumbass, and wandering off to have more 'adventures' while I'm still under-powered so...yeah, I think I'm just going to build myself a little hut on the side of this hill and chill for a while." said Danke.
"Understood, master." said Wis. Nodding. Her eyes falling upon the hill as she tried to consider where the perfect spot for Danke's cultivation-hut would be.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone