Chapter 32: My Best friend is an Entire Realm

Smral looked at her incredulously. "Can a realm be an Antrunie?"

"If it can be your best friend why can't it be my Antrunie?" Rachel took a small bite of the cake. Goshen berries were incredibly sweet and one bite had always been enough for her, but this time she was eating them inside an illusion inside a dimension she did not recognize so, although it was still overly sweet, She ate the entire piece.

Rachel's words were echoing in both Smral's and Ambruce's minds. They looked at each other and maniacal smiles spread across both sets of lips.

Rachel let out a breathy laugh. "You two truly are two peas in a pod aren't you?"

She leaned back in her chair. "I need a bit of rest." She smirked at Ambruce. "I assume that it is safe for me to sleep here now."

Ambruce nodded in affirmation. "Of course Milana."

Rachel was asleep before Ambruce finished.

Rebecca, Struns, and Cramnal stood around Rachel in a defensive formation. They were only mildly worried. All three could sense the tether connecting them to Rachel. Not only was the connection still strong it told them she was alive. They still knew something was wrong because she was asleep and because their connections told them that something was wrong.

"My dream weavers say that Smral is okay and that Rachel seems to be with them."

"Maybe she sought refuge within the illusion."

"Maybe. But do you think that is a good thing Cramnal?"

"Struns you are always so suspicious."

"I am an assassin and a bodyguard. I am supposed to be suspicious."

Rebecca didn't respond. She merely looked at Rachel more intently. She was worried. She realized that two people she cared a great deal about were in dire straits and she had been counting on one to protect the other.

Rachel had done more than drain all of her magics. She had completely depleted the magic in her own soul well. Even when a person depletes all of their active magics they still have a portion of life magic that maintains their consciousness and minimal vitality. Most people can not tap into this type of magic.

Rachel can utilize every drop of her magic. And that is what she did. Now she was paying for it. She instinctively knew that if she stayed in her physical body she might have died. She still had her connection to Trannisa but, because she was in a different realm, it was a bit different.

For one thing it was slow to react to her situation, as if there was a delay within its awareness of it, and secondly the magics it could release to her were filtered through the realm she was in and the realm would innately take the best bits for itself.

Here, or rather within an intricate illusion, she could manipulate things in her favor.

In other words; Rachel was using Ambruce's illusion to refill her soul well exponentially.

She slept deeply, but because she was proficient in illusion-mental magics and illusion-soul magics she could keep her conscience active, or awake, and she actively nourished and filled her soul well.

Because she completely depleted her magic sources she damaged her soul well. It had many fine cracks and when she first began refilling it she felt the magics slowly leeching away. She enhanced her body's natural healing with healing magic first, to heal the cracks. Once the cracks were healed she used sorcery to place a layer around the well to act like a healing-soothing balm that strengthened and fortified the well.

Her soul well was strengthened by adding a temporary layer around it and it was fortified by the magics that were innately hers gathering and seeping into its walls like minerals or medicine being released into a body.

To do all this she had to pull magic from the whirlpool surrounding the illusion she was currently in. To reach the whirlpool she used another natural innate ability she had and pulled strands of magic that naturally gravitated towards her. She then allowed soul and mental magics to mix with it to bring it to something compatible with healing magics.

The process was tedious and tiring, because of her current state, so she kept her spirit body in a state of rest allowing the process to proceed smoothly without her actively doing anything.

Once she healed her soul well to a state where it could hold magics she began refilling it again. As it refilled she continued with its repairs and stabilization.

In this way she slowly restored herself without using any of her own magic. Even though she didn't use her own magic she could only lie still and allow the process to proceed to completion because she had taken herself to the brink of oblivion.

It took two days of restoration before she could return to her body then another day of meditation to regain her strength to acceptable levels.

Smral and Ambruce both left the illusion after Rachel returned to her body. They both knew what she was doing without being told and Smral knew Ambruce needed the time to further solidify their friendship.

When Rachel awoke Ambruce was ready for the Antrunie ceremony.

They all sat at a wide obsidian octagonal table in a large meadow. Flowers with blooms of various vibrant colors, and fragrance hebs all around them.

Rebecca laughed loudly. "It seems every time we have an enemy you spank them and then ask them to become Antrunie."

Both Smral and Ambruce looked appalled.

"I was NOT spanked."

"Enemy"

They responded as one.

"You're a friend now but before my mind was set only on revenge against you. Does that change your mind about being an Antrunie?"

Ambruce sat in deep thought. The others were lost in their own contemplation. Rachel watched them all.

How she obtained her latest two Antrunie was indeed interesting. She knew much about her fate. She knew how important it was not to know so she never actively looked at her own fate. The problem came from her level of power. Fate sought her out. Many times she saw snippets of fate that may prove to be so vital to her goals or life that she would just see them.

Even when these came to her she did not look deeper into them. She merely made note of the revelation and filed it away.

One of those snippets was that she had ten Antrunie. It did not mean she would only have ten just that at some point there would be ten. This was important because no Milana before had such a great number of Antrunie and it was thought to be virtually impossible to have ten because it was believed that it would cause an imbalance within Trannisa. This was because until now the Milana only took their Antrunie from Trannisa.

Even though she did not know Trannisa's language she had a deep connection with the realm. Most realms were ancient and spoke in ways that seemed confusing. She normally used her connection with the realm to fully understand their conversations.

When she last spoke to Trannisa she understood that Ambruce was somehow important. She was still wrapped up in her personal agenda so it was not important at the time but when she saw Ambruce's origin well things clicked into place.

Not only did she need Ambruce; Trannisa did as well.

Ambruce looked at her with a bit of concern. Its expression caught her off guard. Why would it be so concerned?

"Why did you want revenge against me?" He tilted his head in confusion. "What had I done?"

Realization dawned on her. Ambruce was young and didn't understand the consequences of its actions. She had come thinking Ambruce was nonsensient. She was wrong. It was aware just untaught, naïve.

"Hmm. Do you remember when you said I was similar to someone?" It nodded and waited for her to continue. "That was my grandmother. You wanting her to stay with you corrupted her and the corruption could not be removed. I had to kill her and I was upset about it."

Ambruce was quiet. The emotion, and color, draining from its face. The brilliantly rainbow colored sky dulled and then grayed. A cold harsh wind began to blow through the meadow and light drops of cold rain fell.

Rachel observed it all and smiled. "The fact that you are so upset tells me a lot." She leaned forward and looked into its fathomless eyes. "I have to explain something to you though. When I make you an Antrunie I will also take you from here. You have to agree to this or you can not be my Antrunie."

Ambruce was confused. "This realm is me. I can not leave it. You want me to leave myself? I don't understand."

Rachel smiled. "When you become Antrunie you will change fundamentally. You are this realm now, and you always will be, but as Antrunie the realm will become something akin to your dimension. You will be able to leave half of your soul here and the other half will manifest into something similar to an individual and be able to go wherever you want."

Rachel thought for a moment. "This is actually better for you because your origin well will grow faster as you collect more experiences. But don't worry you can think about it first."

Ambruce shook its head. "I do not need to think about it. I understand that this is what I have always wanted. I am ready to become an Antrunie right now."

Rachel looked at him skeptically. "Well I need to rest a bit more then connect with Trannisa. How about we wait for six hours and if you feel the same way, and have no doubts, we can perform the ritual."

"Rest Milana but I am sure I will not change my mind."

Smral raised his glass. "Then we should celebrate. We will save you some food Rachel" He winked and Rachel shook her head.

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