When A Mage Revolts

Logically, the powerful suction force should have exploded at the moment the invisible shield exploded, causing the bodies of the System to be swallowed up into the circle of light.

However, Benjamin did not see this happen.

"This is…"

The Heart of Souls had disappeared into the circle of light, and what followed immediately after that was a flash of white light. Benjamin shut his eyes involuntarily, and by the time he opened them again, the entire world had been turned upside down.

The circle of light was gone. The frightening suction force was gone. The System, which had been screaming its lungs out, was also gone… The silence, similar to that of a vacuum, caused him to strongly feel a sense of having been torn out.

Wait a minute…

He was stunned for quite a while before coming back to his senses, and as he lifted his head, he looked around in a kind of daze. This was clearly not the space of consciousness he had been familiar with; it was as though a teleportation had taken place, but the strange thing was that this was completely different from the scene he would see every time he entered the elemental plane.

Blinding white light shone from every direction, giving off a calm but cold impression. It was not spacious, and he felt as though he was in room that had been sealed up. There were cold lights on all four walls. Other than these, there was nothing else.

Although filled with white light, the atmosphere here did not feel all holy and pure, but seemed somewhat like a sci-fi.

What had happened?

A feeling of strangeness filled Benjamin's heart. This was a completely mysterious territory, and he did not know how he had gotten here. Was it an illusion? Or had the collision between the circle of light and the Heart of Souls caused his physical body to appear in the shifting of time and space?

Also… What about the System? Could it have been rolled up into the circle of light?

Benjamin suddenly tensed up.

Although it had been their daily routine to mock each other, he did not actually hate the System. Only the System understood what Benjamin had had to go through all these years. After Benjamin had gone into the other world, it was probably the only being in existance that could understand Benjamin, and vice versa, not to mention the long years of companionship it had provided.

Immediately, he took one step forward, making an attempt to get out of this place. However, he discovered that his four limbs seemed to have been stuck in place; it was very difficult to move even the slightest bit, not to mention walk.

"Hey! What are you up to?"

Slightly impatient, he involuntarily yelled out loud. What made him quite surprised was how, although he was unable to move, his speech was not at all impeded, and his voice rang out extremely clearly.

In a short while, a strange shadow slowly appeared before his eyes.

It seemed to take the shape of a human, but it was more like a gas, or a spiritual body; its face was blurred out, so the gender was indeterminable. It quietly floated about somewhere nearby, in front of Benjamin, and a strange, ethereal voice drifted into Benjamin's ears.

"Human, you should cease those dangerous actions."

The moment Benjamin heard these words, he froze. He was not even sure what to feel, because… This thing was actually speaking in Mandarin.

This affectionate, yet slightly unfamiliar feeling was one which he had not felt for a long time now.

"Who are you?" After adjusting the language mode in his brain, he opened his mouth and answered in Mandarin.

"It is very difficult for us to answer this question. In our world, there is no concept of individuality." The voice replied, "However, to help you in your understanding, we come from the elemental plane. There is no need to be too alarmed. The you, at this point in time, should have already begun to notice our existence."

"..."

Benjamin was somewhat dumbfounded, and did not respond right away.

He was… Having a conversation with a consciousness from the elemental plane?

A feeling of fantasy and madness surged up in his heart, and in an instant, his brain was stuffed to the brim with countless of questions. However, after much thought, he put forward the most urgent question of all.

"What happened to the circle of light? How is my space of consciousness? The... Several yellow, ball-shaped objects, are they still around?"

"Under the combined efforts of us both, the hole in the plane has been repaired. We hope that you will never again act in such a dangerous manner." The voice responded methodically, "Your space of consciousness is fine and unharmed. The mind of the System is also undamaged, and the sixteen bodies of smiley faces have returned to their original states."

Hearing this, Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows.

"You… Know about the System and the smiley face things?"

"For the sake of communication with you, we dwell in your thoughts, and have conversations with you through everything in your thought. Otherwise, you would not be able to understand a single word we say."

"..."

Faced with such words, Benjamin reacted the way any other normal human being would have reacted, and the hair on his body stood on end.

There was nothing they did not know?

What was this…

If this was the case, then was this thing that he was facing now really the "god" in many people's hearts?

The Church called it the god of light, whereas the worshippers from across the sea named it as the goddess, and perhaps there were other terms used by other religions… Nevertheless, without a doubt, the thing that those people worshipped should be something just like the ghost before his eyes now.

"...What do you want to do?" Benjamin's words were stuck in his throat for a long while, before he could toss out such a question.

"We are here to warn you." The voice replied, "For various reasons, you are now equipped with the ability to disrupt our world. Although the two worlds have always had an effect on one another, this effect is one kept within the limitations of the law at all times. You, however, already possess the possibility to surpass the law."

Benjamin suddenly sense a dangerous aura. "Will you destroy us?"

"If we could, we would." The ghost answered without hesitation, "However, due to the constraints set by the rules, we are unable to affect the world you are in now, so you need not worry."

"Unable to affect? Then… What is this that you're doing right now?"

"Borrowing the chaotic moment as the hole is being fixed to project a piece of ghost into your spirit world. In reality, we have not really met. The conversation between you and me is unable to become a reality."

"...Alright."

Hearing all this had caused Benjamin's head to spin a little. However, a lot of the worry in his heart had, at least, been relieved.

He knew that this thing came from a world of a higher dimension, and as they were limited by the difference in dimensions, it was impossible for him to understand thoroughly the words and actions of this ghost. Because of that, he did not try too hard to comprehend it all.

However, this might be a good opportunity…

"I wish to know the nature of magic." He suddenly spoke and asked such a question.

"From your definition, magic is the regulated activity of elements under the directions of spiritual energy."

"I know…" Benjamin felt helpless and annoyed for a moment at such a useless answer. "That is what the textbooks from the Academy of Magic say, word for word."

"Then you should put forth the question you really want to ask."

Hearing that, Benjamin took a deep breath and deliberated for a moment, before saying, "Why does this world have magic, but the world I come from doesn't? Elements, spiritual energy… How are these things formed? Why do humans have the natural ability to cast spells?"

The ghost was rather patient, and answered slowly, "Because there is an overlap between this world and our plane, causing the production of magic, whereas the world you came from does not fulfil such conditions. The elements are bodies that carry our consciousness, and when our bodies are projected into this world, they form the elements that you see. Spiritual energy comes from your consciousness. When your consciousness is hit by our radiation, abnormalities form, and so you possess the ability to communicate with elements. The greater the talent that one has, the heavier the radiation received from us. This is also why human beings are able to cast magic."

"..."

Hearing such a long piece of explanation, Benjamin could not help but sigh. He remained quiet for a few moments to steady his feelings.

This amount of information… Was unusually great.

Furthermore, although he had received an answer, but the questions in his heart had also multiplied.

"That… You say that the elements are your bodies, so does that mean all magic is basically you moving? Can all mages simply direct you to do this and that?"

"You may look at it that way, if it makes you happy." The ghost was not at all upset after hearing that, "Extremely strict laws govern the interactions between the two planes. Mages complete magic by abiding by those laws, and we abide by the same laws as we produce effects in this world. Let us describe it this way. You may think that your spell casting causes the elements to move, but we can also think that it is our movements that cause you to cast spells."

"..."

If it were not for the fact that his four limbs were unable to move, Benjamin really wanted to raise his right hand and massage his temples.

"Do you mean to say that what we see as subjectively free actions, are actually controlled by your lot?"

"Complicated factors influence the actions of humankind. Intrinsic motivations, physical factors, personality patterns, environmental factors… We cannot control any of your actions. Everything happens simply due to the interactions under the limits of the law."

"...Okay."

Benjamin forced himself to accept such an answer, and decided not to dig further. However, there was still an extremely huge question in his heart.

"I've been into the space of consciousness, and have seen scenes from various places and times. Some were from the past, some… I don't know if they are from the future." He took a deep breath, and said slowly, "Has the future already been determined?"

This question meant a lot to him.

"Time is not a concept you and your kind are able to understand easily." The ghost, however, replied as such, "You live purely at only one point in time, but we exist at any given time. Right at this moment, we have conveyed a message to you, but for us, you could be waiting on the stakes in Havenwright, or on the battlefield of Icor destroying the enemy troops."

"...Please speak human."

"For an example, you open up a novel where the main character is only ten years old on the first page, and on the last page, he is sixty. To you, he exists both as a ten year old and as a sixty year old. You exist at every point in time of his life."

Hearing this, Benjamin felt a rush of disappointment.

"So… To you guys, we are just like characters in a novel, and our lives have already been completely set in stone, and just moving along in process according to a script?"

"Of course not." The ghost said, however, "In our eyes, the timeline of this world is like a river. We can look down from the upstream, and see the reflections in the water at every part of the river. But the flow of the river may change. If someday the water in the river dries up, everything that has happened in this world would cease to exist. If the river, at some point, suddenly changes course, then the future we have seen would also become different."

Listening up to this point, Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows as he thought for a long time, before asking, "So… Have you seen my future?"

"Your future is a river that changes the most. The last time we saw it, it indicated that you would die on the bed in your own room because your space of consciousness had been swallowed up by the hole."

"..."

Although the answer given felt as though no answer had been given at all, but for some reason, the entirety of Benjamin's feelings were stirred up a lot after listening to all that.

They were not puppets being strung along, and their so-called destinies were capable of change.

After some thought, he said, "Then you have come to find me this time…"

"We did not come to find you. Our meeting this time is independent and outside of the timeline of your world, and only exists in your memories." The ghost interrupted him, saying, "We hope that you will remember clearly that those things cannot be completed in the space of consciousness."

Benjamin was somewhat embarrassed. "What things…"

"We shall remain in your memories."

Saying that, the ghost suddenly became even more blurred out. Perhaps it was because their time was up, or maybe their energy had been exhausted; its voice became softer, and the entire room that had been blindingly bright began to dim.

Benjamin was stunned.

No… He still had so many questions to ask!

Nevertheless, the following beam of white light blocked the view from his eyes once again.