Chapter 22: Chapter 21

I jogged the final stretch around the periphery of Winterfell, taking deep gulps of the fresh, sweet morning air. 

With each step I took, a small spell activated beneath my feet, lighting up my path.

Transmutation!

Mystery actualized, the hard northern soil and rock shifted, changed and transformed.

Just below the grass and dirt, a faint pattern appeared, etched into a ring of solid stone that encircled the entirety of the keep. Mystery began to swirl around the town like a soft, sweeping mist, the whirlpool of magic condensing like morning dew on the ring of stone.

As I finished my jog the patterns etched upon it reached a critical consistency of mystery and the spell formation activated, lighting up the entire construct. 

I stepped back, hands on my hips as I panted, looking over my grand creation and watched a thin shimmer of light as it swept up across an imaginary dome, sending pulses of magic across the city.

The new and improved bounded field sprung up around it, motes of light rose up from the ground, faint and beautiful, floating away as they dissipated into thin air.

I was glad it was 4 in the morning or else more than just guards would have seen it and that would have been bad for opsec. 

I examined the latest and biggest bounded field I had made and couldn't help but smile.

It was magnificent! 

Connected to the freshly rekindled mystery of the Godswood, powered by it, the colossal stone ring encircling Winterfell, etched with magic formations and hidden 4 feet beneath the dirt, was a masterpiece as far as barriers went. Powerful enough as a forcefield to tank a casual shot from a god, and so sustainable that if it were destroyed, it would slowly regenerate so long as even half of the stone ring and the formations carved within survived. 

But of course, that's peanuts compared to its true beauty. Bounded fields aren't just forcefields with flavour text after all, even though they are most often used as such. No, bounded fields are a spell with a scope far greater than that. 

A bounded field is a spell that works on the concept of creating an isolated world, in and of itself, that is, once you cross the threshold of a bounded field you are meant to enter a whole different world, one isolated from its anchor reality. This was the highest form of a bounded field, a complete actualization of its concept when used by someone who has mastered the spell. 

It's what Reality Marbles are like too. Both work on similar concepts. 

Where Bounded Fields isolate a portion of reality from the anchor or base reality, like a curtain cordoning off a section of a room to make a 'Pillow Fort (No Girls Allowed)'™, Reality Marbles project an internal reality onto the anchor reality like well, a 3D projector. 

It is an imitation of the divine authority to create worlds. It's why weirdly advanced rules like making people instinctively not want to interact with it, or as Bran called it, 'the thing that makes me not want to go in' are so easy to enforce. Because I'm not writing a new spell or code to influence people's minds. I'm creating a law of the world, like gravity or the rule of three, something that cannot be ignored because the concept of ignoring it doesn't even exist with respect to the isolated world I have built. 

The same applies to the giant Winterfell sized bounded field I have set up, at great pain and effort over the past two weeks. 

Not only does it have all the same rules as before, i.e., sensing evil intentions, warding against wargs and ghosts, making those types of people turn away and a radar function, it also has a special tracking mechanism that traces everyone entering and leaving the bounded field, assigning and then removing from them respectively a special tracking imprint that monitors overall health and tracks magic, something I implemented after that last run in with the assassin. And last but not the least, it also improves overall health by granting a subtle AOE healing effect. 

It was something I was immensely proud of. 

[You should be. It's a pretty decent achievement for someone who's only been studying magecraft for little over a month.] PK praised, [But then again, that homunculus enhanced learning might as well be instant mastery with the exponential growth you have whenever you start learning something. It's broken.]

Aww, thanks buddy.

I grinned from ear to ear, as I fell down onto the soft grass below, satisfied with my work. 

With this, Winterfell should be safe. No one with bad intentions can enter or even think of attacking Winterfell and if managed properly, this could ensure Stark rule for generations. 

Too bad for them though, since I'm going to disband the entire system of nobility once I return. I will not tolerate random families having armies that I don't control. 

Maybe I'll let the Starks keep a military position? They did host me for a while. 

Or would showing favouritism soil the idea of a meritocracy? 

Something to think about. 

Setting up another temporary bounded field around me, I looked up at the northern sky, bringing forth the knowledge of Astromancy and Numerology to the fore of my mind. The bounded field I had set up just now was another improvement I had made in the past few days. It reflected a live feed of the morning sky with a scale for the past 6 hours and the next 6 hours of celestial configurations.

Over the past two weeks I spent learning the basics of the Kaleidoscope, all I had achieved was theory and a little bit of practical torture on apples being forced through my amateur portals, getting glitched the fuck out of reality. 

I shudder to think what would have happened to me if I had gone with my first thought of just poking my hand into it. 

Nothing convices you of animal testing faster than seeing what a trans-reality portal does to an innocent apple. 

If there was a Geneva Convention for apple rights, I'd be convicted for crimes against apple-anity. 

I chuckled.

[That was so bad.]

PK groaned at the inanity. 

"So bad it's good!"

[It's not The Room.] PK shot back.

I smiled.

"Shall we check for the next world?"

[Unless you want to watch the fat fuck swaddle about spewing beer and moaning about Lyanna and the good times.]

"Suddenly, I feel the urge to redouble my efforts." 

PK giggled.

[I'm glad. I don't want to spend one more minute in this primitive shithole. I need entertainment that's more than your medievalized versions of Star Wars and Detective Conan.]

"You know we will have to return to this primitive shithole sooner than later right?"

[Not if you redouble your efforts in learning the Kaleidoscope too.] 

I wagged my finger.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Haste makes waste, my friend. I'm afraid you're stuck with me for a while. Especially after what happened to those apples."

[And I dread every minute of it.] PK replied with a theatrical sigh.

"Yes yes. Sad ring is sad. I know." I laughed.

My magic circuits lit up and I cast a calculative spell on the reflection of the morning sky in my bounded field. Even with the first hints of dawn on the horizon, it was still dark enough to see the stars with crystal clarity. 

My eyes glowed with magic as I looked up and began the heavy calculations. 

One of the many good things about being a magus was that magic circuits doubled as mini computers. In fact, the processing power of the average magus put modern computers to shame, such that the average magus ranked among the most intelligent people in the world just by virtue of being a magus. Or maybe it was just a sharks and ice cream situation?

Like magi had to be intelligent to be able to work magic and the magic circuit calculations part is just an unrelated side effect?

Or it could be intelligent design by their predecessors.

Hmmm....

Something to look into at a later date.

Regardless, this processing ability was even higher in me given the Superior magic circuits I had. And yes, that was a capital S superior. 

Once I learnt to use them for calculation it was easy as pie to learn the basics of the Kaleidoscope. Still can't grasp that bridge between worlds thing so I'll have to rely on PK for that, but I have learnt to scry into parallel worlds now. And today, I take the next step in my journey, go beyond just parallel worlds into entirely different realities. 

Above me, the stars whizzed by as my bounded field began it's simulations and I finished my calculations. Magic circles filled with calculations swirled above me in misaligned concentric rings, looking like an atom with me at the center. Slowly and steadily, under my direction, they began to align and a crack in the dimensional boundary formed, the reflection of the night sky on my bounded field cracked, then shattered like glass. The shards flowering out into a myriad of hues, projected the image of worlds across the void, each shard a timeline and world line of its own. 

[So what are we looking for?] PK asked.

"Something that can help me? A world that I know about would be a plus, since I don't want to risk jumping across to an unknown world and then just mess it all up." I said flicking across the shards, sparing each only the quickest glance. 

Theoretically, there were an infinite amount of worlds in the multiverse, and even greater infinities if we counted all the various timelines that sprouted off of each one, something that falls under my domain. And it was also the reason I wasn't looking too deeply into the worlds I scouted.

You are reading story Into The Kaleidoscope at novel35.com

The thing about the Kaleidoscope was that it gave you the ability to turn uncertainty to certainty and it wasn't exactly...voluntary. If I look into one particular world, and check out it's associated timelines, it becomes a Schrodinger's cat situation. Until observed, each timeline, each possibility has an equal chance to exist, but the moment one timeline is observed, it becomes almost certain that it will be the timeline that will exist. 

Now this doesn't seem like an issue per se. The multiverse is infinite, it's worlds even more so. 

So what if you fuck up and now one world has one timeline locked in?

Just jump to a parallel world, like Rick Sanchez. Pick a new reality and hop on over. 

Except, the infinity of the multiverse is a problem in and of itself. Something Rick knew too.

There are only so many times you can do that and get to a world with just the right circumstances for you.

Sure there are infinite possibilities, but how many can I reach easily? How many have just the right circumstances? And how many of them are within practical distance from me?

Like flipping through an infinite catalogue, the choices cripple you and even the simplest search takes a lot of time to flip through the pages. 

Searching, identifying, vetting a world line and then calculating a route to it, all take time; time I might not have if they are too far away.

Because at a certain point, a world line that is too far away becomes a liability in that it will cost more, in terms of time, to reach it than it is worth. 

After all, I only have a year and change left to live. Why waste it on distant world lines?

So at least at the start, I should cherish the ones close by, handle them with care. 

[You find one yet? The sun is starting to peek out on the horizon.] 

Shush. I'm focusing.

[Focus harder.]

That's an awful lot coming from someone who can't check through world line themselves.

[I can check through world lines and faster than you at that. It's just that I can't manipulate probabilities like you since I am conceptually unable to make choices, being a ring and all. Objects aren't supposed to make history, that right conceptually belongs to humans and gods. If I had a soul, I swear....] PK huffed.

[I can still take you to the closest opening available in a world line. Which is good enough. You're just being paranoid.]

Really? And what if the closest opening in a world line takes us right into the middle of a divine battle? Or an active volcano? Or....

[Don't say it.]

I grinned.

.....a point in time somewhere in the history of the world where it was a medieval shithole?

PK sighed. 

[That is super rare. Most of the time it'll take you somewhere matching the time you jumped from and land you in a relatively safe space.]

And pray tell, PK, what time period are we jumping from?

That shut him.

I chuckled.

[Touche.] PK admitted, [How did I not consider that? Oh wait, I did. Because I'm not an idiot. I'll just pick the second closest one in that case or the third. Or any other suitable ones I can find close by.]

Or you can shut up and let me use the Kaleidoscope as it was intended. For multidimensional time travel.

"Aha! Got one." I cheered.

[Show me.] 

I plucked out a shard and projected it's image onto the world. It was a series of worlds, some 15 or 16 in a row, each with a set of hidden realms attached to them. Set in a blanket of something that seemed like a void in an oblong bubble, like these ships in glass bottles, some worlds in there were shattered, some apocalyptic and yet others in that line, were half finished. Towards the end though, there were a few that looked to be simple modern worlds on the surface. The whole thing itself gave off the vibe of a child that made a lego building but didn't like how it looked and smashed it in anger and chucked it aside to start anew till he got bored and left it to gather dust in some corner, half finished and never to be completed. But one of those worlds in particular caught my eye. As I fast-forwarded through its history, taking cliff notes, I came upon one point in time, somewhere just after it had gone through the prelude to an apocalypse but somehow managed to avoid the apocalypse itself. And there I found what I wanted. The perfect moment in time and space for that world line for me to enter, one where it's gods were dead, it's creator had all but abandoned it and the whole place was just running on autopilot. 

[Supernatural? And this looks like...season 6-ish?]

Yup. No Carver Edlund peeping on his subjects. No Lucifer and Michael having dick measuring contests. Gabriel is so deep in hiding he is completely shut off from the world. Heaven is in civil war and Hell is restructuring. There are virtually no threats with the free time or resources on their hands or the ability to chase me down. And as long as I avoid destiny's chosen cowboys, I will have enough time to set the stage for something larger and vastly more profitable in the future. Create a butterfly effect that will leave me with a leash on the new god of this world. 

[Sure. So long as you don't get me involved in it. Send me the coordinates?]

Yeah, here.

I sent the coordinates over as PK prepared to open a portal into it.

But I just had to ask....

Just for reference, where was the closest opening to this world if I had let you handle the jump, PK?

I felt PK check and then fall silent.

[.....]

It was right in the middle of Michael and Lucifer's final showdown, wasn't it?

I asked with a cheeky grin.

[...it was just a coincidence.] PK pouted.

Hehehehehehehe. 

[Smug bastard.] PK huffed and a portal tore open before me, [Let's go.]

I stood back up, dusted the grass and dirt off of my coat and smiled.

Yup. 

New world, here we come.

________________

Yoooo....

I'm back. Just got some decent network. 

You'd think the capital of a state would have better network but what do you know...

Well it's MP so I guess that's not really surprising.

Anyways, enjoy. 

Tell me what you think?

Thanks for reading

Donate your powerstones.

And add the fic to your library.

See ya later!

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