Prelude: To Domathra (Isekai/LitRPG/OP MC)

A crackling fire, the gentle heat warming her face.

“Papa, what happened to my mama?”

A pause, a silence that stretches just a little too long.

“She passed when you were born, Little Cub. But she loved you very much.”

Running, the wind biting at her cheeks.

Mud gripped her boot, sucking her down into the mire. A strong hand grabbed her around the waist, hoisting her to her feet.

Running.

Shink-shink.

Whooshing projectiles wizzed past her. Branches and leaves clawed her face.

A squelch. A scream.

“Father, we must rest.”

“Do not slow down for me, Little Cub. I am fine.”

Back and forth, sliding across the deck. Salty spray buffeted her, drying her face out. Smells of decay wafted up from below.

A badly-concealed rustling of paper.

“What is that, Father?”

“Nothing, Little Cub. Just something to stop the ache.”

A dark alley, the smell of damp and mold filled her nose. Her arms ached as men dragged her by their crooks. Her feet hurt from pounding the cobbled stones.

“Father! Papa!” 

She screamed so hard that blood sprayed from her mouth, and her voice went hoarse.

“Don’t worry, Little Cub. We’ll be together again soon.”

————————————

Tara awoke not with a start, but instantly and calmly, as if she had merely closed her eyes for a few moments. Wet trails ran down her face, but she quickly wiped them away. She sat up, glancing around the room.

She immediately noticed that Nephthys was gone, though not far away, as indicated by the glowing doorway in the center of the room. What even is that? Some sort of gateway teleportation spell? Tara had not even heard of such a thing!

Where did she go? Where would she even need to be so late at night? The obvious answer was Nemesis, but surely even she could not create a gate hundreds of miles away…right?

Scratch.

“Ow,” Tara said, rubbing her cheek where Aka had just licked her.

Aka lay just before her, lounging on the three-quarters of the bed that Tara was not occupying. Her tail thumped the mattress as she stared.

“What?” Tara asked.

Thump!

“I don’t speak tail. I don’t know what you want from me,” she said.

Thump!

Aka stared straight into Tara’s eyes, as if probing her soul, her tail thumping regularly.

“I’m fine,” Tara said, turning away, rubbing her tear streaks, where Aka had just licked. “It doesn’t even bother me anymore.”

Thump!

“I don’t need coddling. I was only eight back then. I’m way older now. I don’t need help.”

Thump!

Aka stared at her. She could feel her gaze on the side of her head, even without looking.

“What?! What do you want?! I can’t do anything, okay?! There’s nothing I can do to do—nothing I can change, so just forget about it!” she yelled, her eyes closed and arms in the air.

“Thinking about it does no good…”

Aka yawned as she rose, slowly and unconcerned, the way only cats can. She stretched her front paws, her back arching.

“Oof—” Tara grunted, Aka falling onto her lap.

She started purring and, though gentle, the vibrations radiated through Tara’s body. Aka was so large that only her right shoulder could rest in Tara’s lap, while the rest of her was sprawled across the bed.

“You’re too big for this…” she said, bending over at the waist and hugging Aka.

She grabbed handfuls of fur and sighed, the softness against her cheek soothing against the purring soundscape. Before long, her breaths were long and slow, and the room quieted once more.

——————————————

What a conundrum.

Nephthys stared at the starry expanse, sweeping her gaze across the seemingly boundless nothing, recognizing it for the illusion it was. Or, perhaps, not an illusion, a consequence of distorted space.

She glanced back at the glowing door, the sole reference point in this void. With it, she had determined that rather than a point in space within an infinite universe, as the starfield seemed to suggest, she was actually in a sort of bubble.

She had flown forward quickly and, within minutes, returned to the doorway. The same happened when traveling in all three dimensions. This seemed to be a spatial bubble that looped on itself. 

This matched her expectations. What she did not expect was the universe beyond. 

She poked her head back through the doorway, briefly confirming that all was well within the room. Finding Tara asleep, bent over Aka, who was sleeping on her lap, she withdrew her head with a chuckle. 

Cute.

Well, it was cute if one could overlook what was effectively a tiger curled up on Tara’s lap. Although even that was not wholly accurate. Aka was far more dangerous than a tiger.

Staring at the doorway, she realized this was probably the first thing she would have to fix. The glow it cast was no more than that of a torch, but in the dark inn room it likely shone through the crack in the shutters. Hopefully, any passersby would mistake it for candlelight.

Nephthys did not blame herself for creating such a gaudy entryway, with its golden glow. The whole thing was no more than an experiment to pass the night. Her idle curiosity about how her inventory worked had led to probing magic, attempting to ‘break into’ her inventory without using the Words.

There was…something present when she used her inventory. Most applications of the Words were completely opaque to her senses. How it moved mana within her body, for example, she had not the foggiest idea. However, the effects the Words manifested were present for study.

Whenever she accessed her inventory, she detected the faintest tingle of magic. It was fast and unbelievably complicated, but it was unmistakable when used so close to her. That both intrigued and disturbed her. If she could detect and, potentially, interfere with her own inventory externally, could others?

She had broken down the magic the Words used into its most basic parts, and though the creation of such a space was completely beyond her at the moment, she had managed to work out the magic used to access it. Ironically, though it should not surprise her, it shared much with other transportation magic, such as gate or blink.

Creating a doorway to connect that space was relatively simple, which is likely why the trace of magic when the Words accessed the space was so quick and discreet.

If only I could witness a space like this being created…

Shaking the idle musing from her mind, she cast a light spell and held it above her palm. Theoretically, this was the same space that contained her inventory. She saw nothing but the door, but with the backdrop being of empty space, it was unsurprising that she could not see anything.

There!

Reflections from metal twinkled amidst the stars—her items! They were here!

With a quick telekinesis, she pulled all of them—everything within this space—to one side. She had ideas, and she needed the room.

It was hard to get an accurate reading on how large this space was. Its diameter, if it were even a sphere, had to be at least a couple of miles. Nephthys had flown quite fast when she tested its recursive nature before. Her best guess was a diameter of two to three miles.

It was not huge, but there was much she could do with that amount of space.

Nephthys’ body flashed, her disguise quickly shed, her halo of stars casting an otherworldly light into the void. She spread her arms, and mana gathered, a whirlwind of it so concentrated that it was visible to the naked eye.

There were no explicit ‘creation’ spells, or not in the traditional sense. However, creating matter from mana did exist via spells meant for other things. Fireball ignited flames from mana, while Power Jet turned mana into water and shot it in a firehouse-like stream.

These were all creation spells, in a sense. They just needed a bit of creativity to be utilized as such.

Nephthys’ eyes glowed, resonating with the surroundings as a sense of anticipation grew within her. She had glimpsed the possibilities contained in the stars, and she could not lie to herself and say she was not eager to test them.

A cold moon suddenly appeared within the void, domineering. It cast its frigid violet light over the warped space, items nearly beyond value sparkling in its glow.

She smiled.

————————————

“My memories of that time are…foggy. However, I believe I have trimmed it sufficiently, whether or not it is exactly where it used to be,” Hannibal explained, hunched over a map spread across the entire table. He had an arm crossed over his chest, with his other holding his chin as he studied.

“I do not recall our lady specifying that it must be trimmed to its exact dimensions from two centuries ago. Let us call it sufficient for now. We will adjust if needed,” Ramose replied, tracing along the map where Hannibal had indicated the Gloam’s recession.

“This is a great deal of territory. Are you positive that there was no collateral damage? There were no innocents caught in the flames?” he asked, turning toward Hannibal.

“I was thorough. During my entire operation, I encountered only one…‘individual’ present, and I warned her off. I saw signs of comings and goings, but no paths in use at that moment. There were no casualties beyond the Gloamkin.”

Ramose nodded, satisfied. The image of his lady weeping for even the most detestable cretins in this region had seared itself into his mind. Their goddess was kind.

She would not want to cause any undue harm, especially if it was easily avoided—not that he distrusted Hannibal. The archdemon was mechanically precise. However, one could never trust that a demon understood instructions the same way any other species might.

Ramose believed that was the cause of their lady’s recent tears.

A pang of anger shot through him as he recalled Nephthys weeping that day. It became a scorching blade he longed to hold against Horemheb’s throat, who was responsible for those circumstances, but he quickly snuffed it. Horemheb had simply done as he understood his instructions, and even more than that, he was Nephthys’ summon.

Ramose could not go killing her pets, even if they occasionally bit the hand that fed.

“Ramose,” Nephthys suddenly called.

Ramose was, fortunately, old enough to resist the instinct to jump, instead turning slowly. He placed his hands behind his back and straightened his posture, a move he executed with practiced grace.

“My lady. How may I be of service?” he asked, bowing toward the glowing gate that had manifested before him.

“I need everyone—all the crafters. I have a large project that I need assistance with. I could especially use Callistratus’s, Eirene’s, and Nestor’s expertise,” she explained.

“I see. I will gather them in no time. Might I ask what project you could be undertaking so late…at…” he asked as he straightened out of his bow, trailing off.

Through the gate, he saw Nephthys in all her glory, her disguise removed, floating within a starry void. Her arms were held down and away from her sides, at an angle that made her body resemble an arrowhead. Lightning and plasma swirled around her, while earth, water, and all manner of debris coalesced into a sphere in the distance behind her.

In the center, barely visible beneath what appeared to be the shell of a nascent planet, was a singularity that chilled his blood. It was a cavernous maw dwelling within range of touching that seemed poised to devour with insatiable greed. It evoked a feeling that only the Veil had ever inspired in him.

“We are constructing a world,” she said simply, smiling.

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