Fractured Worlds (Worlds Away #1)

Brela Chapter 38: Energy

"Edoline hit a pressure point on Razzerie's neck, which caused her to go unconscious due to the brain getting a false measurement of blood pressure," Justin said. "After that, the fight was over. The other half-eternals left or surrendered. We reclaimed our jumper gems and brought the prisoners back to MEPA."

"Wayne explained to us later that the runes on the jumper gems have mehalta in them. It's used to balance the energy that flows through the rocks with each jump," I added. "That was how Razzerie was able to manipulate them."

"May I also add that Siegefried and Boradon allowed themselves to be captured." Eyes turned to Edoline as she spoke. I observed her face, looking for any lingering grief over Justin and I talking about Zyair. I couldn't find any. "Instead of wandering aimlessly to find the teams, they chose to let the half-eternals bring them to our people."

"Thank you for filling us in," Mae said.

Siegefried and Boradon being captured had never made much sense to me, considering their skill level, but I never had the confidence to ask them about it. Hearing the explanation to their actions, the scenario made a lot more sense now.

The door opened without a knock, and Wayne entered. A rolled piece of paper was in his arms, and there was an urgency about him.

"Sorry to interrupt, but you all need to see this," he said as he kicked the door shut behind him. Everyone watched as Wayne came over to the table and unrolled his paper. Gryph grabbed the recorder and moved it so the paper laid flat.

"This is MEPA's power consumption," Wayne explained, pointing to the graph. It had a few lines on it, all of them straight, minus the natural dips and rises. "For the newest member here, we pull the energy from between all the worlds. It's where our electricity comes from."

"That doesn't cause any issues?" I asked, looking at the paper as I tried to understand it.

"No. The power is infinite, just like the worlds. There has never been an effect on the input of energy, that is, until yesterday." Wayne pointed to a yellow line. "We monitor the energy, and from that you can tell when jumpers jump to another world in large groups and when a fracture is made."

Haruto pointedly cleared his throat.

"When the line rises it indicates a fracture, and when it drops, it indicates large jumping groups," Wayne described, looking flustered. "They are always small influxes that return to normal seconds afterwards. Yesterday, there was a sudden drop in the energy." Wayne pointed to the graph, indeed a sudden decline. It wasn't something you could pass off as jumping, the change was much too big for that. "The energy levels didn't bounce back up until thirty seconds later, in which they exceeded the normal input thrice fold." It was a straight line up to the peak, drastically different from the other recordings. "It took two minutes before it returned to normal. And all of this took place at the time World 4 was destroyed."

The room was silent.

Gryph was the first to speak. "Why didn't we see any physical effects of this?"

"It was still small enough that our power input never changed, just the general amount of energy," Wayne said.

"To ask Brela's question from earlier today, how was this girl able to destroy a world?" Edoline asked. I gave the vivifica a look of thanks. She didn't notice it.

"She must be able to call in the energy between the worlds and use herself as a lightning rod. She was probably only able to destroy World 4 because of how much energy she pulled into the world; it just cracked under the pressure," Raymond said. He stroked his white beard thoughtfully. Nods travelled around the room. Everyone agreed with Raymond's explanation; it made the most sense.
Mae nodded. "A similar concept to when we take the energy in order to jump between worlds."

"With the energy between worlds in such a high content, would it leave an effect on those who came into contact with?" Magda's eyes turned to Justin and me.

"No, it's harmless," Mae assured her. "The eternals did extensive tests on the energy when I was still with them. They found no traces of anything harmful, radiation or otherwise."

I breathed a little easier with that news. I also couldn't help but notice all the questions this information had brought up. Did we truly know this little?

"The next question is who exactly is this girl, and how she has such a powerful ability?" Averial looked around the room, then continued. "In all of my research into the worlds, I believe I would remember a mention of people who could bring worlds down."
"I phoned down to the library earlier, and I have Layla McGavin working on translating a text. We are not sure, but we do believe it mentions world destroyers." Mae said.

"What language is it in?" Justin asked. "I might be able to help Layla."

"You are welcome to help, but she doesn't know exactly. The way she described it to me was that the text was written in a mix of a few languages. I'm unsure which ones or how; I didn't ask for details."

Justin nodded, already thinking.

"For now, I would say our best course of action is to keep an eye on this girl and monitor the worlds for anyone else displaying these powers," Mae said. "We need to learn what we can do to stop the destruction of worlds, and what exactly this ability is.

"In the terms of Razzerie, we must not take her lightly. Haruto—" at his name, the blind man looked at Mae. "I would like you to tell all the teams that if they meet Razzerie or even see her, they are not to engage. They are to report in and call for backup. Team Igniatus, the A-Team, or Justin and Brela will respond if they are available. Does anyone have any concerns or questions?"

Silence.

"Good. Dismissed." Scraping of seats and quiet chatter erupted at that word. Justin and I followed the unit leaders' lead and rose. Mae left the room first. I nodded respect to the leaders and passed words of temporary farewells as Justin and I left the room, myself trying to catch up with Mae.

"Mae," I called. The leader of MEPA stopped where she stood and turned to look at me. I sprinted to get to her side, Justin not far behind. "I have no place to ask this, but I would like to be included in whatever information and discussions come up about the girl. I feel responsible for her since—" I didn't get time to explain my reasoning before Mae butted in.

"Deal," she said.

"Seriously?" I was surprised that Mae agreed so quickly to involve me in the girl's fate.

"Yes. You saved her, so it's only natural you would like to be involved further. I'm assuming you would like to be involved too Justin?"

"If that is alright," he said.

"I will notify both of you if anything arises."

"Thank you."

Mae smiled, but I could tell it wasn't out of happiness. It was forced, meant to hide something. With that, she turned and left.

"She seems...off," I commented. Justin looked at Mae's receding figure.

"She's under a lot of pressure right now," Justin said. His hand rested on my shoulder. "I'll see you later." He too walked away.

I don't think that's all. But I let it go as I walked towards my room. Because what could I do?