—Next Morning—
Waking up the next morning, the first order of business was introducing my family to Ciri. Having stayed at Melromarc Castle late into the evening the night before, by the time they got home Ciri was sound asleep. Dragging her out of bed so they could meet before everyone left for the day, the poor girl nearly had a heart attack when she saw everyone in person.
“It is a pleasure to meet everyone, my name is Ciri!”, Ciri said introducing herself to my family, “Thank you for allowing me to stay with you for a while.”
“We are happy to meet you Ciri, please make yourself at home while you stay with us.”, Elouise replied with an elegant curtsy, “All of us have been eager to meet you, let us chat more over dinner tonight.”
Happily agreeing to the offer, I kissed my children and wives goodbye before going out back with Ciri. Asking her to please open a portal to the DC Universe that sparked this problem, she apologized to me and said she could not do it. Believing that her mana had yet to fully recover, I offered her a Mana Potion which she promptly rejected but thanked me for. Informing me that the issue was not the lack of mana, she said the problem was something else entirely.
“If you are not lacking mana…are you saying you cannot return to worlds you have been to yet?”, I asked her narrowing down the possibilities.
“Well…yes.”, she admitted with an apologetic smile, “You see, up till now I have just randomly jumped from world to world without ever looking back. I have never once thought about going back to a world I have visited, aside from home, as I had hoped to spare people from suffering because of me. Initially, I thought so long as I was not in a world that the Wild Hunt would just move on and chase after me, but now I realize how wrong I was.”
Seeing the logic in her thinking, I agreed that it would have been too dangerous for her to go back to places she had already been. Asking her if she wanted me to show her how to do it, she happily agreed and asked me if we could check in on some of her other friends at a later date. Given what happened to the Sins and Commandments, I understood her concerns and promised to visit her friends with her later on.
“Alright, I will show you how to cast the spell, and then you can try to mimic it for yourself.”, I told her as I cast the spell in front of her, “While your current method gets you from place to place safely, it is also how the Wild Hunt is tracking you. Unlike most Portal Spells that connect two places together, your method effectively punches a hole in the World Barrier. Doing this not only sends out a beacon for the Hunt to follow, but it also leaves vulnerable points through which moderately skilled Spacial Mages and creatures can use themselves.”
“Wait, you are joking right!?”, Ciri asked me with a pale expression, “I have accidentally landed on very terrifying worlds, and quickly fled from them. Are you saying that I could have inadvertently created additional problems?!”
“It is a slight possibility, but yes. That said, the amount of damage they could do is very minimal. They would need a monstrous amount of mana to maintain the portal opening for a group of individuals. At most one or two entities would get through before the caster would faint from exhaustion.”, I told her honestly before refocusing her, “You need to focus on the task at hand, the sooner we handle the Wild Hunt the sooner we can fix any damages. If we want to help people, we need to determine the extent of the Wild Hunt’s newfound capabilities.”
Agreeing with me, Ciri stepped up to the plate and attempted to mimic me. Watching her carefully form the spell in front of her, the moment she initiated it the spell collapsed and exploded violently. Quickly compressing the explosion with a barrier, I threw it up into the sky and released the volatile energy. Blowing the clouds above our heads away with the energy, Ciri apologized for failing. Telling her to not worry about it, I asked her to try again.
Repeating the same steps several more times, each try resulted in the same violent result. Watching her grow more and more frustrated with each failure, by the tenth attempt she was not even completing the circle before it exploded.
“Son of a bitch, why will it not go!?”, Ciri huffed as she started her eleventh attempt.
“Ciri stop, I know it is frustrating but the more irritated you get the more likely you are to mess up.”, I said stepping closer to her, “I know that you are used to the more flamboyant magic casting that mages in your world use, but it is not a necessary part of casting. Visualize the spell in front of you, and think of the destination you want to go to.”
“I am trying!”, she snapped irritated that it was not working.
“Try again.”, I said gently grabbing her wrist, “I will help you.”
Closing her eyes this time, Ciri began to form the circle again. Feeling fear and hesitation in her mind, it was clear what the problem was. Even though she wanted to see her friends again and stop the Wild Hunt, she also did not want to see the devastation that followed her everywhere she went. Elizabeth and company lost their entire world because of her, in her mind, and they were among the stronger people she had met.
“Ciri, I know you are afraid of what we may find on the other side but you cannot let it hold you back. For all we know, your other friends and acquaintances are alive and in need of help. The DC Universe that sparked this is likely still fighting for their lives, both of us can turn the tide in their favor.”, I remarked, “You did not cause this, Eredin’s greed and lust for power started this. We have a duty to stop him before this goes any further, going to that universe is the only way we can begin to stop him.”
Taking a deep breath, Ciri calmed herself down and let her magic flow without any hesitation. Resolving herself to stop Eredin from harming anyone else she cared about, her motivation to pull the spell off showed immediate results. Watching a portal open in front of us, she looked back at me in disbelief.
“I…I did it…”, she said looking at me with a smile, “I did it!!”
“Yes you did, now let us go kick some ass!”, I chuckled running toward the portal.
Following after me with her sword drawn, the two of us dove head first into the unknown.
—Ruins of Metropolis—
Grabbing Ciri by her collar, as she came through, I stopped the eager beaver from impaling herself on a piece of rebar. Currently standing in the ruins of the Daily Planet, clearly things had not gone well for the League. Closing the portal behind us, I told Ciri to sheath her blade and stay low. Pulling out a ring of invisibility, I tossed it to her and told her to put it on.
“Cole, I barely know you!”, Ciri whispered with a mischievous smirk.
“It is a magic item you knucklehead, I am not proposing!”, I said playing along with her, “Did Yennefer and Triss not show you how to identify magical items!?”
“Maybe…I did not pay that much attention to their lessons.”, she admitted with a shrug, “Triss usually let me slack off, and Yennefer was too strict to listen to.”
Slipping the ring on her middle finger, her presence in the world became muffled instead of erased. Wanting to avoid attracting unwanted attention from any enemy mages, this method would ensure that Ciri did not stand out to them. Had I made the ring completely erase her presence, a mage would easily identify a void space that would draw them in to investigate.
“Stay close and keep quiet.”, I warned her as I stepped out into the open.
“What are you doing!?”, Ciri screeched in a low voice.
“Unlike you, I am more than capable of handling myself against Gods and Demons.”, I chuckled, “Just stay close and follow me, we will go to the harbor first and look out across the bay. Gotham should be just across the water, if anyone knows the current situation, it is going to be Batman. Even if he is captured or dead, the Bat Computer or Brother Eye should have all the information we need.”
“Fair enough, let us get moving then!”, Ciri agreed.
Following me into the ruins of a once pristine city, the two of us remained silent and listened closely for any impending threats.
—Next Morning—
Waking up the next morning, the first order of business was introducing my family to Ciri. Having stayed at Melromarc Castle late into the evening the night before, by the time they got home Ciri was sound asleep. Dragging her out of bed so they could meet before everyone left for the day, the poor girl nearly had a heart attack when she saw everyone in person.
“It is a pleasure to meet everyone, my name is Ciri!”, Ciri said introducing herself to my family, “Thank you for allowing me to stay with you for a while.”
“We are happy to meet you Ciri, please make yourself at home while you stay with us.”, Elouise replied with an elegant curtsy, “All of us have been eager to meet you, let us chat more over dinner tonight.”
Happily agreeing to the offer, I kissed my children and wives goodbye before going out back with Ciri. Asking her to please open a portal to the DC Universe that sparked this problem, she apologized to me and said she could not do it. Believing that her mana had yet to fully recover, I offered her a Mana Potion which she promptly rejected but thanked me for. Informing me that the issue was not the lack of mana, she said the problem was something else entirely.
“If you are not lacking mana…are you saying you cannot return to worlds you have been to yet?”, I asked her narrowing down the possibilities.
“Well…yes.”, she admitted with an apologetic smile, “You see, up till now I have just randomly jumped from world to world without ever looking back. I have never once thought about going back to a world I have visited, aside from home, as I had hoped to spare people from suffering because of me. Initially, I thought so long as I was not in a world that the Wild Hunt would just move on and chase after me, but now I realize how wrong I was.”
Seeing the logic in her thinking, I agreed that it would have been too dangerous for her to go back to places she had already been. Asking her if she wanted me to show her how to do it, she happily agreed and asked me if we could check in on some of her other friends at a later date. Given what happened to the Sins and Commandments, I understood her concerns and promised to visit her friends with her later on.
“Alright, I will show you how to cast the spell, and then you can try to mimic it for yourself.”, I told her as I cast the spell in front of her, “While your current method gets you from place to place safely, it is also how the Wild Hunt is tracking you. Unlike most Portal Spells that connect two places together, your method effectively punches a hole in the World Barrier. Doing this not only sends out a beacon for the Hunt to follow, but it also leaves vulnerable points through which moderately skilled Spacial Mages and creatures can use themselves.”
“Wait, you are joking right!?”, Ciri asked me with a pale expression, “I have accidentally landed on very terrifying worlds, and quickly fled from them. Are you saying that I could have inadvertently created additional problems?!”
“It is a slight possibility, but yes. That said, the amount of damage they could do is very minimal. They would need a monstrous amount of mana to maintain the portal opening for a group of individuals. At most one or two entities would get through before the caster would faint from exhaustion.”, I told her honestly before refocusing her, “You need to focus on the task at hand, the sooner we handle the Wild Hunt the sooner we can fix any damages. If we want to help people, we need to determine the extent of the Wild Hunt’s newfound capabilities.”
Agreeing with me, Ciri stepped up to the plate and attempted to mimic me. Watching her carefully form the spell in front of her, the moment she initiated it the spell collapsed and exploded violently. Quickly compressing the explosion with a barrier, I threw it up into the sky and released the volatile energy. Blowing the clouds above our heads away with the energy, Ciri apologized for failing. Telling her to not worry about it, I asked her to try again.
Repeating the same steps several more times, each try resulted in the same violent result. Watching her grow more and more frustrated with each failure, by the tenth attempt she was not even completing the circle before it exploded.
“Son of a bitch, why will it not go!?”, Ciri huffed as she started her eleventh attempt.
“Ciri stop, I know it is frustrating but the more irritated you get the more likely you are to mess up.”, I said stepping closer to her, “I know that you are used to the more flamboyant magic casting that mages in your world use, but it is not a necessary part of casting. Visualize the spell in front of you, and think of the destination you want to go to.”
“I am trying!”, she snapped irritated that it was not working.
“Try again.”, I said gently grabbing her wrist, “I will help you.”
Closing her eyes this time, Ciri began to form the circle again. Feeling fear and hesitation in her mind, it was clear what the problem was. Even though she wanted to see her friends again and stop the Wild Hunt, she also did not want to see the devastation that followed her everywhere she went. Elizabeth and company lost their entire world because of her, in her mind, and they were among the stronger people she had met.
“Ciri, I know you are afraid of what we may find on the other side but you cannot let it hold you back. For all we know, your other friends and acquaintances are alive and in need of help. The DC Universe that sparked this is likely still fighting for their lives, both of us can turn the tide in their favor.”, I remarked, “You did not cause this, Eredin’s greed and lust for power started this. We have a duty to stop him before this goes any further, going to that universe is the only way we can begin to stop him.”
Taking a deep breath, Ciri calmed herself down and let her magic flow without any hesitation. Resolving herself to stop Eredin from harming anyone else she cared about, her motivation to pull the spell off showed immediate results. Watching a portal open in front of us, she looked back at me in disbelief.
“I…I did it…”, she said looking at me with a smile, “I did it!!”
“Yes you did, now let us go kick some ass!”, I chuckled running toward the portal.
Following after me with her sword drawn, the two of us dove head first into the unknown.
—Ruins of Metropolis—
Grabbing Ciri by her collar, as she came through, I stopped the eager beaver from impaling herself on a piece of rebar. Currently standing in the ruins of the Daily Planet, clearly things had not gone well for the League. Closing the portal behind us, I told Ciri to sheath her blade and stay low. Pulling out a ring of invisibility, I tossed it to her and told her to put it on.
“Cole, I barely know you!”, Ciri whispered with a mischievous smirk.
“It is a magic item you knucklehead, I am not proposing!”, I said playing along with her, “Did Yennefer and Triss not show you how to identify magical items!?”
“Maybe…I did not pay that much attention to their lessons.”, she admitted with a shrug, “Triss usually let me slack off, and Yennefer was too strict to listen to.”
Slipping the ring on her middle finger, her presence in the world became muffled instead of erased. Wanting to avoid attracting unwanted attention from any enemy mages, this method would ensure that Ciri did not stand out to them. Had I made the ring completely erase her presence, a mage would easily identify a void space that would draw them in to investigate.
“Stay close and keep quiet.”, I warned her as I stepped out into the open.
“What are you doing!?”, Ciri screeched in a low voice.
“Unlike you, I am more than capable of handling myself against Gods and Demons.”, I chuckled, “Just stay close and follow me, we will go to the harbor first and look out across the bay. Gotham should be just across the water, if anyone knows the current situation, it is going to be Batman. Even if he is captured or dead, the Bat Computer or Brother Eye should have all the information we need.”
“Fair enough, let us get moving then!”, Ciri agreed.
Following me into the ruins of a once pristine city, the two of us remained silent and listened closely for any impending threats.
