Chapter 242 - Dimensional Advice

Even though I was assured by Panda, and then by Ghost himself, that nothing happened with them or with my piece of the Seal of Absolute Knowledge, it was still a relief to come back to my own country, city and home and find it uninvaded (except for Panda, who had a permission), and people I knew to be untouched.

The next thing I did was to ask Ghost if he had any knowledge of how Staghead could do what he did, who he was, and how to stop him. While Ghost's specialisation wasn't in creating and manipulating space, he still knew a lot.

He was shocked when I told him what happened at the auction, and his face got that strange blank look Ghost had when he appeared to be unable to feel anything good about the situation.

"So this is how it was… This is why you needed for me to keep the seal," he murmured, then shook his head and smiled once again. "I'm glad you have Jean-Jacques at your side, Diana. It lets me sleep better at nights, knowing that even if someone wanted to nip your development in the bud, he'd be there to protect you."

"I didn't know you could worry at all, teacher," I said with a joking smile to hide my sudden embarrassment.

"It's not that I do… You know that fear and anxiety are out of my emotional scope…" Ghost drawled, inclining his head to the side in thought. "But sometimes I think about all the possibilities, and can't stop thinking even when I know I should be sleeping instead.. Is it not how worrying works?"

"I guess… Well, I'm just glad to have an outstanding teacher like you, Ghost."

Ghost straightened up and beamed. "Yes, I'm outstanding, aren't? You sure can appreciate greatness, unlike some of the new generation here in Nightingale, my student."

"Yes, yes! So, teacher, I had to ask if you knew anything about fey and their abilities."

"I know plenty, but how much of this is true? Fey are more secretive than any other supernatural kind. We hide—well, I suppose now it's "hid", eh?—from only normal humans, while fey hide from anyone who isn't like them. I've read several books about fey that just were put into the coven's library—"

I perked up. "Oh, I remember these. You said they were rubbish."

"Did I?" Ghost blinked fast several times. "I don't remember. But it's true! They were rubbish. Contradicted each other at every turn. One was a complete fiction. I told Elder they should be given away to not waste the space on the shelves… She didn't." He shook his head. "I remember reading a few other books that were more useful. One in particular is just about the travel methods of fey."

I shifted more comfortably in Ghost's guest chair and prepared to listen.

"There are many accounts about how fey could mysteriously appear and disappear out of seemingly nowhere. Most of them could be chalked to their mastery of illusions and glamour, but there's plenty of theorising about so-called Other Roads. Proofs are harder to find, with how isolated from the world fey are, but witches tried in the past, and sometimes even succeeded. The core idea is that Under Hills—that's how fey's sub-dimension is called for short—is much smaller that Earth, but it's still kind of sphere-like."

To demonstrate, Ghost gestured in the air, at the same time pulling out colours to create a very simplistic, but still impressive hologram of a greenish-blue ball inside of a bigger ball in the air between us.

"It's not exactly a sphere, but the space inside is put in such a way that no matter where you go, as long as you don't change directions, eventually you will end up exactly where you were. Just like with Earth. This is one of the few facts I have proofs for, since witches helped fey to create Under Hills in the first place. They took some of the normal space, shaped it, melded it, and created a few stable entrance points. These are essential, because if you break them all, if you cut the sub-dimension from ours entirely… it will drift away. It will just become a dimension."

"So you won't be able to get in or out without a summoning ritual? And a sacrifice?"

"Yes, exactly." Ghost nodded. "So entrances to sub-dimensions are vital. They can be closed, but they shouldn't be broken. I'm… unsure what you have to do to break one… Either way, entrance isn't the only way to access a sub-dimension. Technically, as long as your point in space connects with one in a sub-dimension, you can just create a temporarily breech… I don't know the exact details, though. It's a fine manipulation of the aspects of space. But it's possible. Though, most sub-spaces are small and don't connect with many places. Under Hills are exception. The creation of it was a monumental, historical effort."

Ghost drew a circle in the air around the illusory bubbles with his finger. "The inner sphere is Under Hills, and the upper is Earth. Under Hills are smaller, but it still is close to any point on Earth. In theory, you can slip in there from anywhere, and from there to anywhere. In practice, I imagine there'd be plenty of dispersion."

I hummed. "I don't think Staghead had a problem of aiming. He seemed to teleport exactly where he wanted to…"

"He did, didn't he?" Ghost blinked. "Well, that's just a theory. Fey aren't witches, but their magic is powerful and versatile, no matter how they do it. There's some talk that powerful fey can directly manipulate aspects in a manner that's very similar to ours. But say, this theory of Other Roads is correct. Then, to prevent someone from slipping back and forth, you will have to do what people call a dimensional lock."

"A dimensional lock?"

"Yes. If put simpler… it's a way of twisting space so no one could twist it after that."