Chapter 7: Proliferation

"Greetings, Council. We have summoned the Peacekeeper, The Guardian of Death" Qwan exclaimed and introduced Raven to the Council.

"Greetings, Council. I am the Grim Reaper, the Guardian of Death. My true name is Macha" Raven put her palms on her chest then bowed to show respect and acknowledgement.

Raven and Qwan stood before the Council. The rest of the group sat on the chair provided in the Council room. Commander Trouble and other high ranking LEP officers sat on the front row, Foaly and his lab staff sat on the second row. Though Holly should sat with the LEP reconnaissance together with the Retrieval LEP, she chose to sat beside Artemis together with No1, and Qweffor on the last row. Butler remained standing behind Artemis.

"Greetings, Guardian, we would like know the true nature of this treat to us and why do you seek aide to us the People? You have powers yourself" Council Cahartez spoke.

"It is indeed true that I have powers. But, It is limited. The gate is opened. Souls and spirits are escaping from this gate, looking for a body to posses. The closest vessel that they could reach are Humans on the surface. In what way are they a treat to the People?, These ethereal beings feed on the positive energy. Magic is one of the positive energy that they feed on. The stronger the magic in their system, the stronger the energy that anchors them to this realm" Raven paused, letting the information sink in before continuing.

"When a large amount of magic is lost in magical hotspots, they are vulnerable to becoming a rift. A type of overlap between our worlds, this place could either house black magic or become a window to the other side. Large amount of Black magic in this realm is a treat to us the dead. Black magic could trap a soul in limbo. It disrupts the cycle of life and death. Black magic also enthralls any living things to come to it, eating the flesh including the spirit that houses the soul. When a soul losses their spirit, so as their right to 'cross the river'. Black magic could travel to contaminate Ritual sites for the fairies. Ritual sites could also loss their magic reservoir from being depleted of magic from ethereal beings." Raven emphasized this problem.

"There is also another treat. This large amount of phantoms could spark a war between the People. Fairies have large amount of positive energy within them, thus phantoms are drawn to them, sucking not just the magic but also the life force in them. When this war starts, the humans will be caught in the crossfire, thus a three-way war will become inevitable" Raven dropped the weight and seriousness of the situation. The Council has no choice but to help her.

Raven continued her report. "The gate was opened last night in terms of your time. In my side, it was opened 1 year ago, relative to your time flow. In other words, the gate opened after the Berserker gate's 1st gate was opened."

"How come it took one year for the gate to be opened in our side?" One of the council members asked

"The time flow in our worlds is different. They are flexible. The time flow in our realm is slow, while here in this realm is relatively fast. In some case, it could be vice versa. Thus the gate in our side was opened first, then after one year it opened to your side of the world. The gate first opened exactly at 8:06am, I manage to close them to prevent the phantoms from escaping, but because of large amount of magic released from the Berserker gate, it contradicted by powers, thus opening the gate permanently, exactly at 3:49pm on the same day."

This revelation stunned Artemis, Holly and Foaly. Artemis's hand shot his hands to his chest. Those timeline, It can't be. Artemis widened his eyes in realization.

Foaly and Holly realized the same thing.

At 8:06 am where I checked Artemis's pulse when I was visiting the surface. He lost his pulse that time. Thought Holly.

At 3:49 pm, Artemis had a Cardiac arrest during prognosis. Thought Foaly.

At that time, the gate was opening. This explained why all prognosis done are useless, we are oblivious to the situation from the start. Thought Artemis, Holly, and Foaly simultaneously.

"So, what can we do to prevent these disasters?" Council is now giving all their attention and time to the Guardian.

Why?, Why am I affected when the gate opened? A mystery plagues Artemis's mind.

There it is. The problem in Artemis. But Yes, Why indeed? Why is Artemis affected? Any criticism?