Eldritch

 

I think I just short-circuited.
At least, that's what it feels like, as detached as I now feel from everything, I only have a numb sensation of presence where I am.
Like in a film I'm not particularly invested in, I see how, from one moment to the other, the rather grey sky with its dwindling spots of blue goes darker and darker till there's only blackness.
In truth, a cobweb of uncountable threads weaves right through reality, intangible, yet with a very real grip.
A grip that pulls.

 

"Huh, was there an eclipse today?"

"The news didn't say a thing!"

"What's that mist?"

"Hey, are those shooting stars?"

 

At the same time, I feel like I'm moving.
Through space and reality, other spheres no mortal could ever set their eyes on, towards another mindscape.
Hah, but that can't be, as I'm still standing there in the school courtyard.

 

"Oh shit! SHIT!!! We've got a transition event!" (Z)

 

Oh hey, Zika is there too.
With a wave of her hands she diverts Ms. Otsuki's attention to the sky and approaches Chiaki.

 

"What the fuck happened?!" (Z)

"I don't know! I only gave her a celebratory peck!" (C)

"You did... Are you actually in sane mind? Kissing an adolescent outer god!?! Grahh... Irgh. You know, never mind! Not worth it! We need to focus on rectifying this mess." (Z)

"What even is going on? What is happening here?" (S)

"This, sonnyboy, is an event that is known under many names, in many different forms. In some versions, it's aptly named the 'falling of the stars'. A look upwards should tell you enough about the reason. Yet this is no time to enjoy the view, as I would very much prefer to get back to where we came from!" (Z)

"... Came from?" (Ms. O)

"This discussion isn't for you! Mind your own damn business!" (Z)

"O-Okay." (Ms. O)

"What do we do?" (C)

"We? Hah. You will give it your all to get that mental wreck over there back on track. Better sooner than later. After this, we'll see if we can do the same for this whole campus that she apparently chucked right out of the ground! Meanwhile, I will focus on damage control!" (Z)

 

She turns to Nanako.

 

"Hey, you! Cult girl! I need your help! We need to convince those people that nothing is out of the ordinary before they start trampling each other." (Z)

"H-how?! There are so many!" (N)

"Focus on an easy-to-buy idea! These people want to believe that they're fine. So tell them just that. Sonnyboy! Bring that bystander out of my personal space. And you, kissmonster, get fucking started!!!" (Z)

 

Started with what?
I'm not really sure what this all is about.
It's not like I'm doing anything.

Hey, that's no reason to shake me!

 

"Ioooriiiiiii! Wake up! Snap out of it! Pull yourself together! Get a bearing! Also, please do it quickly, because I don't know many more of those!" (C)

"Chiaki? Uh, please, ͓̽j͓͓̽̽u͓͓̽̽s͓͓̽̽t͓̽ a͓̽… just a moment. I, I ₙᴱₑᴰ ᵀₒ… need to process." (I)

"No time for processing! You need to... Hey! Hey, are you even listening?! Okay then, like this!" (C)

 

Next, she lays her palms on each of my eyes and SWITCHES THE LIGHT ON!!!

 

"My eyes!!?" (I)

 

An incredible shine burns through my surface.
Streaking through my innermost being, bringing light to a place where no light can be.
For a split second everything is bright.
I'm bright!

Uhh, goddamnit, by every dimension's hell, that even stings without me feeling any actual pain!
Are my eyes seared?
Any regular human would now certainly forever be blind!
Mine at least start putting themselves back together, albeit weirdly slowly, but that's still no excuse!

 

"That was uncalled for!" (I)

"Hah. Are you back?" (C)

 

Chiaki looks exhausted.
Which means something, as she's the kind who would even from sprinting a marathon not even get out of breath.

 

"That fucking hurt!" (I)

"Iori, we don't have time for that! You need to do something!" (C)

 

Huh, she's unusually earnest.

 

"Something? What do you mean?" (I)

"Ehm, did you take a look around?" (C)

 

Of course, I did.
What does she think I’ve been doing?
There's the sports field, the campus, the school buildings.
Oh, and a pitch-black sky!
Also, this purple mountain, which certainly doesn't belong there!
With my senses I can even tell that the ground around the campus is purple as well.

 

"...Fuck." (I)

 

We are in my dream world.

 

"Yep. No idea how you did this, but many people would like to go home now, which might be an issue if they're stuck in another dimension! So can you get us back?!" (C)

 

Now there's even a sense of emergency in her voice.

Looking around, for now it seems like Nanako together with Zika who guides her can manage to keep the people around in some kind of wondrous daze.
But I'm rather sure they won't be able to keep this up for much longer.
Also, it goes only for the regular folks.

My family on the other side...
Okay, the only one affected is mum, who now looks really panicked.
As I mentioned before, Kuri doesn't get any implications and Dad...
Dad looks weirdly fine.
As if he doesn't even realize that something is off.

Right.
Normality field.
For dad everything is normal.
He probably doesn't even notice the people around.

Damnit!
I can't allow myself to be distracted.
I need to fix this.
Just, ehm, how exactly are you supposed to put back a piece of reality that you plucked away out of its dimension?
I'm slightly overtasked here.

No, complaining doesn't help.
So how about simply trying to revert it?
If I'd just know what happened in the first place.
Let's try another angle.
I can teleport from my dream to almost anywhere, right?
And I can bring back stuff.
Now I just need to figure out how to do that without wrecking the campus, the surrounding area, and the involved people's minds.
Nothing easier than this, right?
Ahem, you know, weird instincts I get from time to time, if there was ever a good time for a sudden inspiration, this is it!
So, you're welcome.

Okay, okay, I think I can feel something.
It certainly starts making sense!

Only for a huge error sign to flare up.
Apparently, my mind is trying to tell me that it's not as easy as simply pushing everything back out.

Right, theory time.
It seems like all the black veins I inadvertently spread all over the school were something like fishing hooks.
With which I now pulled them back out.
However, fishing hooks don't exactly work as precise in the other direction.
Which means I can't just throw everything back in.

But on the bright side, I think I can develop a solution.
At least an uncountable number of autonomous brain cells are fervently working on one.

 

"I, I think I know what to do. Please wait here for a moment!" (I)

"Sure. What else would we do? If you don't come back, I'll just become the leader of 'the stranded'. That's the name I came up with, by the way!" (C)

 

Groan.
Okay, time to change dimensions.
Fortunately, my teleportation powers still work.
Yet when I make it to the other side, I have issues manifesting myself.
As I'm not restraining my instincts right now, they manage to convey to me the reason.
Apparently, the area I try traveling to, namely my school, is, uh, not quite defined.
Or in other words, there is a gaping scar in reality in its stead.
A gashing hole between dimensions.
Shit.

Yet on the bright side, my observational skills tell me that a side-effect of this tear is a thick fog that lays over everything.
Something like, things that can't be actively perceived.

Which means I'm at least able to actively get to work without having to worry about bystanders.
Though, I really need to get to work before this dimensional break event causes any problematic incidents.

So, using every shred of power I can gather, I spread all over the area, as quickly as I can.
In mere seconds, tentacles spread through what was just before an empty void.
My eldritch knowledge assessment works in overdrive.
Although I feel weird about all these thoughts flowing into my head, I can't worry about what it's doing to my mind if I want to remedy what happened here.

Thus, I learn that from this position out I can establish something like backhooks into my dimension to pull the campus back.
It's actually quite a bit more complicated.
Something about establishing a multidimensional tunnel that connects to my world via the afterimpression of where I tore it out to hopefully set it back in the right way.
One of the most confusing parts is that this kind of pulling and pushing isn't exactly corporeal.
Or well, it is, but not in the traditional sense.
The same as movement through dimensions isn't exactly a thing.
It's more like weaving a net of countless connections that exist either at the same place or next to each other and...

Nevermind.
I'll just concentrate on the task at hand.
So I reach the campus and somehow manage to connect to the still-present veins.
Pulling back is, from the feel, a bit more difficult than the thing I accidentally did.
But I manage nonetheless to make it happen.

During the end, it gets a little crude, as fitting a kilometer big piece exactly the way it was before is not so simple a task.
But I can rough it out.
My awareness over the things I control tells me that I still have all the people there and for now they seem fine.
So before the fog lifts I use my powers to mend any damage that occured during the transition.
Reconnecting wires, evening cracks in the concrete, all that stuff that under normal circumstances would melt my human brain, but I can counter it.
So I manage to repair this mess and finally the first streaks of the sun break through the sky over the campus again.
Now I only have to get back without causing an uproar.