Beyond the Bloodline

Chapter 429: Balance’s Key

"What happened to your body?" Vlad asked.

Angela didn’t answer. She only looked at Jamie, then lowered her eyes to the ground.

At the same time, Jamie spoke, replying to Vlad.

"That’s why we’re here."

He took a sip of tea, set the cup down, and gestured toward Adam.

"Mr Primordial Human over there owed me a favour, and I cashed it in to store her body here after she had a bit of a crazy episode 1 billion years ago."

Vlad found himself mildly curious about how the Jamie of 1 billion years ago, who in his view had been weak enough to be crushed like an ant, had somehow come into possession of Angela’s body and managed to strike a deal with Adam to keep it here. (Jamie back then hadn’t been strong enough to create a space capable of storing it, given the state it was in at the time.)

But he didn’t care enough to ask for details, so he simply nodded and turned his attention to the sugar bowl.

Jamie, pleased that he didn’t have to explain anything further, turned back to Adam and asked, "So?"

It was only a single word, but in this context, Adam knew exactly what he was asking about, so he answered accordingly.

"There’s a small island country up north. The gate’s in a place the locals call Stonehenge."

He then glanced toward Angela, whose gaze was still lowered.

"But I suppose that information’s unnecessary. There’s no way the famed Witch of Chaos wouldn’t be able to sense her own body from this close."

Adam wasn’t wrong. The reason Angela had lowered her gaze earlier was that she was looking straight through the planet, toward the opposite side of its surface, at the location Adam had just mentioned.

This ’Stonehenge’ was the gateway to an alternate dimensional space, effectively an entire universe nested within Continuum H-0 that housed her body.

She immediately analysed everything about it and concluded that trying to brute force entry into that space would’ve been one of the most foolish decisions imaginable, as it would damage the planet and instantly put them on Adam’s bad side.

Angela saw this and had no sensible reason to attempt it, since it wasn’t worth it in the slightest.

To enter that space properly, one needed the key to the gate at Stonehenge.

Finally lifting her gaze, she looked toward Jamie and then spoke.

"You made yourself the key."

Jamie nodded with a smile.

"Of course, I did. How else did you think that seal was going to keep your body locked away?"

Jamie’s Authority as an Envoy of the elusive Cosmic Force of Balance was one of the few things capable of regulating the forces of Chaos and Order. His Forced Equilibrium had been a crucial element in creating the seal that contained Angela’s body.

Since he’d made himself the key to the seal, unless he was present, Angela had no way to reclaim her body.

If one took a moment to view these circumstances from a different angle, it would seem as though from the very beginning, ever since a billion years ago when Jamie had sealed Angela’s body with Daniela’s help, he’d always intended to use that body as leverage over her once she inevitably awakened.

It was almost as if he’d ensured his existence would be absolutely necessary for her to reclaim it, almost as if he’d been completely certain that, when the time came, he’d be strong enough that Angela couldn’t simply force the information or the seal out of him.

Angela didn’t linger on that thought and focused on the present facts.

"In that case, let’s be on our way. We have no reason to dawdle."

But this was Jamie she was speaking to. Expecting a straightforward response was near the bottom of her expectations.

"Come on, Angela, look at the sky. The sunset’s beautiful, the tea’s good, and there’s plenty of blood-flavoured sugar," Jamie said, arms spread wide, then glanced at the sugar bowl and added, "Please don’t finish the sugar, Vlad."

He looked back at Angela and continued,

"Why not enjoy the atmosphere for a bit? You’re getting your body back either way."

Unfortunately, Angela had no patience for his nonsense.

"Jamie Franklin Westley," she said, calling his full name, her eyes narrowing as she repeated herself. "We’re going to this Stonehenge place now."

For a moment, silence followed. Then Adam spoke.

"Whatever quarrel the two of you want to have, do it outside my universe. Preferably somewhere near that gossip monger’s home."

Clearly, there was bad blood between the Primordial Human and the Primordial Drifter, which wasn’t surprising given that many Progenitors disliked Nash, the Progenitor Drifter, who thrived on brokering information on a cosmic scale, especially when it concerned information he had no right to possess.

Jamie chuckled lightly at Adam’s words, but his smile faded a second later as his expression turned serious.

"Oh well. It’s not like I’ve got time to waste here anyway. Thanks for the tea, Adam."

With that, he tapped a finger against the table, and instantly both he and Angela were standing in the middle of a field dotted with standing stones arranged in several rings.

He walked toward the centre, and the moment his foot touched the dead centre, concentric circles of blue cosmic energy spread out from beneath it, flowing into the earth as the stones began to tremble.

The glyphs and runes etched across them lit up one after another, and a dome of cosmic energy soon enveloped the entire structure, sinking into the ground immediately after and carrying Jamie and Angela into the alternate dimensional space that housed her body.

Created and originally maintained by Adam’s power, the space was unimaginably vast, as one would expect of something that could be called a ’universe’ in its own right, stretching several hundred billion light-years from end to end, complete with stars, galaxies, and other celestial bodies.

However, there wasn’t a single trace of life anywhere within it. The celestial bodies weren’t even moving as they would in a normal universe, completely static, almost as if the entire universe had been frozen in a single moment.

As soon as they entered, Jamie expanded his spatial perception to encompass the entire space, searching for the exact location of Angela’s body within it.

But as he did that, he noticed something unusual.

The Angela behind him had completely dismantled her temporary body.

It had been a temporary flesh and blood vessel created through her regeneration to host her soul, and she had returned it to the cosmic energy it came from, leaving only her soul and an immaterial astral body shaped in her likeness.

Just as Jamie turned to ask what she was doing, a loud cracking sound echoed.

The multidimensional spatial barrier that constantly surrounded Jamie by default, a result of his Dictum of the Azure Paragon’s Sub-Edict, shattered, layer after layer collapsing instantly.

Only the final layer remained, barely stopping a thin, ribbon-like nail of black-hued cosmic energy from piercing directly into his head.

Frowning, Jamie looked up at Angela.

"What’s the meaning of this, Angela? We had a deal. You don’t retaliate against us."

Angela silently crossed her translucent arms and replied,

"I’m following our deal. I’m doing nothing to you."

"You’re doing nothing?" Jamie asked, his expression clearly asking, ’What bullshit are you spouting?’

Angela remained composed as she responded.

"Yes, I did nothing to you," she said. "All I did was disintegrate my temporary body and use that energy to isolate my soul from the space-time continuum.

If that stops my material body from detecting my soul and causes it to only sense you, an existence that wields the power of Balance, and attacks you automatically because it’s still in Auto-Defence Mode, then that’s not myfault or my doing."

Shrugging, she continued,

"I wasn’t the one who said you should become an Envoy of Balance and turn into something my body sees as a threat, was I?"

The moment Jamie heard her words, he understood that this was Angela’s way of getting back at him for manipulating her to do his bidding using her body as leverage, without breaking their contract.

As she’d said, she’d made her body unable to detect her soul, and since it was in Auto-Defence Mode, a result of her soul not being present, it automatically attacked Jamie because of his ’hostile’ Cosmic Force alignment.

The nail of black cosmic energy had only been the opening strike.

It was immediately followed by an omnidirectional barrage of ribbon-like cosmic energy spears launched from every direction, each one powerful enough to penetrate Jamie’s multidimensional barrier, a barrier capable of redirecting incoming attacks through space-time to distant points across the Cosmos.