1 Valley's Legacy

Three bloodied human figures clashed with countless illusory shapes spilling blood upon the black canvas of space. Even so, the spilled blood was far less than the illusory calamity that ravaged planets and destroyed all sentient life as the battlefield moved from solar system to solar system.

The eldest of the three human figures waved his staff, causing multiple magic circles to appear.

Boom! Boom! BOOM!!

A chain of explosions, akin to multiple miniature stars exploding, decimated the horde of monsters. With the illusory beasts pushed back the trio were granted a few moments of much needed rest.

The old man gasped, "My two disciples, the Ethereal Space-Time Valley is no more. I am the cause of this calamity. Quickly, run while I hold these beasts off."

"No!", cried his female disciple "The fault lies with all of us from the sect. You can't face them on your own, Master. Let us fight . . ."

"Quiet! Go on with your senior brother and leave now. You are both my legacy and perhaps the last disciples alive from our valley."

The old man then tapped his female disciple's glabella, transferring all of his knowledge of magic to her. After he just smiled, turned, and once again waved his staff. Hundreds of compound magic circles appeared, facing the monster horde.

The male disciple solemnly looked toward his master and bowed saying, "We wish you a safe journey, Master."

"But, Senior Brother!"

"No, this is Master's choice and we must respect it." Her senior brother then started flying away from the horde of monsters while preparing a teleportation spell.

The female disciple sadly looked at her master, hesitating for a moment, before saying "We wish you a safe journey, Master."

Stifling a sob the young girl hurried after her senior brother. Wearing a small smile upon his face, the old man raised his staff. He charged magic circles with every ounce of mana he had making them glow brighter than any spell he made in the past.

Both of his disciples had already made considerable distance between themselves and their master. The moment before the teleportation circle activated they bore witness to their master's final moments.

Boom! Boom!! BOOM!!!

The illusory beast horde swallowed the old man right before he activated all of his spells causing a far stronger and larger round of powerful explosions. The magnificent light that radiated at this moment could be mistaken as the death of star if seen from far away.

- - - - - - -

The two disciplines tumbled out of teleportation circle, but, even before they regained their balance, a second teleportation magic circle was being made.

"Junior Sister, I am going to create a portal instead this time. Those beasts can track the movements in space and a portal will be harder to track."

". . . Alright", she absentmindedly replied, still shaken by her master's death.

"Haaaaa", the male disciple breathed out.

'With the time master has bought for us, I can create a long distance portal. I will certainly make sure Junior Sister can get away', he silently thought.

Sure enough less than a week had passed when the monsters crossed space and found the two runaways. The male disciple hurriedly activated the space portal pushing himself and his junior sister in.

Crying out, the female disciple shouted, "No matter how fast we run, those beasts are faster. They can even can track us even if we use our specialty space-time magic!"

Her senior brother gave her a reassuring smile before saying, " That is why I chose to use a space portal. As long as one exits before they reach the end of this spatial tunnel, those beasts will find it extremely difficult to track them due to how violent space is on the walls of this tunnel."

"That's a brilliant idea, Senior Brother!", cried out his junior sister. Then, realizing something, she questioned, "But the spatial tunnel will collapse if the caster doesn't travel to the end of the portal and everything inside the tunnel will suffer from the chaotic streams of space . . . unless, you aren't thinking of?!"

"I am." was all her senior brother said when he shoved her out of the spatial tunnel before she could react.

"Senior Brotheeerrrr!!"