Infinity: Rising of the Soul Weavers

<My body can\'t take it, you know! If I die, everyone dies! I am this planet, and I sustain life here! How hard is it to understand that you should save me and not f*ck me?>

"I- I\'m sorry…" Guilt was apparent in Raven\'s voice.

<Like f*CK I care about your apology! If you care, then die!> 

The girl yelled, surprising Raven. "Hm, I\'m sorry, but I can\'t do that," she said while shaking her head.

<Are you blind? Do you not see my injuries? You\'re trying to play hero, I get it, but you\'re killing me! You\'re killing everyone who\'s living here!!>

The Voice seemed to be coming from Raven\'s head that she felt dizzy, yet, the sincerity of the girl\'s plea was what hurt her the most.

"Then just get stronger!" Raven yelled at the girl. "If you\'re too weak, then just work on improving your powers! What do you expect me to do when we\'re facing a damn war? 

"I\'m fighting against demon lords and sh*t, what are you doing? F*cking nothing! 

"And in case you were as dumb as you look, then let me tell you that you\'re being targeted for complete f*cking annihilation!" While Raven didn\'t want to disclose the information gathered by her avatars yet, she thought that her family won\'t hear anything she says here.

<What do you mean?> The girl seemed to calm down.

"I mean that, as of now, there\'s a massive fleet of invasive aliens approaching Earth, err, you.

"My avatar has picked some stuff while spying around the EDA headquarters. While you may not know what that is, you just need to know that humans are secretly preparing for an all out war.

"That\'s why… I need more power. I can\'t let my family die… I simply can\'t," Raven clenched her fists.

<But… I would die anyway from your actions… the aura that is emitted by most beings above a specific power level is enough to harm my core and cause its degradation. 

<To be frank with you, my power level now is about Four Stars, in the old ranking system. All of these powers humans are gathering are making it so hard for me to maintain my equilibrium.

<Every time I can\'t control the pain I\'m feeling, and thus my body, as I wish to, I end up causing a natural disaster that kills many… Do you think I enjoy seeing people die?

<Additionally, anything that is above the rank of one star is enough to harm my core directly. Meaning that your skill is really painful, you know… whenever you turn white or whatever.

<Also, do you know why I have these huge fractures in my arms? They were mere tiny cracks before and I chose to ignore them, thinking that they may go away after a while, but your little fight with miss black energy caused this!>

Understanding that she meant Liz, Raven looked down while clenching her fists. \'But I lost the people I cared about that time, I have lost Maya… and if I hadn\'t stepped in, the world would have been destroyed, no?\'

<Furthermore, those two demons you\'re creating… at least one of them will hit the rank of Two Stars… and in case you haven\'t been following so far, that will make my core become even more unstable?

<It\'ll become harder to control the weather, the natural phenomena, etc. I can guarantee that many people will die from natural disasters… But not only that; with time, my core will completely decay, causing my death as well as everyone else\'s!>

Contrary to her previous angry expression, she was now sad and tense, afraid of being destroyed by the beings she cared about for more than a billion years.

"Hm Raven\'s suggestion still holds some ground." Aether said thoughtfully, after a while of silence. "You can just simply get stronger."

<How? I\'ve tried so many methods to increase my powers, none worked!> Gaia said.

"Let me ask you this, have you felt any spike in power since the appearance of the portals?"

<Hm, maybe, but it was very faint…>

"That is naturally the case since only a very small portion of them has been cleared so far," Aether said. "The portals are filled with magiculus, a form of pure mana that supports any form of magical life.

"Basically, what you need is someone clearing out these portals, thus transferring the magiculus into the atmosphere,and consequently, you."

Sitting down and hugging her knees, Gaia seemed on the verge of breaking down. She has been bearing the pain and trying to stay positive, thinking that the pain would disappear soon, but to no avail.

It\'s already been thirteen years now, and if anything, the pain has only increased. 

She had thought that by killing this girl, she would get some rest that would last her a while and give her time to regenerate her health.

But now she saw how far fetched her dreams were. It wasn\'t only the girl, or the portals, or the random people with enormous amounts of power. No, even if she was somehow able to solve that issue, she was still going to get destroyed by some alien invasion.

<I guess I\'ll just die then…>

Looking at her hugging her knees with such a sad and desperate expression on her face made Raven\'s heart ache.

"Did you not hear what he said?" Raven said. "He just said that you can be healed by simply clearing out portals."

<But I am trapped here… I can\'t just go clearing out portals, now can I? Wait, you don\'t mean that…>

"Hehe!" Raven chuckled while extending her hand for Gaia to help her up. "Although I think you\'re a psycho for wanting to kill me with no explanation whatsoever, I still care about my loved ones and I don\'t want them to get hurt. 

"If that means I\'ll have to help you get stronger then so be it, I\'ll clear the portals and prevent any further harm from befalling you.

"Also, you have to know that simply having a specific power level isn\'t enough to harm you, otherwise, Aether\'s presence would have been your end since whatever energy he\'s holding within is enough to bomb a galaxy," Raven said.

Aether just shrugged since it was more than accurate in his eyes.

"See?" Raven asked with a smile. "Also, this means that my two demons won\'t be a problem, right? I\'ll just have them conceal their true powers, and in case they must fight, I\'ll ask them to finish it quickly."

<Hm, I guess you\'re right…>

Gaia finally accepted Raven\'s hand and stood up, although she was still upset with her.

"Would you like to join them?" Aether asked. "Instead of being trapped in here I mean."

<I would love to, but I think I have to focus on controlling the elements. Who\'s going to prevent natural disasters from occurring?>

"That will be you too, naturally," Aether smiled.. Snapping his fingers, Raven could suddenly feel Kayla\'s presence. "Let me teach you how to transfer skills…"