Her long, golden legs dangled off the edge of the cloud, the river of pure arcana flowing beside her, cascading over the precipice in an endless torrent. The liquid tumbled and tumbled, endlessly cascading as a bottomless waterfall, or magicfall, she supposed.

  The infinite rapids created a brilliant kaleidoscope of brilliant rainbows that arced across the sky as they caught the light of the day star. Beneath her dangling feet, there was nothing—just a few stray clouds below, but certainly nothing beyond them. After all, the divine realm rested atop a cloud balanced on an infinitely tall mountain whose peak had been sheared to a flat mesa.

  She wasn't sure what had cleaved the mountain in two, but she was endlessly grateful to whoever they were for creating the magnificent plateau that had become her home. Even if, with each passing day, that home felt less and less like one.

  The feminine devadoot's crystalline skin was hidden beneath the brilliant orange glow radiating from her flowing golden gown. A pink ribbon cinched the gown tightly at her waist, its long tail trailing down to her knees, swaying gently with the high-altitude winds. A large orange disk, matching the colour of her gown, hovered a few steps behind her, rotating counterclockwise in place. Jagged spikes jutted out along the circumference of the disk as if a brilliant star had descended from the skies and deigned itself her cape.

  The devadoot's long blonde hair was tied neatly into a puffy bun, exposing her striking brown eyes to the world. She glanced back at the settlement behind her, watching the rivers of arcana flow serenely through the air, their liquid glow shimmering in the light of the day star. These rivers twisted and coiled through the vast sky like serpents of magic, their currents forming intricate knots and splits before cascading down in luminous waterfalls, weaving a divine tapestry that hovered above the city. From the rivers, there was a slow but consistent spawn of grand marble spheres which would hover down to join the city.

  The city itself was a breathtaking sight, perched atop a cloud so vast it seemed endless. The floating marble spheres served as the settlements of the divine realm. Diligent workers intercepted the newly spawned orbs and chiseled out their homes, workshops, and sanctuaries out of them. Upon the spheres' walls, its inhabitants would paint a beautiful opus of shimmering arcane graffiti. Each bubble was signed in incredible detail with highly personalized art into murals of magic.

  The spheres did not remain static, they hovered and danced with the morning breeze, occasionally colliding in gentle embraces. When two bubbles met, they merged seamlessly, forming intricate new structures, the marble rippling like liquid—and like soap suds broke and reformed together—so too did these goliaths of marbled stone. What began as modest homes could grow into sprawling complexes of interconnected orbs, shifting into wholly new constructs.

  Beneath the floating marvels lay the vast, pillowy expanse of the cloud itself, its surface perpetually kissed by a fine, dewy mist. While the adults soared dutifully between the bubbles on radiant wings, the children—still without flight—meandered through the soft terrain below, their laughter echoing like chimes in the wind. They would chase each other through the endless fields of cloudstuff, their footprints vanishing as quickly as they were made. Some would leap for the lowest orbs, trying to grasp the marble surfaces as they drifted tantalizingly close, but the bubbles always seemed to float just out of reach, teasing the young ones.

  Here, the magic of the city was alive and vibrant, a testament to the divine energy that sustained it. The rivers of arcana glowed brighter in the early light, casting faint, prismatic shadows across the cloud and its drifting spheres. The air was filled with a faint hum, the song of a realm suspended in balance, where the ebb and flow of magic created an eternal rhythm of transformation and renewal.

  The crystalline woman then turned back and looked again past the divine realm and down that infinite mountain. Her mind wandered to the things far out of reach. Somewhere on the other side of the edge of the world, one of her brethren was engaging in an act of utter folly: consorting with a human.

  Such a wretched deed had already rendered that devadoot dead in the eyes of their society. It was the golden devadoot's solemn duty to punish such traitors—a task she had carried out obediently for over a millennium, without question or hesitation. The rules of their society were simple and immutable, yet her brethren, for reasons she could scarcely fathom, seemed to deem them unworthy of respect.

  The golden devadoot rose gracefully to her feet, the glowing disk at her back moving in perfect harmony, never straying too far behind. Though her brief respite had been deeply cherished, duty called, and she needed to prepare for the guest they were expecting later that day.

  Just as she turned to leave, her attention was drawn to a young devadoot descending the infinite mountain. She watched as their form shrank with astonishing speed, dwindling to a fine point before vanishing entirely as they passed beyond the edge of the world.

  The golden devadoot froze in disbelief—crossing the edge of the world was suicide. Yet, there was no time to waste if she had any hope of saving that reckless devadoot's life.

  She unfurled the pink ribbon from her waist, allowing her golden gown to open and expose her slender, crystalline form. She hadn't time to worry about modesty at the moment. With a focused exertion of will, she decoupled the rotating disk from her back so it hovered independently of her actions. Quickly, she tied one end of the ribbon to one of the disk's jagged spikes and looped the other around her wrist, securing it tightly.

  This next part would not be pleasant. She tucked her chin tightly against her chest, cupped her hands around the back of her head, folded her knees to her chest, and leaped from the cloud, bracing herself as she plunged through the edge of the world, surrendering her body to the unyielding surface of the mountain. She didn't bother to proactively fight the mountain; she simply kept her eyes closed and allowed her limp body to tumble painfully down the infinite mountain. It was the only recourse she had against the other side.

  Her descent came to an abrupt halt as a sharp, rending force stabbed deep into her abdomen, piercing her liver. The sudden, searing pain forced her eyes open, only for her vision to spiral into a grotesque distortion—both eyes somehow inside the other, creating an incoherent internally referential loop of self-sight. The disorienting ocular sensation surged through her, sending a wave of vertigo that clawed at her brain. It took every ounce of willpower to suppress the urge to vomit.

  Clenching her jaw, she shut her eyes tightly and reached down, carefully extracting her stomach from the jagged object that had impaled her. As the pain subsided to a dull throb, she shifted her body to a new position and hesitantly opened her eyes once more.

  The view was much more manageable this time. Her head, somehow severed from her body, floated high in the sky, gazing down at the infinite expanse of the mountain below. Scattered across the rocky surface were the dismembered remnants of her crystalline form—some parts flattened beyond recognition, others unfurled until they were entirely inside-out.

  She forced herself to ignore the horrifying spectacle, focusing instead on surveying the bizarrely twisted landscape. The view she witnessed was a kaleidoscope of warped perspectives and fragmented geometry, as though reality itself had been bent and broken. Yet, despite her efforts, there was still no sign of the devadoot she had come to save.

  Eventually, she mustered the courage to look around but made sure to only roll her eyes and not turn her head. She finally spotted the devadoot, he too, like her, was floating in the sky… and he was curled in a ball crying.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  In all fairness, it did appear as though his own internal organs were floating in front of his face. The golden devadoot extended her logoic body, sending spiritual tendrils to catch the lost devadoot. But she quickly realized that her perception was even more deceptive than she'd anticipated.

  She tried to reach the other devadoot directly, but her logoic limb splintered into countless meandering paths. After a brief struggle, her probing tendril finally found its mark, and she submerged his logoic form within hers, binding them together.

  Now, when she closed her eyes, she could still feel him. With that connection, she no longer needed to rely on the distorted lies of her vision. She was still wary of tripping over her disembodied limbs and took every step carefully. The slightest movement caused a dramatic shift in her environment; rocks and trees leaped and curved, shifted and transformed, shrunk and grew. Her limbs, too, shifted and distorted with a mind of their own, as erratic and uncontrollable as the world around her.

  She kept her eyes open to track the warping landscape but did not try to approach the devadoot directly. Instead, she trusted the route described by her logoic tendril and followed its winding path. With time and caution, she finally reached her fellow devadoot.

  In the nightmarish landscape beyond the edge of the world, the distortion was so great that she couldn't make out who he was. Fear gripped her, and she hesitated to speak; she wasn't sure what consequences such actions might bring in this strange, convoluted place.

  Instead, she endeavoured to grab the devadoot. The seemingly simple task proved far more challenging as it was not a simple matter of moving her arms to him and taking hold. Each attempt at movement provided unpredictable results, and it was only arduous, meticulous, and careful, trial and error that eventually found her holding onto her comrade. Target captured, she could then follow the pink ribbon wrapped around her wrist back to her floating disk safely in the divine realm.

  Once she had safely returned to the divine realm, she unceremoniously dropped her still-crying companion and collapsed to her knees. Her legs, no longer capable of holding her up, shook violently beneath her.

  She had taken fewer than two dozen steps in the bizarre realm beyond the edge of the world, yet her body had been torn asunder. Pieces of flesh had not recovered from their twisted maleffects, her crystalline skin was warbled and splintered, she was pockmarked with bruises from head to toe, her blood pressure was all askew throughout her body. She looked like she had been mauled by a wild animal, and of course, there was a massive gaping hole in her stomach. Her companion didn't look much better.

  She spent a few moments catching her breath while her spinning golden disk mended her and the young devadoot's flesh. The spinning disk shifted direction, winding clockwise and without any seeming causal reaction, the two devadoot's bodies stitched themselves back together.

  Once her mind calmed slightly, she untied the pink ribbon from the disk and her wrist and synched her gown closed at the waist so she wouldn't have to feel as much as an exhibitionist. Lastly, she returned the spinning disk to float just off her back; she felt much more secure with that in place.

  Now that she saw the devadoot with all his body parts in the proper place, she recognized him as Addle, a child who hadn't yet reached five hundred years. Even someone as young as Addle should have known better than to venture through the edge of the world. It was a lesson so fundamental, that even the humans were aware of it.

  Anger surged within her; how could she be forced to waste her time and endure such pain for something so foolish? She didn't have the luxury of dealing with this kind of absurdity, but at the same time, she felt that something truly awful must have happened to make Addle do something so nonsensical. "Are you insane!? What were you thinking going to the other side of the edge of the world!?"

  As a devadoot of high authority, especially as their executioner, she felt it was her responsibility to teach the younger generations about loyalty and obedience. "There are reasons why it is forbidden to go there, you could have died Addle that was seriously danger-"

  Addle interrupted her, his face remorseful yet nowhere near with enough severity that she thought the ordeal warranted. "I'm sorry Sea Urchin but Tiger told me to get his ball at the bottom of the mountain."

  That caught her off guard. The golden devadoot found herself momentarily speechless. The spinning disk on her back slowed to its usual idle counterclockwise rotation, having finally finished healing them both. As Addle's words settled in, she realized with a jolt—did he just call her a sea urchin? "Urchin? What are you talking about Addle? It's me, Lenity. Are you okay?"

  Addle's face remained blank, utterly devoid of any cognitive comprehension. "Addle, do you know where you are? Do you know who you are?"

  Finally, Addle showed signs of responsiveness; a great big smile sprouted as he spoke. "Of course, I'm Monkey, and you just brought me back to the animal village."

  Lenity's expression immediately fell. Lenity mumbled to herself, hands trying to massage the growing headache. "You have got to be kidding me. I do not have time for this today." Lenity started mentally rescheduling her entire day around the fact that Addle had clearly gone over the deep end.

  The look on his face told her that the only way she could get through his thick skull was by playing whatever game this was. "Okay, fine then, 'Monkey,' why did you try going down the mountain?"

  At least, even in Addle's dysfunctional state, he was still very cooperative. Eagerly, he answered Lenity's question. "No one in the village wanted to play with me, so I stole Tiger's ball and accidentally dropped it. Then Tiger said I had to go get the ball or else he would eat me."

  It seemed that Addle was under the impression that all of the devadoots were animals of some kind, and Lenity had to guess that whoever Addle saw as this 'Tiger' was actually the devadoot responsible for this. "Tiger, Tiger…" who would Addle see as a tiger.

  Who would a young devadoot see as a large, terrifying, and unforgiving predator? This character would also be brutal and violent, but also a malicious prankster as they were willing to twist Addle's mind to this extent.

  Then it hit Lenity. Of course—there was only one devadoot capable of something this malicious. Only one devadoot was repugnant enough to flout the laws of the divine realm with such audacity. Only one was arrogant and powerful enough to dare provoke Lenity's wrath. "Ah Cicerone!" she muttered, her tone dripping with disdain. As if her day hadn't been ruined enough already, now she had to add dealing with him to the equation.

  Lenity would have to confront Cicerone herself, but she couldn't risk Addle getting himself killed in the meantime. Even in this brainwashed state, Addle seemed to retain some degree of reverence for her. Perhaps that meant he still understood enough to heed her orders. "Okay, Addle, I mean Monkey. Just wait here. I will go talk to Cicerone… uh, Tiger. I will make you better. Do NOT go down the mountain again, okay? If you really have to go to the mortal realm, take the Immersion."

  Lenity remained vaguely aware of the time, acutely conscious of how quickly this Addle situation needed resolving if she were to make her other duties on time. Unfortunately, knowing Cicerone 'quickly' would not be part of the process.

  She was about to storm off toward his mansion when she paused, one nagging thought surfacing in her mind. She turned back to Addle, her tone sharp yet tinged with reluctant curiosity. "Did he really make me look like a Sea Urchin?"

  Cicerone must have known that she would eventually catch Addle acting strangely. Was he purposefully antagonizing her?

  Addle, blissfully unaware of the storm brewing in Lenity's mind, responded with genuine confusion, as though the answer were self-evident. "What do you mean? You've always looked like a Sea Urchin, and you always acted like a Sea Urchin. You're all thorny and hard to approach; most people don't like you and even try to avoid you. It's just natural because you are a Sea Urchin, right Sea Urchin?"

  Addle's innocent, matter-of-fact tone hit Lenity like a slap across the face. Her jaw tightened, and the spinning disk at her back faltered in its steady rotation as her composure threatened to crack. Was Addle messing with her?

  "You-"

  Lenity's hand clenched into a fist, but she stopped herself. Addle didn't know any better, he was just speaking from his heart against his will. From his heart? She wasn't thorny. People liked her… right?

  "I-"

  No. This was all Cicerone's fault. He had implanted this absurd illusion into poor, innocent Addle.

  "He-"

  She was going to have a serious talk with that arrogant brigand.

  "I cannot believe that-"

  Her anger reached its boiling point, teetering on the edge of eruption. She needed to let off some steam before it exploded in the worst way possible, especially with the guest arriving soon.

  Addle wasn't off the hook entirely, though. Illusion or not, his words came from somewhere. "Addle, we will talk about this later." she said sharply, her tone vibrating with barely restrained frustration. "First, I have to give Cicerone a piece of my mind."

  Cicerone really was a tiger. The narcissistic fiend.