Chapter 23: Worlds Apart

Aki paused and Temujin let her take her time.

“Then my father cast the Shinpu-Ren Majutsu. The Infinite Vortex of the Divine Wind. In theory, the sealing spell summons winds of such godly force that all matter would be sucked in. Nothing and no one could escape. My father labored to trap the monsters, one by one, into the raging vortex. To cast them into the perfect prison: Kage no Tochi, Shadowland.

“I glimpsed the gateway to the other world and it was eerily beautiful. Stork mages are acquainted with the many mystical energies of the universe, both dark and divine. But one glance and you’d know the vortex was malevolent. Like a hole that wasn’t meant to be where it was; irreverent like graffiti that a child had drawn on a sacred wall. Its calm belied an insatiable hunger as it sucked in anything and everything that fell within its range: swords, helmets, human bodies. My mother hugged me and I buried my tear-streaked face against her chest.

“No one had imagined such a spell was h