Sorcerer… Cyborg???

Chapter 234: Curved Space

Kothar looked around, taking careful steps forward, cautious of alerting any guards or tripping some sort of alarm system, surely whatever emanated the spatial fluctuations was important enough to be guarded or watched.

But there was nothing. So far, Kothar had walked almost until where the corridor diverged at the very end, but he had yet to see any soldiers, nor he had been able to notice any sort of alarm system being triggered.

The very end of the corridor opened into a passageway that was similarly decorated, and brightly lit, curving around to either side, but Kothar could feel the fluctuations coming from directly ahead. Once ahead, he had hit a dead end.

[Are there any maintenance tunnels around here, Silane.] Kothar asked, hoping he could continue straight to where the emanations were coming from.

[Unfortunately not, Kothar. But from how the strength of the fluctuations had changed, I believe this passageway will curve right around where whatever is causing the fluctuations is located.] Silane projected a rudimentary map, the passages that they had walked along outlined in green, with orange and red showing likely routes, the redder ones less likely than the orange ones.

[Alright. I'll take your word for it.] Kothar said, and turned to the right, continuing along the curving passageway.

At regular intervals, corridors similar to the one Kothar had walked down earlier opened into the passageway that Kothar was in, and just as Silane had stated, it seemed as though the entire passageway would loop around, forming an enormous circle. 

But even so, the scale of the ship was such that Kothar was beginning to think he would never reach the end of it in time.

[I'm going to start portalling forward.] Kothar said to Silane, he was well aware of the risks, especially since they were so deep into the ship, but he didn't want to waste any more time.

[Alright, go ahead. But stop before this point. I think that's the most likely point for a corridor toward whatever is inside this ship.] Silane responded, surprising Kothar, he had expected her to completely advise against  using portals, but Silane knew that they had to take calculated risks in a situation like this.

Kothar channeled his Spatial Mana, opening a portal in front of him, but then he paused for a moment, the portal was slightly off to his right, whereas he had intended to open it directly in front of himself.

[Something's off.] Kothar said, almost speaking to himself, but then he opened the destination portal he had planned to anyway.

And it opened just out of his eye line, around the curve of the passageway. But Kothar felt as though there was something off about the situation, and so he walked over to where he had opened the portal. 

He rounded the curve, and looked around, confused, the portal he had opened was nowhere to be seen. 

Kothar felt around for the spatial energy of the portal itself, having to concentrate to make it out since he could already feel whatever was inside the ship so strongly.

He stopped, shocked. The portal had opened right inside the wall, off to the right, he could feel the energy of the portal, but until now he had yet to find out what happened if one passed through a portal where the destination was completely covered with a solid obstruction. He didn't want to find out either.

[It seems like whatever is inside this ship is curving the space inside the ship.] Kothar said after a few moments of silence, still thinking over what might have happened if he had blindly entered the portal.

[It must be extremely powerful to do that, but of course, it has to be, to open such enormous portals.] Silane observed, before continuing. [Open some more portals at increasing distances from yourself, but within your eye line, I should be able to calculate the deviation caused by whatever is in here and help adjust your aim.]

Kothar followed Silane's instructions, and there was a rapid succession of distorted noises as he opened purple portal after purple portal, aiming to open them directly in front of himself, but watching as they curved off to the right, especially as they grew further away from him.

[Now, open them at my targets.] Silane overlaid a series of bright blue targets on Kothar's vision, and Kothar followed her instructions, overcoming his initial discomfort at opened portals that would surely ended up within the wall to his left.

Just like that, Kothar's portals now followed the curve of the corridor accurately, and he stepped through them, smiling in appreciation as he observed that each one fell exactly in the center of the corridor.

[Thanks Silane.] Kothar said, and he could feel Silane glowing with pride as he complimented her.

Kothar continued opening portal after portal, after the battle with the invaders above the skies of Aznur, and then the constant portalling through the enormous ship, his reserves of Spatial Mana were running low, even taking into account the fact that the Spatial Necklace greatly reduced his mana consumption.

But it wouldn't be far now, Kothar was coming up on the point that Silane had marked out earlier, and soon enough he'd be able to see what allowed the ship to open such massive portals.

[Stop!] Silane called out, just as Kothar was about to open yet another portal to advance forward. [Look at the decorations along the corners of the walls, and the lighting is already getting brighter. I think my estimation was a little off] 

[Alright.] Kothar replied, moving to hug the inside of the curving corridor, and slowly creeping forward.

There, in the bright glow of the curving passageway, Kothar could see a hulking figure, wearing armor made from the same gray material as the ship, except it was slightly darker, with the faintest metallic sheen. 

The guard held a large staff, each end ending in a hexagonal lump, that would give it more momentum whenever it was swung.

Kothar crept closer, trying to get a good look at what else lay ahead.