Sibba's Diamond Heart
The underside of Sibba was wholly unique. No other continent was like it. It was a sparkling reminder of Trannisa Realm's ancient past. Its Underside stretched downward toward the abyss, crystalline diamond, sharp and dazzling, as if some divine hand had set a jewel in the endless sky, and placed the continent atop it. Sunlight refracted through the diamond facets, scattering prismatic light across the abyss below. From afar, it sparkled like a beacon of perfection.
But this diamond was not empty. The underside was alive, breathing with the rhythm of human activity. Vast networks of passages and caverns were carved into the glittering structure, creating a honeycomb labyrinth. Bridges, stairways, and glowing walkways connected everything together, and from every tunnel, voices echoed faintly—workers rushing to mines, families setting up shops, and small clans claiming caverns as homes.
Other continents made some use of their undersides, but none rivaled Sibba's brilliance.
From her vantage point on Playz, Rachel could not see the entire underside of Sibba. Her rainbow eyes did pierce the side of it, and she could tell that the people of Sibba moved about as if nothing were wrong. This caused rage to rise quickly within her.
She closed her eyes, 'Struns, we are here.'
The telepathic message left her calmly, but inside she felt her blood stir.
She didn't wait for a reply. She stepped off the cliff and left Playz behind without a second thought. Her hair whipped back before settling in a silky fall down her spine as gravity yielded to her will. She did not fall—she walked across the sky itself, each step measured, graceful, and calm. Pools of rainbow forming as her footsteps landed midair. The rainbows disappeared as soon as her foot rose.
Her eyes gleamed with an opaque rainbow light. There was a sinister glint there, quiet but undeniable, as if danger itself had taken root in her irises.
Beside her, Rebecca seemed to glide more than walk. Yellow moats of power swirling around her, the edges of her being becoming translucent, as if she was not of this world and was about to leave it. Her hair flowed down her back and as if rippling under cascading water. Her expression was severe and her mind focused on battle.
When the shimmering barrier of Sibba's defensive shield came into view, Rachel lifted a hand. With the simplest of gestures, she pressed a single fingertip to the translucent wall.
"Allow us," she murmured.
The shield pulsed with a low hum, processing her presence.
Each of Trannisa's twelve continents had such a shield. They were woven with wards and defenses, preventing entry from anyone uninvited or unknown. Leaving was easy—free to all—but entry was never granted without permission. Entire battalions had been held outside such shields before.
But Rachel was Milana. Protector of the realm. The wards recognized her immediately, bending before her without resistance. She did not truly need to ask; the law of the realm gave her free passage. Still, her voice brushed against the shield as a courtesy, and the continent answered.
A ripple of rainbow light spread from her fingertip, racing around Sibba's circumference before folding back into itself.
A ripple of power followed this and they moved through the barrier together.
When their feet touched solid ground again, it was atop one of Sibba's tallest skyscrapers. They landed smoothly, no need to adjust or steady themselves. This was routine. They had done it countless times.
As Rachel's gaze swept the horizon. A sigh escaped her lips, and a portal opened beside her. Color shimmered along its width as Cramnal stepped out to stand beside her. The portal shimmered once more and closed in on itself ending with a final point of light at its most central point.
The three of them stood there in soft quietness, Sibba welcoming them as soft, muted, streaks of rainbow surrounded them, brushing against them in hello.
Rachel's eyes became fierce again. "Come. Struns awaits. Rebecca, move to the main building, that seems to be our destination."
Rebecca nodded, her curvaceous body rising into the are, straight as an arrow. Yellow currents of power moving around her. Once she reached a certain height she quickly moved horizontal and out of sight.
Rachel nodded in satisfaction and she and Cramnal both took two steps forward and disappeared, as if they had walked through a door long ago opened to them.
---
Struns felt her presence before he saw her.
When Rachel's telepathic voice had reached him moments earlier, his spine had straightened instinctively, his lips quirking into a smile he couldn't suppress.
Now, the air around him rippled like heat waves over desert sand, and in the next heartbeat she was there—Rachel, Cramnal by her side. Two seconds later Rebecca descended, yellow moats of power evaporating around her being as her feet touched the ground.
For a short moment none of them spoke. All eyes on Trannisa Conglomerate's main building directly ahead of them.
Rachel came to Struns' side silently, and without a word, linked her mind to his. Struns let her in without hesitation.
Through his eyes, she saw what he saw. She assessed Anis's condition, measured the threats, formulated her plan, and forced herself into calm—all within less than a second.
"Let me speak to her first," she said quietly. "Then we will proceed."
None of them argued. They didn't need to. They had fought together too long to question her instincts.
Rachel closed her eyes. 'Anis, I am here. Cramnal called me be...'
Her words were cut short.
'Come and get me, sister! Please!'
The desperate cry scratched across Rachel's mind like like sandpaper against soft wood.
Her eyes snapped open, and their color changed violently—rainbow to black, black to white, white to blood-red, then back again to rainbow. Her jet black hair lengthened in an instant, rainbow strands igniting with raw brilliance.
In the next breath, she was gone.
Her team moved with her without hesitation, reacting as if her speed had always been expected.
"Struns, take the back and circle around. Rebecca, release six at level two, two at S-level—flank left, right, and under. Cramnal, with me."
Her orders floated on the air, reaching only the ears they were meant for.
She and Cramnal appeared at the front of the building in half an instant. Cramnal extended a hand, rainbow ripples spreading across the wall until the solid barrier folded like water. Without slowing, they walked through.
Struns was already scaling the rear, his feet planting effortlessly against vertical stone. With a step, he entered through a corridor window. His hand lashed forward—discs of terra firma flew through the air, slicing two men in half before they could blink. Their blood spattered the glass walls, streaking down in crimson rivulets. His leg snapped backward, slamming into another's abdomen with such force his organs ruptured instantly. The man flew into the woman behind him, the impact so fierce her spine bent at an impossible angle before snapping altogether.
Another guard raised a weapon—Struns' palm clamped on his face, and thin silver needle like growths erupted from it, the mans skull penetrated and his brain skewered. The growths quickly retracted and the man fell to the floor, grey matter slowly seeping from unseen holes.
Struns moved onward, without a second glance to any of the carnage left in his wake, he was steady and lethal. His mind on Anis and retrieving her as quickly as possible. He moved toward Rachel and Cramnal's position. His steps never faltered. His breathing never quickened. For him, this was not violence—it was duty.
Rebecca, meanwhile, remained outside. Rachel's instructions had been clear: do not enter.
She stood still, her expression calm, as gray mist poured from her skin in slow, steady waves. The fog thickened, twisting, forming. Six silhouettes emerged, tall and monstrous, their shapes coalescing into her summoned allies. Their forms flickered—half-human, half-beast, armed with claws, tusks, and jagged weapons. They gazed at her briefly, acknowledging her, then wordlessly spread out. Two vanished to the right, two to the left, two descended into the lower levels.
As those six spread out red and purple mists spread forth from her and two additional forms quickly appeared on either side of her, a man with dark red skin that seemed ro weep as if he was covered in wounds that were actively bleeding. He had a great ax and a broad sword strapped to his back and his eyes never left the building before them. The purple mist had coalesced into a great beauty whose lower half ended in a fine stream of purple smoke, a great Jin, power flowed from her in great waves as she maintained a lazy smile, her alert eyes focused on the building before them as if she were eager for the next order.
Rebecca lifted her gaze toward the skyscraper's glittering peak and waited. Her orders were clear. Rachel's command would come, and when it did, she had no doubt that the skies themselves would tremble.