The fractured plains stretched endlessly, jagged shards of reality hovering in the sky like suspended glass. Each step felt wrong, the ground unstable as if the world resented being walked on. Rose's grip on the glowing map tightened, its threads pulsing faintly, echoing her heartbeat.
Jerry's laughter still haunted the silence, fading yet lingering like static caught in the air. It made her skin crawl, like invisible hands brushing her shoulders.
For a while, no one spoke.
Finally, Harper cleared his throat, forcing a crooked grin. "So… credit, huh? Does that mean we just bought our doom on layaway? 'Buy one apocalypse, get the second free'?"
The joke fell flat.
"Shut up," Ivy snapped. Her voice carried too much fire, too much fear behind it. She wasn't even looking at Harper—her eyes burned into Rose. "You almost gave something up. Without even asking us."
Rose met her gaze, her jaw tightening. "I was ready to. If that's what it takes to stop Jerry—"
"Then what?" Ivy took a step closer, her fists trembling. "Then you erase yourself piece by piece until nothing's left? You think Daniel would've wanted that? You think any of us want that?"
The mention of Daniel hit like a blade. The absence of him—how Jerry had erased him—was still a raw wound none of them dared touch too often. Rose's chest ached, but she didn't look away. "If I have to choose between losing myself or losing all of you, the choice isn't hard."
Ivy's voice cracked. "That's not your choice to make alone."
The words lingered, heavy, until Yuna cut through the rising storm with her calm, sharp tone. "Enough." She moved closer to the firelight, arms crossed. "We don't have the luxury to tear into each other. Jerry would want that. What matters is the map." Her gaze flicked to Rose's hands. "What does it say?"
Rose unrolled the parchment. It came alive instantly—threads weaving, sigils forming and breaking apart until finally a stable image emerged. A spire, jagged and spiraling, floated against a backdrop of fractured stars. At its base pulsed a single crimson thread.
Lucas leaned forward, squinting. "That's the Shardspire. North of here. But that place is… wrong. It's a dead zone. Nothing grows there. Not even glitches linger long."
"Which probably makes it perfect for a Pillar," Harper muttered, running a hand through his hair. "You know, just in case this wasn't already sounding like a death wish."
The parchment pulsed again, brighter, and this time the threads extended outward, forming faint silhouettes. Shapes of figures—some human, some monstrous, some indistinct shadows. Guardians, or tests.
Rose's throat went dry. "The first Pillar is there. And it's waiting."
Raiha's voice dropped, quiet as falling ash. "Jerry knows we're coming. We'll be walking into his game."
Yuna's gaze hardened. "Then we prepare to rewrite the rules."
No one argued.
They set out before dawn, the fractured plains shifting underfoot. The silence of the landscape was unnatural—no wind, no cries of birds, no skittering of beasts. Only the sound of their own steps, crunching on broken ground.
Harper tried to lighten the mood, narrating their march like a travel vlog, though his camera hadn't worked properly since the Obsidian Gate. "Day whatever of being hunted by a cosmic tyrant. Group morale: approximately one out of ten. Threat level: very yes."
Ivy shot him a glare sharp enough to silence him.
Rose stayed near the front with Yuna, the map unfurled in her hands. The crimson thread shifted faintly as they moved, always pointing toward the looming silhouette of the Shardspire. Even from miles away, it dominated the horizon like a wound in the world—an impossible tower of jagged black glass, spiraling upward into the fractured sky.
The closer they drew, the heavier the air became. Every breath tasted of static and iron.
Lucas slowed his pace, frowning. "Feel that? It's like… pressure."
"It's the Pillar," Yuna said without hesitation. "It knows we're here."
That thought silenced the group.
Hours bled together as they crossed broken fields and shimmering fissures. By the time the Shardspire loomed massive above them, the sun had long since fractured into splinters of light across the sky. Shadows bent unnaturally at its base, twisting toward them like reaching hands.
Harper exhaled. "Well. That's welcoming."
They reached the foot of the spire, where jagged stone formed a kind of threshold. The map pulsed violently in Rose's hands, then dissolved into threads that sank into the ground, absorbed by the spire itself.
The earth trembled.
A deep, resonant hum filled the air, vibrating in their bones. Cracks of crimson light raced up the spire's surface, spiraling higher and higher until the entire tower pulsed with life.
Then a voice—not Jerry's, but something older, layered, and alien—spoke from everywhere and nowhere at once:
"First Thread. Woven in defiance. To pass, reveal what cannot be hidden. The truth beneath your mask."
The ground split open before them, revealing a staircase descending into glowing crimson light.
Rose's pulse hammered. She glanced at her friends—each of them tense, each of them afraid, but none backing away.
She took the first step down. "Then let's face it."
The shadows swallowed her, and the others followed.
And somewhere above, Jerry's laughter returned—quiet this time, amused.
"Yes… show me what you're hiding."
"I'll be waiting rose I'll be waiting"
(Away from the camp)
"Heh so re have a traitor in our ranks well the war against the Kingdom of Aeravelle will take hold when he says on his cue right deku?"
Izuku In his so called hero costume he replied
With memory regrets and no care
"Don't call me deku anymore that's a hero name I'm not a hero not anymore like Jerry said he's going to try kill rose when the war hits in two weeks so toji what are your plans for the war?"
"Well I was thinking to return to my universe and Jerry will reward me wealth again and id probably gamble with it until I win big then the cycle repeats I guess"
"Call me shinzuku not deku"
Toji looks at him nonchalantly
"Well shinzuku let's get to prepping we can't keep the boss Jerry waiting"
Shinzuku (this dekus name) looks at toji
"Yeah let's prepare for the Aeravellain war"
Somewhere in the forest Yuji gojo megumi and nobara are walking in a forest
Yuji breaks the silence
"Sooo why did we leave after we just met that group gojo Sensei?"
Gojo shrugs
"Well let's see I sense something in that rose girl she has the same energy as that portal we flew from though that is just a theory well whatever it is it's probably nothing because I'm the strongest after all"
Megumi replied to gojo
"We could have at least stayed with them to see what we are dealing with...if we don't have proper Intel on that phycopathic kid what will we know about his well whatever he calls pillars that witch she said she knew some of his pillars but his secret pillars are probably more than the ones that we know of because she said that they are called secret pillars for a reason."
Nobara says without warning
"Shht look over there"
They all quiet down and look at the direction where she pointed at and seen mahito in a suit ordering around transfigured humans
Yuji silently says
"... mahito I swear I'll kill you again like I promised..."
Gojo looks at Yuji
"Calm down Yuji I know the Shibuya incident still
Fresh in your head but we all are okay now probably"
Nobara shivers
"Yeah I'm not going to get my eye touched again that was painful and yet that portal healed my eye somehow"
Megumi says slightly irritated and baffled at their behavior
"Can we all stop talking and let's see what they are doing for at least a damn minute"
All three of them say
"Okay megumi we'll be quiet"
They listen to mahitos talking
Mahito in a good mood says
"Hurry everyone the war against Aeravelle is going to begin in a week chop chop or I'll literally chop chop you all up"
Yuji says to gojo seriously
"They are planning a war on the kingdom of Aeravelle..."
Gojo with his blindfold on still pats yujis head
"Well this is getting interesting well let's leave here we can't fight here right now not saying this because I don't want to fight right now but let's go warn the people at Aeravelle first"
His students say all together
"okay gojo let's go"
(In a ruins around lively valley)
Uzi v and n walk around scouting
Uzi looks around her visor scanning around
"This Jerry guy is so damn annoying he's a pain I. Everyones ass I just want to kick him around and punch his dumbass face grr"
N looks at Uzi
"Hey Uzi I know your mad but we are all bonding right now we three are walking scouting like a team so why don't we go back and report that no one is here okay Uzi?
V looks around
"...hey dummy's over here"
Uzi and n look at v and walks to her
"What is it is it a grasshopper? Because if your faking something important I'm going to kick your ass v"
N looks at Uzi
"HUH UZI CUSSING AROUND ME HOW DARE YOU CLEAN THAT MOUTH NOW"
"GRR SHUT UP N"Uzi slightly calms down
"...sorry I'm just not in a good mood right now"
V crouched hidden behind a big rock grabs n and Uzi and hides them with her "shht"
I hear someone talking
Afar Kratos speaks to Itachi
"So these people dust Molly or I think her name is unique not the term and shikinah Daniel dennayah
Are fractured users too like Jerry but do they have the power of whatever Jerry said a author I think he said he has the power of a author whatever it is he's not going easy on anyone. I'm only with him so I can take him out he is a shame to everything"
Itachi looks at him
"I can see why you are doing this but best be quiet about what you said we need to sabotage Jerry's plan"
Uzi n and v leave to see Rose and everyone else
To report the Intel they returned back to the camp rose looks at them expecting they found something
"So Uzi did you hear something about or something of Jerry's plans?"
Uzi looks at her concerned
"Yeah we did but they said something about a war my best guess is lively valley it's just a guess though"
Gojo Yuji nobara and megumi arrive
"Hi everyone sorry about us leave early into getting to know each other it but Aeravelle is in danger they are planning a attack on the kingdom" gojo says without a care
Rose looks at them
"Wha oh nevermind that's what we needed everyone get ready we are getting ready to fight a war the Aeravelle war..."
End of chapter
Next Arc Arc 1 the Aeravelle war
Previous arc:harsh beginnings
A not serious project by tobiwasnothere
I don't plan on making anything off this
Read my new book cannot stay in another world: I don't belong anywhere in any world
the Jerry in this book is the original Planned jerry
This just came out because I wanted to make him a villain lol
And the absolute dominion book can wait probably won't work onit