A Space Between Space

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“Hold on,” Ahsch interrupted, causing Phashim to raise an eyebrow. “Can we talk the theoreticals first?” The dragon stared at him blankly, and he sighed. “Okay, _where _are we? I realize ‘inside a demi-plane,’ but… fundamentally speaking. Are our bodies still back on Euphoria, in the garden?”

Phashim let out a growling sigh. “In a way. Physically, our bodies are in here.”

Ahsch nodded. “Okay. So, instead of jumping straight into ‘how to make a spell,’ can we start with the ‘how this works at a basic level?’ I mean, it’s not like we’re pressed for time.” Quick math had told him that even spending just one real-time hour in Phashim’s demi-plane gave them over four days inside. One-hundred times the speed of… time was insanely fast.

Taking a deep breath with her eyes closed, Phashim sighed again, then nodded. “Very well,” she begrudgingly agreed. “In that case - at a fundamental level - a ‘demi-plane’ such as this exists in the space between space.” She cut off suddenly, looking intently at Ahsch, and it took him a moment to realize she wanted him to figure out the next bit, or in some other way indicate his understanding.

“Uh… right, because in between any two points in space is an infinite amount of points - you just zoom in closer and closer and those two points get further and further apart, infinitely.”

Phashim nodded. “As such, this demi-plane exists in an infinitely large, yet absolutely ‘space-less’ point in between the space of the real world - of Euphoria. And there are an infinite number of infinite points in the space between space. Due to this, there are two methods of establishing a demi-plane - to simply create one in the space between space, or to tether it to something on the ‘real’ side.”

Ahsch frowned. “I assume if you don’t tether it the demi-plane can… ‘drift’ or something, getting lost in the infinite infinities between space. But that would mean that the demi-plane is, relatively speaking, located somewhere in Euphoria.” He thought for another moment, then looked at Phashim. “Which means we’re… well, _inside _you.”

The dragon raised an eyebrow again. “Most struggle to reconcile the concept of a movable demi-plane,” she said.

Ahsch shrugged. “If demi-planes had to fit between space in an absolute way, then nobody would ever be able to access them - I know that Euphoria orbits the star, which itself moves through the vastness of the sky, which _itself _is constantly in motion. Any ‘point’ I indicate is instantly no longer the same point at an absolute scale, having been passed by the moment it was identified. Therefore, demi-plans can exist between _relative _spaces, and if they could exist between the relative ‘permanent’ spaces of Euphoria, then they can exist within the relative spaces of smaller things, like an object… or a person.”

Phashim regarded Ahsch with a mixture of surprise and confusion, and he realized that he could be talking about things that either only a very few beings on Euphoria comprehended… or that nobody had quite figured out yet. Either that, or Euphoria worked on entirely different physical laws and everything he had just spouted was entirely irrelevant.

“Moving on,” the dragon said at length, “as you pointed out, a demi-plane must be grounded within the real world, and from there it is accessible. And you are correct that this demi-plane is located in a space between space within me, though I’ll not…”

“Your soul,” Ahsch interrupted, having felt the bond with his bond sense. “This demi-plane is bound to your soul… not something with a _physical _location on Euphoria, necessarily, not in the way I could point to where your eye or heart is, but because your soul is ‘with’ you, it’s always at hand… and I assume very, very hard to lose or have disrupted, unlike if you, say, bound it to one of your horns, which could be damaged or broken off.”

Phashim snarled, a low growl rumbling in her throat, and the pressure of the ambient air - such as it was - seemed to spike for a moment. Ahsch wasn’t sure if the idea of a broken horn had pissed her off, or that he had quickly identified where they were. Either way, he shut up and waited for the dragon to settle down.

“The first step of creating a demi-plane,” she eventually gritted out, “is creating something within the nothing that exists in the space between space. The second step is to tether that something to the real world. It doesn’t matter what something you create, as long as you’re capable of creating a space between space, you can expand or contract it within the infinite confines of the nothing between space. Populating it further is more difficult - space magic such as what you have is limited, and the creation of actual substance takes much more effort. Unless…”

Ahsch thought for a long few moments after Phashim trailed off. “The soul…?” he guessed. Phashim didn’t react. “I would say that a demi-plane within a soul is infinitely malleable by that soul… though probably in a limited way based on the nature of that soul.” He looked around at the cloudy starscape. “Given there’s an infinity of opportunity in here, I would guess that this is only a small segment of your demi-plane, and that there’s somewhere in here that’s not this starscape - maybe a mountain peak or a palace or a caldera - I don’t know what your preference is. A soul is multi-faceted, just like a person, so it stands to reason that a demi-plane influenced by a soul would be equally diverse.”

Phashim grunted her approval. “Rwnil had said you weren’t stupid. Maybe foolish, but not stupid.”

Ahsch gave the dragon a half-smile, then frowned for a moment. “You said that I was here physically, but that our bodies are still out in Euphoria ‘in a way?’”

Phashim nodded. “Were someone to go to the garden, they would find nothing but air where we stood. However, should someone sense for us in more… esoteric ways, they could detect our false-presences, an echo, where we stood. When we leave the demi-plane, we shall return to the approximate place where we entered them, though safely - should something obstruct the space we were in when we entered, we shall emerge adjacent to it.”

Ahsch nodded, still thinking. “Okay… but if that’s the case, then, since I - and my soul, I presume - are in here… then that means if I made a demi-plane while I was inside your demi-plane, we’d have nesting demi-planes, right? Because even though we’re in the space between space within you, my body and - I presume - soul are therefore in here as well, and that means if I made a demi-plane in here, then that demi-plane would be inside _your _demi-plane… so can you just nest demi-planes infinitely, since there’s actual space within a demi-plane, even if they’re in the nothing between space?”

Phashim let out a low, rumbling laugh. “You can. However, because this demi-plane is bound to Euphoria - and therefore, _you _are as well - any notions you have of nesting time-accelerated demi-planes to achieve a greater difference will fall flat. Perhaps it is possible if approached in a different way, but using this method, it is not. Any demi-plane you create within yourself is still ultimately bound to Euphoria, as you will return there once you leave this demi-plane, to roughly the same place as you were when you entered here.”

“What if we tethered the demi-plane within the demi-plane? After all, there’s space between space to be had in here, isn’t there? It functions the same, given it’s… well, ‘positive’ space, _some_thing, and not the _nothing _between somethings. Right?”

“That has been tried,” Phashim said.

Ahsch winced at her tone. “Didn’t end well?”

“The demi-planes created within a demi-plane were… unstable, to say the least. Few survive such attempts, and those that do usually do not survive long after.”

Ahsch shivered, imagining warped flesh, twisted by the broken laws of physics that govern space and time. “Okay, so not doing that. What does it take to dismantle a demi-plane? I assume undoing it is possible?”

“If you are concerned about your limited capability to accelerate time within your demi-planes, you should recall what I said earlier - you can alter it after creating it.”

Ahsch flushed, but smiled and nodded. “Question still stands. I assume _others _could potentially disrupt a demi-plane, collapsing it or somesuch. How hard is that?”

“For one versed in space magic appropriate for the task? Very. Especially when the demi-plane is bound to the creator of that plane. For one _un_versed in such magic? Nigh-impossible.”

Ahsch nodded, relieved. “Okay. And as for the time aspect, _how _does that work?”

“How do you age yourself?”

Ahsch opened his mouth to reply, then snapped it shut. He hadn’t actually paid too much attention to the physics of how Entropic Revelation functioned. Smirking at his reaction, Phashim nodded.