Within the northern depths of Fanrine Valley, located a fair distance southwest of the capital city of the Almadeus Theocracy, Altaria; a strange and fantastical scene was currently taking place. 

A floating amalgamation of luminescent energy rapidly flitted between the dense flora which enveloped the valley, as motes of light trailed in its wake. A ferocious looking wyvern chased after it; darting and pouncing here and there while intermittently swiping away at the energy construct with its hind claws and chomping at it with its powerful looking jaws - akin to a cat playing happily with a fluffy ball of yarn.

A surreal sense of beauty emanated from the two figures scampering frantically beneath the jade green boughs of the surrounding trees. The ball of light shone with ethereal splendour, while the emerald colored scales of the wyvern reflected the sunlight like polished jewels.

However—

"GruuAaaAH!"

"Aaaaaaah~!"

"RuUuargh!"

"Gyaaaaaaa~!"

—the extremely pathetic sounding screams which echoed out occasionally destroyed any semblance of elegance and beauty the scene may have had, and turned it into a very sorry sight indeed.

***

_System Linked Bio-Probe / Diver I.D. - 'Ryuu Creed'

I successfully led the wyvern away from the young girl and engaged it in a frantic chase within the dense ocean of trees. I always managed to barely avoid its attempts to savage me with its claws and fangs so far, but I don't know how long this stalemate will last. 

But, come to think of it—

I directed a question towards the weird A.I. "Hey, would I even receive any damage if I ever took any of its attacks squarely? I mean, I kinda don't have any physical body to speak of right now." 

[_PURELY PHYSICAL ATTACKS WILL NOT HARM THE DIVER'S CURRENT VIRTUAL BODY.]

"Really? Phew."

I slightly slowed my pace after hearing the A.I.'s answer.

[_HOWEVER, THIS MUTANT LIFEFORM SEEMS TO BE INFUSING AETHER TO ITS APPENDAGES WHENEVER IT ATTACKS. THEREFORE, THEY WOULD MOST LIKELY SERVE TO DESTABILIZE YOUR BODY'S ENERGY MAKEUP IF YOU GET HIT BY THEM. THE PROBABILITY OF THIS HAPPENING IS 84.6%]

My nonexistent face paled immediately after hearing the additional info, which was suspiciously given in a slightly delayed manner. This A.I. couldn't be holding a grudge, right?

"Say that earlier dammit!!!" I complained in panic. I again managed to avoid a swift claw swipe by a hair. Uwaaah! That was dangerous!

"So what happens if my current body gets done in?" I asked again, as I fled for dear life.

[_THE SYSTEM'S SAFETY PROTOCOLS WOULD KICK IN; FORCEFULLY ABORTING THE DIVE AND SENDING THE DIVER BACK TO THE SUB-TEMPORAL BUBBLE.]

"So there are safety measures huh? That's somewhat reassuring." I muttered and let out a small sigh of relief.

[_HOWEVER, THERE'S A 34% CHANCE OF DIVER'S BODY RECEIVING ENOUGH DAMAGE WHICH WOULD NEGATIVELY AFFECT YOUR BIOWAVE DIRECTLY. A MILD OUTCOME WOULD BE A SLIGHT DECREASE IN YOUR MENTAL FACULTIES. AN EXTREME ONE WOULD BE GETTING TRAPPED IN SPACE-TIME LIMBO. THUS, GETTING DAMAGED IS ILL ADVISED.]

"Oooi! You're really holding a grudge, aren't you?! You are, right?!" I frantically questioned. 

[_ERROR. UNABLE TO PROCESS QUERY. PLEASE REPHRASE.]

'So, you're playing dumb huh?!!!' I mentally retorted. Well, whatever. I should just focus on surviving this shit.

[_DIVER, PLEASE DRAG THE RED ICON ON THE UPPER LEFT CORNER OF THE HEADS UP DISPLAY SLIGHTLY TO THE RIGHT.]

"Huh? What are you going on about now? Would that help in the current situation?"

I pushed away my doubts for the meantime and mentally willed the icon to move. It then turned green.

"So what does this icon do?" I curiously inquired. 

[_THAT IS THE ICON FOR TURNING THE ACTIVE DATA COLLECTION FUNCTION ON OR OFF. THE SYSTEM WILL AUTOMATICALLY COLLECT AND STORE VALUABLE INFORMATION AS YOU DIVE WITHIN THE MAIN TEMPORAL STREAM AND INTERACT WITH IT.]

"And how exactly would that help me?!" I angrily questioned.

[_IT'S MORE EFFICIENT THIS WAY.]

"YOU DONT SAY?!!!" I shrieked while grabbing my nonexistent hair.

Argh! At this rate, I don't know what would do me in first: the savage wyvern or interacting with this damn A.I.

[_DIVER.]

"What?! Can't you see I'm fleeing for my life here?!!!" I aggressively responded; unable to hide the annoyance in my tone.

[_THE SYSTEM HAS FINISHED ANALYSIS OF THE MUTANT CREATURE. IT HAS SEVERAL WEAK POINTS YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO EXPLOIT. DISPLAYING ON SCREEN NOW.]

Finally! Something useful at last. I hurriedly looked at the 3D model which popped up on a sub-window.

So, inside the mouth, its underside and the place connecting its tail to its back huh.

The first two are out, since they would bring me dangerously close to those nasty looking jaws filled with dagger-like teeth and its large, curved claws. I don't wanna risk it. So that leaves the base of the tail then.

[_AN ATTACK WITH SUFFICIENT STRENGTH WOULD INFLICT DAMAGE SEVERE ENOUGH TO NEGATIVELY AFFECT ITS OVERALL MOBILITY. IT WOULD GIVE YOU MORE LEEWAY IN DODGING ITS ATTACKS, SHOULD IT PERSIST TO DO SO, AS YOU WAIT FOR THE TEST DIVE TO END.]

...Alright then. I have no other choice anyway. But how would I unleash an attack powerful enough to cause injuries then? Mana Shock is just a first circle spell after all. And I didn't try to learn any other offensive magic because I suck at them anyway.

[_THE SYSTEM SUGGESTS TO INFUSE MOST OF THE ENERGY RESERVES USED TO KEEP YOUR VIRTUAL BODY STABLE. THAT WOULD BOOST MANA SHOCK TO THE LEVEL OF A PEAK 2ND CIRCLE SPELL. THIS WOULD RESULT IN CUTTING YOUR DIVE SHORT TO JUST 8 STANDARD SOL MINUTES HOWEVER.]

"Well, I don't see any other way. Let's just do it!" I replied.

[_ACKNOWLEDGED. BEGINNING AETHER REFINEMENT.]

I circulated the mana in tandem with whatever it is the so called 'system' was doing, and a spell circle rapidly formed. I felt it's power was definitely different from earlier.

"Alright! This should do it!" I exclaimed and moved around erratically to distract the damn wyvern. When it showed an opening, I immediately dodged past it and gained a perfect shot at its backside as a result.

"EAT THIS!!!"

A blinding flash was released from the magic circle. An explosion of dust and debris mixed with bloodied patches of scaled flesh followed afterwards.

The wyvern cried out in agony. Its tail was nearly cut off. Even I was surprised with all that power. "Wow! So that's how powerful a peak 2nd circle spell is." I exclaimed in awe. Mages really had it good.

The wyvern let out another mournful cry, and unexpectedly scampered away. It looked like it was in a lot of pain.

"Sorry. It was either you or me. Well, you're a lizard anyway, so it'll probably grow back sooner or later... Phew! That was really cutting it close." I whispered an apology and let out a fatigued sigh.

"Guess that wraps things up for now. I wonder what happened to that girl earlier though?"

I looked at the timer on the upper right of the HUD. It indicated I only had about less than eight minutes before this so called 'Dive' ends.

"Meh, let's go look for her then. Might as well see this through to the end." I decided while shrugging my nonexistent shoulders.

***

It didn't take long for me to catch up to the girl from earlier, since I took a shortcut by flying above the canopy. Being in an energy body does have its perks after all. However, I only watched her back from a distance since there were people rushing towards her. She was frantically waving her hands at them, so they seemed to be acquaintances.

There were two men and a young girl. One of the two men wore the armor of an Almadeus Templar. He looked fairly strong. The other younger guy might be his squire. The young girl wore an acolyte habit just like the girl earlier. She also looked about fourteen to fifteen, and had lively twintails which swung cutely as she ran. How adorable!

She kinda looks familiar though...

"Asha! Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Elaine! Waaah! I'm so glad to see you!!!"

"You stupid idiot! Do you know how worried I was when I found out you went out here with some shady looking people?! You're lucky someone saw you and told the others at the dormitory. But are you really alright? Those crooks didn't do anything nasty to you?"

"Waaah! I'm sowee! I'm ohkay! Mister Wisp shaved meeh!"

"Mister Wisp?"

"Alright you two. There's time enough for that later. It's dangerous here. We should head back."

The conversation between them flew right over my head. I was frozen in place. My gaze was fixed upon the lovely figure of the young girl sporting adorable twintails.

[_TEST DIVE OVER. NOW PREPAIRING FOR BAIL OUT. TEMPORAL SHIFT SEQUENCE INITIATED.]

"Huh? W- Wait! Hold on! Just hold on a moment! T- That girl! She's my—"

[_BAILING OUT IN 3... 2... 1...]

"NO! I said wait dammit! ELAI—"

***

_Planet Caldinus I / General Duvalle Military Hospital / Caldinus Interplanetary Army Base

"ELAAAINE!!!"

I sprung awake on the med pod and screamed out a name with a hoarse voice.

It was the name of someone very dear to me. Someone very dear to 'Myst'. 

It was the name of my sister in 'that world'.

Elaine. Elaine Evrard. 

I felt up my face and found it drenched in cold sweat. My heart was pounding furiously. I felt both anxious and glad at the same time.

"What the hell was that?" I quietly whispered under my breath. 

The only answer I got was an all pervading silence.