“God, Bob, why the hell am I doing this?” I asked for the third time. I was on my knees, drawing a magical circle, and my hands were liberally coated in a mix of multiple different ingredients. Ranging from blood to drake bile and a mushy substance that Bob had identified as hag muck. I didn't even want to think of what it was. Not as I slowly and delicately drew out the circle, Bob hovering over my shoulder.

“Because you said, should I try?” Bob’s pages fluttered rapidly. “And I said, you want to? To which you replied, should I? So now, you're doing it, Dick.”

As horrid as I remember. Uliena was leaning back on a nearby wall, and next to her stood Litra. The dragon’s tail moved about lazily as she munched on a horse leg. A literal, giant horse leg. She’d asked for horse, and I’d been hesitant but Bob had pointed out that plenty of people on earth ate horse, and just because it wasn't common for me didn’t me it was common for others, or bad.

I’d conceded the point, but hadn’t budged when she’d asked for human. I didn't blame or hold her at fault for any past meals, but while she was here, there would be no human meals. It had been disturbing enough that the house had created a tasting platter when I’d idly wondered about what human tasted like. It wasn’t that I wanted to eat human, but I had been curious in a morbid way. Litra had said it was “Juicy, but too much bone if you ask me. The best bit is in the head when you crack it like a nut.” It had taken me a few minutes to get that image out of my head.

So odd the way she talks about it, then again, Bob's right. It's no different from wolves hunting sheep or lions hunting gazelle. Some dragons eat humans.

The circle bob had me drawing was odd. The center was circular, but connected to it were four rectangles. “Bob, who are we summoning?”

“Not who, but what?” His pages fluttered. “We’re going to create an energy pool.”

“A what?”

“An energy pool, Dick. You know a pool of energy?”

I glowered at that. “I heard, Bob, but like what do you mean? Like my mana well?”

I can explain if you wish, without his lacking humor.

“Says the pair of talking breasts?”

“Don't you two start,” I said before they could get into. They seemed to argue over everything. I finished up the last rectangle and stood, managing to stop myself just before I rubbed my hands on my pants. I formed a pattern and smiled as the liquid on my hands dissolved into motes of light. Magic trivialized everyday problems and tasks.

“Alright, now what, Bob?”

“Now you take a step back and watch the magic.” Bob's pages stilled, and he opened them once before slamming shut. I felt him forming a pattern and tried to pay attention, but like usual when Bob was forming without trying to demonstrate. he went too fast for me to keep up. “Dick, an energy pool, or as some call it an outer well, is an external source of magical energy which can be tapped into. Think of it like a spatial mana cell. We’ll have to anchor it to something or someone. Not you, it’ll be too much work to cover up. We only need this for what we have planned here.”

Bob and I had decided against trying to fix or figure out Litra’s problem for now. It was just too much of a risk to her, and oddly enough, I was getting fond of her. She was so innocent in many ways, and it times I forgot she was a dragon at all. Then she’d casually talk about hunting giants and it would come back.

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“What should we anchor it to?” I asked, glancing around. There wasn't much in the workshop. At least, not anything I wanted to tie it to. “How about one of the larger mana cells?”

“I was thinking me.”

“You? Will that mess with anything?”

“Not at all, and nobody short of… a few would be able to break it. I don’t know if I’ve ever told you, but i'm probably the closest thing to near indestructible that exists in… well, all of reality. Or the book is.” There was a hint of sorrow in his words.

“But the page?”

“I said near, Dick.” Bob finished the pattern and the circle lit up. However, this time it didn't burn into the ground. The liquid seemed to condense as it lit up, and froze. The circle with four rectangles rose and began to spin like some large shuriken. It turned so the circle was facing us, and starting at the edges of the hole it was filled in by a familiar portal glow.

“Alright, here I go,” Bob said, over the whooshing sound. It was spinning like helicopter blades. It was a blur, and I probably wouldn't have been able to hear Bob without my enhanced senses. Then again, why hadn't he just mentally spoken to me? Bob seemed to prefer talking aloud.

Probably loves to hear his own voice.

I sensed the pattern and waited as it formed. It was quick, and when it was done, I was able to sense a connection forming. Not with my magical senses, but through the connection, I already had with Bob. The symbol faded into motes of light, but the portal remained.

“One external source of power, done.” Bob sighed. “This should be plenty for what we need. A soul masking, some anchored illusions, and enchantments. Maybe we could make a soul vessel, and you and I could spend some time just floating about in the astral plane.”

“No, Bob,” I said sharply. I sighed. “Bob, I don't want to leave if we don't have to.”

“But we will, or at least we probably will. It's not so bad, Dick. You won't even be awake for it, and we can put these two in stasis.”

Absolutely not. Uliena folded her arms under her breasts. I will not be frozen.

“Fine, but you’ll be locked in here.”

If you knew what I’ve been through, then you’d understand that would be heaven compared to what I've endured. Besides, my fingers have failed me, and I have magic. I can think of a few things I can conjure up to entertain myself.

“And you, Litra?” I asked. I really didn't want to consider this, but he was right. If we had to leave, then we had to leave. A part of me felt like it was going to tear at that thought. Just as things were going well, I had some healthy relationships and friends. But I also had an ender after me. I had to be realistic.

“You done moping, Dick?”

I scowled. “Let's just get on with it. What’s first?”

“Some good ol’ contingency plans. We’re gonna anchor your soul to this pocket. Think of it like this. Let's say there's a cliff, and falling is death. But if you have a rope tied to an anchor on the cliff, then when you fall, you or someone else can pull you back up. The ender will have methods to deal with this, but I plan on going heavy with the enchantments. It’ll be slow to pull you back, but harder for someone to interfere or lay claim to your soul. Ender, they may be, but I’ve been around since the beginning of man's dreams, and been around things that would make an ender look like a rodent.”

His words actually brought some confidence back. He was right, Bob had been through a lot, and with what little I knew, he was not just some average magic book. He was special. How special I didn't know, but certainly special.