Elowen led Sophie back into the shrine, and Sophie paid a little more attention to her surroundings this time.

There was a large wooden cabinet with an ornately carved door placed prominently against the back wall of the entrance room. A small scribe’s desk to the side of the cabinet, with torn up scrolls littering the space next to it and what appeared to be a half-chewed quill. Some dusty, ripped cushions that Sophie had noticed earlier. And not much else.

Well, one of the windows along the side wall also appeared to be broken, and the interior of the shrine building was much dimmer than the outside where it was full daylight.

“There’s no lights?”

Elowen shook her head and gestured to small stone fixtures along the wall that Sophie hadn’t noticed before. “The shrine can’t support them.”

Sophie glanced at the fixtures suspiciously. They didn’t really look like lights. She wasn’t sure what Elowen meant, but she half-wondered if she would have to worry about paying her electric bill in this bizarre fantasy world. The thought quickly left her mind. She had more pressing concerns at the moment.

Like coffee.

“How about a kitchen?”

Elowen nodded and showed her to a door along the back wall that led to the shrine’s modest living quarters. Sophie had to open it – she couldn’t exactly pass through solid objects like Elowen apparently could.

The area beyond was in much better shape. It looked like a rustic little studio apartment with some more scrolls – intact this time – and some dusty books.

“There’s a trunk over there where the former priestess kept a folding mattress,” Elowen began to explain.

But all Sophie could see was the little wooden table and some chairs in what appeared to be a small kitchen space through the adjoining room.

She ignored the rest of Elowen’s tour and made a beeline for the kitchen. It was… very different from what she was used to. No refrigerator. No oven. No microwave. In fact, she started to wonder if electricity was even a thing in this world.

But at the very least, there was a place to start a fire, and a kettle sitting on top of a hearth. It reminded her of her grandpa’s old log cabin in Wisconsin, but she didn’t want to think too hard about that either.

Instead, she opened several cabinets as Elowen watched on with curiosity. Dried goods – probably all spoiled, but she’d test that later. How long did rice keep for anyways? A bunch of sad-looking spices, nearly disintegrated to dust. She eventually found a carefully carved wooden box of what appeared to be tea upon closer inspection. It at least smelled like tea. And since it was in the kitchen, surely it was intended for consumption.

It would have to do.

“How old do you think this is?” she asked.

Elowen floated over to examine the contents of the box, but shook her head. “I haven’t the faintest idea.”

“You really don’t know how long it’s been since anyone lived here?”

Elowen shrugged. “The seasons come and go. I don't really count them. I've never thought about it before.”

The idea gave Sophie chills. She wondered how long Elowen had been living here by herself and felt a little sorry for her.

She glanced around the small kitchen area and noticed another key component missing. Running water. Horrified, she nearly dropped the box of tea, currently her one savior to this terrible morning. She nearly wanted to lay down on the floor and give up right then.

She didn’t.

“Um, is there water somewhere?”

“In the well of course,” Elowen said, blinking at her.

When Sophie stared at Elowen blankly, the spirit finally got the hint and floated towards a side door. “It’s just outside,” she explained.

Sophie dutifully followed behind Elowen to the small rear courtyard to find that there was, indeed, a well. It was even covered. Sophie had never used a well in her life. She tugged on the rope. It felt sturdy enough still. She was surprised it hadn’t rotted over the years.

She carefully lifted the lid, peering down into the darkness, but she couldn’t see anything down there. After some experimentation, she finally managed to fill the bucket, pulling some water to the surface.

It looked okay, but she knew better than to trust it, and she’d need to boil it anyways to make the tea.

Her first adventure in the new world. Tea making. If this were a video game or a fantasy novel, surely she would have some monsters to slay or something.

With that in mind, Sophie thought there were definitely worse ways to spend the morning and firmly decided that she would focus on the tea and not trigger any flags just in case.

***

The tea was horrible.

But at the very least, her caffeine headache seemed to be subsiding.

“So let's pretend I did come from another world,” Sophie started once she felt ready to talk about things again.

Elowen looked like she was about to protest, so Sophie held up her hand to stave off any more of her nonsense. Apparently getting information from a shrine spirit wasn't the most useful way to find out about the world.

They were sitting at the small kitchen table – well, only if what Elowen was doing could be considered sitting. The fact that she wasn't exactly corporeal was still giving Sophie the creeps but it was pretty low on the list of Sophie's questions at the moment. Especially since Elowen was currently her only source of information about the alternate reality she had somehow found herself in.

“If we get that portal up and running again, I can go back right?” she asked.

Elowen frowned and shook her head. “It's not that easy,” she said. “The portal isn't supposed to connect to anywhere but the village. Even if we got enough mana to get it working again, I don't think it will take you back to where you came from.”

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Sophie didn't quite understand that part, and the tea was really not doing anything to help the thick layer of fog clear out of her brain from the hangover, but she waved her hand at Elowen.

“Okay, so – the portal got me here. The portal hasn't worked in many years. We're doubtful that the portal will take me back. I think I got all that. But why hasn't the portal worked for many years? And how do we get it fixed again? Do we need to call some sort of – I don't know – portalsmith?” Sophie thought she was just making a joke, but Elowen looked very serious at the suggestion.

“Oh no,” she said. “I don't think we'll need to call a portalsmith. I don't think the portal is broken. I think it just doesn't have enough mana.”

“Right,” Sophie said, still not getting the full picture. “Okay, so what’s the issue? Let’s get some more mana. Where do we find it?”

Elowen blinked at Sophie as if she didn't understand the question, and Sophie sighed, pointing at herself. “From a different world, remember?”

Elowen tilted her head. “I am starting to wonder if maybe you are from a different world.”

Sophie had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. “I keep telling you that. But whatever. Okay, so where do we find the mana? You said I have mana, right? Are there like, mana potions? Do we need to go to some sort of mana vendor? I don’t really game much, so I only have a vague idea of how all of this works.”

Elowen looked for a moment like she thought Sophie was playing some sort of prank on her, but then she began to explain.

“Mana is energy. It's found in all things. Hmm, how do I explain it –” She frowned. “Here maybe it would help if I showed you.”

Elowen gestured for Sophie to follow her and led her back into the front room of the shrine. She showed Sophie to that large wooden cabinet from earlier. Sophie had only barely noticed it earlier, given the general state of the room and her obvious distress at her situation.

“This is where my mana stone is kept,” Elowen said.

“Mana stone?” Sophie asked. She noticed a very faint blue light emanating from the cabinet through the ornate lattice work. Although the cabinet was dusty and uncared for recently, Sophie could tell that it had been carefully made.

“Here – You can open it,” Elowen offered. “Usually the shrine priest or priestess would be the only one who was allowed to open this. But since you're the new shrine priestess…” She practically beamed as she said the words.

Sophie still wasn't sure on that point, exactly, but she reached out to touch the handle of the cabinet door feeling a little spooked. She opened it carefully. It wasn't locked or anything. And inside, there was indeed a stone. Maybe the size of a beach ball, but not quite so round. It would have looked just like any old rock except for the fact that it emitted that strange blue glow.

Sophie found herself reaching out to touch it, and then held her hand back at the last second. “Is it okay?” she asked. “If I touch it, I mean?”

“Oh yes, of course,” Elowen replied. “In fact, it might help you understand. You should be able to sense the mana. It should resonate within you since you're the priestess of this shrine now.”

Sophie reached out and placed her palm flat on the stone.

It felt warm. Similar to the way Elowen’s hands had felt when Elowen read her mana level before.

“After you level up a bit, you'll be able to channel your own mana into the stone,” Elowen explained.

“What does it do?” Sophie asked.

Elowen looked conflicted at the question. “Well, it’s my stone. I guess you could say I'm bound to it.”

“Bound?” Sophie shivered at the wording.

Elowen nodded.

“As the spirit of this shrine, I need a source of mana to exist. A strong, steady source. This stone is supposed to pull enough mana from the environment to sustain me. And it hasn’t been. Not for a long time. If it runs out completely…”

She trailed off and then shook her head, biting her lip.

Dread pooled in Sophie’s stomach. So this stone was Elowen’s life support and… What? It was dying? Is that what Elowen meant about fading away earlier?

The glow from the stone did seem awfully faint.

“Okay,” Sophie said. “I don't quite get it, but... what does this have to do with the portal?”

“Oh!” Elowen said. “The portal! Well, the portal is made of mana stone, as well, and it was engineered by a portalsmith to generate a portal. It's tied to its twin in the village. The portal stones need a lot of mana, actually, and that ran out a long, long time ago.”

Well that sounded ominous.

“So if all of these mana stones are supposed to pull in mana, why aren’t they?”

Elowen shrugged. “It's hard to say. The previous priestess passed on many seasons ago, and the mana has been drying up since then. I think it started before that, but she was able to keep it full enough that we didn't have any problems. But after she passed, things slowly got worse… And now I can’t even manifest fully anymore!”

“And what?” Sophie asked. “You want me to fix it?”

Elowen nodded, her eyes pleading. Sophie frowned at the glowing rock in front of her. All of this sounded so far-fetched. But if she really was stuck in some sort of fantasy world, getting the portal working again sounded like the only route for her to get home.

Not including going up to random strangers and asking them if they knew how to get to an alternate universe, of course.

“Wait – do you have wizards in this world? You know, maybe people who can use the mana? Like magic?”

Elowen looked a little bit lost. “Well, priestesses can use mana, and there are also mages and crafters and warriors. There are many different classes that are able to use mana in different ways.”

“So one of them might be able to send me back?” Sophie asked.

Elowen shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said. “I’ve never heard of anyone traveling between different worlds before.”

Sophie deflated. Of course not. It’s not like she had heard of random people showing up in her world, and even if one of them could send her back, she had to find them first. And then somehow convince them she wasn’t crazy. If the shrine spirit thought she was crazy for even suggesting it, it seemed like she had an uphill battle to fight on that account…

“Okay,” she said finally. “Well, if I’m really stuck here, I will do my best to try to help you.”

Elowen clapped happily at the news and seemed a little more solid for a brief moment, before she faded back into her usual translucent state. “How wonderful!” she said.

Sophie tried to summon up any sort of corresponding happiness in reply, but her stomach gurgled unpleasantly – something in between hunger and nausea – reminding her that she hadn’t had any solid food for who knows how long.

“Um, but first I really need to find something to eat or I don’t know if I’m going to survive the night.”

Elowen blinked blankly at her, and then gestured towards the kitchen. “There’s nothing in there for you?”

Sophie shook her head. “Probably nothing that’s safe to eat at least.”

Elowen looked torn at the reply. “I suppose you could go into the village…” she trailed off, seeming unhappy about the idea.

“So… can you show me to this village?” Sophie prodded.

The spirit nodded slowly at this.

“I suppose,” she hedged. “Although there’s one small detail…“

The spirit looked guilty.

“Just tell me.” Sophie sighed. “It’s not like I have much choice but to help you now, and I really need to find some food.”

“Well, I can’t exactly leave the shrine. I am bound here after all. At least until your mana levels increase enough to let me go with you.”

Of course it would be something like that. Why else would the spirit hang around this creepy place if she wasn’t stuck here. Sophie sighed again, resisting the urge to bang her head on the table.

Guess it was time to go exploring.