Orpheus’ robes swept behind him as he walked swiftly along the streets. Felix and Marcia scurried close behind him, paying attention not to knock into anyone else. Unlike the residents of this world who were mostly dressed in simple coats, Orpheus was fully dressed in a long, navy blue cloak with an emerald staff on his back.

“Hey, Orpheus! Wait up!” Felix called out to the man, who thankfully stopped right in his tracks.

“That you know my name already confirms what I’ve detected,” Orpheus said in a remarkably deep voice. “Felix Apollo Pagonis. It’s nice to see you again.”

“What exactly did you detect?” Marcia folded her arms.

“Two foreign souls in this city, resulting in a net excess of citizen population,” he replied nonchalantly. “As Grand Necromancer of Surone, I am in charge of monitoring immigration by keeping track of all the souls in my country. You can’t imagine how pleasantly surprised I was to find yours, Felix.”

A beeping noise piped, and Orpheus gestured to the siblings to cross the traffic intersection with him.

“I— Uh… Thank you.” Felix blushed. “H— How’re you doing? D— Do you have a child— Are… Are you married?”

“I hope this isn’t how you usually proposition someone,” Orpheus chuckled. “But no, I’m not. The responsibilities of a Grand Magi keep one from finding love. And besides…”

His smile dropped slightly. “I have other priorities now.”

Felix’s face fell.

“What’s with the people back there?” Marcia asked. “Is that normal behaviour?”

“Not exactly. They only behaved that way because you were making a nuisance.”

“Nuisance? I barely raised my voice!”

“But you were upset. This society doesn’t allow that.” Orpheus swept a stray strand of wavy blue hair to the back. “Every citizen has their role to play in this country, and it’s designed to maximise our efficiency. That includes our mood. We must be joyful at all times in order to execute our tasks to the best of our abilities. Happiness also means less crime, since everyone has been brainwashed to be satisfied with their life.”

Felix frowned. “That’s rather… dystopian.”

“Well, we can’t complain. Literally.” Orpheus shrugged. “And it’s funny you, of all people, should say that. Because a dictator once ruled this place with an iron fist: The ‘Felix Pagonis’ of this world. He was the one who psychically brainwashed the entire country. He even erased the existence of Surone from the memories of everyone else in the world so that no one could interfere with his policies.”

“Me?! A dictator?” Felix exclaimed. “And that doesn’t make sense either; my telepathy isn’t advanced enough to affect the world.”

“Unlike yours, his psychic powers developed more in favour of telepathy. So while you can move the Earth, he can brainwash everyone in it. But enough about him for now.” Orpheus flicked his head warily to the guard post ahead of them. “I’ll fill you in later; let’s get through this checkpoint first.”

Felix’s attention shifted in its direction. Guards typically wore sober clothes, accompanied by a generous serving of flashy weaponry eager to show off their firepower. But these guards? They looked like they had just walked through a paint shower of every single colour before coming to their stations.

The man covered his mouth to hide his giggle. There was no way he could take them seriously.

“You don’t have any contraband items on you, right?” Orpheus whispered.

“I don’t think so?” Felix blinked. “What counts as contraband items?”

“Staves, spellcrafts, potions… Anything magic.”

Felix opened his mouth to ask why magic items were banned, but Orpheus stepped forward before he could say anything. The light on the guards’ helmet turned from red to green upon scanning Orpheus’ face.

“Welcome, Grand Necromancer Orpheus Caesar,” the guard announced without scanning the rest of his body.

Felix raised his eyebrows in realisation, finally noticing that the guards were made entirely of metal. Despite how human they looked, these guards were nothing but mere simulacrums magically imbued with artificial intelligence.

“These two are with me.” The Necromancer pointed to Felix and Marcia.

“Command accepted. Please proceed to the final checkpoint and have a very happy day.”

The siblings hurried through the checkpoint as though they were afraid the guards would change their minds at the last minute. Most of the other residents were diverted to other routes.

“Grand Magis have our privileges,” Orpheus resumed his exposition as they entered an empty tunnel. “Arcane magic is banned in our society, you see. Only those who have attained the title of ‘Grand Magi’ are allowed to use magic, and for official reasons only. Everyone else is only allowed to interact with technomagick.”

“I don’t mean to change the topic, but where are you taking us?” Marcia asked, her eyes still fixated on the sleek, futuristic aesthetic around her.

“To the Building of Magick Archives: Council of the Grand Magis,” Orpheus replied simply. “We have a device there that can attune with The Summer Solstice in your possession and pinpoint which universe its twin is in.”

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Felix stopped walking.

“Wait, how did you know we have that book with us?” He stared at Orpheus in shock. “We never mentioned it.”

“You didn’t need to. Its foreign magic is so potent that it was the first thing our technology detected. Due to Dictator Pagonis’ policies, he banned the use of magic. As a result, our technology grew at a breakneck pace to keep up with the demands of a magic society.” Orpheus narrowed his eyes. “Yes, we know about other realms. We even have the technology to track their movements. We just don’t have quite enough energy to open a portal without the help of an artefact. An artefact like The Summer Solstice.”

It was Marcia’s turn to be suspicious.

“What are your intentions, Caesar?” she hissed. “I’m not following you any longer until you’re frank with us.”

“Not once have I lied to you thus far. Only a simpleton would fail to deduce that you’ve only arrived here due to your limited understanding of inter-world magicks,” the Necromancer said calmly. “But I’ll be very honest with you. Your presence is a threat to our universe. The sooner I get you out of this world, the better. That is the only reason why I’m helping you. You have The Summer Solstice with you, am I right? Do you want to get to The Winter Solstice or not?”

Felix’s heart throbbed with hurt, but he pushed the feeling down. He’s not the same person, Felix. He’s not your lover. Control yourself.

“Fine. Fair enough, I suppose. Let’s go,” Marcia replied stoically. “I don’t want to stay here for too long as well.”

Felix trudged behind them, his emotions still a mess within him. Did he just seriously imagine having a normal life with Orpheus again? After everything that had happened, did he really think he deserved to get back everything he lost in his life?

The Solstices. The Solstices can help me. I can get everyone I love back. Everything I lost… I must get them back. I must correct the mistakes of our worlds— Of all our worlds.

“I suppose we have to avoid Dictator me, given how barbaric you’ve described him to be,” the psychic muttered to bring himself back to the present. I’m not a bad guy… I can’t be the bad guy…

“There’s no need,” Orpheus replied nonchalantly. “He’s dead… Dead for three years.”

The three of them stepped on a different coloured plate, and the magic current carried them up to the next floor. They landed in front of a much larger guard post this time, which was guarding a pyramidal building sparkling with technomagick.

“Welcome, Grand Necromancer Orpheus Caesar. Please step forward for our routine inspection,” the robot guard commanded, and Orpheus stepped in front of a small gate. “Please be reminded that lethal weaponry and corrupted spellcrafts are prohibited in these premises. Do you have anything to declare?”

“No.”

Orpheus walked through the gate, which lit up a bright green. He beckoned the siblings to come forward. Felix walked through the gate next without mishap. Marcia followed closely behind.

And then an alarm rang as the gate flashed red.

“Contraband items detected! Cease all movement immediately!” The surrounding guards stood at attention as their ‘limbs’ immediately transformed into pulsating technomagick rifles.

Felix clenched his fists. The multi-coloured guards weren’t looking so funny now.

Marcia froze as one of the guards scanned her body again. It reached into her coat and pulled out The Summer Solstice.

“Oh crap, I didn’t know that book counts as a corrupted spellcraft.” Orpheus took a step forward, but a guard jabbed him with its weapon.

“This is your first and final warning, sir! Do not move!” its automated voice barked at him.

“Don’t you live in this world?” Felix whispered from the side of his mouth. “How do you not know our tome is prohibited?”

“I— Uh…”

A tray popped out from the guard’s torso, and it plucked out a pair of arcane wrist cuffs. Alarm rang in Felix’s mind. A flicker of pink began building in his eyes. Like hell he was going to let his sister get arrested in some foreign world like that.

The guards froze for a brief moment, before turning their attention to the ceiling.

Felix looked up as well and squinted his eyes. There was a shadow standing on top of the slightly translucent tunnel, although he couldn’t tell if it was human. The shadowy figure abruptly disappeared in an instant, as though it had simply flown away like a bird.

And then plastic rained all over them.

The figure landed with a hard crash. It was fully masked and fitted with so many cybernetic parts that Felix couldn’t even figure out if it was a living human or just another well-designed robot. But boy, it could fight.

Lights filled the air as the guards immediately began firing. It was no use.

The cyborg moved in a blur, kicking the nearest guard straight up. The guard crashed through the ceiling and disappeared into the clouds.

Another guard fired a giant plasma beam at the cyborg. The surrounding walls exploded under the incredibly powerful shockwave, but it had only managed to stagger the intruder a few steps backwards.

Green electricity crackled around the cyborg as it ripped the gates off the ground and hurled them in quick succession. The gates went clean through the guard’s bodies, slicing all of them in half instantly.

And then its hand shot up at a blistering speed, grabbing the last guard before it could plunge a colourful dagger into its neck. The cyborg lifted the entire metal body with its other hand and ripped the guard like a piece of scrap paper.

It picked up The Summer Solstice from the floor, before turning its attention to Felix.

Pink coated Felix’s eyes as he stared at the cyborg warily. Although its face was covered, he could still see a faint green glow through its right eye hole. A pulse of technomagick energy rippled through its body, reforming the slightly dented metallic parts.

“W— What’re you looking at?” Felix said nervously, beckoning Marcia to stand behind him. “You wanna go at it?”

The cyborg slowly raised its finger at him.

“You. You are coming with me,” it said in a slightly distorted masculine voice.

“What if I don’t want to?”

“That wasn’t a request.”

Three small discs burst out from the cyborg’s body without warning, attaching themselves to the trio.

“What the—” Felix began, but a strange warping sensation spread to his whole body almost instantly.

And then his whole being compressed itself into a small orb.