They stood in the Sanctuary's high-ceilinged lobby. Sheriff Hueller had said it was the only room large enough to transport them all at once. Sheriff Hueller stood at the front, in his long coat. Behind him, in twin rows, stood Millicent and the shorter man with long black hair who's name was Xavier. Both of them were strong Producers. Behind them Jacob stood next to Camilla. Jimmy brought up the rear along with Ola, who specialized in Decomposition and Production.

"Ready?" Sheriff Hueller called.

"Yes!" The deputies rang out in unison.

No! Jacob thought. His armpits had sweat through his shirt. He kept flexing his magical muscle, out of nervousness more than attempted practice, and going over everything Jimmy had told him. There was far too much. He'd probably forgotten half of it already. He was not ready for this.

"Can't believe we're actually going to the magical world." Camilla whispered. She looked as though she were about to open a Christmas present.

Sheriff Hueller raised his hand.

Magic rippled along Jacob's sensation. The white wall beyond Hueller's outstretched hand brightened until it shone. The air warped, twisted. He'd always thought a portal would look like a tear in space, like when the Dream Tiger had appeared, but Hueller's portal was a glowing spiral, almost like a cosmic cinnamon bun.

"Quickly now!"

Hueller lowered his hand and ran at the wall. He hit the wall and passed through. For a moment his silhouette lingered in the air, sparkling golden, then it dissipated.

Millicent and Xavier were right on his heels. They passed into the wall and disappeared.

"Just run right at it!" Jimmy called out.

Jacob nodded, prepared himself, glanced at Camilla, and then they both took off for the portal. He flinched as they reached the wall, half-expecting to smack into it, and then lost the sensation of his feet on the ground.

The wall disappeared. Electric tingles ran along his skin and he moved slowly, as if he were swimming. He was floating through a glowing rainbow tunnel that rushed towards him, as if he were inside a kaleidoscope. Streaks of black and purple lightning rippled along its surface. Camilla's shadow was beside him. He turned his head to look and-

-he stumbled out onto hard, black ground and fell to his knees. He could see his blurry reflection in the ground, which was smooth black crystal. Maybe obsidian? He looked up. Cubic pillars and rectangular protrusions of the same black crystal surrounded them, all square, as if they'd been rendered on an old PC.

A great, apocalyptic screech shook the ground. In front of him, across an expanse of the smooth black surface reared a dark, nightmarish creature as tall as a house. Its head was an angular skull with a glowing violet orb within. Its body was like a warped black skeleton, all jagged shadows and black ice. Its limbs were too long and thin with too many joints to be natural, with giant claws hanging off the end.

It slung itself forward, shattering through two black crystal pillars like a wrecking ball through glass. Shards of black crystal rained down over Jacob and Camilla.

Jacob raised an arm to cover his face.

Before he could do anything else the creature brought one long, three-pointed claw arcing down towards them.

——————

Millicent appeared in front of Jacob and Camilla, hands splayed upwards. A fountain of blue light poured out of her hands, forming a translucent wall between them and the monster. The monster's massive claw came down on the wall with a rippling thud. The tips of its three claws grated against the light, sending sparks skittering. The impact sent Millicent to one knee.

"Milli, hold the ward!" Sheriff Hueller called out. "Xavier, Ola, with me. Jimmy stay here with the kids!"

Three shapes in black cloaks blurred out around the edges of the ward at the monster.

Jacob felt a hand clasp his arm, and then Camilla and him were lifted off their feet and dragged back through the air.

Jimmy pulled them down behind a low shelf of black glass.

"You guys alright?"

"That thing almost killed us!" Jacob cried.

Jimmy peeked over the shelf at the monster. "Yeah, it was ready for us."

Jacob peeked over the shelf. Sheriff Hueller and his three deputies circled the monster. Blasts of fire and magic thrummed into it. It swung its massive claws like pendulums, swiping viciously at the deputies.

"What is it?" Jacob asked.

"A Reaper. A big one." Camilla answered.

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"A what?"

"A powerful type of Decomposer." She answered.

"It looks so... alien." The Reaper moved quickly, eerily, the air around it shimmering darkly, as if it weren't entirely there.

"They're harbingers of death. In both worlds. When people see spectres on their deathbed, they're really seeing Decomposers drawn to the magic released when you die, momentarily crossing the boundary between worlds." Jimmy said.

Jacob shivered. He couldn't imagine seeing something like the Reaper standing in the corner of his room, waiting for him to die. How could something this big, this powerful, fit into a food chain with other animals? It went against everything he'd ever learned about ecosystems. There had to be a balance between different organisms within a system. If one became too powerful or dominant, it threw the whole system out of whack. How big did the Consumers have to get for something this big to be feeding on them? But maybe that was why these things kept breaking through? Could there be a way to balance it better? There always was on Earth. Whether it was introducing more of a certain species or changing the level of some abiotic element like pH. He had to know more about how it all worked.

"You should see some of the other Decomposers. Downright creepy horror film stuff. It's odd, though. It's usually Consumers that are threats to cross the threshold. Decomposers rarely get to this level." Jimmy gestured around them. "Looks like were near the Port of Vancouver. If this thing breaks through the barrier it's going to tear up the shipping yard."

A black cloaked figure flew over their heads and crunched into a growth of black glass, shattering it. They dropped to the ground, then shakily got to their feet.

"Xavier, you good?" Jimmy called.

"I'm fine..." Xavier hissed through clenched teeth.

"Yeah, right." Jimmy crouched. "You look after them. Hueller's gonna need me in a moment anyways." He turned to Jacob and winked. "Aight kid, watch this."

Jimmy squatted down, then leapt twenty feet into the air straight at the Reaper.

"Whoa."

Jimmy twisted his body in mid air and spun around and punted the Reaper in its angular head.

Crack!

The Reaper fell back in a tumble of limbs and smashed to the ground. Silver stars trickled out from its head. Jimmy twisted and landed on both feet. The Reaper dragged itself up and flexed its claws. The ground beneath it rippled. Shafts of black crystal spiked up into the air in a wave that shot at Jimmy. The Deputy leapt away and landed on the edge of a house sized rectangular shelf of black glass.

Camilla nudged Jacob in the ribs.

"Ow! What the hell?"

"Activate your magic."

"Why?"

"Because this is a good learning opportunity. These are all fairly simple spells that you could learn soon, but the strength and speed of casting, and the way they use them are incredible."

Jacob activated his magic. A mosaic of different spells and magic overloaded his senses. He could feel all the different colours like Jimmy had said: violet, verdant green, bright, flaming red. A whole rainbow coming from the deputies. A rainbow he could sense, but not visibly see. The Reaper was a deep, dark, almost pitch black violet.

He noticed a pattern to the deputies fighting almost immediately. Millicent either defended attacks with those bright blue wards, or lanced them forward like bright cones of light at the Reaper. One variant on the same spell, or two similar ones? Ola tended more towards blasts of fire. He couldn't tell what Sheriff Hueller was doing. Jimmy flashed green constantly. One spell Jacob recognized as the resilience spell, another one was a different shade of green. Maybe the perception the deputy had been talking about? Jimmy never used a single other spell. He dodged, defended, attacked, and maneuvered with just those two. Millicent did likewise with her wards, sometimes sending them out behind her to boost into the air, instead of intensifying her own resilience spell. It was fascinating to watch, and it reminded him of the multiple 'routes' of energy flow in an ecosystem. You didn't have to use the resilience spell to move quickly if you were good enough with wards. Likewise, you didn't have to use wards to defend if you were strong enough to resist attacks. How many routes to the same result? How many ways to manipulate each spell to give a desired effect?

A loud beeping echoed out around the clearing.

Sheriff Hueller leapt away from the battle, towards where Jacob and Camilla crouched, and checked the device on his wrist. He grimaced.

"Millicent! You getting this?" He yelled.

Millicent ran over to him. Behind them, Ola blasted the Reaper with a spreading wave of fire, which flared bright crimson on Jacob's sense.

"Yeah. Another impending crossover. Will they ever stop?"

"Looks like a Consumer. Big one. Approaching the threshold abruptly." Sheriff Hueller said. "Take Ola and Xavier. Deal with it if you can but do not risk yourselves. Worst case scenario, hold it off until Jimmy and I arrive."

Millicent turned. "Ola, Xavier! With me!"

Sheriff Hueller waved his hand. A ripple of violet magic swept over Jacob's senses. A doorway opened in the air next to him. The three deputies ran through. The doorway folded shut behind them.

"Jimmy! Just you and me!" Sheriff Hueller roared.

"No problemo, boss!" Jimmy grinned.

The Reaper stomped its foot and another wave of crystal sprouted from the ground. Jimmy whirled through the air, smashed the Reaper in the torso, and then got swatted aside. Magic flared right before Jimmy smacked into the glass ground. He quickly bounced back up to his feet.

There was a burst of dark violet magic similar to the Reaper's. Sheriff Hueller rose up into the air. The ground beneath the Reaper's feet shimmered like water, then the creature fell through the floor, its legs disappearing. Its claws scrabbled for purchase, screeching along the black glass like fingernails on a chalkboard. It started to cast.

"Jimmy, now!" Sheriff Hueller called out, his voice hoarse.

Jimmy blitzed forward. He threw a hand behind him and magic blasted out, boosting him even faster. He spun and dove feet first right into the Reaper's head. A bone shaking crunch echoed out and hundreds of tiny silver crystals exploded out of the Reaper's head. Its flailing stopped, its limbs went limp, and it sagged to the ground.

There was no time to stand on ceremony.

"Quickly now! To the others!" Hueller said. The Sheriff waved his hand and ran forward. Another doorway tore open in the air in front of him. Jacob could see flashes of magic on the other side.

"C'mon!" Jimmy called, gesturing. He too ran for the portal.

Jacob and Camilla broke out from their cover and ran for the portal. Hueller passed through in a flash of black cloak, followed quickly by Camilla. Jimmy leapt through, then turned and held his hand out for Jacob.

Jacob took one last look back at the Reaper's twisted corpse sprawled out on the black glass. If only he had a chance to examine its body. How did these creatures decompose? Did other Decomposers come along and decompose them? Like a secondary decomposer?

He tripped over a ledge in the black glass ground and fell flat on his face.

"Shit!" Jimmy said.

Jacob pushed himself to all fours and met Jimmy's eyes.

The portal contracted, cutting Jimmy off from him, and winked out of existence.