In the yard behind the manor house, Mr. Hubert was spreading fish out on racks to put in the smoker. The two cats and Anthony sat in chairs around the pool. In the next yard, I heard a dog whining like he was lonely. I sat between the cats, and White Gloves decided to come and sit in my lap for attention. Fuzzy stepped into the shadows and went up to the top of the wall. The dog on the other side started whining louder. White Gloves couldn’t resist and joined Fuzzy on the wall.

I heard Mrs Nelson’s voice say, “Marauder, be quiet or you’re going inside.”

Marauder barked. Fuzzy sat on the wall, looking down into the other yard.

Anthony said, “Phil, great to see you. What is up?”

I shrugged. “I have a new form. A fellow wearing a bone ring was possessed by an ancient evil. I transformed using the bone, and now I have a Daemon body. Since an evil Djinn Oppressor was wearing a ring made from a bone, I suspect the fellow was a hero with a habit of going after Djinn. In that case, I would rather have an old friend of his as a friend of mine.”

Hubert said, “That’s probably why I keep seeing the image of Soslani.”

From the other side of the wall, Mrs. Nelson said, “He’s a Fairy king now. King Soslani.

Hubert asked, “Really? I wonder how many Daemons have become Fairy?”

Mrs. Nelson said, “A lot, but not that many Fairy Kings. It takes self-discipline and finding a Daemon with what it takes is not easy.”

I asked, “Would I offend anyone here if I turned into someone they knew?”

Andrew said, “With the explanation and excuse, I think we will all be able to stay mature.”

Mrs. Nelson said, “Wait for me. I just need to put up a pair of dogs, and I’ll be right over.”

I asked, “Did Soslani kill Djinn?”

Hubert said, “He was immersed in human politics. The long game of fighting over territory.”

Anthony said, “I seem to remember someone else who was involved in that game.”

Hubert shook his head. “I am speaking with hindsight and distance. We both fought battles for land and faith. The battles were often justified by religion, but in the end, it was a bloody mess between Middle Eastern faiths with teachings that would have forbidden the battles if the teachings were truly followed.”

I asked, “What faiths?”

Hubert said, “The two of the three biggest Middle Eastern Faiths. Muslim and Christian.”

Mrs. Nelson came in. I stood and she hugged me. “You’re looking a lot better. Are you eating enough?”

I nodded.

She said, “As a Fairy king, you have to keep up your energy or you’ll just shrink to gossamer.”

I nodded again. She stood back and said, “Okay, let’s see your new form.”

I turned into me as a large, handsome Daemon.

Mrs. Nelson laughed. “Good guess, Hubert. Phil, I need to gift you with Georgian. Sadly, I am out of practice and my knowledge of the language is four hundred years out of date. No, you should try to find someone who knows the language now.”

Hubert asked, “What is Soslani like these days?”

Mrs. Nelson turned to Hubert. “He’s avoided. He remains involved in Real. At least that’s the rumor. He seemed nice enough to me, but he’s one of the Realists.”

Hubert said, “Well, Phil is mortal, but he’s a Realist when you get right down to it. Phil, we are in a well warded place and your nobles like a fight. I doubt it will come to that, but maybe you should summon Soslani and see how he feels about you wearing his body.”

I asked, “How am I a realist? I’m a Fairy king, and I travel between Fairylands.”

Mrs. Nelson said, “Among the non-savvy, a realist is someone who just accepts what they see. Among the paranormal savvy, a Realist is one of those who stays in the struggle, you know the kind, those who fight the fight in Real. It isn’t considered safe these days, and most of us have retired from it. But those who try to alter the outcomes in Real are Realists and are in some cases admired but in most cases avoided since they find trouble and trouble finds them.”

I said, “Okay, brace yourselves for incoming.”

I turned back into me and summoned him, “King Soslani, King Snipsnort summons thee.”

I felt a connection. “Snipsnort has a king now?”

I said, “Yes, sort of. Anyway, I called because I used a bone ring that was worn by a Djinn-possessed man and turned into thy mortal form. I didn’t want to offend thee, so I decided to make contact.”

King Soslani said, “Best news I have heard since October of ninety-five. Brother, bring me to see thee.”

King Soslani was a Fairy and a small one. He held my hand with both of his tiny hands and then let go. He looked around. “Roland, Anthony, well met. He looked at Mrs. Nelson and laughed. “Nelly, still a girl, I see. I thought thou wouldst have tired of it by now."

He looked at me. “You’re not in my form.”

I turned into his form, and he held his hand out.

“Pleased to meet you, King Snipsnort.”

I took his hand, and he held it while looking up at me and smiled. He turned into the same form and hugged me. “Strange that this was the only way I could have recovered my form after I died. I thought the Efrit had burned my bones.”

He stood back and looked at me. “I am going to have to eat well and get some medical help before I can handle steel again, but having a twin is wonderful. So, you’re the King of Snipsnort, and you have been fighting Efrits.”

I turned into me and handed him the bone ring. “This is yours.”

He laughed, took it, and put it on his little finger. “Is it morbid for me to wear it?”

Hubert said, “Keep it in a safe place in case you need it again.”

Soslani nodded. “Great idea. So, King Snipsnort, how did you survive Duchess Byebye?”

I smiled, “My sister, the Duchess, is doing fine.”

Soslani said, “I have a twin now, and he is Dutchess Byebye’s brother. We had best keep your and my connection secret, but having a double will help in the fight with the Efriti. When they find I am among the living again, there will be Efrit-possessed Russian oligarchs trying to find out how I came back from the dead.”

He held out his hand. “Come with me, brother. The rest of thee, keep this as thine own secret. I was never here, and my brother never had my form.”

#

We appeared in a round stone chamber. About six feet up, wire mesh covered thick glass windows. There were several exits. As I looked, an alarm went off, and steel mesh doors slammed down.

Soslani laughed and shouted, “It’s just me and my new brother.”

He looked at me. “They probably saw my doppleganger and decided to slam the gates down.”

Someone shouted, “Soslani, run, get clear. We’ll check on you at a meet point.”

I was about to say that I was in my own form so they wouldn’t see a doppleganger, when slots opened and crossbows with foul spirits on bolts were aimed at us. I dropped, ran my finger on the floor, and took Soslani to the crossroads. I sped time but I felt the crossbow bolts coming.

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I sped time in a transport Fairyland and went there. I slowed time to match with Real in the other Fairylands to gain time for myself. I put my finger in my mouth and used the dust from the floor in the round chamber to bond with that Fairyland. I still felt the crossbow bolts coming. I bit my finger and spat blood as the bolts appeared. I started to turn into a rooster to scream and try to destroy the bolts, but they hit before I changed. My blood started boiling and smoke rose as I floated above my body and remembered.

#

It was about sixty years before. I’d just finished work on an island castle. Brilliant plan, really. The gravity in the Fairyland went to a plane in the center, and the castle was mirrored on both sides so that from either side the lake that wasn’t there looked like it reflected the castle above, but it was really the castle below. They called me daft, but all the really great artists in Fairy are at least a little daft.

I wanted to put some ripples in, but I wanted to get them right and make sure that they would only be seen close to the castle or looking down at a castle. That way, the illusion of a lake would be perfect. I went to a swamp in Real so I could see the ripples and reflections on the water and tried to get the image perfect.

As I was flying over a canal, I heard a child cry. In a small brick house, a woman and her child were both sick. I watched as the child abandoned his body. I saw his spirit bite his own silver cord sundering his connection and fleeing to the nether regions. A dark portal opened and shut. It seemed the child had escaped his damnation. Looking further, I saw miserable karma and body so filled with destiny that I could not bear to pass it by or let it pass away, it hummed like a musical instrument that no one could hear. I wanted the lessons that karma would bring.

I looked at the mother that I knew would never accept me as hers and still I wanted all that destiny. I mended the toddler’s body as best I could before entering it. I couldn’t fix too much, the music it made needed to stay untouched.

My last memory, before I accepted the veil and became entirely bonded with the child, was that all the accusations made declaring me daft were probably right.

#

The crossbow bolts had already eaten themselves away and their evil payload was working its way through my bloodstream. With my body disappearing into sparks, I made a gossamer form and secured the spit and blood I had spat moments earlier. I took them to another empty Fairyland and started moving gateways around.

I knew the pattern of my body and had living spit and blood to work with. I started building a new me. I had my pattern in forms for transformation, and I had examined my body minutely and let gifts given when I was in a half-dream state store those shapes. But first, I wanted to save these memories before I lost them again.

Easily done. I turned into me as a Daemon and made an armored environmental suit to fit. I went to the Oppressor’s treasure room Fairyland and put my gloved hands on the crystal that recorded memory.

I decided to gift myself with the memories of my origin and let me know that I would be using the Daemon as an example and cheating. I wanted to have every advantage I could since I was going to be Phil for a long time if things worked out. Poor me, as Phil I’d never had a clear feeling for who I was. Now I was going to be part Daemon and even more lost.

I recorded as much as I dared. Too much and someone might someday visit this Oppressor's Fairyland and gain access to memories I’d rather not share with something evil. I recorded just a bit more.

#

I woke up tired and hungry. I felt like I’d been ill. Memories started coming back. I went to my hospital Fairyland.

#

In my medical Fairyland, four women were watching an Asian medical drama on a TV. The new girl looked back and said, “We have a customer.”

The TV was turned off and the little girl doctor asked, “Are you hurt?”

I shook my head. “Sick, tired, hungry. Not thinking clearly.”

#

I woke up and the last thing I remembered was that I was about to die. I had been killed by four of the horrible death weapons.

Beside the bed was the nurse who looked like she was about my age.

I asked, “How did you bring me back to life?”

She said, “You came in sick but still healthy. Really healthy, considering.”

#

In the Fairyland where I woke up in before going to the hospital Fairyland, there was a statue of a winged Fairy holding a staff with a gem on the end. He was holding it out on his hands like he was offering it to me. He was winking his left eye. I took it from the statue’s hands and looked at the gem. It looked a bit like the crystal in the Oppressor’s Fairyland. There was an inscription in the mounting the gem was held by.

“Ask for thy memories to be restored.”

This was getting strange. I turned into me in an environmental suit and went to the Oppressor’s Fairyland. I went to the crystal and put my gloved hands on it.

“Restore my memories.”

I remembered who I was before I was who I am. I remembered asking the crystal for the knowledge of how to use it then used it to learn several more languages.

I looked at the ancient thing. A crystal made to be able to record, store, and share knowledge. From its index, it had hardly been used. It was a treasure stolen from a world now lost and so much that could have been recorded never was.

#

In the world of death, I felt the toxic dust from the Oppressor’s Fairyland being digested. I sat in this quiet place and let my thoughts organize. I reflected on what had happened, turned into me in more normal clothing and went to the seven-way crossroads in Snipsnort.

#

Soslani looked at me with a range of emotions too complex to sort. “You look like a brother and no longer a twin to me.”

I sat down on the step beside the road. “Don’t worry, Soslani, I’m okay and I figured out what happened. Your world’s guarded and paranoid and ready to face the threat of a possessing spirit that might come at any time. You’ve been ready to face an invasion, and you have people who can detect the possessed and clear instructions on what to do.

“This body is still sort of a twin of you, but part of me has been altered it so I am no longer quite your doppelganger.”

“We are still friends. We are still brothers fighting in the same cause. Maybe even more so now that I understand your commitment to the cause. You face an enemy that could take someone over and steal all his secrets. You have to have methods and fallback positions and the ability to kill yourself quickly.

“I understand all of that. Whoever set off the alarm detected something that I did not know. It is the reason that so many people knew I belonged in Fairy before I ever went to Fairy.

“I am a walk-in. I took this body when a toddler’s spirit left it. In a way, I am possessed, but by myself. There was no spirit in this body that I displaced. I moved in when that spark moved out.

“I don’t think that child was a good one. The world may be better without him. Now the world has me. I probably shouldn’t go back to your world. A sensitive that detected possession might well detect that nature on me despite all the years I have dwelt in it. I forgive them entirely and respect their determination.”

Soslani relaxed and sat beside me. “How did you survive?”

I shook my head. “I won’t bore you with the details. I will say that getting hit with those crossbow bolts is worse than having your ears trimmed.”

He gave me a confused look. “Are you okay now?”

I nodded. “Better than okay. Let me know if you need my help on anything. If I find out anything that relates to our mutual cause, I will summon you.”

Soslani said, “There is a legend that you may have heard of. They say that the Dread Lord is the only one to have ever survived one of those death weapons. It is said that he survived two of them. I always wondered if that tale was made up.”

I smiled. “If it is any consolation to the legend, I didn’t survive. Those weapons are nasty.”

Soslani got up. “I have a few things I need to attend to. I noticed that you slowed time in my world to match with Real. That means several others have noticed, and they have set traps and fled.

“I will have to get the gang together, and we will be double-checking each other. Then we will have to share our separate trap information so we can safely go back and put our Fairyland in order. After I get enough mass to get my body into shape, I will still have to get rid of gossamer safely before I can handle steel.

“After that, I will have to have my Persephone limit restored. But when I can safely walk down streets in Real, do you think we could go a few places together?”

I answered, “I think I might like that. Do you play music?”

He grinned at me. “I am a wild man with a chonguri or panduri. I guess with things sped up here, we have time.”

He sat back down and made an illusion of an old-style stringed instrument and then he made it over in gossamer. He played it and adjusted it and then started in on a rhythm like a horse riding fast.

I made a gossamer cajon and sat on it. I came in on the rhythm, and together we went wild. He kept looking over at me and grinning. Neither of us knew where the music was going and neither of us cared. After a long while, he slowed like a horse stopping after a long run. I echoed the sounds and made the hoofbeats sounds softer and held my hand after the beat so they sounded like hooves placed and not the flying gallop of the music before.

He ended and held out his hand.

I shook it and after he let go of my hand, he disappeared.

I went back to tapping on the cajon and exploring the sound of horses. I pulled up a browser on my phone and started playing videos with horses in them so I could hear their gaits and play along with the rhythms.

#

I woke up and looked down at my poor exhausted self sleeping. He/I needed a better place to sleep. I’d been working on the perfect place, and that project had been abandoned for close to sixty years. I took myself to the world I had been working on and two blazing balls of light engulfed me.

Spinner said, “So long gone, we ran out of excuses, and the teams were all remade without you.”

Far Blue blinked on and off. “We were scared you undid yourself.”

I slid under and around them, basking in their light. “I found a new game and it is still running and pending. I’ll wake up soon enough and disappear ‘til dreams free me.”

Far Blue asked, “No, seriously, did you incarnate?”

I led their presences to the castle I’d been making. “I did and I forgot everything, and I don’t know how often I will be free in dream. But it’s a wonderful game. Spinner, do you still want to be a dog?”

Spinner expanded and let his lights go bright. “So much. So much.”

I gestured to the castle mirrored above and the castle below. “I was working on the perfect bed so I wanted gravity to converge on a plane. So you fell there and stayed while you slept. But then I got distracted like I do and had to make a mirrored castle. I was going to put in ripples, but when I went to look at examples in Real, I found a chance to incarnate and poof, I forgot all my friends.”

Spinner asked, “What about the dog?”

I said, “I will have to wake and I hope I remember, but a friend of mine’s mother has a bunch of dogs, and I think one of them is perfect. I should ask them first, though, but I will try to give you a good recommendation.”

Spinner oscillated and danced.

I coalesced in to what would be recognizable as a Fairy. “I want to place a few gateways before I wake, so if I don’t see thee ‘til the universe ends, know that I do love thee well.”

We embraced and I sailed to Real and back to being Phil.

The End