We all returned to the office. I saw down in my crummy chair and Kush did the same. We were all trumped. Stumped. Just at a loss of what to do.

“Okay, mister representative of your clan, what is your issue?” Kush asked.

“Decay. Rot. I will explain it to you as I did this lunk — my people are dying form a virus. Their essences are being rotted away. Something bad is happening. You and the dragon-butterfly being kidnapped? Bad signs. We need help. You help us, we help you, eh?” Chippy explained in a strange mix of desperation and mania.

“This is something I will mention to the others, but… I’m sorry. I am embarrassed. Kidnappings like this do not happen to Caretakers, Chippy,” Kush explained in a way which made him seem much less like a cosmic wizard roaming the mad streets of the under-reality, and more as the human he once was. Before, he seemed invincible, now, he was mortal. And afraid. Honestly, it really made me think that perhaps this new reality could be just as fragile as my old?

“I know I am green. But we need to help Chippy with this issue,” I told Kush point-blank. “I know I am just the new guy, and you have no idea if I am a scumbag or a tool to be used or if you would really rather be without me, but I do know this — strange shit is happening, and we need to expand and make alliances. Our job is to help the Super-Normies do their own job, right? Well, this seems up our alley. Maybe it is debasement, but you need, Kush, to be the big man and admit you fucked up and let your guard down. But you need help with a big problem.”

Kush sighed deeply as I ever heard, even in cartoons, and said, “You are absolutely right! Damn. Sorry, greenhorn. I got caught too away in myself for a moment there, didn’t I? Sorry about that. Let’s get on to the store, have a look around, and I can talk to you like a real human being for once instead of some Merlin-jergoff. We normally like to wait a bit before a new recruit is added to the bunch, you know, to give them some mystery to everything, but sometimes a fella just makes for a good character. Now, Marcus, let’s get a move on, and tell me, how have you been adjusting to everything?”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Badly,” I said as I and Kush entered the normal reality of the everyday and began to walk to my place of employment. I spoke truthfully. Why? Why did I speak to honestly to Kush as he seemed to turn a more mature leaf? I think just because I needed to, needed to feel some connection to my old life. My old life of work to make a living, not work to participate in a wizard war. I continued, “I am so detached from everything. I don’t think I have ever been more depressed. Magic is real, magic is… boring. And these monsters which exist — actually exist? What the fuck, what the fucking— and then it washes over me. All the pain, let down, bad feelings of what you thought as fantasy being liberating, is actually just as depressing, but in a new way. Like you can’t ever be happy. I feel my body being made into a toy for the universe and nothing makes sense anymore. It’s like I’m on a drug-trip that just won’t end.”

Drug? What was that? Drug…

“No idea you knew what that word was. Interesting,” Kush replied, but I don’t know what he was pawing at. What word? But, whatever, he returned to his now very chill, real side, after a moment. Kush continued, “but, yeah, dude. I felt the same way. When I awakened and learned about Super-Normies and magic, I nearly shot myself. It was a mighty blow to everything that I thought I knew about the world. Before I awakened, mate, I was pretty religious. But now, not so much. I lost a lot of myself when I learned about this under-reality shit. I had to cobble together a new worldview. It was not easy. And me not aging normally, aging very slowly… and seeing the world pass me by, yet I remained unchanged? Bro. Let me be real with you — it’s wild, right?”

I stopped walking and ‘faced’ him — or, well, faced him as well as I could in this two-dimensional realm. I felt connected to someone in the first times in years, truly years. He had said all the right words. I gently hugged him — kept a respectable difference in arm length, though — and said to him, “Thank you, Kush. I felt on the edge for a moment and telling you, made things better. I felt like I was going insane not knowing if what was happening real or not.”

My hands slid off my mentor’s shoulders. He smiled at me and said, simply, “You are welcome, Marcus. From now on, I will do my part to remember to be human. But, for now, let’s check out the store. Gather evidence and help Mister Chippy out. It is our job, after all.”

“Okay, sounds great. Back to work, again… awesome. But yay for magic?” I said, just freaking babbling at this point.