A white walrus appeared and wailed at him! He screeched that metallic screeching at him. He backed away, too! Looked at me with his huge purple eyes. He wore a blue vest and top hat. “This is your fault! Earthans are not supposed to interfere in matters of the Councils! You are primitives and do not know what is involved! This man should leave our level!”

Dromie hugged me and cried! “I won’t leave them to die! No! I will fight Rentappenen. All of you are fighting. I will prove my loyalty by fighting with you!”

That walrus waddled closer. “I don’t believe you! Your people pretended loyalty, then gave the Jain weapons they were not ready to have. They destroyed themselves—”

“Eriganh forced us to work for Rentappenen. We gave them weapons because Eriganh told us to make weapons for them. Eriganh said we were born for masters. Rentappenen said we were slaves for masters. This lady is the first to tell me I can be free, I can choose!” He pointed to me with a gnarled finger. “I choose to help your new Council.”

“Your help is fatal! We can die without you.” The walrus made a hmph sound.

Dromie hopped off the bed and looked up at him. “We can all live, with my help. My people’s weapons are in every place Eriganh’s and Rentappenen’s men live. All I need to do is change them, because they are alive.”

“If you make them live, how do we know if they will help us, or interfere with Eriganh’s battle? There can be no interference with that! You must wait! You can’t go to Alb. Rentappenen will find you and destroy us all!”

“Then, take me with you to the 6th—”

“You think they want you there? No Council will accept you. Your only option is to leave.”

“Good!” Gwen came to the bed holding Luna.

“Dromie! Granny, you kept him safe for me!” She held out her arms, but Gwen snatched her away.

“That thing bit me! I’m not goin’ near it! Granny, they have a Black city on MarKu! Imagine, a whole city full of Black people like us! All our lives, we been tryin’ to live a white life! Now we can get in touch with our culture.” She went on about it, but behind her was a sunset. We’ve been here all day?

That white-robed healer put them on the bed. He sang something pretty and the gash on her hand healed up.

“I can do better than that!” Dromie grabbed her hand and her arm cracked! Gwen tried to jerk it away, but she broke her arm as a kid and it was crooked. Now it’s straight.

That walrus moaned. “You’ll bring Rentappenen—”

That healer waved, and white goo fell on our ankles. “This is an aandat. Once it places itself, you will be healthier. Most Earthans have immunity from all diseases, you heal faster from injuries, and gain telepathy.”

“May I have one?” Dromie blinked his huge blue eyes at him.

“Ea.” He waved a twin-fingered hand and one also dropped on his feet.

It zipped up his shorts and he giggled. “Oh, it’s fast!”

The healer lost his smile. “Are you unwell, my son?”

That walrus frowned! “Do not think to heal him, Pas! You would die, to touch his mind! Would you try to heal a Kajarian? He is like 20,000 of them!”

Pas gasped and rolled his twin fingers up. “Can you heal him?”

“I could, but I will not! He can destroy the 13, with a thought!”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Thirteen galaxies. With a thought?!

“Well, what if I think to bring back all of the galaxies my people destroyed?”

“You can’t do that until Adia fights Eriganh!”

“Look there!” Dromie pointed to the big picture window in the lobby. We could see it from the doorway of the one room clinic. Red and white flashes in the sky was like fireworks! Then a big purple flash, and it was just a pretty pink sunset. No clouds. “It’s over. Now can I do it? I’ll prove my loyalty to all of you!”

Another person threw purple light all over! His features and body changed constantly. “I am Wslarc. Yes, you should bring all of the civilizations back that you destroyed, but not any of your people. These people are contaminated by you. They must not set foot in Alb. Go and fight Rentappenen and bring my armies against him.”

“But, it’s over! He’s dead!” Dromie spread his arms out.

“Do not argue with me. Bring them forth in time to help defeat them. He is hiding in the past. You can find him and destroy the Cube Of Many Colors with your weapons.”

“I tried this in 1,897 timelines—”

“If you mean what you say, you will do this. Many more civilizations died in this fight, because you did not help. It is not allowed to destroy civilizations. As the last remaining of your species, you will take their penalty.”

“You won without me! Why should I die for you?” Dromie crossed his arms.

I touched his shoulder. “Dromie, you said you’d bring them back. You gave your word. A man’s word is his bond.” I thought about civilizations on Earth that died. The Roman Empire. The Assyrians. The Babylonians—maybe they should’ve. But that’s not for me to judge. Lots of civilizations just here on Earth, and these were worlds and galaxies of people!

Dromie looked at me. Nodded slowly. “You don’t even know ‘em, but you love ‘em. Okay, Granny, I’ll go fight, for you, and for my family.” He vanished.

Luna cried. “Dromie! Where’d he go? He can’t fight! He’s little!”

Gwen picked her up. “I’m glad he gone! He creepy—hey! Where’s this?”

I looked out of that big picture window. No trees?

The Embassy was empty. We got out of that soft bed and walked to the front door. Luna opened it.

Outside was a rocky landscape. No plants! But, no people. I looked around. Beside the Embassy was a cute Victorian like we always talked about when Gwen was little. Hot pink with blue trim. A black iron fence. A little version of it in the yard with a kid-sized door and windows. Luna saw it and ran for it. Flowers grew all around it. “Oh, I made a wish and Dromie did it! I have my own garden, and furniture like I saw in Disney movies!” She opened the door and it had a grand staircase to the 2nd story, but her size! There were only 3 stars in the black sky. Empty.

I was nervous about leaving Luna there but Gwen ran up onto the porch. It had two sets of wooden swings facing each other, each in a round part on the corners of the 2 story house. She opened the door and we had all sorts of furniture in all colors. The living room had sofas in a square with a soft, brown carpet. Potted plants and trees decorated it.

Went into the kitchen and a deep freeze had all sorts of food like we talked about. Frozens and meats and vegetables that we could cook. A shelf in the huge kitchen had every cookbook I ever saw from our family and in bookshops that Mama looked through. Copper pots and pans of every description hung on the blue walls. A flower pattern Mama found on the Internet and we talked about, if we had a house, how we’d decorate. She learned a lot about that from a lady whose house she cleaned.

Gwen looked at the stove. “Oh, I wish we had a rotisserie for that turkey! I—”

It appeared above the stove!

I frowned. “Is this even real? Things don’t just appear when you talk about ‘em, do they?”

Dromie appeared, but shimmery, like a hologram. “Oh, you can have anything you want, here! I made a world for you.”

“But, I want to go to MarKu, to that Black city! I want to live there!” Gwen shook a finger at him.

“You have to stay there and wait for me. I’m sorry, but they said you can’t go there now.” His blue eyes had tears in ‘em.

“An’ whose fault is that?” Gwen glared at ‘im. Pulled at a braid.

“The Council decided it. I am very sorry, but you’ll have anything you need—”

“Can ya give me a man? Someone who’ll love me for who I am inside? I had hopes, in that city, that maybe I’d find a decent husband, and there ain’t anyone here!”

“I’m sorry, Gwen. I got you exiled. I gave the server some traits, but it can’t do what I do, and I don’t know if I can come back. When I finish, I’ll try.”

“They said you lied to ‘em! I don’t trust you!” Gwen stormed out.

Luna ran in and tried to hug ‘im, but he vanished.