Tala, Rane, Terry, and their defensive unit were all soaring toward their next assignment, a cell in need of maintenance.

They’d finished their ‘welcome back to active duty’ celebratory cake and had fallen into casual discussions.

The Paragon who was accompanying them had their rapt attention—all save Mistress Cerna, who was piloting their craft, while still obviously listening with interest—as they waited for her explanation as to what she’d meant when she had said that she technically didn’t bring any magics to bear.

Blessedly, Mistress Terra didn’t make them wait long. “I specialize in the unraveling and dissolution of magics and workings. I believe that even the most formidable chain is only as strong as its weakest link. I wield that certainty to undo the magics of those I oppose.”

Rane’s eyes went wide. “Wait… You’re a specialized Mage Breaker? I thought there was only one who’d achieved the advancement of Paragon.”

“There is.” Mistress Terra gave him a convivial smile.

If it was possible, Rane’s eyes widened even further. “But… she founded the Mage Hunters.”

Mistress Terra chuckled. “Well, I don’t usually advertise that, but yes, I did. Though that was long ago.”

Tala gave Rane a curious look. “You seem to know a lot about her, but you didn’t know her name?”

He grimaced. “There are people with the same name, and ironically, I know of two other Mistress Terras who are Paragons.”

His face heated slightly and he looked away. That caused Tala to grin, as she immediately understood. “You thought they were her, eh?”

He scratched the side of his chin, clearly a bit self-conscious. “I was a lot younger then… and it was rather embarrassing.”

Mistress Terra chuckled. “Ahh, yes. I can see that. Master Grediv likely did that purposely. He does find it so entertaining that three Terras all reached the same high advancement.”

Mistress Cerna cleared her throat. “So, am I to understand, then, that your specialty is the safe removal of magics in one form or another?”

“That’s right.”

“But you’re still able to repair cells?”

The woman nodded. “The technique for restoring a cell’s seal isn’t really a function of a specific magical focus. It is more closely aligned with…” She hesitated, then shook her head. “No, I apologize. I forgot myself. None of you are Paragon, so I should not say more.”

Tala sighed. “So, it has to do with the purification of the soul, or something of that nature.”

Mistress Terra gave a half smile. “I will neither confirm nor deny.”

Tala grinned in return. “As you say, Mistress.”

-Is that supposed to be helpful?-

No, obviously not, but it’s fun to theorize, right?

-...yeah. I do get an inordinate amount of enjoyment trying to figure out what we’re going to learn as we advance.-

Yeah… me too.

Soon, they arrived at a lovely copse of trees, and Mistress Cerna settled their vehicle down on the plains—flattening the tall grass beneath them—just outside the outer trees.

They all piled out, and Tala pulled the heavily modified stone platform into her sanctum by opening a portal below it and allowing it to drop inside.

Terry squawked in faux irritation, flickering from his perch atop the glass windscreen to Tala’s shoulder.

Mistress Terra led the group a little way past the treeline before she concentrated for a moment and, with a gesture, opened the way into the cell’s atrium.

This particular entrance manifested in the side of a tree trunk, the bark seemingly folding inward to reveal a forest glade of surpassing beauty.

They stepped through, and Tala willed a small portal into existence for Irondale on the Zeme side of the entrance, thereby leaving that portion of her dimensional storage outside.

It wasn’t even a human-sized pass-through, but Kit was already set up with conditions that would allow it to open to a full-sized exit at need. That, combined with the teleportation array and Archive link, let her, yet again, feel fully confident in the safety of the Irondale citizens.

That complete, Tala joined her unit and Mistress Terra within the entry space before the cell.

This atrium was a large clearing that hadn’t been visible in the copse at all before the door was open. Around the clearing were a number of standing stones, each with words and images cut into them before having been filled with various pigments to provide color and contrast to what was displayed.

It didn’t take long for Mistress Terra to fully analyze the writings and pictograms. “Huh. Well this is a new one for me. The prisoner is an immortal elk.”

That brought everyone’s attention back to her and away from their own pastimes. Paragons usually took at least hours to analyze the information left behind to learn about the prisoner in any given cell.

Master Limmestare closed his book and placed it within his own storage before wandering toward the Paragon like everyone else.

Once they’d gathered, Mistress Terra continued. “This is apparently a son of the Spirit of the Forest who watches over the Leshkin woods. He was growing in power within the gated-human wilds too quickly for us to react properly, and he was binding more and more of the plains we call home to himself, transforming the rolling grassland into forest. It was obvious that he would have eventually joined his sire in power as a god-beast within a few hundred more years.”

So, he would have been one for at least a millennium by now.

-So it seems, yeah.-

Master Girt raised his hand, causing the Paragon to pause and focus on him. “Yes, Master Girt?”

“Well, why would the Spirit of the Forest allow this?”

“Ahh, well it’s not widely spread, but it is well known and not really a secret. One of the things that the Spirit of the Forest embodies is that individuals are of little consequence. He is only really concerned with the progression and maintenance of nature as a whole, specifically his own forest. He is concerned about whole species becoming extinct, but that is an entirely different scale. He would have welcomed this elk as an ally if he had achieved the required power, but the Spirit of the Forest’s view is generally that if things cannot, themselves, grow, survive, and seize a place in the world, they aren’t worth bothering about.”

Master Girt grunted. “Harsh, but I suppose I can understand the basis for the mindset.”

“Yes, quite. Regardless, the elk reached the power range that we would call Reforged before its entire region was bound within this cell.”

That caused their unit to hesitate. Master Clevis cleared his throat. “Umm… Does that mean that Master Xeel will be called in? Or one of the other Reforged Defenders?”

Mistress Terra shook her head. “I don’t believe so. This is actually an unusual cell, partially because of the power of the imprisoned. It was apparently monitored closely for about a hundred years after its creation—to ensure there weren’t any unforeseen issues—before it was fully sealed and the standard information protocols were enacted.”

She pulled out a water skin and took a drink before continuing.

“It seems that the elk was quite content, given its entire region was brought along with it into captivity. He is seemingly mostly unbothered by the containment and has settled into maintaining and perfecting his bound territory.”

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

That was… interesting.

Master Clevnis nodded, seeking to clarify. “So, we’ll just be making sure that his attitude hasn’t changed while you reset it?”

“That is the idea. For him to break out would be to abandon that which he is bound to, and magical creatures simply have never been known to do that.”

Tala bit her lip before asking. “If he doesn’t mind being confined… could I take him?”

Mistress Terra froze for a moment in clear shock before turning to regard Tala. “Excuse me? I think I must have misheard you.”

Tala shrugged. “Well… he would be just as confined within my dimensional storage—even without nearly the same level of containment—and I imagine it is quite a lot of dimensionality. So… Why not?”

Her entire unit was looking at her now.

She looked around, uncertain why they were all staring. “What?”

Mistress Terra cleared her throat. “I’m guessing that you didn’t fully process a part of what was said, he is a Reforged level existence, bound to the land within the cell.”

“I heard. Oh!” She smiled, feeling like she understood. “That’s the confusion then. You see, my dimensional storage doesn’t bind everything I draw into it to my soul. Without that drawback, I can use it for all sorts of things that would be otherwise impossible. Adding this cell to Kit would be useful for the expansion of the dimensionality that I have at my disposal.”

The Paragon stared at her for a long moment before turning to look at Mistress Cerna. “Is she serious?”

Mistress Cerna was rubbing her temples. “She is…” The older woman looked to Tala. “Mistress Tala… you just rejoined us for cell duty today.”

Tala grinned in return. “Yes, I did. This couldn’t have been more perfectly timed if I’d made the choice myself.”

Mistress Vanga was hiding her mouth behind a hand, but she was still obviously laughing.

Master Limmestare had pulled out an Archive slate and was furiously writing something down.

Master Girt was simply grinning like a mad man.

Terry had perked up, and he was paying rapt attention. Tala theorized that he was imagining all the fun things there would be to hunt in an ancient forest. She would have to talk with him about that.

Rane had a half smile on his face but wasn’t saying anything. He was clearly unsurprised, even if he likely wouldn’t have guessed this was coming, specifically.

Master Clevnis was the only person to be taking the topic without outward reaction.

Mistress Terra was looking around, clearly expecting someone to let her in on the joke. Finally, when it became clear that Tala wasn’t joking—and no one else was really that surprised—the Paragon mimicked Mistress Cerna, rubbing her own temples. “Fine… I guess I’ll ask the City Leaders?”

Master Girt raised his hand again. “Fifty gold says that it takes less than a minute before someone guesses that—or asks if—Tala was the one who’s asking.”

Mistress Terra opened her mouth in initial interest, but before she could say anything, every one of Tala’s unit mates shook their heads. Even Terry let out a derisive chirp. It was Mistress Vanga who put words to their thoughts, “No one is foolish enough to bet against that. It’s a given, Master Girt.”

The Refined shrugged, clearly unrepentant. “It was worth a try.”

Tala scratched the side of her neck. “Is it that crazy of a request? It seems reasonable and logical to me.”

-Yes.-

Almost as one, everyone nodded and said, “Yes.”

Terry even met her gaze and bobbed once.

-Though, I do agree that—while crazy—it is still reasonable and logical too.-

“Well… fine then.” Tala sat down to await the response from those involved in the decision making for cells.

Mistress Terra grunted. “Thirty seconds.”

Master Girt grinned. “Master Grediv?”

The Paragon shook her head. “No, actually. It was Master Jevin.”

Master Limmestar groaned. “That’s what we should have bet on.”

Master Girt shrugged. “Seems so. Though, I definitely would have lost.”

Rane smiled. “Master Grediv is attending to a few matters of city business. He won’t be checking into the Archive until this evening.” He hesitated. “Well, they might actually ping him for this, and he’ll check then.”

Mistress Cerna interjected. “To be fair, since it is Mistress Terra who submitted the question, they knew it was our unit. So, it’s not that hard to attribute the inquiry to Tala.”

Master Girt nodded. “Yeah, I factored that into my guess. Tala can’t be the only crazy one of us Defenders out there at the moment.”

Everyone looked at him for a long moment before he shrugged. “Well, maybe she is.”

Tala grimaced. “I hate you all.”

That caused laughter to ripple through the group.

Mistress Terra was clearly quite occupied with the dialogue going on through the Archive. So the unit went back to doing their own things, be it training, reading, or something else.

Tala, Rane, and Terry sat off to one side.

She was quite content as she pulled out a meat hand pie that Mistress Petra had made for her earlier that day. When Terry gave her a longing look, Tala pulled out another—this one with ingredients not steeped in her own magics.

As she went to take a second bite, she saw Rane’s own big eyes, and that made her laugh. “Fine, fine.”

She took the bite and opened a portal that dropped a pie for Rane into the big man’s hands. “Thanks, Tala.”

“Of course.”

Rane took a bite, closing his eyes in enjoyment. Once he’d swallowed, though, he met Tala’s gaze. “Are you sure about this?”

“The meat pies? Yes. They’re amazing.”

He gave her a flat look.

She sighed. “Fine… Yeah, I think? I mean, if the Paragons and Reforged think it’s a workable idea then I think it should work just fine.”

“But… why?”

She shrugged, then. “Expanding Kit isn’t the easiest thing to do since I became Refined, and cells are the easiest way to do that. This one seems uniquely useful as it will essentially come with its own guardian spirit.”

When he frowned at that, Tala grinned.

“You see, cells aren’t standard dimensional spaces.”

He nodded. “Yeah, they’re hung in the void rather than stoneward…” His eyes widened. “You don’t want to reorient it. You want to leave it like that?”

“That’s what I’m thinking, yeah. Alat is filling in the Paragons and decision makers about the ideas. But being able to study such a means of expansion is just one of the things I hope to gain. We know some about cells, but it isn’t a branch of dimensionalism that has been thoroughly explored.”

“Oh?” He leaned in, clearly incredibly interested.

“Yeah. It’s considered risky without an established space, and this would be that. But even aside from that avenue of utility, I want to travel, and more protection available for my sanctum and Irondale can only be good. This would all be subject to negotiation with the elk—so it might be impossible at the start—but assuming that he’s amenable, there is a lot to be gained. If something crazy happens in Irondale, then I can reattach the spaces, and the elk could clear out the problem.”

Rane gave her a skeptical look, but given all her caveats, he didn’t seem to have a good reason to contradict her.

“Magical creatures, generally, are so antagonistic to humanity, I don’t believe that very many—if any—have been studied closely, let alone over a long term.”

He blinked at that before shaking his head. “I do sometimes forget how analytical and long range you can think at times.”

She narrowed her eyes at him in faux outrage. “Oh? As opposed to usual?”

He shrugged, grinning unabashedly in the face of her glare. “Yes. You usually think quickly and decisively. It just seems like it's pretty rare for you to have the time to consider things in this manner.”

“That’s… fair.” She sighed, letting her false irritation vanish. “Regardless, as to the elk? Since Terry will never be a typical magical creature—nor will any familiar—I would need one from elsewhere to…” She coughed. “For reasons.”

He arched an eyebrow at her.

She didn’t remain silent for long. “Well, I have a theory that we each interact with existence in different ways and see different sides of it. I want that different perspective.”

“That’s more than just studying the immortal elk.” He raised an eyebrow skeptically.

“It is. Ideally, I would like to learn about the world from his perspective by talking with him.” She huffed a laugh. “He was on a sure path to become a god-beast, Rane. Can you even imagine what insights he might have?”

“While true, there are other options. One that comes to mind is Anatalis. He could provide that information.”

“If he will. Master Grediv told us that he doesn’t like sharing information surrounding advancement, and as helpful as he is, if we have a potential secondary source of information, he might be more willing to trade what he knows.”

Rane grunted at that. “That’s true enough. Yeah. As soon as there is more than one potential supplier of something, it becomes easier to get it across the board.”

“Beyond that, I’ve had my elk-leathers for almost as long as I’ve been a Mage. I feel like… I feel like I’ll have a kinship with the immortal elk.”

He gave her a flat look. “You feel a kinship with it.”

“Well, I feel like I might.”

“...Because you’re wearing one of its descendants?”

She hesitated at that. “I didn’t really think of it that way? More like I’ve been wielding a portion of magic that has immortal elks as its origin.”

Rane sighed, shaking his head. “I could see that going either way.”

“...Yeah… I suppose you’re right. But I guess we’ll see. I’ve never actually met one before. Besides that, gaining an ancient, curated forest for Kit?” Her eyes practically sparkled. “Can you even imagine?”

“And you’ll just carry that around with you.”

“Well… no? That’s sort of the point with void-hung expanded spaces. They are nowhere. Without this atrium, there would be no way to access the cell, unless it drifted close enough to connect elsewhere. Absorbing this in its entirety might even let me figure out how to do something similar with other parts of Kit.”

Rane blinked at her a few times. “So, your sanctum would become the atrium for the cell?”

“Essentially, yes.”

Rane huffed a laugh. “You know? That might just be crazy enough to work.”