Alice moved in a blur to scoop up the things that'd fallen. "Gold! These have gotta be at least tenth-ounce coins, kupo!"

Vincent twirled his lance around in a victory pose, wearing a look of satisfaction. "I could get used to this." He stepped toward Hector and said, "That was amazing! You saved me back there. And did you see when the 'saurus was like, 'Raar!' and reared up and I jabbed it in the chest?"

The Red Mage crowded close, too. "How did you get your healing to work after all? I don't think I'm a Vancian-style wizard, but I probably need time to study this spellbook. It's never made clear in canon how spell preparation works."

Alice bounced over with an armful of jingling, shiny coins. "Help yourselves. Janet Yellen is my new nemesis!"

Hector flapped in dismay. "I have no idea. Why are you three taking this, this lunacy so well? Why aren't you asking how the hell this is happening -- and how long before we get into some dumb plot about a guy trying to blow up the multiverse?"

Vincent grinned and took a single coin from Alice. He tried biting the metal and found it was soft enough to leave a tooth mark. "See this? Gold. Freaking gold pieces, dropped for no real reason by a freaking dinosaur in a temple that shouldn't be here. What could be better?"

"Platinum?" said Alice.

Vincent patted Hector's wings. "And look at these. Magic! I think it's working for you because it comes intuitively to your species."

"My species? I'm not a chocobo, despite whatever did this to me. I've got this ridiculous beak and the wings, but..."

"And the feet."

Hector glanced down. Shreds of his shoes hung from great big, yellow, taloned bird feet. One toe of each faced backwards. "When did these happen?"

"Gradually, I bet," said the Red Mage. He was waving the gnarled wooden staff around Hector's feet as though searching him for metal.

"Then is it not over?! I don't want to be a bird!"

Vincent looked the others over. "Hey, mage. How into it are you?"

"Into it? I love the thought of getting spells and everything! I just want to know what the hell is going on."

The paladin took him by the shoulders and smiled. "That's your problem. Overthinking it. You're a wizard; you have mastery of the arcane! Who cares why you have power? Just let it happen, like Hector did!" He looked over his shoulder at Alice. "You don't mind this either, right?"

"Well, no," she said, "but how am I going to explain --"

"Don't bother! You're cute!"

Alice blushed under her fur. "Kupo."

Hector took a few tentative steps on his bird feet and made for the stone arch marking the doorway. He poked one claw beyond the arch and felt it clack against linoleum. "Let's get out of here. Who knows what else is going wrong?"

Vincent tried to chase him, then found that indeed, his armor was slowing him down. He'd gained the dreaded "freshman fifteen" that came from eating Aramark cafeteria food instead of having parental guidance for the first time. "Whoa, Hector."

The others followed Hector out. Those three looked back with longing at the mysterious ruin. Hector, though, was lost in thought. The hallway had turned dangerous, so maybe the bits of fantasy had leaked out even farther into campus. Worse, they hadn't changed back by leaving. Considering the logic of the games...

Vincent interrupted his train of thought by reaching into the big belt pouches Hector wore and stuffing the new crystal in there. "Hey, Alice, you can keep the gold in here too."

Hector squawked. "Excuse me." He glanced down and saw that the containers had shifted, becoming more like proper saddlebags. At least he still had his jeans and shirt, for now. "I'm not your beast of burden."

"Sure you are!" said Vincent. "Don't worry; I'm not trying to hop up on your back and ride you." Alice snickered.

Hector grumbled at the indignity. "Next quest: contacting the GMs and campus police."

"Yes, actually," said the Red Mage. They all started down the hall back the way they'd come. No monsters, at least yet, and no more traps. Alice did check for little scraps of paper announcing them, though.

They came to Lobby 10, at the center of campus, and found that everything was going wrong. It was evening, yet the sky through the south windows glowed eerie purple. Purple, of course, was the color of evil magic, along with black. The square of campus lawn had become a Gothic tower with sickly thorns and swirling purple runes around it. A dozen other students in costume stood by the windows, gaping, or had actually ventured out to stare at the lawn.

"I think they already know," said Alice.

Hector stepped closer to the crowd. "Are you guys crazy? Get away! There could be --"

Some of the students turned to him and saw his wings and beak, and Alice with her weird fuzzy mole-bat body, and Vincent with his metal armor and crystal lance. "Whoa! What happened to you? Is this thing spreading? Magic!" Hector noticed that they weren't saying, "Nice costume." They'd seen the tower. He felt people poking at his wing feathers.

Vincent grinned and held up one gauntleted hand. "Yep! The fantasy's coming true. Don't worry, everyone! We'll vanquish the evil -- what was his name again?"

"Dark Lord Bishnara," said the Red Mage.

"Him. And bring peace to the Institute!"

Hector slapped his beak with one wing. "Dark Lord Bishnara is that crazy sophomore who pranked the Harvard people into letting him steal back T.I.M. the Beaver's mascot paw, remember? I don't think it'd look good on your transcript if you stabbed him, even while he monologues about blowing up the universe."

"No," said Vincent. "Why are you still thinking in terms of transcripts and campus games? We've made it, Hector! Whatever caused this outbreak of fantasy chose us to be part of it! We belong out there, assaulting the tower and saving the world."

Hector thought back to the normal reality of just a day ago, to the world that he was maybe a little more aware of than the average freshman. "If the world's really in danger, it's from a bunch of boring politicians and their broken-souled followers, not some melodramatic giggling maniac with a katana. If you want to collect magic crystals, fine, but only for the sake of fixing this hole in reality instead of turning the world into your playground."

"Geez. Don't take this so seriously," said Vincent. He hefted his lance and grinned for the crowd, speaking more loudly. "Stay safe, everyone -- and enjoy the show! Onward, friends!"

Reluctantly, Hector followed Vincent along with Alice and the Red Mage. The Lobby 10 doors opened. He felt freezing wind whip through his feathers, a startling sensation, and shut his eyes for a moment. It was a little reassuring to know that other people saw strange things going on; it wasn't just his own brain going haywire. The people back there really might be in danger, though. His own curiosity about the source of this madness was less important than to use what power he had, to make sure any threat was contained.

The evil tower stood ten stories high, making it less impressive than Building 54 but still daunting. Worse yet, creatures made of blurry shadows and claws were crawling from the thorn hedge around it. Hector said, "Alice, do you somehow have anything better than a hammer now?"

The moogle girl patted down the various pouches and pockets she wore. There were probably twice as many as there'd been before that last crystal; she'd been too busy to notice more than the fur and wings. "A fragile jar with 'Bottled Lightning' on the label... Ooh, a ribbon. And this!" She pulled out a crossbow from a too-small holster.

The Red Mage was frantically skimming his spellbook. Hector wondered what he saw in there.

Vincent said, "Charge!" and began running. Two strides later he stumbled and fell.

Hector stepped closer and offered him a wing. "No charging. Monsters plus thorn wall. Retreat." The shadow-things were starting to circle them.

Alice said, "Guys! Over by Building 4!" Off to their left, the usual grey campus buildings dipped into the earth, forming a sinkhole and a tunnel.

Vincent hefted his lance. "We'll fight our way over there. Hector, stay with me this time." He ran without waiting for an answer.

Hector sighed and ran along with him, per the rules of this game. This time Vincent didn't stumble, and Alice and the Red Mage hurried after them. They were headed right for the shadow-beasts! Hector squawked and tried to do... something.

He found himself leaping to kick one of the creatures with his outstretched, taloned foot. The move slammed the shadow-thing to the ground, where he landed expertly and kept on running. He glanced backward and saw it whirling away into the air, apparently slain. Nice! The thorns whipped by on their right and more things were lurching out from under the wall.

"Duck!" said Alice. She fluttered ahead in a sort of gliding leap and fired her crossbow at an inky flapping shadow overhead. The recoil sent her flying backward. Hector reflexively stuck out a wing to catch her. "How does it have that much kick? Oh." Whatever the flapping thing was, it thudded to the ground and died with a bolt all the way through it.

The Red Mage was trying to read even while they ran. "Down those stairs. Just give me a minute."

"We don't have a minute," said Vincent. The fog of ink and darkness was taking shape around them, like a living wall that borrowed mass from the thorns. The paladin started to herd everyone into the jagged stairs that led down into darkness, where there should have been a classroom. The entire building sloped into the sunken ground.

"Fine." The Red Mage flipped his cloak dramatically to one side, raised his staff, and made it shine with blue light that pierced the clouds. "I call forth -- Water!" The sky parted and a very precise rainstorm appeared, more like a wave called sideways from the Atlantic. It slammed down on the nearest mass of shadow-creatures and washed them away as though they hadn't been there, leaving a blob of seaweed and plastic bottles in its wake. The air suddenly smelled of salt.

Alice retreated into the tunnels. Vincent cheered, "You did it! You let it happen!" Hector felt stunned, but didn't let his body show it. He tried to grab the Red Mage, then settled for shoving the elated wizard along with his wings before any of the other critters could eat him.

The fantasy had infected the sunken Building 4. The ordinary dingy hall had merged with its own basement and become a stylized maze of mismatched doors and pipes. The Red Mage fiddled with his staff, grinning at the others while he re-lit it. "Magic!"

"Focus," said Hector. "Whatever's going on ahead, we need to stop it."

"We'll take down Bishnara!" said Vincent, and pushed ahead of Alice to lead with spear in hand.

They explored tunnels and a winding ramp that must have been taking them up through the tower. Inside this place the jumble of campus features had become a surreal scrap-heap of desks, chairs, and blackboards jutting at dangerous angles. Book piles snapped and growled at them; electric lights bobbed through the air on phantom currents.

A thing made of rusty pipes charged at them. It happened while they were climbing the spiral ramp, so there was hardly room to dodge. Vincent set his lance and ushered the others back. The beast shattered on impact, showering them with loose metal.

Alice shrieked. Hector saw a long gash along her chest. He crouched beside her and began to heal the wound by letting some sort of pale energy wash over her, cleansing the blood away and even repairing the clothing and fur.

"Did you see that? One hit!" Vincent turned back to grin at them, then saw Alice. "You okay?"

Alice nodded weakly and leaned against Hector to stand up. Hector took a deep breath and shuddered. He'd just done something that should have taken a hospital visit. If even the random monsters were this dangerous, he had to stick around until the end.

"You look haunted," said Alice.

Hector's beak clacked. He realized he'd been thinking of running away before anything worse happened to him. "Already lost my hands," he murmured.

She patted him on his feathery neck. "We'll get you fixed up. Maybe you can become a White Mage?"

"I don't know. Let's go."

Soon they reached the inevitable huge door, which opened for them to reveal the inevitable hyperspace battlefield. Spinning lights gave Hector vertigo, as though they were caught in a planetarium. Hector's talons clacked on a floor of mercifully ordinary stonework, lit by the shifting walls... and the scarlet glow of Lord Bishnara.

The sophomore hovered, with his features obscured by a creepy mask of light. "Welcome, friends!" He began to rant as he'd done before, something about the inevitable triumph of darkness.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Vincent stepped forward and pointed his lance. "That's where you're wrong! "Dreams will always vanquish the darkness!" A huge grin filled his face. He went on at some length about light and friendship, making up the speech as he went along. The 'argument' was as obligatory as the villain's. "And I have worthy allies at my side!"

Hector tried to ignore the speeches. He paced around the room, getting used to the swaying lights and deciding how he might make himself useful. Then he looked up and saw the tendrils of light descending from the ceiling and onto Bishnara. As he suspected: "He's being controlled."

"And so you will taste the light of justice!" Vincent concluded.

Hector called out, "Vincent, I said something's controlling him. Mask and puppet strings. Break 'em."

"Right!" said Alice and the Red Mage. Vincent looked startled and annoyed at their reaction. Luckily for him, orbs of malevolent starlight swirled into view and gave him something to stab.

Hector fought as well as he could. He caught himself pecking at one of the hovering things, a sort of  headbutt that made it bleed tiny galaxies. Something lashed the Red Mage while he was casting. Hector hopped in front of him as a shield, trusting the man to come up with a useful spell. Alice fired precisely into the brawl, and Vincent called out tactical orders that everyone else was too busy to heed.

Blasts of air like boomerangs slashed overhead at the Red Mage's command. The puppet strings of scarlet energy snapped, one by one.

"Now!" said Vincent. "Over here, Hector!"

Hector hurried closer and raised one wing. "Are you hurt?"

"Charge!" Vincent ran at Bishnara with his lance couched, ready to stab him in the face.

"Idiot!" The man was using him to justify being able to run again. They were too close. All Hector could do was jump into harm's way to keep that stupid plus-three crystal lance from murdering an innocent student.

It got Hector instead, through the wing and side. He flopped to the ground, flicking blood into the air and squawking. He vaguely saw Vincent draw back in shock. The Red Mage seemed to approach in slow motion. Hector flailed and tried to see if he could use his healing powers on himself. It felt like it was working, but he was too dizzy to be sure.

"Heal him!" said the Red Mage, crouching over him. "You can 'lay on hands' or something, right? I haven't had the chance to read the White Magic section yet and it's probably intuitive for you."

Alice fired endless rounds from her semi-auto crossbow. "More orb-things incoming."

Hector felt the world spin a little less horribly, and realized much of the dizziness was just from the room's planetarium styling. He still had trouble standing. "Give me a second. Can you yank the mask off him? Or get the other 'strings'?"

The Red Mage was busy staving off the will-o-wisps that were circling in. "I need someone to cover me while I cast again. Vincent?"

The paladin's eyes were wide and his hand trembled, pointing. "We need that!" Hector followed his gaze to a hovering, spinning red crystal. Their battle had exposed it, knocking it to a lower position. Almost within reach, if Bishnara didn't defend it well.

Hector managed to stand up, still slightly bloody and aching. "Stick to the plan, Vincent. Help me cover the caster."

"No, look! If we can just touch it, we'll be -- complete! We need the power to finish this. Help me get up there."

Already, Bishnara was starting to regenerate, and his wispy minions grew more numerous. The sham villain's laugh chilled Hector. Maybe the man really was trying to kill them.

Alice kept close by, shooting and hammering away. She poked the Red Mage, saying, "Forget about him. Get started!"

Complete. Hector shuddered. The first crystal's effects had been subtle, the second's overt. What did it mean to be some silly giant bird with healing magic? It meant being the paladin's noble steed, and who knew just how much that role would change him? He stepped toward Vincent and pointed one wing at him. "I don't want to be your damn bird-horse, Vincent."

Alice said, "You're cute like this."

"That's beside the point!"

The Red Mage chanted, making runes spiral up from his staff and open spellbook. A wisp slammed into him and sent tiny tornadoes flying. He grunted and started again, though surrounded more and more by the villain's minions.

"You'll see," said Vincent. "Magic, destiny, a quest -- it can all be ours! It'll be great; I'll show you."

Hector cursed. He started to leap toward Vincent to tackle him and keep him away from the magic ruby. The monsters were too close to the caster, though. Damn. "Alice, can you handle --"

"No!" She'd lost the crossbow and gained a frantic look, slamming her hammer back and forth. Something had gashed her leg. Hector couldn't even spare his attention for that; the mage needed him right here.

Fine, then. If getting screwed over worse by this fantasy was what it took to save the day, he'd deal with it. He made himself ignore Vincent and whip around to flap and kick at anything that threatened the Red Mage. Come on, come on! he was thinking.

Blades of wind shot out from the air above the Red Mage and spun unerringly toward Bishnara, interrupting his cackling. They clipped through the threads of light holding him above the floor and sliced half a dozen of his battle-wisps. The sophomore overlord crashed onto the starlit floor. Somewhere, Hector heard a triumphant cry from Vincent turn into one of shock and disappointment. Their enemies were gone, but Vincent apparently hadn't gotten what he wanted.

"The crystal's gone!" Vincent shouted. "Help me find it."

Hector went cautiously over to Bishnara and poked him with a healing wingtip. "Done ranting about the apocalypse?"

The Dark Lord coughed and sputtered. Chunks of the etheral mask he'd been wearing fell to the floor and faded away. "That was... fun."

"We must apologize again," said an angelic voice. Hector and everyone else turned to find a vaguely humanoid mass of fog shot through with starlight. "Bishnara, thank you for playing this role for Us. You will be rewarded once We clean up this mess."

The Red Mage said, "You! What are you?"

The angel had no clear facial features, but its leathery, misty wings stood in a proud pose. "We must introduce Ourselves. You may call us Esper, so long as We're using terms from your games. We mean you no harm and will undo the harm We've caused to your city. As for your world's new knowledge that something beyond their known reality exists, We have only confirmed old suspicions and offered some actual evidence for them."

Esper swam, more than walked, through the room of stars, looking at each of them in turn. "We are here to recruit potential heroes. The world We represent is not the same as the silly rules of this game, but you would find it comprehensible. With the right mindset, a human could thrive there." It pointed toward the Red Mage and said, "We chose your party. Arranged your meeting. You chose the roles you would play."

Vincent's gauntleted hands still held the lance as though he feared another battle. "But the last crystal -- what about that?"

"It wasn't necessary in the end. Your friends won."

"I'm at your service, then, if there's a quest to go on. Another world to see. Please."

Esper's wings suddenly furled, sending cold mist across the room. "No. You failed, paladin. Were you even listening to your 'steed', here?"

"I almost had the crystal. Then we would've been able --"

"To do what? To transform him into your mount so that he'd be under your control forever? Did you care that he didn't want that? From where We watched it didn't seem that way."

Hector felt he had to defend this man, someone he'd stayed up late with to work on homework, and who'd introduced him to the Assassins' Guild games. "He just got carried away."

"A paladin doesn't allow himself to 'get carried away'. The power he holds is dangerous without uncommon restraint."

What's chivalry? asked an old joke Hector had read somewhere. Answer: It's the difference between knights, and the bad guys in slasher movies.

Vincent trembled, not sorry but defiant. "You, whatever you are. You gave us this adventure and a villain to slay. I just wanted to help us all."

"And who risked their own future to protect others and prevent pointless bloodshed? The party's true paladin is your friend Hector."

Hector squawked. "Me?"

Alice had put her hammer away. "You could make it work. Though it'd be a shame to lose the feathers."

"I want to know all about this!" said the Red Mage. "How does your magic work with our physics? Are you from our own space-time or some other plane or dimension, if that's the right term?"

The angel's pose had the suggestion of a smile. "Your reward will be knowledge. Keep that spellbook of yours; you won't have the magic itself but the contents will help you discover many things." It turned to Alice and said, "You should confer with the mage, there, and win a few awards for your discoveries. Do you like the fuzzy 'moogle' body you ended up with? Keep it, then."

Alice grinned. "Cool! Er, Kupo!"

Hector raised a wing. "Can I have my hands back?"

"Of course! You'll need them to handle a weapon where you're going -- if you wish to come with Us."

Hector leaned forward, beak clacking faintly. "To your world. To an adventure."

"Yes."

"Not if I can't tell my family, if I can't ever see them again."

"Oh, you'll be in contact, and We can arrange visits once in a while. A paladin doesn't abandon his own."

Vincent shut his eyes for a moment. After all this adventuring he'd wondered if it would all go away, if the fantasy had to end. "What about my friends? Vincent is the one who really wants this." He'd been willing to do anything for a life of heroism -- which was his problem.

"We can't take more than two of you," said Esper. It looked at Vincent in his fancy armor and added, "A paladin needs a helpful, intelligent steed. The role can be honorable if there's mutual trust, respect and willingness. What do you say?"

Vincent threw down his lance. "What? You want me to be his chocobo steed and sleep in the stables while he gets the glory?!"

Hector boggled. "Don't take this the wrong way, Vincent, but it could be fun."

"But it's not fair! I want this armor, this lance, this life. It belongs to me!"

"Yes, your life belongs to you," Esper said. "Your friend's life does not." It raised one wispy arm, and he vanished. A pile of armor clattered to the floor.

Hector suddenly felt his hands flexing. They were back! He gave a happy squawk and found he'd kept the beak and taloned feet, with a chest full of white feathers. His arms ended in three-fingered talon-hands. More dignified; more suited for a knight than an incompletely transformed mount.

Alice whistled at him. "Nice bird-man look!"

"I kind of like it," he said. "What about Vincent?"

"He will wake up at home, and hopefully learn from the experience. He's no longer your problem."

The Red Mage had a huge grin. "As long as you're changing people, may I request moogle?" A moment later, he'd changed to match Alice, who laughed and hugged him. He said, "Nobel prizes in physics ahead. You can borrow my book anytime!"

"And Bishnara?" said Hector. He looked back at the sophomore, who stood now and dusted himself off. He was dressed in his silly villain costume, unadorned by actual magic now.

"Don't worry about me. Esper asked nicely before doing this to me, and I'm getting something nice out of it." His grin was a little unnerving. "You'll see. By the way, Hector: thanks."

"You asked if he'd volunteer to be a cackling maniac shooting magic at us?"

"We wouldn't have forced him into something so dangerous. That's... part of why and how We're recruiting from your world to fight for Ours." Esper reached toward Vincent and said, "Are you ready to see it?"

Vincent looked back and forth around the room, tilting his head like a bird's. "You guys -- there's a spot free."

"We're good," said the Red Mage. "Bring back data when you visit! Maybe some healing potions too."

Alice was already flipping through the spellbook and smacking her forehead. "Look at this. It's just a hint, but it looks like Alcubierre missed something..."

The Red Mage paled. "We're going to be a little busy, Hector. Have fun."

Hector nodded, and let Esper pull him away, to another world. It was, of course, only the beginning.