Joseph let out a sigh as he finally scribbled down the last word from Craig’s book, closing the copied version and rubbing at his face. It took him months, but he had finally done it, Prolo’s copy was finally ready to be given back to him. He leaned back in his chair, the workbench in front of him dominated by the two massive books, his laptop sitting open right next to the pair.

He had a proper tower PC in the entertainment center, but the laptop was simply far more convenient to use for this sort of thing. It was nice to have a physical copy, but it would be nice to also have it stored on a USB. After a few minutes of staring with tired eyes, he rose from his chair, stretching before heading back into the living room. He saw Sera sitting far away, in front of the entertainment center. He couldn’t see what she was watching exactly from this distance. He made his way over to her, yawning loudly as he went.

She had made herself completely at home during this time that they had spent together, having quickly learned how much of the tech inside Betty operated. She had insisted that she learn some more of Betty’s controls after the incident with Jareed and the mage. She now knew which switch activated the laser’s, and the switch that enabled the A.I that controlled the auto-fire. As he got closer, he saw that she was wearing one of his shirts again… where were the clothes that he had made her?

“Why are you wearing that?” Joe asked her, frowning, “Ya got yer own clothes again.”

“What do you mean?” She asked, “I washed them, they’re drying right now.”

“Wait a sec…” Joe said, rounding her, “Yer wearing my pants too?”

She sighed, “Usually I just pick out one of your shirts and just sit in it until my garb finish drying, but it felt strange being naked in one of your shirts, so I thought your pants might make it feel more normal.”

Joe narrowed his eyes, “You’re naked under those clothes?” He asked flatly.

Sera met his gaze, her green eyes narrowing right back at him, “Of course I’m naked under clothing, aren’t we all?”

Joe bit his cheek and shook his head, “Ya got me there. Ya coulda at least asked for permission first.”

“And here I was thinking you’d be excited at seeing me like this.” She said in a somewhat offended tone, “I’m not the kind of woman to do this purposefully, mind you, but I expected at least some mild attraction from you.”

Joe scoffed, “Woman, I’m an old man; fellas my age don’t go around chasing tail… at least I don’t.”

Sera tapped her temple, “Ah ah ah, mentally you’re old, physically you aren’t. Young men are supposed to have wandering eyes, I’ve caught dozens staring at me over the years, but you haven’t even glanced at me once, at least not in that way.” She continued, resting her chin on her knees, “I thought you’d at least look.”

Why did she sound so sulky? It wasn’t that she was ugly or anything, far from it, but his mind was preoccupied with more important things. Copying the book, maintaining Betty, killing bandits, learning from Sera, there was simply too much happening to take interest in that sort of thing.

“I got more important things on my mind.” He told her honestly, “If ya haven’t noticed, I got a lot goin’ on.. Look, I’m flattered and all, but-”

“I wasn’t propositioning you!” Sera exclaimed, cutting him off, “It was merely an observation.”

“Well yer making it sound like you want me to look.” He told her, crossing his arms, “Young lady, I’m a whole year older than you are, stick to men in your age range, and species for that matter.”

“Oh a whole year.” She said in a slightly mocking tone, “Wow that’s so much.”

“I’m messin’ with ya,” He told her with a sigh, “But I am a different species, doesn’t make sense to be attracted to each other, I mean, biologically speakin’.”

“Pah!” She laughed, “You haven’t met a lot of elves then, I saw it all the time back in my Shard, human-elf marriages are not unheard of, and they can even sire children. Biologically it does make sense.”

“Well those kids are probably mules then.” He said, waving a dismissive hand, “Unless y'all really are just humans with pointy ears.”

“No, you’re just elves with round ones.” She said, “With way too much hair. I bet you’d look strapping if you shaved that thing on your face.”

Joseph grimaced, shaking his head, “Not a chance. Back on the topic, are half-elves actually mules?”

She paused for a moment before answering, “I wouldn't say so. It’s incredibly hard for them to have offspring, but I’ve seen it before.”

“What about those ones? The quarter elves I mean, or I guess they could be quarter human too.” He said, watching as Sera paused her movie before turning to face him directly.

“They have it easier for some reason, can’t say I know exactly why.” She said, putting a finger on her chin, “Perhaps it has something to do with the diluted blood.”

Joe shrugged, “I ain’t got no idea, but hey, I got another question for ya. I honestly shoulda asked you when I picked ya up, but what exactly is the Overseer? He’s yer God right?”

Sera nodded, “That’s right, he is the one holding our world together as we speak. It was he who stitched Faenor together, as well as creating his children, the Faelords.”

“Are they those gods everyone wants to sacrifice me to?” Joe asked, sitting down on the recliner and leaning back.

For some reason, a mischievous glint entered her eye then, and she stood, his shirt hanging down past her knees. His brow furrowed as she awkwardly shuffled over to him, still wearing his jeans.

“Uh, what?” He asked her with a frown, “Do I got something on my fa-oof!” He spat as she planted her rear on his lap.

His hands squeezed the armrests as she adjusted herself, turning to straddle him. Her face was mere inches from his own now, and she grinned.

“You messing with me?” He asked her, avoiding eye contact.

She had taught him that elves could read the emotions of others through eye contact… she’d not let her have the satisfaction of seeing how embarrassed he was.

“Still feel like an old man?” She asked, poking a finger into his chest.

“As a matter of fact I do.” Joe grumbled, “Now get off.”

Sera shook her head, “If you want to learn about the Faelords, then I’ll need to be up close like this- otherwise I won’t tell you.” She finished in a playful tone.

Joe grumbled at this but relented. He didn’t know why she was acting so weird lately.

“Fine, shoot.” Joe said.

She smirked, clearly satisfied with her victory, “When the Overseer stitched Faenor together, he also created the Faelords, the minor gods of Faenor. The Overseer is stretched thin because of the power he actively uses to keep Faenor together, to combat this, he made the gods to control certain aspects of reality. To keep things more stable, you see.” Sera explained, “To do this task adequately though, The Overseer gave the Faelords free will, but they could never directly touch the world. This angered the newly-made Faelords; they desired to interact with the Shards in person, but they cannot manifest themselves on Faenor… at least until a loophole was found.” Sera continued, resting her head on his chest, “The Faelords could manifest themselves by controlling a mortal vessel. It wasn’t as powerful as their true divine forms of course, but they could now walk Faenor directly. This required sacrificing a mortal Faenoran and exorcising their souls to make room for them, for two souls cannot exist in one body.” She paused to take a breath, “These new mortal gods caused great turmoil and strife however… as their different aspects often opposed one another. The Shards all ran red with blood as the Faelords waged war with one another, long brutal struggles that engulfed every Shard in existence. This angered The Overseer greatly, and after failing to convince his children to leave their mortal coils, he banned them from taking Faenoran bodies. That became what is known as ‘The Ban’.”

Joe nodded, “I get it. I get why they want Outworlders now.”

“That’s right, The Ban does not apply to you, as you are not of Faenor. This is why your kind are hunted so relentlessly.” She confirmed.

“Why don’t Mr. Overseer just ban them again?” Joe asked, “He did it once for Faenorans, why not Outworlders?”

“His power cannot touch Outworlders. I’ve heard theories that it is because your Overseer would become enraged by this, and it is not a conflict ours would want.” Sera said, “I’ve also heard that it is simply because of your otherworldly nature, he can’t change what doesn’t exist on his plane and whatnot. There are other theories too of course, the one I subscribe to is that The Overseer is simply too overworked to do so. Maintaining both Faenor and The Ban may eat up far too much of his power, invoking another Ban may be impossible.”

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

“Well, I can say that God probably wouldn’t take too kindly to a divine neighbor messing with His creation… See, God’s an artist, I think yer Overseer is one too. They probably don’t want their respective paintings getting messed with.” Joe said with a shrug.

“But then why did you appear here?” Sera asked, “Wouldn’t that be your God flinging paint on the Overseer’s creation? You said so yourself, you weren’t summoned here like normal Outworlders, you just appeared.”

“Portal Storm.” Joe said, “That’s all I can think of.”

“Yes I remember you telling me about them, but we don’t have such things here.” She said, “Your God either sent you here, or the Overseer stole you. No other Outworlder from my knowledge has ever had their age reverted to youth, it seems like a blessing to me.”

Joe bit his cheek, “I don’t know why God wouldn’t just de-age me and leave me on Earth. I still had work to do, was gonna go kill more slavers n’ help more folk, Him sending me here just doesn’t make sense.”

“Well… it could have been an arrangement between them, who is to say?” Sera asked, “Maybe The Overseer came to your God and asked if he could borrow you?”

“Hah!” Joe laughed, “You saying I’m a cosmic cup of sugar!? That’s rich!” He continued to laugh for a solid minute before it died down… it was just too funny to imagine.

‘Hey God can I borrow your slaver mower for a bit?’ ‘Yeah just make sure to top off the gas when you’re done’ Joe shook his head. It was ridiculous but since his life had become even more insane, it was not out of the question. Joe would ask God about it when he finally died, clear up any confusion.

“If you’re done laughing?” Sera asked, looking up at him, “Do you remember my explanation of the Shards?”

“Sorta.” Joe said, “Their bits of worlds right? Some of em’ are bigger, some of em’ are smaller.”

“Let me go into more details-”

“Can ya get off my lap first-”

“No.” Sera cut him off, “You laughed at me saying that The Overseer spoke to your God, but it wouldn’t be the first time something like that has happened. Do you wish to know the true nature of the Shards?”

“Shoot.” Joe said.

“They are the pieces of thousands of different worlds, all taken by The Overseer by the creators that made them. Even Everfae, the Shard we’re in now, is just a small piece of a planet it had been separated from.” Sera explained, “The Overseer is a collector, he goes to each of these realms creator’s and makes a deal with them to take a section of their world. New Shards are added all the time because he is constantly expanding Faenor.”

“That’s… ah,” Joe blinked, feeling dizzy, “That’s a lot to take in. Does he have a Shard of Earth?”

Sera shrugged, “I can’t say for certain, but I think not. Every Shard is tied to its own Outworld, but there aren’t really pieces of Outworlds stitched into Faenor, at least I don’t think so.”

“Every Shard is tied to its own Outworld huh?” Joe said, rubbing his chin, “Wait… so does that mean that each one can only summon Outworlders from that version of Earth? And why wouldn’t Mr. Overseer want pieces of the Outworlds?”

“Ah… well this is where we get into speculation.” Sera said, taking another deep breath, “It is possible that all the Outworlds are controlled by the same being, and that being won’t give The Overseer a single bit of his worlds.”

“You saying that God’s made a whole buncha other Earths?”

“I have no idea.” Sera said honestly, “Like I said, we’re in speculation territory now, but we do know that Shards can only summon people from the Outworld they’re tied to. It’s hard to say if they are all just a slight variation of ‘Earth’ or if they have massive differences beyond that, but there is one thing that stays consistent with the summonings- every Outworlder is a human, there have been no other cases where it's a different species. Thousands of years worth of summoning have gone by, but it's still just humans. That makes me believe that these worlds simply are variations of Earth. You said so yourself, Earth only has humans on it, no orcs, no elves, nothing of that sort.”

Joe felt sick, “That’s a lot, can ya give me a sec…” He felt dizzier as he considered the possibilities, “Oh sweet Lord…” He was going to puke.

He was gonna hork all over the carpet if he didn’t get a second.

“Joe, you don’t look so good.” Sera said, concerned, “Try to relax, don’t think about it too much-”

“How is it that you know about all this crap!?” Joe asked, grabbing her by the shoulders, “I doubt it’s super common knowledge.”

In response, Sera wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and he quickly released her, averting his eyes, “My home Shard is home to a great library, likely the largest of all the Shards. You can read about practically anything there. I spent a good amount of time studying Outworlders, as well as the Faelord wars. Meeting you has both affirmed and discredited hundreds of the books I read about your kind.”

“So a lot of folk don’t actually know all this, yer just a super-nerd.” Joe said, resting his head against the back of his chair.

“I don’t know what that means but I assume a nerd is someone who is booksmart. In that case, yes, I am a super-nerd.” She said, “But do keep in mind, Joseph, even some of the things I told you could be completely off the mark. The people who wrote those books may not have accurately described these things. Please don’t overthink it or you’ll go insane.”

“I’m already crazy.” Joe muttered, But I guess this means that other Shards probably get more Outworlders than Everfae. If this Shard is tied to my version of Earth, there ain’t really a lot of folk left to be summoned… Alright, ya can get off me now.”

Sera remained planted in his lap. It wasn’t that it felt unpleasant or anything, but this was just wildly inappropriate.

“You have to take me to Shian soon.” Sera told him, changing the subject “In two days actually. I’m not sure if you’ve been keeping track of time.”

“I thought it was next week.” Joe said honestly.

“I have, I don’t want to leave but I must try and finish my contract with Gerad.” She said, “For now though, I want to spend more time with you, until we reunite. We have two days left to go, let’s make the most of it.”

“...Okay, do you gotta be on my lap for that?” He asked her.

“Perhaps.” She giggled, “I was thinking that we could drink that mead you bought back in Letsher?”

Joe gasped, “I totally forgot about that! Yeah, should we drink it now?”

“We could watch that show you like, did you say it was… Hell’s Kitchen?” She asked him.

He grinned, “I guess yer English is good enough now that you should be able to appreciate it.”

“I am curious about it, you said it was a cooking show?” She said, “That sounds nice, something relaxing should help take the edge off while we drink.”

Joe chuckled. ‘Relaxing’ yeah, sure.

He managed to get Sera off of him, much to her disappointment. She really did like messing with him, didn’t she? They both then made the long trek over to the kitchen, Joe procuring the mead and cups they would be using. Should he start her on season one? The winner might make her angry but it would be funny to see her reaction to it. Joe popped in the disc, and sat down next to Sera, pouring the drinks and watching Gordon Ramsay do his thing on the screen.

“Joseph why is he so mean!?” Sera asked, shaking his shoulder, “He could be a bit nicer, they’re trying so hard!”

“Look,” He said, sipping his mead, “These guys show up, tellin’ Gordon that they’re professional chefs, then give him raw chicken during service. A screw up like that deserves it.”

“I do not agree with his ways.” Sera said with a huff, “He should be more gentle with them, that would increase their productivity, would it not?”

“He’s given’ them lots a chances to come back but they keep screwing it all up!” Joe exclaimed, “I’d do the same thing, they deserve it.”

“I do not like this show.” Sera replied, crossing her arms.

“Well fine, I can change it-”

“No.” Sera cut him off, “I need to see what happens next.”

“That means you like it.” Joe told her flatly.

“No.” Sera told him with a huff, “My chosen contestant will win, I am sure of it. I must see this through.”

Joe shook his head, “Aye aye aye, fine.”

They continued to drink as the show progressed, reaching the finale. They were both well into the drink now, Joe’s mind pleasantly distracted from existential terror. It was hard to think about infinity when you could barely count to ten. The mead had hit Sera much much harder though.

“What!?” She screamed at the television, “No! Not him! Why did he win!? Gordon is truly a fool!”

“Muh.” Joe replied wisely, “He picked… he uh, yeah.”

“Gordon!” Sera screamed at the t.v, “Its not too late to change your choishe!” She slurred, putting her face right in front of the screen.

“Shera he, hmm… He can’t hear ya.” He told her, pulling her back from the screen.

“I’ll never fergive im’!” Sera shouted, “Itsh inmjusticsh!”

“Uh…” Joe said, “Hmm, season two?” He asked her.

“Jusht put in da damn dishc!” Sera yelled, standing up and pointing to the dvd player.

Her oversized jeans then fell down to the carpet, but she hardly seemed to notice.

“Well, eschcuse me prenscess…” He muttered, crawling over and swapping the discs.

He crawled back over to sit in front of the entertainment center, crossing his legs as season two began. Sera remained standing for a long while, stepping out of the pants and walking over to him. She wavered beside him for a long while before she crawled into his lap.

“Shtop messin’ with me.” Joe grumbled as she adjusted herself, “Why ya doin’ that?”

“Shh.” Sera told him, “The shmow ish starting… and uh… I’m not meshing with you.” She said hesitantly, “I like sitting with you.”

“Yer not wearin’ pants-” He told her.

“Itsh fine… yer old right? Shouldn’t matter to you?” She asked, putting a finger on his chin, “Right?”

Joe continued to grumble… but didn’t force her off his lap. She settled into him happily as they continued to watch the show…forcing him to acknowledge certain aspects about her. Aspects he’d never considered before now… Old instincts he thought were dead re-awakened as the show continued to play. How could someone be this soft? Dammit all, this had to be the drinks fault somehow.

Well in any case, he didn’t feel like an old man after that.

image [https://i.imgur.com/qwkZ5zs.jpeg]