I got up, stretched, curled my tail, and spread my wings. I’m a dragon, and my name is Princess. Six months ago, my master Tola and I returned home from Earth. It’s been a busy time, even if we’ve mostly been working on the sidelines.
Tola did have to reveal himself as Stormtouched to Master Korrigan, though even he isn’t sure of the full extent of what that means. The Guild has been focusing much of its efforts in understanding the Chaos Storms, and the remainder into making contact with Earth. That’s put Tola in a central role in both of those goals, but it also means having to work with the other leading expert on Storms. I have to admit, I never thought I’d see the day where Roffil had matured, but he’s actually acting like an adult nowadays. Perhaps it helps that he’s gotten to see Earth, and he no longer calls it “the World of Demons”.
With the Chaos Gem that Tola made, we were able to create our own mirror, and link it with the ones on Earth and in the Guild. So now we had a way to quickly travel from our Tower to either of the other two mirrors, but getting back was more difficult since we didn’t have anyone living at home to anchor the connection on that end. We were actually packing for another trip to the Guild, as we were going to be part of an upcoming trip to Earth.
Our work was interrupted by a knock on the door. Master loved being able to solve problems for the townsfolk, and would rather stay at home full-time instead of dealing with these Storms and everything, but there simply weren’t enough people with his insight to be able to spare him. Setting down the book he was carrying, a book of notes he’d taken during his research into the problem, he rushed to the front room and opened the door. I followed on his heels, tail swaying at the chance to see Master smile.
What caught us both by surprise was the figures on the other side of the doorway. Two women, a tall blonde-haired girl with a thin frame dressed in comfortable robes bearing a Mage’s Guild badge, and a darker-haired girl who was packing quite a bit more muscle since I last saw her and wore a suit of armor. “Ro! Mandy! What brings you two to my humble abode?” Master still smiled, since these two were friends we hadn’t gotten to see much of these last six months.
“So, like, our parents are getting pretty impatient with us? They are just not thrilled with the whole ‘like, the mail is totally really slow here in Europe’ excuse. They’re wanting us to come home for a visit, and, y’know, that does sound pretty nice.” Ro knelt down and petted me between the horns, and I let my tail wag.
Mandy watched, waiting for her turn. “I mean, we still need to come up with a cover story about what we’ve been learning in classes. I was thinking ‘medieval history and culture’, but it might be a little on the nose?” Once Ro pulled her hand away, Mandy knelt down and started cupping her hands to scritch the sides of my chin. “Plus, we totally had to see you two again. You’ve been hard to catch, you’re always working and everyone treats it as hush-hush stuff.”
Master chuckled. “Well, you two have gone pretty native, I’m sure most people never suspect you two are from Earth and thus in the know. I heard you ran into Lance while you were training with Captain Aesis and the guard.” He waved the two girls inside, since the front room had seating that was better than standing around an open door.
“Yeah, I asked him for a sparring match and he kicked my butt. It was pretty embarrassing.” Mandy grinned, rubbing the back of her neck, making the armor clank slightly. But then she froze, looking around. “Wait, is that… air conditioning? You dog, you’ve been importing tech behind the Guild’s back, haven’t you?”
“No, not at all. It’s just a combination of wind and ice magic to make a nice, cool breeze. I even have fire runes in the matrix so I can make it warm air instead, during the winter. Not that I need much heating when I have Princess.” My innate fire magic gave me the ability to raise my body temperature high enough to warm a single room like a radiator, and that was if I didn’t just start a fire in a fireplace with my breath.
I sat by Master, leaning in against his leg. “So, Ro, I see you’ve got your first badge gem. Nice work.” The badge on her chest, like all Mage’s Guild badges, had a Start Rune engraved in it. It was an iron piece, the kind given to Initiates before they reached full Mage status. It also had settings where gems could be placed, representing a mage’s area of expertise. Hers bore a green emerald in one, while the other was still empty.
She brightened at the recognition of her accomplishment, raising a hand to fidget with the badge. “Oh, yeah! They were really impressed with that earth-moving spell Tola taught me, and I’ve practiced it so much I can practically do it without thinking.”
It was nice to catch up for a bit, but then it was time for dinner. We headed out to Hammerfell so we could have one last meal of Maifen’s stew, as well as stock up on any last-minute supplies. Since it was late, we stayed the night in town before heading back to the tower in the morning.
Tola pulled away the cloth covering the Transport Mirror, the surface reflecting our own image. The sight of my blue scales reminded me that a dragon would be an odd sight on Earth. “Oh, right, better take care of that.” I brought a paw up to my collar and activated the illusion spell within, and soon I was covered in motes of light that solidified into the image of a black and white Malamute dog, similar to a husky or wolfdog. As long as I kept my wings tucked in close, they’d be hidden, rendered invisible by the illusion.
“Everyone ready to go? Got warm clothing packed? We can pick up stuff on Earth if needed, we’ve got a bit of a budget thanks to Miss Hearthbloom.” The girls nodded, and I didn’t have anything to say, since my days as a clothes-wearing human had ended long ago. With that out of the way, Master rested a hand on the mirror’s frame and started to concentrate. As he did, the mirror’s surface clouded over, becoming a gray fog, as he reached out to its counterpart in another world.
Ro and Mandy exchanged looks at each other, but otherwise watched in silence. As always, I was amazed at the sheer amount of power flowing through the air, radiating off the mirror. The gem set in the top of the frame was a conduit directly to the Chaos Void between the worlds, both for energy and for linking across that swirling paradoxical non-existence. “Hello, Miss Hearthbloom? Or whoever else is supposed to be receiving this? Mage Tola and company here. Are you ready for us?”
The mirrors required someone on the other end to establish the connection. Once they accepted, the bridge could be anchored, and when both sides willed it, a passage would open. It was designed that way as a sort of security precaution, since neither side wanted the other to have the ability to open an avenue by themselves. Sure, the only Mirrors we had were in the hands of people who trusted each other, but there was no telling how long that would continue to be the case.
The surface cleared pretty quickly, revealing a person we didn’t recognize. A young woman who was dressed professionally but was clearly surprised. “Oh my, it really–! Oh, wow! Uh, s-sorry, Miss Hearthbloom had to attend to matters, but she left me here with instructions. I just… didn’t believe them! My name is Alice, I’m an intern for Miss Hearthbloom. Um, I’m told I’m supposed to… allow you to enter, but I don’t… know what that means?” Alice continued to examine the mirror with fascination, trying to determine how this fancy video-call television worked.
Master gave a patient smile. “Just like you made contact, just place your hand on the mirror’s frame, and think about opening a door. You should feel something tugging at you, so let it happen.”
“How does that…? Y-yes, Sir, sorry.” She did her best to comply, the puzzled expression on her face deepening, before switching to one of surprise. A moment later, and the glass surface of the mirror disappeared, looking more like an open doorway. “What…?”
Her surprise only grew as Tola stepped through the mirror, gesturing for the rest of us to follow. I was quick on his heels, followed by an amazed Ro and a wary Mandy. Once the four of us were through, Tola waved a hand and the mirror’s surface reappeared and fogged over. “You actually stepped through! I thought Mr. Roffil was pulling my leg!”
Master couldn’t help but make a face at that name, but he hid it quickly. “Oh, he’s here, is he? I suppose we should say hi before we go anywhere. Pleased to meet you, Alice. I’m Tola, and this is Ro, Mandy, and Princess.” The others waved, I just gave my best “regal sitting” pose.
“Is it true? That you’re, um, magic? Miss Hearthbloom was telling me some things, but I thought she was exaggerating. I-I’ve been sworn to secrecy, signed an NDA and everything, in order to be able to take this internship.” She was looking at the three humans, nearly ready to burst with questions.
I decided to mess with her a little. “Oh yes, it’s true. Master is an accomplished mage, and Ro’s studies are coming along nicely. Mandy is training as a warrior, though.”
As expected, the talking “dog” got her attention. Her hands flew to her mouth, and her eyes were so wide I thought they’d fall out of her head. “What…? How did that dog just talk? Sorry, I-I mean, um, hello Princess?”
I swayed my tail slowly at the recovery and respect. “Greetings to you, Alice. And it’s simple, I’m not a dog. I’m just disguised as one. I’m actually a dragon, but dragons don’t normally talk either, so let’s just leave it at ‘I’m special’. I’ll be sure to show you what I look like later, though.”
Master chuckled. “You really shouldn’t tease the poor girl like that, you know. Alice, could you lead the way to Roffil, please?”
“R-right away, yes. Sorry, I’m just a bit overwhelmed by all this.” The intern laughed weakly as she led the group through the halls. On the outside, this was an unassuming office building for a fictitious landscaping company. On the inside, it was the central hub of magical research, possibly the best one on Earth. Not that the bar was terribly high for that, since magic was still pretty much unknown here.
Roffil had claimed an office as his own, a “study” where he could work on his research into magic on Earth. In addition to the Storms, he was also studying how the lack of “ambient magic” affected things. No longer an Initiate, he had a full-fledged copper badge on his chest denoting he was a Mage. Master’s badge was silver, the next rank up. It was hard not to think of him as a kid, he looked like he was in his early twenties. Soft, pudgy, clearly used to a life of comfort thanks to being the son of a Duke back on Terra. He stood up as we entered, pushing the tiny spectacles he wore back up his nose. “Oh, Mage Tola, welcome. How have you fared, since last we spoke?” The words were friendly, but the tone was more disinterested and formal.
“Doing well enough. How goes the research?” Master’s words were stiff and ice-cold. Roffil was the reason we ended up on Earth in the first place. Out of jealousy, he attacked and kidnapped me to use as bait to trick Tola into stepping into a spell circle that “banished” him back to Earth. I managed to follow, by getting the heads of the Guild to recreate the spell, and jumping through it myself. I wasn’t sure if it would work, since while I used to be a human from Earth, I had also been turned into a dragon and didn’t know if it would count. But it did, and I was able to meet up with Master on Earth, and we were able to get back home.
Roffil, as egotistical and self-centered as ever, completely missed the tone of Master’s voice. “Oh, quite well! The ambient magic problem shouldn’t pose too much of a challenge in the creation of defenses. At worst, it makes keeping them energized more difficult, but I think I can come up with a way to harden the runic structure against leaking so much power. This would be so much easier if I could get orichalcum, but Miss Hearthbloom tells me that there isn’t any on Earth. Can you believe that?”
Tola was taken aback slightly at the mention of orichalcum. “I… actually am not familiar with that. I know I’ve heard the name, some kind of mythical metal? Is it something that exists on Terra?”
Ro chimed in. “Supposedly, it was something that existed in like Atlantis, but y’know. Wait, was Atlantis Terra? Oh crap, I never thought about it! Like, what if there’s all sorts of junk that’s just… there?”
A smile crossed Tola’s lips. “That reminds me, we should arrange a trip to England some time for Master Korrigan and the others. On Terra, they hold England to be the same kind of ‘mythical land that never really existed’ as we do Atlantis. Come to think of it, don’t some versions of accounts say it was destroyed in an incredible storm…?”
Roffil crossed his arms when the attention was taken off of him. Frowning, he tried to recapture that. “Ahem. I’m surprised a mage like you isn’t aware, Tola, but I guess such omissions are unavoidable when one is without the benefit of a proper education. Orichalcum, also known as the Magic Metal, is a metal that is thoroughly impregnated with magic, allowing it to take enchantments easily and be exceptionally suited to creating magic devices. It’s quite rare and valuable, prized by mages for its properties. With my recent research into Storms and the Void, I’ve been developing a theory that it’s created by exposing the right metals to the energies of Chaos itself. If so, it might be possible to actually transmute ordinary metal into orichalcum!” He was working himself into an animated excitement, though whether it was at the prospect of solving a shortage or simply the chance to show off his brilliance, it was hard to say.
Tola nodded, taking in the new information. “Okay, thank you for that. You’re right that I didn’t get the traditional education in magic, but I could still talk circles around you about literary science and analysis, and probably mathematics too. Different is not the same as inferior.”
I wanted to chime in, but Roffil still didn’t know about my special nature, so I held my tongue. That was a secret for my friends, and for a few in the upper levels of the Guild. With how many were already aware, though, it was probably a matter of time before he found out. Still, I preferred to keep it to people I could trust. If anything, him knowing I could talk would likely make him want to steal me even more.
“But let’s not argue about who knows what. Roffil, why don’t we head out for some lunch? I hear you barely ever leave the building.” Tola gave his best smile, trying to be cordial and move past the unpleasantness between him and the former Initiate. “I’d love to show you some of the fun Earth has to offer, even if Ida Grove is a small town.”
“But, my research…” Roffil let out a plaintive whine, looking back at the notes strewn across his desk.
“Will still be there when you get back. Who knows, maybe clearing your mind will help you approach things with a fresh perspective?” Tola tugged lightly at his sleeve, with Mandy grinning a bit at the exchange. “Now come along, I know a great place that even allows me to bring in Princess.”
Letting himself be pulled along, he stopped only to duck into a “changing room”, set aside with more Earth-friendly outfits as well as privacy to change clothes. The rest of us were already wearing contemporary outfits. Even my collar, timelessly fashionable as one is, was bought on Earth. “They let you bring in your dragon?”
Tola smirked at that. “Well, they think she’s a dog, and I simply haven’t disabused them of that notion. Have you tried Earth barbeque yet? It’s similar to some Terran cuisine, so I think you’ll like it.”
Roffil did not like it. Lunch was an endless litany of complaints, from the spiciness of the sauce to the messiness of it getting everywhere to the flavor of the cole slaw. I should’ve guessed he’d be a picky eater, but I hadn’t expected it to be this bad. He was wiping his hands on a moist paper towel once again while the rest of us were relaxing when Tola’s phone chimed.
“Hang on, that might be Janice.” Pulling out the device, he read the text message and nodded. Typing out a quick reply, he set it down on the table. “She’s back in the Office and ready for us, so we should head back soon.
Roffil was staring at the glass-faced rectangle. “I’ve seen others with those. But I still haven’t figured out how you can know such things just by looking at them.”
“It’s simple, she sent me a text. Here, let me show you.” Bringing up the message, he turned it around to show the Terran native. “You’ve seen those communication orbs at the Guild, right? These are the same concept, just… built upon a lot. And widespread. But you can send messages to them, use them to research information, even call one another. Anything anyone has made available, you can see with this. Each one has a unique number as well, so you can send things to a specific phone instead of to everyone if you know it. Like this one is… 712-555-7281.” He still had to look it up, he didn’t use it nearly enough to actually memorize it. “You can see Janice’s phone’s number here at the top.”
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“I thought Earth didn’t have magic.” Roffil gingerly took the offered device, looking it over in amazement before handing it back. “Is this why you chose a mirror for the passageway between worlds?”
Tola shrugged. “Mirrors are useful, and I saw one in an antique shop, and figured I’d be able to do something with it. Mostly I wanted to try to communicate, the fact that it worked for a portal was a bonus. Anyway, I’d be happy to show you more about how it works, or maybe you could ask one of the interns at the Office. We should be going.”
We waited long enough for Ro to get a take-home box for her leftovers, whereas Mandy had finished hers before anyone else did. Roffil didn’t want his, and I didn’t like the idea of eating after him, so we discarded that with the trash.
Janice paced back and forth as we met her in the large office she kept at “TerraTalk Landscaping”. On one wall was a screen showing a map of the world with colored flags on it, with a larger map for the country. Each flag represented a reported Chaos Storm. “Mr. Roffil, these Storms are getting worse every month. How are efforts progressing in finding a way to stop them?”
The sight of a map so different from what he was used to always distracted Roffil. “Oh, ah, I think I’m on the right path, ma’am. The lack of orichalcum is concerning, but I’m researching ways to handle that.”
“You’ve complained about that multiple times, yes.” Janice Hearthbloom rubbed the bridge of her nose, and then her forehead. “Any word on when we can have prototypes in place? Every day, there’s a chance of another town being wiped off the map. They’re getting bigger. People are getting scared. The sooner we can reassure them there’s help, the better.”
“Jan–Miss Hearthbloom.” Roffil quickly corrected himself. “This is all… completely new fields of magical theory! Entire new areas of conjecture and study! I’m– We’re doing what we can, but this is so huge… Saving the entire world? And Earth too? It’s impossible to know in advance how much this is going to take. This is a threat unlike any that’s ever been faced!”
Tola cleared his throat. “Not necessarily. I believe this has happened before, roughly every thousand years. They’ve worsened and retreated. But history doesn’t tell us how bad they got, so we don’t know what to expect, or whether what we’re facing deviates from that pattern.”
“Yes, I’ve heard quite a lot about your England theories.” Roffil rolled his eyes. “But even then, that just means that the mages of the past couldn’t figure it out either. Granted, they didn’t have ME, but really, they should have written more down.”
Janice had dealt with enough of the bickering between Roffil and Master before to know this wasn’t going to go anywhere good. “Gentlemen, please! The news has been going nuts lately. Not just the Storms, but other happenings. People are calling it ‘The End Times’. Wild magic is happening, scientists are baffled… I don’t even know how much of this is real and how much of it is fake, even with what I know of the situation.”
Roffil seemed appropriately contrite. “Even if we manage to design something, how are we going to cover more than… a handful of towns? The scale of what’s required…” He shook his head, trying to wrap his head around the size of things.
Janice turned to look at the map again, as if she could divine some sort of pattern out of the mass of colored flags. “That’s why the design needs to be modular, so we can scale it up or down. If we can create… something that protects an area, we can manufacture them. If we can get something that we can show will work, then funding isn’t going to be an issue.”
Ro raised her hand for a bit, but since Janice wasn’t turning away from the map, she sheepishly lowered it and cleared her throat. “Um, Miss Hearthbloom? About funding… Where IS our funding coming from?”
A heavy sigh came from the heiress and de-facto head of town. “Right now, me. I’m funding this with my own personal finances, coming from decades of real estate and business investments. I tried getting in touch with my contacts in research and in the government, but… Do you have the slightest idea how many people are claiming to be working on this problem and trying to petition for money?”
“I take it there’s a lot?” Mandy cut through to the truth as always. “But you’ve got mages on your side, surely that counts for something?”
“Uuugh!” Janice threw her head back to glare at the ceiling, as if a heavy weight had been dropped on her shoulders. “Sure, it might, if I could TELL anyone about that! I already sound like a crackpot just for saying I’m worried about the Storms and trying to keep tabs on them. And if I just start going around spilling the secret, who knows what will happen? I can’t exactly fend off the entire United States military and keep them away from the Mirror, not to mention every other country in the world is going to be after it the moment they know this is real.”
She brought up another screen, listing headlines and news articles. “I’ve got employees trying to sort through this mess, but there’s so little info, and we don’t even know how much is going unreported. Let alone how to really tell what’s real and what’s not. Like… Look at this one. A town in Colorado is talking about some kind of creature that showed up. Do any of you recognize this as something from Terra?” Bringing up the article, a drawing of a figure appeared on screen. Humanoid, but with rabbit ears and horse hooves. White fur with black spots, and a caption that identified it as “The Superbunny”.
“No, I can’t say that I do.” Roffil leaned in as if he could spot some tiny clue. “I’ve heard of beast-men races on other continents, but I don’t know if they’re real.”
Tola shook his head. “You know I don’t know everything. I’d think you’d be looking to the furry fandom on Earth on this one. Has anyone talked to it?”
“Supposedly, it’s done things like shown up, stopped a mugging, and then run off. Witnesses haven’t given much, and it doesn’t stick around to give interviews, and nobody’s been able to find where it’s hiding.” Sighing, Janice typed in a note that this article had a low chance of being important but to keep tabs on it, and moved on.
The screen brought up a message that was sent to Janice directly. “One of my acquaintances tells me there’s a man in Tennessee that might be interesting. Picked up for homelessness and mental health, was carrying a sword and trying to attack cars. Police tased him and he’s in a hospital psych ward. Was screaming about ‘getting back to Gwarerien’. No ID, no match on fingerprints.”
Roffil stroked his chin, and the tiny beard he’d started growing to make himself look older. “Gwarerien… I know that name. That’s a major port city, but it’s nearly a month’s ride by caravan. Southeast, I want to say.”
The look of delight on Janice’s face was bright. “Now we’re getting somewhere! Finally. I can fly out to Tennessee and see about bringing him here. Maybe we can get some useful information from him about his experiences, but even if we can’t, it’ll be good to help him get back to Terra.”
“I’m sorry, but… ‘fly out’?” Roffil looked skeptical. “Is this one of those Earth expressions I haven’t heard before?”
Mandy let out a quiet laugh. Tola raised a hand to quiet her, but smiled. “No, there are flying machines here. Vehicles that travel through the air at incredible speeds. We are here,” he said, pointing at the map, “and Tennessee is here. Roughly… I wanna say a thousand miles? Maybe a bit less. But where that’d take a horse and rider a week or more to get there, a plane will make the trip in a couple hours.”
Janice nodded. “I’d offer to take you with me, but without an ID, you’ll never make it through security. I’m sure one of the interns can show you videos and explain it while I’m gone.” She was already packing a laptop into a bag, clearly eager to be doing something instead of just standing around and waiting.
“Is there anything you’d like for us to be doing in the mean time, Janice?” Tola was the only one present that could get away with calling her that. Well, I probably could, but not in front of Roffil.
She stretched, shouldering her bag. “No? I don’t know? Um, talk to the Guild and make sure they’re willing to help this guy back to Gwen… Gwil… Whatever-place. They might want to talk to him too, if he crossed through a Storm.”
“Gwarerien.” Roffil corrected, looking smug as ever.
“Gwar-place. You guys got this. I’ll keep in touch.” Shouldering past the others, she ducked out the door, calling for an assistant to manage details and make preparations.
Mandy shook her head. “What bug got up her…? You know.”
“Miss Hearthbloom is stressed. She’s asked me about progress every single day, sometimes several times in a day. Don’t get me wrong, this is an amazing opportunity, but she’s so… impatient. She should know that you can’t rush genius.” Roffil drew himself up, puffing out his chest. But nobody took the bait, and he soon deflated. “Yes, well. I should return to my studies.” With that, he excused himself from the room.
That just left the four of us. Ro was the first to speak, shaking her head. “So that’s the guy that wrote that book? He’s so… pompous.”
I was finally free to speak up. “You don’t know the half of it. When we first met, he was screeching about how we ‘took his tower’ and kept demanding that Master give me over to him. He wouldn’t even listen when he was told I’m female, he just kept saying he deserved to own me.” I shook my head. “He’s the son of Duke Winselton back on Terra, but he’s not in line for succession, so daddy bribed the Guild into training him and he figured he’d get a cushy position in Hammerfell just outside Winselton. Still, I guess when the chips were down, he actually did manage to do important work… As much as I dislike him, we need him if we’re going to succeed in creating some kind of Stormshield.”
Alice pulled the minivan into a driveway. “This is the address… Are you sure about this?”
Ro looked to Mandy, who had a look of grim determination as she nodded. “There’s no way around it. You don’t have to face this with me, but I do need to face this trial.”
Ro put a hand on hers. “Don’t be silly, you know I’m going to be there with you, every step of the way. Like, anything that happens, we face it together.”
Tola gave a reassuring smile. “This whole situation kind of is my fault anyway, so it’s only fair that I help how I can.”
“And I go where he goes.” I flicked the tip of my tail.
Hearing me talk made Alice flinch, but she shook her head instead of saying anything. “I’ll help you carry things in, and I’ll stick around for a little bit. Just in case.”
We exited the minivan and got out bags. Ro might not have had much, but Mandy had a large duffel bag full of her armor, along with her sword and shield. She wouldn’t let anyone else heft that one, which was fine with us. Alice ended up with nothing to carry, and Ro rebuffed her concerns. “No, really, it’s totally fine! You’re, like, already doing a ton for us just driving us around. We could’ve walked just fine, we do a lot more walking than this back on Terra, you know.”
“It’s just that Miss Hearthbloom requested that I see to your needs while you’re visiting.”
Mandy shifted the bag on her shoulder, making it clank as the contents shifted. “You know Ro and I are from here, right? This is our hometown. It’s weird to think of this as a ‘visit’, even if it kinda is.”
By now, we were at the door, and so Mandy took a deep breath before pressing the doorbell.
It only took a minute or so before it opened, a surprised and delighted-looking woman greeting us. “Amanda! Oh goodness, I didn’t realize you were getting in today! You should’ve called, we could’ve picked you up from the airport! My, who are all these people?”
“Mom, you know Ro. Anyway, this is, ah, James, he’s a friend we met that helped us get into the exchange program. This is Alice, she works with that Hearthbloom lady that’s been doing stuff in town lately, she um…”
Alice cut in. “Miss Hearthbloom is funding the scholarship that’s covering tuition and expenses. Including providing transportation to and from the airport. After all, the less our students have to worry about, the better they’ll perform.” The words were practiced, presumably some sort of cover story Janice already worked out.
“Right. Oh, and this is Princess, she’s James’ dog. She’s really well trained and housebroken and everything.” Mandy reached down and pet me between the illusory ears, and I let my tail wag in response.
The mother looked us over with an expression that was trying to hide disapproval. “Goodness, aren’t you a whole bunch. Well, come on in, all of you. You sure that dog isn’t going to make a mess?”
Master raised a hand with an open palm. “I swear on my honor, madam. You’ll find Princess to be more well-behaved than most people. She doesn’t even bark.” I so wanted to mutter a comment under my breath, but that would’ve only caused problems, so I didn’t.
Nodding, she held the door open and gestured for us to enter, Mandy taking lead and the rest of us filing in after. We gathered in the living room, where an older man who was presumably Mandy’s father was sitting in an armchair and watching TV. “Frank, honey, look who’s here! It’s little Amanda, and she’s got friends with her.”
“What? Oh, wow! Look at you! Certainly been getting a lot of sun, haven’t you?” He got up to see for himself, grinning and throwing his arms around his daughter in a hug. When she hugged back, she gave him a squeeze much tighter than he was expecting. “Oof! And you’ve been working out! Okay, uncle!” The words were said with a laugh, so I assumed they were just having fun.
Mandy grinned. “Yeah, one of my electives has been sword-fighting. It’s really rewarding, you know?”
Mandy’s Mom had a shocked look. “They teach sword fighting at this college? Isn’t that dangerous?”
“Nah, I’ve got armor on, and protection, and we don’t use real swords when we’re training. Mostly it’s a lot of exercise, too. Obstacle courses, weights, learning to move around while wearing all the gear, stuff like that.” She opened her bag and started showing off her armor, leather with metal plates fastened to it. A type of scale mail similar to Lance’s, but with a few differences in design. Still, a heck of a lot lighter and less expensive than full plate.
Things settled into a light conversation, though we couldn’t tell much about the real teachings of Terra. Or rather, “Winselton University”, which was where they supposedly had been studying. Somewhere in rural England, a prestigious school that offered mostly degrees in history and literature, as well as political science. The kind of school that got you in contact with mayors who would have you chauffeured about and other upper-crust types, apparently. They even had a website that definitely wasn’t created in the last few months by a team who made it look as legitimate as possible, though said website also stated that students would have limited contact with the outside world. So it wasn’t just Mandy and Ro that were mostly unreachable, supposedly.
Neither parent seemed to be paying much attention to me, which suited me just fine. I simply sat at Master’s side, almost statuesque, listening to the conversation but unable to join in. The father did compliment me at one point, saying I looked like “a mighty fine dog”, which was amusing. There were a few questions thrown to “James”, but it seemed more like they were trying to make sure he wasn’t some kind of threat. I suppose it made sense, he was an older man in the company of younger girls.
After about half an hour, Alice spoke up and said that she needed to be going. Master took that as his cue to excuse himself as well. On our way out, Ro surprised us by getting up to leave as well. Once we were back in the van, she breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
Since we were safe, I spoke up. “Aren’t you staying? I always thought you two were sisters.”
“Nah. Like, sometimes we say ‘sister’, but Mandy’s parents only know me as ‘a good friend since childhood’, you know? They’re nice and all, but like…” She grimaced. “Not exactly open-minded, you know?”
Tola smiled and nodded. “Gotta keep up the appearances, huh? Iowa isn’t exactly the most progressive of places.”
“Oh, you figured it out?” She let out a nervous laugh. “Yeah, I guess we didn’t exactly, like, do a good job of hiding it, huh?”
“She followed you into another world and learned the sword in order to be able to keep you safe. It was pretty clear.”
I huffed softly. “I didn’t really think about it… They’re just… Ro and Mandy, two halves of a whole. It makes sense when you spell it out, though.”
Ro sighed, leaning back in her seat. “Yeah, so like, that’s why we don’t want to spell it out to her parents. Mine said they’d throw me out, when I tried dropping hints, testing the water. That’s why I moved out in the first place. They still think I’m straight, and that Mandy and I just live together because we’re friends and it lets us split the rent.”
I didn’t really know what to say, so I rested my chin on her knee as we started driving down the road. “That’s awful. I’m sorry you had to go through that. If it helps, Master and I are totally fine with it. I think it’s lovely, you two make a great couple.”
Tola chuckled. “I don’t even know how I’d tell my parents about Princess. I mean, we’re not… We don’t do anything, since she’s a dragon and I’m a human, but we’re kind of a couple?”
Alice had gotten a strange look on her face, but relaxed visibly at the second half of that statement. “I can’t tell mine about my job. I thought I was just going to be doing your basic assistant stuff. Handling calls, making schedules, fetching coffee. Instead, I’m explaining technology to mages and meeting dragons and ordering supplies that might save the entire world from these Unmaker Storms. …Do you guys really think life will ever be normal again?”
Tola smirked and let out a laugh. “Depends on how you define normal. Two years ago, I was an ordinary guy living on Earth. Now I’m a world-hopping mage with a pet dragon. Ro here is a rare Mirror Magus, Mandy is a knight in training… ‘Normal’ to me now is being able to reshape reality through sheer force of will and knowledge, ‘Normal’ to Princess is breathing fire and flying through the air, and in a year or two, who knows what ‘Normal’ will be for anyone on Earth. Will life be the way it was? No. Will people get used to it? It’s amazing what people can get used to if they give it a chance.”
In the woods to the southwest of the town, where the fabric of reality was already weakened, a Storm opened in the dead of night. A swirling mass of raw Chaos battered at the trees, but this was different. This time, it didn’t seem interested in taking things, or in destroying them. Instead, the forces that raged were focused into creation.
Branches were broken, trees fell, the ground was torn up. Creation can be messy, especially when borne of such chaos. There was something behind this Storm, and when it finally closed, a group of green-skinned humanoid figures was left behind. A troop of ogres looked about in confusion, but soon they started getting to work.
Though primitive, they knew enough to create crude campfires, and hunt local deer for food. They didn’t know what happened, how they got to this new place, and they didn’t particularly care about such deep thoughts as that. They just hoped there’d be something fun to hunt soon.
Something that screamed a lot. Even better if it cried before they killed it. Humans were their favorite prey. Especially the little soft ones, they were the tastiest and it really made the bigger ones mad when the ogres crushed them.