Relocation flares. One of my coins attached to a bottle of pills shakes and shudders in my hand, and my mind feels like it zooms out a thousand times until I’m focusing on the spell over a million miles away. I swallow hard and try to visualize the pills back on Earth, lying on the ground on Fleur’s platform where I dropped them when I transported worlds.
Flickering attachment barely scrapes my imagination. My memory of the pills seeps into the coin, aided by my awareness, and I try to force the spell to activate. What I can only describe as the magical equivalent of wrenching my shoulder as I try to reach a shelf that’s too high rages down my awareness and into the coin.
It disappears. My thoughts go black for a moment, and it feels like my mind is stretching between two points that are an unimaginable distance apart. There’s no pathway from A to B. Somehow, they exist in two utterly separate existences. My pills shudder once on the ground, rattling in their plastic prison, and then go still.
I reel backwards, nearly slamming my head into a stone wall as my spell fails. Breath scrapes from my lungs in short, horrible gasps. Everything hurts, but not like normal. My entire being feels… weaker. Like my essence just got diluted in a huge pool of water. Trembling, I look down at my hands to see a black coin-shaped stain burned into my palm. I wince and close my fingers around it.
“No dice.” I mutter as actual pain from the burn lances up my arm. “There’s no connection between here and Earth; no matter how much Worth I could put into the spell, it wouldn’t work. I’ll have to message Fleur, then Ursula to get some new pills delivered.”
Illumisia cocks her head to the side. “If there is no connection between this world and yours, then how does the system move you between them?”
I shake my head with a sigh. “When we find that out, we’ll be able to bring you to Earth and Fleur here.”
“If we can find that out.” Pearl corrects me. “We couldn’t find out how the system worked all those years ago, and we were actively studying it. There’s no way we’ll just stumble on it without putting in a lot of hard hours of research.”
“I concur. It would be nice to hop between worlds with you two, but it is not a priority.” Illumisia looks up the street, then back down the other side. “Actually, now that I have said that, what is our priority? In essence, the system has completely won the war. Its lingering hatred affects only Pearl, myself, and you Worth Classes–for everyone else, it seems to be a purely benevolent entity.”
“Yeah. So?” I follow her gaze as she continues to scour the streets. “As long as the system keeps calling me back, we’ve got to do something about it. I’m not going to roll over and die just because the executioner’s nice to everyone but me and my friends.”
“And I would not expect you to. I am merely pointing out that the system is not some world ending threat that we can rally an army to defeat–not anymore.” Illumisia licks her lips and turns her eyes to me. “We are fighting for our survival, not some moral or existential high ground. It will be far too easy for the system to turn others against us if it so wishes. As such, we should be truly careful of who we place our trust in.”
I watch the people go by, most of which don’t pay me more than a glance. A few stare at Illumisia, but it’s the kind of stare you’d give someone with a rottweiler on a street corner. I’m not important here–and that gives me so much more freedom. So I need to keep it that way.
“We ignore the horizonguard for now. Whoever they are, we can’t afford to lock ourselves into anything for the long-term. Personally, I think we need to find out more about the rest of this world; what’s it like beyond Palastia, how much influence does the system actually have, how other people live away from here–that kind of thing.” I push off from the wall and flick a thumb up the street. “Doesn’t look like the messenger’s coming. Let’s go find something else.”
Illumisia shoots one last look down the street before moving. “I will see what happened to them later tonight. They would not simply abandon our agreement, as they know what would happen to them if they did.”
“You think something happened to them?”
“Doubtless.”
“That, or they’re just scared of you.” Pearl giggles. “You do have that effect on people.”
Illumisa turns her nose up with pride. “Thank you very much, Pearlescence.”
----------------------------------------
“Hey; long time no see.”
The old Ogean woman who runs the bathhouse I used when I first came to Palastia looks up from her Class Card and furrows her brow. Recognition lights up her eyes a moment later, and she pulls her pipe out of her mouth as I walk up.
“You!” She smiles and pats the bench next to her. “Didn’t think I’d see you around again, sugar. Your painted dane’s been the talk of some very small circles, including one that overlaps with my own. What brings you around?”
I raise an eyebrow and glance down at Illumisia. “What’s she done that’s worth being talked about?”
“Mostly being terrifying. But also delivering messages that are supposedly from you.” The woman puts her hands on her knees and looks down at Illumisia. “Your friend wasn’t here, though, so who were you working on behalf of?”
Illumisia makes a noise deep in her throat. “Nothing you should concern yourself with, sugar.”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
The old woman doesn’t even react. Reminding me that Illumisia is speaking straight into my mind just like Pearl does. I’d almost completely forgotten, since Fleur talks without actually using a mouth, and she speaks out loud. I reach down and pat Illumisia’s head, which gets a grumble out of her.
“I was sending messages from Earth to someone else here. Illumisia was just working to help them out.” I explain, which is mostly true. “We were supposed to have somewhere to stay, but the messenger never showed up.”
“So you’re wondering if I’ve got rooms here, aren’t you, sugar?” The old woman taps her lips with a long finger and frowns. “Now, normally I don’t rent out space for more than a few hours, but I’ve got some long-term rooms for employees that haven’t been occupied for a long while. They’re not making any Worth for me at the moment, so anything you can offer is good for me, sugar.”
I nod. That’s exactly what I was hoping for. “What if I wanted to use the baths, too? Standard rate?”
“Depending on how long you’re staying, I’ll give you a repeat discount. Steady profits are far better than uncertain ones, after all.” The woman smiles and nods towards the main building. “I live in the back, and there’s all the amenities you’ll need to live connected to the employee rooms. If you want meals, you come out while I’m making them, otherwise you’re on your own. That works for you, sugar?”
“More than works, thank you.” I pull out my Class Card as a show of good faith. Which turns out to be a horrible idea, as notifications drown me in information windows. “Oh, shit, I almost forgot about this. How much for a month, and when do you usually make meals?”
“Fifty Worth for a month, and I won’t make you pay for a week. Since you might be low on funds, after all. Meals are at an hour before opening, some lunch hours, and most nights just after closing.” She takes a long draw of her pipe, then blows out a perfect ring of smoky red heat. “You can take whatever open room you want, sugar. Just keep it clean and quiet past midnight, if you please.”
I pull twenty-five doubled one Worth coins from my inventory and set them down next to my new landlord. “Payment for the first month up front. I know you’re giving me a screaming deal, so thank you again for being so generous. If I’m ever here and you need help with anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”
The woman chuckles to herself and waves me on. “I won’t, sugar. Now get going–I’m certain you’ve got plenty of notifications you need to wade through before you can set out and do anything. Just follow the leaves carved into the stone, and put your hand in the handprint on the door it leads you to. And remember–supper’s just after closing if you want it.”
“I’ll be there for sure.” I smile and wave, then give her a short bow as I walk into the bath house. “Oh, right–I never got your name.”
“You can call me Miss S. Which leaves the mystery of your own name, sugar. Though I’m probably just gonna keep calling you sugar no matter what you say it is.”
“Shelby. See you for supper, Miss S.”
“I’ll make something worth salivating over. And enough to feed a painted dane, too, so don’t go leaving her behind.”
“I won’t.” I say as my feet touch stone, and a glance down easily finds the leaf pattern. Miss S turns away and focuses on the street before I have a chance to say anything else, but honestly, I’ve pretty much said all I wanted to. Don’t really have an idea why she seems to like me so much, but maybe it just has to do with the fact that she’s a nice person.
Misty stone halls with a little water creeping along the ground wind a little further than I thought the bathhouse was large. The leaf-etched stone starts off as a simple vine with a few leaves every now and again leading us deeper into the bathhouse, and as we go, it grows increasingly ornate. The leaves increase in number and detail, some berries and thorns get added to the vine, and eventually stylized whooshing clouds join as if we’re climbing up a vine that reaches all the way up to the sky.
Neither Pearl nor Illumisia say anything, though, so I put the strange sensation of distance out of my mind and just keep walking. The water disappears almost instantly, but the steam seems to thicken the further we go in. When I finally round the corner to see the door a dozen feet away, it feels like I’m standing in a cloud with a sunbeam beating down on me. I pull my shirt away, expecting sweat to stick it to my skin, but it comes away completely dry. A little warm, sure, like it’d been drying in the sun all day, but the steamy air definitely feels weird.
Finally, I can’t hold my strange feelings any longer. “Illumisia, what the hell is going on here?”
She shoots me a questioning look. “We have entered the part of the bathhouse that is spatially distorted to exist in two places at once. I assumed you had noticed, but apparently your time on Earth has only dulled your senses. A pity.”
“Oh, screw you. I thought I was going crazy.” I sigh as Illumisia laughs quietly. “Then what the hell is going to be on the other side of that door?”
“Somewhere else, obviously.”
I roll my eyes. “Wow, thank you so much miss living encyclopedia. I definitely missed having someone make snippy comments at me.”
“Yes, I know you did.” Illumisia smiles sarcastically. “Nobody can replace me. I will devour them if they even dare to try. Now be a dear and open the door to wherever the powerful old Ogean woman’s home is connected so you can sort out your Class Card and I can grill Pearlescence about your adventures on Earth.”
The stone door looms at the end of the hallway like only an imposing door to an unknown space can. I swallow around the lump in my throat and step up to the thing decorated heavily with vines, leaves, berries, and plenty of crowds. The sensations of heat and moisture only increase the closer I get, and as I inch my hand toward the imprint of a hand much larger than mine, it feels like I’m reaching for a stone slab that’s been baking in the searing summer sun for hours.
My skin sizzles as I press to the stone. But it doesn’t hurt. The burn on my hand from the coin hurts, yeah, but not the door itself. Magic washes over me, seeping into my skin and concentrating in my clothes in an instant. My awareness flares over and over in warning, but it’s a warning that something’s there. Not that it’s attacking or even trying to hurt me.
Lines of heat rise up my hand and shoot up my arm. I flinch away from the door and slap at the magic like an annoying mosquito, but it’s pointless. The magic worms its way onto the back of my neck and flares bright and hot, then disappears before my palm smacks it.
“The hell..” I start, but trail off as the door simply opens a crack. No fanfare, no magic–just the click of a lock unlocking and a small, welcoming crack. It’s almost terrifying in its simplicity.
Illumisia walks forward without a hint of fear.
“Wait.”
She turns her head back at me. “No. It is rude to refuse such a welcoming invitation. Come along–we have things that need to be done.”
With that, she nudges the door the rest of the way open with her nose. A wall of cloudy steam obscures whatever’s behind it, and only sunbeams can shine through. Illumisia waits a moment for me, then snorts and walks confidently through the steam.
Leaving me with no real choice but to follow her.