“So I was using magic? I could barely feel anything,” I asked from my new position on a bench next to Cassie. I was thankfully fully clothed. Ever since I released whatever it was I was doing, I felt so much more grounded. My thoughts had become scary before I had fallen asleep and I couldn’t imagine what I would have done if Diana hadn’t stepped in.

“You were burning ambient mana so fast I think it was pissing the lobby’s mana beasts off,” Diana replied amusedly. “What’s more impressive you were still doing it in the tower. Proper old magic. No bracer, just willpower.” She looked a little impressed.

“So just… thinking of the rune was enough to… do it? Do… Magic?” I asked. It was Felix who nodded and spoke up.

“Runes shift and change. Keeping up with the changes in your mind—almost like counting—is what does the magic. Nana here just helped you figure out how to stop,” Felix explained, his eyes lighting up as he spoke. Nana?

I tried to follow, my head working hard to follow. So it wasn’t just magic—it was math? Numbers and patterns, shifting in my mind as I what… cast a spell?

“Think of it like trying to keep a numbers problem in your head, but the numbers keep changing. The more complicated the spell, the more you’ve got to track.” Felix continued, but my mind was still stuck on the first part. Magic... or math? Maybe both. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. But how the hell was I supposed to keep all that straight in my head?

“Its why high tier magic is so hard. You remember the light spell back in the tavern? The rules of that space changed so what my bracer had stored about light became stale. Not a problem for someone who recognizes the base rune, like you did. Its like seeing the same thing from another angle,” Felix held up his hand and blue lighting crackled around his fingers. “I can do it with lightning,”

“That’s amazing!” I said chuckling. “You can throw lighting and I can have a magical anxiety attack,”

This time Cassie spoke up sternly. “Not all magic has to be flashy shit. Felix is an Arcanist first and a Monster Hunter second. Flashy shit is all they do. My magic actually gets the job done,” I didn’t recall seeing her do anything fancy in the tavern? She stood up and clenched her fists. What happened next was so fast I almost missed it. She moved. Fast. Cassie had flickered in the direction of the table and wash-kit and returned with it, although she stumbled and caught her balance on the way back. My eyes picked up the movement but it was so fast there was a delay in my brain processing what happened. I blinked at her. Seeing a woman as large as her move like that was all kinds of strange.

“Fuck yeah, swiftness,” She said proudly and smiled. “I’m still getting it down but I’m a bit of a speed demon. I’ve been training for months.” She dropped the wash-kit in my lap. It was a silver box that could have held business cards or something similar. I turned it over in my hands.

“Yeah!” I said still kind of confused. “But I just about jumped off a balcony. That can’t be good.”

“Ben, you caught that panther in the lobby way before we did.” Felix said reverently. “Danger-sense like that is something we don’t have. Chas has it, but yours was something different. That panther lunged and you were already out of its path. Even if the Lutrin didn’t stop it, you would have barely felt the air move-you were so far ahead of it.”

Diana chuckled and Stanley did too. “I think he was actually aware of the fucker just after you three arrived in the lobby,”

Cassie turned and looked at me her eyes wide. “Were you?” I shrugged. She turned back to Diana. “And were you watching us?”

“I arrived at nearly the same time as you three. I was merely nearby.”

“Horse shit,” Cassie threw at Diana but laughed. Stanley chided Cassie with his obligatory chirps.

“So just… thinking about the rune made it happen?” I asked, my voice trailing off. It felt too easy. Too surreal. But when I replayed the moment in my head—remembering the way the way I had felt, the way I had moved—I couldn’t deny it. That was magic. Real magic. My magic.

It wasn’t flashy, like Felix’s lightning, or precise, like Cassie’s speed. But it was there, buzzing just behind my thoughts. Waiting for me to reach out and use it.

“I mean I felt something, I guess? Like a coiled up spring in my chest or something ready to pop.” I tried to recall the feeling. “When the panther lunged, I felt it, but I was already moving which should be… impossible?” I thought for a moment, the three staring at me. “Magic, right? Okay so I can give myself magical anxiety and dodge attackers. I guess that’s useful.”

“I imagine grinding the cosmic representation of bravery into your soul for ten hours straight had some fucking side effects, Ben!” Diana swore to Stanley’s loud dismay. “Enough Stanley!” She wasn’t yelling but was being very terse. “This is my favorite language and I will not be denied its full use,” Stanley flew away and landed on Cassie’s shoulder. Diana looked back to me. “You were doing it in your sleep! I can’t even fully Runebind in my sleep. And if you knew who I was you’d be pretty fucking impressed with your magic.”

Cassie and Felix’s face had gone slack. They stared at me in a way I imagined I looked like when they first met me.

I barely had time to shrug when I heard two voices come barreling through the door on the left side of the room.

A bald Floran woman, an Aldertree, stormed into the room followed closely by a rather angular faced—Snape-ish?—Gaian man. She was clad in a hilariously overdone military dress outfit. Complete with large ranked-shoulderpads, braided lanyards, and aiguillettes. He was in simple black and gray robes.

“I’ve told you three times now Marco. Fuck your ancestors for eighteen generations!” She said bluntly. Wait… that second half was in Mandarin… wasn’t it? This woman had a mouth on her.

“I’m sorry Mistress Elara, I don’t speak Eloquentia. I don’t know what that means.” The man who was following her, presumably Marco, replied.

“Well then I am not sure how I can help you—Mother?” She froze, her eyes falling upon Diana who smiled at her, suddenly sipping at a cup of tea.

“Archon,” Marco said and gave a small bow towards Diana. “I was not aware you had returned.”

“I believe that’s called the fucking point, Marco.” Diana said, her tone playful yet commanding. “It’s Grand Mistress, darling. Archon is so pedestrian, don’t you think? Move your shit out of my office and get back to doing what you’re actually good at.”

“Right away Arc…Grand Mistress,” Marco bowed and spun around, his dark cape billowing around him. The guy was wearing an actual cape. He had to know who he looked like. It was uncanny.

After Marco had left, Elara stormed up to Diana seemingly blind to everyone else in the room. She was screaming in… Mandarin. It was for sure Mandarin. I wasn’t getting everything but it was enough to know the first fifty or so words were curse words.

“You idiot, are you the reason I'm wearing this crap?” She shoved a finger towards Diana..

“I am a dignitary, my daughter,” Diana replied with a mischievous grin on her face.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“You didn’t even tell me you were coming back. You just show up? Why?” Elara was angry.

“I believe you have a meeting with an Other Worlder right around now,” Diana replied.

“I don’t care about an “Other Worlder”, I haven’t seen you in years,” Elara spoke loudly. Her voice almost cracking.

“Elara, darling, your Outworlder can understand you. What’s the point?” Diana responded in English. Elara whirled on me, tassled uniform responding in a way that forced me to swallow a chuckle.

“I…ha… managed a Dim Sum kitchen after College. You could tell?” I said with a shrug. Turns out looking slightly Chinese did wonders with a Culinary Diploma. It took another year of Mandarin lessons before the cooks would even look at me during service.

“Dim sum?” I heard Cassie say before Elara had whirled back to Diana.

"This was all your doing, wasn’t it?" Elara’s voice cracked, her formality crumbling. “I should have known. You planned this. You miserable, scheming shrew!”

“I don’t know what you mean, I was simply asked to deliver some clothes and a wash kit,” Diana responded in a cool tone. Elara seemed to deflate a bit and flopped down stiffly into a plush chair with a sigh.

“Nessa had been walking around, lost in stairwells for an hour! I had to intervene. I should have known it was you,” She said, seething into irritation.

“If it took the girl an hour to figure out she was in a loop, she’s less observant than you are, darling,” Diana chuckled. Elara seemed to deflate further as I fiddled with the wash kit box trying to open it like it actually held business cards. No luck. “And besides. Someone had to keep this one from melting his soul.” She was probably talking about me. Maybe this thing twisted? I tried testing the box along the horizontal axis. Nope. “And the lobby is a total disaster area. Have you simply just let Lyra have her way everywhere?” This fucking box. I tried twisting it along the vertical axis and felt it move a bit with a crackling sound.

“For fuck’s sake Ben, it slides!”

I looked up to see Diana staring at me with a frustrated look.

Oh.

I used two thumbs to slide the top back like an old slide-phone. Inside was a pink oval that looked like a very thin piece of soap. It smelled sweet and floral. Almost like almonds. I picked it up and looked at it. A surge of static like I had just touched a low voltage wire clenched my hand around it tightly. I breathed in sharply with the reaction and then my eyes widened with fascination as the dirt under my fingernails evaporated into a thin dust floating away and disappearing. The feeling shot through me like lightning, fine dust flying off of me like water. And just as suddenly the feeling was gone and the pink oval was now small and dull, like it had shrunk considerably. I put it back into the box with amazement. I felt like I just stepped out of a shower. Not more awake but about as physically refreshed as I could be.

“Damn, that’s cool,” I said under my breath motioning to put the box on the table when Elara spoke up.

“That’s yours. It goes in the inside pocket of the vest. If it runs out of mana a blue coin will do - on the underside.”

“Oh… uh. Thank you,” I said about as politely as I could. Elara looked surprised and her demeanor shifted slightly. More formal.

“Actual manners? You’re very welcome… Ben was it? I’m sorry we had to meet like this. With… Spectators,” She eyed Diana. “You must be starving. Please eat.”

And then the table had food on it. Fruits, steamed vegetables, grilled meats, nuts, and berries. It all smelled so… well it could probably use some seasoning or sauce. But it was magical food!

“Holy cow,” I said dumbstruck.

“I think its goat,” Cassie said suddenly very interested in the table.

It was, I could tell by the smell.

“Some muffins would have done fine,” Diana said motioning to Elara but eyed the table hungrily. “Now you’re just trying to show off.”

It was like none of us had eaten all day. Several minutes passed as everyone present had a few bites of food. Elara was being about as graceful as she could be with greasy meat and her uniform. It was… well let’s just say magical food seemed more function over form. Bland. What was more odd was reconciling that three people in the room were plants and they were devouring meat along with everything else. It didn’t really occur to me that I was eating food in a place out of a dream with people I’d never met.

Food was food.

“Okay. I get it,” Elara had leaned back in her soft chair, the cushions crinkled as she moved. “So my mother shows up after an age, greases how many palms to bring an Outworlder up here, arranges for a fake dignitary visit in my schedule so I’m wearing this ridiculous outfit. All in a few hours, by the way, just to meet him?” She was looking at Diana. Felix was slack jawed and Cassie seemed too engrossed in a giant drumstick to really notice.

“Chas sent me a message,” Diana said smoothly. “Ben’s from Earth. He even had truth sight on him. No mana.”

“Oh,” Elara replied as if it all made sense somehow.

Cassie seemed to almost choke on her food and Felix looked like he just won the lottery.

“Humans… are from Earth?” Cassie managed to say.

“Urp… You all know my home?” I asked, abruptly. Oh wow I had definitely eaten too fast.

“We know of your home, yes.” Elara replied. Cassie was still coughing and she took a drink from a smooth pewter cup that had conveniently appeared on the table. “We get a lot of Outworlders from all over the Multiverse. Usually they are back home in a few months when we sort out the way home. But Earth?” She shook her head. “There have been a bunch of you over the years. We can’t find it, Ben. Its like it doesn’t exist. Not like spirit realms or a pocket world. Just… nothing.”

Shit. Reality check. If that’s what this even was.

“So I’m stuck here?” The question slipped out before I could stop it, my voice tighter than I intended. My heart sank, the reality of the situation settling like a rock in my stomach. My mind briefly shifted to the pulsing form of the Bravery rune before I jolted away from the thought. Even the glimpse was enough to steel my thoughts and calmed me down.

“Probably,” Diana began, but Elara’s sharp voice interrupted.

“But… your people are resilient. Adventurous." She leaned forward, her gaze unwavering.

“I’ve never met one of your people but there are stories. Most continue through the tower, find a new home... But the ones that have stayed here? Your people are considered the best allies.”

A silence hung in the air. The four onlookers now seeming to be giving me some time to process what had been said. My mind was lagging behind Elara’s words and I felt a rising sense of despair.

“What is this tower?” I asked quietly. “You said my people go through the tower to find a home,”

“The tower is an ancient waystation to the Multiverse. To the uh…” Elara started and then stopped looking thoughtful. “Like a… Train Station to other worlds. There are countless others. Oh. Does Earth have trains?” She bit at an apple. I nodded. “Anyways there’s no station on your world. So your people show up from nowhere. Most get bored and leave, some do crazy things,”

“Many who have stayed on Ark are all notable figures in our history,” Diana added.

So there was a giant network of towers in the universe but Earth definitely didn’t have one. We probably blew them up in the dark ages.

My brow furrowed. “Yeah that sounds like us,” I said. So I wasn’t the only human at least. It seemed like at least a few others had ended up wherever here was. I almost felt… excited. Was it the bravery spell or was it real? Apparently that was something I had to think about now. I could do magic.

“Okay,” I said. It was definitely the spell. “I can do crazy.”

“Gaia’s bouncing buttocks I hope not!” Diana cackled then shot a look to a suspiciously silent Stanley.

Elara nodded and then sighed.

“Humans are always reliable. You might find a way back home out there, through the portals. But we might find a way too. And we can help teach you about Runebinding as best as we can. But if you go through a portal before forming a Soul-Seal… Even a beacon won’t get you back here.”

“So what’s in it for you?” I said abruptly. Oh shit, it was the magic. I could recognize it now. I could feel the people around me react to the question.

Elara seemed to understand but it was Cassie who spoke.

“Our world… It sucks.” She said. Everyone nodded as if in unison. “I’ve not met other Outworlders but people talk. Most Hunters know that our world is not easy to live on. But meeting you? It’s like finding out Elves are real. They’re not right?” She looked to Diana.

“Humans are as close as you’re going to get, darling. Ahem… As far as I know,”

Cassie continued. “You fought Glids with us in a dying Spirit-realm like it was the normal thing to do. You already combined two runes into a Spell Sigil, Ben. In a day! Felix and I have been training for months to get there. You have… talent.”

“Exactly,” Elara spoke up. “Ben, you could go through one of the tower’s portals and find any number of worlds that might be safer… But you’re just as likely to find one worse. At least here we can prepare you to look for a way home. If you join the Monster Hunters we would have a human. That is enough for us.”

“So I’m rare, and fucking valuable? Is that it?” My mouth was not listening to me. How do I stop it? This time it was Felix and rather than looking upset he was beaming.

“Yes!” He stood up becoming more animated. “Your people are fucking awesome! I had heard stories but… Stay here with us, become a Monster Hunter. And then all of us can go through the portals and find you a way home together. Like the stories!”

That was… Humans were awesome? Were we thinking of the same people? Humanity was definitely not awesome, not in this place. Not where there was magic. But Cassie put such emphasis on how impressive my Bravery rune… or spell? How impressive it was.

But it was Felix that had completely blindsided me with his positivity and I felt the magical tension disappear.

“The sounds like an adventure,” I reply.