Let’s see, where was I, oh yes - facing almost certain ‘Death by Fireball’.

Well, apparently Rennet’s reflexes were a lot better than I realized because he threw a shield in front of us almost immediately.

The Amazonian blonde with twin fireballs clearly didn’t like this but hadn’t opened fire (ha-ha) yet.

“Identify,” was the only resounding word that apparently left her lips, but came from everywhere.

I didn’t find out until later, but part of that is the magic of Prisms and the magic of Binding. As far as Prisms, most wizards apparently plan to be able to get cooperative research partners from all over the world (and even sometimes beyond it) and so having a ‘magical’ means of perfect (or near perfect) translation certainly helps.

The blonde bombshell could have been speaking an origin language that was some dead combination of Latin, ancient Assyrian, and Xhosa and it (the translation magic) still would have managed to compensate.

The voice from all around was due to the Binding. If nothing else, it really and truly marked her as the Guardian. Although, to be fair, the fireballs made that announcement quite clear in any case.

Rennet was looking panicked and appeared to be trying to decide whether to run or try and scarper around while shielding us both (or even just himself).

I decided to skip all the magics and the running fight and put on my best customer-service persona.

“I am Sam Evermore, Seer and Non-Baseline Consulting Agent,” I grinned tightly, doing my best to keep my eyes off the fireballs and off her bosom.

To Rennet’s apparent surprise, the Guardian’s fireballs evaporated and she appeared to stand still, processing this. After a moment, her eyes appeared to focus on me again.

“Error… Council Errata Decree Number 243 - All Seers are declared to be enemies of Non-Baseline entities,” the Guardian said, not moving, but I could tell that if we didn’t clear this up in a hurry, I was going to be a prime candidate for an involuntary BBQ.

“Council Errata Decree 243 was repealed in 1853,” Rennet managed, still holding the shield, gulping heavily.

The Guardian appeared to consider this and looked at Rennet.

“Identify,” came the same resounding tones of the Guardian again.

“Council Wizard Class G Rennet von Hammerung,” Rennet gave a rather more full identification than I knew about him.

The Guardian appeared to process this before speaking a few words that made the light of the whole of the Escher-esque world around us shift slightly.

“Truth spell,” Rennet mumbled to me.

“State the current year in accordance with the Hyperion system,” the Guardian demanded.

I looked over at Rennet since I had no idea.

“25D23,” Rennet said.

The Guardian cocked her head and looked slightly astonished, but was apparently looking up the protocols (again, found out later).

“This unit has not been accessed since 14R45,” the Guardian indicated.

“About 1096,” Rennet translated.

“Current orders regarding new ownership,” Rennet went on to inquire.

“Pending…. Instructions found - Council Wizards of not less than Grade II may take new ownership if system dormant for greater than fifteen solar cycles,” the Guardian said.

“I’m only Grade IV, but I would have been a Grade I under the old system,” Rennet mumbled.

Apparently it was enough for the Guardian though.

“New ownership not recognized. Class G Grade IV Wizard Rennet von Hammerung not authorized new ownership. Seer Sam Evermore not authorized new ownership. Defense protocols active,” the Guardian appeared to process almost regretfully and two fireballs reignited in her hands.

“If you have any ideas, now would be a good chance to use them,” Rennet said. “Otherwise, we need to get out of here.”

I might have said something to the effect of ‘I don’t like doing this, but I will’, but I didn’t. I simply pulled the heavy magical firearm out of the holster and pointed it directly at the Guardian. There was a small twinge that was just visible of the Guardian.

“Weapon recognized - Classification - Unknown, Capabilities - Unknown - Defense Protocols continuing,” the Guardian said flatly.

“Can you handle two fireballs?” I asked Rennet.

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“Only just,” he was apparently looking at me like I was nuts, but I wasn’t looking at him. My eyes were locked on the Guardian.

“Good, because I don’t know what this will do to her,” I said, pulling back the hammer.

In all the normal stories, there was a hush as I did this. In truth, there wasn’t. The woosh of her fireballs and the background sounds of the chamber made it almost impossible to hear the hammer click into place.

I pulled the trigger.

The flash of blue and purple fire that stormed out of the barrel didn’t make the Guardian flinch even a little as far as I could tell.

However, once the projectile it included hit the Guardian and threw her on her back, well that’s where it all changed. The fireballs detonated when she hit the floor, fire expanding throughout the staircases and the windows that weren’t windows. Hallways that were both halls and walls shifted as the fire billowed and crashed against Rennet’s shield, which flickered slightly, but held.

“What was that?” Rennet’s disbelief was apparent in his voice.

“My little present from the Council for being a Seer on good terms with them,” I said, keeping the weapon pointed at the now prone Guardian.

What Rennet couldn’t see in this moment, but I could, a storm of magics was rippling all around the Guardian. It moved and shifted like waves, but seemed to keep crashing against her form as though getting pushed back somehow.

“Rennet, do you have a spell seeing spell handy?” I asked.

“No. I’d need to draw up the runes. Why?” he asked.

“There’s something interesting going on with the Guardian and I don’t know what,” I said, my eyes still locked on the magical chaos that seemed to be surrounding the Guardian.

“Is she going to get back up?”

“I don’t know. The information I got about these is that they’re non lethal, but they’re powerful enough to stun a Titan.”

“Why would they give you that? I mean, you’re a Seer…” Rennet said before trailing off and realizing what he was saying.

“Rennet, shut up,” I said, seeing the Guardian start to move again.

It was a slow process, but she slowly sat up and appeared to look at her hands and the surroundings before looking accusatorily at me.

“Wh… what…. What did you…. Did you… do… do… do… to me…?” she stammered out, but her voice singular, no longer the full resonant.

I chuckled inwardly at the obvious joke, but kept my game face on.

“I shot you,” I said flatly.

“No…. no… you did something…. else…” she managed, looking at her hands and back at me.

I just looked blank and kept my weapon aimed at her. I’m not a firearm user by nature, but in the face of weaponized magic, it seemed my best defense.

“You… you broke the Binding,” Rennet all but whispered. “How… that’s… not possible…”

“You… you did… h… how?” was all that the Guardian could manage.

“Are you going to continue to fight us?” I asked, gesturing with the weapon.

“I…. I don’t know…” her hesitancy was clear and it was enough for me.

I holstered the weapon. Rennet wasn’t certain yet, but I walked through the shield over to the fallen Amazon.

I stuck out my hand to the very confused looking Guardian.

“I’m Sam Evermore, Seer,” I said, returning my winning smile to my face.

“I…. I was Abethia Ructas,” she said, taking my hand.

Despite our apparent height and weight difference, I still pulled to lift her to her feet.

“Well, you appear to be again. Now, I know you probably have questions, and Rennet is set on pillaging the content of this Prism, but I’d like to make sure that we’re all on the same page before we all try going our separate ways,” I said.

Her eyes appeared to flash with a kind of memory and she reached out to grab the firearm out of the holster.

It all happened so fast that I barely followed that happened. Her hands brushed the handle of the weapon and there was a kind of flash. Not like a flash of lightning, but more like a flash of darkness.

In the next moment, she was cradling her hands and looking stunned at me. I did my best to not look surprised. Rennet behind me was apparently looking equally stunned, having lowered his shield spell.

“I… I need… I need to leave. I want to leave,” she said.

“Sam, no. It hasn’t been in the world in almost a millenia and who knows what that Binding break did. It might break the Prism if it leaves,” Rennet interjected.

“Rennet. Shut up. For one thing, this former Guardian is a she, not an it. For another, Djinn Bindings and forced caging, which is what you’re proposing continue, was outlawed by your Wizard Council over 300 years ago. I’m sure you wouldn’t want me to call the Wizard Police to come pay you a visit,” I turned my head to look at Rennet piercingly.

He appeared to shrink a bit under my gaze. I continued.

“If it breaks the Prism, so be it, but you’ll still have been witness to the first Binding breaking without unmaking the Prism at the same time. I’d say that’s still valuable.”

“Yes, but…” he started.

“No buts. A forcibly caged djinn has been freed. I believe it is Council policy for the local representatives to take over from here. And since there’s no obvious further danger to you, I’d suggest you grab what you can in case it does break when the three of us leave together,” I interrupted.

Rennet clearly wanted to argue the point some more, but the temptation of whatever journals and books could be located within the Prism was more enticing.

The former Guardian and I sat on one of the stairs near the portal together while Rennet scampered off to loot whatever he could carry. We sat in silence mostly. She appeared to be internally processing everything all at once.

I have no idea what sorts of revelations she was having, but she didn’t break into tears or appear angry. Just stunned and still coming to terms with everything.

I took the time to appreciate the Escher-esque interior, complete with a clear lack of sightlines and having the environment shift, depending on your exact perspective and even continue changing. The only constant was the portal.

A scuffing sound was audible after about fifteen minutes. A heavily weighted Rennet followed, carrying a stack of books and scrolls that looked ready to topple in an instant. I chuckled a bit to myself and grabbed the top quarter of the stack and tucked it under my arm.

“Shall we?” I pointed to the portal.

“Will… will you help me?” the former Guardian asked, looking specifically at me and avoiding looking at Rennet as much as she could.

“Of course. Now let’s see about getting out of this place and we’ll see what we can manage,” I said, a genuine smile this time.

The former Guardian stood on one side of me and Rennet on the other. Rennet didn’t look happy, but he didn’t look unhappy either. In fact he mostly just looked tired under the weight of his load.

And the rest is fairly boring. We went through the portal without needing the extra essentia crystal. I dropped the stack I’d taken from Rennet, waiting for him to put his stack down and gave him his crystal back. The former Guardian was now speaking a language neither of us comprehended, so I settled on gestures for her to come with me outside where I could call our Gnomish ombudsman and Lucy to figure out what to do next.

As I said, fairly boring compared with the rest, but it was a rather interesting first trip out with my firearm and I ended up with a new friend in the process.

Let’s see… oh right, well, I’ll have to wait and tell you about my trip to an orc and troll bar another time.