Grant stepped through the doorway. It was day on the other side, and the sun hung pleasantly in the bright blue sky, with only a few wisps of cloud scattered here and there. The dirt was soft beneath his bare feet as he took a deep breath and looked over what was, apparently, to be his new home. The house he had travelled through was situated on top of a gentle hill, with a dark, earthy path winding a few hundred metres down towards the valley below. There was a… village, for lack of a better word, nestled into the valley and spreading out over a shallow, curved hill beyond, forming a bowl. ‘Village’ seemed like an odd term only because of the mishmashed array of buildings that formed the bulk of the settlement. Unlike the plain he had emerged from the amphitheatre into, however, these buildings were odd not just because of clashing architectural styles or periods of history, but because of the materials they were made out of. Just the three closest houses he could make out clearly were beyond anything he could imagine.
The first on the left was a massive, hollowed out tree, with three spreading branches on top that shot out in random directions, each one almost as thick as the enormous trunk itself. Windows had been carved into the branches, though with no glass, but instead what appeared to be curtains made of hanging vines and flowers that had intertwined to form a thick mesh. The other two were more like normal houses, albeit very large ones, until Grant looked closer. The last house on the right he had first thought was simply painted in an incredibly erratic, rainbow-like style, with thick bands of various different colours wrapping around the building at 45 degree angles. But now that he was studying it in more detail he saw that the bands were not just a different colour, but that the house was actually made of layers of what he saw were massive slabs of gemstones. Ruby, sapphire, emerald, and plenty of other colours and styles of stones he couldn’t hope to identify, were somehow being used in place of bricks or wood in such a way that no normal building could ever be constructed. The final house, in the middle, was a normal, lovely-looking two story house that looked similar to the ones he had seen in the suburbs he had just walked through - except this one was floating a few feet above the ground, slowly rotating counter-clockwise. And those were just the first few he could see - there were dozens more houses, one every few acres, stretching the width of the valley. At the bottom of the hill, facing towards the centre of the cirque was a wide path of smooth white stone. Various other paths fanned out towards the houses like branches of a tree, each one again made of a unique material, ranging from shining gold to one that seemed to be made of ice.
Grant stood stunned for a second as he heard Kyra follow him through and shut the door. Stepping up beside him, she surveyed the land below. “So… what do you think?” she asked, smirking.
“It’s… incredible,” he said, still gobsmacked. “I mean, I’ve already had my mind blown so many times today, but I wasn’t expecting anything like this. It’s weird and crazy and terrifying but also… beautiful.”
She nodded knowingly. “Yeah, it is,” she said softly, allowing him a moment to absorb the sight. “Welcome to your new world.”
She set off down the path. Grant trailed behind her, stumbling a little as his eyes remained fixed on the wondrous displays of magic before him. After a few minutes, they reached the bottom of the hill. Ahead of them, the dirt path had transitioned to the white stone, the surface polished to a bright sheen. As they moved past the closest house, the tree, a man’s head emerged from one of the upper windows.
“I see we have a new member!” the man exclaimed in a thick Russian accent, despite the fact that his English was perfect. His brow furrowed. “Hang on… did I lose a few days again, or did we speak just a few minutes ago?”
Kyra looked up at him, shading her eyes as she smiled and shook her head. “No, you didn’t lose any time. It must have been a late warning, he was already waiting for me when I arrived. Grant, this here is Fyodor Lagunov. Fyodor, this is Grant…” She trailed off before looking at him expectantly.
“... Summers! Grant Summers, nice to meet you.” Grant called out to the man in the tree, waving. He had a wide, smiling face, with thick, long black hair and a neatly trimmed goatee. His hair was decorated with sundry accessories, some beads, some nuts, and what appeared to be a bone or two. He raised an arm the size of Grant’s thigh and waved back.
“The pleasure is all mine,” Fyodor replied, “I’m sure we will be fast friends. I’m probably going to be one of your teachers, after all.” His eyes widened in dismay. “Oh no! I better start getting ready for that - I thought I had days yet! Goodbye!” He ducked back into his tree abruptly.
Grant looked at Kyra. “Teacher? Like, in magic and stuff? Cause please don’t tell me this is a hellscape where I have to learn trigonometry again.”
Kyra chuckled. “No, magic and stuff is right. Fyodor has been here for a few decades, and his particular gifts are well suited to teaching others how to access their Source safely. He was my teacher when I first came here, too.”
Grant smiled, his heart beginning to race as he imagined what he could with some magic lessons. He pictured himself flying through the air, lifting trucks over his head, shooting lasers from his - no, bad Grant, don’t picture yourself in tights and cape. Surefire way to look like an idiot.
They continued through the streets, meeting a few other people who greeted Kyra cheerfully, although they all seemed surprised upon seeing Grant accompanying her. Many of them were dressed in fashions as clashing and erratic as the houses around them, and at least one man defied gender roles quite stunningly, dressed in a sheer, flowing blue gown. Grant raised an eyebrow at this, but was pleasantly surprised by how casually Kyra and the others with the man treated the cross-dressing.
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“So that ‘don’t be a dickhead’ rule that you have,” he said to Kyra once they were out of sight of the man and his friends, “seems to be pretty effective. Even in the most open-minded places I’ve been, most people wouldn’t feel comfortable walking around like that.”
Kyra looked at him in confusion for a second, before glancing back at where the man stood chatting. Comprehension crossed her face, followed quickly by thoughtfulness. “Huh. I’d forgotten that stuff like that is taboo back on Earth.” She shrugged. “After you spend a few weeks here, stuff like that tends to stop mattering. But, just so you know, Lei was originally a woman. She decided to give being a man a try a year or so ago, though he says he still prefers wearing a dress to trousers. And he does have some amazing dresses.”
Grant blinked a few times. “Oh. Right. Good to know. Wait, so… transforming? That's a thing we can do?”
Kyra shook her head. “Not all of us, no. Only a few are able to change form at all, and only Lei and Enu can change into different human bodies. The rest are mostly a few specific animals.”
Grant absorbed this information for a second. “So… each of us has different powers?”
Kyra sighed. “I really shouldn’t be talking to you about this much. You’re not really meant to know too much about our abilities until you start training…” She looked over at him. “Although, I guess the main reason we don’t spill the beans too early is to stop people overdrawing, which you already experienced and know not to repeat.”
Grant shivered and nodded quickly.
“Good. So to answer you, yes. There’s some crossover, but most of us are quite different from each other. You’ll find out your specialty soon, don’t worry.”
Grant nodded thoughtfully, before he was struck by something.
“Hang on, I just realised -” he began, before cutting himself off. “No, sorry. I don’t want to pester you. I’ll find out tomorrow.”
Kyra chuckled. “It’s alright. I am your guide, after all, and like I said, you already know not to try anything on your own. Go ahead and ask.”
“Well, I just noticed - does everyone here speak English? Or are you able to translate using your magic? I mean, Fyodor sounded Russian, you sound like you’re from Greece, but everyone seems to be speaking perfect English.”
Kyra smiled, nodding approvingly. “A good question. It took me an embarrassingly long time before I realised that everyone was able to speak Greek with me. The short answer is no, not everyone speaks English. The longer answer is that it doesn’t matter what you speak, we’re able to understand each other. If you really, really concentrate, you’ll realise that I’m still speaking Greek, you just understand it as English.”
Grant cocked his head as she spoke, focusing on the words as they entered his mind. He realised she was right - when he thought about it, the actual words he was hearing were utter nonsense to him, and yet his brain seemed to translate it to English without him noticing. “Wow. That’s… really, really cool. So I can understand any language?”
Kyra nodded. “Yep. That’s something we’ve experimented with quite a bit, its a very powerful feature. Not only can you understand anything, but we’ve discovered that it actually twists things a little, translating idioms and other sayings into versions that you understand. For example, if I say, ‘keep your eyes open’, you don’t actually hear what I said unless you really concentrate.”
Grant frowned, focusing on the sounds. Now that he was trying, he could hear the unfamiliar Greek words underlying the sounds his mind was translating them into. As he focused more on the words she spoke, his understanding suddenly seemed to shift, and he heard not only the Greek or the English, but a third meaning appeared in his mind, and he understood instantly that it was the literal translation of the idiom Kyra had used. “Your eyes, fourteen?” he said hesitantly, the raised tone making it questioning.
Kyra laughed delightedly. “That’s right! That’s the Greek version. My mum used to say that all the time.” The smile faded from her face slightly as she spoke, and her gaze turned inward for a second, before she smiled brightly again. “You caught onto that quickly. But, a word of advice - don’t bother trying too hard. The translations will be more than enough to get on with. Though if you wanted to learn Greek the hard way, I won’t object. It’d be nice to hear it from someone else’s lips for real.” She grinned at him, and Grant found himself grinning back.
Before long, Kyra stopped in front of one of the houses, turning to face Grant. “Okay. Here we are. This is Ed’s house. He’s more or less our leader, or at least, he’s been here the longest and is the strongest. He likes to meet us newbies, give us the lay of the land, help ease us in. He’ll probably… Grant, are you alright?”
Grant stared at the house they had stopped at, blood draining from his face. He had hardly heard a word she had spoken until she said his name, jolting him from his shock. He looked at her, feeling pale. Don’t tell her, he heard a voice saying in his mind, she can’t know yet.
He opened his mouth, but no words came out at first. “... I’m… I’m fine. Sorry, it’s just… it’s overwhelming. Sorry, you were talking about Ed.”
Kyra frowned at him, confusion, suspicion and concern playing across her face. “Right. As I was saying, he’ll probably want to tell you a few things you already know, about our Source and such. I’ll go in and fill him in on what’s happened first, hopefully he’ll know more about why we were attacked, or why your Source wasn’t flowing at first.” She raised a hand, and the tip of one of her hair ribbons severed itself, floating gently through the air and wrapping itself around his wrist. “I’ll signal you when you should come in. In the meantime, take a deep breath or something, pull yourself together.” Still looking at him with a warring mix of emotions, she turned and entered the house.
Grant stared after her, feeling numb. He wasn’t quite sure why he hadn’t told her why he was so shocked, but every fibre of his being screamed that it would be a mistake. He looked back up at the building she had entered, a building that he recognised. He had seen it just a short time ago, in his mind, burnt and bloodied. Before him, solid gold and standing strong, was the house from his vision.