"What's this?" Rosie asked as she pointed at the trident.
Tabby lifted his head slightly from the sofa before slumping back down. "It's a fork."
"Why is this fork so big?" Rosie asked again.
"Sometimes we eat lots of food. Using big forks are easier."
Rosie nodded, seemingly understanding Tabby's eating predicaments. "What's this?" She pointed at the TV.
"It's a TV." "Teeee-fee?"
"No, it's called tee-vee." Tabby enunciated.
"Tee-fee." Rosie had tried her best.
"Close enough," Tabby nodded at her efforts. Rosie beamed.
"What's this?" Rosie tried getting on the floating broomstick.
"Lee!" Tabby summoned help before his peaceful afternoon is ruined. "Please do the game-item-label-explanation-magic-thing."
After a few seconds, Rosie sensed something shimmered in the air. Light blue boxes appeared and hovered around the living room.
Television Type: Tool, Entertainment Rank: Myth (Connectivity +6)
A typical wide flat-screen television from Dimension-101 "Earth".
This item is powered by an in-built ambient mana-electric converter and does not require an external power source.
Modified to receive signals across the electromagnetic spectrum from other universes and dimensions.
Can be controlled using item "Remote Control"
Sofa Type: Furniture, Relaxation Rank: Unique (Comfort +8)
A luxurious sofa made with the discarded hide of the Celestial Cow.
Despite its rustic look, the high quality of the materials used to create this furniture makes it a highly unique and desirable piece.
This sofa is enchanted to remember the desired softness and temperature of multiple users.
Rosie ran around the room in delight trying to identify as many items as she can. She curiously peeked at Tabby, wondering if anything will pop up as well.
Tabby Type: Mythical Creature, Unknown Rank: Unknown (Fat +2)
A mythical creature in the form of a tabby cat.
No identifiable strengths or weakness.
Fond of afternoon naps and desserts.
Dislikes curious young girls who keeps trying to stare at his explanation window.
Rosie yelped as she read the last sentence. She smiled sweetly when she saw Tabby's mischievous grin before shrieking as he leaped towards her.
The two of them ran around the living room, alarming Sparky who promptly shot out of the window. After a long and tiring battle, Rosie eventually surrendered and relented herself to be Tabby's lap pillow.
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"Tabby, what are you?" Rosie asked as she gently rubbed Tabby's head.
"A cat," Tabby yawned, "obviously."
"But your type says unknown," Rosie insisted.
"You are quite keen huh," Tabby raised his head before slumping back down again.
Rosie chuckled and continued stroking Tabby's fur.
* * *
Lee glanced into the living room and smiled when he saw the two of them dozing on the sofa. Sparky was likewise back inside and asleep on the floating broom.
He went back to the shed. As Lee had deployed a localised time-freeze spell, everything inside, including the transparent barrier used to trap Rosie, was untouched since yesterday's incident.
Lee blinked his right eye which started glowing. He raised his left hand and made a slow pinching motion. As he did so, the barrier started slowly shrinking, trapping any gaseous or liquid body within it. The barrier eventually shrunk to become a palm-sized cube.
Lee clicked his fingers. A white flame spread throughout the room, burning off any forms of residual contamination that were foreign to this dimension. Once the room was properly scoured, Lee picked up the cube and put it aside on a table.
He went to examine the makeshift portal machine. While it was relatively untouched, there were still some burnt marks from overheating and backlashes from the spells. However, most of its internal and external structures were intact.
Lee decided to run another test. Rather than turning the machine on from the get go, he casted multiple overlapping barriers just to be safe.
Lee slowly pushed up a lever. A swirling, smoky portal started forming in the centre of the machine just as it did previously. Flashes of lightning occasionally fizzled inside.
That's odd, Lee thought as he rubbed his chin. The startup wasn't so smooth last time.
Lee pushed the lever higher. The portal started swirling faster and faster.
Just as Lee thought nothing was wrong, the portal swirled much faster on its own accord. Black lightning flashed and weird tendrils crept out of the portal.
Before those tendrils could start lashing, Lee extended his left palm and swiftly closed it in a grasping motion. The barriers quickly shrank, managing to cut off some of the tendrils and trapping some puffs of black smoke in the process.
Satisfied that he gained something from this trial, Lee pushed the lever down to turn the machine off. The portal's swirling slowed down.
Suddenly, a huge pillar-like tentacle shot out from the portal directly towards Lee accompanied by ethereal moaning and groaning sounds. While Lee was surprised, he reacted swiftly and casted an arcane shield. The tentacle continued crashing against the shield, producing black and blue sparks whenever it made contact.
Before it could do more harm, Lee lifted both of his hands towards the tentacle. Spell lines fizzled across the arcane shield, changing the previously hard shield to be more malleable and rubbery.
Lee walked forward evenly. The now rubbery shield started pushing back against the tentacle, trapping its outburst inside. The shield eventually formed a rubbery, net-like membrane covering the portal. Occasional bulges were seen alongside angry groaning sounds as the unknown creature tried to escape.
By the time Lee walked all the way to the portal, the arcane shield had formed a circular rubbery membrane closing the portal entirely.The tentacle continued pushing against the shield, but eventually gave up its attempts and retreated back into the portal which promptly vanished. The room became silent again.
Lee gingerly peeled off a corner of the shield. He heaved a sigh of relief once the smoky portal was no longer there. Snapping his fingers, the shield phased away.
Lee picked up the second palm-sized cube from a corner of the room, obviously thrown by the tentacle during its rampage. Some broken pieces of furniture and vials were also scattered close to the portal machine.
Lee lifted his right hand and twirled a finger counter-clockwise. Time rewound as the broken items magically mended themselves and flew back to wherever they came from. Everything returned back to their original states a few minutes ago.
"Wanna explain what happened here?"
Lee turned around in surprise. Tabby was sitting by the door.
"Nothing much, just trying to repeat yesterday's experiment and see if anything would happen," Lee placed the second palm-sized cube on the table.
"You better be more careful. The last thing we want is another angry god stomping over to investigate whatever dimensional shit happened here," Tabby said as he hopped on the table.
"Don't worry, I sent a note yesterday to the High Council so they won't be alarmed," Lee shrugged. "How did you know what was going on anyway? I thought I deployed a sound-proof barrier?"
"Yeah. But as I was napping, I heard some sort of icky, unpleasant groaning sound which woke me up," Tabby frowned. "If the sound-proof barrier is not working, doesn't that mean those were telepathic blasts instead?"
"Sparky and Rosie don't seem to be affected though, otherwise they would have woke up as well," Tabby continued on as he gingerly poked one of the cubes. Faint groans could be heard from one of the cubes.
Lee wrinkled his brow. "If it's telepathic, we better keep these cubes somewhere safer," he said. Lee conjured a black circle and tossed the cubes inside.
After double checking to make sure everything was alright, the both of them left the shed.
Rosie woke up as they walked in. As she rubbed her drowsy eyes, her stomach emitted a cute yet loud growl. She flashed an embarrassed smile. Lee and Tabby chuckled.
"Don't worry, dinner will be ready soon," Lee said as he pulled up his sleeves, whistling some tune as he walked into the kitchen.
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Author's notes:
The number 101 is generally an auspicious number associated with rebirth, new beginnings, enlightenment, longevity and success. This might or might not have some significance in the story. :)