3] The Maiden and the Dragon:

I met Adam Brody in a park near his granddaughter's apartment. His grandchild, Sarah, didn't look all that much like him considering he was a seven foot tall winged reptilian person. But I guess she did have his bright green eyes. Just with round pupils to his cat like ones.

“I got a spell to make me look human, but it feels unnatural after all these years, and everyone just thinks I’m really good at cosplaying.”

He gave me a toothy grin as he waved around the park with chatting parents and children playing. None of them were even giving him a glance after he had performed a few "Magic tricks" at the children's demands until he claimed to have exhausted his magic and the parents dragged them off.

“I got plenty of Kai left, but I don’t want to spoil them. I made that mistake with my own children.”

As best as I could tell he felt fairly sad at that revelation. His granddaughter, a woman in her early twenties reached out to grip his arm. He looked up at her and smiled. This time without all the teeth.

“So let me give you the short version. I died. I went to another world. Then I completed my mission and got my choice of reward, so I asked to come back.”

He let out a bitter laugh. "Of course, my old body had been in the ground for several years, so I had to come back in my new one. That caused… issues."

Mainly. His family wanted nothing to do with him. Not because he wasn't human anymore. But because they feared he might want their inheritance back. So other than Sarah, none of them were willing to have anything to do with him so he could not claim in court that they had acknowledged him as him.

“To be fair, it is a lot of money.”

Brody had come from a wealthy family to start with, but he had increased his wealth over his lifetime a few hundred times over, through hard work.

"And admittedly through the connections I had by growing up rich. Knowing all the right people, and going to the right schools. Being rich does give you a serious advantage that far exceeds talent. But I did the work, even sacrificing the connections with my family that I should have developed."

After his death, a heart attack, Brody had ended up before a proverbial goddess whose presence was obscured with a blinding light so that he never got a good look at her. But in her judgment, he had the skills she needed to save her chosen city from economic collapse. So he had a choice, live again in her service and receive a reward. Or move on to the judgment of another.

He chose life. And she made him into a Draken, a sort of dragon human hybrid, then dumped him in her patron city stark naked in an alleyway.

"This lifetime I didn't have all the advantages. It was expert mode. I had nothing but a healthy young body and a lifetime of experience in another world."

He nodded to himself again. “And a lot of time. Draken’s lives are measured in centuries, and I spend five of them in that other world, bringing the city of Gredaaline back into prominence and prosperity.”

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Reaching over, he gave his granddaughter a one armed hug. “When I discovered only a few years had passed here, I took my reward in a trip home. To see my family once again, and originally to share what I gained in the Many Bordered land.”

He held out his hand into which a golden coin shimmered into view.

“Spacial magic. Go ahead and take it. One gold Brody, which I would like to note was not my idea to call it that. Back in Gredaaline city, it could get you a luxury meal for two and an overnight stay in a high class room at a hotel. Here it can get you about three hundred bucks in a pawn shop since no one legitimate wants to deal in otherworldly coins.”

I took the coin with a ridged rim and an image on one side that could be Brody along with some writing, and an image of an ornate building with a high tower on the other side.

“Apparently a directive from the government has gone out demanding all such coinage to be turned in to the department of the treasury. Just claim on your blog that I made you give it back.”

The horrible evil dragon man then made me give him the gold coin back. Damn his eyes.

“Spacial magic can also get me and anyone I want to bring back home, I even have the time flow linked to pass at the same rate for as long as I’m here. I had hoped to offer my children and theirs all the benefits a magical world could offer. Which include magically enhanced health and lifespans. Even the chance to learn magic of their own.”

He reached out to take hold of Sarah’s hand. “Instead, only Sarah cares enough to call me Grandpa and take me into her home. And she has no interest in going anywhere. At least not permanently.”

The young woman smiled at her grandfather and squeezed his hand. “I cried the first time I lost you Grandpa, and I’ll cry again when you go. But I belong here, and I have work to do.”

He clasped her hand with both of his before letting her go.

"I've converted most of the gold I brought here to cash outside of the states. Sarah will be running a foundation to help some of the people who have suffered financial loss due to having a loved one Vanished. The Brody Foundation will also try to help others like me who have made it home.”

He sighed. “I’ve met a few of them. Not everyone gets to keep the power they were given, or earned, on those other worlds. A few that did will be working with Sarah.”

The dragon man gave me a hard look. "Some of them have the ability to tell when someone is lying, magically. Let people know that lying to get undeserved handouts will not work, and will get them a nasty curse.”

He snarled. “I will not tolerate anyone wasting our time and trying to steal resources from those in genuine need. Let them be warned. Examples can be made.”

He gave me another toothy grin. “As for those who would come after my grandchild for any reason. She will always be protected and there are far worse fates than a mere curse."

Sarah punched him in the shoulder. “Cut it out. I can take care of myself now Grandpa.”

She gave me a grin. “I spent a few weeks, here time, which was a few dozen years, there time.”

Sarah held up one of her hands, flames rose up in the shape of a dragon taking flight before they flickered out.

“You are looking at a graduate of the Gredaaline School of Wizardry. With a Majoric degree in Magical theory and a Minoric in teaching."

She started to stand up, only for her grandfather to leap to his feet and offer her a hand, which she took with a sigh.

“Against my grandfather’s wishes, I will be teaching a fundamentals of sorcery class at the community center starting this weekend. All the spots in the class are filled. But I will be posting videos online at Brodyfoundation.mag, where anyone in need of help due to the Vanishing or a Returning can contact us for help.”

I thanked them for the interview and we said our goodbyes. As the two of them headed out of the park, two people turned from their conversation to follow them out of the park with side glances all around as they pressed one hand each up against their ears as they whispered into their shirt collars.

Something or someone not quite visible took flight overhead.

The Brodys seemed like nice people who genuinely wanted to help others. If you lost someone, even if you don’t need financial help. I suggest contacting them.

I will be sending them a request for a forum to help people find and even organized support groups. I suspect a lot of people may just need someone to talk to.

For myself. I’ll be downloading a video this weekend called Introduction to Magic.

And cursing that evil dragon who took that golden coin from me which I definitely no longer have.

Addendum:

I didn’t think of it at the time, but Brody said he was taken after his death.

We’re already guessing at just how many people are being Vanished since so many people disappear without any witnesses or recording, just how many of our dead are being taken?