Calris crept along the narrow hallway, eyes forward and Ban by his side. The sweep had been uneventful. The only beasts they had found were the corpses they left while fighting back to the company. A tap on his shoulder drew his attention as he approached another corner.

“Round this corner is an open room we’ve been calling the Courtyard,” Ban said. “Beyond it is the Tower where the rift opened,” he whispered.

Calris nodded and looked back at Jasmine standing behind the rest of the squad. “Can you tell if it’s still open, Princess?”

“I hate it when you call me that.”

“I know.”

“Prick.”

“Guilty. So, is it open?”

Jasmine laughed and made a rude gesture, and Calris blew her a kiss with a smile. She mimed vomiting.

“I don’t know. This magic is unfamiliar and has thrown the currents into turmoil.” She paused, a cruel smile creeping onto her face. “If I’m lucky, though, it is still open and you’ll get dragged through.”

The surrounding marines chuckled, discretely, of course, but even Viper cracked a rare smile. Calris barely resisted the urge to smirk. He’d walked right into that one, but he had to respect the sass.

“In that case, ladies first.”

“Such a gentleman,” Jasmine replied, shouldering past him and rounding the corner. His eyes widened. He had been kidding, she wasn’t actually supposed to take point!

“Wait!” he called, lunging after her, his spear ready in one hand, his other grasping for her robes. She danced out of his reach, laughing, and planted her hands on her hips with a cheeky smirk that did funny things to Calris’ heart.

“Oh, now isn’t that sweet, Ape?” she said, completely at ease. Calris scanned the Courtyard behind her and the Tower on the far side. It was empty.

“The portal is closed, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“You knew the whole time?”

“Correct.”

He scowled as she turned on her heel and strode into the Tower, tossing a ball of flame into the air to light up the interior.

“You’re a bit of a bitch, you know that?” Calris said as he entered behind her.

“So everybody keeps telling me.”

She said the words playfully, looking back at him with a smile. Calris couldn’t help but smile back, though he silently chided himself for it. He scanned the room and found the Key, sitting on its side in the middle of the room. Ban edged over and nudged it with his boot.

“Looks like it’s all used up,” he said with a hopeful inflection, nearly turning the statement to a question. Jasmine joined him and picked it up, closing her eyes as she felt for residual magic.

“Hmmm… not quite. It’s still quite close to saturation,” she said, packing it away in a satchel that she slung over her back. She looked up to find Calris and the others backing away.

“Are you telling me it could open again?” asked Calris. Fighting the beasts had been an interesting challenge, but the company had just scraped through thanks to a terrain advantage and an ungodly powerful apprentice mage.

“No, I think not. It isn’t close enough to activate from a stray touch or fireball, if that is what you are worried about. But it did not fully discharge its enchantment.”

“Fortunate for us I’d say,” Ban said. “But is that normal?”

Jasmine blew a very unladylike raspberry. “Who’s to say what is and isn’t normal with this thing? Maybe it’s a shortcoming of the design, or the enchantment? Maybe it’s been damaged with age, or maybe the conditions just weren’t right for a stable rift. We will need to study it further.”

Her comment was met with groans and outraged cries from the marines. Badger spoke up first.

“Surely you aren’t serious, miss? The last time you ‘studied’ this thing, it summoned literal monsters.”

“We know to be more careful next time.”

“Bloody mages. Never know when to leave well enough alone,” he said, shaking his head. Mouse came up beside him and tried to placate her friend with a hand on the shoulder.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Don’t be like that, Badge,” she said.

“They could have slaughtered us, mate!”

“Exactly. Those things are dangerous, but we know nothing about them. We need to know more.”

Badger shook the hand off his shoulder and rounded on the slight marine.

“They definitely aren’t local, and I doubt they have the brains to build boats to cross the sea. I say let sleeping dogs lie!” Badger said, as the squad fell to bickering; Badger and Mouse, Viper and Sparrow, and Ban and Jasmine.

Calris furrowed his brow. Badger had a good point; they didn’t seem particularly bright, so if they lived in some undiscovered land on the other side of the ocean, they probably didn’t need to worry about them building a navy and sailing across. But there was still something bothering him.

“They had metal weapons,” Calris said to no one in particular.

“What?” Badger asked.

“They had metal weapons,” Calris repeated, louder this time. “I agree with you mate, they are thick as two short planks, but somehow the big one had a metal knife. Crude as fuck, but definitely forged.”

Everyone fell silent as they pondered the implications of this. Building a crude boat was, technologically, probably a fair bit easier than mining, smelting, and forging metal weaponry.

“Bugger,” the pudgy marine said sullenly.

“So, Mr. Badger, does that mean I have your permission to continue studying the artefact?” Jasmine asked with a wry smile. Badger huffed and turned away, leading the rest of the squad back into the sunlight.

“Excellent!” she said, smiling as she turned to Calris and Ban. “Shall we return to the others, then?”

They filed back into the tunnels in a gaggle, their relief palpable at securing the Key without more fighting. Calris let himself drop back from the others, ambling along and enjoying the unique view. He noticed Ban had dropped back alongside him, and was consciously letting the rest of the squad get further away from them.

“So,” he eventually said. “What the fuck happened to you?”

“No idea,” Calris said cheerfully. “I’m not inclined to look a gift horse in the mouth, though.”

Ban nodded, and they walked along in silence for a while, before he turned back to Calris.

“Pretty crappy gift, though, if you ask me.”

“How d’you mean?”

“Your chest, mate. Scarred to buggery! But I guess, if you keep a shirt on, the ladies won’t mind.”

“Mate, you’re off your head. Women love scars!”

“They do not.”

“Do too! Oi, Princess! Does this scar make me look more alluring to you?”

Jasmine rolled her eyes and kept walking.

“Suit yourself. Anyway, it wasn’t that deep. It might have healed up by itself.”

“This morning it was a scabbed up weeping crater I could fit my fist in.”

Well, that put paid to the idea that it had healed naturally. When he woke, he had assumed it hadn’t been as severe as he’d first thought, but a festering wound that deep should not have healed so quickly. If he was being honest with himself, it shouldn’t have healed at all, and his corpse should have been long cooled by now. And then there was the situation with his ribs.

“What?” Calris asked stupidly, stalling for time.

“Yeah, mate, there was pus everywhere. It was disgusting, and I had to keep it clean. You owe me for that, by the way. And let’s not forget when you put a javelin clean through two of those beasts and lodged it in a third. Or when a thighbone shattered your ribs, and they knitted themselves back together as you ran. What is going on?”

Calris was silent, staring back at Ban, at a loss as to what to say. The truth was, he had no bloody idea what had happened to his body either, why he’d suddenly grown stronger, healed almost instantly, or why his new abilities had left him just as abruptly. He was so lost in thought, he stumbled into Jasmine, who had stopped in front of them.

“You did what?” she asked, eyes narrowed at Calris.

“I… Something happened to my body before the fight. I didn’t realise my wound was as bad as Ban says, but beyond that I was faster and stronger than I’ve ever felt in my life. I could feel cuts and broken bones mending under my skin as I fought, too,” he said, before adding. “This is very unusual, by the way.”

“Really, Ape? You must be some sort of genius to have figured that out.”

“Rude.”

Jasmine shook her head and muttered something under her breath.

“The regenerative effect sounds similar to Aetheris magic, but even then, bones need to be manually set before they can be mended. And as for the enhanced strength? There are some Aquis mages who can manipulate the water within their own bodies to create the impression of greater strength and speed, but it is extremely dangerous and, again, not the same as what you describe.”

“What are you suggesting, Princess?” Calris asked, though he had a sinking feeling he already knew.

“I believe magic is responsible for the changes in your body. Would you be willing to allow me to break your arm to observe the regenerative effects firsthand?”

“Woah woah woah! Absolutely not!” Calris shouted, holding his hands up as Jasmine formed a flame in her hand, “besides the, magic, or whatever, disappeared just before that big fucker showed up.”

Jasmine snuffed out the flame as her face took on a familiar scowl.

“That complicates things,” she muttered, before turning back down the tunnel. “I’ll need to discuss this with the old man. He may know more.”

“I’m not sure I want to know more,” Calris mumbled as he followed. If Jasmine was right, and something magical was going on, he was more than happy to forget the whole thing and hope it didn’t happen again. The thought of unknown magical forces bouncing around his body, making it do things, was uncomfortable.

“Calris, at the risk of inflating your already gargantuan ego, what you have survived and what you have done since we arrived here is, by conventional wisdom, inexplicable.”

“Oh, Princess, you’re making me blush. If you want to take me out to dinner, you can just ask. You’re paying though.”

“Aaaand I just lost my appetite. Forever.”

“Or we can cut straight to the after-dinner activities?”

Jasmine made a disgusted noise and hurried after the rest of the squad.

“I think she’s coming round to me, Ban,” Calris remarked cheerfully.

“She was when you were bleeding out on the glass floor, but I think you’ve just burned through all the goodwill that got you.”

“You really think so?”

“Mate, how you have ever gotten laid is a mystery to me,” Ban said, turning to Calris. “And I noticed what you did there, by the way. Sabotaging that conversation. But this matter isn’t settled. I want to know what happened back there, even if you don’t.”

Calris kept his face carefully blank, and after a few seconds Ban sighed and hurried off after Jasmine. Calris watched him go, his mind roiling as he grappled with the implications of the last few days.