《The Warden》


 1 :: The Castle in the Clouds

    "Class dismissed!" an elderly woman crowed as her pupils stood to pack their bags,  chattering amongst themselves with all the blissful enthusiasm of youth.  Her bristly grey hair was pulled tightly into a braided bun.  As her eyes fell on a certain student they narrowed.  "Would Miss Nora Carlisle kindly join me for a moment?" she added.


    The elderly professors cold, stormy eyes probed at the girl in question from behind her spectacles, watching her every move for signs of fleeing as she crammed her textbook and notepad into her leather satchel.  Noting the vigilant gaze of her teacher, Nora surreptitiously dropped her fountain pen to the floor with a clatter.  As a group of her peers passed in front of her heading for the door, she slung the leather strap of her satchel across her body and stooped to pick it up.


    A group of her classmates chucked at her misfortune as they passed, well-accustomed to their teacher''s futile battle against their habitually truant classmate.  The trio was a group of averagely accomplished water mages.  Not unusual for this school.  Though mages were rare enough, making up only about a sixth of the population, water mages were certainly the most common in this town.  That statistic, of course, didn''t stop them from having a bit of a superiority complex.


    The girls'' hair hung in soft waves. The two on the sides had hair of either dull blue or a sort of peacock green that were common in these parts.  The one in the middle had hair that was a pale, pastel blue.  This color was less common, but extremely popular.  Although Nora didn''t know the girls from a load of hay, she assumed that the one in the middle,  at least, must be fairly popular.  Not popular enough to be worth remembering though, Nora supposed.


    As the three momentarily obscured Nora from the view of her hawk like observer, the aged educator craned her neck in an attempt to keep her delinquent pupil in sight, but her efforts amounted to nothing.  By the time the group of students had passed, Svenivelle Academy''s famed escape artist had already disappeared.


    Nora thrust her feet into the empty air that marked the edge of the cliff.  Her gunmetal blue hair shook softly in the breeze as she leaned her head back, skimming her collarbone gently.  Thunder shook the air around her.  Intoxicated by the sound, she breathed in deeply.  Damp, thick, and cool, the air here was more refreshing than the greatest elixir.  Nora reveled in it.  A wisp of the incense that she had lit at the nearby temple wafted her way, further increasing the pleasure of the moment.


    Finding herself so calmed that her moment of relaxation was encroaching on slumber, Nora opened her eyes and peered out into the emptiness of the space before her.  Grey.  Nothing but grey mist for the entirety of the ten meter radius that marked her range of visibility.  A streak of light traced its way through the clouds in the distance as another rumble of thunder pounded her ears, seeming, as always like it was coming from just behind her, supporting her from behind and pushing her forward.


    In all honesty, it probably wasn''t the best idea to climb the tallest cliff in the village in the midst of a raging thunderstorm, but that hadn''t stopped Nora before and it wouldn''t this time, either.  She loved this place.  It was her favorite place in the whole world, probably in all of them. She loved the feel of the cool dark grey stone that the whole place was carved and built from, always damp from those grey clouds condensing into little droplets and being absorbed into its greedy, smooth surface.  She loved the fatigue that plagued her muscles in simmering waves as her bare feet stumbled to find purchase against the winding paths that were cut just a little too shallowly into the cliffside, as her arms tore at the ancient, corroded chains bolted (sometimes pitifully) to the wall that represented her only hope of reaching her destination safely.  She loved the pleasant tingling burn left on her hands and feet when she pulled on the rickety chains and struggled to get her toes to grip the jagged mossy path and countless sets of steep and unforgiving stairs along the way.  Mostly though, she loved the period of utter bliss that followed the perilous journey.  It was the way the coolness of the stone sank into her weary muscles and bones and calmed the burns left by rusted chain and craggy stone.  That very coolness sank all the way into her core, building a little nest of ice that calmed her heart and soothed her mind.


    Nora supposed that this feeling of comfort was similar to that which was experienced by those who love the ocean and move amongst the waves like fish, but she just couldn''t see the appeal.  There was no thunder in the ocean, and it was too difficult to breathe.  No matter how many times she went swimming with the other village children in her class, she still found it lacking, and time after time, she would make her way to the forgotten monastery in the mountains that surrounded their little port town, thrust her feet into that vast, grey emptiness, and bask in the comfort brought to her by the mist and stone.


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    Thinking back, ''little port town'' wasn''t really an adequate way to describe Svenivelle.  It wasn''t the largest port town on their continent, but that wasn''t for lack of trying.  The city could only expand so far with the sea to the east and mountains boxing it in from the other three sides.  Instead of growing out,  it had grown up.  The once small fishing village had built itself right into the mountain, constructing towering stone buildings that could hold up even against the wrath of the sea.  Held together by a complicated meshwork of stone bridges, the town had continued expanding out towards the sea with little solid land to speak of.  The monstrous tide swallowed and exposed entire stories of the city with its ebb and flow, and as a result, most of the lower levels of the city were completely unusable from about dawn until dusk.  These lower levels were a world of their own.  Operating only at night, they were home to the wilder parts of the city.  Bars and thinly-disguised brothels come to life as they are exposed by the tide, their cast-iron vault-like doors opening with groans reminiscent of the acts performed within.


    To any half-decent parent, it was common sense to forbid their children from wandering these lower floors, but Nora had no such luxury.  Her parents were nowhere to be found, and likely had no idea that the city of Svenivelle even existed, so Nora had to make do with parenting herself.  Unfortunately, a large part of being responsible for oneself is securing a place to live, and for a young woman with few options for employment, the only residences within Nora''s meager budget laid within the lower levels.  It was perhaps for this reason that Nora found the abandoned monastery, nestled amongst the craggy mountains to the north and hidden within the clouds, so wonderfully appealing.   Originally dedicated to the worship and study of some long-forgotten deity, it was currently heading steadily towards a state of ruin.  Not a whisper of movement could be heard in the misty twilight of the once-grand hall.  Here there were no shrieking women or raucous drunks.  The walls here were clean and untainted by the sea life that marred every exposed surface of the lower levels.  Most importantly, there was no persistent stench of fish and vomit.


    Just thinking about the little charms of the lower levels had begun to give Nora a headache.  She loved her mountain paradise, it was why she had gone to the effort of dying her hair in order to fit in and marked this world as one of her primaries.  It did come with its share of caveats though.  The school wasn''t bad.  The only person who really hounded her about her absences was that elderly hag whose name she couldn''t remember.  The living arrangements, however, left much to be desired. It was something that could be improved in time, but for now, it wasn''t something that she wanted to put up with.


    Then there was that hag that insisted on her attending classes.  Nora thumbed a lock of her silvery hair.  Maybe if she had picked a pretty color like the light blue that that probably popular girl had, the teachers might like her more.  Maybe she would even make a friend or two.  She knew that her appearance had nothing to do with her social problems, but it was nice to imagine that something so simple as hair color could make someone likeable.


    She breathed in another breath of fresh, mountain air, and let the cold soothe her agitated thoughts. She decided right there that she would not return to her lower level tenement tonight.  No, this night would be spent elsewhere.  She pushed her brows together, and started into the the darkening grey mist as she pondered where exactly she would go.  As much as she wanted to avoid it, it was probably time for her to visit home.  That place may be full of annoying people, but at least it didn''t reek of fish.


    Nora closed her eyes and breathed in one last sigh.  Browsing through her memories, she recalled the appearance of her bedroom.  It wasn''t the dingy space she kept in the lower levels.  This room had a large window with pale blue curtains and smelled of lilac instead of fish.  The large, plush, bed looked hardly slept in.  In fact, the whole room had a sort of abandoned feel to it.  Dust covered the shelves and dresser.  The floor was littered with articles of clothing.  Although the room was far from clean, it felt static, as if nothing ever changed.


    Home was home though, and as alien as the room felt, it was still the room that Nora had grown up in.  It happened without warning.  There was no mysterious vortex.  No flash of light, no clap of thunder.  One second, Nora was dangling precariously off the edge of a cliff.  The next second, she was gone.

 2 :: Adam of Earth

    It was a beautiful Autumn day on Earth.  The scents of meat cooking on grills and lawn clippings were carried along the warm breeze that had remained, even if Summer had already past.  Soon, blue sky would turn completely grey.  The frigid winds of winter would rip through the gold and orange trees, and tear them from their branches.  Adam hated winter.  There was nothing good about being cold all the time.  There was nothing fun about the snow that gathered in dunes and covered the city.  Anybody who said otherwise was one of those people who consider their blind optimism their finest trait.  The worst.  Nevertheless, the small whisper of cold in the breeze sent some nostalgic pains through Adam''s cynical heart.


    This was probably as close to winter as Adam would see in a good long time.  The young man took a step back and twisted his body so that his side faced the door in a low, wide, stance.  The door seemed to be made from a rich wood, but either time or some sort of freak beaver attack had done a number on it.  It was covered in scuff marks and there were gouges in several places around the edges where the wood had been splintered, looking like something had tried to claw or chew its way in or out.  He tucked the bundle of papers he carried under his armpit and raised his shoulder, bracing for impact.  By the time winter came, Adam would certainly be in prison, he thought to himself.  That''s what happens to people who are dumb enough to break down a stranger''s door in broad daylight.


    No matter how reasonable his assumptions were, they did nothing to dissuade Adam from his folly, for he had a higher purpose.  He wasn''t the type that was prone to heroics, but he was worried about her and he couldn''t help it.  She was usually only gone for a couple of days, but it had nearly been a week and a half this time.  What if she was sick or injured?  He knew she lived alone.  Everybody knew after the scandal that had accompanied her parents'' disappearance.  If she had been left alone and injured for this long, it may already be too late.


    Sure, it wasn''t likely.  Sure, this was probably just another one of the delinquent girl''s usual absences, but Adam didn''t want to take that chance.  After their teacher had asked him to drop her homework off at her house, he had shown up every day after school to bang on that dilapidated, wooden door, and for three days, nobody had answered.  It was time to get serious.


    As Adam dug the toes of his sneakers into the pavement and prepared to launch, a movement at the door stopped him in his tracks. He watched in rapt amazement as the tarnished, bronze door handle turned.  A curious gaze met his eyes as it stopped only inches before crashing into him on its way out the door.  Before Adam stood his absentee classmate in the flesh.


    Frustration began to well up in his chest and creep its way up to cloud his mind.  All of the time he had spent knocking at that door.  All of the worry he had accumulated.  And for nothing.  He had known all the while that this was a possibility, but somehow, seeing her standing there with her usual placid expression, completely oblivious to all of the trouble she had put him through, really rubbed him the wrong way.


    "Where the hell have you been, Nora?  Do you have any idea how long I''ve been standing here knocking?" Adam demanded angrily.


    Instead of the usual expression of fear or concern that would usually be produced by such an outburst, the look that Nora produced was more akin to annoyance or disgust.  It pissed him off.  It really pissed him off.


    "You were going to knock down my door?" she queried dismissively in response.  Adam seethed.


    "You''ve been gone a week and a half!  I thought something might have happened!  What would you have had me do?" he snarled.


    "You could have just opened it," she replied simply.


    "Oh, yeah!  Of course!  You think I didn''t try that, smartass?  It''s locked!" he retorted sharply.


    "Of course it''s locked," she muttered lazily, rolling her eyes. "I can''t just leave my house unlocked for any random crook to break into.  I did get tired of the police breaking down my door every time somebody called in a welfare check on me though, so I stuck the key under the mat for them to use.  You would have found it if you''d looked.  Or you could have done the reasonable thing and gotten the cops to do it for you.  You could have been arrested, you know?" she added concernedly.


    He knew.  And hearing her say it wasn''t doing much in the way of calming him down.  That sure explained the condition of the door though.


    "Yeah, I know," he answered, giving an exasperated sigh.  "You shouldn''t worry people like that though."


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    "You were worried about me?" she asked, a faint grin playing across her lips.  There it was, that self-mocking smile.  The smile that never met her eyes.  It was a smile of hollow amusement, not one of playfulness, and it was so pitiful in Adam''s eyes that he couldn''t find it within him to get mad at the taunt.  Nora had killed his anger.


    "Whatever.  Do you want to take your assignments or not?" he asked.  The sooner he could stop wasting his time here, the better.


    Adam didn''t hate Nora.  He even considered her one of his favorites amongst his classmates, even though they weren''t particularly close.   He was one of the only people she ever spoke to, because he was one of the only people who ever gave her the chance.  When she did show up to class, she always said interesting things.  She was quiet most of the time, but when she did speak up, she was smart as a whip, and hilariously sharp-tongued.  Sometimes though, it seemed like she was separated from the rest of the world by something.  A near-impenetrable wall of objectivity.  Like she was simply a spectator amongst them.  He couldn''t handle her when she got like that.


    While he didn''t hate her, what he felt for her was more of a nauseating sense of pity, not for her unfortunate familial situation, but for her own self-loathing.  He couldn''t understand how someone could feel so terrible about themselves, and when she let it show, like now, he couldn''t help but to be just a little bit... disgusted.


    "Sure," she murmured, taking the bundle of papers from his hands and dumping them unceremoniously behind her onto the floor of the foyer.  Adam frowned a bit at her actions.  He had gone to quite a bit of effort to bring those papers to her, but as long as they were in her possession, it didn''t really matter what she did with them, he supposed.  Seeing Adam''s expression, Nora felt that she had to explain her actions somewhat.


    "I''ll take care of them when I get back," she proclaimed defensively.  Adam no longer cared what she did with the papers, but he was concerned that she was about to perform another of her disappearing acts.  He watched pensively as she pulled a large keyring from her pocket and locked up the battered door.  Ultimately, he found himself unable to restrain his curiosity.


    "Leaving again?" he queried.


    "Just for food," she answered with a grin, understanding his intent. "I don''t keep food in the house unless I plan on being there for a while, which is impossible recently, due to the diligence of the CPS."


    That made sense.  Nora couldn''t even go a full day at school anymore without about twenty people from various agencies breathing down her neck.  He didn''t agree with it, but he understood the impulse to run away from all of that.  Of course, regularly attending classes would solve that problem, but for whatever reason, that didn''t seem to be an option for Nora.  He was just turning around to leave, when the impossible happened.


    "You can join me, if you like," she offered with her typical placid expression betraying none of her intents.  He furiously contemplated the invitation.  To his knowledge, she had never been known to accompany others outside of class, and certainly not to extend the offer herself.  He couldn''t help but wonder why she would do such a thing.  The question practically exploded from his lips.


    "Why?" he spluttered.


    "Well, we''re friends, aren''t we?" she replied simply with a casual shrug.


    Adam had places to be.  Adam had a family waiting for him with a succulent, home-cooked meal.  Adam didn''t particularly care to become associated with his truant classmate, but like a spell, the word ''friend'' seemed to compel him to follow.  His feet began moving of their own accord, and he found himself trudging down the pavement by her side.   Quickly, he fired off a text to his parents to let them know he''d be missing dinner.


    Friends.  Perhaps that is what they were.  Somebody who frustrated you to no end but you still can''t help liking.  Honestly speaking, Adam didn''t have much experience with friendship, but he thought to himself that this was probably not it. Regardless, he resigned himself to conforming to the label that had been assigned him, writing it off as curiosity.  He wouldn''t deny that he had become interested in the girl who spent well over half of her time missing.  It was a reasonable interest, and if that interest just so happened to result in a friendship, well... what was the worst that could happen?

 3 :: Into the Wrinkle

    A cool breeze fluttered through the crepuscule sky, the darkness bringing with it a touch more of the winter chill that had previously made Adam so nostalgic.  He shuddered in his thin hoodie as he lamented the fact that he was now being deprived of the opportunity to spend the winter comfortably imprisoned.  A new warmth spread through his chest, which had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with his newfound friend status.


    Pretty soon, they approached a diner and sat down to eat.  Adam questioned her choice of pancakes as he gnawed on his hamburger, but said nothing.  The silence, however was more than he could stand.  There had been little more than smalltalk on the way there, but now that they were eating, there was nothing at all.  It was more than a little awkward, and Adam wracked his mind looking for something to talk about.  There were scores of questions on his mind, but he was worried that some of them might be considered offensive.  He decided to start simple.


    "So, why are you always gone and stuff?" he muttered unintelligently between mouthfuls of ground beef.  To his surprise, he got an actual answer in response.


    "Travel mostly."  Huh. Travel.  He hadn''t expected it to be that simple.


    "Travel where?" he continued, following the flow of conversation.


    "Here and there.  Probably nowhere you''ve heard of."  Not exactly the specifics he had hoped for, but it was something.


    "Do you travel for fun, or what?"


    "Sometimes for work.  Mostly out of obligation."  Such a complicated, yet vague answer.  He wasn''t sure what to make of it.  It did, however, reveal that she had a job, and that was something he could follow.


    "So, you work then?" he asked pleasantly.


    "Mmmhmm," came the response. "It''s a boring and tedious job.  Nothing exciting, but the pay is decent."  More vagueness. He decided to push a little further.


    "What industry is it?" he asked, tentatively.  Nora paused her chewing and stared at her plate for a moment before replying.


    "I guess public works would be the best way to put it.  I find people," she explained, her eyes never leaving the chipped, ceramic plate.  At this point, Adam was more than a little confused.


    "You find people?  You mean like a private eye?" he asked, hoping for a bit of clarification on the matter.


    "Different methods, but similar," she answered.  Hardly the clarification Adam was hoping for.  It annoyed him, and in his frustration, he began to press into areas he was better off avoiding.


    "I have a hard time believing that your employer would be okay with the amount of school that you miss," he stated coolly.  He was halfway hoping that she would lose her temper a bit as well and open up.  Unfortunately, the issue of her truancy didn''t seem to bother Nora at all.


    "They understand," she replied calmly.  "I''m guaranteed a position upon graduation.  That''s all that matters." Adam was stunned.  This job didn''t seem like your average fry cook position.  He couldn''t believe that her employer would be willing to take on somebody with such a pronounced history of delinquency.


    "They''ve already offered you a position?" he gasped.


    "Yep!" she announced proudly, noticing Adam''s stunned expression. "It''s cause I''m so good at it," she proclaimed with a confident grin, snatching a bite of pancakes off her fork.  Seeing her vigor restored made Adam feel like teasing her a bit more.


    "Then, what about your parents?" he asked pointedly.  Adam was certain that this question would catch her off guard.  He quickly realized, to his disappointment, that he was correct.


    As soon as Nora heard the question, her proud smile fell and her whole face fell dead, her mouth straight, her eyes glazed over.  It was different from her usual distant expression.  There was no pretense of fitting in.  There was no twisted smile there to mask her pain.  There was just pure, raw, mind-numbing despair.  This time it wasn''t her expression that nauseated him, it was himself for putting it there.  As he opened his mouth to begin the process of backtracking, he was interrupted.


    "Some people are easier to find than others," she answered, eyes downcast with a smile steeped in sorrow.  "Some people get lost.  The lost ones leave trails.  Others are taken.  Those ones are harder.  I haven''t given up yet."


    He was glad to see her regain some of her calm, but he didn''t feel any better about what he had said.  He had known that that was a land mine for her and he had stepped on it anyways in a pathetic attempt to get a rise out of her.  He was ashamed, and had to stop himself from bolting out of the little diner.  He couldn''t leave her alone though. Not after doing that to her.  So, he did what he had to do and continued the conversation.


    "Is that what you meant by obligation?" he asked softly.


    "Yeah, mostly," Nora confirmed, her expression brightening as she collected herself.


    For once, Adam felt like he knew her.  He felt like he understood her pain.  He felt like she was just a little bit less of an enigma.  He was wrong, of course.  Whenever a man begins to think that he understands a woman, he commits himself to disappointment.  In Adam''s folly, he began to comfort her.  Attempting to comfort a woman who doesn''t need to be comforted is the second greatest mistake that a man can make, just behind attempting to calm a woman who doesn''t need to be calmed.


    "It''s not your fault, you know?  You couldn''t have known that they were going to run off with..." Adam began, getting cut off before he could finish.


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    "They didn''t run off," she stated firmly, her brows furrowing into a stern expression of unamusement.


    Had it been any other woman facing a man who was pretending to know about her life, she may have stormed out of the diner then and there, perhaps causing a scene before doing so.  Having already experienced Adam''s social ineptitude once that evening, Nora was a little bit more prepared.  Not to mention that this was hardly the first time that she had heard those lines.  Just about every adult she had ever met had fed them to her.  It still pissed her off to hear them coming from the mouth of a classmate, but it wasn''t completely unexpected.  It was, however, noted.


    Adam himself was dumbfounded.


    "Then where did they go?" he asked dumbly.


    "It doesn''t matter," Nora sighed with a mocking smile. "They could have been abducted by aliens for all that it matters.  The only thing I know is that they aren''t coming back unless I bring them back."  It was a fair point.  Regardless of whether it was the rumors or her who had the story right, there was no way that they would return of their own accord.  Somebody would have to bring them back.


    "That''s a lot of weight to take on," he muttered, half to himself.


    "Maybe so," she agreed. "But it''s mine all the same."


    She didn''t deserve to live with that kind of burden, he thought to himself.  No child did.  She should be enjoying her youth.  Attending school.  Making friends.  He inwardly cursed her parents for robbing her of that.  Ultimately, he made one of his wiser decisions of the evening and kept those thoughts to himself.


    After another few minutes of small talk, they bid each other adieu and departed the diner.  Their first dinner had been a disaster, but he couldn''t help but to feel a little bit glad about it.  He had probably learned more about his classmate in one evening than others had in their entire lives.  He felt, just a little bit, that the distance between them had narrowed.  He was wrong, of course, but at the very least, he slept soundly that night.


    Unfortunately for Adam, the next day proved to be even more disastrous than the last.  He arrived at school like any other day.  He visited his locker like any other day.  He headed to homeroom like any other day.  But unlike any other day, when he arrived at the classroom, Nora was there sitting at her desk, a pile of completed homework in front of her, and a ring of girls surrounding her desk.  He entered the room at the perfect moment to see one of the girls, a blonde, popular one, grab the stack of assignments and tear it into pieces.  Throughout the ordeal, Nora''s face maintained the same placid expression that she always wore in uncomfortable situations like this.


    Adam stepped forward to intervene, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.  One of the boys who had been watching was holding him back.  Ryan was his name.  Ryan was one of the musclehead assholes that Adam had once looked up to, but now avoided.


    "The girls are just having some fun!" Ryan insisted with a smirk. "They don''t need a man sticking his nose in their business. Just let them play!" Ryan smiled serenely.  Adam wanted to hit him right there.


    "That looks like fun to you?" he demanded. "That''s harassment, and they just destroyed all of Nora''s hard work!" he exclaimed.  At that point, the ringleader of the girls decided to speak up.


    "The little bitch thinks it''s fine if she doesn''t show up to class as long as she does the work.  You think that''s fair?" the blonde girl, Kristine, snarled.


    "No. I don''t think it''s fair," Adam stated, a scowl on his face. "I think it''s none of our business."  The pretty girl giggled in response.


    "Don''t act like you need to defend her just because you want to fuck her!" Kristine taunted.  Adam had never wanted to hit a girl so badly in his life.  Fortunately, he didn''t have to. "This is your type?" she cackled mockingly as she grabbed Nora''s face and twisted it forcibly in his direction.


    The second she touched it, Nora smiled victoriously as she sent a beautiful uppercut sailing into Kristine''s jaw, dropping her with one shot.  Seeing their leader fall, the other girls began shrieking.  Some fled to the edges of the classroom, or even out the door to fetch help, while others clawed at Nora, grabbing at whatever hair or skin they could get their fingers on.  Nora responded in kind, grabbing hair and clothes, each time following up with a solid blow, a wicked grimace on her face.


    As the girls began falling one by one, they guys started getting involved.  Adam had been watching, mesmerized, as the fight unfolded, always ready to step in, but never seeing the need to.  When he saw Ryan move to enter the fray though, he saw his chance.  Grabbing Ryan by the shoulder, he fed his line back to him.


    "Let the girls have their fun," Adam smirked.


    "Lay off!" Ryan shouted as he tried to brush Adam off.


    Adam wouldn''t be budged though, and as brushing turned to shoving, the male side of the classroom became embroiled in the conflict.  Adam was even surprised to see one or two of the other guys joining his side in defending Nora.  Eventually, the girls who had fled returned with the homeroom teacher, Ms. Harmon, as well as a school security guard.  Just as the two began trying to break up the fight, everything changed.


    Like most spatial distortions, it happened without warning.  There was no mysterious vortex.  No flash of light, no clap of thunder.  One second, Ms. Harmon''s classroom was in the middle of a full-blown brawl.  The next second, they were gone.

 4 :: The Vanishment of Nora Carlisle

    Nora hit the ground hard.  Wave after wave of nausea rolled over her.  This was wrong.  What was so wrong?  She hadn''t been hit, so why was she in so much pain?  Why couldn''t she breathe?  Where was she?  She didn''t know.


    That was it.  She didn''t know.  She was, at least, cognizant that a spatial distortion had occurred.  That was a sensation that she was more than familiar with, but Nora always knew where she was.  Her acute sense of spatial awareness was not something that could be tampered with.  More importantly, it was not something she had ever gone without.  It''s absence left her unbalanced, like she had suddenly lost her vision.  It was crippling, and it left her in a state of fear that she had never experienced.  Everything was dark.  Everything was foreign.


    The noise from her classmates grounded Nora back in her body as they reminded her that she had other senses to rely on.  Cracking open her eyelids, she peered through thick, dark, lashes at the world around her.  As expected, her classmates had not been as harshly affected by the lack of spatial energy as she had been.  She was the only one on the floor.  While most of her classmates had thankfully been distracted by the changes in their surroundings, Adam was watching her with a mixture of confusion and concern, running his fingers through his dark hair and looking around wildly as he tried to make sense of the situation.  Nora pulled herself into a somewhat more dignified kneeling position and began her analysis.


    The floor was composed of chunky grey flagstones.  That put first and fifth out.  No sounds of heavy machinery, so third was probably out as well.  The room was circular.  Runes covered the walls, extending past their edges and trailing into complex patterns in the floor and ceiling.  It was a magical formation for sure, but she had no idea what kind.  The runes weren''t from an alphabet Nora recognized, and she¡¯d seen a lot of alphabets.  Nora glanced about beneath her classmates¡¯ ankles and caught a glimpse of several finely embroidered robes.  She was willing to bet money that this was a second stage realm.


    Worlds were graded on a scale of one through five based on how advanced the knowledge and structure of their civilizations was.  A first stage civilization would be something like a stone age with primarily nomadic tribes.  Fifth stage would be a completely digital society where the population had begun migrating to computers.  A second stage realm, like this most likely was, would be somewhere in the middle ages.  Normally this wouldn''t be a problem.  Plenty of lovely worlds were second stage.  One of Nora¡¯s primaries was even second stage.  Nora had absolutely nothing against second stage realms, but something was out of place.


    Spatial distortions could only be caused by three things.  The first was chance.  Random fluctuations in the membrane of space could cause tears to form.  These tears tended to cause all sorts of trouble.  If one were to wander into such a tear, they would find themselves dumped into a random world and left to fend for themselves.  A large portion of Nora¡¯s job was to locate people who had wandered into tears, return them home, and seal the tears.  The welcome party Nora had spotted effectively ruled out a tear.  In addition, if there was a tear, Nora would have seen it by now.


    The second phenomenon responsible for spatial distortions was technology.  Advanced machinery was occasionally capable of producing random distortions.  A machine of this grade, however, would absolutely not be found in a second stage realm.  That would require at least a high fourth stage realm.  A technological distortion was 100% impossible under these conditions


    This left only one possibility: magic.  The runes surrounding the chamber almost guaranteed that this was the case.  The problem with that was simple.  Spatial magic was rare.  Really rare.  Like, one user per realm per century rare. Formulas this large would be even rarer.  That alone was hardly enough to rule it out, but when you took the Wardens into consideration, it was absolutely enough.


    The Wardens was the name given to the order of spatial mages.  Its reach spanned the entire multiverse.  There wasn''t a realm they didn''t know about.  The Wardens considered themselves responsible for a number of things.  They controlled the borders between dimensions.  They stopped bad things from leaking.  They patched holes.  They reunited the lost.  They kept the multiverse from collapsing in on itself.  They even had a branch responsible for seeding promising worlds with intelligent, humanoid life.


    Their control was complete, and one of the programs they took most seriously was recruitment.  Agents were constantly surveying the realms under their protection for spatial distortions, and if they discovered any distortions related to human activity, they acted.  If it was a machine responsible, the machine was destroyed.  If a long lost formula was responsible, it was collected and then destroyed, but if it was a person responsible, they were given an offer they couldn''t refuse and brought into the ranks.  It was in this exact manner that Nora had been made a Junior Warden after the accident.


    Even with all of their efforts, there weren''t enough Wardens to go around.  Each agent had between one and eight realms under their control, depending on the size, stage, and difficulty of the realm, and the experience and skill of the agent.  Although there wasn''t always a Warden physically present in each realm, there was always a Warden watching for distortions.  A distortion that displaced an entire class would be accompanied by a massive burst of spatial energy.  If this realm was under surveillance, there was no way that the Wardens wouldn''t know about this.


    Bringing humans into foreign realms went against the Wardens¡¯ creed.  There was no way a Warden had caused this, and yet, nobody had appeared to stop it.  The class had been there almost five minutes at this point and nobody had arrived to send them back.  Something was wrong, and Nora had a decent idea of what it was.


    The space here was thin.  It was what had caused Nora¡¯s panic upon arriving.  The thick spatial energy that was present in any other realm was all but absent here.  It would be difficult to gather the necessary spatial energy to make a jump.  Forget about making a tear to send everyone home, she wasn''t sure she''d even be able to transport herself.


    This kind of an energy void was something that Nora had never heard of.  It went against the laws of nature and she was certain that it was not a common occurrence. She had no idea how such a thing would be accomplished.  It was an abomination, and if there were any Wardens governing this realm, there''s no way they would allow it.  It was almost as if the Wardens had forsaken this place.  It was unsettling.


    The energy required wasn''t the only problem though.  Nora could faintly sense a handful of nearby realms, but none of their signatures were familiar to her.  She was well and truly lost, and there was a very good chance that nobody would be able find her.


    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    These circumstances left Nora with a very uncomfortable feeling and very few options.  She could either play along, or gather as much energy as she could and jump realms until she returned to familiar territory, or visit a few of the nearby realms and look for help.  The first and third options, were the most reasonable, but Nora wasn''t really sure how long she wanted to stick around.  There were plenty of dangers associated with staying and the ones who presumably brought them here hadn''t even addressed them yet.  Unwilling to act before acquiring some information about why they were here, Nora waited until there weren''t any eyes on her and slipped into a personal dimension.


    Personal dimensions were a kind of alternate reality bent to the rules of the creator.  Nora created her dimension with their current realm as the base, but on a different dimensional level.  From within this space, Nora could still observe the happenings of the room without being present, but she could not interact with it.  Her surroundings now appeared in the form of a translucent, grey membrane.  Anything that she touched, she passed straight through.  The runes that had been carved into the walls and floor burned with a vibrant, golden light.  Fog gathered in the distance, preventing her from being able to see too far.


    The biggest changes, however were to the people in the room.  They now resembled faceless, grey specters.  Each one had a little candle-like light in their stomachs, representing how much energy they held at the moment.  Across the room, the robed men''s flames absolutely dwarfed those of her classmates.  It just went to show how big of a difference practice could make.  Their bodies also lit up in places where tiny runes, glowing various colors, had been etched or sewn into their garments and jewelry.


    Nora meandered through the phantasmal room and took a place with a good view of the ones in the robes.  These were the ones who had brought them here, and they would be the ones to provide them with answers.  She eyed the runes adorning them, looking for any formulas that she might recognize.  She found a couple of extremely common protection formulas that either absorbed or deflected damage, but the only surprise came from a simple gold ring on the hand of the man who appeared to be their leader.  It was a formula that had been tattooed on the back of Nora''s scalp since she was seven years old.  It wasn''t long until he began to speak.


    ¡°Welcome, travelers!¡± the middle-aged man in the center of the robed crowd proclaimed.  Fanciest robe gets to talk first, Nora supposed as she observed the man''s gaudy gold and blue attire.  It took Nora a second to realise that the man was speaking English.  It was a little broken and clumsy, but it was unmistakable.


    This was the first red flag for Nora.  English was an Earth language.  The multiverse uses a surprisingly small pool of six main languages.  Miraculously, they can all be found in some form on Earth.  Most realms only use one or two of the six, but Earth happens to be a hub with many bordering realms.  As such, all six managed to find a place to manifest.  Their closest equivalents would be Norse, Latin, Chinese, Arabic, Hindi, and Mayan.  No English.  English is an anomaly created via the forced integration of Old Norse and Latin and it''s resulting evolution.  There is absolutely no reason for it to be present in another realm, especially one that it shares no borders with.  Now, Nora was even more interested in what the gaudy man had to say.  The crowd of distressed students quieted down and offered him their attention.


    ¡°I''m sure you all must be very shocked.  I hope that I will be able to clear up a few things for you!¡± he said with a smile.  ¡°I am sorry, but it is my fault that you are here.  My country has great need of your help.¡±


    Not a surprising start. The man seemed to be stumbling over his words and searching to find the correct ones.  His grasp of English was shallow at best.  Nora listened intently as he continued.


    ¡°Many years past, my people captured the demon king.  The demon king had terrible powers, but God came to us and taught us how to trap him.  Now the trap grows weak.  We must fix it,  but we have not the power.  God spoke to us once more.  He taught us to bring strong ones over from world with no magic.  He say those from world with no magic made better for it.  Those we bring over could fix trap and save our people.¡±


    Alarms were going off all over the place in Nora¡¯s head.  She had never been one to believe in deities.  She had traveled to countless realms and bent the fabric of space and nothing had appeared.  Not to mention demons.  There were many worlds with more¡­ abstract looking humanoids, but none that she knew of were strong enough to be called a demon.  That wasn''t what worried her though.


    The bit about magic, while confusing, was just outright lies.  What she understood from his speech was that they believed that a human who had been born into a world without magic would be better suited to use magic once exposed to it.  All intelligent life was equally suited to use magic. The only thing that mattered was their personal proclivities to different types and whether or not they were exposed to suitable spells.  In worlds that had historically shunned magic, these conditions were simply harder to meet due to the lack of availability of decent spells.  If she was to assume that there was some sort of higher being that spoke to this realm, taught them English, and helped them seal a demon, then why would it lie about this?


    ¡°My people would like you to learn magic and help us fix the seal.  Will you help us please?¡± the man concluded.


    The class stared silently at each other.  They had no idea what to make of the situation. Meanwhile, a very confused Adam was frantically searching for his missing classmate.  He had only turned his back for a second before she vanished.  He couldn''t spot her anywhere amongst his classmates and was beginning to think that she had disappeared completely.  So immersed was he in his search, that he failed to notice the hand that materialized behind him and slipped a scrap of paper into his pocket.  Nora had seen enough.  She took a deep breath and focused her mind, searching for any realms close enough that she could hit them even with only the meager energy she had left over in her body to work with.  Finding one that fit her needs, she closed her eyes, bid her classmates a silent farewell, and vanished.


    ***


    Thank you to anyone who reads this!  Please feel free to comment or criticize as you like. I know I said in the description that my next chapter would be tomorrow, but I was productive today, so I felt like posting early.  I will still upload a new chapter tomorrow.  I have a good deal of this story written, and the whole thing outlined, so updates should be extremely reliable.  Thanks!

 5 :: Magical Kidnapping Machine

    The diameter of the room was only about ten meters, so it didn''t really take Adam too long to verify that Nora was no longer present.  It took him longer to come to terms with it.  He had clearly seen her on the floor having some kind of panic attack.  She had been right there beside him, and then she wasn''t.  He had heard her called an escape artist by the some of the school''s administrators, but he figured that it was simply a manner of speech.  The only door was on the opposite side of the room behind a squad of robed men.  He had been watching the chief robed man speaking the entire time.  There was no way she had slipped past, but the fact remained that she was gone.


    Adam briefly considered the other options.  The robed man claimed to have brought them there.  Could she have been sent elsewhere?  He was hardly familiar with the intricacies of teleportation, but he felt that it was at least worth asking.  What if she really had managed to sneak out though?  He could wind up outing her if he brought it up.  It was a tough call to make.  Adam decided to give it a shot and play things by ear if things started looking ugly.


    "Where is our classmate?  There was another one with us.  Where is she?" Adam inquired.


    His words seemed to break the spell over the rest of the class, and with a roar, they instantly returned to shouting.  By now, the previously downed victims of Nora''s rampage had resumed consciousness and were out for blood.  Likewise finding her absent, they turned their fury on the unsuspecting robed man, demanding to know where he had hidden her.  The poor man struggled to understand what all of the commotion was about.  He looked to his advisors for help, but found them similarly baffled.  After some time and much yelling, the class managed to express that one of their number was missing, the missing girl was in a lot of trouble, and they wanted to know what he had done with her.


    "I know nothing about another girl," the man replied apologetically, holding out his hands. "Nobody has left this room.  All that I brought over are here."


    In the eyes of the class, this meant that Nora had somehow been left behind, but Adam knew what he had seen.  He wasn''t sure how she''d done it, but Nora had lived up to her reputation as an escape artist and made it out of the room.  He hoped that he hadn''t caused trouble for her, but he honestly felt that whatever trouble she may wind up in because of his actions, she would be able to deal with it just fine.


    Truth be told, Adam was more than a little bit upset with Nora.  Just yesterday they had been able to get closer, but as soon as things had gone south, she had abandoned him and escaped by herself.  He understood that this feeling was ridiculous and that another body would have greatly diminished her chances of escaping unnoticed, but he was still upset.  Here he was, marooned in a strange land, and the friend that he had just turned on half of the class to protect had left him high and dry.


    He wondered if he would ever see her again.  They didn''t know anything about this place.  It didn''t make sense to him to run off without any information about their surroundings.  For all they knew, they might be able to go home if they rejected the man in the robe''s offer.  He strongly doubted it.  Something told him that the man would say whatever it took to get them to stay, but you never knew.


    Over the next few hours, Ms. Harmon''s homeroom class berated the robed men with questions.  They came to know a great many things. The chief robed man was named Bertrus Altinius.  He was something like the king of the country where they were located.  The man he kept looking to for help was named Marcus Cogitan and was Altinius'' chief advisor.  The country was named Umbrian and it was one of nine kingdoms and several duchies that make up their world''s single continent, Lapravia.


    For all Adam knew, it might not be the only continent.  With the level of technology he had observed, it was highly likely that this planet''s residents simply hadn''t reached the point of exploring their world to its entirety.  They seemed to be stuck somewhere in the Middle Ages.  If Nora had been there, she would have confirmed it to be a second tier realm.  While the living conditions didn''t appear to be as bad as Adam had been led to believe, that probably had a great deal to do with a little something called magic.


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Altinius had confirmed the use of magic in his summoning.  The ornate swirling patterns carved into the walls and ceiling made up a ''formation'' called The Gate.  Formations allowed magic casters to control spells many times more complicated than they would normally be capable of.  It was typically used as a scaffolding to build one''s own spell off of, but in this case, the formation had been gifted to them by some sort of higher being.  All it required was a power source and it would build the spell all by itself.  To explain, Cogitan had lowered his hand to run along the runes.  Wherever his hand neared the runes, they began to glow a brilliant gold in response.  It was truly a wonder.


    The most important thing that they had learned was that they would not be going home.  The only thing that this formula did was summon, which made it less of a gate and more of a magical kidnapping machine.  The royal casters didn''t even know how it worked or how it selected groups to summon.  It was a one way gate, and they were no closer to reverse engineering it than they had been 50 years ago when it had first been bestowed upon them.


    With no other options, the class ended up accepting Altinius'' request to stay and learn magic.  There was nary a student who hadn''t been entranced upon seeing Cogitan activate those glowing runes.  It wasn''t such a difficult proposal to accept.


    With that, some of the other robed men led the students and a pair of extremely befuddled adults to the pre-arranged quarters where they would be living for the duration of their studies.


    It was slowly beginning to sink in.  For all intents and purposes, this was their lives now.  Everything that they had known was now out of reach.  Their families, their technology, their everyday modern conveniences; all of this had been swallowed up behind an insurmountable barrier of time and space.  In a single instant, they had become more lost than they had ever been.


    That night, many of the girls slept together in one room, weeping and reminiscing about the things that they had left behind. The boys quarantined themselves to their own rooms, either crying to themselves until they passed out, or staring wide-eyed at the ceiling, their worries screaming into their heads and furiously fending off sleep.


    Adam was the latter. He had always considered himself to be the adaptable type, but nothing he had ever experienced could have prepared him for this.  Every time he came close to calming himself down, an image of his parents, or his sister, or his home intruded on his thoughts and brought him right back to where he had started.  It wasn''t despair that filled his mind though, it was desperation.  He was frantically sorting through ideas.  Ideas that could take them home, ideas that could lure out Nora.  Anything to give him even an inkling of power in this unfamiliar place. He couldn''t stand the feeling of being out of control.  He needed something that could give him sway, but all his thoughts led back to magic.


    Magic was might here.  If he wanted to be respected, he needed powerful spells.  If he wanted to reverse that formation, he needed a deep understanding of the magic that had brought them there.  He may even be able to use magic to find Nora.  Even if Altinius hadn''t asked them to learn magic, Adam wouldn''t have had any other choice.  There was only one path forward.


    Satisfied with his conclusion, Adam closed his eyes and sunk himself into the plush bed that was probably well-above what most commoners could afford here.  Passion burned within him.  It seared his lungs with every breath.  The warmth comforted him and sunk him into a deep and peaceful sleep.  Tomorrow would be different.  Tomorrow would be the first step in taking back control of his life.  He couldn''t wait.


    ***


    As usual, let me know what you think! It''s probably still to early to think about reviews, but if you feel up to it, please do!  Really want to know what people think!

 6 :: Nora Lost

    The good news was that Nora was 100 times closer to figuring out where she was.  The bad news was that 100 times zero is still zero.  When Nora landed, she had immediately fallen into a pool of water.  It was an occupational hazard, but that didn''t make it any more comfortable.  Knowing what kind of strange and typically dangerous creatures are known to reside in large bodies of water, Nora swam her hardest for the shoreline.


    She would have liked to use a pocket dimension to walk across the floor of the lake, but the jump had taken even more out of her than she had expected.  The swim took the rest out of her, and by the time she hauled herself up onto the sandy shore, she was capable of little more than collapsing.  She lay there in the sand, wet tendrils of hair clinging to her face and chest heaving, for over an hour.  As she waited for her energy to recover, she noticed that the water didn''t end with the sand.  This realm was terribly humid.  It seemed to her that every rasping breath she took brought her a little closer to drowning.


    She also noticed that this realm was experiencing a similar spatial anomaly to the realm she had been summoned to.  The spatial energy here was just as lacking.  It was too much for it to be a coincidence.  Someone or something had sucked the energy right out of the realms in this region.  It was disconcerting.  Who or what had that kind of power?  Nora wasn''t sure she wanted to find out.  At the very least, she wouldn''t be jumping any time soon.  The scant energy that she was harvesting from her surroundings was nowhere near enough to perform any kind of teleportation.


    It might be enough for something else though.  Breathing deeply, Nora extended the fingers of her right hand into the air above her.  She sighed contentedly as she felt the connection with her storage dimension.  Her storage dimension was the pocket dimension she kept with her at all times.  It was small enough that it didn''t take much energy to maintain, and it was of great convenience.  The storage dimension was where she kept all of the items she needed to have on her at all times.  In it were several changes of clothes in the styles of different realms, her school materials for her three primaries, and her uniform and badge.


    Nora briefly considered withdrawing her uniform but decided against it.  The blocky, scarlet cloaks looked out of place in just about any realm.  It was better to wear something nondescript when performing recon.  A loose white shirt, followed by a pair of fitted brown leggings unfolded from the space at her fingertips.  Without even bothering to check her surroundings, she began peeling off the wet clothing from her skin and replacing it with the set she had withdrawn.  The soft cotton felt glorious against her skin.  She inwardly reprimanded herself for leaving the wet clothes on as long as she had.  Once she was more or less dry, she withdrew a generic, dark grey traveling cloak and a pair of sturdy brown buckled boots.


    Finishing off her preparations, she withdrew some things that she didn''t normally carry.  At her waist she strapped a short, thick blade that was good for hacking away inconvenient foliage.  Finally, she tucked away a little flintlock pistol at her hip.  She shouldn''t need it, she told herself, but she didn''t want to be caught unprepared.  There was no telling what kinds of things she might meet in a forest like this, and her magic¡­ well, when it came to aspects of magic other than spatial, Nora was a little bit lacking.  Her unpredictability in those areas had led her to develop a habit of always preparing a backup plan and it had served her well in the past.


    Satisfied that her current appearance was generic enough to pass as a traveler, and that she had recovered enough stamina to continue, she set off into the jungle.  Civilization was the first step to finding a way home.  If she could find civilization, she could find a Warden¡¯s Office.  If she could find a Warden¡¯s Office, she could find answers.


    The forest proved to be just as warm and damp as the rest of this world.  The over abundance of creeping vines covered tree and soil alike in a green leafy carpet with the occasional red or orange flower here and there.  The vines had strangled out enough of the ground plants to leave Nora a clear path even without her odd short sword.  In a couple of places, the vines formed webbing that blocked her way, but they cleared easily with a few swings of the blade.


    After a while, the canopy began to lighten, indicating the thinning of the forest.  Sparse patches of stumps showed that some logging had taken place in this area. Ruts laced the ground where the trunks had been dragged.  As Nora followed the tracks left by the lumber transportation, she felt her faint feeling of hope begin to solidify.


    It wasn''t long before the forest gave way into a field of leafy crops parted down the middle by a worn, dirt road.  Nora sheathed her blade and heaved a sigh of relief as she took off down the path. A soft breeze rolled across the field and swept away some of the humid air.  Nora pulled a clawed hand through her sweaty bangs as she breathed it in.  The end was in sight.


    Eventually, the path branched onto a wider dirt road, bordered by trees on either side.  At the end of the road, in the distance, Nora could see the beginnings of some kind of wall or fortress.  It took her a half hour of brisk walking to reach the gate she had seen from afar.  The walls seemed to be made of cut stone, covered in a sort of bluish plaster.  The doors themselves were of a thick, pale wood with bronze inlay.  A curved wall jutted out from the otherwise straight wall behind it, forming a D shaped entrance with one gate on the inside and one on the outside.  This setup made it easier to defend and was commonly found throughout many different realms.


    Eight guards in studded leather armor were stationed at various locations surrounding the city doors.  This seemed to be another second tier realm.  Nora watched as a pot of suspicious brown liquid was thrown to the side from the top of the wall amended her classification to very early second tier.  The guards offered no resistance to her entering the city.  It seemed that mingling with the local foot traffic was enough to avoid drawing their attention.


    The inner city¡¯s buildings were made of bricks made from that same blue clay.  The streets, especially around the entrance, were full of lively chatter with merchants peddling their wares and haggling prices with their customers.  The language here seemed to belong to one of the more common branches, bearing a close resemblance to ancient Mayan.  Nora was proficient in Old Norse and Latin, and beginning in Chinese, but Mayan was a language she had yet to conquer.  She could recognize it well enough, thanks to the exposure she¡¯d received in various realms, but the meaning eluded her.  She paid close attention to what was being said in the hopes of picking some of it up.


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    As she neared the center of the city, the lively clamor of the market had been reduced to a dull roar.  Here, more polite conversations could be heard as the locals socialized.  One thing that she noted was the lack of magic in any public setting.  This was probably a nation that shunned it.  At the very center of the city was a large pyramid structure.  This was most likely either a religious or government structure.  It was an option, but it didn''t seem very promising.  Nora continued her stroll, keeping an eye out for any structures that might meet the criteria she had in mind.  Finally she found it.  Large courtyard, stately pillars, tasteful art, young persons hustling to and fro carrying stacks of scrolls crammed into their satchels.  It was almost certainly a school.


    For whatever reason, the Wardens almost always stuck their offices inside of the most prestigious academic institute in the area.  Maybe it was their supposed dedication to the exploration of the unknown, or maybe it was their staunch elitism that made them feel right at home with all of the other promising young academics.  Maybe it was just the general lack of security around university campuses that made strangers coming and going at odd hours easier to get away with.  Any way, it was undeniably a convention that the Wardens strictly upheld, mostly out of the convenience of uniformity.  No matter what world you visited, you just looked for the fanciest school you could find and you''d wind up at the local Warden¡¯s Office in no time.


    This was exactly Nora¡¯s plan. She wandered through hall after hall, earning her some curious stares, but none bothering to ask her if she was lost.  Most of that she attributed to the fear induced by her current appearance.  There aren''t many brave enough to needlessly confront a young woman running around with twigs and leaves sticking out of hair like it was absolutely normal.


    Eventually, she found her way to an isolated hallway that was unusually deserted and the few classrooms along it vacant.  It was at the very end that she found what she was looking for.  A golden ornament depicting a four-pointed star bordered by a M?bius strip marked an otherwise simple wooden door.  Other than the crest, the only thing out of place was the handle.  There was none.  Only those who knew the trick would be able to open it.


    Nora rotated the star in a certain pattern, each turn drawing a series of mechanical clicks from the contraption.  Upon finishing, Nora was greeted with a much louder click as the contraption rotated upwards to reveal a recess in the door containing a faintly glowing amber sphere.  Nora shoved her face in front of the sphere and stated the pass phrase that was unique to herself.  The stone glowed brighter for a moment before fading back.  With one final click, the wooden door creaked open.


    All Warden¡¯s Offices used the same layout.  The foyer consisted of a small waiting area used by those who were authorized to make requests of Wardens.  Most of the time these visitors were shamans, academics, or rulers who encountered problems that involved matters of time and space.  Wardens weren''t really very secretive.  Most governments were aware of the Wardens and known to cooperate with them.  Those who needed to know knew and those who didn''t were completely oblivious.  Those who did know understood the kind of powers the Wardens held and knew better than to cross them.  In the rare occasion that they truly needed a Warden¡¯s assistance, they needed only to ask.


    Nora crossed the lobby, her boots tapping against the white marble floor.  Everything in the waiting rooms screamed opulence.  Even the wooden furniture was covered in gold leaf, and the seats upholstered in a luxurious, plush, red velvet.  At the other end of the room was another door.  This was the door that could only be opened by Wardens.  It required an insignificant amount of spatial energy that worked like a key to be fed into it to open.


    Nora placed her hand against the rich wood and pushed.  On the other side of this door was where she would find her answers.  Whether or not an actual Warden was stationed there, she would at least find records concerning the abnormalities she had observed in this region.


    The room on the other side of the door was dark.  Papers, clothes, and clay flasks littered the floor.  Drawers were flung open, the bed was in a state of disarray.  Despite the mess, there was no dust.  Whatever had happened here had been recent.  If she didn''t know better, Nora would say that the place had been looted.  She did know better though.  Only Wardens should be able to enter this room.  Even if someone tried to push past a Warden on their way in or out, they would be deflected by a spatial barrier.


    A sudden movement on the sofa caught her attention and her hand whipped to her side where she drew the flintlock she had prepared beforehand. On the other side of her guides, a figure lay prone.  The figure was male, but he was wearing a loose white nightgown that must be normal for this realm.  The gown did little to cover the pattern of dark tattoos that crisscrossed his back and limbs.  Nora watched as the man pulled his arms beneath him and shifted himself up to look at her.  Dark eyes peeked out from long, unwashed, dark hair.


    ¡°What''s going on?¡± the man asked warily, noticing the firearm pointed at his face.


    ¡°Who are you and what are you doing here?¡± Nora demanded, her eyes never straying from the guides of her pistol.


    ¡°Where the hell do you think you are?¡± the man questioned in kind.  ¡°I''m the fucking Warden.¡±


    ***


    Thanks for reading!  We finally meet our third kind of main character! Also, I added a mockup cover that I made on my mobile.  What do you think?  Let me know in the comments!

 7 :: Warden of the Outer Realms

    The man appeared to be in his late twenties or early thirties.  He still had a youthful air about him, but his face had a hardened, world-weary look to it.  It was difficult to tell in the darkness of the room, but his jaw-length hair was either dark brown or black.  His eyes were another indiscernible shade of shadow.  He shifted from his slovenly position on the couch and attempted to enter a seated position. Nora narrowed her eyes and moved to shoot.


    ¡°What are you doing?!¡± the man screeched, raising his hands once again and falling back onto the cushion. ¡°Wardens can''t kill each other!  It''s against the code!¡±  He spoke a loose dialect of Latin.  It was close enough that Nora could effectively communicate with him.  His words were true, but they only applied if he was, in fact, a Warden.


    ¡°It took me two hours of hiking through a strange, sweltering land to reach here.  If you are a Warden, then why did you not fetch me?  Surely, you felt my appearance in this realm,¡± Nora asserted.


    ¡°Have you felt the energy here?  I felt a faint ripple, sure, but there''s no way I''d be able to find you with that little, so I went back to sleep,¡± the man protested.


    ¡°Then why did you not send a beacon?  That way I''d at least have a proper heading instead of just wandering around and hoping to get lucky,¡± she demanded, eyes alight with tiny sparks of anger.  At this, the man''s expression fell.


    ¡°I¡­ uh¡­ didn''t think of that,¡± he shrugged apologetically.  ¡°But you can''t just kill me for being stupid!  I''ve already been punished enough for that, being stuck out here,¡± he pouted, his expression carrying an air of injustice.


    ¡°Was this not one of your primaries?¡± she asked, her anger beginning to be touched with confusion.


    ¡°Who in all of the multiverse would pick this nightmarish realm all but devoid of spatial energy?¡± he asked pointedly in response. ¡°I fucked up and got sent here so that I wouldn''t fuck anything else up, just like everyone else out here.  Where exactly do you think you are?¡±


    Nora¡¯s eyes widened.  She was under the impression that every Warden was free to pick where they were stationed.  That was the entire point of picking primaries.  You chose two or three distant realms to spend time in while you are learning the ropes.  You built a life on each one, and at the end of your training, you picked your favorite to become your base of operations. From there you may be assigned to various nearby realms as needed, but you almost always ended up living on the primary you selected.  Nora began to realize that her situation was somehow even worse than she had feared.


    ¡°I don''t know where I am,¡± she answered cautiously, her voice shaking. ¡°I was somehow summoned nearby.  I''m lost,¡± she finished, her voice all but a whisper.  Her raised arms gave a small tremble and she lowered her gun.  From his perch on the sofa, the man¡¯s gaze darkened.


    ¡°You weren''t sent here?¡± he asked incredulously. ¡°You just wound up here by accident?  They didn''t give you any marks?¡±


    ¡°I don''t think so.  A group of mages used a formula and summoned a whole group of people,¡± she explained, ¡°I just got caught up in it.  I¡¯m not sure what you mean by marks.¡±


    ¡°These!¡± he exclaimed, gesturing vaguely towards his back. ¡°You don''t have anything like this?¡±  Nora¡¯s eyes ran over the black runes covering his body.  She had just changed clothes a short while ago and she was certain that she had nothing like it.


    ¡°No,¡± she answered.  She rotated her body a bit and pulled up the back of her shirt. ¡°I''ve never seen marks like those.¡±


    The man inhaled sharply before burying his head in his hands.  His thin fingers ran through his lank, dark locks, as if searching for the words within them.  There was no easy way to say this.  He had no idea how to tell her the truth.  And she was so young too, he thought to himself.


    ¡°These are the Outer Realms,¡± he stated simply.


    The name rang a bell. Nora had heard it once before.  When she had just become a Junior Warden, she had been paired up with an older Warden.  After one particularly unfortunate accident with a fire spell in a village consisting largely of wood, the woman had cried out in her frustration that if Nora caused any more disasters like that, she would send her to the Outer Realms.  After that, the woman had stormed off, so Nora hadn''t gotten a chance to ask her what she had meant by it, but the phrase had stuck with her, and she remembered it now.


    ¡°What are the Outer Realms?¡± she asked warily.  The man groaned audibly as he returned his head to his hands.


    ¡°The Outer Realms,¡± he began, staring bitterly into his palms, ¡°are the Wardens¡¯ dumping ground for those considered too dangerous, or stupid, to be allowed to roam freely.  They are a small collection of realms whose spatial energy had been sapped by some kind of spatial disaster in the distant past.  Each prisoner is marked with a seal that forbids them from moving their body through space.  No jumping, not even any short-range teleportation.  The scarcity of spatial energy, combined with the seals, basically ensures that none of us ever becomes strong enough to escape.  We''re left here to govern the trash realms that the rest of the Wardens have practically forsaken.¡±


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    Nora¡¯s arms hung limply at her side.  Her face showed no expression as she stared at the man, processing his words. It wasn''t really so bad, once you thought about it.  Nora didn''t have any marks, which meant that she could still move freely, which meant that she could escape.


    ¡°Can''t I just leave then?¡± she asked plainly.


    ¡°Does it feel like you can leave?¡± the man asked back, a slight smirk on his face.  He was right.  It would take some time to regain her energy, but it should still be possible eventually.


    ¡°Not yet, but I''ll recover within the week,¡± she answered.


    ¡°Maybe this will clear things up,¡± he grinned as he walked over to an ornate, brass cabinet in the corner of the room.  The top of the cabinet contained a large pale blue, translucent disk, and a couple of smaller brass buttons.  The man pressed a button in the center and the disk began to glow.  Hovering over the apparatus, appeared a cloud of dots the size of pin pricks glowing the same blue as the disk.  The dots were connected here and there by tiny blue threads, forming a wild abstract web.  Some threads connected close clusters of dots together, while others spread across the entire cloud.  The cloud¡¯s blue light illuminated the two¡¯s faces as the man began, once again, to speak.


    ¡°This is a map of the multiverse,¡± he explained.  Of course it was.  It looked like an ancient version of the holographic map kiosks in the newer Warden¡¯s Offices.  Nora bit her tongue though, and continued to listen.  ¡°This area right here is the main body of the multiverse,¡± he declared, gesturing to the cloud, ¡°and these,¡± he continued, his hands deftly rotating the base of the hologram, then finally one of the brass knobs to zoom in, ¡°are the Outer Realms,¡± he finished, indicating a small ring of worlds near the bottom of the mass, and at least three inches away from any of the others.  It looked like a small stellar galaxy that had its core punched out.  Several, spidery thin, glowing threads connected the ring to the rest of the mass, but there was no string shorter than about five inches.


    A single point, glowing red, indicated the realm where they were currently located.  The threads, of course, represented which realms could access each other.  Even realms right next to each other could not travel between each other, unless there was a path connecting them.  Nora¡¯s eyes honed in on a point of light nearby the red point in the ring.  A single thread shot out of this point and disappeared somewhere in the center of the cloud.  She knew that this was the thread that had brought her and her classmates here.  The thread was at least seven inches long.  Possibly longer.


    Nora¡¯s brows furrowed.  Judging by the scale, her maximum jump distance was only a little over an inch, and that was at full power.  She wouldn''t be able to leave the Outer Realms, the way she was now, much less make it home.  This was a serious problem.  Nora took a second to marvel at how much energy must have been required to bring so many people over such a long distance.  It was extraordinary.


    It was also extraordinarily frustrating, thinking about having to recreate the feat.  Restoring her energy pool would take time, but she had no idea how to go about expanding the size of the pool itself.  It too would grow over time, but even the most experienced Wardens she knew wouldn''t be able to manage more than four inches.  Nora quickly wrote off the concept of jumping everyone home herself and began planning how she would reverse that formula.  If it had brought them here, it could take them back.  To her side, the grimy man in the nightgown smirked.


    ¡°There is a way, you know,¡± he taunted.  His comment snapped Nora right out of her plotting.


    ¡°Of course there is,¡± Nora scoffed. ¡°I''ll reverse the formula.  It shouldn''t be that hard.¡±


    ¡°And how long will that take?¡± he asked with a pitying grin, ¡°Months? Now, I haven''t seen this formula, but if it can do what you claim, it''ll probably be more like years.  You''ll be able to make it home in just enough time to see everybody you love forgetting about you.  That''s how it works, isn''t it.¡±  His expression was dark.  Nora could tell just by looking that the man had personally experienced this.  She couldn''t bring herself to feel sorry for him though.


    ¡°You''re wrong,¡± she stated, smiling bitterly back at him. ¡°There''s nobody waiting there to forget me.  Nobody will even notice that I''m gone.  The others have people waiting though.  That much is true.  I just want to do my job and get people home.  If you have a way to get them back quicker, I''ll hear it.  I''m Nora, by the way.¡± she offered, extending a hand.


    ¡°I''m Kurt,¡± he replied, grasping her outstretched palm. ¡°Welcome to the Outer Realms!¡± he announced, smiling broadly.


    ***


    Been productive today, so I''m posting another chapter.  Thanks again for reading, and let me know what you think!

 8 :: No Light

    Adam woke with the sun.  His excitement from the night before had not faded, and despite the early hour, he wanted to begin learning magic as soon as possible.  He lingered for a while in the cool comfort of the bed that the academy had provided.  He wondered momentarily if Nora had found a place to sleep last night.  She would definitely be mad about missing out on the events of today.  Yesterday, they had been told that they would be administered some kind of a test to determine what branch of magic they would be learning.


    He had learned that people had natural affinities to certain magics.  Most of the time, these affinities would correspond to a specific element.  The most common, by far were stone, wind, fire, and water, but there were also several other special affinities that branched off from the four, such as magma, ice, sand, and metal.  He tried not to think too hard about which he would have, but he couldn''t help his eagerness and his mind swelled with speculation.


    He slid out of bed and peered through the green velvet drapes at the scenery that surrounded him.  It was the first view of the town that he had been able to glimpse since they had arrived.  It was late at night when they had been brought to their rooms.  Then, all the windows had been pitch black, but now the sky was lit up in a vivid crimson hue.  The entire city was built within a wall of grey flagstone.  Adam could see nothing beyond the wall.  Within the wall, however, there was much to observe.


    The city itself seemed to be the very image of a medieval castle town.  From Adam¡¯s window, he could see the castle off in the distance, its stone spires glistening in the red light.  Most of the buildings in the town were made primarily of stone.  The lack of wood in their construction surprised him a bit.  He had thought it would be a bit more prevalent in their more primitive culture, but that appeared not to be the case.  The roofs as well were covered in clay tiles, rather than the thatching he had expected.  Not that Adam minded.  Rather, he welcomed the more modern influences.


    Adam estimated that he still had another hour or so before the students were needed for testing, so he decided to spend it getting familiar with the academy. His clothes from the day before sat piled up on the floor.  He momentarily considered wearing them again, simply for the comfort of familiarity, but ultimately left them where they laid.  He pulled on a fresh pair of black pants and a cotton blouse that the school had provided and set out.  The halls of the school were long and winding.  This building¡¯s architecture seemed to have no concept of straight lines.  Every path Adam took curved into another.  Even the rooms themselves were circular.


    Through the cracks in the doors, the halls were filled with the sounds of lectures, pausing only occasionally when interrupted by younger voices in questioning tones.  Adam couldn''t understand their language.  It was the first time he had heard this world¡¯s residents speak their local tongue and it enthralled him.  He even felt that somehow, he could occasionally understand the gist of what was being said.  Eventually, he found himself picking out Latin prefixes and suffixes and realized that this was what had been enabling him to do so.


    He spent the majority of the time before his exam practicing picking these keywords out and trying to understand the lectures.  For the most part, it was a fruitless effort.  He still had very little idea of what was going on, but Adam considered any step toward familiarity with their tongue, a step in the right direction.  He couldn''t imagine how a language like Latin had made its way to a whole other world, but it sure made things easier, so he was glad that it had.


    Suddenly, Adam had a thought.  If this world¡¯s language was based upon Latin, then shouldn''t their alphabet?  It would be of great convenience, to be able to learn their language with the help of a shared alphabet.  Adam became determined to find a library and see for himself.  His feet dragged him through hall after spiraling hall, to the point where he began to be in danger of missing his exam.


    He finally came upon one hallway more isolated than the others.  It curved counter-clockwise along the edge of the building.  It''s outer wall was pinked with tall, decorative windows that gave a good view of the town.  At the end of that hallway was a single door.  The door had neither a knob, nor a knocker.  Instead, at its center shone a flat, brass instrument, about the size of Adam¡¯s fist.  It seemed to display some sort of crest, though he naturally couldn''t recognize it.


    Adam couldn''t help himself upon seeing the foreign contraption.  He began to fiddle with the mechanism, and it turned like a dial at his touch.  He was certain that it must require some kind of combination, but that was something that he did not have.  Adam was stymied.  It was at that moment that it occurred to him that the door might belong to someone important.  Perhaps it was the principal or dean¡¯s office.  Adam resolved to ask someone better-informed than he about the door before continuing, lest he disturb someone he couldn''t afford to.


    Adam began his walk to the testing room with more questions than he had left with.  Eventually, he joined the crowd of his classmates standing outside of a door.  Two women from the school stood at the door taking role.  Seeing that everyone had gathered, they began to address the students in broken English.  They would each be entering the room one at a time, until all had gone.  Each one would be guided through a sort of meditation, whereby they would be shown a clue to their affinity.


    Since Adam was one of the last to arrive and be counted, he was near the end of the women¡¯s list.  He watched student after student enter the room with expressions of confidence and hope, only to return with their faces marred by expressions of bemusement and worry.  They had all been told not to share their experiences until the others had gone, so most just staggered back to their rooms to process what they had experienced.


    By the time Adam¡¯s name was read off the paper, he was more than a little bit worried about what this ¡®meditation¡¯ would entail. Still, he joined the two women at the door and followed them inside.  This was the first step towards victory, and it needed to be taken, regardless of what would happen.


    The room was dark and cool.  There were no windows, and Adam could tell that when the door closed, there would be no light whatsoever.  The two women guided him to a padded cushion on the stone floor and instructed him to sit cross-legged.  He sank to the floor and made himself comfortable.  One of the two, a lean woman with long, black hair, walked to the front of the room where she began to burn something like incense, while the other returned to the door, easing it closed as she returned to her post outside.


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    Adam watched as the light began to dim, until it was snuffed out completely with a click as the door shut.  In the darkness, there was nothing but the smell of incense and the pounding of his heart.  He could feel it all the way in his stomach up through his ears.  The dull thumping was everywhere.  Being conscious of the noise seemed to cause it to resonate, drowning even the smell of incense out until Adam¡¯s entire consciousness was drawn within his body.  It seemed as if the remaining woman, the proctor, or whatever she was, could hear it too because she began to speak.


    ¡°Are you afraid?¡± she asked gently, her voice snapping him out of his trance.


    ¡°I''m worried,¡± Adam answered, ¡°but I don''t think I''m afraid.¡±


    ¡°Good!¡± the woman replied.  ¡°Fear will only make it harder to finish the exam.¡±


    In Adam''s mind, telling someone that their fear would increase their chances of failure, was the number one way to increase the person¡¯s fear, and therefore their chances of failure, but who was he to judge?  Surely, this woman had performed the exam many times before and knew much better than he.  Adam took a deep breath and did his best to ward off the thoughts of worry that beat against his mind.


    ¡°Let''s just get started,¡± Adam suggested, hoping to put his mind to better use than worrying.


    ¡°The test has already begun,¡± the woman answered with amusement.  ¡°Just relax, and tell me when you''re done.  I''ll be quiet now.¡±


    Adam¡¯s thoughts were ablaze.  Seriously?  This was all the instruction he got?  How had all the others managed to finish?  If thinking in a dark room was all that it took to find one¡¯s affinity, then why hadn''t he found it years ago, any time he wrestled with his thoughts trying to find sleep?  If it was being in this world that made the difference, then why hadn''t it happened last night?  Perhaps it was the incense?  It was the incense.  It had to be.  They were being drugged and sent on some kind of vision quest!  There was no other answer.


    For a moment, Adam was upset that his perfect drug-free record had been tarnished against his will by these women and considered escaping, but he very quickly realized that whatever this was obviously didn''t go against any laws in this land.  If the school of all places was doping up students and sending them on vision quests, it had to be an accepted practice.  Adam''s morals quickly rewrote themselves to account for this revelation.  His D.A.R.E. instructor could frown at him all he wanted from a world away.  Adam, just took a deep breath and calmed himself, ready for whatever the drugs had to show him.


    And he waited.  And he waited some more.  And then he got impatient.  He wasn''t alone in his impatience either.  He could tell, even through darkness and silence, that he was taking longer than the others had and the proctor woman wasn''t having any of it.  He could feel her fuming from across the room at the injustice of having to wait here for him while her colleague was probably outside doodling on her notepad, or something.  He apologized inwardly about having to put her through this.  It wasn''t exactly his fault though.  If the drugs weren''t working, she should just add more.  Eventually, he decided to voice this sentiment.


    ¡°Shouldn''t you just add some more?¡± he asked hesitantly.


    ¡°More what?¡± the woman questioned back.


    ¡°The incense.  It makes you see things, right?¡± he replied.


    ¡°Absolutely not!¡± the woman gasped, ¡°That''s illegal!  It just helps you relax so that you can focus better and find your affinity.¡±  Adam once again revised his morals, reversing his earlier change and offering a quick apology to his D.A.R.E. instructor.


    ¡°Then how would you know your affinity?¡± he asked, frustration quickly coloring his mind with anger and causing his voice to rise.  ¡°Do you just see it?  Does a voice from beyond tell you what it is?¡± he demanded.


    ¡°It is a part of you,¡± the woman answered sternly, thoroughly unamused with his outburst. ¡°It has always been there and you have always known it.  You will recall it, like a memory.  If you have not seen it by now, then nothing is there and we are done here.¡± the woman finished, moving across the room as easily as if the room had been lit and opening the door.  She whispered some words to her colleague as Adam was left, sitting dumbfounded, in the center of the room.


    He had been wrong to get angry, but surely this wasn''t it?  Surely, there was some other way!  He thought people from Earth were better at magic!  That was what Altinius had told them.  What was he supposed to do now?  Adam''s anger very quickly devolved into panic as his head slipped into his hands and his body sunk low in its cross-legged position.  He couldn''t be the only one without an affinity, could he?  The others had finished just fine.  What had gone wrong?


    Suddenly, raised voices at the door snapped him out of his mental turmoil.  The outside guard woman was chewing out the inside proctor woman something fierce.  He couldn''t tell what they were saying, but it seemed that inside lady had done something wrong.  Adam couldn''t help but feel a little relief.  He didn''t hate the inside lady, but he did resent her a bit for the vagueness of her instructions.  The outside lady stopped her tirade, leaving the inside lady standing pitifully by the door, and made her way over to where Adam sat.


    ¡°Come!¡± she demanded with an energetic smile that contrasted sharply with her tone.  She had sparkling golden eyes and round cheeks.  Her brown, bobbed hair swung with each step as she neared him. ¡°We go see Cogitan now.¡±


    Adam stumbled frantically to his feet.  Cogitan?  Like, the king¡¯s right-hand man, Cogitan?  His panic quickly returned, flooding his mind.  What exactly had he done to merit being dragged before the second most powerful man in the nation?  Were they getting rid of him because he had failed the exam?  He had a million questions to ask, but instead he just stumbled dumbly out the door, following guard lady and crossing his fingers that this little adventure didn''t mark the end to his stay at the academy.


    ***


    Thanks for reading! Yesterday I started letting my little sister read this and she beat me over the head with the harsh reality that Adam comes off as a complete idiot.  He kind of is, so that''s fair, but I will try to do a better job of explaining his thought processes from here on.  Dont forget to let me know what you think in the comments!

 9 :: An Unexpected Proposition

    9 :: An Unexpected Proposition


    Adam followed guard lady through the academy and out into the town.  Her strides were quick and sharp, and he stumbled frequently as he struggled to keep pace with her.  Their walk brought them along the large, cobblestone street that connected the academy to the castle.  It was easily one of the busiest streets in the city, and Adam frequently found him distracted by all of the sights and smells there were to take in.


    It was probably sometime around the lunch hour and the street was dotted with little shops and stalls selling all kinds of delicious-looking food.  Most of it looked like different types of cooked meat, but there were also a number of aromatic stews, smelling of spices that Adam had no name for.  Despite the time now being around noon, the sky had retained its crimson hue, lightening only a bit with the rising of the sun.


    Seeing him eye the food, guard lady pulled him over to one of the meat booths.  She spoke to the vendor in their native tongue, but counted out the money for the six skewers she purchased in English so that Adam could understand.  From their interaction, Adam learned that each skewer cost one brown metal coin and two grey metal coins.  The brown metal was probably bronze, and the grey was probably iron, he reasoned.  As she lay the six bronze coins and twelve iron coins on her palm, she pulled away all but two of the iron coins, replacing them with another bronze to show Adam that ten irons made a bronze.


    Completing the transaction, guard lady collected the skewers from the seller and split them in half, giving three to Adam.  The meat seemed to be covered in a thin layer of vegetable pulp that gave it a sweet and spicy flavor, as well as a nice crispy texture.  It was phenomenal, and Adam thanked guard lady profusely for both the meal and he lesson on currency.   The woman smiled and continued.


    ¡°This one called ¡®serav¡¯,¡± she explained, holding up the iron coin, ¡°...and this one, ¡®reshav¡¯.  Serav mean ¡®one piece¡¯, reshav mean ¡®ten piece¡¯.¡±  This woman was teaching him so much.  Adam felt bad for not knowing her name.


    ¡°What are you called?¡± he asked, trying to speak in the broken English she seemed familiar with.  Her face lit up at the question.


    ¡°This one called Minea!¡± she responded, smiling from ear to ear.


    ¡°This one called Adam,¡± he offered back, gesturing to himself.


    ¡°I know!¡± Minea chuckled.  ¡°It say so here,¡± she said, gesturing to the notepad she had been carrying.


    Adam had hoped to use the opportunity to ask why she was taking him to see Cogitan, but she never gave him the chance.  Without giving him time to respond, Minea continued her impromptu lecture, dragging Adam along the street at her typical breakneck pace and calling out the names of random objects as they passed them by.  Her short, brown hair bobbed up and down as she hurried down the road.  Their little routine gathered no small amount of attention as the people along the street followed them with their eyes and shaking their heads in confusion.


    With Adam''s mind swimming with new vocabulary that would be almost impossible to process, given the speed at which it was delivered, the duo finally reached the palace.  The building was even more formidable in person.  Its towers grew upwards like spikes, towering above the rest of the town.  It seemed to follow the same building code as the rest of the buildings in this town, regarding straight lines.  Despite its great height, it still seemed welcoming.  The front gate was open and townsfolk could be seen dashing in and out as they went about their business.


    Adam followed Minea through the front doors and through another series of spiraling hallways.  He noticed that they were traveling upward, their paths gently sloping as they curved, each turn taking them higher and higher.  Adam¡¯s legs began to ache.  He couldn''t imagine one of the highest ranked men in this country¡¯s government making this climb every day.  Eventually, seeing his plight, Minea brought him into a small chamber off the side of the hallway.  As the room began to rise, Adam recognized it as a stone elevator of sorts.  He shot a reproachful glare at Minea.  She glanced unapologetically back at him.


    ¡°Risers are for the important or the lazy,¡± she explained. ¡°I am neither.¡±  Adam frowned.  He wasn''t lazy.  He just wasn''t planning on climbing any mountains anytime soon and was a little bit out of shape


    Adam examined the chamber but didn''t find the mechanism responsible for lifting it.  It was either on the outside, or more likely, it was powered by stone magic.


    At long last, Adam and Minea found themselves sitting comfortably in a small lobby outside of Cogitan¡¯s office.  After a brief wait, a secretary seated at a large desk in the corner by the ¡®riser¡¯ motioned for them to enter.


    ¡°Good afternoon, Minea!¡± Cogitan announced warmly as they entered.


    ¡°Good afternoon, milord!¡± she exclaimed in return.  ¡°This Adam.  Lana say he only one that fail exam.¡±  Adam¡¯s ears burned with shame and he looked away, trying to hide his embarrassment. ¡°Lana not listen this morning, so she get angry at him.  I think Adam confused.  I get angry at Lana though, so all good!¡± Minea finished, beaming proudly.


    ¡°Thank you, Minea!  You have performed admirably!¡± Cogitan responded.  He had used some rather large words in his praise and Minea was now giving an awkward smile as she struggled to figure out what he meant.  Cogitan saw her predicament and quickly remedied his statement with a short, ¡°Good job!¡±  This, Minea understood, and she resumed her proud smile with a renewed vigor.  ¡°I''ll take Adam now,¡± he finished, ushering Adam into the room.  Minea gave a dutiful nod and exited the room, shutting the door behind her.


    ¡°A delightful child, isn''t she!¡± Cogitan praised Minea. ¡°Her speech may be a bit poor still, but she was one of only 30 or so of my direct subordinates who was able to gain even that small a grasp of your language in the few short weeks we had to prepare before your arrival.  When you consider that, she''s pretty remarkable, don''t you think?¡± Cogitan asked with a warm smile.


    ¡°She would be remarkable even without her talent for language,¡± Adam responded with a polite smile of his own. ¡°Just on the way here, she took time to explain the currency here to me.  She taught me many words.  She was even kind and attentive enough to buy me food when she saw I was hungry and let me take the riser when she saw that I was growing tired.¡±


    ¡°I am glad to hear your praise,¡± Cogitan grinned. ¡°She''s my daughter, you know.  Any father would be filled with pride upon hearing such things said about their little girl.¡±  Adam was stunned.  His mind flashed back and forth between the lively young woman and the stern-looking, silver-haired man who was now smiling like an idiot before him.  The resemblance was a bit uncanny and he wasn''t sure how he had missed it before.


    ¡°She''s lovely,¡± Adam added with another polite smile. ¡°You''ve raised her quite well.¡±


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    ¡°All her mother¡¯s doing,¡± Cogitan responded, waving his hand dismissively.  ¡°Shall we get to business?¡± he asked, a relaxed yet serious expression on his face as he offered Adam a seat.  Adam nodded as he sat down.  ¡°Now, I hear that you''ve, failed the exam.¡±  Adam''s expression darkened once again, and Cogitan chuckled in response. ¡°Don''t worry, boy.  You have nothing to fear. I had known that one of your group would.  That''s why I gave Minea and Lana the instructions to bring the student to me when it happened.  Unfortunately, Lana got a new boyfriend yesterday and has been a bit absent minded to say the least.¡±


    ¡°That test is designed only to bring out the affinities of the four main elements and their branches.  Failing it means, not that you are without an affinity, but that your affinity lies outside of those four.  There are many other affinities that deal with concepts other than the elements.  These affinities are far rarer, as well as more complicated.  They can not be brought forth by such a simple examination.  They also require a much more complex mode of instruction.  Many youths with such abilities grow up believing that they are untalented at magic.  I want you to know that everything will be fine.  We are capable of providing you with proper direction.  I will not allow your gift to be squandered.¡±


    Hearing that, Adam¡¯s mind was instantly soothed.  He had been so concerned that he would be useless compared to his peers, although he still had no idea what was expected of them.  He was relieved that it was not so.  He would be trained just the same.  Perhaps his gift would be even more useful to find a way home.  His mind raced at the possibilities.  Aside from the elements, what other affinities could there be?  Gravity?  Time?  Space!?  A gift like space could surely get him home, he thought to himself.


    ¡°When I first greeted your group, I noticed that there was an abnormality amongst you, because I myself share the same abnormality.  I will be able to guide you myself.  Most of the kingdom believes that I am of the fire affinity.  That is simply the elemental magic that I am strongest at.  If we are to continue this discussion, I shall need you to swear that you will keep silent about both of our affinities.  Otherwise, you may leave, never knowing what you are truly capable of.¡±


    ¡°I swear,¡± Adam answered without hesitation.  He could see how serious Cogitan was, and he had no interest in spilling the man¡¯s secrets to begin with, especially if it meant that he would be unable to learn magic as a result of it. ¡°I will not share a word of what you are about to tell me with anyone else.¡±  Cogitan smiled at Adam¡¯s words and continued.


    ¡°You and I both share the gift of the mind.  The secrets of others shall be plain as day before you.  With time and instruction, one day you shall even be able to exert a limited control over another¡¯s mind.¡±


    Adam was dumbfounded.  He had hoped for a powerful affinity, but wasn''t this just a little bit¡­ sick.  Adam panicked as he realized that Cogitan had probably heard his thoughts just now.


    ¡°You can relax.  As one with the affinity of the mind, your mind is naturally closed to others, including those with the same affinity,¡± Cogitan assured him with a chuckle.  ¡°Any decent person would be skeptical about the ethics of such a power.  I can assure you, I have had such doubts myself.  Ultimately, your affinity is a part of you.  Denying it will do you no good.  I have found that by adhering to the principle that your people would call noblesse oblige, I have been able to live a life that I am proud of.  Those with power are obliged to use it to protect those without.  I have done my very best to use my gift only for the protection of my people.  Because of that, I have been able to live a life that I am proud of.¡±


    Adam was a little bit calmer upon hearing that.  He still wasn''t completely comfortable with the idea, but he was warming up to it.  Cogitan¡¯s mastery of the English language suddenly made a lot more sense if you assumed he had siphoned it directly from the minds of Adam¡¯s classmates.  Suddenly, Adam was struck with an uncomfortable thought.


    ¡°The king¡­!¡± he gasped, unable to control himself.


    ¡°I had thought you might ask,¡± Cogitan shook his head, smiling to himself.  ¡°The king is his own man.  I support him fully.  Having the gift of being able to peer into the minds of others gives me a unique perspective as to who is suited for what job.  Long before Altinius became king, I knew that he would be a great ruler, and he has never proved me wrong.  I crafted him a ring and blessed it with the element of the mind.  It allows him to be free from invasions of the mind, even my own.  Additionally, he is fully aware of my gift and trusts me still.  You may not believe me now, but I believe that you will come to see that what I have said is true.  The king and I are the best of friends, and for all my wisdom, I could never rule the country as well as he.¡±


    Adam wasn''t sure why, but he believed him.  Besides, he wasn''t from this country.  Why should he care if its leader was a puppet?  It would speak to Cogitan''s character, sure, but did it really matter who was in charge as long as they did a good job?  Even so, Adam still believed him when he spoke about the king.  He had seen the way Altinius had looked to Cogitan when he had been mobbed by angry students the night before.  There was genuine trust there.  Adam was certain.


    ¡°This is the part of the meeting where I offer you a proposition,¡± Cogitan suddenly spoke. ¡°I am growing old.  I hope someday to retire and live out my days peacefully with my wife.  I am the only one who can adequately train you and offer you guidance based upon relevant experience.  I would like you to come and work for me.  You would be trained, while acquiring practical experience.  Someday, when I am finally sick of this position, I shall hand it off to you and you shall guide the next king.  People with our gift are rare.  A native of my country would perhaps be better suited, but I do not think I will be able to find one with enough time left to properly train them.  Therefore, I put my hopes in you.  I shall give you some time to think on this, but I should like to know your thoughts on the matter, if you don''t mind.  I may be able to answer some of your questions.¡±


    ***


    You may have seen that I changed the description for this fiction, but I also made several changes to chapter 4 which should clarify quite a bit about personal dimensions and imply that Nora jumped to a different realm at the end in a much more explicit manner.  If you''re following this fic, I would recommend taking a look.  The main things added were that magic formations glow in the personal dimension, the rest of the dimension is translucent grey, and Altinius and Nora both share the same formation somewhere on their persons.  Thank you again for giving this a look!  Don''t be afraid to let me know what you think of it so far!

 10 :: Destruction

    10 :: Destruction


    ¡°There you go.  Now hold it.  Hold it¡­ and POP!  No!  Not like that!  What even was that?  That was ridiculous.  Try it again.  This time, without any explosions.  Do you explode every time you jump dimensions?  No.  The pebble shouldn''t either.  No light, no sound, and for the last time, no kinetics!  Are you a spatial mage, or a stone mage?  We aren''t making sand right now.  There''s enough of that here.  We''re making energy!  We aren''t destroying the pebble, we¡¯re converting it!¡±


    Kurt was a far stricter instructor than any of the Senior Wardens Nora had studied under previously.  His vague instructions and harsh, senseless criticism were doing nothing to help her accomplish this task.  Even she could tell that an explosion was not the end goal here.  She still didn''t trust him completely and had kept her pistol handy in its holster strapped to her side.  There were several times since he had started this little farce that she had considered shooting him.  Still, she kept her expression as calm as ever and continued to wage a violent war against the tiny stones.


    Forty exploded pebbles, several hours, and one very long walk ago, Kurt and Nora had been finishing up their introductions in the Warden¡¯s Office.  Following their conversation, Kurt had taken a brief, pointless shower to freshen up before dragging Nora back into the sweltering jungle she had just come from.  Standing on the bank of what Nora swore was the same lake she had first appeared in, Kurt had begun to explain his grand theory to harness enough energy to bring her home.


    His answer was pebbles.  Specifically, the conversion of matter to energy via the medium of pebbles.  Nora had been fairly certain that this phenomena was impossible for any mage to accomplish, regardless of affinity, but Kurt was determined to prove her wrong.  For close to three hours now, he had been walking her through the process in an attempt to get her to understand the intricacies of matter-energy transmutation, but victory eluded her still.  She had tried everything she could think of to destroy the pebble without losing any of its energy and had therefore witnessed the widest variety of miniature explosions that any world had probably ever seen.  Her frustration had begun to impinge upon her creativity and quite a few of her most recent failures had actually been repeats.


    ¡°Why don''t we break this down a little further?  This time, try putting it into a dimension first, and then closing the dimension,¡± Kurt directed from the decaying log upon which he was seated.  His hair looked even more ridiculous now than it had before his shower.  Free from the confines of the grease that had weighed it down, his hair had initially shown a faint curl.  Now that it had been exposed to the heat and humidity of this world, it was a jungle in its own right.


    Nora pulled her eyes from his forest of curls and grumbled to herself.  If he had better directions for her, then why hadn''t he just said so in the first place?  She scoured the ground for another pebble and then, upon finding one, dropped herself to the surface, tired of standing.


    The pebble she grabbed was the same bluish hue as the buildings in town were.  Maybe they were made of the same mineral or something.  Nora set the pebble on her fingers and pushed it through a gap in space, creating an invisible bubble that swallowed the pebble and hid it from sight.  Nora could still feel it though, and she manipulated the tiny dimension to form tightly around the pebble.  But then what?  Should she just dismiss the dimension?  If she just left the pebble in the dimension when she dismissed it, that would cost her energy.  It was the opposite of today¡¯s goal.  Finally, she decided to speak up.


    ¡°How do I close the dimension with the pebble still inside?¡± she asked, casting her gaze towards an unprepared Kurt who had been using a stick to draw patterns in the sand.


    ¡°I mean.., you just close it,¡± he stammered.  ¡°It''s just magic.  The stone¡¯s gonna be gone in a second, so just pretend it isn''t there.¡±  Nora was stunned beyond words.  Was this man really a Warden?  You can''t just use violate the laws of physics and write it off with an ¡®It¡¯s just magic¡¯.  ¡°Remember, it''s not the pebble that you''re concerned with.  It''s the space that the pebble occupies.  You''re just voiding the space.  You''re canceling out its existence and recalling the energy that made it up,¡± Kurt added.  Either Kurt was starting to explain things better, or Nora was getting dumber, because what he said was kind of starting to make sense.


    Nora returned her focus to the pebble, this time concentrating on the shape it held, its volume, its density. Then she imagined it empty.  She imagined stripping the pebble of its physical properties, and before she knew it, the tiny dimension slammed shut with a faint crack.  The pebble was gone.  In that instant, the spatial energy from that pebble had been sucked into Nora, and she could feel it beginning to mix with her own.


    ¡°I did it,¡± she gasped, incredulous.  Kurt had been telling the truth.  He gave a lazy smile, still stirring the gravel with that branch.


    ¡°Told you so,¡± he smirked.  ¡°Try it again.  This time, without putting it in a dimension beforehand.¡±


    Nora nodded and did as she was told.  Gathering another pebble into her palm, she repeated the process, imagining the pebble being conceptually stripped into nothingness, imagining a void filling the space.  With another small pop, the air surrounding the space the pebble had previously been occupying crashed together.   Nora breathed a sigh of relief as she felt the warm burst of energy enter her.  It was a small amount, larger than before, but still not even close to the amount needed to restore her to top condition.  It would take a lot of pebbles to get her back on her feet, but she thought she had an idea of what Kurt had in mind.


    ¡°I can convert larger objects too, right?  Larger stones?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Naturally!¡± Kurt responded congenially, ¡°but you do need to be careful with that.  Take in more energy than your capacity, and you''ll burst.  You''ll fry yourself from within, and it will most likely be fatal.¡±  Nora nodded in understanding.


    ¡°Pebbles though,¡± she began, ¡°those should be small enough, right?  If you convert a pebble when you''re already at capacity, it should just push the limits of your capacity without breaking it, right?¡± she asked, a confident smirk playing across her lips.


    ¡°Exactly!¡± exclaimed Kurt, grinning at her revelation. ¡°See?  What do you even need me here for?  As long as you keep gradually expanding your energy pool, you''ll be able to build one large enough to take you home in around a year.  Not ideal, I know, but better than nothing!¡± he shrugged.


    His comment sobered Nora.  She was still looking at a whole year stuck out here.  It was a much better timeline than she had recently resigned herself to, but she still wasn''t satisfied.  Her classmates would have to spend a year without their families.  She felt awful that they had to be separated from their loved ones for so long.  She saw herself in them.


    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    She also blamed herself for their misfortune.  It hadn''t been her fault that they''d been summoned, but as Warden, it was her job to bring them home, and she couldn''t do that.  She''d even abandoned them to run off and look for help.  From her standpoint, it was a logical action, but she knew what the others would think of her if they knew that she had left them to fend for themselves.  Especially, Adam.  He had seen her there in that room.  He knew she had left them.  She only hoped he had found the note she had slipped into his pocket before she left.  Suddenly, a voice jolted her from her ruminations.


    ¡°You got another one of them sidearms?¡± Kurt asked.  Nora glanced him over suspiciously before giving a brief nod.  ¡°Hand it over,¡± he demanded, holding out his hand.  Nora couldn''t read his expression, but he didn''t seem to be acting threatening, and he knew she could easily refuse him.


    Nora pulled the unloaded spare she kept in case of an emergency from her storage dimension.  This one had a higher tendency to misfire. Its silver trimming had blackened with the years.  Still, it was Nora''s favorite, found in her father¡¯s safe after his disappearance.  He was fond of antiques and was probably planning on restoring it, but he never got the chance.  Nora had borrowed it when she started getting into some of the more dangerous work Wardens were responsible for.


    She hesitated, but ultimately handed it over.  Whatever Kurt¡¯s past was, he was no more dangerous with an empty, tarnished pistol, than he was with whatever other backwards, confounded magic he had in that curly head of his.  Kurt accepted the pistol, drawing it into his lap, and set about carving tiny patterns into it with a sharp stone that he must have found while digging.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Nora exclaimed, grabbing for the pistol, completely aghast at his actions.


    ¡°Relax!¡± he chuckled, pulling it out of her reach.  ¡°I''m improving it,¡± he assured her, continuing to etch tiny runes along the barrel.  ¡°This important to you?¡± he asked, pausing to wiggle the gun playfully in front of her face.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Nora proudly announced, snatching at the firearm and missing.  ¡°It belonged to my father,¡± she snapped.


    ¡°Then that makes it perfect.  Is this the same father that won''t be waiting back home to forget you?¡± he taunted, recounting her words from earlier as he returned to his etching.


    ¡°Yes.  He can''t wait for me, because I''m already waiting for him.  Both of my parents disappeared years ago,¡± Nora explained.


    ¡°Disappeared?¡± Kurt continued, unperturbed by her declaration. ¡°Isn''t it a Warden¡¯s job to find people who vanish?¡±


    ¡°It''s not for lack of trying,¡± Nora sighed, an air of frustration in her voice. ¡°We''re hardly omnipotent though.  Sometimes finding people is easier said than done.¡±


    ¡°Fair enough,¡± said Kurt, thoroughly nonplussed as he examined his handiwork.  He tilted the gun back and forth, catching different angles of the evening light, before returning it to Nora.  ¡°Aim and fire!¡± he sang as he gestured to a branch overhead.  Nora moved to load it, but was stopped.


    ¡°It''s empty,¡± she complained, but Kurt offered no explanation and continued pointing at the tree.  Nora raised her arm at the indicated tree and pulled the trigger.  Instantly a perfect hole was torn through the branch without creating a single sound.  Nora dropped the pistol to the ground in shock.


    ¡°It''s a formula my mentor gave to me,¡± he disclosed. ¡°It was originally designed with staves in mind, but I''ve found it works best on handguns because you can link it to the trigger.  It uses the same principle that you just learned, but disperses the energy back into the environment instead of absorbing it. The beam doesn''t stop for five kilometers.  That''s a lot of pebbles.  We wouldn''t want any accidents.  Anyways, I''m sure you can find some use for it.¡±


    Nora was silent as she delicately picked the pistol up off of the ground.  This was an extremely powerful weapon.  It was quick, devastating, energy-efficient, and silent.  A formula like this was the type that was treated like a family heirloom, passed from mentor to mentee.  It was not easily given.  Nora understood why Kurt had given it to a stranger like her.  She knew for a fact that she was the only Warden he had seen in years that was unrelated to his imprisonment here.  A formula like that was meant to be passed on, and Nora might be Kurt¡¯s last chance to do so.  Even so, could she accept something so precious?


    ¡°This is too much,¡± she finally muttered after some time and much thought.


    ¡°It''s fine,¡± Kurt replied with a mournful smile, fully aware of the formula¡¯s significance. ¡°Just put it to good use.  My mentor used to tell me that formula could kill a god.  I never got a chance to find out if that was true, but maybe you''ll find something worthy enough to try it out on.¡±


    ¡°You really think there are gods out here?¡± Nora asked skeptically.


    ¡°Nah,¡± he replied with a chuckle.  ¡°If anything, it''d be devils that roam the Outer Realms.  I''ve seen some strange things out here, and I get the feeling that there is something going on, for sure.¡± A complicated look crossed Kurt¡¯s face, as if he wasn''t sure whether or not to continue.  Eventually, he did.


    ¡°Near the beginning of my stay here, a group of Wardens came by.  I don''t get visitors ever, so I knew something was up.  They asked me if I knew anything about the Warden stationed at the nearby realm.  Apparently he was a volunteer, so he wasn''t restricted like me.  I had never seen him though, and I told them so.  They said that he hadn''t been reporting in at all, so they sent someone to check on him.  That guy disappeared too, so they wanted to see if either of them had visited the nearby realms recently before investigating the realm whey had disappeared.  I told them that I didn''t know anything, and they went on their way.  About a month or so later, another group came by and told me the same story, except now, the last group I had seen was missing as well.  I told them about the group that had visited me, and they went on their way.  Those were the last visitors I had, until you came.  According to my map, that realm has now been declared too dangerous to enter and all access has been forbidden.


    ¡°That realm is the very same realm you pointed out to me when you first got here.  The one you said you were summoned to.  First a whole score of Wardens disappear there, now a new one and a whole pack of unrelated school kids appear out of the blue.  I don''t know what to make of it, and I''m in no position to find out, but whatever is going on out here is serious enough to make me question just what kind of devils haunt the Outer Realms.  As much as I enjoy your company, I think that your classmates may be in danger.  Once you recover your energy, you probably shouldn''t stay here too long.¡±


    ***


    First chapter of the weekend! Next one will be out on Sunday. Thanks for reading!

 11 :: Change of Stations

    11 :: Change of Stations


    Nora¡¯s knuckles whitened as she tightened her grip on the pistol.  Part of her just wanted to refute everything Kurt had just told her.  She sincerely questioned whether or not he was telling the truth.  She didn''t know him well enough to take his words at face value, but if they truly were genuine, she couldn''t afford not to.  She decided to take them with a grain of salt.  A little wariness wouldn''t hurt, but calling him a liar after everything that he had done for her would just be rude.


    She heaved a deep sigh.  What exactly had she been pulled into?  She was in way over her head, and she knew it.  Every time things seemed to be looking up, some other problem materialized.  Now did she not only have to wait a year to go home, but she had to keep herself and her classmates safe from some mysterious threat that had wiped out whole squads of more-experienced Wardens.  Never was she more thankful for this gun than she was now.  Kurt may be¡­ Kurt, but at least he had given her this.  She resolved to keep it on her body at all times, no matter what.


    Nora thought about her next steps.  She wasn''t ready to leave yet.  She still had all of her belongings on her, so she could go whenever she wanted, but there were still so many unknowns.  There were several things that she wanted to ask Kurt, but getting too close to his past was probably playing with fire.  Even if he was confined to this realm, he was still a powerful ally to have.  He probably considered her something along the lines of a welcome distraction at this point, but she was determined to get on his good side, and that meant that any questions about how he ended up here were probably taboo.  If he wanted her to know, he would tell her.


    ¡°Let''s head back to the office for now.  I''d like a shower, and there are still some things I''d like to know,¡± she suggested.


    ¡°Agreed,¡± Kurt confirmed, running a hand through his curls in a futile attempt to get them out of his face.  ¡°Before we go though, take this with you,¡± he said with a gesture towards his feet where a leather rucksack sat, filled to the brim with tiny rocks.  Nora reached for the bag and began to stick it in her storage dimension before she was stopped by Kurt.


    ¡°It''ll be better for your stamina if you carry things like this more often.  It also helps you to better pass as a traveler,¡± he explained.


    He wasn''t wrong, but Nora was already having one hell of a day to begin with.  She considered refusing, but ended up slinging the bag over her shoulders anyways.  She had never had much reason to be concerned with her physical fitness.  Spatial magic had done an excellent job of making up for her shortcomings, but she needed to start conserving her energy whenever possible or she wouldn''t be able to expand her pool as quickly as she would have liked.  Her ego had taken a serious hit from this whole experience and she felt like she needed to make up for it somehow.


    With a good 50 lbs added to her back, Nora and Kurt began their journey back through the forest.  It was much more difficult than Nora had imagined.  Her feet nearly dragged across the coarse path, and the biggest challenge of all came in the form of the plants that rose from the ground in cords and nets that threatened to trip her up.  Raising her feet high enough to escape their grasp was almost enough to make her give up several times, but somehow, she was managing to keep up with Kurt¡¯s slow and steady pace.


    Some time later, when the sky was all but dark, the two came upon the imposing, blue wall of the city.  The doors to the double gate were just beginning to close and they had to hurry in order to make it through.  They traced their way back through the city and finally entered Kurt¡¯s office.  After the two had both rinsed the sweat from their bodies, they were finally able to have a conversation.


    ¡°How many wardens have gone missing so far, to your knowledge?¡± Nora began, rubbing her stiff shoulders and inwardly cursing herself for heeding Kurt¡¯s advice.  She reached into the bag sitting on the couch by her side and began destroying pebbles hand over fist as she listened to Kurt¡¯s response.


    ¡°Well, there was the original warden of that world, and the the first guy who came looking for him.  Then there was the first group that came through with five people, and then the second with twelve.  That makes for 19,¡± Kurt counted.  Twelve people were in the last group.  Nora had never heard of such a large group of wardens being assembled.


    If headquarters was willing to send that many, they had to have some idea of what was going on.  Perhaps she would be able to find some record of what that was in the missing warden¡¯s office.  The world where she had been summoned was the most likely place for her to find answers.  Nora grit her teeth and burst a pebble in agitation.  Returning to that world without any information about what might be waiting for her was just walking into a trap.  She had been lucky enough to escape while she was there.  She couldn''t just charge back in.


    ¡°I see.  There have to be records somewhere of these expeditions to find the missing Wardens.  I haven''t been around long enough to know where or how to find these records.  If you were me, where would you start?¡± Nora inquired as she returned to calmly erasing pebbles.  Kurt paused before responding.


    ¡°That would depend on the scope of the mission and whether or not Headquarters wanted to be discreet about it,¡± he began.  ¡°Normally, the mission briefing and any results that came of it would be catalogued at Headquarters.  Something that produces this many deaths though might be kept a bit more secret.  I, personally, can''t imagine Headquarters keeping too much information about it around.  The best place to find any kind of records would be with the missing Wardens which doesn''t help at all.  Your next best bet would be to find whatever office they were using as a base, which is also probably out since that would be back on the world you came from, unless you intend to charge right back into danger. The only place outside of that realm would be in one of the Warden¡¯s offices in the nearby realms.  One of those Wardens may have some information for you.¡±


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    ¡°Do you know anything about the wellbeing of the other wardens in the nearby realms?¡± Nora responded.


    ¡°Nothing,¡± Kurt replied shortly. ¡°Several of them are prisoners like me, and the remaining few that are still capable of jumping realms aren''t exactly keen on visiting our kind.  However, if you did find one of them, they might be able to help you contact headquarters for assistance, although I''m not certain they''d be game for another rescue mission in this region.  Wardens don''t grow on trees, you know?¡±


    ¡°Honestly,¡± Nora sighed, ¡°that sounds like as good of a plan as any.  I''ll need to get more information if I ever hope to defend myself or the others from whatever is in that realm.  If I manage to find some help along the way, all the better.¡±


    ¡°That''s what I would suggest,¡± Kurt agreed with a shrug. ¡°Be careful though.  We have no idea what kind of state any of the surrounding realms are in.  You might be running out of the frying pan and into the fire.  I''m inclined to think that you''ll be okay though.  If the other realms were being attacked as well, there''s no way they wouldn''t have come after me.¡±


    ¡°They might be scared of you,¡± Nora suggested.  ¡°That magic you showed me is nothing to shake a stick at.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps, but only if they knew about it,¡± Kurt replied with an unconcerned smile. ¡°I don''t know how anyone would know what I''m capable of unless I''m under some kind of observation, which would be problematic in its own right.  I don''t take kindly to being watched.¡±  Nora understood and didn''t press the issue.


    ¡°Any realms you would recommend as a first target?¡± she continued.


    ¡°You''d probably want to start with one of the more legitimate Wardens.  If I remember right, those would be stationed here, here, here¡­, and here,¡± Kurt explained, walking over to his projection of the outer realms and pointing out a few points of light.  Nora pulled a small notepad from her storage dimension and drafted up a makeshift map.


    ¡°Any other advice?¡± Nora asked as she finished up her drawing and placed the notepad into her nearly empty rucksack.


    ¡°Nothing you don''t probably already know,¡± Kurt answered dismissively. ¡°Don''t stand out, make straight for the Warden¡¯s Office, check for traps outside the entrance.  If you can, you should come back here periodically.  It never hurts to have a backup of anything you learn.  We don''t need another Warden disappearing and taking whatever secrets they had gleaned about this region with them.¡±


    ¡°You just want company,¡± Nora teased. ¡°Don''t worry, I plan on playing it safe.  I''ll stop back frequently, especially at first.¡±


    ¡°Alright!¡± Kurt chuckled in response. ¡°I assume you''ll start here then?¡± he asked, pointing to the closest realm governed by what he had labeled as ¡®legitimate¡¯ Wardens.


    ¡°Yep,¡± Nora confirmed, observing the energy that she had amassed.  She would barely have enough energy to make the closest jump as it was.  Besides, she didn''t want to stray too far for now.  She reached for her traveling cloak and threw it on over her shoulders.  She ran a hand over her sides to verify that her pistols were still in place.  One sat on each of her hips, her standard piece on the right, and Kurt¡¯s modified piece on the left.  She had donned a clean set of nondescript traveling clothing after her shower and sincerely hoped that the next realm she visited would be cooler so that she wouldn''t burn through her supply of clean clothing so fast.


    After a moment''s hesitation, Nora pulled up her hood.  She didn''t know what the typical appearance for residents of this realm would be.  Blue hair was normal for Svenivelle, but it wasn''t for Earth.  She had been able to get away with it there by using hair dye as an excuse, but that wouldn''t fly in a second stage realm like this world or the one she had been summoned to.


    Finally, she grabbed the bag Kurt had given her to carry pebbles in and fixed it to her back.  She would refill it at the next opportunity.  For now, she just needed to make it to the school and find the Warden¡¯s office.  She shot a glance back at Kurt who was sitting leisurely on the sofa where she had found him.


    ¡°I''m counting on you!¡± he grinned mischievously. ¡°Don''t die on me!¡±


    Nora stuck her tongue out at him and was met with a chuckle as she closed her eyes.  She compared a mental image of the map she had drawn to the nearby realms she could sense.  Finding the realm she had settled on, she smiled.


    ¡°I''ll be back,¡± she promised as she vanished into thin air.


    Sitting alone in his office, Kurt smiled.  He had a feeling that he might not be stuck here for much longer.  Eventually, he stood and sauntered lazily over to his ancient, bronze terminal and brought up the search function.  He typed Nora''s name into the bar, and brought up her personnel file, scrolling through it with a leisurely air, until a certain piece of information caught his attention.  His eyes widened as a whistle left his lips.  He hadn''t expected it to be that bad.  This was quite a burden to bear.


    ***


    Sorry I''m late with this one!  I don''t have an excuse.  Things came up.  Next chapter will be up on Thursday.  Thank you for reading, and please tell me what you think!

 12 :: Intelligence

    12 :: Intelligence


    Honestly, Adam wasn''t terribly surprised by Cogitan¡¯s proposal.  He didn''t imagine he would be offered personal training in a dangerous art by the country''s second in command without a promise of service.  He was glad that Cogitan had been so forthright with him, and it was a good deal.  Being in such a position may even help him find Nora.  He had priorities though.


    ¡°I will be honest with you, sir.  I intend to find a way home.  My family is there waiting for me.  I do not want to leave them forever.  If I find a way home, I will take it,¡± Adam responded to Cogitan¡¯s proposal gravely.


    ¡°I would fault you otherwise,¡± Cogitan retorted without a second¡¯s hesitation.  ¡°I encourage you to search for a way home.  The more we know about God¡¯s formations, the better.  I would allow you time for research, and I could even provide you with access to the restricted section of the city¡¯s library to assist you with your endeavor.  I only hope that if you are not successful by the time that I retire in a good twenty years or so, that you do a diligent job of filling my shoes.¡±


    In twenty years, his family would have long forgotten him.  He would have missed out on well over half of his little sister¡¯s life.  He would have spent over half of his own life in this world.  In twenty years, Adam hoped to have fallen in love.  Gotten married, even.  If it took twenty years to get home, he did not expect that he would put off these goals.  He would probably be settled into a comfortable life here in this world if that time came.  In twenty years, there would be no point to him returning home.


    With that matter settled, Adam¡¯s thoughts returned to the matter of Cogitan.  He seemed trustworthy.  He wanted to trust him, but he didn''t really know anything about him.  He could very well be walking into a trap.  In Adam¡¯s mind though, he was already trapped.  He was stuck in another world and completely powerless to do anything about it.  This had the potential to give him the leverage he needed to accomplish his goals.  It seemed that the worst case scenario consisted of him living a comfy life in one of the top positions in this country.  It didn''t seem so bad.


    It was then that Adam realized that he knew nothing of the political status of this country.  What was its size?  It''s population?  Hell, what was its polity?  He knew Altinius was some kind of chief ruler, but there was a big difference between, say, a constitutional monarch and a theocratic dictator, and Adam definitely knew where his preferences lied.


    ¡°Before I accept,¡± Adam began, ¡°could you tell me a bit about your country?  What kind of place is it¡­ and what do you need my classmates to learn magic for?¡±


    ¡°Most certainly!¡± Cogitan exclaimed, ¡®but I should first like to warn you that there is no way for one man to convey the nature of an entire state in one brief conversation,¡± he cautioned as he began a seemingly endless rant on the history and status of his country.


    ¡°In our country, we have one supreme ruler who is elected by a council of our elders.  If the man elected is able to earn the blessing of our God, they will become king.  As I''m sure you''ve realized, Altinius is our present king and I am a member of the Council.


    Umbrian has always been a small country.  There have been border skirmishes with the others in the past since our founding, but never anything on this scale.  My country is at war.  Ever since the other countries discovered that the religion we practice is different from theirs, there has been no end to the persecution that my people have faced.  Many of our lands have been seized by the enemy.  Many of our soldiers have fallen.


    Facing a lack of trained soldiers, Umbrian has survived up to this point by utilizing the strength of our earth mages.  We have created a network of walls to protect us.  They extend from this city in layers, like fish scales.  The districts closer to the center are primarily used for trading, while the ones further out are used for farming, ranching, and mining.  We are satisfied with life within the walls, but they are also locking us in with the demons we have sealed.  Should the seals weaken, we may very well face a massacre.  It is for the purpose of strengthening these seals that your people were brought here.


    Supporting the seals requires a deep understanding of the theories of magic.  Our mages are needed to protect the country at the borders.  Even if we did recall a few of our best, it is likely that they would ultimately lack the natural magical capacity to support the spell.  We would potentially be wasting years and have nothing to show for it.


    It was our God who told us to summon you.  He appeared to Altinius in a vision and provided him the instructions.  When Altinius awoke, he discovered a book inscribed with the spell diagrams necessary in his chambers.  We are not like the demon worshippers outside our walls.  We trust in the god that provides us with undeniable proof of his power.  We built the formulas and they brought you to us.  We would not force your people to join our own on the front lines and fight and die for this country that is not your own, but we did hope that you could assist us with our internal problems.¡±


    At this point, Cogitan paused for a moment to catch his breath and take a sip from a goblet that had been on his desk before continuing.


    Stolen story; please report.


    ¡°This, I believe is the extent of what I can convey to you through pure conversation.  The rest, you shall have to observe for yourself.  Do you not agree?¡± he queried.  Adam nodded obediently.  It would be difficult to trust somebody who believed their own words to contain supreme knowledge of any subject.  Information should always be both relayed and consumed with a healthy sense of agnosticism.  Adam was glad that Cogitan understood such a thing.  It made him feel more and more like they would get along finely in the future.  At Adam¡¯s nod, Cogitan resumed speaking.


    ¡°Excellent!¡± he exclaimed, ¡°Then before we end this meeting, I would like to present you with a test of sorts.¡±  Hearing this, Adam blanched.  He was still a bit nervous at the mention of examinations after failing his first one so miserably.  ¡°This office is entirely dependent upon intelligence.  We live and breathe it.  It is the only way that I can adequately make informed decisions concerning the future of this nation.  For the most part, sources bring this information to us.  Being a nation at war, we have many spies across enemy lines.


    There is no need for you to be involved in anything so dangerous yet, but there are also times when I am required to gather information around town for myself.  I am of the opinion that it is an extremely important skill to have.  Not only is the gathering of intelligence important, but one must also be able to separate the diamonds from the stones.  Not all information is useful.  Curious, maybe, but not useful.


    I am also aware that your trust in me has not yet been determined.  It couldn¡¯t be.  We have only known each other for the better part of an hour.  Therefore, I would like this first evaluated task to be one that benefits you and your peers.


    Over the course of the next week, I would like you to collect as much information about this nation of Umbria as you can and condense it into a report that your classmates would find useful.  I¡¯m sure that they are as full of questions as you are, only they are in less of a position to do anything about it.  You may make full use of the library, conduct informal interviews with the city¡¯s residents, tour the city, or anything else that you can think of.  Make full use of your resources.  Write a report that will fully satisfy any of the questions your peers may raise.


    During this period, you will not attend classes with your peers, so you can utilize your days to their utmost.  We will inform your professors that you proved resistant to our testing methods and that further examination must be done before you can be placed within any specific elemental program.  At the beginning of next week, your report will be issued to your classmates as an official briefing from our government.  Your name will not be connected to it, so don¡¯t worry about your peers discovering the unusual manner in which you spent your first week.  Does this sound agreeable to you?¡±


    This certainly seemed like a lot to do, but when Adam thought about it, he realized that this project would be able to completely satisfy his own curiosity.  All he would need to do is investigate the questions that he, himself had, and follow them down whatever rabbit holes they led him to until he was satisfied.  While this would also help his classmates, the immediate benefit that it would give him could not be ignored.  This was a good project.  It was also fair.  This time, he was working for his classmates instead of Cogitan.  It would make a good test run.  While the scope of information was daunting, Adam was pleased.


    ¡°This sounds fantastic!¡± Adam replied enthusiastically.


    ¡°I¡¯m glad you agree!¡± Cogitan proclaimed with a hint of relief.  He had high hopes for Adam and had no intention of losing his interest this early on.  ¡°I will relay your appearance to the library guards so that they know to let you pass.  Is there anything else that you will need from me?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I think I¡¯ll be able to take things from here!¡± Adam answered confidently.  His chest fluttered with the excitement caused by this new opportunity that had befallen him.  If this went well, Adam could find himself in a very profitable position.  He wanted this test to go well more than anything.  He wanted to prove to himself that Cogitan was worthy of his trust.  This was the path that could lead him home.  He was sure of it.


    ¡°I think so too!¡± Cogitan smiled warmly. ¡°You may now return!¡±


    ***


    I am really, really, sorry about the brief, unannounced hiatus.  School has proven to be more than I can handle without a little chemical help and I''m not really sure why I ever thought otherwise, as this is not an unfamiliar struggle.  A couple of mind-shattering meltdowns later and I''m getting things back under control, but for the sake of being more likely to keep my promises, I''m going to cut the promised weekly chapters down to two until I''m completely back on track.  There may be more depending on the week and my workload, but I feel better promising two for now.


    As a side note, what kind of a writing class forces you to write the same paper five or six times, starting with a project proposal and then sequentially re-writing it with more and more information, but without plagiarizing yourself, until you shit out a 15 page long research paper?  Am I the only one who thinks that this is completely asinine and a waste of both my effort and words?  College is dumb.  This research paper I''m writing is dumb.  This professor is dumb.  It''s enough to drive anybody crazy.


    Next chapter will be out by the end of the week.  Those of you who are reading this, thank you so, so much for waiting, and as usual, please let me know what you think in the comments!

 13 :: The World of White

    13 :: The World of White


    A vast expanse of white greeted Nora as she opened her eyes.  Before she had a chance to assess her surroundings, her body was wracked by several waves of intense pain.  She flung her arms around her, one of her hands finding its way to cover her mouth to keep her from inhaling.  Her teeth clenched as she struggled to bear the pain.  She squinted her eyes shut as they welled with tears.  It was cold.  It was beyond cold.  Her hair billowed in the wind sending pieces of it flying into her eyes, her freezing tears gluing them in place.


    As she regained enough consciousness to realize the danger she was in, she immediately began pulling whatever items she could find out of her spatial realm and layering them over herself.  Traveling cloaks were tied along her limbs, blouses were wrapped around her head and hands.  Every square inch of exposed skin was covered as quickly as she could move.  Surveying her handiwork, Nora crouched herself into a ball in an attempt to conserve her warmth.


    How was she supposed to find shelter in the middle of a storm like this?  She couldn¡¯t even see three feet in front of her, she thought to herself.  Even when night time came, it would be fairly unlikely that she would be able to see any lights through this snow.  Waiting until night would be the most dangerous decision of all.  Not only would the temperature drop significantly, but there was no telling what kind of creatures might wake up then.  Arctic climates in any realm were typically host to a number of predators.  Her home planet of Earth had been no different.  There was something about extreme climates that tended to produce extreme food chains, and Nora had no intent of becoming part of that.


    Just as she was beginning to contemplate the risks and benefits of moving about during the day, she noticed an abnormality.  Through the white haze of the blizzard, there seemed to be a mass of vivid blue flame bobbing up and down as it rapidly approached her position.  It didn¡¯t take a speeding ball of inferno to tell Nora that she was in danger.  Her hand shot to her waist where her new pistol was waiting.


    Nora¡¯s eyes widened in fear as she realized the problem.  Both of her hands were wrapped in bulky cloth in an attempt to keep them warm.  She couldn¡¯t even hold her guns, much less pull a trigger or aim.  She began frantically trying to shake off the hand wraps, looking back and forth between the pistol and the approaching flame-beast.


    As the creature neared it became apparent that the hand wraps were not going to be removed in time.  Nora cursed under her breath as she turned and began to run.  Her feet sunk deeply into the blanket of snow covering the ground and hindered her movement.  She raised her knees as high as she could as she struggled to make headway against the snow.  This wasn¡¯t working either.


    She swore loudly as she raised her hands to remove the wrap around her face.  The cold wind burned her flesh and she regretted it almost immediately.  She tore at the wrap covering her right hand with her teeth, ripping off scraps of cloth until finally, the cloth shook loose enough to slip her hand out of it.


    Thin fingers shone like bone in the twilight created by the thick snow as they darted towards the pistol on her left side.  She pulled it from its holster as she spun and faced the flame creature.  The beast crashed into her, forcing her pistol to rest parallel against its chest.  A thick arm covered in white fur pinned her to its side as it crashed through the place where she had previously stood, carrying on without stopping.


    Nora squirmed in its embrace. Thankfully the flames appeared to only cover its back.  The front was covered with fur, and if anything, it was warm.  She bobbed up and down uncomfortably as the creature carried her away.  She could feel the moist heat of its breath as it panted, charging through the snow on a set of stocky legs.  While one arm held her, the other pushed snow out of the way as it ran.  From what Nora could tell, it was an ape of sorts.  The word yeti crossed her mind, but she had never heard of yetis with flaming backs before.


    Nora swung her legs in large arcs trying to rock the creature off balance.  Every up swing planted a knee into the thing¡¯s kidneys.  As she continued her relentless assault on its sides, she twisted her torso, furiously trying to free her arm that was pressed uncomfortably against the creature¡¯s chest.  If she could twist her hand just a little bit upward, she could get a clean shot at the beast¡¯s chin and that would mean victory.


    Just as suddenly as she had been grabbed, the beast slid to a stop.  The snow seemed to give way to an icy plane.  The beast ran towards the tip of a boulder that jutted out, marring the smooth surface.  As it crossed the boulder, it stooped down and slammed its fist three times against the hard surface of the ground.  Nora watched in rapt amazement as a chunk of ice the size of a kiddie pool was lifted by four furred hands.  Without even the time to gasp in surprise, Nora was thrust beneath the slab and into the cavern below.


    Her body skidded along the packed ice surface as she did her best to roll out of the fall and absorb the impact.  Spinning into a kneeling position, she hid her modified pistol away and pulled her standard piece.  Glaring at the two creatures raising the ice slab, she waited for the third one to slide in.  As soon as its feet hit the floor, she fired a single round into the wall.  The three snapped their heads to look at her.  Just as she had expected.


    Stolen novel; please report.


    ¡°Hoods down!¡± she demanded, gesturing with her free hand for them to remove their headgear.  The three men nervously glanced at each other before obeying, lifting their fur hoods.  The one with the flaming back pressed himself up against one of the ice walls before lowering his.  It let out a hiss as the flames were extinguished.


    The three were very similar in appearance.  Each of them had a large, stocky build.  Their faces were covered in long hair and bushy beards, all of a pale grey color.  Despite the color of their hair, they didn¡¯t seem to be particularly old.  In fact, all of them seemed to be in the prime of their lives.


    ¡°Speak,¡± Nora commanded, once again gesturing with her free hand to try and convey the intent of her words.  The one that had formerly been on fire obliged, spilling out a long stream of angry-sounding dialogue.  Thankfully, Nora recognized it as a close dialect of Old Norse and could understand that he was unhappy with her treatment of them after they had saved her life.  Nora did her best to respond in the little Norse she knew.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± she spoke, nodding her head in gratitude, but refusing to lower her weapon.  The men raised their eyebrows, surprised that they could understand what she had said.  ¡°Where am I?¡± she asked.  This time, there was no chance of her blending in with the natives.  She couldn¡¯t even play the lost traveler.  She wasn¡¯t sure exactly how they had found her out there in the middle of the blizzard, but the fact that she was still alive was a testament to the fact that she had not been there long and had certainly not wandered there herself.  There was no choice but to play dumb.


    ¡°You are lost,¡± the same man spoke. ¡°You arrived here same as the others.  One after another, they all appear in that field.  Different shapes and colors.  Different tongues.  We don¡¯t know why.  It is considered a sacred place.  The elders claim that it is the magic of the storm that draws you, but I do not know.  All that I know is that when the ice bed begins to groan, it means that a traveler has been standing still for too long and needs help.¡± he asserted pointedly.


    Nora blanched at the thought of what might have happened had she not been found.  She had no idea that the ground had not been sturdy where she stood.  The swim she took in the last realm she visited was bad enough.  She didn¡¯t imagine she would have lasted long swimming beneath the ice in this kind of cold.


    Nora thanked them again as she tucked her pistol back into its holster at her waist.  She didn¡¯t take her hand off of it, but she figured she should show at least a bit of gratitude to her saviors.


    ¡°You say people appear in this field frequently?¡± she asked.  This was troublesome news indeed.  There would have to be some kind of spatial anomaly in the area for things like that to happen, but normally an anomaly would only be connected to one other realm.  This man had mentioned that the people who appeared here looked different and spoke different languages.  This could imply perhaps that several anomalies had converged, but she had never heard of such a thing.  It could also mean that they were being summoned, similarly to what had brought her to the Outer Realms in the first place.


    It was unlikely that a Warden was involved in this though.  If there was one in this realm, they would have fixed this by now.  It would be dangerous to continue investigating, but perhaps she could find some clues to their disappearance in their office.  She wondered how long it would take to find one.  She highly doubted there was an office hidden away somewhere in this cave. These men had spoken of elders so she reasoned that there must be some kind of civilization nearby.  Perhaps they would have a decent school.


    ¡°People appear in this field often.  Usually, several times in a year.  Sometimes in groups,¡± the same man, who seemed to be their leader answered.


    ¡°Where are these people now?  Can you take me to them?¡± Nora asked politely.


    ¡°It is where you must go,¡± the man replied, ¡°All lost ones live together in a community.  There you will join a family and attend school.¡± Nora¡¯s ears perked up at that.  Aside from the fact that it sounded like she would be sent to some kind of ghetto, there was a school.  This was good news.  As long as she could get into that school, even if it was in a ghetto, she would be fine.  Nora nodded her assent.


    ¡°Please take me there,¡± she requested.  The man nodded and gestured towards one of the other two men.  The man stepped forth and motioned towards a tunnel in the back of the cave.  The tunnel seemed to be carved from black ice, and aside from the floors, the walls were completely smooth.  Nora ran her hand along the surface and confirmed that it was ice.  The man motioned once again for her to follow him and they both stepped into the tunnel.


    ***


    So, I just got done talking about how I wasn''t going to be posting as frequently, and then I immediately sat down and put four chapters on paper in under 24 hours.  I may cut back my postings at some point, but that will not be this week.  I guess I got my writing mojo back. :P  As usual, please let me know what you think in the comments!

 14 :: The Same Mistakes

    14 :: The Same Mistakes


    As Adam exited Cogitan¡¯s office, he was surprised to find the cheerful Minea still waiting in the reception.


    ¡°There you are!¡± she exclaimed upon seeing him, ¡°You like father?¡±  Adam was a bit taken aback by the frankness of this question.


    ¡°Yes,¡± he replied carefully. ¡°He seems like a very smart man.¡±


    ¡°Father is smart,¡± she replied, ¡°but Minea more smart!¡± she added with a chuckle, a hint of smugness tainting her usual boyish grin.  Although her English proficiency seemed to scream otherwise, when one considered the fact that her father had been able to polish his English by directly absorbing the knowledge from the minds of his classmates, Adam was forced to consider that she may have a point.  It was certainly impressive that she had been able to get this far in such a short time.  Adam doubted he would be able to do the same in her shoes.


    Suddenly, he came to the realization that these were almost the exact circumstances he was facing.  He needed to complete a report on the nation of Umbrian in the course of a week by collecting information in a world where he didn¡¯t speak the language.  He either needed to learn the language very quickly or he needed to find another way to collect information.  Surely, there must have been some kind of a way for Cogitan to transfer his knowledge to Adam.  The fact that he hadn¡¯t probably meant that this was also a part of his test.


    Adam was about to ask Minea if she had some kind of a dictionary or language textbook that he could borrow when he was struck with an idea.


    ¡°Minea, what is this?¡± he asked, pointing to one of the chairs in the reception.


    ¡°That ¡®seril¡¯,¡± she quickly retorted, followed by a short lecture on the verb ¡®to sit¡¯ and how conjugation worked in Umbriel, their language.


    Cogitan had told him to make use of his resources.  So far, Minea had been the most valuable resource he had encountered in this world.


    ¡°Do you think you can walk me back to the school?  I¡¯m worried I¡¯ll wander off and get lost,¡± he asked her, a pleading look on his face.


    ¡°Of course!  Minea is pleased!¡± she answered with alacrity.  Adam stifled a chuckle at her broken English.  There was something inherently charming about her broken grammar and the confidence with which she recited it.


    Minea and Adam sped off down the hallway.  The trip down was much easier than the trip up and it took the two a significantly shorter time to reach the bottom.  As they spilled out into the street, Adam took the initiative and ran off on his own toward the market.  The school was in the other direction, but he wanted to take the long way.  At first, Minea had shouted at him to follow her, but it wasn¡¯t long before she got pulled into his pace.


    Every time Adam wanted to know what something was called, he asked and Minea would tell him.  From there, he would start substituting that word in with his own words until it became familiar to him.  He would also point out words on signs and have Minea read them to him.  In this manner, he started to develop a basic understanding of Umbriel.  This friendly girl was a far better teacher than any book.


    After an entire evening spent dragging her down cluttered alleys packed wall-to-wall with stalls, Minea finally managed to navigate them back in the direction of the school.  Before Adam knew it, they were back at the gate.  He wasn¡¯t sure when he¡¯d be able to see Minea again and he was unwilling to let such a useful person leave like this.


    ¡°I had a lot of fun today!¡± he admitted.  Minea smiled upon hearing his words.


    ¡°Fun is ¡®tivan¡¯,¡± she informed him.


    ¡°I have fun today,¡± he replied in broken Umbriel.


    ¡°Me too,¡± Minea agreed.


    ¡°Do you think you could show me around some more another time?¡± he asked hesitantly.


    ¡°Of course!¡± she answered. ¡°Father let me out of classes this week to help you!¡±  Adam inwardly groaned.  He had thought himself at least a bit clever, getting Minea to teach him the language herself.  Apparently, that had been Cogitan¡¯s plan the entire time.  Somebody should have said something.  This sure made things more convenient though.  Now he could bring her with him to the library to help him read.


    ¡°That¡¯s great!¡± Adam sighed, relaxing a bit.  ¡°Do you think we could visit the library tomorrow?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I am pleased!¡± Minea answered simply.


    ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to it!¡± he replied.  Minea¡¯s expression betrayed a hint of confusion at his words and he corrected himself. ¡°I can¡¯t wait!¡±


    ¡°Me too!¡± she said, resuming her usual smile. ¡°Goodnight!¡± she waved as she turned around and faded back into the chaos of the city.


    Somehow, Adam managed to find his way back through the curving, labyrinthine hallways of the school to his dorm.  After spending a moment relaxing on his bed, he decided that he should probably catch up with his peers for a bit.  In addition to their rooms, the class had also been allotted use of a small lounge where they could congregate and converse.  Adam headed out of his room and meandered down the hallway until he found it.


    The lounge was large enough to fit several sofas and coffee tables.  One corner of the room contained a small kitchen that they could use when they were hungry.  Meals would be provided by the school cafe, but this could be used for snacks or by those who liked to cook their own meals.  Adam was surprised to find the room mostly full.  It seemed that nobody wanted to be alone in this strange new place.  He felt a pang of sympathy.  Perhaps that was why he had been reluctant to part ways with Minea.


    Several eyes followed him as he made his way over towards an empty couch.  Apparently his absence had not gone unnoticed.  Most of the students still hadn''t forgiven him for siding with Nora during the classroom brawl and he received a few hostile glares along the way.  Without Nora around to pick on, he supposed he had become the scapegoat.  He hadn''t been the only one on Nora¡¯s side though, and as he neared the empty couch, he heard a voice call out his name.


    It was one of the other boys who had defended Nora in the fight, a skinny guy with a shock of red hair named Sean who was said to be decent at computers.  It seemed like the entire group that had stuck up for her had been banished to a set of couches in a corner of the room.  Adam didn''t hesitate to alter his course and join them.  He didn''t know Sean too well, but he wasn''t in much of a position to be shooting down invitations to socialize.


    ¡°What''s going on?¡± Adam asked as he sank into the plush red cushion of the sofa.


    ¡°Waiting for you,¡± Sean replied.  ¡°One of the last guys to get tested said he saw you get carted off by a guard.  The school didn''t seem to know anything about it.  We''ve all been waiting to find out where you''ve been.¡±  Adam rolled his eyes.  They were in another world, for Christ¡¯s sake.  Didn''t these people have anything better to gossip about?


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    ¡°The test didn''t work on me,¡± Adam explained loud enough to satisfy the eavesdroppers. ¡°The guard told me it happens sometimes.  They''re going to make me take another test since I was resistant to the first one, but for now I have to sit tight.  They said I won''t know my strength for another week or so.¡±


    ¡°That blows,¡± a kid named Derek chimed in.  ¡°I''m about done with this place already and I even got one of the good affinities.¡±  Derek was known for his bad attitude and blunt manner of speech.  He usually hung out with a different crowd, so Adam was surprised to see him in this setting.  It looked like recent situations had upset the old classroom cliques.


    ¡°What¡¯d you get?¡± Adam asked, wondering what he meant by ¡®good ones¡¯.


    ¡°I got ice,¡± he answered.  Adam thought it fit him pretty well.  Cold, blunt, abrasive, and above all, transparent.  Derek wasn''t the type to hold anything back and it gotten him into trouble more times than he could count.


    ¡°That''s pretty nice,¡± Adam muttered approvingly. ¡°How about the rest of you guys?¡±


    ¡°Well, the only other rare one in our little group is Lisse,¡± Sean said gesturing to the sole girl in the group.  She was a short blonde who had always seemed to follow Sean around back at school.  The girl nodded her head in confirmation and stuck out her two index fingers about three inches from each other.  Adam¡¯s mouth dropped as he watched an arc of electricity crackle into being between them.


    ¡°I spent all day in my room trying to figure that out,¡± she added with a proud smile as she set her hands back onto her lap and the energy disappeared.


    ¡°She''s the only one in our group who''s been able to manage anything yet,¡± Derek stated. ¡°She''s probably a prodigy or some shit.¡±  Lisse flushed a bit at his words but said nothing.


    ¡°Anyways, I got water,¡± Sean finished.  Adam nodded and turned toward Clayton, the last kid who hadn''t spoken yet.


    He and Clayton had been in the same class for four years now and knew each other pretty well.  He was a big towheaded kid who was always picked on.  His mom had enrolled him in competitive wrestling at a young age, but he refused to use his wrestling to defend himself from the bullies.


    ¡°I got air,¡± Clayton stated simply.


    ¡°Yeah, cause his head¡¯s full of air,¡± a voice called from across the room.  A couple of chuckles could be heard from the same direction as the voice.  Of course Ryan had to toss in his two cents.


    ¡°Who gives a fuck about Ryan?¡± Derek muttered to Clayton.  ¡°Don''t bother listening to an asshole like that.¡±


    ¡°I don''t,¡± Clayton replied with a grin.


    ¡°That''s my man!¡± Derek exclaimed, softly cuffing Clayton¡¯s shoulder.


    ¡°I heard you failed the test, huh?¡± Ryan taunted, marching himself over to the corner where their group sat.  Unwilling to be rebuffed so easily, he had decided to bother Adam instead.


    ¡°They''re giving me a different test,¡± Adam explained.


    ¡°Well, that should be interesting,¡± Ryan replied dismissively, sarcasm lacing his words.  ¡°Walk with me,¡± he demanded suddenly, heading towards the door of the lounge.  Adam hesitated for a moment before following.


    ¡°Look,¡± Ryan began, ¡°I''ve been meaning to talk to you about what happened back at school,¡± he continued, his tone suddenly becoming serious.  ¡°Why did you stand up for that girl?  Don''t you know what kind of family she''s from?¡±


    ¡°Of course I know,¡± Adam scoffed.  ¡°I guess I just don''t like the idea of people being judged for their parents actions.¡±


    ¡°Her parents weren''t just bad people, Adam.  They''re crazy.  Crazy is genetic.  If we left her type alone, she''d end up just as bad as them,¡± Ryan protested.


    ¡°She never seemed crazy to me,¡± Adam shrugged.


    ¡°Neither did her parents,¡± Ryan retorted. ¡°I went to the same elementary school as her, you know.  Ben and I were best friends.  We were inseparable.  It could just as easily have been me instead of him.¡±  Ryan sighed deeply, his expression solemn.  ¡°I can never forgive that family for kidnapping my best friend.  I blamed myself for a long time.  I thought that if only I had been with him we could have escaped somehow.  It''s not my fault though.  And if her parents weren''t going to take responsibility, I decided that their daughter would have to do.  If Ben hadn''t gone to visit her, he wouldn''t have been taken.  It''s her fault for luring him in.¡±


    Adam could see the determination in Ryan¡¯s expression.  It wasn''t just that he wanted to pick on Nora.  He needed to punish her in order to relieve himself of his own guilt.  It was a twisted way to go about things.  Adam knew though, that in Ryan''s eyes, Nora was absolutely guilty and he didn''t feel a shred of remorse for giving her what he felt she deserved.  Ryan had a fair bit of crazy in himself as well.


    ¡°That''s all in the past though,¡± he continued, a calm smile replacing his scowl.  ¡°Do you know why I''m bringing this up now?¡± he asked, leaning in closer.


    ¡°No,¡± Adam replied, raising his eyes to meet Ryan¡¯s.


    ¡°Because this time we¡¯re the ones who were taken,¡± he whispered gravely. ¡°This time it is all of our families who will be crying themselves to sleep for the next month or so.  This time though, we weren''t snatched by some lunatic parents.  We were snatched by a lunatic nation.  They stole us from our loved ones with no regard for our happiness.¡±


    ¡°They needed our help!¡± Adam exclaimed.


    ¡°Our families needed us,¡± Ryan countered. ¡°These people are just as crazy as Nora¡¯s parents.  They committed a crime.  We may not be strong enough now, but someday they will need to take responsibility!  Someday we will have to punish them!¡± he spat, eyes wild.


    ¡°I saw you at the gates with that guard girl,¡± Ryan murmured softly, his voice in sharp contrast with his expression.  ¡°It seemed like the two of you had a pretty good mood going on.  You made a mistake once before by standing with Nora.  I want you to think long and hard about whether or not that''s the kind of mistake you want to make again.  Think about your family.  Think about the futures these people have stolen from us.  We cannot submit to them.  We cannot befriend them.  This entire world is our enemy.  I don''t want you to forget that.  This time, I''m going to make sure we escape, but in order to do that, we''re going to have to work together.  We can''t have any bleeding hearts in our group.  If you''re going to start sympathizing with the enemy, we''re going to have a real problem. Think on it.¡±


    With that, Ryan turned and left, leaving Adam alone with his thoughts.


    ***


    Thanks for reading!  Don''t be afraid to leave some feedback!  I always like to know what people think!

 15 :: The Investigation Begins

    15 :: The Investigation Begins


    Nora obediently allowed herself to be led through the tunnels. The dim light of the torches reflected off the glossy walls in sharp, brilliant tongues. After some time, the smooth black ice that she had become accustomed to gave way to smooth black stone. The stone itself had a glassy appearance to it, and while Nora wasn''t a geologist by any means, she would bet money on it being obsidian.


    Eventually, the tunnel began to widen. Nora ran her left hand absentmindedly along a stripe of light faintly shining through from behind the thin wall of obsidian on her left. As they continued their descent in a counterclockwise spiral, she came to realize that the light must come from some sort of cavern on the other side.


    As soon as the first branch appeared to their left, Nora¡¯s guide led her down it. This new tunnel was different from the ones they had just left. It was perfectly round, and the dim light shone through in an even gradient, starting from the top. Nora could make out vague shapes behind the black, opaque glass, but nothing solid enough to comprehend.


    Though this path was straight, it still sloped downward. Several other intersections dotted their path, but they stayed true to their original course. The lower they traveled, the warmer it got. By the time they reached what appeared to be their destination, Nora had removed several layers of extraneous clothing. All traces of the blizzard above had vanished, save for Nora¡¯s right hand and a stripe over her eyes, which had a slight, pink, burn from exposure.


    Finally, they came to a stop in front of a pair of tall stone doors covered from head to foot in intricate woven patterns. Nora wasn''t sure where she was, but it didn''t particularly look like a ghetto. The man accompanying her gave a short knock before backing away from the door. After a minute had passed, there was still no sign of the doors opening.


    ¡°Where are we?¡± Nora muttered. She wasn''t a patient person to begin with, and in this situation, she couldn''t even see the point to what they were doing.


    ¡°We must consult the elders to place you within a family,¡± her stoic companion answered.


    ¡°No, I''m old enough. I can live on my own. You don''t need to bother somebody else to care for me!¡± Nora quickly protested. She absolutely didn''t want a new family. She wasn''t planning on staying here long anyways.


    ¡°There is not space,¡± the man replied lazily. ¡°We all must share.¡± Nora wasn''t sure what to say to that, so she just kept quiet. Being assigned to a family wouldn''t exactly stop her from accomplishing her goals here. In the end, it didn''t matter.


    After another couple of minutes, the doors finally opened and they were waved inside by a couple of guards dressed in light furs. On a slightly raised platform, seven individuals could be seen sitting around a table. Nora supposed that these were the elders.


    Their dress was not extravagant or distinguished by any means. If they hadn''t been on that raised platform, Nora would never have suspected them of being in any kind of leadership role. They didn''t even appear to be terribly old, for the most part. There was only one woman who appeared to be above sixty. The rest were probably around forty to fifty. A few of them surveyed Nora serenely as she stepped into the room. Several didn''t even bother to look up from whatever documents they were reading.


    ¡°So this is our newest member, huh? Let''s see which families have room,¡± one of the men mumbled as he thumbed through some some worn, vellum documents. None of the members seemed in the least bit bothered by Nora¡¯s sudden appearance. To them, a girl appearing out of nowhere was just another day in the village.


    ¡°Ah!¡± a hoarse voice cried out softly, disturbing their calm. Every head in the room snapped around to face the source. The voice, full of surprise, seemed to have come from the center of the table.


    ¡°What is that?¡± the oldest female elder barked, her eyes wide and her crooked driftwood fingers pointed at Nora¡¯s midsection. Nora¡¯s eyes shot to her waist as she tried to figure out what the elder might be referring to. She pulled a pistol from its holster and dangled it questioningly before the elder.


    ¡°Not that!¡± she hissed, ¡°That!¡± The crone once again gestured to Nora¡¯s waist. Nora''s fingers pulled softly at a sort of makeshift sarong that she had wound around herself during the blizzard. It had been fashioned from Nora¡¯s bulky Warden uniform. The crimson fabric was certainly eye catching. Was she referring to the color?


    ¡°Where did you find that cloak?¡± the elder continued, a sorrowful look crossing her eyes.


    ¡°Where have you seen this cloak before?¡± Nora asked warily.


    ¡°A friend of our people used to wear one like it. He went missing a little over a year ago,¡± the elder croaked. Her authoritative tone was gone and what had replaced it was more of a weak pleading. If Nora had to guess, the man she had spoken of meant more to her than just a friend of her people. It seemed that this realm¡¯s Warden had been a little more involved in community affairs than most.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    ¡°This cloak is mine. I believe the man that you mentioned is the man that I came here to find. He and I are members of the same company, though we have never met. Do you think I could see the place where he stayed? He should have some sort of an office nearby,¡± Nora explained.


    ¡°Yes, I know it,¡± the woman answered eagerly. ¡°Please follow,¡± she spoke as she rose from her seat and crossed the room. As she neared the door, she paused and turned to face her peers. ¡°I will take care of this girl. Please continue the meeting without me,¡± she added before exiting. Nora followed behind her as she sped off down the hallway with the gait of a much younger woman.


    She struggled to keep up as the elder wove her way through tunnel after tunnel, gradually moving upwards. They passed back and forth between glass and stone tunnels, until at last, they arrived at their destination.


    ¡°Here it is,¡± the woman gestured to a simple stone door. As Nora stepped closer, she became able to make out the bronze sigil indicative of a Warden¡¯s office.


    ¡°This is it,¡± Nora replied. ¡°Thank you.¡± The woman paused, an awkward expression on her face.


    ¡°Do you think I could come in with you, just for a bit? It¡¯s been so long since I¡¯ve been inside. I tried so hard to get this door open after he left, but I just couldn¡¯t figure it out. There isn¡¯t even a handle,¡± the woman pleaded.


    ¡°This man and you were close, right?¡± Nora asked. The woman nodded.


    ¡°Yes. We had been seeing each other. We were both older and our former spouses had both passed on. We found an answer to our loneliness in each other,¡± she explained, a wistful expression floating across her eyes.


    ¡°I understand,¡± Nora nodded. ¡°You may enter, but I can¡¯t tell you what to expect. I don¡¯t know the circumstances under which this man disappeared. There may be signs of struggle,¡± she warned.


    ¡°Henrik would not have left me without warning. I am well aware that something must have happened to him. I still hold out hope that he can be found. Perhaps it is you who will be able to bring me answers,¡± the elder agreed.


    ¡°Very well then,¡± Nora conceded as she raised her hands to the door and began fiddling with the brass contraption. A couple of seconds later and the device released a click. The stone door swung open with a groan.


    The lobby was much the same as Kurt¡¯s office had been. The white marble floors and gilded furniture entered her vision once again as she crossed the foyer. The elder seated herself in one of the chairs, obviously accustomed to waiting in the lobby, as she would not have been able to enter the living quarters.


    Nora proceeded to the back of the room and placed her hand on the door, bracing herself for whatever she may find. Worst case scenario, there might be a body. No. Worst case scenario, the room might be empty. Nora wondered to herself if it was cold of her to feel that way. She needed information though. A body would be able to give her more information than nothing at all.


    Nora eased her spatial energy into the fabric of the door and pushed it open. Fortunately, neither a body nor an empty room greeted her. The room looked lived in. There were no recent signs of life, but there were also no pools of blood, or broken furniture, or anything else that may indicate that he had been attacked. If Henrik had met an unfortunate fate, it had not been here.


    A thin coat of dust coated any surface it could cling to. Nora¡¯s eyes were drawn to a desk covered in scattered papers. She shuffled them into a messy pile and began to thumb through them. At a glance, it was apparent that Henrik had been neck deep in researching the phenomenon of people appearing in this region before his disappearance. Nora sighed. There were so many papers here to go through. She hadn¡¯t considered that she would be presented with too much information when she had opened that door. This would take some time to go through.


    Nora set the stack of papers back onto the desk. Pausing for a moment to think, she pulled a blank sheet of paper from the desk and jotted down a couple of instructions on it. She folded the sheet of paper neatly before returning to the marble foyer. The elder looked up expectantly as she entered.


    ¡°Henrik wasn¡¯t in there and there were no signs of a struggle,¡± Nora reported. The older woman sighed in relief upon hearing her words. ¡°There was a large number of documents in his office that I need to go through. I will stay here for a couple of days in order to process it. You may have this,¡± she said, handing the folded sheet of paper to the elder. ¡°It¡¯s the combination needed to open the door. You can enter this room at any time to touch base with me.¡±


    She walked the elder over to the door and showed her how to open the brass cover and turn the dial beneath. This combination was a sort of guest pass that could be given out by Wardens to allow specific persons entry to the waiting room. This was the first time in her life that she had given it to someone. There were other combinations, similar to this one, that were intended to unlock certain functions of the door. Nora thought about the combination she had slipped to Adam. She wondered how long it would take him to figure out its purpose.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be by in the morning with some breakfast,¡± the elder assured her with a smile on her way out the door.


    ¡°Thank you, Elder¡­¡± Nora began to thank the woman as she realized she didn¡¯t know her name.


    ¡°You may call me Vigdis,¡± the woman interjected.


    ¡°Thank you, Vigdis,¡± Nora replied. ¡°My name is Nora.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Nora,¡± Elder Vigdis insisted. ¡°Thank you for coming here and searching for my Henrik. If there is anything you need, just let me know and I will procure it for you.¡±


    ¡°I appreciate that. I¡¯ll let you know as soon as I find any leads,¡± Nora assured her.


    As Elder Vigdis disappeared down the tunnel, Nora returned to Henrik¡¯s study and retrieved her stack of papers. She poured herself a glass of water from the kitchen and dropped herself down onto a soft, green couch. A shower of dust was catapulted into the air, sending Nora into a fit of coughing as she hid her mouth and nose behind her cloak. This was going to be a long night.

 16 :: Notes

    16 :: Notes


    Adam yawned into his book. He had returned to his quarters immediately following his conversation with Ryan, but despite his best efforts, sleep had evaded him. He had never really gotten along with Ryan and usually dismissed his words as nonsense, but these weren''t his typical entitled drivel. He couldn''t help but to admit that this time Ryan may have a point.


    Adam had successfully banished almost all thoughts of his family from his mind. There was nothing he could do to return to them right now and any time thoughts of them crept into his mind, he would simply recite that mantra and continue on. In Adam¡¯s mind, the best way to get back to his family was by focusing on the current situation. Now he was being forced to consider if, in doing so, he had compromised on his morals.


    It had been three days since that conversation, but Adam still hadn''t managed to sort his thoughts. Every day he missed his family more and more, but he was also learning about the people of this land they had come to. It was hard to paint Umbrian in a completely negative light, as Ryan had, when one understood that they were just as human as the people of Earth.


    Was Umbrian evil? They were certainly desperate, but Adam didn''t really consider their actions to be unjustified. From Umbrian¡¯s perspective, the greatest evil was that demon they had imprisoned. In order to suppress the demon, it seemed that just about any action was justified. Cogitan clearly understood the implications of their abduction, but still deemed it necessary for their survival. Just how awful was this demon that it merited such an action?


    Umbrian aside, there was also the issue of Nora to consider. Her parents were awful. That was a certainty. Adam still didn''t think that she deserved to be blamed for their actions. He also didn''t think she was crazy, but when it came down to it, did he really know her all that well? The only time they had spent together outside of class was at that dinner the day before the summoning.


    As soon as she had landed in this world, she had abandoned the group and run off on her own. Adam didn''t know her reasons for doing so, and it was true that her safety may have been in jeopardy had she stayed, but she had still left him without saying a word, even after she had claimed that they were friends.


    The letters on the page of the book spun before his eyes. It took him a minute to even remember that the words written were not in English. Adam had been fortunate enough already that Umbriel used a close derivative of the Latin alphabet in its printed form. All he needed to do was sound the words out and try to match them up with the small vocabulary he had amassed, but his sleep deprivation was making this more difficult than it needed to be.


    ¡°Water?¡± a voice pulled him from his daze as a glass was placed before him. Minea looked down at him with a smile.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± he replied, setting down the geography book he had been studying. He leaned back in his chair and sipped eagerly from the cup.


    ¡°You look tired,¡± Minea stated with a frown. ¡°Haven''t you read enough?¡± Adam cast a glance at the stack of papers where he had been recording his notes. It was true that he had probably taken down enough information to write the section of his report on geography.


    ¡°Maybe,¡± he admitted.


    ¡°Take a break,¡± Minea suggested. ¡°We can come back later if you need to.¡±


    ¡°Fine, fine,¡± he conceded with a sigh. It was only a little after noon, but he supposed he could work on the report for a bit after his break.


    The people of Umbrian were strong proponents of the siesta. They usually dedicated a good three hours after lunch to sleeping. Adam liked to spend this time in the library because it was even quieter than usual without anyone else around, but it was practically sacrilege for Minea to forfeit her afternoon naps. He had told her previously that she could leave him to his work, but she had insisted upon keeping him company despite the inconvenience. He supposed it wouldn''t be too awful to take a nap every once in awhile.


    Adam sorted the books at his workstation before leaving the building together with Minea. They parted ways at the library entrance as Minea hurried off to her family house near the palace. Adam took his time, leisurely strolling along the vacant streets. It was so odd to him, seeing the entire city asleep in the middle of the day. Even the street venders had closed up their carts and stalls and retreated indoors. He felt that he would never get used to it.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    As Adam pushed open the door to his room, a disaster greeted him. A thin layer of papers, covered every surface. In the corner of the room rested a looming pile of worn clothing. Adam wasn''t sure where he was supposed to do laundry in this school. He wasn''t even sure how to wash clothes in this world. He resolved to ask Minea about it later. For now, he decided that he would simply tidy things up a bit.


    He gathered up the papers and sorted them into piles based on topic. It amazed him how many notes he had managed to take in the last three days. The piles each found homes on the small desk that had come with the room. Adam stared thoughtfully at the pile of clothes. There had to be a better place for them. He didn''t want to put them back in the closet though.


    Glancing around the wardrobe, Adam noticed a small panel in the back with a handle attached. He pulled back the cover to reveal a long chute disappearing into blackness. A laundry chute, he sighed in relief. He returned to the main room and began gathering up the clothing from the corner.


    Suddenly his fingers brushed against a nostalgic texture. He pulled his hand out of the pile, bringing with it the jeans he had worn to this world. Denim was a material that did not exist in Umbrian. He wondered if this was the last piece of denim he would ever own. He was reluctant to send it down the chute. The academy had provided them with clothing for the past few days, but Adam wasn''t sure if he would get the same clothing back or a different set. His clothes were the last relics he had from Earth. He didn''t want to risk losing them.


    He pulled the foreign articles of clothing out of the pile and set them aside. He would just keep them in his room until he knew how to wash them. He dumped the other clothes down the chute and set about folding his Earth clothes. As his fingers swept over the coarse ridges of his jeans, he felt an unusual crinkling sensation coming from one of the pockets. He didn''t remember storing anything in that pocket.


    His fingers probed inside and swiftly extracted a folded square of notebook paper. One side was decorated with a header and a couple of mathematical formulas before ending abruptly at a rip in the paper. It was a scrap of Nora¡¯s destroyed homework. Adam wondered how it had ended up in his pocket as he flipped it over. His eyes widened.


    The page held three things. The first was a short passage of text.


    ¡°Adam, I have left to look for help. I hope it will not take long, but I can''t be sure. Please be careful in my absence. I do not trust the people who brought us here. If I fail to return within a reasonable period of time, you may be able to use these to contact me. Use the times on the door.¡± Underneath, it was signed, ¡°Nora.¡±


    Following the text was a sketch. The image was some sort of symbol consisting of a four-pointed star within a thin ring that made a single twist at the bottom. It seemed a little familiar, but Adam couldn''t make heads or tails of it. Beneath that was a short list. Four times, each one followed by either ¡®cw¡¯ or ¡®ccw¡¯.


    Adam was stymied. The first part made a bit of sense. She explained why she had left, although Adam wasn''t sure where Nora thought she was going to find help in this world. The last part was what really confused him. The drawing was one thing, but the times were just cryptic. Was the sketch supposed to be some sort of clock? And what door was she talking about?


    At least one thing was clear. Nora hadn''t thoughtlessly abandoned him. These scrawls may not have been the best evidence towards proving her sanity, but at the very least, she had explained herself. She had cared about him enough to leave him with this warning.


    Adam scanned the words once more. Ryan would probably die if he knew that he had inadvertently agreed with Nora. Neither of them trusted the Umbrians. Nora hadn''t given any reasons for her distrust. It could just be paranoia. Neither she nor Ryan knew anything about the Umbrians. They couldn''t possibly understand their motives. Even so, Adam couldn''t deny that their opinions held weight with him.


    He recalled the images of Mirea and Cogitan. Neither of them had any reason to lie to him. There wasn''t any danger in trusting them for now. Furthermore, even if they couldn''t be trusted, what did he have to gain by being openly hostile? Adam especially was in no position to be rude, as working for Cogitan was the only way he would be able to learn magic. He would keep a wary eye open, but for now, he would continue his research.


    First, though, he wanted to take another look at Nora¡¯s message. He felt confident that she wouldn''t have left him with useless information. There had to be some sense in this. He hoped that she would be back soon. This situation was complicated enough without him having to worry about her wellbeing.


    Adam climbed into his bed and shifted his pillows until he was propped up in a reclining position. Grabbing a pen and a sheet of paper, he began fiddling with the clues he had been given, scribbling out crude drawings of clocks, moving their hands to the positions of the listed times, adding the times, subtracting them to find the time elapsed between them. Before he knew it, his eyes began to close and for the first time in three days, Adam slept soundly.

 17 :: Terror-blind

    17 :: Terror-blind


    It didn¡¯t take long for Nora to parse through the papers she found. Her gains were considerable. The records showed that at the time of Henrick¡¯s disappearance, he had been in the process of scouring the underground city and its surrounding area for whatever device or magical artifact had been causing people to be transported here. Thus far, his efforts had been met with disappointment. Nothing in the frustrated scribbles seemed to indicate that Henrik was afraid of anything. There was absolutely nothing to suggest his fate.


    Nora took a bite from some kind of salty dried meat. Vigdis had been by at some point this morning and had left a plate of food for her. There had been a couple of small fruits, but the majority of the plate had been salted meat. Nora couldn¡¯t complain. It had been awhile since her last meal, and though her pebble-crushing had done wonders for restoring her energy reserves, it had left her stomach empty.


    She rolled a pebble between her fingers as her other hand thumbed idly through the pages. The biggest find of the evening by far was a record of correspondence between Henrik and a man named Wilbur Iskam. This man appeared to be the Warden of a neighboring realm. He had been sent to the Outer Realms along with Henrik in order to investigate some of the recent abnormal happenings.


    The letters had revealed much about the Wardens¡¯ activities in this region. It seemed that multiple realms in this region had been experiencing abnormalities. Nora was surprised to note that the two had been sent to investigate nearly ten years ago. This was well before the Wardens began disappearing, according to Kurt. The disappearances seemed to be little more than the most recent chronicle in a long history of oddities plaguing the Outer Realms. Several other realms had experienced mass disappearances, but surprisingly, this was the only realm where people had been appearing. All of the people who had appeared on the white plains had come from other realms, but none of those realms could be found in the Outer Realms.


    Nora frowned to herself as she creased her eyebrows. She flicked the edge of the paper absentmindedly. The research in these papers was something. It helped her get a little better grasp on the situation, but it wasn''t enough. It was clear that this Wilbur was her best shot at continuing her investigation. The correspondence clearly indicated the identifying code of the realm where he was located, and she had recovered enough energy over the course of the night to reach it. She would liked to have spent more time investigating the appearance phenomenon, but she needed to keep her priorities in mind. She needed Wilbur to find the missing Wardens. Her next step was clear. She pulled a blank sheet of paper from the desk and jotted down a quick note to Vigdis. She would leave immediately.


    Nora threw the remaining scraps of meat, as well as some of Henrik¡¯s letters, into her storage dimension and heaved her rucksack over her shoulder, marveling briefly at how much the weight had decreased during the evening. She would have to gamble on the attire of the next realm yet again but hopefully her usual nondescript traveling cloak wouldn¡¯t seem out of place. Reaching for the next realm inside her mind, she closed her eyes. When she opened them, she was in a dark alley. The sounds of the city echoed around her. She reasoned that this must be a relatively modern realm. This complicated things a bit. Schools were much more difficult to find in cities. The bigger the city, the harder to navigate.


    A look at the sky confirmed that it was, indeed, nighttime. Steam rose from drainage grates set into the concrete, painting the crumbling bricks and rusting metal wet with condensation. Her leather boots tread softly over the grates. Each step clanged and crunched as she hurried along the alley, but the sounds disappeared unnoticed into the clamor of the city. Anybody could tell that this wasn¡¯t a good part of the city and she wanted to put it behind her as fast as possible. She was far more likely to encounter trouble than a school down here.


    She turned a corner and headed up a short flight of steps. The new street appeared to be more well-traveled. Brightly glowing signs could be seen illuminating the street from either side. Small tables were set up outside shops where fat old men sat on stools eating a wide assortment of foods as they played games with cards or dice. A couple children giggled amongst themselves as they chased some kind of large, filthy, rabbit-like creature with a small set of antlers. Their mothers tutted to themselves as they browsed the wares of the various street vendors.


    The people didn¡¯t seem to belong to any one specific race. Their faces contained a broad range of features that differed drastically from person to person. Some had pale skin while others had dark. Nora wasn¡¯t sure that she had ever seen such a wide assortment of hair colors. Their clothing was loose and hung from their bodies in layers, making little distinction between age or gender. The cloth itself was as vibrant as the people wearing it. The bright colors were covered in intricate patterns making each piece a work of art. Nora pulled her hood around her as she strolled leisurely down the street, doing her best to stand out as little as possible. She couldn¡¯t make out what language the people were speaking, so she figured it must be some kind of hybrid language. The written words on the signs she observed seemed equally unfamiliar. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    She continued to weave her way through the throng of pedestrians as she meandered along the street. Every once in awhile, she would find another staircase between buildings that led to the next tier, and so she would continue along that street until it too revealed a staircase. The city seemed to rise in layers like a cake. Up and up she climbed, the steam from the lower levels dissipating as small gusts of wind swept dirt and garbage into weak funnels that danced along the filthy cobbled streets. Though the climate was mild, the wind howled and groaned as it blew through the ramshackle buildings lining the streets. As she continued higher, her surroundings seemed to become cleaner and more hospitable.


    Nora¡¯s cloak billowed around her as she paused to catch her breath. A breath of wind blew past her cheek and she spun out of the way just in time to see an axe crash into the stone where she had been standing, sending up showers of chipped rock. Her eyes flickered up to meet the man wielding the axe. A seven foot tall barbarian with a thick beard of fiery red bellowed as he hoisted the enormous steel weapon back into the air.


    ¡°I have been waiting for you, fiend!¡± he snarled in Latin as he sent the axe crashing back into the earth at Nora¡¯s feet. His eyes trembled with fear and each shudder that passed through his body sent his axe careening off target. Nora swept her legs out of the way and adopted a ready stance. The Latin confused her. She had been certain that none of the natives of this world had been speaking Latin as she wandered the streets. A few shouts rose from the surrounding crowd confirming that Latin was not the local language. Shouts became cheers and within a few seconds, a ring of raucous spectators had formed around the two.


    ¡°I mean you no harm!¡± Nora shouted back over the din of the crowd, raising her hands in surrender.


    ¡°You killed them all, demon! I know you! You won''t get me, though! I¡¯ve been waiting for you!¡± the man raved as he continued his wild swinging. ¡°I''m the last one left and I''m going to kill you if it takes all I''ve got!¡±


    ¡°I don''t know what you''re talking about!¡± Nora shouted between dodging blows. Her words met the attacker¡¯s ears like a brick wall, forcing her to make the difficult decision to change her strategy. Her hands reached for her waist, fingers curling around the grips of her pistols.


    ¡°Don¡¯t move!¡± she demanded, slinging them out in front of her. ¡°I¡¯ll shoot!¡± The man stood poised with his axe high above him, ready to swing down at any second. He looked down at the pistols resting inches away from his chest. Fury glazed his eyes over as he swung. Nora froze, stunned by his response. She managed to roll out of the way just in time.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± she screamed, ¡°Stop!¡±


    The blows continued, unceasingly. Panic painted Nora¡¯s vision white as each swing brought the axe closer and closer. Her dodges became less and less precise as the fear of death eroded her composure. Her feet began to trip over themselves. The jeers of the crowd grew louder and louder, drowning her thoughts in a sea of noise and adrenaline.


    As suddenly as they began, the blows stopped. Nora stumbled to her feet, frantically glancing about in an effort to disclose the location of her attacker. The gazes of the crowd led her to a patch of cobblestone where blood was beginning to pool. Their voices had fallen silent at the sight of the much-larger man who had fallen for seemingly no reason. In the center of his left breast, a clean hole could be seen reaching all the way through the body.


    Nora glanced at the pistol in her hand. She didn¡¯t remember pulling the trigger. She hadn¡¯t felt the recoil, and yet, here a man laid dead from wounds that it had clearly caused. She cautiously approached the man, the spectators granting her a wide berth, their fearful eyes fixated on the devices in her hands. It was her first time killing a man and it had been accidental.


    As she neared, she inhaled sharply. The man had been wearing a leather vest over a loose crimson and gold patterned shirt. As he had fallen, the leather vest had fallen back to reveal a glossy, bronze badge depicting a four-pointed star set within a M?bius strip. Her attacker had been a Warden, and most likely, the man she had come here to find: Wilbur Iskam. Nora reached down and pulled the badge from his chest, stowing it in her pocket. She patted down the rest of his body, looking for anything else that might be useful. Finding nothing, she turned around and began to walk away from the body. Without any regard for her surroundings, she disappeared into her personal realm, leaving the small crowd that had gathered gaping in bewilderment.

 18 :: The Hand that Feeds

    18 :: The Hand that Feeds


    Ryan leaned back in his chair. The rickety wooden joints groaned as the two legs struggled to support the full weight of a mostly-adult male. The classroom was arranged like a lecture hall in ascending tiers. Each tier hosted four two-person tables made from dark, worn wood. Ryan sat alone at his table in the back. Recent events had proven hard on his social life. Yesterday''s outburst had sealed the deal. His former circle of friends had disbanded, scattering themselves amongst the various classroom cliques.


    It hadn''t been his fault. That damn professor kept trying to force them to use the local language in class. Ryan didn''t want to come here in the first place. If these people really wanted his help, shouldn''t they be the ones making accommodations? Why wasn''t anyone else getting as angry as him? He knew that they didn''t like it here, so why did they put up with it? So what if Ryan had given that cocky old man a piece of his mind? He spun a small metal orb between his fingers beneath the desk as he fumed. Nothing seemed to take his mind off things. Even when Christine came to his room last night looking to console him, he had been unable to welcome her and turned her away. He didn''t need consolation. He had every right to be upset.


    The students chattered amongst themselves as they killed time waiting for class to begin. Ryan kept to himself, though, continuing to fiddle with the object beneath the table. After a short wait, their professor entered the hall towing Adam behind him. The portly man with a thick head of salt and pepper hair fumbled with his notes as he made his way to the podium at the front of the classroom. The violet robe he wore swayed beneath his girth. Ryan observed his classmate, wrinkling his brows in concern. Something seemed different.


    Adam was the type who could have been popular, had he not perpetuated an aura of inferiority during his entire high school career. He had a good face. He was in good shape, if a bit slender, but he went through life with his shoulders slouched, acting as if nothing that happened had anything to do with him. He could hold conversations if prompted, but he never initiated them on his own. Ryan had always considered him to be passive and reactive.


    The boy who now stood in front of the class had an entirely different countenance. His posture was impeccable, and for once, a pair of pale green eyes could be seen peeking out from beneath his shaggy burnt-umber fringe. The indifference was still there, but now it resembled more of an aloofness than an apathy. The first time Ryan had seen those eyes was during the classroom brawl. Now, like then, they bored into him with a fearlessness that caught Ryan off-guard. He was honestly a little intimidated.


    Perhaps it was the unfamiliar setting, or the fact that his friends had been keeping their difference, but Ryan suddenly found himself with an acute awareness of how uncomfortable this world made him. To say that life had gone against him lately would be an understatement, and yet, here before him stood a boy who had seemingly thrived where he, himself had failed. It sent a shiver down his spine.


    The change in Adam was barely noticeable, but it struck Ryan to his core. Nobody, upon finding themselves stranded in another world, should appear this relaxed and confident. How had this kid managed to adjust so well within only the span of a week? Ryan recalled the girl he had seen Adam with a couple of days ago. Perhaps she was the reason for his change. He had felt a seething rage bubble up in the pit of his stomach when he saw them together. The locals of this world had no business cosying up to members of his class.


    Ryan grit his teeth and sunk his fingers into the surface of the metal orb as he stared down Adam. The metal bent beneath his fingers like putty. The professor had started saying something about how Adam would finally be joining the class, but Ryan¡¯s mind was elsewhere. Why did that kid constantly feel the need to associate himself with the worst types of people? Ryan huffed in discontentment and returned to fiddling with the sphere, its edges returning to normal as he removed his fingers. The next time he glanced up, Adam was headed his way. Ryan quickly stuffed the sphere into his pocket as he saw Adam approach. Adam smiled as he dropped himself into the empty seat to his side.


    Having lost his distraction, Ryan finally began to listen to the words of the professor, nervously pulling his notebook onto his lap and pretending to inspect it. Of all of the empty seats in the classroom, why had he decided to sit here? Was Adam seriously out to get him? He scowled to himself as professor began his lesson.


    ¡°Today we will be passing out a report that our government has put together for the sake of helping you to better understand our country of Umbrian,¡± he announced, gesturing to the stack of papers he had brought with him. Grabbing a portion of the documents, he began to distribute them row by row. ¡°We will spend the morning going over them together, so be sure to ask any questions that you may have.¡±


    As the booklet entered Ryan¡¯s hands, he immediately began to tune out the rest of the classroom and immerse himself in its pages. To his side, Adam thumbed through the pages, pretending to read. To Adam, this book was the culmination of a week¡¯s work, and though he couldn¡¯t learn anything from it, he did feel some pride towards it. Entering the classroom with that stack of papers had filled him with a sense of both power and accomplishment. He couldn''t help but to grin a bit as he scanned the pages.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Something urgent had come up and Cogitan had been unable to meet as planned. Instead, Adam had left his draft with Minea who had given it to Cogitan¡¯s secretary to be processed. Adam was honestly still a little concerned about meeting with the man who had offered to mentor him. He had enjoyed working on the report and he hadn''t found any reasons to distrust the people of Umbrian. He had no reason to refuse Cogitan¡¯s offer. They were scheduled to meet this evening, and though Adam had nothing to fear, he was still anxious. It was a big decision.


    He glanced to his side to find Ryan burying his nose in the pages. He wasn''t sure he had ever seen Ryan this studious. At least someone was making good use of the report. Adam was just glad that it had been enough of a distraction to snap Ryan out of his earlier rage. From the second Adam had entered the classroom, he had felt Ryan''s gaze on him. He wasn''t sure what he''d done to merit this level of animosity from Ryan, but he was getting sick of it. When he saw Ryan sitting by himself, he had thought it a good opportunity to begin resolving their issues. He hadn''t expected Ryan to look as worried as he did when he approached. Adam was thankful that he had calmed down now that he had something to read. An excited whisper startled Adam and pulled him out of his musings.


    ¡°Adam!¡± Ryan whispered, leaning closer and never looking up from the booklet in his hands. ¡°Do you see this?¡± he asked, indicating a passage inked on one of the pages. Adam pulled the report closer and skimmed the paragraph that had Ryan so excited. It was a piece from the section on the war Umbrian was currently engaged in.


    ¡°What about it?¡± Adam replied, still confused.


    ¡°These guys are in the middle of a war!¡± Ryan murmured. ¡°They''re in the middle of an actual war against other humans, and they summon us here and do nothing but a spout bullshit about sealing demons! Don''t you think that''s odd?¡±


    ¡°It might not be bullshit,¡± Adam replied.


    ¡°You can''t be serious!¡± Ryan gasped. ¡°You''re a man of the modern age, and you''re entertaining thoughts of demons?¡±


    ¡°Look,¡± Adam grumbled. ¡°A week ago and I would have laughed it off as a joke, but now we''ve been summoned to a whole other world. There are supernatural forces at play here and I have no idea how they work, so I just don''t think it''s as impossible as I used to.¡±


    ¡°This,¡± Ryan whispered, pointing emphatically to a different paragraph. ¡°Read this right here.¡±


    Adam ran his eyes over the lines of the new paragraph, trying to understand what Ryan was getting at.


    ¡°This is a religious war!¡± Ryan continued. ¡°Maybe the other countries think they''re crazy too!¡±


    ¡°The people of this country are being persecuted for their religion, and you think that they''re the bad guys?¡± Adam asked, skeptically.


    ¡°They kidnapped us, Adam,¡± Ryan explained. ¡°They are the bad guys.¡±


    ¡°Trying to protect themselves does not make them bad guys,¡± Adam protested. ¡°What does it matter anyways? These are the people feeding us, and clothing us, and so much more. Do you think you''ll have better luck with a group of people who started a war because some guys were a different religion than they were? We''re from a whole different world, Ryan. We were summoned here to help their enemies. They would probably kill us without a second thought. Besides, last I checked, nobody was holding a gun to your head and telling you to learn magic. What exactly do you find so unsatisfying about free room and board and education?¡± Adam finished, short of breath.


    Ryan stared into the space before him with a scowl upon his face.


    ¡°Freedom,¡± he muttered, clenching his fist. ¡°I want control of my life back. I don''t want to live in the graces of others who have planned my future for me and taken me away from the ones I love. They might not be holding a gun to my head, but they''ve taken my entire life hostage! I want my free will back and no amount of free room and board will be able to compensate me for that!¡±


    ¡°Freedom has no inherent value, Adam sighed. ¡°The value lies in what you use it for. You would choose the darkness over the shade for the sole sake of being able to say that you chose. Honestly, I believe that we left freedom behind in our old world. I don''t think you''ll find freedom here no matter which side you''re on. We should just be grateful for what we have.¡±


    ¡°You''re wrong!¡± Ryan hissed. ¡°There is value in freedom. How can you take such a valuable thing for granted?¡±


    ¡°How can you assign so much value to an illusion?¡± Adam retorted. ¡°We need to be focusing on finding a way home, not biting the hand that feeds us!¡±


    ¡°If you''re happy with being hand-fed, fine, but there are some things that I will not endure,¡± Ryan scoffed. ¡°I am not a creature and I am not a tool. I will do things my own way even if it means biting metaphoric hands and going hungry. I don''t believe in demons. I don''t believe in pushing my problems onto others. I don''t believe in sacrificing my freedom for a warm bed.¡±


    ¡°What do you want? What exactly are you trying to convince me of?¡± Adam demanded angrily. ¡°They can''t send us home. No matter what we''re going to have to integrate into someone else''s society. I can understand that you''re bitter, but you need to get over it. This ridiculous pride of yours is only going to get you in trouble.¡±


    ¡°It''s not ridiculous!¡± Ryan shouted, jumping to his feet. The rickety chair scraped across the floor with a shriek, drawing the eyes of everyone in the room. ¡°Have a little goddamn self worth,¡± he spat, gathering his things. Adam watched him shell-shocked as he marched out of the room, leaving the class submerged in an awkward silence. As the door swung closed behind him, Adam glanced around at the faces of his peers, their accusatory stares lacking any trace of subtlety. He sighed as he hurriedly stuffed the brief into his rucksack and raced out the door after his classmate.

 19 :: Crimson Mourning

    19 :: Crimson Mourning


    Nora sat alone on a roof covered in chipped, green tile, watching the sun rise. She gazed out over the city, watching the people start their days. Letting out an exhausted and mournful sigh, she held the little blue pebble up in front of her eyes as she watched it blink out of existence. Just like that. One second, it was there, the next, the space between her fingertips was void. It was in this exact manner that her only lead had found himself with a hole where his heart should have been. It sickened her.


    She pulled the gun from her waist and twisted it between her fingers, observing the tarnished filigree. At least the gun didn¡¯t give her any spatial energy. The more she ruminated on the thought that a living human could have become little more than spatial energy inside of her, the more it bothered her. It was primal. One creature devouring another to obtain their energy. Though it wasn¡¯t quite the same, it reminded her of cannibalism. She made a mental note to thank Kurt for adding in the runes that had caused the energy to dissipate. Although he had used the excuse of being worried about the user being unable to control how much energy they absorbed and exploding, Nora wondered if he had come to the same realization that she had.


    Still, she had killed a man. It was the first time that she had truly felt that her life was in jeopardy and she had settled things with hot-blooded murder. She had successfully preserved her own life, but at what cost? Not only was that man her best chance at figuring out what kind of danger plagued the Outer Realms, but he was supposed to be a comrade. They were supposed to be on the same team, working towards the same cause.


    Nora ran her fingers over the cold, smooth brass of his badge. She flicked open the front cover of the badge and ran her fingers over the gold letters embossed upon black enamel. They read, ¡°Wilbur Iskam, Senior Warden¡±. The inside of the lid displayed a photograph of the man himself. In the photograph he appeared with his hair neatly combed and beard shaved. A calming smile rested above a cleft chin. There was no trace of the haggard, wild-eyed man who had attacked her.


    She put a hand to her forehead and ruffled her hair as she grimaced, biting back tears. She knew how strict the Wardens were when it came to the death of their own. Spatial mages were a sparse commodity, and the Wardens needed all the manpower they could get. Accordingly, they did not take kindly to their already thin numbers being further reduced. If an outsider killed a Warden, they would be executed. If one Warden killed another, the perpetrator would be brought before the ruling council of the Wardens.


    Nora wasn¡¯t sure what kind of punishment would be meted out for murder in self defense, but there was one prospect that struck her as being brutally ironic. It was the possibility that even if she managed to make it home, the council may sentence her to exile in the Outer Realms. It wouldn''t make sense for them to imprison her for an accident when they were already short on hands, but exile in the Outer Realms would allow her to continue working even while she was being punished. There, she would have plenty of time to investigate the irregularities in this region, but she would have to give up on the search for her parents.


    It was a sick joke, but if that was the council''s ruling, then she would have no choice but to abide by it. Frustration boiled within her as the tears resting in the corners of her eyes swelled. In a matter of minutes, her situation had gone from bleak to abysmal. If only she could skip through time instead of space. Then none of this would have happened. Unfortunately for her, nobody could control time. It was not a power meant for man. A couple of tears leaked down the sides of her cheeks and she buried her head in the crook of her arm in an attempt to dam them. Crying wouldn''t help anything but the feeling of helplessness was overwhelming. She should never have come to this world.


    She had to though, and with that realization came a bit of relief. She had come here for information, and if Wilbur himself couldn''t help her, she would have to search his office like she had done before. It sounded like he had some idea of what was behind the disappearances. Nora knew that she couldn''t just stop here. She rubbed her eyes once more and pulled her hood back over her head. As long as she kept moving forward, somehow things would be okay.


    As she moved to climb down from the roof, she paused. A whole crowd of people had seen her kill a man while wearing this cloak last night. They didn''t seem particularly upset about it, but the last thing Nora needed was to be tripped up by local law enforcement. She pulled off the cloak and placed out back within her storage dimension. The clothing here was all so bright that she would look out of place in just a white blouse and black pants. She pulled a piece of clothing from the storage dimension. The red fabric glowed in the light of the morning sun. She didn''t feel worthy of wearing the uniform after the whole catastrophe with Wilbur, but it was her best chance at fitting in.


    She pulled the robe on over her head. The thick, flowing, fabric fell to her upper calf. Another flap of fabric covered her shoulders, coming up into a hooded cowl. The sleeves reached all the way to her wrists. The ends were lined with buttons, making for a tight fit along her forearms. The rest of the robe was comfortable and easy to move in. The insides were lined with pockets. Nora traced the entrance of a pocket at her waist. Finally finding purchase, she slipped Wilbur¡¯s badge inside. She had grabbed it on a whim and didn¡¯t really know what to do with it, but the slight weight at her waist was barely noticeable, so she figured she might as well hold onto it. It tapped softly against her hip as she began to make her way down the street.


    The streets in the morning were even more raucous than Nora had found them last night. She quickly became swept up in the river of bobbing heads and found herself drifting along with their flow. Not having any idea where to go, there was little point in fighting the current. She meandered along the narrow streets, taking in the sights and sounds. Her stomach grumbled with each passing of one of the little booths peddling steamed meat. Nora couldn¡¯t remember the last time she had a decent meal.


    After nearly half a day of wandering, Nora came across a promising sight. The cramped, rundown buildings that lined each street began to thin. Little alleys began to appear between them. The quality of buildings also began to improve little by little, until the street opened up into a large courtyard. Here Nora spotted the first trees that she¡¯d seen since arriving in this realm. The stone courtyard was broken into fragments by small patches of foliage framed by benches. At the far side of the courtyard rested a large, imposing building composed of large blocks of plain white stone.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    Nora took note of the narrow entrance. A desk set into the wall just to the side of the door ensured that it would be impossible to make it inside the building without being seen. Nora hadn¡¯t a clue what kind of identification would be required to gain entrance. She hid herself in the shade of one of the courtyard¡¯s trees and slipped away into her pocket dimension. Once inside, she had little difficulty making her way past the front desk. She returned herself to this world¡¯s natural plane as she began to explore the school.


    Though there didn¡¯t seem to be any kind of dress code amongst the students, as she passed through the halls, she began to notice a large number of youth, as well as adults, dressed in red. Eventually, she came across a large number of the crimson-clad party ringed around a normal-looking office door. As Nora witnessed them arranging flowers and lighting candles, she reached a shocking truth. Although it was not common, there were times when Wardens chose to take up a legitimate position within the schools where they kept their offices. Sometimes it was for the sake of convenience in maintaining a cover, other times it was due to a perceived problem in the educational system of the realms that they governed.


    Regardless of the motive, there was no denying that Wilbur Iskam had been a beloved member of the faculty at this school. Burning regret began to pool in Nora¡¯s stomach as she turned away from the mourners. There was no way for her to enter with them present, so she found a nearby bench and made herself comfortable. She pulled a random notebook from her bag and began to feign interest in the contents of its pages.


    She solemnly observed the group of mourners as she awaited their departure. Most of them formed a partial circle around the door. The ones nearer to the center seemed to be the most distraught. A couple of outliers kept their distance and appeared to be more angry than upset. Several of them whispered amongst themselves, their eyes darting about furtively. As Nora glanced back and forth between the pages and the tearful crowd, her eyes met with one of the male students in the group of outliers. She quickly averted her gaze, but in her periphery she could see the student gesturing at her to his peers.


    Nora readied herself to leave, folding the notebook closed and stuffing it beneath her arm, but before she could make her escape, the student began to approach her. Pretending not to take notice of the boy, Nora hid her face beneath her curtain of bangs as she hustled down the hallway. She didn¡¯t make it ten steps before she felt a hand on her shoulder.


    ¡°Hey,¡± a voice called out behind her. ¡°You¡¯re here for Professor Iskam, aren¡¯t you? Come with me.¡± The boy commanded in the same Latin-based dialect that Iskam himself had spoken to Nora in the previous day.


    She paused and tilted her head back at the boy in confusion, looking deep into his eyes for any sign of intent. His stare was firm, but not threatening. His eyes were a dark, stormy blue, and he wore chin-length, maroon hair up in a low knot on the back of his head. A few pieces of bang fell forward and loosely framed his face. Nora flinched as he grabbed her by the wrist, but allowed herself to be led into one of the empty classrooms that bordered the hall. The burgundy-haired student followed her inside, along with several other students that Nora recognized from the nervous-looking group that had been waiting outside Iskam¡¯s office.


    ¡°You¡¯re one of the Professor¡¯s comrades, right?¡± the boy asserted, looking to her for acknowledgment. Nora thought for a moment before nodding her head in confirmation. If it came to it, she could always disappear back into her pocket dimension. She wanted to hear what these kids had to say.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see your badge then,¡± he stated, raising a hand expectantly. Nora pulled her badge from within her breast pocket and opened it for him to see. The design was identical to Iskam¡¯s, except that the gold text within her badge read ¡°Nora Carlisle, Junior Warden¡± and the photograph within the lid was her own. The boy observed it closely before confirming its legitimacy with a short nod to his peers.


    ¡°You¡¯re early,¡± the boy began, ¡°Professor Iskam said that his colleagues wouldn¡¯t hear of his passing until the 15th.¡±


    ¡°I had business with him,¡± Nora replied. ¡°I went looking for him on my own accord, but it seems that I was too late. According to you, it sounds like Iskam was expecting to die. Who are you and what can you tell me about his situation?¡±


    ¡°We are a group of students who received special lessons from Professor Iskam,¡± the boy began to explain, seating himself on the surface of one of the classroom¡¯s many desks. ¡°The Professor took us on as a ¡®personal project¡¯ when the school was on the verge of expelling us. It started out as him just helping us with our studies, but eventually he started teaching us more. He told us about different worlds and showed us magic beyond comprehension. He said that he wanted us to help him investigate the Church of the Mother and started to train us.¡±


    ¡°What is the Church of the Mother?¡± Nora interjected.


    ¡°They¡¯re one of those new religions that crop up every few years. Normally, the government would shut them down. Religion is outlawed, and the State is serious about keeping people from worshiping. They¡¯ve been having a hard time with the Church of the Mother though. They can never seem to track them down. Every time a government agent manages to infiltrate their ranks, they end up disappearing. It¡¯s started to get pretty troubling. A lot of people want the Church to disband, but they just keep growing. The Professor didn¡¯t really tell us much about it, but he was terrified of them. He said that if things continued, the Church was going to come after him. That was why he wanted us to be ready in case he was suddenly killed. He said that his superiors wouldn¡¯t take him seriously until he was dead, so until they listened, we were on our own. He made damn sure that we would be there to greet whoever came from his organization to check in on him. He told us everything we would need to know to identify them. You were early though, so it threw us off.¡±


    Nora bit her thumb as she buried herself in thought. If these kids were telling the truth, then the reason why Iskam had attacked her was because he believed that she was a member of this Church that had come to kill him, but the only reason he would have known where to find her was if he had felt her spatial disturbance. If this Church was associated with spatial disturbances, then there was serious trouble afoot in this realm. This Church of the Mother was probably responsible for whatever was causing the Wardens in the Outer Realms to disappear. If Nora wanted to understand the nature of the danger she faced, she would have to get closer to this Church.


    ¡°And what did Iskam intend for you to do after he was dead?¡± Nora asked the group of students. ¡°Why did he instruct you to reach out to his colleagues?¡±


    ¡°Professor Iskam wanted that Church destroyed,¡± the boy answered with determination. ¡°He was a strange man and didn¡¯t always make sense, but all of us here owed him a great deal. We will continue to investigate the Church of the Mother and we will destroy them regardless of whether or not we receive the assistance of Professor Iskam¡¯s organization.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± Nora smiled, ¡°If I¡¯m going to be of any help, I¡¯ll need access to Iskam¡¯s office. Let¡¯s start by getting rid of that crowd.¡±

 20 :: Incomplete Truths

    20 :: Incomplete Truths


    A line of red-clad mourners burst apart as the distraught student charged at the door. His fists struck the wood, pounding frantically as tears streamed down his reddened cheeks. A hysterical sob slipped from between his two snarling lips. Two more students, a boy and a girl, darted out of the crowd after him, pulling at his arms to keep him from striking the unharmed door and causing injury to himself. The crowd stood stunned and gently backed away from the scene, whispering amongst themselves.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± another student announced, crouching down to join the three students on the floor in front of Professor Iskam¡¯s office. ¡°Could you please give us some space? My friend here needs some time to grieve. Professor Iskam was our private tutor and we would like some time to pay our respects alone.¡±


    The members of the crowd looked around at each other in confusion before acquiescing to the student¡¯s request. They shuffled their feet uncertainly as they made their retreat down the stone hallway. As the last of the observers faded away, Nora slipped out of the classroom where she had been waiting and joined the others.


    ¡°That was impressive!¡± she commended, leaning over the student who was still wiping away his crocodile tears. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± she asked, extending an arm.


    ¡°I¡¯m Soma,¡± he answered, taking her arm and pulling himself up.


    ¡°And you two?¡± Nora continued, gesturing to the boy and girl who had been restraining Tibor.


    ¡°I¡¯m Feri,¡± she answered. ¡°This is Jeno,¡± she continued, nodding at the boy to her side, ¡°and that¡¯s Talan,¡± she finished, gesturing at the boy who had chased off the onlookers. Talan was the burgundy-haired boy who had examined her badge and questioned her earlier.


    ¡°Thanks for the help,¡± Nora grinned casually as she approached the door, ¡°I¡¯ll need some time to go through whatever Iskam left behind, and I don¡¯t intend to make you all wait here. How should I contact you?¡± She directed her question towards Talan who seemed to be the unofficial spokesman of the group.


    ¡°We should decide on a signal,¡± he suggested after a brief moment of thought. ¡°You can just place some kind of object outside the door once you¡¯re finished and we¡¯ll come by after classes that day.¡±


    ¡°How about a red ribbon?¡± Nora offered. ¡°I can tie it here,¡± she explained, fingering the Warden¡¯s crest where she was currently entering her combination.


    ¡°Perfect,¡± Talan replied. ¡°We¡¯ll lay low until then. If one of us needs something, we¡¯ll knock.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good,¡± Nora confirmed. ¡°Stay safe,¡± she commanded as she closed the door behind her.


    Iskam seemed to have converted the entrance of his office into a typical office space. A desk sat across from one wall where Iskam himself presumably sat, and two benches sat pushed up against the opposite wall which Nora presumed were reserved for students or other guests. Nora rummaged through the desk, finding nothing of consequence. This office seemed to be dedicated entirely to Iskam¡¯s position as a professor.


    Nora continued past the office and pressed open the door which could only be opened by spatial mages. Iskam seemed to be a meticulous housekeeper. The floor was spotless. Not a single object was out of place and Nora had no difficulties in understanding his system of organization. She immediately targeted the large filing cabinet that stood to the left of his desk, rifling through its drawers. There were files on everything from Henrik, to this world and its structure, to his students.


    Nora flipped through it all eagerly, trying to figure out where to begin. One label stuck out to her. It read ¡°Kurtiel Varinius¡±. Nora¡¯s hands moved unconsciously as she pulled the file from the cabinet and spread it open on the desk. Almost immediately, Nora¡¯s jaw dropped. Her eyebrows creased as she read through the file at breakneck speed, eyes widening all the while. By the time she finished, a strange mixture of anger and dread had spread through her being. She removed several pages from the folio and folded them neatly before slipping them into her storage dimension. It had been a while since Nora last spoke to Kurt. Perhaps it was time to pay him a visit.


    She pulled every file she could find on the Church of the Mother, as well as the basic information about this world, and stuffed it hurriedly into her storage dimension. Slinging her rucksack over her shoulder and stuffing the file on Kurt beneath an arm, Nora closed her eyes and recalled a memory of Kurt¡¯s office. When she opened her eyes, she was there.


    She crossed the foyer briskly, her boots tapping angrily against the checkered marble, and pushed open the door to Kurt¡¯s private chambers. She was surprised to find that the room¡¯s condition had dramatically improved since her last visit. All of the clothing and empty bottles had been removed from the floor, and it even seemed as if Kurt had dusted. The man himself sat at his desk, legs crossed and resting on the surface, looking up from within the pages of a book.


    ¡°Welcome back! You look angry,¡± he smirked as he uncrossed his legs and rested them back upon the floor.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ¡°You¡¯re a biological, third-generation Warden and Councilor Varin¡¯s son?¡± she spat incredulously, thrusting the papers onto the table before him. ¡°Spatial magic isn¡¯t even hereditary! How does that happen?¡± Councilor Varin was a high-ranking member of the Council that governed all Wardens.


    ¡°Genetic experiments,¡± he answered with a shrug. Nora squinted her eyes in an expression of skeptical disbelief. ¡°You think that Wardens have the technology to alter the genes of non-sentient lifeforms and they wouldn¡¯t use it, at least once, to try and make more Wardens?¡± Of course they would, Nora thought to herself. She had never heard of any successes though.


    ¡°That destruction magic, then,¡± she continued, ¡°That was¡­?¡±


    ¡°My father¡¯s magic, yeah, and my grandfather¡¯s before him,¡± Kurt chuckled, a smug grin crossing his face. Nora couldn¡¯t believe her luck. She had been trusted with knowledge of a private branch of magic belonging to a Councilor himself and had almost immediately used it to kill a member of her own organization. Her face paled as she considered the consequences that her actions might have, not only on herself, but also Kurt. She ran her hands through her bangs, pushing them away from her face, as she struggled to calm herself down.


    ¡°You¡¯ve made a mistake, Kurt,¡± she announced after a long silence. ¡°You should not have trusted me with this magic.¡± At this point, Kurt began to realize that the situation was more grim than he had imagined and the smile began to slip from his face.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I used that magic to kill a man,¡± Nora responded solemnly. She sank herself into Kurt¡¯s sofa, buried her head in her hands and began to recount what had happened these past few days.


    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Kurtiel responded, as she finished her story.


    ¡°Don¡¯t give me that, Kurt!¡± she demanded, furiously. ¡°I killed a Warden! Not only was he a Warden, he was a dedicated teacher, as well as my best lead!¡±


    ¡°The man was crazy!¡± Kurt responded dismissively. ¡°You saved your own life. That¡¯s what it¡¯s for. How else did you plan on using that magic?¡±


    ¡°He was a Warden, though!¡± Nora protested. ¡°He was a member of the same team. I¡¯m going to be punished.¡±


    ¡°Not all Wardens are on the same team, Nora,¡± Kurt sighed heavily. ¡°I¡¯m the son of a councilor. I grew up surrounded by all of the fighting that goes down at Headquarters. We don¡¯t exactly advertise it, there are all sorts of opposing factions within the Wardens. Most councilors have their own. It¡¯s not like they fight openly or anything, but you can hardly say that we¡¯re all on the same team. The Wardens are just as susceptible to politics as any other organization,¡± Kurt shrugged, ¡°Besides, killing a Warden isn¡¯t as big of a deal as you¡¯d think. Obviously, we¡¯d prefer to avoid it, but accidents happen. Even when it¡¯s not an accident, the punishments aren¡¯t too steep. It¡¯s not like they can afford to kill us or anything. You¡¯ve seen my file.¡±


    ¡°You mean this?¡± Nora asked, returning to the desk. Here, she opened the file and spread its contents out on the desk before him. The pages were covered by an overwhelming amount of black marks. Certain papers were missing entire paragraphs.


    ¡°Hmph,¡± Kurt frowned as he browsed through the papers. ¡°You found these at the office of the Warden you killed?¡± he asked. Nora nodded. ¡°Did you bring any other documents with you?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Nora smirked as she reached into her storage dimension and pulled out a stack of folders equivalent to several textbooks. She dropped them onto the desk with a thud. ¡°I haven¡¯t gone through any of these yet. What are you looking for?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m trying to find anything that might indicate which faction this man might have belonged to,¡± he explained. ¡°My information wasn¡¯t classified, last I checked. I¡¯m just wondering who doesn¡¯t want their men to know the full story about me.¡±


    ¡°And what is the full story?¡± Nora asked, narrowing her eyes with suspicious curiosity. ¡°What caused a third-generation Warden and son of a councilor to wind up exiled to the Outer Realms?¡±


    ¡°Let a man have some secrets!¡± Kurt smiled, never looking up from his reading. ¡°It¡¯s not like I¡¯m proud of it or anything. I just killed some Wardens is all. I had my reasons, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s something that you really need to be hearing about right now.¡±


    Nora frowned, but didn¡¯t press it. She had already invaded his privacy enough for one night.


    ¡°That¡¯s fair,¡± she shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ll be taking this though,¡± she announced, reaching to pull out a file from the stack. ¡°I still have a lot of research to do. This cult sounds like bad news.¡± She brought the file back over to the sofa.


    ¡°The Church of the Mother?¡± Kurt asked, immediately abandoning his search and joining her on the sofa.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Nora replied, ¡°It¡¯s possible they¡¯re able to use spatial magic. Iskam certainly believed them to be a threat to his life. I¡¯m not quite at the point of saying that they¡¯re responsible for the disappearances of Outer Realm Wardens, but they¡¯re the best lead that I¡¯ve got. I¡¯m just not sure where to begin looking. I need to read through these first.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Kurt agreed, ¡°I¡¯ll help.¡±


    Within minutes of beginning to read, Nora was beginning to nod off. She hadn¡¯t slept in over two days, and the emotional stresses were beginning to pile up higher than she could handle on such little sleep. Another few minutes later and she had fallen fully asleep, resting her cheek against the arm of the sofa. Kurt seemed to understand that she needed the rest and he gathered up the papers and began to relocate himself to the desk. As he left, he pulled Nora¡¯s ankles up onto the sofa and placed a blanket atop her sleeping figure to allow her to rest easier.


    Kurt continued to read through the files for several hours before he noticed the shaking start. He pulled his eyes away from the documents and stared with concern as Nora began to twitch and convulse in her sleep. Tears leaked from her eyes and fell onto the green fabric of the sofa, darkening it with little circles. Kurt chewed on a nail as he pondered whether or not he should wake her. He knew she had endured a rough couple of days and it wasn¡¯t unusual for her to experience a nightmare or two. He wasn¡¯t sure she¡¯d be able to fall back asleep after waking up though. He finally resolved to wake her and began to approach the sofa. He could see her mouth trying to mutter something, but he couldn¡¯t quite hear. He leaned closer, trying to make out what it was.


    ¡°Stay away,¡± he finally heard.


    ¡°Stay away!¡± Nora began to shout as she sobbed unconsciously. As Kurt reached out to rouse her, Nora¡¯s eyes fluttered open.


    ¡°STAY AWAY!¡± she screamed.


    The last thing Kurt could remember before losing consciousness was the feeling of a powerful pulse of spatial energy buffeting his body. After that, there was only burning.

 21 :: Mind Games

    21 :: MindGames


    The heavy wooden door crashed shut as Ryan stalked out of the classroom. Adam flew through the same door moments later, but it was too late. Ryan had already vanished down one of the twisting, labyrinthine hallways. Letting out a deep sigh in exasperation, he turned and retreated back into the classroom. This was the first day he¡¯d been able to attend classes. He wasn¡¯t going to spend it chasing after that asshole.


    The asshole in question continued to storm through hallway after hallway as his feet led him out of the building. Spilling into the street, he darted immediately towards one of the smaller side streets, leaving the familiarity of the well-traveled main road. Ryan hadn¡¯t spent much time exploring the city, but he wanted some time alone. In order to ensure that he wouldn¡¯t be followed by any annoying parties, he would have to start now.


    Even as he meandered through the alleys nestled safely in the shade of the buildings that lined each street, a warm wind blew through his hair. Each step he took kicked up a small cloud of dust from the dry earthen path. Beads of sweat began to form on his temples as he cursed the arid heat. He had spent his entire life, up until this point, living in cooler climates, and wasn''t built for weather like this. He followed whatever path had the greatest concentration of shade as his feet led him between increasingly taller buildings.


    It wasn''t long before he found himself reaching his limits and sank to the ground, pressing his back against the cool stone of the wall as he caught his breath. He pulled the hem of his shirt to his brow and mopped up the sweat that had gathered there. As he dried his face, he noticed a familiar jingling noise approaching him. It was a sound which he had begun to attribute to the suits of armor Umbrian¡¯s soldiers wore. One of the guards had likely followed him as he made his rash escape. Ryan cursed under his breath as he prepared himself for confrontation.


    As he pulled the shirt away from his face, he narrowed his eyes in recognition. A pair of golden eyes stared down at him coldly, framed by a short, brunette bob. It was the woman who Adam had been hanging around with lately. In her expression, now, was nothing of the cheerful familiarity that she had displayed when conversing with Adam. This expression was all business. Ryan scowled as he remembered how she had thrown herself at his classmate. It was clear from their conversation earlier that she held a strong influence over his thoughts.


    ¡°Ryan Baranov, have you calm? It time return class,¡± she stated in her cryptic broken English. Ryan remained silent and glared at her. ¡°Let us leave,¡± she added, extending a hand. Ryan slapped it away angrily.


    ¡°Why should I return?¡± he shouted, ¡°So that I can study hard and learn how to be a better slave?¡± Minea¡¯s eyes darkened.


    ¡°You will return,¡± she insisted, crossing her arms. ¡°We not bring you here to sit in alleys and shout nonsense.¡±


    ¡°Yes, yes!¡± Ryan exclaimed amiably as he rose to his feet. ¡°You brought us here to strip us of our will and use us as cheap, expendable labor! Sitting here in this alley is the exact opposite of what you want, which is precisely why I¡¯m doing it. Go ahead and make me leave!¡± he taunted, leaning towards her and spreading his hands, as if to surrender, ¡°You¡¯re a guard, so you should be capable. Use force to drag me back! It¡¯ll only prove me right!¡± Minea stepped back, smiling grimly.


    ¡°If you ask so nice,¡± she retorted, resting her hand on the pommel of her sword.


    ¡°There it is!¡± Ryan chuckled wryly, inserting his hands into his pockets, wrapping his fingers around the heavy sphere he had stored there. ¡°It didn¡¯t take long for you to show your true face. I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re a guard, or if you have a sword, or if you know how to use magic. If it¡¯s a fight you want, you¡¯ll get it,¡± he snarled, raising his fists.


    Ryan felt the coolness of the metal sphere against the flesh of his palm. As he focused on the sensation, he felt a faint vibration begin. The metal instantly softened, and conformed to the lines of interior of his fist. As he imagined the figure he desired, the metal sphere started to twist, as if alive, taking on a new form.


    ¡°You not get chance to fight,¡± Minea smirked.


    By the time Ryan¡¯s weapon had formed, it was too late. His vision was already beginning to darken. A fuzzy feeling swarmed his mind, distorting his senses. Realizing that something was wrong, he staggered as he struggled to maintain his balance. His hands swung wildly behind him, searching for the stability of the wall he had only just left behind. He blinked his eyes, trying to clear his vision, but the fog was beginning to overwhelm his consciousness. He felt his fingertips graze the wall and leaned into it. With a final groan, his knees gave out, and he slid along the wall to the ground.


    Minea smiled warmly as she observed Ryan¡¯s sleeping form. A silver dagger glinted on the ground beside him.


    ¡°I told you he was perfect!¡± she announced to the empty alleyway. ¡°See? He was even hiding his strength,¡± she added, stooping to pick up the dagger.


    ¡°Take him away.¡±


    * * *


    Adam sat on his bed, fiddling with Nora¡¯s note. He hadn¡¯t made any meaningful progress, and still wasn¡¯t really sure what he was supposed to be looking for. The day had passed uneventfully, though Ryan had never returned. That was probably for the better. It didn¡¯t seem like Ryan would be forgiving the Umbrian people any time soon. The other students were currently at their practical lessons. Adam had escaped them with the excuse that his test results would be announced today, so he was needed at the palace.


    It was dark by the time Minea knocked on his door. He grabbed his bag and headed out of his room. The sight of her welcoming smile seemed to instantly alleviate some of the stress that had accumulated during his argument with Ryan and the awkward silence that had subsequently accompanied him for the rest of the day. He smiled contently, and chatted with her about her day, as he followed her through the coiling hallways and out into the streets.


    ¡°You have made your decision? You are ready to begin?¡± she smiled casually, making smalltalk as they strolled towards the palace.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Adam answered, returning her smile. ¡°In the end, it wasn¡¯t a very difficult decision.¡±


    ¡°This one glad you think so,¡± she sighed, leaning her head back to take in the night sky.


    A crimson moon glowed above. The clamor of the marketplace echoed around them, as they ambled down the busy street. Adam¡¯s eyes followed Minea as he walked. In the back of his mind, he knew that he was staring, but he couldn¡¯t help but to be a little mesmerized by her. All the colors of the lanterns lining the street were reflected in her armor. Streaks of red and gold and green swam across her body, illuminating her entire figure. It was breathtaking. As Minea became aware of Adam¡¯s gaze, a slight blush crept into her cheeks. Far from being troubled, though, she grinned broadly and continued speaking.


    ¡°What will you tell your classmates about your affinity?¡± she inquired.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± Adam sighed, returning to reality. ¡°I was planning on asking your father.¡± Minea chuckled and rolled her eyes. Adam turned to her questioningly. Seeing his inquisitive gaze, she explained her response.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Father very wise man. I just think maybe, it sometimes okay to choose for self,¡± she shrugged. ¡°Most do not choose their path of magic. They must follow affinity. Many would feel jealousy at your ability to choose. You should take pleasure in it, not give it up.¡±


    At these words, Adam grew quiet, drifting off into thought. So often in his life, he was being told what to do. His teachers at school, his parents at home, there was always somebody ready to give him orders. It was comfortable. He never had to worry much about making the right decision, because it usually wasn¡¯t his decision to begin with. This was a big decision, so naturally he had deferred judgment to someone he considered wise.


    Minea¡¯s words, though well-meaning, made him uncomfortable. They touched upon sentiments so foreign to Adam, that they struck him like a gust of cold wind. It felt raw and unnatural, but he couldn¡¯t help but admit that they carried some truth. Most people didn¡¯t get to make this decision. It was a privilege and he shouldn¡¯t spoil it.


    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± he conceded. ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought of it that way.¡±


    ¡°See?¡± Minea smiled. ¡°It so exciting! I wonder what you will choose!¡± she remarked enthusiastically. As he walked beside her, Adam was wondering the same thing. Thinking reasonably, it would be easier to pass one of the more common affinities off as his own. The rarer elements would draw a lot of attention that he didn¡¯t need. Fire might be good. Cogitan had chosen fire, so he might be able to offer some advice on how to use it effectively. As his mind wandered along those lines, he came to a realization.


    ¡°Come to think of it, Minea, I¡¯ve never asked you what your affinity is,¡± he turned to face his companion. Minea shot him a mischievous smirk before offering her response.


    ¡°I not tell!¡± she proudly declared. ¡°It will affect your choice if I tell now. I will tell only after you make choice.¡±


    ¡°Fine,¡± Adam sighed, squinting accusingly at the girl, before returning to his musings.


    The two weighed the benefits and demerits of each major branch of magic all the way into the palace. By the time they had reached their destination, Adam had mostly decided on which path he would choose. This time, their meeting place was not in Cogitan¡¯s lofty office, but somewhere in the basement of the palace. The winding pathways proved to be as much a challenge as ever, with even Minea losing her way once or twice as she lead the way. Finally, they reached an unassuming set of wooden doors.


    ¡°Father inside,¡± Minea directed, holding a door open for Adam to enter.


    ¡°You¡¯re not coming with?¡± Adam queried. She shook her head dismissively and laughed.


    ¡°Father¡¯s magic secret,¡± she explained. ¡°I not qualified.¡±


    ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll see you later,¡± he smiled, disappearing through the door.


    The chamber within was large, round and dimly lit. The walls extended upwards into a dome. Murals depicting stars and constellations adorned the curved ceiling. Any illumination in the room came from sconces along the wall, but the ceiling was so tall, and the sconces so far apart, that their light only covered a fraction of the room¡¯s surfaces. The remainder of the room was enveloped in shadowy flickers. At the farthest side of the room, stood a set of bookcases. To the left of the bookcases were two desks, and to their right, two iron bars extended from the wall, about three meters apart. A piece of cloth was strung between the poles, creating a sort of cot or hammock. Adam eyed the setup inquisitively as he crossed the room.


    Cogitan stood in front of one of the bookcases on the far side of the room, flipping through a hefty volume. As he noticed Adam enter, he set it aside and greeted him.


    ¡°Welcome back!¡± he smiled warmly.


    ¡°Thank you for seeing me,¡± Adam replied stiffly. He still wasn¡¯t quite sure how familiar he was supposed to be with the King¡¯s right hand man.


    ¡°But of course!¡± Cogitan answered in a congenial tone, ¡°After all, it was myself who asked you to here today. Let¡¯s get straight to the point! Have you made a decision?¡±


    ¡°I have,¡± Adam replied without hesitation. ¡°Please allow me to study under you.¡±


    ¡°Excellent,¡± Cogitan grinned. ¡°I officially accept you as my pupil.¡± Clapping his hands together, he continued, ¡°Now with that out of the way, why don¡¯t we get started with your training?¡±


    ¡°Already?¡± Adam asked excitedly.


    ¡°What do you mean already?¡± Cogitan asked. ¡°Your classmates have already begun their magic studies. There¡¯s no sense in waiting.¡±


    ¡°I agree,¡± Adam nodded. ¡°I just thought you might need time to prepare lessons.¡±


    ¡°Booking this room is the only preparation I need, for now. Thank you for your consideration, though. For starters, we¡¯ll be using this,¡± he relayed, gesturing to the hammock .


    ¡°The first thing any beginning mage needs is awareness. We¡¯ll work on developing that today. I want you to lay down, close your eyes, and try to relax.¡±


    Adam followed his instructions, and pulled himself onto the cot, fumbling clumsily with the swaying cloth. After adjusting his body a bit, he found a position that was comfortable and closed his eyes.


    ¡°Ready?¡± Cogitan asked before proceeding. Adam nodded his assent. ¡°Take a deep breath¡­ hold it¡­ now breathe it out. Breathe in like the air is thick. Suck it deep into your lungs. Let it float there, and release it. Feel the breath spinning inside you. Focus on the breath.¡±


    Cogitan watched carefully as Adam¡¯s breathing slowed. His muscles relaxed, and the unconscious twitching in his muscles began to cease. When he was pleased with Adam¡¯s state of relaxation, he began to speak again.


    ¡°Now focus on your thoughts. Feel your mind. Focus on your pattern of thoughts. What makes them your thoughts? How do you recognize your mind as your own? As you attempt to make these connections, you should notice something changing. A new sense will begin to develop. It will be a sensation that feels both new, and familiar, at the same time. Focus on that sensation. Dedicate your entire mind to feeling it. Don¡¯t question it. Don¡¯t feel surprised. Just allow yourself to bask in it.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll try my best,¡± Adam promised skeptically. He didn¡¯t have a clue what he was supposed to be looking for, but he closed his eyes all the same. He took a deep breath and focused his attention on his mind. It buzzed with a quiet energy and Adam quickly found himself immersed in its flow, searching blindly for the sensation Cogitan had described.


    * * *


    Back at the academy, in his small, stone-walled dormitory, Ryan¡¯s eyes fluttered open. A cool breath of night air filtered in through the ornate, stained glass window.


    His heart beat erratically as his mind returned his body to its previous state of excitement. He gasped as he struggled to calm himself down long enough to take in his surroundings. The room was his, and it appeared to be empty. Someone must have carried him back. He wondered who.


    Without a clock, it was difficult to tell how much time had passed since he blacked out. The city¡¯s bell tower never chimed at night, so the only option he was left with was the moon. Ryan eyed the open window. At this angle, the moon would be impossible to see without leaving the bed.


    As he pushed himself into a sitting position, he felt a weight hit his chest. Around his neck, hung a leather cord, on which, a small silver key was strung. He ran the edge of his thumb across the teeth of the key. Where had it come from? Why had it been given to him?


    He glanced around the room to see if anything else was out of place, but nothing caught his attention. As he pulled back the blankets to leave his bed, something fell out from between the covers and hit the floor with a slap. It was a small book, bound in leather so old that it had begun to harden and crack. Set into the leather of the front cover was an ornate silver clasp with a keyhole. Ryan was not surprised to see that the key that he had found around his neck opened the lock, but he was surprised by the note which fell out from behind the front cover, as he opened it.


    ¡°Ryan Baranov,¡± it read, ¡°I believe that the events recorded within the pages of this journal may be of interest to you. I have flagged a few entries that I think you will particularly enjoy. Once you begin reading, I hope you will understand that the contents of this journal are things which would be better kept to yourself, for now. Your current circumstances are much more dangerous than you or your classmates realize, but together, we can set things right. If you would like to discuss this further, I would be more than happy to accompany you tomorrow evening for a stroll through the night market. I look forward to seeing you,¡±


    The letter was unsigned. Ryan slipped it back inside the front cover as he found himself thumbing through the pages. Stopping at a random passage, he grumbled to himself. Of course it wasn¡¯t in English. He would have to translate it from Umbriel, and it would need to be done quickly in case he decided to attend this meeting. Carrying the book in one hand, Ryan slid out of bed and walked over to where his desk sat. He flicked the lever that ignited the flame of his lamp, and pulled out his copy of the Umbriel dictionary. He flipped through the journal until he reached the first dog-eared entry.


    Ryan stumbled through each sentence, as he began deciphering the foreign text. He had wanted to avoid learning this damned language on principal, but it couldn¡¯t be helped. That note had piqued his attention. He wanted to know what this journal contained, even if it meant learning the tongue of the people he hated. As the text unfolded before him, he began to read.

 22 :: Secondhand Secrets

    22 :: Secondhand Secrets


    The soft glow of the lamp¡¯s flame tickled the pages of the journal. Ryan had shifted his workstation to his bed where he could sit more comfortably. The diary sat with an array of reference materials, spread out on the duvet. He sat cross-legged as he scratched his translation into one of his school notebooks.


    "Primilan 23, 3084:


    My mind is still reeling as I try to put into words the events of tonight¡¯s gala. As expected, we were seated in the back again. Such a thing can''t be helped for lower nobles, like our family. That might all be changing, soon, though.


    After we had eaten, and the King had given his speech, one of the servers came to our table and asked if I would be willing to step outside the meal hall for a moment. I was so nervous that my knees trembled the entire time I was walking.


    The server led me to a secluded area in the garden. Waiting there, was Marcus Cogitan, the King''s own advisor! It was he who had summoned me. That made me even more nervous, of course, but he assured me that I wasn''t in any kind of trouble.


    He asked me what my affinity was. I told him honestly that I had none. He didn''t seem surprised at all. He even smiled. That was when he told me that he had encountered the same problem when he was my age. He could tell that we had the same affinity, and told me that there were affinities that the standard examination could not test for. Then, he told me that our affinity was of the mind. I drank in every word as he explained the nature of our affinity. I couldn¡¯t help but to think that it seemed like something that exists out of the reach of man, like time, or space, or gravity.


    It makes me wonder what other affinities might exist that we don''t know of or acknowledge. I¡¯ve spent my entire childhood being assured of my worthlessness by family and friends alike. The stigma of having no affinity had limited my value to society since the day I had been tested, yet today, the king¡¯s own adviser has asked me to become his apprentice. The only condition is that I keep our true affinity a secret. Naturally, I accepted. After all this time, I feel a sense of purpose.


    As I was beginning to process what he had told me, Cogitan called my parents out to the garden, as well, to settle the details of my study. They gladly accepted the invitation for Cogitan to become my mentor. It was decided that I will visit the palace on Lundan, Mercurdan, and Venerdan, after I have finished my normal school day.


    I can''t wait to begin my studies! My parents are only excited about the prospect of improving the family''s standing, but I just can''t believe I might actually be talented in magic. Tonight was a dream come true."


    Ryan caught his breath. He hadn''t realized there was such an affinity as mental magic. The king''s advisor was even a mental mage. This changed everything. If the king''s right hand man could use mental magic, there was no telling how many members of the government were under his direct control. A chill ran down Ryan''s spine. If he continued to act out against this country, might he become a target? Perhaps the reason the other students had been so compliant had something to do with this. The possibility of such underhanded methods being used against his friends inflamed Ryan¡¯s anger, as he opened the next dogeared entry.


    "Quintilan 16, 3084:


    Tonight, Cogitan commanded me to search the mind of the king.


    In the middle of the night, I was awoken from my slumber by a messenger summoning me to the palace on the orders of Cogitan. It was the first time that I have received such summons, so I dressed quickly and left my home as fast as I could.


    When I arrived at the palace, Cogitan appeared visually shaken as he explained the situation to me. Earlier this evening, King Altinius had awakened in a cold sweat. He charged straight to Cogitan¡¯s quarters and shoved a book in his face. He was afraid out of his mind, and raving about having spoken with God. Cogitan, in an act of desperation, searched the king¡¯s mind.


    He struggled to convey what he had seen. A being claiming to be God truly had spoken with Altinius, and even left him a book of magic formulas. There were no signs of Altinius¡¯ mind being tampered with. Cogitan was beginning to doubt even his own sanity, so he decided that a second opinion was needed. It was for this reason that I had been summoned.


    Cogitan removed the ring he had given Altinius, which kept his mind hidden. As soon as the king¡¯s aura became visible, I reached out with my own. The connection formed without any trouble. Through the king¡¯s eyes, I watched as the being introduced itself. It held no form. I saw only light as its voice echoed around me. It claimed to be a divine creature who had always guarded this nation and its people. The being¡¯s tone was both deep and shallow, and seemed to contain nearly infinite voices. I can still hear it echoing in my mind. It was terrifying.


    The being claimed that this kingdom would be invaded by dark forces in the near future. A powerful creature of evil had already entered the city. Here, it was sowing seeds of discord and seeking to undermine the nation¡¯s stability. Its ultimate goal is war.


    The deity claimed that the demon looked just like a man, but could change shape at will, and even vanish. It could bend the fabric of time and space to travel between this realm and wherever it had come from.


    Finally, the voice commanded Altinius to seek out the demon and seal it so that its evil could never corrupt this nation. It told Altinius that he would be given a tool to set him on his path. When he awoke, he had found a thick tome, full of unfamiliar formations, on his bedside table.


    I was unable to find any evidence of tampering in Altinius¡¯ mind, nor was I able to refute any of Cogitan¡¯s analysis. Thus, we were forced to conclude that Altinius may have experienced a divine visitation. The book of formulas was the final proof. There wasn¡¯t a single formula in the book that we could recognize. We are still investigating them to discover their exact uses, but it seems that this book is something incredibly precious. It will, surely, be a national heirloom for ages to come.


    Cogitan and the King spent the rest of the night arguing over whether or not the subjects of this nation should know about the events of this night. Altinius believed that the people had a right to know that God had spoken to him and warned them of this danger. Cogitan believed that it would be better to keep the matter secret until after the demon had been found and dealt with. Eventually, he relented and I was allowed to return to my home just before dawn.


    Altinius will arrange for a public announcement to take place later today to address his discussion with God. With the formulas in this book as proof, I am confident that the people will believe his words.


    In the meantime, my meetings with Cogitan have been reduced to once a week, on Lundan. He will be a necessary element in finding and capturing this demon. It can''t be helped that he is too busy to keep me company. Much of the magic that I am currently learning with Cogitan requires little instruction, at this point. There is still a great deal of practice that I can conduct by myself.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    However, I can''t help but feel that this evening marks a change in eras. Up until now, our nation has had over 100 years of peace. It has been so long since we have faced any sort of crisis. I fear telling the people about the demon will serve only to instill panic in a people unaccustomed to conflict. I hope that we will come together to face this trial with a united front. Under King Altinius'' leadership, I know that this is possible. This demon will be dealt with quickly, and we will all be able to return to our everyday lives."


    Ryan was a natural skeptic. He disliked anything to do with the supernatural. As he read the words on this page, he felt both confusion and disgust. He had heard previously that the king believed the formula that had brought them here had been a gift from God. There was no way, though, that he could accept it as true. There were no such things as gods or demons. If the being in this story wasn''t a god, though, then what was it? This situation was odd. Although Ryan had begun the task of translating this journal reluctantly, he now found himself fully-invested, immersing himself again in the next entry.


    "Octoban 10, 3084:


    Today I met a strange man. It was on my way back from the palace after attempting to meet with Cogitan. I still visit him for lessons once a week, but most of the time, he is out investigating some claim or another about the demon.


    The entire capital has gone insane. Every suspicious action or common dispute ends in accusation, and another demon report given to the palace. Each report must be investigated, which means that Cogitan must be dispatched several times daily to use his secret abilities to read their mind and determine whether or not they are a demon. It''s ridiculous. I''ve offered to help out, but he''s worried that I might actually encounter the demon and get attacked. I wish there was something that I could do.


    I was walking back home along Pirian St., when I sensed a mind that I couldn¡¯t read. I thought that it might be Cogitan, so I followed it to see if I could assist him in his investigation. I was surprised to find a man that I had never seen. He looked about 30 years old, and had long brown hair that almost reached his shoulders.


    I figured that he must be another mental mage, but I wasn¡¯t sure if he was friendly, so I followed him. It didn¡¯t take long for him to notice a clumsy girl, like me, trailing behind him, and he called out to me. He asked me why I was following him. I don¡¯t know why I told him the truth, but I don¡¯t regret it. He seems to be a trustworthy man. I told him that I couldn¡¯t read his mind and was wondering why.


    Instead of getting mad, he threw back his head and laughed in response. He told me without hesitation that he wasn¡¯t a mental mage, but he knew a few and one of them had given him a formula that would help him block his thoughts. He lifted up the back of his hair and knelt down to show me the formula tattooed on his skin. It was the same formula that I had seen on the king¡¯s ring. I had never seen a formula tattooed onto skin before and I was instantly fascinated.


    I asked him to tell me about the other mental mages he knew, but he said it was time for him to leave. He told me that his name was Rocale, and wrote an address on a sheet of paper with some instructions and told me to visit him anytime I wanted. The address he gave me is in the College, so I think that he might be an instructor there. I''ll try visiting him tomorrow."


    This entry didn¡¯t seem particularly interesting. What did catch Ryan¡¯s attention, was the fact that there was a way to block mental mages. This possibility soothed the storm of panic that had been surging since he had first begun reading. He needed to get his hands on whatever formula this Rocale guy was using. Ryan turned the page and was surprised to find that the very next entry was dogeared, as well.


    "Octoban 11, 3084:


    Today I visited Rocale at his office in the university. He is so much more interesting than I had thought. He¡¯s not a teacher. He says that he¡¯s more of a detective. He works for a big company that finds people when they go missing. His organization employs hundreds of mental mages. Sometimes, those mages would help peacefully resolve disputes. Other times, they would assist in stealth missions by using mental magic to cast illusions.


    This frustrated me a little. Not once has Cogitan made any mention that mental mages are capable of casting illusions. I¡¯m starting to wonder if he even knows, or if maybe he¡¯s keeping all of the better magic to himself. I know it¡¯s wrong to doubt him. I¡¯m probably just frustrated that he keeps missing our meetings. Still, I want to prove to Cogitan that I can become strong without his help. I¡¯ve learned so much in the past few months. I don¡¯t want to allow my growth to stagnate.


    I begged Rocale to introduce me to one of the mental mages he worked with, so that they could teach me how to cast illusions. He told me that it would be impossible right now, but gave me an instructional manual on how to do use illusions. If I managed to figure it out on my own, he promised that he would introduce me to some of his coworkers. He even implied that he could get me a job if I wanted it.


    I know that Cogitan is grooming me to work for him, but I have to admit that Rocale¡¯s offer is tempting. Today, he recounted the splendor of some of his travels, describing cities that float in the skies, or spread out in tunnels across the ocean floor. He even said that he¡¯s visited a place where everything in the city is automated by contraptions made of metal!


    I feel so small today. The world is so vast, and yet I have never even traveled outside the walls of the capitol. Rocale is so worldly. I wish that I could view the world from his perspective. Perhaps, then, it wouldn¡¯t seem quite so bleak.


    I¡¯ve decided to visit Rocale frequently from now on. I will listen to his stories about his travels and practice illusion magic until I am satisfied with my growth. This is all still very new, but I have plenty of time to decide my path.¡±


    Ryan shifted in his bed and adopted a more comfortable position. Had this entry been bookmarked on accident? Nothing much happened. Perhaps the next section would explain.


    ¡°Novemban 30, 3084:


    Something terrible happened today. I skipped my meeting with Cogitan in order to visit Rocale again. I was so close to getting this illusion magic to work. My projection was only a little bit blurry. I spent the evening working on making the more intricate features look more defined. After a couple of hours, it finally looked sharp enough to pass for real.


    On my way home, I sensed Cogitan¡¯s presence. I was tired and wanted to avoid him, but I thought that perhaps I was needed. As I paused, I could feel him drawing closer, so I went to meet him. He questioned me about my recent absences in his typical haughty tone that made me feel less like a person and more like a tool I was stupid and indignant and wanted to wound his pride. I told him that I had been studying under a new teacher. I bragged about how well-traveled he was, and how impressive the organization he worked for was. I even told him that he had taught me how to use illusion magic.


    I knew that Cogitan would be upset with me, but I thought that he might also be impressed. Another part of me hoped that he would just give up on me and I could go work for Rocale¡¯s organization. He just got a strange look in his eye and left. I know that I have let him down, but I never thought he would take it this hard. I can¡¯t help but regret my rash behavior.¡±


    As Ryan turned the page, he heard a knock at his door. Hurriedly, he stuffed the journal and translation materials beneath his sheets. He eased open his door, just a crack, and stared down at the familiar face that had interrupted his study.


    ¡°Where the hell have you been?¡± Christine demanded with a pout. ¡°What was all that about yesterday?¡±


    Ryan¡¯s mind lagged for a moment as he struggled to return to the events of the present. Yesterday¡¯s argument with Adam seemed so long ago. A quick glance out the window proved that the sun had indeed begun to rise. Ryan moved to shut the door to lock Christine out, but was stopped by her foot, which was already wedged between the door and its frame.


    ¡°You are not closing this door on me,¡± she scowled coolly.


    Her eyes imparted the sensation that, should he continue to refuse her entry, this breath would be his last. A shiver ran down Ryan¡¯s spine. This was a tone that she only ever used when she was out for blood. He had never once felt it directed at him. It was true enough that he¡¯d been avoiding her lately. Defeated, he let the door swing open and motioned the fuming girl inside.

 23 :: Broken Bonds

    23 :: Broken Bonds


    They were getting bigger. An eight year old Nora stood outside the front of her house. Her shoulder-length blonde hair was parted to one side, and her bangs held back by a barrette. She wore a pale blue knit dress with leggings of a darker shade. The child was staring intently at a point that appeared to be in midair. She watched the light curve around the point as she moved her head back and forth in different patterns. The colors spun like a kaleidoscope.


    This distortion had appeared a little over a week ago. Originally the size of a softball, it had nearly tripled in size since then. Nora didn¡¯t know what these points were, but lately they had been appearing everywhere. She reached out a hand hesitantly. She wanted so badly to know what they felt like, but every time she got close, something inside held her back. This time, as always, her delicate hand dropped back to her side, unfulfilled.


    ¡°Nora!¡± a voice shouted from behind her, snapping her out of her trance. She jumped in surprise before turning to face the newcomer. A boy about Nora¡¯s age with shaggy, black hair sat on a bicycle with one foot on the pavement. It was a nice bicycle. One of the newer models with a flashy red paint job. ¡°You¡¯re doing it again,¡± he scolded, hopping off the bike and letting it crash carelessly to the ground. He marched over to where Nora stood and stared intently at the place she had been observing.


    ¡°There¡¯s nothing there!¡± he exclaimed angrily, gesturing at the open space. ¡°Just like always, you¡¯re being weird. You need to stop staring at nothing.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Ben,¡± Nora muttered, bashfully. A pink hue flooded her cheeks. She knew that it wasn¡¯t right to see things that weren¡¯t there. She tried so hard to ignore them, but she couldn¡¯t just ignore things that she clearly saw. Besides, the little warps in the air fascinated her. Regardless of the circumstances, she was embarrassed at having been caught once again. She stared firmly at the ground and hoped that the boy would leave soon.


    ¡°You¡¯re such a freak,¡± he taunted with a scowl. He reached out a hand and twisted his fingers into a chunk of her hair. She tried to slap his hand away, but he began to pull.


    ¡°Stop it!¡± Nora shouted, grabbing higher up on the section he was pulling to ease the pain. ¡°Leave me alone! I didn¡¯t do anything wrong,¡± she whined, tears budding in the corners of her eyes.


    ¡°My parents said you¡¯re crazy!¡± he announced, releasing her hair. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be in a class with a crazy girl!¡± Stepping forward, he placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed. Nora fell backwards, her feet twisting beneath her small frame in an attempt to keep balance. As she regained it for a moment, he pushed again.


    ¡°Stop it!¡± she shouted, but her eyes were no longer on the boy. They were fixated on a place behind him where the little ball of twisted air had grown yet again, reaching almost two feet in diameter. Again, she felt the pressure on her shoulders as she was sent flying. Fear and anger welled up inside her. Why wouldn¡¯t he listen? She had never seen a point grow this large and it was scaring her. Couldn¡¯t he see that there were bigger problems? Of course he couldn¡¯t, and the world spun again as Nora stumbled, blind with fear and growing dizzier by the minute.


    ¡°STAY AWAY!¡± she screamed. This time, as the boy¡¯s frame entered her line of sight, she raised her own hands. Her bare toes sank into the lawn as she pushed off. Charging at the boy with all her strength, for the first time, she shoved back. It was in the brief moment of clarity immediately after she struck the boy, that she noticed the growing anomaly behind him. Her eyes shot open. The boy known as Ben staggered backwards, swinging his arms to keep balance. Nora thrust her arm forward, trying to catch him, but it was too late. As his back struck the space, he vanished into the spinning colors.


    ¡°NOOOO!¡± she wailed, sinking to her knees. Her eyes blinked in disbelief, launching tear after tear careening down her cheeks. She raised her trembling hands, frantically edging them closer and closer to the place where he had disappeared. No matter how hard she tried, her fear paralyzed her and prevented her hands from reaching their destination. Her shoulders shook as her hands fell limp beside her.


    Just then, she heard the sound that she most feared. The screen door on the front of her house swung open with a groan. Two faces, filled with concern, emerged from within. Seeing the state their daughter was in, their expressions of concern quickly turned to those of fear.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, sweetie?¡± her mother gasped, leaping off the front porch.


    ¡°STAY AWAY!¡± Nora screamed, louder than ever. The air between Nora and her mother spun menacingly, growing even larger. If they kept going, if they came near her, the tragedy would be repeated. ¡°STAY AWAY! STAY AWAY!¡± she wailed over and over, swinging her arms, as if to keep them back. As her parents continued their race across the lawn, Nora threw her body against the grass, kicking her legs wildly, trying to escape. It was going to happen again. They wouldn¡¯t listen to her, and there was nothing she could do about it.


    Nora¡¯s hands flew to her face, but they didn¡¯t quite make it to her eyes. The child watched in rapt horror as her parents vanished, one after another, into the whirl. Tears fell from her eyes like a faucet as she stared, slack-jawed, into the void.


    ***


    Nora woke from the dream with tears spilling down her cheeks. She had a vague feeling that she had been shouting something in her sleep, but wasn¡¯t cognizant enough to know what that was. A groan from the floor drew her out of her ruminations and lit a spark of recognition in her as she realized what she had done.


    ¡°No! No! No!¡± she mumbled as she flew to where Kurt lay curled on his side.


    His arms wrapped tightly around his chest and his entire body tensed in pain. Nora placed her hands on his back where she could feel his brands burning through his shirt. Kurt winced at the pressure and let out a sibilant gasp. Nora whipped her hands back immediately, unsure of what she could do to help.


    Kurt¡¯s brands acted as an anchor that kept him prisoner in this world. If one who had been marked with imprisonment brands attempted to use teleportation magic, their body would be bound to their current world, only in places where brands marked skin. Nora¡¯s dream had seeped into the real world, causing her to unconsciously activate teleportation magic that mimicked the portal that had claimed her parents and classmate years before. The resultant discord between body and brands had attempted to rend skin wherever the brands touched.


    Nora knelt nervously beside Kurt and covered her mouth with a hand.


    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, Kurt,¡± she sighed, knowing there was nothing she could do to alleviate the pain she had caused.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± Kurt gasped through labored breaths. ¡°Just give me a minute.¡± Nora watched as his breathing began to calm and his muscle tremors ceased.


    ¡°That sure was something else,¡± he sighed, easing himself into a seated position, still on the floor.


    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to,¡± Nora apologized earnestly.


    ¡°I know, I know,¡± Kurt replied. ¡°Most spatial mages awaken to their powers under unpleasant circumstances. It was your parents, right?¡± Nora¡¯s eyes widened.


    ¡°How-,¡± she began, but was interrupted.


    ¡°It¡¯s written in your personnel file,¡± Kurt without waiting to hear the rest of her question. ¡°I looked into you right after you first arrived here. I wanted to see if I could corroborate your story by checking to see whether or not you were stationed here. I thought you might have been sent by headquarters to monitor me, or something,¡±Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    ¡°To monitor you! Just what have you done that you think headquarters would send someone to monitor you?¡± Nora loudly inquired.


    ¡°Take another look at my brands,¡± Kurt suggested, pointing at his back. Nora shot him a skeptical glance, but still reached for the hem of his shirt, raising it up above his shoulders to expose the raw, reddened skin. Certain areas had begun to turn purple, providing evidence of internal bleeding. The area around the brands, themselves, was puffy and raised.


    ¡°There¡¯s a lot of swelling here,¡± she muttered, guilt welling within her.


    ¡°Too much, I¡¯d wager,¡± Kurt explained, ¡°This isn¡¯t the kind of result you¡¯d see from the brands activating just once.¡± A look of realization dawned on Nora¡¯s face. ¡°This is something of a monthly ritual for me, you see? You¡¯ve certainly hurried it on a bit, though. I still haven¡¯t completely recovered from last time, but as you can see, headquarters has good reason to consider me a flight risk.¡±


    ¡°Kurt!¡± Nora gasped in disbelief, ¡°How could you do such a thing to yourself? Surely, you know that the brands can¡¯t simply be overcome with force! This isn¡¯t a matter of magical power or willpower!¡± she berated him.


    ¡°That¡¯s not entirely true!¡± He countered. ¡°In theory, if you use enough magical energy, you should be able to overcome the force connecting skin cells and break free of the bonds.¡±


    ¡°Kurt!¡± Nora once again shouted. ¡°That would mean ripping the skin off your back!¡±


    ¡°Naturally,¡± He nodded.


    ¡°Those brands go deep! You could die!¡± She scolded. He nodded again, acknowledging his understanding of the risk involved. Nora sighed, astounded by Kurt¡¯s readiness to accept such a risk. ¡°Why do you do it?¡± she asked, adopting a calmer tone. ¡°Why would you go to such lengths to free yourself? What¡¯s so important that you would risk your life and undergo this much pain, time and time again, just to leave this realm?¡±


    Kurt hesitated before replying. In an uncharacteristically solemn tone, he began his explanation.


    ¡°That¡¯s pretty personal, so I¡¯m not going to go into detail, but it has to do with the reason I¡¯m exiled here. My parents created a mess and since they weren¡¯t going to, I took it upon myself to clean it up. I got caught before I could finish, but it¡¯s something that absolutely must be done. I¡¯ll do whatever it takes to make sure it¡¯s completed. The longer I wait, the worse it will get, so there¡¯s no sense in waiting out my exile for another 20 to 30 years, or however long it takes for the council to absolve me. Drastic measures must be considered.¡±


    Nora¡¯s mind drifted to the contents to her storage dimension. If there was ever a time to use that, it was now. However, even if the timing was right, this latest revelation by Kurt, left her wondering if he could be trusted. After a moment¡¯s consideration, her decision was made.


    ¡°I want your help Kurt,¡± Nora declared. ¡°I need to track down this cult and find out what¡¯s been happening to the wardens in the Outer Realms. I have a plan, but I¡¯d like your cooperation. If I can find them, I can figure out what¡¯s causing the spatial distortion and put an end to it. Then, I¡¯ll be able to return everyone to their original realms. If you¡¯re willing to help me, then I¡¯m willing to help with this,¡± she offered, pulling a couple of sheets of paper from her storage realm and offering them to Kurt.


    ¡°These are-!¡± he shouted, aghast. The pages shook in his hands.


    ¡°These were included in the file about you. They¡¯re instructions on how to remove the bonds keeping you in this realm, as well as how to bind you with mental magic to make you more susceptible to suggestion during the event of an emergency, which would essentially render you a slave. It looks like headquarters suspected that Iskam was going to be in serious danger on this mission. Using you as a slave would require the cooperation of a mental mage, but removing your bonds is something that even I, as a trainee, am capable of. Besides, I don¡¯t think using mental magic to coerce you into helping me will be necessary.¡±


    ¡°Those bastards,¡± Kurt hissed. ¡°You would free me?¡± he asked, his voice trembling. ¡°If headquarters finds out you freed me without authorization, they¡¯ll arrest you. This isn¡¯t as simple as killing a man in self defense. They¡¯ll know that this was deliberate.¡±


    ¡°But what if I didn¡¯t free you?¡± Nora asked, picking intently at a stray thread in the sofa¡¯s upholstery. ¡°What if Iskam realized his life was in jeopardy and released you to act as a bodyguard? What if I found you in Iskam¡¯s realm and released the mental magic so that I could properly question you and find out what happened?¡±


    ¡°Hah!¡± Kurt chuckled, startling even Nora. ¡°That could work! I¡¯m surprised to see that you had such a conniving side to you.¡±


    Nora blushed with embarrassment and shot him a glance of disapproval.


    ¡°Pleasantly surprised!¡± Kurt added, to correct his previous statement. ¡°That will serve you well if you nurture it!¡± Nora rolled her eyes.


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound like much of a compliment when it¡¯s coming from a criminal like you,¡± she teased.


    ¡°Be that as it may, something made you trust a criminal like me,¡± Kurt shrugged. ¡°Anyways, let¡¯s get started on removing these bonds, before I convince you otherwise.¡±


    ¡°You want to do it now?¡± Nora asked with concern. ¡°You aren¡¯t exactly in peak condition. We can do it, but there will be more than a little pain.¡±


    ¡°I can take it,¡± Kurt assured her. ¡°Pass me that,¡± he ordered, indicating a tall glass bottle half-filled with a clear liquid on a nearby shelf. Nora fetched the bottle and handed it to Kurt. He took a deep swig before returning the bottle to her.


    ¡°That should dull the pain,¡± he chuckled. ¡°This should take some time, so let¡¯s get started as soon as possible.¡± He passed the sheet containing the instructions for removing his brands back to Nora.


    ¡°Nonsense,¡± Nora scoffed with a slight smile, setting the sheet aside. ¡°Brands are made by inserting magic into the skin along the lines of certain formulas. I just have to remove the magic from your skin. I can have this done in under an hour as long as you hold still.¡±


    ¡°Woah there!¡± Kurt protested. ¡°You can¡¯t just pull all of the magic out of my skin. It has to be done in a certain order. You have to follow the instructions. They put traps in these things to make sure that they can¡¯t be removed by just anybody. If you make a misstep, you might release a spell that attacks my organs. I might actually die from this. Are you sure you¡¯re actually capable of performing such an intricate operation?¡±


    ¡°I can see the formulas, Kurt. You don¡¯t have to worry,¡± Nora retorted, helping Kurt off the floor and guiding him to the bed. Kurt turned to stare at her as he stumbled along at her side.


    ¡°You can actually see it, see it? Like, visible light? Like, with your eyes?¡± Kurt descended into a seemingly endless line of questions translating to roughly the same thing. As he did so, he removed his shirt, revealing the mess of bruising skin and the dark curves of the bonds that laced across it.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Nora nodded, helping him lie down. ¡°It takes some serious focus if I want to use it outside of my personal dimension, but I can see it just fine.¡±


    ¡°You know that¡¯s pretty rare, right?¡± Kurt queried. ¡°Even among those with high sensitivity to magic, there aren¡¯t many who can actually visualize it. Most just get a strong feeling or see vague clouds of light where magic is present.¡±


    ¡°I know it¡¯s rare,¡± Nora nodded, climbing onto the bed and taking a seat by his side. ¡°One of my instructors told me that less than 1% of Wardens could see the lines that make up formulas.¡±


    ¡°But you didn¡¯t tell your instructor that you were among that 1%, did you?¡± Kurt asserted. ¡°It would have been in your personnel file if you had. Why not?¡±


    ¡°Honestly, it was only because I hated that instructor,¡± Nora confessed. ¡°She was a vile old woman who found fault with everything I did. Formulas were the only thing I was good at. I didn¡¯t want her to know it was only because I could see the paths of the magic within them.¡±


    ¡°Cheater,¡± Kurt smirked.


    Nora smiled, ignoring the taunt to begin treatment. As she focused on the shape of the brands, little golden threads of light began to take shape within them. They wove through the fabric of Kurt¡¯s skin, occasionally dipping deep down into the muscle tissue beneath. The lines glowed like the filament of a light bulb, and though, Nora could not see the threads themselves once they vanished beneath Kurt¡¯s skin, she could still see the glow of the light they emitted. Using her own magic, she began tugging on those threads, slowly unraveling them.


    ¡°Hey, Nora. Is it okay if I talk?¡± Kurt asked, suddenly, his face half-smothered by a pillow.


    ¡°Go ahead,¡± Nora responded, never breaking focus. She leaned over Kurt¡¯s prone form, her face less-than a foot from his back as her fingers worked deftly at controlling her magic.


    ¡°I¡¯m really glad that you decided to trust me, but why did you?¡± he asked solemnly. ¡°I just got done telling you that I¡¯d rather rip the skin off my back than wait out my sentence, so that I can finish the very business that got me exiled. What makes you think I won¡¯t run off?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t trust you,¡± Nora replied simply, ¡°But, I have a hunch,¡± she continued. Kurt let out a gasp as her fingers prodded a particularly sore patch of skin.


    ¡°A hunch, huh?¡± he frowned. ¡°A hunch about what?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t tell you,¡± Nora answered. ¡°I¡¯m waiting to see how it plays out. Telling you would spoil it. Besides, it doesn¡¯t matter whether or not you betray my trust and run off and fight your own battle. If you were my enemy, you¡¯ve had plenty of chances to sabotage my investigation. At the very least, I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll get in my way.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re no fun,¡± Kurt grumbled. ¡°I will help you, though. I swear it.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to swear,¡± Nora smiled. ¡°Just wait until I¡¯m finished and show me.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Kurt replied with a smirk, ¡°Try not to kill me before I can show you,¡± and with that, he buried his face back into the pillow and fell into silence.