The noise of the engine felt deafening against the awkward silence. Lou was practically twitching with anxiety, and Hans apparently didn’t feel much better.

Me, though? I felt powerful. It was intoxicating. Both of these strong willed people in the car with me were obeying me. They were the ones following along in the wake of someone else, for once.

Emotions shifted, seethed, and settled by the time the wooden walls of the German base appeared in the headlights of the jeep. Lou’s spirit spiked with fear before she suppressed it, and she never gave a single outward sign.

“Out of curiosity,” I said, trying to sound casual as I got out of the jeep, “who did your enchanting work on the walls?”

“You’ll see,” he said, annoyingly.

Hmph.

“Will I meet them?” I asked.

He chuckled lightly, and it struck me as condescending. I bristled at the sound.

“Be patient, Aera,” he said. “We are here, and everything will be revealed shortly.”

That was not nearly as reassuring as it could have been.

With great hesitation, Lou turned off the ignition of the jeep and stepped out into the night.

Hans led us to the front entrance, which was guarded by six men, all of whom bore enchantments of drastically inferior quality to his. They struck me as being mass produced by the same bizarre enchanter that had done the walls. It annoyed me to realize there was a bullet detection aspect to the protective enchantments that was superior to my own.

I suppressed the urge to sulk as I walked next to Lou into the base.

Everyone was on edge. Soldiers eyed us nervously as Hans led us towards the portal in the center. I could feel it easily, at this range. Even inactive, it hummed with power, and I got the impression of incredible depth to that power.

In the center of the rough camp was a great ring of stone and metal, set up on a simple pedestal of wood. It was perhaps eight feet tall, with the opening about six feet in diameter. Now closer, I was startled to realize that the portal was modular, of all things. It had clearly been designed one piece at a time, and those pieces could clearly be taken apart and put back together again. The pedestal, too, was a remarkable bit of work, designed to actually construct the portal, as long as the pieces were nearby. The portal’s connection was ongoing - even when “off,” it was drawing power from wherever it drew from, recharging for when it was activated fully.

What was even more interesting was that it was clearly incomplete. Some of the “modules” of the portal were newer and more powerful. It looked like it was designed to be an ongoing work in progress, continually upgrading without ever losing its functionality. Further, it had a remarkable amount of redundancy built in. Any of the modules could break, and the rest of them would temporarily take over the functions of that module, presumably long enough to repair the broken one.

A sharp pain in my side brought my attention back to reality. Lou was looking annoyed, and had just elbowed me.

“Cut it with the zoning out crap,” she hissed at me as I looked at her.

“I’m sorry,” I said, shaking my head. “It is… it is an incredible piece of enchanting work. And it’s also the strangest thing I’ve ever looked at.”

“I’ll agree with you on that part,” Lou said, frowning as she looked it over. Nothing was glowing, but I supposed just knowing it was an intensely magical device was enough for her to disparage it.

Hans turned to me and said, “Please be silent for a moment as I make contact.”

I nodded, curious, as he reached a tendril of his spirit towards the portal, to activate it. Strange. He clearly had enough exposure to magic to awaken him, as his spirit was even thicker with power than Lou’s. I wondered why he hadn’t.

I didn’t have time to speculate as the portal hummed to life and captured the entirety of my attention.

To my eyes, there was nothing but a glow in the rim, a strange humming that resonated through the air and my body, and a twisted distortion in the air, as though water of the most perfect purity rippled across the boundary. A faint pulse of wind stirred the grass in seemingly random directions.

To my mage sense, the world was torn in two.

I staggered at the sensation and saw black at the edges of my vision as I nearly passed out from the waves of chaotic backlash. The void between worlds was as immense as it was nonexistent, forming the boundary of the world as it clawed out every scrap it could reach. It sucked, hungering and screaming, at the energies of the border. The portal was straining beneath the assault, barely able to sustain the miniscule connection that it created. Yet, sustain it it did.

While the formation of the connection was an ugly thing, hideously inefficient, the connection stabilized into something much more reasonable. My vision cleared as the mind-breaking distortions stopped assaulting my spirit.

The slip of a glimpse into the other world was bizarrely tiny, considering the large construct that supported it. It was too small for even a single hair to slide through. My magesense could probably get through… but frankly, I was too terrified of the monstrous portal to dare.

Hans picked up a radio handset from a table near the portal.

“Koryn,” he said into it. “We have brought Aera here.”

“Finally,” came a voice through the radio, and my world distorted again.

Mother?!

“I will speak to her now,” my mother said.

I blinked in confusion. I had so many questions. For some reason, my first question was wondering why she was speaking English with a German accent.

Hearing her voice had sent me reeling. The connection was full of static and strange distortions, but I could still make it out well enough to know that it was exactly as I remembered.

“Before that,” Hans said, making me twitch in anxiety. Denying my mother like that was unwise. “As you had cut off communications after your most recent demand, we will require some degree of confirmation that you will uphold your end of the bargain before we permit her to speak.”

I swore I could feel a wash of anger-tinged spirit flow through the portal, however faintly, and twitched again. Hans had no idea who he was talking to.

“You have delayed enough,” my mother said. “You have given me reason to doubt your own honor, and I will have proof of Aera’s wellbeing prior to any such concessions.”

He frowned at the radio. It was easy to tell when my mother was done speaking, with all the static. I supposed it was true in both directions, which is why they didn’t use conventional radio terminology, like “over.”

“You must be reasonable, Koryn,” he said. “Since our last conversation, we have entered into hostile territory and suffered numerous assaults. At the very least, you should compensate us by repairing the damages suffered by the enchantments.”

“Damage?” my mother scoffed. “They’re self repairing - they simply need to be recharged.”

“A few components have been entirely destroyed,” he said.

“Then I believe the word you’re looking for is ‘replaced,’” my mother said dryly. “I will agree to such after Aera’s welfare is confirmed to my satisfaction. I will speak with her immediately.”

“Very well,” Hans said and handed me the radio. “Are you familiar with its operation?”

“Um, yes,” I said, and then pressed the button. “Mother?”

Hans’ eyes gleamed as I said the word. I supposed my mother had kept our relationship secret.

“Aera,” she breathed, sounding incredibly relieved, utterly unlike her crisp, annoyed tone she’d used with Hans. “You’re well?”

“Er,” I said.

Was I well? I was physically well, of course, but frankly, in every other sense of the word...

“My magic works normally in this place,” I said after a second. “But, it’s been… stressful.”

“Have Hans and his men treated you appropriately?” she demanded.

“Mild emotional coercion,” I said. “Nothing much, and otherwise as well as could be expected.”

Lou gave me a look that was a strange combination of flustered and bewildered.

“That sounds similar to his relations with me,” my mother said with a sigh.

“Mother, I don’t understand,” I said. “What happened? How… how is this possible?”

“We have so much catching up to do,” she said, and I could hear the gentle, loving smile in her voice. “In brief, though, it took us about a month to rebuild the portal. We studied the explosion as best we could, and determined that all of your enchantments were used as a… sort of lubricant, if you will, shielding you as you slid into the other world.”

That made sense. I’d had literally nothing on my person that wasn’t enchanted at least a little. She continued.

“Fragments of their energies remained, which we were able to trace to that world. That process took nearly a year. The damage to the boundary between worlds from your passage enabled us to forge an incredibly minute passageway. It only permitted energies to pass, too limited for matter to get through. We could also only sustain it briefly, about two seconds, though we improved that over the years. We hoped we might be lucky and find you, but we knew the odds were poor. We were simply trying to find a magic user to stabilize the other end.”

I laughed, but she couldn’t hear me, as she was continuing to transmit over the radio.

“After a while, we decided to build ten more portals. Five of them would find a place and simply broadcast as loudly as they could, with every type of energy we’re familiar with, in hopes of getting someone’s attention. They were set to reopen in the same spot every hour, in hopes of drawing attention. Every month, we changed their positions. The others were continuing the search pattern.”

“And one of those was found,” I said, but again, it couldn’t transmit over her.

“Eventually, nearly two years ago, one was found,” she said, sounding exasperated. “We got the strangest signals through it, and it took nearly a month to establish communication. By then, we’d abandoned the other portals. Our communication was astoundingly difficult - no language, only pulses of energy, and a simplistic code, but we managed to progress. Once they put a sufficiently enchantment-compatible material near the opening and left it there, Jax was able to manage a stabilizing enchantment.”

I whistled at the feat.

“From there, we were able to transmit simple illusions, including sound, as well as scry the immediate area. A laboratory had been built around the portal opening, with Hans as the lead scientist. Language acquisition magic was beyond the strength afforded by the portal, and so we were taught English, despite the fact that this was not the favored language of the scientists.”

She sounded decidedly annoyed at that.

“Once communication was more thoroughly established, we were able to begin the process of trading enchantments for the search for you, as well as improving the portal to facilitate that process. It has been… frustratingly slow. But, at long last, you’ve been found. I cannot wait until we begin to work together to finish the portal properly and bring you home,” she finished warmly, closing the connection such that I could speak.

Except I couldn’t. A lump had formed in my throat as I’d heard her enthusiastically prattle on about the staggeringly difficult process of finding me.

A process that they had persevered at for four years, despite me being such a failure to them.

A process that involved them trading dangerous - for Earth, anyway - enchantments that permitted Germany to burn London to the ground.

A process that culminated in some sort of deal with Germany.

“The deal you spoke of, with Hans,” I said, trying not to choke on the lump in my throat. “What was it?”

“Apparently the leader of their country wants to win some war,” my mother said dismissively. “What with the world being entirely devoid of magic, this seems pathetically easy to arrange. They’ve promised to treat you like royalty, providing to any of your needs, as long as we win their war and help them sustain the position gained by their victory.”

“Fuck,” Lou said, and for once, I echoed her.

“Mother,” I said, my voice straining, desperate. “You mustn’t! They can’t be allowed to-”

Hans took the radio from me, and I was still reeling too much to resist.

“Aera has been subject to the propaganda of another country for some years now,” Hans said smoothly.

“You fucking asshole,” Lou snarled and stepped towards him as though wanting to strike.

She stepped back again as weapons were leveled at her from all around us. Her face was still twisted.

“Aera,” my mother said. “We abide by our arrangements - you know that.”

I remembered my lessons about “arrangements.” How critical it was to never betray one, no matter the situation. That this sort of honor between powers was the only way in which the world could function, and thus, breaking a deal was equivalent to a threat on the world. The extent to which one was held to an arrangement was proportional to their power - no one was going to execute a simple blacksmith for failing to show up to a meeting on time, of course. Or, lesser spellcasters could break small deals, with limited reprisals. But powerful mages, as well as any force that was willing to deal with powerful mages, were held to extreme standards. This was to both reduce the theoretical threat to the world, and also to set a precedent that allowed people to be reasonably comfortable talking to others who had access to things like mind magic.

While I was pretty sure my parents would be fine, on a personal level, reneging on certain kinds of deals - such as this one, since it sounded like Germany had annoyed them thoroughly - if it were ever found out that they’d broken a deal, they’d be condemned as oathbreakers, which was the best translation of the term. As a result, they’d have the most powerful forces in Camelot intending to wipe them out.

“I understand that you’ve developed some fondness for whatever country you’re in,” she continued, “but really, you needn’t bother yourself with another world’s politics. If you want that country to remain safe, you could simply convince them to surrender.”

“But…” I whispered, and couldn’t make more words appear.

“Give us a moment,” Hans said over the radio, then turned his attention to me.

“Lieutenant Pash has informed us of the treatment you have received at the hands of America. You have been suppressed, coerced into hiding, taken advantage of by those you call friend, given none of the respect that is your due, hunted by the government, and made to live in fear. Setting aside the things you have been told - merely told, with no evidence - can you truly believe this country has earned your loyalty?”

I hesitated, and Lou shot me a fearful look. The weapons were still pointed at her, though the soldiers weren’t on the edge of firing. It was still enough to keep her silent.

“Germany respects power,” he said persuasively. “You would be treated with the respect you deserve. You would be not just permitted, but encouraged to use your strengths, and not merely at the direction of others. From what we have learned, you are truly a good person, and can be trusted to use your best judgement to bring forth a better world. Despite all that you have heard, that is the objective of the Fuhrer.”

“But…” I said, stumbling on my words. “All the deaths…”

He shook his head.

“The world is mad,” he said. “These other countries, they do not take care of their own. They do not care for the greater good. They let their own people starve, suffer, and die. This world needs a strong leader that will stand for the people. Hitler is striving for that vision, and the only ones that die are those that oppose the new order, or who do not fit in it.”

I hesitated again.

“Aera, don’t buy his bullshit,” Lou hissed, and the soldiers tightened their grips. She was white as a ghost and her spirit was thick with terror, but she spoke again anyway. “He’s trying to take over the fucking world.”

“But if you’re just taking care of your own, why the attacks on other places?” I asked Hans, raising a hand to silence Lou. There was no need for her to take risks, at the moment.

“Germany has been held down by the United Nations,” he said. “Beyond that, it is not merely Germans that the Third Reich favors. There are many racially excellent members of other countries, that can serve as a foundation for the new world. Hitler aims to give them better lives, as well. Others protest, but consider that we have the hearts and minds of our people behind us. We are not monsters, Aera. We simply wish to bring order and wellbeing to the world. For humanity’s future; could there be a goal more noble than that?”

It was a beautiful idea, in many ways. Gloriously noble, grand, and straightforward.

But of course, the most beautiful thing about the idea was its simplicity. It would be simple, easy, and, in some ways, painless to go along with it. I could sit in my tower - or wherever I ended up - ignoring the plights of those who had no relevance to my plans. Ignoring the unpleasant politics. I could heal the people I could see right in front of me, in the way I’d wanted to do ever since I’d arrived here. I could do good and wonderful things, within my reach, and never step outside my own comfortable little bubble. I’d never have to kill, or even wound anyone. I was sure, with so compelling an idea, that I could easily find and make German friends, and many of them would be noble, too.

I could go along with my family, and be returned to them, without ever having to make a difficult and painful decision ever again.

But, alas, I’d learned this lesson already, and the stain of it would never leave my hands.

There are no simple answers.