“You’re late”, Mr. McDuckenStein quacked at me when I walked into the classroom.

Kalli smiled from her seat and patted the chair beside her. Your new mana fencing class sounds fun. Come sit with me. I saved you a seat.

I can’t wait to try it. For that matter, I’m also looking forward to the class that I get to teach. We are halfway to 1000 gold now.

Once I took my seat, she reached under the table and took my hand in hers. I know.

Mr. McDuckenStein was lecturing about far-off planets again and how alignment made potential travel easier. It turned out that dimensions existed on a mystical inner-space and on rare occasions they lined up in such a way that a traveler could pass from one end to the other by taking a single step.

I sat patiently through class and chatted with Kalli while we both took notes. When class ended, I walked over to the teacher.

Give me a second, I want to ask him something.

Kalliphae gave me a quizzical look but didn’t say anything as she accompanied me. Mr. McDuckenStein looked up from his desk when we approached, “Good morning, Miss Hellquist and Mr. Murphy. What can I do for you today?”

I waved off the pleasantries with a mumbled, “Good morning. I wanted to ask you about traveling again. Specifically traveling to Gaia.”

The duck-man waved me off, “I already told you. That’s impossible to do by yourself. You’d need a…”

Cutting him off, I asked, “Would it make a difference if the person in question was summoned from Gaia? Is there a shortcut to send them back?”

He stood up with his bill hanging open. Raising a finger to make a point, he took a deep breath and said, “Theoretically that is possible and quite easily too. Your soul knows where it’s from. A simple gate spell would be sufficient. They used to be popular back during the old days when technological travel was in its infancy. Mages these days are too lazy to learn such magic.”

I cast a sidelong glance at Kalli and exclaimed, “That’s great news. I guess the only question is whether or not I can cast the spell or if I’ll have to teach her how to…”

Mr. McDuckenStein turned his attention to Kalliphae, “Miss Hellquist, could it be that you are from Gaia?”

Catching my error, I quickly amended, “I was talking about someone else. There’s this woman I know back home that would like to return to Gaia to visit a cousin.”

“Very curious”, my teacher said, still eyeing Kalli skeptically as she shook her head in denial.

I tried to change the subject by asking, “Where do I go to learn this gate spell?”

Looking back at me and folding feathered arms over his chest, he said, “Well, you can find gate in a book called ‘Old Magic’ in the library. You may need a different spell depending on who you want to cast it. Gate magic is self-only. Should you cast it on yourself, it will send you to the place you call home. If you decide to cast this on your Gaian friend, you will need a spell called Warp, which you can also find in the book. That spell works similarly to Gate but can be used on others as well as yourself.”

I thought about it and asked, “If that’s the case, why would anybody bother to learn Gate?”

Mr. McDuckenStein laughed and said, “Good question lad. The one benefit that Gate has over Warp is that it tends to be more accurate. While Warp will send you home in theory, it tends to be a bit more random about where exactly it puts you.”

Turning my attention back to Kalli, I attempted to reassure her.

I think this is going to be how we get you home.

Her expression was serious. That’s a one-way ticket, Mel. What about bringing me back?

I don’t know but I will work that out. I promise.

Mr. McDuckenStein watched us communicate wordlessly and said, “You know, if the two of you tell me what’s going on, I might be able to help you. You can trust us teachers you know.”

Kalli and I exchanged a look and I knew that she wanted to include the teacher. Still, I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea. She decided for both of us when she admitted, “He is talking about me. I came to be here by accident but I’ve grown to love this world. Unfortunately, I need to go back to take care of something. I’d like to come back here after I finish.”

The teacher quacked excitedly, “I knew it. I just knew it. I too am from another world. We can sense these things about one another, can we not? Getting you home is as simple as I’ve explained. Coming back is going to be a little trickier. Is there any chance you can repeat the way you got here in the first place?”

Kalli looked at me and shook her head, “No. I don’t think that would work. As you taught us in class the other day, doing things recklessly can be dangerous.”

Mr. McDuckenStein’s eyes widened as he pieced the clues together, “Did you perform an illegal summoning? This is highly irregular. I heard that you were recently given a post teaching the nobles how to unleash their mana, so I knew something was up with you. However, the mana drain alone should have knocked you out and the feedback from the summon should have killed you. Or her for that matter. There are so many lessons about children tampering with forbidden magic and paying the ultimate price. Have heard none of them?”

Laughing nervously, I explained, “I didn’t know about the magic world until just a few months ago. How could I have learned a lesson like that before I was awakened.”

He threw his head back and laughed, which sounded like more quacking, “Do you realize that even the unawakened are familiar with these tales? Have you not seen the one with the brothers who nearly kill themselves when they misuse alchemy to bring back their lost mother? Or the one where the girl is given a wish and she ends up making her family forget about her?”

Thinking back to the many stories that I had consumed over my life, there were hundreds of warnings not to do exactly what I had done. I pointed out the flaw in his logic, “If I hadn’t done any of that, I never would have met Kalli.”

Mr. McDuckenStein stood abruptly and said in a hard tone, “Is her life better because of what you’ve done?”

Before I had a chance to think about it, Kalli barked, “Yes!”

He gaped at the redhead, “Are you absolutely sure? This may seem like a grand adventure but don’t you miss your home?”

The look in Kalliphae’s eyes could melt the ore at Masamune’s forge, “Mr. McDuck. The day Melvin summoned me I thought my life was over. I ran away from my master and hid in the forest. I don’t believe in the gods but I prayed that day. I prayed for someone to take me away. I’ll admit, I wasn’t very happy at first when I realized that I had been summoned by a boy who wanted to be a wizard but he’s been doing everything in his power to help me. That’s more than anyone has ever done for me before. I know you may see your experience here as just some grand adventure but for me, this is my new life.”

The teacher sighed and shook his head, “I did not mean to belittle your experience.I apologize.As promised, I’ll help the two of you when the time comes.Just let me know what you need.”

Kalliphae was unusually quiet as I walked her to her next class. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and suddenly she turned to hug me. Pulling her close, I asked the question that had been on my mind since her outburst.

Did your master hurt you?

She sniffled. No. Master was great. I ran away because that was the day I got the letter that I was to be betrothed to an old man. If you hadn’t summoned me, I probably would have run away.

Suddenly, I didn’t feel quite so bad about summoning the pyromancer from her world.

Wendy tackled me in a hug when I arrived at wind class, “When they told me you got trapped outside of the dungeon, I was so worried. I can’t believe you didn’t say anything in group chat.”

“Sorry, we didn’t want you to worry”, I explained as we made our way over to our usual practice spot away from class, “You guys had your own dungeon to clear.”

I felt a twinge of emotion from Kalli when Wendy hugged me but it quickly went away. Pulling myself from her grip, I asked, “Do you want to see something cool?”

She cast me a weary look and said, “Sure. I think. It isn’t going to explode, is it?”

I flashed a grin at her and replied, “I hope not.”

Before she could object, I roused the divine mana in my core.

Okay Quetzy, it’s time to make your grand debut. This is wind class. Come show them a true wind god.

The wind stirred around us on the rooftop when I evicted him from my body. The feather-headed dragon said one final thing before he emerged. I told you not to call me that.

The wind swirled into a sudden tornado that surrounded me before dissipating and leaving a snake coiled around my body. Quetzalcoatl roared, “Greetings mortals. It is I, the god of light and wisdom, lord of the day and the wind who rules the west. Bow before me.”

The rest of the class had rushed over to investigate the spectacle. I groaned when they all knelt at the serpent’s command, “Did you just control them somehow?”

Mr. Soares, who also knelt, explained, “He didn’t do anything. It’s proper etiquette to bow before a god.”

Quetzalcoatl hissed a laugh at me, “That’s right. Learn from your instructor. Bend the knee.”

Pushing the snake off of myself, I reminded him, “We have an arrangement, and last I checked it didn’t include bowing. Unless of course, you want to bow to me first.”

The rest of the class stared at us as I bickered with the god. Eventually, Quetzalcoatl calmed down enough to show off a bit. Drawing himself to his full height, his feathers billowed around his head as he said, “True control of the wind cannot be managed with neatly packaged spells. To gain mastery, you need to feel it flowing around you and understand that in some form, the wind is always present when there is air. Stretch out your limbs and body and allow the wind to wash over you, to permeate your flesh.”

I followed instructions along with the rest of the class. Wendy smiled and spoke to me in group chat. This is fun.

Joe immediately replied to her thought. Hello Wendy. What’s fun?

Wendy seemed excited to hear from Joe. Hi Joe. Melvin summoned Quetzy and he’s teaching us how to harness the wind.

The technomancer agreed. That sounds amazing. Will you show me what you learned after school?

I stopped practicing to see what Wendy was going to say next. Sure. Let’s meet at the usual place.

That was odd. Did they get closer in the dungeon? I smiled and focused on the wind. There was an unusually strong breeze on the rooftop, most likely conjured by Quetzalcoatl.

I tugged on the wind.

I let it wash over me.

I refined the wind and sent it on its way.

Quetzalcoatl raised an eyebrow and spoke to me, “That was not a part of the lesson.”

Repeating the process, I replied to the snake, “The wind itself feels like a kind of mana. I can refine it the same way I do with mana.”

The serpent hissed repeatedly, laughing in his way, “Yes, there is mana in everything. Everything exists in mana. If you connect yourself to it, your mana can flow eternally.”

That was my mistake. I was touching the mana, embracing it, and even refining it. Then I was sending it on its way. The key was to not let go. When the next breeze touched me, I wrapped it around myself, refining its purity and fortifying it with my mana.

It felt like I was becoming the wind. When the wind left me I went with it. Together we raced across the rooftop and out into the void between buildings. Nothing got in our way and if it did, we flowed around it.

A short while later, I became aware of myself. No longer did I hear the voices of the students around me, though I did hear Wendy’s voice faintly. When I opened my eyes, I saw Quetzalcoatl soaring nearby, borne on the same breeze as I. He laughed and spoke words I could not hear, drowned out by the whispering of the wind.

Realizing I was a long way from the ground, I picked a rooftop and gently settled down on it. Only then did the wind die, released from my command. Kalli’s concerned voice rang in my ears like a gong, Mel! What are you doing? I can’t describe this sensation but Wendy has everyone worried about you.

I’m fine. Quetzy taught me a new trick and I was trying it out.

With Kalliphae mollified, I needed to figure out where I was. The rooftop I found myself on was in a part of town that I was unfamiliar with. I couldn’t see the newspaper that housed The Academy anywhere.

GUSTAF SOARES HAS JOINED THE GROUP

The teacher’s voice spoke in group chat. Melvin Murphy. Stay where you are. If you can communicate, let me know that you are okay. Any sound will do. We have called for someone to collect you.

Pulling back the mana I had used to summon Quetzalcoatl, I replied to the teacher.

I’m fine. I was practicing wind magic and ended up going somewhere else.

The teacher shocked me when he explained what happened. You became the wind and blew away with Quetzalcoatl. He followed you in any case. We were worried it might be a divine abduction.

He did follow me but I’m fine.

Before I could say anything else, a man appeared out of the shadows. I had witnessed that technique before. He had teleported. Looking around to see if anyone was with me, he said, “I am here to take you back to school. Have you teleported before?”

I grinned and held out my hand, “Twice actually.”