Kendrick closed his eyes, dropping his weapon to the cave floor. His hands shot up in front of him defensively. He braced himself.

Bellara snickered. “Aldzin,” she said, pointing her index finger. Kendrick opened his eyes. A thin bolt of light issued forth from Bellara’s fingertip and pierced the attacking shadow; silently, it clutched at its midsection and flailed once before falling back into the surrounding darkness.

“What the hell just happened?” said Kendrick. Bellara was audibly cackling now, resting her hands on her knees as her back heaved with each laugh. Sahni, to her credit, was stifling her laughter by covering her mouth with her hands, and when that didn’t work she turned away so that Kendrick couldn’t see her. “Am I being pranked right now? What is so funny?”

“Stop laughing,” Sahni scolded her friend, although her voice cracked with laughter as well. “Stop it. That’s not very kind.”

“I’m sorry,” Bellara belly laughed, “I’m sorry, that was...” After another fit of laughter, she took a deep breath and cleared her throat. “What you’ve just witnessed was a shade. A spirit of darkness.”

“Okay,” he replied. “And? What’s so funny about that?”

Bellara said, “Well, there are imps, archdemons, demons, all very serious threats... Shades, on the other hand, are more of a nuisance than anything. Usually, you’d only see a small child crying over just one of them.”

“I wasn’t crying, okay?” Kendrick said, wiping his eyes. “How am I supposed to know that a silent shadow monster is not a big deal in this place?”

Sahni frowned a guilty frown at her friend. “We should remember that this is all very new to him.”

“It can’t be for much longer,” Bellara mused. “Enough about the shade. It’s dealt with and gone. Now, focus again on what we were talking about earlier. I want you to channel your aura through the blade.”

Kendrick picked up the hilt from the floor. My ‘aura,’ he thought. What does that even mean? And why should I listen to her? I don’t know who these girls are or what they want with me, but I’m starting to get annoyed with this place. “I still don’t know what exactly you want from me,” he said at last. “I don’t get what aura is supposed to be or how to... do whatever you want me to do with it.”

“Gather it,” said Bellara. “Focus it into a single point.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“Just try doing what you think it means and—”

“I’m starting to get overwhelmed being here and not knowing where I am or how I got here—”

“—everything should come naturally. That’s normal, everything—”

“—and I would really appreciate it if someone would just—”

Grrrooowwwl... Their bickering exchanges were interrupted when a low, threatening noise echoed through the cave. The two of them looked around in a panic trying to discern the source of the sound. Kendrick’s lens gave him no clues.

“Sorry,” Sahni muttered, placing a hand on her abdomen. “I’m hungrier than I realized.” Even in the relatively low light of the crystals, Kendrick could see that she was blushing. “Um, Bellara, maybe our guest could use a little more time before we ask too much of him. Where he comes from, it's possible there are no such things as aura or shades or anything else. Perhaps we could let him get his bearings a while longer... over a meal?”

Bellara put her hands on her hips, sizing him up. He tried to hold the hilt at his side one-handed but the metal proved too heavy to do that for long. He settled for awkwardly holding it at crotch-level with both hands.

“Very well,” Bellara finally relented. “I am also famished after that long ritual.” She cast an up-nod in his direction. “You, guest. Are you hungry?”

“That depends. What kind of weird stuff do you people eat here?”

“Just quit complaining and follow me. There’s a tavern not far down the road from here—I'll buy us all a meal. How does that sound?” After a beat, she added, “I trust they have meat, cheese, and bread where you’re from, don’t they?”

“Hm.” Kendrick nodded once. “I accept.”

***

Bellara’s promise panned out after all.

Following a brief hike down a rugged forest path that fed into a travel-worn dirt road, a short walk led them directly to a charming little tavern in the middle of nowhere. The structure looked antique, built of stone and wood with a gabled roof and tiny windows with wooden shutters. Entering the tavern, Kendrick saw that it was packed with patrons; the din of the crowd was dizzying at first, but as he followed Bellara to the bar, looking back to see Sahni still trailing close behind, he vaguely recalled being in a place like this before, somewhere.

Out of curiosity, Kendrick tapped his lens to gather information about the numerous other tavern-goers around them, but it was a flood of knowledge too great to parse through all at once. {HUMAN} {HUMAN WITCH} {HUMAN} {ELF} {JINN} {ORC} {ORC} {ELF} {HUMAN} {ORC} read the species popping up all over his magical heads-up display. It was too much at once—he didn’t even have time to look at all of their aura readings. He shivered at the cerebral overload and let the labels fade away from his vision.

“Three cheese breads with cured meat,” said the redhead. She fished a smaller burlap sack from her bag and forked over three dull gray coins to the female server standing behind the bar.

“Thank you,” Sahni told the barmaid, and they all squeezed their way into a booth in a less-crowded corner of the tavern. Kendrick found himself uncomfortably in the middle with no way out on either side.

Kendrick smacked his dried lips. “Do they have anything to drink here?” he asked.

Bellara snorted. “It’s not even midday yet. Do your people usually drink so early?”

“Drink... what? Booze? No, I’m talking about water.”

“Oh, I have some,” Sahni replied, and she dug out a canteen from her bag to hand to him. “Stream water. Purified and preserved with magic, of course.” She smiled at him.

“Thanks.” He discreetly rubbed the canteen’s mouthpiece on his shirt and took a swig. The water was surprisingly cool and refreshing, so he drank some more before handing it back to her.

“That reminds me, we’ll have to get rid of your clothes,” said Bellara.

“What?!” Kendrick gasped, grabbing both of his shoulders protectively.

“I packed you fashion common for people of this land. Here. Cambaresh.” She tugged on his collar, and with a puff of intangible glitter, his black polo shirt, blue jeans, underwear, socks, and shoes were instantaneously replaced by an indigo tunic and strangely comfortable gray pants. His boots felt heavier than his old shoes, but much more robust and supportive.

“Whoa!” Kendrick patted his new clothes, stretching his arms overhead and kicking his feet under the table. “Okay, now that is really something... Wait, what happened to my old clothes?

Bellara pointed at her bag. “The clothes from your world will prove useful to study. Once they’ve been cleaned, of course.”

He tapped his lens to display her aura reading.

BELLARA

{57}

HUMAN WITCH

“Your aura went down,” he said. “You’re at 57 now.”

“See, you’re getting it!” she exclaimed excitedly. “57, eh? That’s frighteningly low. I’m still casting as if nothing’s happened. I forgot how much the ritual took out of us...” Before she could say more, the barmaid brought over three plates to their table, each containing an oblong slice of flatbread laden with melty golden-white cheese, and pink strips of meat on top. “Best meat-cheese-breads in all of Kanthos. Well, maybe second best. Dig in!”

“This is literally just pizza.” Kendrick smiled, lifting it up and smelling it fondly.

“What did you call it?”

“Pizza. Where I come from, this is called pizza. Except ours has a sauce under the cheese...”

Sahni let out a small squeal. “Pee-tuh-sah? Peet... Zah? Wow! How arcane!” She clapped with delight, then bit off a mouthful of her bread.

Kendrick licked his lips. “Spiced, cured, salty meat on top of cheese on top of bread. Yes, I know this dish well!” He took a bite of the warm, melted goodness and sighed deeply with satisfaction. It was a little blander than he expected, but the texture was familiar, and it was hot, heavy food to be savored.

“Ah, yes, but how much horse manure do your people use in the dough?”

Kendrick stopped mid-chew. “Urhm... Norne? N-… None?”

“Good, ours don’t use any, either. That wouldn’t be very hygienic, now would it?” She laughed at his momentary dismay.

“Bellara, stop...” Sahni chided her.

Bellara waved away her criticism. “Oh, come on! With what lies ahead for him, he should be able to handle a joke every now and then.”

“What lies ahead?” said Kendrick. “What exactly does that mean?” He paused for a moment, trying to subdue his inexplicably mounting anger. “Look, I’ve been here for what feels like hours now. Somehow, I feel more lost than when I got here. So would you mind explaining what exactly is happening? You said you brought me here. Where is here, and why? Why me?”

Her mirth faded as she took on a more serious look. She glanced at Sahni and said, “Would you mind doing the honors?” Then she raised a finger to her own lips.

“On it,” said Sahni. “Kietash reig.” Sahni raised her index finger and twirled it in a tight circle between them. Suddenly, a low, thundering wind originating from the center of the table spread out past the three of them, ruffling their hair and clothes. The background noise was almost entirely muffled, reduced to far-off conversations that sounded underwater. Kendrick noticed an almost imperceptible fog had surrounded them as well, the subtle movements of which he could only make out if he concentrated his vision closely.

Bellara smiled. “Good work. Now no one can hear us.”

“Wow,” he whispered. “Really?”

She cupped her hands around her mouth. “This bread is the worst slop I’ve ever tasted!” Sahni covered her eyes and shrank in embarrassment. “I would like to fornicate with every patron here—first come, first serve! Who wishes to fight the strongest warrior in Kanthos sitting right next to me? Much stronger than he looks! He says he could kick the ass of anyone present—some of you two at a time!”

Kendrick put a hand on her arm. “Hey, hey, stop! Hey, are you trying to get my ass kicked?”

“What? I told you, we can’t hear anyone else, and no one can hear us.” She got serious again. “We needed some privacy for this conversation. You see, my friend and I here are currently on... less than ideal terms with our school, the Redrune Academy.”

“Wanted thieves who could face several years in prison for stealing. Not to mention the magecological ramifications of what we’ve done...” Sahni slumped deeper into her seat at the booth wearing a look of worry.

“Semantics,” said Bellara. “We went to all this trouble so we could bring you here, and we brought you here for a very important purpose.” She folded her hands on the table, looking down solemnly. “You might be the only person who can help us save our realm from a terrible invasion the likes of which we’ve never seen.”

He set his pizza down on the wooden plate given to him. His eyes darted back and forth between the two of them. “Are you being for real now?”

“I am dead serious.”

“Like... actually?”

Bellara slammed her hand down on the table. “May Aldiel damn you, what part of dead serious don’t you understand?!”

“Okay, okay!” Kendrick raised his hands defensively again. “I’m sorry! You just seem to joke around a lot. I wanted to make sure we’re on the same page!” The redhead relented, snatching an angry bite of her bread. Her counterpart looked more depressed than angry. “Well, I can definitely tell that I stick out like a sore thumb here. I can tell that I’m from somewhere else, but...” He sifted his mind for memories that wouldn’t come to him. “Anyway, I believe you when you say that you brought me here. I don’t remember much aside from my name, but I don’t know if I’m the guy you’re actually looking for.”

“That’s normal,” Sahni assured him. “Or, I mean, I think it’s normal. Right, Bell? Didn’t you say that could be normal?” Her comrade shrugged. “Based on the texts we read, it may be a side effect of the harmonizing materialization. Transplanting realities can sometimes cause parts of your mind to... lag behind the rest, I guess you could say. But it will come back to you soon, definitely.”

“Eventually,” Bellara corrected her.

“Or, right, eventually definitely.”

“Probably.”

“Oh. That, too.”

“Well, without knowing who I really am or what I even do, I can’t help but feel like you’ve got me mistaken for someone else,” Kendrick went on. “I’m no fighter or warrior or anything like that. I don’t know how this place works. From what I can tell, in my past life, I was just a regular dude. So why me exactly?”

“Trust me, we didn’t pick you,” Bellara scoffed. “The spell we cast specified ‘the heart of a warrior, the soul of a protector, and an untapped mind.’ You were simply what plopped out the other end.”

“What she means to say,” Sahni chuckled, “is that when we cast this summoning spell, it reached out across universes to find you. That means that you might not feel special, but the spell decided you were a good fit for the criteria.”

“Your untapped mind is actually the most important factor of all.”

“Untapped mind, huh?” Kendrick retorted with a smirk, finally playing along. “Are you calling me stupid?”

“If the sword fits, wield it.”

“You needed someone with an untapped mind, but you’re already here. Why summon me, then?” Bellara kicked his boot under the table with a playfully aggressive grin on her face.

“It’s like I said before, a limitless mind is one with boundless potential aura. Sahni, myself, every other witch and wizard in this realm, we’re bound by certain natural caps that restrict us all. Not so with an outsider like you. And we need all the help we can get with what we’re up against.” Sahni simply nodded silently. “I don’t know if your universe is home to different realms, but in ours, there are three realms that govern all of existence: the Overworld, a place of guardians and the Light God Aldiel, the Ecumene, this world of humans, elves, orcs, and others who exist on this mortal plane... and the Underworld. A Rift to the Underworld was opened recently by a dark sorcerer who made an infernal pact...

Long story short, denizens of that dark place have been running rampant in the Ecumene. Conventional warfare to hold them back has failed. Villages have fallen. Even cities. The village where I was born, that I once called home...” Bellara trailed off momentarily; she cleared her throat. “The village I call my home is currently under the rule of a demon. I guess I’m lucky, in a sense, that all my loved ones were merely wounded or displaced. Sahni, most of her family was killed.” The blue-haired girl winced and Kendrick thought he saw the sparkle of a teardrop in one eye. “These monsters only know how to take. How to destroy. It’s been two long years of this and we’ve had enough.”

Kendrick imagined a younger Sahni in her home village, and wondered whether her peculiar hair color was from dye or magic or if it came naturally to people in this world. He pictured her family, all with that same aqua hair, being brutally attacked in their home. Sahni, a kind soul, having her happy life ripped from her in an unholy rampage while all she could do was watch.

“You need to come with us. Now,” Bellara had told him.

“Or what?”

“Or a demon will rip the hearts out of our bodies. You’ll die. We’ll die.”

He put imagined or memorized faces to people he had never met. Pictured a grotesque, horned creature eviscerating them right before Sahni’s eyes. Before Bellara’s. He didn’t know these people, but he felt that most people were generally good and that almost no one deserved a fate like that. Almost.

Those monsters, he thought to himself. The fingers of his right hand clenched autonomously into a fist...

And then...

“You did it!” Bellara exclaimed.

Kendrick snapped out of it. “Huh?” Hovering right before his eyes was a marble-sized orb of hazy white light. He flinched and it followed him gracefully. “What is that? Did I do that?”

“Let’s see,” said Sahni, digging a compass-like device out of her bag. “The aurimeter says... {4}! With a utilization of {1}! That’s a good start!” The apparatus she was holding had two needles, a smaller one that pointed at Kendrick, and another that was part of the larger outer dial.

“Wait, four? You two both have over 50 and I’m at 4?”

“We’re normally over a hundred,” said Bellara, “but still, I must hand it to you, newcomer. You actually did it! You’ve manifested an aurum for the first time.”

“Pretty neat...” Kendrick took his eyes away for a moment to ask a question and the light dissipated. “Aw, what the crap? What happened?”

“Don’t worry, it takes some practice for everyone,” Sahni reassured him. “And you have a much later start than any witch or wizard in our realm.”

“Now your main objective will be to take multiple aura,” Bellara explained, crumpling an imaginary object in her hands, “and condense them into a more compact space, and then shape them into a blade. That’s what the crystal-equipped Psysword is meant to do—act as a conduit for your aura. And we don’t have much time to train you. So, now that we’re all fed, what do you say?”

“Once I help you, you’ll be able to send me back home, right?” Kendrick asked.

“Of course.” Bellara nodded vigorously. “Of course we will. Once the Ecumene is safe and sound again, we’ll send you home with our undying gratitude. Now, are you ready to begin training in earnest?”

Kendrick thought of how fearful he was of a single shade about to attack him. How desperate he was for help. He considered how much worse were the lives of untold thousands of people in the wake of demons and their ilk, waiting for help that might never come against far greater threats, and that steeled his resolve.

“I am.”