“I should have predicted a reaction like that, no one got hurt but I will be more careful in the future.” Crossing his arms he took in the damage her magic had produced. “Interesting.”

“What is?” Asked Ana

“I’ve read that those with an affinity with chaos itself have such an ability, but I did not expect to witness its effect in my lifetime.” After a confusing stare from Ana, Nathaniel continued.

“If I released magic without control it would still manifest itself as fire, as my affinity is such. It is the same for all.”

“So my affinity is entropy huh?”

“I do not know of that word but raw chaotic magic turns all it touches to ash, ”

Ana pondered for a few moments. “I imagine it being more disintegration than transformation, and we can easily check.” Nathaniel gave her a curious look as she grabbed a bowl and filled it with water.

“If its entropy and disintegration the water will be split into oxygen and hydrogen, with both of them being a gas at this temperature the water will simply disappear, and if there is ash left, its transformation. Can you show me how to do it again?”

With a nod, Nathaniel explained how to release the magic within her, and instead of questioning she just believed in his words. As an added test she asked Borka to keep a branch with one end burning over the water.

After a few minutes of trying she was successful in the experiment, as greyish energy formed around her hand and released like a beam towards the container. The water, bowl, and the ground around it disappeared as the flames on the branch suddenly expanded.

“Disintegration, breaking atomic bonds and increasing the entropy of the targeted system. Neat.”

“Then our first lesson will be in control, Releasing that kind of power unwillingly is quite a wild card.”

Ana tried explaining entropy, atomic bonds, and molecules to her two companions but had a hard time dumbing it down enough. Back on Earth, everyday people had a solid grasp on the basics, but here she didn’t know where to start.

So they continued their journey, and Ana was riding on the cart due to Nathaniel teaching her how to clear her mind and meditate. It was an excuse to let her rest up after the wild night and she’d known it but didn’t care as her head was still ticking from time to time reminding her that the pain was still there.

Half a day later with her headache soothed with meditation, or simply by the passage of time as she never really understood meditation that well, they arrived at the gates of the capitol. The city was huge, she never imagined it to be this big, there had to be at least a million people inside. How they fed themselves she had no idea, especially if their agriculture was on the level with what she had seen so far.

The gate guards, tall and slender, were wearing masks and helmets so she couldn’t see how they looked, but their clothes looked amazing. Black with white outlines, while and the most prominent of all was the symbol of an eye. The symbol of the old empire.

They quickly got in after a brief exchange with Nathaniel, he had some clout it seemed. He was wearing a nice looking outfit as well, shoes, shirt and all. It made Ana think that he was some kind of a noble or something.

Now the city itself looked like a village in Belgium she once passed through, wooden windows and various colorful clothes drying seemed to be the staple of the city. The people walking around were like out of a fairy tale. While normal humans were walking about, there were also many types of bipedal animals like Borka was, some creatures that looked like a tree got up and was walking about, except instead of a canopy it had horns.

Short creatures with big ears on the sides of their heads, even what she assumed were dwarves and elves or just human special cases. The most striking was the big catlike creatures that had horns, claws, and teeth that looked especially menacing.

They had decided to walk through the city in silence as to not draw attention, her question would be answered as soon as she arrived at her destination, which was Nathaniel's home. Ana was hoping to be right in her guess that he was rich because if the three of them had to share an apartment like hers was, it would be inconvenient, to say the least.

The hustle and bustle of the city made her feel like she was back home squeezing for a spot on the bus. The fact that all her money was on a useless piece of plastic annoyed her, as there were various vendors and merchants with many wondrous wares. Asking for money from her companions was out of the question, they were already helping her so much that she felt like a burden from just one day. As her cooking skills were nonexistent, along with any other camping skill. The best that she could offer was to wash the dishes.

When they got to the house her hope ignited, as Nathaniel lived in a god damn villa. Full with a green yard, tall walls, guards, servants, and the like. The guards were twins from what Ana could tell, or maybe just their race was similar to that. It was tough to distinguish two bipedal lions from one another, especially with their armor on. There weren’t that many servants around, there was an older looking human woman, a pair of the long-eared shorter folks she had seen in the city.

Their heads were also big in proportion to their bodies, reminding Ana of Stewie from the popular tv show. And lastly, there was a beautiful young elf girl, at least Ana thought that she was an elf being all beautiful, graceful, and having long ears. The house was amazing, there weren’t any ornate or gold decorations instead of having vines serve as frames for paintings. If she didn’t know Nathaniel she would have assumed him being some pro-environment activist or whatever the equivalent is in this world.

All of the servants were outside the manor waiting for them. “Good day master Merry.” The older woman was the first to greet him as the rest bowed in unison. Ana was trying her best not to throw jokes around, she wanted not to be rude. Plus nobody would even get the references.

“Thank you kindly, Miss Madeline. If it isn’t an issue could you prepare the baths for us?”

“It has already been prepared while you were traveling through the city, shall I show your companions to them?”

“Ah, how you spoil me, my dear Madeline, if that is agreeable with you two. We can meet later over some dinner” He looked over towards Borka and Ana, while the bear woman grunted Ana nodded her head vigorously.

I haven’t had a bath in forever, even at home I could only take showers. Remembering something she added. “May I ask for a sharp razor or a knife if it is not a bother?”

Nathaniel answered with a concerned look. “My friend you will be safe here, there is no need for a weapon.” Anas’s eyes went wide at that. “Oh no! I don’t need a weapon. I don’t even know how to use one. I just wanted to shave off some of the hair here.” She pointed at the ruined side of her head where hair had been ripped out and was now too short to tie back.

During her teenage years, Ana had tried many different hairstyles, and now that she was stuck here and where it wasn’t necessary to be properly dressed, she could go a bit wild.

Nathaniel smiled at the panicked Ana. “Madeline and Eva can help you with that. If that is all let us wash the dirt from the road before dinner.” Entering Borka and Ana were led to the separate bath for them, Borka choosing not to get her fur wet, left for the kitchens hoping to find a pre-dinner snack. The bath looked like it belonged to a palace as it was like a jacuzzi with its sides placed evenly with the floor, having stairs lead to the deeper part.

The old woman offered some help but Ana declined not being used to getting help like that before. Her clothes were soaked from blood and sweat and they clung to her body. It felt amazing to finally get out of her underwear after what felt like years. Before entering she did notice something that made her squeal in surprise.

She had abs! And not those barely visible ones, these motherfuckers popped. Her arms and legs also were so defined that it would have made any gym-goer green with envy. Madeline came back to the room bringing clean towels.

Madeline found the woman sitting next to the bath unwrapping the bandages she had around her arms. With the bandages gone she could see the deep scars as Ana cradles her arms. Ana’s naked form had revealed several tattoos on her back, lower neck, upper arms, and thighs. A closer look on the woman's back revealed an image with such detail Madeline had never seen before.

On Ana’s back was an image of an old gnarled tree, with nine orbs depicting different scenes nestled on different points between the branches and roots of the tree. Flying between the orbs were two ravens. The neck had two lines going around it that opened in the front, with one having crenelations like that of battlements on a castle.

One arm had a half-filled circle with details around it, while the other arm had a mesh of hexagons. One thigh had vines and roses like a bouquet, while the other had a lace with a red bow around it, they all looked real enough that she had a hard time convincing herself that the woman was naked. It took Madeleine several moments to shake her daze away.

Ana had resigned to the fate of wearing long sleeves for sure, but at least the wounds were closed and she wasn’t bleeding. Noticing for the first time that the older woman had returned with a dazed look on her face, Ana covered her arms and slipped inside the water.

“Apologies, I brought you some clean towels. There is a bar of soap and a hairbrush behind you, and I shall bring you some fresh clothes, bandages, and ointment for those wounds. Do you have any preference in the clothing I should bring?”

“Just a simple pair of pants and a shirt, and thank you very much, ma’am.” The woman bowed and left the bath. It felt amazing to soak in some hot water, and after a few minutes, she noticed that some of the tiles were warmer than the water. Probably how they keep it at a higher temperature.

Untangling what was left of her hair was annoying as hell with her natural curls. But she pushed through all of that, the thing that bothered her the most was her eyes as when she saw her reflection she couldn’t recognize herself. Before another panic attack, she got her phone and used the last few percentages of the battery to listen to some music.

While anyone sane would put on some lovely relaxing music to go with the nice hot bath, Ana instead played her favorite melodic death metal song. That brought Madeline and Eva to rush in, not used to people screaming like that, just to find the peaceful Ana relaxing with the noise around her.

It took her a few tries to explain that she was fine and that it was just music. With only about ten percent left on the battery, she turned it off saving it for some dinner tunes.

Madeline had brought a knife and some paste in a bowl, preparing a chair for Ana to sit in. She did, the woman probably had a lot more experience shaving with a tool like that than Ana did.

She explained what part she wanted to shave off. To her credit, she was crisp and fast, finishing in a few minutes. She weaved the left side into a braid that got tied together with the rest at the back of her head. Clipping her nails she had finally gone back to some resemblance of normality. Not wanting to file her teeth she left it at that. The clothes she got were simple linen pants and a shirt, just as she had asked. The neckline on the shirt was open and revealed her tattoo.

Now she looked like a mix between a viking and a pirate, not even needing eyeliner as she already had dark circles under her eyes. With a bit of help, she applied the ointment on her arms and wrapped them in clean bandages. She thanked the pair of women for every small detail.

After the bath, she was escorted to the dining hall, her two companions already there eating. Meals she had never seen before littered the table, various assortment of meats, fruits, vegetables and more. “Welcome Miss Ana, do join us.” And she did, grabbing a few things and putting them on her plate, smiling to herself for missing instant food when she had an assortment of cooked meals. In her defense, the food was made from ingredients she had never seen before.

She sat down, noticing the looks she was receiving. Having listened to many different opinions on her ink she knew what was on everyone's mind. Not wanting to have to explain what the tattoo held she turned her phone back on. It was barely on at this point, having gone down from ten percent to eight. The glowing item in her hands brought the attention of everyone in the room as silence hit. She had her refill in the bath so she decided to play her favorite soundtrack, which was mostly instrumental as not to confuse anyone with a strange language.

While their eyes bulged Ana simply started eating as the beautiful music filled the silent room. Surprisingly the phone lasted for a good twenty minutes before the battery gave out. No words were said while the music played, but when it went off everyone stood up and gave thunderous applause. The surprise almost knocked off her chair.

Looking now tears were going down Nathaniel's face. The soundtrack was quite moving but by their reaction, it was like they never heard music before.

“That was wonderful, just wonderful. Thank you.” The way he said it had stuck with Ana, happy to have given them a bit of entertainment. Now if only she could find a way to charge it, that would be quite the boon. She noticed that talk had stopped altogether, everyone including the servants was humming to themselves, the music leaving quite the impression.

After they finished eating, Nathaniel invited them to the terrace for some drinks. Ana tried asking and consequently explaining what coffee was, but it was to no avail. She did receive a bitter tea that tasted quite a bit like Turkish coffee.

She wondered why they were going outside but looking at the table she almost screamed in joy. Tobacco and pipes. No rolling paper but she could fix that in time. The to-do list just kept increasing. They sat down and Nathaniel offered her a pipe which she gladly accepted. Yes, smoking was bad but not as bad as some other substances that she wondered if she should try while pursuing her doctorate. Anything that even shaved off a bit of stress was welcomed, plus there was no Nicole here to give her a lecture.

There was no Nicole here, which brought another wave of sadness, but l looking at the satisfied faces of her new friends she shook it off. Deciding not to mope about and to regain her strength, she will find her way home. The paper she will write will blow everyone's mind back home. And that made her smile, an evil smile because of her teeth but a smile nonetheless.

Nathaniel showed her the basics of using a pipe, and the tobacco hit the right spot. “I now know how it feels to have both your soul and body relaxed, thank you again my dear for the lovely performance.” Having been to a few concerts she knew the difference between live and studio music, while live performance had its upsides, studio recordings were much more pleasing to the ears.

“Indeed, in all my years I had not felt such beauty, truly a marvel.” Borka also added.

“Then I shall endeavor to make it happen again, but I must warn you that I have no idea if I can indeed make it happen but magic does make the impossible possible.”

“Anything you need we will provide to aid that quest.” Nathaniel said with vigor and purpose and got a strong nod from Borka.

“What I need is electricity, and there are two ways of going about it. The technological and the magical way. The first would take a lot of time and resources to accomplish, while the second option depends if It is possible to conjure and control a current. But from my experience so far I’d say that it is, and with you teaching me it should not take too long.”

“Then let us start immediately!” Well shit, I never knew I could be so annoyed and so happy at the same time. On one hand, I wanted to take a break today and enjoy myself on the other MAGIC! Yeah, magic wins.

“Alright then, you told me the basics of controlling and using the force of my imagination and will to create something. The part that confuses me is where does that energy come from?”

Nathaniel nodded and took another puff of the pipe. “There are many theories on that part. The most common one is that it is a gift from the gods. I can tell you with certainty that they are wrong. You yourself have met Lady Adrestia. My theory, which you shouldn’t spread or someone zealous might try and silence you, is that we gain our abilities from the weave itself.”

“I had discovered that magical aptitude with which we are born depends on heritage mostly, while the strength of the connection depends on something yet undefined. I believe it depends on the strength of character one is born with. The problem is that it can go both ways, a strong connection might give a strong character.”

“The most curious thing I had found so far was the existence of multiple worlds, while our stories do tell of a time when many people traveled from one world to another and that being the reason for so many different races being in one world like here.”

“Another curious thing I had found was that not all the worlds had magic, I already mentioned those Blank worlds. The thing is that it doesn’t mean that no one is born with the power to use magic there, you being the prime example, but anyone who can that travels there loses the ability as the weave does not reach the world.”

“And the weave is what gives rise to magic in the first place right?”

“Correct, it is invisible to all and it reaches many different worlds through the skies. But it is not everpresent, stronger in some places and weaker in others.”

“An invisible force that is spread through the galaxy and possibly the universe.” Ana took a puff herself when an idea hit her. Jumping up she started recalling and aligning the pieces as her smile grew wider. “Nathaniel! Can you give me some paper and something to write with?” He nodded with a raised eyebrow and left.

“Holy shit! No, it can’t be..."

"It would explain a lot, but how..."

"Impossible..."

Unless? No way I can do that here, gah but it would be impossible on Earth too. Shit!” She mumbled to herself until she got the parchment and quill when Nathaniel returned a few minutes later.

It took her a few tries to get a hang of writing with it, but she was too excited to get annoyed by something so inconsequential right now. Thirty minutes later, with a lot of curses, cheers, and parchments Ana started laughing like a maniac.

Both Nathaniel and Brorka had been on the sides watching the seemingly mad woman when she finally looked at them. “You might want to sit down because if I am right it will change how we view the universe itself.”

They did, their curiosity winning over the fear of her ramblings.