There wasn’t any pain, and looking down there was no blood or anything sticking out of her chest. Struggling to catch her breath she looked around wanting to ask for help, but there was nothing around her. Only darkness and the pentacle she was sitting in. Comforting herself that the ritual was working she focused on getting her breathing under control.

Footsteps sounded in the distance but Ana couldn’t see anything in the darkness but swirling mist. “Ehm. Hello?” Her voice echoed like a ripple in the ocean. “Woah. That’s cool.”

“I agree.” A response from the darkness came causing Ana to make an unflattering squeal which prompted the voice to chuckle.

From the mist, a shape started to form into a woman. Ana rose to her feet facing the form and summoning her courage. The woman walked towards Ana, slowly revealing that she looked exactly like Ana. The exception being the long hair, the fluffy ears, and the bushy tail.

Picking up her jaw from the floor she couldn’t find any words in the shock.

“Stunning right?”

“Isn't it a bit narcissistically for me to say yes?” Her clone shrugged, the motion fluid and captivating.

“What is so wrong with that. Being smart, beautiful, powerful, and so much more.”

Looking at the figure Ana realized that her teeth were back to normal, to a time before she touched the cursed egg. Back to her normal life. Even her hair had gone back to its original color.

“Now now, don’t go there. It will only make that beautiful face sad.”

Ana shook her head. “You know what I’m thinking? Why do you look like me? Where are we?”

Crossing her arms the other Ana smiled. “Very good questions. I know what you are thinking because we have the same body, so I am privy to all your deep thoughts. I look like you because I am only a spirit, having no body of my own to show. And we are in your mind, or should I say our mind.”

“Woah! Not ours red, mine! And if you don’t have a body what's with the fluff.” Pointing at the swinging tail she continued. “And if you are privy to my thoughts, how do you like this then.”

Using the same technique she used to focus on magic, Ana thought about the theory she was working on before entering this world. While it was a fun spin on things, the math it churned out wasn’t and she had to consult with several colleagues at the university, and to no avail in the end. She had even requested time with the supercomputer to run a few simulations before tackling the math.

“As I said, smart. I do not need to understand to see that.” Fake Ana’s form changed, her hair, eyes, nails, and lips becoming red. “Now is it ours? And while I don’t have a body of my own, I used to. Long ago.”

“That's… If you can read my mind check the history part labeled cold war and you’ll get the reference?”

Shaking her head with a smile, the fake Ana responded. “Maybe later, you do possess very interesting knowledge.

“There is so much I want to ask you but first where do we go from here? And like, what’s your name in the first place?”

“I used to be called Motoweh’awali ifu. A mouthful in the simple tongue you are used to for sure. ”

“Ehm. How about a nickname, something like Lia?”

“Go ahead, Little Silver.” Lia smirked as Little Silver snarled.

“Just call me Ana, or Anastasia, or even better Doctor DeRose.”

“Aren’t we being full of ourselves, Little Silver?” If steam could exit Ana’s ears it would have.

“Going back to the previous question, where do we stand now?”

“Well, you woke me up! Not a nice thing to do. It would have taken decades if not centuries of this world's time for me to wake again. And by then you would have built up your tolerance and I would have been free to leave. Now we are both stuck with each other.”

“Tolerance for what?”

Lia laughed. “Don’t tell me you haven’t figured it out yet. I am the reason you survived in the first place. But I was too late to keep the corruption from infesting your soul. Without me to keep it at bay it would overwhelm you, and your individuality would cease to exist.”

“So the thing that caused me to go berserk wasn’t you?”

“Ha, as if! I am very much in control of my faculties. The corruption changes you, and when it affected you so did I, that's why you could move and fight as you did. Combine all of that with your magic and knowledge and we make quite the pair. But I admit, my coming to you was for a selfish reason. Being stuck in that dreaded place was boring so I took an opportunity to get out. Can you blame me, you saw what it was like?”

“That’s. A lot. I don’t even know why I believe you.”

“Because you when souls touch only the truth remains. I couldn’t lie to you any more than I could get out.”

“Damn you are right. I literally can’t even form a lie. I’m surprised that there is something that can surprise me after everything.”

“I know right. Anyhow now that I am awake my power will seep into you, meaning your body will become our body. Tail and all.”

“A tail?! I’m not even used to the hair! What the fuck am I supposed to do with a tail?!”

“Wag it.” Lia winked and disappeared, her body turning into a mist that blended back into the darkness around Ana. “Oh shit.” Was all she could get out as the darkness started to lift and the headache brought her to a fetus position as she ground her teeth.

Worse of all was her lower back as she felt her spine break. The agony lasted several minutes, Ana doing everything she could just to keep breathing.

Until finally she fell the grass beneath her cheek, the pain moving slowly moving away leaving only soreness.

Fuck you and your god damn tail, Lia! She yelled in her mind and got only a chuckle back. Once she stopped feeling dizzy, Ana opened her eyes to see Emcry and Nathaniel hovering over her. Both were stunned with lower jaws missing.

“Yeah, I know, got a fucking tail now.” Now that she calmed down, her hearing was odd. Sharp and precise, like someone had increased the volume she was operating on. Checking with her hands she confirmed her worst fears.

Her normal ears gone, replaced by fluffy ones. She wanted to scream in rage but found that the fluff felt pretty good under her fingers. At least the missing hair grew back. But it also grew and grew and grew. It was as long as Ana was.

Sitting up she looked back, noting the ball of fur behind her was indeed, wagging. It matches my hair, yay. Not being a rainbow mix was a good thing.

“That was fun. Let’s never do that again.” Wait, Lia! You said you wanted to leave but can’t because we woke you upright? Yes. And yes when my spirit leaves your body it will revert back to normal. At least I hope so, not sure honestly. This is new territory for me. Isn’t that exciting Little Silver?

“God damn spirits, magic, and all of it. I miss my phone.”

“Are you..”

“Yes I’m fine, just pissed off.” She snapped back, interrupting Nathaniel. “Sorry. I just never expected that I'd actually grow a damn tail.” Getting up only pissed her off even more as she stepped on her hair and tripped herself.

“FUCK! THIS! SHIT!” The two men were smart enough to take a few steps back and give her space before she bit their heads off. Scooping her hair under her arm she got up and found her balance incredibly steady. Even with her eyes closed, her movement was amazing.

Not bad Lia, not bad at all. Still not worth the tail.

You say that now, wait ‘till you need it.

Yeah, yeah. Anything else I should know?

Well, many things but we have time for those. I’ll be going over our head and your memories, I wonder what makes a war cold.

“Not fighting, duh!” Not being used to having her thoughts talk back she blurted out her response by accident.

“Anyway, the ritual worked. We woke the dragon and thankfully it's not an evil one. Just highly annoying.”

Hurtful.

Truthful.

“That is good to hear.” Walking around she told them what happened with Lia, keeping some unimportant details for herself.

While the new additions to her body served a purpose and enhanced her capabilities, it still felt extremely odd and took some time to get used to. She did get a good laugh out of Borka. And she regretted blabbing about the nickname the spirit gave her. Because of course they all would tease and call her that. She just hoped it wasn’t a permanent thing.

On the way back to the port she told the old man her story, the parts she knew at least as it wasn’t that long. He didn’t need the stuff from her world but together with Nathaniel, they teased the man that had his ears spinning when they mentioned what was common for the other world.

As much as magic was awesome this world brought mostly pain and had removed every luxury she had grown accustomed to. She missed the simple days of sitting down with a cold beer and watching a movie. She missed her lab, and while the new ideas she had were most likely groundbreaking she didn’t have anyone to share them with or a way to design experiments for them. And now she had a god damn tail she had to get rid of before going back.

It was almost morning by the time they went back, and it only left a few hours before they had to board their ship.

They said goodbye to the old man, it was easier for some than others. But Ana had other things on her mind, such as what to do with her hair. It might be more shallow than Nathaniel's desire to broaden his knowledge but she was still in elementary school when it came to magic. So listening to a university-level lecture only confused her more.

She was contemplating on cutting it down to a manageable size, but that felt like a waste. She always wanted to grow her hair to be this long, it was just too much work and she didn’t have hours to dedicate to her hair. But now she did, and she could always shorten it if that changed.

Deciding to keep it she made two long braids, starting at her shoulders. It made managing the hair that much easier. She was putting the finishing touches on the braid as they were heading towards their ship.

Even after boarding the vessel, she couldn’t figure out what technology was being used, as it had some advanced parts and some that looked obsolete. The design was mostly that of a galley but some other parts were all over the place. The three sails had a somewhat similar design to Korean turtle ships, and yet still different.

Ana felt bad for not knowing more, but as it was not her primary field of study the sting didn’t last long. Not long after boarding, they set sail, and to her surprise, it wasn’t the only ship making the journey. Two other smaller vessels and one larger were already out at sea and their little convoy joined them with the ship Ana was one as the lead.

Nathaniel had told her the name of the ship to be The Persimmon, but she soon learned the names of the other ones in the convoy. The two smaller ones were named Nyaden and Cuffley and were there mostly for protection. The largest one had supplies and goods to be sold or traded, taking the opportunity of this voyage. It was named Marguerite.

Spending a few hours walking around the ship she got to see how it was operated, how many crew there were, and who the important people were. They met the captain as they got onto the ship, a stern-faced man named Charlis. In this world of mixed races, she couldn’t help but feel pride that a member of her race was a captain of the ship. But it also made her feel bad for being racist and brought another question to mind.

Was she still human? She would be without Lia, but for now, she wasn’t. Lia was silent, only answering questions in an annoyed tone. It reminded Ana of Nicole asking her questions while she watched tv.

She still missed her love but it became easier to deal with, that being the least of her problems at any given time.

The room she was given wasn’t just her own as several other women were sharing it. Still, it was better than how the rest of the crew slept. There being no beds there, only hammocks. Her roommates included a few of the crew, the cook, Borka, and herself. Later when she learned how things on the ship were done, she knew that the separation meant little as there would be coital exchange and it wasn’t frowned upon. The separation there for guests like her.

Night came fast and Ana found herself unable to fall asleep, instead of breathing the cool ocean air on the top deck. Not wanting to draw attention she had her hood up when in the presence of other people, but the windy night made that impossible.

So she stood there, thinking about all that had happened. All that had changed. All the misery she had endured, and for the first time, she felt genuine joy. Despite everything, she was the one, out of billions that had picked up that shiny egg. Thinking about it many others had handled it before, but she was the one plunged into hell, out of everyone that did she was the one that was chosen.

You weren’t chosen. A creepy little voice butted in. You just happen to have the ability to use magic while stuck in a world without it.

If I wanted the opinion of an unwanted stowaway I would have asked you.

Oh. An unwanted stowaway huh? So me saving your life, making you stronger, helping you out counts as nothing?

Oh please. If killing me meant you got out I would have been dead the moment you saw me. True, but it didn’t. And I also didn’t need to sleep, I could have simply allowed the corruption to take you over and then got out.

Why didn’t you?

Eh. Something I learned a bit too late while I was alive. Being nice can pay out more than being mean.

It is often said that a nice word can open a steel door. But money is usually better.

Ain’t that the truth.

You know what. Out of everyone I could have in my head, I kinda like having you.

Don’t go all soft on me now. I do have something you might like though.

Some eldritch knowledge about doomsday, how the end is inevitable and there is nothing we can do about it?

Hell no. You're the one with the creepy knowledge on how deadly just light can be. Seriously, I’ve seen some messed up shit in my days, but the thing you call a GRB was it? Uh, makes you sweat.

Oh yeah. What about the aptly named Higgs boson doomsday?

I have no idea what that is. I don’t want to know what that is. And I don’t want to know about any other nasty surprise.

Ana laughed so much it brought tears to her eyes. Her laughter, like a piece of haunting music cruising along the empty deck on a peaceful ocean night, certainly giving a few sailors bad dreams.

And honestly, I was hoping to generally learn more by going through your memories, but damn girl. Most of it is too much for me.

Well if you need help, I’d love to give you some lessons. I’m sure Nathaniel would relish a chance to learn more as well.

Just keep in mind that we are mere shlagens compared to you.

Shlagens?

Long story I’ll get to eventually. But right now I’m gonna need you to turn around.

Okay? Confused and skeptical, she did. And then promptly screamed, took a few steps back, and fell off the railing into the cold water.

Good thing was that the deck wasn’t empty, she just didn’t notice anyone. But they noticed her. A small alert later, a brave sailor jumping in after her with a rope, and a lot of shaking under a blanket, and she was fine.

What the hell was that?

What she saw turning around was Nicole, just standing there with a smile. And it was presented to her in such a creepy way that she overreacted a bit.

What? I thought you would like to see her again?

Of course I would, but how did she appear here? Are you making me hallucinate?

Something like that, I can project images that only you can see.

Don’t you think a warning and starting with something slow might have been better?!

In hindsight yes! Had I known you’d be such a scaredy-cat I wouldn’t have done it!

It took a bit of persuading the captain to let him it was an accident, her being on a ship for the first time and all. But it led to her not being allowed alone on deck. Which sucked but made sense, if she was in his shoes she might have done the same thing.

So you can show me something I’ve seen before right?

I get where you are going with this, get in the hammock and I’ll get the popcorn.

So the two unlikely companions spent the rest of the night watching already seen movies, and while Ana remembered them, it was quite an experience to watch them again. And a surprise because she couldn't recall memories like she had an eidetic memory, but Lia showed them to her without interruptions.