It had been two years since she arrived, one year since Eric had proposed to her, and it really didn’t feel like anything had changed that much. They’d gone on a few trips abroad, she’d won several tournaments, but they hadn’t really gotten any closer to her goal.

It wasn’t the only thing that had come to a standstill.

Today, Anna was stuck in an airport bar, on the severely delayed final leg of a three part trip. He initial fascination with airplanes had faded, and she’d had enough of airline bars and uncomfortable seats.

“Ugh. If only I could portal.”

“Honestly, Same.”

Eric had also grown tired of the jet-set life.

It felt like every other week he was in a random country, yet living out of the same suitcase, and going to the same event over and over. They’d turn up at the convention or tournament, Anna would wipe the floor, and then they’d go back to the hotel at least two or three times a month.

Occasionally he’d get to practice swordplay but he wasn’t anywhere close to Anna’s level, not even after a solid year of work.

Meanwhile, Jessica hadn’t made much progress on the magic simulator. Anna wasn’t joking about needing millions of calculations, and had underestimated how much brute force number crunching was needed to come up with a working spell formula.

“Maybe we should take a break.” Eric announced.

“From tournaments? You don’t do anything!” Anna teased. “I’m the one with a job!”

“Just managing the flights, the hotel booking, the meals…” Eric sighed. “Fetching you drinks.”

“Speaking of which, Minion. How long until the next flight? I’m thirsty.”

“Still another five hours, Anna.” He sighed. “I’ll go to the bar. Same again?”

“Please!”

Anna’s appetite for energy drinks hadn’t changed one bit. Which wasn’t usually a problem, but airport bars didn’t really expect someone to drink their entire supply in under three hours. That, if anything, was the real reason as to why Anna was grumpy.

Eric had found at least one store in the departure lounge that hadn’t run out, and had bought their remaining stock. He had to ration out what little remained, knowing full well that Anna would drink it all at once if she could.

He knew because he could feel Anna’s frustration over the link between them.

The bond had grown over the last year, and it had become rather easy to share words, ideas, and images. The only problem was, he’d found it far more difficult to keep things secret from her, and vice-versa. When Anna was excited, he felt it, when she was sad, he felt it.

That was something he’d come to expect from a relationship, but just not so vividly or intensely. It did at least make the more romantic parts enjoyable, and he wasn’t above distracting Anna with a thought or two during her tournament matches. It did also make the sword fighting a little more interesting, too.

In the end, he had to make a conscious effort to speak to Anna, as it was just too easy to communicate in private. Even Jessica had grown tired of their knowing glances and giggling.

Now back at the table, Eric restarted the conversation.

“I did mean it. It’s one thing to travel for work, but it’s another thing entirely to travel for ourselves. No tournaments. No obligations. Sleep in when we want…”

“Sure. You’re my manager. Tell work I want to take time off.”

“Oh.” Eric pulled out his laptop. “How long for?”

“Forever.” Anna laughed. “I dunno, maybe a month or two? At the least?”

“Let’s see…” He began running through the calendar, working out which events would be the easiest to cancel on. There were several important events this week alone. It wasn’t going to be that easy. Anna had made quite a name for herself.

Her sponsors were quite happy to jet her across the world to any tournament going. That she’d picked up other competitive games made it all the more easy to send her to events. She’d also picked up a considerable fanbase, too.

Which wasn’t usually a problem. Anna could disguise herself with ease, avoiding attention, most of the time. Her fans usually didn’t recognize her without her trademark horns and purple skin.

Most of the time.

“Oh no.” Anna pulled her hoodie over her head. “Minions.”

Eric looked up. There were four teenagers, all wearing branded hoodies with little purple horns at the top of the hood. He made eye-contact, and quickly regretted it.

“Hey, um. Do you know where we can get that energy drink? The purple one? The guy at the bar said ….”

The teenager stopped as they looked over at Anna. She was wearing her work hoodie. It had her name clearly written on the back.

“Oh my god! Are you minions too!?” The teen was a little excited.

“Sort of. I work for her sponsor company.” Eric replied. “We’re on our way to the tournament.”

“We are too! Hee!”

“Anyway if you’re wanting that energy drink, you’ll have to go to the other end of the lounge. I didn’t tell you this, but I think saw the demon queen around there too. You know how much she loves energy drinks!”

“Oooh! Really!”

The teen rushed back to the group and they quickly made their way out of the bar.

“Thank you.” Anna was still covering her head.

Eric decided not to tease her. It was already a long day.

“Shall we relocate?”

“Maybe we can go back to the first class lounge.” Anna sighed.

She’d already cleared them out of energy drinks, and that was why they were sitting in the regular airport bar.

“I can manage.”

The flight got moved forwards, or more accurately, the delay got shortened. Anna was thankful to be on the move, and was thankful that her minions had chosen to fly in economy class. She wasn’t trying to be rude, it was just very tiring to meet fans, with no opportunity for rest or downtime.

The tournament went ahead without a hitch. Mostly.

Eric spent most of it on the phone, arguing back and forth with the sponsors for some time off, eventually threatening to quit entirely if they didn’t give up. Anna spent her time in the hotel, too exhausted to do anything other than flick through the hotel tv.

On the last day of the event, Anna had a fan-meet up. She recognized the teens from the airport, and they recognized Eric. It wasn’t that awkward. They were surprisingly polite, mostly asking for tips on gameplay, and near begging her to watch through some of their matches.

When the event was over, Anna marched back to the hotel room immediately, leaving Eric to handle the cleanup and logistics, as usual. He arrived an hour later, surprised to find Anna hunched over the computer, replaying some of the videos in question.

“What is it?”

“Look. Day one. Thirty two players. Day two. Thirty one players. Something isn’t right, here.”

Eric took a seat next to her on the hotel bed, and waited for her to elaborate.

“One of those minions felt… weird. Like they’d been affected by a spell. Look.”

She pulled up the video. Five people in minion hoodies. Then only four. They’d won, and not one had mentioned the other player that had gone missing.

It wasn’t much, but it was worth investigating. Eric sent one of the teens a message, asking if they were still around. They leapt at the chance to meet their hero.

“Jake.. um… It was Jake, wasn’t it?” Eric tried to make introductions.

“I’m Jake, this is Carol, these two are Sapphire and Autumn.”

“Only because you can’t pronounce our real names, Killbot20.” Sapphire replied.

“Anyway, this is Anna, or, as you might know her, the demon queen.” Eric tried not to laugh. Her nickname always felt a little silly. “Energy drinks all round, I assume?”

Eric left the group, waved his work badge at the hotel staff, and put the drinks on expenses.

“So. I did watch your video… and I do have a question.” Anna pulled up the footage on her laptop. “There’s four of you here, but… “ she flicked back to the beginning. “Who’s the fifth?”

The four teens looked at each other.

“Um….” “I… don’t remember?”

“Did we meet them at the event?” “No. That isn’t right.”

“It says her name is Erica…” Anna asked, “that ring a bell?”

“Not really?” “There used to be an Erica at college, I think.”

“Maybe she was in my classes?” “Like you ever go to class.” “Hey!”

Something was off. Anna could feel the edges of a spell tampering with their memories. It wasn’t going to be easy to remove, and most likely, it would cause untold amounts of trouble if she tried to dispel it outright.

She had a hunch. The fifth player, Erica, had been summoned to another world. That, or someone had really wanted her to disappear.

“It just looks like she was leading the team… I was wondering what happened…” Anna began. “Your play on the second day was a little bit more uncoordinated. Killbot? It doesn’t look like you have much experience leading the team.”

“I… Um…” The young teenager began rubbing his head. “I’m sorry I just can’t remember.”

“That’s ok. Anyway.” Anna looked up. “Here’s Eric with the drinks.”

Anna went back to the video of the gameplay. Pointing out some mistakes she’d seen, and offering a few generic tips and hints to the group.

“I can’t believe you’ve watched it already.”

“I watched it on 20x speed.” Anna shrugged.

“She isn’t joking.” Eric laughed.

The group of teenagers just looked back at her in utter adoration. After a few more minutes of questions and answers, Anna announced that it was time to bring things to an end. The teenagers took a few souvenir selfies, and Eric and Anna headed back to their hotel room.

“Um. Miss Queen.”

One of them had followed them out, and approached the pair as they waited for the elevator.

“Look. I. Um.” It was Sapphire. “I dunno if I should tell you this but… I do remember Erica. Just a bit. I found it a little weird that she just disappeared, and no-one else seems to care, but … um… what was I saying again?”

“Erica.” Anna asked.

“Yeah. Um.” Sapphire began to frown. “I… I’m sorry I can’t remember what I was about to say.”

The elevator doors opened.

“Ah don’t worry about it. Sapphire, wasn’t it? It was nice to meet you and your friends.”

Once back in their hotel room, Anna went back to the gameplay footage. Eric pulled out his laptop too. It was plainly obvious to the both of them that something was up, and both began the hunt for new information.

“Should I tell Jessica to look for things too?”

“You can try … but…. I don’t think she’ll have much success. If I’m right.”

“Well, I’ll give it a try.”

It wasn’t too long until Anna’s thoughts began to drift, and Eric realised she was standing over him.

“Given up already?”

“Not yet.” Anna leaned closer. “I just realised I have more important things to do.”

Eric was a little confused, but Anna sent him a very detailed mental image.

“Ah.” He shut his laptop. “A minion’s work is never done.”

The next day, Eric dragged Anna out of bed, helped her into the shower, made her change into clean clothes, and hurried her to the airport. Last night’s distractions had left them with very little time to get ready for the flight. They checked into the airport with only a few minutes left.

Sitting in the lounge, Eric pulled up his laptop and went to check for messages. Jessica was online, and she hadn’t replied to his earlier question. He didn’t expect her to find anything yet, but he figured he might as well check.

“Hey, did you find anything about Erica Hilltop?”

“Who?” Jessica wrote back.

“I sent you a message”

“Wait? So you did. Ugh. I must have been out of it.” Jessica replied. “I’ll try again”

“Don’t worry about it. Can you search for news reports around a year ago, near to Rudbrick College, like building repairs, weird stuff that’s not exactly weird. Stuff around the middle of the year.” He checked the video again. “Here’s the exact date.”

“Sure.”

Eric wasn’t sure, but he suspected that Jessica might also be under the influence of a spell.

“Anna. You were right.” He showed her his laptop. “It looks like Jessica immediately forgot about Erica, too.”

“Well. That’s good news.” Anna was smiling. “It’s definitely magical, and almost definitely a summoning.”

“So why aren’t we affected?”

“We are, well.” Anna pointed to herself. “I’m not from here, so I won’t be affected as much. You are, but you’re linked to me. It won’t affect us as much.”

“Ohhh.”

“Don’t you feel like giving up, or thinking it was nothing?” Anna asked.

“A bit, well, more like everything else is more important…” Eric stopped. “Wait. Is that what happened last night?”

“Kinda.” Anna was smiling. “I wanted to confirm we were being affected, too. We are, but… not as badly as everyone else.”

“So what you’re saying is …”

“I find you very distracting, Eric. Yes.” Anna gave him a kiss. “Did you manage to get us time off?”

“A whole month. Starting now.” Eric replied. “I wasn’t sure what we were going to do, but I have a feeling I know how we’re going to spend it.”

Anna shot him a look. She could tell Eric’s thoughts were currently elsewhere.

“That, and investigating this missing person, Anna. We have a whole month to fill.”

Once home, Eric asked Jessica for an update. She’d opened a tab, browsed around the college website, and then forgotten why she was looking things up in the first place, and went back to testing out her magic simulator.

Eric then informed her of what was up, and Jessica tried once again to search for things. She tried writing herself a note, she tried leaving post it notes on her laptop but after a few minutes, she would forget about it, or just not pay attention to it.

She did, at least, realise she was forgetting something, but her mind would gently focus elsewhere.

“How do I stop it?”

“Stop what?” Eric teased.

“Not funny. How do I stop this … forgetfulness spell. Is there some way to counter it?”

Jessica was not impressed by the news that she was under a spell of some sort.

“Anna?”

“Hmm. Oh. Give me your finger.” Anna opened her mouth. “I know a blood magic spell.”

“Blood? Is that really necessary? Can’t you just… uhhh….”

“Just?” Eric wasn’t trying to find it funny, but he couldn’t help it. “Just what, Jess?”

“Um. Stop. The…”

“Forgetfulness spell. The thing that stops you trying to find out why Erica Hilltop disappeared.”

“Yes.” Jessica scowled at him. “Now where was I?”

Anna grabbed Jessica’s finger and bit down hard. She then drew out a sigil using Jessica’s blood atop her forehead.

“There. Done.”

“Ow. Why did you… oh… ohhhh.” Jessica scowled. “Fucking magic.”

“You remember now?” Eric was laughing.

“I remember you being a jerk, Eric. Thank you Anna.” Jessica looked at her finger. “I think.”

“Don’t wash it off for another fifteen minutes. It should be pretty permanent.” Anna instructed.

“Ok. So what’s the plan?”

“Have you forgotten already?” Eric couldn’t resist. “Ow. Ow. Fine. I’ll stop.”

“The plan,” Anna began, “Is to head up to the college. There’s an open day next weekend, we can scope things out. Test out the magic detector. See what we can find.”

“Ok.” Jessica nodded back. “But what are we looking for, exactly?”

“Signs of a summoning ritual.” Anna continued, “Sigils burned into the wood floor. Maybe signs of high mana. Maybe even a dimensional tear. I don’t expect to find much.”

“You think there’ll be traces of it after a year?” Eric asked. “Well, nine months?”

“Yes.” Anna explained. “Not much, but with the forgetfulness affecting people, it’s likely no-one has tidied things up. If we’re lucky, there should be some obviously derelict building, or area where people are naturally avoiding.”

“How does this spell work, exactly?” Jessica asked.

“It’s not really a magical spell, not like the ones I’ve taught you, it’s more like the after effects of a summoning. The universe just doesn’t want you to think about it.”

“Oh. Huh.” Jessica paused. “Wait. Aren’t we going to get in to trouble by digging in?”

“With the universe? Sure. I figure I’m already in trouble though.” Anna laughed. “It should be fine, as long as we don’t try to attract attention to things. Even then…”

“People will just move on.” Jessica replied.

“Exactly.” Anna nodded.

“Wait. Wait. That’s it.” Jessica leapt up. “We’re not searching for something, we’re searching for a hole!”

“Yes?” It felt obvious to Eric, but he assumed Jessica had some more insight to share.

“Phones. Campus. We can just see where people don’t go.”

“Really?” Anna was surprised. “You can?”

“Well. I can.” Jessica was smug.

“Is it legal?” Eric asked. “Wait. Will we get into trouble?”

“It’s fine.” Jessica laughed. “I just need to borrow some equipment. It’ll be fine.”

Eric had the distinct impression that it would not be fine, but also knew that he couldn’t stop Jessica from trying.

Three days later, the trio were prepared to leave for a small adventure. The back of Eric’s car was filled with computers of unknown origin, leaving very little room for Anna’s supply of energy drinks.

“ROAD TRIP SHOT GUN!” Jessica was excited.

“No, Anna’s sitting up front, Jess.” Eric replied, “Driver’s privilege.”

“NO FAIR!”

“Life isn’t fair.”

“I don’t want to be sitting behind you two love birds for six hours.” Jessica whined. “Two or three at most.”

Eric looked over at Anna. She looked back. Jessica knew what they were doing.

“If I am stuck in the back, then there’ll be no secret messages between you two!”

Jessica wasn’t sure what would be worse. Hearing them go on at length or just seeing their happy faces as they sent perverted thoughts to one another.

“Anna says she’ll sit in the back.” Eric explained. “Wants to nap.”

“Yep.” Anna nodded. “Closer to my energy drinks, too.”

Jessica rolled her eyes. “Let’s just get moving already. Before I regret this.”

It took a whole three minutes for Jessica to regret joining them. Eric’s car was very old and the aux port didn’t work. He had terrible taste in music, as far as she was concerned.

“Ughghh.” She put her headphones on in protest. “I wish i’d stayed at home. When we stop next, I’m going in the back.”

It was another two hours before Jessica got her wish. She could swear that Eric had picked out the worst music on purpose. Eventually the group made it to their destination. Jessica was overjoyed.

“Now, we need to go set up these listening posts first, and collect some data.”

Eric wasn’t too keen on the idea, especially when Jessica pulled out a small pair of bolt cutters.

“Do we really need those?” “You can stay in the car. Honk the horn if you see the police.”

He looked at Anna for support. She was grinning.

“Fine. I’ll stay in the car.”

He didn’t need to worry.

Anna made sure that no-one paid attention to them, and it only took about an hour before they were done. Back in the hotel room, Jessica had set up the remaining parts of the listening equipment, and Eric felt like he’d walked into some spy film or stakeout.

“Don’t forget to put the do not disturb sign on the door.” Jessica didn’t look up. “I’ll need to calibrate this but by tomorrow evening, we should have something to investigate.”

Eric shrugged, did as ordered, and went to sit next to Anna.

“AND NO FUNNY BUSINESS YOU TWO.”

Jessica was not impressed about having to share a hotel room.

In the morning, Eric and Anna went out to the campus to take a look around, and see what information they could drag up.

As expected, no-one had heard of Erica. They did manage to track down her dorm room, now abandoned. No-one in her building remembered it being occupied, and there wasn’t much of the way of clues inside. There wasn’t any signs of magic there either, well, notable signs of mana.

The entire area was saturated with slightly abnormal levels of mana, with no obvious epicentre. That did narrow things down to the college campus at least, but after nine months there wasn’t any strong traces left.

It had been a mostly uneventful day.

They did run into the minions from earlier, and Eric told them he was there on behalf of the energy drink company, checking up on a promotion. Meanwhile, Anna had wisely chosen to disguise her appearance, and was delighted to be ignored.

Back at the hotel, Jess was having better luck. She didn’t need to wait for an entire day, as there was a rather obvious hole in the data. One text message later, Eric and Anna were sent out to investigate the nearby park.

“Did we look over here yet?” “I think we did?” “Wait. Did we?”

The effects of the forgetfulness spell were a little stronger, now they’d gotten closer to where the summoning had occurred. Once again, Jessica came to the rescue.

“I’ve been tracking your phone Eric. You keep circling around it. Do you have a compass app?”

“Yeah.”

“Right. Read me out your exact coordinates. I’ll give you a bearing.”

It took several attempts. Something would distract them along the way. The compass app would occasionally point in the wrong direction. Eventually, the pair found a small mound of open ground, surrounded by trees.

There were still scorch marks visible, too.

Anna got to work. She quickly pulled out a notebook and began copying the sigils. Eric took several photos. The mana detector finally proved useful, too.

“Well. One things for certain. This was a summoning.” Anna sighed.

“Isn’t it good?”

“The mana’s nothing like the mana from home. I think this went somewhere else. Still. We found it. It happened. You can leave this universe. There might be a way home.”

Anna had gotten her hopes up, and tried to reassure herself that she’d made progress. The mana detector worked. She’d found signs of summoning magic. There might even be something there to help her on her way, too.

It still felt like a dead-end.

“Time to go back, or?” Eric wasn’t sure if they’d done enough.

“Probably. I feel like we’ll get a harder push from the universe if we don’t go.”

Back at the hotel, Jessica was overjoyed. She quickly began scouring through the photos and notes, inputting things into her mana simulator, delighted at the prospect of more data.

That, and they’d be returning home soon. In the evening, the three went around the town to collect the surveillance gear, and in the morning, they piled into the car, all a little tired, and all looking forward to being in their own bed.

Eric especially. Jessica had gone and bought a wireless speaker for the trip back, and she refused to put on any music he liked, in protest.

It wasn’t until they’d arrived home that Jessica realised they’d forgotten something.

“Um. Shouldn’t we have told her friends?” Jessica began. “About her disappearance?”

Anna shook her head. “They’d only forget it.”

“I guess.” Jessica sighed. “Feels weird. That… and…”

Eric knew what was coming. A question he’d been asking himself ever since he learned of the summoning.

“That… and… if you two leave, will I forget about you?”

“No.” Anna shook her head. “For a start, I’m unforgettable. Secondly, I’m not of this universe, so there’s nothing to cover up. Third, I wouldn’t let that happen.”

Eric got the feeling that Anna wasn’t being entirely honest. He could understand why. Jessica didn’t need any more bad news.

“Right. I’m going to bed.” Jessica walked over to Eric’s sofa and collapsed immediately.

Anna and Eric looked at each other, giggled, and made their own way to bed.

“Is it true?” Eric had to ask. “Would Jessica forget us too?”

“Well.” Anna sighed, “You are from this universe. Some people might forget you, but it shouldn’t affect Jessica.”

“… and if you left without me… what about…?”

Anna pulled him in for a hug and kissed him.

“I’m taking you with me, minion.” Anna replied. “Don’t worry about the details. We’re not going via a summoning. I’m going to tear a hole in the universe and drag you with me.”

“Ok.” Eric smiled back.

“We have more important things to worry about.”

“Like what?”

“How you’re going to survive the next month. I have a few ideas about how we’re going to spend it.”

The next morning, Eric realised that Anna had meant something else entirely.

Practice. Lectures. Training. The morning started with exercise, then swordplay, then lunch, and the rest of the day was spent going over magical theory. Even Jessica had gotten roped in.

After getting so close to her goal, or what felt like it, Anna was a little frustrated, and had decided to take it out on Eric. All month. He did get a break on Friday, for the weekly drinks at the local bar, but almost every hour of his day and night was spent with Anna.

At the end of the month, he was almost happy to be back in an airport lounge. Meanwhile, Anna was a little bit disappointed to be going on tour again.

She’d enjoyed training Eric like some new army recruit. She’d enjoyed arguing with Jessica over magical theory. She’d even made some progress with her mana tools, and Jessica’s simulator had finally started to prove useful, too.

It might be another month, it might be another year, but Anna felt closer to her goal than ever before, and it felt like a waste of time to be playing video games. Staring into space in the airport bar, Anna made a decision.

“I think it’s time to retire.” She announced.

“Well, we do have enough money to last us a few years, but…” Eric replied.

“… but what?”

“I think you should go out with a bang, Anna. A big tournament. Taking on the world. Retiring undefeated.” Eric suggested.

“I already am undefeated.” Anna replied. “In this world, and my own.”

“I have an idea.” Eric pulled out his laptop and showed Anna the calendar. “In three months, there’s a grand tournament. Week long. Multiple games. All of the ones you play.”

“… and?”

“The combined prize money would last us a decade.” Eric explained. “I was only going to enter you into one of the tournaments, but…. “

Anna cackled. “But… I could win all of them. Couldn’t I?”

“Yes.” Eric replied. “Probably.”

“Probably?”

“Other people are starting to catch up. You don’t have much of an advantage in the strategy games…” Eric stopped. “What am I saying? Of course you can. It’s you.”

“Good minion.” Anna patted him on the head. “So what about these?”

“Um. Other tournaments. You said to take it slow… but… well…”

“Go out with a bang, Eric. Three months. Every tournament. Winning them all. Then the final boss fight.”

“I think you’re the final boss fight.” Eric laughed.

“I know Eric. It’s about time you face me.”

“What?” Eric assumed she meant more swordplay.

“Marriage, Eric. It’s been a year. I’m tired of hearing you say ‘wife to be’. If i’m taking on the world, then you shouldn’t be afraid to take me on. Deal?”

“Deal. So do you want to get married now?”

“What?”

“There’s a chapel in the airport. I’m sure we can find someone…” Eric smiled.

Anna was tempted, but decided against it.

“I want Jessica to be here, at least. Maybe we can do it on the last day of the tournament.”

“Or the day after.” Eric suggested. “Let me just make some phone calls…” He stopped. “Are you sure about this? Every tournament? It might break you?”

“A. Bang.” Anna replied. “Now you’ve suggested it, I cannot imagine doing anything else.”

“Well, here goes nothing.” Eric picked up his phone. “I’ll be back in a second.”

Anna pulled up her phone too. A quick message to Jessica. Marriage in three months.

“Did he suggest it or did you?” Jessica replied immediately.

“Both.” Anna replied. “He almost married me in the airport. I said I wanted to wait.”

“Good. I’d kill him if I didn’t get to come to my own sister’s wedding.”

Anna went on to explain the plan. A three month burst of games, ending in taking everyone on in a tournament.

“Anna…” Eric had finished his calls. “It’s set. We’re booked in for everything. It’s going to … “ His phone began to rang.

“WHAT’S THIS I HEAR ABOUT GETTING MARRIED WITHOUT INVITING ME.”

Anna sat cackling to herself as she watched Eric try his best to undo the damage.