Things went better than expected with Tina. The Shadowsiphon dagger rested comfortably in my inventory, probably scaring the other items in there. And Reuland now had a bunch of adept wizards and healers. Security was pumped up in the rural parts of the country as well. What I’m saying is, there couldn’t have been a better time for me to cross worlds.

But what was this queasy feeling I got inside? I paced about my throne room. Everything’s taken care of, but… I leaned a bit on my staff. Lilith… I was supposed to tell her that I acquired the dagger. But for somebody who wanted to kick Fyren’s butt off the demon throne and take the position for herself, was giving her that information a good idea? Meh, she’ll find out eventually, right? I thought about it for hours, and that just meant prolonging my visit to my sweet brother, so I decided to get it out of the way.

“…what will you do then?” I asked after showing her the dagger.

Her eyes lit up upon seeing it, then she appeared to have several thoughts cascading onto her as she stared blankly at me for a while. “You beat the dungeon. What did you wish for?”

“That’s confidential,” I retorted.

Her lips twitched just a little. “Understood. Hold fast to the dagger, and be ready. I’ll spread rumors accordingly.” Lilith bowed, and that concluded my worries for the moment.

Finally, the time had come. The huge magic crystal was held in one hand, and the Scepter of the Lich God in the other. Conceal and Camouflage came over me, then I opened the portal. The dark energies coming from it was something I looked forward to. I took a deep breath, and a deep sniff of my armpits. Just to be sure, I cast Clean on myself and my clothing. Thanks to Synthesis, that clothing was a simple button-up shirt, a pair of jeans, and a pair of black flats.

I walked through the portal with shaky legs and ended up in our secluded backyard. Sure, I could’ve picked better location, but my stealth spells worked on me, not the swirling green energy that encompassed my portals. I didn’t know what forces Lich Kaya spoke of, but if she could warn me, the Lich God, of those forces, then I definitely didn’t want to mess with them; so I was to maintain a low profile.

So far, so good. I looked around, summoned Dreadhoof, then immediately put my stealth spells on him. I peeped throw the windows like a burglar. No lights, no TV; no one was home. That, was a rather odd thing, considering Isaac only really left home for a roll-stroll – that’s what we called going for a walk – and for his doctor visits. Any other reason would be deemed a special occasion, and I didn’t know the date, but I doubted anything special happened today.

I shrugged and decided to go to where my body was. Judging by the sun, it was around the same time as it was over in that gamey world. Everything felt the same about Earth. The same horrendous traffic, and wafting aroma of street food, the road-raging motorists. A sense of déjà vu washed over me, it felt so reassuring.

Nothing could surprise me, except the fact that my body wasn’t at a cemetery like I expected it to be. It was, in a hospital room, on a bed, strapped up to life support.

My mind was falling apart. I’m, alive?! What? What?! How?! I figured I had to have something of a knowledge threesome with Kaya and my grimoire because there were clearly things which I couldn’t wrap my mind around. Speaking of my mind, I was still myself, so how was it that my mind was alive and kicking elsewhere in another body, but my previous body was still alive? Okay, I’m alive. Isn’t that great then? Maybe I have a chance to return to my old body? As I busted my brains about what my new aim should be, a couple people entered the hospital room.

My jaw dropped. It was my dad and my brother. My banks were bursting with tears. Get it together, woman. I hurried off to a washroom where no cameras were and removed my stealth spells. I cast Clean again, just to be sure, and preened myself. Deep breaths, Deidre. Deep breaths. That mantra didn’t help a lot; my excitement couldn’t be controlled.

I hurried back to my hospital room, and my dad was gone. Maybe the washroom too? Parkinson’s afflicted me just when I was ready to turn the doorknob. I had to wipe my tears again. Finally, I garnered the courage and opened the door; it took every speck of control for me not to hug the daylights out of him when he turned around so curiously.

“Hey,” he turned his wheelchair a little, “can I help you?”

All that prepping and I still cried like a wuss. “Uh, well, I came to see Deidre, and you too, Isaac.”

His eyes squinted. “Have we met somewhere before?” He snapped his finger. “Ah, was it when I did squats at the gym?” He couldn’t even keep myself from chuckling at his own silliness.

I laughed weakly. “Shut up. You’re still the same, huh?”

“How rude! That’s not true!” He folded his arms and fumed. “I got goofier and honestly, I think that’s my biggest achievement. Worship me, peasant.” He pointed to a chair and invited me to sit. “I’m Isaac. Guess you already knew that though. How do you know Deidre, um…”

“Claire,” I introduced myself and hugged him anyway; it was out of my control, “I’m an ex-coworker. We got along really good, and she told me all about you, Isaac.”

“Oh yeah? What’d she say?” He leaned in with a hand on his chin. “If it’s anything bad, I’ll taekwondo her ass when she wakes up.”