It hurt. The wolf was eating my leg and I could do nothing. I pulled as hard as I could but it still ate me, it still pulled on me. All I could think of was oh god I’m going to die. But then a thought occurred to me. I have healing herbs and I am both a spellcaster and an enchanter. I was weak and in pain, but I have a lot of nerve. My constitution was weak but I might be able to survive this.

It was dangerous but I reached for my pouch of healing herbs. Pain shot through my body as my leg was slowly being ripped out of its socket. I took a deep breath and began to chant in a mystic language. I held on for all I was worth as I continued to chant. My chants turned into screaming chants as a second wolf jumped on my leg.

I am not strong. I have little endurance. I could hold on no longer. I knew I was about to die, but I did the only thing I could. I created and cast a spell. My final act as I fell was to summon a spirit of healing and beg it to heal me continuously. With every ounce of strength in my body, as I fell on the wolf, I struck it with my elbow. The wolf yelped but continued to bite, I was not strong enough. The other wolf moved to rip into my stomach.

Agony, then no pain. That is what I felt. Wounds, all wounds vanished as I rolled into a crouching position. I was being healed with each bite of each wolf. They growled at me, they bit me, but after each bite, I healed. I pulled the pickaxe from my pack and swung as if my life depended on it. I swung it horizontally and the wolves evaded moving away from me for the first time since this fight began.

The spirit granted me not only a fantastic regeneration but it rejuvenated me also. I felt as if I could swing the pickaxe all day. The truth was I could. After what felt like a few hours of work, the wolves broke off and ran to find a less problematic fare. I leaned against the tree that saved my life and began to shake. My entire body trembled.

“Thank you, Spirit of Healing thank you,” I repeated over and over. When I recovered my wits, I had a decision to make. I could go home or I could complete my quest. I didn’t want to go through this again, but this was my first quest away from home. My character, thanks to the AI known as EIS, remembered the fight with my parents to get them to allow me to go on this quest. I was so excited, I did not plan it through properly. I needed to finish this.

Before I go I needed a defensive spell and an offensive spell. I needed something basic to defend with. A shield of earth would be great. It took time, over two hours, but in the end, I had a fast ritual that would cause earth to rise between my foe and me. I designed an offensive spell that also cost me two hours. I was burning daylight. My offensive spell was a rock that was propelled at about one hundred miles an hour into my target. I practiced it and my earth shield spell. My rock ball spell was actually devastating.

Prepared for battle should it happen, I continued following the river, but at a distance. I didn’t want to meet up with the other animals and wolves and bears in the area. I refilled my healing herb count. I also got some extra for myself. I would never leave home without the ability to call those spirits of healing.

I searched for caves. With the help of my game map, I found them easily. They were close to the river. I went in and picked herbs and flowers. It wasn’t long before I got the message, Picking Flowers has been completed. Turn in herbs or mine the ore for extra rewards. I looked in cave after cave to see if I could find the ore, but I had no luck. But as I had just learned I am a mage. Being able to detect the metal I need should not be impossible.

I think of the structure of the spell I need while I play with mystic components in my mind. I go into the cave to find different types of dirt. I see different shades of brown, some red. I see stone and rock which I break off with my pickaxe. When I am ready I put the stone and earth in a mystical pattern and chant mystic sentences repeatedly. Nothing happens.

I call upon the Spirits of Earth to strengthen the spell, and nothing happens. I dig in the packed dirt of the floor until my hands bleed and still nothing happens, but I continue. Again and again, I call the Spirits of Earth to help me. Half an hour passes, an hour passes and still, I summon the power of the Spirits of Earth. I believe in my power so I continue.

I begin to feel the rocks in the earth below my fingers. My Earth Sense becomes deeper and deeper as the Spirits of the earth answer my call. I look to the walls and cast my Earth Sense beyond and into them. I push deeper and deeper, this way and that direction before stopping. I found what I was looking for. It is getting dark out. I grasped the pickaxe and began to work. It takes time, I take lots of breaks. I swing the tool until I cannot swing anymore. I rest. I get up and swing some more.

I stop because it is almost too dark to see, I need to see using Earth Sense going forward. The cave is black and I can see nothing without my magic. I get the ore. When I put the handful of ore into my pouch I start going home.

Two hours later, it is close to eleven thirty, I safely hand in my quest items. I am exhausted. I get many notices that I am too tired to read. I head for my room and I call for my copy of EIS and within seconds I have the portal to Earth open. Crossing into my room I feel energy enter my body. It is dimensional energy that enters and according to EIS, it is what lets me do magic on earth. One of the final things I did when I designed this world and the world finding or creating equipment was to fix it so that matter and energy from the other reality could transfer both ways. I had been working on this my entire life. I was exhausted, but there was one other thing I needed to do.

Ignoring all messages I walked into my living room to test the last part of my Ph.D. Dissertation that was oh so many years ago. Controlled bridges to alternate realities. It was a physics dream. The Singularity gave me the chance to actually make it happen. My Dissertation was on developing cross planer gates, how they could be created and managed. At the end was a thought experiment about bi-directional gates’ effects on both universes. Now in this world, Earth, magic could be attained. Science would work in the fantasy universe I just left.

I used my Earth Sense with the hope that I would feel something as I cast the spell. EIS was trying to tell me something but this was far too important. I was in a townhouse in upstate NY and I sank my perception into the floor, beyond the floor, and into the earth below the foundation of the house. I sensed dirt and rock. I sensed tiny worms. It worked. I brought magic back from the parallel dimension.

My sister was calling me, “Michael have you looked at the Planetary Network? Have you seen what has happened? We’re at war!