Azure was disoriented, and the voices coming from the others didn’t help. Azure looked around, the others seemed human. At least, they looked like the type of human Azure used to be. Nothing made any sense. While Azure sat and stared, the others in the room were screaming.

“Where am I?”

“Who are you?”

“What is that thing!?”

From there the voices changed. It seemed someone saw Azure.

“Oh my god, it's blue!”

“It's naked!”

“What is its hair?”

Azure looked down. He was blue, no longer the sky-blue Arnold had but a blue deep as an ocean. He brought his palms up and saw they were colored a sky blue while his fingernails were a dull ochre. He bent a finger and noticed it bent fine both ways. Old parts of himself shuddered. Fingers only bent one way, either forward or back, not both. Looking down, Azure saw the same deep blue covering his whole body. He noticed he was naked too. The Zach part of him was embarrassed but Arnold held no shame. As Azure stared, he noticed there was nothing between his legs. Except Azure was sure he was male, so there should at least be something there. “What the hell?” He said.

“It speaks!” Shouted one of the others.

“Its voice sounds so weird!”

Azure rather liked the sound of his voice. It was a good tenor, even if it sounded like two people harmonizing. He flicked his tail in annoyance. Surprised at the extra appendage, he brought it up to his face. The end of the tail sat in the middle of his back. It was the same ocean blue as the rest of his skin. Azure felt his new limb and realized that fuzzy hair grew at the tip. The hair lessened as it traveled up to his back. After a few more inspections Azure flicked his tail back around and stood up. The others in the room started and took a step back.

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“Miss? What are you?” A young man replied.

“Do I really look that female?” Azure muttered.

“Huh?” A young woman replied.

It was at this moment the door ahead of Azure opened. A woman dressed in gold walked into the room. Her hands held a scepter topped with a shining crystal. All eight in the room stared. Azure was amazed at the power seeping from the staff. This was another surprise; neither of Azure’s past selves had the ability to see anything like this. It must have been something from his time in those eldritch places.

Azure was so focused he didn’t even register the staff falling to the floor as he stared. The staff clattered on the floor, breaking the silence. Azure looked back up at the woman, confused as to why she would drop the scepter. The woman was pointing a shaky hand his way, causing the others to turn to him as well.

“Yes?” Azure asked, tilting his head. “Why are you pointing?”

The woman stood dumbly as if not expecting the question. Finally, she found her voice and screamed. “DEMON!!!”

The words rang out and a still quiet settled in the wake. The seven boys and girls in the room each reacted. Some held looks of fear, others, confusion. Two in the room crouched in some kind of combat stance. The woman seemed frozen in time, a pointing statue. The quiet dragged on. No one wanted to make the first move. Azure spent the time pondering, did he look like a demon? Was there an entire other race that looked like him? That would be strange, who would go about creating a mashup of Advisors and Humans? Maybe he was called a demon because he was different. This did sound like a fairly cliche hero summoning story. Well, he was already in enough trouble, it couldn’t hurt to ask.

“I don’t think I am a demon.” He said. “Though truthfully I don’t know what I am. Do demons in this world look like me?” Azure tried to make his voice calming, which didn’t seem to have the right effect since the woman flinched as he spoke.

Gathering herself, the woman shouted, "Do not try and deceive me foul spawn! The words you spout are lies! I will prove it!" With those words, the woman reached for her necklace, pulling out a medallion inscribed with symbols.

Azure recognized many of the markings on the medallion, and he also understood the intention. The symbols were alchemical, mathematical, or religious symbols from Zach and Arnold’s worlds. In Zach’s world, these symbols were just that, symbols. In Arnold’s world, this was the language of the Deities. Each symbol held some meaning, and by combining them various miracles could be performed. Except only the Deities were allowed to use the language, as only they held the Aether required for it. In the center of the medallion was the etching of a person. Surrounding it were other markings and shapes meant to draw power from the surroundings and then cause banishment. However, someone made the mistake of not linking the banishment symbol to the person, which meant that all caught in its spell would be banished, not just the intended target.

Azure was concerned. He did not wish for the others not at fault to be affected. There was also no way to tell where the banished party would be sent. Worried, Azure tried to explain to the woman. “If you use that the chances are high that everyone here will be banished. Please put down the faulty spell.”

The woman gave a look of triumph, interpreting Azure’s words as fear and not as negotiation. “Silence foul creature, I know not how you passed the wards into this place of rebirth, but I will not allow you to defile it any longer!”

She squeezed on the medallion and at once a brilliant light shone from the piece. A bubble formed around the object, stretching outward. It was then that the woman frowned. The medallion was supposed to instantly banish the creature she targeted. She then looked up at Azure accusingly, as if his words broke the spell in some way. Angrily she charged at him.

“Quick! Get out of the room!” Azure yelled at the others. The ones closest to the door rushed out, but two were stuck between the angry woman and Azure. There wouldn’t be enough time for them to leave before the medallion finished the banishment spell. Thinking quickly, Azure dashed at the boy and girl in front of him, grabbing them by the arm. The woman still ran toward him in a blind rage, brandishing a knife that wasn’t there before. At the last second, Azure dropped his shoulder and dived, crashing into the woman.

He dove straight into her abdomen, knocking the wind out of her. The knife in her hands was lost in the unexpected tackle. Instead, she clawed and bit at Azure. Her nails slashed at Azure’s skin, making shallow wounds that bled a clear liquid. The boy and girl had closed their eyes as if trying to ignore the issue altogether. Eventually, the spell completed, taking those still in the room and banishing them to random areas. After the spell completed, Azure looked around and saw a blue-green planet above them. To the left was a red moon. It seems the spell had banished them to space.

Awestruck, the other three stared up at the planet. None had ever experienced a sight such as this. It was so amazing the woman stopped her attacks on Azure. And then the girl tried to breathe. She choked. Nothing entered her lungs and she panicked. The girl brought her arms up, waving them in a desperate attempt to grab air or swim to the planet. The others noticed what she was doing and also realized their predicament. Azure panicked as well, trying to breathe in nonexistent air. But nothing happened. It was then he remembered, Advisors had no lungs and didn’t breathe, so neither did he.

Azure would be fine out here in space, at least until he needed to eat. But the others were dying, and they needed help. If the woman was able to cast the spell, perhaps Azure could as well. He needed something to write on. In a rush, Azure reached out at the three to search them. The girl was closest, so Azure grabbed at the hem of her skirt and looked for a pocket. The boy was close by too, and his other hand grabs the cell phone sitting in the back pocket of the boy’s jeans. The girl looked at Azure, desperation on her face. Azure brought up the phone he had grabbed from the boy. Understanding, the girl reached into her shirt and pulled out another cellphone. Azure went to work, scratching into the phone’s screen with his nails. Using his knowledge, he writes the symbol for electrical energy, then traces a diode marking pointing to the proportional symbol. Azure knows proportional is also the symbol for bismuth and connects it to Pisces. Pisces is written 3 times encircling body and air. After etching the markings, Azure taps each phone and a light shines. Seeing that the spell is working, he pushes each phone into the hands of the boy and girl.

Immediately both take giant, gasping breaths. But there was no time to waste, the woman was running out of time. Her movements had slowed drastically. Azure grabs at her dress and reaches for her medallion. Grabbing it, Azure scratches out the symbols that caused the banishment with his nails in order to prevent it from casting again. On the opposite side, Azure recreates the same air spell but replaces electricity with heat. With not a second to lose he presses the medallion onto the woman’s palm. She immediately takes ragged breaths, the spell using her body heat to create breathable air. Azure knows this spell will not work as efficiently and will drain the woman of heat. They need to get back.

Azure mimes at the boy and girl to empty their pockets. Both pull out some keys and a wallet. Inside the wallets is some paper money, plastic cards, and coins. Azure tests his nails on the plastic card, once again they dig into the material like a knife through butter. This spell needs to transport multiple people, so Azure writes a gate symbol. He connects that to the treasure symbol and designates it as the power source. But the gate needs to be connected, which would normally be done with the mind so the caster could imagine where to go. But Azure knows nothing about the planet above and trying to reach one of his old homes would probably require treasure the size of a planet. Instead, Azure writes the alchemical symbol for Earth, which should at least bring the group to a location on the planet above. But Earth has to be drawn with antimony to work correctly and Azure has none. Working quick, he grabs another plastic card and a single coin from the boy’s wallet. On this second card, he draws the sign for antimony under the coin and then surrounds it with the Scorpio and Pisces symbols. Once again Azure uses the treasure symbol, but since the coin is a treasure it doubles as the power source. A quick tap activates the spell and a small amount of pure antimony is produced. Taking the antimony, Azure scrapes off shavings and arranges them into the Earth symbol on the first card.

All this time the other three are staring at Azure with desperation. None of them want to die in a place like this. As the last symbol is finished, Azure gives a reassuring smile. He grabs the money from both wallets and places it all on the treasure symbol. Another quick tap and the money burns away. The runes on the card light up, the power racing through the card towards the gate marking. A hole opens up in space and all four are drawn inside.