Jack’s head ached from the constant overwhelming noise and light of the open portal in his room. He could just barely make out the blurred form of the creature which had emerged through the blaze. It hurt his eyes to look but he squinted and kept staring with all his might. This was no time to turn away.

Wings spread, the little creature launched itself forward, unfurling its wings. The mechanical wing spread as smoothly as the organic one. Catching the air briefly, the small body rose and fell in a wide arc, landing on the spare end of Jack’s sofa. Zac, still seated on the other side, flinched back pressing himself into the ragged sofa arm.

Mere moments after the creature leaped through the portal vanished, instantly snuffing out both the light and the noise.

Jack sighed with relief. His ears were still ringing and he was near-blind as his eyes adjusted to the ordinary light from his window, but what did that matter? He had done it. There was a creature from another world in his room. A jolt of pure pleasure electrified him.

It wasn’t a prank. It wasn’t a mistake. This was really going to happen.

“What- is it?” Daiki leaned over Zac, trying to get a better look at the small creature while keeping the main part of his body safely away from it. His hands were trembling and his eyes were wide with curiosity, but he was already beginning to regain his composure.

Zac, on the other hand, seemed too terrified to even attempt the escape he so obviously longed for. His face had paled and he was rigid on the couch as if the little thing was going to pounce on him if he moved an inch.

Steve was just gaping, his hands lifted to his face, still reflexively shielding his eyes.

The creature rubbed its long, chunky beak on the couch cushions before cocking its head to inspect Daiki. Still leaning over Zac, Daiki was now slowly reaching out a hand, obviously working up the nerve to get closer.

Every eye was fixed on the tiny cyborg-creature which crouched on the worn velvet of Jack’s old couch, wings half-folded around itself. It regarded each of his friends in turn, and then ignored them, focusing its gaze on Jack alone.

Jack stared back solemnly until he couldn’t contain himself anymore. Bouncing on the balls of his feet and throwing his hands up, he let out a whoop.

His friends flinched at the sudden noise, but the little cyborg only cocked its head.

“Did you guys see that? That was awesome! Can you believe this is happening?” Jack waved his hands at his guest like a magician revealing a white rabbit. He wasn’t quite doing a victory dance but close enough.

“Awesome?” muttered Steve. “Awesome. I...” He swallowed and shook his head, his usually calm demeanor shattered.

“Jack. What. The hell.” Daiki glanced at his friend. “I mean couldn't you have warned...?” Jack was still bouncing, his whole body seemingly vibrating with glee. Daiki shook his head and returned his attention to the cyborg. “No. I don’t suppose you could.”

“As if you guys would have believed me.”

“Get this- this- thing away from me. Get it away!” Zac finally managed to overcome his paralysis and was trying to scramble backwards into the couch, while making weak shooing gestures at the creature crouching beside him. It wasn't paying him the slightest attention.

Jack was sorely tempted to laugh at his nervous friend, but he was afraid that if he started he'd never stop. Adrenaline was fizzing through his body. This wasn't a trick, it wasn't a con. It wasn’t shit. It was going to happen. It was happening, right now!

Of course, his friends didn’t exactly look pleased yet. In fact, they looked a few seconds short of angry.

Jack told himself to get a grip. He forced himself to stop bouncing and focused on the creature.

“Ah- hello there, little guy.” He crouched in an attempt to find the level of those purple eyes, opting to ignore Zac who was now trying to inch his way over the arm of the couch.

Is it a dragon? Jack wondered.

It didn’t really look like a dragon. It looked much more like a tiny pterodactyl. The eyes had followed him down. They had no lashes. Jack found that strangely disconcerting. He imagined the same scale-rimmed eyes with lashes and realized that would be worse.

“Um, do you have a... a message for me? Or something?”

The creature regarded him without moving as if waiting for a password. Jack was about to stretch out a cautious finger towards it when it opened its wings and began to beat them.

Zac- who had made it about halfway over the couch arm- froze again, his body twisted, his eyes riveted by the movement.

The beating motion didn’t suit the bat-style wings, which Jack assumed were intended for gliding. Jack wondered if it was preparing to fly away or lunge at him and braced himself.

A thin, fluting voice filled the room.

“Who is willing?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Jack saw Steve look around, searching for the source of the voice, which seemed to rise from nowhere. The creature hadn’t opened its beak.

Jack wondered if it was telepathic. After all, magic could do anything, right? Telepathy wasn’t any stranger than cyborgs or dinosaurs or fiery portals to other worlds.

“It’s coming from the wing,” Daiki said, his voice low. He pointed at the thin, green metal rod.

Jack, annoyed by Daiki being a know-it-all, reluctantly admitted his friend was right. The voice was coming from the mechanical wing. He bent his face close to the shiny green appendage and spoke loudly. “Are- you- the- Alchemist?”

The little lizard-like creature coughed directly into Jack’s face. Jack flinched back before realising it was laughing at him. The creature neatly folded up its wings. It turned its back on Jack, seemingly unconcerned about the giant beings all around it, and started to climb the back of the couch. It thrust its way up, gripping the worn velvet with tiny claws on the ends of its wings, swiftly levering to the top with its stubby back legs.

As soon as it turned away, Zac took his opportunity to flee. He scrambled to the open bedroom door, only stopping when he had placed Steve between himself and the cyborg.

Now perched on the back of the couch, the little creature flapped its wings again more freely.

“I am Mico.” The voice was somewhat shrill and reminded Jack of music from a wind-up box, stiff but melodious. It also echoed slightly, which made it seem like the voice was directionless. But the creature- Mico- was still staring only at Jack. “Mico is not the Alchemist.”

“May I?” Jack stepped closer as the wings grew still and pointed at the metal one. The creature nodded- so it was definitely sentient- and held the wing out for inspection. Jack was careful not to touch the delicate limb.

Examining it, Jack was mildly disappointed. It wasn’t magic at all that he could see. Nothing glowing or sparkling. The leading part of the arm, near the claws, was hollow and had several tiny openings like those of a flute. Through the holes, he caught glimpses of the same skin-like material that spanned the artificial wing. The silver fluttered inside the green tube with a gentle rhythm. Jack figured air was harvested when Mico beat his wings, and the silver material somehow manipulated it through the openings so it made the right sounds when Mico wished to speak. It was incredible science, but not magic.

Daiki leaned over for a look along with Jack.

“It seems so simple,” he marveled, then flinched back as the wing flapped again.

“So is a voice box.”

Daiki nodded and opened his mouth to ask another question when Steve interrupted. He had moved closer as his friends examined the wing. He put a large, warm hand on Jack’s shoulder.

“How did you know this was going to happen, Jack? Why didn’t you warn us?”

Jack tore his eyes away from what he was increasingly convinced must be some kind of tiny dinosaur, and looked up at Steve, before glancing at Zac who was as close to the door as he could get without standing in the hallway.

Jack tried to make his voice apologetic because everyone still looked kind of pissed off. It was difficult to take them seriously though.

Surely a dinosaur cyborg was worth giving his friends a little fright?

“I knew something was going to happen, but not what, exactly.” Jack shrugged. “A few days ago I was down in the kitchen and I heard that loud noise, coming from up here. It stopped before I got to the door, but I found this on my floor.”

Jack fetched the black scroll he had left conspicuously on his bed, half-hoping someone would ask about it before the magic happened. No one had. They were too used to the random bits and pieces that were always floating around his room.

Jack unwound the thick, black sheet of what he assumed was paper. Most of the words on it were penned in pearly white ink, vivid against the dark fibrous material. Above the white words, a symbol was embossed with the same bright, metallic green color as Mico’s artificial arm. The green insignia looked like an open number four with a curly flourish on the first prong.

Jack had researched the symbol online. It was the alchemical symbol for Jupiter.

Jack read the letter aloud.

Greetings Jack,

Thank you for your recent application for our advertised apprentice position. Your attempt on the test was exemplary.

I would like you to come in for an interview. I have scheduled this interview for 11.59pm, on January the 17th, in Cynos Castle, my place of residence.

If you are still interested, please be advised that this is a live-in position and that, if you accept the job, you must remain in it for at least one year before a reassessment can take place.

This term will commence immediately following the interview, all parties being amenable. Otherwise, you will be returned home.

You will be unable to visit your home during the course of the year. However, members of your family (up to three) may accompany you and assist you with the job. The same time period and the aforementioned rules of employment will apply to them also.

These family members must present themselves at the time of your interview. However, they do not need to complete the interview for you to be considered.

As the nature of this job inclines the uninitiated to skepticism, I will send my representative to the coordinates you have provided. I trust this will clear up all doubts about the veracity of my claim that I am The Alchemist and the arbiter of my world, which is not the world in which you currently reside.

My representative will arrive at 3.42pm on January the 4th. He will be able to stay in your world for five hours or less. Please confirm to him whether you and your (up to three) family members are interested in the position.

If your answer is in the affirmative, further instructions will follow.

I hope to meet you soon.

Indubitably,

The Alchemist

P.S. Please do not attempt to harm, detain, or make any recordings of my representative. He has means of protecting himself.

Jack finished reading and looked up from the white ink flourishes. His friends were staring at him. He tried to figure out if they were excited or just mad.

“Who is willing?” The flutish voice rose again over the soft beat of wings.

“So, um... who's up for a road trip?” Jack grinned weakly as he tossed the scroll onto his bed. There was a long pause. The official representative of the Alchemist tugged at a loose thread on the couch with his beak.

“Let me get this straight, Jack,” Daiki said, breaking the silence. “You're actually thinking about going to this… interview? With some guy calling himself ‘The Alchemist’? An alchemist, of all things.” His voice was sharp enough to draw blood. “Alchemy is a joke! They're those idiots who thought you could turn lead into gold using… moonlight and… and butterfly wings. But this...” Daiki shook his head. The purple spikes of his hair quivered. “This could be dangerous. Damn, Jack, you have no idea what this guy wants.”

“Sure I do,” Jack said, lightly. “He wants an apprentice.”

Daiki’s eyes flashed, but then he closed them and took a deep breath. “This is the dumbest thing you’ve ever done,” he said, his voice icy. “Leave me out of it.”

He picked up his backpack as if to leave, but didn’t move away from the couch.

“What is an arbiter, anyway?” Steve asked hesitantly as if he would rather not know. Zac, still standing behind his larger friend, had not taken his eyes from Mico, but appeared to be drinking in every word.

“Like… a guy who solves arguments, and acts as a judge.” Jack spoke quickly before Daiki could stick his nose in again. He was losing control of this situation. Who would have known that Daiki would be such a grouch about this? “Kind of like a ruler, but not really.”

“And you want us to come with you?” Steve said. “You want us to just, uh... beam… to another world. For a whole year.” He cleared his throat. “Jack… do you really think we’re going to do that?”

In the silence that followed, as he searched for an appropriate answer, Jack could hear cars in the street outside.

He suddenly thought of his mother, driving a truck somewhere, shifting boxes from one warehouse to another, hundreds of kilometers away. If he could take her with him, he would. But that wasn’t possible. Not yet anyway.

And aside from her (and his grandmother), the only people in the world he considered to be family were in the room with him, right now. The Alchemist had said he could bring family members. She didn’t say anything about that family needing to be related by blood.

They had to go. They just had to.

Besides, they’d regret it if they didn’t come. It was an adventure in another dimension.

Who wouldn’t jump at the chance to experience something like that?