Before we could react to that, the door slammed open. Between the three of us appeared Pixie, or I suppose Wuinal. While nothing physically had changed about him, there was still a sense of relief as it found me.

“There you are. I leave you alone just for a minute to collect the people you need to meet, and you disappear. Do you realize how inconsiderate that is?”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as it continued.

“It is my job to guide you. I just thought it would be better to bring the important people to you instead of you to them. That way you appear as important as you are.”

Opening my eyes, I confirmed that it was, in fact, talking to my pillow.

“You are a weapon of destiny. You need to act that way.” Wuinal finished before collecting my pillow. It might have been multiple times its size and mass, but that did not stop the little winged ball. Grabbing onto the edge of the case, it lifted my weapon to head height before looking at the others in the room.

I feel it is important to note that I was still clutching my pillow the entire time. Which helps explains why I was suddenly on my back with a goose egg building on the back of my skull, staring up at my guide. I like to think that it was my audible groan that brought my plight to everyone’s attention. But it was more likely the sudden sound of someone being flipped without warning.

Looking down at me, Wuinal seemed to finally notice me.

“Oh. Hello Vee. Why are you on the floor?” The little monster took the time to position my pillow to where I was sitting before sitting back on it. Wuinal even took the time to fluff it first. It stared at me with its black eyes, attempting to look beatific.

“Magic,” I spoke aloud. The same transparent blue hand that had shown itself twice to me appeared in the room. Forcing a smile on my face, I looked at Magic.

“Hi. How are you?”

The hand formed a thumbs up at my question.

“That is wonderful.” I replied with saccharine tones. “I was just wondering if you could help me for a minute.”

It formed a palm and rocked side to side.

“I am sure it will be nothing. I was just wondering what job a guide is supposed to do.”

Whatever Wuinal was doing stopped. Instead, the creature looked like a deer in headlights. Or an employee being caught by their boss doing something wrong. Like, I do not know, lying or something. I had a head injury at the time, so the metaphors suffered.

The headache that had been growing began to recede. Looking down, I noticed that Heather touched my arm as she stared at the two intruders. I smiled at her.

What happened next is hard to explain. The best guess that I have is that Magic and Wuinal got into an argument. What I do know that happened is that Bastar, Heather, and I flew from the room at speed. We did not move through the door, but rather the wall. And then the wall of the next room. Then through what looked to be another nurse tending an injured person before entering a hallway.

And I am not exaggerating. Magic seemed to make us ghostly. I felt what it was to be inside another person. It was both exhilarating and disgusting. Before anyone could properly process what was happening, we were sucked back to our room. With two new guests.

Instead of just a hand, Magic had manifested arms that were currently crossed and off to the side of Wuinal. Wuinal, for its part, looked shamed. As the five of us slowly recovered, Wuinal began.

“I am sorry Vee. I am doing a bad job as a guide. Now if you will follow me, I can lead you to were you need to go.”

I think Wuinal tried to look over its shoulder. But since it didn’t really have shoulders or a neck, It sort of rotated before grabbing my pinky. With pillow in one of its hands, spear somehow on its back, and me in its other, Wuinal literally dragged me from the room.

Instead of the expected wind blast, everything seemed to flow around us. I watched as the walls and people’s bodies morphed around us as Wuinal led me some place. I quickly loss focus on that as I paid attention to what Wuinal was saying.

“Since you didn’t listen on the flight over, I will bring you to the important people. Magic says that there is a threat to the land so you must end it. You have already picked your weapon, armor, and boon. But neither you nor Magic mentioned that you can’t use mana or cultivate.”

Wuinal’s arm sort of squished and bent as the little creature turned to look at me. If it weren’t for the fact that its hand still gripped my pinky, I would have sworn that Wuinal had increased in size.

“And then you need to imply I’m not doing my job to Magic of all people. I mean Weanal is fine. She never expects me to do my job. But Magic knows me.” Wuinal whined.

In the moment between blinks, I thought I saw Wuinal blur and felt something on my forehead. That sensation was soon subsumed by the feeling of a menu in my mind. I could not see it, but I knew that somehow a menu was implanted into me.

The best way to describe it as if you are keeping your eyes open and attempting to visualize something while also take in your surroundings. I was not sure what was on there until I closed my eyes.

Backlit by the light entering through my eyelids were two sliders. The top said internal and the bottom said external. The internal slider was entirely to the left where the external slider was to the far right with a blue glow filling it.

Mentally “clicking” on the words I was given an expanded menu. The internal menu had two sections; each I knew could expand to the most minute detail. The first was body followed by mind. They each had sliders. Under external there were no more menus.

Opening my eyes, I nearly jumped out of my skin to see Wuinal’s eyes staring into mine way too close. If I puckered, I would kiss the creature. It nodded to itself, headbutting me in the process before it returned to leading me to where we needed to go.

“Simple system for a simple mind.” Wuinal began. “The mana you have is currently being used in an external manner. In this case, doing bugger all. But it’s still there. Moving the internal slider moves mana from your outside to your inside. It then is used to improve you.”

“But there seemed to be other options I could use my mana for. And am I going to turn into an animal-plant hybrid like Heather or Bastar?”

“Who?” Wuinal asked before smacking itself in the face. It unfortunately chose the hand that was holding onto me, so he threw me against the wall we were coming close to. While I did not feel anything, I can say that I never expected to bend that way. Or that I could survive losing half my height. Without missing a beat, Wuinal floated down and grabbed my pinky again before dragging me along.

I heard things pop as I slowly extended, like a turtle coming out of its shell. By the time my head returned to its proper position at the top of my body instead on where my stomach should be, I could make out what Wuinal was saying.

“And that is why they look the way they do.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch any of that. Too busy wondering why I wasn’t dead.”

Wuinal stopped at that. It closed its eyes and took in a deep breath before starting over.

“As I said, when you invest mana in your body you can choose to change. Doing so has some benefits and some costs. For you, it means you can’t go back to your old world. For everyone else, the costs are negligible at best. Really it just means they can’t externalize their mana as effectively as others. They needed something and their body changed to match it. That is why they look the way they do.”

“Ok.” I answered before thinking about it more. “Does that mean I can choose how to change.”

“Probably. I didn’t put that much specificity in your guide. But if you find something in there that will let you invest in it then go for it. I suggest wings. Wings are the best.” Wuinal fluttered its wings with that, doing its best to show them off. “Though just because you have the thing doesn’t mean you can use it. Wings are worthless without external mana to control the flow of Magic enough to generate lift.”

“Uh huh.” I mentally started clicked through the lists in my body. Wuinal’s suggestion of lack of specificity was sorely off. I stopped at a cell listing of the interior trapezoid of my left hand. And they all had sliders.

Moving back to the top, I moved about half the external mana to internal mana. I felt the change immediately. This wasn’t like going to the gym every day and realizing that you needed to be careful or else you could break something. This was like taking a 2-year-old and aging them into a 20-year-old in a moment.

I felt strong, smart, and dare I say it sexy. I then felt Wuinal enter my mind and put the internal slider to about 5%. I moved back to feeling like my normal self.

“Hey!” I began.

“Trust your guide. Build your internal slowly. Remember Rule 2. The more that is invested internally the longer the less you can externally express your mana.”

I attempted to parse through that statement before giving up. Instead, I was about to ask another question when Wuinal came to a stop.

“We’re here!” Releasing my hand, Wuinal spread its arms wide to show four people in a library. The walls were bookshelves, and each was filled. There was fire crackling in the far wall with four comfortable looking chairs in front of it.

Instead of reading, each person had a drink of some sort. One had a red liquid, two had amber, and the fourth had a clear liquid that I swore I could smell from where I was standing half a room away. The pungent odor burned my nose hairs and nearly made me stumble.

That noise alerted all to my presence. Looking to the side, I noticed that Wuinal had disappeared with my weapon of destiny. I ground my teeth at that. I wanted that to have something comfortable to sleep on. With that thought, I felt my pillow force its way into my hand, much like how dogs force you to pet them.

I grinned at the disembodied cry I heard before freezing solid. Wuinal did seem to do one last thing with the guide program it shoved in my mind. Names appeared above the four people who were now staring at me. Governor Awla Midi, General Andre Midi, Commander Errol Midi, and Emperor Bobo Midi were rising, all reaching for weapons. A laugh filled the room as the four most powerful people came at me.