“It isn’t safe.” The man in the HAZMAT suit repeated for the tenth time.

I sighed, “It’s safe. You can come out. Nobody here is going to hurt you.”

He eyed the trolls in the distance as he backed away from me. “But, the radiation. Miss Boszczyk said I would be safe so long as I wore this. Those green people over there don’t look so well.”

“Are you talking about the trolls or the goblins?” I asked, slightly amused.

“Trolls?” He asked, his panicked breathing fogging up the suit. “Do you mean like Harry Potter?”

I laughed, more out of relief than anything else. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m also from Earth.”

The man grew even more frantic, trying to look everywhere at once. “Is that why the sky is green? This isn’t Earth?”

“Nope. This isn’t Earth.” I chuckled. “This is Gaia. How did you manage to travel to another world without realizing it?”

“I don’t know.” He admitted reluctantly. “Miss Boszczyk activated the machine and this strange glowing mirror appeared. Then she asked me to climb through, so I did and here I am. Will I ever be able to go home? I have a wife and kids.”

“Relax,” I said, trying to get the man to calm down. “I’ll make sure you get home. First, I need to ask you some questions. Let’s start with your name. My name is Melvin. What’s yours?”

He adjusted the baggy head covering before replying. “My name is Antoni. Are you sure it’s safe to take this off? It’s getting hot in here.”

“Sure it’s safe,” I replied. “I’m pretty sure you’re the only person on Gaia wearing one of those.”

He tugged at the back of the HAZMAT suit, contorting himself as he struggled to get free. I lent him a hand and he finally emerged through a flap in the back. He wiped the sweat from his brow and said, “That feels much better. Now, how do I get home? I want to make it home in time for dinner.”

“We can feed you,” I said, not wanting him to go just yet. “I still have a few more questions for you.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “Questions? Like what?”

“For starters, who sent you here?” I asked, wondering if some new threat was about to reveal itself. “What part of Earth did you come from?”

Antoni’s accent gave me the impression that he wasn’t from America, but I couldn’t quite place it. He seemed just as curious about me as well. “I am from Teremyski.” When he didn’t get a response, he continued. “That’s in Poland. Where do you live? You said you are also from Earth, right? You sound American.”

“That’s right,” I explained. “Is being American a bad thing? I’m from California.”

Antoni shook his head. “Not at all. I was just making an observation. How do you speak Polish so well?”

I grinned at him. “It’s magic. I’m speaking English. You just hear me in Polish. I wonder what my accent sounds like to you.”

“Magic?” Antoni asked, scratching his head. “Isn’t that just a fairytale?”

“Kalli?” I said, turning to give her a nod. “Want to show him some magic?”

She rolled her eyes at me. You know you can show off just as well as I can.

Then she did it anyway.

“Pvruzth”

Antoni cringed involuntarily as flames sprang to life in each of Kalli’s hands. She made the fireballs that I had only seen her use in my dreams and soon they were orbiting around her. She winked at Antoni and said, “I am a Pyromancer. I control fire.”

He stared at her for a few moments before whispering. “Are you a goddess?”

I cut her off as she was about to answer. “Yep. She’s totally a goddess, and also my girlfriend.”

Kalli rewarded me with a face full of fire. “No! I am not a goddess. I am his girlfriend, though I have no idea why right now. Oh, and don’t worry, I didn’t hurt him. My flame is only hot when I want it to be.”

I brushed the flame from my face and grinned at Antoni. “See, she loves me.”

Kalli scoffed and stuck her tongue out. Antoni look around the cavern. “Can everyone here use magic?”

He backed away from a group of goblins that was wandering by as he spoke. I laughed and explained. “Well, that’s tricky. Not everybody can do magic like Kalli. People have specialties but that just means they are awakened. Do you know if you’re awakened?”

Antoni looked clueless. “What is awakened?”

“Well, that answers that,” I muttered, wondering how much I should explain to the guy. “How about you tell me how you made it to this world. Who is the lady with the machine? Do you work for her?”

He hesitated for a second before answering. “I work for, uh, the TGB. It is my responsibility to haul and assemble heavy machinery. Things the scientists don’t want to bother with. They do all of the fine-tuning. They push the buttons.”

“What is the TGB?” I asked. “That sounds like the government.”

Antoni laughed. “No! We don’t work for the government. The TGB is a private organization. Very private.”

Kalli tried to help by asking, “What does TGB stand for?”

Antoni stiffened as he replied. “I’m afraid, that’s, uh, confidential. Please. I am not permitted to speak about the administration. I could lose my job.”

“If I take you home, will you show me where the TGB is?” I asked, wondering if I could bypass his confidentiality agreement by visiting his office.

His eyes widened as he took in my proposition. “Do you mean to tell me you only intend to take me home if I show you where I work?”

I nodded. “That’s right. I need to know who just poked a hole in my empire and sent a low-level grunt through in a HAZMAT suit. It seems like the only responsible thing to do.”

“I am not a grunt.” He complained, looking visibly annoyed. “Coming here was an accident. I just want to return to my family. Please.”

I turned to Kalli.

I’m going to go with him. I’ll teleport back to you once I figure out who sent him.

Kalli nodded. Don’t take too long. We need to get Orpheus to the high house.

If the airship arrives before I’m back, take off without me. I can teleport to you no matter where you go.

Kalli surprised me when she leaned into me, wrapping her arms around me. Then she kissed me. Be safe over there. We don’t know anything about this guy.

All too soon, she let go and hurried off. It took me a minute to recompose myself.

I’ll be careful and come back in no time.

I didn’t expect her to answer but she did. You’d better!

Turning back to Antoni, I asked, “Are you ready to go home?”

“Now?” He asked, looking like he wanted to climb back into the HAZMAT suit. “How do you travel between worlds?”

“Magic,” I explained, walking over to him and taking his hand. “Are you ready to go home?”

He gasped for air and redoubled his efforts to climb back into the suit. I started helping him as he asked, “Will it hurt?”

I grinned, thinking back to my first time teleporting. “Well, you might feel sick. It’s okay to throw up. Try holding your breath and it will feel a lot better.”

Antoni answered by fumbling with the flap until it was sealed. Taking that as a sign that he was ready to go, I said, “Think only of your home.” And then I folded our mana over the both of us.

Walking through the void was becoming second nature for me. It was strange following a person I didn’t know to his point of origin. I just had to have faith that his soul knew where it was going.

BOOM

The ground shook around me as we appeared. Something had exploded right next to us. I looked at Antoni in shock and asked, “What is this?”

He was on his hands and knees, trying to crawl behind a wall while splattering his suit with his own sick. “I don’t understand. Why did you take me here?”

“Where is here?” I screamed. “I took you to your home!”

“This is Krakovets.” He gurgled, gasping for breath. “I have not lived here in a long time.”

“Why is there a tank?” I asked, sliding next to him behind the wall.

“I don’t know.” He replied, unzipping the hood from the suit. “The war wasn’t supposed to have spread this far west.”

“War?” I asked, wondering what I just teleported into.

“Do you not watch the news?” He growled, peeking out over the wall.

“You still didn’t explain why we ended up here,” I yelled back. “My spell is supposed to take you to your home.”

He turned back to give me a hard stare. “I grew up in Ukraine. This hasn’t been my home for many years.”

BOOM

I groaned as the building across the street was annihilated by another blast from the tank. Gunshots rang out as unknown people retaliated.

“We need to get out of here,” I barked, reaching out to grab Antoni. “I’m going to have to take you back with me. It isn’t safe for you here.”

“No, wait!” Antoni shouted, clearly agitated. “You can use magic, right? Can’t you do something about that tank?”

I looked back over the wall to discover the barrel of the tank swiveling in our direction. It was now or never. Fight or Flight. Those were the options.

Item:

T-72A Tank

Components

Iron, Steel, Petroleum, Gun Powder, Rubber

Item Rank:

C

Item Level:

1

Item Owner:

Putin

DELETE

ERROR: TARGET OCCUPIED

CONFIRM DELETE Y/N

I crossed my fingers and prayed that I wasn’t about to kill someone.

YES

For a moment, nothing happened. I was afraid the tank was going to open fire and I wasn’t sure if my armor could stop a tank blast. Then it wasn’t there. It was gone, vanished, deleted.

A distant yelp was all the proof I got that the operators weren’t deleted along with the tank. I didn’t bother to stay to find out if they suffered any injuries. Grabbing Antoni, I twisted my mana over the two of us and thought only of Kalli.

Kalli shrieked when we appeared in front of her. She lunged at me and wrapped me in my second hug of the day. I was so worried. Stop rushing into danger.

I pulled her closer.

There was no way I could have known that was going to happen.

Antoni poked me on the shoulder. “Um, guys. I hate to break up your reunion but does this mean I never get to go home?”

I laughed, letting Kalli go. “No. It just means we have to go through the bathroom.”

“Um, what does that mean?” Antoni asked, looking at me like I had gone mad.

It was Celestea’s turn to shriek when the three of us arrived suddenly in the throne room. When she recovered, she scolded us. “You two need to stop doing that, and what is this thing?”

“Sorry. No time.” I croaked out, dragging Antoni out of the throne room. “We need to be back by the time the airship arrives.”

The three of us raced through the castle toward the Queen’s Suite. When we entered the bath chamber, Antoni gasped. “You call this a water closet? The two of you must be very rich.”

“It is a castle, after all,” I explained, pulling open the door to Lavender’s house. “We need to go through here.”

We found Lavender waiting for us in my bedroom. “Welcome back everyone. I see you’ve encountered the TGB.”

“You know who they are?” I asked, not surprised that Lavender kept it from us.

She yawned. “Yes, I know of them. They are a group of scientists with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. As you have seen, they are starting to make progress in interdimensional travel.”

“Is that all?” I asked, looking at Antoni with renewed interest.

Kalli repeated her question from earlier. “What does TGB stand for?”

Lavender replied. “It’s called the Technician’s General Bureau. It’s run by a very curious individual.”

Meanwhile in Ukraine…

A man watched the surveillance video from a rural city. He twirled a long pointy beard in his fingers. “Very interesting. Another one has appeared. A most worthy prey.”