Bronwyn watched while Morgan stared into his scrying window. He’d been casting and recasting it for two days now. Sometimes, he’d catch his target indoors or in a crowded area and sigh and cancel the spell, only to target another individual in First Landing. If he saw someone outdoors, he’d watch the location for as long as he could keep the window open, hoping that everyone would disperse and they’d have a safe site for the portal target. So far, he hadn’t been lucky.

Prior to Morgan’s efforts, Olivia had taken three days to create the spell’s pattern on the marble floor. First, she’d drawn the pattern with a thick charcoal pencil, and then she’d painstakingly etched grooves along the lines with a little chisel and hammer. She’d had to make little circles for all two hundred and eleven Energy gems she and Morgan had calculated they’d need. In Bronwyn’s opinion, the whole thing looked really impressive, like some sort of ancient ritual pattern. She laughed, realizing it was a ritual pattern, just not ancient—they lived in a time and place of real magic.

“Something funny?” Morgan growled, glancing over at her.

“No, relax! I just thought it was funny how I still catch myself thinking of magic as a thing from stories, sometimes.”

“Ingrained perceptions take a while to die,” Olivia said, looking up from her notebook. She was going over her calculations and spell design for the thousandth time.

“This is no good,” Morgan said. “I caught Arthur outside, but he was standing near the tavern, and there’s constant traffic. By the way, some very interesting-looking people were walking with him—some guy in a military-style uniform with a high hat and a very tall Ghelli with huge, luminous wings.”

“Most Ghelli gain the ability to fly with enough racial ranks, or so my friends at the academy tell me,” Olivia said.

“Oh?” Morgan asked, his wings twitching. Bronwyn wondered if it were involuntary; how strange it must be to have new appendages!

“Yeah, and some Shadeni too. The Head of First-Year students, Oylla-dak, has them. They’re almost as big as yours, Morgan.”

“Well, maybe I can meet her sometime, and she can tell me how to sit in a normal chair with these things.” He let his hands drop, canceling his spell. “Let’s see here; I’ll check up on Maria. She’s outside a lot.” Morgan was standing in the circle attached to the spell pattern that Olivia had drawn for him. She’d said he’d need to be in that position when he activated the complicated spell pattern he’d been drawing over and over for weeks.

“So this portal spell has two parts? The pattern Morgan makes in his pathways to create the spell and then this physical pattern on the ground?” She asked Olivia, really, just to make conversation; she’d already heard the explanation before.

“Right. The physical pattern on the ground is just there so that Morgan can draw on the Energy in all these gems. The real spell takes place inside him.”

“I got it! Come look!” Morgan yelled. Olivia and Bronwyn jumped to their feet and hurried to peer through the window between Morgan’s hands. “Maria was walking through the grass behind the tavern, heading north toward where Arthur’s house is. There’s nothing around for a dozen yards, and I don’t see any other people.”

“Yeah, it’s just grass,” Bronwyn added.

“Are you ready, Morgan?” Olivia asked, though it sounded like she was the one that might not be prepared to see the fruit of her labor.

“Relax, Liv. You did the spell right,” Bronwyn said, reaching out and squeezing her hand.

“I’m doing it, guys. Back up if you want,” Morgan said, and he closed his eyes, taking deep, steadying breaths. Olivia backed up several steps, pulling Bronwyn with her. That’s when the fireworks started.

Morgan spread his hands out, and then his wings, and black, flickering lines of Energy began to flow out of the gems near him, gliding along the grooves in the ground to enter the circle Morgan stood in. When the strange, crackling, jumping Energy crossed the line, it started to fill the space, obscuring Morgan’s feet. As more and more gems began to pour out their contents, the weird void Energy filled the invisible cylinder around Morgan, climbing to his knees, then his hips. Morgan’s hands began to vibrate, still outstretched, and a weird whistling, popping sound began to emanate from him.

As the void Energy climbed past his lower back and up to the base of his wings, suddenly Morgan yelled, and two streams of black, crackling Energy shot from his outstretched palms toward the center of the spell pattern. With a horrible rending of reality, a doorway started to rip open. Bronwyn slapped her hands over her ears, but it didn’t stop the sound, the destruction of sound, or whatever was happening with that terrible, strange Energy.

The void Energy kept flowing out of the gems toward Morgan, and he kept channeling it out through his hands into the nascent doorway. His spell was burrowing between reality itself, and the strain of the effort was telling. Morgan’s yell had become an unending scream, and, standing behind him, Bronwyn was glad she couldn’t see his face because it sounded like his soul was being torn asunder. “Will he be alright,” she tried to yell, but her voice was swallowed by the surplus of void-attuned Energy in the air.

She felt something tickling at her flesh, and when Bronwyn looked down at her arms, she thought she saw wisps of black Energy pulling away tiny motes of her skin and hair. “What the fuck?” she yelled, and again, she couldn’t hear herself. Suddenly Olivia was yanking on her arm, pulling her further away from Morgan, and Bronwyn stumbled after her. They stumble-ran away from him and the spell, and when they were at the far end of the enormous hall, Bronwyn started to feel normal again, and she heard Olivia speaking.

“We were too close; he’s channeling more Energy than any of us have ever seen, and it’s void Energy!” Olivia hissed. “I’m such an idiot! I should have realized how dangerous it was.”

“Will he be alright?”

“I think so! He has a void affinity, after all!” They were fifty yards from Morgan now, and still, the un-sound and strange quality of the air was enough to disorient Bronwyn.

“How long will it be?” she yelled.

“I don’t know! I’m trying to see which gems are depleted, but I can’t focus on anything in there!”

“Same here! It’s like looking at a flickering black hole or something!” Bronwyn yelled, and it was true—she could catch a glimpse of Morgan and his wings now and then, but the space within the ritual circle was awash with void Energy, and things kept blinking in and out of existence, at least, as far as her eyes told her. The black hole in reality or space, or whatever that portal was, continued to grow, its edges spinning and throbbing, and through it all, Morgan’s unending shout-scream echoed around the chamber. “I couldn’t hear myself near him; why can we hear Morgan?”

“I don’t know; maybe that sound is stuck or being re-echoed by the spell or the weird way his Energy is manipulating the physical reality and space.” Just as Bronwyn feared the spell or its bizarre effects would be the end of her sanity, Morgan’s scream rose to a terrible crescendo. The pooled void Energy rushed out from around Morgan toward the black gateway, and then, with an audible popping rip, the edges of the portal steadied, and a perfectly round opening about two meters across appeared. Standing behind Morgan, Bronwyn could see through the doorway to a grassy meadow on the other side.

Morgan was leaning forward, hands on his knees, heaving for breath, and Bronwyn saw a small pool of blood on the white marble at his feet as she and Olivia ran up to him. Morgan stood as they approached and turned to grin at them. He had streaks of blood on his cheeks under his eyes, and blood still flowed from his nose, but he looked happy. “It worked!” he grunted, voice hoarse.

“Yeah! Will it close soon?” Bronwyn asked, looking from Morgan to Olivia. They answered at the same time.

“I think so,” Olivia said.

“Not for thirty minutes,” Morgan said, far more definitively. He smiled at Olivia, “I can feel it, and also, I gained a new spell and its description.” While he spoke, Bronwyn saw huge motes of golden Energy start to coalesce in the air around Morgan, and then it all surged into him. He arched his back and sighed, smiling even more broadly.

“Profiting off of my hard work, I see,” Olivia laughed.

“Another level! That spell was a doozy,” Morgan laughed as the rush faded.

“At least your nose stopped bleeding; we don’t have to worry about an aneurism,” Bronwyn said, punching his shoulder. “Are you going to spend your attribute points before we go through?”

“Might as well. Say your goodbyes to this place while I sort things out, please.” Morgan’s eyes went glassy as he contemplated his status screen. Bronwyn snorted and shook her head. She and Olivia had talked about their recent levels, and Olivia had helped her confirm her decision to keep improving her speed and mental attributes. Olivia, on the other hand, had brought some of her languishing physical attributes up a bit, saying that her class gave her plenty of mental improvements.

Bronwyn stepped toward the portal, looked through, and laughed when she saw a crowd starting to form on the grass. “We better go through before they start coming this way.”

“Right, I’m ready,” Morgan said, stretching his wings and then pulling them in close. “After you, ladies.” He gestured to the portal with a flourish. “I’ll be right behind—just going to gather these empty gems so I can reuse ’em.”

“Why, thank you, sir,” Olivia laughed and took Bronwyn’s hand. “We’ll go through together,” she said more softly. Bronwyn nodded, unable to stop the thrill of joy that ran through her heart. She felt so full of love and luck to have come to an entirely new world and still manage to meet and grow close to someone like Olivia. She pulled Olivia toward the portal, squeezing her hand tight, excited to see what might come next for them.

#

Issa stood outside the burrow and called, “Ykleedra!” While waiting for the young Yovashi, she listened, wondering if she’d hear the little ones. She’d been upset with Ykleedra at first for keeping such a huge secret, but then she’d started to think about how lonely and scared the girl had been, and she couldn’t help feeling some joy at the prospect that she had sisters now. Imagine! One minute Ykleedra had been alone, not knowing where or if any of her other kind might live, and now she had four siblings.

She wondered if Morgan would be upset, but she knew how guilty he felt about Ykleedra and hoped it would bring him some peace, knowing she had some surviving family. Even better, these children knew nothing of their people’s horribly history; they were a blank slate and would hopefully grow to become happy members of their community.

“Yes, Miss Issa?” Ykleedra scampered out of the burrow to stand before her.

“I’ve brought you more food,” Issa spoke softly, unsure if the babies were sleeping. “Are they sleeping? I want to meet them!”

“Oh, they’re sleeping, Miss, and my burrow isn’t suitable for someone like you. Can I bring them up to meet you another time?”

“I suppose. Maybe later today? Just tell Tiladia when they’re awake, and she can come to get me. I think it’s important that they get used to other types of people, don’t you?”

“Yes, of course, Miss Issa!”

Issa nodded and handed the storage bag to Ykleedra. “There’s a lot of meat here, just like you asked. Also, I spoke to Tiladia, and she told me that, while reading a text from your home, she learned that infant Yovashi will begin to eat other foods as their ‘upper stomachs’ form. She said it usually takes around three months.”

“Oh, wonderful! I have so much fruit I gathered!” Ykleedrea reached out, took the bag, and, with a tremulous voice, said, “Thank you, Miss Issa! I was so worried that you’d make us leave, but you’ve been nothing but kind.”

“You’re wel . . .”

“Lady Issa!” Suddenly Tiladia was there, her tinkling voice high with excitement.

“Yes?”

“He’s returned! Maria was just here! Morgan is back, and some sort of confrontation is taking place in the colony!”