Kellen’s world was purple smoke, snarling, and agony. A flash of sun mana blinded him, followed by a whoosh of wind. Inferi jerked away from him, luckily releasing his arm before she rose in the air on her back. Legs flailing, she snapped and snarled, trapped in a swirling dust devil. Nokom stepped forward into Kellen’s vision and waved a hand. Inferi crashed to the ground and lay there, panting. Ira, Nokom, and Kiypu stepped between them, attack at the ready.

“Are you okay?” Vex asked, rushing to Kellen’s side.

Kellen hissed through clench teeth and gingerly turned his left arm over, revealing a row of blackened puncture marks. He wiggled his fingers, which hurt like hell, but nothing seemed broken. That, or the adrenaline was still too strong to tell how bad the injury was. His heart hammered and he shook all over.

“That is enough,” Nokom said as Inferi struggled to her feet. The old woman still grasped a miniature whirling dervish in her palm.

“Heh,” Inferi said with an animal shrug. “Sorry, Kellen.” She dipped her head, managing not to seem sorry at all.

“You almost ripped is arm off!” Shani shouted. At her Beastcaller’s rebuke, a look of hurt flashed in Inferi’s face. Her ears dropped, and she hunched up like a dog threatened with a stick.

“I wouldn’t have—”

“You must learn to control your aggression, little sister,” Kiypu said. Surprised, Kellen realized he was speaking to Shani, not Inferi. “Anger will only serve you so far as a Beastcaller. It is not the long path you wish to take.”

A look of confusion and frustration crossed Shani’s face. “I wasn’t the one who—”

“We are done for today,” Nokom said, cutting her off. She waved a dismissive hand at Shani and Inferi. “Go calm yourselves and reflect on how this happened. We can gather as a group later.”

Shani glanced at Kellen briefly before storming off down the hill. She hadn’t bothered to wait for Inferi, who scurried after her, tail between her legs. “Shani, wait!” Shani didn’t slow or acknowledge she’d heard her Mana Beast.

“I had best speak with them before it festers,” Nokom muttered, contradicting her previous advice. Knowing Shani, Kellen thought her grandmother had the right idea. Shani and Inferi were more likely to blast half of camp away than calmly reflect on their emotions.

“Let’s see your arm, little brother,” Kiypu said, kneeling down beside Kellen. Beneath his poncho and leggings his bare joints cracked and popped.

Kellen flashed a look at Vex. When Kiypu was… all there, the skeleton man wasn’t a problem, aside from a little unnerving. When his memory lapsed and a few circuits came loose… well, he did things like bury himself. Kellen didn’t want that version of Kiypu treating his arm and removing all the bones, or something. But the pain convinced him to take a chance, even if he risked magical amputation. Purple lines already snaked out from the puncture marks beneath his skin. His arm and fingers felt cold and ethereal.

“Poisons and venom are mostly found in the realm of earth mana,” Kiypu said, holding the wounded forearm in his bony hands as he studied it. Kellen focused on his breath as the bite marks throbbed. Shakraa let out a caw and fluttered onto her Beastcaller’s shoulder. “I don’t think this is a venom, little brother, just the shadow mana working within you. Easy enough.”

Lowering Kellen’s arm down, Kiypu cupped both hands and held them over the wound. A soft, green light welled between his palms and Kellen’s skin. A moment later, it was done.

“Whoa!” Vex exclaimed.

“It’s completely better!” Kellen raised his arm, squeezing his hand tight and rotating it in different directions. “How did you do that?” he asked Kiypu in amazement.

The mummified man tapped a bony finger to his temple. “Knowledge, little brother. What I can unscrambled, anyway.”

“Scrambled!” Shakraa added with a nod and clack of her beak. “Missing!”

Kellen and Vex shared a guilty glance. They’d found an inanimate Kiypu deep in the tunnels of the Wakar Mountains while searching with Shani for the cultists who’d stolen Kellen’s sister. There had also been an unstable mana stone they’d accidentally destroyed. The release of mana had awakened Kiypu from his slumber and he’d ultimately helped guide them out of the maze of tunnels to the chamber where the cultists held their kidnapped victims. However, the exploded mana stone held likely held many of Kiypu’s memories. He’d recovered a portion of them when he reunited with Shakraa, though big gaps remained that didn’t seem to be improving. Even Shakraa could only parrot what her Beastcaller said, rather than speaking like a true Mana Beast. Kellen knew they should tell Kiypu what happened… he just hadn’t figured out the best way to break the news.

“Thank you,” Kellen said. “Is there any way you could teach me how to do that?”

“Different kind of mana,” Kiypu said, shaking his head. “And you spirit travelers are hardy folks. I’ve never known anyone to recover faster. Why, I had a friend who was a spirit traveler in my youth and she once—”

The mummy paused, lost in thought. After an awkward silence stretched between them, something occurred to Kellen. “Kiypu, you told Shani and me you’d never heard of spirit travelers back in your chamber. Then in the tunnels you said you’d heard of some but never met any… so you had a friend that was one?”

“I did, didn’t I?” Kiypu muttered. He looked troubled, like his thoughts floundered in the dark for a light switch. “Did I? No, no that isn’t right. I can’t… Huh… well, glad I could help. Keep your training up, little brother!”

With that, the mummified Beastcaller and his companion left, walking off in the opposite direction of camp. Where or why, Kellen couldn’t begin to guess.

“He’s a weird dude but he’s good to have around, most of the time,” Vex said.

“My ears may be shriveled but they still work,” Kiypu called over his shoulder. “And thank you! It is good to be useful.”

“Thanks,” Shakraa repeated. “Useful!”

“Can’t disagree with you on that one,” Kellen said to Vex, laughing at the pair as they wandered off. He looked at his left arm, which bore no trace of Inferi’s teeth marks or the dark purple lines flowing from them.

“I can’t believe she did that,” Vex said. “Shani’s right. She could have seriously hurt you. The next time we train, I’m gonna—“

“You aren’t going to do anything,” Kellen said. “Whatever reason it happened, I’m fine. Hurting them back isn’t the answer. They’re our friends.”

“Shani, yes,” Vex said. “Inferi, no. She lives to torment me, I swear. And when she’s not doing that, she’s so moody. They’re only happy when they’re fighting something.”

“There’s something off about their bond,” Kellen said. “I know you can sense it too. Us putting stress on it won’t help.”

“That’s no excuse,” Vex said. “We can share feelings, remember? In thatCharles Russell moment, I know you thought you were in serious danger.”

Kellen thought back to the moment. Inferi had been rabid, there was no way around it. If Nokom and the others hadn’t been there, Kellen didn’t like to think what the hyena might have done before Shani could have stopped her. “I didn’t say we shouldn’t be careful.”

“I’ve got your back,” Vex said.

Kellen reached down and ruffled Vex’s head between his large ears. “I know. How about we find some breakfast? I’m starving.”

They crossed the ridge, making their way toward a scene that looked like something out of a Charles Russel or George Catlin painting of the Old West before it was swallowed by Manifest Destiny. Minus a few Oras oddities, anyway. Narrow, twisting rock spires known as Tall Spears randomly sprang from the horizon in every direction around them. Among the gray-skinned people below, a little girl carried a neon pink rabbit that could talk. They definitely weren’t in 1800’s Kansas.

A small village of tipis sat in the flat of a circular valley, smoke from cook fires drifting into the cool morning skyline. The members of Gray Dawn busied themselves with several tasks preparing for the upcoming winter, from tanning hides to preparing food stores and other vital necessities. A pair of children ran through the tents, waving sticks and laughing. Just beyond the camp, one of the tribe’s most valued resources, the blue-gray storm horses, grazed in the tall grass, swishing their donkey-like tails and tossing their horned noses. A small herd of smaller, earth-like paint and buckskin horses wandered around them.

A middle-aged dark-skinned man sat nearby, writing with a quill and bottle of ink while intermittently surveying the scene. Seeing Kellen and Vex approach, he stopped and raised a hand in greeting. They made their way over, Vex grumbling about being even later for breakfast.

“Kellen, Vex, good morning!” Professor Gates said. “Up early practicing your craft, eh?”

“Yep,” Kellen said, nodding at the paper and quill the professor had sat aside. “You too, it looks like.”

“Just some notes and journaling,” the professor said. He lifted a leather satchel that, judging by Vex’s sniffs contained food. “Care for some breakfast? I brought more than enough to share.”

“Now you’re talking!” Vex said. Laughing, the professor reached into the satchel, producing a small jar of wild honey, some dense cakes made from acorn flour and a smaller pouch filled with jerkied meat strips.

Kellen thanked the professor as Vex snatched a handful of jerky, gnawing at them like he’d survived a ten year famine. Ironically, as a being made of mana, Vex didn’t need to eat or drink to stay alive. Unless Kellen died, nothing could wipe Vex from existence. That didn’t seem to curb his appetite.

Taking a seat next to the professor, and strategically placing himself between Vex and the food satchel, Kellen drizzled honey over the acorn cakes, round discs that were a sort of cross between a pancake and a biscuit. In the chill morning air, the honey oozed out at a snail’s pace but it made the cakes much more enjoyable. Kellen couldn’t complain about the fare in Oras but it definitely lacked the calorie-loaded foods he’d eaten on Earth, from pizza and burgers all the way to his mom’s lavish cooking and baking.

He understood the cakes, along with the honey, were somewhat of a luxury for the nomadic Gray Dawn people. As thanks for the Earth Badger folk they’d rescued from the Snake Cultists, the first Earth Badger trading post had laden them with supplies to enliven the stores the band had hunted and gathered for the coming winter. Dried berries, roots, and smoked meat were a far cry from pumpkin pie and other Thanksgiving treats but Kellen didn’t mind. On the other hand, he would have fought a wild Guardian strength Mana Beast blindfolded and with both hands tied behind his back for the prize of an extra-large Mountain Dew and a stack of Oreos.

“How are you adjusting to life in Oras?” the professor asked. “I know that look. You’re thinking of home.”

“Dreaming of pop and pumpkin pie,” Kellen said, forcing a grin. He considered the question. “Sometimes it’s easier not to think about it. I mean, if I was at home, I’d be two months into my freshman year of college—I waited a year after graduation to help with things on the dairy. I’m not big on Halloween or anything, but my extended family always got together for Thanksgiving…”

He trailed off. Those were the things it was easier not to think about.

“I’ve wondered how I might have reacted if I’d come here at your age,” the professor said, running a hand over his white-streaked beard. “As a young man, with his life just starting out. I think it would be much harder than a middle-aged, established bachelor who obsessed over anthropology and archeology in his free time.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a great pastime compared to evolutionary biology,” Kellen joked.

Gates chuckled. “True, even my field of study makes this place fascinating,” he said. “I wouldn’t go back even if I could, yet it’s still taken me years to grow accustomed to life here. What I’m saying is I know it’s difficult. Culture shock doesn’t start to describe what happens to people like us, and I didn’t gain magical powers to boot!”

Kellen noticed Vex had stopped eating, waiting for his reply. He’d chosen to stay in Oras because he hadn’t known what would happen to his Mana Beast if he left. Their shared bond made it hard to hide the feelings of doubt and homesickness even if Kellen knew in his heart he’d still make the same choice months later.

“I’m… figuring things out,” Kellen said at last. Sharing feelings had never been encouraged in his family, but over the past several weeks, Kellen found talking to the professor helped him stay sane, like a life jacket keeping him afloat in this strange new reality. Now everything he’d been thinking and feeling tumbled out. “The old Kellen—I don’t know what else to call myself—he was never really motivated to do anything out of the ordinary. I was the most normal, average person ever. I didn’t have big dreams. Now, Nokom and Kiypu keep telling me the only thing holding me back is myself. It’s an amazing opportunity but…”

“A daunting prospect?” the professor suggested.

Kellen nodded. “Everything happened so fast when I got here. I’m still trying to figure it all out.”

“Well, I certainly don’t claim to have any expertise in matters of psychology, but I’m always here if you need someone to talk to,” the professor said, stretching out his legs with a sigh. “I know your sister would want to make sure I’m looking after you. Though at your age, there are lessons you have to learn and things you have to sort out on your own. That’s true whether you’re a college student on Earth or a Beastcaller here.”

“Thanks,” Kellen said, and meant it. Vex padded over and rested his head in Kellen’s lap and Kellen absently rubbed his Mana Beast’s head.. Together, the three of them gazed over the ring of tents, letting the murmur of voices and general hubbub of camp life wash over them. By now, the sun was out in full, shining down on miles of golden grasses from an endless bluebird sky.

Kellen stared across the prairie, wondering yet again where his place was in the vast world stretching before him.