August’s legs dangled playfully; he sat on the roof of a nearby house. “Honestly, it amazes me how you always find yourself in the middle of the weirdest shit.”

A rather casual statement that didn’t at all fit the tense atmosphere after I slowly released the pressure of my void magic. But it did indeed feel like it defused the situation, at least a little. August, along with some other high-rankers in the Order of Magic surrounded us. Volt and Pyro were there as well.

In a few minutes, August, Volt, Pyro, Mandy, Adrasteia, Donna, and myself were in a beautifully furnished room in the Order of Magic; don’t worry, I left a clone to take care of the damages done in the dragonkin city. Volt and Pyro wanted information about what was going on. Somehow, the Order naturally became a hub of information shared amongst the worlds that the Kynhall Bridge connected it to. I’d no idea when inter-world relations became so good.

Volt had quite the stern expression, and Pyro felt rather different as well; he was no longer the playful and easy-going guy I once knew. August was indifferent, of course. Mandy and Adrasteia on the other hand were not at all comfortable with each other’s presence. We had to place them the furthest apart on the table.

“I know I’m stating the obvious here, but you can’t just throw around such power in populated areas,” Pyro warned. “There are consequences.”

“I see. I’m sorry,” I bowed, and gestured for Mandy and Adrasteia to do the same. Adrasteia listened, as she probably feared bad relations with me because she didn’t want to risk Donna abandoning her as an apprentice. Mandy on the other hand couldn’t care less for appeasing our laws, or simply having good manners. She wasn’t like that the first time we met her, but Adrasteia really ticked her off.

I came to realise that the history of Mandy, Emily, Adrasteia, and her father, was deeper than I imagined. Mandy suddenly stood up, “Continue your growth,” then looked at me, “Do not leave that filth alone with Donna. If I hear but a sliver of an issue regarding her, I will kill her.” She rested her hand on my shoulder, “And Eric, if you try to stop me again, I will kill you.”

Suddenly, I saw August in position to decapitate her, but he wasn’t moving. Behind August, holding on to the tip of his longsword, was a clone of Mandy. The longsword suddenly melted. “Remember,” the original Mandy said after her clone disappeared, “I’m only in this realm because no world here is ready to face Apollyon, much less Eblis. If I find this realm to be unworthy, I will…” She suddenly exhaled, then teleported away.

A councilman made a snarky comment directed at Volt. He found it stupid that the Order of Magic had to pander to me and my group of friends, and basically lugged Volt and Pyro into that group as well. From what I could tell, he wasn’t Methelian; he was a warlock from the Baruum Empire of Pargat. Indeed, there was an orc and elf mixed into councilmen as well. I could understand how they would find it frustrating to do their jobs if they had to keep making exceptions to the rule.

Volt reprimanded him, but I stopped the tongue-lashing. “I’m aware our behaviour isn’t the best, but you need to understand something – the law of the jungle cares not for your bureaucracy and civilization. Mandy Sikorski is currently the only person who’s able to bring us to our knees. So, if I were you, I would not anger her. Besides,” I stretched, “for important decisions, I do consult with the king, and he holds more power than the Order of Magic.”

That statement threw them off. They could hurl more insults, but that probably wouldn’t make the situation better for them. Volt was just about to dismiss us, but a loud crash stole our attention. Everyone who was gathered around went outside to see what was going on.

Two Avatars of Chaos wreaked havoc upon the surroundings of the Order. Of course, they were put down quickly with strong groups of spells, so there was minimal damage apart from the first building or two that got struck. No one was badly injured, so there didn’t seem like there was any cause to worry. However, the strange portal that appeared in Pargat also appeared here. I began to doubt that the rogue warlocks of Pargat and the revolutionary group, Red Stars, was responsible here.

As I began to think, Pyro stole my attention with his bright flames. He was speeding to the portal. I flew over as well and found that he kept civilians from getting too close. The Avatars of Chaos were dead, but the portal still remained. “This must be investigated,” he muttered in an exhaustive manner then laid expectant eyes upon me.

“Hey, man, Dawn’s pregnant. I can’t ju–”

“Give me a clone then,” he said, or perhaps demanded would better suit his tone.

“Don’t worry,” Dawn reassured me. “Pyro can babysit.”

“Oh, more importantly,” Donna interjected, “Scadia is visiting. And most of us don’t have anything to do tomorrow, so give us twenty clones.”

Am I really just a piece of meat?

“Can I go with you?” Adrasteia asked us after she flew over.

Just as I was about to reject her, Pyro accepted. I closed my mouth and looked him in the eyes; I could see he was unwavering about his decision. I shrugged and accepted it. It was clear he simply didn’t want her on her lonesome in Methelia.

Once he prepared himself, we set off at around sunset into the portal. The moment we entered into the other world, the portal behind us closed. It was similar to the one I entered before – a huge jungle. By huge, I mean everything was supersized. Plants, trees, and definitely the strange monsters that roamed about. A couple seconds into sightseeing, and our visions blurred as our bodies shifted. Ah, yes, I knew this feeling. We were being summoned.

At least that’s what I thought.

We ended up in a sugarcane patch somewhere, totally nude. We were a bit separated, but they were easy enough to find with Mana Perception. They hid their gentlemanly and womanly bits of course. I made clothes for myself and Pyro, but hesitated on helping Adrasteia. I felt a mental look of disapproval from Donna at that point and sighed. Alright, alright…

With all three of us now clothed, we flew towards a clearing and found a village. Oxen, dirt roads, carts, board houses, a big well in the centre of it all. It was your typical village. Adrasteia let down Pyro, as she had to help him fly. He couldn’t exactly use his fiery flight in the middle of the sugarcane field. And I wasn’t of much help either, as I’d restrained myself from using any magic type except arcane and light. If I had to get around, I’d have to rely on Skyer and Invisibility.

Since we didn’t have any of this world’s currency, we had to secure our own lodging. “You can make stuff, right? Please build us a temporary abode,” Pyro requested.

And so, I did, on the outskirts of the village. Adrasteia immediately pestered Donna, whom she knew was inside me, to begin teaching her magic. I leaned against the wall of the small house and watched them converse in the distance whilst Pyro scoured to the village to ask questions. I thought about helping him gather information with mind magic, but I steeled my resolve on using other magic types for emergencies only.

Donna and Adrasteia grew a bit quiet, and then the young, brash battle-mage walked over to me after a long period of awkward staring. Just looking at her disgusted me, because all I could see was Hydra’s corpse. Hell does she want…

“Just give her the time of day,” Donna shrugged. “One of my conditions for training her is that you have to genuinely accept her as your junior. You’ve come a long way when it comes to managing your emotions; don’t stop now.”

What a pain.

Adrasteia seemed like she was looking for the right words to say to me, but her eyes had a glint of hostility in them. I didn’t like her because she attacked Hydra. She didn’t like me because I was the witch’s successor. Even Mandy had bad blood with her. Despite knowing all of this, Donna still opted to accept her as an apprentice. A dragon-slayer, of all people. It perturbed me greatly that of all the worlds, all the nations, all the cultures, Donna would choose someone who hated Emily’s guts as the person she’d teach magic to.

Well, it’s too late now, I thought to myself. I did put the choice in Donna’s hands, so I’ve gotta at least try and stick to my word. But… I knew I couldn’t just forgive her without at least knowing what’s up with Mandy, her father, Emily, and her. “Well?” I spurred her on to talk.

She snarled. “Why were you chosen as Emily Crescent’s successor?”

“I fail to see how that’s any of your damn business,” I retorted.

“Now, now,” Donna warped between us, “you two are my precious students; play nice, okay?”

“Why?” Adrasteia muttered softly.

“Because I said so. Or will you perhaps discard my tutelage?” Donna threatened lightly. “You’re both adults, so act like it. By now, it should be obvious that you two stand to gain much from each other. If you don’t put your pettiness aside, it may cost you who-knows-what when you fight Apollyon.” She leisurely walked towards Pyro and the other villagers as if she didn’t just drop a bomb on us.

I raised my head to the sky in annoyance, but acceptance. Donna’s words were truer than the aim of the best marksman. I properly looked at the striking woman after using light manipulation to calm me down. Her bronze skin contrasted with her white hair. It wasn’t as white as Arcana’s, but it was close. I doubted it was a dye as her eyebrows and eyelashes were also of the same hue. “I don’t know why Emily chose me in specific,” I decided to answer her question, “but she wanted to retire for a very long time now, so maybe she just saw me as her chance to do that.”

“Retire?” Adrasteia’s brow twitched.

“Yes. She wanted to die and go to the afterlife. My turn now,” I cleared my throat. “Why did you want to kill her so badly?”

Adrasteia recoiled a little from that question, but she found her resolve when she glanced at Donna. “Emily Crescent killed my father, Samael Winter.”

I waited a bit. “That’s it?”

“What more do you want?” she folded her arms.

“Why did she kill him?”

Her stature seemed to shrivel, but she held her head high. “He imprisoned dragons and siphoned their power into him so he could save humanity from a possible second Eblis.”

That Eblis guy again. He’s Apollyon’s creator or somethin’, right? Hmm. So Emily killed her father bec–

“I’m sure you know, that Emily Crescent wasn’t a normal human. She was a half-breed. Her father was a dragon, and her mother was a human. Because of her draconic blood, she was able to survive the deathly miasma that Eblis spread throughout the land and absorb it before she was even born. She was somehow a dragon, human, and demon at the same time. She and father had a great battle, but he lost. If she didn’t kill him, then thousands of people wouldn’t have died in Venreval.”

Interesting. Venreval? Is that Emily’s old realm? “Then, she basically chose dragons over humans?”

Adrasteia pointed right at me, “Exactly! If the survival of your world meant killing an entire species, wouldn’t you do it?”

I chuckled, which she didn’t expect. “A greater-good question, huh? To be honest, I couldn’t really care about species per se. After making some mistakes, I take a few things into account before I place a race or whatever somewhere on my mental totem pole.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“Well, a large chunk of the criteria is sentience. Is the being aware that it’s alive? Does it understand life and death? Is it capable of reflection and change? All that fits under sentience for me. The other couple factors are feelings and morals. Even if I’m smart, that doesn’t mean I have more of a right to live than someone who understands their feelings and others’ feelings, and makes ethical decisions based on a decent moral compass.”

Adrasteia stood frozen stiff for a while. She looked at me with admiration, yet I knew hatred still kindled. “You’d choose another race over humans?”

“You’d choose a human who’s a child molester over an innocent dragonkin simply because it’s a human?” I smiled.

She gave me a glare that basically admitted I was right, but scoffed anyway.

“Well, that’s what I mean. Choosing one over the other based on one simple factor is probably a bad idea. Don’t get me wrong though,” I almost wanted to slap myself for what I was about to say, “if that kid-toucher and dragonkin were both on the brink of death and I could only save one, then I’d take into account the circumstances. Who’s to say the kid-toucher doesn’t have an amazing skill that’s in dire need by a huge number of people? Sometimes even one’s past actions must be overlooked in favour of mass survival.” I let out a big breath whilst looking at Pyro interact with Donna and the villagers. “Anyway, all I’m saying is, it’s not a black and white issue.”

Adrasteia leaned against the wall aside me, and looked straight forward into the sugarcane field. She gently knocked her head back against the wall, as if bored. Her giggle wiggled into my ear, “I, didn’t think so far into it.”

“Well, it’s good to meditate on things like that and develop as a person. Just uh, don’t let it overwhelm you.” I thought back on what she said about Emily and her exotic biology. Human, dragon, and demon, huh? It was certainly an interesting composition. Usually, hearing something so ludicrous would make one quickly disregard the claim, but half-breeds did exist. And, considering the crazy stuff I saw since opening that codex with Donna trapped in it, the idea of Emily the Mutt wasn’t too farfetched. Even in death, she still amazed me. There was so much I didn’t know about her.

“How come yo–”

“Guys!” Pyro beckoned us over before she could finish her question.

As we got closer to the villagers, I began noticing some rather bizarre things. There were about a dozen or so villagers that surrounded Pyro and Donna, and all of which had some animalistic features like claws, furry ears on the top of their heads just like a dog or a cat. Some of their ears stood up or hung down low like rabbits. Most of them had tails too, just like an animal. It was weirdly cute.

Guess we’re really in another world, huh? I kept rudely staring at their fluffy ears. Except for a few things like tails, ears, maybe claws and hooves, the rest of their bodies were pretty much human. The lot of them who stood in the back were very clearly afraid of us. Most of those who stood before Pyro and spoke normally were around my age or younger – at least they looked that way.

“So,” Pyro turned to us, “this world is called Rhilstorm, and the people with ears and tails that we’re not used to seeing are widely called beastmen or beastkin. Apparently, there are humans as well but, just not in this village. Durhan is the closest town from here. We can probably find leads to what caused the portal there.”

I rubbed my chin in thought, “It is strange. What I felt was a summoning. Summoning usually places you right next to whoever summoned you. Appearing in the middle of a sugarcane farm doesn’t make sense.”

“You, were summoned?” a villager asked. We couldn’t see his face until he stepped out from his hiding place behind another villager. “I’ve heard about that,” the young boy claimed. “They say that the king summons people to do his bidding, but he’s not very good at it.”

That, actually makes sense. If something as simple as Dillon changing the vials of blood caused me – another being entirely – to be summoned instead of the Avatar of Chaos, then it would make sense that messing up the summoning ritual could also change the location. But who would want to summon us to this world, Rhilstorm, and why?