Having achieved level 25 and 42 free points to spend, I now had something I needed to do. That involved sending Izzy a text and asking her to meet up. There wasn’t really any point in delaying, since she wanted to go back. I still hadn’t spent the points yet because… I didn’t need to. It would work just as well later. I nodded to myself as I walked towards Corner Coffee, where we were most likely to meet up. Even if she was busy or something, I’d still be closer to wherever we did meet up.

As I walked along the streets at a quick pace, I couldn’t help but take in the sights of New Bay. Apartments and businesses dominated the streets, places for people to come from and go to. Not that there could really be anything in a city that wasn’t for people. As for those people, there was quite a wide variety of them. Humans, of course, but also people extraterrestrial and extradimensional. Martians were pretty easy to pick out, though they were only a tiny portion of the population. Others filled the gaps near or far from the human average, though people like Jim were a rarity. Most fell vaguely in a range that was comfortable for Turlough, though there was a lack of what he considered most familiar.

I saw some people that were certainly elvish or dwarvish in appearance, though the former was easier to miss unless one specifically took note of the ears. The stocky width of a dwarf was rarely matched by humans, and truly small folk like halflings were rare even counting martians.

I simply took in everything around me, appreciating my new life- especially the opportunities to level up. Even after I finally spent these 39 points- 12% of everything I’d had to this day- I was way more advanced than I could ever have imagined. I’d gone from level 10 when I arrived in this world less than half a year before all the way to level 25, which I’d never thought I could reach. I had somehow even surpassed the minimum one would expect for my age, though not by much. I should have been in the low 20’s instead of 10, but I simply hadn’t been able to get real experience.

Thinking about the numbers and what I was on my way to do, I almost missed the orcs. A whole bundle of them, a half dozen maybe? They just strode down the sidewalk together, walking awkwardly. Well, even two wide they did kind of take up a lot of space, bumping into people. One of them looked at me, then shouted something. Was that Orcish? I waved back, and the man just shrugged and moved on.

Then I felt Midnight approaching. He wasn’t just scampering along, he was zooming past people at a breakneck speed using Haste. He jumped up to get a grip on my outstretched arm and then hopped the last bit onto my shoulder. “Turlough!” he said. “Areyoualright?”

“You’ve still got Haste, buddy,” I patted him on the head, and felt a release of tension. Was that me or him?

“Where are you going?” Midnight said carefully to keep his words to a sensible speed.

“I reached level 25. I have enough points, so I’m going to meet Izzy for our promise.” A twinge of sadness and regret. “... Sorry buddy. She’s not happy here, so I should do what I can to fix things. It’s not really my fault she came here but… I can do something.” I sighed, “You’ll probably still have more friends than me after she’s gone. You’ll be alright.”

Midnight just sat on my shoulder, waves of emotions I wasn’t equipped to handle rolling off of him. Ugh, stuff like this was difficult. “I should be with you.”

“Yeah, sorry, I didn’t think about that. You’ll probably want to say goodbye. I guess it doesn’t have to happen right away.” Somehow, that didn’t make the feelings any better, and I felt a sympathetic twinge in my gut. “... It might not even work anyway. I have like, 75% of the mana to cast Gate without passing out,” I sighed. “And I can’t be sure it will cross dimensions.”

A pause. “Perhaps you shouldn’t rush into this.”

“Yeah, sorry, as I said I didn’t think about it.”

“I know,” Midnight said, resting a paw on my head. “Once you decide to act you forego much of the thinking you otherwise spend your time on.”

“... I feel like that could be taken as an insult.”

“It is just you,” Midnight said. “That’s all.”

There wasn’t much I could say about that. I felt the honesty, and the lack of ill intent. It would probably be easy to get angry over something stupid like that, but I didn’t like being angry and I especially didn’t like feeling both sides of an argument. At least that usually left our rare conflicts short, if sometimes intense.

I walked into the cafe. Might as well get some bean water and pretend like it made any difference besides a momentary feeling of alertness. I could get some water for Midnight since the other options weren’t great for someone with a small mass and feline stomach. Maybe a plate of bacon to snack on. One of us was trying to maintain a calm demeanor, but I couldn’t tell which as I finished our order and prepared to wait for a response from Izzy.

I turned to look for a booth and I saw them. Izzy was obvious, but I wouldn’t have recognized the other woman with her if not for my recent exposure to visual proof of height and my longer term exposure to that same face with a mask. Masks did a good job of preventing people unfamiliar with an individual from determining their identity, but I was not unfamiliar with her. I just… had to dredge up her actual name.

My steps carried me to them, since I was here to talk with Izzy to begin with. “Hi Sophia, Izzy.”

The response was not what I expected. Specifically, the part where Izzy vaulted over the table and landed in Sophia’s arms. “Gah!” Izzy propped Sophia’s arm in between us defensively. “Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

“... Sorry?” I wasn’t sure to be concerned about her reaction, or to marvel at the cuddly pose of a woman and a smaller sister. Way smaller, but not younger. “Did you not check your texts?”

Izzy pulled a phone that seemed more like a tablet in her hands out of an oversized pocket in her pants. “I uh… only ever get messaged by Sophia, Midnight, and work. I didn’t want to think about work, and Midnight is patient.” She read the text. “Uh, I guess we’re already together so, we can meet here. Or whatever.”

“Uh…” Sophia looked confused by several things, and started by nudging Izzy out of her lap. “I can scoot over, if Turlough is joining us…” she narrowed her eyes at me. “How do you know my name?”

“Meztli said it when we first met. Or second met?” I shrugged. “When we were both around her that one time. And I’m good at recognizing friends.” Izzy had returned to her proper seat and Sophia usually known by me as Great Girl scooted in, so I sat next to her. Midnight sat ‘next’ to Izzy, though he was on the table instead of awkwardly on the seat trying to see people. The cafe was quite used to his presence now, and there was always at least one employee who recognized his personhood instead of cathood. And we didn’t make a mess so they had little to complain about if they didn’t.

“So,” Izzy broke the silence. “What’s the important thing you had to meet about?”

“I leveled up,” I said. “Now I have enough points to learn Gate and try to send you back.”

“I- uh- what?” Izzy blinked. “Already?”

“Yes. I can attempt today, if you want. Or did you mean the level thing? I’ve been fighting a lot here. You were even there for two of them.” I smiled slightly, feeling my tusk slide against my lips. “It’s nice.”

“I’m not- uh,” Izzy’s eyes darted around as if she was looking for somewhere to run, then settled on my face, her eyes widening. “... What the hell happened to your tusk?”

I instinctively reached up to feel the uneven edge. “Handface shot me. Either Stoneskin doesn’t work on tusks or… the shot almost went through two layers of it on my tusk and face.”

“What? And who’s Handface?”

“My nemesis,” I shrugged, “Apparently. But everything’s fine now because I kicked him through a portal.”

“... Okay?” Izzy tilted her head.

“Wait, did this happen yesterday?” Sophia asked.

“Well, yeah. Portals don’t just show up randomly, except when they do. And you know my tusk was fine not that long ago. I feel like it’s pretty obvious, right?”

“Right,” she said. “I think that’s enough details about that,” Sophia looked around. The booths were decently private, but someone could have been listening. Though talking about the whole portal thing yesterday would seem pretty normal, I imagined.

“Anyway,” I shrugged. “I got a ton of experience for that. So now I have points. I can try to send you back whenever. It should… probably work.”

“Oh.” Izzy nodded. “I’m not sure if… I want to go right away.”

“That’s fine,” I said. “You can wait.” Happiness. At least Midnight was pleased at this result. With that not happening… I didn’t really have anything else to say. “So… run into any trouble with the portal thing yesterday?”

Izzy shook her head. “No way, I just stayed inside and let the professionals deal with it. I’m not equipped or paid to fight monsters. Still processing that license to get my swords back.”

“That’s reasonable,” I said. I could only get experience from fighting- and I got extra experience for it being the only option. She had safer alternatives. My phone rang. Nobody ever called me. Everything should be texts. Looking at the caller, I answered it. “Tylissa? What’s going on?”

Izzy stiffened across from me as I answered the call. Tylissa’s words were quick, a tremor in her voice unmistakable. “Jerome is missing,” A quick intake of breath, as if saying those few words had drained her of air. “He was over at a friend’s last night. Jerome went to investigate a portal and… didn’t come back.”

I was already standing up as she spoke, gesturing for Midnight. “I’m on my way. Don’t worry, I’ll come help.”

“I’m coming too!” Izzy said, leaping out of her seat. She stepped towards me, jumping to snatch the phone out of my hand. “Tylissa! I’m coming too.”

I couldn’t hear what was on the other end, but Izzy continued with her reassurances. The two of us were out of the door almost immediately. “We can take my car,” Sophia said, startling me. “I don’t know what you’re doing, but it seems important right? We won’t have to wait for a ride that way.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I appreciate that.”

I could barely say that. Worry pulsed in my veins- first mine, then Midnight’s resonating with me and adding to it as we explained what happened along the way. Jerome… he wasn’t supposed to be like me. He was supposed to be smart. Cautious. Not the kind of person who would run off towards an active portal with monsters coming through it… or step through one with unknown dangers behind it.

Izzy continued to speak with Jerome’s mother, but I didn’t hear any of it. At some point I think I gave Sophia an address. One of us must have, because we were moving and Great Girl was too responsible to drive randomly. My brain wasn’t able to think anything except stupid thoughts like carrying around a large mirror- as if I could expect to need to suddenly Scry someone. I almost wasted my mana trying on one of the car’s stupid tiny mirrors, but I was basically able to control myself. I wasted maybe a point or two of mana as I actually started before I caught myself, but that would recover by the time we arrived. We were moving far too slow… though I knew that there wasn’t really any way to go faster, not over a long distance with multiple people. I was tempted to burn all of my mana with Midnight and run to the house with Haste, but even with the crazy increase in speed it was too far to manage. Instead, I took a deep breath… and thought about punching something that wasn’t a friend’s car.