An Encounter

I don’t know how long it was until I regained consciousness. Slowly, I blinked open my eyes, and stared up at the ceiling of the musty little cell I was contained in. I got the feeling that I was supposed to be mad I was being blatantly mistreated as a magic caster, but my mind was just too fuzzy to even think about it.

Lifting my head up, I rested my back against the wall. That simple movement sent spasms of fatigue through all my muscles. It must have been that weird shocking device. Feeling around with my fingers, I found that my hands were bound together with some sort of metal contraption.

What’s going on? I leaned my neck back, drumming my fingers restlessly against the cell floor. Why didn’t Eternal Flame activate? More and more questions began to pop up into my mind. How did that man’s attack even affect me? Shouldn’t my automatic Magic Shield have activated?

I frowned. Those mages couldn’t have been able to use both an Area Lock and a spell that restricted magic. Not to mention, I’d been able to use Perpetual Shock, so that couldn’t have been the case. Then what could possibly…

My eyes flew open. Magic spells were split into tiers based on how much the user needed to tap into the surrounding’s Manalite, the element that allowed for magic use. Perpetual Shock was a Tier 2 magic spell and Decipher was a Tier 1. Eternal Flame, Magic Shield and Spatial Reposition were all above Tier 3. I felt a growing sense of trepidation as I thought deeper into the matter. Everything was starting to fall into place, and I didn’t like that at all.

Those thugs and that man in the uniform had all used non-magic weapons. They all treated me, a blue-haired high-level magic caster, like they had no idea who I was. The strange dialect I had to translate. And…

And the woman who had never seen magic before.

Shakily, I opened my parched lips, and whispered a spell. “Detect.”

Numbers flew into my head, swirling around like a library ready to be discovered. “Tell me about the air.”

The numbers circled about, forming sentences in my mind.

78.09% Nitrogen.

20.95% Oxygen.

0.93% Argon.

0.03% Other gases.

“And?” I knew the answer to my question already, anyone could have guessed. But I asked anyway, because I didn’t want it to be true. “How much Manalite?”

There was a moment’s pause, and then the number appeared before me.

0.0012% Manalite.

I would have dropped to my knees if I were standing. I sat there, staring at the blank wall, not knowing what action to take next. Anger, frustration, dread and panic started boiling inside of me. The emotions swirled together into a hot, burning froth, rising upwards…

And escaped from my mouth in the form of a dark chuckle. A desperate sound, a hopeless sound. I could feel my heart throbbing, my blood flowing.

It wasn’t an Area Lock. I couldn’t use my attacks, or raise my shield, because I physically didn’t have the power to. Because those mages, instead of using their one attack in a futile attempt to harm me, decided to transport me to another world.

And because Spatial Reposition was a Tier 6 spell, I had no way to get back.

I was a god, but a cold, defeated one. A stranded god, with no way to return.

“Damn it!” I screamed through my hoarse throat, slamming my bound hands against the gravel floor, again and again, until they were raw and bleeding. My palms burned, ached and stung, but I didn’t care.

As the blood slowly seeped onto the ground, I regained some level of common sense and calmed myself down with large shuddering breaths. My electric-blue hair was now more of a dirty cyan, hanging around my shoulder in matted locks.

This was my fault. In the midst of my arrogant stupor, I had challenged the five strongest mages in the world, and it had led me to this. But even as I accepted this fact, a question still lingered in the back of my mind. What now?

That was, until I felt something small and hard press against my chest. I glanced down. Whoever had thrown me in here had stripped me of my mage’s robe and had replaced it with a uniform grey suit. But nestled within the folds of the suit was a small crystal, connected to a string that was wrapped around my neck.

Eyes widening, I stared at it, and felt something flicker inside me. It might have been hope, it might have been joy, but whatever it was it energized me. Concentrating on the metal rings binding my wrists, I spoke. “Decay.”

The rings rusted and crumbled at where they connected, and I threw them off my hands. Clutching the crystal with my hands and holding it up to the light, a laugh began to bubble out from my lips. A real, genuine laugh. Even though it was ridiculous, I felt like dancing.

The ruby red crystal was part of a luxurious necklace created to monitor how much more magic a person could use in my world, typically an item used by opulent nobles. I’d almost forgotten about it, seeing that my magic potential was normally so astronomically high I never needed to bother about running out of magic to cast spells. I had really just worn it for of its cosmetic value.

But, more importantly, the crystal contained traces of Manalite inside it. It was what the crystal used in order to check how much more magic a person could use per day. I grinned at this discovery, holding the precious necklace close to my chest. If I played my cards right, this could be my one-way ticket out of here.

Reaching into my mind, I accessed the Detect spell. “How much Manalite is in this?”

I received my answer. 0.5 grams of unrefined Manalite. Enough to roughly provide enough magic for a Tier 4 spell.

I felt my spirits sink, but not down to the same extent as before. Because now, with this crystal, not all was lost. I had a lead, a lead on how to get back.

Picking up the necklace, I checked what was on its surface. Currently, a red line rose to about a sixth of the crystal’s length. So far, since I arrived to this world, I’d used one Tier 2 spell and three Tier 1 spells. It takes double the Manalite to cast than a Tier 2 spell compared to a Tier 1, while a Tier 3 spell requires three times more than a Tier 1 spell. However, a Tier 4 spell is eight times that of a Tier 1.

My head starting to ache, I checked the crystal again. If one Tier 2 spell and three Tier 1 spells took up five-sixths of my total magic power, that meant in a day, assuming my magic would restore after around eight hours of sleep, I could cast six Tier 1 spells, three Tier 2 spells, two Tier 3 spells, or any other combination.

Rubbing my temples, I sat back down. Calculations were never my strong suit. I guess I did have to give some credit to my extreme magic potential, since being able to access even Tier 3 spells with such a small amount of atmospheric Manalite was already a pretty impressive feat, compared to the almost 2% of my original world’s atmosphere. No one from there would be able to use even a drop of magic on their own in this place.

But… what was the plan from here on out? I only had enough magic left for one Tier 1 spell today, and that wouldn’t get me far. And as much as I hated to admit it, even if I spent the night in this cell and replenished all my magic, I probably wouldn’t be able to hold off the authorities here for long. And even if I did manage to escape somewhere where they wouldn’t be able to track me, I would need basic shelter, food and water. Not to mention, I had no clue how the inner workings of this world functioned, from currency to their odd non-magical ways.

As I contemplated this, I heard two familiar voices echo down the hall into my tiny chamber.

“Are you sure about this?”

“Yes. My friend… isn’t quite right in the head, but I do have to take care of him.”

“And you say those three men were there when the two of you found them?”

“They were probably passed out from drinking.”

I lifted my head to see the woman from before, standing next to the man that had electrocuted me.

“Could we have a minute?” The woman asked politely.

The man scanned over me for a second with suspicious eyes, before turning away. “Of course.”

As he walked away from us, the woman gave a small bow. “Thank you, officer.”

In the harsh light of the hallway adjacent to my cell, I was able to see the woman a little more clearly, compared to when the darkness of the alley had swamped most of her features. Complete with a brown ponytail and a pair of glasses that seemed a little small in comparison to her large caramel eyes, she was a rather short woman who could only really be described as ordinary. Nothing stood out about her softly rounded face, and yet I couldn’t call it unpleasant either. Everything about her was just… plain. The only prominent thing about this woman was the determined air that surrounded her, and the expression I saw in her gleaming eyes.

“Why’d you come back?” I glowered at her from within my cell.

“After what happened before, I had some time to think and calm down, and… I’ve decided to get you to safety.” She inserted the key the man had given her into the cell door, and it swung open with a creaking sound. “Because, as far as I’m concerned, you’re the only person in this world that can use genuine magic.”

“And? What does that have to do with you?” I sat back in the darkness, observing her, looking for any ulterior motives.

“You don’t know what they’ll do to you,” the woman said, shaking her head. “Once they find out about you, they’ll have to know everything there is about your magic. Scientists will strap you to lab tables and cut you up into little pieces, before publishing their findings in a paper. Or… something like that.”

“It sounds like you don’t know what they’ll do to me either.” Getting up, I pointed an accusatory finger at her. “Besides, why would you care about what they do to me? I’m a dangerous person. I attacked your own people.”

“You’re obviously just confused.” She crossed her arms. “Anyone would be in a situation like yours.”

Walking forwards, she attempted to insert another key into the metal rings that would have bound my hands, giving a look of surprise when she found that they were already free. Looking around, she noticed the metal rings lying down on the floor. “Your handcuffs…”

“Yeah, I broke them.” I said, stalking over to her. “Listen. You’re too nice, lady. Naïve, as well.”

Holding my hands behind my back, I towered over her, aware of the fact that I looked quite intimidating. “What gives you the right to order me around? And what’s stopping me from just killing you, right here and now?”

A hint of fear appeared for a moment on her face, but she appeared to tighten her resolve.

“Because… I’m probably the only person here insane enough not to just hand you directly over to the authorities and those scientists.” She retorted, staring back into my eyes. “I don’t know what it was like in your world, but I’m sure you’re smart enough to understand when I say that even if you do kill me, it won’t benefit you in any way.”

I could see an unexpectedly fierce determination in her eyes as she spoke, something that made me rethink my original opinion of her as just some weak commoner that needed saving.

“I saw your magic fail you,” the woman continued. “And I know that in your current state, if you try to fight the military, or even just the police, you’ll be decimated in seconds.”

“You don’t seem like a mindless psychopath that would just kill without reason. You only incapacitated those men without killing them, even though they were attacking us.” She paused, settling down, but the hardness in her eyes was still there. “So, think logically. This is the best choice you have right now.”

I gave a sigh, relaxing my posture. As I observed this woman, for one reason or another, it looked like she wasn’t just going to back down and let me walk away that easily.

In any case, she was right about some of the things she said. I sighed and gave a large stretch. I guess if she could guarantee the shelter that I needed without getting me into more trouble with the authorities, then it was quite a good deal, considering that I didn’t really have any other real choices. “Fine. If you fulfill your promise and provide me with an adequate place to live, then I suppose I, Donnelius Conqaide, could accept your conditions.”

She tilted her head slightly to the left. “Donny-what now?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Even if you are to be my temporary companion, I will not tolerate you addressing me by that name.”

“Really? What’s stopping me?” The smallest hint of a smile began to play on her lips. “Donny?”

Exhaling through my nose, I tried to keep my annoyance to myself. If she was going to continue talking to me in this way, maybe agreeing wasn’t the best idea.

As she started down the dimly lit passage, something suddenly came to my mind. “Hey, I never bothered to ask. What’s your name?”

The woman paused. “My name?”

“Yeah.” Honestly, it was a question I probably should have asked a while ago, but I had never really needed to in my old world. “I mean, I’m not just going to use ‘you’ every time I need something.”

She looked a little hesitant for a second, but then seemed to realize something, and turned to face me. “I guess telling my name to a stranger probably wouldn’t be the craziest thing I’ve done today.”

Yeah, considering you practically forced this same stranger to come live with you, I thought.

The woman continued. “My name’s Martha. Martha Flores.”

Martha? It was an odd name to say the least, but so was basically everything else about this world, so who was I to judge.

“Right then, Martha.” I gestured out towards the end of the hall. “Lead the way.”

###

After a short period of negotiations with the officers, we exited the metal building that had held me, and headed back to Martha’s house. During the way, I couldn’t help but notice all the strange views this new world had to offer. Tall metal poles glowing at the ends, seemingly a substitute for oil lamps, which towered over the civilians. Countless self-driving metal chariots, piloted without any beasts to pull them. Buildings taller than those of any castle, monstrous structures of glass and steel. It seemed like this place really could sustain itself, even without magic.

Walking alongside Martha, I received a few strange stares from passerby, but they quickly looked away whenever I made eye contact. She did her best to keep everything under control and lead the way, but I had the feeling that this was making her uncomfortable as well, so we continued in an awkward silence. After a few minutes of this, we eventually reached a tall, concrete building. There were balconies every few feet, with windows to go with them. Small cracks ran down the walls, while dirtied tubes covered the side of the building. I stood there for a few seconds, before Martha started to head in.

“Why did we stop here? Do you have some business you need to take care of first?” I stared up at the top of the building. “In that case, I’ll just wait outside.”

“What are you talking about?” She turned her head.

I pointed at the glass door of the building. “Didn’t we stop here for you to do something, before heading to your house?”

“This…” Martha pushed on the glass door, which gave way with a creak. “This is where I live.”

“Wha –” I stared at her. “Seriously? You live in this disgrace of a building?”

She huffed, pressing a button on the wall. “Don’t make it sound so bad. I saved up a lot of money to pay for this apartment.”

I sniffed, smelling the stale air of what seemed to be the lobby. “I mean, this place is so dark. Not to mention, it looks completely abandoned.”

Her face flushed, and she looked away. “I’m… not rich. It’s the best I could afford.”

Suddenly, the twin metal doors embedded into the wall slid open, revealing a small empty room. Martha stepped in without a word, so I decided it was safe. Well, safe enough.

As I felt myself rise upwards inside the box, I gave a sigh. Who knows how long I’ll have to stay here? “Man, I really should have just waited until some wealthy tycoon took sympathy on me.”

“Don’t complain,” Martha grumbled.

The doors slid open again, and Martha began to fish around in her grocery bag. Pulling out a key, she slid it into one of the doors on this floor. Walking up to it, I traced the engraving on the side of the door with my fingers. 313, it says… what a strange way to live.

I peered inside the room. As the lights flickered on, I could see that it was haphazardly littered with empty food wrappers, while an assortment of what I assumed were clothes were scattered across the floor. In one corner sat a small rectangular device, and a seemingly second-hand couch was positioned directly across from it. On the left was a counter with more strange devices and a few cupboards, next to a small chair and table. A thin hall bisected the far wall, leading farther inside.

I grimaced. I’ve seen pigpens kept in better condition.

“Ah.” Martha blinked, before using her foot to shift some of the junk on the floor out of the way, clearing a path. She then glanced over sheepishly. “Yeah, sorry. I don’t get many visitors.”

Setting down her groceries on the little round table, she turned to me for a second, her eyes flickering over me.

“What?” I frowned.

“I’ll, um… try and see if I can find some boy clothes,” Martha said, starting to walk down the hall. “You’re not going anywhere in that stupid jumpsuit.”

As she disappeared into one of the doors on the side of the hall, I gave yet another long and audible sigh. I flung myself onto the dirty couch, which raised a thin layer of dust as I sat down, making my eyes water. If I can manage to find a place on this world with a higher-than-normal concentration of Manalite, breaking my crystal will give me the extra boost I need in order to activate Spatial Reposition. I held the red stone between my index and middle finger, pondering this, until a sudden movement in the corner of my eye distracted me.

Jolting up, I looked around the room, but didn’t see anything that could’ve caused the motion. Was I just imagining things? I rubbed my temple and lowered myself back down. That wouldn’t be so hard to believe, given the only other light sources were a few rays of sunshine peeking through half-closed curtains.

Suddenly, a suspicious patch of fur on the ground quivered. Quickly focusing on it, I rose again into a cautious position. I knew I shouldn’t have doubted myself.

The patch turned itself over, and suddenly, I was staring at a pair of beady yellow eyes. Hastily jumping off the couch, I backed away, a slight fear spiking through me. How? I’d have guessed this world didn’t even have monsters, judging by the town I just passed through.

“Hey! Hey, girl, Martha, what are you doing?” I yelled to the back of the room. “There’s a monster right here, in your house!”

In my peripheral vision, I saw that the door was shut tight. She couldn’t hear me.

The monster crept closer, never breaking its gaze on me. Though relatively small, in my old world, you could never really tell a monster’s power by its size. I circled it in the tiny space, gauging the thing’s weakness. Damn, I’ve used up most of my magic today. If this thing’s magical resistance is high, I might not even be able to defeat it.

All of a sudden, the monster pounced forward. Jumping back on to the couch, I climbed up onto its edge and leaning on the wall for support, as sweat beaded on my forehead. That was close. The next time that thing lunges, I’ll grab its hind legs.

The furry beast crawled onto the couch, and I could now see it had jagged claws on the tips of its paws. Arching its back, the monster prepared for another leap.

Focus. I stared down the monster, watching its every move. It sprung up with its back legs, and I flung my arms forward. Now!

Snatching it out of the air, I held up in front of me upside-down, grabbing the hind legs and keeping away from the claws. It hissed in protest, waving its front paws, but it was defenseless in this position. I chuckled, dangling it around. “Not so tough now, are you?”

If I took this monster out using Decay, I would be all out of magic, but I doubt I would be needing to use more today. Shifting my grip so that I was holding its hind legs with one hand, I wrapped my right hand around the creature’s neck. That girl owes me one for saving her life. “Decay!”

One of the doors in the hallway swung open, and I was momentarily stunned into dissipating the black smoke that was curling from my palm. Martha burst out holding a bundle of apparel in her arms, looking quite proud of herself. This expression quickly fluctuated to shock, and then anger. She dropped the clothes, stormed over, and snatched the monster from my hands.

“Hey!” I protested.

“What the hell are you doing?” Martha hissed, hugging the monster to her chest.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” I responded irritably. “I’m getting rid of this monster that broke into your house!”

“Monster?” She glared at me. “This is my cat!”

I didn’t know what was stranger: the fact that the monster was staying docile in Martha’s arms, or that she somehow seemed to be trying to defend it. “I don’t care what it is, it’s a threat to both of us.”

“No, he isn’t!” She lifted the creature up. “I’ve been living with him for over a year, and he hasn’t ever given me any trouble.”

“Live?” I was utterly confused. “You mean you feed and care for this thing?”

“He’s my pet. I own him.” Martha sat down on the couch, rubbing the thing between its ears.

“But what’s the benefit of that?” I gestured at it. “I mean, it doesn’t look particularly nutritious.”

She recoiled in disgust. “I’m not going to eat him!”

“So, you let this thing leech off of your food and shelter, for absolutely no reason whatsoever?” The entire prospect was just ridiculous.

Martha folded her arms. “Well, that’s exactly what you’re doing as well, isn’t it?”

I had to say, I hadn’t quite thought about it that way, and thus had no witty comeback.

“Besides, he gives me emotional support.” She flipped the thing over and rubbed its underside. I could swear that it was smirking at me, as it lay contentedly in her arms, purring in satisfaction. “Look. Isn’t he just the cutest thing?”

“Like hell he is!” I jabbed my finger at the furry creature, the cat. “The little thing tried to attack me!”

“I’m sure you just provoked him.” Martha nestled the cat to her stomach. “Isn’t that right, Chestnut?”

“You named that thing?” I scowled.

“Hey. I won’t tolerate any insults to him.” With a frown, she huddled defensively over it. “From now on you’re going to be good to Chestnut, or I’m kicking you out.”

Crossing my arms, I arched an eyebrow at her. For a grown-up person, she honestly acts like a kid.

Setting the cat on the floor, Martha pointed towards the pile of clothes she had dropped on the floor. “Get changed. Those are my father’s old clothes, so they’ll stop people from staring at you in the streets.”

As I walked towards the strange clothes, I glared at the cat, as it had retreated to a corner of the room. This isn’t over.

Then, picking up a blue piece of fabric that seemed to be the leg portion of the clothes, I waved it around in the air in front of me. “This looks uncomfortable.”

“They’re jeans. You’re on Earth now, so get used to them,” Martha replied, stretching her body out on the couch.

Earth? Is that what this place is called? Feeling around the back of my neck, I found a small piece of metal, which gave way down my back as I pulled. I was halfway through taking off the one-piece jumpsuit when I was interrupted by a loud exclamation from Martha. I turned back, frowning. “What is it now?”

“What is your problem?” She rushed over to me with her face flushed, and quickly pulled the top part of the jumpsuit back onto my body.

“You just told me to change!” I replied exasperatedly.

“Not in the middle of my living room!” She pushed me towards one of the doors on the side of the hall, averting her eyes. “Man…”

The door slammed shut behind me, and I looked around. This room was slightly smaller than the living room and contained not much more than a bed with a white mattress and a vertical mirror. I noted that the top of the mirror ended just where my forehead began, probably on account of Martha being so short.

I dropped down onto the bed. It was surprisingly soft, softer than any bed in my previous world. Staring at my reflection in the mirror, I saw myself for the first time since I was teleported here. My blue hair drooped around my shoulders lifelessly, and I could see the bags under my darkened eyes. Damn, I look miserable.

Just this morning, I was having fun with my seemingly endless power, toying with that Royal Infantry. I stared at the ceiling aimlessly. Come to think of it, all of this had happened in the span of less than a few hours. It hadn’t even been a day yet, but so much seemed to have happened.

Pulling off my grey suit, I slipped on the rest of the clothes Martha had provided. As expected, the leggings were tight and uncomfortable, but the shirt actually felt pretty nice. On its front were bright red letters that spelled out ‘Hope you have a beary nice day!’, accompanied with a whimsical portrayal of some furry looking creature. I assumed the sentence would make more sense if I had a deeper understanding of the language.

Pushing open the door, I was greeted by Martha rooting around through her food storage container. She looked at me for a moment, before grinning. I tilted my head. “What is it?”

The look of amusement on her face didn’t fade. “You look like a hippie.”

“I’d probably be offended if I knew what that was.”

Chuckling, she turned back to the storage device. After a slight pause, she then turned back to me again with an odd expression. “Do you… eat?”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

She gestured at me. “Well, you’re basically an alien. Do you need food to survive?”

Hmm. In my old world, I automatically transferred the Manalite in the air to energy, so I only really consumed food for pleasure. But considering the miniscule amount of Manalite in this planet’s atmosphere, it was pretty safe to assume that I would starve without feeding myself.

“Yeah.” I nodded. “But if you’re going to present me any food, I expect it be of the highest quality.”

Martha closed the door of the storage device and gave a little sigh. “Well, I can’t present you with high quality food if I don’t have food at all. Your shenanigans cost me my two whole bags of groceries.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Come on.” She smiled, tilting her thumb towards the door. “We’re going shopping.”