Magius_Swiftscale

  “Shawn, stop gawking at your pho’s a weekend, your ech isn’t going to make waves ht!” A young man gnced up from his s to see a dark-haired girl leaning across the cheap bck pstic patio table, a quizzical expressioched on her face. She waved her hand at him. "The future is tomorrow!"

  “But it might cat faster than you think!” Shawn id down his phone on a sunny, early fall day, sitting at an outdoor cafe in Northampton, and he couldn't help but smile. Across from him was his cousin, peering intensely at him. “Think about it, Cire. It could make history. On-demand sintered metal printing, anywhere in the world? It’s a big deal. Medical tools, parts for critical infrastructure, you ! All you need is a blueprint, the right materials, and a little creativity. It’s gonna ge everything!”

  “Shawn, it’ll be years before the patents clear. Your pany is tiny. They took a gamble on you,” she ughed, leaning in. “Hey, I’m gd we caught up. How’ve you been?”

  “I've been doing alright. Good, actually.” He took a sip of coffee, and ruffled his u, hair. “I’ve just been w a lot.” It really showed, sihis was his third cup of coffee of the day, aill felt fatigue. Maybe he could stand to work a little less. Even if the work was enjoyable. Or, took his mind off other things.

  Cire ughed in response. “You o take more time for yourself, you know that? I know you love your job, but you need a social life!”

  “I have one. Look, you might ugh at my wilderreks, but they're fun for me!" he procimed.

  “That is the opposite of being social, workaholic. That's like, hermit training!” she decred with a finger wag. “When’s the st time you went on a date? Sheesh, I swear you’ve been like this since college!” she tousled his hair with her long reach, and he grumbled irritably.

  “Hey, it wasn’t that long ago! Only…a month?” He sighed when he rubbed the bridge of his nose. She rolled her eyes at his less than ving protest.

  "That's my point, genius. Get out more often, with people! and not maes. Or spending three days solo backpag in the wilderness, hell just bring a frieime!” Cire leaned back, looking tent. “Anyway, gd you could make it to lunch. I ran into your mom when I was out in towerday, by the way.”

  “You did?”

  “Yeah, I knht? We got to talking, she mentioned you, and…” she trailed off. “Shawn, you know, she worries that you haven’t been going to your sessions–”

  “I’m fine, Cire,” he pushed back lightly. "I'm fine, really."

  "You know you talk to me about stuff that's b you," she said in a slight ge of tactics. "Why are you burying yourself in work? You don't have anything to prove, you've done incredible work. You look like you might have slept in those clothes!"

  Oh, I actually did. He'd been up te w on a project, and just hadn't bothered. "I uh...might have just mistakenly grabbed the first thing I saw."

  A few minutes passed by, and an appetizer was brought out by their waitress. Cire dove into the basket of onis, while he g his phone again, on his home s. His brow furrowed when he saw the familiar face of a blonde, blue eyed teenager on there, posing and making a goofy face with Cire. A photo far older than the phone in his hand, now. He traced his thumb aimlessly along the siding, a a pang of heartache that had been growing si week.

  Hope does without the unwavering spirit of bravery. That was what you told me, back then. I wish I'd known what you meant, Maggie.

  "Hey, Shawn?"

  "Hmm?" He looked up, with Cire looking ed.

  "I called your wice. Something's b you." Her gaze followed to his phone s, that he clicked it off and tucked it in his jacket pocket.

  "Alright, you tell me what you think it is."

  She cleared her throat, their discussion sounding muted with the sound of other diner nearby, on this near-perfect fall day. “You're doing all this to create distras for yourself, Shawn. To put something out of your mind. I think I know what."

  "Maggie." He tapped a finger softly oable, his voio longer carrying fidence. Only regret. "You know its almost ten years, now? I've tried not to give it much thought. I was doing good for a while. Then, my mom mentio st week. I haven't been able to get it out of my head since."

  She nodded quietly. "I know it’s hard. I know you bme yourself, and it wasn’t your fault. You dove in without thinking for your safety, and you had a near-death experience. You came out barely alive. Even ten years isn't always enough to accept things like that."

  He let out a soft sigh. “Yeah, that's where my thoughts keep going back to, all week, which is why I till two in the m, w. My sister is gone, Cire. The ten-year mark is closer than I’d like, and I still ’t get that moment out of my head, uhe ice.” Even now, he could remember that soul-crushing cold. He could feel it, closing in.

  “That’s what your mom was worried about. You're burying yourself in work--in distras.” She tilted her head to the side. "Hey, you know something? I think you o take a break. I think you o hang out with people. Not maes, not hobbies, not obsessions. People. You o take a vacation, and I'm going with some friends on a long weekend, week at a family , southern Vermont. I want you to e along, socialize, make good food like you always do! Hell, maybe even tell someoher than your cat about the cool stuff you work on!"

  His mohtened a little at that. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to decouple from distras. "Okay, you know what, I'll take your advice. I'll pack a bag. t me in. Maybe I could stand to do something other than think about an unging past."

  "There ya go!" she beamed, her eyes brightening. "Hey, I miss Maggie, too. I loved that iious enthusiasm she had, that uing energy. You do that, too! But use it to socialize, not bury yourself in a meical b! Also--wait, do you hear something?" She squinted and looked at him--no, looked downward, at the table. He followed her gaze.

  Shawn blinked as the air shimmered above the patio table, and there was a crackle of energy. Cire poio a small blue sphere, the size of a marble, that had appeared from nowhere, shimmering with light. The sound of a hummingbird's wings filled the air.

  “Um…what is that?” She was fasated and ed her body to examihe anomaly.

  "Cire, it's a ball of something, floating over the table. Don't touch it, first rule of sce horror films," he cautioned, and slid his chair back.

  "That's not a rule, you just made that up!" she protested, yet made no attempt to move. More wly, that humming was getting louder. A few people were turning around to look in curiosity, a low otion building. He'd already bumped his chair and grabbed his bag to get away from the thing. "I wonder if this is a like a...hologram? No wait, it's probably a portal like in those isekai animes. Or, maybe a wormhole."

  "Cire, seriously move," he repeated. "You have no idea what it is." Worse still, was a low sense of something familiar about this.

  The pluhe abyssal cold, seeping into his soul.

  Maggie, three feet away ier, filing, on the verge of drowning. Then he blinked, and she was--what did he see, back then?

  "Okay, I'm gonna stick a fork in it, and see what sce tells me about its rea with physical matter, enginerd!" Cire shook him out of his distra, ached in horror as she attempted to touch the anomaly with the utensil. He knew he'd made a fatal mistake, challenging her knowledge. Because she would always set to prove someone wrong.

  "Cire, no!" His shrill warning came too te.

  The sed she did, the ball of light expao a shimmering blue disc. Cire, and the table, vanished in a fre of light.

  They were gone. He felt his pulse skyrocket, and there were shouts around him. He gripped his bag, his knuckles bone white. He tried to process what he'd seen.

  A circle of blue. just like the one in front of him. He saw it, in that instant.

  Just like Maggie. Gohout a trao body. She was never found. They searched for weeks. Post traumatic stress drove him back to that moment when his body was shutting down from the cold. Maggie, filing, reag to him, ier.

  Then a blue ring of light behihat pleading look. Then she was gohen he woke up a day ter after taking a lungful of water and nearly died.

  There were shouts around him. People screaming for the police. and that eerie, deep blue sphere, five feet away, was still giving off that hum of energy.

  It's a portal. The same thing as before, I've seen it! He gripped his bag tightly, feet tensed on the ground. He'd been three feet away from Maggie when he lost her. He was not letting fear and weakness stopping him from taking care of his family.

  "Hey, Miss, if I don't e back out of this thing, you tell them Shawecost went to follow his cousin, Cire Ryker! I have a cat at 230 East Street that's gonna need a new home, in case I don't make it back!" he called out to their waitress, who'd dropped her tray from the shock. Four tenths of a sed ter, he dashed into the aperture. He felt nothing, and saw nothing but bright blue light.

  Except, for the notion he was hurtling to an unknown location at incredible speed over vast distances being crossed in the blink of an eye.

  The hing he saw was a stone sb floor with glowing blue runes ing up to greet him as he winked bato existence, and he smmed into the unyielding ground with the weight of his body. He wheezed as his chest took the impact, only slightly mitigated by his outstretched arms, and he curled into a ball, groaning.

  Whoever isekaied us, should have thought about a better nding site.

  Shawn winced and held his ribs, ag from the impact. The blue, spherical portal behind him, rippling like water, was rapidly dimming and shrinking in size. The room was posed of steel girder and sb stone, possibly crete. Below him, he spotted a smooth cold stone shaped in a perfect circle. He go his side, a out a cry of relief.

  Cire was beside him, groaning as she, too, held her ribs from the impact of being dumped on the ground. “What…what just happened?” she asked, eyes shut and her mouth cmped in a suppressed expression of pain. “My whole existence hurts.”

  “Same.” He gritted his teeth and dared to move. His ribs didn’t feel broken, but that pounding ache wasn’t going away anytime soon. Or the feeling like someone had just taken a grinding wheel to his entire body. He let out an exhale, and propped himself up on the icy cold floor. “Cire we o move, that blue portal thing is–”

  With a puff of air that frazzled his wavy brown hair, the spherical blue portal winked out of reality and doused the room they had nded inside, in utter darkness.

  “...Colpsing,” she finished, while he rubbed at his ribs gingerly. He grunted befrabbing his phone from his pocket, and activated the fshlight torch. He shohe fshlight over her, wing at the bright light. She propped herself up and peered at him. "Okay, I might have made a mistake, there."

  “You stuck a fork into aure, which then yoinked us from Northampton,” he responded edgily. That buzzing in his brain was finally a dull white noise. His fshlight shone across the smooth sb floor. There was not a single imperfe on the surface. He helped Cire to her feet, wobbling unsteadily. “I'm about y-five pert sure on that one.” He pahe fshlight outwards--and saw the patio table, tilted on its side. They were standing on a stone floor, and he could make out runic symbols etched in, now that he was looking closer. A faint glow emanated from the angur shapes, written in a nguage he had never seen before. He k and traced the strange symbols, a tingle of statiing his fio the rune in the floor.

  But the glow faded, as did the tingliion until he could feel nothing but the cold, dry air of the room. He rose and pahe fshlight in a circle, taking in the sights, while she peered around, frowning.

  “How do people portal?" she asked shakily. "It took you several seds to show up."

  "I jumped in, after you," he replied. She raised an eyebrow. "Don't give me that look. I had to go after you."

  She shrugged. "Well, let it never be said that you aren't g bravery. Huh. Do you know something?" She gestured to the room, looking inspired by the design. "This gothic architecture inside a sce b, would feel right at home in a Wolfenstein game. Creative, and possibly ominous,” she muttered. Instruments, beakers, what he suspected were power cells, and other devices were stored in open ets aly arranged oal and wood tables. The beled items were ever arranged alphabetically.

  “Cire? Let’s figure out where we are, first." He directed her attention to the room, and the devi the middle of the chamber, the portal in point. A set of three cw like spires rose from the floor, made of the same material as the stohey, too, possessed faint runic markings that glowed ever so slightly, and he pivoted the light slowly. It had the appearance of a bird's talons.

  “This is a little weird, right? You’d think someone being transmigrated across the os would be big neeople would be waiting." She walked to a bench, examining a gss vial, and frowning at the bel. "Nightshade acetate?" He kept examining the room. The ceiling tapered to a peak above them, with curved beams that gave way to deeply faceted architecture. He noted a catwalk set arranged above, where various tubing and wiring were arrayed, going to the numerous workstations. But, no puters, at a gnce. He g the triple spires, noting the wires leading up to the stone sb that rose from the floor.

  He finally spotted one doorway, a set of metal-cd doors with a simple tch. “I see a up that slight ramp. We should go try to find someone.”

  “Shaere just kidnapped into thin air!” She cmped his shoulder, looking at him worriedly. “Your response is disturbingly muted.”

  “I saortal once before.” Her face twisted into puzzlement at his stark clusion.

  “Say that again? You just so happeo see a magical portal, when?”

  “I think I saw it once before. It was…when I was uhe water. I couldn’t reach Maggie. I think I was shutting down from the cold. I saw her…and then, before things went fuzzy…I saw a circle of blue.”

  She finished his thought. “You saortal? This one?!”

  “I don’t know. But I do know ohing with absolute certainty: They never found her…remains.” He shuddered at having to use that word.

  “I–”

  She never fihought before the door on the far side smmed open. He saw a figure silhouetted against the bright light shining in–someone exceedingly broad and tall. he saw the silhouette expand–then there was nothing, but the light from the open door. It didn’t st long, as the door swung closed, bathing the room in darkness, except for their fshlights.

  “I didn’t see it. Where’d they go?” Cire whispered.

  “Stay put.” He heard the rustling of something in the room. Light clig sounds. Then another sound, soft, like a breeze. He listened ily, keeping his fshlight low to the ground.

  The sound wasn’t at ground level. It was above them. He pointed upwards with one finger. Her eyes widened, and he kept the fshlight low to the ground. He heard the tinued click of something nearby–like the sound of cat cws on a hardwood floor. Maybe the catwalks he’d seen earlier?

  He took a calcuted risk. “We’re not armed. We don’t knoe’re here.” He directed his voi the calmest way he could.

  Cire followed the subtle tilt of his head and peered upward. He could hear the rustle of something. Like the wis of a flock of startled birds at the park.

  “Where did you e from?” A female voice called out softly, above them–like someone had taken birdsong, and given it a human voice. He heard more sharp clicks. Then a crackle of energy, and the room lit up dimly. He took that as his cue to tilt his head upwards, slowly.

  A glowing spear approximately a meter long, appearing as if it was made of pure light, was aimed at him. The on’s soft glow illuminated someone above them–a humanoid figure, draped in robes, standing owalk, their body tensed like an Olympic athlete preparing a spear throw. He couldn’t see their lower body, obscured by paneling above them. The person wore snow-white robes that went from head to foot, but were well-tailored, with a small sunburst embroidered in gold thread on the chest. A cowl obscured their face, but he could make out ptinum white hair drifting out, and a gleam of golden eyes peering down. They held the spear of energy poised and aimed at his chest, with deadly i.

  Not human hands. Okay, I’m about three seds away from being killed by someoh an energy on, who speaks English. What’s the first thing I say? He rapidly ran through the bits of information he could glean. This b was advanced and well maintained by somebody anized. Someoh siderable intelligence, given the plexity and liness of the b. Someone, who likely, could be reasoned with.

  “We came through a portal. We ended up here. Your portal, presumably?” He kept his hands in the air while gesturing softly to the metal and stone device. Her gaze never left him, but he saw a shift of eyes, widening in surprise.

  “Yes, my design. But also, impossible.” He heard the slightest hesitation in her voice.

  “Why?”

  “Because I tried it a week ago…and I failed.” The bright spear tip wavered in the air, ever so gently.

  “You’re capable of portal teology? It does, where we e from.” Cire interjected, trying her best to look posed. “We haven’t even figured out how to create a bridge between points.”

  “That’s not all.” Shawn still made no motion, except to gaze directly at the observer. “You speak uage. This boratory shows great care and anization. You either have advaeagic that fills in the gaps of what is possible in physics. I’d say, you’re someone of a creative mind, someone I o talk to, about these portals. And, what they mean to me,” Shawn cluded, after putting it all together in a pitch to not be summarily stabbed by a stranger from another world.

  The spear tip nudged downward, the woman's voice carrying a lower, more somber note. “You’ll be left disappoihis was my st attempt to send out a portal. I failed.”

  “You didn’t fail. I saw another portal before this.” He saw a shift of golden eyes, arg in surprise.

  He had her undivided attention. “Expin.” The on didn’t waver, but she also hadn’t made him into a shish kabob…yet.

  “Ten years ago, I saw one of your portals, a shimmering blue sphere or annur disc.” He took a deep breath. Did he dare to tip his hand now? He o buy her trust. But, he was also worried that, if what he saw then was real…then, did she also take his sister? And if she did…why? She tilted her head, curious.

  He was going to fish for information.

  “The portal took someone, and then it snapped shut.” He hoped Cire wouldn’t give it away, but he saw the subtlest tip of her out of the er of his eye when she figured out what he was doing. “Why are your portals taking people off of my p?”

  “That…was not my portal. Someone else summoned a hy individual to their cause.”

  The light spear dimmed, then disincorporated into floating motes of light. They held together a sed before they disappeared into the dark ambiance of the room. Shaw out the quietest breath of his life–even if this was the truth, it was a dread all of its own. It firmed two disturbing things:

  The first: what he remembered was not aion or a false memory structed as a method of g. He’d seen it. He hadn’t imagi.

  The sed: His sister, Maggie, could be here, in this world. He had the first strand of hope he didn’t realize he’d needed for a long time, and it took all his effort to not let out a cry of absolute joy.

  He took another calcuted move. “So, you’re not the only one who create those portals.” The figure dipped their head lightly, their body posture rexed now.

  “No. There are others who ." The figure owalk opened a cwed hand, and a softer, more benevolent ball of light appeared in her hand, Illuminating the room. The glowing globule floated as if carried by an air current, and drifted to the ter of the room. Upon tag a metal framed delier the device bzed with light and life, giving the room a golden glow like old indest bulbs, and showed the are b ier detail.

  But he didn’t have long to pte it. The woman mantled over the catwalk, and down onto the boratory floor. His eyes wide the spectacle that followed.

  Massive white wings emerged from the woman’s back, through a clever opening in the bag of her white robes. The wings appeared like a raptor species, lengthy and muscur, with teal highlights at the feather tips oher side. Her dest was cushioned dramatically by her wings. He had no parallel oh to match that grace, and otherworldly appearance.

  It wasn’t just the wings. She had poised delicately with cwed feet–like a bird or a raptor, with widely spread toes. They were tensioned against the floor, ending in yellowed, scalelike flesh. Intricate foots wove around the toes and traced up her feathered leg, disappearing into the robes. It was much the same on her feathered arms, human-like, but with short, bird-like talons on each of the three fingers, and an opposable thumb. She slowly slipped her hood back.

  A tuft of feathers adorned where her hair would be–a whole crest of snowy white feathers that formed an ated with a few green highlights, almost like certain bird species. Her eyes were that of a raptlowing golden, and her lips formed a short, but versatile beak. Her limbs were lean and powerful–the thihers on the limb did not hide the aplished athletics beh them, and she shook the feathers as they poofed outward. “Well now, I do believe introdus are in order!”

  He had zero preparation for this sario. “I uh…kinda prepared myself for something surreal, and my mental preparations still fell woefully short.” His ay was only bei in check by his fasation with this discovery, and he offered an open hand. “Shawecost, of Earth. Greetings.”

  The eered at him with curiosity, feathers ruffling on her cheeks, before her beak creased slightly in a smile. “Well, not the worst introdu I’ve ever heard. Telga, the Radiant of Bance.” She shook his hand firmly after a sed of hesitation, the banded scales of her hand feeling warm, and firm, and she expertly avoided nig him with her cws. Her curious gaze shifted to Cire. “You? You look like family members. Apologies if you’re raordinary–I don’t think I’ve had a case where I picked up two at once.”

  “I’m his cousin, Cire Ryker.” She was more hesitant about extending a hand but did so after a gentle nudge from him. “I’m a chemist, martial artist, and occasional head check for this madman, with his engineering prowess and crazy ideas.”

  “Hey, I’m not crazy. Just my ideas,” he shrugged, even as Telga smiled.

  “Well, I like her introdu better,” Telga said with a quick cck of her beak–that almost sounded like a chuckle. “I wish the circumstances of your arrival could have been more opportune.”

  Shawn took that as his cue that all was not well, wherever they were. “I’m guessing there’s a reason for the ck of celebration? Where are we, anyway?”

  Telga gestured to the boratory. “Wele to Remaria, the Hallowed World. And it’s a world that is on the brink unless I do something about it, soon.”

  Shawhree seds processing this–a brand new world? “What do you mean, it's on the brink?”

  “It’s a long story.” She curled her cwed fiightly and winced–a very human-like rea. “I tried something I vowed I would never do again, thirty years ago: to summon a champion for my cause.”

  Maggie was taken ten years ago. Assuming she’s not lying–and I don’t know why she would, sidering I could have been a human shish kabob–then someone else grabbed her. But was it for this same reason? A champion for their cause? He po for a sed while he houghtfully. Okay Shawn, tread lightly. Find more answers, first. I also o make sure Cire does not spill this info, either.

  Cire appeared ptive before speaking. “So, do you guys just grab a bunch of randos from the universe regurly?”

  “Hardly,” Telga scoffed. “The magic always brings people with immeential. She motiooward the door. “e with me. There’s a lot to talk about. I may also have some questions–goodness, things must have ged substantially since I st brought someohey wouldn’t stop talking about this form of eai called…war of the stars? Or something like that.”

  “Definitely. Just don’t point any more sharp, energy-based implements my way. I’m more sociable when I’m not fag immense danger.” Shawn didn’t waste a heartbeat and motioned Cire to follow the avian toward the door, and Cire called out that she grabbed his bag--their only items from earth, and slung it over her shoulder.

  Whatever came , he held a hnited by ce, that had nearly died out over the past ten years. He had an opportunity to find Maggie…a her home.

  He heard a slight clig outside the door as he reached to open it–was someone else there, on taloned feet? He u, swung the door inward, and gasped.

  Another female avian with bright blue teal feathers, dressed in a dark uniform and fabric vest recoiled when she saw him. But the shock was repced by a as she drew a revolver-style on from a holster ohigh, and s upwards to aim at his chest.

  Shawing Telga, upon his arrival at Remaria:

  Spoiler

  [colpse]