A week passed after our encounter with the Krampus; the girls recovered fairly quickly thanks to healing potions and lots of rest. Although the encounter was possibly the worst we have ever had, they stood firm. As for myself, the wounds I got were not that grave, so I grit my teeth and carried on, the guild, fortunately, came to check on me and told me that the plan they were making got disrupted by the capture of their spy, so all activities regarding that had to be postponed.
It was my eighth day resting when I heard a familiar tick tick from my window. I looked out and let the raven in; it had a message tied to its leg. ‘Tonight, at the Den.’ I ripped the paper in half and burned it in a nearby candle. I decided to step downstairs and check to if the girls were there.
“I raise!” Sweetie shouted confidently, putting more coins on an already big pile of coins, strips of leather, and skulls of various animals.
“Bullshit! I call!” A big gruff man said, looking with absolute focus at his own two cards tightly held in his hands.
“Call!” Sweetie replied. The third man at the table, a young man with a light short beard, nodded and put another card onto the table alongside four more.
“Triple ace!” Sweetie shouted happily.
“Fuuuck!” The man shouted his hands over his face. “Alright, a deal’s a deal.” He said quietly and put a bag full of coins on the table.
“Come back anytime!” She said, waving.
“Fuck you, you, fucking horse, narwhal thing.” He bitterly spat out.
“Who was that?” I asked Sweetie when I got near her.
“A guy who wanted to play some card game. It was really fun.” She said, picking up winnings scattered on the table. By the time she finished, the dealer had gone away without a word.
“Where are the others?” I asked.
“Scoot is outside; she is getting some practice with her crossbow. Applebloom is in the basement doing her experiments, Tenebris sold that weird, gross whip and got us a lot of money.” She explained, sitting down on her chair once again.
“I see, well do you still want to learn how to knit?” I asked her. She immediately beamed.
“Yes!” She said, hopping down and trotting upstairs. I chuckled to myself and followed her.
When night fell, I tucked the girls in and waited for the people in the bar to finally go home so I could sneak to the Den. There I found Krivroth waiting for me.
“Hello, Tela.” He greeted me with a bow.
“Hi Krivroth, so what’s the job?” I asked him; he didn’t answer right away; instead, he motioned for me to follow him.
“Not here, we must find a safer spot to talk.” We entered what I assumed was his house; it was a tower two stories high, there were some grappling points scattered around the exterior, the majority leading to the windows. He opened the wooden door and let me in.
The interior was finely decorated with statues and gold. There was a desk in the middle of the room covered in papers, daggers, and gold coins. “Alright, so,” He started, “We have a VIP inside the Ironshakle prison, we sent a spy there to get him out, but he got caught.” I nodded. “Now, we sent another one, and this one did his did and let us know he could prepare a jailbreak two days from now.”
“Do I have to help with that?” I asked. He shook his head.
“No, your job is to escort this VIP back here in one piece, your night vision and wall walking will be perfect for the job, you go there, grab the VIP and come back here.” He finished handing me a map.
“So, how about payment?” I told him, folding the map and tucking it in my bag.
“Payment is talking with someone high up at the magical academy, do this, and you will have his complete attention for the day.” He said, then he got a bit darker. “Be aware, though, we heard that there are some problems in the sewers, be wary of thugs unaligned with the guild.”
“I’ll keep an eye out.” I told him and walked to the door.
“Hey,” He called. I looked back at him. “Good luck.”
I returned to my room and drifted to sleep. The next day the girls and I were excited, we were going to finally tour the magical academy. “Do you think they will be able to teleport us home?” Sweetie asked.
“I don’t know, we will see.” I replied, ruffling her mane.
“Do ya think they will let me tinker with their stuff?” Applebloom asked, tucking away a vial full of something.
“Probably?” I said with a shrug.
“I bet they have magic so powerful it can even call meteors down from the sky! That would be so cool!” Scootaloo said, hopping up and down on my abdomen.
“Nah, that’s just not possible.” Sweetie replied to her.
“What are you a handbook?” Scootaloo snarked back.
Sweetie started playing with her hair while muttering, “I would be a wonderful handbook…”
“Okay, girls, settle down, we are almost there.” I pointed to the mountain the academy was nested on. The mountain itself was incredibly tall, almost reaching the clouds in the sky with a flat peak. With a building was built on top. It had a giant clock on the tallest tower so big it could be seen from anywhere in the city.
“It’s big! What is that!?” Applebloom shouted, pointing to a weird train suspended in the air by electric arcs, it went around the mountain and stopped at the top then after a minute or so came back down.
“I don’t know.” I said, I honestly, it was similar to a train, yes, but how it operated was a mystery to me. “Guess we’ll find out though, it seems to be the only way up.”
“YAY!” Applebloom, well, yayed.
We came near what I would have described as a train station. There were hundreds of people coming and going while dozens of guards stood around, the main building of this train station was an almost modern looking one, it had a clock over it and sliding glass doors, we went inside and approached the main desk. Serving us was an automaton with a symbol of lightning coiled around a mage wand.
“Greetings.” It said simply.
“We are here to visit the academy, how does this work exactly?” I asked.
“The Thunder rail will bring you up the mountain if you have the ticket.” I answered, methodically, and without hiccups.
“Okay… Where do we get a ticket?” Sweetie asked.
“Here.” It replied.
“Can we have one?” I asked.
“It will cost five silver or ten gold for a yearly pass.” It answered.
“A bit costly, but fine, here.” I told it and handed over the ten coins. It counted them all and then handed one ticket to me.
“It is good for you and your children.” It said.
“They are not- oh, it doesn’t matter.” I said, defeated, and grabbed the ticket. We then moved to the binary and waited. The ground was covered with pyramid-like metal tracks. After a minute or so, we heard the arrival of the train. The pyramid structures lit up with thunderous power and kept the train hovering through pure electrical current. We embarked on the train when the door opened and immediately after we took a seat.
The girls shouted with glee at seeing the scenery pass with such speed, and for the excitement of being inside a machine they have never seen before, we saw a floating island hidden behind the mountain, it was full of lush vegetation and tall trees. Alongside it, we also saw a massive building abuzz with the activity of hundreds of people.
The second thing we saw while traveling up were three towers connected by a wall. They were dark red and had black clouds hanging over them. After that, we saw a beautiful church with impressive colored glass windows and a magnificent rose window. The whole church was densely covered with statues that gave it a solid gothic look.
We exited the train and were greeted by the immense construction we saw from the base. Up close, it was even more intimidating; the main building was right on the top. Right next to it, there was a tower, gargantuan in size with dozens of statues adorning it. It was filled with people, all of them different; it was like seeing a kaleidoscope of the Populus.
“Wow” The girls breathed out, looking all around.
“Hey, you are a unicorn!” A girl said suddenly coming from the right, she had blonde hair with azure eyes, and the biggest smile I have ever seen, she was dressed in a pair of white robes and had a staff with a blue gem on it.
“A unicorn?” The crowd started to whisper and look around until they found Sweetie; they immediately approached us. “They also have a pegasus!” Someone else said. “What is that one with them, though?”
“Hey, hey, please not too close.” I told them, putting myself between them and the girls. I bared out my fangs when they moved closer, “Stay back!”
The crowd started to back off and pull out their books and staffs. “What is happening here?” A booming voice asked from the entrance. The crowd immediately dispersed, letting the man come through. It was an old man with a short white beard and a bald head. He was thin, and not very tall; he was wearing a long blue vest decorated with gold and gemstones, he had a fancy staff covered with gold and runes, the man gave off an aura of power and wisdom. “My apologies.” He said with a bow of his head. “My students seem to have forgotten how one greets a guest.” he said, giving a glare to all of them, they recoiled and immediately took off for wherever they were going.
“I am Vesem Ador, headmaster of the College and archmage of Flora.” He said solemnly.
“Oh, uh, hi.” I said, calming down. “I’m Tela Pellegrino, these here are Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. We would like to ask some questions regarding ourselves.” I told him.
“Sure, what is it?” He replied.
“Well, these girls and I do not come from here, and not from this world.” I told him.
“Hmm, are you a planar traveler?” He asked.
“No, and that’s the problem, they found there way here somehow without noticing, and I wasn’t even a Drider before this, I was a human.” I continued.
“Intriguing, are you looking for a way to change back?” He asked.
“No, not right now, this body is much more powerful than a human one, and I have been attacked a lot since I got here, so maybe later. But we want to go home, their families are waiting for them, and they must be worried. Please tell me how to get us back.” I pleaded.
“I will have to look into it. Traveling between worlds is a complicated art form, one that could lead to untold dangers if done wrong, I will look into it though be assured.” He said.
“Will you get us home?” Sweetie asked with her big eyes.
“I can only say this child; I’ll do my best.” He said, kneeling down and patting her head reassuringly. “But I must warn you. World traveling is extremely dangerous; there is the chance that your world may be impossible to find.” He said with his head hanging a bit low.
“Headmaster, please, do what you can. We have to go home to our family and friends.” I said with as much determination as possible.
“All I can do, all I can promise is to do my best to help you.” He said with a gentle smile.
“YAY!” The crusader shouted with glee. “Can we see the school now? If we have to stay here for a while, I would like to come here to study magic.” Sweetie said.
“It will be my pleasure, come along, then the duties of a headmaster are not that many after all.” He said and motioned for us to follow him. We did as instructed and went behind him, the girls all climbed on my abdomen and enjoyed the ride. We entered the first building and traversed the well-lit hallways; they were made of marble and shone with immaculate care. We arrived then at an enormous hall filled with seats in a greek theatre layout.
“This is the Aula Magna, here is where our professors teach the young mind the theory of magic.” He said, he then continued. “There are twenty more Aula Secundus around the building for each school of magic.”
“Can I ask a question?” Sweetie asked.
“Sure, ask away.” The headmaster told her.
“Do you also teach necromancy?” Sweetie said in a voice so low I could barely hear it.
“But of course, all the schools are accepted here, even if the locals are not too happy about it if you want to learn about it, then remember not to bring undead outside the college young lady.” He said with a pat on her head. He then continued his tour.
We went outside and arrived at the base of the immense tower. “Here is the Bibliothecam, the library, inside there is vast knowledge, students are allowed inside, but some areas are restricted until they are older.” He explained. We went near the edge of the mountain’s peak and found a previously unseen staircase leading inside the mountain.
“In here is where the majority of the testing grounds are located, if you continue heading north, you will find the dormitories, but we won’t go there.” He said, and turned south. We went deeper into the mountain, passed a great hall filled with students, and then descended a staircase. The walls transitioned from grey stone to red.
The interior design also changed a lot; instead of it being devoid of any kind of furniture, we saw a lot of statues and altars all around the hallways. In front of us, we saw a group of students all dressed in heavy black robes, in the middle of them there was what I could only describe as a humongous man with claws instead of feet. He had red skin, fins of the same color coming out from the sides of his head. He had a normal-looking human arm on his right side, which was almost comical on his immense body. His left arm was covered with a heavy cape, but I knew what it was. Under the cape, he hid his giant right arm, the one his species uses to fight.
I stared in disbelief at the blatant fiend strolling around the school. “Is that a Yagnoloth?” I asked the headmaster him waving to the colossus, who smiled and waved at me.
“Impressive, did you have prior education? And a good one at that, not many know them at all, I must commend you.” The headmaster said, surprised.
“You could say, I do.” I said back.
“Then do not worry,” The headmaster said, “He is a teacher here.” He nodded to the fiend and continued on.
‘Okay then…’ I thought, still a bit shocked.
After a minute or so, he stopped in front of a metal door, on it, there was a cross. “This is the medical laboratory; please enter, inside the doctor will probably find more about what happened to you four.” He said.
The room was pristine and held various instruments. It was large enough to fit a dozen or so people. It had two beds and a big metal table in the center. There was a desk right in front of the door with an empty chair behind it. “Hello, headmaster.” A voice said, coming out from behind a curtain. He was a gnome, barely taller than the girls, and wore a small doctor vest with a pair of glasses on his big and round nose; he had grey hair and a long grey beard. “To what do I owe the visit?” He asked.
“These girls need your help on an important matter, they claim to come from another planet, and this one was polymorphed into her current shape, could you scan them?” He asked.
“Of course, here.” He took his instruments from inside a drawer in the desk. “I’m going to do some basic examination, are you ready?” He said, looking at us, we all nodded.
“Wonderful, go onto the metal table, please.” The table was cold, and the sound of hooves crashed across it as the girls walked
“What now?” Applebloom asked.
“Wait just a second now…” The doctor trailed off, starting to cast some kind of spell. After a minute or so, the spell ended. “Okay, so, it seems like you have some kind of weird magic in you, but I’m not sure what it is yet, we will have to use this machine.” He pointed to a weird metal box, a meter tall with wheels under it and a single arm with a dish at the end, on the other side of the arm there was a monitor and hundreds of buttons. “To find out what kind of magic, the examination will be swift and easy, but you will have to wait for the results.” He finished.
“I mean sure, go ahead, every clue helps us.” I said back.
The doctor took his readings, and after that, we exited the medical wing. “Now, the only place that you have yet to visit is the druid’s holy grounds, would you like to see them?” The headmaster proposed.
“Is that on the weird disk?” Scootaloo asked.
“Why, yes, indeed.” The headmaster confirmed.
“Fantastic, let’s go!” She replied with merriment. The headmaster heartily laughed and walked off, we climbed back onto the mountain and arrived at a weird station. There was a stone cube on a stone pillar. It was one meter tall more or less, and when the headmaster touched it, a bright bridge colored like the rainbow appeared between the floating island and the mountain.
“The bridge is safe to traverse, come on.” The headmaster said, walking on it.
We traversed the bridge arriving on the island, which appeared to be a rainforest filled with plant life and lots of animals scurrying around. “This is where the druids connect with nature and are also where our rangers draw their powers from, they hone their skills on this island and get the help of magical creatures to accompany them along the route that is life.”
“Can I look around?” Scoot asked.
“Of course, the tour is finished anyway. You can all go where you want except the forbidden areas.” He then looked at me. “If you want to enlist them into the school, you can do so by talking to my secretary, you can find him on the third floor of the school first door to the right.” He said and took off towards said school.
“Okay girls, don’t get too far away from each other, I’ll go there and enlist you all to the college. We will see each other in half an hour at the station, does that sound good?” I asked them, I received nods of approval and headed to the main building.
I went inside, navigating through the students as I went and arrived at the secretary’s office. I knocked and entered. The transaction was easy enough, a total of 180 gold pieces per month, ‘Costs a lot, but hopefully, it will be worth it.’ With that matter settled, the girls and I went back to the inn to rest.
I took the nearest lantern for the VIP; they didn’t tell me if he could see in darkness or not. ‘Better be prepared,’ I thought, navigating the tunnel looking for the extraction point, the twenty minutes walk from the Den was fortunately uneventful.
“Hey, you, the girl that will escort the VIP?” A voice said from somewhere I couldn’t see in the tunnel.
“Yes, I’m here to take him.” I said to no one.
I heard a little splash coming from behind me, and I quickly turned around to face what it was and saw a soaked Scootaloo looking at me.
“Scootaloo!?” I gasped. “What are you doing here?” I hissed, picking her up.
“I wanted to see where you were going…” She said, looking down.
“Scoot, this is dangerous I can’t-”
Suddenly the ceiling above me opened up like a yawning maw. For a second, I saw the starry sky outside. Until now, I hadn’t really looked up at the sky and noticed the bright stars. There were other shiny objects in the sky as well, floating above the world in a blanket of crystalline shimmers. But before I could dwell on the sky, a brown sack got thrown down the hole and onto the ground. I quickly rushed to open it, finding bones inside covered with weird crystals embedded in them.
“What the fuck? The VIP is dead?” I asked myself, hoping the voice would still hear me.
“Tela, why are you taking a pile of bones?” Scootaloo asked.
“Now that’s just uncalled for. I may be deathless young lady, but I’m not just a pile of bones.” The pile of bones said.
“Oh, a skeleton? Why aren’t you mindless?” I asked, putting the sack down, the skeleton stepped out of it and reassembled back into a humanoid shape before bowing.
“I am Glynberos of the Dalishny family, and I’m much more than a normal skeleton, but we can talk about it later, for now, we have to go.” He said in a well-polished manner.
“Okay…” I replied, looking at Scootaloo “We will have a chat later about this, for now, come along.” I told her. I took the sack and started to walk back. That is until I felt a tremor coming from around us, the tremor got worse, and before any of us could even think, the ceiling collapsed, I quickly pushed the bag of bones away and jumped away from the falling debris. Scootaloo already a few steps behind me.
“Are you okay?” Glynberos asked from behind the wall of rubbles that now blocked the whole canal.
“Yes, but what- Oh shit!” I shouted, noticing a gigantic shape lunging at me. I quickly dodged and got a look at my attacker, and as soon as I did, I closed my eyes. It was a six-legged lizard with stony warts all over its body and slitted eyes; in other words, a Basilisk.
‘Of all the motherfuckers to come here, why a Basilisk? I can’t fight blinded.’ I angrily thought. “Scoot! Close your eyes now!”
“What?” Scootaloo replied, coughing from the dust.
“Close them!” I shouted with more vigor.
“What happened!?” I heard Glynberos shout.
“Basilisk! Run!” I shouted back and focused on dodging. I put my whole focus on my hearing. I waited and listened to its movements on the water of the sewer. I heard the splashing of water from my right, and I dodged, getting my abdomen grazed.
“A Basilisk? What is a snake doing here?” Scootaloo asked.
“It is not a snake. It’s an eight-legged reptile Scoot.” I replied, backing off.
“That’s weird.” She murmured. “Nevermind, how tall is it, and where is it’s head!” She asked.
“Barely a meter and half tall, on all four like you, eyes are small on the upper part of its head, what are you trying to do?” I asked her.
“I’m going to shoot his eyes off.” She replied calmly, she breathed in and out and then shot with her crossbow. The Basilisk howled with pain when a wet sound came from it. “Bullseye!” Scootaloo cheered. “SHIT!” She swore, hitting the wall with a thud.
I leaped forward and tried to attack its other eye. Unfortunately, the creature avoided the attack, acting like a whip its tail hit me, I cried in pain, feeling blood coming out from my lower body. Scootaloo, on the other hand, moaned and stood back on her hooves.
“You stupid lizard, I’m going to rip your eyes out!” She screamed angrily at the creature. She shot another bolt, and this time it hit the head the creature near its eye.
“Scoot, listen to me, I have an idea. Open your eyes, look down and slide under the Basilisk, I will break the lantern and make it look at itself into the shards!” I shouted.
“Okay!” Scootaloo shouted back and started to trot, I heard her sliding under the creature, I heard the Basilisk turn around, so I opened my eyes, grabbing the lantern, took off one of the windows that it had and got ready for the Basilisk.
I made a sudden piercing whistle sound that made Scootaloo flinch and the Basilisk turn around, I closed my eyes and hoped for the best. When I didn’t hear any more noises coming from the creature, I opened my eyes and saw a statue where the Basilisk once stood.
“we did it!” Scootaloo shouted. She immediately took my dagger and went over the Basilisk. She stabbed into it over and over until the petrified eyeball came out of it. “I always make good on my word.” She said nodding to herself, putting the eye in her saddlebag she looked at me.
“I’m glad you are okay, now come on we have to find the bag of bones and return to the Den.” I said.
“What’s the Den?”” She asked.
“I’ll explain when we get there.” I told her with a sigh. We reunited with Glynberos and made our way back to the Den. When we arrived, Scootaloo was enthralled with it while I was talking with Glynberos.
“Thank you half spider, I owe you my freedom, this I will not forget.” He said with a bow.
“No problem, it was fun.” I said, sounding as happy as a piece of cardboard.
“Thank you again.” He bowed a little and went to the office of Krivroth. Krivroth then came to talk to me.
“A fantastic job Tela, I knew you were the perfect one for it, continue like this, and the boss may even Pick you for some special jobs.” He said with a good-natured pack on my abdomen.
“Thanks, anytime.” I said, I quickly took Scootaloo, I exited the sewers and went home.
That night Scootaloo learned that going into dangerous places without me knowing is terrible for her ear.