“So. Now that we’re relatively safe, I’m guessing that you have a lot of questions.”

  Setting down the kindling that she’d gathered, Fay moved to take a seat beside Lucas on the log he’d claimed as a seat. The soft moss beneath the fallen tree made for a surprisingly comfortable spot to rest. And practically as soon as Fay had sat down, Dusk wiggled her way out of Lucas’ lap and hopped her way across the log, plopping down comfortably into the blonde’s lap.

  Idly, Lucas noted that Fay was actually quite tall, standing only a few inches shorter than him.

  “Dusk, you should be taking it easy,” Lucas scolded, his worried gaze focused on the bandages wrapped around the fox’s front leg.

  Fay just giggled a bit and began to pet the pitch-black fox in her lap. The laughter managed to help diffuse some of the worry that Lucas felt, and her next words helped even more.

  “Don’t worry too much about her. With the healing potion helping to speed up her recovery, I’m sure she’s probably already healed up.”

  As if to confirm her statement, Fay began to carefully unwrap the bandages wrapped around the fox’s leg. She was slow, keeping an eye on the fox for any cries or signs of pain. But as the bandages fell away, they revealed unblemished fur and a perfectly healed limb, something that Dusk was quick to show off as she pranced around on Fay’s lap for a few seconds before settling down once more to accept further petting from the blonde.

  “See? She’s totally fine. Familiars are a lot tougher than they may look, and they heal a lot faster than us people. Add in the healing potion and Dusk is back to a hundred percent in a few hours,” Fay explained, the fox in question eagerly accepting the attention from her.

  “Familiars? What do you mean by that?” Lucas asked, the unfamiliar word catching his attention and forcing him to interrupt.

  “Shit. I’m sorry, I keep forgetting that you really don’t know anything about this all,” She apologized. “I’m used to even the people who are new to their magics at least knowing the basics.”

  As far as he could tell, Fay seemed genuinely apologetic for her slip. It didn’t seem like she was trying to taunt him about the knowledge he lacked, and Lucas could at least appreciate that.

  “So, familiars. How to best explain this? So, these little guys,” She gestured towards Dusk in her lap and Dove perched above in the trees. “They may look like pretty normal animals, but they’re far from normal. A familiar is essentially a manifestation of our magic. They don’t exist until a person’s magic awakens in full. Once that happens, a familiar manifests nearby and is drawn towards their partner.”

  As she explained it, Fay continued to stroke the soft fur of the fox in her lap. The familiar in question was more than happy to enjoy the attention, curling up in Fay’s lap as the blonde continued.

  “Familiars are completely loyal to their partners, and they’re pretty tough too. Since they’re created from magic, they’re a lot tougher than they look and they heal incredibly fast. It takes a lot to actually put down a familiar for good, and with enough time they can heal from a terrifying amount of damage.”

  “Completely loyal? Seriously?” Lucas asked.

  “Well…” Fay hesitated before answering, her voice softer as she continued. “It takes a lot to break the loyalty a familiar feels with their partner. It’s not something that’s happened often but even a familiar can only tolerate so much.”

  For a few moments, there was silence in the clearing as Lucas processed Fay’s words. It painted a rather dark picture of how some people could be. And it horrified him to hear that anyone would be able to do anything vile to such loyal creatures. But after a minute of silence, Lucas tried to restart the conversation.

  “So, you’re telling me that I created Dusk? Not that I mind, she’s adorable, but why?” Lucas asked. He loved the idea of a loyal, cute companion just as much as the next guy would, but he was a bit confused about why his magic even created Dusk in the first place.

  He tried really hard not to think about how absurd it was that he’d somehow created actual life out of nothing with his apparent magic.

  “That’s the cool thing about familiars. They’re basically built to be our companions and our navigators. A familiar can sense and actually see nearby Mirrors. Someone with magic can eventually learn to sense or even see a Mirror, but it takes a lot of work and practice. Familiars, on the other hand, can do it as easily as breathing. They keep us from wandering into random portals and help us find and mark any undiscovered Mirrors.”

  “And on top of all that, they’re pretty talented too. As you learn about and figure out your magic, your familiar gets a bit stronger too. Eventually, a familiar can even learn how to use a bit of their partner’s magic. It won’t be as strong as your magic, but there are plenty of familiars that are strong enough with magic to fight side by side with their partners.”

  Looking down at the black fox curled up in Fay’s lap, it was hard for Lucas to believe that the cute, cuddly little fox could end up being so dangerous. Though the ability to detect portals would explain how Dusk had been able to lead him straight towards a portal. But it didn’t explain why.

  “But why did Dusk seem so insistent on getting me to follow her through one of the portals? She didn’t even want to wait for me to get dressed,” Lucas asked, his words drawing a little bit of laughter from Fay.

  “She does seem pretty impatient,” Fay joked. And much to the amusement of both teens, they watched as Dusk raised her head as if she was proud of being called impatient. “But familiars are meant to be guides. She probably was trying to lead you to a Mirror. You have magic, Lucas, and if you really are the only one with magic in your family, then Dusk was probably trying to bring you somewhere that you could actually learn about all of this.”

  The reminder of his family caused something to tickle at the back of Lucas’ mind, like he was forgetting something. It took him a few seconds to even realize what it was, though when he did, he jumped up to his feet as what he’d forgotten came back to him with all the strength of a lightning bolt.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “Shit! My family!” He exclaimed, fumbling for his pockets and grabbing out his phone. “I’ve been gone all day on my birthday. My mom and dad are probably freaking out right now.”

  As he tried to access his phone, though, Lucas was surprised to find that the screen was dark, and nothing that he tried would get the phone to turn on or show any signs of life. He’d just charged it the previous night, and he hadn’t even used it the whole day. There was no reason that the device should have been out of power.

  “Oh. Yeah, that. You’re not going to be able to use that here,” Fay mumbled, cringing as Lucas turned his attention back to her.

  “What do you mean? It worked just fine this morning?” Lucas asked, looking a little frantic.

  Fay stood up slowly, the fox in her lap hopping off as the girl rose to her feet. Gently, Fay led Lucas back to the log and got him to sit back down. She sat beside him, one hand resting on his shoulder in an attempt to get the young man to calm down.

  “Magic interferes with technology, like a lot. Any time anyone has brought anything with enough technology across a Mirror, it stops working. The batteries get overcharged by the ambient magic or something like that, people are still trying to figure it out. When you go back to the other side, it’ll work fine. You’ll just have to charge it again or change the batteries out. But while you’re here, stuff like that won’t work.”

  Her soft tone was comforting and consoling, but all Lucas could focus on was how much his family was likely worrying and freaking out about his disappearance. He hadn’t even left a note or sent a message, and his phone had been dead all day.

  “I need to go back home.”

  Lucas started to try and get back up, only for Fay to apply a bit of pressure and force him to sit again. She was a lot stronger than she looked.

  “Lucas. Stop. Just stop and listen for a second,” She pleaded.

  Though he really wanted to just rush back home, Lucas hesitated and relented, letting Fay continue.

  “I know you’re probably worried and you probably want to go home, but if you do then you’ll probably never be able to come back,” She explained. “Lucas… You would have died there if I hadn’t been in the area. If Dove hadn’t spotted you, I wouldn’t have gotten to you in time. That Mirror is the closest one to your home, and that means the area around where you live is basically Direwolf territory. If you go back, I can’t just sit there and wait for you. If you go, the only way for you to get back is to try and get through that area again. But this time, you’ll be on your own.”

  Fay’s words left a pit in Lucas’ stomach. He wanted to go back home, but she had a point that he couldn’t deny. And the idea of an entire world of magic, of learning magic himself, was too tempting to just ignore. And now that he knew about it, could he really just turn away from it and never come back?

  “So what am I supposed to do? Just stay here forever?” He questioned aggressively.

  “No, not unless you want to stay. Just… Let me take you back to my home. I’ll take you back to town and you can learn a bit. We can get you a map, and some other stuff. And we can train you a little bit so you can use your magic. Once you have a decent grasp on your magic and you have an actual weapon, I can take you back to the Mirror and you can go home. That way, if you want to come back, you can without being in danger,” Fay pleaded.

  He wanted to deny her, to tell her to take him back to the portal he’d come through and return home. But deep down, Lucas knew he would regret that.

  “Just give me a month, Lucas. A month to teach you everything I can about magic, how to fight, and this place. Then you’ll be good enough to come and go without some Direwolves threatening you, I promise.”

  “Is there some way I can send them a message? Tell my family that I’m ok, at least?” Lucas asked.

  “I think we can do that,” Fay agreed. “I have a friend in town, he’s a tracker and he should be able to follow your trail back to your home. He can drop off a letter or something pretty quickly. But we need to get back to town first.”

  Lucas nodded his head slowly, considering the options that he had in front of him. The safe choice was to just have Fay bring him back to the portal he’d come through the next morning. But a growing part of him wanted to explore this crazy, magical world that he’d discovered and he wanted to figure out how to do magic. He was worried about his family, and it hurt knowing that they were probably terrified not knowing where he was, but Lucas knew what he had to do.

  “How far away is town, then?” He asked, his expression firm as he turned to look at Fay.

  He could see the excitement shine in those bright green eyes as she realized that he was staying, and despite his own feelings, Lucas couldn’t help but smile a little bit at how enthusiastic the girl seemed to get.

  “If we keep the same pace as today? It’ll be about two more days of travel, probably. But if you adapt enough, we can probably pick up our pace and get back before the end of the second day. You did pretty well today, so I think we can get even further tomorrow.”

  “I noticed that,” Lucas spoke up, looking down at his hands as he flexed his fingers. “I feel different. We probably walked miles today, but I barely even feel tired. What’s up with that?”

  “That’s your magic!” Fay chirped, a wide grin splitting her face as she leaned in to poke at Lucas’ chest, just around where his heart was. “Now that your magic has awakened and you’re on our side of the world, your body is being passively strengthened with magic. It’s nothing crazy, but you’ll find that you’re going to get a lot faster, stronger, tougher, and hardier. I think I heard somebody compare it to a top tier ‘Olympic athlete’ once. Not totally sure what that is, but I’m guessing it’s someone on your side who’s a pretty good athlete.”

  Now that information left Lucas baffled. Just from having magic, his body would be hitting the levels of Olympic athletes soon enough. It made sense why Fay hadn’t even seemed to break a sweat during their trip, though, and how she’d moved so quickly when fighting the Direwolves.

  Though one thing she had said caught his attention.

  “Have you never been to my side of the world before?” He asked.

  The excited look on Fay’s face changed to a more bashful expression, and Lucas almost thought he saw her cheeks gain a bit of color.

  “No, not really,” She admitted. “I think I want to go, one day. But I don’t think I’d fit in. I was born and raised here; the only things I know about the Ordinary side of the world is what we hear about from traders who make the trips there and back for supplies and news.”

  “Well… Maybe when I go back, you can come with me and see what my home is like.”

  Lucas had no idea why he was offering that to a girl he’d just met. But Fay had saved his life, and she seemed earnest about helping him. It only felt fair to be nice to her.

  “Maybe. I’ll have to think about it. And get my parents to be ok with it, too,” Fay replied.

  For a minute or two, there was a comfortable silence in the clearing as the two teens focused on their own thoughts, with Lucas staring up into the dark treetops and Fay gazing into the fire. But finally, Lucas broke the silence.

  “A month, then. If I’ve got a month, then I need to learn. So… Tell me what I need to know.”

  Fay turned her attention back towards Lucas, a small grin on her lips and her eyes shining in the light of the fire.

  “Well, the best place to start would probably be the beginning.”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~