Disclaimer: ♪ Refer to chapter one! ♫

Ah, lucky for you, my dear confused readers, that the world will be explained in this chapter.
By the way, in case you're wondering, I do not have any romance planned; I made the OC female for various reasons, but that's not one of them. However, I can't promise that it won't end up that way; for all I know, this fic could end up with Quitha switching places with Tanis and Mabon switching with Caramon. Then Raistlin and Ives fuse, turning into an ambiguous cat-person archmage that sees death wherever it goes…
…That'd be pretty cool, actually. In a hokey, Toriyama-meets-Hickman-in-a-bar way.

"My personal history is of no consequence compared to the history of the world." --- Astinus, Chronicles 3: Dragons of Spring Dawning

---

I had many strange dreams that night. I rationalized it later that day in telling myself that it was just stress from the final project, but I soon realized that my dreams had not such simple causes.

In any case, as I lay in the bed, I felt a weight oppressing my chest. The weight wasn't so stifling until I felt warm air puff into my face. Almost choking, my eyes finally opened.

Two yellow eyes stared back at me.

"GAH!" I swiped the cat off of me, and in three seconds remembered my place and the name of the perpetrator. "Raistlin! You wanking bastard of a feline!" I shouted as well as I could with a dry throat. "What's the meaning of perching upon my chest and getting in my face as I sleep?"

Raistlin quickly regained his composure after being so unceremoniously thrown off. "You stated yourself that you needed to be up by the ninth hour. You almost over slept."

I hissed and looked over at the clock, informing me that it was now about 8:47 A.M. "Damnit, I said nine thirty! As in half-past! I don't have class until then, and my alarm clock…"—I pointed at the large clock with two bells perched symmetrically on top—"…was already set to wake me at the ninth hour, to give me plenty of time to get up and get dressed before I leave. I didn't need you to replace it." I looked away, annoyed and cranky from being up 13 minutes earlier than needed, and pulled out the pin in the back of the clock to keep it from ringing. It wasn't needed now.

The little amount of time that I had already spent with Raistlin had proven interesting. I found quite quickly that he was intelligent—likely more intelligent than at least Buzz—and that he seemed quite knowledgeable about magic. However, that's where his knowledge seemed to end, as I found myself the night before explaining how many of my things worked when he decided to "survey" my cubicle.

I didn't really mind him snooping around, since I knew that cats did that when introduced to new surroundings, but it seemed plain ridiculous when he began asking questions about the utilities (other than the commode) in the bathroom. I eventually growled at him that it wasn't necessary for him to know, and that he should just use his tongue like a normal cat. He wasn't quite fond of that idea, to say the least, and he pursued in asking how to work the sink in more demanding tones.

Then he proceeded to use the sink as he own personal bathtub. Normally, I'd be a bit vexed because of the fur in the drain, but I have to admit, I never saw a cat bath itself using water before. And if you never saw a cat try to soap its own fur, well, you haven't seen everything yet.

And drying himself—ha! First he tried crawling under the towel, and then he tried rolling on top of it. He finally gave up and shook his fur out, but he still refused to groom himself with his tongue and walked around the cubicle for an hour with his fur sticking straight out. I don't think I helped his pride with my constant snickers, either, and this only heightened my amusement.

This image floated through my groggy brain and I started chuckling dryly, getting an odd stare from Raistlin who was most likely confused on my sudden change in mood. Without offering any explanation, I pulled myself out of the bed, recalling that I had bedwear on before I started getting dressed. I'm one of those people that happen to sleep in little to nothing since I live alone, but I had a feeling the cat would have a hang-up on that as well. I must've guessed well on what kind of prudishness he could have, because he quickly reprimanded me for stripping before him to get into my robes and shouted at me to change in the bathroom.

I glared back at him. "Look, if it bothers you that much, turn away! I'm not about to hide away from my own bedroom just to dress for some mouthy familiar, okay?" He matched my glare and then some, but he turned around without a word and left me to change in peace.

Afterwards, I picked up my books and keys and went for the door. When I opened the door, stepping across the threshold, I looked back at him. "Coming?"

"What?"

"Students are permitted to take their familiars into class except during tests and special occasions," I said quickly, "They acknowledge that many wizards do not like parting with their familiars in any occasion. As long as you keep quiet, there won't be any complaints."

"Oh? Would they react badly to a talking cat?"

"It's not that; talking familiars are encouraged to keep quiet during lectures and discussions to encourage the student to think and speak alone…" I shrugged, remembering how this rule fared with classes I had Quitha and Buzz in. "Whether or not the rule is effective in promoting that behavior is a matter of opinion."

"Fine, I'll come with you and refrain from speaking." He walked to my side and followed me out.

Raistlin's breed turned out to be harder to pick out than just some generic shorthair. His body was long-boned, but a bit much on the lean side, making him look particularly lanky as he moved about. When he sat straight up, it extended his height, giving an added grim look to his arrogant posture. Not sure what kind of breed, or breed combination, would make that sort of body structure.

These lanky movements seemed to gain some attention as we walked through the campus and down the halls to the classroom. He got quite a few stares, despite that black cats are rather common familiars. When I entered the classroom and sat in my usual place at the far table, he leapt up and settled himself beside me, crossing his front legs over each other in a dignified manner as he lay on the table.

I smirked at his demeanor. He never lets up, does he?

The professor entered, closing the door behind him, and class began. Raistlin, as promised, kept quiet, but, more than once, looked over at me in a questioning gaze as the professor went through various topics. I only smiled back at him; he must've expected a class on magic, not one on ancient Indust-World history. When we exited, he felt the need to discuss the matter at once.

"What in the Abyss was that man talking about!" Raistlin's usual hissing speech changed to a growl.

What an interesting way to react to a history class, I thought. "That class deals with a specific time period in Indust-World history. Not all the classes that I take at the academy are magical. Which reminds me, I'll have to do my homework for my philosophy class during my lunch break."

Raistlin shook his head. "Okay, I understand the part about non-magical classes. I figured that out when I realized that man was not talking about magic. But you said that it's history? Of what world?"

I raised my brow at him, almost stopping in my steps to contemplate him. "You mean you don't know anything about the Indust-World? It was the half of Vearth that consisted almost completely of humans and had advanced in technology before the Gods' Impact almost a millennium ago."

That confused look returned on the cat's thin face. "…What?"

This time I had to stop. "You're kidding me. You didn't understand a word I just said?"

"Ives!" I felt a heavy hand slap my back and I nearly fell forward onto the feline. I turned around to see Mabon, grinning with his big, white, straight teeth. He has a freaky smile if you're not used to it. "Don't stand around; you'll be late for class. Hey!" He peered around me to Raistlin. "Is that the cat that you bought yesterday? You brought him? Does that mean you're making him your familiar?"

"Yeah, that's what he is, all right. His name's Raistlin."

"Raistlin, huh? That's a weird name. Why'd you choose it?" He leaned over to take a better look at the cat. "And you sure about making him a familiar? I thought the shopkeeper said there was nothing magical about him."

"That shopkeeper knew about as much of magic as a donkey knows to read," Raistlin answered cynically, "And, for your information, she did not choose it. Raistlin has always been my name."

Mabon blinked and stood his full height in surprise. "He talks! He didn't talk before!"

"Perhaps I didn't feel it necessary to talk to the likes you," Raistlin retorted, "Must I perform tricks for every passing mental defective that I come across?"

The half-orc frowned. "Well, the shopkeeper was right about his attitude, at least."

Raistlin seemed to have decided that Mabon was no longer worth paying attention to and turned back to me. "What was that you were saying? Gods' Impact? Vearth?"

I shook my head. "You really confuse me, Raistlin. You honestly don't know about that? Do you know anything outside of magic and big words? Honestly, what kind of magical, talking cat doesn't know common knowledge like that?"

His eyes narrowed on me, and I had the distinct feeling of being stared down at by a superior for unwarranted behavior. "You would take more care in your words, girl, if you knew what you were up against."

But what intimidation I might have felt was dashed aside with a strike of amusement. "'Girl'?" I repeated then leaned down and stared straight back at him, emphasizing my height advantage by using this motion to show that even as I knelt down this far, I was still over him. "I haven't been called girl in many years, and I don't think fondly of the memories I have of anyone who did." I kept my voice harsh, but I wasn't able to hold back the grin of my suppressed laughter. "I would suggest to you, little grimalkin, to not cross your master." I stood and glanced over at Mabon. "We've wasted enough time in the hall. Lets get to class before it starts."

We started walking quickly, as the people in the halls and walkways were already thin as students went into their respective classrooms. Raistlin, being a cat, had no trouble keeping up with us, but he quickly learned to stay away from Mabon and under his feet as we went, lest he wanted to be flattened.

The three of us reached our destination quickly went inside of the room to sit down. Unlike the last classroom, which had a more communal setting with the shared tables and the circular arrangement, this classroom had large desks all set towards the front of the room; this room was meant for magic instruction.

I took my seat, Mabon sitting himself beside me, and Raistlin, unbidden, jumped up onto my table.

"You might like this next professor," I said to Raistlin without looking at him, too busy rummaging through my desk for materials, "She's as much of a grimalkin as you are."

Raistlin didn't seem amused by the comment, but it made Mabon laugh, followed by him adding on, "Doctor Verobsance does have a bad manner, but you really aren't in any position to talk, Ives."

"That's different. But Raistlin, she's the oldest professor in this academy, and she's the head of the department, so to speak. Quite possibly the strongest wizard in this city, if not all of Vearth, and the whole campus knows it. This class is on Evocation. Later in the day, I have another class under her on Necromancy."

"The strongest, hmm?" Raistlin pondered on this before shaking his head. "Wait, you said that you have a class in Necromancy?"

"Mhm."

"What kind of mage are you? What kind of mage is she?"

I raised a brow, not entirely understanding the question. "Uh, I don't think she has a specific discipline that she adheres to, and I haven't chosen a discipline either."

"No, I refer to your robe colors. Are her robes black? I notice that your robes are green… strange. And you study Necromancy openly?"

"Huh?" I felt myself growing more confused. "What are you talking about? Yes, I study Necromancy openly, but what does that have to do with—"

Everyone silenced at once. The intense feeling of magical power as she entered seemed to fill the room and oppress us, and she closed the door behind her, and the quickly quieted room echoed with its thud.

Verobsance took position in the front of the room, taking a moment to look over her students. She was a full human as I, but had many more years behind her. Her face was marked with creases of age, and her gray hair, pulled up to perch on the top of her head with a blue head wrap as the rest of her hair, was allowed to fall back. Her dark eyes scanned over the class before stopping on Raistlin and I.

She grinned, her thin, red-painted lips dimpling into her creased cheeks. "I see that you finally obtained a familiar, Ms. Tarrosage," she said as she folded her arms into her maroon robes. "Quite an… interesting one, too. What is his name?"

I hesitated in answering, noticing the strange note in the voice, as if her question had more than curiosity held in it. I ignored the impression with a shrug. "Raistlin."

"Ah. Fascinating," Verobsance said wistfully, as if already forgetting the slight exchange of words, then turned her attention back to the others. "All right, I do hope that you have all prepared the 'Floating Disk' spell for class as I have instructed…"

The class went without much problem; save that Mabon had to ask me for some mercury and two of the other students hadn't prepared the spell (I had prepared it during the last class while taking notes). When we left for lunch, Raistlin quickly made clear his impression of Verobsance after he was safely outside of her earshot.

"I don't trust her."

"No one does, really." I shrugged. "But she's knowledgeable and talented in the field, so no one complains."

"But her power, and the way she acts… I don't see why your classmates go under her tutelage if they are so repressed by it. And why did she have so many of those pigments on her face?"

"…You mean her make-up?"

"Make-up? Is that what you people call that paint I've seen women wear?"

"By the gods, Raistlin!" I looked straight down at him. "How can someone be so intelligent and so ignorant at the same time? I know that you're a cat, but this is too much! You don't know the names for everyday items, and you don't even seem to have the most basic understanding of our world's history! Exactly how much do I have to explain to you?"

The whiskers over his eyes lowered. "I'm not enjoying my nescience any more than you are. But at least explain to me the 'basic' history of this world so I'm not completely in the dark."

We walked into the nearby café and I sat my books down on my favorite table. "Fine, wait until I get something to eat and I'll explain the whole thing over a sandwich."

I didn't have another class until the 14th hour, so I found myself allowing the explanation go for a couple hours. I told Raistlin about the histories of the two separate worlds, what we now call "Indust-World" and "Abeir-World", in more detail than I originally intended.

I explained how "Indust-World" had been populated mostly by humans, who bread so quickly and advanced so fast in technology that most other races had either gone into hiding or had gotten extinct. They had all but forgotten magic and sorcery, and although there were those who clung to these ideas, most of the intellectual class shunned it as superstition and focused on developing other sciences. There was fast and effective transportation and communication that spanned the whole globe by the end.

"Abeir-World" was vastly different; technology wasn't terribly important to the many races, being that several of them had natural affinities to magic, and some did not normally have the patience and/or intelligence to comprehend complicated gadgets. The studious turned their minds to magic, and where "Indust-World" had made a network of intellectuals through science, the intellectuals of "Abeir-World" made theirs through spells. But even though technology wasn't entirely trusted in the "Indust-World", the people of "Abeir-World" were even more wary of magic and were unable to let it reach its potential because of it.

Then came the "Gods' Impact". This event is shrouded in mystery, as the people based in the Indust-World, without any good knowledge of magic, had no good explanation, and the people of Abeir-World were in mass confusion, knowing it to be the work of the gods, but unable to define which gods. It was rumored, however, that it had to do with a goddess based in Indust-World that had a small contingent of followers in Abeir-World. Legend goes that something had happened to her favorite cleric, a bronze half-dragon oddly enough, and she made an agreement with the gods who had been worshipped by the cleric's companions to combine their energies. This required her to take resources from her birthing place of Indust-World, accidentally causing a catastrophe of great proportions. The energy of the gods made the worlds magnetize to each other in planes, and they combined into a single world.

The result was a completely new world, with the population on both sides taking heavy tolls from the upheaval of landscapes and elements. Seas turned into oceans, oceans turned into seas, continents turned into islands, et cetera. This world, with how it was combined, was so vastly different in so many ways from the previous world that they could no longer use the old names that they used to describe it. Instead, they called it "Vearth".

The humans of Abeir-World quickly took in the humans of Indust-World. But the Indust-World humans were, on large, so intrigued by the other races and so conditioned by their global communication to be tolerant, did not share in the Abeir-World humans' prejudices that they might have had on any of the races. They continued their pursuit in technology and, as the scientists merged with the mages, magic became an academic pursuit along side any other field. Any magic that would have been avoided or shunned was now made acceptable under the study to promote advancement of understanding.

Of course, my recount of these things, being that I was intensely interested in history and had taken many classes in it, was much more detailed. Mabon quickly grew bored and said little, having little to add to the discussion, and did little more than give a valediction when he had to leave for class. Like clockwork, Quitha and Buzz came in right after he left, cheerfully greeting us only to have her words swallowed up by my discussion with Raistlin. Quitha was able to add a bit to the history of the Indust-World and Vearth, but Buzz seemed to know much more on that subject.

Though, I probably should have noticed how she didn't seem fazed at all about Raistlin's power or his ability to talk; she seemed more intent on petting him instead of talking to him, anyway. Raistlin, of course, didn't allow her to and dodged away from her hands quickly.

And Raistlin asked many questions, which was another one of the reasons I allowed the conversation to go so long. At one point, he seemed intently curious about the original names of the worlds and their continents. I recounted them to him, and he game the impression of frowning and shook his head, as if expecting to recognize one of the names.

After I felt I gave enough answers to him, and he felt that he had enough questions, I leaned back and took a long drink of my soda. Quitha took this as a sign to start a different conversation and quickly initiated a few ideas onto our ears, hoping to get some more talking out of the new companion in our group.

Then Raistlin said, "Ives, didn't you say earlier that you had to do some work for a philosophy class?"

"…Shit."

Foreshadowing with a capital "F".
Anyone who can guess what both of the two original worlds were gets a cookie.
I'll give you guys a hint: neither of them were Krynn.