25

Defeat

Time: Just then

Place: The air over the Ancient Dragon

As the jaws of the Ancient Dragon closed over the poor, defenseless minor dragon the pope and his Familiar were riding, Susan cast a spell. She cast the only spell she could think of that would get the two out of there in one piece and deprive the Ancient Dragon of its meal. She cast a spell, and she actually didn't bother to put much energy into it, as the difficulty was the distance and they were honestly right there. But it was being cast on two people, so she put a little energy into it. I mean she'd be a fool not to, right? She can put in four and be almost guaranteed to get two back with her rating in Energy Boost. Even as high as six and three in a pinch, though that isn't as sure a thing.

But what is a sure thing in life? I mean, there you are, being pope, right? Then this weird girl starts acting all high and mighty and these two other Void mages are found. The very next day you're staring down a dragon and thinking maybe being up where the thing's mouth was wasn't such a good idea. You can feel the heat of the flames as the dragon you're riding helplessly inches closer. Teeth as big as you are can be seen, and you can't help but wonder what this creature would need to eat in a day to actually support this amount of mass.

Oh right, the spell. Susan cast Telesummon, getting a 16 by taking the full time (it was only 1.6 seconds, and it took longer than that for the Ancient Dragon to open its mouth. She was at a minus two for casting it on both of them, but used four energy, so it worked out. As the jaws closed, both men found themselves in Susan's arms, and with her STRength augmented by magic, for a total of eleven, she could easily lift 350kg. That's over 770 lbs for those that are more used to those measurements. Both men were strapping, healthy boys, but they didn't weigh nearly four hundred pounds apiece.

Susan continued flying away, fast as she could. It took a second for the dragon to realize it hadn't gotten the meal it wanted, and started inhaling for another blast of fire. Amazingly, the pope hadn't lost the spell, apparently willing to give his all even to the last second, and he went up another slight amount on the Susan Scale.

"We're getting too far away!" he said. "My magic won't be able to reach him."

"I can't defend us with both hands holding you guys. Sorry, I have to drop you, Julio!"

"NO!" cried the pope.

"I'm only teasing. Hope you've got this by yourself, Sparkle!"

"I'm at half energy, I can't promise to deflect too many more."

Susan changed direction, with the majority of the dragons having flown to follow his "attack" command, the sky was now much clearer. She figured if she could get behind him, he wouldn't be able to effectively shoot fire at her.

Sparkle Deflected another blast of fire, but had to spend her card 71, Lucky Break to not die.

"Okay, that's all my cards, unless you have something up your sleeve, the next one might hit us."

"Yeah, Extra Cash and... oh, a Damage Add," that she immediately played on the pope. Forgot about that one, wasn't thinking we could hurt this thing at all, so I didn't bother playing it. The Ancient Dragon roared as it took more damage that turn, and decided it was not in the position it wanted to be at the moment. It took one more breath, this time directing fire away from Susan and towards the soldiers on the cliff. It was petty, and some of the dragons got roasted, but it didn't care about that. The humans there died, so it felt it had accomplished something, at least. It deliberately didn't roast the side with the Void mages, probably because it wanted to eat them too, but raw, not cooked. It then raised up on its hind paws and shouted "Enough of this!" Slamming into the ground it knocked people over for a mile (or so) and a shimmering energy barrier sprang up around it.

Susan could tell the barrier was blocking whatever Vittorio was doing, as the Dragon's flesh started to heal again rather then peel away. He stopped maintaining the spell and looked at that barrier.

"Now what?" he asked.

"Unless you want to Teleportal down below the barrier and be cut off totally from our support, I don't know. Watch it to see if it moves and start attacking it when it does? That spell of yours hurt it, but awfully slowly. We're going to need a good plan for our next attack."

"I agree. But we have hope now, we've shown it can be pressed, and even frustrated. To think it could talk! Come, set us down and let us take stock of who made it through the attack."

"We only made it through because of you," Julio put in. "Thank you for saving our lives like that."

"Not a problem. I once used that spell totally inappropriately so I like to think my using it today has made up for that, somewhat. Come on."

Susan flew down to the ground, where everyone was picking themselves back up after being knocked over by the Dragon's attack.

Was that a power, or just the raw STRength of that creature? she wondered.

It turned out, half the soldiers that had come had perished in the creature's last fire attack, and Vittorio made a point of asking the captain for the names of the men that had died when this was over.

"I'll have some kind of monument made in their honor," he promised.

Yeah, made of this thing's bones, I hope.

"So what's our next move?" asked Louise, as everyone gathered around to see what was next. Susan was busy plunging her knife into anyone who was wounded, or into their armor to repair that.

"We need to get more people attacking it directly, rather than just the pope," suggested Hiraga. "Did you see, when he was using his spell that mist or whatever started to clear. I bet some phosphorus grenades or rockets would put a dent in it. If only I could get something like a modern fighter jet, put some missiles into it while the pope weakened it. We really still have no clues as to how to move between worlds? Siesta's great-grandfather got here somehow, right? And Void magic is supposed to help us fight this creature, right? So now would be a great time for some kind of spell to appear in that book to get me home."

"Actually," said Louise, getting out her book, "it may have already, and the clue might be in the name. This spell is called World Door. What if that means I can open doors to other worlds, too?"

"Hey, that would be amazing! You really think it would work?"

"I'm happy to try. If your weapons are really that much better than our magic, we could certainly use them."

"How about it, Susan?" he asked. "We have all the planets, and you're always saying how much more powerful you would be if you could only have access to all your magic. Could you help me clean out an army base or something, get some explosive weapons to use here?"

"Sure thing! It would let me get my book of magic out, at the very least. And if it works once it'll work again, and once this situation is over I can go back, then have a little chat with Inari. That creature though, it knows I'm here. I should probably tell you, it probably now knows our plan, too. Sorry, my fault kinda, but can't be helped. As soon as I'm gone it may resume the attack. We'll probably want to get more people here, maybe fire or water mages, people who can deflect or neutralize that fire breath of his."

"With some more time, we can get additional forces here. You dropped that Teleportal?"

"Yeah, when it started shooting fire at you and I needed all my concentration for that."

"Then let us go back and start bringing more forces here. The call has gone out, and people should, I hope, be rushing to aid us. We'll both stay here, Julio, you can go and organize things on the other side. That way all the Void mages and Susan will be here, and it'll stay bottled up in that shell while it thinks of what to do next."

"Got it."

Susan opened the Teleportal again, hoping she might get some rest soon. Even her energy wasn't limitless. People started coming through, in small groups at least, and all wearing different styles of armor. Some didn't have armor at all, and claimed to be mercenaries.

"I put out the call for them, too. Not all magic users are nobles, of course. Some lose their titles, or have no use for them. Some just want to further their magical arts and can't be bothered with the other things that come along with being a noble. But everyone has to eat. So they hire their services out, and I figured with a large enough bounty on the head of this creature, everyone who helps can take a share and make some money. Like I said before, I'd rather be poor and alive then rich while the world burns."

"Sensible," agreed Susan.

He started coordinating their positioning around the Ancient Dragon, based on what they said their specialties were, and while the force looked pathetically small in Susan's eyes, she herself was a good example of not judging a book by its cover. Who knew what sort of magic these oddball characters knew, I mean that little guy is carrying around some kind of tuba or something. What's his deal?

Night started creeping up on them, and Susan told Vittorio she would have to close the Teleportal to sleep. She needed to get her energy back, so when the creature started moving again, she would be ready. He said that was fine, and told Julio to just have people wait there for the next morning, ready to fight at sunrise. He said he would, and Susan shut it down for the night.

It passed peacefully, the glow of the two moons and the energy shield around the creature lighting the place up enough so watchfires weren't needed. Susan got to sleep as early as she could, in case it picked midnight to start attacking again, but to an immortal creature like the Ancient Dragon, one night was hardly worth considering, so she woke refreshed the next morning.

"Ready to try this?" Louise asked, after a light breakfast brought through the portal.

"I better shrink us," Susan cautioned. "Remember, the one just between two places on this world was pretty small. To go between worlds might be even smaller."

"Good point."

Susan put Flight and Shrink on Hiraga, Sparkle, and herself, and hovered in front of Louise.

"Wait," said Hiraga, "how will we get back?"

"I can get us back," explained Susan. "My father left plenty of notes in my spellbook about moving across worlds. Four times he had to move these enormous towers between worlds, to put them back in their right positions. They had been moved to disrupt the energy they were keeping in check so The Darkness could take it for itself. So a variant spell of Dimension Gate can be used. It's just you have to see the dimension you want to go to, or have certain information he was able to gain from the towers themselves in order to do it. So normally most people can't. As I've been here some time, I can open a door back here."

"Guess I shouldn't have worried, you really are powerful!"

"Magic is powerful, I'm just the conduit."

"Whatever you say. Okay, we're ready! Good luck, Louise!"

She held out a hand, and Hiraga perched there. Louise raised her wand, and intoned the gibberish words to the spell she needed to open the World Door. To Susan's amazement, it worked, and a modern day Japan met her eyes.

"Let's go!" said Hiraga, flying up and pulling her. "That's home, let's get through before it closes."

"You better come back, Hiraga!" shouted Louise as both darted through. Susan felt Hiraga's hand leave hers, and suddenly she was full sized again, and standing in an odd room that some kind of energy barrier in front of and behind her. The one behind her vanished, and she heard a pleasant voice from out of nowhere.

Meanwhile, Hiraga looked back through the hole, looking for Susan. "Didn't she come through?" he asked.

"She isn't there?" Louise managed, before she couldn't hold the spell anymore and the door closed.

Both looked around, wondering what had happened, as Susan was on neither side of the door.

Back with Susan...

"Please remain calm. You have been redirected from your intended transit destination. Your transit is very important to us. An agent will be along shortly to assist you. Please remain in the holding area while your threat level is determined. Thank you for your patience."

"Uh, what?" asked Sparkle, looking around.

"Yeah, what?" asked Susan, also looking around. The cell she was in was stark, little more than a metal box with one side open. That side shimmered with energy, and probably not the 'oh that tickles' sort of energy, should you be stupid enough to poke it with some kind of appendage.

"If you would like the previous message repeated, please say 'repeat that.' Otherwise, remain in the holding area while you are scanned. The scan is non-invasive and completely harmless." There was a pause. "You have not said 'repeat that' so the scan will now commence." A beam of light swept over Susan, and she shielded her eyes. She needn't have bothered, it was gone again a second later. "Your results will now be computed, and an agent will be dispatched to assist you. We thank you again for your patience."

"Right. Sure," said Susan, wondering what in the blue blazes was going on. Heck, it might even be shifted up to Navy blue blazes. She didn't have long to wait as almost immediately a figure approached the cell from down the hall. It seemed her cell was directly opposite the hallway leading away, and the energy barrier vanished.

"Sorry about that," said the figure, which was roughly human shaped. It was covered, from head to toe, in a silvery liquid armor that reflected Susan's worried face back at her. Where a human would have eyes, a faintly glowing red visor was inset into the metal. Otherwise, there wasn't a seam or rivet on the entire figure. A staff, pointed at both ends, could be seen sticking out from behind one shoulder and the figure's leg. "You bear the mark of Inari, so you must be okay. Are you in some kind of trouble, or shall we just put you back at your intended destination?"

"You know Inari? Can you take me to see her? My friend got lost between worlds and I have no idea where she is!"

"I guess you are in trouble. Please, come out of there and we can see about finding your friend. And greetings to you as well," he said to Sparkle, giving a little bow.

"What is this place?" she asked, stepping out and looking down the hall. It seemed to be filled with a bunch of identical cubes, each with an energy barrier across it.

"Welcome to The Hub, I'm Silverstreak, and I'm sure you must have a lot of questions. Come, I'll offer you something to eat and we can sit down to get you squared away."

"I just ate, but some answers would be nice."

"Right this way!" He indicated the hallway where he had come from, and both started walking through the narrow corridors.

"Homey."

"Ah, yes, this area is rather stark, isn't it? Don't worry, it opens up further on. If something should come through that isn't as pleasant as yourself, we need to be able to contain it and this sort of layout helps. Here we are." They came to what looked like an elevator, and Silverstreak stepped inside. "Meeting room 453 is free, I believe. We'll head there."

"Fine with me." The doors closed, and then a second later they opened again.

"And here we are. If you'll just come this way?"

"People say I don't mess around, they don't even know."

Silverstreak chuckled. "Yes, one of the advantages of having a complete understanding of how time and space work means no tedious waiting for elevators."

Susan followed the being into a very rich looking meeting room, all ancient wood and plush chairs and though she couldn't see any lighting devices, the space was still evenly lit. Silverstreak motioned her to sit, and she did, a cup with what looked like water materialized on her right. Silverstreak also sat, and she noticed the staff now standing straight up next to him, as though balanced on the point.

"Who are you? What is this place? How did I get here?" A million more questions fought their way to the forefront.

"Let me give you a little background, that should answer most of your questions. Any you have after that I'll be glad to address. Sound fair?" Susan nodded. "Great. Let's tackle the last one first. How did you get here? It's actually a security system I created, triggered by a being leaving a world by a different means than they entered. Consider this situation- a nefarious type gains access to other worlds and starts to exploit them. He or she brings some magic or technology of a level unseen on the world he travels to. The beings there banish them using what means they can, either to just get rid of that person back to their own world, or to another so it's not their problem anymore. Well, instead of doing things at random or inflicting someone like that on another unsuspecting world, they're redirected here. If needed, we can take care of the situation or help the person if they need it."

"I need help, there's no doubt about that."

"And it shall be freely given, if your story is what I think it will be. But now let's go back to the second question; what is this place? This is the Hub. It's where my agents and those I deem worthy to get my direct assistance meet. From here we watch the comings and goings between worlds, and defend those we can by keeping Darkvoid away from them. I take it you two have met, given you carry a piece of him inside yourself."

"You're talking about The Darkness?"

"It has many names, usually given by those that meet it. Is that why you're traveling? But no, let me answer your questions first, after all, I am the host. Where was I, ah, who am I? Well, you've met my 'cousin' for lack of a better term, Inari."

"You're another higher order being?"

"Correct. There's a few of us running around, and we each seem to have found our specialty for interacting with the, no offense, lower dimensional planes. Inari went with magic, and being a trickster, usually. I focused on technology, and trying to be as straightforward as possible. In fact, I can probably wager, and win, that she really didn't tell you much of anything at all."

"You got that right! She didn't even mention about the language thing, or that I could understand all languages."

"It's actually far worse than that. If you don't find it too creepy, may I see your character sheet?"

"Finally! Someone who knows about them. I guess it's okay, I mean you scanned me, I have to think you already know about as much about me as you could learn from this." She handed the sheet over.

Silverstreak took it with reverence, something Susan didn't even think was possible for others to do. He looked at the front, then flipped it over to the skills section. "Yeah, I was afraid of that."