(A/N: Well, I have a long weekend and lots of free time, so I guess I'll write another chapter. If you want me to update more frequently, give me a review that tells me to; currently this is fairly low on my priorities. I do plan on finishing this eventually, though.
Also, whoops, html doesn't register white space. I'll make the transition between scenes clearer from now on, sorry.)
Chapter 3: Assembly
After giving a brief overview of the theoretical principles of interdimensional travel, the First grew gravely serious. "Listen to me carefully, Yogini. Jelani has ambitions beyond his power. He wants to travel to another dimension to conquer it-"
"Jelani? The black mage we trounced last week?"
"Correct. He will more than likely ask for your help in duplicating the event that led to Raonull's travel. You must help him."
"But-"
"Let me finish. As I explained, the best guess is that dimensional travel is achieved through portals. After Jelani goes through the portal, you and others will be free to follow."
"To try to stop him," Yogini nodded in understanding. "And what about Raonull?"
The First seemed surprised. "I had assumed that identical conditions would lead you to the same dimension as Raonull. By all indications that would be the case."
"And if you're wrong?"
"Then we will-find another way," he replied firmly. "Do not be so doubtful."
"You're right, of course. I'm sorry."
"You must find other mages to accompany you. You don't know what level of magic exists in other dimensions; you and Purcell may not be strong enough alone."
Yogini nodded, and started to walk away when she heard the First's voice again.
"Yogini. Jelani does not know that I know of his plans. Do not alert him."
Nodding a third time, Yogini left the First alone in front of Raonull's house. He couldn't help wondering, What if I am wrong?
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With a bit of patience, Hewe was able to coach Raonull into opening the door. He rushed upstairs, took one look at Owen's "friend", and knew his suspicions were correct.
"When I was walking past the door down there, you said something, an exclamation. 'By Ezra', or something."
"Urza," Raonull corrected. "A great artificer who-"
"And that dragon you summoned and unsummoned," Hewe interrupted, unable to hide his enthusiasm. "It was a Shivan dragon, wasn't it?"
"What?!" Raonull gasped, staring at this strange man. "How do you know about Shiv? I would know if such a powerful mana source existed-"
"I'm sure you would," Hewitt replied, beaming and checking the clock. "Look, would you mind coming over to my house for a minute? I'm one of Owen's friends, he'll be OK with it."
Raonull was suspicious, but he reasoned that no one could actually threaten him without magic abilities. "All right, I'll come with you."
"Great! Let me write Owen a note."
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Chenoa was a well-respected mage, but not well-liked. She always said what needed to be said, never more or less. Nonetheless, she often found herself half of a team in the pits because of her great skill with white spells, especially healing. She immensely enjoyed surprising the young green and black mages by defeating her opponents without her teammates' help.
Given all of this, she was very surprised to receive two consecutive visits that had nothing to do with the pits – one from a strange black mage who needed a Convalescent Care expert and another from the celebrity who escaped Raonull, who had a very bizarre proposition for her.
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To Haritha, magical aptitude was useless unless it was used for a reason. He didn't care what the reason was, just that it existed. Mages who use their power to show off or fool around annoyed him to no end. The green mage was well-known in Otaria for knowing everyone who mattered, just as much as he was known for his dramatic arguments with the First about refusing to fight in the pits. Calling them the "biggest waste of time and mana" in history, he was one of the only wizards known that didn't have to answer to the First's summons. For this reason, his doorstep was often swamped with rebellious admirers, jealous weaklings, and angry Cabal officials.
Fearing the worst when he heard an especially impatient knock on his oaken door, Haritha was surprised to find a black mage who was searching for a mage proficient at the Time Walk spell. Of course, Haritha knew of such a person, but was curious as to the wizard's intentions. He discovered them soon afterward, when he was visited by a blue mage, a red mage, and a white mage. What they described was certainly a good reason to use his power.
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"Well? What is so important that you had to show me?" Raonull demanded immediately after walking through Hewitt's door.
"Come here," he replied, pulling out a large cardboard box.
"What's this artifact do?"
"That's not an artifact, it's a microwave. It-look, don't worry about it. Look inside this box."
"Small pieces of canvas, with decorations and strange symbols."
"Strange symbols? You speak our language but don't-"
"We're speaking…English?" Raonull asked, remembering the name the fat man had used.
"That's right," Hewe replied, confused. "But try to focus here. Look at this."
"That picture-"
"It's a Shivan Dragon. And does this man look familiar?" Hewitt continued, pulling out another card.
"That-that's Urza!"
"Correct," Hewe answered gleefully. He was unsure of how to phrase his explanation, but he knew he had to. "Raonull, your dimension-"
A harsh noise interrupted Hewitt. "We're under attack!" Raonull yelled, gathering his strength.
"No, stop that! That's just the telephone. It's used to communicate across long distances. Hello?" he finished by picking up the phone and answering it. "Hey Owen, what's up? Yeah, he's here with me. You've got to come over here, dude. Yes, I know he's not from around here, I saw him summon the dragon too."
Raonull still couldn't bring himself to accept the level of shock he generated by simply summoning a dragon. If these people only watched a pit fight!
"…no, I don't know how he got here, Owen, but seriously, get over here! OK. Yeah, OK. See you soon."
"You said there was no magic here!" Raonull yelled, pointing at a furry ball on the floor. "This is a cat warrior!"
"Uh, no, it's just a cat. Will you just stop-"
"And that! That is clearly a carnivorous plant!"
"No, that's a flower. Look, in this world, nothing is dangerous except, well, other humans."
"There are no cloudscrapers or elephants?"
"Um, we have elephants, but people hunt them for sport."
"I will never understand this world," Raonull decided, shaking his head and sitting down to rest.
"That's certainly true, Raonull. That's certainly true."
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In exchange for the valuable Necropotence skill, Jelani finally learned Time Walk. He had no idea he and Yogini were being followed by three other mages, but resolved to immediately start his experimentation.
"Thank you so much for agreeing to help me, Yogini."
"It's no problem," she answered, trying to determine if he suspected anything. "I don't see what good it will do outside of battle, but-"
Jelani seemed mildly surprised that she didn't make the connection to the pit fight, but chose not to comment. He simply said, "I'm ready."
He cast Time Walk, and on cue, Yogini cast her Time Warp spell. As Jelani started his Convalescent Care, he felt himself moving even as he fell unconscious.
"That's incredible!" Chenoa whispered, watching through a window.
Soon, Jelani had disappeared. Yogini threw the door open with a blast of wind, and the four mages quickly jumped through the portal. Soon, Jelani's house was completely empty. The First watched from a window on the other side of the house, nodding in approval. Good luck, he thought.
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"All right, what's so important, Hewe?" Owen demanded after Hewitt let him in.
"He seems to have figured out something that you did not," Raonull commented. "Something to do with those pieces of parchment."
Owen followed Raonull's gaze to a cardboard box on the floor. "Hewe, what-"
"Look at this," he said simply, showing Owen the card that he had shown Raonull before.
"Yeah, it's a Magic card, I know you collect them."
"No, look at it."
"Shivan dragon," he read, still unimpressed. "Why do you think this has anything to do with-wait a minute…" Owen spun around and stared at Raonull agape. "You're telling me this guy comes from Magic card land?"
"Otaria," Hewitt corrected. "Right?"
Raonull nodded, shocked and confused. "Magic…card?"
"Don't worry, I'll explain everything," Hewe said.
"You'd better," Owen answered quickly, still amazed at the coincidence.
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Yogini, Purcell, Chenoa, and Haritha arrived soon afterward in New York City. Unlike Raonull, they had no one to greet them, but immediately looked around for any signs of the malevolent sorcerer.
"Anyone see him?" Yogini demanded.
"You lookin' for somebody?" a nearby jogger asked.
"Yes. Have you seen someone…clothed like we are, but wearing black?" Haritha asked politely.
"Nope, but I saw a weird-lookin' guy before, just before the dragon appeared."
"Weird-looking?" Chenoa whispered. "Maybe that was Raonull."
Nodding, Purcell said, "Thank you, ma'am."
"Ma'am, huh? Haven't heard that in a while…"
As the jogger jogged away, Yogini breathed a sigh of relief. "At least we know Raonull is here. Now all we have to do is find Jelani, beat him up a little, convince him to cast those spells again, and hopefully we'll all end up at home!"
"That's pretty optimistic," Chenoa commented, scowling. "We don't even know how the process works."
"But it's worked pretty well so far," Haritha replied. "Come on, someone around here must have seen Jelani."
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Laughing, Jelani settled into a nearby house. It turned out to be inhabited, but he took care of that quickly with a subtle rat infestation. Of course he knew that Yogini the heroine would try to follow him through; he wasn't expecting a whole team though. Upon arrival he had quickly drained the life of a bystander, stolen his clothes, and fed the body to a Scathe Zombie, so no one would be able to help the poor heroes on the streets find him. If these four met up with Raonull, it would certainly be difficult to continue with his plans to conquer this dimension, but Jelani felt confident that he could find a solution. Still laughing, he watched the mages wander around the strange world, lost and confused, and knew immediately how he could defeat them.
(A/N: How does the dimension-hopping process work? What is in store for the five heroic mages in this strange world? How will Raonull react to Hewitt's encyclopedic knowledge of his repertoire of spells? Find out someday…)