Caitlin
December 16, 2018
The realm hadn't changed as much as Caitlin had thought. She could still feel the magic all around her, the sky was a dark royal blue and the sun had a lavender hue. All around her there were mismatched buildings, sitting at odd angles, some were even floating while others were underground. Spellcasters were never ones for conventional architecture. All around them were rolling hills and children were chasing each other around with their training wands, calling out joke spells. All around we're floating lights, the realm's equivalent of street lamps, coating the streets with a golden shine. In the distance sat the castle, somehow the building most similar to it's Earthly counterpart despite the floating rooms.
"Woah," Cisco said beside her.
"Yeah, woah," Iris breathed.
"Hey guys, casters don't normally get awestruck by their own realm," Austin whispered loudly.
"Right, where to now?" Caitlin asked.
"We're just going to take a stroll through town," Austin said. "If anyone asks, you are from the far side of the kingdom and got lost so I decided to show you around." As if on cue a voice called out.
"Hello Austin!" the voice said.
"Hello, Mr. Fitz," she responded with a smile. "He was one of my teachers back in school," she explained to us as we began walking.
"Wait, which school did you go to?" Caitlin asked.
"Trixie," Austin responded. Caitlin froze internally but kept walking.
"Why does your school sound like a dog?" Cisco asked.
"Oh, that's just what we called it," Austin said. "But the full name it the Trix Academy for Gifted Spellcasters. Trixie."
"That sounds fancy," Iris said.
"It is," Caitlin said, finding her voice. "It only accepts the best and is very competitive. My mom and dad were trying to get me in there before...anyway, children of guards tend to get in easier. Anyone else is just naturally talented or has rich parents."
"So I'm guessing one of your parents was a guard?" Iris asked.
"Uh, no actually," she responded as the main street came into view. "I was a scholarship kid I guess. My parents died when I was a kid, I grew up with my uncle and he always pushed me to do my best. I got into the school because of my abilities. It's the whole reason why I ended up a guard."
"Woah," Caitlin said, slightly starstruck. "I mean, your life is basically what I strived to do but why did you become a guard? With magic like that you could do anything."
"I guess I just found my calling," she said simply as she entered the main street. "Here we are, main street."
"So, do we talk to people or?" Iris asked.
"Not unless they talk first," Austin cautioned. "I have to go check in but you guys stick with Caitlin and get a feel for the town. I'll send you the location of my house when it's time to meet back up."
'You're just leaving us?" Cisco asked.
"It took longer than I thought to wrangle you guys, plus, the guard is on high alert like I said," she explained. "Our number of briefings and reports have increased. I'll be back soon." With that, she took off down the street and disappeared. Not literally this time but close enough.
"Why didn't she think about this before hand?" Cisco grumbled.
"It's possible she didn't know," Caitlin said. "Sometimes they do emergency meetings, it wouldn't surprise me with what has been going on."
"Okay, well, you're the spellcaster, where to now?" Iris asked.
"Let's go see if the cafe is still here," she said.
"What cafe?" Cisco asked.
"When I was a kid my dad would take me there every Friday morning before school," she said. "I'd get steamed strawberry. It was always a good place to get to know people."
"What the hell is steamed strawberry?" Cisco asked.
"Kinda like hot chocolate except thinner and fruiter," Caitlin responded.
"Cool, let's check it out," Iris said. They wandered down main street, Caitlin could see her friends casting glances about, most people weren't giving them a second glance. Caitlin felt oddly exposed even though she was sure no one knew who she was. It had just been so long since she had been here, it felt wrong but she also felt right at home. She was so lost in thought that she almost missed the cafe sign.
"There it is," she said, when she realized where they were.
"Cafe Trilogy," Cisco read.
"Yeah, it's one of three around the realm," she explained.
"Clever," Iris commented. Caitlin saw her giving the building an odd look. Of course, it wasn't the first. The architecture here was somewhat unconventional, at least to someone without magic. They were usually slanted and had strange bends. Stairs weren't really a thing here. The apparent bends in the building were usually second floors or ledges. Sometimes balconies were even on the outside. The buildings in a row tended to fit together like puzzle pieces, but that was rare as the roads here weren't straight, they swirled out in many directions.
"Wow, reading about it and living it are two different things," Cisco whispered, noticing Iris's odd look.
"It is a bit jarring if you're not used to it," Caitlin muttered. Then she took a breath and pushed the door open. The interiors hadn't changed that much. Unlike the cafe's on earth, the counter was in the middle of the room with the baristas inside a hollow square. They had the needed ingredients stored around them as well as cups, but they used magic rather than machines, reducing the need for space. She knew that they kept extra ingredients under the floor and just lifted them up when needed. There were tabled all around the bottom floor bus some of the ledges or lofts from the building architecture, while slightly slanted, were also set up with tables and there were magical lifts and anti gravitational field bubbled allowing patrons to get up and remain there. Caitlin was sure the others were confused, especially about how the people had gotten up there, the left was difficult to see as it was basically invisible floating stars in some aspects, but Caitlin could see the glow of magic just fine. A drink whizzed by her face, having been delivered by a barista from the counter. Cisco let out a small yel behind her and she immediately shot him a look. He gave her a wide eyed look and then a thumbs up.
"Should we get something?" Iris asked, looking at the giant floating words that functioned as the menu. Caitlin knew she couldn't real it of course, it was written in Milic.
"Uh, I'll order for you," Caitlin said softly. "Some of the drinks are...odd. For you two at least." Iris gave her an apprehensive look but motioned for her to go. She walked up to the counter.
"Hello, welcome to Cafe Trilogy, how can I help you today?" an obviously teenaged spellcaster asked.
"Uh, I'll have an algre steamed strawberry and two lalms jallup mixers please," Caitlin ordered.
"Perfect, that will be 25 drenches," the woman said. Caitlin froze. She forgot that she only had American money on her. 25 drenches was only about 12 or so dollars US but it would look strange to use a dollar or a credit card. On instinct, Caitlin reached her hand into her jacket pocket. Luckily, Austin clearly had though ahead when she had passed out the wardrobe articles because she could feel the small marble coins inside. She quickly pulled out a purple and a blue drench and handed them over.
"Okay, you're drinks will be right over, have a nice day," the barista said. Caitlin smiled and thanked her and walked back to their friends.
"Let's find a table on the bottom floor, I don't think you guys want to try the lifts," Caitlin whispered.
"The what now?" Cisco asked. Cailin just shrugged and they found a relatively secluded seat in the corner. Perfect for people watching.
"What did you get us?" Iris asked.
"Jallup mixers," Caitlin said. "Kind of like a spicy coffee."
"So you got us pumpkin spice lattes?" Iris asked.
"No, not pumpkin spice," she clarified. "It has a bit of the kick but that's the idea. It's supposed to wake you up. You don't actually have to drink it, just try to blend in."
"Okay, so are all places like this...strange?" Cisco asked.
"What's strange is using multiple lightbulb so light up a room instead of one floating
bubble of bottled up magic," Caitlin said. "Each universe has their own normal, our's just tends to follow different laws than yours." Iris gave her an odd look. "What?"
"I think that's the first time you've really spoken about the mortal world as if it wasn't your home," Iris said. She was right.
"Yeah, I guess," Caitlin said. "Probably just being here, it brings back memories. Earth is my home, now anyway, but it's not the only place that has ever been, not like it is for you two."
"Fair enough," Cisco said. That's when the alarm sounded.
"What the hell is that?" Iris asked.
"I remember Austin giving us a list of alarms but I didn't memorize them all," Cisco said.
"That would be a threat of attack alarm," Caitlin said.
"As is the crazies who have been attacking us?" Iris asked.
"Maybe," she exclaimed. "We have to get out of here before the guards show up. Potion or no potion, some of them might still recognize me." No sooner had the words left her mouth was there a flash and there was a guard in the building. Caitlin could see others appearing outside.
"I want everyone to remain calm," the guard said, this one male but wearing a similar uniform to Austin's. "There has been a threat of attack on certain member of the community but we ask that everyone remain calm until we determine who, why and if there is any truth to the threats."
"We need to leave, now," Caitlin whispered.
"How, he's guarding the door?" Iris asked.
"Hold on tight," she exclaimed and held out her wrists. Before the guard could turn their head to see what was happening, Cisco and Iris had grabbed on and Caitlin had whispered a spell, sending them to the preset coordinates of Austin's house in Caitlin's wand. They ended up stumbling into Austin's living room.
"Woah, since when can you do that?" Cisco asked.
"Yeah, I knew you could do transport spells but I've never seen you do more than yourself to a location you've been to before," Iris said.
"Yeah," caitlin said, breathing heavily, "well, taking both of you was the hard part but Austin already sent me the coordinates of her house, I think that being here, closer to home made me a little bit stronger, or atleast better at focusing my magic. I just hope the guard didn't notice."
"Why?" Cisco asked. "I'm sure in a state of panic plenty of people transport away."
"Yeah, but you're not supposed to," Caitlin exclaimed. "You're supposed to wait do further instruction, people who leave early are normally assumed to already be aware of what is happening and are either a part of it or planning to do something stupid to stop it."
"So you just don't want unnecessary questions," Iris said.
"Bingo," Caitlin responded, then held her hand up to her ear. "Austin, what the hell is happening?" There was a pause and then Austin's voice came across the comms.
"A group called the purists claim to plan to remove all non true bloods from the realm, dead or alive," she responded quietly.
"The same people we are dealing with?" Iris asked.
"If I had to venture a guess," Austin responded. "Look, they are keeping me at the castle for now, just in case this is a false alarm, but until they get this cleared up, all transport spells are going to be on lack down as soon as the council clears it, you have to get home. Now."
"Austin, I just did a bigger transport spell than I'm used to," Caitlin explained. "I need to recharge before I can take us all the way back home."
"Maybe I can breach us back, it's not magic," Cisco exclaimed.
"That could work, just hurry," Austin said. "I'll break away as soon as I can."
"Okay, go Cisco," Caitlin said. Cisco took stance and tried to open a breach. Emphasis on tried.
"Come on Cisco," Iris said.
"I am, it's not working," he said, still trying to open the breach. Caitlin watched as he moved, then she saw it.
"Wait, do that again," she said. Cisco once again tried to open a breach. "Magic."
"What?" Iris asked.
"There's a spell or something, it's stopping Cisco from opening the breach," she explained.
"But it's not a transport spell," Iris exclaimed.
"I know that but I just know what I see," Caitlin said. "We're stuck here."