And in looking out upon the world, one can see themselves reflected. The darkness reflected by two worlds faced with similar issues seemed to be something that had brought them together just this once, to spawn a new life upon the lands of strangeness that were unknown to either her or her two young companions. As she gazed out upon it, however, she felt a hint of familiari-

bonk

Ow.

She rubbed the top of her head and looked over to her purple-haired companion, who was sporting a pout of annoyance and what looked to be a giant walking stick with a few additions. Said walking stick was, in fact, her magical staff. The magical staff that she had just used to bop her over the noggin. The silver-haired Elf that had in-so far been narrating stuff to herself looked into the purple eyes of her protege/pupil, while their male fighter companion struggled to untangle himself from amidst a series of weird vines.

The Elf asked, "Why did you do that, Fern?" in the most deadpan voice. Wind flowed amidst the crowns of the trees around them, rustling the leaves with each gust as the girl waited for her pupil to respond. It was a rather disconcerting thing when young Fern stared at her like she was a monkey raised within the confines of a city just to cause trouble. Then again...

Fern sighed, pinching the bow of her nose and murmuring, "What happened to us, lady Frieren...?"

A spell gone haywire? An attempted creation of a new spell that failed? Frieren stumbled to her feet and dusted her white and gold robes off, before looking toward Stark, the redheaded, red-wearing axe-wielding frontliner of their party. She threw a blade of wind the way of the vines through one chop of her hand and the man fell with a rather unmanly yelp... Before he spoke with strain, "T-Thanks, Frieren..."

"Mhm," The Elf smiled, then looked around, "Now, where in the Heavens' name are we...?" as her gaze swept over the forest they found themselves in. She utilized her Mana to feel the place and blinked as strangeness was returned to her. She hummed, rubbed her chin, then said, "Fern, keep your eyes open. We might have a-" before she flicked her wrist to the right, a disk of concentrated wind slicing through both a tree and its intended target, which split at the seam and fell. "Huh. Strange," Frieren murmured to herself as she walked to see the creature.

Despite the frame and strange changes, it was unmistakably some form of dog. She sighed and rubbed her face as she waited for everyone to catch up, then asked, "Fern. Do you feel it?" only to get a confused 'hm?' from her pupil. She looked up at her and said, "Does the Mana not flow differently here? I feel like a stumbling child when utilizing our spells, like I'm doing something wrong."

Fern attempted her own wielding of magic by summoning a defensive barrier. She noted a distortion amidst the hard-light that made up the multiple hexagons of the shield, then nodded, "I can see it... Strange," before looking to Frieren and asking, "Miss Frieren, I ask again, what did you do with that ritual exactly...? Where are we?" only to get a strangely terrified look from the girl, who shrugged.

"Great," Fern sighed deeply, then looked over to Stark and asked, "Are you well, mister Stark?" as she watched him stumble to his feet and pick up his axe. He gave a nod, while Frieren stood up as well and started sweeping the area with her own magical powers. The purple-haired apprentice that was Fern, meanwhile, walked up to the animal that Frieren had vivisected with her airblade, then sighed.

"Poor puppy..." She murmured as she knelt beside it, only to pause as a crystal shot out of its mouth. She blinked, lifted the crystal and whispered, "Mana?" only for it to feel like her brain was overloading. Everything was hitting so fast about this new place that she didn't even want to think at this point. She breathed in, out, in and out, in and out, to steady her own rising heart rate.

They were in an unknown part of the world, without knowledge of where a mistake with a ritual that miss Frieren had gotten from a shady spell dealer in the back alleys of one of the Northern Towns. For all they knew, they could've easily been set back a year or two of their trip. She wanted to ask miss Frieren if she could somehow reverse the accident that had had them sent here.

The mage pupil of Frieren, the Hero Mage that had helped slay the Demon King, stared as the Elf woman that had guided her and Stark on their walk over to what was possibly a fairly important quest started panicking in one of her usual, loud yet quiet ways, grabbing onto her head and shaking like she was in a massive mess of her own making. Which, let one be honest, they were.

Sighing, Fern asked, "What happened, miss Frieren...?" which caused the girl to stop with a twitch and a yelp. Fern crossed her arms and stated, "Let me guess. We do not have a way back, do we?"

"I'd... Have to deconstruct the Ritual that brought us here, then rebuild it in a way to where it could send us back," The woman replied awkwardly. Fern hummed, then motioned for Frieren to continue. And so she did, "I don't know how to do that. Yes, we have the Grimoires with us, but it's going to take a while... A while I would rather spend within the confines of a building, not the forest."

"We should probably get moving, then," Stark said, looking around, "Cuz I'm seeing shadows approaching."

Both girls turned toward him and prepared offensive spells in order to greet any possible incoming... Only to be stunned by the sudden appearance of a girl from what one would guess to be Beastfolk. A rarity much like Elves and Dwarves, in truth. The most stunning thing wasn't her youthful appearance, nor the armor she wore, which was made up of a chest cover, belt, short pants and a cape with red fur, alongside a giant scabbard on her back.

No, it was possibly the fact she was surfing on a sword in flight and screaming.

Fern got out of the way, but Frieren chose to be smart. Lifting her hand, she activated defensive magic which partially slowed the sword and its rider mid-flight, sending the catgirl flying. Fern caught the black-haired cat-person with her magic and the sword embedded itself in the ground with an "OW!" that was audible to both mages, who blinked. The glimmering blue lines on the sword's blade led up to a very intricate gold and silver guard that had... Eyes?

Frieren raised a brow, "Interesting..."

The Catgirl seemed to awake almost immediately. She started scrambling, clearly afraid of the heights. Fern gently set her down onto the ground, causing her to swivel about and look at the trio with wide, blue slit eyes exactly like those of a cat. She staggered, looked to where her sword had hit the floor, then rushed to grab it. Frieren took a step back as the girl did so, then raised her right hand, telling her, "Calm... We're not enemies..."

Despite Stark's 'ready-for-a-fight' stance with his Axe and Fern's own staff being pointed at the girl, a rune ring dancing in front of it, Frieren thought.

The Catgirl didn't seem that much more friendly, though, hands clasping the hilt of her blade, ready to swing it at the first sign of trouble. Frieren rolled her eyes and told Fern and Stark, "Lower your weapons, you two. We're scaring her..." only to turn and watch the girl staring them down become a little less tense. Stark and Fern thankfully complied, with the former stowing his weapon onto his back.

After a moment, the little girl took a less hostile posture herself, simply stowing her blade into its scabbard and looking at them. She asked with the voice of the child she was, "What are you doing out here...?" though even through that, they could feel the edge. Almsot like she was warning them. The tension between the trio and her hadn't completely evaporated quite yet, understandably.

"We got here because of a magical ritual gone wrong," Frieren replied, "It's actually quite lucky you stumbled into us. We need a place to go to. I can reverse the effects, I hope... Get us back home."

The Cat scratched her chin, then said, "Okay. I was just heading over to a settlement, but it's far away. You can go to Alessa, that way," and pointed back the way she'd come from. She shrugged, "Long way, too, though. Way longer than Darth, that way," and jabbed a thumb behind her, the way she'd been flying when she inevitably hit Frieren's defensive barrier.

The girl's ears twitched. She gently leaned her head left, listening to the Sword. The Sword blinked. It actually was talking to the girl. Frieren hummed, licked her lips and said, "... Is your sword Possessed, young lady?" only to see her let out an 'eep' as she turned to face her. Frieren, noting not just her confusion, but the confusion of her Party-mates, spoke, "Noticeably, you turned to listen to whatever it was saying to you. Safe to assume a form of telepathy links the two of you, meaning your sword is one of a kind, in that it might be possessed..."

"M-Miss Frieren, how'd you...?" Fern seemed stumped.

"How the heck did you know that?" Stark asked, stunned.

"Simple, really. You don't just cock your head to the left when your ears twitch," Smirked the girl, "Plus, Telepathy was a thing that was supposedly possible with Magic, because of Mana flowing between bodies being capable of incredible feats. So, am I right to assume it, then, miss...?" And she raised a brow at the Catgirl. The girl sighed, hands slumping, then nodded.

"Yes... This is Teacher," She patted her sword. She then put a hand on her chest and said, "'m Fran..."

Frieren smiled, "Progress. Hello, Fran. I am Frieren and these are my comrades, Fern, my mage pupil," and she pointed toward the purple-haired, confused-looking young woman with the wooden staff. Turning, she then pointed at their redhead and added, "And Stark, the Frontliner in our party," which caused the young man to give a wave toward Fran.

"Nice to meet you," Fran nodded, "... Why'd you stop me?"

"You nearly hit us," Frieren replied, crossing her arms to her chest as she stowed her ornate staff away via magic, "Seemed like you were in quite a hurry, too, though I'd suppose that if you wanted to reach a seaside settlement, that means you probably have a boat waiting for you..." And she paused to think. She raised her hand and was about to speak, before noticing Fran's ears twitch.

And then Fran tensed.

And then they tensed. Fran ran up in front of Fern and her and joined Stark, stating, "Bad guys coming... Goblins," and blinking, "Thought I stopped the stampede... Help me kill them and I'll answer anything you want," as she shifted her hand and unsheathed the blade again, preparing it to fight the Goblins that were coming. The trio nodded, readying their own weapons and magics in order to combat them. Goblins were odd critters, honestly. Frieren and the others had heard of them and even faced some in the Demon Lord's armies, but these ones felt different. Mana-rich, terrifyingly enough. Like they could even cast their own magic. Best to kill them then and there.

When the first googly-eyed, green-skinned critter appeared, blade drawn, its head was split in two, leaving only a stump with the lower jaw hanging off of it and a geyser of blood spewing onto the floor. With one flick of her wrist, Frieren had started this fight with an air-blade. Beside her, Fern powered on a basic offensive magic spell and fired, a beam of fluorescent darkness cutting through the air and striking two more Goblins as they charged, killing both.

Stark and Fran coordinated surprisingly well, their blades ringing and dancing as they cut through a squad of Goblins up front, smearing body parts and blood across the tree trunks around them. Frieren and Fern activated flight spells to provide support from the air, with Fern lifting up a defensive barrier as a volley of goblin arrows zipped toward her. Each arrow was deflected by an individual, flickering hexagon of hard-light.

The two watched with muted awe as they finally drew comparisons between their two Frontliners. Whereas Stark swung wide and hard, his movements slow and deliberate due to the size of his Axe, Fran seemed to move exactly as one would expect out of a cat. Agilely and with all the poise of a ballerina. Her swings and thrusts were fast, focused and sharp, imbued with Mana from what both Mages could feel.

A Goblin lost its head, followed by a Hobgoblin being split in two by a wide left-arcing swing from the girl. She kicked another down and cast a wordless spell that sent a volley of fire-based projectiles to the left, cutting down another group of greenskins. Frieren flew overhead, firing beams of magical death down upon the creatures alongside her wind blades.

"Fran's fast!" Stark observed as he swung the axe down vertically, splitting a goblin in half.

"Indeed!" Frieren smiled. She began a rapid descent, focusing mana on the soles of her shoes. When she landed, the impact was powerful enough to kill several Goblins and knock more off their feet. She threw a wind blade to the right, decapitating a Hobgoblin, swung her staff to the left, cracking the skull of a smaller one, then voiced an incantation that created a wall of fire where a whole twenty were charging her, setting them ablaze.

Fran charged past her, jumping over the wall of fire with grace and speed before bringing her blade down on whatever the leader of the Goblins was. Stark wasn't far behind, pushing through the dying fire and swinging his axe down right behind Fran to vivisect another of the creatures' Shamans. Fern fired her combat magic at a squad and Frieren cut several more down with her wind blades.

Fran replied in thanks to both her and Stark by stabbing a massive Hobgoblin in the stomach and splitting it upward. She then let out a short bark and a giant wolf-like creature appeared, biting down on a bunch of them. Frieren gasped and looked at the wolf, then asked, "You have a FAMILIAR?!" with excitement. Fern and Stark looked to each-other, then the latter chuckled while the former simply smiled.

"Yes!" Fran replied, jovial. She swpied to the left with her sword, vivisecting another Goblin, before turning and sending a flurry of her own air-blades toward the last of the formation of Goblins, killing them all. The last Goblin was taken out by Fern hitting it in the face with her staff repeatedly. Surprisingly enough, it worked, causing the group to pause and listen.

Silence fell over this section of the forest, allowing everyone to breathe a sigh of relief. Frieren rubbed her face and said, "Heck of a first welcome to this place," before turning to Fran and watching her pat the doggo. She started getting giddy as she approached the catgirl and said, "So. Lot of questions, lot of time to answer. First of all:DIRE WOLF FAMILIAR?"

"Yes," Fran replied with a nod, patting the big doog. She hummed, then said, "Want to pat him?"

"Do I?" The giddy, childlike thousand-year-old Elf asked rhetorically. Fran took her hand gently and put it on the soft fur of the dog, who leaned into Frieren's pats too. The girl had the most blissful face in the world as she patted the giant, magical fluffball. She knew he was magical because of the fact she could feel Mana flowing through him, to a mana-based core. She asked blissfully, "Does he have a name...?"

"Urushi," Fran replied. She looked over to the two partners-in-crime of Frieren, then showed them to join her. Fern hesitantly approached, while Stark simply stared as his mage friend stepped forward. Fern, to her credit, remained composed as she extended her hand toward Urushi. Warily, the young woman put the hand on the white part of the doggo's fur, then let out a sound of absolute bliss as she smiled, patting him.

Fran smiled proudly, hands on her hips as she said, "Yes, yes, pat the best dog."

Urushi barked happily, leaning into the pats of the two girls, while Fran crossed her arms to her chest. She chuckled, then leaned back toward her sword and said to it, "They seem fine, Teacher. Maybe we can tell them about you... Even if we just met..." before looking to Frieren, "You guys promise not to tell anyone about this, right? It's... Secret. You earned our trust, though."

"Sure, sure," Frieren was slowly sinking into the fluff.

"Good enough, I suppose..." Sighed another voice, this one male. It took the pair out of their stupor and scared Stark enough to cause him to jump. The male voice spoke again, "Yo, everyone. I'm Teacher, Fran's sword, I guess. Figured it's best to tell y'all about me now since your leader seems like one heck of a mage," and he utilized what looked to be some form of telekinetic ghost hands to point at Frieren.

She nodded, "I've lived for something over a thousand years at this point... Teacher, though?"

"The name Fran gave to me," The Sword replied, "Long story, though I'd suggest we all head out of here so we can talk somewhere more private, both about your issue with that Ritual and about where you are... Cuz, I'm gonna be honest with all three of you, you feel odd, Mana-wise. Like you don't particularly belong in this place at all, y'know?" while waiting for them to respond.

"We felt that, too," Replied Fern, "Strangely enough."

"I like the Telepathy," Frieren said, "So many spells I feel like I could learn from you two and so little time... But yes, please lead the way to somewhere safe..." and she was still patting Urushi. Stark finally decided to approach and pat Urushi as well, with the doggo giving him a lick to the face as thanks. He laughed and smiled at that, then hugged the fluffy creature.

Fern gazed upon that and immediately blushed, hiding her face from both him and Frieren. The good old Elf, however, wore a smug grin, having seen the reaction beforehand. Catty as she was, she started following Fran and Teacher alongside the doggo. Fran said to Frieren, "You're strong..." as she tilted her head, her ears twitching on top of her head. Frieren felt her heart skip a beat at how cute that was, then simply nodded.

Leaning forward, Frieren patted Fran's head, with the catgirl seemingly enjoying it. Teacher snorted, a bit miffed he probably couldn't properly do that himself. The group continued down the forest path toward anything resembling a house or something to rest in as they did so, with Urushi the big dire doggo marching right beside them, panting happily and strutting forward with its magical powers vibing through the Mana around him.

It was almost adorable, just how weird their party had become in one minute. Teacher told them, "So... You sure you can reverse-engineer that ritual to get yourselves back home there, Frieren?" to which the Elf nodded. It was supposedly a pretty easy endeavor, she thought to herself, though how it teleported them here, she didn't know. It was supposed to be a Ritual to create a new food-related spell, not teleportation.

"I'll have it figured out by lunch," Frieren replied with all the confidence of a thousand-year-old mage. They (luckily) still had most of their stuff with them when she looked for it. Books, ingredients and the like were still there, meaning they could easily replicate the Ritual, see what went wrong, then deconstruct and create a reversal Spell to get back to where they were in the North.

"Hey..." Stark started, garnering attention. He asked, "What's 'Darth'?"