The first thing I felt when we dropped out of the rift was an incredible blast of heat, like I had been thrown into a kiln while it was in the middle of firing clay. It could have been a lot worse, however. We dropped out of the rift a few thousand feet above a giant, roiling mass of scorching hot liquid, orange, red, and yellow in color. It was like lava, but far too… liquidy to be that. There was smoke everywhere, reeking of sulphur and phosphorus, similar to a natural hot spring, but worse. The instant we hit the heat, my fur started to smoke and blacken, the pristine ice-blue color taking on a dirty-white shade, while my bright-white mane turned a soot-grey, with the bright, sun-yellow streak dirtying to a dark mustard yellow. Tranquility let out a scream of pure terror before Cam slashed her paw through the air, creating another rift that we fell into.

We weren’t in that dimension for more than a quarter of a second, but it did that to us. If we had been in there any longer… I think we would’ve been cooked.

The second time, the rift dropped us in the middle of a jungle-like area, except that the trees (or whatever they were called in this dimension) stretched up to the sky farther than the eye could see. The bases looked to be at least three hundred feet wide. It smelled like a zoo. I wasn’t happy with that. I hate the smell of zoos.

Tranquility dropped out below me, so I landed directly on top of her, much like she did to me when we dropped into the last dimension. She let out a pained and terrified squeak, trying to bolt out from under me and failing. I slid off her and gently rubbed her back, and she tried to bolt again, spreading her wings to fly. That’s when I noticed the burns covering them, the normally navy and white skin turned an angry red.

“Cam!” I yelled. “Balm, now!” She obeyed, tossing the jar to me. I began to gently spread it on her wings, trying not to be too rough.

In a few minutes, the burns had vanished, and Tranquility was no longer on the verge of bolting, although she did still have the panicked look in her eyes. I looked around at the others and came to the conclusion that we all looked like we’d been hit with lightning.

“What was that, Reed?” Cam hissed. “I’ve never heard of that dimension before.”

“Neither have I,” he replied. “Congrats. You discovered a new reality.”

“Fat lot of good it did us,” she grumbled. “That place was covered in plasma, like the surface of a star! Actually…” a grin spread across her face.

“What?” Reed asked.

“Your friends are gonna have a fun time going through that one,” Cam replied with a smirk, causing Reed to pale. Cam ignored that and turned to us. “What happened to you guys?”

“Tranquility’s wings crisped,” I replied. “And she had a panic attack. I’m fine.”

“That bad?” Cam asked. “Shoot.”

I didn’t respond. Instead, I pulled Tranquility into a tight hug, smearing the soot that covered both of us. I could feel how tight her muscles were through our touch, how tense she was… “What happened?” I whispered.

“I-I… m-memories…” she whispered back.

“Okay…” I whispered soothingly. Extending my wings around her, I started to rub and press her shoulders.

“W-what…” she murmured.

“Massaging you, or trying to,” I said, nuzzling her. “It’ll help you calm down.” I hope.

“Okay…” she whispered. I unwrapped her from the hug and gently pushed her to the ground. I then began to knead on her back. Cam glanced over at us and gasped.

“What?” I asked.

It wasn’t her who answered, but Reed. “Are you two mates?” he asked callously. I faltered in my rhythm for a moment before resuming as normal, a blush rising to my cheeks.

“No, we’re just friends,” I replied. “Why do you ask?”

“Touching like that is… reserved for mates,” he replied.

“Not where I’m from,” I replied, pressing a little harder on Tranquility’s back. “We do anything to help a friend in need. And she needs this.”

“Okay,” Cam and Reed replied.

“It’s just weird to see,” Cam said.

“Just like you killing a rabbit,” I replied. “Not everything is the same across cultures.” And with that, I looked back down and continued my massage. “Oh, and we don’t refer to couples as ‘mates.’”

“Noted,” Cam said.

A few minutes later, Tranquility motioned for me to stop, and I lay down next to her. “Do you want to talk about it?” I asked.

“No…” she whispered. “I just need time…”

“Okay,” I whispered, draping a wing over her protectively. She snuggled up next to me. “Cam, how much time do we have before we need to jump again?”

“We can spare a few hours,” Cam replied.

“Good,” I stated. I then nuzzled Tranquility again, while Cam’s paws began to glow.

We stayed there for thirty minutes, enough time for the humidity in the air to soak into my coat, giving me the sense that it was about to rain, although it never did. We heard strange animal cries, some loud, some soft, one that sounded like a maniacal laugh. Cam put up some protective wards because of those, ones to warn us if something was getting near. At one point, I got up and used my wings to brush the ash and soot off Tranquility, restoring her coat, tail, and mane to their original color, although they did look a little more ragged than they did before. Cam tossed me a crude brush, made out of dulled porcupine quills and roughly carved wood, and I started to run it through her mane. After a few minutes of that, she had calmed down completely.

“Thanks…” she murmured, standing up. With her mane brushed for the first time in days (and for the first time since she went through the tornado), she looked positively beautiful, with her long-cut navy blue two-tone mane swept back past her tufted ears and curling around the front of her body. My heart quickened a little bit looking at her.

“Anything,” I replied a little too quickly. I could only imagine how I looked compared to her, maybe like a model next to a coal miner or chimney cleaner.

“You two done with your bonding session?” Cam asked. “Cause this is the Infinite Forest. There’s tons of edible stuff here, along with drinking water. I’d like to restock our supplies for a long trip and maybe get something Reed’ll eat.” She walked over to Reed and patted him on the head, while he stared ahead, annoyance plain on his face. “Cause he’s a picky eater!” she crowed, grinning.

“Step away from me,” he said, voice low. “And I am not.”

“Sure you aren’t!” Cam cooed, bouncing away from him.

“Infinite Forest?” I asked.

“Those trees go up forever,” Cam replied, grinning. My jaw dropped at the thought.

“Deforestation could be solved by cutting one of these down,” Tranquility remarked. “Just one.”

“True,” Reed remarked. “Is that a problem where you’re from?”

“Yes,” Tranquility said.

“It won’t matter to you anymore if you die,” he supplied. Cam sighed and shocked him with her lightning. “Hey!”

“No death threats,” she scolded. “That’s my job. Now get your sorry self off the ground, cause you’re gonna work for me.” She trotted away from him.

“How can a tree have an infinite height?” I asked, stunned. “Infinity is a concept, not a number!”

“Different dimension, different laws of physics!” Cam said.

“That’s not right…” I whimpered. Tranquility giggled and got up, following Cam. I shook my head and followed them.

We walked around the base of one of the trees, one with a slant tipping towards and over us, which was an arduous task, as we had to climb over the massive roots that surrounded the entire thing. My mind was trying to comprehend the possibility of an infinitely tall tree, so I tripped a few times. Once, I slid down the side of a particularly large one on my belly with my legs splayed out behind me, Cam laughing the entire time. Tranquility covered her mouth with a hoof to step her giggles as I climbed back up.

“You looked like a confused and dirty baby bunny,” she remarked when we resumed walking. I chose not to dignify that remark with a response.

It took us five minutes in total to reach the other side of the tree. Cam scampered up to the trunk and started to walk up the slanted bark.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Getting a view so I can find the river,” Cam replied. “I know there’s one here, my dad told me that.”

“He’s right,” Reed replied.

Cam froze. “Do you happen to know where it is?” she asked.

“Yes,” Reed said. “I’ve been here multiple times for my assign- ACK!” he broke off. Cam had shot down the tree and climbed up onto his head.

“Then take us to it!” Cam yelled happily. “TAKE ME PLACES!”

“Get off me!” Reed yelled, causing Cam to clamp down on his head.

“We’re going to the river, the river, the river, you’ll take me to the river, don’t make me zap your face!” Cam sang cheerily, lighting her paw and letting crackling electricity run up and down it, throwing the gigantic smile on her face into a creepy light.

“I hate you,” Reed hissed.

“I know, boo,” Cam replied sweetly. “Now mush.”

Reed turned us away from the tree and back towards the place we landed in. I smelled the ash I had cleaned off Tranquility. I wrinkled my nose (burnt fur smells terrible) and stepped a little closer to Tranquility. She sighed and closed her eyes, stretching a wing out to my shoulder. I returned the gesture, and we kept walking.

Ten minutes later, after climbing over and around many obstacles, we reached the river. It was massive, easily a thousand yards across. The roar of water surrounded us, a constant noise that I had heard earlier but tuned out. Cam reached into her box and started levitating empty ceramic jars out, dipping them in the river before placing them back in. “You guys go look around for food,” she said. “I’ve got this.”

We spent the next three hours scavenging. Tranquility and I flew up into the trees and gathered things we’d discovered were edible, from nuts to the leaves to the tree bark to some fruits that tasted really good. We got a lot of those. Cam managed to wrangle an enchantment to make one of the ceramic jars have an infinite amount of space inside it (I didn’t even try to comprehend it that time, just groaned and walked away) and held it in the river for hours, letting copious amounts of water flow into it. But, the spell had taken a lot out of her, so her eyes were drooping and she looked really tired. All in all, during that period of time, we set ourselves up for a long trip, possibly making it years before we needed to resupply.

Thirty minutes later, whatever passed for a sun in this dimension set, and Cam pulled the jar out of the river, tossing it into her box. She then crawled between my front legs and unwrapped the bandages on my head, levitating new ones and another jar of her balm out of her box. She re-applied the bandages.

“What are you doing?” Reed asked. “What is that?”

“Healing balm,” she replied. “I made it. Helps heal injuries faster, and Fall’s concussed.”

“You made that?” he asked, stunned.

“Yeah, along with some other potions, balms, concoctions, and trinkets,” Cam replied, reapplying her own bandages, giggling. “Darling, you don’t know the half of my toys.” She froze. “But your friends will.” She trotted over to her box and started pulling vials out, along with that twine of hers and some reddish-brown powder.

“You would be a great asset to the Wolves and the Mages,” Reed commented. “Powerful, talented, and amazing. Why not come with us? Why do you hate the Wolves so much?”

“You’re scum,” Cam replied instantly, dumping the powder into one of the vials and levitating another vial filled with liquid out, tying the two together. “You’re gonna kill my friends, reduce my magic, not let me make my potions, and enslave me.” She sighed. “Like you enslaved my parents.”

“I’m sorry?” Reed said, his eyes narrowing.

“You mentioned something about me killing… Jeffy-done or whatever that Mage’s name was,” Cam said, starting to make another bundle of vials. “I did it directly after he came through a rift, knocked my parents out with a spell, and tossed them through a rift. They’d told me what you do the parents of Mages,” she hissed. “Keep them in captivity. Make them breed to see if they produce another one.”

“That’s not true,” Reed protested.

“Don’t lie to me,” Cam growled, the magical lines on her body starting to glow faintly. “With that single move, your idealistic Wolf society tore the life that my parents had tried to build down. And then stomped on the remains of my happiness and burned them.” She turned to face him. “I love my parents. Still do. I cherish the bond I have with them, unlike you apparently did. I care about my family. You don’t understand, because the Den and the Alpha have crushed it out of you.

“I say you’re scum because it’s true. You don’t care about me, you care about what I can do for you. I don’t want to be a part of that.” She let out a snort and turned away from him.

“How selfish.”

“What?” Cam whispered, freezing up.

“That’s selfish,” Reed said, standing up. “We Wolves are the guardians of the multiverse. We help keep the peace of the dimensions.” A small smile played across his lips. “We solve problems, sealing rifts and helping the lives so many creatures… we always have done this. To sacrifice your duty for the sake of your happiness… that is selfish!” He looked down on her. “You are blessed, Cam! You can make a huge difference for so many creatures, so many lives! Say that the dimensional barriers of a world are coming undone in a horrific apocalypse! I’ve helped solve something like that three times, saving the lives and happiness of billions!” He sighed. “That is what the Wandering Wolves and Mages do, not what you think! We don’t destroy, we build and repair.” He looked straight ahead. “We care about dimensional happiness.”

“It would have helped if you cared about mine,” Cam hissed, tying another two vials together.

“We do….” four lilting voices said, the scent of burnt fur filling the air.

Author's Note

Ooh, differing viewpoints!
So yeah, we get insight onto how the other Mages see themselves, and how the Wolf society is presented to it's citizens. It was, I'm just gonna say it, weird to write this. For starters, politically, I definitely side with Reed on the thing that other's happiness can be more important than my own. And yet, he's the antagonist. And Cam's self centered and selfish, but she's the protagonist. I guess I'm representing two extremes? I don't know. It's weird for me.
But yeah, they restocked on supplies, Cam got ideas for some trinkets, and we get yet another thing about Tranquility's fear of fire. Why is she so scared, anyway? We'll find out... way in the future. I know exactly what I'm doing with that (I hope), as it's an idea I had before I started writing this story, before the characters had names, before Fall was even a thought in my head. It'll also serve another purpose...
Unfortunately, no thestral language guide (Unless I forgot I added a new word. I'm tired and I don't edit these things before I post them. Sue me.)
So, a problem has presented itself to me. Fall being tone-deaf is losing prevalence in this story. I have some specific points where it'll be important, but other than that... How do you guys recommend I work into the chapters?
So yeah! If there are any conventions errors, let me know and I'll fix them (as I mentioned before, I don't edit my chapters before I post them. This is all one take, people.)
~Pyrepinna