I woke up feeling… off, like something wasn’t quite right in my system. It was like a common cold, but ever so slightly worse. As a result, I wasn’t in the best mood when I opened my eyes.

My crankiness abated somewhat when I saw that Tranquility had turned over in her sleep and pressed her face up against my neck. I could feel some matted fur there, so I could tell she’d been crying. Without thinking, I wrapped two of my hooves over her. Unfortunately, this jostled Cam, who had moved on top of Tranquility, probably when she had turned over. She was nestled in the base of Tranquility’s wings, which I unfortunately bumped when I hugged her.

“Mrf…” Cam mumbled, raising her head. “What is it-” she broke off, starting to cough violently. Tranquility jumped at the harsh sound, raising her head suddenly and catching me in the chin with a yelp. The sudden pain distracted me, as I was going to help Cam, but instead ended up rubbing my chin.

After a few seconds, Cam stopped coughing. “Shoot…” she said, her voice hoarse. “We’ve been here too long. The iodine is starting to poison us.”

My heart rate skyrocketed at that, and my muscles seized up. Cam sighed and stuck out her paw. The symbol that seemed to always appear when she used magic blazed bright, and a small arc of lightning jumped out of the center pad and struck me in the forehead, shocking me both figuratively and literally. “Hey!” I yelled, my worry forgotten. “What was that for?”

“You were about to have a panic attack,” Cam said, rolling her eyes. “Pain stopped that pretty well.” She slipped off Tranquility’s back and walked unsteadily over to her box. “But we do need to get out of here. Help me.”

“Can I hear a ‘please?’” Tranquility grumbled.

“Fine, mom,” Cam droned, shrugging. “It’ll only give the iodine a little more time to kill us. A little more gas gets into our lungs. But whatever. It’s your funeral.” I sighed and slid out from under Tranquility, walking over to her and lifting her box onto her back. Tranquility muttered something under her breath and stumbled over to me.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Feel sick,” she groused, looking away from me with a sour expression on her face and her ears folded back. I draped my wing over her and nuzzled her.

“I’m a little off as well,” I murmured.

“Get your face away from my ear before you puke on me,” Tranquility grumbled. I pulled my head away from her, a little hurt.

“That’s the iodine’s effect!” Cam cheerfully crowed, raising her paws. Ethereal energy began to swirl and wrap around her paws, and she closed her eyes.

“Then get us out of here!” Tranquility yelled. “We’re getting poisoned!”

“Very slowly!” Cam shot back. “And I need a little time. I’m trying to get a fix on a safe plane of reality!”

“Can you hurry it up?” Tranquility hissed.

“No!” Cam yelled. “I’ve never done this before!”

“Why?” I asked.

“I’ve never travelled dimensions before!” Cam yelled. “The box appeared on its own, and I stayed in Equis all my life! Yesterday was the first time I created a rift! I’m trying to lock onto a safe dimension my dad told me about. It’s hard, so shut up and let me concentrate!” And with that, she closed her eyes and grimaced, the magic around her paws glowing a little brighter.

Tranquility sighed and leaned on me. “Great…” she mumbled, slumping down a little. I followed her down, sliding to the sand and moving so that she rested her head between my front legs. “I really, really don’t feel good…”

“I’m sorry,” I murmured, leaning down and nuzzling her.

“You’re helping,” she said, pressing against my head.

“I am?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said. “You’re distracting… in a good way.”

I smiled and rested my head on hers. She let out a happy hum, despite feeling sick. She likes this, I thought. She likes… my comfort… and touch? My smile slipped off my face. She’s comfortable with me to the point where she fell asleep with me… twice!

“You okay?” Tranquility asked. “You just froze up again.”

I didn’t respond, pulling my head off hers. I looked into her eyes, and saw concern for me, as well as care… Wow…

“Fall?”

I took a deep breath, steeling myself. Here we go. “Tranquility, I-”

“CRAP!” Cam screamed, swinging her paws down in frustration, the magic she had been controlling flying loose and blasting two smoking craters in the sand next to her. Her paws clenched into fists, and she growled, giving her the appearance of a small demon.

“Cam?” Tranquility asked. “What happened?”

“I lost control of the stupid spell,” she hissed.

And ruined my moment. I was SO CLOSE! I thought ruefully.

“So what now?” I asked, trying not to let my hurt slip into my voice.

“We pray to whatever holy being you believe in,” she grumbled. “Because we’re doing more undetermined jumps until I can get a hold on that spell.”

“But you only tried it once!” I said.

“And I was fighting tooth and nail to keep it under control, and I failed anyway!” she yelled. “It’s too advanced! We’re doing”

“Okay…” I murmured, getting to my hooves. Tranquility followed, pressing against me. Cam raised a paw and drew it through the air, tearing a black seam in the air. The strange sensation converged on us again.

“Now, let’s g-”

Five black seams tore in the air around us, just like last night. Tranquility groaned as the stretching aggravated her sickness. The five cloaked figures stepped out of the seams, and they closed.

“Well…” one said, grinning. “You have rather interesting dimensional choices, young lady.”

“Shut. Up,” Cam hissed. “You know I had no control over where I went. Don’t mock me.” The golden lines spread up and around her body once more, and she raised her paws. “I can hold you off. And our rift is open.”

“We know you had no control,” another said, stepping forward. “Your magic has no control. We’ve trained in the magical arts, you haven’t.” Cam started to giggle, which then turned into a full on laugh. “What’s so funny?” the Mage asked.

“Oh…” Cam grinned, her playful smirk from when we first met her returning to grace her face. My heart lept; this was the Cam that we knew. The one who didn’t care and did what she wanted to, not the brooding, crying mess she’d become. “Some things don’t need to be controlled.” The golden lines along her body flared to blinding brightness, and a wave of pure golden energy exploded out of her. It passed through us before we could blink, but it slammed into the surrounding Mages with the force of a train, sending four of them flying with pained howls. Three landed in the water. One landed farther away on the island and didn’t get up again. Only one managed to interpose a shield between him and the energy before it impacted.

Before I could even process that, Cam lashed her paws out at us, ropes of magic snaring around our barrels. She yanked on them and pulled us toward her, even as she jumped into the dimensional rift. We flew into it after her, but not before I heard one word.

“NO!”

That grating scream tore at my ears as I vanished into the seam. I had a scant second to feel fear before all thoughts of the noise faded to the back of my mind as the strange sensations of dimensional travel assaulted me.

We dropped out of the rift in the middle of a gigantic desert, with sand and huge dunes as far as the eye could see. I managed to catch myself and land on all fours, a little bit of pride warming my heart. Tranquility promptly fell on me, causing me to collapse and snuffing that pride out like a dying candle.

Cam landed softly next to us, her box sliding off her back. “Sorry about tha-” She broke off, her eyes widening and an expression of horror spreading over her face. “STAY DOWN!” she yelled, her magic surging, the lines reappearing and her eyes flaring a bright golden-white. A shield spread over her, and a second later, a powerful bolt of magical energy smashed into it. I whipped my head around and gasped.

A Mage had somehow made it through the rift with us, leaving it’s cloak behind. It stood in a natural bipedal stance. Taught muscles lined its form, marking it as a trained warrior, and quite dangerous, as evidenced by the nimbus of magical energy that surrounded both of its forearms. It launched another screaming magical bolt at Cam, who somehow absorbed it into her shield. A millisecond later, she fired a crackling bolt of golden electricity at the Mage. He threw up a shield, but the bolt smashed through it, making contact with his body. Runes flared to life, and a shield covered his body, the lightning curling around it.

“It’ll take more than a little lightning to bring me down, pup,” the Mage gloated.

“No, it won’t,” Cam replied smugly, her grin widening. She shot another volley of lightning at the Mage. The Mage didn’t respond, instead firing several more bolts of magical energy at Cam. Her symbol flared bright on her paws. She dodged two and blocked the last one with a paw, absorbing the energy once again and diverting it into a haze around her body.

“How did you do that?” the Mage asked, changing the gesture he was making with his paws.

“That lightning isn’t as useless as you think,” she replied, her grin widening. She drew her paw back and made a punching motion. The aura surrounding her body condensed and flew down her arm, taking the shape of the same bolt that she had blocked with her paw. It shot off her arm and smashed into the Mage. His shield didn’t hold, and he was driven into the sand, gasping. Before he could recover, another lance of lightning lashed out and struck him. He howled in pain, his muscles spasming. Cam grinned and dropped back down onto all fours, the lines vanishing and her eyes returning to normal.. “Have fun with that, boo.”

“What… did you… do?” the Mage hissed.

“Borrowed a trick from your Alpha,” Cam replied. “Something Hawky did to me when he first met me.”

“You met the Alpha?” the Mage gasped.

“Five years ago,” Cam replied. “When he first saw me, I tried to kill him, just like I killed that other Mage.”

“You…” the Mage said, trailing off and his eyes widening in fear. “You killed Jackson?”

“Sadly, yes,” Cam said, her eyes drifting down. “I did. He took my parents. When Hawky came through the rift, I thought he was gonna take me… so I tried to kill him. He completely overrode my magic and made it impossible for me to cast any more spells. I spent years working on something similar… that lightning slowly sucked away your shield and replaced it with my magic. That magic also seeped into your natural reserves, so when you fired that bolt, it was part of my magic… so I took control of it and shot it back of you. And when it broke your shield, I hit you with part lightning, part inhibitor spell.”

The Mages eyes widened. He scrambled to his feet and stuck out his paws, but nothing happened. “What?” he whispered. He slashed his paw through the air, but nothing happened. “What did you do?!”

“Blocked ya magic!” Cam yelled cheerfully. “You can’t cast any spells, and you can’t jump dimensions. So I can do this-” a tiny bolt of lightning zapped his nose, “and you can’t do ANYTHING!” I giggled. There was so much glee in her voice.

“Why?” he whispered.

“Two reasons,” Cam said, becoming serious again. “First, I don’t want to kill you. Killing one mage… wasn’t the greatest for me… and not an experience I wish to repeat.” She winced, her eyes betraying some pain at the memory. “Second, I can’t let you go.”

“Why not?” the Mage asked.

“You’d lead the others straight to me, and the second I set you free, you’ll attack me!” she yelled.

“Yeah, fair enough,” he conceded.

“So you’re staying with us,” Cam said, grinning. “I’m Cam! What’s your name?”

There was a pause before the mage answered. “Reed,” he replied. “The newest Mage, and the most devoted to the Alpha. I will find a way to escape, rouge.”

“That’s nice,” Cam replied.

“And those two are…” Reed began. “Witnesses?”

“Friends,” Cam said.

“I’m Fall Streaks!” I said.

“Tranquility.”

“They have to be killed,” Reed said to Cam.

“You kill them, I kill you,” Cam said coldly. “Mutually assured destruction.”

“They can’t possibly be all that important, to be more important than me!” Reed complained.

“Guess what, boo, they ARE,” Cam hissed, smiling at him sweetly. She turned to us. “He followed me here. Can I keep him?”

“Yes…” Tranquility and I said, Tranquility giggling.

Reed growled. He lunged at Cam, arms outstretched. She stuck her paw out behind her, and a bolt of lightning shot out and caught him straight in the chest. He plowed into the sand with a pained squeak. “He’s gonna need to be trained, though,” Cam remarked. Tranquility moved into full on laughter.

“Feeling better?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Tranquility said, grinning. “Must be the fresh air.”

“It is,” Cam said.

“I hate you…” Reed grumbled.

“Get used to it,” Cam said. She reached into her box and pulled out three packets of leaves, along with four ceramic water jars. “Now eat and drink.”

“I won’t accept anything from you,” Reed hissed.

“Starve then,” Cam said, shrugging. “I’m trying to be nice, okay?” She then tore into one of the packets. “I wasn’t gonna eat, but whatever.”

“Cam, that’s leaves,” Tranquility said. “You’re carnivorous.”

“Omnivorous,” she corrected. “I just like meat better, but I have less of that in my stores.” She then stuffed a pawful of leaves in her maw to prove her point, glaring at Reed. I shrugged and grabbed my share of what had been brought out. Tranquility followed suit.

A few minutes later, Cam finished. “Right, so as soon as you guys are done, we’re leaving.”

“Whyf?” I asked, my mouth full.

“We’re in the Great Sands,” Cam said. “It’s like a desert back home, where most everything dies in it and there’s no resources at all.”

“So stay here for a while,” Reed grumbled.

“No,” Cam replied. “But deserts usually get super hot, right? Here, it feels like a chilly autumn day.” I nodded. “Imagine how cold it’s gonna get at night.” I gasped, remembering my basic science classes. Deserts lose a lot of their heat at night, so most life was nocturnal. “So stuff your faces and let’s get out.”

I obeyed her instructions and ate what was left in one bite. Tranquility watched me with a sort of horrified fascination. “I’m not hungry anymore,” she eventually whispered. Reed whistled, impressed.

“Let’s go, then!” Cam said, jumping to her paws. I got up and brushed the sand out of my tail and coat, Tranquility doing the same. We looked at each other.

“We’ll get each other’s underbellies later,” I said.

“Fair enough,” she said.

“You guys do what?” Cam squealed.

“It’s hard to get there!” I protested. “I’m not flexible, like a cat.”

“Eh, fair enough,” she said. And with that, she slashed at the air, and the four of us went through the rift.

Author's Note

Aww, Fall... you were so close, and yet so, so far. One day, you'll tell her.

So yeah, new character! This one is a pretty great example of my writing style. Why did I do it? Because I thought it would be cool.

So, no language guide.
~Pyrepinna