Tap. Tap. Tap. Lisa’s cane continued to echo as she retraced her steps in a pattern to learn the layout better.
Her room was not a bad size—twenty by fifteen feet. It gave her a lot of room to wander, yet she had nothing, so her only option was to sit on a slightly cool, hard floor.
She hated that her clothes were still wet and clung to her body, but she tried to focus on other rooms while waiting for Liri.
The hall she was able to mostly map with taps was a bit long—seventy-five feet from as close as she dared when eavesdropping, and toward the back, around thirty feet to reach her door. Right across was another room, much smaller, around five by five.
“What are you doing, human?” Liri’s voice interrupted the gentle tapping.
“Mapping the area to help me see,” Lisa responded calmly. The sudden voice would have spooked her before, but she’d felt Liri coming.
“You could have seen normally though? Or even used mana sight. Why stay blind?”
Lisa paused at those words, unsure what Liri was implying, yet a bit of dread was building. Liri knew more than she should…
“What are you implying?” Lisa asked carefully.
“I was there. No need to play coy.”
She knows… or does she?
Lisa let the silence stretch between them, waiting to hear Liri’s words. She did not feel like explaining her past with her parents—it hurt too much still, and the idea of seeing without them…
“Limitless power and you threw it all away…” Liri said wistfully, as if dreaming of something great just out of reach.
“What?” Lisa could not stop herself. That was not what she was expecting…
“I.WAS.THERE,” Liri said with as much boom as she could muster, though it sounded like a kid trying to be an adult.
“Okay?” Lisa wanted details, not riddles or half-truths…
An exasperated gasp and frustrated groan followed from Liri.
“You somehow managed to make a power level that stretched across cosmic space, and you tossed it away like it was a burden—and by doing so, limited what I can do too…”
Really? Uh. I guess you are bound to me, so it ties our power level together too? Wait, since when do I even have a power level?
The two mana drinks? Maybe… yeah.
But why is it affecting Liri? She had enough power to summon me before we bonded.
“Why is it a big deal? You literally summoned me from another world. You can’t tell me you don’t have power.”
“I used mana reserves meant to be used for building a power source…”
“I… kinda wasted it on you,” Liri’s voice trailed off.
“You poor thing…” Lisa retorted.
“Thank you, pet. I knew you’d understand. So open the gates again, and we’ll have limitless power to do lots of fun things!”
Sarcasm is lost on the runt… wait… that means if I open the way to that power, I CAN GO HOME!
“So if I open the gate thing again, you can send me back, right?”
“Weeelll.”
Oh god, what now…
“Well?” Lisa repeated, a bit flat.
“Well, I kinda winged it and dunno where your planet is.”
“You’re kidding?”
“Why would I lie? I would love to trade you for a better pet.”
Lisa glared the best she could where she felt the bond, even as Liri tried to shift and fly away. Lisa’s gaze tracked Liri through the bond.
“Stop that, human. It’s weird seeing blank eyes track me… you sure you don’t have mana sight?”
“You threw me into this mess and would trade me first chance you got? And you’re blaming me for your stupidity in not knowing how you brought me here?”
“Am I understanding that right, Liri?”
Liri squirmed and fidgeted, which was lost on Lisa even as she heard the grunts from Liri trying to deny it.
“Okay, okay. Sorry, Lisa. I understand. I’ll take this more seriously. It’s just… this isn’t as easy as I thought it would be, and…. maybe… a seeing pet would be better.”
What kind of logic was that? Bah, a kid… gotta remember she’s as lost as me. A stupid fairy kid used power to bring me, and me denying my own power is keeping me here…
Fine, fine, whatever. I’ll open the way again. Just gotta will it or whatever, right?
Lisa reached within herself to open the gate and pull the cosmic feeling once more…
And nothing came.
No feeling. No sense of mana beyond a light hum in her veins. No cosmic power…
In fact, she didn’t even sense a block or a door to open, despite Liri saying she’d closed it and willed it to stay closed.
“I can’t… I can’t find the mana,” Lisa confessed, a bit of panic creeping into her voice.
“Hmmm,” Liri’s voice followed before the fairy spoke more. “I suppose that means you buried the door really deep in your soul. I can’t feel it in our bond anymore either, now that I’m trying.”
You keep saying door? Or gate, as if I was able to lock it away… since when does power obey the whims of thought? That seems too abstract.
“What do you mean, door? I have a gateway inside me?”
“Maybe?”
Lisa glared at Liri, not liking the half-answers. She knew nothing about magic, and this was supposed to be a magical fairy…
“You gotta understand, Lisa. Fairies are pure magic. For us, it is and always will be a will we use. But you humans tend to hide it in jars in your body and only use that.”
So something to hold the mana? Makes sense.
“But you bypassed the jar and had so much power it was a cosmic space, not bound.”
“Even my mana space is like a deep lake. It’s why I had to use reserves for the power needed to summon you—since I wasted my mana before on a stupider pet than you.”
If it abandoned you, it wasn’t as dumb as you think…
“It’s why Dad is forcing the test on us. It’ll probably be gathering tribute from someone he helped come through the rift with us.”
“And I bet I know who it is. They’re really good at refining mana to the more rare, distilled version, but they get lazy.” liri voice said sounding like it was losing intrest
“Are they bonded like me?” lisa spoke trying keep liri invested less she wonder off...
“Gods, no. Most fairies don’t want bonded pets. We’re free-spirited. I just didn’t like that feeling of being alone, so I used my power to get a friend—PET. A good pet. That listens…. And will stay.”
Lisa nodded slowly, not sure how to handle that information just yet.
“The point I’m making, human, is we helped a creature from our world escape into this one. So they set up in a mountain, building their own base, but still owe us tribute or a tithe for helping her.”
Tribute? That seems like something a goblin lord would demand…. Or a dragon. Not a fairy.
“So since magic is real… I assume there’s a kobold, goblin, or some elemental?” Lisa asked, fishing for answers.
“Why would we help them? They’re evil and always looking for fights…” liri huffed out her reply
Yeah, I guess that makes sense, since most things tend to follow tropes—even new, impossible magical things…
“The one we saved was a dragon,” Liri said casually.
Sure, sure. A dragon.
Lisa nodded, listening, only half-believing this magic world had other magical things—until she heard dragon and had to pause…
“A… dragon?” Lisa asked carefully, lest she had misheard.
“Yes?” Liri replied, unsure what wasn’t clear.
“And your dad… wants me… to get tribute from said dragon…?”
“Yes?” Liri said once more, wondering where the break in logic was coming.
Well, at least God was merciful making me blind. I won’t see the bite or flame coming….
Technically, I’d hear the roar and feel the heat before I died, but that’s beside the point….
The silence that followed was maddening and feeling liri close in the bond was the only thing keeping Lisa from screaming. Instead, she focused on making it make sense.
“Be honest… How is sending a blind girl to her death against a dragon a test and not a sacrifice?” Lisa finally had to ask.
“Um? I’ll be with you, so you’ll be fine?” Liri responded casually.
And yet your voice sounds like you’re unsure and will die beside me like the dumb kid you are… Though I do wonder what the king’s endgame is. This isn’t adding up.
“Why wait a week? What could I possibly learn in that time versus going now?”
Lisa wanted to understand the fairy king’s logic in some form if she was going to survive…
Liri didn’t answer at first, but slowly her low voice did respond.
“That’s the test, Lisa. Will you flee? Will you stand? Learn magic and try to kill me?”
“Dad wants to know how loyal you can be, even if you’re bound to me.”
And you don’t find that cruel? Also, I trusted you enough to be bonded as a pet. Doesn’t that count for something…
Whatever. I’m tired and still wet.
“I think this is all just a bit much for me, and I need more than one day to sort this, okay?”
“Okay,” Liri replied, forlorn.
Liri never left Lisa’s side, but their talks remained more somber. A spike in Liri’s mood out of nowhere startled Lisa as her voice boomed.
“HE’S BACK!”
“YOU’RE LOUD, YOU LITTLE BRAT.”
“Sorry, sorry! Be right back with your stuff!”
Stuff? Ah, the human food and items she asked for.
Lisa did not have to wait long before the buzz of Liri returning with a sing-song voice saying “I got it, I got it!” over and over…
Yet when Liri handed Lisa a small ring and nothing more, she could not help but feel this was pointless.
“This is it? A ring?”
“I wanted something dry to wear…. Do you know a drying spell?”
Why didn’t I think to ask earlier? This is a magic fairy in a magic-filled world.
“Why would I bother? I would just wear a mana shield and not get wet,” Liri replied casually.
“For me, Liri…”
“But you got the ring? And you can use it to get something else to wear that’s dry?”
Lisa turned the ring over a few times in her hand, feeling its smoothness. She put it on her finger and… nothing.
Not like I assumed it would show me a world full of human stuff, but I at least expected to feel something…
“So how does it work?” Lisa asked, hoping Liri knew something.
“What? Really, Lisa…”
“Yes?” Lisa was unsure why this was a big deal…. Well, beyond it being a magic ring holding items she couldn’t access.
“Even those with weak magic can use storage rings. The magic is self-contained.”
“It just requires a user to sense inside the ring and will it to appear. It’s quite easy, even for a slow pet, I’m sure.”
I’m sure it is, you twerp….
Lisa tried doing as Liri said, sensing the mana in the ring, and it was as easy as the thought that came. Lisa was unsure why it hadn’t worked before, but now a feeling of everything in the ring brushed her mind as if she’d stored it herself.
A brush. Lots of random food. Drinks. Robes, maybe? They feel like clothes.
A mirror! What am I going to do with that?! Ah… they don’t know I’m blind. Guess they were trying to be considerate…
“If you still need help with even this, Lisa, I’m not sure if I can help you learn magic… this is kinda super easy and basic.”
“Calm down, you little runt. I got it figured out.”
“Please, I’m the perfect size. You’re an overgrown human. I doubt the food will last a week with your size…”
As a test, Lisa willed a grape from among the food and threw it where she heard Liri ranting.
“HEY! THAT ALMOST HIT ME!”
“Shame. I was aiming for your head. Lucky for you, I’m blind.” Lisa grinned as wide as her face would allow, finally feeling a bit of mirth—when a bump hit her head, mildly stunning her.
The laughter from Liri that followed, as well as the feel near her feet, told her the grape had hit her after all…
So Lisa threw it again.
“OW! You jerk, that hurt…” Liri said. It seemed Lisa managed to hit her that time.
“Oh, please. I barely threw it, and you hit me first…”
A hmph and a feeling of distance told Lisa Liri had left.
She can give it but can’t take it, huh? I’ll apologize later.
Lisa used this chance while she was alone to will clothes to appear. A very soft-feeling robe entered her hand—it was heavenly.
She was glad she didn’t have to change in front of Liri, not wanting her body judged. Even if Liri was a girl, she wanted privacy.
Finally free of the wet clothes, a warmth entered Lisa she didn’t know she was lacking. The cold may have been kept at bay, but now that she had fresh clothes on, she could feel the difference. There was even a sleeping bag among the supplies, which Lisa also summoned.
I’ll deal with you tomorrow, Liri. For today, I really just want to sleep.
As Lisa settled for the night, she tried not to let the mounting things hit her all at once: magic, dragons, debt, and being lonely…
The darkness was still there, but no longer had the same power. Not when, even in the distance and sulking, she could feel Liri. And in a way, it felt like she had someone there.
And she slept a dreamless sleep.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDftxLDvoCp
and then Add to home screen.