Wakefulness bludgeoned sleep from my mind with a pounding headache and the throb of sore muscles. My eyes opened, and the room, mainly the ceiling, came into focus.

  This isn't my ceiling.

  STEPHANIE!

  I tried to sit up quickly, but everything protested angrily. I winced and moved to grip my back. That was when I noticed the cuffs. I was in handcuffs.

  Why am I in handcuffs?

  “We’ll take those off shortly, caro.”

  I looked towards the voice. Stunning. And tall. She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, and that wasn’t a bad mark on Stephanie. I would choose my fiancée 10 times out of 10, but this woman was almost divine in her appearance. All curves and sharp angles, she was simultaneously a goddess of war and of fertility, but what stuck out the most was the quirk of her smile, and the way her eyes seemed to say ‘I know things you don’t.’

  She was wearing a red dress without a mantle or medici collar. The doublet of her dress had golden inlay thread weaving intricate designs. Her hair was in a large braid that draped over her left shoulder, dark blue jewels threading along it. On top of her head was a golden crown with blood red gems, rubies if I had to guess. They appeared to thrum and pulse with power, but without my connection to mana, I couldn’t be sure. In her right hand, she lazily held a glass of wine, as if my appearance here was ‘just another Thursday’.

  ? “We wanted to be sure you weren't going to react violently upon waking. It seems we've cleared that little hurdle, don't you think?”

  ?She stepped around the bed and up to me, pulling a key from somewhere. She motioned for my hands, so I presented them and the manacles that were suppressing my connection to mana. With a click, they unlocked and dropped onto the bed between my lap. Mana rushed into me; I could hear the colors and see the music again. My own melody of red and orange thrummed within me, but just as quickly as it came, it dulled. With my freedom and a clearer head, the memories of the night echoed against the walls of my mind again. Everything felt muted and grayer. Stephanie was dead. My Stephanie.

  Before I could continue down that line of thought, and less than a second since my connection to mana was restored, a hand strongly gripped my chin, demanding my attention. The woman stared into me, her focus not on me but within me. Her intensity waned, either because she had found what she was looking for or not.

  “You can pull your claws back in, caro. You're not in danger,” she said.

  It took a second, but I realized she was talking to me. Without my knowing, I’d primed my muscles with mana. I was beyond tense. I took a shuddering breath and relaxed everything.

  “That's a good boy. Now, how about answering some of my questions to put my guard at ease, and then we can see about making you a citizen, so you can enjoy our protection.”

  Guard?

  I looked just past the woman in front of me, and there she was: A knight. She had her helmet off—it was lying on a side table near her—and she had her arms crossed as she leaned against the wall by the door. She looked at rest, but now that I could feel mana again, I knew she was circulating it. It seems my own little outburst didn’t go unnoticed by her either. She was in full plate armor, yet she appeared to wear it with a relaxed grace. At least orange, but probably chartreuse, I thought. Belted to her side was a longsword, and slightly above it was either a side sword or a parrying dagger. I couldn’t tell. I also couldn’t tell how tall she was, but she had voluminous chestnut hair that was currently pulled back into a low ponytail. She had long ears, so she wasn’t human, but I couldn’t tell if she was an elf or a halfelf. She seemed too pale, no, pallid, to be an elf. In my very brief once-over, I made eye contact with her.

  Are red eyes a common elf eye color?

  Quickly remembering to answer, I brought my focus back to the woman next to me. “Citizen? Uh, I mean, yes of course.” I wasn’t in a position to refuse anyway, and these people might have some answers. Not to mention the nameless woman in front of me radiated such a powerful melody, I didn’t notice it at first. “I'm happy to cooperate, but where am I? What should I call you? Did anyone else come through? My—was there a woman named Stephanie?”

  That earned me a raised eyebrow.

  “I am Principessa Ippolita. You are in my dominio,” she said. There was a charged and melodic quality to the word dominio. “Specifically, you are in a guest house in the palace. We are in the city-state Fortenna. It is the sister to your Doranna. Now tell me, why did Doranna fall from the sky? How did you activate the godsway?” Her eyes glowed with restrained power as she asked the questions, and I felt a very gentle tug on the edge of my mind. She could compel me with magic. I knew that now, and I was thankful she held back. I didn't know who she was, but she was powerful—terrifyingly so. I could hear and feel quiet reverberations in the mana. She was a one-woman symphony. Any restraint she currently had wouldn't last long unless I cooperated, and again, the best way for me to get help and answers was to cooperate.

  Tit for tat, right? Right?

  “Godsway? Is that the Gate of the Gods?” I asked. She snorted, but nodded. “I don't know, but I'll start from what I think is the beginning.”

  ?

  *****

  ?

  I unlocked our door and called out, “Stephanie! I'm back. You about ready?”

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  ?“In here,” she called back. “Can you get this clasp for me?”

  I stepped into our bedroom to see her seated in the vanity, and summoned a bouquet of a wildflower arrangement from my storage ring. “Beautiful flowers for a beautiful woman?” She laughed lightly and stood up to hug me. Her laughter always reminded me of a celesta—it had a tinkling musicality to it, which, when combined with the melody of her mana, made my heart soar and flutter in embarrassing ways. We shared a kiss, and she took the flowers from me to place them in a vase.

  Stephanie was my everything. We’d been adventuring together for years and slowly grew into this comfortable relationship of love and trust. That first night when it happened, it felt like things were falling into their correct space, like a puzzle box in a dungeon. And today, I'll ask her to be my everything forever. I leaned against the door frame to our bedroom and brushed my thumb over my spatial ring on my index finger; the image of the engagement dagger appeared in my mind's eye, then disappeared just as quickly as my thumb left the ring.

  She was wearing a blue dress with some silver inlay designs. Her corset was doing wonderful things to her cleavage, but I knew from experience it wasn’t particularly comfortable even with Orange-level mana cultivation. Her dress’s overskirt had three slits, one in the front and on each side, to show the underskirt. She had drops of honey for eyes to match her honey blonde hair that she kept loose. ‘Can’t be bothered to braid it,’ she’d always say, and opting to keep my own hair cut short, who am I to say she should braid it? Aside from the magic earrings she always wore, she wasn’t much for jewelry, so her wearing the necklace was an extra step she didn’t normally take. After placing the flowers in their new home with a little water, she turned back to me. I held out my hand.

  “Let’s see if I can defeat the clasp that vexes you?”

  She handed me the necklace and moved to sit back down at the vanity. I brought it around her neck from behind; the villainous clasp slipped my fingers a couple of times, but through valiant effort, I was victorious. I let the necklace go after finishing and leaned down to her so we were cheek to cheek.

  “My hero saved the day again,” she said with a slight smirk.

  Looking at her reflection, I couldn't stop the lovesick grin that spread across my face. Hers was soon to follow. Six years of this and we still act like it's the first time. I broke the spell with a kiss on her cheek.

  “Come on, let's get a bite, and then we can check out the stalls.”

  I helped her up, and we were quickly on our way. I was nervous, extremely nervous. Before meeting Stephanie, Bill, and Claudia, I didn’t realize how alone I was. The son of adventurers, orphaned and raised as a ward of the city, I didn’t have a family to speak of, but meeting the three of them early in my adventuring career turned everything around. Bill already took the step with Claudia, and she—well, she lived and died an adventurer. As we all will, but I needed Stephanie to know how I felt before that could happen to either of us. I won’t lose her to a monster, and I won’t lose her to my fear of rejection. I took a deep breath and tried to let the butterflies and jitters leave my body with the exhale. It partially worked. Sensing my disquiet, Stephanie gently squeezed my hand. Another deep breath, and I exhaled the remainder of the anxiety. Her hand in mine, this was it. We grounded each other.

  She'll say yes.

  “Where did you go?” she asked.

  “What?”

  “Just now. You were somewhere else.”

  “Oh, I was just replaying my day. I ran into Bill during my errands. He's still… Well, it's been hard on him. I think he's going to stay retired from adventuring.”

  “Oh… yeah. Jack. If I lost you—”

  “You won't.”

  “But—”

  ?I stopped walking and pulled her into a tight hug.

  ?“You won't lose me. Ever. You're the best healer in Orange. We’ll keep progressing together.” I pulled back a little so I could look her in the eyes. “I had this whole thing planned in front of the fountain,” I said, and my eyes darted past her to the fountain we’re about 50 feet from, “but we’ve kind of stumbled into the subject already.” I dropped to one knee and summoned the engagement dagger from my spatial ring.

  “Jack Wright, you are not doing this right here in front of the fountain on the first day of the fertility festival,” she squealed and did a happy dance.

  “Stephanie Klutz, you won't lose me. And I refuse to lose you. We’ve spent the last several years together, first as friends and party members, then as lovers. You’re my family, my only family. The first day you came into my life was more magical than the mana around us. The way your mana sings when I’m around you is intoxicating. It makes me never want to leave the house without you. The idea of another day without—”

  “Gods, shut up and kiss me. Yes i’ll—”

  KABOOM!?

  Multiple explosions rocked the city, and then the fountain exploded. Stephanie managed to erect a quick barrier to eat some of the blast, but we were still knocked apart. Our combat reflexes had kicked in as well. Both of us summoned our armor, and I stored the dagger. There would be time to give it to her later. Another explosion went off near us. I felt my balance slip slightly, but Stephanie was falling? I looked at her feet; the ground had cracked. Some of that would be expected, but this was more. This was worse. Stephanie was falling away from me. The island was falling away from me. In less than a second that somehow felt like hours, I watched her fall away below the ground with chunks of the island—chunks of our city, our home. I didn't think. I ran towards the edge and dove after her. The ground gave way in my attempt, causing what should have been a dive to be an awkward half jump, half slip, but all fall.

  I was flailing as I fell; I tried to orient myself to be pointed at her. It took an embarrassingly long time to get my bearings, but I managed to slightly aim my descent. That's when she hit the gate.

  ?“STEPHANIE!”

  Her head impacted on the corner of the gate, and blood was everywhere. She was flipped end over end, bloody mist trailing behind her.

  She could have survived. She's orange. Her body is tougher than a normal person’s. She probably had her protection spells up. She always casts those by reflex. She'll be fine.

  She'll be fine.

  She'll be fine.

  I was at terminal velocity now, chasing after her flailing form and approaching the gate.

  She has to be fine.

  ?I passed through the gate, and space screamed. I screamed. Pain, there was pain and a bright flash. Then I was flying through the air parallel to the ground and surrounded by people? I crashed into a wagon; my physical reinforcement spell flickered and died from my cannonball approach. I skipped and skidded along the ground until I came to a stop. I could hear their voices now. I had evidently caused a commotion.

  “Are you okay?” a woman with wolf ears—wait, wolf ears?

  “Stephanie…,” I said, voice hoarse.

  A woman in full plate armor approached, probably a guard. “What's going on here?” she asked.

  ?As if my old home was answering her, the sound of a mountain falling sounded off in reply.

  ?“Stephanie! I'm coming," I said as I tried to pick myself up off the ground. I felt hands on me, helping me up.

  “Not so fast. What's going on? What do you know?” the guardswoman asked.

  “My girl—my fiancée. I have to save her.” Before I could take a second step, blackness engulfed me, and I fell limp into the guardswoman’s arms.