I lay splayed on the ground, clear fluid pouring out of the tears in my wings, two guns pointed at me. My mind pulling blanks on what to do after spending nearly two days away and spending most of the latter half fighting. Then I felt Jacob stir in the back of my mind and call his body out of Slip Away, a human appearing out of nowhere, startling the guards.

  Jacob raised his hands, “Don’t shoot, I was a part of the expedition that went in two days ago!”

  Neither of them pointed their guns away from me, annoyingly enough, but they seemed less primed to shoot.

  Then one of them asked, “Identify yourself, and tell us why that monster is here.”

  “I’m Jacob Davidson, and the monster, well, uh… I don’t really know, it just showed up and saved us from a King Kong knock off or something.”

  One of the guards looked back at the scientists, nodding at them to do something.

  Then one of them pulled out a tablet and said, “Jacob Davidson was one of the Gifted on the previous expedition.”

  The same guard looked back at me, “Ok, then, where are the rest of the Expedition party?”

  Jacob froze, and I could feel panic running through his heart. He pointed a thumb at me when he said, “I don’t really know, you should ask them.”

  I guffawed, mentally communicating with him, “You bastard, don’t put this all on me!”

  Jacob rolled his eyes, “Just take them out, we can lie to them about the details, you know.”

  “Oh…”

  I then proceeded to take them out of Slip Away, freeing them from my minion hood, fearing for a moment I might’ve hurt them as they stumbled about like zombies. But after studying their souls, I determined it was just teleportation sickness.

  The guards looked startled, but the doctors seemed calm and got to work helping the disoriented Marines.

  Then Jacob said, “Oh, it seems like it can understand what we’re saying.”

  The guards looked at each other, then one of them spoke into a radio, and the second one lowered their gun, but didn’t put it away.

  Then said to Jacob, “Can you ask if it would be willing to be studied?”

  Jacob crossed his arms, “I’m not a translator, just ask it directly.”

  The guard looked at me awkwardly and did just that.

  Then Jacob said to me mentally, “I think you should cooperate."

  “The hell I am!”

  “It would calm the situation down, plus what are you going to do? You can’t go back into the Gate with Second there, and if you go into Slip Away, that’s just going to turn all the hostility onto me.”

  “Do you really trust them not to dissect me? They’re only not doing that to you because you’re human and have other people looking out for you!”

  Jacob scoffed, “Barely, anyway, if it gets too bad, you can always teleport away or hide in Slip Away.”

  I grumbled, thenI found mud that had been tracked in by the Marines, dipping a leg in it, I wrote, “Yes.”

  The guards then said under his breath, “Jesus, it really can understand us.”

  “Cool, right?” Jacob said.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Then another pair of people in hazmat suits walked in, whom I recognised as the scientists that were in the Expedition. Rolling a giant clear plastic cage with metal curtains to hide what was inside, and air tanks to keep whatever bacteria the animal inside had contained. Then they rolled it over to me, opening a latch in the side, and I reluctantly walked inside, the latch behind me closing with a hiss as the seal was created.

  Then the metal curtains fell, leaving me in surprisingly comfortable darkness as I was rolled off to wherever I was to be taken. Keeping an eye on my surroundings with my magical senses, though they weren’t as strong since Earth lacked the Mana density that enabled it.

  But all of a sudden, it was completely cut off, and I could only feel my connection with Jacob through our Core. Then the metal curtains were lifted, and another sterile white room was revealed, three new but familiar people in sight. Lieutenant Gray, Dr. Bekert, and Jenkins, all in hazmat suits, and were behind a thick, clear plastic wall.

  Then I was let out of the cage, a stack of paper and a pot of ink placed next to me, then the scientists left the room along with the cage. Bekert grabbed what looked like a Walkie Talkie and spoke through it, a hidden speaker conveying her words.

  “Hello there, I am told you can understand me. Please give a sign that you do.”

  I wrote, “I can.”

  The three of them looked at each other, then Bekert continued, “Have you had contact with humans in the past, yes or no?”

  “Yes.”

  “You are a creature originating from beyond the Gate, yes or no?”

  I hesitated, since Jacob wasn’t, but I wasn’t Jacob, I was the consciousness in the body created in The Great Debate he was given and was unable to assimilate, so I replied, “Yes.”

  Bekert was about to ask another question before she was interrupted by Jenkins, and didn’t turn off her Walkie Talkie, “Dr. Bekert, doesn’t your ability only work with verbal replies?”

  “No, it only needs a simple reply coming directly from the subject that can’t be misconstrued, yes and no are just the easiest.”

  “But would writing count as a reply since it isn’t directly from them?”

  Bekert tilted her head, “I don’t know…” then she turned towards me, “Please lie on the next question, this is a test. Are you, uh… a human, yes or no?”

  I rolled my eyes, going to easily reply no, but then I froze.

  ‘Was I human..?”

  In desperation, I reached out for Jacobs' help.

  O O O

  I nervously watched as Orchid was wheeled away in a box, my heart nearly leaping out of my chest when our connection was weakened, but I didn’t sense any danger, so I kept calm. Then I was escorted by one of the doctors, along with all the other Marines, through a sterilization tunnel, our suits being drenched in chemicals, then taken from us.

  Then we were all sent into a temporary quarantine chamber, the plan being to separate us into individual groups to stop any spread of alien diseases. But something had happened to them, so this was the compromise (hurray for military efficiency). And as I was searching for a place to crash in the unfurnished after staying away for two days straight, I was approached by Kalani, with Charlotte not so subtly following them.

  I waved at them, “What's up?”

  “I just got something I wanna ask you?”

  I scratched my face, feeling the beginnings of acne from being stuck in a water tight suit for two days, “Sure, ask away.”

  “How did you know we were going to get attacked? I didn’t see anything.”

  I shrugged, “Magic.”

  They gave me a blank stare.

  “No, literally, I could sense the magic coming over.”

  “I didn’t know you could do that.”

  “Me either.”

  “What about what happened after?”

  “Well, then this giant Moth came over and decided to help us by hiding us inside a pocket dimension or something, but it missed me because of Stealth. Though it could tell I was there and it asked me to come out of hiding so it could help, I didn’t until I saw a giant fuck you Kaiju. And the next thing I know, we’re here.”

  “Why did it help us?”

  “I don’t know, I barely know more than you now, ask it yourself, it’s somewhere around here.”

  Kalani was about to ask something else, but then I heard a desperate cry from Orchid, so I interrupted, “Anyway, I am tired, so I’m just going to my best impression of a corpse for the next eight hours.”

  “Oh, uh, ok.”

  I laid on the ground of the cramped and unfurnished room, having given up on finding a comfortable place to lay. Then I exited my body and went to Orchid's aid.

  O O O

  Kalani watched as Jacob layed on the floor and fell unconscious, befuddled.

  Then Charlotte walked up to them after not so stealthy eavesdropping, “What the hell was that? No, who the hell was that?”

  Kalani creased their brow, “I don’t know…”