The following is an entry from the spell book of Kirn Stormphoenix.

Late Preharvest, 3032^nd year Past Legends.

(Mid-autumn on Earth, or so I’ve been told.)

These past days have been utterly amazing and horrifying the entire way through. In fact, I’m still trying to put together everything that’s happened so far.

I remember going after Deathblaze through the portal to Earth. Turoth was right about there being no sound in that thing.

So we were running after that huge lizard which was waddling up ahead of us. The portal’s opening was straight ahead, but neither of us could see around the scaly monster’s bulk.

Deathblaze had just spread his wings before leaping forward, while Sera and I continued to charge ahead. I was still feeling light-headed from the spell work of the recent battle, so if there was something dangerous waiting for us, I was going to be ill-prepared to deal with it.

Our "guide" had exited the void in which my sister and I still ran. I could see stars and night sky outside, but nothing more. We weren’t given the opportunity to be cautious either, as the other side of portal was closing like it did behind us on Neddel.

At first, we were running. Then we were falling.

We had come out of the portal, but there was no ground waiting to support us. Apparently, the dragon had been planning on the possibility of us following him to Earth and had taken a precaution neither of us could have expected.

Sera grasped out for me desperately and began screaming. To be honest, I couldn’t keep myself all that quiet either.

Everything was a blur at first. Falling through the air like that is something I never want to do again with the way your stomach feels like it’s going to float up your throat.

There was water below us, but the height we were falling from was still going to kill us.

One hand was holding tight to Sera’s vest, while the other was clenching my staff. The staff reminded me that I still had powers to command for situations even as obscure as this.

I reached out to the flow of magic. My head throbbed in trying to harness the power for my spell, but a bit of discomfort was preferable to a watery grave.

A quick word and a few arcane gestures with my staff engaged my spell. A red glow surrounded Sera and me. The spell was meant for flight, however we had already built up some considerable downward momentum, and I was running on empty as the Earth humans say. At best, we were slowing our descent. We were still going to hit the water very hard, which we did.

The water was cold and had a bit of a current. As for me, my robes quickly soaked up the water and became an anchor. My whole body might as well have been made of lead because I was sinking despite my best efforts.

Fortunately, I hadn’t come to this world alone. I felt a hand clamp down on my sleeve, pulling me back up to the surface. With a drowned cough, I greeted the air. Treading water, Sera tugged me along to shore.

My sister was on her back panting, and I was on my knees hacking up fluid.

"Are you alright?" Sera asked once she had caught her wind.

"I’ll pull through." I rasped, then fell forward to lay upon a slope of gravel.

The two of us had been through hell, and all we wanted right then was to just pass out. I think I might have actually done so for a few moments, because I later found Sera shaking me by the shoulders.

Assuring her that I was fine, I pushed myself up. Half my weight must have been supported by my staff, since I was leaning on it heavily when I came to my feet.

We both took in the territory, hoping in vain to get our bearings. There were lights above, both stationary and moving, and the moving ones were reaching speeds I couldn’t even conceive. I couldn’t quite discern the exact source of the lights. They peeked over the edges of something enormous hovering between us and the sky, stretching for what seemed like miles.

"Stranger than I could have expected." Sera shivered over her breath.

The tips of my fingers were starting to go numb, and being wrapped in my wet robes didn’t help matters much either.

Climbing up the steep gravel, we came to see just where the light was coming from. Illumination was cast all about on the structure above us. A bridge unlike anything witnessed before my eyes was what had blotted out the world above us. It had been made of iron with ropes thicker than a man’s waist extending into the night sky. Even more lights attached to the supports bathed the area. Beyond it on both sides, it looked as it the stars had been cast from the sky to decorate a city of equally astounding construction.

Wheeled boxes of metal rolled by. Some dispensed smoke in short-lived trails, but all made a loud humming sound as they went. Whatever they were, they definitely weren’t magical. Giant machines, it seemed.

"By the torch." I muttered. "Turoth wasn’t exaggerating about this place."

"So where to?" Sera asked.

I let my mind reach out to the flow of magic. Immediately I felt a jarring pull on my mind, it directed me to the left.

"Something big is going on there." I pointed. It was in the direction of a large island down the river from our position. Gargantuan spires of metal and glass jutted up from it. The place must have supported countless lives.

"I can almost feel something too." Added Sera.

"But it’s too familiar. It’s just like the energy I sensed back in the dragon’s home. Almost as if his spell has a second origin."

"So going that way might just lead us back to the dragon?"

"If not to Deathblaze, then to something equally dangerous."

"So now what?"

"Give me a moment."

Again, I focused on the flow of magic around us. It was more difficult this time, what with trying to filter out the power radiating down the river from us and the loud noises of the machines racing about. But ever so slight, there was a signature of magic. It was so faint. I almost hadn’t caught on to it.

"Come on." I started walking.

Despite how tired we were, we both made ourselves quick in our steps. We needed to work up some warmth in our bodies.

Stepping away from the river, we began to tread upon the actual road. We kept to the gray sides, which looked as if it had been made for people who walked. The path was made of some material akin to stone, like mortar, but far more advanced.

Upon closer examination of the metal boxes on wheels, we could see that there were people traveling within through the glass windows.

"How the hell did the Spirits manage in this place?" I asked out loud.

"The sky alone has me rattled." Said my sister.

I had guessed she had been referring to the constellations being different, at first. But the more obvious feature was the moon. The single moon. I had grown so used to Neddel’s twin satellites that I had come to neglect the night sky. There are still many things I need to get used to here, and that moon remains one of them.

As we followed the road away from the bridge, we got our first look at the natives. Their clothes were every bit as unexpected as the rest of their world, but they were all human like us. Some would stare at us. Not surprising considering that we must have looked just as foreign to them. But a good number of the people gave a quick glance and turned away.

All in all, it became apparent to us that staying out in the open like we were was going to attract more attention than we might have wanted.

Keeping ourselves hidden didn’t take much effort once we stepped into the dark spaces between the gargantuan buildings. It was hindering detour to take, but I managed to keep my senses attuned to the magic we were tracing.

As we made our way down the alleys and seldom-used streets, we came to notice some people were sleeping beside buildings, taking shelter in structures that had grown derelict. The slums of a city were often the best place to keep a low profile, thus we were able to relax a bit as we walked.

The cold still gnawed at us. My hands ached as I kept hold of my staff, and my nose kept running.

For hours, we push trudged further. The city quite simply dwarfed the capital of the Humanlands ten times over. Dawn was a blessing when it came. Though it reminded us just how long we had been moving.

Yet through it all, we were lucky. We learned later that the area of the city we had traversed was commonly roamed by teams of bandits. If we had run across any trouble like that, I’m sure our journey would have ended then and there.

By the time we had come into an area that was better maintained, I could tell we were getting close.

On the streets people continued to walk and ride about in their mechanical carts. Riding in one of those contraptions would have saved us so much time, I thought to myself.

It was well into the morning when we came to a long stretch of brick buildings.

"There." I pointed to one of the structures across the street from us.

Up the mortar stairs we went to what seemed to be a tenement building of some type.

At this range, I could follow the trail with hardly even trying. Whoever these Whitman and Thompson were, their presence was like a beacon to me. It strikes me as strange to find that Deathblaze hadn’t been able to detect these two in the city. I suppose it can be written off to the fact that so much of his energy must be dedicated to his own spell interfere with his other abilities.

The inside of the building was warm, and it was the finest sensation we’d felt since arriving here. There was no visible fireplace to heat the interior, but we weren’t willing to dwell on trying to explain the small miracle. We were just grateful for the shelter from the cold.

Like a dog on the scent of a squirrel, we went up to the fourth floor. The rows of doors on either side of the hallway stood before us. But I immediately knew which one we wanted.

"This one." I stepped up the door with the characters D-6 set in brass on the wooden door.

"Then let’s see who we’re dealing with." Sera said and rapped her knuckles on the door.

"I’m coming." A voice called from the other side. "Hey Bobby, I think Barbara’s here early."

The door was opened by a man who looked to be of average height. His build was so slender, I might have mistaken him for an elf at a distance, but he was fairly broad at the shoulders. On his face, there was this black wire frame with small pieces of glass over his eyes. He wore a white shirt with a blue pair of loose trousers.

He stood barefoot on a strange rug that appeared to cover the room he was in wall to wall. There was a scent of fried eggs that wafted out to us that immediately made my mouth water. How long had it been since we had eaten? Probably close to a day.

But most notably, the man at the door gave off an aura of raw power, like he was saturated with magic. It made me wonder just what the Spirits had done to him. Surely, here was a Shadowed One.

His face first registered surprise. His gaze lingered for a moment on Sera. Then he looked to me. Recognition showed as his eyes landed on my cold and filthy robes.

"You’re not Barbara." He said. "And I take it you’re not here to collect the month’s rent."

"No." I answered. "You’re of the Shadows, aren’t you?"

He poked his head out to look down both sides of the hallway to see that we had come alone.

"First tell me who you people are." The man said in even tones. I could sense an elevation in the magic within him. He was becoming tense and getting ready to engage his powers if he thought we were a threat.

"Turoth sent us." Sera gave the reply.

The name was familiar to him, and the tension quickly receded.

"Could you hold on for just a second?" He then closed the door without waiting for us to respond.

On the other side, we could hear the slender gent speaking to someone.

"You’re not going to believe this!" He exclaimed.

"What’s goin’ on?" A second voice asked.

The Shadowed One who had opened the door lowered his voice. Neither Sera nor myself caught more than a few mumbles. That is, until the second voice bellowed in shock.

"Caesar’s fuckin’ ghost!"

We then heard footsteps coming in our direction.

Slowly the door opened. The Shadowed One stood there with a far larger fellow close behind him.

This bigger one exuded the same power. But even without the Spirits’ enchantment, he didn’t look like the kind of man I would want to piss off. He had on a gray shirt and black leggings. There was a pair of laced shoes on his feet that looked like they had been made by a depressed madman, but could have been in the latest style on Earth.

All four of us could only stand there and take in the sight of our arrival.

"You should both come in." The smaller of the two instructed.

We entered as told. The furnishings impressed me with sofa and chairs adorning the living room. In front of the sofa and a big, cushioned chair, there was a stout wooden table covered in parchments and books. Many of the parchments appeared to be maps and scribbled notes.

Sitting on the sofa was a real eye-opener. A spell book with protection runes over the front cover. The runes kept the book from being damaged. My own was probably the only item on my person that hadn’t been ruined thanks to those same glyphs.

"Have a seat." The slender man motioned towards the sofa. "I’ve got to get back to the eggs before they burn."

Sera and I sat down while the bigger man flopped down in the chair.

"Robert Thompson or David Whitman?" Sera pointed to our burly host.

"Thompson." He said. "Most people call me Rob, though."

"Or even Bobby." Whitman said from the kitchen.

"Shut up about that, will ya’." Rob shot back at Whitman.

"What’s the problem with Bobby?" I asked.

"It’s a long story from when we were kids." Whitman said over the kitchen counter. "And if you want, you can just call me Dave. So Turoth told you all about us?"

"He told us that you had been enchanted and why."

"For all the good it’s done us, so far." Rob leaned forward to look over one of the maps on the table. "We’re still waitin’ for some real powers to kick in."

"Are there any effects that have occurred so far?" As a mage, these two were the greatest finds I’d ever come across. So naturally, I was rather curious.

"We’ve been gettin’ stronger and faster." Rob said. "That saved our asses a while back."

"We’re also able to retain knowledge better than we ever could before too." Dave added while he pulled two dishes from a cupboard. "I read three books in the past week, and I can quote every word cover to cover."

"I don’t need to use a calculator any more." Rob tapped his head with a smile. "I can tell you that the square root of 26989 is 164.283 and the cosign is 0.982, but I’m roundin’ the digits to the nearest thousandth."

I wasn’t quite sure what Rob had been talking about right there, but it sounded impressive.

"Don’t forget the changing." Dave threw in.

"Oh yeah." Rob nodded at the reminder. "We can change forms too."

"What do they look like?" I pressed.

"I’d be happy to show off my work clothes for you, but we try to avoid changin’ when we don’t have to. And that hasn’t happened for some time."

"So how did your powers save you?"

"The Committee found out that we were on to them and decided to have a warehouse full of explosives waiting for us." Dave informed us. "The World Management Committee’s is what we have running things here."

"So what have you been doing since then?" Sera waved a hand to the table. "It looks like you’ve got some other work going on here."

"Well, right now, when we aren’t working at our jobs, we’ve been doing a little research with the public records. The Committee wants the Bronx area for something pretty badly."

"How bad?" I took one of the maps in hand while leaning back in the sofa. Hopefully, the odor from swimming in the river wouldn’t linger in the furniture.

"Bad enough to try blowing us to bits." Said Rob.

"We’ve been trying to piece together some kind of connection with the Committee and the Bronx." Dave elaborated. "About the only thing we’ve been able to come up with is the fact that a lot of people who got booted out of Manhattan set up housekeeping there."

"So what were your next plans?" Inquired my sister.

"Today happens to be our day off work." Rob stated before looking over a sheaf of papers held together with a spiral piece of wire. "We were gonna see if we could come up with any better leads. I showed up here at Dave’s to go over some local history. You showed up just when we were taking a break to eat."

"Speaking of which," Dave hastily came out of the kitchen with a plate in each hand. "You’re probably both hungry after coming halfway across Existence. Sorry if the eggs are a bit burnt. Couldn’t quite get to them in time."

"That’s fine." Sera smiled warmly to Dave who handed us each a plate. "We’re grateful for the hospitality."

"You’re the closest things to friends we’ve come across involving this thing we’re on." Dave smiled back. "Everyone else related to the realms here has been trying to kill us. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get back to the stove. We weren’t expecting visitors this morning."

"Well we don’t want to intrude." Sera said politely. As for me, I was already digging into the fried potatoes and eggs. The meal hadn’t been burnt too badly. The eggs were a little crisp on the outside, but otherwise fine.

"Don’t worry about it." Rob laughed. "Dave likes being the little kitchen bitch."

Dave glared back from the stove and pointed a spatula in Rob’s direction.

"You seem to keep forgetting that I know where you sleep, Bobbie."

There was this casual humor between the two that I found so refreshing. Rob seemed decent enough. He had this cocky attitude I felt I could relate to. As for Dave, he carried himself with confidence. Even with Rob’s derogatory jokes, Dave just took it in and gave back just as effectively.

For all that was happening around them, they just coolly put it to the side. It was as if they had become experienced with these kinds of situations. How, I could only guess at.

"So why did Turoth send you here?" Asked Rob. "Has he found out somethin’ back on Neddel?"

Both Sera and I stopped eating. We knew the question would come up, but we had tiptoed around it till now when we were confronted with it.

"Turoth’s most likely dead." I said quietly.

"What?!" The two men blurted in unison.

"I said he’s probably dead." I repeated, this time louder than I should have spoken.

"Wait, wait, wait." Dave countered, coming back from the stove. "He’s a Spirit. How is that possible?"

Sera and I detailed our trip, from the rumor in Lar, to Orth Ethern’s death, to the bloody suicide march into Deathblaze’s lair. Rob and Dave were shocked at Turoth’s orders for us to leave him battered and broken back in that cave.

"A dragon?" Rob muttered. "I can believe in magic. I can believe in the Spirits and their power. Me and Dave are livin’ proof of that. But you’re tellin’ us the Committee is workin’ with this bad-ass monster that’s more powerful than God? This is way too fucked up, and that’s comin’ from somebody who came out here to take on the feds."

Dave was equally concerned with the new knowledge.

"We were in over our heads from the very start." He said sullenly. "As a matter of fact, I don’t think we’ve had any good news about this whole situation since we got to New York."

"When we left Turoth," I stated. "He sounded hopeful in the both of you. If your powers start forming soon, then we might have the chance we need to save us all."

"That’s comforting." Dave replied with a hint of sarcasm. Not that I could blame him, mind you. The weight on everyone’s shoulders had been growing heavier with each revelation.

We talked and ate a little more. Later, Dave took the dishes back to the kitchen to wash them.

While he was rinsing the plates in the sink, there came a knock at the door.

"Damn! Barbara!" Rob said under his breath. "I forgot she’d be dropping by on her way to work."

"Who?" I questioned.

"My girlfriend. She stayed over a few nights ago and she forgot some CDs she’d brought over."

"I’ll get the door." Dave volunteered. "Kirn, Sera, you might want to duck into that room in the back."

Taking the cue, we got up and headed for what turned out to be Dave’s bedroom. I kept the open just a crack so that we could look out to watch what was going on.

Dave had answered the door, standing there with his back to us.

"Hey, Barbara." He said pleasantly to his most recent visitor, being sure to not to open the door anymore than necessary.

"Hi, Dave." A cheerful, female voice returned. "I was wondering if Rob’s around here. He didn’t seem to be in his apartment, so I thought he might be hanging out here again."

"Right here, hon." Rob greeted the guest.

"What are you doing back there? It’s like you’re hiding from me."

This incredible blond pushed her way inside. However, before I could even begin fantasizing what I could do with those curves, Rob stepped forward to take his lady friend in his thick arms, reminding me that she was off limits.

Dave walked back a bit to look in another direction as the two kissed. Obviously, Rob had hit things off quite well with this woman in the short time he had been in the city.

I caught Barbara looking down in the direction of the table with the maps.

"Jesus, what’s all this stuff?"

"Just a little project I’ve got going." Dave answered calmly.

"Yeah," Rob said. "Dave’s got all sorts of messed up hobbies."

"I can’t stay long." Barbara pulled away from Rob.

"I know." Rob nodded. "The discs are right on the stand next to my door."

"So you’ll be ready by seven?" The ravishing lady asked. Damn, I wish she wasn’t seeing Rob.

"Sure."

"Dave, you want to come along?"

Immediately, Dave appeared to get apprehensive.

"No thanks. I’d really hate to intrude."

"You wouldn’t be intruding." Barbara insisted. "We’re going clubbing tonight. It’ll be fun."

"Forget it, Barb." Rob put an arm around his lover. "Old Dateless Wonder here would be out of his element."

"Rot in hell, Thompson." Dave returned. "I’ve got some friends from out of town visiting for a while."

"Who are they? Bring them along." Said Barbara. "We’ll make a night of it."

"Their names are Keith and Sara Phoenix. We were just going to…um… spend the evening here."

"Married?"

"Brother and sister, actually." Dave replied. I had to give Dave credit for his quick thinking, though I could never have guessed what would happen next.

"And you just plan to have them sit around here, when you’ve got all of New York outside?" Barbara was turning out to be rather outgoing in a perky sort of way. Quite attractive, if you ask me. Rob was one lucky bastard.

"Well, that is…" By now Dave was stumbling trying to think up an explanation.

As for Rob, instead of giving Dave some much-needed assistance, he sided with Barbara.

"Just bring ‘em, for Christ’s sakes. Sara can even be your date."

Dave was struck dumbfounded by Rob’s surprising reaction, for a moment.

"Uh…yeah. I guess they’d like to come. We’ll just have to iron out a few details, but that shouldn’t be too hard."

"Damn straight." Rob slapped his chum on the back. "Dave, I’ll be right back once I get Barbara her CDs."

"I’ll be waiting." Dave said worriedly.

Rob and his blond acquaintance left Dave standing alone in the living room.

Seeing that the hazard of being discovered had passed, Sera and I came out of the bedroom. Dave soon sat down on the sofa and buried his face in his hands.

"Oh crap. Crap. Crap. Crap." He groaned over and over like a mantra.

We didn’t say anything at that point. This clubbing must have been a grim business indeed.

Shortly thereafter, Rob came back with a big grin slapped across his face. Dave got up to face off with the bigger gent.

"What did you think you were doing?" Dave demanded, keeping his frustration in check.

"Oh come on." Rob raised his hands, palms facing the ceiling. "You’d just painted yourself in a corner back there."

"And now we have to take our very alien houseguests into downtown NYC."

"They look just like anyone else on the street. At least they will with some decent clothes and few quick tips on how things happen here. And you just can’t keep ‘em hidden in this apartment the whole time they’re here."

"In case you haven’t noticed, I have some work to do here." Dave gestured to the cluttered table. "You jaunt off like you couldn’t care less about what’s going on with the Committee while I--."

"Burn the fuck out of yourself!" Rob broke in. "Dude, listen to what you’ve just been sayin’. You’re bustin’ your balls here. I can understand that, we’ve got some heavy-duty shit goin’ down here. But you don’t have a release for all this stress you’ve got buildin’ up.

"We’ve got two people who need to get associated to this world. Then we’ve got you slowly turnin’ into an anxiety-loaded bundle of nerves. And I don’t think that’s the kind of person I want by my side takin’ on a scaly beast from hell. A night on the town might just be what everyone needs right now to solve both problems."

Dave’s straight posture went to hell once he slumped back down on the sofa. Briefly, I began to think he would start chanting the word "crap" anew.

"You know I hate it when you make more sense than I do." Dave admitted.

"Only because you know I’m right."

"So Keith, Sara," Dave brought the conversation to my sister and I. "Are you up for going out tonight?"

"Just one question." Sera pointed out.

"Sure. What do you need to know?"

"Mind telling us exactly what you mean by ‘clubbing’?"

Frankly, I wanted the same answer.

"Why do I feel that we’re not gonna spend the rest of today going back over all the info we’ve put together on the Bronx?" Rob said playfully.

"Because we’ve got more immediate concerns." Dave cracked his knuckles after a sigh of resignation.

And that was just the start of what happened during our first day on Earth.

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