“She said that?” Kinara asked.

  He shrugged. “Not sure the translation is accurate, but yeah.”

  At that, the queen vanished.

  “Keep going, we’re close,” Megha said, leading us from there to a ridge along the top of the next room over. The room was similar to the other but larger, with two guards standing next to another door on the far side. Not the enormous-eyed locals, but the types with robes. And not the normal robed ones, either, as these had a mixture of robe and armor. Chest plates, armor over their thighs and groins, each holding a tall staff that reminded me of a halberd, but instead of a blade they had a glowing, metal disk at the top.

  “Through that door, I’m guessing,” Kinara said.

  Megha nodded.

  “Can’t you just…” I moved my hands at Jericho, but he didn’t follow. “Manipulate the walls to get us in?”

  “That takes it out of me,” he admitted. “So, it depends on what sort of fight we’re dealing with.”

  “How ‘bout you leave the fight to us, and you worry about getting us in there?” Jalee offered.

  “I’ll be more help with the fight,” Steph said.

  Jericho nodded, onboard, but it was Milrae who offered, “What if we don’t have to fight to get in?”

  “Meaning?”

  “You said this thing was accessed via the tunnel. What if we can just go through the ground, come up underneath it?”

  I considered, liking this idea. “Think the queen has any idea we’re here? I mean, specifically, right here, going after this thing?”

  “Could they be guarding much else here?” Jalee asked.

  “Actually, yes,” Megha replied. “From what I saw.”

  “As valuable?”

  She closed her eyes, taking her time, until finally Jericho cleared his throat and said, “Megha?”

  “Going back through it,” she said. “Yes, there’s a room of artifacts created. From here I’m not sure how to get to it, but it was the way we came, left at the tunnel exit point.”

  “And if we could make it look like we were making a run on that area, while in reality one or two stayed here to work their way up from beneath the ground level with Ferris?”

  “Draw their attention elsewhere…” I grinned. “Sounds perfect.”

  “With the knights and Megha’s monstrosities, we should be able to do some damage,” Steph said. “At least enough to cause a distraction.”

  “Then let’s fucking do it!” Kinara said, rubbing her hands together and grinning.

  “Why’re you so excited?” I asked.

  “It’s like a game, I want to see what’s behind that door.”

  I chuckled, but noted the serious expression on Jalee, and reminded myself why we were on this mission to begin with. This was about helping their world, about stopping this alien group that was invading them and hunting down their kind. Further, now we knew this could extend beyond that, to creating problems for Earth.

  These two mirrored the emotions tearing through me. I was both worried and excited. All the otherworldly stuff was so mind-blowing, my brain still thought of it like some videogame I was playing. For many living beings out there, though, this was entirely too real.

  “Okay, Jericho and team cause the distraction, the rest take the room from below,” I said. “But how do we meet back up?”

  “Lucky us, we have magic.” Jericho grinned.

  I sat there, waiting.

  “Sorry, but was that supposed to be an answer?”

  He chuckled, pointing at the Liahona. “Synched it to you, so we can create a portal to wherever you are.”

  “Only downside is the energy it’ll take out of you?” Jalee asked.

  “That’s right.”

  “And as long as we have what we need, that should be fine,” Suiko noted. “I can alert you when we’re ready and check back and forth to keep us in communication.”

  His eyes turned to mine, a shared connection of bros about to go their separate ways and hope they would survive, then he and his were off.

  “Go time,” I said, and we turned to the outside of the building to make our descent.

  Before I knew it, we were sliding down the outer wall. Our key was to avoid being seen, to get in there before they knew what was happening. Halfway down, a hoverbike came zooming around the side.

  “Chirop,” I hissed, and she was on it, leaping out and gliding to him.

  He started to turn her way when she collided and tore into his neck with claws. She had him, but the bike kept going. Jalee moved to intercept, but it was too late. The bike slammed into the rocks below, exploding. I cringed, sending a vibration to the metal ahead of me to slow my descent and be ready for others to come.

  Then other explosions sounded.

  “They’re on it,” Suiko said.

  “Tell them ‘thanks,’ I replied.”

  “Not at the moment. They’re busy.”

  I continued my slide, remembering my upgrades meant I didn’t have to make contact to control the plants. As I arrived, I had roots moving ground, creating an opening for us. It was like my own personal welcoming tunnel, and we were down, then through and underneath the building we’d been in moments before.

  Roots pushed through rock and metal, with my vibrations helping. Jalee joined in with blasts of electricity, and when all that left a big crack that was almost there, Milrae used her strength to finish the job.

  In this way, we were able to ascend into the room above. “Two guards moving to investigate,” Suiko said, floating in through a wall.

  “Copy that.” I felt very military in this whole operation.

  “Ferris,” Jalee called out, and I turned to see her standing at a raised part of the room. As she stepped aside, she gave way to the image of a floating golden pyramid. It wasn’t large—about the size of a small box. Easily holdable. Strangest was the way it floated, spinning, and hovering about six feet off the floor.

  “We have incoming,” I said, stepping toward the floating object in a daze.

  “I’ll handle them,” Jalee replied, electric wings lifting and bringing her back toward the doors.

  “And me,” Milrae added, moving over to join her.

  “Good,” Basty added, and was off, scurrying over with Suiko appearing at his side.

  With a nod of appreciation their way, I glanced over to Kinara at my side, and asked, “What do you suppose we do with this thing?”

  “Take it,” she replied.

  As simple as that. Take it. I reached up, approaching. My hand glowed with the golden light, and when I made first contact, it stopped spinning and fell.

  I caught it with a flash of light, then realized someone was standing in front of us. A man with golden armor and a red cloak fluttering out behind him in a wind that none of us could feel. His face was like an old man, half of it scarred and one eye white, as if blind. I had a feeling there was a lot more to this man than I could gather from his appearance.

  “An Earther’s first contact,” the man said, eyeing me, then the golden item in my hands. “Very… exciting.”

  Kinara snarled, claws extended, and fangs bared.

  I shook my head, whispering, “Let him speak.”

  Behind me, bursts of electricity crackled, and I heard a shout. But it all felt distant as if the fight was happening in a different dimension.

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  “A future friend,” the man in the golden armor replied. “The Nirists haven’t found their way through to Earth yet, at least, other than the two hunters, but they might. If you use this path to reach the world I know as Rumeloy, what you call the monster world or monsterverse, I fear that path might become clear to them in time. This is the moment that forms the connection for them. First to us, and what I will one day form as the Citadel, and from there, eventually, Earth.”

  I processed this. Monster world. Rumeloy. Got it. Some group of aliens using things like this item to make connections, like a star map or transportation device. Maybe it was fine if I didn’t have all the answers, as long as I could play a role in preventing it.

  “Is there any other way to save Rumeloy from their kind?” I asked.

  The man considered me, then shook his head. “If you accept, I will send you there now. But I must have this.” He took the golden pyramid, holding it to inspect, then nodding. “Do we have an agreement?”

  I eyed the ladies, and they nodded, so I said, “We do.”

  “Very well.” He waved his hand over the small pyramid; it opened to what appeared to be a star map. Indicating one, he made the area in front of me light up, shimmering and showing a view of a portal. “When you’re ready, simply step in. This will take you to their access point. From there, you should be able to move freely back and forth from there to Rumeloy. I imagine you will want to destroy whatever connection they have, then get out of there as fast as you can. Now that I have this, they won’t be able to reforge the connection. Stay safe, Ferris.”

  My confusion didn’t have time to register, and before I could even think to ask how he knew my name, he was starting to leave.

  He opened the golden pyramid and vanished in a bright flash, one that left a golden portal in its wake.

  14

  The first thing Suiko did was alert the others; no sooner had the stranger in gold gone then they were back.

  Jericho eyed me, then the golden portal. His eyes lit up. “I feel like we missed something. Was this here the whole time?”

  “We had a… visit,” Kinara muttered.

  “Friendly?”

  They looked at me. “I...don’t know. He seemed to be on our side. Was looking out for us, took the item, and left us a route to the monster world. What he called ‘Rumelow.’’’

  “No…” Jericho had turned, moving his hands in front of his face. He looked like a madman, but his eyes were moving, and I was sure he was reading. A floating book that only he could see?

  “What’s he doing?” Jalee said, indicating the portal. “We going, or what?”

  “Give him a sec,” Steph replied.

  We did, and finally, Jericho stopped, turning to me, and saying, “Let’s go.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Rumeloy, was it?”

  I thought, then nodded. “Right, not Rumelow. Rumeloy, that was it. Right?”

  “Right, that’s what he said,” Jalee agreed.

  “The name’s mentioned in a book of magic I have, and it’s specified that there was a man who knew of this place, who used that name, and everything about him points toward him being trustworthy.”

  “That’s a relief,” I said, then took Kinara’s hand on one side, Jalee’s on the other. Milrae joined by placing a hand on my back, and the others came with us.

  Together, we stepped into the golden light.

  One second we were there, the next we were in a dark world that I immediately recognized as the monster world, or what I now knew as Rumeloy. For one, it was the blue plant next to us that gave it away. For another, it was the distant glow of lava surrounding a hill in the distance, mountains beyond. Perhaps the hill we’d been around back then.

  “This the place?” Megha asked.

  “It is,” Jalee replied.

  Before making a move one way or another, I asked, “It say anything more about the man who named this place?”

  Jericho nodded. “Only that he seems to appear out of nowhere, has great power, and speaks of things that haven’t happened yet.”

  I nodded, figuring we might never truly understand the stranger, but might see him again someday. Maybe I was just hoping.

  “To be clear, did he call them nihilists,’ or did I mishear that?” I asked my team.

  “I think it was a word that sounded like nihilists. Probably similar, but different meaning. The term used earlier—Nirist.”

  I nodded but looked around, confused. “He said this was supposed to take us to their access point, not directly here.”

  “On it.” Jericho had his staff up, a strange glow coming through, and suddenly we were staring into a platform that didn’t belong there, with sky surrounding it that didn’t fit Rumeloy in the slightest. Red and orange sky that went out in about a twenty-foot radius from that spot, and a very confused person staring back at us from a standing control panel. Not a human, but a humanoid with a sickly purple tint to his skin. Barely a nose there at all, and thin eyes that reminded me of a twisted version of Voldemort. One that wore robes like the others, but without a hood.

  He started to move, reaching for something on the control board. We weren’t about to give him the opportunity. I lunged first, realizing I was the only one moving when I slammed into him, knocking him back. It must’ve been the shadow of his movement that I saw, thanks to my power.

  Kinara was on him in a flash, pinning him down while Jalee hit him with a quick blast that sent him unconscious. This was it, undoubtedly, because we were looking at not only the monster world around us, but as Jericho stepped up and messed with the controls, saying he was able to use his transmutation powers to understand, we were given views of several other worlds. One with massive beasts like kaiju, another with nude women with horns and massive wings—maybe succubi?—and more. Then it stopped, and we saw a hallway that matched the platform we were on, with two more beings like the unconscious one at our feet.

  One made a screeching sound, the other turning and running, presumably to sound an alarm.

  “Can you shut it off?” I asked.

  “I think so.”

  “Good, because you better hurry.”

  Jericho glanced back, apparently having not seen the danger, and said, “On it.”

  A split second later, and as a blast of purple lights shot our way from that hallway and a cloaked figure appeared, we were out of there. We moved through the opened portal, and Jericho stood next to me on the lawn of the mansion, holding what looked like three pop tarts. Or maybe my mind was hungry, because when he held them up, it was clear they were circuit boards.

  “We can use these, study them,” he said, and holding up the one on the left said, “They were using a machine that kept the ways open even without that golden pyramid. This right here was the route to the monster home world. Question is, do we want to keep it, or destroy it?”

  “It might be their only way back,” I said, ignoring the fact that Devasla could come and go.

  Jalee nodded, taking it. “We’ll keep it safe, thank you.”

  I eyed the other two. “Why those?”

  He shrugged. “Honestly, just grabbed the next two I could as we left. If we’d had time, I would’ve grabbed more.”

  “Let’s find out what we can, but the last thing we want to do is start opening doorways that shouldn’t be opened.”

  “Agreed.”

  At that, we turned to the mansion with relief. It was good to be home.

  15

  “He’s back,” a voice shouted from inside, and a few seconds later the door flew open. Fiare led the charge, more curious and hopeful than anything. Behind her, Koharu ran, throwing her arms around me and climbing up, so I was holding her and laughing as she kissed me, moving her hands along my face and through my hair.

  “You’re acting like you thought I’d die out there,” I said.

  “For all we knew, yeah.”

  I gripped her ass, kissed her again, then lowered her as Devasla appeared, Amabie behind. Ahlaksiz was at the doorway, heading over as well.

  “What’d we miss?” Ahlaksiz asked.

  Fiare stood close by, Jalee with a hand on her shoulder, and the former said, “So…?”

  “We did it,” Jalee explained.

  Fiare’s eyes met mine. For the first time, that resentment and caution I’d always seen were gone. “That so, Ferris?”

  “As far as I know, it’s over,” I replied. “At least the main connection is broken. Those hunters who are on your world might still be there, but they aren’t getting any help.”

  “It might be enough,” she said, then grinned. “It might be that soon the hunters become the hunted. They were hurt in that last attack you were involved with, and I think you showed the monsters that those feared hunters are vulnerable.”

  “Well, then.” I arched a brow as she reached out a hand, then took it. “What’s this?”

  “I misjudged you.” She held my hand, pulling me closer. “This is me expressing my appreciation.”

  “Let’s save that,” Jalee said, approaching. “Ferris, you need to rest, or…?”

  I considered. “Actually, maybe just for a bit.”

  Judging by the way Jalee was glaring at her sister, there was something they needed to discuss. As I walked away, it became clear that “something” ’was me.

  “What’re you doing?” Jalee hissed. “You don’t just start flirting with him out of nowhere like that.”

  “It’s not exactly out of nowhere. He helped you cut off access, right? It was a success?”

  “That doesn’t mean you suck his cock!”

  I stepped out of earshot then, nearly colliding with Bloodsong, who was walking through the house in panties and a T-shirt. She glanced over my shoulder, then raised an eyebrow my way.

  “Family discussion,” I said. “Figure it’s private.”

  “Considering the topic of discussion is you and,” her eyes darted down, then quickly back up, “your member…” Her smile formed and turned into a laugh. “Why is it everyone in this house is so focused on that?”

  “Not everyone,” I noted, pointing past her to where Arturo paused in the hallway, clearly having noticed Bloodsong in her panties and checking out her ass.

  She cleared her throat, and he nodded before continuing out of sight.

  “Your cock, my ass.” She shrugged. “Same idea.”

  “I…” The conversation had me a bit uncomfortable. Especially now that I had the pairing of my cock and her ass in my mind.

  She continued, “Are we having a pow-wow, now that you’re back?”

  “The others will brief whoever is curious. Me, I’m going to lie down for a bit.”