//11-07-2099 - - 16:28//

  Days had blurred past me. Work and rest bled together into a single, roaring grey current that tore me forwards, further away from everything I'd known. Charon's Gate, my team, and Gibson. My train of thought and the grinding day-to-day ended abruptly as the elevator chimed and its doors opened to my floor in The Hearth. Warm light glinted off Vsevolod's head, where he idly perched on the edge of the planter pot next to my door. Suddenly, the flashing log of notifications resolved more clearly in view.

  //Someone is at your front door, go say hello! | 16:02////Someone is at your front door, go say hello! | 16:08////Someone is at your front door, go say hello! | 16:12////Someone is at your front door, go say hello! | 16:15////Someone is at your front door, go say hello! | 16:19////Someone is at your front door, go say hello! | 16:25////Someone is at your front door, go say hello! | 16:27//

  Each one was punctuated by the small shark that, still rarely, flitted through my HUD, giving a sharp salute. Jogging across the floor, I cleared the distance between us. "Sorry, I lost track of time. We're checking out whatever that... program is today?" I asked.

  "Finally made it? Good. I was starting to think I'd grow moss. Gonna head to Intermountain Mage's College. Arthur said we could use his office. Where the hell were you?" He asked, though the words lacked any real heat as he stood up, running the sleeve of his shirt over his glistening head, the humidity clinging to his skin.

  "Ah- Bella got hurt on that job. Took my recommendation of bed rest a little literally. Apparently, this means she has a medical requirement that I do her laundry and get her groceries whenever I'm not at work." I rolled my head with an exasperated hiss. "Was finishing up her laundry."

  "She has you hook, line, and sinker, doesn't she, Sawbones?" Vesevolod asked with a bark of laughter. He stood and began wandering back to the elevator. No one was out in the communal area. No children played on the slides or monkey bars. It was stiflingly quiet, save for the droning of the heaters overhead.

  "Something like that. We taking your car or mine?" I asked.

  "Yours. I want a spin in that beast." Vsevolod admitted shamelessly.

  "Fine by me." I chuckled, tail flicking. As soon as the door to the elevator closed behind us, I tapped my foot twice. Once we reached the parking garage, I drew out a cigarette and lit it, taking a long drag. "You can drive then. I'm dead tired." I sighed.

  "Go ahead." Vsevolod dropped into the driver's seat, the car coming to life with a throaty purr. I carefully settled into the passenger's seat and kicked on the seat warmer. Vsevolod spoke, but the words melted away in my ears along with the rest of the world, buried under the rhythmic humming of the engine. With a blink, I was staring at my lap, a heavy weight crushing every thought that slurred through my mind.

  //11-07-2099 - - 17:37//

  "Vidr? Sawbones? You awake over there?" Vsevolod was asking. His hand was hot against my shoulder.

  "I'm... I'm awake..." I managed over my thick tongue. "Just... I think I haven't been sleeping enough." I said through a wide yawn. As the blurriness of my vision faded, I met eyes with a young security guard who quickly hid his mortification, staring at my mouth. "What's going on?"

  "I-I need your ID, sir?" he stammered.

  I blinked, waving my hand at him. His eyes lit up as my ID flitted over his AR contacts. "We're here to see Professor Salthazar; he's expecting us." Vsevolod chimed. Cold air bit at the inside of my nose and mouth as I took in a deep breath. The air was clean and clear. The scents of crushed pine needles and frozen tree sap came with it. The security guard gave a curt nod, waving us in as the gate silently slid open.

  Vsevolod parked the car quickly, getting out with a stretch. I followed suit, back crackling as I leaned back. Then I gave a startled chirp, falling back onto the cold ground, startled and overwhelmed by the sight above. Overhead were rocks. Floating rocks. Massive ones. Bridges connected them, with all manner of structures clinging to their sides like moss. A tower rose up from the center of the main campus building in front of us, four glass elevators moving up and down between the series of levitating rocks, and the mundane earth.

  The peaks of mountains rose up on all sides of the campus, covered in a patchwork carpet of evergreens and the warm oranges, reds, and browns of autumn. Filling the valley were these floating rocks. Many were built into, with more than one elevator tower skewering one of the rocks throughout the valley. "What the hell?"

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  "Welcome to the Intermountain Mage's College, Vidr." It was Arthur's warm voice as he stepped up between two cars. He held out his hand to me. I took it slowly, looking around in awe. "It's wonderful, isn't it? There was an Aethyr Shift here, some two hundred years ago. Shattered the mountain that was here and flung it into the sky. It makes for a very inspiring place to study." He explained, eyes shimmering with gold.

  Arthur pulled me to my feet with surprising ease, his other hand landing on my shoulder to steady me. "Its much more impressive inside. Come along. I'd love to show you." His smile broadened.

  "Sure..." I said, glancing at Vsevolod. He seemed rather inured to the spectacle.

  "Let's just not take all day, Arthur. Or Bella will get mad that we took her maid from her." Vsevolod snickered, hands jammed in his pockets. I followed Arthur in a stunned stupor. The main building was built like a massive hunting lodge, with broad wooden beams, giant windows, and deep awnings to keep snow off of outdoor classrooms that lined its exterior.

  Students of all species lounged, studied, and practiced around us. From saurids, to elves, to orcs, and even one of the rare naga could be seen moving up a set of stairs, their coils making their torso seem to float up each step. All wore a myriad combination of robes and rugged outdoor wear.

  Arthur held the heavy door open for us. Within was just as staggeringly different. More students from across the world. It revealed vast screens on the inside faces of the broad windows showing schedules, test scores, an honor roll, and various other statistics. The Abjurer's Guild sat at the top of the reputation board, on a three-year streak.

  A few students glanced over. They would give shouts of 'Hey Professor!' or 'Mr. Salthazar!' and Arthur greeted each in kind. Over two dozen had done so, a few chasing after him with questions that he politely shelved for later, in the distance between the grand entrance and the elevator tower at the other end of the vast hall.

  Arthur corralled us both into an elevator as soon as a pair of students slipped out of its doors. He hit the button and leaned against his staff as its doors slid shut and the glass-walled elevator began to glide upwards. "Such an excitable class this year. They've been wonderful to teach. Still have that awe and curiosity for magic." Arthur mused aloud, smile growing warmer.

  "Seems like it. I couldn't be a teacher." I admitted, leaning against the railing. The inside of the main campus slid by before light flooded in, and the valley took over the view. It shot up towards the rock above, a growing static clinging to my plumage, each feather starting to stand on end. Static shocks ran along my tongue painlessly before it came to a stop with the elevator's doors opening.

  "Don't mind the static. It's just a little arcane friction." Arthur promised, smoothing down his short brown hair. I sighed, fighting to realign my feathers.

  "Well. Some mage punks laughing at me for looking like a chicken might make my day." I huffed. Vsevolod just looked smugly amused. "Drop the smirk, eggman." I hissed. He just laughed. Arthur led us through various halls, where students gathered, and over creaking metal bridges between the floating monoliths, the wind tearing at my plumage and seeping under my scales. Eventually, we entered what was no doubt the Abjurers' Guildhall. It held the same warmth Arthur did. Students practiced spells that reminded me sharply of Arthur's golden brick walls. Old tomes lay sprawled on tables, with a half-dozen students puzzling out their passages together, alongside those watching video essays or working at computer stations.

  Arthur smiled at his students as he led us to the back of the hall and up a spiral staircase. "You really have a fucking wizard's tower?" I asked, as we followed the staircase that led up to a classroom floor, the staircase breaking off and continuing up on the opposite side of the room. He had labs, classrooms, a dueling arena, and finally, at its top, his own office.

  "I do. Towers are, in fact, a source of power for mages. Their construction follows a, usually, hexagramatical blueprint, though I prefer the octagramal, as it provides more stability at a distance." He said, sitting at his desk. The view he commanded from the windows was of the whole valley, laid out far below like a model.

  I sat down in the chair he gestured to, Vsevolod doing much the same. "I'll... pretend to know what that means." I sighed. "So what's the plan?"

  "Well. I'm gonna set up a one-way connection with your cybermantle. Dig around. Arthur here wanted to check some things. See if our theory is right." Vsevolod said.

  "Quite right. Let's begin without delay. Just recline your chair all the way back and let us do our work. It may be uncomfortable, so please tell us if it becomes unbearable." Arthur said, pulling a piece of chalk from his desk. I just slowly reclined, lying slightly on my side so my tail lay comfortably beside my legs.

  "Just give me full permissions, and I'll begin," Vsevolod said, sitting back. A request window dominated my vision. With a blink of consent, a beep clawed at the insides of my ears, and he began in earnest. Two dozen different windows slid open, blinding me to the world. Command prompts, file structures, and program datapanes. Each one is working simultaneously.

  Arthur had fit his chalk into the bottom of his staff, walking a circle around my chair, the chalk scraping against the floor, sending shudders down my spine. A message from Bella popped up amidst it all.

  //You have (1) new message! Reading now!//

  //From: Bella | Timestamp: 18:04//

  //Contents: Hey Vidr! The Selector let me know you were up with Arthur and Vsevolod. Just wanted you to know I had Kyn leave some dinner in your apartment for you, for when you get back. Hopefully, we figure out whatever that... thing was.

  <3//

  I chuckled softly, then hissed as Vsevolod plugged into one of my data ports, an awful itching running under the scales over my spine. Arthur and Vsevolod's words grew more distant, a ringing filling my ears. Flashes of light overtook the datapanes and command prompts.

  In the distance, I heard the rapid zipper sound of a Ferryman's autocannon, and the incoherent shouts of commands and threats mingling with rifle fire. A golden light filtered through it all. A warmth that suffused into my bones. The gunfire and clapping rotors slowly melted back into the ringing.

  Then that was gone too. Each pulse of golden light quieted the painful ringing. I couldn't move my mouth to speak, even when I wanted to. When the empty nothingness and the flashing light hurt. All I could see was the ticking clock against the inside of my eyelids.

  //11-07-2099 - - 18:47//