The reaction to Daniel going down was instant and, for the most part, instinctual. There was one major exception. The reactionary, the opportunist, the careful hand, saw the pivotal moment approach. Chris hadn’t expected Daniel to collapse, or be in front of a viable bridge to the Octyrrum this early for that matter. If he were a different kind of plotter he’d have already come up with dozens of schemes for accomplishing what he needed to and missed the moment that mattered.

  What his approach cost him was the need to act immediately and decisively upon what he could make out in said moment. From what he could see, fate had decided to spurn him once more. He’d have to act, and no one properly observant would miss what he would do. All the same, though it would damn him, there was no reluctance when he struck.

  …

  “Daniel!” Nothing made sense. If what Alex had heard was true this new Daniel should have been immune to disease, unkillable. It didn’t change the fact that suddenly he was seizing on the floating platform, and the two on the other side seemed just as panicked. Any reluctance she might have had about going through the glowing tear in reality was pushed aside when she saw that.

  Alex rushed forward with her mother and sister, as well as their Daniel too even though he’d just bounce off. Lograve and Evalyn shouted a warning alongside their own alarm, though she was the only one who understood. Everyone else in her family had been having trouble picking up the language. As Alex neared the barrier she felt a hand on her. Turning her head she saw Chris, and she thought he was going to stop her, but it looked like it was only an accidental touch as he ran behind her.

  Then she was through. Her heart was racing too quickly to take notice of how different the air was here, or how high up they were. The ground was solid enough. Her mother made it to Daniel’s side first, but the half-cat man was already crouching over him, trying to stop the shaking. “Move.”

  “He is-“

  “Move.” Kara didn’t raise her voice or change her tone, but there was still something different there that made the person with claws long enough to easily rip out her throat back up. Authority. “Keep this space clear. Lograve, is there any disease not native to Earth that could be causing this?” The earlier emotion she’d shown was gone. No, not gone, suppressed as a switch was flipped. Alex didn’t have that strength.

  Both looked behind them to see Daniel pressed against the screen he couldn’t pass, and Chris holding Ami back. Evalyn was about to come through, and Lograve was invisible as always. “Yes, too many to count, but with his powers and level it should take magic to do this. Hunter, did anything you fight recently seem like it used poison or curses?”

  “I, I didn’t… It’s not letting me take it,” he rumbled, unfocused. She realized then he was speaking in English, rather than the Octyrrum’s language, but that made a bit of sense if he was that close with Daniel. Alex’s attention was stolen anyway as she watched one of the half-birds fly. It was impossible not to hear one of them complain about that power being suppressed in Eido, but to see it?

  “Fought a monster with poison and curse Rogue powers yesterday,” she said, clear concern in the eyes surrounded by gray feathers. “Cut him up, but he was fine after he healed, said the effects were gone. Tlara, do you know if it has anything like this? He’s shaking pretty bad, but all the other stuff did was paralyze you and increase damage.”

  “Uh, I don’t know,” another of the half-birds she didn’t recognize called from below. “I had to store it after it almost fucking died to the elite. Couldn’t do anything against it, useless piece of-“ The woman’s words cut off with the barest hint of embarrassment as her mother looked at her. Alex doubted she fully understood them, but the tone was enough. “I don’t know.”

  Alex whispered a quick translation into her mother’s ear, not counting on Lograve’s Telepathy to work through the portal. It said something that her mother’s professional confidence only slipped when faced with the unknown of an entirely different world. She was having a hard time processing what she was seeing too. Daniel had described a place of magic and fantasy, but it looked like they were in some kind of nuclear reactor. “What do we do?” she asked.

  Kara took a few breaths before answering. “If the cause is undetermined, first treat the symptoms and minimize damage.” She opened the bag she’d placed on the ground and riffled through it, cursing. “I only have first line agents. Ami, go to the clinic and grab the code bag in case I need it. Bring a Cleric with you. Lograve, it’s worth not keeping this secret if medicine fails.” At the same time, she ripped the packaging off an IV set and began searching for a vein.

  “I…” Ami had stopped fighting against Chris, as Kara had against them, and more quickly than their mother. They’d been able to get her to stop drinking, but the trauma from being kidnapped persisted.

  Her mother saw that too. “Alex, you’ll need to-“

  “No, no I can do it.”

  “I’ll help,” Chris said, nodding at Kara, and once more Alex felt grateful for the man who’d rescued her. “Won’t be but a few minutes.”

  The two departed, not needing to travel too far as Lograve’s office was also in the Hunter’s Guild. As they left, the half-cat man took issue again.“What are you doing?”

  In a normal situation, Alex knew her mother would have the family of a patient removed if they became an impediment to their care in a crisis. That paradigm had been flipped on its head a bit, or not depending on what this Daniel had meant, and they all knew there was nothing she could physically do to him either. The half-bird man did intervene though, placing an arm across his chest and looking at him meaningfully.

  “I’m giving medication into his blood.” She tried again to pierce Daniel’s skin with the needle, having failed the first time. More force than most would be comfortable using was applied the second time, and it went through. “What level is he?” she asked, removing vials from the bag and beginning to draw up doses.

  “Two. Is this safe?” Hunter asked.

  “He’s had this before. It’s a benzodiazepine, it will calm him down.” Her hand paused as it reached for a second vial. “The avianoid who lost their leg required twice the initial dose for anxiolysis at level 1. Do I…”

  “If it helps, he has Fortitude and Regeneration,” Lograve commented, remaining on the Earth side so that the mana connection feeding through him and into the ritual remained. “I don’t know if you can kill him with mortal medicine.”

  “You have strength, we have purity.” She replaced the second vial with a shake of her head. “I can redose him. It’s been…” She checked her watch, frowned, and asked, “Does anyone know how long it’s been?”

  “Six minutes, ish,” the Daniel who was currently awake replied, checking his phone. “This shouldn’t be happening to him. I’ve never had problems like this.”

  “We’re in status,” Kara sighed, pushing the drug and following it with a flush. “Lograve, as soon as Ami returns I want you to give me the levetiracetam in the bag, all of it.”

  “Alright.” Alex heard the twist in the Arcanist’s voice, no doubt internally remarking at how he was being reduced to a nurse. It wasn’t that hard to pick out given how familiar they were. He’d taken a liking to her in the same way he had to the Daniel who was writhing on the ground after she had reduced him to a language tutor. Lograve might have reached out to quip something to her mentally if it wouldn’t have also been sent to her sister, or blocked by the portal.

  She almost jumped as someone appeared beside her, standing sideways on the surface of the multicolored globe. Gadriel, looking at the very least less pained after having removed the armbands that had been poisoning him. “We saw this with the Fate. Could it be the same ailment?”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “I don’t see how, but it’s a good thought. Is Thomas there?”

  “He’s back in Aurus from what I heard,” the half-bird woman now on the platform answered. “Never met him myself. Cleric, right?”

  “Worth a try, Gadriel, but we can’t replicate his power. We could bring Daniel through the gate…” Lograve trailed off, having inadvertently poked a wound. “Kara, if it is any comfort, his powers will prevent long term damage.”

  “I’m giving another dose.” Daniel’s shaking hadn’t stopped, and for all her mother had seen of magic, for all she had seen of it, part of them hadn’t fully accepted it. It was that side of Kara, and her inability to leave a problem unresolved, that prevented her from hearing what Lograve was trying to say. “4 mg is, it’s safe enough. Below where I’d worry about respiratory depression.”

  “Mom, if that’s a risk,” Alex began.

  “I know what I’m doing! This is the last one, then we move down the algorithm. If that doesn’t work… we’ll have a Cleric here.” With another patient she could remain detached, but Alex was starting to see the signs of her becoming overwhelmed and was for whatever reason having an easier time keeping a clearer head. Maybe she just believed more in the magic of this world.

  Alex put a hand over the vial her mother was about to draw from, and instead of receiving a stab wound, she got an opportunity to speak. “I know it hurts to hear this. They know him better than we do. If he doesn’t need this, who are you treating?” It was one of her mother’s phrases, a turn on ‘cutting for stone’ considering she wasn’t a surgeon.

  “Me.” Alex removed her hand and Kara considered the needle in hers, before replacing it into her bag and leaning back away from Daniel. “Leave the IV in in case we need it. Otherwise, keep clear. I don’t want him injuring himself.”

  “I’m still in contact with Chris, do you want your bag?” Lograve asked.

  “Yes. We’ll observe for now, but I want the option.”

  “Alright. I’m still not sure about letting anyone else in Eido know about this just yet. It would cause a stampede, but if Daniel-“ Turning to face where she presumed Lograve to be, both Alex and her mother missed when his seizing stopped. Lograve’s reaction clued them in as he breathed out. “Thank the gods. Don’t scare me like that Daniel. I’ll have the Cleric nearby just in case but we’ll keep them out of the room for now.”

  “Daniel, are you alright?” Kara asked.

  “Mom? You’re…” His eyes sharpened and he stumbled back. Alex watched as he found and tore out the IV, the wound instantly healing. “You, Dad, you didn’t, did you know? When did he?”

  “Daniel, you just had a seizure, calm down and-“

  “That wasn’t a seizure.” There was a grave inflection in his voice, and so much surety Alex instantly believed him. “It was a, a vision. I had suppressed memories and the necklace brought them back. I saw Dad.”

  “What?” The Daniel on Earth perked up instantly. “Where? If you get him here we can bring him home.”

  “No. That wouldn’t work.” He seemed to question whether he should share what he was about to say but said it anyway. “He’s bound to the Octyrrum just like I am. He’s Hourglass.”

  “What!?” By now Lograve’s incredulity had a Pavlovian response, beating out anyone else’s. “You’ve been right about a few things but that, Daniel, is too much to believe.”

  “He gave me this back.” Daniel picked up the necklace he had dropped. “It was reduced to atoms, my link with it was broken, and he not only knew how I’d gotten it in the first place but gave it back to me. I think he reversed time to the point before it was destroyed and plucked it from there. He’s responsible for all of this, and he’s been here since the beginning.”

  “That’s impossible. Daniel, I knew your father better than anyone. He was born in Maryland, we went to college together,” Kara protested.

  “I don’t know how it all fits together, but I know what I saw.”

  Lograve spoke again, and this time it was in horror. “Oh. Oh no.” One of his notebooks rose into the air as he flipped through it. “This is what he meant, why he wouldn’t tell me.”

  Everyone turned to Lograve at that, and Alex, just trying to keep up with what Daniel was saying, asked, “Wouldn’t tell you what?”

  The notebook turned invisible after being held too long by Lograve and he cursed, throwing it on the wayward desk. “I knew I should have told people earlier, but this is, this is far more than I could have expected. I might have been better off drowning in that lake. This is far too much to go into now. Crest, I need to think on this.”

  “What’s going on, is he ok?” Ami asked as she and Chris returned, the sound of a door closing behind them. Chris eased the larger bag of medical supplies onto the floor, his eyes going to Lograve’s for longer than usual. Telepathy. He grimaced for a moment before she saw pained acceptance replace the frown.

  Ami began walking toward the divide as she saw her mother and sister on the platform, which was beginning to reach its capacity. Still looking at Chris, seemingly the only one who’d caught the exchange with most paying attention to Lograve or Ami, Alex watched as he closed his eyes and sighed. The sight gave her a bad feeling.

  “Daniel’s fine. We have another dragon to slay now, I’m afraid.” A seat dragged itself over into the empty space as Lograve sat down. “I have an inkling as to what’s going on. There’s a way to cross worlds that doesn’t involve a portal like this. It’s complicated, risky, and… morally questionable, and it’s a possible explanation for what happened. It’s called false reincarnation.“

  Lograve’s latest lecture stopped in its tracks as Alex’s heart did. She didn’t know what she’d expected when she’d seen that sigh, but this chilled her. Standing on the other side of the portal, the Daniel who had brought them here looked in confusion as Ami tried and failed to go through, meeting the same resistance he did. “Ami?” She stood and ran the short distance, and when she tried walking through herself it was like trying to run through solid concrete. “Ami!?”

  “Alex!?”

  The Arcanist’s grim lecturing tone turned alarmed. “I don’t understand. The ritual is still ongoing, nothing’s changed.”

  “Lograve, what’s happening?” Kara asked, standing herself and reaching forward. Her hand had no issue passing through.

  “This doesn’t make sense.” The Arcanist walked forward and put a hand through himself, it becoming briefly visible before being withdrawn. “There’s no reason for it to single them out.”

  Behind her, Alex heard what could be considered her second brother report, “I’m seeing attributes on her, but Mom has them too. It’s probably just the Octyrrum reading natural ability. But it doesn’t matter, having a class isn’t stopping people.” He looked at the shield he wore and whispered, still loud enough to hear, “I know you can hear me. What’s going on? Let my sister through or I swear to god I’ll find a way to make you hurt.”

  On the other side of the divide, the traveler, the lier, the one who had just clutched victory in his hands, found his heart overcome by the cost. Were he another version of himself he would have attempted to maintain his cover, just in case, but what was done was done, and no truth could change that. “It’s a rule. Fundamental Law of Solipsism. Each soul can only exist once in every reality.”

  Not everyone heard him at first. Earth-Daniel did. “Chris, what are you talking about?”

  “Sorry, kid. The game was rigged from the start.” Slowly, he unbelted his holster and slid it away, disarming himself. “Don’t put this one on you. It’s all mine, you got it?”

  Alex slowly backed away from the portal, putting it all together in her head. “You could’ve grabbed me. You stopped Ami instead. Why?”

  “Had to be you. I wouldn’t have done anything, but she was going to cross over first.” Chris had everyone’s attention now. “You don’t have the same soul as her, not exactly, but with the right bond it doesn’t matter. There’s a reason twins aren’t born on worlds that allow that kind of karmic connection.”

  Pulling out what vaguely looked like a shotgun from a pouch that wasn’t large enough to hold it, Octyrrum-Daniel pointed it at Chris and put his finger on the trigger. “You bastard. Fix this.” He sounded scarier than Alex had ever heard. She stared again at the other side of the portal, overcome with denial despite the hard reality. She could burn easily with anger, she knew, but at this moment there was no oxygen in her body. It was taking all she had to stay on her feet.

  “What’s done is done. I am not proud of it, but doing this has saved this world. It’s not the time for me to explain, none of you are in a state to listen, but I will. I promise, because there are things you need to know. For now, you just have to keep her alive.”

  Daniel gritted his teeth, his weapon shaking a little, until it was lowered by his mother’s hand as she stared at him, wide-eyed. Ami was still screaming her name in the background, and Gadriel, who had quickly crossed over once the betrayal had been revealed, had to stop her from hurting herself as she pounded against the barrier. The Daniel on Earth just looked on in horror, one hand tearing at his hair.

  For all they tried, nothing allowed Alex to return. The attempts lasted for so long that a woman who could only hazily remember her name woke up. A Spirit Master finally reached out by sending stone, checking to make sure everyone was still alive. Lograve began to worry about discovery as the Cleric that had been summoned had already tried his door once and matters were stretching into the night.

  There was no solution. At one point it was suggested to bring Chris into the Octyrrum so Gadriel could force him to confess some way to allow Alex back onto Earth, but as he ruefully demonstrated he was unable to use the portal. A version of him was still alive on this side, and the armed Daniel swore vengeance against the one he could reach. A fundamental law briefly took notice of this exchange, but there was not enough intent to warrant a new bond. Such one-sided bonds were far harder to create.

  Impossible decisions had to be made, Kara’s chief among them. She would have split herself in two if she could. Kept the portal open forever and stayed there with her two daughters. Cruel fate demanded an answer, and after Octyrrum-Daniel was more honest about the dangers of the surrounding area, she couldn’t stay.

  Alex watched the portal close, cutting her off from her sister, mother, brother, and the man who had doomed her to never again see her home.