Riley watches the teen closely, also catching his reaction. “He is… why is that a problem?”
The young man looks at me. “You… allow him… to walk free? But… what if he…”
Riley appears confused, but when the teenager nervously stops talking and runs his fingers through his hair, I see a brand burned into his wrist. I reach out and push his sleeve up as I look at the pattern and realize that I was told about this back when the god who traveled from realm to realm visited me. He told me about a realm where magic was forbidden. Those who possessed it were branded with symbols that would keep them from ever using their magic. It covers a big part of the teenager’s wrist, a gruesome brand that had eaten into his flesh and taken something so special from him.
“I see,” I say. “What is your name?”
“Story.”
“Hey, Story, I’m Mickey since no one bothered to introduce me. Mickey, Person of Naps and Relaxation.”
Story stares at him like he’s perplexed but nods. “I… also like naps.”
Mickey beams, like this makes them best friends, but I think Story has no idea of the number of naps Mickey is referring to.
“I know a god who told me about this realm you’ve come from. Obsian, right? It’s a realm where magic is forbidden, isn’t that correct?” I ask.
“Yes. Magic is the darkness and corruption that leads to death and suffering. Those of us born with it must suffer because of the wrongdoings of our ancestors. We’re plagued with magic that is our punishment to bear,” Story recites, avoiding eye contact with us. It makes me wonder if he believes what he’s saying.
“They’re branded with runes that keep them from using their magic,” I explain as I wave toward his wrist. “And those who are born with magic become outsiders.”
“It is what we deserve for being monsters,” Story says, eyes still downcast.
“But you obviously used magic to open a Door,” Mickey points out.
The teen flinches. “I-I did not open the Door. I just… was the only one able to go through it.” He looks pale and almost sick as he says this. “I… I thought…” He trails off and I can tell he’s nervous. Maybe even beyond nervous. He keeps picking at his fingers, and I can see that his nails are bloody from it.
“Obsian is falling apart… people are dying. But there’s nothing we can do. And because they’re safe inside their walls in the capital… they don’t care. They said that everything happening to the land is because of us… and that the famine is there just to clean up us parasites. I don’t want my sister to die, so I came here for help, but…”
“When they called us here, they thought that your world might possibly have been attacked by a high-powered being like ours was,” Riley says.
“While there’s talk of a monster that lurks in the shadows, no one has seen one… They say that it’s just people from the capital trying to scare us. Trying to make us fight among ourselves. Andmaybe it is, because death only seems to happen outside the walls. When morning comes and we’re left with bodies, there’s no one to take the blame. But if I take you over there… you’ll be stripped of your magic or imprisoned. I need someone who has no magic.”
“Our world has more magic users than people who don’t have magic,” Riley explains. “But that doesn’t mean we need to flaunt what we are when we enter your realm.”
I look over at Riley, feeling uncertain about this. Why should he willingly walk into danger? We already have enough danger to deal with ourselves. The god I’d learned about this world from nearly two hundred and fifty years ago spoke of this fucked-up realm with disdain. He called it hell and insisted that the people inside it deserved death for the way they existed.
And now my precious Riley wants to waltz right into it and save them? Maybe we should let the horsemen have one realm to keep my Riley safe…
Kit is staring at me, which means Riley is focused on my expression. He can probably tell something is going on in my mind; I just don’t quite know how to explain it to him.
“Riley… it’s unsafe. Not only will you have to deal with the horseman, you’ll have to deal with people who don’t want to be saved by magic users. They’ll likely fight against us.”
Riley gives me an understanding look, but I already know what he’s going to say. “I know you’re worried, but we can’t let them have a realm. This could be a replacement for our world. This could be the final one.”
“I think each of the horsemen need to claim a world for the spell to work,” Mickey says. “When the horsemen come together and stand among the destruction, the worlds will connect. Conquest failed, so he will have to rise up and try again. I can’t imagine he’s already up to it so soon after the god stripped him of his power.”
I notice Riley touching the hourglass almost absentmindedly. Is he thinking about his brother, the horseman who was also stripped of his horse? If they accomplish destroying another realm, will the god simply forgive Conquest for hesitating when it came to taking down Riley, who was protecting me, and send him to finish what he started?
“If we step through this Door, how safe will we be from those who hunt down magic users?” I ask.
“You will be in the slums where we opened the Door,” Story says. “I just want to save my sister. Please.”
“Why didn’t you bring her with you?” Mickey asks curiously.
“It all happened so fast. The woman I was with… she was going to save us. She was going to open a Door so we could seek help, but they caught on to her plan. The moment the Door opened, she sent me through.”
“What happened to her?” I ask.
