I had just returned home from class with Paz the next day when Jade showed up at our door.

“Are you ready?” She asked, before grabbing Paz and I and dragging us through a portal. Jade hadn’t even waited for an answer or given us a warning.

“Where are we?” I asked.

The room we were in resembled a classic martial arts dojo, it could have been straight out of a Kung Fu film with the wooden floors, training dummies, and a variety of weapons on simple racks near the walls. 

“This training area is a part of my home in Kahea.” Jade said calmly. “Whenever I come for either of you for training I will open a portal to this place. That way you both remain secret.”

“But...” Paz protested. “Kahea is near Cloudside Rim! You literally dragged us back to the continent of Haruhi. Juliet isn’t even supposed to be here. If we get caught, the consequences-”

“Will be dealt with only if we are discovered.” Jade cut her off.

“How are we here anyway? Portals don’t work this way unless...” Paz had a look of shock on her face.

“Unless what?” I asked. I had no clue about any of this and wanted some answers.

“Paz here has just realized I am in possession of one of the twelve dimensional seals. I can open portals at my will.” Jade smirked.

“Are the seals pretty hard to get a hold of?” I asked, still confused.

“They’re supposed to be a myth.” Paz said.

“They’re real all right.” Jade held up her left hand.

On her finger was a ring. The gold band was shaped like an Asian dragon and the head of the dragon rested on the top of the ring with a polished ruby orb held in its mouth. The ring was incredibly detailed and I was in awe of how beautiful it looked.

“That looks like it belongs in a museum.” I said.

“If the Dragon Lord knew you had this…” Paz stared at the ring.

“He doesn’t. And you can’t tell him unless you decide to stop hiding.” Jade grinned, sensing she had Paz’s silence.

“Still, if any of the nobility of any country on this continent knew you had this, you’d be hunted down so they could have it.” Paz said.

“So how do portals work, anyway?” I asked, still confused as to why the ring was so special.

“Juliet, portals are almost sacred to us. Each set of portals belongs to a temple. Supposedly a long time ago, before the creation of the veil, each temple was whole. The temples each had a partner on a different continent. There were twelve temple pairs and of them, eight have their pairs in the forbidden lands. The remaining four pairs have been lost completely.

I don’t know what happened, but something destroyed the temples and caused the portals to splinter. Now around each temple are the wild portals, still connected. The veil was envisioned to protect us from the fallout and the temples shattered.” Paz explained.

"At the center of each temple, supposedly a magic ring called a dimension seal was embedded in an alter to maintain the stability of the portals. Legend says that the seals can create portals to any place in any dimension. The most common story about why people believe the temples fell is that a legendary thief tried to steal the seals. Supposedly he was the most gifted thief in the world." Jade added in. "Clearly the seals themselves exist, but who knows about all the rest?"

"I can guarantee the Temple of Aria in Akiyama exists." Paz admitted. "Well, the ruins do. I used a wild portal there to escape. It connects to the woods near Mountain Brooke University."

I was shocked. That was the university Paz and I attended. She clearly hadn't gone very far at all. I figured she had stayed near the portal in case she ever had to leave.

"Is that why you went to school near the portal? In case you ever needed to go home?" I had to know.

"Yes, that's the initial reason."

"But now?"

"Now I stay because I have a friend worth staying for. I have no intentions to return home, Juliet." Paz said softly.

Before I could respond, Jade was pushing me towards the weapons racks.

"Enough talk for now," she said. "It's time to start your training."

Paz looked on the verge of laughter until Jade turned to her.

"You don't get to stand around either!" You're training too." Jade waved Paz over to us.

"Seriously?" Paz complained.

"Yep," Jade stated. "I need to make sure both of you can defend yourselves. You can't be together every moment of the day and you never know when trouble can show up."

Jade then pushed training clothes into my arms and another set into Paz's. With no time for any questions, we were ushered into a nearby changing area.

"Hey, you're lacing that wrong." Paz stopped me from tying the strings on the bracer I was attempting to put on my arm. "Let me help."

Paz undid the strings completely and relaced it. When she was satisfied, she tied the bracer securely.

"Did you notice how I did that? Try the other one." She encouraged me.

I managed to successfully copy the way Paz had laced the other bracer. After finishing, I looked up at her as saw her smiling. She patiently helped me figure out how to put on the rest of the training clothes.

"I knew I should have joined LARP," I muttered. "Then I would have already known how to wear all of this."

"What's LARP?" Paz asked.

"Oh, LARP is actually an acronym that stands for Live Action Role Play. Basically you dress up in historical or fantasy clothes and you create a character." I explained. "Some larps have combat as well with latex coated weapons. They look amazingly realistic and a lot of emphasis is on learning actually skills for combat and crafting and even how to wear the clothes. I had a chance to join a LARP called Myths and Legends but I didn't. I should have and I think I will."

"So is this LARP near the university?" Paz asked.

"Yeah," I replied. "They actually have groups all across the country and a few over the world. There is a really active colony located a town away from us."

"I'll go with you," Paz said. "It sounds like fun."

"Are you two almost ready?" Jade called out to us. "I swear, you two take longer to get ready than noble ladies going to a ball."

"We're almost ready," Paz replied.

The two of us quickly finished changing. Paz checked both of us to make sure everything was put on correctly. I followed her out of the changing area back into the main training room.

"Finally!" Jade said. "You took forever."

"Sorry," I said. "Paz had to help me with some of the gear. That slowed us down a bit. Next time we'll be a bit faster."

"I hope so. If you take this long, things can go south long before you even get to a battle."

Jade led Paz and I back the the weapons racks.

"Okay, time to get started." She said.

Paz and I looked at each other. What had we gotten into?