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Chapter 10- Bad Reception

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"I absolutely refuse to sleep in the same bed." I declared adamantly when I realized that there was only one bed in the room I was supposed to share with my mentor. 

Makith attempted to cover his expression with his hands, but I could see the mirth in his golden eyes quite clearly. The nymph was starting to grow on me. He tended to put Revelin in his place every now and then, just like I did. And he was petite, just as I was. Honestly, I rather enjoyed talking to someone I could look right in the eye instead of craning my neck all the time.

"My chamber has two beds if you would rather share mine," Makith offered.

"Sounds great," I replied with no hesitation whatsoever.

"Such loyalty," Revelin replied in a grumble.

I waved goodbye cheekily as Makith led the way down the hall to his own room. The room was smaller, but the beds were secured to the walls in a corner, similar to bunk beds. I wondered what kind of material the walls were made of so that they could withstand such weight. The room itself was painted in a soft, pale sea green. 

"Makith..." I began as I glanced down at the seaweed-green floor. "For reasons unknown to me, your room makes me crave seafood. Salty seafood."

Makith let out a deep sigh. "You are my guest, so I wish to treat you as royalty. But I cannot grant that particular request," he began as he motioned for me to sit next to him on the bottom bed. You see, we are vegetarians. What were those other words that Lin used? We are mostly Lacto-vegetarians and Vegans, actually."

"I see. I meant no offense."

"When I studied in the Academy with the others, I was exposed to all kinds of diets. So long as no one shoved what they were eating in my face, I was fine. As you can imagine, Revelin was the first to learn that lesson the hard way." A harsh smirk formed on his face. "I nearly drowned him with his own carbonated drink. None of us really got along for a long time."

"Not to say that I'm dying of curiosity or anything," I started but stopped. "Alright, I'll take it back. I am dying of curiosity. Just how in the world did the five of you end up getting along if you just about hated each other so much?"

"The Alcaid and our Instructors noticed the endless rivalry between us, and they forced us into several group projects. If we couldn't work together to complete those projects properly, then we would all have failing grades. Sink or swim." Makith explained. "It was rather difficult at first, but after the first couple of projects, we formed a grudging respect towards one another. After a few more projects, we began to get along. And, by the last few projects, we had formed close bonds."

"I'm a bit envious," I affirmed. "All I really had was my nephew during my time at the Academy. I would have liked to have at least one close friend."

"My friends were my family," Makith confessed. "I have no blood relatives. I would have liked to have at least one."

We both fell silent for a moment. How strange it was that we each had the opposite in terms of supportive figures, yet, in recognizing those voids, we were growing more and more sympathetic toward one another. Though I was usually wary and suspicious of anyone I deemed to be a stranger, a part of me was already accepting Makith as a new friend.

"Hey, I don't want to really offend anyone during my stay," I asked in an attempt to break the silence. "Is there anything else I should know about your culture other than the food?" 

"No, but I will warn you that custodians in the cafeteria will want to pile your plate high with food," Makith replied as he walked towards the door to lead the way. "It is similar to an 'old wives' tale' that anyone short simply lacks proper nourishment. Though I learned early on that genetics have a bigger part to play on such things, there is nothing one can say to the servers that will sway them otherwise."

I couldn't help the grin that formed on my face as I followed him. We'd been trained at the Academy to seek out as many similarities as we could whenever visiting unknown dimensions. Makith was doing everything he could to help facilitate that. As we walked down the hallway, some signs pointed towards the cafeteria paired with symbols of plates and utensils. I was relieved to see their own version of spoons and butter knives. If all of the utensils were unknown, I was ready to ask the nymph if they had a version of sandwiches or hand-held food that wouldn't be offensive to eat.

On the way there, we ran into Revelin. What decent timing. The cafeteria line was getting long.

"You seemed to have gotten along rather well with Makith in the past," I commented as the line inched forward. I handed a tray to my mentor before taking one for myself. "Why didn't you ask him to be your assistant?"

"Your jealousy is rather flattering," Revelin purred before hovering over my ear and whispering. "Could it be that you wish you were the only assistant by my side even then?"

I viciously rubbed at my ear and glared at him. "If that is anyone's wish, it would be yours, not mine."

"I'll let it be known that I did ask Makith to be my assistant once, but he turned me down." He elaborated. "His home dimension was, and still is, far more important to him than anything he could achieve while wandering."

As I asked for a random array of vegetable casseroles in front of me, the server gaped at me and gave me twice everything that I asked for. When I glanced to the side, I could have sworn that my mentor was pouting.

"They certainly seem to remember me." He sighed.

The same server who had attended to me was giving my mentor a murderous glare. I noticed that his plate was full of several burnt edges and overcooked vegetables. "I guess so," I agreed.

"Though they seem to like you well enough," He scoffed as he motioned toward my heaping plate.

"Just what exactly did you do to be 'cast out' of this peaceful place?" I inquired as we found someplace to sit.

Revelin cleared his throat. "It was an accident. I was actually trying to help fend away bandit attacks from one village to another. I ended up causing the tunnel that connected three mountain-surrounded towns to the main road to collapse." He divulged. "They were trapped for months."

I shook my head, having no doubt what he told me was true. "If you help rebuild their kingdom, you might be pardoned," I suggested as I transferred half of my food onto his plate.

"Thank you. And I don't care if they pardon me or not," He admitted. "So long as we find out who's behind this and make sure that they don't have a chance to perform an encore."

"Agreed," I stated.

"Sir Kairos!"

A cold chill rolled down my spine at the sound of the familiar voice. However, we were far from our home dimension nor either of the royal kingdoms. Was I hallucinating?

"Tell me I'm only hearing things," I hissed. 

"As much as I would love to tell you as much, it would be a blatant lie," Revelin growled. "Really, Lexie? I ask you for reinforcements, and you bring me this?" He questioned as he pointed at Duncan, who was beginning to cut off the circulation to my arm as he clung to it.

"Would you please let go?" I beseeched. 

"Duncan, behave yourself," Prince Damien admonished.

To everyone's surprise, Duncan quickly obeyed and released my arm. "R-Right. I was simply joyous and relieved that you are alright, Sir Kairos," the magician explained. 

"Now, what were the exact words you used?" The lilac-eyed woman mused as she tapped her lips with a finger. "Ah, that's right, 'we need all the help we can get.' You can't afford to be picky about it."

My mentor groaned and covered his face with a hand. "I suppose you're right. Regardless of how these two wandered into your dimension, they're my responsibility," he admitted. After a moment, he motioned towards me. Lexie, meet my assistant, Cyrus. Cy, this is Alexandra." His eyes narrowed as he glanced at the top of her head. What happened to your hair?"

"What, this?" She asked as she ran a hand through the black locks. "I was forced to dye it to blend into my dimension."

"Wow, you must really care for that dimension in order to go as far as covering the natural hair color you had taken so much pride in," Revelin pondered aloud.

"Thank you both for being here," Makith spoke up from behind Damien. "I feel more at ease."

"Speaking of dimension travel, where are Verity and Itharos?" Lexie inquired. "Didn't they decide to wander, too?"

My mentor and Makith looked at one another. "Well, we were hoping you could help us find them," Makith told her.

"Well, at least I won't have too much difficulty if I have you two to help," She contemplated aloud. "Not to mention that neither of you would faint by giving me an excess of Vim." She tossed a smug glance towards Duncan.

"That was my first time sharing my psychic power in that manner!" Duncan retaliated.

"So, how did you guys get here?" I asked Prince Damien. 

"When neither you nor our godfather showed up yesterday, we were worried. Dandelion stayed behind, and Duncan insisted on making sure you were alive," Damien explained. "While it's meant for only an emergency, Revelin showed us how to use our secret Arch-Passage, and we ended up coming across Alexandra. She then brought us here."

"We need to get you both back to safety," I muttered.

Alexandra's gaze shifted from the prince to the magician and finally to me. "You know what?" She declared. "I think it would be best if we all chipped in. Let's see if we can get ahold of Verity first. Come on, everyone, hands on my shoulders and my head…" 

Prince Damien and Duncan both didn't hesitate to place a hand on one of her shoulders. Revelin dropped his large hand on top of her head. Makith then urged me to grab Alexandra's other shoulder along with him. 

The female Wanderer closed her eyes and raised her wrist. She had on a bracelet with several different charms, one that looked suspiciously like a dildo. When the round charm on her bracelet began to glow a purple hue, I felt the tug of power as she focused the flow of Vim into a violet sphere that materialized between her hands. A strange static began to form around the sphere as an image began to flicker in and out of it.

“Lexie…can’t talk…low Vim…”

From the brief flashes, I could only make out a tiny woman with short white hair and brown eyes. I couldn't make out any other details on her face. She seemed rather pale and wore what appeared to be a thick, plum-hued cloak.

"…later!"

And then, the sphere was blank once more. Alexandra frowned before turning towards Revelin. "I've never heard of anyone having such a low reserve of Vim to not be able to receive a message. Limber, what do you think of this?"

Limber? What kind of a nickname was that? A part of me wanted to know, but I had a gut feeling it had something to do with my mentor's promiscuity. 

"She was likely using up her Vim on a regular basis. It's happened to me once before." My mentor responded. "Perhaps she finally decided to settle down in one dimension and stopped wandering?"

"Makith!" A peach-haired nymph hollered as she ran through the cafeteria. Her light blue irises trembled as she caught her breath. "There have been signs of activity spotted at the ruins!"

Makith thanked the girl and turned to face us. "My friends," He pleaded, his golden eyes darting from one face to the other. "Please come with me."