Dolly curses under her breath and then speaks in a comedically loud manner as she jumps towards the cyclone. 

"Take me away !"

Asher grabs her arm one last time easily stopping her cartoonish jump.

"This isn't a novel dumbass. Think it through. Are you sure you want to sacrifice everything you've built here ? You got a cat, maybe its worth staying or something."

Dolly slightly shaken by being jerked back looks down and then looks up at Asher. Her voice is fair and true.

"Honestly, I think the daft bastard would've preferred life without me, I need something... more in my life. So lets go !" 

She laughed. 

"I'll make it all a novel !" 

Asher stared at her through his blindfolds for a moment and then sighed. 

"Do your best." 

He steps backwards into the gate and gently pulls her in. The blue cyclone envelops them both. 

The sliding colors shift and appear and dissapear all around. Glass folding in itself, reflections of reflections move and flow around them. 

Dolly yelps. 

"Give a flash warning !" 

She closes her eyes trying not to hurl and grabs on to his arm. Asher chuckles, trying to ignore how he can see the power of her Realm Owner seeping out of her soul and body. For a while his calming voice is all Dolly can sense of the outside world; other than the darkness of her eyelids, her hair whipping around and the arms holding her... and then there's a new feeling. 

Sunlight warming her skin. 

Asher lands them both on the ground in a weirdly soft thud. 

"Open your eyes Miss Ariel" 

One of the numerous nicknames he had been calling Dolly, referring the Disney character. He makes light fun of her hair as he puts her on her feet. Her eyes take a few seconds to adjust to the sunlight. 

And when they do adjust, her breath is taken away. 

Asher had taken her from one beach to the other- The Institute as it turned out, was situated on a large island. Beutiful marble skyscrapers reached up into the softly clouded sky, pillars of stone were made into arches all around them as they were on some bridge unimaginably high above the sea bellow but beyond that... they were not alone on the bridge. There were people.  

They all wore slightly consisten uniforms and were walking around them, some looked alien like some human, some beast and yet they all had the same reaction as they saw Asher. The same stare and then look away. But Dolly was too bewildered to ask about that, her eyes widened taking in the graceful beauty of the alien architecture. 

"Woah." 

"Well they made this place as approachable as they could. Anyways, I'll inform T.J. And she'll help you through, you can explore if you want. Call my name if you get lost or something." 

"T.J. ? Is she a supporting character ?! Is she incredibly hot ?" 

"Supporting character ? People are just characters to you..?! And no... she's a hologram that isn't hot. Especially when she's an ass." 

Asher starts walking towards the end of the bridge and where the monumental sky scrapers start as Dolly follows. 

"You'd be surprised how many people love a sassy woman." 

"Sassy and ass are quite different." 

Although they had become become comfortable in their conversation in the last two days, the people around them were anything but. The strange looks keep getting stranger so Asher eventually just tugs on Dolly's shoulder and pulls her in an invisible direction, through the thinness of reality. They suddenly appear in a library, a huge one. It seems to be in the shape of one giant cyclinder with shelves that are on the walls, it would maybe look normal if one could see the ceiling when they looked up. Instead they saw rings of brown and orange repeating untill  it looked to be a dot at the end out of sight. 

Oh and another abnormal thing was the way countless pages, books floated through the air ordering themselves opening and closing, changing places. It all seemed to be in a chaotic order beautifully orchestrated by... 

"Holy hell Dante, do you ever stop working ?" 

There was a boy, only a few years younger then the two of them sitting at the epicenter of the library where a large reception counter stood. He had pitch black and straight hair, his eyes were of crimson. 

"I- uhh... I sleep sometimes... Oracle, sir." 

"...stop with that name." 

Dolly would stop being entranced by the megastructure a moment after that and gaze on the younger person that stood at the table, her eyes would look at his cape that dropped on his smaller stature and his thin arms that were on a unnatural number of books around him. 

"Oh my god a twink !" 

The librarian boy kind of stares at Dolly, he had been called many names... that was a first. He blinks a few times not knowing what to say. 

"Allright just ignore her" 

Asher would just add to stop the awkward staring contest between the two weirdos. Dante hides his face behind papers that float around. Asher turns at Dolly as he leans on a pillar of books behind him.

"He is like you, you know." 

"...a book enjoyer ?" 

Asher flicks her forehead. 

"Ow !" 

"He is dangerous too." 

"I... don't know wether to be offended or proud of that fact." 

"Neither, you should be careful thats all." 

"That sounds boring." 

Dolly crosses her arms as Dante puts a bit of his head up from the veil of papers he had constructed. 

"I-Ive got nothing dangerous." 

Asher gestures at Dante nonchalantly. 

"Unlike him, you don't have an inferiority complex that'll hold you in the safety of a library." 

"...i-its not a complex. It's just the way things are..." 

Dolly looks at the younger boy with sympathy. 

"...Is he always like that ... it must be horrible." 

Asher sighs. 

"Its bound to happen when you come from a clan of fire witches and... you are born as the paper witch..." 

"W-well ! It's a living !" 

Dante stands up for himself, somewhat. 

"So he controls paper, all of it here ? Well then books are your best friend in that case, especially here its like having a bazooka in your pocket." 

Asher scratches his head. 

"He could easily level the entire Institute with this much paper and then some of the other complexes too." 

Though the dark haired boy lunges up. As if defending his innocence.

"I-C-C-C-COULD NEVER ! Th-things require mana ! I d-don't have more than- a pigeons." 

Dolly blinks.

"Pigeons have mana- ?"

"I-in some dimensions." 

"Anyways, Dante could you fetch us T.J."

With the trained easiness of obeying a command Dante answers. 

"Sure-" 

He puts his hand up and the flying papers around them start rotating, as if a great mechanism whirs into life. So much paper starts moving that there is a rustle of air around them, a gentle breeze is summoned. One paper comes down and floats inbetween Dolly and Asher.

It has the same language Asher wrote to summon the gate, it lights up with magic, summoning a hologram or ... an illusion. 

It's that of a light blue and a small short haired woman appears. Her hands are held just infront of her with inhuman stillness. She speaks with literal, open disdain in her voice even though she looks to be some kind of artificial intelligence. 

"I have an office, Asher Rex." 

That... was his last name ? Heh. Mr.Rex answers the doll sized woman on the paper.

"Can't be bothered going put up to the main Lobby." 

"Still, you could atleast act like you respect our laws."

"Hey, we are about being practical right ? Im contacting you from the institute. I got you one of the girls you wanted to recruit, she doesn't have to go through moving everywhere now thanks to me."

"You have alcohol in your system."

Dolly interupts the conversation between the Oracle and the resentful A.I.

"I would've preferred a tour-"

She sniffs then gags.

"He could also use a shower."

The white haired young man stares, obviously irritated. He turns away-

"I'll go get the others."

Though he is stopped by the commanding voice of the A.I. 

"You are a student as well Asher."

"Ack." 

Dolly speaks. 

"How old is he, uhh miss Lady ?"

"T.J. Short for Telegraphic Junior or-"

Dante interupts, narrating.

"The Judge. As in The only Judge." 

Dorothy mistakingly dismisses him.

"I can see that Dante, she's literally infront of me I wouldn't assume she's got clones-"

"No you don't understand-" 

So, the A.I. informs her. 

"H.R.A. Deals with 3 billion cases almost every week. Mortals wouldn’t be able to go through each and every documentation, so Mr.Forger made me. The assistive artificial intelligence."

"Also... Asher is 3 months younger than you." 

He was 18 too. She looks at Ashers tall ass. 

"...what do your parents feed you, damn ! ...Right okay so..." 

She turns her attention to T.J. again.

"May I ask one more question ?"

"Yes."

"Why did I suddenly get these... "violent" abilities?"

"Fate, lineage, hardwork, luck. Everyone has a different reason. Its your duty to figure out why. Though, if Asher didn't see why, it certainly will be hard for you to figure out."

"I dont feel...right, my arms are itchy and my head is full of sound..."

Her nose begins to bleed. When did this... drumming noise even start ? It had started so quietly from so deep within her soul that she didn't even notice it at first and now it was the only thing she could sense. This throbbing in her chest. 

Asher was quick.

"I didn't see that either !" 

Dante suddenly gets up in a panic, lunging forward all the papers around them shuffle like a flood of fluttering white catching Dorothy before she faints and loses consciousness. 

... 

Darkness. Pitch black. Where is she ? There is swirling void inside her. Two- things... two wills oppose each other ... both insurmantoubly old... 

Then she feels the softness of a bed and the soothing noise of lazy waves hitting the beach again and again in a calm forever. She slowly pulls herself up and opens her eyes. She's in a very untidy room, the window that takes the starlight from the night sky outside seems crooked. Its tilted 30 maybe 40 degrees to the right, as such the curtains on that side have dropped their ends to the floor. The room however untidy looks lived in, she rubs her eyes as she looks around the various clothes, garmanents, equipment scattered around the room. 

"What- the-" 

She finds Asher. The tall man is on the floor just below and to her right, sleeping in a sitting position with his back leaning on the bed she was on. He whimpers, as if he is watching something again and again.

..she moves her hand to tap his shoulder but-

Suddenly, he catcher her wrist without looking at her, the curtains flap up with the sheer speed and power of the movement. 

"O-oh. You're awake." 

Thats all he says. His powerful grip still on her wrist.

"Ow. My wrist." 

He slowly lets go where he grasped her. 

"Im sorry. Don't make physical contact with me." 

He gets up and puts on a shirt. The white cloth covers up the deep scars around his body as if they weren't there. 

"Whats that-" 

Her thought is interrupted by a sudden migraine like pain shooting through her head.

"Augh-" 

She holds her temples, doing her best not to shriek in pain and starts massaging herself. 

"I told you it would have an effect sooner or later I suppose you going through this pain this early is better than doing it with the lukewarm training of the upstairs folk." 

The man starts going through his cubbards. 

"What happened, my head hurts"

"They medicated you with magic and syringes. You ran out of juice as Abela would put it. Aha-" 

He pulls a bottle of whiskey making empty bottles fall on his messy table, they seem to somehow fall perfectly without shattering and bounce into a weird order. 

"Isnt it like early to drink ?" 

"Its the middle of the night. Plus it has to be the right hour somewhere." 

He starts drinking. She jokes:

"You are hopeless but fair logic."

"Haha. Damn right I am. The only thing I actually am…"

His voice has that same darkness it had when he talked about gods and then he returns to normal, somewhat.

"You should go back to sleep." 

She, up on the bed changes her position and sits down. 

"I dont feel like it..." 

"Fine I wanted to tell you this somewhere they wont hear anyways. If you do as they say, you'll end up as their pawn or “agent” as they call them. Not that its a bad or slave’y job, Its hard work but many people are happy with it..."

He drank a bit more.

"Its just that you’ll be enforcing their ideals rather than yours. If you care about that at all—"

"Why did they call you a student then ? This a school ?"

Asher laughed dryly and shortly in response. 

"Haha. Dont compare yourself to me. Im the “exception of exceptions”. T.J. tries to normalize me but everyone knows. And yeah Im technically a student but I also do scout work to get my ass off of responsibilities as one."

"So you are bad at your job is what your telling me" 

Asher thinks for a moment. 

"Im probably the best guy for a scout mission they have, including the alumni agents. Most of them are fodder anyways—" 

"This feels like a place that has loads and loads of extremely strong characters... Ughhh Im stuck in sci-fi aren't I ?" 

"Keep acting like this is a novel and youll end up “written out of the story”."

He sits down on a chair and puts his legs on the table bellow the cubbards. 

"Well if Im assuming that I can write my own narrative, then this novel Im in is going to be wild, if you feel important you are !"

She stretches her arms up, palming toward the ceiling. 

"I...like reading...might be nicer to Dante and see if he can giveme some good books to read... I wonder how would stories be different in other universes. Thats where we are right ? Feel I can push that inferiority complex right out of him haha." 

"You aren’t a god. Not now anyways. You cant write your own story completely and you cannot control other people as if they are characters." 

Asher seemed slightly irritated by her outlook, though he was mostly apathetic. 

"I'd love to write my own story, It feels right...I wanna be a writer...gods must feel too alone."

"They have toys to play with." 

She feels something inside Asher, something crawling and biting at his insides from his heart: Hatred. So inhumanly powerful...

"...Ash...you...do you hate me ? I can leave ?"

"Huh ?"

"This is clearly your room, Im clearly frustrating you...so should I just leave ?"

"Oh no, I would've thrown you out myself if that was needed. Just-" 

He sighs deeply. There it is again. That slithering icky thing. Choking him.

"Are you alright ?"

"Rarely- I mean Im fine."

He turns away gulping a more of that devils drink.

"You sure ? Something sounds wrong-"

"Why do you care ? You wont see me much after tomorrow. They’ll get you, your dorm…"

"Then I'll call your name! Over and over... you seem so lonely..."

For the first time he looks at her, dazed. His lips part. His bandages on his eyes slip-

She sees his eyes, those awful wretchedly beutiful two orbs of eldritch power. She cannot discern or name the colors playing in his eyes only but that they are the most beutiful things she had ever seen. In the reflection she sees a future, not so lonely anymore.

It slips through and is then crushed by 2 other futures than 4 than 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, FOUR THOU-

Pain flushes through her head... 

That flow of information is so high that she instantly faints.