The Nextworld Invasion and the Death of Magic - 22. Chapter 22 - Unexpected Information

“What’s this?!” Nuji squawked. She could barely believe her eyes.

Kilial was rowing the Mermonster’s dinghy back from the island toward the ship. Tigath was with her, but so was a Human!

Nuji was in a fury. “I just finished casting a bunch of spells to prevent this Human from finding us again, and you brought her right to the ship?!”

“We needed to help her,” Tigath replied as he climbed the ladder back onto the Mermonster.

“Help her?” Nuji barked as Kilial and Dorjin also boarded the magical ship; Othri and Lestralin were not with them. “Isn’t she the enemy?!”

Alydrael hobbled past Nuji, approached Dorjin, and asked, “How’d you get here?”

Nuji gawked in dismay at the green-skinned young woman. “Alydrael, don’t try to get to know her! She’s a Human!”

“But Nuji,” Alydrael said, turning to face the shorter limby woman, “after everything you did to prevent Humans from coming here, somehow she’s still here. Maybe she’s supposed to be with us, kind of like how the magic island brought the Mermonster way down to the south. Maybe all of this is meant to be.”

Instead of answering Alydrael’s question from a moment earlier, Dorjin asked one. “What happened to your leg?” She could tell the bandages over Alydrael’s thigh were fresh and that it was a recent injury.

Nuji snapped the answer. “One of you Humans blasted it off!”

Alydrael placed a gentle hand on Nuji’s shoulder. “But it wasn’t her, and I’m going to be alright, thanks to you.”

Nuji pulled away from Alydrael, and she stormed to the top of the stairs. “Bringing a Human here was a mistake!” she declared, and she descended into the ship.

Kilial put her fists on her hips with her long arms akimbo and a smirk on her face. “Tigath, why don’t you and Dorjin explain things, and I’ll go talk to Nuji.”

She headed after her fellow Rothian, and Alydrael’s attention focused back on the new arrival. “What’s your name? I’m Alydrael.”

Dorjin’s gaze moved from Alydrael to Tigath and back again. “My name is Dorjin. A soldier from Kalthrin shot you with a goziartix, a voider. I can tell.”

Alydrael furrowed her brow. “With a what?”

“You don’t know what goziartix are?”

Tigath and Alydrael shook their heads.

“They are the primary anti-personnel weapon for soldiers of Kalthrin. They use magic.”

“I don’t understand,” Alydrael replied. “How do Humans use magic? I didn’t think that was possible before you contacted us. We Urcai can’t use magic.” She indicated Tigath and herself. He shrugged in agreement as Alydrael continued. “Noktar don’t use magic either. But wait a second, Dorjin, how’d you get on the island with the rebels?”

While Dorjin was explaining about the crab and the overpowered spell she cast, Kilial returned up to the deck.

“I don’t know why my spell opened a doorway instead of a window,” Dorjin admitted, “and I don’t know why it opened on the island instead of here on the ship, which is what I was trying to find.”

The Mermonster let out a groan from the main mast, and Kilial translated.

“The ship says you couldn’t find us because Nuji cast spells to prevent you from locating our position.”

Dorjin glanced down at the wood beneath her feet. “What are you…” The Mermonster made another noise, and Dorjin shot Kilial a doubtful look.

The captain smirked and nodded.

“Come on, seriously?” Dorjin questioned.

“The ship is magical!” Alydrael declared. “It’s gotta be what your magic was connecting to from Nextworld.”

Dorjin frowned and shook her head. “No, it’s not; it’s not the ship.”

Alydrael looked away from Dorjin. “You should say hello.”

“To who?” Dorjin asked.

“No, sorry, not you, Dorjin.” Alydrael dropped her gaze to the deck. “Say hello, Mermonster. Why are you being quiet now?” She balanced on her crutch and the heel of her single foot, and she tapped her toes. “Come on, Mermonster, say hi!” Alydrael was annoyed, and she turned to Kilial. “Why is the Mermonster being rude?”

Kilial shrugged. “It does what it wants.”

Alydrael focused back on Dorjin. “It’s alive.”

“No, it isn’t,” Dorjin countered. “It’s just made of wood. The vehicles we use in Nextworld are actually made of living organic matter, and a living ship isn’t surprising to me, but there’s nothing living here.” She stamped her foot. “These planks are from dead trees. There’s no life in…”

A low rumbling from the hull of the Mermonster began reverberating through the deck and the soles of everyone’s feet.

“Kilial, what’s it saying?” Alydrael asked.

Kilial did not reply, but her expression became serious. “What do you mean you know about her magic?” she asked the Mermonster. “What do you know?”

Dorjin snapped her gaze to Alydrael and whispered, “The ship is really talking?” but Kilial rounded on her.

“The Mermonster says it knows about your so-called Human magic. It looked through the barrier into Nextworld and saw what you do. It says the magic you cast is not magic.” She paused and listened to the rumbling. “You torture living beings to produce a necrocraft that is a corruption of nature.”

“N-no, it isn’t,” Dorjin stuttered. “Our magic mirrors elf magic. I mean… what did you call it on the island, earthmagic?”

Alydrael tried to bring the focus back to Dorjin, and she took the young woman’s hand. “Dorjin, can you tell us a little bit about where you come from?”

Dorjin looked around at the group of unique individuals, and then down at her pale fingers in Alydrael’s green hand.

“Go ahead,” Alydrael encouraged, “please tell us a little about yourself.”

Kilial spoke first. “I think I’ll go check on Nuji again.”

Tigath, Alydrael, and Dorjin watched her descend into the Mermonster.

Before Dorjin replied to Alydrael, Tigath asked, “Dorjin, how did you initially find us while in Nextworld?”

Dorjin frowned at the two green-skinned Urcai in confusion. “The spell I cast on the beach was supposed to open a window close to the major source of magic that first attracted me to your group, and it did. I could feel the same magical signature while I was in the middle of the casting, and it focused on the same source that I was connecting to from Nextworld.”

“But Dorjin,” Tigath interjected, “if your doorway was attracted to strong magic, why didn’t it open here, where the ship and our strong magic-user is?”

“I don’t know,” Dorjin replied. “My spells in Nextworld found the strongest source of magic, and my spell on the beach did the same, opening the doorway right at the source.”

Tigath pulled back his long purple hair and questioned, “But there wasn’t a strong source of magic on the island with us.”

“There was,” Dorjin confirmed. “Something magical drew my spell right to it.”

Illiop let out a yip from the other end of the deck and caught the small group’s attention.

“What is that thing?” Dorjin asked. “It’s so…” she hesitated, as if trying to come to terms with her thoughts about the rainbowy creature, “pretty!”

“That’s Illiop,” Alydrael replied. “He’s an oontaloze. He’s Lestralin’s little friend.”

Dorjin was very surprised by the animal. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Illiop trilled and scurried down into the hold were Nuji was sulking.

Alydrael focused on Tigath. “Why didn’t Lestralin and Othri come back to the ship with you and Kilial?”

Tigath gave her a little smile and nodded. “Othri decided to stay for a planning session the rebels were holding, and Lestralin wanted to spend some time with the shadow fighters since he’s a Noktar like them, but they both intend to join us here on the Mermonster before sunset.” He focused on his fellow Urcai. “Alydrael, why don’t the three of us sit together at the table by the ship’s wheel?”

The trio convened around it, and Alydrael said, “Do you want to tell us about Nextworld?” She nodded for Dorjin to go ahead.

“I don’t know what to tell you.” She looked between the two green-skinned individuals. Tigath’s purple eyes looked kind, and Alydrael’s pale yellow ones were full of curiosity. “We compare Nextworld to Earth,” Dorjin began. “It’s easy for us to use… erm… magic to look through the barrier, and a lot of what’s in Nextworld seems similar to what’s on Earth, but when I first came through, I was pretty surprised how different everything is.”

“Like what?” Alydrael asked.

Dorjin gazed out to sea. “Well, for one thing, our water is opaque. I’d never seen clear water before. Nextworld’s water has a dark appearance, and through the barrier, your water looks just like ours, but it’s not; it’s so different. So’s the sky.” Dorjin glanced up at the bright blue above her head and the fluffy white clouds drifting across it. “It appears exactly like ours through the barrier, but the sun in Nextworld is green, and it makes our sky sort of pale pink. When we first broke through the barrier above…” Dorjin glanced at Tigath for confirmation as she said, “Vuliburge,” and he nodded to her, “we were shocked by the appearance of Earth. None of us realized everything was so different here.”

“Dorjin, I’ve got a question,” Tigath added. “If Humans have been able to see and hear through the barrier for a long time, how come your names for things are wrong? You could apparently hear us talking and using our own words, and yet you call us things that we don’t call ourselves.”

Alydrael was confused. “Wait a second, what do Humans call us?”

Dorjin squinted and nervously bit her lip. “We call you orcs,” she admitted. “We call Kilial’s people elfs, and the other people dwarfs. I can’t remember your friend’s name.”

“Lestralin,” Alydrael reminded her. She then repeated Dorjin’s words. “Orcs, elfs, and dwarfs… where did those names come from?”

“And the city names,” Tigath added, “why do you call our cities by strange names?”

Dorjin did not know the answers to their questions, but she ventured, “Maybe my people made up the names for your peoples and cities much further back in our past, in the time before we were able to hear through the barrier. We’re told as children that after being banished from Earth, our Human ancestors found a way to crack the barrier and peer through, back into our home-world, but it was centuries before their descendants could hear through the barrier as well.” Dorjin’s eyes moved from Tigath’s purple ones to Alydrael’s pale yellow ones. “During all my time looking through the barrier, I don’t think I’ve ever heard the words you use for your own races.”

“How’s that possible?” Alydrael asked.

“Our literature and history consistently refer to your peoples as orcs, elfs, and dwarfs. That’s just what we call you.” Dorjin then growled in frustration, “This is so damn confusing.”

Tigath reached out and took her hand. “Dorjin, it seems like the barrier has distorted a lot of what your people thought they knew about us and our world. So how could Humans possibly be from here, since you actually don’t know much about this place and the people who do indeed live on Earth?”

Dorjin’s mind was spinning with questions of her own. She did not have many answers.

“Dorjin,” Alydrael said gently, “I know the ship just said a bunch of negative stuff about your magic, but how do Humans actually cast spells?”

Dorjin winced at the question, but she answered. “We use fresh organs for haruspicy.”

“Oh vile!” Nuji snapped from behind the trio. Her head popped up at the top of the stairs, and she stepped up onto the deck with Kilial behind her.

“You know what that word means, Nuji?” Tigath asked as she approached the table.

“It’s divination with entrails!”

Tigath, Nuji, Alydrael, and Kilial were staring at Dorjin.

“Ye-yeah,” she stuttered, “we use organs for our spellcraft.”

None of the others said anything.

“I’m an eighth-tier haruspex.”

Nuji scoffed, but she was the only one who had heard the word before. “Real magic is harmonious with nature. Rothians use plants and minerals.”

Dorjin felt guilty at hearing Nuji’s words, and she admitted, “We throw away a lot of parts in doing our magic. The organs are unusable after we’ve cast a spell.”

“What do you mean?” Alydrael asked. “What do you do with them?”

“Most end up in one of two massive waste fields,” Dorjin replied.

Alydrael frowned. “That sounds horrible.”

“Oh they are,” Dorjin confirmed. “They’re disgusting.”

“Rothian earthmagic is clean,” Nuji stated defiantly. “We don’t produce any waste at all.”

An idea had begun percolating in Dorjin’s mind, and she stated, “So your people’s magic requires organic material too, but what you use is readily available.” Without fully considering the consequences, she blurted out, “I know how you can strike back at the Humans!”

Alydrael gave her a wincing look as she said, “You mean, strike back at your people?”

Dorjin’s face fell. Alydrael was right; if Dorjin helped this group with what she had just realized, she would be a traitor to her own kind. It would end their campaign of violence, but it would also dismantle the mission of getting home to Earth. Her fellow Humans would be trapped in Nextworld forever.