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Space Displacement

"I don't think it will work."

"Well you know nothing of magic, do you?"

I crossed my arms and watched an excited Nekozawa rush around the room, collecting herbs and liquids and potions and combining them all into this one enormous pot at the center of the room. The single candle that he carried with him back and forth threatened to blow out, the wind causing it to flicker unsteadily. The dark tiles and walls were barely illuminated by the dim light, and I didn't dare move for fear of tripping over something and faceplanting. Nekozawa must be able to see in the dark... I mean, I guess his eyes must be awesome because he doesn't ever really go into the sunlight.

"Are you alright?"I jumped out of my daze to find the subject of my thoughts quite close to my face, staring at me curiously. At this close range I could actually see his eyes. They were like the colour of the deeper part of the ocean, where the blue begins to turn black. They were so clear, so perfect, no distortions whatsoever. I guess that's from the absence of light all these years.

"Ow!" I rubbed my forehead and stepped back from him. He'd just poked me. Really hard! "What was that for??" I asked, unsure of what I did for him to poke me.

He straightened from leaning over me and held his finger guiltily. "I didn't mean to hurt you," he said. Those eyes were gone behind the black fringe of hair. "You just kept leaving me, and I thought maybe something was wrong."

Well it hurt a lot... "It's ok," I said instead of voicing my thoughts. "Let's just focus on making this traveling thing work."

And then his excited, sly smile returned to his face as he grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the cauldron. "Allow me to explain how this will work," he whispered into my ear through my hood. I stared down into the boiling mess inside the pot, unable to see the contents very well because the candle wasn't near. "This potion with my incantations will create a portal through space only- not time, as yours did-" I blushed at remembering my accidental time displacement, "to another destination. To set a destination, the members must think hard about where it is they want to go. See, a space displacement is available to anyone who wishes to participate, and anyone who participates can choose their own destination. Even if many people share the same space displacement portal, they don't all have to have the same set destination."

"Now here's the tricky part." The smirk widened on his face to a full out evil grin, delighting in whatever he was thinking. Sometimes that scares me. And other times I just wonder where the heck he picked it up. "Each space displacement requires energy. The larger the group that is using the portal, the more energy is required. The energy levels for the time displacement differ very much from the space displacement. When you used time displacement, you did not focus the wont for energy on a source. When the spell doesn't have a set energy source, it immediately takes it from the one using the spell. That is why after you had finished you felt very weak and could not even speak." He turned back to the cauldron, and I did the same. I guess this is making sense. It's a lot to absorb thought... "So if we do not focus our wont of energy on a source using space displacement, we will be ripped apart in the process of being transported and may not even make it to our destination."

"...And we're taking this risk why?"