"So, tell us... who are you?" Maximus began as he crossed his arms. Rory sat on her bed with Aliya laying on her lap protectively. The twins, Eira, and Channing were all in her room in one corner while their sworn enemy sat in another. They were reluctant about allowing Malakai to come; however, he talked his way into it and now stood on the far corner of the room. He kept his eyes plastered on her, never taking them off of her.
"My name is Aurora Lucina-" Rory started, but she stopped herself when Aidan began to sputter, thinking she meant that she really was his sister, "no, not your Aurora Lucina."
"What do you mean?" Eira asked as she took a seat next to Rory.
"My name is the same, I go by Rory- but that's not the point. I have memories of a different life in a different world. In mine, I had different parents and a sister. There was no magic whatsoever. I remember every detail of my life..." she trailed off, shifting uncomfortably at her last memory.
"There was one more detail if I remember correctly," Malakai spoke up from his corner. Rory glanced up in annoyance, connecting her eyes with his. He didn't move, his green eyes piercing into hers.
"Um... I remember my death," Rory told them, rubbing the back of her neck uncomfortably, "I'm not sure if you guys have cars here- I don't think you do... but it's one of the ways we got around. We controlled these metal things called cars, and they could be dangerous- caused a lot of deaths, including my own. I was driving with my sister, and I remember a crash... then it all went black, and I woke up here."
"How are you here, then?"
"I have no clue, at first I thought this was some sort of afterlife thing... but you all know me as someone else," she shrugged, getting frustrated by the tears forming in her eyes, "I don't even know if my sister survived it."
"I hope she did." Eira rubbed her shoulder, offering her a sympathetic smile. "We need to figure out how you got here."
"Yeah, any ideas?"
"It could be the work of a witch?" Channing offered from next to Maximus. "If it is, we could ask Eliphas- he would be able to tell."
"No," Maximus told him, a furious expression suddenly on his face, "he lied to us! He hurt Aurora!"
"Rory, my name is Rory," she corrected in a soft tone, causing his head to dart over to her. His eyes flooded with an emotion Rory couldn't identify. His eyes drifted down to the ground for a moment before nodding solemnly.
"He hurt Rory," he corrected tentatively, testing the name on his tongue. "We can't trust him; we can't trust a single thing that comes out of his mouth!"
"I don't think we have a choice," Channing said in a low voice, grabbing his arm gently. He looked up at him, nodding slightly. Rory examined the two, tilting her head. She could tell there was something more between the two, making a mental note to ask later.
"All right, we go to Eliphas. What then?" Eira quipped, turning to the rest of the group with raised eyebrows.
"We find Aurora," Rory said sternly, hoping the girl was still alive and hopefully unharmed.
"Do you even want to find her? You're living her life right now- pretty good life if you ask me," Malakai pointed out in a rough tone, venom falling off of his every word. Aliya growled slightly from Rory's lap, baring her sharp teeth at him. Seeming unbothered by the threat from the animal, he continued to stare at Rory.
"How dare you?" she snarled, feeling hatred soar through her. The air began to shake for a moment before she inhaled deeply. The stars in the room flickered slightly, some beginning to spin. "I was ripped from my world and placed into this one like a pawn. Aurora was taken and is missing, and I want to help her. I want to find who did this and get revenge."
"I like her," Channing commented coyly after a few moments, nudging Maximus, who shot him a look.
"Well, that's great, as long as you like her, right?" Malakai sneered sarcastically, pushing himself off the wall and made his way towards the group. "You all can hold hands... love each other... but while you're doing that- I'm gonna find Aurora."
With that, Malakai left the room, stomping his way down the grand staircase. Rory couldn't help but roll her eyes. She had made it clear she wanted to save Aurora- he couldn't possibly think he could save her on his own. Eira reluctantly started to stand up to follow him before she a hand stopped her.
"Let me." Rory pushed herself off the bed, walking out of the room. She almost hit her head on a floating potted plant but ducked just in time. Letting out a breath of relief, she saw Malakai making his way down the gold staircase. Since the stairs twisted as it descended, he made eye contact with her.
Scoffing, he didn't stop moving. "Leave me alone, princess."
"Princess? Really?" she groaned, causing him to arch an eyebrow at her.
"What do you want?"
"Could you just stop walking? We can talk about this, we can help each other!" she shouted at him, raising her voice when he showed no interest in listening to her. "Ugh!" Rory exclaimed, letting herself lose her demeanor for a moment. The house began to shake, making Malakai stop to steady himself.
"Rory-" he growled, eyeing her dangerously.
"Say that you'll stay to help, and I'll stop," she offered simply with a shrug as she pretended to check her nails, tilting her head slightly. She wasn't even sure if she could stop, but she wanted to act like she could to assert some power. Pouting her lips, she glanced down at the boy who looked far more furious than before.
"I will tear you apart! Limb by limb!" Malakai shouted angrily, pointing a finger at her; however, this only made her laugh.
"Sounds fun! Is that before or after you rescue Aurora alone? Sorry, just having a hard time keeping track of your heroic plan," Rory mocked, perching herself against the staircase with a smirk. Taking a deep breath, she became calmer which made the shaking come to an end. I'm getting the hang of this, she noted smugly.
"I am not a hero," he snarled as he began to charge up the stairs towards her.
"Don't have to convince me," Rory assured him in a dry tone, holding her hands up in surrender. He huffed out as he got to the top stair. He stood mere inches from her face, but she didn't back down. Instead, she stepped closer to him. Keeping her grin plastered on her face, she reached her hand up and brushed his shoulder. Malakai whipped his hand up and grasped her wrist tightly, tilting his head down dangerously.
"Stop speaking," Malakai gritted out between his teeth, squeezing her wrist tighter. His eyes flashed a bright emerald green as if to warn her.
"Ah, ah, ah... can't tear me apart 'limb by limb' quite yet," she reminded him, ripping her wrist from his. She began to walk back to the room before pausing and turning around. "Oh, and Malakai? If you ever touch me again, I'll tear you apart limb by limb."
With that, she walked back into her room to where the others still were. Channing had a wide-spread grin on his face- his wolf hearing likely allowed him to hear every word of that conversation. As he locked eyes with Rory, he offered her a loose salute with his fingers, making her shake her head in amusement. The others had similar expressions, probably hearing some of what happened. She exhaled quickly, eyes widening as if brushing off her previous dark attitude.
"So, do we have a plan to save Sleeping Beauty yet?"
"Who?"
Rory grinned at Aliya as she held her up. Her hands were placed on her stomach and back, the vixen's stomach facing her. Her vibrant, red fur was soft in her hands. Tongue sticking out slightly, Rory couldn't help but giggle at her amicorda. Her wings stayed relatively still, twitching sometimes. She examined her carefully for anything she might have missed. Rory had been calling her a fox, but she was clearly much more than that, which must be why they had a different name for her species. She was currently sitting in one of their rooms with couches to relax on. The ceiling went so high up that Rory could barely make out the ceiling, decorations scattered everywhere. The walls glimmered with gold, which complemented the floating vases and pots nicely.
The couch she laid on was soft under her fingers, molding into her body comfortably. The sofas all matched with their white cushions and bright red blankets. The room was very bright and welcoming, making her feel at ease. She heard a crash in the other room with a shout shortly following. Rory rolled her eyes, knowing which twin it was. The twins had been watching her all day- much to her discontent. They had been trying to give her space, but they were understandably wary.
"Aidan?" Rory called, not taking her eyes off her amicorda. Hearing frantic footsteps, he stumbled into the room.
"What? What's wrong? Is anything wrong?" he stuttered out as he straightened himself out. Rory raised an eyebrow at his antics and his disheveled appearance. Aidan then crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame, trying to act casual.
Letting out a laugh, she shook her head. "Nothing is wrong. I was just wondering if you had anything to write with? And paper, maybe?"
"We have both, what are you writing?" he questioned as he walked to a different part of the room. Rory frowned, not seeing any cabinets. Aidan raised his hand up to the ceiling and snapped his fingers two times. Quipping an eyebrow skeptically, she wondered what he was up to. She heard a soaring sound and let out a yelp when a cabinet began to fall from the high ceilings. He faced his palm flat and it stopped just above him. Rory's hand flew to her heart, feeling the racing beat beneath her palm. Aidan hummed in satisfaction as he opened a drawer and got out a pen and paper. Walking back over to her, he saw her frazzled expression. "What's wrong?"
"What was that? I thought you controlled fire!" Rory cried out in shock, blinking quickly.
"I do control fire, but the house is spelled, so the objects listen to our commands," he explained as he handed her the pen and paper. It looked like an old piece of parchment, a yellow and brown hue. It had jagged sides, and the top rolled over slightly. Crinkles covered the paper, and she momentarily tried to smooth a few out. The pen was wide, and it felt heavy in her hands. She eyed him carefully as she took the objects from him, nodding in thanks.
"Isn't the house big enough for all of this to be on the ground?" she questioned, turning her head to the side slightly in thought.
"Sure... it just looks cool." Aidan grinned as he flopped onto the couch. She nodded, lifting her head up to observe all the floating objects. "Why do you need that stuff?"
"You guys have a lot of different words I'm not used to, and I thought writing them down might help," she explained as she began to scribble down some terms. Going through her head, Rory attempted to remember each strange phrase she heard recently.
"Do you have any questions? Does this world differ much from yours?"
"You have no idea," Rory laughed out, shaking her head. She had just written down that a flying fox is a vulpide before pausing for a moment. "What do you guys call a female vulpide?"
"A vixen."
"Fascinating."
"Why's that?
"That's what we called foxes on Earth," Rory said, writing it down. "You seem to call things from my world the same thing, but anything that was a fairy tale to me has a different name for you."
"That's interesting-" Aidan said, seeming deep in thought about the possibilities this led to.
"Is there something going on between Maximus and Channing?" Rory asked upfront, tilting her head. She had noticed that since she got here that there was a connection between the two. Both of them lit up in their own ways when the other was present in the room.
"Yes, they've been together for around three years now," he told her immediately, a fond smile on his face.
"I knew it!"
"Was there ever word of another universe on Earth?" he quipped as he changed the conversation, sitting up slightly in his seat- clearly intrigued.
Shrugging, Rory doodled stars on the top of her page. "People always talked about the possibility of other life- but we meant on other planets. Or at least I thought we did..."
"Well, of course, there is life on other planets. Were you all so self-centered that you thought you were the only life form out there?" Aidan laughed, his accent very heavy in his mocking tone.
"Hey! You didn't know there were other universes!" she defended, hitting him with a pillow. He dodged it with a light chuckle, his hair getting messy in the process.
"But at least we're aware there's life on other planets!" he pointed out before Maximus made his way into the room, seeming intrigued at the scene in front of him.
"What's going on?" Maximus' deep voice asked, sitting in a seat next to the couch the two are on.
"We're going over things here, animals and stuff. Get this! They don't know there's life on other planets!" Aidan said to his twin, laughing once more. Maximus cracked a smile, raising a well-sculpted eyebrow at the girl across from him.
"Shut up!" Rory grunted, throwing a glare at the two. "Is the government here just kings and queens?"
"Well, there's a Board and a Council we report to... sort of," Aidan said with a roll of his eyes, "but don't worry about them, we hardly go through them and won't need them for anything we're doing right now."
"Okay," Rory said, glad she didn't have to worry about learning the government and how it worked here. She continued to write on the paper before pausing. "Wait, but we call witches the same name..."
Aidan lifted his head, his smile faltering for a moment in thought. "Does that mean you had witches in your world?"
"They were always brushed off by skeptics, and it became more fantasy than reality. You know, a few hit books or movies here and there with them in it, but they seemed to be more of a myth than fact," she informed them, thinking back to all the times she saw witches in fiction. The idea of fantasy and magic always intrigued her- much like it did to other people.
"If there are witches on 'Earch,'" Aidan began in deep thought. Rory opened her mouth to correct him but he continued on before she could. Maximus just closed his eyes for a moment with a small sigh, clearly seeing his mistake. "That could be how you're here. Witches may have found a way to communicate between words- maybe they even found a way to bring you here."
"Yeah, that makes sense..." Rory said before stopping and shaking her head frantically. "Sorry, that actually makes no sense. A bunch of witches brought me here? Why would they do that?"
"The only way to know that is to find that coven of witches, and we have a few leads. First, we'll find Eliphas and find out what he knows," Maximus said, standing up from his seat and making his way to the middle of the room. Snapping his fingers twice, a feather fell gently from the ceiling. It glimmered beautifully in the light, a wide assortment of colors cover it. "We'll use this to contact him."
"A feather to contact him? Well, why not? What, do we rub the feather and chant strange words? Not like this could get any weirder," she commented sarcastically, rubbing her hands on her thighs.
"As an oracle, you can use objects to communicate with other people," Aidan explained, glancing at the feather in his brother's hands. "A spelled object can allow you to enter someone's mind. This feather was spelled so we could communicate with Eliphas through you. All you have to do is put the feather in your hands. Its powers will make its way to your mind and it'll call to Eliphas. He'll contact you through your mind like a vision."
"Lovely," Rory commented in her silky tone, crossing one leg over the other with a sarcastic grin on her lips. "Oh, do you think he'll put me through immense pain again? I sure hope so!"
"He won't hurt you again," Maximus promised her sternly. Locking eyes with her, he nodded once. She felt touched by their protectiveness of her- it could just be the fact she looked like their sister- but either way, she appreciated it.
"Right, okay. We contact Eliphas first, got it. What's next for your brilliant plan?"
"That's actually it so far, right?" Aidan said, turning to Maximus who just stared blankly at his twin, blinking slowly once. "I think that's the 'yes' stern look... I have trouble keeping track, they sort of all look the same. It's the same as your 'you're a bloody idiot' look- I get that one a lot- which is eerily similar to your 'I just killed an entire coven' look. That one is far less common, don't worry. But yes! That is our plan so far."
Rory gawked at how he grinned at her like a giddy puppy. He just said about a million words per minute and was not out of breath in the slightest. He looked like he would've said more if she wasn't sporting such a bewildered expression on her face. His eyes were wide with wonder, arms spread wide as if presenting his plan to her. "That's it? That's the plan to save Aurora?"
"As of right now, we don't have much to go off of. Once we get information from Eliphas, we'll go from there. They might have information about how you got here and where Aurora is," Maximus explained to her simply.
"And what of Malakai? You all tried to kill him not even twenty-four hours ago. And now... what? You're buddying up with your sworn enemy?" she questioned skeptically, waving one of her hands slightly in the air.
"Of course not," Maximus said with an angry scoff. "He's a necessary evil right now."
"Right... sounds good. Oh! What would you call Iris' amicorda? And what would you call Birch's? They're the next on my list." Rory tapped her pen against the paper slightly, her eyes switching between the two expectantly. Maximus huffed out before leaving the room. "Does he not know either? It is quite confusing. I still don't understand why you call birds the same name, but you call a dragon an 'igniscan.' Stange..."
"Iris' amicorda is called a cristathera. Birch's is a canitis," Aidan informed her with a laugh, glancing at her list. He rubbed his hands together as he eyed her list. "How many more do you have-"
"We're gonna be here for a while- I swear I saw a flying turtle."