World Between: Chapter 7 part 1

“You had to, huh?” Sofia stood slumping to her left. Disappointed and disheveled as the wave of destruction swallowed her from behind. “Was it worth-”

Anna’s eyes burst open as she lay in bed, panting. Shaking her head. “Sky...la?”

Skyla had stood by Anna’s bedside for three hours before she woke up. She would have preferred to be here sooner, but was a few cities away when she learned where Anna was. She hugged tight the moment Anna sat up. “I’m here… I’m here…”

Anna wobbled a bit and rubbed her eyes. “What… are… why did you come?”

“I figure out where my girlfriend is, and I'm not supposed to come?” Skyla replied.
“You haven’t until now.” Anna said.

“I didn’t think it was you.” Skyla said. “You were gonna come with me!”

“They were gonna send... whatever they were gonna send!” Anna responded.

“They told me they did,” Skyla said. “And said they would give me an update when you came.”
“Well, I never... got one....” Anna stared past Skyla.

“Miss,” Meisa began. “Reedquist… travel device... recovery... no longer necessary.”
“Wait what?” Skyla said. “You never said-”

“Miss Puncik,” Meisa interrupted. “You traveled through 5 cities, mostly swimming and eating, during the most advanced trespassing in this world’s history. All things considered, we didn’t have the resources to inform you. Assuming we were sure, which we weren’t.”

Skyla sighed. “That’s fair, and there are clearly other ways in.”

 “He stole it?… from a realm breaker?” Anna said, shifting her focus to Meisa.

“It’s possible it was dropped as well.” Meisa replied. “Stolen is the most probable. Some of us thought you gave it to him, myself not included.”

“Could someone please start at the beginning?” Skyla said, straightening her stance.

“We came in through a portal… The one I was supposed to be given.” Anna said.

“You weren’t on any lists, but Skyla thought you’d come with her, and was hesitant to come without you, so we said we’d make the offer.” Meisa summarized. “Looking at the two of you now, I assume that was the right call.”

“And do you still think all this has been worth it?” Skyla asked.

“More than ever, actually.” Meisa said. “The damage has crossed our minimum estimation in almost every degree. The one exception being world pulls, which are difficult to study.”

“What if people got pulled back to their native worlds, after all?” Skyla said.

“That doesn’t happen.” Meisa said. “It's one of the few things we know doesn’t happen, and why it doesn’t.”
“Which is?” Anna asked.

“The short version is nothing has enough magic to pull you back across dimensions, and it ends up fading out trying to.” Meisa answered.

“But we crossed dimensions,” Both Skyla and Anna answered in unison.

“Nothing,” Meisa began. “Not things. Getting you over here is not as simple as setting up one device. And you must play your parts too, no matter how small they may be.”

“And something that complex let any group of people in no matter their intentions?” Anna asked.

“Spells that complex are harder to control, not easier.” Meisa said. “If we could control one. We would have done it by now. As is, however, we pull in one world at a time every few decades, because that is what we can afford.”

“Does it always cause this much of a problem?” Skyla questioned.

“You’d be surprised,” Meisa answered. “But newcomers do a lot for society around here.”

“Wait so… why let us roam around and break all these gems don’t they do… something?”
Meisa sighed and pointed to Skyla. “You better sit down. This is a long story.”