“Wait, you better not tell me I’ve gotta thank you for the kiss.”

    Almost two weeks of silence, and the second thing out of his mouth was giving them shit. Cole grinned. “Hell no, we drew straws and Miles lost – poor bastard.”

    “Lost?” Miles shook his head with a devious chuckle. “I personally reckon it’s more like won. Full Diddy, no pause.” He sat down beside Mack and gave him a good-natured shove on the shoulder. “For real though, it’s damn good to see you up an’ kickin’.”

    Ethan stepped forward and clasped the man’s hand. For a moment his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes – that same look whenever he thought about his family back home; that facade of a smile that often accompanied funerals. But he caught himself and got it right for Mack. “Glad you’re awake, man.”

    “Fuckin’ A, bro.” Mack’s voice was rough but the relief was clear. “Been hearing voices for... shit, I don’t even know how long. Good to actually see y’all too.”

    He glanced around the room, finally recognizing the glowing runes on the walls and the magic AC units strewn throughout. “But uh... you seein’ this shit? Tell me I’m not dreaming right now. One of the docs told me we’re in some Kingdom of Celdorne, and that I’m a... a hero?”

    Mack looked between them. He brightened up a bit, despite how much he looked like shit. “This an isekai?”

    Cole nodded. “Sure is.”

    “Huh.” A grin started to spread on Mack’s face, then caught halfway as he laid eyes on Ethan. Hell of a juxtaposition – Ethan forcing a smile to reach his eyes while Mack couldn’t keep his smile from showing in them. “How long has it been?”

    “‘Bout twelve days,” Miles said. “Most of that spent waitin’ on your ass to wake up.”

    “Well, and learning some new tricks.” Ethan raised his hand. A small flame sparked to life above his palm.

    Mack stared at it, mouth hanging wide open. “No fucking way.” He tried to push himself up for a better look, grimaced. “You can do all that?”

    “All that and then some.” Cole could hardly help the smug pride leaking through his voice. “Basic elements – the Avatar kind – barriers, strengthening magic. Apparently it’s anything we can picture. Like that hyperphantasia thing you told me about.”

    “You mean I could–?” Mack didn’t even finish the thought. He glanced at Ethan before tempering his response. “That’s... kinda insane.”

    “Yeah,” Cole nodded. “Once you’re back on your feet. Apparently we all have the capacity for it – something about the summoning ritual modifying our biology.”

    “Huh?”

    “We all got a new organ,” Ethan offered with a more genuine smile this time. “Mana gland. Insane shit, gotta admit. Produces and stores mana, supposedly. And let’s us do shit the ‘magicians’ in Vegas wished they could do.”

    “Holy shit. Damn. That’s fuckin’... Uh, surely there’s a catch to that, though, right?” Mack was clearly holding back his inner nerd for Ethan’s sake. “One of the docs told me we’re here to play hero. Fill me in, yeah?”

    “Well, ya ain’t wrong ‘bout the catch.” Miles shifted forward. “Take a look out that window. Damn purdy sight, ain’t it? Alexandria, capital of Celdorne. ‘Parently they got themselves a demon problem – like, big bad Demon Lord fixin’ to come through in the next few years. Real Sauron type shit. And that’s where we come in.”

    “Classic ‘defeat the Demon Lord’, huh? Never thought I’d see the day.”

    “Almost didn’t,” Miles said. “They had their pick: some Jap kid with some time manipulation ‘Talent’, some fancy bookworm from a whole other damn world, few others too. Lucky for us, they picked right. Otherwise? Hell, we’d still be in Khaldat, bleedin’ out in the dirt.”

    “Turned out they picked righter than we knew,” Ethan chuckled. “Buncha demons tried to take us out in our sleep – day fucking one, mind you. Don’t think that Jap kid would’ve survived that one. Sure as hell bet that scholar wouldn’t have.”

    “Demons? On day one?” Mack asked. Cole had the exact same reaction when they came knocking on his door. “Thought you said it was still a few years before the Demon Lord arrived?”

    “Hah!” Miles barked out a laugh. “Wish it were the case. Turns out they ain’t waitin’ for their boss. Or their boss came early. Either way, these weren’t even normal demons neither – not accordin’ to the locals. New type. Mimics. Look just like human ‘til ya kill ‘em. Hit us up at midnight, playin’ knight. Almost had us too.”

    Cole frowned. The memory wasn’t exactly pleasant – most certainly not the part when he got grabbed like he dropped the soap. “Yeah. We’d set up for them, fatal funnel. Not very fatal when you’re fighting, uh, those big guys from Resident Evil.”

    “Tyrants?” Mack offered.

    “Yeah, Tyrants. Bastards soaked up 5.45 like nothing,” Cole continued. “It took damn near everything we had. Had to mag dump for a single kill. Managed to kill half of them before the Kingdom’s guys finally showed up.” ?aΝ??E?S

    “So what happened after that?”

    “Well, before that – when we first got here, King gave us three options,” Cole said. “Return to our moment of impending doom in Jadira, live as normal citizens here, or sign on as their heroes. After that night with the demons? Pretty easy call, all things considered. We went through negotiations a few days ago. Told ‘em it was pending until you accepted it, though.”

    Mack inclined his chin, then shrugged. “Probably would’ve anyway. What’d they agree to hook us up with?”

    “Just a single spark. Picture warmth gathering in –” Verna started, but a small flame blooming above Mack’s palm cut her off.

    “How the hell?” Ethan stepped closer. “That’s exactly what I did.”

    Mack grinned, nodding.

    Talk about getting outdone. Ethan wasn’t alone in the shock. “You just... picked it up from watching?” Cole asked.

    The flame winked out as Mack sagged back. “Seemed straightforward enough.” A nonchalant answer; deliberate – definitely to rub it in, if that smirk on his face was anything to go by.

    Verna looked between them. “You’ve already demonstrated the technique?”

    “Just a small example earlier,” Ethan explained. “Literally just did this,” he said, spawning a small flame. “Wasn’t even trying to teach.”

    “Well then.” Verna wore the expression of a chess master watching a toddler call checkmate. Then, just as quickly, it shifted to one of genuine amazement. “To replicate magic perfectly just from seeing it once...” She paused, then held up her hand.

    A small crystal of ice formed above her palm. “Perhaps... might you try this as well?”

    Mack concentrated on the crystal. Barely a second later, a similar piece of ice formed above his hand.

    He let it dissipate immediately, taking heavy breaths. “Okay, that’s... yeah, I think that’s enough.”

    Cole placed a hand on Mack’s shoulder. “Yeah, should probably chill out on the magic, then. We’ll come visit, read you a bedtime story.”

    “They at least got anything good?”

    “Well... we’re still on uh... children’s books.” Cole let his voice trail off.

    “We? Who’s we?” Miles chuckled. “I’m already on the damn editorials. Y’all’re still soundin’ out the letters.”

    Cole rolled his eyes. “Can you actually understand what the papers are saying?”

    “Uh...”

    Ethan laughed. “On the bright side, the language is more like picking up a European language rather than trying to figure out Farsi. It’s got an alphabet, letters, and it’s got English construction. No weird syntax order, no logographic shit like in Mandarin. Easy to learn.”

    “Huh, alright.” Mack’s stomach growled.

    “Oh, yeah. By the way,” Cole remembered, “they got legit miso here. And a straight up Grand Slam, like from Denny’s. Shit’s good.”

    Mack raised an eyebrow.

    Miles shrugged. “Couldn’t believe it neither. Reckon one of them heroes must’ve been Japanese. Brought it all over – soy sauce, tempura, miso, green tea, the works. Hell of a job, too. Tastes like the real deal.”

    But Cole knew it didn’t end there. Whoever brought Japanese food over wasn’t alone. Apparently, dozens of heroes had been summoned before they got dragged over – all from different time periods, including Celdorne’s founder. Though, that wasn’t really much of a surprise given the imperial measurements and penchant for tea.

    “Hell of a legacy,” Cole said. “One guy introduces a whole new cuisine. You know they probably learned a bunch of other stuff too.” The city outside drew his attention. “Civil planning, engineering, science, medicine...”

    He then glanced at Elina. “Actually, that reminds me. When you’re feeling up to it, Mack, you should write down everything you can remember. Especially about medicine and biology. Between that and what we know about guns, engineering, tactics – could make a real difference here.”

    Elina straightened. “I would be most interested in comparing your methods with ours, Sergeant.”

    Mack’s stomach chose that moment to rumble again.

    “Food first though,” Cole grinned. “Wish I could recommend the breakfast combo, but you know how it is. Plain sandwiches and shit.”

    No doubt Mack was well aware of the procedure behind coma recovery, but it didn’t stop him from being utterly devastated. “Yeah... fuck.”