Chapter 12: Bed and breakfast

“Cal?” Anna asked carefully through the door. 

I jumped to my feet and cleared my throat, “Yeah?” 

She gently pulled the door open and looked around, “Sorry. I thought you had company. I could have sworn I heard voices.” 

She muttered the last part under her breath and handed me a glorious plate of food along with a piece of beautifully golden and crispy bread. 

“Nope, just me here,” I laughed dryly. 

“Alright… Remember where to find me?”

“Two doors down. I got it,” I beamed and pulled out the chair. It rasped as it rubbed against the floor.  

“Great, then if there’s nothing else, I’ll see you at breakfast.”

I already stuffed my mouth full of bread and what tasted like some sort of tomato and bean soup. “Yup! ‘ee ya.”

Her chuckle accompanied the sound of the door clicking shut. 

“Shit,” I exhaled and leaned back in the chair. 

Sera looked condescendingly at me. “Let’s speak quietly,” I whispered.

The soft bread melted in my mouth, mixing with the warm soup. The crunchy crust and oily feel of it almost made me tear up. 

Never again would I walk around without food prepared, just in case I got dragged into a hijacked rupture. Never mind the infernal pits and torture, not having food was the realest part of hell. Everything else kind of just faded away after a few days. 

I chewed, lost in thought.

“... Sera, did I actually go a little insane in the chambers?”

She rolled her eyes, “I already told you. No.”

“And how come I didn’t starve to death?” I mumbled, keeping my voice quiet enough that no one could hear me through the door. I’d like to avoid people thinking I’m a madman if it was an option. 

“The bindings continuously feed you energy.” 

That cleared things up. When I woke up, there were so many other things on my mind that the whole hunger-thing escaped me. Sera had been there for years, millennia, even. Not eating something for that long must be a dreadful experience.

“Can I… can I get you something to eat?” I asked and ripped off a piece of the bread, offering it to her.

“Sure. Push it through the mirror,” she nodded enthusiastically. 

I grit my teeth. In reality, I hoped she’d say no. But what would I be if I wasn’t a man of my word? 

I sighed and pressed the piece of bread into the mirror. Smearing the surface with grease and utterly destroying the perfectly fine crust. 

“What the fuck?!” I wheezed and hurriedly pulled back the piece of bread. Completely squished. 

I collected up the pieces that fell to the desk under the hysterical laughs of Sera. 

“Shut the fuck up!” 

“How stupid can you be?” she laughed while drying tears from her eyes. “I have no corporeal form. How could I eat?”

“I was just trying to do something nice!”  

“And I am thankful for it,” she giggled, the outburst quieting down.

I glared at her, then devoured the rest of the meal in silence. 

The bed was beckoning me like the grim reaper, but I still had something to do. I needed a wash. I strolled through the corridor while wearing my bloodied clothes. Luckily, there was no one to see me. 

I kept my hopes high, but was ultimately disappointed. The restroom really turned out to be a bench with a hole—no running water, no faucet. I scrunched my nose and peeked inside, only to see the shit stained paved street of the city a few meters below.

“Convenient,” I muttered. “And disgusting.” 

Who the hell cleans that? Poor bastard. 

I did what had to be done, then hurried to the bath next door. The water was about the same temperature as the rest of this city, pretty comfortable. 

The surface bubbled as water flowed inside my wrist. I shivered at the sight, yet it didn’t feel weird at all. 

After washing, I gave my new set of clothes a good scrub. When I was done, the bathwater had changed colors to a viscous dark with solid bits of I-didn’t-want-to-know-what floating around. 

I stuck my head out the door to see if the coast was clear, then scurried out with my still wet laundry clutched close. I wore nothing but my underwear, which I kept dry for obvious reasons, and hurried back to my room. Quiet voices echoed from the reading room below. 

My door opened without a sound, then clicked shut behind me. Words couldn’t describe how nice it felt to have a door. I could even lock it. 

Sweet privacy. 

I hummed a merry tune while attaching threads of magic between the walls and hung my clothes on them. I grinned from ear to ear while regarding my work. Clean clothes, a bed, a lockable room. Things were most definitely looking up for Cal, yes they were. But somewhere, the thought of someone bursting through the door to kill me in my sleep gnawed at me. I was never one to be paranoid, but I just couldn’t shake the damn feeling. Just in case, I tied the door shut with an extra string; I had enough magic to spare. 

Maybe I was just reluctant to gamble with my freedom now that I finally regained it. 

I laid on the bed and glanced at Sera. She didn’t seem to have anything to say. Which was nice, because my eyelids slammed shut as soon as I rested my head on the soft pillow. 

…

I woke up to a knock on my door. For the first time in forever, I slept like a baby. My limbs were completely numb; I had to shake them rigorously to feel them again. 

“Give me a sec,” I shouted to the visitor. My clothes had dried satisfactorily. I rushed to get dressed. There were some options laid out for me in the room, but I didn’t really like them. Too colorful. 

I scrambled to the door while buttoning my shirt and removing the threads. The lock bolt unlocked with a clack. “Sorry,” I said as the door swung open. 

“No worries,” an unfamiliar young man said. He wore one of those intricate robes from the day before. A bedazzled hookah pipe hung proudly at his hip. He noticed my glance. 

“It was a gift from my patron. She seems to have high hopes for me,” he said proudly, puffing his meagre chest. 

His smile was contagious. He had nutty brown eyes and thick eyebrows, both the kind that people would envy him for. If it weren’t for the puffy circles under his eyes, the guy would have been a model.

I shook my head with a sigh. 

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing… nothing,” I muttered and reached my hand out, “I’m Cal. Nice to meet you.” 

His eyes grew wide. “Well, ain’t that something!” he exclaimed and grabbed my arm with both hands, studying it closely. “What the hell happened to you?” 

“Not sure. Something from my patron, I suppose. She didn’t tell me much about anything,” I said proudly and puffed my chest, mirroring him. He looked at me at a loss for words for a second, then burst out laughing. 

“Is that so? You sure pulled the short end of the stick, eh?”
I snorted in jest, “Don’t look down on the gift! My fingers are super nimble and dextrous.” 

“I’m sure the ladies will love you for it,” he chuckled and dragged me through the corridor, toward the reading room. “Real talk though. Most patrons are pretty mysterious. Some are nothing short of impossible. Some give blessings that are nothing short of curses, making their blessed little more than cannon-fodder.”

The corridor was lively. People walked to and from their rooms. A line to the bath had already formed, shattering my hopes of being one of the early bathers today. 

The queue was way larger than it should, according to Elana’s information. 

“You seem to be a lot more people than twenty something?” 

“Yeah?” he answered with a sideways glance. 

“Elana said you were twenty something in the group last she saw you, which was only a few days ago at most,” I explained.  

“Elana? She’s been gone for more than just a few days. We figured she was dead when you dragged her inside yesterday,” he sighed and stepped onto the spiraling staircase.  

A cacophony of voices rushed at us from downstairs. It seemed like everyone was on the same schedule. 

My guide continued without turning to look at me, “It seems she’ll be good as new when Maria’s done with her.”

I sighed, “That’s a relief.”

“A lot happened since we got separated. People started turning up from every damn corner of the city. Everyone got her just the same as us. Whisked away from their daily lives. Just like that. Not at all how these things usually go…” he complained. 

Either Sera’s little escape plan had a lot more contingencies than expected, or something was wrong. But she’s not the type to make mistakes. 

“You seem knowledgeable?” 

“My brother-in-law is a progenitor,” he turned and smiled, bursting at the seams with pride. “Anyway, we seem to be the first ones to be sent to the Layered empire. Not even my patron has any idea what the hell happened.” 

“You can communicate with your patron?” 

“Sometimes. In dreams. I used to think she was a real headache.” 

“Then what happened?” 

He ushered me to walk past, “I saw what yours did to you. And ‘poof’ suddenly being bothered in my dreams didn’t seem as terrible!” He laughed loudly and slapped me on the back, pushing me down the last step.

Things below had changed a lot since yesterday. Long tables stood next to each other, creating large enough rows to seat everyone. 

Further inside, there was a secluded room. I caught a glimpse of the posh guy merrily stuffing his face next to a pair of doll-like blondes. 

“That’s John. He’s an officer, and a good guy once you get to know him. Real tight with Elana. He took her disappearance like a bag of bricks dropped. Nice to see him happy again.” 

I nodded while soaking in all the knowledge. Not knowing the guide's name really bothered me, but I felt like I missed my timing to ask long ago. Now it would just be awkward. 

He guided me to a large man with a stained apron. The man wore a patchwork grin and ladled a stew of the mysterious variety onto our plates. A fire crackled behind him, heating a large pot. The smells wafting from it were absolutely incredible. Before leaving the room, the cook handed us a piece of beautifully crusted bread with a crooked smile. 

His grating, “Enjoy!” followed us as we left the room. 

We sat down between two large groups, facing each other. Anna stood by the entrance, wearing the same stalwart demeanor she showed me the day before. 

“Anyway,” my guide began again, “I think we’re nearing seventy people now. Before, most of us were combat oriented, now there are a bunch of other people too. Not that I know what someone would do with a non-combat blessing. The entire world is at war after all,” he absentmindedly explained and tore off a stew-dipped piece of bread with his mouth. 

“Shut the fuck up Yusuf,” a young woman spat from the other side of the table, “we’re just as useful as you lot!”

Yusuf, huh?

Yusuf cleared his throat and chuckled sheepishly, “Not everyone is of the same opinion as me, of course.”. 

“What sort of blessings do they have if they’re not related to combat?” I asked, aware that I was being rude. I just didn’t care. 

Yusuf glanced at the woman, grimaced, and spoke quietly, “A little bit of this, a little bit of that. The cook makes food taste good with his, as I’m sure you’ve already noticed. A real boon in a place like this where all the damn food is canned.” He shoved a large spoonful into his mouth and moaned exaggeratedly while giving me the thumbs up. 

I smiled; I liked Yusuf. The strained atmosphere created by his comment forced him to pacify the woman while I finished the rest of the meal in silence.

She finally relented after he promised her something with a whisper.

“So, how about you? Where in God’s name did you come from?” Yusuf asked as we returned the plates and eating utensils to the kitchen. 

I wanted to answer him, I did. But my body turned stiff. Frozen by the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.