I heard my companions coming long before they entered the house. “Lux!” Marin shouted as they entered the clearing. “Lux, where are you?”
“Inside, Marin,” I called out in answer.
She appeared through the door a moment later with her nose wrinkled and her mouth set in a frown. “Lux, I thought I was supposed to be training today!” she yelled, immediately flopping onto the couch in our living room.
I raised an eyebrow in her direction. “You...weren’t training?” I asked, suspicious. “What were you doing, then?”
“Moving trees!” she complained. “That’s all I’ve done all morning! Lia just knocked them down and then expected me to move them without any help. Moving trees is not a one-person job, Lux! Just look at my hands!” Her hands shot up into the air, suddenly appearing above the arm of the couch. The lighter skin of her palms was covered in a smattering of splinters, cuts and blisters, and she flexed her hands pitifully as I approached to examine them.
“Looks like you need to get a pair of gloves,” I laughed.
“Gloves aren’t the issue!” she shot back. “It’s the moving logs by myself that’s the issue!”
“Were they too heavy for you?”
She sat up and whirled on me, snorting in disgust. “Of course not.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“That’s what I wanted to know,” Lia chimed in as she entered the house.
“The problem is that I want to do more training, not haul stuff around!” she moaned. “I could’ve just stayed with Marten if I knew that’s what we’d be doing.”
“Marin, this is training. You’ve done plenty of combat training, but you still need to build up your strength,” Lia explained.
“I do not!” Marin countered, flexing both of her arms to show off her sculpted biceps. “And besides, why do I need to do strength training when I have the gauntlets? Those are plenty strong on their own.”
Lia shook her head. “You can’t just rely on tricks and magic gloves to keep you safe,” she chided. “What happens if you don’t have your special gauntlets, hmm?”
I turned away to hide my snickering and retreated to the kitchen to retrieve our lunch. “Alright, you two,” I said as I returned, offering a plate to each of them. “It’s time to eat. Marin, you should listen to Lia: she knows what she’s doing. Besides, with the level of combat training we’ll be starting on soon, we’re going to need that space cleared for our arena. It won’t be safe to train at the house anymore.”
Marin’s ears perked up. “Well, you could’ve just said that earlier!”
“I did say that earlier,” Lia replied, narrowing her eyes.
“Hey, now,” I said more sternly, holding up my lunch with emphasis. “Sandwiches now, arguing later.” With a final pair of grumbles and shifty looks, Marin and Lia moved to the dining room, and we started in on our light lunch.
“Lux?” Marin asked between bites. “Why aren’t you helping us build the arena? I know it’s supposed to be my ‘training’ and all, but if we’re all going to use it, wouldn’t it be faster if you helped, too?”
“It’d be faster, sure, but then I wouldn’t be able to finish my forge,” I answered. “Judging by my progress so far, I’ll probably wrap up sometime tomorrow morning, and then I’ll be able to help you two put the finishing touches on your project.”
“But why do you even need a forge in the first place?”
“I don’t need one, per se, but it’ll certainly be handy. I’ll be able to make any metal tools or fixtures we need around the house, and more importantly, I’ll be able to maintain our weapons and armor by myself.” I stared wistfully through her head in the direction of my passion project. “Also, I just really want it. I haven’t been able to work at a forge since I was in Alderea, and I miss it.”
Marin stopped chewing mid-bite and looked me over with a raised eyebrow. “Where’s Alderea? I’ve never heard of it before.”
I nearly choked as I swallowed a mouthful of my lunch. That can’t be right. I’ve told her about that. My eyes scanned over to Lia, who sat quietly with an amused grin. I told her about all of that, right?
Her reply came with a devious laugh in the back of my head. Nope.
No, it definitely came up! I scanned back through my memories of the past month of training, searching for the conversation I knew was there. There’s no way it didn’t come up.
I promise you, it didn’t.
Marin waved her hand in front of my face. “Hello?” she asked expectantly. “Lux? Hello? You in there?”
“Sorry, Marin,” I answered, shaking my head. “Alderea isn’t a place you would know. It isn’t exactly...here. In this world.”
“In this world? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“So…” I trailed off, rubbing my temples. “I’m not from Doram like I said before. I actually wasn’t born in this world at all; I showed up outside the gates at Yoria a few months ago. I can’t really explain how, or why, because I don’t know myself, but that’s the truth. I just sort of…” I paused and snapped my fingers for emphasis. “Appear. This is the fourth world I’ve lived in.”
Marin set down the remains of her sandwich and slowly looked between me and Lia for a few moments, then threw back her head and laughed. “Alright, fine!” she said, waving me off. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“What?” I asked, shaking my head. “That’s the truth, Marin! I swear.” I looked at Lia and motioned helplessly with my hands. “Tell her!”
“It’s true, Marin,” Lia agreed. “I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true. You can ask my parents; they know, too.”
“Oh, suuure,” Marin replied, oozing sarcasm. She stood and poured herself a glass of water from the pitcher in the kitchen, then returned to the table and laughed again. “He just appears,” she chuckled under her breath, snapping her fingers. “Okay. Sure.”
I sighed and leaned back in my chair,
