Twisted Destiny

“Ami, I’m incredibly sorry to ask this of you, but could you teleport us all back to the mansion?” My sister asked some time after Cynthia had left. In the meantime Hilda, Max and Carol had been running around talking to some people around the encampment. 

“We could just use the same trick we used to get here for getting back, but with Sam’s current health situation, that might not be best…” Nikki looked at Sam who was still not looking all too good. 

“I can handle it.” Sam waved their concern again but as soon as just moved just a little bit it was clear that she was still biting away the pain. 

“It would be best, as our log-out time is approaching swiftly, that her body could rest back in Hofudstadr.” My sister commented. “Although, if you don’t feel up to it, we will find a way around it.” 

“In all honesty…” I stood up and jumped a couple of times. “I’m feeling rather okay. The headache seems to have gone and apart from being pretty tired… I think I can at least manage one teleport.” And my sister and Nikki were right. Sam still needed to heal and as we would not be able to be on this world for a while, I’d rather have her in a controlled environment like Hofudstadr than a piece of forest close by a portal that leads to yet another world. 

“Maybe leave the jumping out if you feel tired, sis.” My sister chuckled softly. 

“Right. Hehe.” I rubbed the back of my head apologetically and then looked at Sam. 

“Are you sure about this, Amicia?” Sam sat up straight just a little more. 

“Yes, it’s going to be better to get you into a real bed. My teleport is also going to be more precise than that little trick. Don’t want you to land with your back on a pile of gold coins.” 

“Huh, are you going to tell me they aren’t as soft as they appear to be in the cartoons?” 

“Tried swimming in them, but I wouldn't really recommend it.” My sister replied in a serious tone. 

“Awh.” Sam faked her disappointment surprisingly well. “In any case,” she then continued, “do you think you can teleport anyway? Last time we were this close to the portal, you couldn’t really do so.” 

“I think I can.” I stated rather confidently. “That oppressive feeling I got is gone…” I looked around me. “I’m not going to try now though, let’s way until our friends come back.”

“I’ll go and get them.” Nikki smiled and then left our little enclosure. 

Right after she ran out, Veanya, Gamma and Sid all walked over to me. “As for us, we better get going too. We don’t need to catch a lift, we do need to hike for a while to make sure we are not observed though.” It was Veanya who did most of the talking. 

“Couldn’t you do it from this location?” My sister proposed. “It’s not like they will notice 3 less people…” 

“Our ritual to traverse worlds is a lot more… explosive than how Amicia’s teleportation spell works…” Gamma replied. “It would really not be good if someone would be caught in that.” 

“So you are saying somewhere near the crossroads where we met, there’s a crater?” Sam asked. 

“Wouldn’t necessarily call it a crater…” Gamma scratched the back of her head. “It’s just a minor hole in the ground. It’ll be overgrown soon enough.” 

“Don’t let us hold you here.” I smiled. “Thank you for helping this world out.” 

Sid smiled back. “As we have stated before, it’s our duty as Gods to keep an eye out for these things. But I think we should still apologize for not being able to keep you safe. We underestimated our opponents and we will never do that again.” 

I don’t know why but a part of me wanted to start laughing at that really hard but I ended up shrugging instead. “We knew there were risks involved. Both Sam and I knew that.” 

“We did.” Sam nodded slowly. “Though in a way you did keep my safe by giving me that necklace.” 

“The fact that you needed it already proves that we didn’t keep you save enough, Sam.” Gamma poked Sam on her forehead. “We will do better next time. Although I think I speak for all those present that I hope there won’t be a next time.” 

“That might be a bit of a vain hope.” Veanya sighed. “If there’s one thing I know about evil, it’s that, while it is always beaten, it tends to stick its head up again sooner rather than later.” 

“Let’s keep training then so that we can show it to the door faster next time.” I smiled. 

“Yes. But first, you two need to rest.” Sid gave me a head pat. “Take all the time you need.” 

“I’ll make sure of that.” Élise proudly tapped herself on her chest. “Have a safe trip back to your own homes.” 

“Thank you, we will.” And with that, our group of divine friends left the encampment too, on their way to find a piece of forrest they could safely blow up without anyone nearby. 

Nikki came back a couple of minutes later with our friends who informed us that the army had been ordered to set up a permanent fortress around the portal. Apparently when asked what would happen if the portal closed and people got stuck on the other side, the officers responded that that was the reason why they kept a rather minimal force on the other side like the mages Cynthia had mentioned before. They had also been brought supplies to last them quite a while and they had also all been briefed on the dangers. 

“They must get a pretty sizable danger pay supplement, right?” My sister asked as she helped quickly dismantle the encampment so we could take the materials with us. Luckily that went rather fast as it was designed for the purpose of quick set-up and breakdown, and it did also help we could stow most of it in our vault too. 

“Quite, and an even bigger one for their families if the portal does end up closing on them while they are on the other side.” Hilda nodded. “Although most mages are there mostly for their morbid curiosity rather than the money, at least that’s the impression I got from talking to a couple of them who were nearby.” 

“It’s an entirely different world they get to explore. I can understand.” Max agreed with the mages’ sentiment. “That’s kinda also why we are here.” 

“Not untrue.” Nikki nodded as well. 

The rest of the party also joined in on the camp cleanup, except for me and Sam obviously. When everything was cleared, Max gently lifted Sam off her field bed so that it could be stowed as well. My sister wanted to carry Sam first but as Sam isn’t the smallest cat girl around and Max is just as strong, if not stronger than my sister, while also being quite a bit taller, it was her who won out in the end.  

“Besides,” Max smirked. “I’m used to carrying Sam off the field anyway. It’s not the first time she has been injured.” 

“Are you referring to the studs incident?” Carol asked. 

“Among others, indeed.” Max’s smirk grew wider. 

“Oh please, Goddess, no, don’t tell her about that, I’m going to die again if she hears that.” Sam tried to hide away but she couldn’t as she was in Max’s arms. 

“But it’s funny.” Max’s smirk did not go away. 

“I am starting to get curious now too.” Lise replied. 

“I have to say I am too…” I looked at my girlfriend and smiled. “But if she doesn’t want to tell… that’s fine too.” 

Sam waved that away after thinking about it for a few seconds. “Just tell her Max…” She had already gotten bright red. “Better to rip a bandaid off fast or she is just going to keep wondering about it.” 

Max didn’t need long to start telling her tale, she was pretty much ready for this opportunity. “Well, during one of our games when we first started playing together, we were on the attack and had pretty much ran past the entire enemy team during a great counter.” She started. “As Sam is the better shooter I passed the ball to her and with a cocky smile she made an attempt for a three pointer. Now… I don’t know how physics work, I have not studied it nor do I ever want to, but something was going on with that ball which wasn’t entirely right. It hit the rim and bounced back incredibly fast, hitting Sam square in the face and flooring her immediately. She was almost knocked out cold, nosebleed and everything.” 

“Ouch.” My sister showed her teeth. 

“Yeah. It definitely looked like it hurt. But on the other hand, it also looked funny as hell. And I’m sad to this day that there’s no footage of that incident.” 

“Then how do you know?” I squinted and looked at Carol. 

Carol shrugged. “It was just one of those things that really went around campus fast as a story. It did really help with Sam's popularity afterwards though. She was already famous because of it, doubly so when she became captain.” 

“After nearly ruining it…” Sam pouted as she tried to hide her blush. 

“Hey, at least you practiced your three-pointers so much that you rarely miss them now.” 

I chuckled softly. “That wasn’t that embarrassing, was it? Although it does really sound like a comic book thing.” 

“It was the combination between her cocky attitude, the comic-book like nature of the rebound and then the princess carry by a teammate that made it story gold.” Max smirked. “But hey, as Carol said. People mostly remember Sam’s name, not the person who carried her off.” 

“You are plenty famous for me.” Carol smiled. 

“Thanks babe, I know.” 

“Could you two stop flirting and get me to a nice warm bed now?” Sam pouted. 

“Don’t look at me, I don’t know how to teleport.” 

-Right, let’s get her home now before anything else happens, or I might have to sleep on the couch…-