The Reserve: Season 2.2

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On my world I wasn’t a soldier. Quite nearly the opposite – an academic. But my people are no strangers to war and conflict. Maybe it’s the world I’m from, or maybe humans are just violent in every universe. I honestly couldn’t tell you, but I digress. The point is, warrior or not, I come from a world of people willing to fight for what they have. I may be averse to conflict, but I recognize the virtues of being ready for it.In the years I’ve been away from home I’ve managed to carve out quite the fulfilling life for myself. There are times I’ve looked back fondly, even yearningly, but the truth is I’ve come to love my new home even more than where I came from. Not that this world is without its conflicts, but the people don’t seem nearly as addicted to war as my own. That has to count for something.Still, I found myself yearning for a piece of home for many years. Perhaps you’d like to hear the tale of how I found it or, perhaps, how Ryland found me. Like most fateful days, it started quite unremarkably.Enko and I had just finished getting back from the farm. It had been a typical supply run. The owners hadn’t been around but Belsi, one of the resident udetaurs, had been there to help us check out. Most minotaurs and the resulting subspecies are ornery, for lack of a better word. Udetaurs are an exception, and Belsi is a downright sweetheart. We’ve shared a handful of days together and I’ve even traded sexual favors with her in exchange for some of her own milk to use in my brewing hobby. Udetaur milk is an excellent base for many potions, but perhaps that’s a story for another day.Coming through the door to the cabin we dropped off a handful of supplies before turning to each other for a long hug. It’s not often Enko and I get days off together on account of how busy the reserve keeps us. Sure, we don’t have to work the park, and we’re plenty well off enough we could afford to pay someone to run it instead, but we both find virtue in our work. Besides, it helps make the time we do have together all the sweeter.I was about to recommend a shower together when a familiar tone and magenta flame began emanating from Enko’s clairvoyance stone, colloquially referred to as a voyance. Voyances are neat. They’re effectively enchanted rocks that serve as communication devices, not unlike some of the wireless comm pieces from my own world. The biggest caveat is that both ends need at least one spell slinger to make the connection work. Perhaps the neatest feature, however, is that the caller doesn’t need a number or an address, they simply need to think of the individual they wish to contact and the voyance nearest that person will page them. Once again, however, both the caller and the callee must be spell slingers. Truly fascinating devices, and truly infuriating that I personally cannot utilize one.With a wave of her hand, Enko answered the call. A voice I didn’t recognize began to speak.“Is this the nilian Doctor Enko?” the voice inquired.Enko was a practicing doctor when we first met, and a darned good one I might add. That said, she hasn’t practiced traditional medicine in quite some time, opting instead to work the reserve.“It is,” she replied simply, “although I don-““We have a special case here, something I’m told you might be able to help us with.”“…go on.”“Young male, dropped off at our facility-““Are you sure you have the right-““Not indoctrinated, witnesses say there was a bright series lights around where he was found.”Her eyes widened and she turned to me, a strange look of bewilderment stretched across it.“I see… I’ll be there as soon as I can,” she finished before terminating the call.“Bright lights and an unindoctrinated male? Does that mean something to you?” I inquired.“I’ve only ever heard that description one other time in my life my love – the day we found you.”The ride into town was strange. So many questions taunted my mind. Could another human from another realm really have landed in this world? How many universes had humans? How common was it to travel between them? Was this world unique for having so many outsiders? Or perhaps my home was unique for not having any? Did my home really not have any? So much going through my mind, and so little that could possibly answer my queries.In the lobby of the hospital I was surprised to see a familiar face, Linara. Linara is a werewolf, and the governor’s second in command. I had met her not too long before bahis siteleri this whole incident at the reserve where she had proven to be an excellent hunter and an intense, if not terrifying lover. I liked Linara, if not the company she kept.“Linara?” I asked cautiously, “what are you doing here?”“Governess is worried there might be two of you running around now,” she chided playfully.“So… he really is from another world then?”“I was hoping you could tell me. We tried talking to him after he woke up, but he hasn’t been indoctrinated, and he won’t cooperate. He doesn’t seem to be speaking any native language anybody here recognizes.”“I see.”“I’d appreciate it if you tried to indoctrinate him. He more or less attacked the nurse when he woke up and doesn’t seem to trust any Mageni in the room with him. The first partner is up there with him now but…” she trailed off indicating she didn’t expect him to get anywhere.During the same time I had met Linara I had met the first partner as well, originally the governor’s first husband before I helped guide her to a better idea. Suffice to say, our personalities are somewhat incompatible. I find the man virtually intolerable and found it unlikely he was going to be any kind of effective at indoctrinating whoever was in the bed up there.“Sure,” I said, “let’s see what we got.”Walking into the room I was greeted by a strange sight. The first partner was near the edge of the bed shaking his head back and forth. The man in question was slumped in the bed in a position that didn’t look natural.“What’s going on here?” I inquired.The first partner stood up quickly to regard me. A moment later I saw a flicker of recognition and he crossed the room to greet me. As he did so I took time to consider the position the poor traveler was in. I remembered waking up in a bed not too different from the one he was in when I first got here. Scarred, confused, alone. The first beings I encountered were some strange races that look so human yet so monstrous, it was terrifying. I’ll have to tell you that story sometime, but the point is, I sympathized with this man.“Thank goodness you’re here,” the first partner started, “I tried to get him indoctrinated so maybe we could have a meaningful discussion but, well…”I took sudden note of a metal pipe near the foot of the bed. Coupling that with the odd position the man was in I made a sudden realization.“What did you do?” I asked incredulously.“Well, when he wouldn’t just accept it I tried to force him to drink and he pushed me away. I was afraid he might attack me so I… well,” he made a striking gesture that made my stomach crawl.“You know, that reminds me…” I started, staring venomously at him.“What?” he asked, more preoccupied with the man in front of him than me.“…I’m a man of my word…”A broken nose and healing potion later I had kicked the first partner out the room leaving just me and the new stranger. He was starting to regain awareness after his altercation. Upon realizing I was in the room he panicked a bit and tried to move away. I offered my palms in a passive gesture trying to indicate it was ok.He looked at me strangely before saying something in an odd language. I felt like I understood what he was saying. Something along the lines of “please no more.” As I was pondering his utterances, he gave me an odd look before a shocked expression crossed his face. A moment later I realized that I had understood him, it had just been a long time since I had used the language. We stared at each other for a moment longer. Then, he spoke my name.“But how the hell is it even possible?” I retorted again, “I mean, the odds of opening up an infinite multiverse to the same place is-““That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, man,” Ryland interrupted, “I didn’t open another portal, I reopened the one you already made.”Now that one stopped me for a minute. There were a lot of implications to the statement. Interdimensional physics and its practical application had been in its infancy when I had left my home. I had always assumed that my landing where I did had been a completely random event that couldn’t be replicated. Even if somebody else had created another portal, and in time there’s no reason to think they wouldn’t, it wouldn’t come here, it would go to some other random place in existence. Instead, Ryland had discovered some method of tracing some signature all the way to here.“Who’s even working on canlı bahis siteleri that?” I asked, genuinely curious, “three years at the university, countless papers and conferences, and not once do I recall anyone even theorizing the possibility that a connection could be re-established once the singularity event destabilized.”“Well, frankly, just me.”I sat back in my chair and pondered some more, the entire idea just raised more and more questions.“You see, after the portal closed, I figured it had to have led somewhere, otherwise you wouldn’t have disappeared the way you did. I think most groups agreed with that. But now, I had a theory that wherever that went wouldn’t just absorb all that energy, some of it would have to bounce back. By using my setup, I was able to locate that bouncing energy and trace it. Now, with that piece in the lab back home it’s like-““It’s like a laser cavity,” I blurted out, catching on, “you’ve essentially set up a road marker between the two worlds you’ve… you’ve built a half staircase from the top down and then jumped.”I know, interdimensional physics is weird, but the long and short of it was we were on a planet that didn’t’ have the necessary technology to complete what Ryland had started. In effect, we had half a bridge back to our world, and no tools to complete it. He was as stuck as I was, so we laughed.“Yeah well, who would of thought the damned thing would work in the first place.”We laughed even harder. The laughing must have been audible from the hallway because Enko walked in. Ryland’s demeanor shifted quickly. He was nervous, I’d say afraid even.“What the hell are these things?” “That’s Enko, she’s my partner,” I offered cautiously, “she’s cool, won’t hurt you.”“What’s he saying?” she asked concerned.I put up a hand indicating she should give him some space.“What’d it say?” Ryland asked me, I was getting whiplash going between languages.“She,” I said flatly, “she asked what you were saying.”“Make her leave, please, I don’t trust those things.”“The Mageni are fine, most of ’em are good folk, you’ll see.”“Sure, yeah, whatever, make it go away.”I turned back to Enko, “a little more time love, we’ll get him there.”She nodded, and closed the door leaving just the two of us again. Ryland continued to stare at the door before looking back to me.“Partner you say, you mean like, your wife?” he asked, innocently enough.“Look, the Mageni are a lot different from ordinary humans-““Yeah, I’d say so.”I paused a moment to collect myself, how the hell was I going to explain Mageni relationships and the slave trade to this man? I sighed and continued our talk. We sat for hours, talking about this strange new world he had landed in, and what it meant moving forward.“So, you mean to tell me… I’m a slave, wait no, a sex slave?” Ryland asked incredulously.I sighed, “technically, right now yes, but we’re going to fix that.”“And so I’m a husband… right now?”“Actually, since you don’t have a specific owner or wife, you’re technically considered breeding stock.”“Oh fuck off,” he retorted.“You asked for the truth,” I shrugged, “fear not, I’ll see to it you’re free soon enough, no monster fucking unless it’s what you want.”He simply sighed.“Ok, now what’s all this indoctrination crap you keep going on about?”“I know it sounds ominous, but it’s just a potion. You’ll be able to understand and communicate with the Mageni after you imbibe it. Nothing nefarious.”“A potion, like magic?”“I know, I know,” I said, burying my face into my hands, “I get it, just trust me, it’s fucking magic.”“Whatever man,” he chuckled, “ok, bring your monster wife… I mean, partner, back in here.”“LOVE!” I shouted over my shoulder.A moment later Enko appeared carrying the indoctrination potion. She strode up to the bed cautiously. Ryland’s demeanor had finally dropped away from hostile. She handed him the bottle and stepped back respectfully.With one last look at me he finally shrugged and drank the bottle. He set it carefully on the table and waited.“Do you understand me?” Enko asked softly.“Fuck me, I do, now that’s incredible,” Ryland said back.“We need to check his vitality,” Enko said turning to me.I closed my eyes and nodded. There was no way they would discharge him without giving him a once-over, but I figured it wasn’t going to be easy to keep Ryland’s cooperation.“What does that mean?” he asked, almost on cue.“They uh, they need a seminal fluid sample. Believe canlı bahis it or not, the medical professionals here can run a full body diagnostic based on your sample. Better than a physical back home,” I finished trying to sell the idea.Unfortunately for me, Enko’s aura had already started up in anticipation of collecting the sample herself. Ryland and I both reacted as one does, but only one of us understood what was going on.“What the hell are you going on about and why… why do I-““Why do you have a hard-on?” I pressed callously.He simply nodded. “Cute trick the Mageni have, you get used to it. With your permission Enko is going to take your sample.”“Take it how – jack me off with those claws?” he asked nervously.“No, actually, more like a blowjob,” I tried to offer casually.“Your girl is gonna blow me?”“She’s a trained medical professional, one of the best, actually.”“No, no way. No way can I have another man’s woman blow me, least of all while he’s in the same damned room! This isn’t right.”It had been a long time since I had had to navigate the sexual tendencies of my own people. Years of living in Mageni territory had made sexual acts a simple part of everyday life. It wasn’t awkward to me anymore, quite normal actually. Even still, sexuality on my homeworld is considerably different than it is here. It almost has to be. Spell slingers recharge from seminal fluid, virtually all Mageni can feed off of it in some way, and some will actually die without it. By necessity the common practices between the two worlds are different.Enko and I looked at each other, the conversation remained unspoken, but we understood all the same.“I can fetch someone else,” Enko offered.“Is this really necessary?” Ryland almost pleaded.“They don’t really have medical diagnostic equipment here, I promise, this is the most thorough way they can conduct a checkup on you.” I started, “If you really can’t stomach this, I’ll try to convince them to let me get you out of here, but we’d all feel better with a proper checkup. I was deficient in several vitamins when I showed up…”“Yeah, ok, fine… but, someone else, please,” he returned.Enko disappeared to fetch a different doctor.“It was weird for me too, give it time, you’ll adapt,” I offered.“I don’t know how you’ve managed out here for so long, but I’ll take your word for it.”Moments later Enko returned with a succubus nurse. What a devious woman. Succubi can darn near pass as humans. They have a special psychic ability to tune their physical appearance to match the preferences of their mark. Based on Ryland’s reaction, well, it was working.I nodded towards the door while looking at Enko. She returned the nod and we departed into the hallway. She made sure we were out of earshot before speaking.“He’s more skittish than you were,” she commented.“Be nice, I’m sure he’s going through a lot right now.”“And you weren’t?”“People react to stress differently, and even I tried to run at first. Why are you so… hostile?” I asked in earnest.For her part, Enko sighed, slumping her shoulders in shame.“I… I don’t know. I guess I’m just upset. His being here raises so many questions. I guess… I guess I feel threatened.”“How so?”“If he’s here, then it stands to reason you could go back there… you could go… home,” she looked down to the floor sadly before continuing, “I feel so… selfish.”I walked up to her. Using my hand to raise her head by the chin to look me in the eyes. They stared back at me solemnly, I figured she was wondering what life without me would be like. It was a silly thought, there was simply no way I could ever simply abandon her, not even to go back to my world.“You are my home,” I said simply.This earned me a gentle smile as she turned her head such that I was caressing her cheek with my outstretched hand. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. We sat silently for several minutes before she squeezed my hand, drawing my attention. She looked like she was about to speak when the door swung open and the nurse exited, a giant smile plastered on her face.“That… that was a hell of a thing,” Ryland declared, staggering out behind her, “maybe this place ain’t so bad.”In the hours that followed, several boring things happened. Enko petitioned the Governor for Ryland’s freedom, his test results came back indicating he was deficient in a few vitamins but otherwise in good health, and we decided collectively that Ryland should come back with us to the reserve where he could figure out what to do next. He didn’t seem to have much interest in working as a runner, but he didn’t want to leave my side either, I was the only thing somewhat familiar to him after all.

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