FROM THE DESK OF SU IAN HOO

  STATUS: 99% HUMAN, 1% EXTREMELY ANNOYED

  LOCATION: SOMEWHERE THAT IS DEFINITELY NOT HOME

  Dear Universe,

  I'm writing this because Fernando suggested it might be "therapeutic" to document my feelings about recent events, and since he's the only one here who hasn't tried to kill me, cage my soul, or use me as a magical component, I'm taking his advice.

  So here are my feelings: what the actual fuck.

  I spent three lifetimes as the wrong species and the wrong gender. I finally got to be human again. I had maybe four seconds of being properly myself before getting sucked into an interdimensional portal because five different people decided to have a magical fight directly over my head while I was mid-transformation.

  I am 99% human. Do you know what that last 1% is? I don't either. But I can feel it sitting there like an unfinished sneeze. Like when you're about to remember someone's name and then someone interrupts you. or the rest of my life, probably.

  Also, I'm in a different dimension/timeline now.

  On the bright side: I have opposable thumbs again. I cried about it for ten minutes and I'm not ashamed.

  On the less bright side: I'm apparently traveling with the Chancellor (who tried to steal my soul), Vermilion (who tried to corrupt my soul), a bunch of cultists (who tried to bind my soul), Yvan (who is emotionally devastated), Liliana (who is also emotionally devastated), and Fernando (who is a plant).

  The Sky-Dancers made it out before the portal closed. So at least Storm-Plume and Resplendent Feather aren't here to see me at 99% completion looking like I've been put through a cosmic washing machine on the wrong setting.

  My spectacles survived. My dignity did not.

  I miss Obsidrax, which is weird because he manipulated me for weeks, but he also made sure I got to be human, so I'm choosing to remember the second thing.

  Anyway. If anyone is reading this: I am very tired. I am very confused. And I am going to find a way home if I have to negotiate with every dimension between here and there.

  But first: I need a drink, a nap, and maybe a bath. In that order.

  Signed,

  Su Ian Hoo

  Professional Wrench

  Accidental Dimensional Traveler

  99% Human (TECHNICALLY)

  P.S. - Fernando says hello and wants it known that he was against this from the start.

  FERNANDO'S CORNER

  SPECIES: FERN

  OCCUPATION: SUFFERING

  I am a plant. I should be in a greenhouse. Instead, I have been:

  Thrown off a roof (twice)

  Used as a weapon (three times)

  Dropped out of my bucket (seven times)

  Dragged through an interdimensional portal (once, but that's enough)

  My current bucket is cracked. My soil is terrible. I haven't had proper light in days.

  AND YET. When Su was being pulled into the portal, my first thought was "I need to stay with her." I am having feelings about this and I don't like it.

  Feelings are for things with nervous systems, not things with ROOTS.

  But here we are. I have traveled across dimensions. For a human who cannot keep herself out of trouble for more than four consecutive hours.

  My therapist (if plants had therapists) would have so many questions.

  Current status: Alive. Traumatized. Loyal. Very annoyed about all three.

  Note to self: Research whether plants can develop Stockholm Syndrome.

  Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

  Secondary note: Stop developing Stockholm Syndrome.

  Final note: If we make it home, I want the greenhouse she promised. With the misting system. And a corner. A very big corner.

  Also: I was right about literally everything and no one listened to me. I want that on the record.

  YVAN'S LAMENT

  AGE: 3,247 YEARS

  EMOTIONAL STATE: A DISASTER

  I have lived for three thousand years. I have seen empires rise and fall. I have been called wise, ancient, powerful. And yet I have managed to lose the same person twice.

  The first time I sealed her in a stone to save the world. The second time I dove after her into an interdimensional portal like an impulsive hatchling.

  Obsidrax was right. I am terrible at pretending I don't care about things.

  Liliana is currently sitting on a rock fifty feet away pretending she isn't crying. I am pretending I don't notice. We are both very bad at pretending.

  She blames herself for the seventeen kingdoms. I blame myself for sealing her for three hundred years. We are going to have to talk about this eventually and it is going to be awful.

  But at least she's here. At least I can see her. At least when she's angry with me it's because she's alive to be angry. Small mercies.

  Also: I promised Su I would protect her. She is now in the same dimension as me but also surrounded by the Chancellor (attempted soul theft), Vermilion (my responsibility, somehow), and 347 cultists (deeply annoying).

  I have perhaps not fulfilled my landlord duties adequately.

  Note to self: When we return home (IF we return home), give Su a very large rent reduction.

  Secondary note: Find Obsidrax's body. Make sure he's alive. Possibly yell at him for three hundred years of poor communication.

  Final note: Stop falling into portals after people. This is becoming a pattern.

  Addendum: I am three thousand years old and I just realized I have abandonment issues. This is humiliating.

  LILIANA'S THOUGHTS

  STATUS: FREE (TECHNICALLY)

  EMOTIONAL STATE: COMPLICATED

  I was sealed for three hundred years.

  I got out for approximately ten minutes. Then I got sucked into an interdimensional portal. I'm starting to think the universe has a specific sense of humor about me.

  On the bright side: I'm not alone. Yvan is here. Obsidian would probably find this situation hilarious if he weren't currently unconscious on a valley floor in another dimension.

  On the less bright side: I am in a new world, bound with Su and I can feel my blood-dancing magic trying to wake here and whether I can dance with it at the same time. This will either be amazing or catastrophic and I genuinely don't know which.

  Also: Su.

  My soul fragment. My better half. The piece of me that got to be kind without carrying the weight of kingdoms. She's 99% human and that last 1% is probably my fault somehow.

  When we fell through the portal, I felt it—that incomplete transformation trying to finish itself. Trying to pull from something that wasn't there anymore because it was in the stone.

  I think that 1% is the connection between us. The thing that makes her "me" and "not me" at the same time. I don't know what that means yet.

  But I know this: if we survive this dimension, if we find a way home, if we live through whatever comes next—I am going to make sure she gets to be 100% herself. Whatever that takes.

  She deserves to be whole. She deserves to not carry my mistakes.

  Also: I really, really want that bread I was promised.

  Priorities.

  Additional note: Yvan keeps looking at me like I'm going to disappear. It's sweet. It's also driving me insane. We need to have the Conversation soon or we're both going to explode from unspoken feelings.

  Three thousand years old and he still can't just talk about his emotions. Dragons.

  RESPLENDENT FEATHER'S REFLECTION

  LOCATION: THE VALLEY (HOME DIMENSION)

  STATUS: INJURED BUT ALIVE

  She saved me.

  Liliana. The woman who destroyed seventeen kingdoms. The monster from the stories.

  She saw me falling and threw me to safety. And then she fell. I don't know what to do with that.

  Storm-Plume is organizing the survivors. Sixty Sky-Dancers made it out before the portal sealed. The rest of the Aerie is in ruins. Obsidrax is unconscious. The valley is destroyed.

  And Su is gone. The human who told us the truth. Who climbed our mountain with no plan and forced us to listen. Who negotiated with dragons and freed Liliana and chose to be human when she could have been a God.

  She's in another dimension and I owe her everything.

  I owe her the truth about what we were. I owe her an apology for the curse. I owe her—I don't know. I just know I owe her.

  When she comes back (IF she comes back), I'm going to figure out how to repay it.

  Maybe I'll start by not cursing anyone into the wrong gender. Seems like a good baseline.

  Also: I need to talk to Vermilion. Eventually. If he survived the portal. If we can ever be in the same room without trying to kill each other.

  Three hundred years of being brothers and enemies and I don't even know which one we are anymore.

  Storm-Plume says we're going to rebuild. That we can choose whether to stay peacocks or try to become human again.

  I don't know what I want. I spent three hundred years thinking this form was all I'd ever been. Now I know it was a curse. A punishment for refusing to be property. Does that change anything? Does it matter? I don't know.

  But I know Su would tell me to figure it out myself and stop asking for permission. So I will.

  SYSTEM FINAL NOTE

  TO: SU IAN HOO

  FROM: YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD REALITY-MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

  RE: THAT LAST 1%

  We need to talk. The 99% transformation completed successfully. You are human. Female.

  The 1% that didn't complete? It's not a bug. It's a feature. That 1% is your connection to Liliana. To the void-energy. To the three lifetimes. To everything you've been. It's the thing that makes you YOU.

  We could complete it. Make you 100% the human you were before any of this started.

  But we think you'd lose something important. So we're leaving it. Call it a souvenir. Call it a scar. Call it proof that you survived. When you're ready to talk about it, we'll be here.

  Until then: good luck in The Crossing. Try not to start any wars.(We know you're going to start at least one war.)

  (Please try to keep it to a maximum of three.)

  Sincerely,

  The System

  P.S. - Fernando deserves a raise.

  P.P.S. - We're very proud of you.

  P.P.P.S. - Yvan wants us to tell you that your rent is waived indefinitely. We told him he's also in another dimension and his canyon is currently unoccupied. He said "IT'S STILL THE PRINCIPLE." Dragons are weird.

  P.P.P.P.S. - He also wants you to know that technically you still owe him for the Rosette installation and the emergency sanctuary rescue, but he's willing to negotiate terms once you all figure out how to get home. We told him this was poor timing. He didn't care.