Young Writers Society

"Can I go with them?" Taber said, beaming. "I can do that espionage thing too! Whatever it is!"

Aegeas, feeling a bit left out of the conversation, took a few steps back and crossed his arms. Breaking into a government building sounded dangerous and risky, but there wasn't any way he could convince Taber not to do it. And he was awful at spying, so he couldn't go with Taber. The otter knew he was sulking, but he couldn't help but feel like it was an awful situation that would end badly for everyone. Taber's response didn't help.

"I don't think that would work out all that well," God said, folding his arms as he looked Taber over. "They're going to question why there's a giant bipedal wolf wandering around."

"Hero and Lorcan are the only ones who look kind of human..." Lucifer hesitantly added. Hero subconsciously fiddled with his sunglasses at this, and he saw Lorcan absentmindedly rubbing his tongue over his fangs out of the corner of his eye.

"But if Hero's sunglasses come off, or someone notices Lorcan's fangs, they'll be caught in a heartbeat," God countered. Hero and Lorcan were inclined to agree. "We can't risk it-"

"Wait," Magic cut him off.

God raised an eyebrow. "Wait?"

"They were trying to get warriors from other worlds," they commented, looking the group over. "We have our warriors right here."

Hero and Lorcan exchanged startled looks. "We're not warriors," Lorcan weakly protested. "Neither Hero or I were taught how to fight, and we don't even know how to fight on a larger scale."

"We're also only teenagers," Hero wisely pointed out.

"You do look older," God slowly said, glancing at the two. "Both of you could easily pass for twenty, or even a little older than that. All you'd have to do is deepen your voices, and change up your outfits so they look less like they're from Earth..."

"No," Aegeas said, glaring at Magic. "No. You are not sending them out there like that. You're going to give the government exactly what they want, and I'm not going to let Taber go with two teenagers who don't know how to fight."

Turning around, the wolf beamed. "You should come with us!" Taber said. "You're not a teenager, and you know how to fight!"

The otter bit his lip, taking a minute before responding. "I don't think I'd be good enough," he said. "You can lift most people off the ground and throw them over your head. I can't do that."

Taber frowned. "Is this because of that, uh, thing of yours? Because I can keep an eye on you and make sure that doesn't happen."

Raising his hands and taking a step back, Aegeas shook his head. "Believe me, I've been in this kind of situation enough to know it's going to happen anyways. I'm too much of a risk, and I don't want you to be at risk either."

"But you just said I can throw people around?" Taber said, tilting his head.

"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure those two can't," Aegeas retorted. He pointed to Hero and Lorcan. "Even if they can, they haven't told me. I don't know anything about them. This whole mission is going to be a bust if it turns out you're the only competent person in the team and you have to spend all your time protecting the others. We need another plan."

Hero and Lorcan exchanged another look, this one much more serious than their earlier panicked one.

"I should have been a little more clear earlier," Lorcan admitted. "Hero and I both know how to fight, but we were never formally taught how to. I wouldn't go as far to say that we're warriors, but we can handle ourselves in a battle with only a handful of opponents."

Hero took a deep breath, and a sword of darkness appeared in his hands. Magic's eyes were positively sparkling as they looked at it. "I'm a god of darkness," he said. Little strands of darkness licked the area around the solid blade of darkness, and some even brushed up against his hands. "Lorcan and I have a contract - he can use my magic, and he also has the added ability of being able to change between this form and his true one."

"This one is more useful for fighting," Lorcan quickly added.

Hero looked over at Aegeas. He regretted his earlier comment about their age; Charlotte had said on multiple occasions that he and Lorcan looked older than they really were. Then he had to account for another thing that had been brought to his attention during his time on Earth: Earth saw teenagers in a different light than Minecraftia did. He, Lorcan and Second had been fending for themselves for years, and Lorcan was especially good at sneaking around places.

He turned his attention to God, then deepened his voice ever so slightly. He didn't want it to sound abnormally deep when he spoke, but he also wanted to try out what the other god had suggested. "Would this work?"

God studied him for a moment.

"I think it might," he said.

"Good," Hero replied with a nod.

"Hopefully no fighting will have to happen," Magic hurriedly said, noticing how everyone seemed to be jumping to that conclusions. "They just think you're warriors. They'll likely give you the tour of the place, and then bring you to some fancy place for you to relax while they figure out what they can do with your talents in battle. Even in times like this, war is pretty slow. We just have to convince them that you're the warriors they think you are."

Aegeas almost wanted to laugh. They didn't think they were warriors because nobody trained them? He'd barely gotten any training over his whole life; even Taber had more. What mattered was practice and experience, and it sounded like they had plenty.

Honestly, as crazy as the idea sounded earlier, he was tempted to go along with the others. The group had a god, a couple somewhat-experienced soldiers, and Taber. Lorcan and Hero could fake being older, the government wasn't planning on fighting or even capturing them (kinda), and a god of darkness could presumably find a few escape routes. Yet, he had concerns. They were still being captured, no matter how fancy the place was. Lorcan and Hero were still very young, which limited their amount of experience fighting. And he couldn't quite trust anybody that manipulated darkness - he'd seen enough of that.

"Who's all going?" he said, looking in particular to God and Sam. The group needed all the help it could get.

"They already know what I look like," Magic said, "so I'm out of the question. Which is a shame, because I haven't done a rescue operation in yea-Lucifer, why are you staring at me?"

The god in question fiddled with the stylus that had formerly been behind his ears. "You could," he slowly said. Now it was Magic doing the staring; Lucifer had started looking away the moment attention turned to him. "I could use a spell to change your appearance and even your voice, and you could pretend to be one of the warriors, too..."

God glanced over at them. "You know how to fight, right?"

Magic raised an eyebrow. "I'm older than you, remember? Of course I know how to fight." Their gaze traveled back to Aegeas. "So I guess that means all of us are going."

In the unlikely event that he'd be allowed to stay in this building, Aegeas would be alone. That seemed to be an even greater risk to his health than joining the others in a government facility, despite the fact the government wanted to use them as soldiers. And, well, given the number of gods that would be going with him, it wasn't like he had a better choice.

"I'll go," he mumbled, looking away.

"Yay!" Taber said.

Now that the team had been officially established, the trio of powerful beings - Lucifer, God and Magic - began their scheming on the actual part about sneaking in. Lorcan and Hero hung back as they discussed how they would pretend to be from another world, each thinking back to the two worlds they had left behind.

And then the discussion ended.

"We need to figure out outfits," God said as they rejoined the group. Hero and Lorcan exchanged a nervous look; outfit changes, from their experience, rarely turned out well for the wearer.

"Right now Aegeas and Taber are the only ones who look like they're not from Earth," Magic helpfully added. "God, Lucifer and I already figured out, which means the two of you are left."

Hero and Lorcan gulped.

"Are you sure these outfits don't work?" Lorcan weakly said. "I'm kind of attached to mine."

Hero nodded in agreement. "If I took off my sunglasses, I wouldn't appear to be from this world-"

He fell silent when he saw the look that God and Magic were both giving him. Knowing that it was useless to argue, he glanced over at Lorcan with a helpless expression on his face. His friend returned it with an equally helpless one, then turned to the trio and sighed.

"We'll do it," he said.

Magic grinned. "Great! Lucifer, it's all up to you now~"



"I don't like this plan," Hero said, staring down at the dark outfit he was wearing. He looked like the villain everyone always thought he was. If Charlotte was here now, she would have certainly thought he looked hilarious. He could imagine both her and Kartiel laughing at him. He didn't look like himself - didn't feel like himself. And while the clothes were bad enough, Magic had put together a very good argument about him wearing a black half-mask; it brought out his glowing eyes.

"I don't feel powerful," Lorcan whispered from beside him, fiddling with his cloak. With his hair down instead of up in the signature ponytail that Second had suggested him using what seemed like an eternity ago, and with the unfamiliar outfit, Hero had to do a double-take when he glanced at his friend. He really didn't look all that much like himself.

Magic glanced over at the two. Now that their hair was cut short and colored dark blue, it was hard to tell that it was the same person they had been looking at earlier. "You guys really do look like warriors," they said, grinning. They turned to look at Lucifer and God, both of whom were fiddling with their respective outfits. Hero was taken aback by the sudden addition of red eyes, fangs, horns and tail peeking out from behind Lucifer, but something told him was getting a look at the actual Lucifer and not just part of the costume.

"I think our band of warriors is ready," Magic said. They glanced at Taber and Aegeas. "Do you guys want any outfit changes before we go? You don't really need it, but I thought I'd ask before we left for the building."

"No thanks," Aegeas said, stiffening up and stepping back. They all looked so strange, with their fancy clothes and readjusted hair. Lucifer's tail and Hero's eyes were the strangest - they were a bit too inhuman (or, inanimal?) for Aegeas's liking. All in all, it reminded him of royalty in Fayne, and he was never a big fan of royalty. "I'm pretty happy with what I have right now, and if I already look the part, I-"

Taber barged past him, carrying a suit. "Can I please please wear this?" he said, holding it in front of Magic. "It's so cool and dark and I get to wear a scarf."

"Of course," Magic agreed, giving him a large grin. When they had the magic of the multiverse at their disposal, changing outfits and forms was something they regularly did - it was fun. They'd never tell someone not to, and the outfit did look Taber look a bit more like a warrior than he currently appeared to be.


Once Taber's outfit had been taken care of, Magic and God decided that it was time to embark on their mission. Lucifer gave a brief warning that the spell he was about to use might cause some slight motion sickness, and that they'd end up a short distance away from the secluded government building that housed the equipment that took Magic's magic away, but Lorcan barely had any time to register what was being said before they were whisked away by the spell.

When they finally did arrive, Hero looked a sickly shade of pale, and it took all of Lorcan's concentration not to barf in the nearby bush. He instead focused on the impressive building ahead of them. While the streets had been in chaos and ruin, this building was pristine and surrounded by a plethora of plant life. People dressed in white coats wandered through the yard, accompanied by soldiers garbed in futuristic armor and helmets.

Well, that was a strange feeling. It was kinda like the first time he'd ever woken up - disorienting, sense overwhelmed by bright lights and colors, pit in his stomach. But at least he didn't forget how to breath and move his body and stuff like that. As such, he could smile at the fancy building, the humans in their strange (but cool) outfits, and the scarf that he was running between his claws. It was surprisingly soft and smooth; he loved shaking it and tossing it towards his shoulder and-

"Taber," Aegeas moaned. The wolf looked down to see the otter leaning against him, arms and legs trembling. Somebody obviously didn't take the motion sickness as well. "Don't do that. We're supposed to, to look professional."

"Oops," said Taber, crossing his arms. "Right." He couldn't hug Aegeas - the otter didn't like that - but he couldn't help but feel bad for how sick Aegeas was. Taber had kinda pulled him into the group, after all.

God, Lucifer and Magic thankfully waited for the members of the group to regain both their stomachs and senses of balance before beginning to lead them towards the gated entrance. The moment they came into view, heads began to turn. Hero felt a knot grow in his stomach. He had spent years tricking players, but this didn't feel quite the same. He never had to watch their expressions to determine if he was doing a good job with the act, and never had to pay so much attention to his own.

The ones that seemed to be staring the most were a smaller soldier and a scientist with messy black hair and thick glasses, but the scientist pulled the soldier away from the growing crowd after a few quick words were exchanged. He couldn't make out any more details from the distance they were at, but Hero couldn't help but feel like they had been staring at him.

They stopped in front of the gate.

"We'll take care of this," God hissed, then turned and surveyed the two guards with a cold look to his eyes. Magic and Lucifer both adopted similar ones with ease, but Hero could barely keep his lips in a thin line now that he was thinking about. Lorcan seemed to be struggling as well from the quick glance Hero snuck in his direction.

"Why did you bring us here?" God asked, his voice deep and intimidating. Hero felt a shiver run up his spine; it made him think of the side of God he had seen when they were facing off against murderous ghosts in the forgotten ghost town.

The guards exchanged horrified looks.

"We, uh-" one of them stammered.

"How did you know?" the other asked.

"Because it's common sense," Magic said. "We ended up next to this...place, and it seems to be heavily fortified. Now, why did you take us from our worlds?"

"We have a war and we need-" the first started to say, but was cut off by God before he could finish speaking.

"Never mind," God said, flicking his coat back. "Just take us to your commander, and we can discuss these matters with him."

The guards looked at each other for the briefest of moments, then hurriedly parted the crowd and started to lead them inside the building.

That went surprising okay. He hated all the eyes focused on him, but the guards had been easy enough to intimidate. That the said guards bought a couple strangers walking up to the front door and claiming they'd been brought from other universes was almost relieving. It showed that this government wasn't all that bright (why couldn't they have, say, teleported people into the building, or anywhere that would be easy to track?) In any case, now that he felt stable enough to stand on his feet again, Aegeas walked into the building alongside Taber.

The inside was much worse than the outside. Aegeas despised the smell of metal and the other strange substances that the walls were made of. As the guards led them through twists and turns and long corridors, Aegeas's scowl grew deeper and deeper.

"Man, isn't it weird how we had to frown and look all grumpy?" Taber whispered, causing Aegeas to jump. The wolf was messing with his scarf, which now looked all tangled up around his neck. "I guess they like that stuff."

Aegeas glared up at him.

"Yeah!" Taber said. "Like that!" The wolf then wrapped the scarf around his mouth and seemed satisfied; he narrowed his eyes and briefly took a fighting stance.

"Taber?" Aegeas said, shaking his head. "Could you just keep wearing your scarf like that?"

Taber gave a muffled "Why?"

"Exactly," Aegeas said. He looked ahead, grumbling and muttering. That 'fancy place' they'd been talking about had better be more tolerable.

It didn’t take long before they were brought into an office that Hero guessed belonged to the person in charge of the building. He caught sight of the soldier and scientist from earlier just as they were about to enter the room. He could just barely make out the look on the soldier's face, dark eyes widening in horror as their gazes met. He narrowed his eyes. He knew him. He was sure of it. But how could he know someone here, when Lucifer had mentioned that centuries had passed?

Hero hesitated.

The scientist kept his head down and tugged on the soldier's arm. The soldier cast them a glance and went to follow him, but then one of the soldiers escorting the group of purported warriors gestured for him to come over.

The smaller of the soldiers glanced between the scientist and the soldier beckoning him over, then seemed to reluctantly join them at the front of the group.

"Something tells me we're going to show them around, and it's my break soon," the woman said, giving him a pat on the back.

Lorcan made a strangled noise that was poorly disguised as a cough.

Aegeas didn't quite understand the switching of the guards, or why Lorcan was so bothered by it, but he didn't have any time to think about it. The soldiers in the group pushed open the door to the room and herded everyone in.

For an important person's room, it was surprisingly boring. A fan hummed lazily overhead, while thin strands of light made their way through the shuttered windows. Beyond a couple of chairs (and a third one set in the corner of the room), the important person in question reclined in his chair.

A larger man in a camo outfit with assorted medals pinned on, as well as a cap over his balding head, he scowled at the soldiers as they arrived. Pulling a cigarette out of his mouth and pressing it into the ashtray, he said, "What is this?"

"Your warriors," one of the soldiers said. They moved out of the way so that the 'warriors' stood in a line in front of the commander. "They said they were teleported here."

The commander leaned forward, setting his fists down on the desk. Aegeas hated the commander's stare. It was agitated, just a little bit hateful. They were clearly intruding on his space. Not that Aegeas wanted to be here either.

"Hmm," said the commander. He moved back, tapping his chin.

"Would you like us to give them the tour?" another soldier said.

The commander raised a hand. The bags under his eyes grew a little bit darker. It reminded Aegeas a lot of Alarick. Were generals the same everywhere? "It would've been nice if the fine men and women of our science department had brought us the warriors we needed when we needed them. But they're here, they look otherworldly enough, and I don't think we'll have trouble finding a use for them. You may go, and make sure to send the doctors my regards."

Just as quickly as they'd spread apart, the soldiers encircled the group, leading them back out the door.

Taber, scarf still over his mouth, leaned down and said, "That man was scary."

Aegeas nodded. Tired and desperate was more accurate, but that didn't make him any less dangerous. He hoped the others knew what they were doing.