Young Writers Society

If Mage could have felt the root hit him, he might have had a more notable reaction to getting smacked across the face by a fast moving root. But he could only feel a little bit of pressure during the hit, and would have given her a reassuring smile if he had the face to.

"I'm okay," he said. He made the sword disappear - he should have thought about how the flames would upset her.

Then he turned his attention to the man who had just appeared. He took a step towards the newcomer - he recognize the tone of excitement. It was one he knew he had in his own voice when encountering strange yet intriguing problems.

"We're in the same situation as you," Knight said. There was a reassuring tone to his voice; he must have noticed the nervousness, and was skillfully avoiding the excitement. "We're not normally like this - we're trying to find our bodies."

"We don't know much besides that," Mage helpfully added. "We've just heard to follow our souls on the wind, so we're doing that right now - Knight's leading the way, since he has the best connection to his soul."

He pointed at his boyfriend.

"That's Knight, by the way. It's short for Knightare." If he had the lips to, he would have smiled. "I'm Magestorrow Rian, but you can call me Mage for short."

He pointed to the others in the group. "There's Kynan,Tristan, and Thytes, and I don't think she ever mentioned her name."

"Oh. Wow." He blinked and nodded quickly, his excitement not fading even at the mention of lost bodies and the possibility that his body was lost, too. "That sounds wild. Then, I guess, I'll tag along with you all. My name is Landon."

With a carefree wooden gait, he came closer to join the little throng, but he wasn't quite done talking, yet.

"Mage, how did you do the thing with the sword? And..." he trailed off as he turned excitedly to the female without waiting for an answer, realizing that he also hadn't waited for her to introduce herself.

He carried on anyway, though a bit calmer, and would have attempted a friendly smile, if he could have. "That vine thing was pretty cool, too."

Ah, right. She hadn't introduced herself. Normally she might not have shared her name, dryad names were personal things, but she felt she owed it to Mage considering she had just attacked him for no reason, "Amber. My name is Amber." She might have smiled if she could have at Landon's enthusiasm, "Thank you human. It was ill-advised however," she turned to Mage, "Again, I am sorry."

Oh dear, that had happened too quickly. Stopping, Mage pulling out his sword, Mage getting smacked in the face, Landon joining the group - all of it took place before the lion really had time to react. At least everyone was much calmer now. Except for Landon, who seemed a little too excited about his situation. It was a better reaction than fear or panic, but Thytes wasn't quite sure what to make of some who'd liked the possibility of running into the people who'd transformed him into wood.

Not like he was going to let it show. "For clarification," Thytes said, "I am Thytes." He lifted one shoulder. "This would be Kynan." He lifted the other shoulder. "And this should be Tristan."

Kynan tapped him on the shoulder. "Other way around," the hound said.

"Ah," Thytes said, hoping that his voice didn't sound too strained. "Apologies."

"Let's talk while we keep walking," Knight suggested, once again asserting himself as the makeshift leader of the group - he was the only one who knew the path to follow, though it was a relatively straightforward one.

Mage fell into step beside Landon as they walked. Shadows cast by the trees waving in the wind danced across the group's wooden bodies, creating strange and unusual shapes that could be observed only by squinting into the darkness.

Knight tried to keep himself focused on the path, but his attention kept wandering back to the conversation going on between Mage and Landon. "I used my magic," he said. "I'm a darkness and fire magic user. I use the darkness as a base for my weapon, and fire to make it a little more powerful. Normally I just use my actual sword, but I don't have it on me right now."

The woods finally began to open up into something up ahead. He hurried on towards the opening in the woods, his gait fast and anxious.

Then he skidded to a halt.

Enormous metal structures littered the area; all were coated in thick layers of rust. The remnants of tents dotted the landscape, and little stalls made of rotted wood popped up occasionally. There were even a few large buildings, made of some smooth, hard thing that mimicked stone but wasn't quite the same. The little dirt path he had accidentally followed was no longer dirt - now, instead, it was a strange hardened black material. He tapped it with a wooden foot. He couldn't feel it, but it didn't move when he tried to get it to.

Mage reached his side and stared.

"What is this place?" he whispered.

Knight shook his head. "I don't know," he replied. "I've never seen anything like this before."

Mage took a step forward and approached the nearest stall. With a little hop and a push, he got himself over the counter and inside the stall. Strange devices were in front of each of the chairs, and little targets lined the wall now behind Mage.

He returned a second later with a dirt-covered toy.

"Look," he said, holding it up in front of Knight. It had been a soft toy, once, with fine purple fur and beady black eyes. But it was hard to see the purple now, and it didn't look all that comfortable to hug as Mage held it up. "This is a kid's toy. Why would a kid ever leave behind their toy?"

The thought gave Knight an uneasy feeling in his nonexistent stomach.

He went to take a step forward, possibly to examine more of what he saw, but then he saw a figure darting into one of the buildings. Their clothing was unusual - a strange long-sleeved shirt with a hood, tight pants, and a pair of brightly-colored socks.

He knew in an instant that was who his soul had been calling him to.

He rushed after, sprinting across the strange pathway and flinging open the doors to the building. He was immediately met with confusion when he saw what lay within - why was there so many mirrors, and why did they show so many different versions of what should have been the same reflection?

"Hello?" he called out, hesitantly following the sole path the building had. He tried not to focus on the wooden figure that follow him in his reflection - it was impossible to tell what he really looked like now, and he wasn't going to dwell on something he currently couldn't change. "Who's there? I'm not going to harm you - I don't normally look like this. I just want to talk to you. My friends and I are lost, and we could use directions-"

He came to a stop.

There was the person, right up ahead of him. They had their back turned, like they were frozen with fear. But that didn't seem right - they didn't seem right. Their body didn't make much sense. It was too lean and too thin for the clothes they were wearing, and he couldn't make out any toes in the socks that they were wearing.

He reached a hand out and pulled back their hood.

They were another person like them.

It was then that Mage came running into the room, nearly toppling Knight over in the process. The two stumbled, struggled to regain their balance, and Knight ultimately had to be steadied by Mage.

"I was hoping to have a little more time until you found me," the wooden person said, letting out a sigh and sheepishly rubbing the back of their neck as they turned around to face the two. "But I guess you really are good at following directions, aren't you?"

Knight stared.

"You're the person who was talking in the forest," Mage said, voicing what Knight had been thinking.

"I was," they confirmed with a nod.

Knight crossed his arms. "Are you still not going to tell us anything?"

They shook their head. Mage and Knight exchanged a look, surprised.

"I thought you weren't going to say anything else," Mage said.

Another shake of the head. "I couldn't say anything else, or the balance of the multiverse could get all messed up. Which I guess it did, because it let my body get taken, too. It's a good thing I guessed something like that could happen - I already set up a pathway with one of these guys."

They gestured at themself, and then their hands fell to their side.

"But, yeah," they said. "Once everyone gets here, I'll be happy to explain things. The multiverse's already enacted its revenge for my meddling, so I don't see a problem with doing a little more."

Landon walked through what seemed like an abandoned amusement park, not terribly worried when he lost sight of Mage and Knight up ahead. He fingered some of the trinket that were left over from prizes, and stared at the games.

Eventually, however, an uneasiness creeped up the back of his neck, and he hurried toward the direction he had seen the other two go. It took a bit for him to find the mirrored fun house, but once he'd walked by it, the voices inside were enough to go by.

He glanced back at the rest of the group and inclined his head, letting them know where he was going before he stepped inside...

...and walked straight into the glass.

He bounced back with a little thud, and rubbed a hand over his face, though it was purely out of instinct- he had barely felt the impact.

Then he had a chance to step fully into the room. His gaze bypassed Mage and Knight and landed on a wooden figure that he didn't recognize. With a little tilt of his head, he went over to stand by the other to and greeted the stranger.

"Well, hello there. Looks like you found some clothes. Good for you." he paused a moment, and then took a serious effort to focus. He didn't want to get stuck putting off introductions yet again.

"My name is Landon, by the way." in a gesture that he hoped was friendly, he stuck a hand out toward the person.

They thrust their hand and promptly gave Landon's a firm shake. "Nice to meet you officially, Landon!" they said; there was a smile to their voice, even though they couldn't have one on their face. "I'm Magic - short for Personification of Magic. I've been called Pom before, but it's not really a favorite of mine. Oh, and I'd prefer if you use they and them when talking about me. Doesn't really apply at the moment, but, when it does, just remember that."

Knight glanced between the two of them.

"You met before," he slowly said. "So why are you just introducing yourselves?"

Magic turned to look him for a moment, wooden head tilting to the side in confusion. Then they straightened, clapping their hands together as they apparently understood what was going on.

"You must have met us later on in our timelines!" Magic exclaimed. "The multiverse is funny like that. So you must be thinking of something from our future, but it's in your past."

Knight could almost imagining them winking as they drew their hand away.

"Don't spoil anything for us, okay? I want to be surprised with whatever it is - I just hope I didn't mess things up again. I have a habit of doing that a lot."

"...Was this one of those times?" Mage slowly asked.

Magic shook their head. "Nope! I actually was a little helpful, which might have been the reason the multiverse let them take my body."

Landon dropped Magic's hand and blinked at Knight's comment. However, he slowly started to realized what it could have meant a few moments before Magic commented. Once again, even without expressions, his excitement was apparent in the fluidity of his movements and his tone of voice.

"So we all meet again, then? I assume when we have our bodies back." His voice lowered, as he tried not to geek out any more than he already was. "This is amazing. No spoilers, though!"

Suddenly, he paused, and looked over at Magic as their complete introduction sunk in. "Did you say you were the Personification of Magic? Is that an inside joke, or is that as literal as it sounds?" A note of awe stole into his voice at this.

"It's just as literal as it sounds!" Magic confirmed. "I have access to every single type of magic that exists in the multiverse, though I, uh, can't really use it right now..."

"Wow." He whispered softly. He stepped closer to them, almost unconsciously. "And do you know things, too? About us?" Suddenly, it occurred to him, and his mouth would have dropped if he had one.

"Oh, you're the voice from the forest, aren't you? Do you know what's going on then? Did someone spirit our bodies away?" He concealed a little chuckle at his accidental pun.

Tristan cried out in alarm when Thytes carried him and Tristan into a bizarre place full of half-destroyed tents and weird structures. The entire place had such a disturbing atmosphere. Winds throwing shadows around, combined with the creaking and groaning of buildings made out of substances Tristan had never seen before, sent a chill down Tristan's back. Then Mage and Knight had the nerve to run off and leave them alone, followed by Landon.

Hoping that Thytes would run after them, Tristan was a little more than surprised when Thytes turned in the direction of one of the booths. The otter nudged the lion, but Thytes reached the booth and set them both down.

"Please stay right here," Thytes said, before Tristan could speak. "I do not trust this place. I will find the others, see that they are alright, and bring you to them."

And then Thytes ran off too.

Tristan and Kynan looked at each other, looked around at the abandoned place, and ducked under the counter of the booth.

They sat in silence for a short while, wrapping their arms around their knees. The dead wood around them groaned and creaked, but they didn't feel cold or pressured in the slightest.

Kynan was the first one to break the silence. "Is this like a market?" he said, nudging a box with his foot. "What were they selling?"

Leaning forward, Tristan pulled out a shirt from the box. It had been bleached and tattered by the weather, but it still fit perfectly fine.

As Kynan put on his own shirt, Tristan pointed to the equally shredded uniforms stuck on the wall on the back of the booth. In just a minute, they had pants as well.

They crawled back under the booth. "What's taking Thytes so long?" Tristan said, crossing his arms. "He'd better get back soon."

"At least we're dressed for the occasion," Kynan said.

Tristan snorted and leaned against Kynan. What a long day it'd been. What a long day it was going to be.

Magic made a note of every question asked, but also paid attention to the other things in the room - namely Mage and Knight. They wonder, specifically, what meeting Knight was alluding to tell. It immediately gave them a bit of a chill - there were very few times they were allowed to interact with other people.

They gave a little flick of their wrist, and warmth throbbed in the air. Thankfully, they still had some of their abilities. A little stool popped into existence behind them, and they soon were sitting on it with their legs crossed on the top of it.

"I do know what's going," they said. They were responsible for part of it, after all. And it was the part of it that Magic guessed would be the part they hated most, so Magic wasn’t exactly thrilled at the prospect of explaining it.

They rested their hands on their knees.

"I took your souls," they said. "I'm the one who put them in these wooden bodies - it was the first thing I could think of. Your bodies were taken by a group called Philosophorum Laboratories. They had managed to sever your souls from your bodies. Normally, that means death, but, well..."

They gestured at the group present in the fun house.

"They had some leftovers from a previous experiment that were capable of housing souls, so I messed around with the natural state of the multiverse and now it's salty with me."

"Oh." Landon said simply. From the very manifestation of Magic's stool, he had sobered considerably. His questions, however, hadn't quite ended.

"Thank you for keeping us alive." he said quietly, after a few moments. A new heaviness rested in his tone. "I'm not sure why, exactly, anyone would want my body, but... I suppose were're going to quest to get them back again?"

What Landon didn't mention was the most overwhelming thought of his own- the mixed goody bag of emotions that always came when he contemplated his nature. Technically, he was only supposed to exist by some accident.

He was a copy of whatever person he shared an appearance with, and even the validity of his memories were questionable. It wasn't something he liked to think of, but his inquisitive mind always had a habit of theorizing this.

Which brought about a fact that he supposed should have been reassuring. If his soul had been separated from his body, than it meant, at the very least, that he had a soul. Whether it was an imitation or not was left to be discovered, but at least he had something that was real.

Shaking his head, he focused again, and tried to change the direction his thoughts were going.

"And did you bond our souls to these bodies, somehow? I must say, for temporary bodies, they're really durable. I'm not sure about anyone else, but I feel safer in this body than my own."

Once again, Magic listened carefully to the influx of questions before attempting to satisfy Landon's curiosity. They were familiar with Landon's life, just as they were familiar with everyone else's - they had gotten glimpses of them when diverting the courses of their souls. They knew what he was likely thinking of - how he was supposed to be a replicated double of someone from another universe.

If they weren't strangers, they would have probably tried to comfort him. But they had only just truly met, and there were others present. It wasn't Magic's place to draw attention to that right now.

Maybe later.

They nodded. "You're right on the quest part, and the bit about bonding souls to these bodies!" they confirmed. They lifted up their foot so it was closer to their face and removed one of the socks. Stuffing that sock into their hoodie's pocket, they held up their foot for the three present to see.

"They're actually made by the same group that took your bodies." They pointed at the little symbol carved into their heel; it was a gem in front of what appeared to be a farming scythe. Magic knew the reason for the design, but it wasn't important to mention. They doubted she'd get involved in something like this - it was definitely a decision on the part of the people who worked for her, and not something to further her scheme.

"That's their logo," Magic said. They held up their foot for another moment, then let it fall back down to the top of the stool. "I don't know if you guys have ever heard of it, but there's something called the Philosopher's Stone. It's meant to grant immortality. It doesn't really exist in this reality, but Philosophorum is looking for its equivalent. That's why they took your bodies from their respective realities."

"But we're not immortal," Mage pointed out.

Magic shrugged and put their sock back on. "They don't really care. They just know you're different, and that's good enough for them. Some of the people here-" They glanced over at Knight. "-have longer lifespans than others, and they'll take that until they can find true immortality."

They hopped off of the stool, whisking it away with another flick of their wrist.

"They have technology that lets them take souls out of bodies," Magic continued. They started heading towards the door, knowing that the others were likely to follow them through the funhouse. "It's not important where the technology comes from, but let's just say that it has a tendency to attract...dangerous people. They're not bad, but they might try to take our souls to restore order."

Mage and Knight rushed after them.

"But why take us out of our bodies?" Knight asked. "What does that give them?"

"They're trying to figure out the source of immortality," they said. "They think it's in the body, so they're seeing how long your bodies last without souls. They've tried stuff like that in the past - it's why they left all of these wooden bodies here. They were meant to be future bodies for the group to inhabit, but they obviously have their drawbacks."

Fortunately, the conversation was easy enough to pick up on, especially as Thytes got closer to the one building lined with mirrors. Even when the words hadn't risen above the wind, the flickers of distorted wooden people had made his destination obvious enough. Why there were so many defective mirrors was beyond the lion, but he was a little more interested in hearing about souls, companies, and immortality. The last one caught Thytes's attention. He'd never paid much attention to the idea of his death - he'd rather live in the present, making friends and finding new partners. His father certainly hadn't lived too long, but the idiot had gained the hatred of an entire country. So it was rather odd that these people would consider him or his family any kind of standard of immortality.

That's when Thytes realized one of the voices in the conversation was a little familiar. Flashbacks of a warm and cozy room and a challenging game flashed through his mind. "Pom?" he called out, stepping into the building of mirrors. Something moved ahead of him. "Pom!"

He ran forward, smashing through one of the mirrors. Oops.