“Fen, Put me down please” I said looking up from her arms. She set me down carefully on my feet and supported my weight from under my arms with her ridiculous strength. “Hey man, What did these guys do to you?” I asked carefully of the gun man. “You one of them now? Is that how it is—” the cowboy said trailing off. “No collar. I don't need it’s help anymore.” I answered. I can promise you man to man you want the collar right now, and it won't hurt you” I said slowly. “No! Get this shit off me, I'll make due without it, and get all these creeps out of here” he demanded. “They are leaving right now man” I said confidently looking at the line of healers that were slowly moving to encircle the displaced cowboy. I pointed at the door and said slowly to leave. After they confirmed with each other they began filing out of the room with careful footsteps to not alarm the poor man. “My name is Benjamin, and I was in your boots about a month and a half ago. What do you want to know? I asked

  I relieved myself from the supportive arms of Fen to sit on the ground, and lean back on her shins. We had been left alone by the healers, only the four of us remained. “Whats going on here, with this devil worshipin room? The cowboy asked. “I don't know why the summoning rooms are like this but I do know that the floor there is used like a blackboard for the summoning circle” I replied with a slow pace. “You have been picked up from earth, and moved across the universe to a far off space station. I know it sounds like complete bullshit, but that is the short of it” I explained. “Space wizards” He muttered to himself looking down at Jun. “Tell them to send me back!” he shouted after a moment to think.

  Shoot he asked the hard question so soon. I can't just tell him no, he’ll definitely shoot Jun if I say that. “If you don't mind, mr, what happened right before you were summoned?” I asked with as much sincerity as I could jam into my words. He looked off into the wall for a couple tenuous heartbeats before shuttering. “I was about to win a bull riding competition, the damned beast got lucky and found my ribcage—” He said, slowing as his story cut off. He looked sharply down at his chest. While it was exposed and his clothes were bloody, his skin underneath was in perfect condition. “That was the work of all those creepy healers that just left the room. I’d say thank you next time you see them, that is, if your momma raised you right” I spouted back at him.

  His demeanor changed and I could see his gun arm wilt from the adrenaline rush ending, and the gravity taking over. He only took a moment to rally “Why do I feel so heavy? What are they doing to me?” He said with a panicked tone. So close I thought to myself. “It’s the gravity on the station” I said pointing to myself as an example. “You look like a buffalo stampede ran over you. How did that happen?” he asked me pointedly. I laughed deeply, but quickly recovered, as to not upset the cowboy too much, remembering Jun’s predicament. “ I just finished some training at the gym here. You ought to get a look at it, and the other gym goers add to the appeal” I said the last part with a wink. It was the cowboy’s turn to laugh now. His laugh was hearty, it gave me hope that Jun might just make it out yet.

  “The tall ones that look just like you and me are called Micans. They are the majority of the station's residents” I paused my explanation to let the cowboy chew for a while. “This here is Fen” I said pointing back with my thumb. “She is the one keeping me off the ground for now. I picked her to keep me safe while I learn the ins and outs.” I tried to keep the explanation short. I could feel him about to explode with questions. A few long moments passed as the cowboy's arm began to slump. “I am not going back, am I” asked the cowboy slowly, looking down over Jun’s body.

  My heart started beating out of my chest. I had to respond to his question but what to say. I was about to be the reason Jun died. My head was spinning and I just said something after it had been far too long of a pause. “Jun there summoned me here. She is the reason I am alive. I showed up at death’s door too. I owe her my life” I said plainly. The gunman’s revolver was now resting the barrel on Jun’s head. His arm was clearly giving out under the gravity of the station. “I’d be dead right now if it was not for her? He asked, shaking the gun at Jun with a renewed energy. “Thats the short of it” I agreed. “What happens now? Prison? Are they going to experiment on me?” he asked his questions slowly, his head drooping with his shoulders. “Nothing like that man, a few pokes and prods to help you with the language, yes. But, Nothing that is not perfectly safe. “There is a lot to explain, believe it or not” I said, smiling. “I figured that much out on my own—” he paused his line of thought. “Swear that I won't be breaking rocks in a cell for the rest of my life? He asked. “Swear it” I said straightly.

  Reupholstering his pistol, he sat down next to Jun’s head. “Thems healers out there right? Can they fix her cuts up?” He asked. “Fen, Can you help me to the door, I think our hosts might want to have some answers” I said.

  Fen, picked up the human from his sitting position at her feet. Her training had kept her focus on the gunman, but she had to keep up Ben’s show of trust. Her mind was throwing itself around in conflict. She should have stood between the weapon and her charge, but Ben had not lied to her yet. She trusted his decisions for now but was going to pummel him later for scaring her like that. He was light, and the door was just a step behind where they had been standing. Holding him like a doll, She allowed Ben to open the door.

  Her not knowing Ben’s homeworld language had just stopped her from performing her duties. She would not allow the same mistake to happen twice. It was too easy a solution to ensure she made it home herself. Luck would not be necessary in the future if she could do anything about it.

  The healers were waiting on the other side of the door, ready to attempt to save Jun. He clearly startled the first wave of them because they jumped back instead of forwards. “Jun is fine, maybe a couple cuts and scrapes. Let me talk with the human before you go grabbing him” I requested. The healers walked past me in a bee line for the downed summoner. Cowboy man backed off after catching a few glares his way from the worried medics.

  “Hey, you let them know I come in peace right? He shouted out the door. As if summoned by the words himself Mr. Fullion made his way down the hall. He was escorted by two women wielding scorpion tails and menacing yellow eyes. They matched the shorter man’s granite red skin with a dark brown skin, and scale pattern of their own. It was like a wall of strange camo walking towards Ben. “Mr. Fullion, please tell me you speak english by now” I pleaded with the gentleman. “Not to worry cadet Walker. I underwent the surgery only one day after you arrived. I am confident in my English” he replied in perfect unbroken English. “Impressive, time to learn what a southern draw is” I replied.

  “I learned the cowboys name was Mike Roundham, and we exchanged communication info from a tablet that Mr. Fullion had picked up on his way to greet the new summon. Mike, feeling more comfortable with the fact no one was trying to drag him away to a jail cell for almost killing Jun, made himself familiar with Mr. Fullion.

  Alright Fen I think some food is in order don’t you. How am I supposed to walk again if you don't keep me well fed?” I asked “Fen froze to the ground, her face turning a slightly pale red. “Fen? You good?” I asked, tilting my head back in an attempt to see her face. One of her hands swiftly abandoned my arm to force my head back forward. “Let’s get you fed” She stated with a bit of shakiness to her voice.

  How could he be so bold as to ask her to feed him, and in such a public place! Fen thought to herself. She saw some of the healers that had finished patching up Jun start to look over at her, for her response. “Stop, talking, right now Ben” She said forcefully through clenched teeth. “You are going to draw attention, spouting stuff like that in public” She said so quickly that the words got jumbled up on their way out. Her face felt hot, like the station’s environmental control was failing. Sweeping Ben up in one action, she bolted down the hall. Abandoning the conversation, and probably the first human Ben had seen since his arrival. She did not care though. Fen decided right there to not explain her actions to Ben, ever. Yet, her feet were carrying her to the closest cafeteria. While she had been lost in thought, the food market had appeared around them.

  The tablet on Fen’s hip sounded in sync with mine. Feeling a bit refreshed from the wind tunnel effect Fen had generated on the way here from raw speed, I checked the notification I had received. “Thank you for your help with the new summon” The note read. No sender was listed, but attached was my old money balance. Another notification came through. “Don’t think you will get another handout” The message read. No sender was listed on this one either.

  Fen, having received over ninety credits over her message, stood shocked at the audacity of the sender. “Keep him well fed, and behave yourself. He is only human after all” The second tone on Ben’s tablet chimed through her spiraling thoughts. With money to spend for the first time since meeting Ben, she marched to the closest stall. One set of orders later and a couple credits spent, she carried her slowly becoming less free ride home to a table.

  While he could sort of hold himself up at the table his efforts to eat were pathetic at best. Letting him struggle would help him get back in shape faster. After finishing her meal, and watching the struggling man for another half hour, she had had enough. Forcing the remaining meat buns into his mouth was easy enough if she avoided the stares, and whispering around her. They could get back to training faster this way, yeah, that’s why she fed him. Not like she liked him or anything. Just a free ride home, Fen thought as she carried him back to the gym.

  The promise to get him back into shape quickly was causing them to sleep at the gym between the days that followed the arrival of Mike the human. Sleeping on the floor reminded Fen of the naps she would sneak back at her parents shipyard on especially slow days. More than once she had woken up to find the human curled up to a corner of a wall. The silly way Ben slept sometimes concerned her. The Latrod, when feeling the end of their lives coming would curl up the same way. It was creepy to see Ben imitate the death curl. When she would catch him balled up she would wake him up to train more.

  Ben stood from the last obstacle he had conquered. “I don’t feel like that was fast for anyone here but I doubt I could have completed the course that fast when I first got here” I said. I had only just started training again with Fen when we received the next start date for cadet mage training. I had missed the bus this year and I would have to wait quite some time. Apparently the instructor for the first years Mr. Phoo or whatever had bailed on the school a couple days after I disappeared. I was told by Mr. Fullion that he was needed to clear portals more than he was needed to teach new mages. In a really fucked up way I wanted to learn from the clearly massive amount of experience the dark instructor had collected.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Training consumed the days one at a time. Eventually, Mike joined us at the gym, without his collar. He had thanked me for the heads up, and the simple focus to keep himself sane during the painful mana filter training. We talked about the second summon, supposedly a girl that wanted to keep her identity a secret from us. Neither of us minded the separation, but we both worried for her sanity after being distant for all this time.

  She had not wanted to fight the voidborn and was struggling with intense pressure from the Micans to “Show the men how it's done”. What bullshit. This was probably some genetics lab from a cult. Her fanbase was so large that everyone wanted a piece of her. Some of them went to the lengths of making weird robot people and a whole story about aliens. She had been offered the chance on many occasions to speak with the other two humans on the supposed space station, but she knew if she gave in to her fan’s whims they would never let her go home. Ugh, these creeps were dedicated to the bit. Her escape plan was almost ready. She had hoarded a few items that would get her through the door in a disguise. She might even be able to make it out of the building if she acted well enough.

  Sarah’s adult Idol group had just finished a performance at the Reefs while on tour. Someone had followed her on the way back to the tour bus when she had ducked out alone for a smoke. The knife left in her back, when she woke up on the dark floor here, was exactly where it had been left after the other countless stab wounds it left. These captors had healed her up and left her in a small white room. She must have been out for a long time because she felt weak after escaping the bed. The pretend doctor in the room was way too strong to fight off. She had bided her time and had collected a few articles of clothing that she hid under the mattress. She would escape tonight, if it was even night. The lack of windows on the wall worried her that she might be underground.

  The pretend doctor left the room to pick up her usual dinner. It was go time. She crawled off the bed, threw on the light green smock, and tried her best to run for the door. The oversized hoodie went on as she stumbled forward. The door slid open automatically, and she slipped out into the hall. These rich fuckers were going to hell for human trafficing as soon as she made it to a police station. The hall was empty. Sighing in relief that no guards had been on watch she pinned herself to the wall and slid along it for support. A noise from up ahead betrayed just how many people were in on this kidnapping. Disgusting, she thought, making her way down the hall.

  The sight in front of her was hard to take in. Creatures imitating some body parts from animals and beasts of legend alike littered the smooth floor of the open seating area. They ate food that could have only been colored by kids with crayons. The worst part was the glass dome overhead that framed small spaceships moving asteroids around in a little dance. If this was a lie the person who paid for this setup was the richest person in the world. Her head hurt as the world she had rejected for so long flipped over in an instant. She slumped to the ground in defeat while she watched the station’s residents go on with their daily lives. They had been telling the truth all along, she was the one out of her mind.

  She stumbled for words when the doctor saw her slack against the wall. “I’m sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn’t think that—” She said, breaking down into a teary mess. The tears were more of relief than the apology. She was not kidnapped by crazy fans, just extremely patient, and friendly aliens. She could manage some bizarre aliens on a bizarre station with their bizarre food if they gave her some time.

  “I still think the path under the log gives you a better jumping off point to the slanted wall climb” I argued “Only if you have legs made from springs. That hold is shit and you know it” Mike replied with a laugh. “Mike, I think you have the best path for you through the course. Just keep practicing” The relatively short woman with ram horns behind Mike said. “Thats right, Anna. I just like the feeling of catching the hold after a desperate jump. Really gets the blood flowing” I admitted. “If you really want to get the blood flowing then you should be moving, or do we need to talk about how slow you both are” Fen said, pushing me to run the course again. Run was a bit of a stretch still but I wasn’t far off at this point. My stamina from before was coming back to me under the heavier gravity, and I felt amazing after a day training rather than the ragged feeling after my jog to the commander's office.

  “Back to the grindstone” I said, trying to use the shove from behind to launch me up the ramped balance beam. Mike and I had discussed the feeling of sleeping with our mana filters flexed after we underwent the cruel adjustment period. The sensation after such a harrowing experience had stuck with me. The constant pull of fresh mana into my bank throwing out the oldest mana was refreshing. I knew that the pain being gone was not the end, and had kept exercising my mana filter continuously to keep improving. Mike was not so easily convinced to continue the unnatural exercise constantly and had lost the ability to exercise his filter while sleeping. We both continued to train our bodies in the station's intense gravity. Mike liked the motivation to catch up in weights with his extremely strong first squad member.

  Anna and Mike had grown close, learning how to motivate the other to improve at a rapid pace physically. They challenged the other with the next free weight up constantly. Mike quickly grew an advantage over me in strength before I realized it. I was unbothered as I had focused my training in a futile attempt to match Fen on the obstacle course. Training felt right alongside Fen. After I had explained my background in street running, Fen had asked me to spot her on the obstacles to see if she had any movements that were inconsistent or inefficient. I had pointed out a few times the moves through a set of uneven rails, and Fen had loved the recommendation. I watched as her already impressive speed took on a small bit of familiar style to it.

  The room echoed as notifications went off on everyone's comms, and tablets. Mike and I’s Tablets Chimed with a notification rather than with an alert. The notification echoed off Anna’s, and Fen’s tablets almost immediately after our own. “What does the station management want this time?” Mike grunted from the bench across the track. “No idea” I replied flipping down the climbing wall in a technique I had picked up from Fen. The tablet blinked angrily as I picked it up to read the common red letters on the screen. “All cadet mages report to the academy in two weeks time for the start of your training.” I jumped up and down in excitement. The training that was not due for another nine months had been pushed forward for an out of sync class. “Apparently, Instructor Phi is back” I said reading the course information. The tablets had a wealth of information so long as you were in the need to know.

  I had finished the required reading before Mike had joined me in the Gym. Mike and Anna would read to each other as punishment for failing a rep or losing a bet. They had somehow torn through their required reading much faster than Fen and I had. I left the oddity up to looking at the past with rose colored glasses. It’s not like their list was shorter than the one Fen and I read, right? I banished the thought when I remembered something vitally important. Something Fen, and I had both been without for far too long. “Fen!” I shouted “We need to get to the dorms right fucking now!”

  I did not bother to let Mike or Anna in on our secret as Fen almost tripped after reading her message. We had stayed in the laundry facility from before a few times, when we wanted a change of scenery. Mike and Anna had even offered to let us borrow the floor in their room. We had decided together that a floor was a floor, and we felt that a handout might get the two roped into our predicament, so we declined their offers. The cursed coin had shown its other side now, and neither Fen or I were about to let this opportunity slip by. Fen picked me up in her arms as I was too slow even at a dead sprint. “Too slow still” She said “No you are right. This is too important. Run Fen we can’t miss this chance” Our clothes rippled and our tablets waved in the wind as Fen reached speeds I did not know were possible. We tore through the station jumping whole crowds, and dodging through hallways. We knew the route by now, as we had scouted the place a few times.

  Fen slipped on the smooth ground as we flew from behind a building. Standing at the connecting ride to the dormswas a short man clad in dark clothing. “Shit” I said at the same time as Fen, who had not slowed down in the slightest. She barreled towards the transport to paradise.

  A long slide brought us to a stop and Fen let me down. “I have been informed that you now have room assignments” whispered the masked figure in a weak male voice. “Please carry on and be considerate of your fellow students during quiet hours” he said

  Fen celebrated almost as much as I did. Our cries could be heard across the entire sphere without a doubt. We composed ourselves after the figure disappeared from directly in front of our impromptu to dance party. “Ben, We haven’t made it there yet. Let's go” Fen said, realizing we were not out of the woods yet. “Right” I replied, jumping to catch up with Fen who was already getting into the glass contraption. The ride across the connection took far to long as we watched what had to be the largest section of the station grow through the glass.

  What looked like cargo containers were protruding from the outer and inner sides of ring shaped hallways. The rings were stacked on top of each other forming a cylinder that towered up and down displaying rows upon rows of what had to be dorm rooms. As we approached the standoff section of the station the dorm rooms clearly became so large that I was reminded of the suite Summoner Keeps had lived in. “Fen I think those are suites” I mentioned while I watched out glass box approach the exit attached to a central ring. This box ended with us sideways rather than completing the full one eighty rotation from sphere to sphere.

  Stepping out into the hall reminded me of elevators in skyscrapers. The door opened from the box letting us out into the hall of the first ring. Fen’s comms ,and my tablet both went off at the same time. Displaying a map to the same numbered pod. Without a word I was swept off my feet again and we made for the closest real elevator to travel down to our pods level.

  The elevator had to unload a small group before we jumped on and I hit a button matching the floor we needed. A student shouted down the hall to wait, We looked at each other and sighed as I put my arm through the door to keep it open. The extremely short red haired student shuffled into the elevator followed by someone that must have been the same race as Anna based on the ram horns. Both girls took their time consulting their coms, and tablets before pressing the same button that I had only a moment ago.

  “My name is Henrietta, and this is Mable,” Said the redheaded space dwarf. She held out a hand which I reached for with my own. Grabbing my forearm with a grip from hell she shook a couple times and released me. “We just arrived on station. The last class ran out of open slots and apparently a few of us potentials were enough of an eyesore to throw us into training here. You should have seen the battleship captain watch us leave. I thought she was going to pass out from relief after ferrying that many cadet mages here” the short woman carried on.

  The doors opened on a couple floors as we traveled to the lower rings only for the elevator to be too full for anyone else after the first couple stops. Someone had bumped a floor by accident on the way down because of how full the magically shrinking box was. When the bottom floor was reached it was down to the small party we had started with. “That was quite the trip down” Henrietta joked, throwing an elbow into Fen’s leg. “Oh, right,” Fen said absentmindedly. She had been lost in thought on the ride down the elevator. The space dwarf's elbow got her moving again, and we left the elevator in a hurry. Our cargo pod looking destiny was on the other side of the ring, but you would not have guessed it by how quickly Fen’s legs carried us to our destination.

  We both stood in front of the door to our new home, unable to make a move, and afraid to be betrayed again. “I guess this will probably have beds” I said plainly, not believing for a second the room was real. “I guess it might even have a kitchen from the rumors I heard,” Fen added. “A kitchen would be cool” I replied shakily. I had never been so scared of a place in my life but the reality was setting in. We might just have a private bed to sleep in tonight.