A few hours later, the room had reached some level of equilibrium. Anika managed to recover from panic meltdown number two brought on by the ‘you can’t go home’ revelation combined with Morigan’s attack without missing too much. In the chaos incited by Morigan’s action, she had mostly been left to her own panic… which was probably the best thing that could have happened, as it gave her time to self-soothe and regather herself. The details of Morigan attacking Nilendi were hazy at best due to the combination of overstimulation and ‘i’m trapped in another world’ panic.

  It turned out all the robed figures in the room were priests, not just Nilendi, and one of them had something called Aether magic. The Aether mage had finally calmed Morigan down and gotten somewhere with her in an intense therapy-like session. Anika gathered that Aether magic had something to do with mind magic and emotions, but finding out more details about that one type of magic was rather low on her to-do list.

  Philip had tried to help the priests by offering Morigan food, as he had somehow managed to acquire another snack from the priests, and she had been less than thrilled by the offer of friendship through shared culinary experiences. At the same time, Panu had been given some kind of medicinal tea and was now looking slightly more alert. Throughout it all, Zola just… sat there. Listening. Watching. Anika would have been slightly creeped out by it if she didn’t feel like sitting and watching was all she had the energy for now after everything she had experienced so far.

  Once everyone was slightly calm again, they’d gone into a much longer, stranger, and magically based explanation of what had brought them here and why. There were so many details about magic she didn’t remotely understand that eventually she just reverted to nodding and kept her mouth shut. She hoped it would click eventually, or that there was a very patient priest somewhere who could explain it all like she was five. For now, she basically remembered almost none of the explanation and understood even less.

  Anika shook her head, trying to clear her mind and process… whatever this was. It was a fantastical story, something out of movies or video games. Gods and dungeons? Rampant magic that somehow spawned monsters? Nilendi had tried to explain that… something about mana and ambient Chaos magic and cycles. It had all gone over her head. The only magic she knew about was what she used while playing video games, which is what she had been doing before she appeared in this place through some manner of sorcery. She had JUST made it to the finale of Baldur’s Gate after spending hours on every side quest for every companion – including restarting to see alternate endings! As a completionist, it irked her more than she wanted to admit that her playthrough had abruptly ended when she was yeeted through a magical portal to another world and thrust into this bizarre, lanky and alien body with gills.

  That’s what had sent her into the first meltdown of the day when she thought she was injured. Gills. Like a fish. At least if she was going to be part fish, she got the amazing mermaid hair to go along with it. She always wanted to dye her hair, but her mother was a bit traditional, and while she still lived at home for college she had to follow “the rules”. The thought made her remember that she had class in the afternoon, but missing college classes seemed to be a pretty minor thing on a scale of one to aliens abducting her from her bedroom at 3 AM and transporting her across the universe.

  Next to her, the other four people summoned were still in their own various stages of disbelief, acceptance and indignation. Princess Morigan was calmer, but it had been a journey. In addition to shouting about being kidnapped, attacking the priests, and demanding her attendants be summoned, she had also had several enthusiastic crying sessions because she had bat wings.

  From what little Anika had gathered listening to her talk to the surprisingly effective therapist priests, having wings wasn’t the issue – but she normally had gorgeous wings somewhere between a butterfly and a fairy and THAT was a major contributor to both the tears and the angry yelling. That and the whole “I’m a big deal royal” thing. Anika actually thought the shining, leathery bat wings were kind of cool, especially with the angelic golden luster between the bone spines. Anika was still doing her best to ignore Morigan’s antics, and was glad that, at the moment, her mouth was busy with a cup of some kind of flavored beverage. Anika had stuck to water and bread, not sure her stomach could handle much else.

  The obsidian-skinned Panu kept muttering about how this must be some kind of hangover or the result of some of the magical herbs he’d had at the party last night. She wasn’t quite sure what he was talking about, but from what she had put together he’d been taken from some kind of wild party that was common on his world. Now that he was more with it, compliments of the medicinal tea, he seemed to just now be entering the initial stages of disbelief Anika had gone through immediately upon arrival.

  Meanwhile, Philip, who looked like a kid with his short height and golden brown skin, was cheerily chatting with one of the priests who had summoned them. He had a childlike disposition and it seemed that not much bothered him. He was friendly and interested in helping others, though he had given up on trying to talk to or help the Princess after she yelled at him for offering to share some food. Anika hadn’t been up for much conversation, but she had held a short, polite conversation with him. He had spent most of the last few hours eating. The amount of food he could fit in that small body was impressive.

  The last of the bunch, the ethereal and androgynous Zola, sat stoically on the other side of Panu. They were so still that their skin barely shimmered in the warm amber light of the room. They hadn’t said much more than their name as they quietly listened to the story the priests from Etalen had told them. Zola didn’t seem surprised to be summoned into a magical world, though they barely moved or reacted to anything, so their lack of facial expression wasn’t necessarily a sign of their surprise, or lack thereof.

  The head priestess of the summoning, Nilendi, returned to the group as Anika pondered how she felt about everything. Being told she had strong magical affinities when she came from a completely non-magical world was odd, but no one else seemed surprised to hear they had magic, much less the potential to be powerful wizards. It seemed there were many planets in the cosmos with races that possessed magical powers. She might have doubted the existence of magic, despite the whole “summoning” thing, had she not had a front-row view when Morigan had tried to attack Nilendi with Air magic. Her attack had been halted by Nilendi before Anika subsided into full panic, and Anika still wasn’t sure how long Morigan had continued to try to attack, only that it had been more than one haphazard attempt.

  In their brief conversation, Philip had excitedly regaled the tale of Morigan’s attack. The head priest had calmly put up some kind of barrier around the irate Princess that fully encased her in a sheer globe of solid Air. It didn’t seem like the Princess was very skilled, judging by Philip’s vague descriptions of her less than effective magic attacks.. Even then, it was all hard to believe. Part of Anika still tried to consider the fact that she could be dreaming, as being isekai’d was absolutely within her realm of subconscious dreaming, but she felt like she would have inserted herself into a story she knew. She recognized none of what she had heard or seen so far.

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  The priests claimed magic was a fundamental part of the cosmos and seemed surprised and a bit disappointed that Anika knew nothing about magic. She guessed that they were expecting more when their gods informed them they were summoning the “mages with the most potential of the generation” to help. She liked playing the hero in video games, but ultimately, she wasn’t sure how she felt about that in reality. That made her even less inclined to believe she was dreaming, as her subconscious just wanted to play video games.

  Nilendi began speaking, “As part of the gods’ plan in summoning you to face the dungeons, they have provided rituals that will allow them to bequeath gifts upon you, granting you powerful magics that will also serve as guides to our world. These gifts are imbued by the gods themselves and carry remnants of their divine power. The rituals have been prepared but need your participation to summon the gifts and bond them to you. Please follow me.” Nilendi turned towards a small door on one end of the room.

  The Princess was calmer now than she had been when they first arrived, but at the mention of gifts with godly power, she immediately stopped her now half-hearted ranting and perked up.

  “Finally, a gesture worthy of my royal status! I, of course, deserve a gift with power from the gods – and I need the best one!” Morigan glanced at the others before rapidly standing, “So I should be first.” She flicked her hair behind her ear and hurried to follow Nilendi.

  Anika dutifully fell into the back of the line, letting the other four move ahead of her. She wondered what kind of gifts would be granted by actual gods. The whole concept of real and active gods felt strange, and she was struggling to wrap her head around it. She walked quietly, lost in thought, as she followed the others down a short hallway to the next room, a smaller chamber with similar stone walls and a quartz floor. The four other priests were already waiting as Nilendi joined them. Morigan immediately flounced up to one of the five ritual circles on the floor, a slightly greedy and eager expression on her face.

  Nilendi directed Morigan to stand in a specific section of the circle and, along with the four other priests for the various gods, began a musical chant. An orb of swirling white and blue light formed in front of Morigan, shimmering in the air. As the chant reached its climax, a swiftly ascending scale of notes, the orb flashed before manifesting into a scepter with a large blue gem on the top, wrapped in intricate lines of silver that invoked wind blowing around a tower. Morigan greedily grabbed at the scepter as Nilendi spoke.

  “The Gods of Air and Water have joined to grant you a Scepter, imbued with the power of Water.”

  “Wait, water!?” Morigan cried, “This must be a mistake. That’s the weakest element! I deserve much better! Of course, nothing is as strong as Air... but Aether would have been fine! Water shouldn’t even be a god!”

  Nilendi silenced Morigan with a blast of air, “The gods of our world are not the gods of yours, and here you will respect Water as an equal among the Primaries.

  Morigan sighed and made a melodramatic show of sulking as she walked away from the circle. “At least it’s pretty” she muttered as she turned to watch the others, clearly enamored with the delicate silver weapon, if not the magic it was imbued with.

  Philip bounded forward to stand in the next ritual circle without waiting for an invitation, turning to face the rest of the group, the opposite direction Morigan had been asked to stand. Nilendi twirled a finger in front of her, indicating Philip should face the center of the circle, not the group, and he quickly turned with an “Oops”.

  The priests began their chant and this time a ball of mixed brown and white swirled in front of him. The orb became larger as the chant continued, until it was almost touching Philips nose. With a flash, the ball of light disappeared and in its place was a glorious white Pegasus that towered over the man’s small frame. Philip excitedly clapped.

  “Awe yeah, a horse! Who’s a good boy.” He reached up to pat the neck of the Pegasus as Nilendi spoke.

  “The Gods of Earth and Air have joined to grant you a pegasus, imbued with the power of Air.”

  The Pegasus whiffed and lowered her head to look Philip in the eye, clearly communicating in some way, and he immediately started apologizing. “Sorry, Epona, my horses have always been boys!”

  Anika stifled a grin upon hearing the name Epona as the pegasus nudged Philip backward out of the circle. He started a long speech about how she was a good girl while Epona continued to herd him away, clearing room for someone else to receive their gift.

  Panu stepped forward next, his eyes flashing with curiosity as he positioned himself in the circle. The priest’s melodic chanting quickly formed a shifting ball of red, black and brown in front of him, invoking bubbling magma. It increased in size as the chant raised in pitch and volume, until it flashed and disappeared to reveal an ornate red and gold robe floating gently in front of him. He reached down to examine it as Nilendi spoke.

  “The Gods of Fire and Earth have joined to grant you a robe, imbued with the power of Earth.”

  Panu stepped back to join the other two who had already received gifts, with Morigan eyeing the magical robe, as if to determine if it was valuable enough to be of interest to a Princess. The embroidered gold threads glinting in the light had her drawing closer to Panu, who held it up to show it off.

  “Pretty sweet digs, eh.”

  Morigan harrumphed, “Not nearly as nice as I have in my palace back home!” She exclaimed, though the longing look in her eyes betrayed her interest.

  Zola quietly took their place in the circle, waiting stoically for the priests to begin their chant. The silvery red orb that formed was relatively small, flashing to reveal a floating book with arcane red and silver writing on the spine.

  Nilendi again spoke “The Gods of Aether and Fire have joined to grant you a tome, imbued with the power of Fire.’

  Zola nodded slightly and took the book into their arms to examine it closer as they took a place near Panu to watch the final gift, their face betraying nothing of their thoughts.

  Anika stepped forward with a mix of excitement and trepidation. The idea of a magical gift imbued with godly power was a lot to handle, but her experience in video games told her that it would likely be a pretty amazing item. She would love a cool relic or weapon, though a mythical creature would be pretty sweet as well. She held her breath as the priests began to chant, a silvery-blue orb forming in front of her and floating towards the ground.

  The chant reached its climax and the lights in the room flickered in time with the flashing of the orb, not quite as blinding as when the five were summoned, but brighter than the other gifts, sparks flying. As vision returned, Morigan began to laugh at the revealed creature.

  ------------

  From their Pantheon, the Gods watched as their Gifts were summoned by the priests in the chamber. As Water’s gift appeared in the circle, Fire turned to Water. “Really? You couldn’t come up with something better?”

  Water looked affronted, “I gave her my favorite creature! Doesn’t everyone love capybaras?”