Okay, when did this book get to 3.2 k views? O.o I only started this book 2 months ago.

Anyways, who's curious when and where Donella ended up? Let's go find out. :)

*Donella's POV*

I woke up lying on my back, staring at a sky filled with stars I did not recognize, and I was still holding Akatena, who was trying to free herself from my tight grasp. I quickly released her and looked around as I sat up in the tall grass, momentarily forgetting what I'd been doing before I got here. Akatena butted me with her head and sent me an image of us jumping into the void. Oh, right! Thanks, darling, I thought back and rubbed her head affectionately. Standing up, I noted that I was in a forest that matched Rythian's description from what I could see in the darkness. There were more unfamiliar species of plant than I could count in a year, and the magic around here certainly felt the same as that of the dimension the Fyre wizards had gone to.

As I was looking around, I thought I heard a voice nearby. Akatena swiveled her ears in the direction of the source, and we cautiously advanced. I turned myself and Akatena invisible as we drew closer to the source. We stopped on the edge of a clearing surrounding a small hut, an altar, and other magic paraphernalia. I guess Rythian was telling the truth when he said mortals could delve into magic in this world. The person we'd heard speaking was pacing back and forth, clearly worried. I detected a strong sense of Ianite about him. He must be one of her more devote followers in this realm.

He paused in his pacing and spoke into some sort of communication device attached to his ear, "Just your usual trolling type stuff: sporadic blindness, mining fatigue, etc. There was more in the book, but it was smudged pretty badly. I couldn't make it out." After listening to whoever was on the other end of the call, the young man with black hair reached into his pocket and pulled out a key that gave off magic that reminded me of a nether portal.

Hurry, Tena. We're tagging along. I rushed forward and managed to grab a corner of the bag he had slung over his shoulder, my familiar close behind. I set my free hand on her head as we teleported. (Phil, Matt, and Tom could go into Jordan's spectre when they had their powers; so why shouldn't Donella be able to?) We loitered in the small bright space we'd teleported to as our mystery person continued listening intently to the conversation going on elsewhere and occasionally chiming in. Thankfully he'd stopped pacing, which made our job of staying undetected easier considering the confined space.

This place would be so much more convenient than hiding everything in my basement, I mused as we waited for something to happen. Finally, the man walked over to his massive machine against one wall and started typing on a control panel. Much to my surprise, armor that practically oozed protective magic materialized next to him as he pulled the items up on the screen. The nervous young man quickly slid the armor on and walked over to what looked like a white version of a nether portal. After tapping a few buttons on the side, the frame turned red, and the portal lit. He stepped through without hesitation.

We waited a good minute before walking through the portal after him. We didn't want to run into him if he had paused on the other side. Stepping through, we found ourselves in a small cave that opened to the surface a few feet away. We were back in the overworld. A red farmhouse and a wall surrounding a group of buildings and a tree tall enough to put all trees in my dimension to shame were the only structures visible in the darkness. The farmhouse appeared deserted, but I could see lights on at the walled compound. We moved quickly, trying to avoid the strange monsters that were prowling this late at night.

Sneaking inside the walls, we found the only people present sitting inside the hollowed out base of the giant tree. The person we'd followed here was the only normal one of the bunch. One looked like a zombie with blue hair, and the other had creeper spores infecting half of his face. I grinned as I recognized Dianite's magic coming off both of them. He always did have an odd taste in followers and friends. It appears the one in this dimension is no different. Maybe one of these two could introduce us.

I had almost decided to chance revealing myself and talk to them when two others—a young man and woman—landed in the yard. I backed away in apprehension as I identified the strong aura coming off the one in red armor as that of Mianite. Rythian had warned me about this world's Mianite. After winning a war against my own world's Mianite, I did not intend to get caught by another one now.

Akatena and I quickly ducked into a side building and hid there as the two Mianitees walked in the front door of the tree. I quickly decided introducing myself to these people was out of the question and was about to sneak away and make a new plan when a more welcome presence and one I hadn't hoped to meet so soon after my arrival landed in the courtyard outside the tree: this world's Dianite. Peeking outside, I saw no one. He must still be in spirit form; Rythian mentioned that he had been assassinated.

I was still trying to figure out why this motley collection of mortals and Dianite were here when everyone exited the tree, led by the zombie. Creeper man seemed to sense Dianite as well once he was outside. He perked up and asked, "Find anything, Dia?" Dia? I thought, raising an invisible eyebrow. The two Mianitees seemed nervous in the presence of spirit Dianite. However, the Ianitee seemed to be having a mental conversation with him. Interesting. I thought gods tended to be a bit jealous when it comes to their followers. This world's Ianite and Dianite must be on excellent terms.

I was brought out of my thoughts by Dianite speaking. "I didn't find our missing wizard, but I may have found somewhere he was. You should get going. There were a lot of monsters stirred up over there." The others seemed concerned to hear this. Are they friends with a wizard? I thought Mianite was hunting wizards down. It didn't make sense to me why such a loyal Mianitee as red armor (he must be unquestionably loyal to have such a strong aura) would be worried about the well being of a wizard.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" The zombie said, extending his black and red wings. Wait, wings?! I did a double take in time to see the Ianitee slip on a ring before a set of purple-black wings appeared on his back as well. They all flew off seconds later, and Dianite left with them. I can see why Wag and his brothers were so keen to study magic here. If this is what mortals have access to, what could those born with power accomplish?

Confident that they had left for a while, Akatena and I walked back out into the courtyard, and I lifted my invisibility spell. Many wizards could use an invisibility spell, but I had truly mastered the technique. I could maintain invisibility for more than an hour if needed. I kept that fact to myself, though. It came in quite handy for scouting back in the war, among other things. Assassinations were not my style, but one or two particularly troublesome enemy generals might have met mysterious ends during my campaigns.

I decided to learn more about these mortals before I dared reveal myself. It seemed that it would be difficult to get this world's Dianite alone for a while, considering he was looking for the missing wizard too. I spent the next couple hours poking around the compound, leaving the tree for last. Akatena stood guard. One building stood next to a deactivated portal frame similar to the one the Ianitee had used. This building held quite a bit of machinery; I couldn't even guess what the devices were or what purpose they might serve. I suppose this must be what mortals feel like looking at one of our rituals back home.

Leaving the disconcerting building behind, I ventured into the tree. The pot of brew the zombie had made while they waited for the Mianitees was still warm, and the aroma was enticing. I resisted the urge to test a sip and continued searching. I found nothing to make me distrust whoever lived here. The Dianitees seemed loyal enough. Maybe I could try catching them and Dianite without the Mianitees around.

I walked back outside to find dawn beginning to lighten the sky and Akatena staring intently into the distance. "What do you see, girl?" I looked in the direction the group had left, and felt a familiar presence approaching. When I sensed surprise and suspicion, I knew it was too late to turn invisible again. Tena read my thoughts and retreated to a hiding spot inside one of the buildings while I stood unmoving in the center of the yard.

"Good morning, Lord Dianite," I greeted cordially once I sensed him hovering close by, watching me.

"You can sense me?!" Dianite seemed stunned.

"I mean no harm," I said, raising a hand to show I held no weapon. My sword was concealed under my coat. "I only wished to speak with you, preferably without those Mianitees around."

Dianite still seemed on edge but answered, "They are almost here. They won't cause any trouble unless you cause it first," His tone held a warning. He flew away before I could say anything else.

I got a distinct feeling of criticism from Akatena and thought back, Oh, like you could have done any better. He probably picked up on his alternate's magic coming off of us, I thought, remembering that Dianite had given me quite a bit of his power to keep us safe before we'd left. That would unsettle me too if I were him.

I didn't have time to think anything else before I could hear wing beats overhead. I stepped away from the center of the courtyard to give the returning mortals space to land. The five had returned, apparently unsuccessful in their search and rescue mission, very unsuccessful judging by the condition of the Ianitee. He was carried in by the zombie who landed first. The Ianitee was pale and unsteady on his feet when the zombie set him down; he also had one of his wings and his chest wrapped in a blood-soaked bandage. Not the best field dressing I've ever seen, but then again, I doubt they've had reason to get much practice. The zombie tried to let the man stand on his own so he could face me with a hand on the pommel of his sword, but he quickly abandoned the idea in favor of keeping his friend upright when he wavered.

The others landed around the courtyard, keeping one eye on me and one eye on their injured friend. I decided a small favor couldn't hurt in getting them to trust me; so I teleported one of the chairs from the kitchen table to where the zombie and the Ianitee stood. The others jumped a little in surprise before Dianite said, "It appears we have another wizard."

The others looked at me in suspicion as the Ianitee gladly sat down in the offered chair. The female that had arrived with red armor was looking at me more with interest than fear now. "Alright, who are you, and what are you doing at my house?" The zombie asked, giving me his undivided attention as he crossed his arms.

I decided answering truthfully would serve me best, though I would leave out certain details that might make the Mianitees angry or defensive. "My name is Donella. I came here from another world, looking for a group of wizards that were stranded in this dimension. We received a distress message recently from one of them. I was waiting here in hopes of speaking with this world's Dianite alone. As he can no doubt tell, I am good friends with his counterpart in my own world."

The others just stared at me blankly for a moment before the injured man waved and said, "Hi there. My name's Jordan. And these are Tom, Mot, Sonja, and Tucker," Jordan introduced each of his friends, pointing at them in turn.

"Jordan, we don't know her! You shouldn't be telling her our names," Tucker hissed under his breath. Jordan did seem a little bit off. I wonder if that's from the blood loss, or maybe they gave him something for pain. The others huddled and started whispering about what to do with me. As if they could even hold me, I scoffed mentally. While the others talked, I noticed blood dripping from the back of the chair Jordan sat in.

While the others' discussion sounded like it was getting more heated, I tried asking Dianite a question. Would you or Ianite mind if I tended Jordan's wing to prove I mean no harm? He's still bleeding while they're arguing about what to "do with me". I know some field medicine and healing magic. Of course, you can smite me if I do anything to hurt him.

After a few moments, Dianite replied, If it's fine with him. He shouldn't feel any pain for another hour or two.

Strange, he didn't mention Ianite, I noted. Jordan seemed to listen to something for a minute before nodding and giving me a thumbs up. Dianite had explained the situation to him. I glanced over at the others before teleporting Jordan and his chair in front of me. "Turn around, please." I motioned for him to turn around so I could reach the injured limb.

He did as instructed, crossing his arms to rest on the chair back he was now facing. I had started removing the bandage before the others even noticed that their friend wasn't where they'd left him. "Aye! What do you think you're doing?!" The zombie yelled, unsheathing his sword this time and leveling it at me. The others had drawn weapons as well, though I didn't pay them much mind. "You, leave Sparlkez alone!"

"Relax; I'm not going to—Sparklez?" I paused in unwinding the bandage to meet the zombie's threatening gaze. "He goes by Sparklez?"

"Yep, when they aren't calling me by one of my other nicknames," Jordan answered me.

"Did you serve Ianite in another realm before this one, the Realm of Mianite, perhaps?" I asked urgently.

"Yeah, I was her champion there. Why?" He looked over his shoulder at me as he asked. The movement started the partially unwrapped wound bleeding even more.

---Warning: Slight blood and gore ahead---

"Don't move! You're making the bleeding worse!" I replied sharply as I quickly stripped the rest of the bandage off to find the source of the blood. I was thankful he had something onboard for pain already when I saw the wound. I could see exposed bone. I clamped my left hand down on the area the blood was steadily pumping from to stem the flow.

Arteries tend to run close to bone; one must have been damaged by the sharp edge of the break. I concentrated on holding that vessel off as I used my free hand to check the stability of the splint his friends had made out of cut branches and some thin rope. It seemed to be holding the bone in alignment; so I mentally went through the healing spells I knew for one that could repair bone. Most of the ones I knew were for soft tissue damage. One spell finally came to mind, but it tended to be painful for the recipient. It accelerated bone healing, resulting in something akin to a very bad case of growing pains, but it should have the bone sound again within a few hours.

Glancing up from my inspection of the injury, I realized two of Jordan's friends were now huddled around me. Tom and Tucker still held weapons, though they were at their sides now. Sonja stood a short distance away, trying not to look at us; I think the blood had her nauseated. Mot had disappeared inside the tree and left the door open behind him.

Tom and Tucker looked at me expectantly. I suppressed the impulse to push them back with a bit of magic to give myself space. I instead told them and Jordan the situation. "The jagged edge of the bone nicked the artery here," I used my free hand to indicate the place I had my other hand tightened on. "I'll have to heal the bone before the artery, or it will likely get damaged again. Bone is a bit tricky, but I do know a spell that should fix it. There will be pain as a side effect, and it will outlast whatever Dianite gave you. The wing should be flight worthy again in a few hours when the pain subsides. May I?" I asked. Jordan nodded his head.

I rested my free hand over the splinted bone and started concentrating on the spell, chanting the words of it under my breath. My right hand started glowing red, then the bones beneath it. I could feel the bone fragments growing back together beneath my fingers. Once a good bone callus had formed, I stopped chanting. The spell would continue working until the healing area was as good as new. Now to deal with this artery and the rest of the damage. A more basic healing spell did the trick there, reconnecting damaged blood vessel, muscle, and tendons and closing the skin. Satisfied, I stepped away from my work, noting the blood staining my hands and coat. As the others examined the repair with awe, I snapped my fingers to remove the drying patches of crimson from my skin and clothing.

---Slight blood and gore over now---

Jordan appeared to have either passed out or fallen asleep at some point during my spells. I had been concentrating too completely on the task at hand to notice when. Mot had also reappeared while I was preoccupied, and he had brought a medical kit with him. He was thoroughly impressed after examining Jordan's limp wing and turned to ask me, "Should I bandage it to keep it stable until it's fully healed?"

I nodded. "It'll hurt if he moves it, and he could still re-injure it while it's healing. It's an ongoing process." Mot proceeded to carefully fold Jordan's wing against his back and secure it with a roll of gauze.

While Mot worked, Tom walked over to me. He had put his sword away, and the look he gave me now held no hostility, only a question. "You spoke of the Realm of Mianite. Are you from there? Why haven't we ever heard of you, and why do you know the name 'Sparklez'?"

"Yes, I live in a wizard city in the Realm. Mianite wouldn't have mentioned me; we were enemies in a war centuries ago. Dianite and I kept our friendship secret; so he wouldn't have told you either." I noted a flash of discomfort cross Tom's green face at the mention of his god. "I only met Ianite the day she and Dianite opened a portal for me to come here. She told me before I left that if I ran into a man named Sparklez, he'd help me find my friends at her request."

"Well, I don't think he'll be much help for a day or two," Tom said nervously, looking over to where Mot and Tucker were carrying a still unconscious Jordan to one of the buildings with a spare bedroom. Tucker nearly dropped his half of the load when Akatena darted out of the doorway they were about to walk through. "What is that?" Tom pointed at my familiar as she came to stand by me.

"Oh my goodness, she's so cute!" Sonja exclaimed in a high pitched voice as she walked closer.

"This is Akatena, my familiar. She doesn't appreciate being snuggled," I warned Sonja, and she reluctantly stopped edging closer. Changing the subject, I asked, "You already know who I am looking for. Who did you lose? Maybe we can help each other."

Tom sighed and scratched the back of his head, which I just now realized was a tangled mass of spider silk and blue hair. "We lost our wizard friend, Waglington; he's been missing for more than half a day now. Hey, are you okay?" He waved a hand in front of my face, but I didn't notice.

James is alive?

So, now Donella's met the "sky heroes" and knows Wag is not dead after all! :D I wonder what she'll think when she discovers the Fyre wizards are alive too? We'll have to wait and see, because next chapter is with Waggles again! :D I feel like we haven't seen him in... *realizes we haven't had his POV since chapter 9* :/

To be fair, I originally intended 7 chapters to only be 4. XD Who knows how long I'll be writing at this rate? :)

Also, I don't know what y'all's tolerance for blood and gore is. I grew up in a medical family and grew up on epic movies like Star Wars and LOTR. So I'm pretty used to it. Let me know if you think I should use the blood and gore disclaimers in the future. :) (Remember, I can't read your minds.)