I had been sitting there thinking for longer than I thought before Mahair’s exclamation snapped me out of it, but then I had a lot to process. The fact that we seemed to be at the start of a very real apocalypse was at the bottom of that list of concerns says a lot about just how fucked up my life was. The clock said 7:08 so that meant that we had just under two hours before it was time to move everyone and everything of value to the sanctuary, wherever that was. From what little attention I had been paying to the outside world I knew that Mahair was on the phone working out the details with the other Queens. Whatever was said in the conference call to prompt her to start cursing, Mahair didn’t look pleased by the news at all.

She hung up the phone with a frown. “The military is moving on the New York Branch. The security measures and defensive spells should hold them off long enough for our Magi to teleport everything away but they’ll have to start moving everything in the next five minutes. The problem is that we believe that two of our evacuation sites have been compromised, including the one in the States. It’s a good thing we sent people ahead of time to check. We’re going to have to move all the Courts to one location to be safe.”

“Which site?” Narek asked in concern. “Are any of them even big enough to hold all four Courts and all of our allies?”

“No, none of them. Well maybe the Japan site, but it would be crowded,” Mahair said with a shake of her head.

~ You must go to Varüus’kiel my child,~ an unfamiliar voice said. The voice was soft, gentle, and soothing, like waves caressing a beach.

I swung my head around looking for the speaker but the only ones in the conference room were my Mahair, Pájar, and myself. “Varüus’kiel?” I wondered aloud. It wasn’t a Fae name or word that I had heard before.

The eyes of both my Fae parents widened in surprise and my Mahair asked in a hushed tone, “Taelya, how do you know that name?”

“I… uhhh… was just repeating it,” I said as I looked around again self-consciously. “I thought that maybe you said it. What does it mean?”

“It’s the name of Danu’s center of power and the place where the Four were first created. It is forbidden to the uninvited and it has been known by many names among humans but the Celts called it Tír na nÓg. Usually, the only time we return there is for Councils, but if Danu has returned along with magick then the island has returned as well. If you heard that name, it means that we’re going home,” Mahair said picking up the phone again.

While I was lost in thought for over an hour before Amoiraishe had snapped out of it I’d done plenty of thinking. With my intimate knowledge of the Fae and how seriously they took their Goddess-given-duties, I could understand why Amoiraishe did what she did. It didn’t mean that I approved of her changing people without their consent, and yes I was a bit angry about it even with my Fae perspective, but I did understand why and the reasoning behind it.

Other people may not understand and many would likely be furious, but I could get it. I also liked being Taelya, and I liked the relationship that I had with Amoiraishe. Sure my Human mom had raised Karin and me on her own, but she had often been working so much to put food on the table and money aside for our education that she hadn’t been there for us as much as she should have, especially during our teens. It was why Karin and I had depended on one another so much. Amoiraishe was different, if we needed her for anything she’d be there and she wanted to be involved in our lives. In fact, she could be damn overprotective sometimes.

Narek I was pissed at though. He had not only conspired to change my gender against my will, but he had gone behind Amoiraishe’s back doing it. Okay, sure I was comfortable being a Fae female now, but that was beside the point. It was the principle of the thing. As Mahair was on the phone he approached me and said without an ounce of remorse, “I did what I felt was right, Taelya. I…”

“Bullshit!” I snapped furiously. “If you just needed a Queen or a stand-in for the Winter Court then you could have used the F.I.T to make your mother young and healthy again or done this to one of those guys playing Yseil'dhraí there. Better yet, you could have changed your own fucking gender!”

“It wasn’t just about a Queen for the Winter Court,” he said with a sad shake of his head as he tried to calmly explain. “Mahair refuses to use the F.I.T, she says that her time is past. And an Autumn Court Yseil'dhraí in the Winter Court would have revealed my plan too early. I needed you. Amoiraishe seemed certain that you would make a good leader, even as a male, and that you were eager to play a Magus. I needed a Yseil'dhraí in the Autumn Server to receive Rhaennan’s gifts. She was, and now you are, one of the most powerful Fae ever born and we are going to need that power in the battles ahead of us.”

“And the memories?! Am I even me anymore, or just some twisted replacement of your daughter?!” I argued, gripping my fists tightly at my sides and using every iota of self-control I had not to turn him into a mouse.

Narek kept speaking calmly. “As I said, the last thing that I wanted was another Rhaennan, I needed you. There were no changes made to your personality, or anyone’s for that matter. We just gave you a few memories to help make sense of your new forms and identities and new skills that you selected yourselves. You are aware that those memories aren’t really yours and we tried to make them pleasant for the most part. Everything else in there is your personality, your own memories are still there and we took none of that from you. You have each incorporated those new skills and memories into your lives based on who you are inside, we only gave you more to work with and tried to make you comfortable in your new forms.”

The Winter Court Yseil'dhraí paused for a moment, letting out a deep sigh. “I’m glad that it was you, Taelya. I like and respect you and I think that you’ll use that power wisely, especially now that you know where Rhaennan went wrong. I want to make this up to you, I think that if maybe we spend some time together and if you get to know your sister Tíana…”

“I’m not your daughter! I’m your fucking science project!” I shouted. Amoiraishe looked up from her phone conversation in concern, but both of us had gone silent as I stormed over to the other side of the room leaving Narek standing there with a pained expression on his face.

After Amoiraishe’s hurried conference call was completed, she informed us that the Winter Court was evacuating the New York Branch and we made our way back to the elevator and downstairs to the secured area with the F.I.Ts. I kind of hated myself at the moment for the way that I had lost it with Narek, especially since I had spent those long minutes since my explosion thinking about what he had told me and why he had done what he did. I may not have agreed with his methods but everything that he had done was for the Fae. This was about our survival, being able to do our duty to maintain the balance of nature and magick, and our ability to survive the challenges ahead and possibly a war on two fronts until we could forge a lasting peace with the Humans. And I just totally caught myself thinking of myself as Fae again, but I guess I was one even before I entered the game.

“You know Mahair,” I said conversationally to break the awkward silence as we rode the elevator down. “Certain governments are going to be going after as much of your assets as they can get their grubby little hands on.”

“Our assets, my little rose,” she clarified with a smile before shrugging. “You and your sister are family, even should you choose not to stay as you now are. We’re moving everything and everyone important to me. We won’t let them get what they’re after.”

“But your company,” I argued. Then everything that she had just hit me and I stared at her in shock. “Wait, what do you mean by ‘should we choose to stay as we are now’?”

She sighed and I could see the sadness and the worry written all over her face. “If you truly do not like your current forms we can always change you again, you could even go back to being a human male should you wish it. We took blood samples from each of you before you began to change, we reversed what small changes that Dennis and the other members of H3lls-Pwn went through using their samples before pulling them out of their F.I.Ts. I am not without any compassion or morality, dear one. You will all be given that option, even if it means losing you, I swear it.”

She tried to shake off her dismal expression and quickly changed the topic to address my other point. “As for this building and the company; Pegasus Entertainment is just a business, one that has already served its purpose, and Moira Llewellyn was just another in a long line of fictional names. Besides, I’ve been building and hiding fortunes for almost four hundred years and I have money in places and under names that they’ll never be able to find or access. We’ll have enough to get started, but the real work is still ahead of us if we’re going to make peace and restore the balance.”

The doors opened on the secure sub-basement level and I thought about my Mahair’s words as we walked toward the high-security area. If what Mahair was saying was true, and she wouldn’t have sworn to it otherwise, then everyone would have a choice whether they stayed as they were now and could go back to being their old selves. Did I want to stay as Taelya? I liked who I was now and if all of this really was real then I had a duty to my people and to the world as a whole to try to restore the balance. I didn’t like the idea of not having a choice in the matter, but now that that didn’t seem to be the case there was no doubt in my mind. I was going to stay as Taelya.

It was as I came to that momentous decision that we passed through the thick steel security doors and my Pájar secured them behind us. Yes, I was calling him my Pájar, but only because we were blood-related. I was still pissed at him so he would have to earn the title, but I’d give him the chance that my human father should have had.

We entered the large room in the sub-basement where I had climbed into a F.I.T and this whole thing had begun and I looked around at the F.I.Ts uncertainly. We were the last ones to arrive and the room was already filled with F.I.T attendants and other employees milling around the F.I.Ts in the massive room. Each of those tubes had a player inside, many of whom were about to get a very rude awakening. We would be lucky if they didn’t riot after they woke up in the bodies of their game characters.

I now knew though that there was another floor beneath this one with more F.I.Ts, though those contained regular water rather than whatever green transformation sauce that had been used to change us. Those F.I.Ts housed our guests from the other Courts and many of the ‘NPC’s from the Glade such as Naerysse and Brynna waiting to be awakened along with the players. It seemed that there were quite a few of the animals on that lower level as well. Ghost, Theíldhúr, the Wisps, some Cú sídhe, and the familiars of the various Witches were all down there in specialized chambers waiting to join us.

It was that lower level that Mahair planned to revive first. For one thing, we might need the extra bodies to control things if things got of hand while waking the players. Some of those faces would be familiar and comforting to some players too, such as Brynna and Naerysse who had been developing relationships with their new daughters Salem and Daenyss. Also, I didn’t want to think of what it would be like waking Ghost and Theíldhúr in the midst of getting players settled, and since Mahair, Narek, and I were the only ones outside the F.I.Ts who could keep the Vsilja calm we would need to be on hand when they woke.

About a dozen of the F.I.Ts on the lower level were huge, twice as big as the one that I had been in. They were so tall that the attendants and anyone helping had to use a built-on ladder to get to the top to open it up and begin the revival process and there was a vacuum sealed door on the side to make it easier for the occupants to get out once revived. Apparently, they had been built for the Namahage on Spring Server since they could get up to nine feet tall. So they had decided to use some of these larger ones for the NPC Vsilja and Cú sídhe as well. There were smaller ones too that contained the Sprite, Pixie, and small animal NPCs. Mahair led me to two of the larger ones and while F.I.T attendants and employees started on deactivating the other tubes and waking their occupants we concentrated on helping the attendants that were waking the Vsilja.

Ghost was panicking at first from being in a strange place and I could sense her panic and worry for me until Alysse and I managed to get the complex headpiece/oxygen mask off her and the water started to drain from the tube into the attached reserve tank. Then I placed myself right in her field of vision and reached out a hand as I smiled at her. “Easy girl, you’re safe and I’m right here by your side.” As soon as my hand touched her head she calmed right down and began to nuzzle me affectionately in relief. Although she looked a little annoyed with getting all the tubes, medical monitors, and other paraphernalia removed she did remain still for it until the water was fully drained to the reserve tank and Alysse was finished.

It was as she finished and Alysse was opening a vacuum-sealed side panel to let Ghost out that I was assaulted by a tiny, and very wet, pink, and black blur. I was just trying to calm Willow down and assure her that everything was alright when Ghost stepped out of the huge F.I.T and shook all of the excess water from her hide. Great, now my clothes were half soaked, but I forgave them both. I was just too happy to see them both alive and well out here in the real world with me, especially Ghost. I was afraid that I had lost her for good after the battle with Mòrag.

I was going to see if anyone needed my help reviving the other F.I.T occupants from this level, but it looked like it was mostly under control, and those who were comfortable with wearing clothes were getting dressed. As I turned I caught sight of Kinara’s bright pink hair as the Summer Court Yseil'dhraí walked toward me, looking very self-conscious as she gently stroked Kimmie, who was resting on her shoulder and basking in the attention. “Taelya… I’m… I would have told you if…”

I stepped forward to wrap my apprentice up in a hug. “I know, you swore an oath. There’s nothing to forgive. I’ve had some time to cool off and think about it and I can understand why all of you did this. Some people are going to be upset, but they’ll either realize that they’re happier as they are now or they’ll go back to being who they were with a great story to tell their grandkids.”

“And you?” my apprentice asked uncertainly.

“I’ll be staying as is,” I assured her. “Mahair said I have a choice, but I don’t think that I really do. I’m happy and comfortable like this, I probably would have been at least part-Fae anyway, and my people need me. If I went back to being Caleb or something else I’d just be doing it out of spite and that’s not who I am or who I want to be. I think that Lissany and Rei will probably stay the way they are too.”

“Our whole party has decided to stay as they are,” Kinara said with a nod. At my obvious look of confusion, she shrugged. “Right after you were logged out Amoiraishe uploaded an announcement explaining everything and showing various news reports from the outside world so everyone has had a day to think about it. Most people either didn’t believe it yet or were pissed off about being changed against their will, but our group was close to Amoiraishe and all of them already had suspicions like you did. Sheriff Shaw and Tien were the same, they’re both a bit concerned about their families but neither of them changed much physically and they both got magick out of the deal.”

“I know that Tien’s aunt is safe, I talked with her earlier and we’ll do what we can to help people’s families, those of us that have them. Maybe we can bring them with us if they’re open-minded and wish to join us,” I offered hopefully. It didn’t really surprise me that, given time to think it over, my party mates would choose to stay as they were. We were all happier, had a purpose now, and had gained something valuable from the experience.

Lissany and Rei would never have to feel dysphoria again and my sister could be herself and people wouldn’t bat an eye or dare disapprove because she was Tokh'dhraí. Venika had gotten a sort of freedom she hadn’t had since college and she didn’t have to worry about her daughter and her gender issues all of the time. Pete was a respected warrior and not just some middle-of-the-road gamer and he had admitted to Nishalle that he was a little ashamed of his real-world body. Grell loved techie stuff and now he could make cutting edge artificed technology that could do things he’d never even dreamed of before.

Robyn hadn’t changed physically, but she was one hell of a dancer now when she’d had two left feet before and she could reach people with her music in a way that nobody else but a fellow Bard could. Rob was much more capable of protecting her now too and he seemed to revel in that. Salem would never have to go back to a wheelchair and she could make a positive impact on the environment like she always wanted. And then there was Daenyss. My Attendant didn’t know anything else and I thought that she was happy now between our friendship and her growing relationship with Salem. And I think that relationships were maybe one of the most important factors of all, those of us who weren’t already in relationships had formed one in the game that they were worried would vanish once we returned to our real lives.

With everyone in the NPC level awake and as prepared as they were going to be, we headed back to the upper sub-basement level to wake the players. Sahnae had taken charge of a few of the Fae mages and they would remain behind to teleport all the F.I.Ts, the main server, and all of the other equipment to Varüus’kiel and meet up with the other Courts that were evacuating or had already done so. Mahair started a mass logout sequence before we headed up and as soon as we were back on the Players’ level, we started to help the F.I.T attendants to wake everyone.

With most of the employees of Pegasus Entertainment and all of the NPCs that we had just awoken from downstairs, we were able to complete the revival process fairly quickly. We were going to need every Fae mage that knew the Exodus spell or could learn it quickly if we were going to move everything and everyone in one trip. Mahair wanted that done ASAP.

We found Venika’s F.I.T first, or rather we followed Silverheels to it. The F.I.T was considerably smaller than most of the others, almost a dollhouse version. I had seen several of these though and Kinara explained that they had used a similar spell as Mahair had on Rei’s Lindwyrm-hide armor and her sahir kien to change the size of the various equipment as the players shrank down to Sprite size. They had even prepared for shrinking power plugs and the like by equipping the F.I.Ts with internal artificed power supplies. All of the F.I.Ts and the server had them, though they hadn’t been expecting to switch to them from the city power so early. Alysse had said it was a bit hectic activating them all when the power unexpectedly died.

Of course, the second that Venika was out of her F.I.T Silverheels pounced her. The Sprite just sighed and tried to look stern, but I could see the tiny little half-smile as she muttered, “Yeah, yeah, I’m happy to see you too.”

Salem and Daenyss had been extracted by their respective Fae mothers and were amid happy reunions when we found them and Rei was the last that we found from our group. As soon as she was out of the green goop and all of the medical stuff we shared a long passionate kiss. “Mmmmm. I love you, Babe,” he said grinning at me. He was in the real world and he was male, though he had quickly switched to female just to be sure it was possible and the exhilarated look on his face as he changed back was enough to bring tears to my eyes as he asked, “Are you gonna be okay with this?”

“Yeah, this is who I am, maybe who I was meant to be all along. I’m good so long as I have you. We’ll need to re-make our sahir kien when we get the time though.” Sadly we weren’t able to hold onto the moment because there were still plenty of people to wake but we did take a moment to have a happy reunion as a party. I had so much to tell all of them, especially my sister, but now wasn’t the time. We needed to hurry, so we were waking people as fast as was safe.

Once we had all of the players out of their F.I.Ts my Mahair called out for attention among the confusion and pockets of hostile players who weren’t too happy to find out that they really did wake in their game bodies like Amoiraishe’s message had claimed. When she had a sort of grudging silence she addressed the crowd of transformed players. “Congratulations! You have all finished a training simulation meant to prepare you for the new reality that our world faces. Yes, you have been changed, but so has the world and you have been trained to survive the dangers of this new world now that the Veil has collapsed and magick has returned.”

There was some whispering at that, panicked for some and angry for others, but Amoiraishe continued her speech. “From now on there are no safe zones and no automatic respawns, we will survive with our wits, our skills, and by working together. For completing your training you have all earned an Apocalypse Dawn prize package. If you go to the locker room to my right, you will find showers to clean up and a locker with your name on it. Inside those lockers, you will find clothes that should fit you, your personal belongings, and suitable equipment. Please hurry though as we will have to evacuate in just over forty minutes.”

“And what if we decide that we don’t want to be part of this freak show,” Hawkin said with a sneer from the front of the crowd, causing Salem’s former party and some of the other malcontents to loudly voice their own protests.

Amoiraishe was undeterred and remained calm. “Then you are free to leave as you are now with my blessing and hopes that you survive. Or we can return you to your former body, or another of your choosing, once we have the F.I.Ts set up in another location.”

“What if I decide that I want to be like her?” Hawkin countered, jabbing a finger toward where I was standing with Ghost and trying to keep her calm.

“Then you would be disappointed,” the Autumn Court Queen responded coolly. “The required skills for Yseil’dhraí characters were limited to keep those focused on power who would abuse such a position from choosing it and we will not be artificially creating any others. Taelya chose to play one of us because she was willing to face challenges to do what she truly wished to do and regardless she and her sister already had the bloodline before entering the game.”

Nishalle gave me a questioning look and I silently mouthed, “Later.”

As I was doing that Hawkin rounded on me again. “See! She gives everything to that red-headed bimbo of hers, but what did she give us? She just changed us against our fucking will!”

Lissany and Nishalle were quick to step between us and to everyone’s surprise, especially Hawkin’s, Lissany’s armor and weapons appeared just as they would have if she consciously summoned them in-game. Nishalle only took a moment to consider that before using her own summoning mark, causing her Lindwyrm-hide armor and weapons to appear as well. Hawkin took a step back now that he was confronted with my two fully equipped protectors who both looked like they would be only too willing to end him.

I was already pissed off with Hawkin. It was all about power, glory, and being the center of attention with that asshole. He wasn’t getting enough for his liking so he was trying to turn the situation to his advantage. “ENOUGH! This isn’t a game anymore!” I shouted, as for the first time in the real world I reached out to gather mana. Keeping one hand firmly on Ghost, so she wouldn’t do anything against the hostile Human, I spoke the sigils and drew them with my free hand. “Kaida nihala ysoldir Hawkin!”

The crowd stepped back from Hawkin as he began to glow and change shape, his large muscular form becoming smaller, more slender, and distinctly feminine. After a moment the transformation was complete and a very attractive redheaded Human girl in her late teens with pale brown eyes stood where Hawkin’s form had been a moment earlier. I stepped between my protectors and leveled a cold glare toward the new girl. “That is what it’s like being changed against your will, and now you look as close to me as a Human can. Is that what you wanted? It’s as close as you’re going to get because I’ll be damned if I’m going to let some hateful and selfish bag of shit like you ever wear the form of a Yseil’dhraí!”

I tried not to wince at the dirty looks that I got from Venika and Mahair for swearing. Now that I seemed to have everyone’s attention I wanted to keep it. I spoke as clearly as possible, using stored mana to project my voice so that everyone in the large chamber could hear my words. “It’s true, none of us were told that we should be changed like this before we joined the game, but would we have believed her if she had told us? She gave you as much choice in the matter as she could. You chose to join the game. You chose your Races, classes, and even what you looked like. You chose the skills that you wanted to take. You even have the choice if you wish to stay this way or go back to who you were before.”

I let all that sink in for a moment before continuing. “We have been given a chance. A far better chance to survive than anyone else out there has right now and you’re all complaining about it? Everything in the game, that was just training for what’s out here in the real world now. It’s your choice whether you want to face that with everything that you have been given and the friends that you have made or to give it up because you can’t appreciate the things you’ve gained because of things you think you’ve lost. News Flash! Our lives would have changed regardless when the veil fell and at least now we’ve had some control over how!”

The crowd was milling around and quite a few of them seemed to be coming around from what I’d said so I decided to give them some direction. “Now everyone should get showered, changed, and geared up, we don’t have much time. We will sort out who wants to be changed back and try to help the families of anyone who is sticking with us once we’re settled in the new location.”

Players began moving toward the locker room and I looked toward Hawkin who looked very uncomfortable and was shaking a little. She had stood there looking stunned throughout my whole speech and now she looked like she might break down crying at any time. I knew all too well what she was probably feeling like, but I had made my point and I didn’t want anyone to have to go through that if they didn’t have to, so I dispelled the transformation spell.

“Dysphoria sucks doesn’t it?” I pointed out. “That’s just a taste of what some of us have had to go through. Remember this, because if you ever cross me or my people again you will have a choice between making that permanent or the Wild Hunt. Stay, or leave now, make a choice. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that we could use you though, you’re a capable warrior when you’re not being a self-centered asshole.”

“Holy shit, I really am an asshole, aren’t I?” he mumbled to himself as he looked down at his hands.

“Yeah, you are, but the first step of getting better is admitting that you have a problem, so congratulations. A lot of people overcompensate online when they think that they’re anonymous, especially in games where they get in character and can be someone other than themselves for a change. You’re not in a game anymore and there are people here who would be your friends if you’d be yourself and let them, most of us were outcasts with little or no real family or friends.”

Hawkin looked thoughtful for a moment and I think that it was the first time that I’d ever really seen him do any really deep thinking. “I’ll stay, but I need to think about whether this is who I want to be long-term.”

“I’ll warn you, people are going to be leery about getting too close to you, especially me,” I cautioned him. Nishalle and Lissany who had remained behind while the others went to shower and change nodded their agreement.

“Why give me the choice at all then?” Hawkin asked, looking genuinely confused.

My sister gave Hawkin a stern look as she said, “Because that’s what Taelya does. She cares about everyone and tries to bring out the best in them. I’m not that foolish. If I ever think that you’re going to do anything to hurt my sister I will kill you before she has a chance to regret giving you this opportunity, and you will never see it coming.”

Hawkin paled and remained quiet and thoughtful as we all headed toward the showers so they could wash off the green goo and get changed. Since I was already clean and dressed I went to my locker to see what might be inside. The clothes that I had worn when I arrived as Caleb were there but I wouldn’t need those, though I did grab my old wallet and shoved it in the black leather purse that had been provided, just in case I needed to try to access my old bank account or something. Other than that there was the make-up kit that Alysse had used on me earlier, a pack of the brand of tampons I had used in-game, and a couple of boxes of ammo for my Colts, all of which I added to the purse as well.

Just to test it, I focused on my summoning mark. As I felt the familiar tingle of magick my dress and slippers were immediately replaced by my Lindwyrm-hide outfit/armor, my guns in their thigh holsters, my ammo pouches, and the swords that Narek had given me hooked onto my belt. Pleased that I wouldn’t have to find new equipment I quickly dismissed them again and waited for the other players to finish getting ready.

Daenyss didn’t have a locker, but a chest with a sigil on it that matched the one in-game that she placed items in to summon with one of her Nasyr taka. A quick check showed that her Attendant supplies and combat gear were inside, including her disassembled Dragon. Her Lindwyrn-hide armor wasn’t there, but she had gotten a separate mark to summon that when the rest of the party had gotten ours as well. Once Daenyss was done showering I helped her to move the chest into the chamber with the F.I.Ts.

Soon everyone was dressed and ready, many of whom had been provided better gear than they had had in the game. It seemed that while we were in the game artificers, magi, and smiths had been very busy preparing for our arrival by creating, replicating, or otherwise ‘acquiring’ gear. There were even some crates of general supplies, military-grade hardware, and various electronics and other useful items that had been retrieved from the aborted sanctuaries.

Since we didn’t want any of our Magi draining themselves to the point of exhaustion by trying to move too much at once, Venika and I went over the Exodus spell with my three apprentices. Once they all seemed to have a good grasp of both it and the name of our destination we all split up with the other Magi and got started. It took longer than I would have liked but all of us were tagging, F.I.Ts, equipment, computers, and everything else that Mahair didn’t want the vultures to get their hands on once we were gone, and we were doing it as quickly as we could.

When everything had been tagged by one Magus or another we prepared our spells. I waited until everyone else was done and then I focused on all of the players and equipment that I had tagged, making sure that nothing else had been left behind. Once I was certain that I had everything, I focused on my destination, drew in all the mana that I could, and then spoke and drew the sigils. “Kaida liantuir tala siashe Varüus’kiel!”