Frederica stared at the middle of her ritual circle. She was sure she had done ritual right this time. And she had summoned something. But not the Crystal Phoenix she had gained the esssence ability to summon. The naked, hairless human woman looked around fearfully as she pushed herself onto her knees, trying to hide her nakedness with her arms and the legs pulled up to her chest. The spell broke, and Frederica moved towards the remains of the circle, pulling her own robe over her head, which she had worn over her own clothes.
"Here," Frederica said, handing the woman the robe. The woman's eyes went from Frederica's face, to her pointed ears, then to the robe, which she took "I don't know if you can understand me, but I'm truly sorry for what's happened to you. I didn't mean to summon you. Where are you from?"
"Edinburgh," the woman said, as she pulled on the robe, standing up "What happened to me? What happened to my hair? Why am I naked?"
The questions came fast, and the woman's accent was thick, and not one that Frederica was familiar with.
Frederica looks to the high priestess, who was observing from the back.
"Can I take her outside? This will take some explaining," she asked. The high priestess nods.
"We will clean up the ritual," the high priestess said, then looks to the unfamiliar woman "I am truly sorry for what has happened to you. I checked the ritual myself."
Frederica led the woman out of the room, and turned right towards the gardens.
"Can you explain to me what the hell is going on?" the woman asked, as Frederica led her out into the gardens.
"How familiar are you with astral magic, and familiar summoning?" Frederica asked
"Nothing at all," the woman said "The strange screen in-front of me says something about Astral Affinity, but I have no idea what that means."
"Strange screen?" Frederica muttered, then shrugged "I do not understand what you mean. Is that something from your world?"
"My world?" the woman asks, her eyes widening "You mean I'm not in my world?"
"Your Astral Affinity racial gift would suggest so," Frederica said "Humans don't usually get that... you know what? I'll try to explain as simply as I can. Think of the cosmos like a bowl of dumpling soup. Your world is a dumpling, my world is a dumpling, every world is a dumpling. The astral is the soup through which we are all floating. The more soup each dumpling has, the more of the astral is flowing into this universe, taking the form of essences, awakening stones, quintessence and monsters. Does that make sense so far?"
"I think so," the woman says
"Ok, so when doing a familiar summoning ritual, you are drawing magic from the astral to create a physical vessel for the astral form... like a soul of your familiar. However, when the conditions are just right, or wrong depending on your point of view, a ritual can accidentally draw a soul from another universe into this one, creating a new body on arrival in this universe. That's why you're an Outworlder, and not a human."
The woman sits down on a bench. "You've really dropped some bombs on me."
Frederica looked confused, but sat down next to her. "We'll do what we can to get you home. Travel through the Astral is tricky, but if anyone can get you home, my god can. She might have to get permission from the other gods, but it should be possible."
"God? God is real here?" the woman asked
"Gods. Plural. I serve Travel, who governs the journey between one place and another."
"I'm going to be here for awhile, aren't I?" the woman said "If gods have to agree to send me back."
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