Gateway

         "Endings are new beginnings!" yelled the Enchantress. "When one door closes, another opens. If you cling to the past you will miss the future! You are the future. Focus your mind beyond time and space. Bend reality to your will and the very substance of the universe will submit to your command."

         Sweat formed in beads on Melody's forehead. She felt the cosmic energy swell around her fervently. It was invisible to the naked eye, but she could feel it the way a layperson could feel strong wind. She concentrated. She committed herself. She was molding reality to her will.

         "Good Melody, good. But you need more. Opening a multidimensional gateway is no easy task, otherwise anyone would do it," purred the Enchantress.

         Melody began to shake visibly. Her body tensed to the point of failure and exhaustion. Her safety rig, a harness designed to monitor her vital signs, began sounding klaxons. Her blood pressure was skyrocketing and her oxygen saturation was dropping fast. If she tried for much more she would black out.

         "How?" asked Melody desperately between clenched teeth. "How do I summon more?!?"

         "Focus on sustaining yourself. Use your energy to assist. You have gathered your will but you're fighting against it. Mother nature gave you this gift. Never fight against mother nature," sang the Enchantress.

         Melody usually loved the Enchantress for teaching Melody about her abilities. Right now she hated her. She felt her skull throb and her breaths came in gasps. She focused some of her energy on herself, seeing in her mind's eye, her lungs drawing more oxygen and her heart pumping stronger. It worked. Her safety rig fell silent. The energy around her began to crackle as the very fabric of physics and biochemistry submitted to her will.

         "Good, good," said the Enchantress.

         "Location" said Melody. She could breathe easier but was fighting to contain the power she had summoned.

         "You chose. We will have lunch there, just not on Earth" sang the Enchantress.

         Melody envisioned Tyco City on Titan. She focused on Lake Tyco, on the outskirts of the city, the little cafe her parents took her to when she was a child. She thought the space and willed a doorway into existence.

         A circular rainbow manifested from nothing. First it was small. As Melody poured her will into the doorway it grew. There was a sharp hiss as space and time folded multidimensionally. On the other side of the doorway Lake Tyco and the small cafe shimmered. She focused on solidifying the doorway. Passing through an unstable door could have disastrous results.

         Finally the Enchantress was satisfied.

         "Very well aspirants, we lunch on Titan," she said playfully.

         The aspirants stepped through hesitantly. One moment they were in New Chicago on Earth and the next they were stepping onto the terraformed moon. Melody looked up. She could see the planet Saturn high above. Images of her parents flooded her mind at the gateway she had opened slowly closed behind her. She could feel the eldritch energy she had summoned dissipate.

         The energy left her body like someone pulled the plug on a sink full of water. As the power she had summoned left, she felt the full effect of her efforts. Her heart and lungs, no longer assisted by her raw will, felt heavy and fatigued. Her knees buckled slightly and one of her fellow students stepped forward. She leaned on him, the spicy smell of his deodorant filling her nostrils. After a moment she felt her strength return. She steadied herself and nodded a thanks to her peer.

         "This is why we must train. The cosmo-paths use science and physics to travel through space and time. Humanity has placed it's faith in science for millennia. The advent of the Magus has changed that. Humans can now manipulate the very fabric of the universe, and not just this universe, but all the universes of the multiverse," bristled the Enchantress.

         Melody looked up again, drinking in the terraformed sky.

         "Aspirants, considering the wonderful job and effort Melody did in bringing us here we will take the rest of today off. We will meet back here tomorrow morning at 06:00. Accommodations have already been taken care of for your short stay. Dismissed," ordered the Enchantress.
         
         The cohort cheered and thanked both Melody and the Enchantress. Melody beamed at her peers, proud of what she had accomplished.

         As her peers left Melody turned to the cafe. The Enchantress beckoned her and Melody approaced.

         "I gave the cohort the rest of the day because I thought you might want to stop by your parent's memorial. How long has it been since you visited?"

         "Six years, but I didn't even think of that. I just really love Tycho lake and I love this cafe," replied Melody.

         "It's important that we keep those who are close to us in our hearts and we pay homage to them when ever we can," said the Enchantress solemnly.

         "I never even knew their names. Hell, I don't even know your name," said Melody regretfully.

         "You know why your parents couldn't tell you their name. The name of a thing gives you power over it. Some day you will be able to visit the archives and find out what their names were. I know it sounds harsh, but..."

         Melody interjected, "I understand the mechanics, but imagine calling your father Magus and your mother Enchantress..." Melody trailed off.

         "Your parents were the greatest of us, and their efforts is the reason why you and I are standing here on Titan. If you were ever captured you could be tortured for the simple knowledge of their name. They hid their names from you as much out of love as anything else."
         "You're right, I'm being childish," said Melody looking down at her feet, "I'll go see them."

         "We all have our moments dear," said the Enchantress with a hint of mirth, "Brilliant and baffling, we all have our moments."