“And how did he find us here?” I asked.
“Well we weren’t exactly secret about anything. If he was looking for us it would only be a matter of time before he found us.”
I took a couple of breaths so that I could relax and think properly. “I think that we should be safe from him. Judging from the information we got about the Forbidden Domain it is likely that his powers in our world was derived from the game system.”
Then I held up my hand, “And if that is not enough then I am prepared to use all the Tools that I have.” The nine symbols glowed for a moment on the back of my hand.”
“Thanks” said Valarie as she peeked around the door frame once again. When she pulled back she said, “Martin is coming this way.”
We both stood up and moved back to more normal positions in the kitchen. He arrived in the kitchen and looked between us. I was cutting vegetables that had already been cut and Valarie was looking at the list of orders that she had already taken. We probably didn’t do the best job at hiding that we had seen something.
Martin moved into the room and waved us near him, “Hey Valarie, Yiskah, somebody is wanting to speak with you. Out in the main room is a woman named Marilyn Linson and she is a government worker whose job it is to disprove supernatural claims.”
I meet eye with Valarie before I said, “Supernatural claims? And she wants to talk with us?”
“Yes, she had a man with her who claims that you came out of his computer and threatened him. There aren’t any criminal charges so if you want me to turn them away then I can do that.”
“But that won’t solve the problem will it?” I asked.
“No, it won’t but it is still your choice.” Said Martin.
“Alright then, we will speak with them however I want it to be in private. Do you think we can use the break room to talk.”
Martin nodded. He went back into the main room and we headed to the break room.
“What do you think we should say?” Asked Valarie.
“I…” My voice shook for a second before I grit my teeth and managed to say, “I think we should tell the truth. I have lived through a lot of time that was based off lies. If we want to move on with our lives we can not do that by lying.”
Valarie looked down and eventually said, “Yes, your right. Especially with Him there. It is probably the only way to ride myself of his shadow.”
We entered the break room and I setup the table. I put three chairs on the side facing the door and two chairs on the other side. Then me and Valarie took out seats facing the door. Only a couple of minutes later He entered the room with Marilyn Linson and Martin Bryant.
I motioned with my hand and the two of them took their seats. I could see that He wanted to say something but the glowering Marilyn was keeping him in check. Martin still stayed at the door until I said, “Martin, I want you to be here too. You offered your hospitality to us.”
He nodded and took the last remaining chair on the same side as me and Valarie.
With all five of us seated Marilyn spoke, “Thank you for speaking with me today.”
I held up my hand, “First, there is something I need to get out of the way.” I turned to Him and said, “Hello, I am Yiskah Page and this is Valarie Bordelon. What is your name?”
He gapped for a second and looked at Marilyn who nodded and then he said, “I’m Lyle Clarke. Then you really are Valarie and Yiskah?”
“Lyle Clarke.” I narrowed my eyes at him, “I do not, can not forgive you. Keep that in mind.”
He moved his mouth trying to find something to say but I turned away from him and back to the woman. “Martin said that your name was Marilyn Linson. Is that correct?” She nodded and I continued, “I have accepted your offer to listen to your questions. Now if you could explain what this is about.”
“Yes, of course.” She said, “I am the project director of Project Mayfly. My job is to investigate claims of supernatural activity and disprove them. At least all of the investigations I have done so far has resulted in my disproving them. Around a week ago Mr Clarke he was directed to my office from the police to investigate his claim that two woman came out of his computer and threatened him with a sword before leaving his house. These two woman he claimed were two characters from the game The Forbidden Domain. One was named Yiskah and the other was named Valarie.”
Lyle leaned over and said to Marilyn, “There last names were Page and Bordelon by the way.” Marilyn seemed to ignore him.
She continued, “Those are your names as well, us that correct.”
I nodded, “Yes, that is correct. My name is indeed Yiskah, and hers is Valarie.
“And those are your real names?” She asked.
“Yes those are indeed our real names.” I said.
She hesitated like she didn’t want to continue, like she was uncertain about what I was going to say.
“Were you in Lyle Clarke’s house a week ago.”
“Yes.”
“Did you threaten him with a sword.”
“Yes.”
There was the hesitation again before she said, “Did you come out of his computer?”
“I do not know.”
Marilyn Linson squinted, “What do you meant that you do not know?”
“I mean that I do not know if the world that we existed in before we arrived here was inside his computer or not. I personally do not believe that it did.”
Marilyn licked her lips like she was waiting for something. “Then you are claiming to not come from this world and that you come from a world like the Forbidden Domain.”
I nodded, “Yes, that is correct. Our world was exactly like the Forbidden Domain.”
Lyle spoke again, “Then I was… The games that I was playing, you experienced those?” His eyes were surprised like he had known it but hadn’t understood the repercussions.
Me and Valarie both nodded at his question.
Marilyn Linson held up her hand to pause the conversation. “Wait. Even though you both and Mr. Clarke both agree on the story does not make it real.” She looked over at Martin and asked him, “I assume that this is the first that you have heard of it? Do you have any evidence that this story is true.”
Martin shrugged, “My employee’s background are not really my issue. If they say they came to this world via magic then that happened. Of course it is not my job to pretend that magic does not exist. Now if you want evidence then I’m afraid that I do not have anything definitive. I can say that Yiskah had a credit card with that name on it but that it no longer works and that neither of them have valid identification cards.”
I smiled while I waited for them to finish talking.
“That unfortunately is not sufficient proof.” She looked over and me, “Any what are you smiling about? You can’t expect me to just believe you can you?”
“Of course not.”
“Then you are planning on proving it?”
“Yes.”
“And how are you planning on doing that?”
I turned to Lyle and said, “Lyle should be able to answer that. How I plan on proving our story.”
Everybody had their eyes on Lyle. He pushed himself slightly back in his chair like he was trying to avoid our gaze. “How Yiskah can prove she is who she is? That, I don’t know… Oh!” Then understanding dawned on his face. “Of course, that is so simple. They came from a story, a world, where magic is real. Both Valarie and Yiskah can use magic. Although Valarie’s magic is too dangerous to show the same is not true about Yiskah.” He looked at me. He was not young, probably a little bit older than me yet not that he was real in front of me he felt immature.
“You brought them here didn’t you? Your tools?” He asked.
I nodded, “As much as I hate to admit it you know me far too well, more than I am comfortable with. Valarie, which do you recommend that I demonstrate?”
“How about the Lantern of Illumination?” She said casually.
“Good choice.” I help up my right hand. The rune glowed there for the Lantern of Illumination. Like many of my tools the Lantern was multipurpose however one of its uses was a bright flash of light that was strong enough to blind people.
Me, Valarie, and Lyle managed to close our eyes in time before the room was bathed in super bright light. I could head Martin and Marilyn shout in surprise and pain. Adjusting your eyes to this much light was like staring into the sun. Against those that were unprepared it was a good distraction.
I opened my eyes as the light faded and place the small glowing lantern that I now held on the table. Each of the Tools took a form while active and the Lantern of Illumination was, well, a lantern.
Martin and Marilyn were still recovering. As they did so I asked, “Was that enough of a demonstration.”
As Marilyn got her eyes adjusted again and could see the glowing lantern she reached out and touched it. It was solid beneath her fingers. She looked at me with no small amount of awe, like she had seen something that she had been waiting years to see. “How? How did you do that?”
“Is magic not enough of an explanation for you?” I said.
Martin whistled, “Well, I’ll be. Not the most impressive display that I could imagine but definitely flashy, literally.”
Marilyn sat back down and looked up at the ceiling.
There was a moment while everybody sat around silently. “Oh, right” I said and just in time managed to fish out my phone from my pocket. My small keychain of Shīringuken was there and I can used the Dimensional Seal to combine it with the real Shīringuken. However there are certain incompatibilities between my different Tools and one was between the Dimensional Seal and the Lantern of Illumination. It was one of the reasons that I used the Lantern so infrequently.
The Seal broke because it had been near the Lantern to long, changing the small plastic keychain into the full sized Shīringuken. I then placed the sword on the table in front of the others. “And here is the other answer. How I managed to threaten Him,” I paused and corrected myself, “Lyle with a sword. Do you need any further proof.”
Marilyn shook her head still partially at loss for words. Lyle tried to reach out to touch Shīringuken but I glared at him and he withdrew his hand.
Valarie turned to Martin and said, “I’m sorry we kept this information from you. We felt uncertain and threatened by this new world however we came to the decision that we should tell people about it. We didn’t think that we could continue to live in this world unless at least somebody knew.”
Martin placed his hand on Valarie’s shoulder. “You know when I first saw you two I knew you felt odd. Many people call me odd too. Me and other odd people tent get along and we all tend to get into trouble so I like to help them. However I didn’t realize quite how magical you would turn out to be. I guess we learn a little bit every day.”
He patted her shoulder and stood up. “Well, I’m sure you have more to show us but I’m afraid I can’t stay away from the front too much longer. Unless you have more surprising to show right now then you can fill me in later.”