The Outlands

Tess lurched forward, caught in mid-stride by a sudden teleport. “Huh? What happened? Where are we?”

“I…don’t know.” Ellie said. “And I’m…in a dress?”

“Ah, this thing.” Amy said. Tess turned to face her, and found, to her surprise, that Amy had a sort of…dress made of slime on. “Transdimensional party.” She said. “Bunch of seemingly random but important people get teleported here from different times and different places, we all have a nice party, then we get teleported back with no memory of what happened.”

“Looks like it’s just us and Amy from our planes this time.” Amara said. “For now, you two can just sort of…wait around until we find somewhere for you to be. And you will find somewhere to be, so just…relax and let it happen, I guess.”

Already, people were beginning to walk up and talk to Amy, and Amara seemed to know a fair number of people too, so Tess and Ellie were just left…awkwardly standing there.

“So…this isn’t how I expected our evening to go.” Ellie said. “But…I guess this could be a good time.”

“Maybe, I guess it depends on who we’ll be matched up with.” Tess said. “It’s…well, a little weird knowing that everyone here is from a different time and place.”

“Yeah, that is a little strange, but I guess that’s not too different from when we first went to the Outlands.” Ellie replied. “The from a different place part, not the time part. Though…I guess having hovercars is a bit futuristic?”

“I suppose it is, now that you mention it.” Tess admitted.

She and Ellie kept chatting until, after a minute or two more, Amara showed up again. “Hey, you two, I have someone to introduce you to, follow me!” She grabbed Tess and Ellie’s arms, and gently towed them off to Amy, who was talking with a pair of people.

One was a succubus that bore an odd resemble to Amara, while the other seemed to be some sort of tall angel-demon hybrid. The hybrid made Tess feel strangely; though her posture was nervous, something about her was oddly intimidating, and definitely not normal, even when compared to the other hybrid species Tess had seen.

Tess didn’t have time to explore that feeling more, though, as Amara motioned at the succubus. “Tess, Ellie, this is Kali. She’s my distant ancestor, and she runs that set of planes that Amy is preparing to help with, with the whole merger of Mael.”

“Oh.” Tess said awkwardly. She…vaguely remembered someone like that being mentioned, but it was entirely different to meet the person in question. “Nice to meet you?”

Kali laughed. “I forgot how cute you two were when you were younger. I’m from fiftyish years in your future, so I guess…nice to meet you again! Thanks for taking care of Maven for me.”

“You’re…welcome, I think.” Ellie replied. “So…if you’re from the future, is there anything cool coming up that we should know about?”

“It’s not going to be that easy to get it out of me.” Kali replied, eyes twinkling. “The unwritten rule here is to not talk about the future. It has a tendency to sour the party.”

“It was worth a shot.” Ellie replied, shrugging.

“Lilith, this is Tess,” Kali said, motioning to Tess, “and this is Ellie.” She motioned at Ellie. “They’re…well, it’s a thing Amy does on her planes, they’re kind of like messengers for the Higher Beings of Amy’s plane. You might meet their future selves some time later, but for now they’re still getting used to everything.”

“Actually, why don’t you three chat?” Amara said. “I think you all will have a lot in common, seeing as how you all were born on a world without much magic.”

“That’s a good idea.” Kali said. “It’ll give me some time to catch up with some other people, too.” She turned back to Lilith. “Is that okay with you?”

“Why not, I guess?” She said. “Beats being an awkward third wheel.”

“Awesome.” Kali replied. “I’ll let you three get–”

“Take these two, too!” A man said, bursting into the conversation. “Sorry, but I really don’t know what to do with them, and that weird gut feeling is telling me this is the place!” He practically pushed a tall, green woman with a dress made of leaves and a kitsune in a red dress into their midst. “Oh, and it’s roughly year thirty-two forty-five Amy time for me.”

“Um…hi?” Tess ventured. “And…weird gut feeling?”

“It happens from time to time at these events.” The plant woman said. “You get a feeling like someone needs to be somewhere and it won’t go away until you bring them there. Anyway, my name is Rose, and this is Lia, my Queen.”

“Right, well, we’ll leave the five of you to it.” Amy said. “Feel free to wander around, you’re as safe as can be. No one’s able to hurt each other here.”

“And yes, conversion counts as harmful in this context.” The man, most likely the new girls’ Administrator, said. “Not that you’d be able to get away with it, you two are probably the weakest people in this little group.”

Rose gave the other three a thoughtful look. “I suppose I am a fair bit weaker than I was the last time I was at one of these things.”

“To be quite honest, you don’t beat out Lilith even at the height of your old power. She is, for all intents and purposes, on the same level as the gods.” The other Administrator said. “And Tess and Ellie, the blonde and redhead, are pretty close to the gods too, plus Amy’s planes are generally stronger, so–”

“Let them make their own introductions.” Amy interrupted. “We’ll just be stifling their conversation.”

“Alright, alright.” He said. “But, seriously, behave yourselves.”

“We will, don’t worry.” Rose assured.

“Good, thank you.” He replied, nodding his head. And with that, all the other people walked away, leaving Lilith alone with the four strangers.

There was silence for a moment, then Ellie spoke up. “So…you’re on the same level as the gods? What does that mean?”

“Yeah, I guess?” Lilith replied, scratching the back of her neck. “We’re the same category of being. How much do you know about Administrators?”

“Enough.” Ellie said. “They’re like a step above the gods, right?”

“What’s an Administrator?” Lia asked. “I…sorry, this is all a little overwhelming.”

“Oh.” Lilith replied. “Um…I don’t know if we should talk about this in front of you, then. Um…”

“It’ll be fine.” Rose said. “She won’t remember a thing when this is over. At least I didn’t the three or four times I’ve been to one of these.”

“Right. Then, I’m what’s called a Higher Being, they’re what most gods are. Lords of Monsters, too, if the planes you guys are from use those.”

“What?!” Lia said, flinching back. “The Lord of Monsters is a god?! How are we supposed to…”

Rose laid a hand on her shoulder. “It’ll be fine. I’m sure there’s more to it than that, or else no Lord of Monsters would ever be defeated.”

Lilith shrugged. “Power levels vary. To my knowledge, most Lords of Monsters only get abilities that relate to monsters. Or, at least, I did.”

Lia’s eyes widened. “You’re a Lord of Monsters?! But you’re not…omnicidal!”

“It’s a side job. I’m pulling double duty for my world.” She turned back to Tess and Ellie. “Speaking of, Amara mentioned that you’re from a plane without magic like me?”

“Huh?” Tess said. “I mean, yeah. We were just introduced to it like…half a year ago.”

“It can get pretty overwhelming at times, right?” Lilith said. “I felt the same way sometimes. You get used to things after a while, so don’t stress it.”

“Yeah, I think we’re getting there.” Ellie said. “So…does your world just have angels and demons or is it more…cosmopolitan?”

“When I was born, just humans, at least as far as people who didn’t know about magic. There are a bunch of other species too, but not nearly as many as there are humans. And, yes, I used to be human. I was just your regular human dude and then I got turned into…this. It’s like…well, I doubt your planes have a similar concept, but I’m every species in existence at the same time, which means I’m a lot stronger than the average person, since I get every single species-specific ability.”

“Wait, you used to be a guy too?” Tess said, taken aback. “That’s crazy, so was I!”

“And I.” Rose said. “I suppose we have more in common than it seems.”

“Alright, are the rest of you really not freaking out or are you just good at not showing it?” Lia blurted out. “This is weird, right?”

“I’ve seen a lot of weird in my time.” Lilith said. “I’m numb to it.”

“Same.” Tess said. “This is only barely in the top three.” Discovering Gramps was arguably the most important man alive was definitely number one, and her transformation after getting Monster Breeder was two, but this event was…probably number three. It was in fierce competition with going back to school as a girl, though.

“Yeah, what she said.” Ellie added. “I’m just sorta dealing by pretending it’s not weird.”

“And I’ve been here before.” Rose said. “The novelty wears off by the second or third time.”

“So, as the one who’s been here before, what do we do?” Ellie asked. “Do we just stand around talking or what?”

“I suppose we begin by eating some food, then proceed to activities afterwards.” Rose mused. “Let’s talk more over dinner, okay?”

“I’ll go find a table.” Lilith volunteered. “Uh, let me see if I can…” She paused for a moment, and then a nearly-identical copy of her appeared beside her. “Sick. Alright, I’m gonna get us a table, then I’ll send this one to go dish up. So, if you find me and I’m not responding, it’s because my consciousness is in this spare body, not because I’m being rude.”

She smirked, then walked off to find a table, leaving the double standing lifelessly in front of them. “Um…I guess we should go dish up, then?” Lia ventured.

“Yeah, um…sounds like a plan.” Ellie replied. “We’ll catch you at the table, I guess.” She gently pulled Tess away from the group, and off to one of the tables piled with food. “That Lilith’s a character, isn’t she?”

“Yeah. Does something about her feel…different to you?”

Ellie frowned, grabbing a plate. “Now that you mention it, yeah. Maybe it’s because she’s, you know, like a god?”

“No, I don’t think that’s it.” Tess said. “I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s almost like…like…there’s this weird familiarity to her presence.”

“That’s probably because she’s a dungeon.” Amara said, grabbing a shrimp from a basin next to Tess. “Or at least, that was the plan with her. Kali’s discussed it with me, and dungeons in her world are going to work similarly to savage dungeons, but the dungeon itself is going to be intelligent. Anyway, how are you two doing? Things aren’t too awkward, I hope.”

“It’s a little awkward, but our groups have a weird amount in common.” Ellie said. “And they seem like nice enough girls.”

“Yeah, the groups tend to be like that.” Amara said. “It’s just the way these things go. You’ll get used to it after a few more of them.”

“How many have you been to?” Tess asked.

Amara frowned, tapping her chin. “Five or six? Mostly it happens when I’m in the middle of some world-changing project, but, including now, I’ve been to two when I wasn’t. Evan’s usually here, though, so it’s a little weird that he’s not, but there’s not much rhyme or reason to attendees, so it is what it is.”

She finished getting her shrimp, then gave Tess and Ellie a smile. “Anyway, I have to get back now, I’ll catch the two of you later!”

After she left, Tess and Ellie focused on getting their food and finding the table Lilith had saved for them. It took them a minute, since they were shorter than most of the crowd, and Tess’s tremorsense behaved…oddly in this place, cutting out seemingly at random, but they eventually were able to find the table, and sat down.

“Ah, you two, I’ve been meaning to ask, what do you do?” Lilith asked. “Like, as jobs. You seem to be teenagers, so are you in school or…?”

“We just graduated high school.” Ellie replied. “And we’re training as freelancers, sort of…explorers slash hunters slash odd job doers. Then we’re also acting as messengers of the gods, enacting their will, that sort of thing. What about you?”

Lilith shrugged. “To tell you the truth, most days it’s nothing but training. I’m functioning as sort of…the icon of justice, so to speak. I step in when it looks like people are going to commit genocide or if the magical community looks like they’re about to subjugate people who are way weaker than them. But, by and large, I’m just there as a threat to keep people in line.”

“Been there, done that.” Rose sighed. “I don’t envy you for your position.”

“It’s not that bad.” Lilith said. “I get to hang around with my girlfriends and my family, and I don’t want for anything, so I’m content.”

“But what about meeting new people and going out to see places?” Rose asked. “You can’t do that anymore, right?”

“No, I can.” Lilith replied. “I just use a separate body or magic and no one is the wiser.”

“Oh.” Rose said. “I…really wish I could have done that.” There was silent for a moment, then Rose shook her head. “But that’s in the past. Let’s talk about something more pleasant, okay?”

They made more small talk while they ate, and eventually they finished, and began to drift towards the activities.

“So…what do they have to do here?” Tess asked. “I can’t really…see over all these people.”

“I believe it is entirely dependent on who is looking.” Rose said. “We should find a variety of activities that we are familiar with. They’ll just…appear when we look.”

Ellie and Tess shared a look. “Are any of you familiar with laser tag?” Ellie asked. “It’s Tess and I’s favorite activity, but we, uh, haven’t been able to have a fair game in a while.”

“I’m familiar.” Lilith said. “Provided it works similarly to how it does on my world. Though…I’m not sure how fair the game will end up being, especially if we go all out.”

“Oh, don’t worry, we’d make sure Tess doesn’t use any of the real cheat-y stuff, but we just want to do it with people who are…you know, actually used to being on a battlefield and have experience.”

“I don’t believe it was Tess she was worried about.” Rose said, raising an eyebrow. “She is a god, after all.”

“Gods don’t have any intrinsic advantages in this sort of thing.” Ellie said matter-of-factly. “While Tess has the advantage of being able to use all sorts of additional senses that normal people don’t get access to.”

“I’m not a god.” Lilith said. “Not technically. But she is right, Higher Beings don’t automatically get better at this sort of thing just because we’re Higher Beings. That being said, you weren’t here when I explained, but my species thing includes monsters. I have access to every monster and species-specific benefit at the same time. So, I also have those senses, and probably more. Though, hypothetically speaking, I might not have access to the kind of stuff you’re referring to, due to differences in monsters and abilities between planes.”

“Does it even matter if you’re not going to use them?” Lia asked quietly. “Just the basic five should be fine, right?”

“She’s right.” Lilith said. “How are we splitting up the teams? Tess and Ellie on one and the rest of us on the other? You two are probably the most experienced so that seems the fairest.”

“How do you play?” Rose asked.

“It’s easy.” Ellie said. “You ever used a gun before?”

“No?” Rose asked, tilting her head. “What’s a gun?”

“It’s kind of like a handheld cannon.” Lia explained. “It’s this long tube that you like…pack with some sort of powder and then it explodes and fires a projectile at something.”

“Oh.” Rose replied. “I have used a crossbow before, if that helps?”

“Yeah, that’s good enough.” Ellie said. “In my world, guns are a lot simpler than all that, you just load in the bullet and press the trigger, no need to pack the powder yourself or anything. Laser tag guns are even simpler, you just press a button on the side of the gun to reload, and then you point it at your opponent and shoot. Everyone wears these vest things, and they light up when you get hit.”

“Depending on the arena there are also other things you can shoot.” Tess added. “Like pillars and stuff. They each give different amounts of points, and whichever team has the most points at the end of the game wins.” She turned to Lilith. “Have you used a gun before?”

“Guns are my main weapon, to tell you the truth.” She admitted. “But I don’t have my…well, long story short, I don’t have my aim assist with me, so I’ll be a little worse than I usually am.”

“Aim assist?” Ellie asked.

“Alternate consciousness with a biological supercomputer built into my body.” Lilith said. “Again, long story. But, yes, I use guns extensively.”

“And there’s the laser tag, I think.” Rose said, pointing towards the back of the room. “Shall we?”

The group made their way over, and suddenly found themselves teleported to a different space entirely. Their clothes had changed, too, from formal wear to nondescript clothes that were easy to move around in, vests and guns already in place. “Please wait a moment while teams are selected.” A synthetic-sounding voice said. “Teams selected. Please remain silent while the rules are read.”

Lilith and Rose’s vests had begun glowing orange, while the other vests glowed blue. “This is a ten minute experience with the aim of obtaining the most points possible.” The voice said. “Points are obtained by shooting your opponents or their home base, a large pillar on their side of the field. Pillar shots are worth five hundred points, while shots on an opponent are worth one hundred.

“While running, jumping, climbing, flying, and other such activities are actively encouraged, purposeful physical contact with the other team is discouraged, and will result in a fine of one thousand points. To ensure fairness, your statistics will be evened out, your senses tuned to the same degree, and any active abilities, or passive abilities that may negatively affect the game, will be disabled. If you wish to play without this tuning, you may choose to do so after this game. You will be transported to your side of the field in three…two…one…”

And then Tess was in a dimly lit room, along with Ellie and Lia. It took her a moment for her eyes to adjust to the lighting, but, once they had, the arena didn’t look that different from most others she had been in.

“Alright, so, I’ll take left, Tess, you take right, and Lia, you handle the middle.” Ellie instructed. “We have numbers on our side, so we can afford to have one person just camp their base while the others run interference.”

“Camp their base?” Lia asked, tilting her head in confusion.

“Doing nothing but sitting there and shooting the base until someone interrupts them.” Tess translated.

“Oh. Can I do that? I feel like it’ll be easier to get used to the gun that way.” Lia said.

“Sure.” Ellie said. “Just find yourself a decent hiding place and blast away.”

“The other team will be given a substantial point boost for having fewer players.” The synthetic voice suddenly said. “Game begins in five…four…three…two…one…” A horn blared, and the area around them lit up. Or, rather, the walls, floor, and various bits of cover began glowing with neon light, not bright enough to do anything more than provide an indication of the arena’s general shape and where you were walking.

The three girls immediately split up, and even in the early minutes Tess could tell that she was a fan of playing with people who knew how to fight. It was mostly the fact that they were a lot quicker to react than her friends, and were stealthier to boot. Tess found herself blindsided several times, something that just hadn’t happened with her friends.

It was probably a good thing that she wouldn’t remember this afterwards; it would likely ruin playing with her friends for her. The game progressed far too quickly, and when it finished her only wish was that there were more people in their group, so they could get a nice and big game going. The game was close, too; her team won by a slim margin, but it definitely could have gone either way.

They ended up playing a couple more games with different team compositions, and all agreed there was too much variance in their abilities to try playing a game without the built-in limiters. So, once they decided to leave, they found themselves teleported back to the main room, back in the party wear they had been in before.

“Where to next?” Lilith asked.

“We did our thing, do you guys have any ideas?” Tess asked.

“I’m partial to miniature golf myself.” Lilith said, taking Tess by surprise. She hadn’t expected Lilith to enjoy something so…pedestrian.

Lilith, seemingly not noticing Tess’s surprise, turned to Lia and Rose. “What about you two?”

“I…don’t have much experience with recreation.” Rose admitted.

“Where I’m from, we don’t have anything as complex as what we just played, but…I play cards a lot, I guess?” Lia said. “I’d like to try whatever this miniature golf is, though.”

So, the evening progressed, and they went from activity to activity until, eventually, they all simultaneously got the feeling that it was time to go. “Well, it was fun hanging out with you guys.” Lilith said. “Hopefully I’ll see you around at one of these, or perhaps even in real life.”

“Yeah.” Lia said. “As long as it’s not because you’re coming to invade my world or anything. I don’t think I could handle that.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that.” Lilith laughed. My world is on very good terms with your world. Even if we weren’t, my world isn’t in any place to be invading other worlds. You shouldn’t have to worry about any of that stuff until you’ve conquered your world at the very earliest.”

“Well…that is good to hear.” Lia said. “Hopefully, sometime in the future, we can meet in real life, then. I’m sure the five of us would get along just as well.”

“Perhaps.” Ellie said. “It all depends on circumstance, I guess.”

“Oh, you two will almost certainly be meeting Lilith at some point.” Kali said, eyes twinkling as she stepped up. “But not for quite a while. She hasn’t even been born in your time.”

“Wait, really?” Tess asked, blinking in surprise. “You just seemed older than us, so I assumed…”

“No, I’m five or six years older than you right now, but I’m also from fifty or so years in your future, apparently.” Lilith replied. “Though, I guess…things do get a little fuzzy, but that’s neither here nor there. I’ll see you all when I see you, I guess.”

“Thanks again for taking care of Maven!” Kali said cheerfully, giving them a wave. And then they were just…gone.

“Time’s up, you two!” Lia’s Administrator said, running up to them. “They didn’t bother you too much, right?”

“They were fun to be around.” Ellie said. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Good.” The Administrator said. With that, their group of three vanished, leaving Tess and Ellie alone.

“Well, I suppose we just wait for Amy?” Tess said.

“I–” Ellie didn’t have time to finish her thought, as the two found themselves transported back to the dungeon they had been in, all memory of the event erased from their minds.