The sky bird was like nothing Lexie had ever experienced before. According to Aiden, it was technically a type of train but it didn't move like a train on a straight-forward track. Neither did it move like a plane, where everything was kind of steady and there were regular dips and gentle rises. It didn't have a regular motion at all and seemed to twist along an invisible track sliding down and up, switching tracks without warning and coming to sudden stops for flocks of birds to pass by.

Kind of like a less-sickening Rockin' Roller Coaster.

Lexie had been scared and a little motion-sick for the first half of the trip. She'd squeezed Aiden's hand tight as the train had taken off from Borulino, a vast business district that was two cities away from Arcadia and had a direct skybird train to Alberton. Aiden had laughed at her and then told her that she reacted the same way every time she was on a skybird. But then by the middle of the trip, she'd started to calm down. And then she'd started to enjoy herself.

It was a fascinating thing, the skybird. She couldn't figure out how it worked. When she looked out the window, she didn't find any jets at the back of the train propelling it forward. Neither did it have wings like a plane. It felt like they were moving on track but she couldn't see anything track-like below them.

She mulled over it for a few seconds, then turned to Aiden. "How does a skybird work?"

"I'm not sure exactly," he said. "I had a friend once who was a technomage engineer and he tried to explain how mana interacts with large aerial locomotive systems and pumps but to be honest, I found the whole thing a little confusing and dull."

"Wait, did you just admit to finding something confusing?" Lexie teased and he gave her an amused look.

"I guess I did."

She faked a dramatic gasp. "But you're a generational genius. How could this happen?"

"Ha, ha. Very funny." He tweaked her nose affectionately, and she finally broke character and chuckled to herself.

"Despite my high intelligence–" Aiden started.

"There's that famous humility of yours."

"–There are a few things I'm not good at. Alchemy for one. Engineering for another. Engineering is boring but Alchemy just works too antithetical with magery that it requires me to think in a completely different way. Plus there are far too many strange rules and stipulations that keep one from being creative with application."

"Hmm," she murmured and then stared out the window again. They were passing through a cloud and it surrounded them like fog. Lexie closed her eyes and swore she couldn't feel the soft fluff pressing on her face. When she opened her eyes again, she saw the two suns in the distance.

She was getting very used to the sight of it.

To everyone's relief, Max hadn't been detained very long at the station. He'd showed up at Lexie's house the next morning, right as rain wanting to know how things had gone with the [Heroes]. He'd then informed them that he'd been released because the association felt that he acted in the best interest of everyone involved. They gave him a pass due to the dire nature of the discovery, and he only got two weeks probation and a ban from participating in the next dungeon season.

Max was especially salty about that last one, and said something along the lines of "Shifty bastard just wanted to get back at me somehow."

But Aiden himself seemed entirely shocked by Max's early release. Safe to say the entire thing was unprecedented. The severity of Max's crime should have at least gotten him a few months' sentencing or a lifetime ban from handling explosives and dungeon delving, especially given how some [Heroes] were already prejudiced against delvers, viewing them as murder-hungry greedy maniacs. So Aiden couldn't figure out how Max had gotten off so easily.

Aiden would later tell Lexie that he thought maybe Luke called in a favor for his brother.

He'd also let it slip that Luke had a couple of powerful but shady friends.

And thanks to that, everything had worked out.

But Lexie wasn't thinking about it right now. Right now, she was wondering how the skybird worked.

She read about things like flying cars in sci-fi and knew someone had created something like that in her world, but she'd always thought such a thing would be a logistical nightmare. She supposed it helped that most of the vehicles on Earth 9 were at least partially automated and some were fully self-driving, their programs perfected to reduce the risk of accidents. But with a skybird, it flew in such an unpatterned way that Lexie couldn't figure out a rhyme or reason for it.

It seemed able to detect birds through the clouds too.

And the farther they went, the cloudier it got.

Per Aiden's request, Lexie was wearing large fluffy wool boots, a coat, and a scarf that he'd wrapped around the lower half of her face. According to him, it was cold in Alberton this time of the year. And pretty much every time of the year.

As the skybird started lowering towards the station, Lexie felt a little sad that the trip was over.

Pretty soon, they stepped out into a bustling train station. Indigo, Alberton was the second most populated city in Orinia and it was constantly inundated with people from all walks of life. The train station was even larger and more elaborate than the one in Acacia and a constant stream of holographic announcements appeared and disappeared at will.

But the most noticeable thing was how thin the air felt here. And not just in terms of oxygen, but in terms of mana too. There was far less external mana than anywhere else she had been and she could feel it, the subtle recession of the buzzing on her skin. It felt weird like there was a lack of balance in the atmosphere.

When she mentioned it to Aiden, he said, "Yes, there is less external mana in Indigo than in Arcadia. While places like Arcadia, Alpeco, and even Dontiorre are considered the epicenters for magical training and research in Orinia, Indigo is the heart of non-magical science and engineering, at least in District 9. It's why the Space-Time Research Institute is here as well as the several Alchemy schools. We'll see them on the way to the consignment shop."

That made sense. Lexie also noticed that apart from the sky train they'd arrived on, most of the other trains on the tracks looked steam-powered rather than mana-powered like the ones in Arcadia. As they exited the train station through two metal doors and stepped into the busy city streets, she noticed that it reminded her a little of St Petersburg, at least from the pictures she'd seen.

Tall dome-shaped buildings filled the skyline, punctuated by shorter more industrial-looking structures. The roads were large and though the lanes weren't choked with floating cars, there was a lot of traffic. Unlike Arcadia, where the vehicles bore little resemblance to those on Earth 2, Indigo had more regular-looking vintage cars that had all sorts of gimmicks on them, like a tail or a string of bells on their doors. One large truck was in the shape of a reptile and had like twenty tires.

People streamed on both sides of the street, and as they walked, Lexie noticed a couple of people throwing odd looks at Aiden every now and then. One person even did a double-take, but no one stopped to say anything.

Aiden was dressed in a long-sleeved turtleneck and a heavy coat that completely covered his silver bands. He'd had his hair swept back and his beard trimmed. He looked good, normal. So Lexie couldn't figure out why people were looking at him because he certainly didn't look like a [Villain] today.

They decided to walk to their first destination, mostly because it was only fifteen minutes away and Lexie wanted to see the city. As they strolled hand in hand, Lexie taking two steps for Aiden's one, they happened on a charming street that looked like something out of a Grimm's fairytale book. It featured quaint coffee shops, trinket stores, and an eclectic window display from someone who claimed to be a Love Witch, all with the witch costume and broomstick lying against a door with a knocker.

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"Are witches real here?" Lexie asked and Aiden chuckled.

"If you mean in the sense of a system class then no," Aiden said. "There were witches long ago, before the system was introduced on Earth but their power was more based on religious superstition than anything concrete."

"But there's a [Saintess]," Lexie mused aloud. "And Eldritch creatures. Wouldn't it make sense for the system to also give us witches? After all, all those things are linked to religious superstition as well."

"True but the saintess and the church serve a purpose. The thing to know about the system is that it's all about compensating for something and filling a need. It will only assign classes that serve a purpose. For example, given that Eldritch creatures exist, there must be another force to fight them back. Sometimes those are [Saintesses] who can purify and eliminate the effects of the Eldritch. And with a [Saintess] comes the church's job is to guide, protect, and empower her. There are also paladins who are Knights dedicated to fighting chaos, Eldritch, and creatures of the dark. And of course, the Lightlarks, [Heroes] who are so essential for this fight that the fae use them almost exclusively for it on their planet. None of it is religious necessarily, although sometimes the church likes to believe otherwise. It's all about function rather than belief.

"But in terms of traditional witchcraft, belief plays a larger role in its function and historically, it was used to try to artificially imbue people with powers they didn't initially have. Ancient witches believed in and worshipped Guardians who could give them certain gifts for a time. But since the guardians are no more, neither is traditional witchcraft."

"Oh, I see."

"Yes. There are some spell casters and potion makers who sometimes employ the title of 'Witch' simply for whimsy, but historical witchcraft doesn't exist anymore."

"Hmm," Lexie said, digesting that. They passed by a few more stores, including a coffee shop where two guys were seated outside, having a heated discussion. One of them was gesturing wildly in the air, and then in the middle of it, his eyes flicked to Lexie and Aiden and then back to his companion and immediately back to Aiden.

His jaw dropped. He immediately hit his companion in the shoulder, who complained, followed his gaze, and then did a double take.

Lexie couldn't see their reaction past that because Aiden turned a corner at that point.

"Why do I feel like people are watching us?" she asked him.

"You think?" Aiden reached up and self-consciously touched his neck as though trying to confirm that the band was still covered. And it was.

"Yeah," Lexie said, but she got distracted when she saw a large black dome-shaped building on a hill whose walls shimmered like they were made out of obsidian and titanium. "What is that?"

"That is our destination. The Time Space Institute, home of the ISTS," Aiden said. "I've only been there a handful of times. The very first time was during a class trip at Victoire, but a few other times with your mother."

"My mother?'

"Yes. I told you she had a friend who worked there."

"Oh right."

Lexie was about to ask what the friend's name was, but then Aiden pointed out the building next to it. "And that's the Soul Research Department right next to it."

"Soul Research."

"Yes. Less than a century ago, Indigo was a huge necromancy hub before the last attack from District 8. They used mana bombs that destroyed and depleted the external mana in Indigo leading to mana deficiency. After the war ended, a lot of necromancers left the area and went to other places instead, but their research was left behind, leading scientists to piece it together. It was through this they were able to create the ISTS."

He glanced at her. "What exactly did this person who visited your school tell you about the ISTS?"

"Not much," Lexie said cagily. She wasn't sure how much to reveal. "Just that you could theoretically swap souls from two different dimensions, I guess."

"Yes. Usually, [Researchers] use it to conduct research in other dimensions, to figure out how to improve our own. It's a fascinating if dangerous thing to do." At Lexie's look, he added. "It's not unheard of for [Researchers] to go to other dimensions and never come back. But it's seen as necessary for a noble cause."

"Only [Researchers] can go?" she asked.

"And a few [Heroes]. Sometimes the [Research] crew needs protection depending on what they're studying. And sometimes [Heroes] travel there for other reasons."

That made sense, but also didn't. "How will they protect them if they can't use their bodies? Isn't it just the soul that's transported?'

"Typically. While there has been some research in transporting whole bodies rather than souls, the most common way for ISTS to work is that they can find a similarly 'attuned' body in that dimension and possess it unlocking similar attributes to what they had here. A lot of our mana and abilities is attached to the soul rather than the body, and so the transmigrated [Hero] should have the same capability over there that they do here."

"What if that dimension doesn't have mana."

"Yes, that would be an outlier. In which case, other measures would have to be considered."

Lexie shook her head. "Wow. That sounds like a lot to go through just for [Research]."

"The proponents of the travels argue that it's necessary. When their ethics are questioned, they say that they try to restrict such travels to only necessary people, and a lot of research is done to input the soul into someone that's not going to be there for much longer anyway."

It took Lexie a second to process it. "They find a compatible body of someone who is going die around that time?"

"Yes. It's one way around the questionable ethics, to target someone who is set to die soon, and then take over their body the second of their death. To outsiders, it would look like the individual had survived a near-death experience almost inexplicably. They wouldn't know a different soul is now inside the body."

Lexie tried not to show her disturbed reaction to the news. That was messed up on so many levels. Taking over someone's body and pretending to be someone they were not...Not to mention, the fact that someone had known she was going to die, and exploited it to send a soul into her body….all in the name of research….

"This is all supposed to be a secret by the way," Aiden said hastily. "So don't tell anyone I told you this."

"Wasn't going to anyway," Lexie said deep in thought. "But that's…I mean….How do they even predict such a thing?"

"That has been something I've never been privy to. Like I said, their research and data is very confusing unless you're in it."

"Right." Lexie's discomfort was growing. She wasn't expecting that at all. So had she been targeted because she was going to die? Was the real Lexie Sparrowfoot in her body right now researching Earth 2? But Lexie Sparrowfoot was a child, and there was nothing to indicate she was a [Researcher]. Why would she go to Earth 2? And how on earth did Lexie Evan get sent to Earth 9 if she was supposed to die? Did it have to do with the other Lexie's mother's mysterious friend at the Soul Research Institute?

And how did travel points tie into that? Because this whole time Lexie had been operating under the theory that she could use those to go back to her dimension.

"So what are travel points then?" she asked Aiden. "I thought that was what allowed you to travel between dimensions."

Aide's face swung to her in genuine surprise. "Wow, they told you guys that too?"

She nodded.

"Travel points are what gives the individual's right to even contest for the ISTS. Soul transfer is an expensive thing to run, mana-wise, resource-wise, and time-wise, and very risky. So only those who can prove they have a reason to go can do it. Either their research is extremely vital and they're close to a discovery that would require them to travel, or other interdimensional matters need to be solved. Those individuals are then given travel points to do it."

Lexie mused on it. "It requires mana? But I thought you said Indigo didn't have a ton of mana."

"Yes. But the Soul Research Center managed to obtain a personal mana well for the ISTS to run."

"Oh, I see."

So Lexie had been thinking about it all wrong. She thought she would earn a travel point by doing something incredible and then using that to head to Earth but it wasn't quite like that. Travel points weren't like money you could earn to go to a different dimension. There were more like tokens that ascertained that you had a reason for going there because your research was really important.

That was comforting. She didn't necessarily have to complete a discovery then. She just had to show that it was promising enough to gain widespread interest and that she had evidence that it would work. Also evidence that she needed to test it in a different dimension.

She mused on it as they approached the gates of the ISTS. There was no one at the security center or on the compound they could see through the tall iron rods. Only a keypad.

Aiden pressed on it and a holographic loading button appeared.

Someone answered and the hologram turned into a young woman with a pixie-ish face. "The Soul Research Center isn't open for excursions today."

"It's not an excursion," Aiden said. "I'm here to meet James Leith."

"He doesn't work here anymore."

"Oh shoot." Aiden looked at Lexie. "He was a friend of Cece's, your mother's friend. I didn't know he had been let go."

"Did you say, Cece? As in Cecilia Horan?" The woman's face suddenly shone with interest.

Aiden looked back. "Um...yes...?"

The woman hesitated and adjusted her glasses as she thought.

"Give me one second," she said and the hologram disappeared.

Less than a minute later, the gate opened.

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