Mystic War prelude: Love's Labors Lost

[Kai MacFeorais]

The portal from the WHAM universe had been hit by a beam of energy, and its destination was now thrown off not by miles but by dimensions. First a horse came racing out of the vortex into the alleyway near The Wicked Wolf, then a group of very confused people followed it.

"Is anyone injured?" Kai asked as he turned back to see his charges, Bella and Edward, and the people they had rescued. "And would any of you know where we are? This place is not familiar to me at all."

"Get out of the way!" a man on a Vespa yelled as he rolled out from a doorway near where the group had materialized. He had bags of food in saddle bags on the side of the scooter, and he seemed to be in a big hurry. Kai stepped in front of him, and that pissed the man off. He started to yell, slipping in and out of Mandarin as he got angrier.

"We just need to know where we are," Kai asked calmly as the man continued to seethe. "Please."

"You are near The Wicked Wolf and the Jade Pagoda, for crying out loud!" the man shouted as Kai turned and looked around. "You tourists need to get maps before you come to San Francisco!"

The man finally got Kai to step out of the way, and he sped off with his delivery.

"San Francisco? I thought Ronan destroyed that city ages ago?" Edward asked as Kai shook his head. "What is it?"

"This is not our San Francisco," Kai replied as he looked around a bit more. "We aren't in our world anymore."

 

[Jasmine Elizabeth]

Jasmine sniffed the air and made a face as she kicked a small box that was in the alleyway. A rat scurried out from under the box and ran across Bella's booted left foot. "What in the world?" Jasmine asked as Bella kicked the rat away from her.

"I hate rats," Bella replied as she finally sheathed her sword and looked around her. "And this place is full of them. We should get out of here."

There was a noise coming from the street end of the alley, and a group of teens walked by. They were very clearly not fully human because of their brightly colored skin, wings and other defining features. "Witchbreed? Are you Witchbreed?" Jasmine shouted as one of the teens turned and shouted "Mutant and Proud!" back at her.

"Well, that answers that," Kai said as he tied his horse to a pipe outside one of the doors in the alley. "We would never see mutants out in the open in our world."

"Nor in ours," Jasmin replied as she moved closer to her father. "I wonder where we are?"

[Kai MacFeorais]

"I suggest we stow our weaponry for the moment," Kai said as he waved his hand and seemingly stashed his gear into thin air. "I can get it back if necessary."

"I am not putting my weapons in storage," Jasmine Elizabeth said as she crossed her arms and looked even more vexed than the man on the scooter had a few moments ago. "I don't know this place or any of you. I am not taking my chances."

"Spoken like a true daughter of the MacFeorais," a man said as he exited into the alley from The Wicked Wolf. "You have to be one of Kari's brood. Maybe not the part of Kari I know, but part of her at the very least."

"And sir, you are..." Kai asked as the man bowed to them and smiled. "Family?"

"A relative of Kari's? No, not at all. Just a good friend of the family. The name's Bardan Fitzpatrick, but everybody calls me Trick. I own this bar. Come inside so you can get yourselves settled a bit. This city may be friendly to mutants and mystics, but there are still crackpots out there who want to burn us all at the stake. The horse can stay out here for now."

"I think we need to take this gent up on his offer," Kai said as he bowed to Trick. "And is there a Kari still in this world? I would be her half-brother. My name is Kai."