“ Who are you? Where am I?” The first words a confused stranger said as he stumbled threw an ancient doorway. Another looks back at him equally as confused before going back to a row of books to look for one. The first stranger looked around the dark room. It was full of purple burning candles and book shelves. He looks back to where he came from to find the door was already closed behind him and he took the handle to try to open it to find it was locked. He had no idea what was going on. The other finds what they were looking for and raised up from their seat and moves to the first. He barely noticed this and only backed against the door in fear if the unknown. The other starts saying strange words and forms a circle with a finger before touching his forehead. “ Can you understand me?” The first stranger paused in his fear to hearing a female voice. Even if he could not see any details of the other. “ Yes, I think.” The other backed away pleased. “ Good, I was afraid I picked the wrong spell. This one is much more advanced than I am use to using.” The guy looked at her puzzled. “ Spell? As in magic?” The female backed away even more. “ So you are familiar with the trade? Sense I did not smell any from you I was not sure.” The guy blinks unsure. “ Who are you? Where am I?” The female coughs to clear her throat. “ My apologies. I am still trying to wrap my head around this as well. Where you are is in my home. I some how summoned you. You see I was studying one of my fathers tomes and I have a tendency to talk when I read. I must have used a jumble of words that act as a trigger to activate this portal.” She gestures to the door. The guy looks at the door still unsure of what was going on. It did not help that he could not even make our an accurate silhouette of the woman he was talking to. However she seemed to see him clearly as he made a displeasing face hearing this. “ Can you let me go back?” She thinks a moment and shows the palm of her hand toward the doorway and a light comes from the palm. She makes a circle in the air before the light vanishes. “ I see we both do not need one another so to save hassle I have opened the portal on it's last link.” The guy looks at the door again and sees it no different. He takes the handle once again and pulls on it to find it still stuck closed. The other seemed surprised by this and goes to the door as well and pulls on it also to the same effect. “ Strange! The portal is closed on the other side. The point you came threw is gone.” The guy grabs the others robes at the chest to find hers is flat. “ What do you mean it is gone? You brought me here. Send me back!” The woman grabs his wrist and he found she was a lot stronger than him. Even with such a slender body. “ Please do not mistake my kindness as obedience.” She forced him to let go. “ I can see you are frustrated. Please understand I am not a master of my trade but not more than a novice. The research alone will take months to get you back. If even it is possible to find the trail threw space, time and reality that brought you here.” The guy backed up again to have his back against the door. The shock he was going threw he could no longer stand and fell to his knees. She looked at his reaction before sighing. “ Gailia.” He looked up to her. “ My name, it is Gailia.” He nods his head again. “ William.”

After the introduction Gailia returned to her books. William could not understand how she could see with so little light and figured to remain still because he figured he should not touch anything. “ Come over here.” Something compelled him to obey and he moved to her left side. Even sitting she seemed mysterious to him. Something did not seem right. “ Tell me your tale. Your family, childhood memories, education and anything else of note.” William thought on it a moment. “ I am William Smith, oldest of Tucker and Rachel Smith. Born November nineteenth nineteen two in Jefferson county hospital.” After his basic information he told her anything he could remember. How he would do perfect in his math quizzes to joining junior league baseball to the first girl he ever kissed, even if he could not remember her name. All the way up to the day he enlisted. She made notes of everything he said and that seemed to satisfy her. A good hour had passed doing that and his stomach growled missing his lunch. She heard it and he blushed embarrassed. “ My apologies. Did I catch you fasting?” William takes a moment to figure out what she meant. “ Oh, no. I just got on break at the construction yard and dropped a deuce first before I was.” Even up close William could not see her clearly. Her face seemed much more narrow and long than a normal womans. The light from the purple glowing candles showed her teeth to be more pointed and sharp. Her nose seemed to be connected to her jaw. Her eyes did not look human either. As he paused seeing her slightly confused and waiting to ask for her question for him to clear that up he spoke up. “ Are you, well human?” She looked at him even more puzzled. “ I have heard of the species humans. Never seen one before. They have a large country to the west. Greedy selfish beings I have heard.” William gives her a not amused look that does not affect her. He then pauses to let that process. “ So what are you then?” She blinks and thinks on the term. “ Well your kind call us dragons but in fact our names are Siyleens.” William did not believe that and backed away again. His instincts told him to get away but he barely held his feet in place. “ So tell me exactly what is going to happen to me.” She paused again and pulled the books on top of the bottom one on the desk off of it to read it. “ Let me see. What brought you here is a very advanced magic. I did not think I could perform it so I thought nothing of it when I read it. As I said earlier also this was not intentional. However due to the circumstances I can not send you back. It says I am responsible for your well being but also you have to serve me faithfully. Obeying my commands to the best of your abilities. In course you are rewarded.” William crossed his arms. “ Rewarded how?” Gailia turns the page. “ It does not say.” William sighs annoyed. She moves her arm to grab him but pauses midway. “ It is not ideal and I must say you are handling yourself rather well right now.” William looked around the darkness. “ Truth be told I would like nothing more than to run away but my legs do not want to move.” She seemed humored hearing that. “ Let me test a few things.” She points to a shelf between them and the door. “ There is a book about weather manipulation on that shelf. Go get it.” William just remained still looking at her confused. “ I see. You will not even attempt a task given to you if you have no ability to fulfill it. Sing for me.” Instead of singing a tune William starts to whistle the 'Star Spangled Banner'. Gailia quickly puts her hand on his mouth. “ Enough. You will do tasks in accordance to your ability. You interpreted you wish me entertained by the command of singing and did what you interpreted instead of what I directly commanded. Interesting indeed.” William gave her another look. This time he was angry. “ Anything else?” His aggravation was apparent in his voice and she caught that. “ All right. I need to fulfill part of my role.” She stands again and moves into the darkness. William turns to follow her but does not move forward. “ What is wrong?” William became nervous. “ I been in deep jungles in the middle of the night not as dark as this room. I can not see.” Gailia laughed sharply figuring out why he asked why she was not human. He saw her hand extend once again and the sphere of light came from it again. This time she acted like she was grabbing it before opening her hand to flat again and the sphere expanded. She also said something William did not understand and it expanded and began to radiate light instead of just glow. She turns to lead him out and her stomach growls even louder than William's did. She looks back at him and chuckles. “ Can you cook?”

William looked in the kitchen amazed. The fire pit was lit with a modest fire so he could see around easy enough. He could see pots to cook in and utensils to use but nothing else made much sense to him. “ Do you have any food to cook with? What about water?” Gailia looked around and moved to a box. It took her a moment to lift the lid and William saw ice on the bottom of the lid. She sits it down disappointed. She moves to a jar after that and lifts it. She then opens it and tastes the contents. “ Do you have a powder that is white or brown. If you mix it with water then put it over heat it becomes an edible substance.” William takes a moment to think on that. “ You mean flour that makes bread?” Gailia thinks on those words. “ Flour and bread. Those may be what they are for you. If you can use this the same way.” William moves over to her and puts a finger in the jar as well. He tastes it and it was like flour. “ It has been a while sense I made bread from scratch. If you do not mind how I make it. Do you have any butter or syrup? Maybe sugar?” She pauses again to think on the terms. “ What are these substances?” William sighs. “ Butter is a marinade made from milk. Which is a substance that is mothers use to feed their young produced from their body. Taken from animals or livestock.” Gaia shook her head. “ I know of this butter. No, it is a wealthy or noble substance. Highly valuable for it's uses in cooking and taste.” William thinks on syrup. “ Syrup and sugar is very similar. Syrup is a substance you get from some trees. You put a special tap into a tree and a bucket to catch it. Sugar is also from plants. It makes many berries and fruit sweet.” Gailia shook her head. “ Sap of a tree is rare here. No trees give it in quantity to be used. Even for the rich. As for fruit or berries. Well I have not been out of my research in a while. I can go fetch some if you like?” William thought on that and shook his head. Getting fed was top of his list. “ I will make something with what you have. What else do you have?” Gailia handed him the jar and looked around. After searching her cabinets she came up empty. William sighed as he moved to a table. “ Water?” Gailia moves to the wall. “ This is supplied from a feed from an underground river. It is enchanted to have safe to drink water come from it.” William grabs a bowl from a shelf and a spoon and she turned it on for him and turns it off after he nods. He then goes to the flour and starts to feed it into the bowl of water. “ I will leave you to your task then. I will come when I smell it.” William looked at her heading out of the room. “ We need to talk. Whatever you plan on doing our talk is more needed.” She pauses in her steps instantly. “ Unexpected, a master and servant role I did not read. So what is this talk we must have?” William starts to stir the flour in the water. She had never seen anything made this way with flour. “ You said you must care for me. That includes room and board as well as the resources to aid in my tasks I will be doing for you. Is this correct?” Gailia nods. “ As if it is in my means. You will be granted a servants quarters to use as you see fit. Meals will also be supplied by me but you will have to cook them or have another cook them if situation calls for it. Adequate supplies will be given to you as well to to aid to complete assigned tasks. Is that all?” William adds more flour to thicken the soup like mess in the bowl. “ You ripped me from a home where I had all my belongings. Family and friends. A good paying job I enjoyed and was skilled at. How am I to be compensated for that? You said I would be rewarded for being brought here. I just want to know you are able to keep your end.” Gailia looked at him surprised. “ I do not know of what is suppose to be your reward. I guess when the time comes I will pay it however I can. My summoning you was a magical contract. As a sorceress I have to obey the term set. Is there anything else?” William looked into the bowl and sets it on the table. “ I have no changes of clothing and I do not know your customs. Also I need a way to light my way. I suppose that is all for now.” Gailia nods. “ Stay here till I return.”

Gailia left William in the kitchen and hurried back to the study. His summoning had complicated her life in so many ways. First she went back to the book and reread the entire spell and rules for it. It did not make sense to her how this happened. The preparation for the spell should take a much more advanced magic user near a week to preform. Next her attention should have been focused on a certain target, or at least a general one. Even if he was plucked from random she should have been needing to think of something. Lastly is the terms. Normally when a summoning is performed there is a reason. She had no need of another mouth to feed. She barely fed her own. As she read the pages a third time to be sure she decided that she may have to go to a more experienced or specialized magician to even learn how this happened and that would be expensive. She cursed herself not spending more years learning when she went and got another book. Sense he seemed to have no magic ability at all she decided to imbue an object with some. A simple torch for him should be enough. After that was done she could smell the food and grabs the magic torch before heading to eat. A tray of flat cakes stacked on one another was on the table and William was already eating one. She took one as well to eat amd set the torch down. “ This is for you. It is a torch to help you see.” William took it and saw the glowing green gem and put a thumb over it and it came on. The new light blinded Gailia for a moment and William was pausing looking at her. “ Is something wrong?” William turns the light back off. “ Other than the obvious and suggested obvious you mean? I never got a good look at your face till now. It is not how I pictured it.” Gailia notices he seemed to be shaking trying to move but could not. His will was wanting one thing and something else was overriding it. After finishing her first cake she extends her open hand toward him and the glowing sphere returns. She closed her eyes and made a circle with it. “ Sight of enchantment.” William looked at her puzzled before her vision changed as she opened her eyes. As she should he was enchanted by the summoning. It was a powerful enchantment. Strangely the strain of preforming it should have knocked her out. With a very high rate of failure. She considered a moment as she lowered her hand to break the spell that someone was trying to come threw her portal and used their magic mistakenly. She decided that not possible. Someone experienced to use a portal uninvited by the owner of the portal, even if with permission of a previous owner of the portal, would overpower her command with ease at the level of this enchantment. Even hijacking another summoning being preformed at the same time was almost impossible. Her home was magic locked to not allow outside influences of other magic to affect what goes on inside unless by command of the owner of the house. Everything points to she did not perform the summoning but also every circumstance that would allow this to happen could not be fulfilled. They were now three cakes in and William was not shaking anymore. She presumed now would be a good time to learn a little of her new servant. “ Earlier you said you enlisted. I assume this means army. What can you tell me of this?” William finished his cake before grabbing a cup with some water in it to drink. “ I joined the marines. A combat unit that specializes in aquatic or aerial infiltration. I was an engineer. Often tasked with maintenance of gear or acquired assets. I have a solid rifle accuracy of six hundred meters. Proficient in hand to hand combat. Performed over thirty successful missions.” Gailia as usual did not understand several terms. What she could is he was a specialized combat warrior that could do more complex things than just fight. He also had combat experience. “ I see, you are a trained warrior then. You mentioned a job as well. What is your work history?” William thinks a moment on that. “ After a full tour with the marines I started working in construction. It is best described as the assembly or dismantlement of buildings.” William goes to his belt and takes it off. “ These are the tools I have with me. My hammer, measuring tape, chalk line, nails, and my engineer book.” Gailia gestured toward that and he handed that to her. The black cover had words on it she did not understand. She turned to a random page and while she could not understand the language she could tell it was describing that of a perfect circle. Not only that but also that of the distance from the center of that circle to the outer edge and the length of that edge. This was a highly advanced book. With it precision based casting would be much easier. She turns to another random page and saw this one was based on volumes of liquids. This book would be a treasure to any magician if alchemy could be enhanced from it's pages. Reluctantly she returns it back to him. “ For your safety and mine that book can not leave this building. People would kill for what is in it's pages.” William puts it back on his belt and puts the belt back on. “ So for the time being you can come here to cook and remain in your chamber I will assign you. As well to come to my study to bring me my meals. Later on I will have you do more tasks when we both are more comfortable.” They both look at the last cake and Gailia grabs it. “ All right your turn. Tell me about you.” Gailia paused about to bite into the cake and lowers it. “ I was born in this house when my father knocked up a whore. Sense he had no other children he took care of me when my mother decided to steal from him and go back being a slut. She died a few months later. My childhood consisted of watching my father perform magic or reading of magic or talking to his magic colleagues. When I came of age I ran away. I partied every day I could. Slept with every man I could get money from and only came back when I had nowhere to go before leaving again. My father barely noticed me.” Gailia turned away ashamed. “ Or so I thought. About six months ago some men came for me. They knew who I was and who my father was. I had some magic talent and knowledge so I used it to escape to here. Where my father was waiting for me, and them when they followed me.” Gailia set the cake down. “ My father killed them. I thought that would be the end of it after he would smack me for being a fool. Like the other men I have been with. Instead he hugged me. That is when another came up behind me. In short he took the blade for me and cast me out of the pocket dimension he made for the fight. Sealing himself and his attacker there permanently.” Gailia turns away and crosses her arms. “ He had loved me this entire time. If only he said so once I might have not have screwed so many men pointlessly. Spent my better years of youth drunk or high.” Unexpectedly Gailia felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. “ My younger brother got married when he was eighteen. Second kid at nineteen and has not held a job for three years.” Gailia did not know how but that helped some. Perhaps this human is what she needed in her life after all.

William backed away and grabs the torch. “ My room?” Gailia nods with a tear in her eye. “ Of course. This way.” Gailia led William out of the kitchen. He noticed this was a rather large one story building. “ The design does not seem practical.” Gailia did not stop as she responded. “ There are rules of magic. This house is on a magic junction. Which makes it easier to maintain and modify with magic. Each owner before me has added to it at their own judgment. This place has been in my family sense my grandfather six generations back won it in a card game.” William paused hearing that before keeping up with her. They soon came to a door like the others in a hall. “ This is your chamber. I will have to arrange for everything but for now you can rest here.” Gailia was about to walk away but William reached for her. “ Before you go. What about a bath?” Gailia sniffed and then lifted her arm to smell under it. “ A very wise idea. Follow me.” She starts to move again but William takes off his belt and sets it in front of the door first before keeping up with her. It was several doors away and two turns till they came to a more decorated door. When opened light poured out of it. “ My great grandfather had a fancy one day to bathe in something more than a bucket so he made this.” Gailia walked into the room and William followed. The doorway seemed to open up to an outdoor spring with a waterfall over it. Gailia did not hesitate as she grabs her robe and takes it off in one motion. Showing her serpent back to William. He could not help but stare. “ Never seen a woman naked before?” William sets the torch down on a rock. “ Well I never seen a woman like you before.” Gailia chuckled humored and moved forward into the water. “ Hurry up. I will need help with my back.” Before William realized it he was already hip deep in the water as well wiping her back with a cloth. It told she had not bathed in some time as dirt came from her back noticeably. “ You do not bathe that often do you?” Gailia wipes her arm with a cloth and looks back at him as she did. “ Magicians are notorious for their bad smell. It is said some do not bathe their entire careers.” William turned away disgusted as he pulled something disturbing from the cloth. “ Must be hard to be close to them.” Gailia paused a moment. “ Most shun things outside magic. I am a staple sorceress. I should have a balance of being a normal woman and a somewhat powerful mage.” William goes lower to get her lower back and she pauses again. “ You have never washed a woman before have you?” Gailia turns to have William at her front and she could see the red on him from a mile away. “ So, you want to do it?” William became shocked as his eye drifted to her lower body. While she did not have breasts or a belly button and her skin was more like leather it was also very soft and she did have an opening for him. “ I spent years getting sex almost two or three times a day and it has been six months sense I been with a man last.” William did not know what to do she saw. He was unsure of what to do after Gailia explained herself and she decided to take charge.

Gailia pulled a fresh robe for her from the stock of them and another for William after their wash. Gailia felt strange being with him. Ever sense her first time sex had always hurt. It was tiring and annoying. For some reason this time was different. It had been some time for him she was sure. It could have been dawn when he came to her originally and now it could be night by how late it is. She planned on leaving to go to the market if they were open and she was also going to leave him behind but now she decided to bring him along. She will need to bring a few items along to be sure of his safety. An extra set of hands to carry the extra mouth of food will be a must, but also he will need to learn of how to communicate with those merchants. She went to her room where the only place she knew of that she could get everything she may need. William stood outside looking in to the room covered in her discarded clothing from near four years of coming and going randomly. The smell was horrid and she rarely ever came in unless needed. When she got to the trunk she made the motion with her hand with the sphere before opening it and all the items she desired were there. Namely a sword, a quiver full of arrows with a bow, an amulet, and most importantly money to buy the goods with. She takes the weaponry with one hand and the other items with another. William looked at the arms slightly confused but understood as he put them on. Next she handed him the amulet. “ This is a Nauli amulet. It is a translation stone. When you wear this this will convert what you hear to what language you will understand.” William took it and put it on. “ So, that spell you put on me earlier will have no reason then?” Gailia shook her head before looking into the pouch. “ No, the spell linked our minds. It is much more accurate. As well as I have control over it and can sever it. That has no filter and will not translate terms you do not understand.” Gailia paused looking at her money and poured the contents onto her hand. “ I thought I had more than this. How long have I been in here? I thought six months.” Gailia shook her head again and replaced her money in the bag. This time she put it under her own robe. “ Follow me and stay close. If you get lost go to either the outer wall of the city and wait at one of the entrances or go to the castle and wait outside of it near the main entrance. If asked tell them you await your master to collect you. If you can find this house on your way come here instead.” Gailia has a thought and casts a tracer spell on him just to be sure. This was one of the things she knew how to do while her father was alive. She would often have to find some of her discarded clothing and this spell made them easier to find. Sense her amulet was the most valuable and magic inclined item it made sense for her to target that. Sense he was at more than his capacity of magical influence with that enchantment on him.