The Other Side: A Second Chance Chapter 26: The Cabin

The door to the cabin creaked and groaned as it slowly swung open. A stale, dusty breeze billowed out as if it hadn’t been opened in ages. “Don’t mind the ss, sweetie; it’s been a little while since I’ve been in here,” my mother said as she pocketed the key and went inside.

I poked my head and in and gazed around. “But aren’t you here almost every other morning? And what about Isa?” I asked as I followed her.

My mother giggled. Sothing about this interior didn’t feel right. I kept expecting to see walls, but instead there was only darkness.

The cabin isn’t that big, I thought. It’s only like a fifteen-by-fifteen space. Surely I should be able to see the edges.

I rubbed my eyes and looked around once more. Nothing. Suddenly, with a clap of her hands, a bright blue light engulfed the room. I gasped as I shielded my eyes. After a few seconds of adjustnt, I slowly lowered my arms.

This can’t be real.

Yet it was. The room was magnificent. An expansive space spread out before , and the circular walls of the room reached up like a tower nearly thirty feet. Decorating these walls were bookshelves, paintings, and items I couldn’t label. In the center of the room, set in the floor, was a huge tallic disc with a massive erald embedded into it.

This is no cabin. Or, well, I think it’s not. This doesn’t make sense.How in hell could sothing like this be hidden?

My mother looked over her shoulder at , a smug smile on her face. “Amazing, isn’t it?” she said.

“H-How?” I muttered, stepping forward as my eyes soaked in the scenery around . This was truly a wizard’s tower. Like sothing plucked from a fantasy novel and brought to reality.

From what I could tell, this… cabin tower… had a diater as wide as it was tall, or about thirty feet. Already it had proven much larger than Mother’s cabin. The bookshelves and tables that lined the walls held a visible but thin layer of dust. The purple carpet I stepped on puffed with debris. Clearly nobody else had been here in ages.

Mother chuckled and said, “With magic, dear.” Her smile widened as she motioned for to stay close beside her.

“Aren’t we in the cabin still?” I asked her.

“Yes and no,” she humd as I gawked. Mother then reached into her pocket and pulled out the key from before: a fancy golden one with fine line work etched into it. She twirled it in her fingers and said, “We’re in my Vault of Arcanum, we got here with this key. When I beca an Ethereal Archon, I was given one of these archeos by the Concilium. Very few of these exist, Luna.” She wiggled the key at .

“So, like, did it teleport us?”

“Not entirely. It’s a bit too complicated to explain right now, but essentially, this key has the power to open doors to another world.”

Ah, okay, I think I get it now. Funny enough, in my old D&D campaigns, I gave my players an item like this.

“So, uh,” I said as I tapped my chin, “any door you use this key on allows you to enter the tower.”

If that’s the case, then we could just pack everything up in this tower and leave before war breaks out, I thought, a glimr of hope blooming within .

Mother’s smug smile faded. “Unfortunately, no.” She sighed. “It’s a paired archeo. aning that this key…” She wiggled the golden key again. “…only works with other Vault doors made for it. They co in pairs, you see. When I left the Concilium, I thought they’d confiscate the door and key, or one of them, but they never did, for so reason.” She grinned again as she motioned for to follow her to the disc.

I thought about this as we went to the center of the room. “If that’s the case,” I wondered, “could we take the door and key with us?”

Mother cocked her head. “Oh?” She looked at with an arched eyebrow. “Elaborate,” she said, sounding like an instructor.

“Well, what I was thinking… is why don’t we pack everything up in here, then?” I asked. “If all we had to carry was just one door in the wagon and maybe a little bit of food and stuff, then we’d be traveling pretty light.”

“That’s a good idea, sweetie. You’re kind of sounding like your father.” I bead at the praise, though my smile was quickly forgotten when Mother frowned and said, “But that wouldn’t work.”

“Why not?” I asked.

She nodded towards the door. “When a Vault door is installed, there’s an enchantnt inscribed into it and the fra of the building. Think of it like a tether. When the door is removed, that tether is snapped, and the door just becos a normal door.”

I groaned. “Darnit, nothing can be as simple as I’d like.”

Mother laughed lightly and nodded. “I understand your frustration.” She reached out and patted on the head, humming, “But I like the initiative.”

I giggled as she rubbed my hair. “Could the door ever be fixed?”

“Certainly, though the bonding process that reestablishes the tether takes a week or more. So, in theory, sweetie, your idea could work; it would just be woefully inefficient. We could put everything in here, but once we start traveling, we won’t have access to the Vault until we install and bond the door to a building.”

As we stepped onto the disc in the floor, I grimaced. “Yeah, that doesn’t sound all that useful.” I sighed and looked down at the large erald just as Mother looked up at the ceiling.

Is this like an elevator? A teleporter, maybe? I see no console, chains, or anything. What is this for—

“Up!” Mother said firmly. I yelled as the circular disc on the floor dislodged with a heavy thud and began to levitate.

Holy shit, holy shit! I panicked internally as we ascended. No safety rails? No chains or pulleys? This isn’t safe! I hate this!

Mother placed a light hand on my shoulder. “It’s okay, don’t worry.” She humd as we began to go higher and higher towards the stone ceiling.

“Uh, uh, we’re going to get squished!” I yelled, but the stonework began to ripple like water before suddenly vanishing into an open hole, which we slipped through. Then we stopped. The disc let out a loud whine as it locked itself into place, securing us on the second floor.

“Gets them every ti.” Mother winked.

“That’s a an joke!” I whimpered.

My mother patted on the back. “It wasn’t a joke; it’s a security asure.” She smirked. “And maybe a little bit of a joke,” she giggled before clapping her hands together. “Alright, follow !”

This place was a maze. A non-Euclidean space that made absolutely no sense to the point of being unnerving. I had imagined a wizard’s tower would be sothing like this in the old D&D campaigns I used to run. Yet to experience one in person… I couldn’t even begin to comprehend it, and when I tried, my mind was assaulted with headaches.

Don’t think about it, Luna. Just… go with the flow, I kept telling myself as Mother and I walked down a straight hall that broke every architectural rule.

The tower was round, yet we’re going straight. For how long? We’ve been walking for multiple minutes now—stop, stop thinking about it.

“Mother,” I asked her as we andered through more winding halls, nearing a set of stairs, “how long have you had this tower for?”

Mother humd, then fell silent for a second as we began to climb. “About forty-four years.”

Goddamn, despite knowing their ages, hearing them casually throw out big numbers still stuns .

I shook my head. “And how co you never told Varis or about this? Does Father know?”

She glanced back at and nodded. “Yep, your father is well aware. We used to spend many, many hours in this place in our younger years.”

Welp, I don’t trust anything I touch here now.

She continued, “I did plan on telling you kids at so point, possibly on your first-century birthdays.”

Whoa, what? Century?! Co to think of it, yeah… I am an elf now. Boy, this is going to take a while to get used to, but still, a century?!

“That’s a long way away,” I said as we reached the top of the staircase. My mother pulled out so more keys as we stood beside a tal door.

“It is, but I wanted you and Varis to live a happy, healthy childhood. Many elves’ first centuries are chock-full of learning and other work; very rarely do they just get to, y’know… live!” She gestured grandly with her free hand. Her tone told she was speaking from personal experience.

Other elves? You know, I haven’t seen too many of them around here. I frowned. But that’s also because I don’t go outside often. One trait I still haven’t shaken yet from my past life… ugh.

“Why would telling us about your past and this place ss up our childhood?” I asked as Mother slid a silver key into the door.

Mother glanced at . “Lots of hard-hitting questions, dear.” She chuckled as she opened the door. “Truth is, not much. Part of just wanted you kids to see as a normal, beautiful, and strong mother.” She posed in a silly way, and I couldn’t help but snort at her cringiness.

Then she took on a more serious look. “And the other part wanted to move away from my old life,” she said, motioning for to follow her into the next section of this bizarre tower.

We stepped into a vast room cluttered with tables full of tools and strange, half-constructed archeo devices which lay strewn about; machinery for twisting and shaping tal hung on the walls in clearly-not-safe positions. Along the edges were stands holding blueprints and chalkboards cluttered with sketches and mathematical formulae. We were in a workshop, one perfect for a wizard or artificer.

Wow, this place is just screaming OSHA violations, I observed, scanning the magical items.

“Careful, much of this old junk hasn’t moved in ages,” Mother instructed as she began to walk to the far end of this elongated room. “Stay close to .”

“That doesn’t make feel any better.” I laughed nervously as I tore my gaze away from a red orb. It glowed with a raging storm of light inside, mounted on a silver stand. “What’re we doing here?”

“We’re here to grab so supplies and things I think you’ll like.” Mother humd as she took a small bag from one table and began to snatch random objects up, then stuff them in. So of the items didn’t even look capable of fitting, yet sohow, they just plopped in.

Bag of holding? Marry Poppins? I blinked and glanced around. How many functioning archeos are there around ?

“Mother, you’re not just a wizard, are you?” I asked her as she reached the back of the room, where larger tables full of alchemical agents and schematics lay.

“I dabbled in a bit of artificery, though your father did most of the actual building.”

“Wait, Father… builds stuff?”

“He did…” Mother kept scanning the items, swiping up bits I couldn’t quite na. “Most of his firearms are handmade. As well as his mag rounds. A bit too crude for , but he gets a kick out of them.” She smirked. “Though this workshop was mostly used by your Aunt Saria.”

I blinked. “Who?”

“She’s my sister-in-law,” Mother said. “She’s an archeo engineer: an artificer. She and I used to work on a few projects together many, many years ago. Much of what I know about archeos cos from her.”

I nodded as I wandered between the tables. “Were you and Father, like, adventurers and stuff?” I asked her as I poked a bronze birdlike thing. The chanical beast flopped over unmoving.

Mother didn’t respond right away, but after a mont, she said, “Sort of. Mommy doesn’t really want to talk about that, though, sweetie.” That made glance back towards her. She held a solemn look as she gazed over the items.

Nodding, I chose not to press the issue and turned elsewhere. Yet as I did, sothing caught my attention.

I walked over to one schematic on a leaning table. Pictured was a massive cylindrical machine with cogs and pistons lining its sides. What confused was that the language written on the schematic was not one I recognized. The machine looked vast and intimidating, based on the scale shown at the bottom—a silhouette of a man no larger than my thumb beside it. Despite the notes I couldn’t understand, there was one word I did see written at the top in the common tongue.

Eternity? My eyes shifted to the other unintelligible words. Is the rest of this written in Mother’s cipher? Or is this another language?

I turned back to my mother; she was standing directly behind . I yelped with shock and bumped into the table behind , nearly knocking the schematic over. Quickly I caught it, then took a couple deep breaths.

Mother laughed and bent down. “Sorry, I didn’t an to sneak up on you.” She held up sothing no larger than a coin purse. “Take this.”

Blinking, I looked over the small leather thing. “It’s a little bag…” I took it. “Is anything in it?”

“Not yet, and it isn’t an ordinary bag. It’s an enigma pouch,” she said. “You saw sticking items away in this bag, right?” She patted the one tied to her waist.

I nodded. Whoa, receiving a bag of holding? Hell yeah. Whatever god is the DM of this world, you’re amazing.

“Anything you can fit past this opening will go into the bag. I was aning to make this next year’s birthday gift, but I think you can take it now.” She patted my shoulder.

Already planned next year’s gift. It makes sense. Mother does seem like the kind of woman to start planning next year’s Christmas gifts on Christmas Day.

I bounced up and down. “That’s so cool! Thank you, Mother!” I hugged her, and instantly, my mother lted into .

“Oh, you’re welco, cutie!” She kissed on the head. “I love you!”

I giggled and let go of her as she patted on the head. “We’re not done here yet. Just stay close to while I go and grab a few more items.”

With a big grin and a firm nod from , the two of us continued our walk around the workshop.

The trip through the cabin tower was interesting, to say the least. It wasn’t what I was expecting in the slightest. Yet seeing this place simply raised more questions than answers. If Mother was once part of this Magus Concilium, why would she leave it? Why would this council be okay with her keeping this pristine tower? Most of all, why did she want to hide her adventurous life from us?

I felt that if I were a cool, powerful wizard and adventurer, I wouldn’t shut up about it. Yet maybe sothing terrible had happened. mories of Mr. Blaxen’s visit ca to mind. Rembering how Mother told a friend of hers got killed because of that man made bite my lip.

I think I’m sort of getting it now. They must be terrible mories. Ani and books always made adventuring seem cool and fun. That look Mother had when she told to change the subject… almost reminded of people with post-traumatic stress.

But I shook my head at those thoughts as Mother and I stepped onto the lift from earlier. “Down!” Mother ordered. She hoisted a backpack over her shoulder and helped adjust the bundles of sacks and bags I had loaded upon myself.

Half the junk we gathered—or, well, half the things I didn’t know the nas of—were all stuffed into the regular bags. Most of the items, Mother ntioned, were to help us travel and for convenience’s sake. For others, she just said, “Handle this very carefully.”

I didn’t know why, but that scared the shit out of .

We left the cabin tower in silence. Stepping outside, Mother turned around and shut the door, locked it, then took out a silver key and unlocked it again. This ti, it opened to a proper cabin.

“Okay, what?” I blurted out. “How does that work?”

“Don’t worry your little head, Luna.” Mother giggled. “You’ll give yourself a migraine.”

I blinked multiple tis before shaking my head and following my mother into the cabin again.

Inside, we were t with a bakery, with large bread ovens, long countertops full of pots and pans, and a range on the side, all nice and spotless. “So, this is where you do all the baking,” I muttered.

“And see how clean it is?” Mother smiled. “As much as I adore you kids, you guys are ssy. Upstairs, you’ll find Madam Soza’s quarters. But please do not enter her room.”

I sighed and nodded as she went further in. “What are we doing in here?” I asked, admittedly feeling a bit bored.

At least the cabin tower was interesting.

“Hold on, Miss Impatient,” Mother teased. “I’m getting sothing for you.”

My head perked up. She was bent over in so wooden bin. “For ?” I asked.

Mother grunted and pulled out a tray, careful to keep her back to and the surprise mostly out of view as she placed it on the counter. “Yep. For you and your brother. It’s sothing I stayed up last night doing.”

Curious, I shuffled towards her. Just as I got close, Mother turned around and presented a cute vanilla cupcake with pink frosting.

“Ta-dah! I was just using a little magic to warm it back up.”

My eyes widened as she held the cupcake out to , blinking in wonder. “W-Whoa!” The sll of vanilla and strawberry made its way to my nose. My mouth watered as I looked up at Mother and asked, “But why?”

“Are you questioning a dragon’s gift?” She smirked before answering, “It’s because I love you, and I know that I didn’t get to make you a birthday cake this year.”

I took the cupcake and smiled. Damn childish emotions, I’m about to cry! Sniffing, I wiped my eyes as I held the cupcake close.

My mother blinked. “Wh-What’s wrong? Do you not like it?”

Why am I crying? Why do I feel like this, dammit? Why is it now, of all tis, that I’m getting shown this place or learning about all of this? I bit my lip. Why is everything moving and changing so fast all of a sudden? Why do we have to leave? I want to stay, learn more, and hang out with Mother in this cool tower. Or see what Father used to make! It’s not fair. Why is this happening to us?

I shook my head. “N-No! I—I love it!” My lip began to quiver. “I—I just…” I looked up at her. “I—I don’t want to leave. I want to stay and learn magic with you here.” I tried to wipe my tears, but they wouldn’t stop.

Mother cooed and reached out to cup my cheek and stroke my tears away. “It’s okay, sweetie. I know everything is scary right now, and so much is happening, but it’s okay. Yes, we’re leaving, but it’s not the location that matters. Just because we’re going away doesn’t an you’ll stop learning, and that also doesn’t an I or any one of us is going away. When everything calms down and better days co, we’ll co back here. I promise that.”

I sniffed. “You promise?”

“I promise.”

Shifting a little, I held my cupcake in one hand and held out my pinky. She looked at it, confused. “Pinky promise,” I said. “Isa pinky promised before. It’s a super promise!”

Mother snorted and smiled widely, her eyes glistening a little as well. “You’re so cute.” She wrapped her pinky around mine, and we shook. “Okay. Pinky promise.”

Afterwards, I took a deep breath, feeling strangely relieved. “I’m happy now.” I sniffled and grinned, and my mother laughed.

“You’re such a goof!” She patted on the head and stood up. “Help take the rest of these cupcakes inside.”

We grabbed the cupcake tray and made our way back to the house. Mother opened the back door and stepped inside, and as I followed suit, we noticed no one was in the kitchen. Mother set the tray down on the table, and I joined her in the living room doorway.

In my father’s rocking chair sat Varis, and in front of him, on his knees, my father gripped his hand. “Like I told your sister, I’ll do anything in my power to protect you, boy, just as I expect you to protect her and your mother. We n need to fight, but most importantly, we must not break. Do you understand , young man?”

Varis sniffed and nodded. “Yessir.”

“I know things are tough, and they may get tougher, but you need to stay strong.” He tapped his chest. “Those n outside, those soldiers… They’re the real deal, Varis. This is no ga anymore. That’s why I need you to take this seriously.”

Varis nodded. “Yessir.”

At this point, Father nodded, stood up, and turned to see us standing in the doorway.

“Are we intruding?” Mother asked.

“No, I said all I needed to.” He glanced at Varis, who seed stunned in the chair.

Father sighed softly. “I told him pretty much everything.” He turned back to Varis and opened his mouth, but Mother stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Why don’t we take a break?” she suggested.

Father arched an eyebrow at her. “A break? Cailynn, I don’t think we’ll have the ti we have tonight, and tomorrow we don’t have—”

“A break, Slyran. We have the wagon, we have Ruby, and everything is packed. Tonight is most likely going to be our last night here. Let’s have one final al before I make my last run and we go tomorrow. Besides, Isa isn’t here.”

Go tomorrow? I thought. Are we not going with the Hautchkins? And where’s Isa?

Father bit his lip and closed his eyes. Reaching up, he stroked his goatee before running a hand through his brown hair. “Okay, okay… For now, sure, but when we’re done, we need to finish up.”

“Dear, we have everything ready,” Momma reassured him. “For now, let’s try to have at least one final dinner, just a normal family al.” She looked at him sternly, and Father stared back. For a second, I was afraid they were going to fight. They’d bickered before, and Father looked very frustrated.

After a brief staring contest, Father turned away and relented. “Alright. We’ll have dinner.”

“I—I… I have cupcakes for us!” I smiled, trying to lighten the mood. Thankfully, this seed to work, as Father softened a bit.

“Do you, now?” he asked with a grin. I nodded and pointed to the kitchen.

“Momma made them.”

Coming to his senses, Varis perked up and said, “Cupcakes?” I nodded, and he gave a shaky smile and got up.

“Where’s Isa?” I said as Mother and Father walked past . “We should invite her too!”

Father stopped. “Isa is in town, she said she was eting up with a friend to get so more information about what’s going on. She won’t be back till tomorrow morning.”

“All the more reason we should take a break,” Mother said. I gritted my teeth, afraid they would descend into an argunt, but nothing happened.

Father sighed. “You’re right, dear. I’d feel awful leaving without her…”

“What’s she doing?” I said.

He glanced at . “She’s out preparing for the road ahead…” To which he grumbled, “As we should be doing.” Which awarded him a sharp glare from Mother.

“Slyran, we’re ready,” she hissed. The two of them shared a hard look.

I don’t know if I’m looking forward to this last al.

Vieil ami, I’ve seen this before. This pattern has played out many tis; it’s written in my book...