The building was dark, shadows covering the dozen or so bodies. I tagged them mentally as I took a deep breath, recovering from Amyra’s latest fucking stunt. Pulling me to another world, again? Couldn’t she have waited two more minutes so I’d have been done with celebrating the end of war?

Now I had to deal with an unconscious catgirl that I’d given an unintentional facial. That would be fun to smooth over to be sure. Stupid Goddess was probably laughing her head off.

Still, that by itself was interesting. The girl that had summoned me was clearly a catgirl, with a long white tail and equally white ears sticking up from her head. No further fur I could see, though I supposed the rather standard tunic and pants could be hiding some. The same went for most of the bodies, tails and ears. Certainly different from what I’d expect in my last world, where you’d rarely see more than a couple of the same species in a room when they had a choice.

A healthy mix, I’d once thought as I’d looked over my burgeoning army. 

The remaining bodies seemed to be the result of magic, unless werewolves that looked like a terrible painter had decided to mix man and wolf were natural here. There were also what looked like goblins, just the two, but that already brought more variety to what I quickly assumed to be the enemy I’d be expected to face.

Something wriggled on my arm, and I almost slapped it before I realised what it was. Dear god. A black furred tail still wrapped around my lower arm. 

“Queen…” I mumbled her Title, and hoped she was alright. She’d been the Heroine of our world, imbued with the power of half a dozen gods to slay me and stop my war. It’d been touch and go for a while, but the face of her former mistress when she realised I’d turned their greatest weapon against them had been glorious. A good bonus, compared to the love I’d found with her by then. The tail moved again, and I couldn’t help but run a finger across the length. It twitched, and I grinned. Still connected, in a way, then.

At least I wasn’t truly alone here. Beyond the other catgirl, at least.

The door trembled, and cracked. A large splinter cracked loose, and I could hear excited roars and shouts from the other side. Looking down at the girl before me, a bloodied knife still in her hand, I sighed.

Guess that explained why Amyra hadn’t waited.

Clenching my fist and closing my eyes, I reached inside of me to the flame that granted me power, and through it, to the small pocket dimension I’d once claimed from a noble mage. Still there. Good. I reached further, before closing my mental hand around my target and pulling.

It resisted, and I grunted in surprise before gritting my teeth. The flame within me shrunk, but my target budged and shot forward.

A slight flash, and a bit of wind, saw the clothes and armour form around me and I breathed a sigh of relief as I opened and closed my hand. Still a perfect fit, I confirmed, as the black metal moved without an issue.

Another pull, and another disturbingly large shrinking of my Flame, gave me my longsword. As dark as my armour, I’d always been told it was an imposing sight. I didn’t really care. It cut, and it cut really well.

The door cracked further, and I saw an almost glowing red eye peek inside before the shouts redoubled. Running out of time, then. I took a breath, calling upon the magic in the air to refill my reserves, only to cough. My eyes widened, and I tried again.

“Fuck. FUCK!” This world was dead.

The girl groaned, rolling around as I cursed. 

Shit. There was no magic here. Wait. There was, considering the monsters. Just not my magic. I’d need to be careful. My reserves should recover on their own, but it’d be slow. Problematically so, even. Guess that kills the plan of smacking them with a fireball when they entered to show them exactly who they were dealing with.

Sword it was.

“Girl.” I said, looking down at the catgirl. Her eyes were open now, and she was looking at me with surprise, at least it seemed that way. “You called me here, did you not?” 

“Y-yes.” Her voice was soft, but pleasant to my ears.

“What is the goal?” I asked, and her ears went flat as she worked herself to her feet. She seemed uncaring, or perhaps she’d forgotten, about the seed staining her face as she looked up at the slit in my helmet.

“There’s a Dark Lord. He wants to enslave or kill us all,” she said, her voice filled with anger. We’d need to work on that.

“That’s the situation. Not a goal.” The door cracked further, and I idly noted a green arm poking through before retreating as the girl licked her lips.

“Kill him.” Cold hatred? Interesting. Better than anger for sure, at least.

“And what do I get?” I asked. I’d do it, sure. Not like I had many other options, and I’d probably need her as well at least to act as a guide of some sorts. Besides, I’d just finished a war against a bunch of slavers, might as well continue the trend until I figured out how to get back home.

“Anything. Everything.” The girl didn’t really hesitate, which surprised me, but I shrugged. Fair enough. If I didn’t help her, she’d probably die here.

“Sure,” I said as I reached out with my free hand and patted her on the head. She flinched, but didn’t flee. “You’re mine then, from now on.” She looked up at me with wide eyes, as though I’d told her the world was flat. Then she grit her teeth and nodded.

“I’m Kate. What do we do?” she asked, and I rolled my eyes. Like her name mattered right now. I’d have to teach her something about appropriate times for conversation. I shrugged, exaggerating the motion so she’d be able to see it despite my armour.

“Kill those things, then leave.” Simple enough.

“There’s a thousand of them.” Okay. Not so simple.

“What’s out there? Lay of the land?” I asked. She seemed confused for a moment before turning her eyes back to the door where a single goblin was being pushed through a hole it really couldn’t fit through.

“Home. My town. Can we save them?” she sounded hopeful, but I swallowed as I gripped my sword. My Flame was already down to almost half its peak strength. Calling from the pocket dimension was harder than some basic battle spells, but taking down a thousand warriors would be impossible. 

“No.” I could have minced my words, been gentle, I suppose. That wouldn’t help her. “Fighting that many of them is impossible, even for me. At least, for now.” If I could figure out a way to have access to my normal magics, and they had no mages to counter me, a thousand would wipe me out for a couple days but be very doable. Until then, it was but a dream.

“Oh.” It wasn’t a word as much as a sound that escaped her lips, and I felt her disappointment within it. It stung. I had a lot of experience with people being disappointed in me, a consequence of hard decisions in harder times, but it never got easier.

“We’ll wait until the doors open and cut through. Escape over the roofs. How good are you?” I asked as the goblin, contrary to what I’d have expected, fell through the hole. It looked mangled, but it rose to its feet and turned to the door.

“I-I’m not. I can’t fight,” she said. I sensed a lie; her knife had been bloodied, but a lack of faith in her own abilities was as bad for her skills as actual inexperience would be. I’d just need to make up for it. I took a breath, and focussed on my Flame. The goblin lifted the metal blocking the door.

“Do not worry. I protect what’s mine.” The doors swung open, revealing half a dozen goblins and even more of the larger werewolf-like monsters. The Flame responded to my call.

I hadn’t wanted to spend this energy. Not without knowing what could be waiting for us in the coming hours. There were too many, though. No matter how good I was, one against the many only worked if the enemy was dumb and let you face a couple at a time. The monsters were already charging us. They weren’t that stupid.

“Get down!” I shouted, and Kate threw herself to the ground in an instant as I grabbed almost everything my Flame had to give. Fire roared to life in my hand, the heat immediately scorching. A goblin hesitated at the sight, but was immediately crushed by the wolfman behind him.

One down.

I slammed my hand forward, the fireball immediately exploding in a wave of fire that crossed the distance to the horde in an instant. Kate yelped as the heat passed over her back, but I knew she’d be fine. Instead, I kept my eyes locked on the smarter monsters.

The ones that dove to the side as many of their brethren erupted into flame under the heat. 

Seven down, I noted as their screams filled the room. We’d need to be fast, though, as they’d attract more enemies.

“Go!” I said loudly as I stepped off the dais, to the right. Three monsters had fled there, a goblin and two wolfmen. I couldn’t hear her move, the screams of the dying made that impossible, but I’d have to trust in her tenacity.

My sword felt almost light in my hand, as though it was eager for even the meagre challenge. I could empathise. It’d been too long since I’d been in true, personal, combat. I felt a grin creep onto my face as the goblin shot forward. 

I swung my arm, sending the ugly thing to the side with a crunch of bone. The wolfmen flinched as I didn’t even pause, but roared defiantly. They rushed at me, axes held high.

I stepped forward as they neared me, before diving to the left, past them both, while striking out. The wolf’s leather armour parted as though it wasn’t there, and I stumbled in surprise before ducking low to dodge its friend’s swing. The wolf I’d cut open fell to its knees, its axe fallen to the ground, and I quickly punched it in the head to send it crashing against its friend.

The other wolf stumbled, and I rose. A quick slash, and it, too, bled out on the stone floor.

“Come!” I shouted, the way to the door almost free, before something crashed into my back.

Something bumped into my armour, and I glanced down to see a small green hand with a wicked knife stabbing furiously. I almost chuckled at the futility, but instead reached for it. Before I could grab it, though, I was almost pulled over. The goblin screeched, and I turned my head just in time to see Kate’s knife sink into its chest as she held it down with a knee.

Her eyes almost seemed cold as she pulled it back out, only to repeat the motion. Then she slit its throat and rose to her feet. Its blood spurted against her leg as the creature died, and the girl seemed to light up for a moment. Literally, a wave of golden light flowing under her skin. I grinned, but then noticed the remaining six monsters heading our way from the dais.

“Time to go!” I said loudly, and the girl hesitated. I reached out quickly, grabbing her arm and pulling her close to me before lifting her over my shoulder. I was prepared for squirming, or resistance, but none came and I was free to turn around and run at the door.

The single goblin just peeking its head inside didn’t even see my sword coming.

The houses around the square I found myself in were mostly on fire, though few monsters remained. Lucky. Still, I doubted we had time to fight them. 

“Which way?” I asked quickly.

“I can’t see anything like this!” she shouted back. Right. That made some sense, so I turned around. “The red roof, that street!”

I shrugged as I turned to that end again, before cursing when I saw the mass of heads filling the space between the buildings. The building’s roof seemed pretty gentle for a slope, though.

I drew upon the last remnants of my Flame, and ran. Kate screamed at the sudden movement, and the monsters that’d been nearing us scattered at my speed. The building was in front of me before I knew it, and I kept hold of my Flame as I jumped.

I rose quickly, Kate’s scream echoing in my ear, but I ignored it as we passed the roof’s edge. Then, it was below us and I grinned as I slammed my sword into the wood and climbed up. 

The town’s walls were easy to see, and there was a path pretty much to it over the rooftops. Good.

We shouldn’t have any more trouble escaping.