Meryda pulled the zipper of her suit and fixed the collar. A buzzing sound and a blinking called her attention, and she pressed the crystal, which was on a stand on her small table, and faced the wall as it lit up.

The smiling Pof Grinun was there, and he said, “Hi, beautiful! Where are you going? Darn, girl, you look hot in that tight diving suit!”

Meryda made a twirl and said with a smile, “To my next mission. I am on the shoreline of the Shian Empire, and I am about to go to my Underwater Vessel. Just another day in the Biology Institute!”

“How long will it take? Because I am in a Flying Vessel, and they said we are going to arrive in two days at the border of the Shian Empire!”

“What are you doing there? Weren’t you supposed to be in Amberstar all week?”

“I got one last-minute order. I am with the Demi-Centaur siblings, and we are going to the capital for construction work. A bridge to connect two cities. My faithful Gigantic Spiders specialists came with me this time, all ten of them.”

Intrigued, Meryda asked, “Is that such a big project? You usually only need two spiders and two Bone Boars!”

“I also have with me ten Bone Boars, and it is a massive project.”

“What about Tetil Stog? I thought she was supposed to go with you when you had to work in another country! She complained she needed a holiday the last time we talked!”

“Ah! She wanted it, but being a Guild Master in Amberstar keeps her occupied. She tried to ask Dralro Jic if he could be at the Guild for a few days, but he refused. He is enjoying his retirement, and as soon as she asked, he packed his bag, took a vessel to the Demois’ country, and left in secrecy! She was so pissed! Your father and Rusha Banei are there, so I suppose he is going to meet them.”

With a smile and while checking the contents of her bag, Meryda said, “Rusha told me she was going to try to catch High Demois Manananggal off guard and hit her.”

“What? Manananggal is still after your father?”

“She never gave up, you know? She got even more insistent over the years. And Rusha still didn’t forgive her when she kissed my father right in front of her last month!”

“Talking about kisses, when are you finishing that mission? Because I was hoping I could get a few!”

“It will depend on how long it will take for me to find that Sea Serpent Monster. I have three serpents with me that I have already tamed, but it seems there is still one attacking boats in this area. Better to tame them all so that they stop attacking boats and people don’t try to kill them!”

With a grin, Pof said, “You know classes are about to start, and it would be funny if the teacher wasn’t there when school started!”

With a frown, Meryda said, “It only happened one time! One time only! Can’t you forget about that, geez! I am very aware classes are about to start in the institute; it is a brand-new school year, and I can’t be late and disappoint my new students! But I got a special licence from the institute! It was High Demois Fyend who gave me this mission!”

“Alright, but promise me you will be careful! I know very well how you get easily distracted underwater! At least Black Death is with you? That Emptiness that used to live on your father’s farm?”

“Yup, always with me, wherever I go, together with Lyzy and Jelly! My Sub-Monsters stayed in the Institute, preparing class documents for me, but my companions are here. A Fae is with me as well, so no need to worry! You know how much those green plants love the sea!”

“But what about your Black Shucks? And the Drakes? They also stayed in the Institute?”

“One Drake is here with me. He will be my ride when I finish this. The others are at the Institute. They always have a lot of work there to keep them entertained.”

With one last smile, Pof said, “Better if you go, or you are going to be late. See you soon, cutie!”

“Bye, love! I will go to the Institute as soon as I finish this, and we can meet there when you finish your work!”

Meryda touched the crystal to turn off the screen, grabbed her bag, and went out of her quarters.

On the large deck of the Water Vessel, a Fae was looking at the horizon, with an Emptiness, the gigantic Lyzy, the Salamander, and an enormous Slime next to her. Meryda gently bumped against her shoulder and asked, “What’s the matter, avatar? Dreaming while awake?”

“No… I was just thinking that I did a pretty good job with the sea. So full of life, such richness, such beauty…”

“Wait… you did? Not we did? Oh! Crosslot! Nice to see you here! How is everything with you?”

“Very entertaining, actually. Oomans and Demis are at the same level of development that Demois are, and for the last few months, I have been testing a few new things. I think you will like what I can do now.”

Intrigued, Meryda looked to where the Fae was pointing and saw a light dot appearing on the deck of the vessel on her left. The dot enlarged, growing to the size of a circular door.

On the other side, Meryda could see what appeared to be a restaurant of some sort, and on the table on the other side of that Magical portal, she saw a familiar face, and a voice shouted, “No way! Meryda! Is that really you?”

“Sophia! Hi! This is awesome! Crosslot, since when can you open a portal like this?”

The smiling green being waved to the surprised couple on the other side, who were looking at them, and said, “I told you. I have been practising. It was extremely difficult because my absurd amount of Magic is not easy to control to make something like this, but I can keep this portal open for as long as I want, now. Do you want to cross it and meet your friend?”

“I can do that? For real?” Seeing the Fae nodding, Meryda crossed the portal and hugged the crying-of-happiness Sophia Cross.

They both were crying, and it was then that Sophia noticed a glowing ring on her friend’s finger and asked, “Oh! Is that a wedding ring? Really?”

“Yes, it sure is! Eric finally proposed!”

“Took you long enough, dumbass! Making my best friend wait for so long, not knowing if she would ever get married or not!”

“I just took like… four years to conquer her, and we dated for five years, and we have been living together for almost one year now! Not that long! And who the heck are you, and what is that thing?” asked Eric, while pointing straight at the portal to the smiling green being on the other side.

“I am Meryda Crawler, and that is a Fae, my friend. Now shut up and let me talk with Sophia! I have work to do in the sea, so I can’t stay for long!”

Looking at Meryda’s long, blue hair and her ears, Eric asked, “Is that… cat ears?”

“Shut up! Sophia, this guy is getting on my nerves! How did it go, your fight?”

“Ended in three seconds. That fool doesn’t even know what hit her!”

More people in the restaurant were now looking at the strange cat-looking woman, and a few had their mobile phones in hand, recording or taking pictures of her and the Magical portal, making Meryda say, “It is better if I leave; we are causing a ruckus here! Crosslot told me that he can now make those portals to connect our worlds, so maybe next time you can visit me?”

“I would love to! Oh! I can have my honeymoon in Crosslot! And you are going to my wedding, aren’t you? Together with Pof Grinun! And all the gang! Say you will! Say you will bring them!”

“Of course I will! Now that I can use a portal like this? I will use that to visit you anytime! And you can come to me anytime! It will be awesome! Wait until I tell the siblings and Tetil! They will go nuts!”

In a whisper, Sophia said, “Better not tell them about you-know-what. For all purposes, we are only friends who met long ago through a mirror.” She then waved to the smiling Fae on the other side of the portal and said, “You are also invited, Fae! And don’t go look for some excuse not to come!”

“We would be honoured, Sophia Cross. And this is just the first portal. Crosslot wants to have portals connecting both worlds so that people from each world can go visit the other. There is a limit of two hours for a portal to stay open, and it needs two hours of rest before another can be opened, but it is feasible and perfectly safe.”

With one last hug to her friend, Meryda said, “I have to go! I have an enormous Sea Serpent Monster to tame, and then I have to return to the Institute! Classes are about to start, and if I arrive there late, Pof will mock me! And the Institute Headmaster will scold me!”

She crossed the portal again and waved at her Human friend, smiling until the portal dissipated. She then hugged the green being at her side and said, “Thanks a lot, Crosslot! This is awesome! People from Earth can come for a visit, and we can learn so much! The people in both worlds can grow a lot with this!”

Meryda then remembered something and said, “Wait… Humans are not very easy to deal with. There are some rotten ones out there. Not to mention the ones that will find it difficult to accept the existence of Demis, Half-Demois or Demois!”

“That won’t be a problem. At the minimum sign of trouble or if one of them misbehaves, I will open a portal and toss them out, and I won’t allow them to come ever again. Easy-peasy, like you used to say!”

“Cool! Now, let’s get to the Underwater Vessel! I have a serpent to tame!”

“Yay! Underwater adventure! Hihihi!”

THE END