“Who’s there?” Grace demanded, her gun coming up as she swivelled to look around us.

My first move however was to look up, then sigh in relief at what I saw. The arch of the ring was still there, we were still on the ring.

Where the hell were we on the ring though? Glancing around, I saw that we were in a deep hollow within the mountains, craggy and broken rock surrounded us on all sides, familiar verdant forest growing up the sides. Surrounding us was a meadow of lush grass and flowers, with a crystal clear pool of water in the middle.

The strangest thing about our surroundings, apart from the fact that no one was here, was that the vegetation was so lush. Flowers were almost too bright in their colours, even in the dark, the grass was too green, even the dirt was almost as nice as the stuff in my grove. It was like the whole place was bursting with life and growth, far beyond what was normal or natural.

“They always ask that,” the singsong voice muttered. “Who’s there?”

“Well, of course we’re going to ask who’s there when we can’t fucking see you,” Grace growled, rolling her eyes.

“Oh ho, ho,” the voice said with a chuckle. “She’s a plain speaking one, intriguing.”

Grace opened her mouth to reply, but she faltered when the plants around us came alive with movement. Plants from all across the hollow were lifting into the air, their roots sliding out of the ground smoothly and without any dirt trailing behind.

Flowers, ferns, shrubs and everything else twirled and danced in an ever tightening vortex in the center of the hollow, until it ruched inwards on itself. Stepping forth from the maelstrom of leaves and flowers was an obrec woman made of the same material. A patchwork of leaves and petals made up her skin, so closely packed that it made her skin seem entirely smooth. She stood at what must have been seven feet tall was well, all of which was very much unclothed.

“Hello there,” she smiled amicably, a twist of mischief dancing in her eyes.

“Uh, hi?” I asked, my voice rising in pitch as she sauntered towards us, hips swaying seductively.

Once she was within comfortable conversation distance, she sat down, a tangle of vines bursting from the ground to form a chair. Crossing her legs, she regarded us with mysterious amusement.

“You two have been causing quite a racket around here,” she chuckled, idly caressing a flower that had grown out of her chair. “Two little mortals dancing through my woods, leaving a bloody great trail of magic in their wake. Quite intriguing if you ask me, so I just had to get a look at the both of you.”

“Who are you?” Grace asked cautiously. “Hell, what are you?”

“My, that tongue of yours is rather blunt isn’t it?” the large, naked plant woman laughed, before she leaned forward slightly. “My name is Ollinfer, and I am… well that is complicated, but the natives around these parts call me a goddess. Well... as far as you can call anyone on this world a native anyway.”

“Oh…” Grace said, her eyes going wide.

“That explains how you schwooped me away from my grove,” I said quietly. If anyone could just fuck with my magic like it was nothing, it would be a goddess.

“Yes indeed,” she nodded, beginning to play with the flower again. “So if I might ask, now that I have your attention, pray tell why you are wandering through my woods spraying growth magics everywhere. I’m not complaining of course, my realm is the forest after all, but it is not every day that energies of that magnitude are thrown so casually about the countryside.”

Grace and I glanced at each other and I found the same question mirrored in her eyes. Could we trust this strange woman who claimed to be worshipped as a goddess? Did we even have a choice? Would she be able to tell if we were lying?

Grace gave a tiny shrug and a nod, which I took as a sign to just tell Ollinfer the truth.

“We uh, found an ancient ring builder lab and Grace kinda got a big load of rainbow coloured magic poured into her,” I said slowly, watching our host for reactions. “I have to keep siphoning it off and ejecting it as growth energy to keep her from overheating.”

“An ancient ring builder lab,” Ollinfer said, her eyes growing distant as she stared past us. “I remember them, the Umare, they called themselves. I pity them, those poor, noble fools that they were. To think they doomed the galaxy by winning a war.”

Grace and I shared another, alarmed glance at the knowledge she’d just casually dumped on us. The builders were called the Umare, and they had doomed the whole galaxy?

“Sorry, hold on… doomed the whole galaxy?” I asked with a squeak.

“Oh, well… parts of it anyway,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “Forgive an old woman her theatrics. The pressing matter appears to be the uncontrolled multi-spectrum magical fusion going on within your friend here.”

I mean, she was right, but… doomed galaxy! She couldn’t just… drop that and then do the conversational equivalent of wandering off! Wait, uncontrolled multi-spectrum… what?

I took a shaking breath and concentrated, “Right, yeah. That’s a bit of an issue, sorry… can you explain what that means?” Grace gave a snort.

“I will, but well… I suggest you siphon some off her now, she appears to be wobbling,” Ollinfer said, raising an eyebrow and motioning to Grace.

Taking the tall naked lady’s advice, I reached down for Grace’s hand and started draining the magic out of her, because yeah, she’d been swaying a little. It seemed to hit her balance first when she was starting to overheat.

“Oh, my… you’re just spraying it everywhere aren’t you?” Ollinfer coughed, her breathing suddenly laboured. “Would you mind pointing it away from me, it’s hard to think with that mess bouncing around.”

The words were out of my mouth before I could stop myself. “Does it make you horny too?”

My cheeks were instantly aflame with embarrassment as I realised what I’d asked and I looked away, anywhere but at the goddess sitting on her throne. I also quickly pointed the spray of energy away from the her.

“Something like that, yes.” Ollinfer said, her laugh ringing out through the hollow like a chorus of songbirds, before she leaned forward to stare pointedly at Grace, her expression turning serious.  “Now, I have an… offer for you.”

Oh dear, that sounded… ominous. Everyone knows that making deals with mysterious fae-like beings after being kidnapped by them was always a recipe for disaster.

“What is it?” Grace asked cautiously.

“You have an overabundance of magic pouring out of you, I am always in need of energy,” she replied slowly, tapping her finger against one of the vines that made up her chair. “I am a being of great power, one that many have sought to create a contract with. I believe the term is warlock, to you mortals. I would make you into a warlock, but with a twist.”

“Yeah, see… we have a lot of mythology around deals like that,” Grace shook her head. “It always ends up being twisted to fuck over the mortal.”

I nodded along with Grace, I’d read too many fantasy books where deals like this came back to bite everyone in the ass.

“Aha, she’s prudent too,” Ollinfer smiled, looking pleased. “I am known for such tricks, especially against those I dislike. You two however, you have been traipsing through my woods throwing growth magic around like an oligarch with an unhappy working class. I am rather pleased with the both of you, and as such, I make an offer that will most definitely benefit me, but it is without guile. It’s a rather novel experience, really.”

She was just… admitting that she liked to fuck with people? If we got out of this and made it to Millowhall, we really needed to do some research on her..

“You haven’t actually told us what that twist is,” I pointed out suspiciously.

“Yes, the twist. The twist is that in the process of turning your… friend into a warlock, I will use the transformation to create a solution to your problem. Any time the multi-spectrum energies within her body reach dangerous levels, they will be siphoned off through the connection between us,” Ollinfer replied conversationally. “This is what I will get out of it. A font of energies that I cannot normally access due to my nature. I am fundamentally a being of the Nameless Garden, I cannot create energies from say, the Red Nightmare.”

That sounded like a good deal on the surface, but something about it had my hair standing on end. It must have some hidden meanings, some tricks that would end in misery for Grace, and I turned to tell her that.

“I’ll do it,” she blurted, before I could say so much as a word.

“Grace?!” I exclaimed urgently, my heart beginning to thunder with fear for her.

“What are the chances you can actually fix this, Ryn?” she asked gently, cupping my face in both hands. “If I take this offer, I’m fixed now. If she messes with us, we can deal with it when that happens. Plus… if I can control it like she promises…”

Her last words held hidden suggestion, and I swallowed hard. She was right that the problem would be dealt with, but what if we were trading one problem for an even worse one down the line? I was so scared for her, so scared that she would get hurt by this. I couldn’t bear it if something happened to her.

“Please, Ryn,” she murmured, stepping closer. “I need to do this alright? I need to be strong enough to protect you when you’re down, I want to be your equal, so that I can stand by your side without feeling like dead weight.”

“Kiss me,” I told her quietly, stress removing the filter between my thoughts and my mouth.

“What?” she blinked, surprised.

Closing my eyes for a brief second to collect myself, I whispered, “I’m falling in love with you Grace, so if this goes wrong, I want at least one other kiss to remember. One where you don’t freak out afterwards.”

When I opened my eyes again, I found her gazing into mine with a melancholy expression. “No,” she shook her head. “Maybe once this works, but I’m not going to be pessimistic about this. It will go well, and then I’ll come back and we can talk.”

I didn’t say anything at her refusal, just a slight, defeated nod. My gut was churning with fear for her safety, for what might happen to her when she was changed. Would she even be the same person? What did any of this warlock business entail? We had no idea, and she was just diving in head first.

“I’ll do it,” Grace said, walking towards Ollinfer.

“That was a very touching scene, but I’m afraid you’re going to need your lover’s help and permission,” the verdant goddess said wryly. “She’ll have to take care of you while my magic does its work after all.”

“Wait, lover?” Grace’s eyebrows went up and she came to a stuttering stop. “What?”

“I’m a being that was once of the Nameless Garden, and while other gods, demons and the like have different ways of achieving this process. You, my dear girl, will be stuck unconscious inside a flower for the next week while your body is reconstructed to properly channel magical energy,” she explained calmly, seemingly oblivious to Grace’s chagrin.

Oh, she’d just dropped yet more information on us that I wasn’t going to have time to process. Also she’d called me Grace’s lover. Also, she’d said she was from the garden, and the other gods did things differently? How differently, and… wait, Grace only had to be in the flower for a week, and it was a flower instead of a stupid fruit?

“She gets a flower?” I pouted, anxiety allowing my mouth to get away from me again. “I had to shlorp my way out of a gross ass fruit!”

My stupid brain, why was it always doing shit like this in tense situations? Now was not the time for jokes!

The goddess actually gave a snort at that, pursing her lips as though trying to contain further laughter. “Yes, well… the creators of that particular method were… in a hurry.”

Wait, creators? Someone had created the mage-fruit method of gaining power?

“Just put me in the damned flower then,” Grace sighed, turning to make doe eyes at me. “Will you look after my flower?”

Despite my still simmering worry for her, I once again couldn’t help myself. It was now it was my turn to try and hold my amusement. “I thought you were already experienced in that department? I’m the one with her flower still around.”

“What? No, I mean… oh my god, Ryn!” Grace exclaimed, her cheeks flushing red. She whirled on Ollinfer, almost demanding, “Put me in the flower... please.”

“Wait!” I exclaimed, running up behind Grace and throwing my arms around her neck as she turned back to meet me. “Please be safe, I’ll miss you.”

“The safety part is up to you, apparently, but I’ll be done in a week,” she smiled, squeezing my hip fondly with a hand. “Plus, it’s a hell of a lot shorter than a month.”

“True,” I sighed leaning my head on her collarbone for a moment before letting go and stepping back.

“Are you ready now, Grace?” Ollinfer asked, her tone sombre.

Here it was, I couldn’t stop it, Grace was her own person and she could make her own decisions… I just wished she’d have thought about it a little more before she jumped into it all.

“Yes,” Grace nodded.

The goddess rose to her feet, the throne descending back into the ground as though it had never been there. She stepped towards Grace, each footstep leaving blooms in her wake. Her hand rose, green energies swirling all around her in ribbons of dancing light. Magic wasn’t just coming from her now though, it was bursting forth from all around us now, sweeping in to join the intricate dance around Ollinfer.

Then there was a surge, and the light rushed in towards Grace, swirling around her in a pattern so dense that I could no longer see my friend. The magic began to take form, weaving itself into a large, closed flower that appeared to be on the cusp of blooming. The flower was actually kinda pretty, the closed petals were a light yellow, almost the same colour as Grace’s hair had been. At the edges of the petals was blue and green, the two colours mixing together in a swirl that led to all sorts of interesting blending.

“There we are,” Ollinfer said, sounding a little tired. “You can transfer her to your grove now, take good care of her. Now I must rest.”

“Wait, where is this place? We need to get to Millowhall once this is done!” I said urgently.

“Ah… I’ll fix it so that isn’t a problem,” the goddess said, right as she fell apart back into the flora that she’d used to construct her form.

“Hey! What do you mean by that?” I called, confused and a little worried. “Ollinfer? Hello?”

She was just gone, having dumped Grace into a flower that would chain her to the goddess on some level and turn her into who knew what. I just had to sit around, on my own… for a whole week. Sigh.