Love and Submission

"How do we get back there, though?" Viv asked.

"Easily - watch this," Mira said, with an excited grin. She walked to one of the unmarked doors on the opposite wall and gave it three hefty knocks in quick succession - as she knocked, a large black dot appeared for every rap she made against the wood, and when she was done, the pattern on the door was the same as the one I had seen earlier in the waiting room. She opened the door with a sly grin, and I saw the same ugly floral chairs and coffee table in the middle of the room. We all stepped through it, and then she followed us into the room and closed the door behind us. "Aaaand, voila! We're back!"

"Oh, wow. That's... convenient," Viv said.

"Yep! I installed that nifty little shortcut after I got lost in there once - it took me ages to find my way back."

"Wait, isn't this the pantry, though?" I asked. "What happens if you open it up again?"

"Then it leads to the pantry, of course," Mira said, as she opened the door with the black dots again. Inside the small room were two large metal shelves against the walls; one shelf had a shit-ton of boxes of tea, and the shelf on the other side was filled with stacks and stacks of orange ramen cups. Mira looked back at us as she shut the door. "The shortcut's only a one-way trip, unfortunately. Anyway... shall we be off, then?" We all looked at each other and nodded. She clapped her hands together excitedly and bounced off toward the other side of the room, and soon we were all standing in front of the room that led into the wooden corridors. "Well, once more unto the breach, eh?" she chirped as she opened up the door and we all stepped into the first hallway once again.

Our next attempt to traverse the passageways didn't seem all that different from the first. We walked down the first hallway again, then took a left, then another, then a right, a left again, and so on... another hour had passed, and I was starting to think we had actually gotten lost again, until we finally reached the end of the of the latest hallway we had been walking in... only to find that there was nothing there at the end.

"Ah! Here we are! We're finally on the right track!" Mira said, as she looked back at us. I looked to the left and the right, but, sure enough, there were no more corners to take; it just sort of... stopped.

"On the right track?" I asked, incredulously. "There's nowhere left to go," I was definitely feeling confused, and more than a bit frustrated at that point - we had been walking for ages. Mira just shot me a smug grin and winked at me.

"Nowhere left to go... but up," she said, as she pointed upward just as she placed her foot on the wooden wall in front of us. It seemed to stick in place on the wooden surface, and as she lifted her other foot up and brought it onto the wall, she had suddenly defied the laws of gravity - she was actually standing on the wall. She looked up at us and motioned for us to follow her. "Come on, you three - we're not too far now!" She started to walk up the wall until she was out of view, and John and Beth followed close behind. Viv looked over at me and flashed me a comforting smile.

"You okay, baby?" I let out a sigh and nodded.

"I'm fine, it's just... following a half-demon witch through an impossibly large magic shop is not how I expected to spend my Saturday," I said.

"I know, right?" Viv chirped. "It's great! I've already learned so much, and I can't wait to see what else is here! Come on!" With that, she walked back a bit and got a running start before she jumped toward the wall and stooped low as she landed on it. She stepped forward a bit to make room for me on the wall... or was it the floor? "Noah, it'll be fine, alright? I'll be right here with you the whole time. We really shouldn't fall too far behind... it'll be bad if we end up getting lost." She held out her hand, and I nodded as I grabbed it and tentatively stepped up onto the wall, pausing a bit as my heart rate picked up a bit in my chest - I couldn't believe I was actually about to do this. I let out a deep breath and brought my other foot up, half-expecting to slip or fall back down, even though Viv was already standing safely on the wall. I saw John, Mira and Beth still walking up ahead; thankfully, they weren't too far off. "Let's go!" Viv beamed as she let go of my hand and jogged forward to catch up, and I shook my head before I threw one last glance back at the hallway we had just left, and I started to feel a bit queasy as I saw it from the shifted perspective; it looked like some sort of impossibly tall elevator shaft, with sets of doors on either side of the walls. I tore my eyes from it and kept on forging ahead, anxious to catch up with everyone else.

The next hallway was the longest we had walked through by far, and I swear we had been walking for about thirty minutes when John held his finger up and stooped down to rest for a bit.

"Seriously, how much more is there to go? I'm getting pretty tired," he said. I was kind of over all the walking, too, but Beth and Viv looked unfazed by the exercise.

"Oh, don't worry, John; we're almost there! Just one more hallway to go!" she said, with a grin and a wink of her steel blue eye. John groaned at the news, but Beth put her hand on his shoulder.

"Oh, come on. I'm sure it won't be so bad - right?" she asked, looking over at Mira hopefully. The pale woman nodded her head.

"Not at all. Like I said, we really don't have far to go now - just trust me." John let out a sigh and nodded.

"This had better be worth it," John grumbled as he pulled himself back up. We walked for about ten more minutes before we had reached the end of the hallway.

"Alright, we're at the home stretch! Here's the last hallway!" Mira called back to us. I mentally braced myself for another endless stretch of walking, but Mira turned to the side and fanned her arms out dramatically. "Aaaand, here we are!" Strangely enough, the words echoed as she spoke, and we all looked at each other with confusion on our faces.

We all rushed up to where she was standing to find a 'hallway' that went on for about three feet until it led into a room up ahead. We stepped through the doorway, and again, I wasn't prepared for what we found.

PART 6: The Engine Room

"What is this place?" I asked, and the words echoed throughout the cavernous room as I looked around - it looked like we were in some sort of warehouse. Sunlight streamed through logistically-impossible windows and glinted off the large metal pipes that snaked their way along the walls, hung from the ceiling, and protruded out of the floor; they all led to the back of the room, where there was a large metal door with a valve that had a bunch of spokes on it - it looked like the entrance to a bank vault, or something.

"This space houses the warp engine room," Mira said, as she threw up her arms and did a little spin, as if to show off the grandeur of the space. "All of the radiant magical energy this place absorbs flows through the pipes and heads into the chamber up ahead, where it goes into the engine and powers it for jumps - it's sort of like those MAMMs of yours, Viv... only on a much larger scale, of course."

"I'm sorry, did you just say warp engine?" John asked, as he raised his eyebrows.

"Yup! How else did you think this place gets around?" Mira asked. John just sighed and shrugged.

"So, this shop is like a... spaceship, or something?" Viv asked.

"Pfft, no," Mira piped up quickly, but then she seemed to reconsider. "Well, actually... sort of? If you want to think of it like that, sure. The shop jumps around every so often to... all sorts of places, really. Unlike a spaceship, though, it runs entirely on magical technology... along with a few personal touches I've made myself over the years. For instance, I'll need a bit of weaving to get into us into the engine's inner chamber - the lock won't move without the proper combination."

"Weaving?" Viv asked, and I remembered that she had missed that explanation from Mira earlier - luckily, Beth had her covered.

"Spell-weaving. She uses that watch on her wrist to make all sorts of magic. Just watch - Mira's a pro at this stuff." Mira grinned at her and began to head toward the door at the back of the room.

When we reached the vault entrance, Mira raised her wrist up and muttered a word I didn't understand as she ran her index finger around the golden face of a watch that she had on her arm - I hadn't even noticed it before. The watch began to glow, and as she tapped it, a white whorl of energy shot up from the watch and swirled around her finger. She traced some sort of large pattern into the air, and a glowing white projection of the same pattern appeared in front of her. She ran her finger in a circle around the projection, and it started to spin as it drifted forward slowly. As soon as it touched the metal valve on the door, the thing jumped to life, spinning wildly of its own accord. It turned at dizzying speeds, moving back and forth before it suddenly stopped, and then the door slid open with a loud groan that was amplified by the acoustics of the space.

"That was it?" Beth asked. "It took a bit longer the last time, didn't it?" Mira nodded.

"What I did with your glamour charm last time took a bit more work because I was adding a whole new component to the spell. I enchanted this door ages ago, so all I need is a single recreation of the rune to unlock it."

"Ah," Beth said. "I see." Mira grinned and us before she turned back toward the door.

"Anyway, let's get to cleaning this place up, shall we?" We all looked into the vault-like room and the first thing I noticed was a sort of white, glowing... foam... all over the floor. The second thing I noticed was the distinctive scent of oranges wafting through the air toward us. Vivienne looked over at me and grimaced as she wrinkled her nose.

"Ugh, it smells like wet dog," she said, as she stuck her tongue out.

"Really? It smells like chocolate chip cookies to me," Beth said, as she took a big whiff of the air just before she looked over at her husband. "What about you, John?"

"I smell... gasoline?" he asked as he shook his head slightly. He looked over at Mira. "What's the deal? And what is all that goopy stuff, anyway? It looks like a bunch of centaurs had an orgy in here."

"Don't be ridiculous, John - if that were that case, it would be cream-colored... and more viscous... sort of like molasses," she said. I really didn't need to know that, but at least I wasn't the only one shouldering the burden of this cursed knowledge. "If only it were, though... centaur cum is actually quite a valuable reagent on account of how much of a pain it is to... acquire." Mira let out a small sigh before she moved on with her explanation. "Anyway, that residue is a result of the teleportation process. This engine uses up a lot of magic, and the... er... stuff... that's left behind--" she said, waving a hand absentmindedly toward the room, "--gives off a scent that's a bit different for everyone. It smells like burnt toast to me, in case you guys were wondering." We all stepped forward a bit, stopping just as the edge of the entryway, where the layer of slime began. I looked around at the room and grimaced at the strange white goop coating everything. Just as Mira, said, the pipes all seemed to converge in the chamber and fed into an absolutely massive machine at the back of the room. It was made of brass, from what I could tell, though between the faded metal and the thick layer of 'residue,' the machine looked like it had seen better days. There were all sorts of glowing yellow lights on the thing, along with various dials and gauges. Every once in a while, the machine would fizzle out little spurts of steam from little nozzles sticking out of it, and the engine itself seemed to wheeze a bit, while a clanking noise came from the pipes. Speaking of the pipes, some of them looked a bit out-of-place as they fed into the tarnished gold contraption - those ones were made of a silver-looking metal, and I wondered if they had been replaced at some point.

At least, I thought they were silver - I could barely tell from the glowing white goop built up on them. Mira was right - the place definitely could use a good cleaning.

"Uh... how long has it been since you've cleaned this place up, anyway?" Viv asked.

"It's been... a while," Mira nervously replied, as she ran a pale hand through her hair. "Magical residue isn't exactly easy to get rid of... but as a vacuum shifter, you should be able to take care of it in a jiffy!" Viv looked a little uneasy about the whole thing, and I couldn't say I blamed her.

"Wait, you're really putting her to work?" John asked. "She's going to... suck up this... stuff? Is that safe?" Mira looked over at Viv.

"Actually, you shouldn't even need to suck it up at all; there should be a function for clearing this mess that utilizes your aura. But keep in mind, you really don't have to if you don't want to, dear." Viv was silent for a moment before she shook her head.

"No, it's fine; I'll do it - I did offer to help, after all. I'll just check my manual again and see if there's something that might help."

"So... how does that machine work, anyway?" I asked. "You said it's some kind of... engine?"

"Yup! It's quite simple, really; the shop pulls in radiant energy from wherever it goes - the stuff is present in small amounts just about everywhere, by the way. Then, once the warp engine builds up enough energy, off it goes!"

"So... this thing could just up and leave at any point, then?" I asked, suddenly feeling a bit uneasy. Mira shook her head.

"No, the engine's a bit of an older model, so it actually takes a little while to charge up," she said, as she looked down at the watch on her wrist. "By my calculations, but the shop won't be going anywhere for another day or two." I nodded, feeling a wave of relief wash over me.

"Oh! I think I found something - I've got some kind of... StainStopper Precision Cleaning Beam - I guess it's supposed to take care of tough messes?"

"That sounds like it might be worth a shot... you can give it a go whenever you're ready, dear." Viv nodded and closed her eyes. A moment later, she raised her hands up and the pink nozzles I had seen earlier poked out of her palms, and then they started to spin up and extend out, just like that had earlier. Instead of freezing up again, though, the energy built up inside her effortlessly streamed from the tubes; it seemed she didn't need to charge it up anymore.

True to its name, the magical energy flew out of her hands in a concentrated beam - it didn't really seem all that precise - the size of the beam was actually pretty large. Still, I supposed it didn't matter since there was a lot of residue to clean up. Viv's eyes widened and a satisfied grin crept onto her face as beautiful streams of golden light flowed from her hands, instantly vaporizing any magical residue they touched with a little sizzle. She started with the floor in front of the doorway, then stepped forward into the room to get a better angle; we all shuffled in behind her and watched as she continued to work.

"That's it, dear. Keep going!" Mira chirped encouragingly, with a warm smile. Viv smiled back as she continued to clean the engine chamber, this time focusing her efforts on the walls around us. Every so often we moved around to stay out of the way of the beams.

It wasn't long before Vivienne had vaporized nearly every bit of slime that had coagulated on the walls and floor. Something about the energy she was emitting made my skin tingle and gave me goosebumps. Even the air around us seemed to shimmer as the golden beams lit up the room.

Next, Viv focused on the pipes feeding into the engine, and then she finally focused the beams on the engine itself. As soon as the beams of light hit the contraption, the yellow lights started to blink in rapid succession. Vivienne quickly took of some of the buildup on the front of the strange machine, and now a bit of the residue had been taken care of, I could see the dials on it; the needles on all of them were sitting in the yellow zone, and they started to rise in unison as the machine started to wheeze, clank, and emit a torrent of steam at a rapid clip.

"Wait... stop! That's enough, Vivienne! Turn off the beams!" Mira exclaimed, and the words tinged with worry. Vivienne jumped a bit and looked over at her, seemingly frozen in fear as the color drained from her face.

"Huh? B-but it's still not clean," she said.

"It doesn't matter. You need to shut them down, now!"

"Um, I'm t-trying to, but they're not... stopping!" Her panic only seemed to increase the energy outflow, and the dials rose even faster as they shot into the green zone.

"Well, then aim them somewhere else!" Mira snapped, clearly starting to panic a bit. The words tumbled out of her mouth a bit harshly, and Viv flinched at the rebuke. Instead of moving, though, she just stood there, frozen with fear - I knew all too well how that felt, and I knew I needed to be there for her. I ran up and placed my hands on her shoulders, and I felt them begin to relax at my touch. Before I could get a word in, though, Mira spoke again.

"Vivienne, I'm sorry for snapping at you, but you need to calm down, dear." Mira said. Her words were gentle this time; she seemed to regain her composure even as the needles on the dials continued to climb - they were currently sitting in the green zone... and swiftly approaching the red one beyond it.

"It's okay, Vivienne. I'm right here with you, alright? Just focus on me," I reassured her as I rubbed her shoulders gently. Vivienne's breathing evened out a bit as she shut her eyes again to try and focus, but even then, it still took a moment for the flow of energy to finally cease; unfortunately, though, the dials had already moved into the red zone, and the lights on the engine followed suit. The metal nozzles on Viv's hands quickly retreated back into her palms, and she looked over at Mira apologetically.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I-I just... froze up," she said, her voice small.

"It's alright, dear. I'm sorry, too--" she said, as she looked over at the engine, then back at the door. "--but we all need to leave right now. You guys go first." We looked around for a moment and then turned around and started to head toward the doorway, but as soon as we reached it, the large metal door suddenly slammed shut of its own accord with a loud shriek and a weighty clunk. Mira gasped and rushed over, her panic plain on her face as her cool demeanor finally crumbled. "Oh, Gods. No, no, no... this is not good. This is not good at all."

PART 7: Overload

"W-what did I do?" Viv asked, her voice quavering as even more color drained from her face. John and Beth just stared at Mira with wide eyes, looking nervous as well.

"The aural energy you released while you cleaned the engine seems to have charged it up, and now it's gone critical. I... I didn't know aural energy was even compatible with the engine - I thought it only charged from radiant energy." I ran up and tried to turn the valve on our side of the door, but it wouldn't budge. I banged on it in frustration and turned to Mira. "That won't do any good, Noah."

"Well, can't you open the door? Do that... magic thing, like you did earlier?" I asked, feeling myself start to panic.

"That won't work, either," Mira said, and even she was looking worried at that point. "The chamber locks up to prevent any potential energy leakage in the event of an overload."

"Can't we... shut the engine down, or something?" John asked. Mira shook her head once again.