Hesitantly David walked forwards, and into the portal. He was instantly taken from the softness of Melanie’s leg, to the firmness of stone. Behind him, the man had quickly appeared.

            “My name is Nelf, and I am the Guardian of the Earth.”

            “Guardian of the Earth?" David was becoming slightly interested.

            “Every world has its own Guardian, to safe keep the world’s life and magic.”

            David was confused, “Every world? Life and magic? I’m afraid I’m not following.”

            “It is quite alright, I will explain the situation completely to you, if I may?” David nodded, and the two of them sat at the stone table in the center of the room. “There exists many different worlds on which life resides in, and many worlds in which no life exists in. However each world has its own magical properties. Because of this a being is chosen from every world to protect that world’s magic in a time of great need.” David nodded, listening intently now.

            “There has been some troubling news as of late, guardians disappearing from their worlds, and then quickly those worlds falling to a great evil.”

            “A great evil?”

            “Yes, we call it ‘The Tyrant,’ although no one has ever met or seen him before. Somehow he has figured out a way to corrupt the guardians, and then make the planet succumb to his power. This greatly disturbs us all, as not only are our lives in danger but so are our worlds. A single guardian versus many, and the power of the Tyrant is almost unmatched; he has quite a growing army.”

            “Why are you telling me this?”

            “Because you have in your possession a girl who can wield magic on her own. She may not do what is right with it, but in time she will need to.”

            “What do you mean?”

            “She may be doing terrible things with her power, but in the end she will need to use the skills she has been learning, honing, to defend against this threat. The only reason we haven’t stopped her is because she is our back up plan, for now. If I should fall, the Earth will need a champion, and for the time being that champion is her.”

            “Champion…” David was almost lost in thought, but brought back by Nelf’s voice.

            “Don’t let that get too comfy in your mind. I am telling you something that you won’t remember actively, but will have with you. This information will help guide you in the future, even though you won’t quite know what is telling you. At the moment the Earth is safe, but should another world be compromised the Earth may be in danger. The Tyrant may be able to corrupt guardians, but he cannot do such things with humans, their will is too powerful.”

            “So you’re saying in case you fail Melanie is our only hope? That sounds not only cliché, but ludicrous. Shouldn’t you be telling her this?”

            “No. She will learn everything she needs to know by just using that book and doing whatever she is currently doing. Nothing in your life will change for quite some time, and the same can be said for her; as time passes very slowly between the Veil and here.”

            “So what do you want me to do?”

            “Do? I never said anything about doing. I am telling you something you will forget, but will always keep with you. You are her companion, and I know what will happen to you, so when the time is right you will remember what to do.”

            “What do you mean forget?”

            “Like this…” Nelf waved his hand and David’s brain was hit with a hammer. Instantly he had a headache, and was hurting; he held his hands.

            “Hello David, my name is Nelf. I have brought you here to give you the option of going somewhere new, being with someone different, living in a different life. If I showed you these choices, what would you say to them?”

            David’s head throbbed. “What?”

            “Excuse my rudeness. I know you have are friends with Melanie, and at the moment you were just sitting on her lap. I came and brought you here to offer you a chance to go wherever you want to go, be with whoever you want to be, and do whatever you want to do.”

            “How come?”

            “Call it my generosity. Here, let me give you a few examples.” He beckoned to the wall behind David, and he turned, his head still pounding. As David looked the wall slowly changed from cold blank stone into a shining blue ellipse, and then into an image of a person. It seemed to be a girl, and in fact it was. She had very long blonde hair and wore plain clothing. “That is Ella. Should you choose to visit her, yours and her memory would be altered just a slight bit, and you would be hers. But here, look at this next portal.”

            Nelf pointed to another, but this time David saw something different in the blue shimmer. This new image was of a different girl, and her surroundings didn’t match. She was sitting up against something, it was a house, and her head went above the house. She must have been a real giant!

            “This is April, an innocent girl who came into contact with another Master, and he decided to make a mess of things, and turned her into a giant. Without a guardian in that world to defend it, the Master got away with what he did and now April is not only alone, but too big for the world.”

            Nelf then pointed to the door David had just come out of. It turned into a very familiar scene. It was a picture of Melanie, in her car with a cup in her left hand, and a spoon in her right hand. David was far beneath her on her lap, looking up at her in wonder. “If you should choose not to go with anyone else, Melanie still awaits you. But be sure to know that you can choose anyone here, and you wont have any negative consequences.”

            David looked at Melanie, then at Ella then April. “I’m assuming there are more as well?”

            “Yes, there are millions more, but I have chosen to only show you a few to gauge your reaction to the opportunity.”

            “Well… Even though I would like to meet some new people, and I love opportunities to do new things, I believe I would like to stay with Melanie. For it is her I have a love for, and it was her that I have grown accustomed to. I feel safe, and happy with her, if you understand.”

            “Yes, I do actually. It is up to you to choose who you are to go with. All you must do is stand up, and walk through a door. You will never need see me again, but I guarantee you, that you will be happy no matter where you go.”

            With that David nodded, and stood. He approached the door with which Melanie was inside of, and he looked back at Nelf, “Thanks, for showing me this. Will I remember it?”

            Nelf smiled and replied, “You will remember in time, and only in pieces, what you need to. You will go back to where you were the moment everything stopped, and it will be like nothing had ever happened to you.”

            David nodded and stepped forward toward the door he had recently came from. Once he passed the shimmering surface it felt like he was falling and being compressed, as if he were sinking through water faster than physically possible. Finally, everything stopped.

*  *  *

            Melanie’s lips closed around the spoon just as a large droplet fell to her chin and dropped onto her chest. She noticed straight away, and pulled the spoon out of her mouth. She looked at David, and he was cracking up. She gulped and wiped away the excess from her chest, and continued to eat her ice cream.

            Melanie wasn’t sure if she really liked the new spell, for it shrunk people to such a size she couldn’t really feel them anymore, and she wasn’t sure if she liked that part.

            She finished her bowl of ice cream, having swallowed each person that she put in it. At least if I do use that spell, I get to crush things. She thought, as she remembered back to the cars that she had crushed. She did like that part, the feeling of glass and steel bending and shattering underneath her weight. If I use that spell again, that will be what I use it for. She decided silently.

            Melanie put the car in drive and brought David to her shoulder. He hugged her neck and Melanie smiled. She drove them again, to where David did not know. But it wouldn’t be long until he found out.

*  *  *

            Melanie put the car into park and wrapped her fingers around David. She brought him to her lips and pressed him into them. David embraced the kiss with his entire self.

            When Melanie pulled him away she gave him a very big toothy grin. “Well, we are here David.”

            David looked around, but couldn’t see out of the car, “Where?”

            “Why the park, where else? I have some ideas for today, and here is the best place to get a bunch of people.”

            Melanie picked up a bag from the seat next to her, it wasn’t large, but it was much bigger than David. She opened the door and stepped out.

            David tried to stay steady but fell over as she stood up. Melanie chuckled and placed him into her front pocket. Melanie explained to David as she walked, that there was supposedly going to be some big get together today at the Park, and that she had been invited. Little did the people who invited her knew, she was going to be the only one to show up.

            David looked out over her pocket and saw there was a good twenty some people gathered around a few tables, sharing things such as food and games. “Here we go, wish me luck.” Spoke Melanie.

            They were a good thirty feet from the gathering, and no one had noticed them yet. Melanie quickly completed her spell, and everything in front of them vanished. Melanie jumped in glee and clapped, throwing David around inside her pocket. When she stopped, David had a headache and was lying on the floor of her pocket, he couldn’t really move because he was being pressed from everywhere, but it didn’t feel bad there, so he decided to just stay put.

            Melanie failed to notice David touching her leg further down than normal, and moved towards the former gathering place. She opened her bag and started looking around; even the grass and tables had shrunk. There was a tiny grill to the right of the crowd, and it was as if everything had just stopped in place. People were looking around at their new surroundings, and then they heard it.

            A crashing sound was heard and everyone turned to look. A massive girl was walking towards them. A few people instantly panicked and started running, but didn’t go into the taller grass. Melanie quickly moved about, capturing people left and right, and trapping them in her bag. She stepped on a table and the grill on purpose, and she giggled at the feeling it gave her. “Man, this is awesome!”

            Just as Melanie picked up the last person, she decided to step on the last three tables, just to make the place look uniform. The small crunch of wood was a delightful sound. She closed her bag and looked up, there was a man staring at her, when she looked back at him he started running for his car.

            “Oh shoot! Someone saw me, hang on David!” The man had gotten in his car and was just pulling out as Melanie cast her oldest spell upon him and his vehicle. She ran to where the car vanished, and started looking around. A few feet in front of her the small car was speeding away at what would have been extremely fast. She stepped towards him, and brought the car underneath her foot.

            As Melanie stepped down, he knew he couldn’t go fast enough to get out of her shadow, her sneaker came in contact with the vehicle and it stopped moving. Its tires began squeaking and metal began to run against metal, the guy inside panicked and started honking. Melanie just simply moved her body over her foot and the vehicle crunched beneath her incredible weight.

            When she moved her foot off the car, she saw what was left of the crushed car, no movement anywhere around it. She picked it up with her nails, and threw it back into the grass. “Whew, that was a close one David.” She looked down at where he was supposed to be and she didn’t see him. “David?”

            He heard his name called, and proceeded to run his hands over her leg, letting Melanie know he was there. She smiled as she felt the movement against her leg, “Oh that feels very nice David,” she said.

            It didn’t take long to get back to the car and back to the house. David had kept rubbing her leg the whole way back, and Melanie rather enjoyed the tiny pleasure it made her feel.

            She took them down to her room, and placed the bag on the bed and sat down next to it. She also took out David and licked him with her massive tongue. David felt the stickiness and warmth of her saliva and he shivered in the awesome feeling. She smiled again and placed him on the bed next to her hip.

            Melanie opened the bag and looked into it at all the people within. “Hiya guys, and gals. I am Melanie, and you are now my play things. I am very hungry, so I suggest you play by my rules,” And on cue, as it always was, her stomach roared in anger. Some of the people inside started screaming. “I am going to play a game with you all, and place this bag on my floor in front of a doll house of mine. You have a better chance of survival if you hide inside it, for I can’t get to everywhere inside it. You can however, hide where ever you want. When I place the bag on the ground you will have five minutes to hide. However if you decide to run anywhere but the doll house, I’ll find you and do something you really wouldn’t enjoy. So, get ready guys.”

            With that Melanie picked up the bag and left David on the bed. He watched as she moved over towards her smaller house and locked all outside doors, save the front door. She swung the front door open and placed the bag on the ground. She eased it over on its side and left it open facing the open door.

            When she finished she stood back up and walked over to David, picked him up, and spoke quietly to him, “You go and hide with them too. If I start having trouble finding them, give me some hints, or leave me clues, please.”

            David acknowledged her request and showed thumbs up. “Thanks,” Melanie then put David on the ground behind the bag and let him walk around. She turned on the spot and walked out of the room and closed her door slowly. Melanie started counting.

*  *  *