Sesilia tipped her head to the side and Listened. She was over at a friend’s house and the group sat watching a movie, but Sesilia was paying far more attention to the sounds she heard coming from her second home, her base of contact that rested in another dimension. There was an awful lot of noise on the Com tonight. Lots of magic was being cast, lots of voices screamed in anger. She glanced around at her companions to see if any were showing the indications of Hearing. Jason, the host, seemed lost in a conversation with the newcomer Jenny. His younger brother Landon sat in the corner. Tara and Serina also watched the television. Nate sat on the floor, keeping himself busy. None showed the typical signs of Hearing.

Sesilia wasn’t particularly surprised when a portal opened in the living room for all to see. She was surprised when an image darted through. The being stood six foot eleven, far taller than the tallest human. He resembled a human in physical appearance, but his skin was a deep emerald green and scales decorated his body. He glanced up at the humans who stared at him in surprise and saw his eyes were deep sapphire with ebony black slits. He didn’t bother to fuss with the humans; he moved straight to Sesilia.

"Sesilia," he breathed. "We have a problem." His voice was a mid-ranged tenor, nice to listen to, but now it was barely controlled with the emotions he felt boiling under his skin.

"What is it, Tianus?" she replied, knowing that only an emergency would dare bring him into her world during the day and when she was not in her own home.

"Ralfor has struck," he replied, his eye slits thinning to black lines in his worry. "We can’t stop him. The sorcerers need you desperately. They cannot hold him off much longer." He paused, then in a softer voice added, "He’s trying to burn the Library."

Sesilia grabbed hold of the chair to keep from toppling over. Ralfor had been a thorn in the University’s side for some time, but he had merely been an annoyance to Sesilia. Since she was the only one of the Homo sapiens species in the University, she had a magical power that no one knew how to battle. Because of that, she had always been able to end Ralfor’s threat. Now he was going too far. He knew she wasn’t there and he knew that she loved the Library with a passion. He didn’t think one of the University members would actually risk going after her.

"That’s it," she hissed, straightening. "I hope your portal’s in the right place."

Tianus nodded once and dove into it, Sesilia behind him. She had her Hearing focused in front of her, where she was going, otherwise she would have heard the noise and guessed its source before hand. However, she only noticed when she heard an appreciative whistle behind her. She whirled and found all six party guests standing in front of the disappearing portal and gazing at the forest around them. Tianus and Sesilia exchanged a look.

"It’s your fault," Sesilia pointed out. "You didn’t close the portal fast enough."

"It is not," an indignant Tianus flared. "You took too long coming! You could have bound them in place with a spell."

"Doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter," a singsong voice cawed from a tree above. A large bird sat above them and ruffled its feathers in annoyance. The velvety black feathers shimmered with green iridescence, and the yellow eyes gleamed with more than normal intelligence.

"They need help, need help, need help," the bird continued.

"Your familiar is annoying, Tianus," Sesilia pointed out. "But he’s right. It doesn’t matter now. I hope you all know you may have come here to your deaths," she informed them. She glanced at Tianus once before taking off into the forest. Tianus and the others had to nearly break their lungs racing after her. One of her unique talents as a human gave her the ability to draw strength from the earth beneath her feet. No other power-user of any sort could do such a thing. Sesilia invoked her power now and pulled energy from the earth, not even bothering to purify it. In completely raw form she pushed it into her body, increasing her stamina, endurance and ability. She skidded to a halt as she came upon the University grounds.

The Library was without a doubt the largest building. It was built from rare marble and boasted hundreds of glass windows, an expensive commodity. The floors when one could see them were done in a tiled stile of lapis and black crystal. There were seventeen floors, fifteen of which were built and contained for the sole purpose of supporting and holding books. The other two were extra floors for supplies and containment rooms.

Now that Library was under threat, and Sesilia had sworn herself to protect it at all costs. She watched for the perpetrator and wasn’t pleased when he came around the corner of the Library, stroking the walls with almost loving affection. Her Hearing in high swing because of the raw planetary power in her, she heard the group behind her lean away in revulsion.

Though Ralfor was highly esteemed as a powerful mage, he did not look nearly as good as his power did when at work. He stood five foot eleven and walked bipedal, though the way his body was built, he could switch to moving on all four. Two wickedly sharp horns curved out from his head and back spikes shot out of his gooey, mud-like skin. His eyes were deeply set as round black coals and his mouth sank wide open, revealing sharp teeth. He had no nose or nostril slits like Tianus.

"Ralfor!" Sesilia called as she strode out to meet him. The standing muck turned to glare at her.

"Sesiliantha," he purred. "I didn’t know you were coming." Without waiting for an answer, he chucked a mud-colored bolt of magic at her. Laughing, she caught the bolt and threw it back out to him. He swore, waved a hand to open a portal, and dove into it before the bolt hit him. The bolt hit the ground, leaving a hurting impression in the dirt. Through her bond with the earth at the moment, she winced in pain. Still, she and the earth both knew it better the earth than the Library.

"Sesilia!" a voice joyfully called. Sesilia turned and grinned as the Head Master walked down the steps toward her very carefully. He looked something like a bird that decided it wanted to be a bit more human. He had a small curved beak, intelligent blue-gray eyes, and midnight blue feathers. His legs in proportion looked like a bird’s, but they had more muscles on the thighs and calves to allow easy walking. Caarin stopped abruptly when he saw the humans behind her.

"Sesilia, what have you done? You know the punishment for this," he added. Sesilia bowed her head and waited for the spell to come. It wrapped around her in strands of midnight blue and silver, then spread tendrils and wrapped around Jason, identifying him as the leader of the group. Sesilia felt her emotions and thoughts open to him as his became easier to read. That was the punishment for bringing people over who weren’t mages; she was bound to the leader of the group, and if he did anything that wasn’t approved of, he would be punished. Consequently, because of her bond with him, Sesilia would feel any pain he received.

"Sesilia?" Jason asked questioningly. "What’s going on?"

"Too much to explain now," she replied. Caarin stepped up in front of her.

"As you wish, Master," she murmured and bowed her head to him. "I will be responsible for this rag-tag group. Tianus shall help me."

"What?" he cried. "I said nothing about helping you with this bunch! They’re your species, you deal with them!"

He abruptly moved away from the humans and closer to Caarin. Caarin chuckled and turned to lead them onto the school grounds. The six humans stared at the buildings in awe.

"Where are we?" Tara asked. Sesilia smiled grimly as Caarin answered.

"Welcome, humans, to the University of Magic."