"Do you guys remember me making that quip about not being in Kansas
anymore?"
Dale and Alan let his question sink into them. They look at each other
and then at him as the nature of his question dawns upon them. Their
eyes widen at what he is implying.
"You have got to be kidding us!" Dale says to Mitch in disbelief.
"I wish that I was kidding about that quip I made about Kansas, Dale." Mitch tells his shaggy friend. "But we can’t ignore the possibility that we three might not be where we think we are."
"And where do you think we might be?" Dale asks him.
"How about a parallel Earth where dogs somehow evolved on their own into a race of sentient canines of different breeds."
"You mean like in one of my canine science fiction/ fantasy books?" Alan questions Mitch.
Both Mitch and Dale look at their friend who is happily panting and wagging his tail from side-to-side at the direction where this conversation of theirs seems to be heading. The look from their canine faces makes him stop panting and wagging and gets him to shrug apologetically at them for being enthusiastic at the prospect of being on such a world.
"Okay before you say another thing Dale about what I am trying to imply here, let me flesh out my second hypothesis for you guys." Mitch tells them as he looks at both Dale and Alan. He begins to walk from one end of his bedroom to the other while he launches into his explanation.
"Okay now the Timed Polymorph Other spell that was botched by the accidental introduction of Alan’s spell bundle did what we were talking about from a few moments ago. It went wild. But instead of transforming us three into anthropomorphic canines, it did something completely and unexpectedly different."
"Wait a minute, Mitch, I think I see what you are getting at." Alan playfully interrupts him. "You are thinking that at same time we were casting our Timed Polymorph Other spell on each other, our canine counterparts in this reality were doing the very same thing."
"Exactly!" Mitch tells him before smiling. "They were casting a spell similar to ours except that their spell was going to turn them into human beings, a creature that by all rights existed only in myth here. And like us, they too had a similar mishap with their spell. And somehow both spells reached across the Ethereal plane separating our two realities and somehow performed a mental switch on us and them. We wound up in their bodies and in their reality while they did the same in our reality."
To Dale’s ears, Mitch’s second hypothesis sounds even more far-fetched and harder to swallow than the first one he gave them.
"Hmmm... what you are saying Mitch does seem to explain some of the events that happened to us after Alan accidentally tossed his spell bundle into the spell circle as it was in progress. The sudden feeling of the air growing solid around us and the stretching of the light around us could have been the result of both spells connecting with each other across the dimensional boundary. And the way Steve’s counterpart chewed us out for wanting to become something that didn’t exist lends credence to your hypothesis. But something about your hypothesis still doesn’t strike me as being right."
"What’s not right about my second hypothesis?" Mitch asks him questioningly.
"Well like I said before, wild magic for all of its’ unpredictability still follows the intent of the caster. It should have transformed us into dogs. It shouldn’t have been able to do what you are implying here in your second hypothesis."
Alan watches on as his two friends begin to argue a bit about arcane semantics. And as he does so, he tries to think up something that might resolve the problem. He cups his muzzle with one paw-like hand as Dale and Mitch toss around theories on the schools of magic and dimensional mechanics. Finally something comes to him and he smiles.
"You both are right, guys." He tells them. He looks at Mitch first. "We could have somehow done a mental switch with our canine counterparts of this reality." And then he looks at Dale. "And the botched spell somehow did the impossible by undergoing some kind of transmutation into another form of magic capable of doing what Mitch has been implying in his hypothesis."
"Come again?" Mitch looks at him while cocking his head to the side.
"How can we both be right?" Dale questions him. "How can a transmutation of our spell can do all this?" He waves one shaggy paw-like hand around the room to emphasize his point.
"Do you guys still remember what I said about the material components of my spell bundle? Alan asks them. Both of them nod their heads in response to his question..
"Well I think all of this is a result of that old coyote leg bone that I used in the spell bundle. You see the leg bone in the skin-walking ritual does more that what I told you two about. Not only does it serve to allow the caster to slip past the natural laws of science, it also serves as a sacrifice to gain the Trickster’s blessing."
"You are not referring to the Trickster deitype of your mythos, are you Alan?" Dale asks him incredulously.
"I am afraid so. The old coyote leg bone serves as a sacrifice for Coyote the Trickster. Without him to bend the natural laws of science for us, the ritual wouldn’t work.
"Hmmm.. if what you are saying is true, Alan, then we three might apparently be a part of some practical joke started by the Trickster at the moment of the accident.
"Looks like it if you see it that way. It is hard to tell if Coyote had his paw in the accident that led us up to this moment." Alan tells Mitch in agreement. "But it would be like Coyote to pull a stunt like this. Especially since the spell was made up of magic created by the deitype of hermetic magic, the Magus. He was never fond of the Magus to begin with."
Dale growls in disgust at where he sees the debate going.
"Great as if a botched spell could pull off what we have seen so far, now you guys are talking about divine mischief from a pissed off Trickster deitype. Could someone here please tell me which of the two hypotheses is the correct one?"
"Calm down, Dale. It isn’t easy for us to accept what has happened to us either you know." Mitch makes a reassuring gesture with his left paw-like hand and wags his tail. "Let’s try to find out a way to find out which of my two hypotheses is the correct one. Dale, you go first. Where do you think we could find the proof to back up one of the two hypotheses?"
"How about we go to the campus library and do some research? The librarian there might able to help us find a tome or two of High Magic that could provide some of the answers to our predicament. And maybe we could find a counterspell in those tomes that could undo the effects of our botched spell."
"That is a good suggestion, Dale. But I am thinking we should pay a visit to Beauregard in his pocket reality at the Arcane Sciences building." Mitch tells him.
"You want us to go and visit the master demon of knowledge?" Alan whimpers in shock. He tucks his tail and shivers at the thought of seeing the demon.
Mitch walks over to his friend and gives him a back rub to soothe his friend’s nerves. His gesture of affection makes Alan calm and start panting with contentment.
"Thanks I needed that." He tells his friend before leaning his head on Mitch’s shoulder.
"No problem."
"But what makes you think that the demon will have the answers to our problem?" Alan asks him.
"I think it is more than just answers that we could get from the demon, guys. If Mitch’s first hypothesis is correct, then we are very likely to find him in his pocket reality unchanged." Dale answers for Mitch.
"How’s that?" Alan asks him.
"Beauregard is a demon, an outsider. And because the demon is an outsider not native to Earth, he is entirely not bound to the laws of science and magic of this world. His outsider nature would have rendered him immune to the effects of our botched spell."
"There is more to the demon than just being an outsider too you know." Mitch continuing the discussion of his option. "His perception of reality is much stronger than any mortal’s. Just being in his presence should return us to our human forms while we are there."
"That’s assuming that the geas and the wards holding him in that cell haven’t failed and allowed him to alter reality to his liking. No telling what would happen to us if he regained to alter reality to suit him instead of us." Dale tells Mitch.
"Well that’s also assuming that my first hypothesis is correct. If the second hypothesis holds true, he might not be there or something might be there in his place." Mitch counters him. "What’s your idea to finding a solution to our predicament, Alan?"
"I would like to make two suggestions that could help us out here." Alan responds. " First I would like to suggest that we should take an unofficial field trip off campus and see what the rest of the world is like."
"How would a field trip help us?" Dale asks him.
" If Mitch’s first hypothesis is true and we run into some human beings, then we would know how far our botched spell went. If his second hypothesis is true, then we should encounter some more anthropomorphic canines out there like us. And then we would know for sure if we weren’t in Kansas anymore." Alan answers him and smiles at Mitch about that quip he made.
" I wonder what would happen to us if we do what you suggest Alan?" Mitch asks him.
" It’s probable that when we do reach the outside world that might get back our human forms if the first hypothesis is correct." Dale answers Mitch’s question.
"If the first hypothesis is correct, we might end up becoming real dogs and someone’s pets." Alan says cheerfully to the two of them.
Mitch and Dale look at him with raised eyebrows and looks of bemusement.
"What I say?" Alan whines at them.
"Nothing." Dale and Mitch tell him in return.
Dale playfully grabs Alan and gives him a playful nuggie on his head. Alan pants contentedly and wags his tail with glee.
"There is also the probability that our current canine forms might not go away by going to the outside world. Remember with magic, anything is possible." Mitch tells them sternly.
He then smiles and wags his tail and looks at his two friends.
"What is your second suggestion that could determine which of Mitch’s hypotheses is correct, Alan?" Dale asks him.
"Well instead of going to the library or visiting the demon in his pocket reality, we could go and see this Dr. C that Adam and Mario told us about earlier."
"Why do you suggest we should go and see this Dr. C, Alan?" Mitch quizzes him.
"I am suggesting that we visit this professor because none of us in this room knows this Dr. C. And yet Adam and Mario seemed convinced that we should have known this person right from the get-go. Maybe this mysterious professor holds the leashes to our answers." Alan answers him.
"Are you sure that Adam and Mario weren’t using a shorthand name for a professor we do happen to know?" Dale asks him.
"Have you ever heard anyone call the professors that we do know by that shorthand name?" Alan quizzes him back.
Dale shakes his shaggy head from side to side to tell Alan and Mitch that he has not heard anyone use that shorthand name on any of the professors. Mitch frowns and then gets his friends’ attention again.
"Okay guys settle down." Mitch tells them as he walks in between his canine friends and his puts his furry arms around his friends’ shoulders. "We got four equally good suggestions on how to find out which of my hypotheses is correct. Which one of them do you think we should try out first?"