A Question of Working Conditions

"Some magicians saw their assistants in half, so you got off lightly." Seeing Astra frown, Minestus added: "All right, not very funny. The real reason is that your shackles were made of iron, and iron is very resistant to certain types of magic. I had hoped that your chains would prevent you from being caught up in the time-loop, so providing Belboz and myself with a fixed point which might enable us to escape from the loop. But, as you will have realised, it didn't work. To make things worse, you then started jumping not just between times but between different realities in the multiverse."

Astra wasn't sure if she believed him. And even if it was true, surely it didn't explain why she had been kept naked. Instead of mentioning her doubts, she said: "So if we're now in a different reality, can you return us to our rightful one?"

"That is in your hands, Astra. The only way that Belboz and I can pass between realities is by latching on to you when you do so."

"Well, when I do that I normally feel sick just beforehand, and I feel fine at the moment... Hey, is that light up ahead?"

"Yes. I've been leading us out of the caves. In this reality the cave system is identical to that in our own. In fact all the old stuff, like geography, is the same. It's just the history of the last few hundred years that is different."

"So you have been here before? I thought you must have been from what Ivy said to you."

"Yes, I have."

"But when you left this reality that previous time, you didn't have me to lead you through."

"It is true that there are other ways of passing between realities, but they aren't easy and none of them is available to us at the moment."

1. With that, they emerged from the caves.
2. "What could Ivy's motivation have been for pretending that I was her daughter?" Astra asked.
3. Belboz felt that it was about time that he said something.
4. "Uh-oh!" Astra said. "I'm starting to feel sick again." A moment later she was back in her chains, alone.
5. "Uh-oh!" Astra said. "I'm starting to feel sick again." A moment later she was back in the Enterprising Inn, which she realised must be in yet another reality.
6. "Uh-oh!" Astra said. "I'm starting to feel sick again." A moment later she was transported to the Multiversal Mall - not that she knew that that was what it was, of course.

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