Chapter 259 - Connections

I was on John's back. We were flying towards the academy- or the dorms to be more specific. 

I'd sent a message to Merin before actually setting out. I hadn't received a reply from him.

Not a great sign.

"I haven't seen you this agitated since you got dumped by that imaginary savior of yours."

I was not in the mood. But still- "I wasn't dumped by her! And she wasn't imaginary!" She wasn't, okay!?

John chuckled but he didn't bother to form an argument.

Anyway, in under five minutes we'd reached the dorm and John took me down. I was glad he didn't drop me like the last time. 

I actually felt a lot better than before. At least I could now stand on my own without wobbling. 

But my arch-nemesis waited in front of me, the stairs of doom.

So, with a sigh, I started climbing. It took a lot, and I mean a lot of patience and perseverance. 

And after a long arduous climb, we reached the gates of mor- ahem, the dorm room.

I gave a knock and after a brief moment, it opened slightly. "Can you give me a few minutes, kind of busy?"

Well, he was busy alright. 

I kind of wanted to break the door, but- "I wouldn't take my time if I were you." 

He gulped and went back in.

John and I moved to the balcony and waited.

It was kind of noisy right now since most of the students were now in the dorms.

The last time I'd forced Merin to open his doors- the first day at school. Brought back memories. 

That was also the day I'd first met Marg and I got dragged into- no, I purposefully let myself be dragged into her shit.

But I didn't regret it one bit.

"I know you don't want to hear this but, maybe calm down a little? I know you love her but nothing is permanent, you should be prepared." John tried to be sincere for once.

Normally he never gave any good advice and just fooled around but today he sounded so serious. 

"Prepared for what?"

"That she won't return or worse-"

I gave him a glare- a rather murderous glare: he stopped talking.

I sighed. "I know that much. That's why I'm trying my best, so that doesn't happen. And if it does, I'll deal with it then. But I don't want to even consider the worst, at least not yet."

We didn't talk past that. 

Two minutes later the door opened and a girl left: Natasha.

I did think they'd finish quickly, but I didn't think they'd finish this quickly. 

We went into the room.

***

They were busy in here, alright. I even distinctly smelled something. Obviously, I ignored all that.

It wasn't my business. I did slightly bad about interrupting though.

Oh well.

"You have the worst timings." Merin sighed as he buttoned his shirt. He looked over his Holo and gave me a dull stare. "You couldn't give a call?"

I guess I should have. 

But there wasn't time. 

"You remember I gave you that military invitation of mine? You still got the recommendation letter?" I distinctly remembered getting something like that some weeks ago.

But I gave it to Merin and never actually bothered with such things. 

He made an awkward face, kind of scratched his head, and then- "Course I do." Burst out laughing.

I kind of wanted to punch him but- "I need it. would you mind bringing it out?"

"Sure." It took him a moment to find it but he eventually got it. "What happened?"

I took a look and yeah, it was recommended by some general named Brine and the teleporter was supposedly Lt. Demeris. "Marg's probably lost in another dimension."

Their contact info was printed behind the letter so I gave a call. A video call.

It rang, someone picked up.

I was prepared to talk to an assistant and all that, but maybe I didn't need that much preparation, as the man himself picked up. 

"Major General Brine speaking."

A rather burly and brusque man. He had way too many scars on this face and he looked a bit too tough. Not the type of man I was expecting.

He was in an office of sorts and the wall behind him was purely glass, rather bright- blinding even. 

And he had a rather bored look. 

"Helio Romswell Jintel, pleasure," I spoke in a polite but firm tone. I was going to ask him a favor, so the least I could do was be sincere. I didn't try to act arrogant though.

His eyes opened up slightly and he tried to form a smile: it didn't work. "Oh, young man. I thought you never got the letter."

"I was kind of busy with the things I was doing. Sorry to cut to the chase but- I need a favor from you guys."

I didn't have time to butter him up first. 

"A favor you say? I'd assume you'd join the army first? Otherwise, a favor to a terrorist would, let's say, not be feasible for the British army."

"I'm aware. And though my family is full of terrorists, I'm not quite like that. Anyway, I'm not joining the army."

"Hmm?" He thought for a second. "Then why would you ask a favor knowing we'd turn you down? Besides, what's in it for us?"

This guy was shrewd. He already anticipated that I'd offer him something. 

"I'd owe you a favor. I'm the both a Romswell and a Battlesuin. I could basically take over as the head of both families if I wished. Certainly, you wouldn't want someone of my caliber to not owe you one? And certainly, you wouldn't want to let a chance like this go, right?" I smiled: a very nice PR grin.

The man on the other side also smiled and then laughed. 

If this didn't work then I guess I had to threaten them. I didn't have much of a choice and I didn't have the time either. Even if it meant threatening the whole army-

"Very well, what do you want?" But to my surprise, he was actually a lot more sensible.

"I want to borrow your teleporter: Lt. Demeris, for the day."

A bit of silence. 

***

Lt. Demeris made his way to the dorm room.

'That was fast.'

My talk with the general was only like 5 minutes ago. The moment the guy heard I just wanted his teleporter he didn't bother questioning me and just sent him over with just one catch- I'd return him in one piece. 

I guess they weren't messing around.

But I surely didn't expect the general to be this lenient. It almost made me feel like there were a bunch of other ulterior motives here at play. But for the time being, I had to ignore all of them, I just didn't have the time and I certainly didn't want to think about them.

But weren't they trusting me a bit too much?

"I have to warn you, my limit is virtually limited to 5000 km for the next twelve hours." He was slender, rather fit, and definitely a serious man. He did have a rather mischievous grin though. 

That bland gray coat didn't do him justice... 

That range was a lot more than Marg's. Then again, Marg could also stop time. So, her powers were rather unique. 

"That's fine." I took a deep breath. "All I need you to do is help me find my girlfriend in the ninth dimension."

"That place?" His face slightly paled. "I'm not sure I'd be of much help. That place is terrifying even to me. And one could easily lose track of time there, so I don't know if I'll be-"

"It's fine dude. All you have to do is get me there, I'll take care of the rest."

I had to find Marg and once I did, it shouldn't have been that hard to get out.

But Lt. Demeris begged to differ. "I'm aware that your girlfriend can also teleport but what if she can't? What if she's stuck there because of that? The ninth dimension is fundamentally different and it's a scary place. Even if you found her there, what if you can't get out? And I couldn't just find something there easily either. I only know shortcuts, not the actual routes."

He was right. I wasn't thinking this through but I couldn't give up just because I didn't know what to do.

"Then- is there any way I could contact you?"

"There are long-distance communicators in the army but I don't think anything will work in this case. After all, the ninth dimension is a different dimension. We can't just send a signal from there and hope to get it over here in time."

"Then how about you just drop me there, I use my ring to find Marg, and once I've found her, you'll come to the ninth dimension and come find me? The devices should work, assuming you and I are in the ninth dimension, right?"

"It's possible but we don't know for sure." Lt. Demeris thought for a second. "But it should be possible…." He sure wasn't convinced though.

"The possibility is all I need. John, go get that locator and the earring from Marcus. And bring my saber too. Explain all this to mom and father while you're at it."

"On it!" That said, John jumped out of the window.

I actually thought I'd have to explain things to him but I guess that was uncalled for. And he was being rather nice too… 

"You sure?" Merin said. "One wrong move and you're done for."

"I know. But I can't stop now."

After coming this far, stopping wasn't going to cut it.

I was going to find Marg and I wasn't going to stop till I did.