As I enter the shower, I found myself grateful for the fact that it used a lever and not a knob. If it had then I would have not been able to use my nose to turn the thing on. With the warm water splashing down all around me, I turned to see what I had to work with to clean myself up. Thankfully there was a fairly stiff-looking loofa hanging off a hook. It wasn’t one of those hooks that were just stuck to the wall either, this one looked like it was embedded into the wall and could hold a fair bit of weight. Why? No clue, but it would help me in my mission to get rid of the lingering smell of wet fur.

  I smashed my nose into the wall enough that I managed to grab the string between my teeth. Up and over the hook it went. A paw kick and nudge later found the thing under one of the bottles sitting on the edge. While I could have read the label to figure out what it was, it wasn’t like I had much choice given that it was the only one in the pile of bottles to have a pump top. Plus, I figured that anything Ginger had was meant for fur or hair given her tail.

  The moment I pressed down on the plunger, a sugary sweet chemical smell assaulted my nose. One would think, given that Ginger likely had a sensitive nose, she would have gone for something less cloying. Maybe it wouldn’t smell so bad after I was done.

  With the loofa all soaped up, I gently gripped the now-soaked string between my teeth and lifted it back up to the hook. It took me a bit of wiggling and work, but I managed to use the loofa to get the soap across most of my back and sides. Then came the rinse, which honestly was just me standing under the stream while I let the water pound its way through my fur until the water that sloughed off of me was clear.

  To keep my mind from thinking about the options Ginger had handed me, I focused my mind on something that had been bothering me. Sure, I wasn’t an investigator, nor did I have all the information, but, from what I had heard and seen, people, specifically oracles, were being killed in ways that shouldn’t be possible. While the deaths themselves were not all that odd, given that there was magic and spells, each person was well protected. Worse yet, those protections were beefed up every time someone died.

  Okay, so not every victim was well protected. I kept getting targeted but it wasn’t like I was an oracle or really someone all that important. Those attacks didn’t fit neatly into the pattern that seemed to be there. So ignoring that, how were they doing this?

  Sure, they could have gotten lucky and managed to find their way to their target by manipulating the building somehow, but I doubted that. Sure, one could use magic to manipulate stone or such, but how would you manipulate a seemingly sentient building?

  Then there was the possibility that they didn’t honestly target anyone directly. Choosing instead to take the opportune kills. It wasn’t like these people would stay dead for long so why target one person at a time when you can target the whole group?

  Surely those were the only two ways the killer could have managed all of this. I mean, it wasn’t like there was a killer planted in the guards…wait. What if there was? What if the killer was someone on the inside? They would have access to the victims and a reason to be there.

  While I had considered this before and dismissed it because it wasn’t likely, it was more likely than the other options. Occam’s razor and all that. But still, I needed to at least try to eliminate the other options before assuming that everyone investigating this was either an idiot or complicit.

  Clean, if a bit soaked, I turned off the water only to realize I might have just fucked up. Sure, I was clean-ish, but I was wet – again. The very smell that had driven me to take a shower was likely going to return unless I found a way to dry myself off.

  Now, I could exit the bathroom and get Ginger to dry me off. Hell, I wouldn’t have to do much, she would help without me even asking and do it with a smile on her face. Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. Sure, I had my ability to control fire and, with it, I could warm up my fur until the water steamed off, but the amount of energy required would eat into the little mana I had managed to regain.

  But what if I didn’t use fire? What if I used my control over water? Sure, the spell would cost more to get the same results, but what if I didn’t push the water all that far? I just needed to give it a push in the right direction. Just enough to get it started. Then I could let physics do the rest of the work.

  The spell took a moment to set up and it ate a few points of mana a second, but I could practically feel each drop of water as it moved away from me. Then, acting the part of a dog, I shook my entire body. A veritable wall of water drops flew outward. It was a good thing I wasn’t going to be cleaning this place because the walls, mirrors, and even the ceiling received their fair share of water.

  As if she knew I was done, Ginger knocked on the door. “Are you done in there?” I debated not answering her for a couple of seconds, but I had questions I needed to ask before I forgot. With a light sigh, I padded over to the door and gave it a light scratch.

  As she opened the door, I hopped out of the way just long enough to let it swing past. The moment it was open enough for me to get through, I shoved my way through. Or at least that is what I tried to do. Turns out my ass is a bit bigger than I thought it was.

  A light yip was jerked out of me as the door suddenly crushed my belly between it and the doorframe, getting that spot just between both my hip bone and my ribs. My claws dug into the wood as I reflexively rushed to get away from the pain. Which of course made it worse.

  Between the pain and the panic of being stuck, I lost the ability to think. This was only made worse when someone grabbed my muzzle. I lashed out fast enough that one of my eye teeth caught their hand. My panicked brain momentarily froze at the taste of blood. The onslaught of curses that filled the room, while not unique all that varied, were loud enough to catch my attention.

  Body frozen, I looked toward the cursing speaker and found Ginger waving her hand through the air as she continued cursing. “...fucking hurts like a son of a bitch. Why is dealing with shifters always a clusterfuck? They always seem to lose their shit when in animal form. This is why I am so goddamned glad Pendragon’s dragon is practically as intelligent as he is. No, more intelligent…”

  Her ranting continued but I had heard enough. Given how she was speaking of shifters as having issues controlling their beasts, I figured I should just go. I could find someone else to ask or something. Maybe I would message Xander and ask him. Actually, how about no. While I had forgiven the guy, that didn’t mean I was going to go begging for answers every time I had a problem or question.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  With a bit of concentration, I ordered the system to send me back to Earth. Right before whatever process it was that pulled me over did its thing, a window popped up.

  Earth will be moved to align with and synced with the Tree’s time stream in a week and last for an unknown duration. During this time, the connections to Earth will be temporarily disrupted. Disruptions might include the inability to transfer between worlds, the inability to use local systems and similar issues. We are sorry for any inconvenience this might cause.

  So no more fast time. Bummer. Not that anyone likely lived in this world now. Not when they could likely find a pod and use it to make the jump. Or at least that is how this should work but we all know how this really goes. Unless one had money or connections, there was no way you were getting a pod. Sure, it wasn’t much money, but with people struggling to find food and shelter, it was an impossibility.

  Looking back, I had honestly gotten lucky. I didn’t want to know what would have happened if I had never been laid off. I sure as hell wouldn’t have splurged on the pod until it was too late. Even if I had managed to get one, it would have still been impossible for me to have helped those trapped in the first town.

  As I mused over this, the world around me faded. The air went from mildly warm to so cold that I was utterly thankful I had fur. My breath escaped me in puffs that left trails of white vapor. The clouds gathered and built up slowly as I waited for the lid to lift.

  Joints groaned while machinery made unhealthy sounds as the door opened. The mechanism jerked to a stop as a voice called through crackly speakers. “Environmental temperature is deemed unsafe. Insufficient power to heat to safe levels. Starting transfer process.” While I couldn’t be sure, the voice vaguely sounded like my AI, but why was it so distorted? Also, why was it so damned cold?

  Before I could ask, or even so much as move, the lid slammed back down. It was as if it had been struggling to hold itself upright only to be told to close. A moment later, I found myself back on Paradox. Unlike before, however, I was no longer in the bathroom. Hell, I wasn’t even in Ginger’s room. In fact, I was fairly sure the door in front of me was her room.

  Should I have knocked on her door to ask my questions, both those from before my return to Earth and after? Probably. But I wasn’t going to. I turned tail and slunk my way down the hall and to the stairs. Going up instead of down. I needed to find a place to wait for my timer to build up before I went looking for the killer.

  Up until the last floor, each floor looked the same with doors lining a hall that went on as far as I could see. Not that it was infinite or anything. Just that the damned thing curved away from me. As I noticed this, I wondered if the hallway was a giant loop. It would make it easier in some ways, if a bit hard to hide when designing the room layout in such a way that one didn’t notice.

  The last floor, however, was closer to that of a lounge. Instead of walls, there were floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the city. Spread out, haphazardly, were seats of all types. From beanbags to mats, chairs to barstools. Each seat seemed to have some sort of surface nearby to place things on.

  For the chairs and barstools, this ranged from massive tables and counters to small tables just large enough to hold a drink or two. The beanbags and mats were either arranged near a table that resembled a chabudai, or something else nearby.

  The best part was, I wasn’t the only one here. People of all types and forms clustered here and there as they lounged. Some were teaching others how to do this or that while others were doing maintenance on their weapons and armor. A few even had physical books out.

  And don’t get me started on the number of creatures that lounged around. I didn’t know if they were shifters, familiars, pets, or what, but many of them were being pampered and loved on. While I didn’t want strangers to touch me, I could see the appeal.

  With a deep breath, I wove my way through the room. Cutting toward one of the few empty beanbags. While a few people shot me a look, that was all they did. Whatever the bed was made of, it wasn’t the thin foam that I was used to. It was both thicker and yet not. It hugged my body while not being overly suffocating.

  Both of my eyes closed as my body relaxed. The only thing that kept me from simply passing out was the idea that I might be able to ask my AI my questions. Sure, it might not have the answers, but it might be able to point me in the right direction.

  Of course, that brought up the question of how I would ask said questions. It wasn’t like I could speak while in this form. Thankfully, the god that designed this system had thought of such an issue as the moment I thought about asking the AI a question, a text box with a blinking cursor popped up in front of me.

  “Hello Alex, you had a question?” The AI sounded strained somehow. Like it was working at capacity before I came along. Which was odd, but there wasn’t much I could do about it given that it sent me back here within moments of appearing back on Earth.

  Speaking of which, I mentally asked it what that was all about. Surprisingly enough, each of my words appeared in the text box as if I had typed them. The text only disappeared when it started to answer.

  “Unseasonable weather has hit the region. Temperatures of negative fifty degrees have been recorded. As such, all non-essential power, as well as some essential power, has been diverted to local shelters to keep those there alive.”

  “But if there is no power, how was I able to return? Hell, how are you still running?” I mean, I have backup power, but nothing that could handle those temperatures. To be honest, I was surprised the city was functioning at all.

  “Power for my systems is being drawn from the pod's systems. The pod seems to be generating power from somewhere that I cannot detect.” Yay, another mystery. It didn’t really matter. Even if the pod stopped functioning, it wasn’t like I was losing much back on Earth.

  That thought gave me pause. Since when did I not care about Earth? I mean, I know the place was a shit hole that no one cared about, but it was still the world on which I had been born. The one where I had spent most of my life. Then again, that was it. Those were the only things tying me to the place.

  With a shake of my head, I forced myself back to the questions I had for the AI. “You have been tracking everything that has been going on around me. Right?”

  “As much as I can given the power fluctu…”

  I cut it off. “How possible do you think it is for someone to figure out how to control the tower spire thing?”

  “Given what I have found on the forums and from observations, the possibility approaches zero.”

  “And the likelihood that the killings are random or targets of opportunity?”

  “While no pattern has…” the AI’s voice sounded like someone was wiggling the cable powering its speaker fast enough to make everything it said indecipherable for a few moments. “No repeat…likeli…ero.” Then the whole window glitched. A moment later, another window overlaid the first.

  Could not establish a connection to local servers. Please try again later.

  If I had to guess, whatever connection the pods used to allow two-way communication and travel had been interrupted, that or whatever had been sustaining the AI had given out. Either way, there was nothing I could do. At least the system managed to give me some answers. But who was in a position to get in and out without being seen?

  Each of the faces I recalled as being near each scene flashed through my head as I looked for repeats. It wasn’t likely that I would find only one, but I figured I would give it a whirl. Which made it all the more surprising when I did recall only one person common to each scene.

  While he hadn’t been first to the scene every time, he was at each at some point. Not that I knew who he was. Not with him working to stay in the background doing grunt work and not introducing himself. It was almost as though he was a background character. There only because someone had to be but that was it.

  Now, I just needed to figure out what to do with this information. It wasn’t like I could just walk up and ask the guy if he had been killing people. Not only was that stupid, but it was likely to get me killed. Unless, what if I got him to come into a room with other people, people I trusted, before I questioned him? Okay, so it still wasn’t all that smart, but the sooner I dealt with this, the sooner everyone here could relax their guard. The sooner that happened, the easier it would be to convince them to let me go off on my own – I hoped.