Back at it again with my annual Pride anthology! This time, the theme is the symbolism of the number 4, since this year is 2024. So tell me, readers, are you ready four it?
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Iris and Storm tiptoed through the locked library, moonbeams streaming through the windows onto the chains that sealed every entrance. The two warrior women had come in from a skylight.
"Magic." Storm scoffed, sword unsheathed, bright blue eyes darting left and right, wary of every shadow.
"Oh, could you be any more of a walking, talking cliché?" Iris teased her girlfriend. In every story, there's at least ONE skeptic who is always a skeptic, no matter how many times they're proven wrong. She KNOWS magic is real, she's worked with it before!
It wasn't just doubt on Storm's part, though. "We're in Lastland again, remember?" she asked impatiently. Of course! As if I would ever forget OUR cozy lil corner of the Pluricosm!
"Magic doesn't work here."
Oh. Wait. Yeah. Right. Ooops... The library was a rare exception, one of the only places in their entire world where magic worked, but never at their command. The library was far more than that, but one piece of a far larger, puzzling phenomenon. It manifested as a library, but in reality, was something of a wormhole and portal, tethering all parts and places of the Pluricosm together. There was more energy in the air around the library of late, and that was what Iris and Storm were exploring.
"Wait. Shhh! What was that?" Storm held up a hand while her other raised her sword. It sounded like... shuffling... Someone... moving...
Iris unsheathed her sword as well. Despite the seriousness of the situation, she smiled. Embedded in the hilt was an amethyst and aquamarine.
Storm led the way, empty hand lowering, but remaining extended in front of Iris. Iris' little smile grew even wider. Ah, the ultimate guilty pleasure! She's hottest when she's in "Warrior Mode" like this. The smaller, younger woman bit her lip to stifle a laugh as she eyed her girlfriend from behind.
"Who goes there?!" A powerful, male voice growling from the next stack over wasn't what Iris or Storm expected, but it was what they got, and they had just enough time to snap to attention when two men rounded the corners of the shelves, approaching Iris and Storm from both sides. The man approaching Storm was large. He had short, spiky, golden hair and electric blue eyes. His left eye and right cheek were scarred.
Clearly, he is a fighter, but where is his weapon?! Storm's narrow eyes searched him suspiciously. He held nothing, and didn't seem to have anything concealed on his person. But of course, just because I can't see it doesn't mean it isn't there...
"Woah!" Iris yelped and Storm whipped around, heart taking off like a bullet from a gun. In the split second it took her to turn around, she saw a flash of electric blue tinged with purple. It surged towards Iris, but right before Storm could cry out or try to protect her partner, Iris managed to strike the ball of energy with her sword as if it was a baseball bat. The ball of energy exploded against the underside of the balcony of the library's second floor. "Ooops..." Iris winced, gripping the hilt of her sword tightly.
Her attacker was a young man, small and slight like her, with brown skin and short, brown hair. It was not quite as spiky as his partner's, more on the shaggy side, slightly longer. Likewise, his skin was darker, less scarred. Most strikingly of all, though, his eyes were purple.
What the—?! Another Gifted?!
ooo
Hmph. Is THIS the best the Pluricosm can really send us? Irin quirked a thin, dark eyebrow as he watched his boyfriend converse with the little, dark-skinned, brunette girl. The quartet now moved as one through the library, understanding that they were but alternate versions of one another. Irin was a man of few words, but Strike was more than happy to brag about all of their epic adventures.
"—just got back from some... Cyber Knight place!"
Has he REALLY forgotten the name of that parallel universe already? Irin quirked brow rose even higher. Though I suppose I can't say I'm surprised... That man takes far too many hits to the head than what can be good for him!
Ah, but that was what secretly troubled Irin most. As was evident by then, he and his boyfriend were not from this world. And as Strike had just said, they were in the middle of heading home from a different mission only to suddenly find themselves in Storm and Iris' world. Irin bit his lip in frustration that the library responded to Strike more than it did to him.
I understand it. He is the one cybernetically modified. However, I wish I could help! He is far too careless and reckless!
"—think we can get you back by tonight?" Iris was in the middle of asking excitedly. "I'd love to visit your world!" She beamed up at Strike.
"Iris! This is not supposed to turn into some... "backpacking through... whatever dimension it is" excursion!" Storm reprimanded her partner.
"It wasn't supposed to be that way for them either!" Iris replied cheerfully, purple eyes darting between their genderbent—and personality-swapped—selves. Even down to Strike being the "special" one, cybernetically enhanced while Iris was genetically modified, Irin wearing purple lenses that allowed him to see easier in lower levels of light, the duos managed to be perfect inverses of each other, well-balanced. Four for balance!
Iris was actually the first to notice the parallels. The energy blast Irin shot at her was the same color as the gems on the hilt of her blade, the same color as her and Storm's eyes. The sneaking suspicion only increased when, by the light of another energy blast, Iris first realized that Irin's eyes were purple, and it wasn't just from his gauntlets. Strike had the inverse colors, a blast mostly purple, tinged with electric blue.
So THAT'S what I'd be like if I was Storm... Iris chuckled in her head as her eyes drifted to Irin, who was frowning disapprovingly.
"Ok, but none of this is getting us any closer to figuring out how to get you back home!" Storm finally interrupted Strike. Maybe he thought he was being helpful, sharing all of his and Irin's stories, none of the information was actually useful! "Thank you for your contribution," Irin shot back in deadpan, purple eyes drifting over to her. She glared daggers right back at him, but before either one of them could escalate things further, Iris intervened, stepping between them and holding up her hands.
"Four for balance, remember?" she pleaded with a nervous smile. "We're in an air-conditioned library with internet. Why not try looking things up instead immediately jumping to weaponry?" She'd seen the way Storm's hand as twitching closer and closer to the hilt of her sword...
"... Fine." Storm finally bit the word out, hand going limp again as she forced herself to look away from Irin's eyes into Iris'. Ugh, it's uncanny...
Smiling sympathetically, Iris slid her hand into Storm's, intertwining their fingers. Storm still wasn't happy, but Iris saw the way her irritated expression became flustered.
Awww, cutie, the smaller, younger woman thought, but she was merciful enough to keep her thoughts to herself as she and her girlfriend led their doppelgangers deeper into the library. Life was never boring in the Pluricosm, now was it?
All the while, Strike continued to chatter happily while Irin watched them all from behind with a guarded and suspicious, purple gaze.
