The Rules of dimensional travel Book One: A Story Among Ghouls

Chapter 1: The rules

I stood on 57th street, right at the border between Hell's kitchen and Manhattan, waiting for Blackbird to come. She came 15 minutes late, not bad for a mercenary. In fact, I was expecting her to be late. I almost came a half hour late myself. After all those superhero types tend to have a lot on their plates. What really surprised me is the friend that she brought along. She had long black hair and bluish-grey eyes. She wore a light blue, skin tight dress that ended just above her knees. She wore a matching headband and flats. Her nails were each painted black with light blue stripes. She strutted next to Blackbird, as she walked towards me. My cheeks went hot at the sight of her. I looked away from her, hoping I had stopped blushing and frowned deeply.

“Tonni! How nice to see you again!” Blackbird exclaimed. I lifted my hand to block my view of the woman. “W-what the hell are you wearing?!” I nearly yelled.

“Oh, this?” She said. Her voice was soft and quiet. “This is what I usually wear.”

“W-well it's inappropriate!” I yelled.

“Okay guys, let's get back on track.” Blackbird said. “Tonni Marslow, this is Erica. Erica, this is Tonni Marslow.”

Erica smiled at me. “It's nice to meet you Tonni.”

“Now, Erica here isn't exactly human like you and I.” Blackbird said. “But she is outfitted with all the knowledge on dimensions and dimensional travel.”

I looked up at her. “Wait a minute, she's not going with me is she?”

Blackbird frowned. “Of course she is. She'll answer any questions you have about dimensional travel.”

I scoffed in disgust. “You're kidding me.”

Blackbird rolled her eyes. “Let's get on with this shall we?” Blackbird reached into her pocket and pulled out a small satchel. “This is an enchanted satchel, it contains everything you’ll need and has unlimited space.”

I grabbed the satchel and sifted through the contents. Inside there was a large headset, and a strange belt. I pulled out the headset. “What's this for?”

“You won't land in America every time you change dimensions, there are actually dimensions where they don't speak English in any country. So this headset, when you wear it, allows you to understand and speak any and all languages.” Blackbird explained. I turned it over in my hands. “Isn't this a little suspicious?” I asked. It seemed like a rather noticeable headset.

Blackbird shook her head. “The green button on the side makes it turn invisible.” I put it back in the satchel.

“Now,” Blackbird started. “There are certain rules to traveling through dimensions.” I rolled my eyes. I was already sick of what she was going to say.

“Number one: DO NOT TAKE OFF THAT BELT.” She said pointing to the belt I was now holding.

I raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”

“Number two:” Blackbird continued, ignoring his question. “If you do take off the belt, don't do it for long.”

“If you don't want me to take off the belt then wh-”

“Number three:” Blackbird interrupted. “Only dimensional transporters can make interdimensional calls, and take you to a neighboring dimension.”

“Isn't that a little-”

“And number four:” Blackbird interrupted again, this time glaring at me for it. “You aren't to EVER travel to dimensions one through ten.” Blackbird looked at me expectantly. I rolled my eyes.