The transition was... messy. For a full day, Elliot and the rest of the group were sequestered in Kai's replica of Fillory, a pocket dimension that served as a high-pressure infusion chamber to their budding cores. While their new cores stabilized Kai had played with the idea of what exactly would happen if he made them drink the wellspring waters once their cores became powerful enough. Nothing but the beast level entities moving around but with their soul intact… at least in theory.
Margo and Eliot didn't waste time. They headed straight back to Fillory to reclaim their kingdom, but not before answering Kai after he'd asked how things were back in the R18 version of Disney and apparently the reports coming back were bizarre. The Fairy Queen, realizing she couldn't steal Fen's baby under Kai's lingering protection spells, had pivoted. She'd accelerated the girl's growth. In a matter of weeks, the infant had become a ten-year-old girl named Freya.
Freya, Kai mused, pacing the halls of his sanctum. In the original timeline, the Queen had named her "Fray"—a jab at the frailty of humans. But here, the name was different, Margo had named her that. Still, the Fairy Queen's meddling was a mosquito bite that needed a blowtorch.
"What do I even get a ten-year-old for a birthday gift?" Kai muttered. "A sword? A pony? A pony that's also a sword? I'll figure it out later. First, I have to deal with the bug infestation."
Kai descended back into the bowels of the Wellspring, where the air was thick with the scent of ozone and divinity. The "Plumber" was suspended in mid-air, wrapped in layers of binding and boundary spells that looked like glowing, geometric spiderwebs.
"Let's try this again," Kai said, leaning against a pillar. "How do we turn the magic back on for the world without me having to personally venmo every magician with a spark of magic?"
The Plumber looked at him, his mercury eyes dull. "You are out of your depth, Malachai. You are playing with the settings of a machine you didn't build. You do not understand the power you are interfering with."
"Blah, blah, divine mystery, blah," Kai waved a hand. "Just give me the switch and stop pronouncing my full name and just call me Kai."
"There is no on switch," the Plumber rasped. "There is only the Castle at the End of the World. It is the only terminal left that can override the lockdown."
Kai burst into a sharp, mocking laugh. "Or the Castle at the other end of Fillory, you mean? Blackspire?"
The Plumber's eyes flickered with genuine shock. "How do you—"
"Doesn't matter how I know," Kai snapped, his playful tone vanishing. "What matters is that I am not releasing that damn Monster just to get the WiFi working again. I'm not an idiot. I'll just bleed you and Ember dry. I'll act as the new source. I'll grant magic to whoever I feel like."
The Plumber actually laughed, a dry, rattling sound. "That also wouldn't work. I can sense what you did to those ten souls up there, those 'Sparks' you created. They use magic because the Old Gods allow it. Even if the source changes, magic is still a function of their created domain. Reality conforms to their will, not yours. If they decide the universe is a desert, it doesn't matter how many canteens you fill... the water will simply cease to be wet."
Kai's brow furrowed. The realization hit him like a cold shower. The Plumber wasn't just talking about energy; he was talking about the fundamental laws of physics. If the Old Gods truly wanted magic gone, they wouldn't just turn off the tap, they would change the definition of what magic was.
From the dark pit below, a weak, wet chuckle drifted up. Ember, looking like a discarded rug after weeks of being harvested, was enjoying the dilemma.
"He's... right... little thief," Ember wheezed.
Kai didn't say a word. He turned and walked out, his boots clicking rhythmically against the stone. He reached the surface and stepped out into the crisp air, staring up at the sky.
"Fine," Kai whispered to himself. "If I can't change the rules of the house, I'll just have to find a way around the landlords."
He didn't need the Wellspring. Not yet. He needed the upgrades for now. He thought about the "gods" currently masquerading as influencers and hedonists in the mortal world: Aengus, Heka, Iris, and Bacchus.
More importantly, he thought about what they were hiding. Each of them carried a piece of the Monster's Sister which was pure, unadulterated divine essence that had been used to fuel their ascension.
Kai licked his lips, as a dark, predatory hunger gleamed in his eyes.
"Four gods. Four batteries. Four pieces of a puzzle that could rewrite the architecture of the multiverse." He smiled, "This is going to be so much more interesting than a rescue mission."
——————
In Fillory, Margo and Elliot return to what is turning out to be a crisis… They were broke again.
"Tick, I've told you," Margo snapped, pacing the throne room. "We are not doing a royal bake sale. It's tacky and the peasants can't afford flour anyway."
Tick Pickwick sighed, clutching a ledger. "Your Majesty, we are dangerously low on funds. The kingdom is practically running on IOUs and optimism."
"What about our allies in Loria?" Eliot suggested, lounging on a chaise. "Can't we just... ask for a small, very low-interest loan? Or a gift? We're very charming."
"Borrowing from Loria is like asking your ex for a kidney," Margo retorted. "The interest rate involves your dignity and probably a non-zero amount of blood."
The doors swung open, and Fen walked in, followed by Freya. The girl, who looked ten going on thirty, sprinted toward Eliot. "Father! Look at the beetle I found! It talks, but mostly about its existential dread."
"She's absolutely adorable, isn't she?" a cool, melodic voice drifted from the shadows.
Margo, Eliot, and Fen stiffened instantly. The Fairy Queen stepped into the light, looking at the adorable child.
"Mother! The sparkly lady is back again!" Freya chirped, pointing at the fairy queen.
"Mmm, I can see that," Fen said, her voice tight as she pulled Freya closer.
Margo's gaze dropped to a small, ornate cage in the Queen's hand. Inside, sitting on a velvet cushion like a macabre jewel, was Margo's missing eye.
"I must admit," the Queen purred, "I'm surprised you aren't being more... forward about using your magic to solve your petty financial problems. I'd assumed you'd resort to that immediately after that insufferable entity gifted you those precious pearls. How delightful it is to see the 'upgrade' working. Your unsavory adaptation is truly a reward for my patience."
"Listen here, you winged bitch," Margo started, then glanced at Freya. "You... garden-variety pest. Keep your sparkly hands off our kingdom's problems and give me back my damn property."
"Ahem," Tick coughed nervously. "Huge matter at hand, your Majesties. Might I suggest collecting tax from one of our more distant land properties. The after island? You see we haven't taxed them in well let's say quite a long long time sire."
"Yes, yes," Elliot immediately agreed, "That could work."
Fen grabbed Freya's hand. "We're leaving. Now."
———-
Back on Earth, the silence of a magic-starved world was interrupted only by the heavy breathing in a small apartment. Kady exhaled, leaning back against the headboard after a particularly intense sex session with Penny and achieving a sweet orgasm.
"I hate to give it to the sarcastic bastard," Kady muttered, her voice raspy. "But Kai does his shit with efficiency." She moved her wrist, and a cigarette levitated off the nightstand, floating perfectly into her hand.
Penny chuckled, watching the smoke drift and form into shapes, "Yeah, but we can never let him hear us praise him. God knows he'd never let us hear the end of it. He'd probably make it his ringtone."
He sighed, rolling his eyes as he looked at his own hands. "The Library contacted me. Apparently, without the 'Main Tap,' their other librarians can't move through the stacks like they used to. They need a Traveler to help retrieve some overdue books."
"And what's in it for you?" Kady asked, blowing a smoke ring.
"They offered me a read," Penny said, his voice dropping. "One look at one possible future."
Kady paused, her eyes narrowing. "I don't like it. They're tricksters, Penny. They play a longer game than we do."
Penny laughed, leaning back. "Come on. They can't be any worse than Mayakovsky. Or Kai."
Kady stayed silent for a minute, then let out a resigned breath. "Okay, yeah. That's actually a very fair point." She laid her head back, watching the ceiling. "Do you think magic will ever be back? Like, for everyone?"
"I don't know," Penny said. He reached out with his mind, and his bong telekinetically slid across the table into his hand. "But even if it doesn't... we still have ours."
Meanwhile, Alice and Quentin were buried under a mountain of research in the Brakebills library. Alice had wanted to find out more about batteries and how Kai had done what he had done with the internal batteries he implanted into them.
"Quentin, look at this," Alice said, her finger tracing a diagram of a soul's internal architecture. A study into how the soul supports the body and prevents it from being reduced to a mess of chaotic energy, "The way Kai's pearls work... they aren't just generating power. They're reshaping our metaphysical DNA by interacting with our souls directly and tweaking it. If it works out the way Kai told us it would then that would mean we wouldn't be completely humans anymore, Q. We'll be more like magical creatures or something else entirely."
Quentin looked up from a book, "Does it matter? Alice, for the first time in my life, I don't feel like I'm begging the universe for a favor every time I cast a spell. I feel... solid somewhat."
He hesitated, then looked at her. "But I'm worried though. Kai does a lot of things without us knowing his full intentions and I feel like this might be one of those situations where doing this as a part of a more grander plan of his."
"Well whatever it is it can't be that bad can it?," Alice whispered. "Kai is a lot of things but senseless isn't one of them."
Q. Sighed, "I hope you're right."