The Interplanar University, # 5— "Ginny, Greejuss, and Malik"

Short stories. Images generated by hotpot.ai]

Ginny Weasley first met Greejuss and Malik in The Laws of Portals, an intro-level course at the interplanar College, which was purported to be accessible to the entire Cosmos. She pined for her friends from Hogwarts, not the least being Harry, but college had a way of throwing everything into a blender. She was pressed into socializing with peers from seemingly random worlds, although supposedly Fate was woven into the edifice of Havenforth, so she was somehow ‘meant’ to be grouped with Malik and Greejuss, who were almost utterly foreign.

Havenforth was a place where worlds and ideas converged, and it was a destination for many souls who were ready for neither Heaven nor Hell. It was espoused by the Disciples of Havenforth, a cleric who gave up his immortality to lay the College’s foundation, that the Academy’s Ultimate Purpose was to settle the differences of all the disparate factions found throughout Creation, or leave them in the dust.

Malik, she learned, was a psyker, and for some reason took it upon himself to make some kind of case study of Greejuss, the crusader. Greejuss had some kind of agenda that had nothing to do with her. She didn’t like how he seemed proud of his own closed mind, and it couldn’t be opened short of using dynamite, or perhaps a spell only Dumbledore could master.

He did not wear armor to class, but he did wear garb respected in his homeworld, which was splendid but muted finery befitting a templar, depicting a cross, complete with his cape, which he did not feel impelled to shed. But with the menagerie of pilgrims from many different worlds, none of their group (or anyone else, for that matter) was thought to be especially bizarre.

Greejuss thought of Malik perhaps as a potential understudy, that he might school in the ways of the Ethos. On his homeworld of Maeria, both the Ethos and their rivals were familiar with ethereal abilities, so he was not in the least cowed by those with other remarkable abilities. He was, however, a product of his circumstance, seeming to believe the Moslem Bloc, the destroyers of his homeland, remained the

prevailing threat to Creation. He was dismissive of the significance of both Ginny and Malik’s origins.

Malik’s homeworld had naught to do with the Ethos, the Bloc, Magos (wizardkind) or Manifest Tech (or just ‘Tech’), but rather a bloody conflict between the relatively few who had ethereal abilities and what Malik referred to as simply the ‘mob’. On his planet, the nature of conflict concerned people abusing their ethereal abilities being lumped together with all those who had such abilities, and the resulting outrage and mutually destructive ramifications.

Malik was fascinated by Greejuss, as worship of anything was not a practice on his home planet. Ginny, he seemed to overlook as simply a fellow ‘ethereal’, though he nearly went cross-eyed when she tried to relate how she was distinct as a ‘witch’.

Venerable Gratis, the disciple of Havenforth who taught The Laws of Portals, was finishing his lecture.

“... again, if you so desire to visit planes of existence beyond Havenforth’s sphere of existence, though we are not responsible for your endangerment, the safest practice is to have Gate Scrolls in your keeping. These are the most expedient resources to ensure your safe return. However, they are not without cost, and can be obtained in the Pocket Dimension of Commerce…”

From there, he gave instructions on which specific Portal purveyed Gate Scrolls. In the College, a system of pocket dimensions enabled near infinite attendance for pilgrims, such that everything from bathrooms to auditoriums could be accessed without overcrowding.

The three found themselves in a ‘pocket cafe’ in their down time, and having just attended Laws of Portals, naturally clung to one another while the information was fresh in their minds.

“Why would anyone want to venture into a plane where they might die?” said Ginny. “Some would open a portal to Hell just to see what was in it,” said Greejuss.

He expected either of them to find this amusing, but they did not.

“The Disciples say that the planes are dangerous,” said Malik. “Well— we knew that,” said Ginny. “They need to be confronted,” said Greejuss, “if the planes outside the Academy are allowed to be filled with the Powers of Ruin, then they can overwhelm the protections on this Sphere.” “Who’s ‘they’?” said Ginny.

Greejuss sipped tea.

“They come in all shapes and sizes. Demons, worshipers of War, things that won’t stay dead.”

There was some quiet.

“People like them, too,” Greejuss continued, “They attract people who have a vendetta.” “You mean like you?” said Ginny. Greejuss took a small swig, then, “Ah. Chai spice. Never heard of it till I got here.” “Explain your vendetta—” said Malik, then trying to find the right word, “Crusader?” “The Moslem Bloc are our ancient enemies. But we didn’t call them that.”

He didn’t seem intent to explain much further.

Ginny said, “History seems like a weight around your neck.” Greejuss pivoted to her directly. “And yet weights make you stronger.” Malik said, “I want to hear the vendetta.” “The vendetta,” said Greejuss, “besides destroying Aerynthal, is they’re heretics.” Ginny balked, “Aren’t I a heretic, then?” “Well, aren’t you a witch?” “—and what of Malik, who never even heard of your people?” “I could tell you, but it might make your ears burn.”

There was an angry silence.

Malik said, “On my homeworld, a heretic is someone who won’t stop saying a lie is truth.” “Exactly,” said Greejuss.

Ginny silently perceived irony.

They were still getting accustomed to life at Havenforth, which was truthfully much easier than on Terra, even among others belonging to Magos (wizardkind). All pain here was mental and emotional, and they weren’t in danger of the oblivion of death or even physical pain. At least, not in the Sphere of Havenforth. But new enemies arose along with the ascension of Ginny and her former peers, and Greejuss didn’t seem to mind being one of them, while Malik made slow but continual progress learning of their origins.

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