The things in the darkness are very aware of him. But they'll leave him alone for just-this-minute.

He lands on a busy street, LA traffic at it's best, a few people blink at him and are Very Confused. Inching towards scared.

Well, that's very uncomfortable. He shrinks his wings. Is there a place where he could make a phone call? Maybe someone that doesn't look particularly afraid of the winged person?

Further down the street there is a phonebooth! Most people seem to be scampering away, but there is one couple that is taking a picture of him with a disposable camera. They look kind of touristy.

Felix gives them a nervous smile. Don't objectify the wings, random tourists.

Okay, he will try to make a call, assuming that the phone booth is working.

It's kinda gross and falling apart! But there is a dial tone. Also it smells a lot inside.

Of course, it does. Well, he will try to make a call with the minimum contact required.

Wrong number? Felix tries again, recognizes the voice on the other end and apologizes.

He is not sure what's going on. He can't be near the Shattered Skies, there are no portals in sight.

Huh, maybe he should figure out where he is? Any signs identifying this place?

There are streets signs, most of which are probably not very helpful to him... but if he walks a little down the street there is a shop that has a bunch of maps for sale outside. They proudly display: The City of Angels. Los Angeles. Hollywood. Celebrity tours. Wanna go see where the famous people live? Book now! Great prices and more.

Did he just get Vanished across the country? Okay, this still sounds manageable-

There is a sharp stab in his chest. His wings nearly knock the stand down when he reflexively tries to get away from the pain.

A few people stop and stare, a few more walk away very quickly, and the owner of the store comes outside to yell at him.

"Sorry! I will... I leave," he says after the pain appears to have gone away.

He does that, by simply taking flight. He doesn't go very far just a couple of streets over, mostly to think and ponder his alternatives.

He lands in the parking lot of a... Blockbuster Video. The large blue ticket sign shines brightly down on him.

Probably blinking at the thing isn't very helpful, but what the fuck? They even have a paper cutout of True Lies.

Okay, this is probably a pocket dimension. That just happens to be like Los Angeles in... whatever time True Lies had paper cutouts in Blockbusters. This is very strange, but he can deal with it. Might be good to figure out the date? Can he figure out that? Maybe on a convenient newspaper or something.

-- there's someone behind him. They have glowing yellow eyes and sharp fangs.

"You lossst?" They hiss. Or lisps. A hiss that turns into a lisp.

Felix jumps out of his skin. "Gah, don't... surprise people like that, dude." He blinks at the yellow eyes and sharp fangs, but doesn't react nearly as must fear as most people would.

"You're new in town, right? You smell... fresh."

Felix squints at the fangs and yellow eyes. Are they real? Is this some kind of dreamshaping-created person with a weird personality?

"Uh, are you trying to... rob me? Intimidate me? Or something?"

"To be honest, I was just looking for something to eat."

Eat.

"This place has cannibals?"

He blinks at him

"Dude, I'm a vampire." He gestures at the fangs, "have you never heard of vamps before?"

"I have heard about vampires. I can't say I have heard of vampires with, uh, face like yours. For all I know you could've been some other kind of cannibal creature. Also, drinking blood totally counts as cannibalism."

"Isn't it only cannibalism if you're the same species?"

"Are vampires a different species? Like, aren't they made from non-vampire humans?"

"We're demons."

"Fine. This is splitting hairs. The relevant part is, do vampires feed from humans?"

"Human blood, sometimes demon blood if I'm feeling nasty..." He gives Felix's neck a longing look.

"...Do you know what a Skymage is? Or more specifically, what a skymage with fire-colored wings can do?"

That's actually a good question, dreamshaped monster or not this is common knowledge.

"No idea, dude. I'm just out to eat somebody."

"Lethally?"

"It's no fun otherwise. Plus they might get ideas or something."

Felix tenses. "Yes, like going about their days without being made food. Have you considered a less objectionable diet?"

He makes a confused face and then just shakes his head.

"You talk too much!" He growls as he jumps at Felix, fangs poised to rip open his throat.

Of course he does. Felix flaps his wings, this causes him to move far away much further and faster than expected. After putting some distance he takes off and circles the vampire from the sky.

How does he react to a gust of impossibly hot wind? Enough to knock out a human unconscious from sheer heat alone.

He howls loudly, but doesn't seem to do anything else to him. He does start yelling obscenities at him.

Felix waits for a few moments, then starts to increase the temperature.

...eventually his clothes catch on fire and he screams.

And is suddenly impossibility enveloped in flame and -- dust. He seems to have exploded? imploded? into dust.

"No!" Felix screams and lands near the dust.

"No, no, no, no."

There's nothing he can do, not even his clothes survived.

The blue light of the Blockbuster shines down on him, the buzz of the electricity pulsing in rhythm. Felix is very alone here.

Felix eventually remembers that he needs to go to the police, but looking up at the Blockbuster reminds him that he must be in a pocket dimension. Maybe a new one? How? Fenris might know, he will figure out what's happening. Felix just needs to fly away from the edge of the dimension.

"I am sorry," Felix tells the dusty remains of the unrepentant killer.

He takes flight.

No matter how high he goes, there is no edge to the dimension. This just can't be. Did he time travel? To a Los Angeles where vampires don't know what skymages are?

There is another pang of agony from inside his chest, physical instead of emotional. Felix plummets and nearly crash lands on someone's roof. Barely, he manages to land on a sidewalk.

He's in a residential area, and it's the middle of the night. There isn't really any people around. Well, except a woman walking a very large dog and who is standing on the other side of the road from him.

"...you okay there?" they call out.

Felix is more than a bit startled, he looks up. He clearly has been crying. "Sorry, I am having... a weird night," says the clearly winged person.

"Looks like it, man. Can I help?"

"I... I don't know." Felix tries to swallow but his mouth is oddly dry. "I had an encounter with a vampire."

"...and you're alive to tell me about it. Is anyone else hurt? I have med training."

"I am unharmed and alive, but... I killed the vampire."

"Your first time?"

Felix shakes his head. "I mean, it was my first vampire."

"You've never met one before, or...?"

"No. I heard legends, but I wasn't aware they were a thing."

"Says the guy with wings that just fell out of the sky."

"Yeah..." he says slowly and uneasily. "I... I wouldn't expect people to... not recognize what I am." 

Whatever he is, he is also shaking.

"If you promise you're not evil or gonna eat me we could go someplace that's not the middle of the street and talk about it?"

"I am not evil and I don't eat people. But I don't mind going somewhere else to talk about it."

That's probably a good idea.

"There's this diner a few minutes that-a-way. Haveta buy something, but they'll settle for a coffee. Got money?"

"I have, but I am not sure it's legal here. I could give you something in return once I have slept."

"Don't worry about it, dude. It's just a couple of bucks." They gesture down the road, and the two of them, Syd and Syd's dog, start walking purposefully down the street.

He follows. "I am Felix, by the way."

"Syd," they point to themselves and then to their dog, "Mouse."

...the dog very much does not look like a Mouse. Mouse is maybe one of the biggest dogs Felix has ever seen.

"Cute." He does not appear to be particularly appreciative of the Harry Dresden dog. His voice is a bit too hollow.

Mouse woofs at him in thanks.

"Yup. The cutest," they reply and fall into silence.

Eventually they arrive at the diner, Syd orders them two coffees. The waitress very steadily ignores the presence of the huge dog, and goes to get their order.

"I'm gonna guess you're not from around here."

Headshake. "The weird thing is... this place is recognizable. The city's name at least. But they would know what I am."

"You look like an angel to me, or some sort of demon. But nothing recognisable. We got a lot of weird shit here."

He makes a weird face at the words angel and demon. "I am a skymage. Neither angel nor demon."

"I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of the supernatural, but I've never heard of a skymage. And it is weird that you've never heard of vampires. They're vermin. If you're someone that knows something about the supernatural, you know about vampires."

Felix looks uncomfortable. "I heard of vampires specifically as magical beings that didn't actually exist. And skymages are... impossible to not have heard of? If someone listed the mageborns they know about, skymages would be the first or second name to come up."

"Have you run into any funky looking dimensional portals lately?"

"Yeah, that part was pretty obvious. I was flying around the Shattered Skies, uh, you might not have them here, anyway it's a bunch of massive portals that lead to pocket dimensions. I wouldn't expect them to take me to alternate universe Los Angeles, but I also wouldn't expect them to start flare threads of energy connecting each other."

He produces a touristic brochure for a place off the coast of Florida. There are pictures of the Shattered Skies and mentions of something called "The Bermuda Conflux".

Syd looks it over.

"Yup. Definitely an alternate dimension. Florida is mostly beaches, old people and old people on beaches. Nothing like this."

"That's our Florida too, plus a bunch of portals off the coast. Do even have pocket dimensions?"

"We have all sorts of adjacent dimensions. Hell and heavenly ones. And I'm pretty sure some powerful types of witches, warlocks and demons sometimes have access to their own pocket dimensions."

"Uh... those terms have ever been used in association with pocket dimensions but not in any accurate description. Except maybe witches."

"Different strokes for different folks. Dimensions too, I guess."

Felix's nods. He looks pensive. "I don't know what I should be asking."

"I guess it depends on whether you wanna go home."

"Is that possible? ...I had a sign that it wouldn't be."

They make a face that invites him to continue.

"Uh... where to start." He thinks. "I have a form of immortality that respawns my body in a specific location. Like a computer backing up a file to the internet. But if the connection it's broken it will give me a new place to rebuild the body. I think that's what happening." Pause. "Or I am having weird chest pains for some other reason."

"Huh. There are ways to open pathways to other dimensions. Sometimes they're naturally occuring and are open all the time. Sometimes they appear randomly, or if certain conditions are met. Sometimes you can use magic to open them. You can sometimes rip open a way between realities. That's not super recommended; there is usually a reason there's not a magical or natural way..." They pause and give him a once over. "Are you going to be okay?"

Mouse nudges his knee with his snoot in a concerned manner.

Felix gives her a tired smile. "Uh, don't worry too much about me. I will survive one way or another. And knowing about ways between worlds help."

Does Mouse want to be petted? Good dog.

He is so happy to be pet! He wags his tail and sits at Felix's feet.

"So, just to be clear, I wasn't just randomly walking my dog and by happenstance ran into you. A few of my dad's old magic whatsits went off and they lead me to you. Which is also why I'm a font of knowledge of most things supernatural. I wanna help, just not sure what you need."

"Ah, okay... I guess I would need to figure out the legal consequences of having killed the vampire?" Pause. "If there are any. Then, figure out the best way to go home."

"Vampires usually exist outside of human law. On the fringes of society. Plus, even if they did... they're dust. No body, no crime."

"...But, I killed someone."

"Technically they were already dead and a demonic parasite was piloting their body."

"I killed someone that was inside a body that had a previous occupant. That someone could move, talk and had the ability to quibble about the definition of cannibalism." He is more than a bit uncomfortable.

"You're not wrong. It's just... there really aren't any legal consequences. The vast majority of people don't even know they exist."

"Why?"

"The combination of mystical bullshit, the government covering things up -- and other folks too -- and people not wanting to know. Burying their head in the sand. Denial."

"At literal cost of lives?" Pause. "That vampire's family might not even know that something happened to their relative."

"Pretty common for newly risen vampires to kill their family." The statement is weighted. As if they have experience in this area.

Well, that is a good way to make Felix go pale. "I am so sorry, did it-?" He doesn't finish the question.

"It was a long time ago."

"Still. ...There is probably some way I can help?"

"....how?"

"I don't know. I... I have a pocket dimension that I expand while I sleep. I can use it to make non-magical objects."

"Can it bring people back from the dead?"

Felix flinches and shakes his head. "I am so sorry."

"What can you do?"

"My dimension can make pretty much anything that is made of non-magical matter. It also has an effect that makes fire not harm or consume things. Besides that, my skymage gifts allow me to control the weather and fire."

"Sounds like you would be a good match against a powerful sorcerer. Or any manner of nasties."

"Thank you? Are there are lot of those around?"

"A bit, yeah. Vampires have the highest population, after humans. But anyone with enough willpower and talent can learn magic."

"Well, that's concerning. But I definitely want to help? What is out there in terms of..." he waves vaguely, "good guys? Are the good sorcerers at least united?"

"Nope. There used to be an organisation of old men whose purpose was to serve the dimensions primary defender. But they were pretty much wiped out a decade ago when their defender was murdered and turned into a vampire. She then proceeded to murder them all. They had some sorcerers in their midst, but using magic kinda fucks you up in the long run, so they didn't really encourage it."

"Wow... how does the magic fuck you up?"

"There are three important components in using magic. Power, knowledge and control. Most people inevitably fail in at least one aspect. Which in most circumstances leads to badness."

"I mean, does it cause something like dangerous explosive magic or a physical effect or personality changes?"

"Yes."

"Ah."

Long pause.

"My world also has learnable magic and I don't know if it's the same kind but it doesn't sound that dangerous."

"I don't doubt it. We get a lot of people from other dimensions all with a different types of magic. Usually it's... assimilated?"

"Assimilated?"

"Starts to work more in line with the local magic, but also adds to what we have here."

"Damn. Should I be worried about my powers?"

"You should be good. Mostly concerns people trying to pick up your magic or any kids you have here."

"Gah."

"Home sweet home."

"Is there no way to fix your magic?"

"No? Unless you have enough power to kill all the gods and rewrite the laws of the universe."

Felix is seriously debating the pros and cons of deicide.

"Though, even if you killed the gods... someone is always there to take their place."

Felix slowly nods. "I expect that I am very immortal, so at least I have time to decide what I can do."

"What do you want to do now? You have a place to stay, or?"

"I can make a place to stay once I fall asleep. But otherwise, no. And... I don't know what I should be doing next."

"I mean. You don't really have to do anything that's not getting yourself home. This isn't your world."

Felix tilts his head. "It doesn't sound like getting home will be trivial. That should give me plenty of time to help in some way."

They look a little unconvinced, but...

"Whatever you can do to help would be good."

Nod. "So, who do you know that could help with my situation?"

"A few, off the top of my head. It'll take me a little while to contact them. I have a couch, if you need somewhere to crash."

"Thank you. I might only need it the once... I probably should check if my dreamshaping is working properly."

"You need anything more than the couch for that?"

"No? Just a place to take a nap."

"My coach is very nappable."

"That works for me. If I am not imposing much."

"I'm fine to be imposed upon. It's not an issue."

Mouse gruffs in agreement.

"Thank you. You have been very helpful."

"My goal in life." They stand. "Hope you don't mind the walk. Unless you wanna fly, I guess."

"I don't. And it sounds like it would call less attention."

"We'll get some stares because of your wings. I have a potion that would help, but I'd rather avoid it. I don't know how it will interact with your biology."

"I will bear."