Hans found a want ad for an intern job, and was desperate enough to apply. The online description promised work for someone willing to "gather materials and navigate hazardous environments alongside a more experienced co-worker". It wasn't what he'd spent years in college for, but money was money. The odd thing was that employer SealCorp described it as remote work, which didn't make much sense. Typo, maybe.

Still, he got a reply. The company wasn't picky about experience but wanted him to assert he had decent vision, hearing, and balance, and "no excessive fear of heights". He clicked on the button to say yes he wanted to move on.

He blacked out.

Hans woke up sprawled on a stone floor, dazzled by light. A cavern echoed all around, and a guy wearing too many buckles and pouches crouched there with a florescent lightbulb or something strapped to his back. He had his hands clasped in prayer. An intense blue-white light was fading from behind Hans.

The guy in the explorer costume saw him and startled, getting to his feet, rising taller and taller. Pointy ears twitched beside his long purple hair. "Whoa, an Ancient!"

"I'm twenty-two." Hans stared up at the stranger. Way up. "Where am I? What's a giant doing here?"

The guy gave him a courtly bow, one hand on his chest, though his voice made him sound like a surfer. "I am Prince Roland, rightful heir to the Sun Kingdom. Pleased to meet you, Twenty-Two."

Hans said, "First of all, the name's Hans. Second --" He had smacked his face, and discovered something had happened to his hands. He'd just bonked a weirdly puffy nose with what felt like a leather cape. Staring down at himself revealed he was wearing some kind of leotard, and his fingers had stretched beyond all reasonable size into a pair of leather sails. Wings.

"You okay, buddy? I mean... oh great Ancient, I inquire after your health."

Hans wobbled, dizzy, and when he flailed his arms around, they caught the air and whooshed. He somehow propelled himself several steps along the stone floor. The supposed prince watched while Hans panicked, turning around. He had a little pointy tail and his hands bumped into tall twitchy ears. "What did you do to me?"

"Me? All I did was..." The prince spoke slower as though quoting someone. "Activate the Ancients' Beacon in the Tower of Trials. It was supposed to lead me to someone who could help."

"Help with what?"

Prince Roland thumped his chest. "I will slay the Mirror Queen, destroy her orc legions, and recover my rightful crown to avenge my father!"

Hans blinked. "That's great. Good luck. I'm gonna go back to sleep and wake up to continue the job hunt. Must've fallen asleep at my desk." He turned away and stared up at a massive stone arch whose edges glowed faintly. He reached toward it and passed one wing-like hand through the ring to no effect.

Roland said, "Yeah, that bit at the top broke when it turned on." Shards of crystal had scattered like sand.

Hans tried to pinch himself, ineffective without proper hands, and only scratched his big nose with the claws that passed for thumbs. This didn't wake him up from any dream. He took a few breaths and said, "Is *this* what I signed up for, somehow? The description said something about hazardous environments."

The huge prince nodded. "Yeah, I could use your help with that. Come on; let me show you." He turned away and revealed that the glowing thing on his back was a sword, clipped to one of his shoulder straps.

Hans tried to follow, but his short legs made him wobble and take a while to get past the tall, tall doorway across the room. Cold wind blew through the fur that covered him. They stepped onto a balcony with no railing, overlooking a ruin.

The broken corners of a stone tower formed a jungle of ledges, hanging moss, vines, and even a waterfall, dazzlingly bright. Hans covered his eyes and squinted. "How did you get up here?"

In answer, Roland leaped off the ledge and landed easily on a slightly lower one. He waved for Hans.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed!?"

"It's not that hard. Just fly over."

"What makes you think I can... oh." Hans looked at his wings. "I have no training and we're really high up, so -- eep!"

Roland had hopped back up and crouched to scoop Hans off the floor. He then tossed Hans like a paper airplane, into the stone room. Hans screeched and flung his hands out... in a move that made him sail across the chamber toward a rock wall. Hans didn't know how to stop, so he desperately kicked his legs forward as though his arms were dangling from a rail. His body swung around and he felt weird clawed feet striking sparks on the wall before he dropped in a flailing heap.

Unhurt. Hans wobbled, checked himself over, and glared at Hans, speaking in angry confused squeaks.

Roland said, "I knew you could do it! Here, hop up and I'll show you what I need." He crouched and held out his cupped hands.

Hans sputtered. He noticed his words were coming out squeaky. He'd actually flown! Or glided, anyway. He wasn't getting out of here through the portal. He gulped and let the prince grab him and install him on a royal shoulder. A thick leather pad gave Hans a convenient grip, mostly with his weird foot-claws. Still Hans yelped when Roland began jumping across cliffs, far across and down in a dizzying series of moves. Hans even hung on when Roland made a long jump, tumbled on the landing, and rolled to his feet. Hans hardly noticed what was across the way until Roland whipped out his humming, gleaming sword. The two of them stood on a wide chunk of ancient skyscraper, faced with four knife-wielding green thugs with tusks.

"What do we do?" said Hans.

"I fought the same guys on the way up." Roland dashed forward, slashed, parried a blow, stabbed another of the hunched-over muggers, and cut the last ones to ribbons in seconds. Beyond ribbons, really; each one vanished in a puff of smoke and left behind a glittering glass chip that flew straight at Roland's chest and vanished with no apparent harm done.

Hans was wide-eyed and clutching Roland's shoulder the whole time. He now glanced back and realized they'd gotten here via a platform that was hovering with no actual support, like several others in the jungle-gym ruin.

"Wait... What have I signed up for?" said Hans.

"Slaying the Mirror Queen. But before that, check this out." Roland rounded a corner and revealed a floating, glowing relic on a platform out of reach. "Think you can fetch that, little buddy?"

He shivered at the thought that maybe he could. During these jumps he'd felt the wind under his wings and how it was almost enough to carry him away without effort. In this world even a regular-size human could easily leap a long way... and Hans was starting to accept that Roland wasn't a giant. Which made Hans maybe a foot tall by comparison. There was likely no going back for a while, and no going forward without trying this.

"Running start, please?" Hans asked.

Roland ran and chucked Hans off the ledge. Hans yelped as he felt the breeze on his wings. He didn't try to flap, not trusting them yet, but the slow fall still carried him across a terrifying drop to land in the middle of a wide slab of stone. He felt like a pancake spread out on its surface. He kissed the solid floor and tried not to think about the lack of anything holding it up.

Above him a red gem spun in midair with an engraved rune. Hans jumped for it, unsure how he was going to carry it back. Or get back at all. It dropped and clinked at his feet, making his ears flick. Naturally he tried to snag it with one hand, but the giant sail that it'd become didn't work well for that. Nor did his thumb-claws. Grumbling, he grabbed the gem in his mouth and felt it grind against little fangs. He mumbled, "I hope I can live on fish and fruit."

Roland was calling out encouragement. Hans wasn't going to make that jump back. There was a convenient wall to climb, though. He had a weird sense of scale as he dug his feet and thumbs into it, feeling light but tiny. Like he was conquering a several-story building, when really it was hardly taller than the sword guy. At the top he wobbled for balance but seemed to steady himself easily. Even looking down didn't terrify him quite as much as it should. Before he could think about it much, he ran and leaped, spreading his wings.

A whoosh of air carried him back across over a long, long drop, and onto the wide area where Roland stood. "Great job!"

Hans spat out the gem. "Strawberry flavor," he joked.

Roland peered at it, then licked it. "If you say so."

"What's it for?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure we'll find a use."

"You're sure it's relevant to this mission of yours?"

"It was in the tower and it's hovering and shiny."

Hans said, "You know, in context that's a good argument. Have you got a spellbook or a magic gauntlet or something?"

Roland looked himself over as though unsure. Then he noticed the three slots on his sword. He tried holding the gem nearby and it flicked into place like a magnet. The blade hummed, and shot out a bolt of red energy that left a char mark inches from Hans.

Hans squeaked and hopped aside. "Trigger discipline, Prince!"

"Sorry!" Roland hefted his sword more carefully and aimed it at a distant wall. It spat two more of the little energy shots before he said, "Mana's low; gotta recharge."

"Now you have a ranged weapon."

"Yeah. Hey, I know what's next!"

"Fighting some kind of sky monster?"

"No, back in town there was a shooting gallery but the guy said he was out of crossbows and I should come back when I'm better equipped. It's in my quest list, even."

"Very important, I'm sure."

"We need to get back to town anyway to talk to the Elder." Roland pointed way, way down and off to one side, where a town clung to a waterfall cliff like barnacles. His usual grin faded. "At least, *I* do. I guess I never asked if you wanna help."

"What's so important about this Mirror Queen anyway?"

"Look over there."

Hans turned in another direction, and beheld a charred landscape. Irregular glass towers baked bare fields in between squalid military camps that guarded what greenery was left. A pentagonal castle with an orchard had been encased in an incomplete mirror dome. Even now, a catapult launched sinister green-glowing boulders toward the remaining lands of light.

Hans whistled. "You're in charge of fixing all that?"

"I don't know how I'm gonna. One step at a time." He thumped his chest and smiled again. "It's my duty!"

Hans didn't know how he'd been yanked into this world, this body. There was work to do, though, and this guy seemed like he needed help. "Do... do you think I'll learn to fly for real?"

"Sure thing! If you don't already know, I'm sure you'll pick it up in time."

Hans glanced back up at the broken portal. Then back at Roland. He scuttled closer and climbed the prince's various belts and buckles as though in a ship's rigging, stopping only when he had a steady perch back on Roland's shoulder. "Right, then! I'll help if I can."

The prince took off hopping down the ruin's many ledges, a little closer to safety with each leap. "We're on our way, little buddy!"

"By the way, do I get paid?"

"Once my kingdom is saved I can get you some real treasure. For now all I can offer is some worthless gold chunks --"

"They are pretty shiny."

"And room and board and what the Elder called 'upgrades'. I think those are important."

"Like the gem."

"Oh, that makes sense. So should I introduce you as Hans, or have you got like a cool hero nickname?"

"Haven't really needed one."

"But you're a hero now!"

Hans grinned and rode along on the enthusiastic, sword-swinging adventurer's shoulder. "Yeah, all right. How about 'Skye'?"

"The team of Roland & Skye, it is!"

Hans giggled. "We shall collect all the shiny things and save the land!"

"Yeah!"

He'd worry about paying his bills later. Maybe a lot later.