A Sorceress on Earth: Arrival

By Jordan Alex Green

When Dara was told she would be guarding the library, she assumed it’d be just a boring assignment. She didn’t expect a thief to break in and steal a precious gem. Or that he’d use the gem to try to open a gateway to another world.
Or that Dara would be sucked through that gateway and find herself in the wilds of Southern California.
Now a student from a magical school is going to have to survive California traffic, smog, and crime while trying to find a way home. Oh, and there’s the little matter about somehow she’s triggered the rise of magic on Earth.
That could also be a problem.

Illustrated by Edward Garcia

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jordan Alex Green
• Release date: Jul 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005001209

Book preview

To Kendra:

May you always have a smile

A SORCERESS ON EARTH: ARRIVAL

Book I

By

Jordan Alex Green

Distributed by Smashwords.

If you want to know more about what I’m doing, check out my author’s page or my patreon! I also have an account on Royal Road!

This is a work of fiction. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights are ©2022 Jordan Alex Green

Chapter I

You are aware of your duties, yes, Lady Stonemender? The library director looked down at Dara. As usual, he was frowning. Dara wondered if he ever actually smiled.

Yes, Savant Tomas, Dara said, leaning on her staff. I’m aware of the need to protect the library during the lunar eclipse.

Your teachers speak very highly of you, but this will be your first actual solo job, the director said. An eclipse is a dangerous time when malevolent spirits seek entrance into our world. More commonly, it’s a time when various thugs seek to take advantage of the dark to commit crimes. You’re more likely to deal with vandals than you are a spirit of murder, but there are things here that might attract both mortal and immortal threats. I wish that you were not here alone, but the tradition is that one guardian remains during the night of a lunar eclipse.

I understand, sir, Dara said. Because Morrow went into the underworld alone to bring the Moon’s Princess out of bondage and set her up over the world again. The Sun’s Champion and the love he could never touch was an old, old story that Dara had listened to at her mother’s knee. As he’d gone alone, so was anything that needed to be done during a lunar eclipse done with only one person. Any more, and you’d insult the gods.

Dara didn’t know if she believed it. She didn’t know if anyone really believed it. If there was a fire during an eclipse, nobody would say only one firefighter needed to show up. On the other hand, places like Eventide College practically ran on tradition, so half the faculty would probably explode if they didn’t follow the old ways.

Or it’s just a setup for a practical joke on the new girl. Dara’s first year at the college had been full of those, ranging from being sent out to get a left-handed potion to having her bed animated to walk her out into the quad. Mages, it was said, had a weird sense of humor.

Or they were just jerks.

I will keep the library safe.

See that you do. Tomas turned and swept out of the great chamber, sealing the doors behind him. Dara felt the power of the wards rise around her, protecting the library from any unwanted intruders.

Well, most unwanted intruders. If anyone managed to bypass the wards, they’d have to deal with her.

With that, Dara sat down and started her watch. Anyone who wanted to get through the library would have to get through her!

***

"Gods, this is so boring!" Dara moaned as she lay back on the reading table, her cloak forming a makeshift pillow. Yes, the librarian would murder her if she caught her.

But she’s not here, Dara said to the empty air. She conjured a little glowing orb and threw it into the air, catching it as it came down.

Throw.

Catch.

Throw.

Catch.

Throw.

Catch.

I bet everyone is eating. Because you couldn’t work, the lunar eclipse was a time when people ate the food that they’d made earlier that day. So nobody was working, and the rule about not working together didn’t apply to partying and eating.

Responsible, my ass. I bet everyone is laughing at me while they eat the steak, wait for the soup, and take out the chilled lemon…

Her stomach growled.

No! Bad thoughts. Don’t think about all the tasty food! She looked up through the crystal dome that covered the central reading room of the library. Above, the moon was entering full eclipse, half of the orb already dark. And after that, eight more hours.

Eight more miserable hours.

Throw.

Catch.

Throw.

Catch.

Throw—the orb vanished as Dara felt a shiver in the air. Something had come through the wards.

She blinked and sat up. Something had come through the wards?

But the doors… Dara looked around. The front doors were closed and warded, so she’d have felt the alarm if someone had come through them. Or, if they were good enough to bypass the door wards, she wouldn’t have felt anything.

Dara licked her lips and held out her hand.

But if I send a messenger and it’s nothing at all… No, she would check out what it was first. Dara hopped off of the table and started walking towards the back of the library. The front was full of textbooks and modern writings, including the fiction stacks. Nothing there was worth breaking into the library for, since you could get it any time you wanted.

So in the back. I hope this isn’t a practical joke. Because if it was, Dara was going to force someone to eat her staff. Unless the faculty was in on the joke. With that, she fastened her cloak around her neck and left the table.

Walking into the back, the light from the stars shining through the dome swiftly faded. There were only a few mage fires burning, the heatless fire twisting up and sending flicking shadows across the tall shelves full of books. But none of those books were worth stealing, so Dara pressed on, her every sense alert. But the wards had calmed down, and there were no other sounds.

Maybe I misread it? Dara wondered if she’d imagined the shift in the wards but then shook her head. It had been there, and the disturbance had been severe enough that even a novice could feel it. One sweep through the exhibits, and then I’ll head back. The secure chambers were places Dara couldn’t go, and if anything was in here that could open those doors, she’d be best off running as fast as she could and screaming for help.

But when Dara poked her head around the corner, looking back to the secure rooms, their doors were all shut, the gleaming sigils showing that the wards were still intact. None of the guardian statues had animated either.

Okay, not the secure rooms. Maybe some of the restricted books? But that didn’t make much sense. Sure, they were restricted, but that was due to the danger of letting someone who didn’t know what they were doing access those magical tomes. But if someone really did want to get their face eaten by a pissed-off spirit, they could buy them from the market. The tomes weren’t illegal, just dangerous.

And breaking into the college library was illegal.

So a prank?

Dara paused as the sound of… chipping echoed through the building.

Someone was chipping something? Dara moved quickly. If someone was damaging the library on her watch, she’d turn over their twitching body to the Dean. The sound was coming