"Begone, curses of transmutation!"
The Mermaids shrieked in anger at the sudden appearance of a wizard- one with earmuffs, Protection from Evil, and what appeared to be Reflect Water. But then the newcomer's spell kicked in, and the mermaids' victims started returning to their true forms.
Okay, actually, just one mermaid's victims. Singular. In addition to Marina and Timothy, a few residents of the nearby fishing village climbed to their feet on shore, extremely disoriented.
The mermaid hissed, "You! The Fates spoke not of-"
"Fates shmates, cupcake." The newcomer levitated the mermaid out of the water. "I'm not even from this world!"
The mermaid leapt from the mage's spell and attempted to transform him by contact, but a swift thump from his staff knocked her back into the water, where she quickly fled.
"Dreze!" Marina wasn't sure how to react; Timothy already had a weapon out.
But this Dreze lowered his staff and said, "Peace. I'm not the Dreze you know."
"Hold on. What do you mean? There's only one Dreze."
"We should talk."
The grateful villagers had already left for home. Now Marina and Timothy sat around a campfire obligingly lit by Dreze's trademark Ray of Flame.
"So there are... Other worlds?"
"Yes, yes," Dreze said. "And a universal law of them seems to be that I never do take over Dar. I discovered these worlds by mistake, trying to gain more power..." Dreze shook his head. "I'm not interested in power or land anymore, though. After watching myself die- or worse- at least forty times, I saw the light, so to speak."
Timothy nodded. "It scared you back to the right path, then. That's your claim?"
"Yes. I decided I would seek land in another world that I might acquire more scrupulously." Dreze added, "I've also noticed incidents like the one with the Mermaid. Where some unfortunate soul is transformed into a woman by malicious creatures... It appears to be a common thread in the worlds near us."
Marina shuddered a little. "Others have suffered such a fate?"
"Yes. I found transformations like what that Mermaid hoped to do to be no better than murder, and set about reversing them. I've got some scary stories to tell, believe me..."
