221, 1/2

Erick stood in front of a mirror, looking over—

Quilatalap sighed, as ‘he’ stood in the doorway to the room. “You look fine!”

“You might have done this many times, Quilatalap, but this is my second major attempt at going incognito and if I’m going to wear this form for a while then I want it to look…” Erick looked at himself in the mirror. “I’m not sure.” Then he looked to Quilatalap. “You look great, though.”

Quilatalap was a comfortable-looking human woman a few centimeters shorter than Erick’s current height, wearing brown traveling clothes. Black hair, black eyes, pale skin and softer-than-your-average adventurer, Quilatalap did not look like he was ready for a big trip into dangerous territory, but that’s because he was so very good at this. He looked the part of a mage who could get around a battlefield well enough, but who chose to use overwhelming magic to solve all of their problems. All of his magic was either hidden or muted to acceptable levels for a slightly-above-average mage.

Erick, on the other hand, had gone for a handsome-viking-look, which was more like a ‘Underworlder look’, when translated to Veird sensibilities. Specifically, the part of the Underworld deep under Nelboor, near Geode Bluite. His long blond hair mostly fell free, but a few braids kept it out of his face, while his trimmed blonde beard was thick on his face. He was bulky, with a strong body, and clear blue eyes. He was warrior-shaped, for sure. A rather stark contrast to his old self, which was rather similar in size, but not in color or shape at all.

His voice was also deeper, coming out like a proper rumble as he asked, “Picked out a name, yet?”

Quilatalap walked into the room, smirking as he said, “Vanya Silver. 31. From the outskirts of Blueite, like you. Got tired of the dungeons down there, so I’m out exploring the Surface with my boyfriend, whatever your name is.”

Erick smiled. “Clark Fitte, or Celtik Raft. 31.”

‘Vanya’ looked at Erick for a moment, her expression was rather unsettled for a moment. “… Are these names connected to your own?” Knowingly, she added, “Are they anagrams.”

Erick easily explained, “No one should be able to figure them out without first knowing English, and knowing my whole name, and that’s a tall order. There’re some other connections that are possible to figure out, but they’re only connections based on knowing Earth History, and that’s even more obscure.”

“So a scholar of Erick Flatt with the appropriate Book Magic might be able to figure you out.”

“… No. They’re more obscure than that.” Erick relented, “Okay fine! I’ll change them up some. But I really like the idea of ‘Clark’ or ‘Celtik’. The first one more than the second one.”

Vanya shrugged her shoulders. “ ‘Clark’ is a good name… But you’re smiling too much.”

Erick had to explain. “The name ‘Clark’ is the name of a fictional… archwarrior’s mundane self, while the archwarrior’s public self is named ‘Superman’.”

“Ah.” Vanya declared, “Nope. Don’t like those comparisons; the right Book Magic will ping your name as odd, even if the caster doesn’t know the reason for the oddity. Go with the other one. ‘Seltic’.”

“How about ‘Chris’? That’s completely unrelated. ‘Chris Celtic’?” Erick had a sudden second thought. “No wait. ‘Chris’ is too close to ‘Christ’, and I don’t want that at all. Jane would make fun of me forever if I picked that one… She’d make fun of ‘Clark’, too, now that I think about it… I’ll go with Soltic Cross? That meaning is a lot more nuanced, and I’m not even spelling the word right in my head.”

“I picked my name out of a jumble of tiles in a bag and then arranged them till they sounded right, using an Undersea naming convention. It is a traditional way to name a child in certain parts of the Underworld, though that way of naming has fallen in and out of fashion for the last thousand years. My name won’t be picked up by any Book Magic at all. Yours still might.” Vanya added, “Also, your everything is too perfect. Perfect hair, perfect face, perfect ass. I’ll be amazed if someone doesn’t pick you out of a crowd instantly as either reincarnated by the Wizard, or some conceited Polymage.”

“You don’t like my ass?”

“I love your ass, but it’ll be hard enough staying undercover with you looking like that.”

‘Soltic’ smiled, saying, “The hardest part about this will be making sure Ophiel stays incognito.”

Ophiel fluffed out from his hidden perch atop the mirror, saying, “I’m here!”

Soltic chuckled. “Yes you are, Ophiel, but you’re supposed to be hiding, even if someone calls your name.”

Ophiel chirped then flickered back into invisible intangibility. Any potential onlooker would need to have very specific spellwork to be able to see him when he didn’t want to be seen, but where they were going, someone would likely have that spellwork. Erick could make Ophiel completely unnoticeable if he were actually concentrating on that action, but Ophiel had yet to do this on his own for overlong, so Erick suspected he would have to maintain a modicum of concentration on the little guy for a while, at first.

It’d get easier with time, though. Erick hadn’t done this whole ‘incognito’ thing for more than an hour or four here or there over the years, so it would take Ophiel a little while to understand what was happening, but he’d get there. Erick had faith.

Soltic looked at himself in the mirror, and changed a few things around. A notch across his left ear, as though he had narrowly avoided a soul-carving blade. One eye gained a small stripe of hazel in his otherwise-blue irises. And then he fucked his teeth up, just a little, so his smile wasn’t quite perfect. He kept the ass, though.

Vanya laughed, then said, “I think the eye-thing made you prettier.”

Soltic changed his hair. Dirty-blonde.

… And then he gave himself a few more indelible scars across the left of his chest, as though he had gotten as good of healing as he could get, but some things could not be fully healed away.

“Better. Now you just need to put on clothes.” Vanya waggled her eyebrows. “Or we could… ?”

Soltic smiled wide, showing off a good, but imperfect smile, as he turned around and took in the sight of his girlfriend, Vanya.

Vanya giggled at the look he gave her, saying, “You should be a little taller.”

Soltic did so. He was now over two meters tall, and Vanya was decidedly not. Soltic tried out a combative tone, “Anything else, princess?”

“Oh. I like that.” Vanya looked Soltic up and down, and then haughtily proclaimed, “Acceptable.”

“I’ll show you ‘acceptable’,” Soltic said, advancing.

Vanya giggled even more.

They were delayed from departure by an hour. Neither minded.

– – – –

Preparing for actual travel through the Network was difficult, but doable, because Erick had instituted a host of measures across the entire Gate Network to combat face stealers. Most of those measures were [Cascade Imaging] based, and emplaced there through runic devices. A decade ago those measures were catching immortals-through-[Polymorph] every other day, along with even more face stealers than Erick thought possible, but these days an actual notification-of-impostor was a rarity. People had figured out how to circumvent the system, and Erick had left certain loopholes open for those types of immortals.

Erick and Quilatalap would not be using those loopholes today.

They’d be using completely different loopholes. The largest defensive measures that were likely to trigger an alarm were the ones for wrong names, but—

Vanya tapped Soltic on the arm, saying, “You’re too tense. It’s just a trip through the Gate Network.”

Soltic sighed. “We’re only halfway through the trip and I already miss [Teleport].”

“Don’t we all!” said the guy behind them in line.

Grumbling filled the air from others in front of Vanya, or behind Soltic.

The younger people in the line just looked at the older ones like they were crazy. They might have experienced a [Teleport] from a trip with a parent or something when they were children, but they never got to use the spell themselves.

Erick’s thoughts traveled back to his preparations for this trip…

Vanya and Soltic had started off their trip at House Benevolence, joining the throng of people who daily passed through the area, headed off this way or that. It was exceedingly difficult for anyone to get anything through any Gate without being thoroughly investigated with a dozen different magics, and being held up by at least a few checkpoints. But Erick cheated. Or, more appropriately, Zolan cheated, providing Erick with some fake bank accounts, but which were completely legit, and various Guild registrations which were also technically fake, but also legit. Getting that paperwork finally filled out with their chosen names had only taken a half hour.

Soltic now wore a standard Adventurer’s Guild badge on a necklace that would serve as an international identification, underneath some sturdy brown and tan traveling clothes. Vanya had a Mage Guild badge that she wore as a ring. Both of them had Dungeon Guild certification, too. A backpack slung over Soltic’s shoulders held exactly the sorts of things that Soltic would normally have, along with a secondary bag that held Vanya’s stuff. It was just some clothes, both vacation and formal, some extra money, and a few minor magical items.

Ophiel held on top of the backpack, silent and unknowable as he could manage, and Erick hoped it remained that way.

They had just left House Benevolence’s Gate Network, passing the easy part of the trip.

Now, they stood under the bright blue sky, down at the coast of Glaquin, in the city of Pearl.

Soltic breathed in the salty air and allowed himself to relax a fraction, and to only use his own, current senses, which meant no Ophiel.

There had been a question of if he should use his mana senses, or not. Most people didn’t have mana senses, and for those who had mana senses, it was easy to spot if others had a mana sense. It was all in the little looks. Subtle elevations in heart-rate, when nothing should be elevating any heart rates. Also, if someone was too schooled with their natural reactions to nearby stimuli, it proved they were either a highly skilled mana senser, psychotic, nobility, in law enforcement, or some combination.

Normal people always had normal reactions, and with his mana senses up and active, ‘Soltic’ would not be having normal reactions… But Erick could fake that well enough.

He had learned a lot of good tricks over the years.

The fact was that Erick simply did not want to turn off his mana senses. In the end, they decided that Soltic was born with a good mana sense. ‘Wandering Soul’, they called the affliction over in Songli. They had also decided to never explain his mana sense if it came up, unless the question was asked by someone who actually deserved to have their question answered.

Quilatalap, however, just went without his mana sense. Erick was slightly jealous of that calmness; that capability to just… ‘turn off his worries’. Or at least ignore them. Anyway…

Soltic stepped forward a single space, following the line to the Gate, a fist clenched tight on one strap of his backpack as he and Vanya waited alongside everyone else. He was nervous, and for his background, it was perfectly normal for him to be nervous. If anyone was looking, they would just get the wrong impression about what he was nervous about.

Which was fine.

The guy ahead of them noticed Soltic’s nervousness. He was a shorter, portly incani man with dark features. “Have you been living under a rock, or something? It’s just a Gate.”

Vanya said, “We have, actually. Underworld.”

“Oh!” With actual remorse, the incani man said, “Pardon my ignorance. Is this your first time on the Surface?”

“Not exactly,” Soltic said, grumbling.

“The last time we were on the Surface we had access to [Teleport], and the Wizard wasn’t here either.” Vanya shrugged. “But I wanted a vacation up here and I didn’t want to travel the harder way to get up to the beaches of Archipelago Nergal.”

The man brightened. “Oh! The beaches are wonderful this time of year, if you’re fine with a bit of cold. I imagine you are. You two should get some good color if you spend enough time out there under the proper sun.”

Vanya smiled. “That’s the hope.”

Soltic grumbled, and the incani man retreated a fraction, reconsidering if he wanted to continue this interaction.

There were 10 groups of people between Soltic and the front of the line, here under the bright sun, but the line was going at a quick pace, with tellers calling out ‘Next!’ and people walking forward rather fast. Soltic was glad for that. The less time spent here under scrutiny the better.

Traveling out of the Gate Network at Candlepoint had been easy enough, but here, at Portal, at this Local Area Gate Network…

This was the first true test of their covers.

The incani man eyed Soltic for a moment, asking, “Are you two going into the dungeons down there?”

“Oh yes,” Vanya said, “I suspect we’ll be spending a long time in those, but based on what I have heard already… I’m not sure what to expect. What brings you down there?”

“Weekly dinner with the family, and then I might go to the dungeons, too.” The incani man brightened, as he smiled softly. “My little girls are growing up fast, and if it wasn’t for the Gate Network I would have missed watching them grow; [Teleport] was always too expensive for me, either in distance, or opportunity cost. But I’ve been using the Network for the last decade and it’s been great!”

Soltic softened at that. “What brings a man like you into the dungeons?”

The man brightened. “Every dungeon is worth something, though I find the cultivated dungeons to be mostly terrible— Except for the Grand Dungeons, of course. The cultivated dungeons down in the Archipelago are almost universally worthless; good for some quick yellow if you have the time, but they’re too delineated by far. I tried to get the dungeons near home made properly, but I was butted out of all that for various reasons. I spend most of my time over on Dungeon Island these days.”

Vanya’s eyebrows went up. “Are you a dungeon master, by chance?”

The man smiled. “I am!” He held up his hand, showing off a Dungeoneer Guild badge that was in the shape of a bulky silver ring. “You noticed.”

“Maybe,” Vanya demurred. “I’ve tried my hand at those things, too; Delving, mostly.” She held up her Mage Guild ring. “I’m Mage Guild, primarily, but the dungeons are rather great.”

The man’s eyebrows went up. “Have you tried any of the Grand Dungeons? They’re—”

A teller called out for the next person in line, which was the man in front of Soltic and Vanya.

“—OH! That’s me.” The man walked forward, saying to Vanya, “The name is Golariz Poloi. It was nice to meet you…?”

“Vanya Silver.” Vanya gestured to Soltic. “And the silent one is Soltic.”

Soltic nodded. “Goodbye.”

Golariz smiled a little as he turned and walked away to the teller, his bag floating at his side.

A teller called out for the next group.

Soltic and Vanya found themselves standing before a goldscale dragonkin with a book sitting in front of him that was not a book at all. It was more a sculpture of a book, made out of base iron, with a bunch of runic letters on it, and enchanted with a bunch of normal enchantments that were all fed by the local Node Network. You couldn’t tell that from the outside, though. Back in Candlepoint, Erick had strung his Node Network through the sky, but here at Portal the Node Network was buried in the walls and the ground.

With his fingers hovering over the runic book, with little rubber stoppers on his talons, the goldscale asked in a dispassionate voice, “Spell your names, please, and state your purpose of visit.”

“Vanya Silver. Soltic Cross.” Vanya spelled their names, then added, “Pleasure and Delving.”

A tiny light flickered blue above the iron book; the truthstone returned ‘true’.

Vanya could fool a truthstone. Soltic could, too, but Vanya was more comfortable with lying, so Vanya took the lead.

The teller barely cared. He tapped away at his book, lights flickering upon every rune as it was touched, magic filtering through the local system and then all the way back to all the rest of the Network, checking their names against established files. And then the teller flicked a button at the side of the iron book, and the light came on again, turning blue.

Now that whole thing right there was a rather insidious travel safety mechanism.

All names were logged in the Gate Network, through the Node Network, and if ever a dangerous name popped up then the system would get a log, and that log would be reported to House Benevolence itself. The light would turn red if it was a minor infraction that needed clarification. If there was a major problem, then the light would remain blue, but someone at the House would be alerted. Or, since this was Portal’s Local Area Gate Network, someone here in Portal would be alerted.

They’d also be alerted if this were the very first time that Soltic or Vanya used the system, but since they had used the system over in Candlepoint, that particular foible of security didn’t touch them. Still, though, there were so many ways to evade this system. This way of doing things didn’t catch everyone, but it did catch most normal people, and that was enough to scare away most everyone from trying shit. If Vanya had spelled their names differently, for instance, then that’d warrant a look-see from the local powers.

There was an easy solution to all that, though; a way for someone to evade the system and go unnoticed. But it required the inside help of someone from House Benevolence, which wasn’t that hard to achieve. Bribes, coercion. Whatever.

The system was a sieve, and Erick hated that for so many different reasons. Mostly, he hated that he needed to make the sieve at all.

It wasn’t that difficult for Soltic to look like the disgruntled man he was.

All this security was absolutely necessary for the safety of the system, but it smacked of Big Brother. Erick did not like that this was his life now; that he had made this happen this way. Even years later, he still didn’t see any other alternatives to this system, though. They had tried so many different ways, and when the system had been completely open… Bad things had happened.

And so, they had adopted this system that the various Guilds and both Geode and Mage Bank used to keep things in order, though their systems were considerably more secure. All in all, this way of doing things was probably fine.

… Probably.

Right on cue, Erick’s paranoia sprung up, demanding he check over himself and his surroundings and go over every possible way in which he could be discovered, and all the ways in which he had secured himself.

The first layer of defense was simply not being ‘Erick Flatt’, in Form. ‘Soltic’ was a solid Form, rather well-removed from his usual human form. Erick had even run through a few different cleaning situations, while he also kept his Forms separate, so DNA evidence wouldn’t get cross contamination’d from either of his Forms. All the rest of Erick’s defenses were conscious choices to leave behind all the truly magical things he usually carried around with him, that usually provided some modicum of defense but which stood out like beacons to any proper mana sense. All he really had on him right now were his dual [Personal Ward]s; the normal one that provided absolute damage reduction, and a secondary one around his core, which hid his core from all observers, among other things.

‘Soltic’ mentally came back to the moment—

“Anything to declare?” asked the teller, giving a half-bored glance to Soltic.

Soltic ignored it, and let Vanya speak.

“Just personal stuff; no goods for sale, or stuff like that,” Vanya said.

“Two silver,” said the teller, as he tapped the hole in the stone counter in front of him. “Right there.”

Vanya put two silver down into the coin slot. The silver coins rolled down the internal tubes, down into the counting systems of this LAGN, and a green light flickered on; they were good coinage.

“Proceed to Gate Left, inside Departure Square,” said the teller.

Vanya led the way and Soltic followed, as the teller called out ‘Next!’ to the people standing in line.

Soltic frowned a little, and not for any reason he could really discern; Soltic was simply a dour sort of guy.

They stepped into the Departure Square, where 3 different Gates sat around the courtyard-like space, each of them 5-meter-sized glowing-white squares, each with a different sky beyond. Rain fell heavily atop a [Weather Ward] beyond the right-side Gate, as lightning crashed overhead. The middle Gate held storm clouds. Gate Left, their destination, held a cloudy sky and a sparse courtyard in front of a city filled with people.

A few [Force Wall]s held in front of every single [Gate], though, preventing anyone from leaving until they were called to leave. That calling would come from the guards at a central control room, in the middle of the Departure Square.

Vanya led the way to the center of the courtyard, to the control room, which was basically a squat tower with three different runic controls and people operating those controls. She stepped up to the teller which controlled Gate Left and began to open her mouth—

The teller simply pointed over to Gate Left.

Vanya and Soltic saw glowing letters holding above Gate Left, saying ‘Storm’s Edge’.

Vanya smiled brightly, Soltic was stoic, and the two of them walked over to Gate Left, where the sky beyond was full of white clouds, and the land beyond looked like a city. The [Force Wall] in front of the Gate temporarily went intangible.

And they went through.

Just like that.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Easy as could be.

Behind them, they saw Departure Square briefly, before the connection between their lands flickered, and vanished. The people over at Portal’s control bank had switched the Gate to another location, severing Portal’s connection to Storm’s Edge as the [Gate] moved to some other destination; some other Local Area Gate Network. Portal actually had a whole collection of LAGNs these days.

Ophiel had not followed them through, though. He had taken off of Soltic’s backpack. He would rejoin them somewhere up ahead, because the Gates had ways of counting people and [Familiar]s, even if those [Familiar]s were invisible and intangible.

Soltic turned his sights back to Storm’s Edge.

The sky stretched overhead like it was Rozeta’s domain. The courtyard had dozens of other people walking through, coming in from other Gates, hurried on by a few guards in the center of the space, saying for everyone to move along.

Vanya led the way through the Arrival Square, into the city of Storm’s Edge, right into the tourist trap.

People came out of the Gate Network in one location, and so the people of Storm’s Edge had built the surrounding lands into one of absolute security, and also sales.

Everywhere people spoke of sales on jewelry or clothes or fruits, or to call out for tours of Everbless, or other places. ‘Buy this!’ ‘Buy this’! ‘Island tours here!’ ‘Hotel rentals here! Cheap!’

The air smelled of salt, but also of barely-[Cleanse]d life, and with a whole lot of spices thrown in for good measure. Cumin and turmeric. The colors were stone-brown and blue and white, with oranges and reds in smaller measures. Kids ran around everywhere, laughing and playing, with a few of them trying to steal from the newly-arrived. One of them even tried to steal from Soltic, and though Erick would have allowed it, Soltic gently grabbed the kid’s hand as it darted into his pocket. The kid was absolutely terrified for a brief moment, but then Soltic narrowed his eyebrows at the kid and let him go.

The kid ran off, cursing all travelers, before Soltic could even say a word, not that he was saying many words these days.

Vanya did speak, but she had to talk loud to make her voice heard over the crowd. “Should have let him take it!”

“We need the money, too, Vanya.”