While I moved, I quickly checked myself. At least, my boosted memory and mental faculties remained at their peak. Apparently, I also kept my height of over two meters, and the rather imposing-looking armor. And my poleaxe was still in the bracelet form on my hand.

Probably, the shift through the world’s barrier fixed some things I was unable to, making me truly alive. It felt good, although I suddenly felt hungry, which somehow felt like a novel feeling. And I also suspected that I was no longer as immensely strong as before. Seems that the natural laws weakened my unreasonably reinforced structure, as it was getting physically impossible. I stretched out my hand and pushed the brick wall I was passing - with a soft crack, the brick began to fall apart. Well, that should still be more than enough.

As I kept moving I almost crashed into a pile of metal pipes that were lying on the floor, which should have been impossible considering my abilities. To my dismay, an enormous amount of electromagnetic radiation was bouncing around, distorting my senses that I had fine-tuned in the other world. WiFi, radio, numerous types of light and heat sources. In a hurry, I had to block several perception methods I had used, which significantly reduced the area I could observe in detail.

When I got away from the spot where I had appeared, I turned round to look at it. To my surprise, it was pretty much the only dark place in the surroundings, a restricted technical area between booths and a brightly-lit multicolored stage which was occupied by some sort of music band currently busy desecrating the last remaining vestiges of rock music on this planet. Acidic hair colours, glittering clothes and high-pitched screaming were in direct competition with rumored Cthulhu on its quest to spread insanity into the world.

I felt content in my knowledge that the electrical interference caused by my portal could only be regarded as a service to the audience. Turning around, I quickly took a whiff to ensure that I did not stink and merged with the crowd that was surrounding one of the side booths.

---

To reach a secure private place, I had to get some sort of temporary identity, so I quickly arranged a plan based on the enormous amount of books I had read before.

First I observed the hall I was in. It was big, with arching ceiling that made it look like a hangar. Architectural details on the walls and numerous lights made their utmost to hint at “modern architecture and design”. I failed to appreciate the attempt, though.

Spotting a few cameras in the corners, I confirmed that they were almost blinded by the haphazardly arranged spotlights before I pushed into the chaotic crowd.

And then I, an upstanding person with no previous offence record, made use of my superior reflexes and body control to steal some cash.

Initially it turned out that even with great speed, finding wallets, opening those and choosing a banknote or two before slipping wallets back, was much harder than I had expected. But then I discovered that people simply did not care about few extra shoves or pushes. With an ability to observe the surroundings to a tiniest detail, I rapidly collected several hundreds of British pounds in smaller bills.

I also looked for a phone. I had to let go of several password-protected IPhones and Blackberries, before I found an unprotected Android. The current date on the screen showed that I had left the Earth only for six months, which proved a massive difference in the flow of time between the worlds. I set the phone onto airplane mode and kept it.

A large booth showing an assortment of some Asian fantasy themed merchandise was liberated of a stylish wallet decorated with red dragons and a neighboring stall got me a big plastic bag with some colorful illustrations on it. As I began to slowly draw attention, I copied some costumed people I had seen around me, and kept waving without stopping and shaking head at suggestions to take a pose. I also proactively gathered any sort of promotional hand-outs, souvenir bags and packages.

Slowly my progress became slower as people became more aware of my presence and more and more phone cameras were directed at me. Using the gathered mass of goods to wave and hopefully ruin most of the shots, I advanced towards the costume area. I was looking for some props that would make my setup look less realistic. Unexpected aim on a cosplay event, I thought sardonically.

After some careful weaving through the crowd and dodging a football team exclusively made of Deadpools who had apparently enjoyed another wave of popularity while I was gone, I finally found something suitable.

Striking up a conversation with a rather scrawny vendor who seemed to be a university student wasting his life away by the computer on daily basis, I imitated a look of careful study of his merchandise.

“Hey! Good day, do you by any chance have vampire fangs?” - I asked as I shuffled the bags in my hands.

“A-ah, hello, yes, we have some. We have those here, e-ah, with whole cap that fits the tooth, so it should not fall off. Ahh, here are also veneers, but they need the teeth to be prepared before fitting, then here are…” - vendor eyed my outfit as he almost forgot some of the words he wanted to say, but still kept babbling on.

“Yes, yes. I left mine at home. Just give me something I can quickly put on in the WC. Oh, I think those whole cap ones look good.” - I said as I chose a ridiculously long set of teeth whose package claimed them to be comfortable and also pointed at several other articles that caught my eye: “And also, this, and this.”

“Aa, wow, pity you forgot yours, I guess. Who are you cosplaying? Bet that suit cost you a grand? Can I take a picture?” - the vendor got excited at my buying spree and even stood up from his chair.

“If we count in all materials, almost two. That thermoplastic for armor was expensive, as cheap stuff made it look like toy. Made it to test my skills, I hope to get a job with some movie company, you know. That’s why it is just an interpretation, a self-designed version of Dracula.” - I patiently and carefully explained the details.

I had guessed that having somebody to confirm that I was just a very good prop maker could be useful in the future. Having some witch hunters or Vatican’s special forces or FBI or something chasing after me would bring unwelcome complications. It would be naive to expect that world powers had no knowledge about paranormal, since it clearly existed.

Most of fiction did not describe official supernatural departments as anything good. “Better safe than sorry” was my motto, as I had no access to relevant information. That way, using a well-known popular hobby as a cover felt good enough

---

After I had paid £83.5 and received my purchases, I walked around a bit before spotting direction signs and finding a toilet room. A while in a queue, a quick check of the rather vague instruction on the packages and I emerged, now wearing red contact lenses, long sharpened ear tips and long fangs that made me lisp.

I ensured that I got on a few photos with my new look and allowed a few people to take extra photos with poses. For some reason, quite a few girls were willing to do the swooning posture with me acting as a vampire.

Luckily, my body was still exceptionally sturdy, otherwise I would have definitely gotten a jaw cramp from keeping my mouth open to show the fangs all the time. And especially miserable was the fact that most of these girls were damn ugly as well. Imagine Dracula chasing Mina Harker who weighs like an average hippo and looks like a close blood relative of an orangutang? I could not, either. But I still had to keep up the appearances, so I endured.

But amongst the ones wanting to take a photo together, there were several good-looking ones that definitely stirred up my desire. It even surprised myself, how violently my blood began to boil at such close proximity to some sexy specimens of opposite gender. Luckily, the unknown amount of time that could be counted in centuries that I had spent in the pyramid on meditation and self control allowed me to reign in my urges. Feeling my own emotional instability, I quickly finished with posing and moved back towards the stage.

As I got closer to the stage, the contrast between shadows and spotlights allowed me to remain unnoticed when I reached a door marked as “staff only” and a strong push let me through.

I had almost passed through the door leading towards technical areas of the building when a phrase from the nearby security guard’s radio caught my ear.