Alex looked at his room.

It was the same as he had left it in the morning. Dirty dishes in the sink, the bed a mess and books scattered all over the floor. But for a change, he wasn’t annoyed by it. His face curved upward to a smile. Nothing could ruin his day!

Tomorrow he was going to travel to a new world, Bambee.

Alex reached into his pocket and pulled out the dimly-glowing green crystals from his pocket. He convinced Nekya to give him an advance. The ten crystals pulsated on his palm with a comforting warmth. With just a single one of these, he could so much – his imagination soared.

For now, he shoved the Leycrals back into his pocket. There was little time on his hands. Nekya told him not to bother, that she would take care of everything. But he wasn’t going to go unprepared. At least for his peace of mind, he decided to buy some things for the trip.

But first, he needed to take care of his house. If he was going to leave for two weeks, he didn’t want to return to a disorganized mess, with spoilt food in the fridge and no clean clothes.

“I need a cleaning golem,” Alex grumbled. He took off his blazer and folded his sleeves.

He started with the dishes first – the crusted plates and unwashed pots were disgusting. He was in two minds about spending some time on the Internet to see if he could find some DIY spell. But sanity prevailed and he continued washing them without any magic. Instead, he resolved to do the never let his dishes pile-up.

DIY spells were not the safest thing. After all who would give away an amazing spell for free? The internet was filled with people claiming how amazing their spells were. Not that they were completely useless, even he had learnt a spell or two from there. It was just upon the mage to be careful trying anything on the internet.

Once he was done with the dishes, he cleared out the refrigerator next. That didn’t take too long, there wasn’t much in there anyway. After that, he cleaned his bed, put his books away and washed his clothes in quick succession.

It took him an hour to clean it up. With a content smile on his face, Alex looked at his room again. To his dismay, it wasn’t the face-lift he had expected it to be. The place was still damp and musky. Given, it was more organized now. But it only made him realize it was the place that he hated more than the mess.

Alex slumped his shoulders and the smile disappeared. He felt tired now. He looked at his watch.

“Okay, let’s do it!” he pumped himself up.

Alex went over to the desk. He pulled an old receipt from the recently arranged pile and straightened it out. He needed a list.

He closed his eyes and pointed at the piece of paper and caste the [Write] spell.

“I need clothes, food, pay my bills…” as he spoke the words, his fingers ran over the page leave a clean trail of words on it.

It didn’t take long. Done with the list, he, he put on the blazer again and walked out of the apartment.

***

Alex walked out of the supermarket lugging two large bags in his hands and three Leycrals short. It took him much longer than he expected, but at least he got everything he wanted.

Clothes with ‘Reinforce’ and ‘Repair’ runes, dried rations and even a portable rune powered water-generator.

The last one alone cost him half a Leycral, but he did not regret buying it.

Although the most important purchase was the combat switchblade. It was magic-less and the salesman had tried hard to sell him a wand or a staff. But he persisted. He reasoned that in an unknown world he would rather have a knife that he could use repeatedly, than casting a spell with little more power.

He didn’t trust mass-produced focuses. They were especially mana hungry and with his low aptitude, he didn’t want to be felt drained off by it. Besides, he felt safer entrusting his life on an ordinary knife, than the fireball his Academy instructor taught.

Alex looked around. He was exhausted. The crowd had thinned down a bit and the apartment wasn’t too far away. But he didn’t want to walk around with Leycrals in his pocket and bags in his hands in the middle of the night. That was just looking for trouble.

Instead, he hailed a cab and headed back straight back home. It only took ten minutes and Alex was at his apartment building. He quickly paid the driver and walked in.

“Mrs Douli,” he knocked on the first door in the building. Before today he always tried to sneak past the door without getting noticed and failed. Today when he wanted to talk to her, she wasn’t there!

A few minutes of knocking later, a wiry middle-aged woman in a leopard print gown walked out. Her hair was tied into a messy bun and the thick red-spectacles were so stained it was hard to believe she could see anything at all.

“No more extensions!” Mrs Douli said with her hands on her waist, a half-burnt cigarette in her right arm. A frown etched on her face, she added, “You have two weeks, I want all dues cleared. Or else go find another place.”

Alex smiled and took out a Leycral and asked, “Do you have change?”

***

Alex put the bags down. He still couldn’t stop grinning from the look on the old hag’s face. Even if the oracles wrote a thousand more books, he wouldn’t believe any of them. Having money definitely felt good.

But the experience also made him realize why most mages had ‘Expand’ enchanted wallets. His pockets were bulging uncomfortably with manacoins now.

Alex emptied his pockets on the countertop and looked around the room. He needed to find a hiding spot. But after a few minutes, he decided against it. The only reason he felt safe in this shanty apartment was that he had nothing worth stealing. Now gone for two-weeks he didn’t trust any of his neighbours to not take a sweep at his belongings. He would keep them with Nekya for the time, he resolved. The Worlder would probably find it funny that he was scared someone would steal manacoins.

There was only one thing left to do now. Alex looked at his phone and walked over to the bed. Two weeks was a long time. It would be irresponsible to leave without a word, he knew.

Alex lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He picked up his phone and put it away again.

“Let’s just do it,” he mumbled and dialled the number.

The phone rang silently as Alex waited with bated breath. Finally, there was a voice on the other end.

“He- hello,” a hesitant voice echoed.

A smile eked its way to his face, “Oh little Eddy has become dumber. Doesn’t remember my voice.”

There was a silence on the other end. Before an angry shout echoed “Alex? Not me! I’m smart! You’re dumb! I’m telling mom!”

Alex could see his little brother throwing a fit. Face all red and eyes squinted.

“You’re the smartest of all, Eddy,” he chuckled. “Is mom or dad there?”

All he could hear on this end were distant whispers and scuffles before his mother’s voice came on.

“Alex, did you finally come to your senses? Are you coming back?” he heard his mother’s voice.

The smile disappeared from his face.

“I got a job,” he said. “I’ll be gone for a few weeks. Training week.”

There was a slight pause on the other end before his mother’s voice spoke, “You should come back home. You have a responsibility to your family.”

Then there was a click and the phone went dead.

***

Alex could hardly sleep the night and woke up early. He splashed icy cold water on his face and looked at his reflection on the mirror. His blue eyes stared back at him, excited. He quickly combed his unkempt hair and put on a new pair of clothes.

The air was chilly and the fog was still in the air. It was much earlier than the arranged time, but he didn’t want to risk getting late. Alex huddled into his clothes and hailed a cab. Nekya had asked him to meet her at one of the Havenfort’s guest villas at the outskirts of the city rather than the main mansion itself. It took him an hour for him to reach the correct mansion. As he stepped out of the cab, Alex was struck by how big the mansion was, to think that this was a ‘guest villa’ was absurd! It was surrounded by tall walls and two metal golem constructs stood guard by the steel gates!

“You came!” Nekya welcomed him with a cheerful smile at the gate wearing a plaid gown.

Alex was surprised to see her there waiting. He hadn't told her he was coming!

“Goodmorning!” he said.

Nekya touched a panel on the door and it opened wide enough for him to pass through. She gestured him to walk in.

Alex walked along quickly, afraid of getting crushed and asked, “Did you think I won’t come?”

The garden within the estate was unsurprisingly well maintained. Tall hedges lined along the wall, and beautiful flowers bloomed in the garden.

“Not at all,” Nekya blushed, skipping along beside him. “But you know… aworlders are known for killing each other for even a single manacoin.”

Alex narrowed his eyes. He thought of letting her known lecture her how elitist she was being. But then recalled the pouch full of manacoins and kept quiet.

“What’s in those bags?”

Nekya asked peeking at his hands.

Alex glanced at the two large bags and said, “I know you said you’ll arrange everything. But I didn’t want to burden you. So I got a few things on my own as well.”

Nekya stopped on her tracks and looked at him with wide eyes, “Alex, can't take all this with you... Only you can teleport. No food, weapons, money. Nothing!”

“What!” Alex exclaimed in alarm. He had spent the entire evening running around in the supermarket, and now she was letting him know it was pointless?

“Well yeah. Obviously!” Nekya replied, tilting her head.

“What’s obvious here?” Alex said. He felt like pulling his hair out.

“The Wormhole can only teleport living things,” she replied shaking her head. “Otherwise wouldn’t we just send golem constructs?”

Alex’s face fell. It did make sense to send golems instead of mercenaries. Granted they were expensive toys. But for the price of holding a planet in check, they would definitely be great deterrents.

“So we can’t take anything? Wands, staffs, swords?” Alex asked.

“Not unless it’s a soul-bonded weapon,” Nekya chuckled, and started walking again, “Let’s go in, please. It’s freezing here.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Alex shook his head.. He didn’t feel cold, his hands were sweating!

This was horrible. He could accept if only he had to go unarmed, but even the mercenaries that were supposed to protect him would go unarmed!! They would be a little better than sitting ducks there!

Alex hurried after her. “What do I do with all these stuff!” he murmured.

“Don’t worry about it, you can keep it here. They’ll be perfectly safe.”

“That’s not-”Alex rolled his eyes but stopped midsentence and grunted, “thanks”. Nekya led Alex through the large door and into the villa. Grand paintings hung on the walls and suits of armours were scattered along the wall. He was sure they were enchanted as well but didn’t ask.

A butler greeted them as soon as they entered and politely asked if he could take the coat.

“Oh, that robe looks nice on you. Why didn’t you wear that for your interview yesterday? It looks much better than the plaid shirt you wore anyway,” Nekya commented as he took off his blazer.

Alex looked down at his new enchanted heavy-duty attire. He didn’t feel an ounce of joy from the compliment. But he decided against telling her the truth. “It was at the dry cleaners.”

Nekya chuckled at that, her face lighting up. It was frustratingly endearing how cheerful she was.

“Okay come with me. I have got a gift for you,” Nekya said clapping her hands.

She led him through the felt archway, with the butler trailing behind them. They entered through another set of mahogany doors into what looked like an arcane laboratory.

“What is this?” he asked in shock.

Alex had seen laboratories before. They were some of the most basic facilities in every established mage towers. In ancient times they were high rising spiral structures. Now there were only a few mages that adopted that style. Modern architecture along with the increased spread of strengthening wards had revolutionized Mage Towers. Now, all that distinguished them from ordinary buildings were the facilities inside!

Alex looked around the marbled laboratory. There were shelves full of scrolls and tables full of colourful liquids in beakers.

“I feel bad asking you to do this. So I got something for you,” Nekya said with a wide grin. She walked forward and picked up a rolled-up scroll on the table. “Is that a bio-rune?” Alex asked in disbelief. He looked at the scroll in her hand. His heart skipped a beat.

Bio-runes were exceedingly exotic runes that were always guarded zealously. Instead of being engraved on objects, they were directly inscribed on the mage’s body.

“It’s not much. Take a look,” she smirked proudly, handing him the scroll.

Alex took the unnervingly ordinary-looking scroll. Although his hands itched to inscribe it. The horror stories of botched bio-runes were too many to ignore. Thankfully, some mages specialized in appraising things now. He slowly extended a strand of mana to the seal on the scroll.

[All-Speech], a single word that appeared in his consciousness along with the details of how It worked.

There didn’t seem to be tampered either. The [All-Speech] rune just translated the speech into the universal runic language so that he could understand and speak in any language.

“It's amazing,” Alex started looking at Nekya.

“Don’t thank me yet. It’s not free,” she smileed. “Okay let’s get it implanted then.”

Alex nodded. He planned to keep his end of the bargain anyway.

She led him to one of the ‘formation circles’ in the laboratory. Alex walked up the raised platform and sat down with folded legs.

“Okay. What now?” Alex asked.

“Benson,” Nekya called the butler.

The old man with the receding hairline walked forward, rod backed and nodded, “Yes, my Lady.”

The butler, Benson, sat down next to Alex and held the scroll’s seal to the back of his neck.

Alex could sense the butler’s mana surging next to his face but didn’t react. He tried to move but realized he couldn’t. The formation had immobilized him. He tried to stay calm.

“Wha-” he screamed at the sudden pain he felt. A burning wreked him starting from his neck down throughout his body!.

***

Alex didn’t know how long it was before he regained his consciousness again.

“What happened!” he groaned. He could finally move his limbs and move again. He felt the cold floor on his face and the white light of the laboratory forced him to close his eyes shut.

“Welcome back!” he heard Nekya’s voice. “Everything went without a hitch, congrats!”

Alex touched his nape. The searing pain he felt was completely gone. “Did it work?”

“It’s working. Unless you know how to speak old-Ishra,” she said walking up to his face.

“Really?” Alex asked, his heart pounding. Nobody normal spoke old-Ishra. At least not anything more than a few fancy words.

“Yep, it worked. But be careful okay. You don’t have a very large mana reserve. It’d suck if you died because you kept using the rune all the time” she warned.

Alex nodded. All runes worked by feeding off mana. Even bio-runes would only work by drawing on his mana. He had to make sure he used his bio-mana safely.

“Thanks,” Alex said standing up. He walked up to a concave lens and tried to look at the back of his neck. After a little bit of adjusting, he finally saw it. The rune was two horizontal lines, one shorter than the other.

“I am amazing,” she waved her hand.

“Do you know any other language?” Alex asked scratching his head embarrassed, eager to try more.

He spent another fifteen-minutes in the laboratory practising. The [All-Speech] rune was amazing. He asked Nekya to try speaking in every language he didn’t understand, while he worked on getting into grips with the bio-rune.

The rune wasn’t very mana intensive. Even after using it continuously, Alex didn’t exhaust even a single point in mana. He reckoned that it would take at least six hours of continuous use for him to exhaust all his entire mana pool!

“I didn’t understand a word of what you spoke just now,” Alex said, giving Nekya thumbs up. More importantly, Alex figured out how to activate and disable the [All-Speech] rune. And once he figured how to do, it was impossible to forget!

“Come on. Let’s sign the contract first,” Nekya said, returning the gesture.

Alex followed her out as she led him out of the laboratory to another room to the side. It was comparatively a much smaller room. But much more luxuriously decorated. The room was wooden-floored, a large bookshelf sat on the far corner and a sturdy looking table sat at the centre of the room. Another door to the side exited back into some part of the garden in the estate and large glass windows bathed the room in natural light.

Nekya walked up to the table and slid the papers towards him.

“I know you’re iffy about soul-contracts. So take as much time as you want,” Nekya said sliding the papers towards him. “Just get it done by today.”

“Thanks,” Alex nodded and grabbed the pages.

Even though Nekya had shown nothing but goodwill on her part all this while, he wasn’t going to sign a soul-contract without reading it through completely. He settled down on the chair and started flipping through the papers.

Everything was what they discussed – he had to try keeping control over the Leypoint for two weeks. If he failed, he wouldn’t be entitled to the bonus of fifty-Leycrals and the Manager Recommendation Token. For her part, Nekya would send a simulacrum to Bambee as a guide and ten mercenaries as a back-up.

“Wait, we agreed on 50-Leycrals. Why does this here say twenty-five?” Alex stopped reading and looked up at Nekya with narrowed eyes.

“What do you mean? I paid you five-Leycrals in advance. And the [All-speech] rune cost twenty Leycrals. Bio-chips are expensive.” she replied with a pout.

Alex looked at him with his mouth agape. He didn’t realize “it’s not free” actually meant he had to pay!

***

Excerpt from ~ Firebird Broth for the Soul – by Fin Ferine 404th ed.

Firebirds possess innate fire-elemental bodies. If consumed raw or without proper preparation, it can lead to deterrent effects. However, Firebird broths prepared correctly has been observed to allow mages to surround their souls with a field of protective sphere of flame.

For best results, use a Firebird at least six years or older.