At 7 am sharp, Artyom got out of bed and took a quick shower. The great thing about magic being incorporated into the engineering of TOAL headquarters was that the showers could automatically detect the perfect temperature for the water based on unintrusive biometric readings. Sure, the other members of the executive council were pretty upset at first with what they considered extraneous costs, but they changed their minds after trying it out for themselves. It would be great for morale, the others said. Artyom was the only honest one and supported the initiative from the start.

By 7:30, he had grabbed breakfast in the form of a cheese danish and coffee from the cafeteria, and changed into the most inoffensive peasant clothes he had in the form of a beige linen shirt and brown wool pants.The others eating alongside him didn’t react at his fashion choices, correctly assuming he was either headed out on or coming back from a mission. To Artyom’s displeasure, his clothes weren’t even that good quality and itched somewhat, to help build the peasant persona. Ah, the sacrifices he made for others.

At 7:50, he was already outside portal room 7, ready to begin his mission. He casually made his way in, nobody in the corridor batting an eye at a member of the Defense Force ready to head out on a mission. Inside the room were the squadron of armed guards positioned behind a clear barrier and a team of portal technicians performing a final round of checks.

“There you are, Artyom!” said one of the technicians. She had black hair and light brown skin indicating her South American ancestry. “Ready for your ‘mission’?” She put a strange emphasis on that last word. Had Gus told her the full details? It wasn’t like him.

“Hey Sofia, about as ready as I’ll ever be,” replied Artyom. Sofia Herrera was lead technician of the most important portal team in headquarters. She was some kind of aerospace engineer back on Earth with a focus on making sure everything was up to spec. Apparently, portals and airplanes both have similar levels of safety requirements. Well, they do both move people around very quickly.

“Good, we’re just about done with the look-over. It’s honestly about time you got yourself a vacation, with how much weight you’ve been pulling in the Defense Force.”

“Huh, Vacation?” Artyom asked.

“Of course,” said Sofia, with a sly expression. “After so many missions to Gilded Worlds, you get a long-term assignment to a Fairytale one! Who knows, maybe it’ll even curb your cynicism a bit?”

“Huh, yeah!” Artyom exclaimed, his false excitement belying the gears in his head turning. There’s no way Gus could hide where he was going from the people in charge of sending him there, but he could let them make up a likely sounding reason for themselves. That’s why the man was put in charge of OPSEC, he worked on a level far above anyone else here, even when it came to his casual decisions.

“But it’s just a Fairytale World, I’ll probably be done too quickly to grow fond of the place,” said Artyom truthfully.

“Oh, Artyom. Even making your breaks efficient,” joked Sofia. “The final checks are done and we’re ready to send you over. Your clothes fit the setting and your survival bag is on the stool over there,” she said, pointing to a knapsack made of rough fabric sitting on a painted stool to the side.

Artyom considered the bag for a few seconds before walking over to it and throwing it over his shoulder. The survival bag and its contents were as mundane as they appeared. Inside was a crude-looking swiss army knife, a compass, emergency rations, a thermal blanket, and several unmarked gold and silver coins that could easily be traded for the World’s currency. The idea behind it was to make it easier for scouts to survive in an unknown World before they were able to integrate into society. Since Artyom was playing the role of a scout in this mission, it made sense he would be given one.

The technicians went behind the barrier and pressed a button. Hydraulics in the wall pushed several panels arounds to reveal a series of runes in a large circle. The runes immediately began to glow without the need for chanting, and a round, glowing portal opened between them.

“Wish me luck everyone, and see you all soon!” said Artyom, as he walked through the portal.

A blinding flash of white consumed Artyom as he went through, turning into a pitch black while some long-forgotten sense in his brain told him he was moving at incredible speeds despite the balance center in his ears saying otherwise. At the end of the dimensional tunnel was another flash of white, which faded into a scenic countryside. Artyom stood on a wide, dirt road with a fenced-off wheat field to his left and grassy plains to his right. The sky was mostly a solid blue, but the space around the sun shone with a spectral refraction of slivers of pinks, greens, and silvers. Before taking the first step in this new World, he performed a quick check to make sure everything was in place. Clothes, the contents of his survival bag, and his flip-phone.

Normally, scouts are supposed to blend in as best they can, so they don’t carry anything that would immediately out them as strangers. Their phones were the exception. Apparently, some Computer Engineering and Networking students joined TOAL’s ranks at some point, and were able to develop simple computers using magic and the concepts they’d learned in school. TOAL was filled with such engineering students who were able to provide its agents and headquarters with modern day tools and amenities. Of course the phone was partially magic, but that doesn’t stop it from looking out of place. The solution to that was to enchant the outer casing with an amnesia spell, so anyone not inoculated to it wouldn’t be able to register the phone’s existence in their brain. It would look like some kind of standard long-range communication spell performed with an empty hand rather than a futuristic device.

By now, Artyom had taken in his surroundings, making sure nobody had seen him teleport in. The portal technicians tend to choose good spots to drop agents off at, but scouts were advised to be extra careful when entering a new location. Artyom let out a sigh of relief when he saw he was alone and not in any danger. In the sky, the sun was just above the horizon, and Artyom’s compass determined that the day was just beginning. With all of the time that afforded him, Artyom began to walk down the dirt road, confident that he would reach civilization before night.