It took Dee about three months of travel through the Astral Sea to reach her destination. The good thing about the Astral Plane was that you didn’t actually grow hungry or bored while traveling. She couldn’t quite explain it, but the whole plane functioned a bit odd and had a strange effect on the mind. She was also pretty sure there was no aging within the Astral Plane, but that one she was less certain about. Not that she aged anyway. She had become immortal a long time ago, and now that she was essentially a being of pure power she could make her body any age she desired.

As she reached the feeling of life that she had taken as her destination, the first thing she noticed was that she had arrived in something like a spatial bubble of enormous size. It bore some resemblance to Selvaria’s pocket dimension, but only superficially. Whoever or whatever created this bubble was much more skilled and advanced compared to Selvaria’s meager abilities. This space was not part of the Astral Plane, yet at the same time it was. Some of the effects of the Astral Plane seemed to extend here, like a weird flow of time, but most did not. Dee also felt strangely close to a trillion other places, as if the distances in this place had less meaning.

The second thing of note was an enormous building floating inside the bubble. Calling it a building was grossly inaccurate, as it seemed to be partially artificially created from stone and metal and a hundred other materials, while also partially seeming like some giant had torn huge chunks from a hundred different planets and then smashed all of it together. The construct, for a lack of a better term, seemed to go on forever. It was at least the size of Pantheon and most likely much larger, though it was hard to tell. It seemed like the space around the place bent in weird ways, so the thing was likely much larger than it looked as it kept folding in on itself. It was roughly spiral-ish in shape, but that impression was vague at best.

There were several places that Dee could only describe as docks along the edges of the thing. Many ships, ranging from simple small sailboats to large hulking metal constructs that seemed to be more suited to the vacuum of space than the Astral Sea, dotted the docks. The first ones seemed to be constructs of magic, while the latter ones seemed to be forged with some weird techniques and technologies Dee was completely unfamiliar with. Then there were things that seemed to be a bit of both. It all intrigued Dee. The universe she came from had a lot of powerful beings, but the level of technique, both arcane and mundane, as well as technology was apparently not that high.

Dee slowly found her way towards a large door shaped thing at what seemed like the tip of the spiral-ish construct. Finding a single door in a stupendously large mass like this would have usually been impossible even for Dee, but she had a bit of help. There was a literal magical arrow in front of her, pointing the way and guiding her. The door itself seemed to be large enough to accommodate something the size of an ancient dragon, though Dee could sense that the insides of the place beyond the door rather quickly narrowed to more practical levels. Apparently those that entered either had the ability to change shapes or were helped in doing so by the staff.

The door was guarded by a group of extremely varied looking beings. There was something that looked like the lovechild of a flying whale and a behemoth, an enormous fishlike being that seemed to be able to swallow anything. In this case that might be quite literally anything as Dee could sense it had a dimensional pocket inside its body instead of a belly. There were roughly humanoid-shaped beings in garbs that varied from shadowy leathers of some type made from some magical being, to people clad in some kind of weird hybrid materials and gadgets that had strange energy flowing through them. The latter ones seemed to be using weapons Dee was unfamiliar with. They looked a bit like the firearms that the dwarves and gnomes used, except they were only superficially similar. There was also an angel looking being and a demon looking thing. And then there were a dozen others Dee could not identify. Some were magical, some were not. One of them even seemed to be mostly mechanical.

The large behemoth-whale seemed the most powerful as Dee could sense it was an immortal, but she had no idea how dangerous those people were that seemed to have little power but weird weapons. Seeing as Dee had elected to travel in her normal form with her wings out in the open, the angel looking guard approached her. It spoke a language Dee didn’t understand, yet the meaning of the words was passed along. Apparently, there was some magic at play here that allowed the crossing of language barriers. Dee was already absorbing a hundred languages from the guards, just by standing near them. A nifty new ability she wasn’t even aware of before, seemingly tied to her new status as a rank fourteen being.

“Welcome to the Crossroads. Judging by your method of arrival, this is your first time here, so we’ll have to insist you go through a small briefing where we give some instructions and explain the rules. We’ll also ask you a few questions, just to be safe.” The angel that Dee recognized as male stated. The being was somehow similar to the angels Dee had met before, yet in many ways it was also different.

The whale-being floated closer and “spoke” in a voice made up of growls and beeps. “We don’t often get arrivals this way. Thanks for making our day a little less boring. Most arrive by ship or the Doors.” The way the whale thingy emphasized the word ‘doors’ made it clear that the word had a special meaning here.

Another guard, the female demon this time, also floated closer and started gossiping. “The last time we had someone come in through the front it was an old as fuck Astral Dragon. Those beings are pretty much the only ones that can travel the Astral Sea with enough speed without the aid of ships.”

The angel guard cleared his throat to draw Dee’s attention back to him. “Anyway, the rules. There aren’t actually that many rules within the Crossroads. The use of a Door is controlled by the being that set it up, so if you want to use a Door to get somewhere, you have to get their permission. That said, we don’t stop fights between idiots once you’re inside, so if you want to set up a Door then make sure you can keep a hold of it. That brings us to rule two. Don’t damage the Crossroads. We don’t’ really care if you kill one or a dozen beings here or there, but damage to the surroundings should be avoided.”

“That means extensive damage. No one cares if you break a wall or a city or two, but if you fuck up a whole section of the place, then the mucky mucks will get cross with you.” The demon stated with a small laugh.

“Well, some people care if you kill too many people. There are both just and unjust people around. If you get genocidal, then you’ll piss a lot of people off.” The angel pointed out with a righteous tone. It seemed some things didn’t change from one universe to another.

“This is where we’d usually warn you about the fact that you might have been a hotshot where you came from buuuut….” The whale looking thing looked Dee up and down. “The fact that I can’t feel how strong you are means that either you’re much stronger than me, or you have no power at all. Seeing as you arrived at the front gate, that means the first option is much more likely. I’d still be careful if I were you. Immortals are the big players in most universes, but here we have enough immortals that it doesn’t mean anything. Assume that everyone you might piss off here has the backing of at least one immortal.”

Dee gave a rather dangerous grin. “Oh, I think I’ll manage.”

“Word of warning. That’s what everyone says when they arrive. But then they end up enslaved or at the bottom of a waste tank growing mold and mushrooms out of your corpse. Not a nice way to end up for a glorious immortal.” The angel stated. He had seen too many cocksure immortals end up dead.

“Now, the place has a common currency, but your gold or bits or whatever you use back home doesn’t work here. You’ll likely have to barter for some of the currency we use, either by selling something you own or by working for the money. Some of the higher class items and materials still only change hands via barter as materials from other universes can be worth more than any amount of common currency. That said, the value of everything is in the eye of the beholder. And, no I don’t mean the actual Beholders. Fuck those freaks. Anyway, a magical item that might have been extremely valuable where you come from might be worthless to others here. A sword that has an enchantment for cutting power means nothing when you can buy a plasma cutter from one of the techie universes. Also, some universes are just better with such things. My advice? Any unique materials or plants are worth a lot. Magical materials are worth a lot when sold to the techies, while techie synthetic shit is worth a lot when sold to the mages.” The demon explained rather helpfully.

“In case you were unaware, and judging by your fluctuations when I mentioned it you were unaware, Crossroads has a countless number of what we call Doors. Those are a way of getting to another universe rather quickly and easily. The downside is that doors take effort to create and maintain, and as such are not cheap to use. They also take you to a pre-determined place, and you have no way of knowing what awaits you before you step through, except the word of the owner. You might find yourself in a paradise or ambushed in hell. And that’s after you paid for the privilege to step through, so potentially a double insult. Bloody Beholders. The safer but slower way to travel is to use a ship, though ships are also pricey and you need maps of the spatial pathways to get anywhere interesting. Proper maps are rare and not in wide circulation. I think you’d find those among the techies as they like such things and are more organized.” The whale whistled and chirped.

Dee tilted her head a bit. Fluctuations? She gave off fluctuations? Anyway, she could sense those spatial pathways, all of them. The privilege of her rank most likely. She just had no idea where they went. And she traveled faster than most ships judging by what she could sense of the ships anchored in the immediate surroundings. There might have been faster ships elsewhere though. “Understood.” She stated simply.

“Now, the first time entry procedure is fairly standard. We ask a few questions from everyone, mostly out of morbid curiosity. Also partially so we can determine what happened when something inevitably goes to shit.” The demon stated.

“First, we’d like you to tell us your name, race and origin universe, if it has a name. An idea of your level of power and type of abilities would be nice, but it isn’t mandatory.” The angel guard listed.

One of the technically inclined guards floated closer. “Also, some idea about a tech level would be nice. These magic types always forget to ask but it’s rather useful information.”

Dee was rather amused by the guards and decided to oblige. “My name is Haydee, most just call me Dee.”

“Callsign: Dee. Got it.” The techie guard muttered.

“My race…that’s a little complicated, but I suppose you could put down Nakshatra. As for my universe, if it does have a name, I’m not aware. Technological level…hard to say without comparison, but lower than what you seem to call a techie. As for my powers…well, let’s just say I’m a psion and a powerful one.” Dee smiled at the last bit.

“Got it. Temporary designation B375-8997654898 for now then. Ooh, a psion. We always have a use for those. The term Nakshatra sounds like something I’ve heard but it doesn’t ring a bell right now.” The techie guard was logging the information.

The other guards showed no reaction, aside from some curiosity. “Don’t mind him, you can get the naming rights to your universe if you’re the first one to arrive here. Just visit the naming offices. Any official facilities can guide you the right way.” The angel helpfully provided.

The whale creature seemed rather agitated though. “My apologies great one!” It suddenly squeaked and whistles. “We had no idea! Quick, open the gates! We are done here! Unless the great one needs anything?”

Dee watched in amusement as the way opened for her rather quickly. As soon as she was through the gates, the other guards swarmed the whale. “What the heck was that?!” The demons asked. “We still had a lot of questions!”

“Do not ask! Do not try to find out more about her and forget this ever happened! This is your only warning. Nothing good comes from looking into this.” The whale stated firmly.

“You have to give us more than that.” The techie pointed out. “You know that with you saying that, half of the guards here will try to find out more as soon as they’re off-duty despite your words. We’re all curious bunch. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be here in the first place.”

The whale growled a frustrated sound. “Fine then. You have heard the term Nakshatra before. You just don’t remember because you’ve never run into it since basic training. The term is at the top of the code omega list.” The whale’s voice got real quiet. “It is whispered that the being in charge of creating the entire Crossroads is a Nakshatra.”

Now the others physically recoiled away. The founder of the Crossroads was surrounded by countless legends and mysteries, and the being had mostly disappeared into such legends as the Crossroads had existed for longer than many universes. And now there was another such being here? That did not sound good.

“I have some vacation time I haven’t used.” The angel suddenly stated mostly to himself, though he was giving the others a hint as well. “I think it’s about time I visited my family back at my home universe.”

“Oh yeah, I heard the Paradune universe has recently come out with a new nano-fabricator. I think I should go out and check. It might be better than my current one” The techie guard muttered and decided to spread the hint to all members of his universe present in Crossroads. The information would spread beyond them of course, and that’s how panics usually started.

It seemed that the Crossroads was in for some wild times, and at least Dee was already excited.