For a moment, I revelled in the looks of the two in front of me. To them, it must have looked as if I vanished for a moment before reappearing in a burst of icy mist. small crystals of diamond dust glittering in the sun. I simply waited for them to regain their senses, so I could figure out what the Traveller actually wanted.

“Morgana, watch out!” Lenore’s thought lanced over our link, the pure purpose instantly setting me on edge. The image transmitted with the thought allowed me to get a better idea and I felt the world slow down as Bullet Time activated, giving me the precious split-seconds I needed to act.

One of the other escorts had taken the explosion of white mist as some sort of aggressive move or attack and, in turn, raised a crossbow to his shoulder. As I watched in horror, the metallic bow straightened, sending a deadly quarrel our way. Knowing that it would only take the blink of an eye to cross the distance, I pulled on the connection I still had with the mist I had used for my show-effect, pumping out Astral Power to re-shape the world, turning the billowing mist into a sloped sheet of ice, hanging in the air between us.

And not a moment too soon, even without my magic, it wouldn’t have fallen by the time the quarrel was deflected into the woods with a scraping, rasping noise. Without thinking about it, I formed the Shatter-rune in my mind, turning the sheet into a storm of small, razor-sharp icicles, using Ice-Magic to launch them at my attacker.

“Stop it!” Adra’s voice cut into my attention, the urgency projected by her causing me to snap back to my senses. Before the icicles had crossed the distance, or Adra managed to get out more than the s-part of her words, I used the fading Shatter-rune in my mind to use it again, shattering the icicles further, turning them into harmless diamond dust that coated the crossbow man in a dusting of freezing cold, quickly melting powder.

The world sped back up and I realised that Adra hadn’t even addressed me when she had called out, instead, I noticed a dark shape right behind the Traveller, now fading back to view as Rai dropped his own cloaking, his sharp blades reflecting the sunlight.

The events had only taken a second or two, but suddenly, the sounds of weapons being drawn were heard and the tension was thick enough that cutting it with a knife would be difficult.

“Stand down, everyone, stand down. And who was the idiot that just shot his load?!” Korlem bellowed, anger in his voice. It seemed that, if anyone was starting a battle, it was him. But it was enough to keep the other guards from engaging, even if they remained on edge, not quite settling down again.

On the other hand, I had myself back under control, not just reacting to the events. I had no desire to cause more conflict between both sides, certainly not with the numbers being so heavily skewed in their favour.

“Now, Leonidas,” Korlem looked at the Traveller who had startled me earlier, eliciting a snort from me, when I heard the name, “why don’t you tell me why you rudely interrupted my conversation with these Ladys?” he asked, ignoring my snort as if he hadn’t heard it.

“I apologise, Captain. But when I saw them, I just had to approach, I mean, that’s Morgana. Titania.” the Traveller gushed, sounding like an excited fan, which made his avatar, clearly designed with a need for some sort of hyper-masculine compensation, look very strange. The avatar was the size of Sigmir, which was quite impressive for most species and build as if someone had taken a certain austrian actor who would be back and crossed him with a big cat, maybe a lion or tiger. He had little in the way of fur on his body but the overexaggerated claws on his hands and the mane of hair on his head made up for it. I just wondered how the Avatar compared to his real body and how hard the difference was to reconcile.

“What are you talking about?” Korlem asked, clearly unimpressed if a little confused.

“Titania, she’s a legend. She lead her team to successive championships, shaping the meta into what it eventually became.” he started to ramble, none of it making sense to anyone not a Traveller. While I was proud of the achievements I had with my team, the way he was gushing about them made me deeply uncomfortable. I noticed that the natives around the two of us were giving me similarly strange looks, as they were giving him.

“He is talking about events that occured far from here, in a different life. They matter little for the here and now, so, Leonidas,” I managed to say his name without snickering, but it was a struggle, “why don’t you let the events that happened in the past, in a different realm, stay just there?” I asked, trying to sound reasonable, even if I mostly wanted to retreat back into the shadows. Sigmir looked at me for a moment, before turning back at the Traveller and giving him a look that made me shiver a little, as if she was about to cut him to size.

“You made her uncomfortable. Apologise and walk away or I will not be responsible for what I do.” she warned and I noticed a thin, red aura settling around her. I knew the aura, it was the one she used during fights, but I had a feeling that she was trying to suppress it but her emotions were getting the best of her.

Korlem must have noticed the same thing and was giving Leonidas the order to get back into formation, gesturing for everyone to continue to move on.

Leonidas looked hesitant for a moment but after a few seconds of indecision, he turned around, walking off.

“So, you are a great deal?” Korlem asked, looking more amused than anything else.

“To some, maybe. Here in this world, all of us Travellers had a new start, something I embraced. On the other hand, the Grandmother, a being of immeasurable power, decided to help me find my path and I think it will be one of mystery and power. But I’m still on the early steps of it.” I explained, suppressing a smile when I noticed the recognition in his eyes when I mentioned the Grandmother. Once again, I was wondering just how far her fame reached.

“The Grandmother? I have heard legends of her, but you say you met her?” he sounded a little incredulous, so I simply took out the Grimoire she had given me. He frowned but took a closer look and I felt something in the air between us, making me realise that it seemed I was now able to feel someone using Identify on one of my items and I was reasonable sure I would have been able to block it, if I so choose. But I let him, wanting him to see the description.

His incredulity quickly vanished, replaced with a look of fearful awe. It made me wonder just what legends were out there, I had made the brilliant deduction that the Grandmother of Mundus was based on the myths about Baba Yaga but what they had taken and how they had changed it? That I just didn’t know.

But the middle of a road wasn’t the right place to ask about them. Similarly, I was curious why they didn’t use magical bags to move their goods, the carts rolling by us were quite obviously filled and heavy, making me wonder.

“I apologize.” Korlem gave me a solemn bow before starting to tell Adra a lot more than he had before, giving us suggestions about good spots to camp, areas where we could find fresh water and even told us about a spot where we might be able to take a bath. I mostly tuned them out, keeping an eye on things with Lenore and feeling quite happy when I noticed that, once again, my Ice-Rune Mastery had gained a level, while my Stealth-Ability had gained two.

Soon after, the rest of his group had rolled past us and he bid us farewell, starting to move with his people. At the same time, Lenore told me that the scouts that had been waiting in the woods had started moving as well, joined by a hidden rearguard that was moving out of sight, ready to intervene if the merchants were attacked. It was quite tactically sound, able to turn an ambush around by hidden reinforcements.

“What was that about?” Adra asked, obviously curious what Leonidas had been talking about. The others were looking at me with similarly curious looks on her faces, making me sigh.

“Oh, well. Let me tell you of a different world, of a different life, if you want to call it that. But we can talk as we move.” I told the others, starting to walk, while asking Lenore if she wanted to hear it as well. Moments later, she came winging down from the sky, landing on my shoulder.

“A long long time ago, in a galaxy far far away…” I began, smiling to myself at my joke as I described my past, trying to explain it in words that made sense to people from Mundus.