“What the holy fuck is going on here?” I exploded. The rectangle hung in my sight, obscuring my vision no matter how much I turned my head or tried to look away. “What is this thing? Why can’t I see anything?”

“Simply will it to vanish, and it will, John,” the woman told me calmly. I stared at the block of text, wishing for it to vanish, and instantly, my sight was clear once more. “Better?” she asked.

“Yeah, but…what was that? What did you just do to me?” I looked down at my body and was shocked to see it whole and unharmed. Whatever damage I thought had just happened to me had either been entirely in my imagination or had healed instantly. I was inclined to think the latter after everything I’d seen so far.

“Look at your chest,” she instructed.

She hadn’t answered my question, and I opened my mouth to tell her if she wanted me to cooperate, she needed to do the same. Before I could say a word, though, my eyes seemed to lower of their own accord, my chin sinking to my breast as if dragged there by some irresistible force. My shirt hung open, and there, glowing a dull blue on my chest, hung a strange shape etched into my skin. The shape looked like an octagon with a triangle embedded upside down in the center and an oval that looked like an eye set in the middle of the triangle.

“What the hell is this?” I asked.

“That’s an Inquisitor’s Seal, John,” she told me. “Every Inquisitor in the Doorverse has one – and that’s what you are, now. An Inquisitor. Congratulations.”

I opened my mouth to ask a question, but she held up a hand. “Be silent, and I’ll explain,” she instructed. Instantly, my mouth clamped shut, and my tongue froze in my mouth. I strained to open my jaws, to hum, to make a single sound, but it was like my mouth and vocal cords refused to acknowledge me. My eyes widened as I realized what was happening. The old woman had commanded me to be silent, and I couldn’t speak. She’d commanded me to look at my chest, and I did it, without being able to resist. Somehow, she was controlling my actions, commanding me to do her bidding. That wasn’t what I’d signed up for!

My panic and rage must have shown on my face because she nodded her head at me. “Yes, that’s part of what I did to you. Here, in the Nexus, I can command you as I see fit. Before you let your imagination run away with you, we have a deal, you and I, and we each have to live up to our ends of the bargain. I have to give you the chance to set your record straight, to send you into the Doorverse to right the balance, or the deal’s broken, and the moment you leave this place, my control of you ends. So, you’re not condemned to some kind of eternal slavery.”

I didn’t know if I could believe her, in all honesty. After all, she hadn’t mentioned this little caveat; what else was she hiding from me? I’d made the deal, though, and I had no way to know if it could be undone, or how to go about doing that. Because of that, I chose to believe her; it was easier than sitting there, helpless, in mingled rage and terror.

“I’m glad that you’re being reasonable,” she said a moment later. “Now, as I was saying, you have joined the ranks of the Inquisitors. As an Inquisitor, you’ll travel the Doorverse, seeking out imbalance and fixing it where you find it. That’s your job, the job of any Inquisitor, and it’s an important one.

“How, you might be wondering, can I do this?” she continued. “Well, Inquisitors have a unique set of abilities designed to aid you in your task. The first and most important is the one I just gave you, your SARA, or System Adaptive Realm Avatar. It’s a construct of magic, biology, technology, and divine energy that will function in any Doorworld, regardless of its specific restrictions. The SARA is designed to help you adapt to any Doorworld you enter and navigate it successfully. Say, ‘SARA, analyze’, John.”

“SARA, analyze,” the words spilled from my lips without my volition. Instantly, another glossy, black box appeared in front of me.

Analyzing…Done.

Doorworld: Nexus

Magic Rating: ???

Tech Rating: ???

Bio Rating: ???

Estimated time for full analysis: Unknown

“What you’re seeing is an analysis of the current world you’re in,” she explained. “Every world you enter will have a Magic Rating, Tech Rating, and Biology Rating. The Magic Rating tells you how effective magic is in that world, the Tech Rating tells you how advanced technology can become, and the Biology Rating tells you how intelligent and diverse life can be on that world.

“Each of these varies from one to one hundred. A one indicates that the particular element barely exists on that world. A magic-one or M1 world would only have enough magical energy for you to enter and leave it; no other magical abilities would function there. A tech-one or T1 world would never leave the Stone Age, and a bio-one or B1 world would barely be able to support life. You’ll want to avoid those if you can; the adaptation required is extreme and quite painful, I understand.

“For a comparison, the Earth Realm is M12, T81, B44. It barely has any magic, its technology is reasonably advanced, and it’s toward the middle for biodiversity and intelligent life. Lunaya is M53, T42, B56. It’s more magical than Earth and capable of supporting life that would perish on your home world, but its technology is fairly primitive. Does that make sense?”

I nodded that it did. I wasn’t sure, though, why the box hadn’t shown me the ratings for the Nexus. Fortunately, either the old woman was reading my thoughts – which I wasn’t willing to dismiss – or that was a reasonable next question.

“Whenever you enter a Doorworld, your SARA will begin working to analyze it. It won’t happen instantly, so you’ll be in the dark for a bit, but it will give you an estimate for how long that analysis should take. Until that time, you won’t know what sort of limitations you’re operating under, so it’s best to play it safe until you do. Go ahead and dismiss that screen.”

I waited for the screen to vanish, but to my surprise, nothing happened. I felt a quick jolt of excitement as I realized that the woman’s control extended only to my actions. My thoughts and my will were still my own! Still, I couldn’t think of any reason to keep the screen around, so I went ahead and willed it away.

“Excellent. Just so you know, it’s obvious when you’re reading a screen from your face. That’s something to be aware of, since people you meet won’t have screens, and the fact that you do will give away your status as an Inquisitor immediately. Now, say, ‘SARA, status’.”

I didn’t even try to fight the words tumbling from my lips this time. I was curious to see what would happen next.

Status

Active Professions: Inquisitor (Hidden)

Current XP: 0 Current Level: 1

Mental Stats

Reason: 9 Intuition: 8 Perception: 10 Charm: 5

Physical Stats

Prowess: 9 Vigor: 8 Celerity: 10 Skill: 9

Skills:

None

Abilities:

Sense Imbalance, Omnilingual

“What you’re seeing now is your status. That’s a description of who you are, as well as how powerful you are. I won’t go into too much detail on it because you can ask your SARA about it later, but there are a few things about it you should know.

“First, Professions. You can have multiple Professions, as many as you’d like, but only your Inquisitor Profession will carry over from world to world. Other Professions may, some may not. Some might last for three worlds then vanish on a fourth. The laws of each Realm are different, and not all of them support every Profession. Your SARA will help you gain a starting Profession when you arrive on a new world and can advise you on how to get more or advance that Profession.

“Second, your stats. Whenever you enter a Doorworld, your SARA will create a new body for you. It won’t be a perfect match for the new world until the SARA’s had a chance to fully analyze it, which will affect your stats. Your mental and especially physical stats will usually take a hit when you enter a new world, at least until you’ve come to understand and adapt to that world. Once you’ve adapted to it, though, they’ll return to their maximum levels, and you’ll be able to use the new body as well as the one you’ve got now.

“By the way, your current stats are excellent for someone from Earth, where the average is seven – except for your Charm, of course. It seems like you’re not much for socializing, John. In other worlds, though, those stats might be extremely high or low. You can improve those through training, magic, alchemy, and other methods depending on the world you’ve entered, and once you’ve improved them, you keep that improvement. That’s part of being an Inquisitor. The same goes for Skills: if you learn a Skill, you can use that skill at whatever level of proficiency you’ve acquired in any world that doesn’t prohibit it.

“Finally, you have two abilities, both granted by your Inquisitor Profession and your SARA. Omnilingual is simple: you can speak, read, and understand any standard language. Your SARA will need a few sentences of it to pick it up, but once it does, you’ll always know that language. Sense Imbalance is the important one, though. You’ll feel any imbalance between the sapients and beasts of a Realm. The exact way you feel it varies from Inquisitor to Inquisitor, but once you get used to it, you’ll always know when you’re near someone or something that’s affecting the local balance.”

She walked over to me and held out her hand. “Give me your gun,” she instructed. My arm reached back and slipped the pistol from my waistband and handed it to her without my intent. Out of curiosity, I tried to shoot her with it, to see if that counted as giving it to her, but my traitorous body meekly handed it over handle-first. I didn’t know if that was because of her control or because deep down, I knew that she wanted me to hand it to her, but in the end, it didn’t matter.

She held up the weapon and clucked her tongue at it disapprovingly. “Such a limited weapon,” she said. “As I said, this won’t work in any place with a low tech rating – and even in most mid-tech ones. I can’t send you out into the Doorverse with this thing – at least, not the way it is.” She laid the gun flat in her palm and laid the other hand over the top of it. A bright, silver light shone from between her pressed hands, and I squinted and looked away as it stabbed my eyes. When the light faded, I looked back to see her examining the weapon once more.

“Better. Go ahead and take it, John.” I took the pistol from her hand and looked down at it. True to her statement, the .45 did look better. It gleamed with a dull, silver glow that seemed to come from within it, and any nicks, scratches, or scuffs had vanished.

“Say, ‘SARA, identify’,” she instructed. I did as she commanded, and another black box popped up in front of me.

Adaptive Hand Weapon

Item Type: Basic Weapon

Abilities: Adaptive, Bound Item

“You’ll want this, as well. Go ahead and take it.” She held up what looked like a leather holster with an attached belt, and I unthinkingly took it and slid the gun home into it. It was a perfect fit, of course, and I when I slid the belt onto my pants, the pistol hung neatly at my right hip, ready to be grabbed.

“That will do. Last thing.” She reached out toward me, and I flinched back, remembering the last time she’d pressed her hand to my chest. She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Stand still. This won’t hurt.” I wanted to ignore her, but my body froze up, refusing to move as she rested her hands against my jacket. I squinted my eyes shut as another burst of silver light erupted from her palms, and when it faded, I looked down to see my jacket…was basically unchanged. “Identify that, as well,” she told me, and when I did, another black box appeared.

Adaptive Jacket

Item Type: Clothing/Armor

Abilities: Adaptive, Bound Item

“Both of those items are adaptive,” she explained. “That means that your SARA can adjust them to become whatever type of clothing and weaponry are typical for the world you’re on. they’re also Bound, so you can’t lose them. Even if one of those is stolen or utterly destroyed, it will reappear on you within a day. It will also repair itself if damaged. You’ll never be without clothing or a weapon, whatever world you’re on, John.”

She stepped back. “Now, your SARA can tell you anything you need to know about a world or how your status works, but I’ll answer three questions for you. Just three, so make them good ones. Feel free to ask.”

I opened my mouth, then shut it again. If she was right and my – my SARA would be able to answer most things, I needed to think carefully about my questions. I wanted to ask her things I didn’t think a computer – assuming that’s what this SARA thing was – wouldn’t be able to easily answer.

“Why am I supposed to keep the fact that I’m an Inquisitor a secret?” I asked at last. The Profession was labeled as ‘Hidden’ for some reason, and she’d mentioned before that reading my screens was a dead giveaway that I was an Inquisitor. That implied that people weren’t supposed to know about the Profession for some reason, and I wanted to know why.

“Good question,” she said approvingly. “Inquisitors seek to right imbalance, and that isn’t always a popular thing – or it’s too popular, on some worlds. If the beast races find out what you are, they’ll hunt you. If the sapients find out, they’ll either try to kill you or start dumping every, little problem in your lap. A kitten’s lost? Tell the Inquisitor! A letter needs delivering? Tell the Inquisitor!” She leaned toward me. “A village gets overrun by monsters? It’s the Inquisitors fault. Kill him.” She leaned back. “You get the idea.”

I nodded. I did get the idea, and I’d been through something like that before. It was a common bitch in the military: doing a job quickly and well got you more work, not more pay. I thought for a few moments more, but the next question seemed obvious. “I’m guessing that my Sense Imbalance ability will tell me what needs to be done, but how will I know when my job’s done?”

“Your SARA will tell you,” she shrugged. “Then you’ll report to the next job, and so on.”

I nodded again. It made sense that I’d have to carry something with me to tell me when my job was done. That left the final question, and possibly the most important one. “What happens if I fail?”

“The doors out of a world won’t open while things are out of balance,” she replied grimly. “If you fail, you’ll have to keep trying until you succeed – or die. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck on that world forever.”

That added a new level of stress to the job. Good enough wouldn’t be good enough, it seemed. I had to succeed, or die trying. I had a feeling the latter was a lot more likely.

“And that’s three,” she said, stepping back. “The Pact is fulfilled, and your duty begins. Good luck to you, John Gilliam.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could, the floor dropped out from under me. I looked down and saw that while we were talking, a door had appeared beneath my feet, an ornate stained-glass number with lots of flowers on it. That door had just swung open, and I was plummeting through it. I fell through space with a curse, then swore again as my feet struck soft grass. I rolled with the impact coming to me feet and finding myself standing atop what looked like a hill. I glanced behind me; an old, beaten, weathered house stood atop the hill, one that looked like little more than a wooden frame with grayish pieces of rotted fabric attached to it in places – and a single door that appeared to be made of something that looked like bamboo. I rushed back to the door, stepping through it, but nothing happened. I was still atop that strange, windswept hill, with no idea where I was or how to get out of there.

I leaned against the door frame and rubbed my face with my hands. “I already hate this place,” I muttered to myself.

“Dak terlek makhin no shotek!” a voice shouted, and I spun to see a woman crouched about twenty feet from me. The woman had long, black hair tied in an elaborate ponytail and was dressed in what looked like a green silk halter top and matching, translucent pants that clearly showed her femininity. In fact, they showed her lady parts off to the “Dak shotek!” she said again, her voice sounding angry. “Kal marin!”

“Listen, lady,” I said, holding up my hands and wondering when my Omnilingual ability would kick in, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but…”

That was all I got out before the woman’s figure seemed to blur before me. I had an excellent view of the bottom of her bare foot for all of an instant before it smashed into my face, and darkness swept over me.