A bald eagle flew high into the air while far below a lion ran going speeds no natural animal could match. The eagle called a challenge out to the world and a roar called back from high into the mountains. The eagle stopped flying forward as the lion ran to meet the new challenger. Soon a lion's roar met with a monster's battle cry. The eagle could see a mighty fight happening at the base of the mountain dust clouds and debris flew high into the sky. All too soon the fight came to an abrupt end, and the monster's desperate cry ended sharply. In moments the lion was back and no injuries shown in its perfect hide. The eagle flew on calling out another challenge and like the first monster, another called back. The lion left to fight the challenger the fight was over before it had even begun. The lion came back to the eagle indignant at such an unworthy foe. Battle after battle happened the eagle and lion moving with grim purpose searching further and further into the wilderness. After what must have been hundreds of challenges the eagle called out yet again. This time the reply wasn't a challenge, but an invitation. The lion looked to the eagle and lifted its mighty head and roared shaking the very ground on which it stood, and then sped off. On this challenge, the eagle waited much longer but it was as patient as any preditor. Far into the distance, the lion roared, filled with pride and power calling to the eagle its task complete. The eagle felt deep and ancient magic come from an endless well of essence. The power left the eagle and traveled to the worthy challenger the only one to pass the lion's test. The eagle felt the magic enter a being and merge on a level very few magics could match. It would take time for the connection to grow and stabilize but the eagle and lion had time to spare. There were other foes to challenge other monsters to fight. So the lion and eagle marched on, deeper into the wilds. Searching.

I woke up feeling an odd mix of exhausted and energized. While unhappy I had woken up yet again before the sun was up I knew better than to try to sleep in. Rubbing my eyes the last foggy moments of a dream cross my mind. Something to do with a lion and fighting? Shaking my head clear I stand up and get dressed. Walking downstairs I see Short sitting at my table eating a large breakfast.

“Sorry,” said Short taking a bite of a large fluffy omelet. “I know its rude to come in uninvited but I didn't want to wake you.” Short waved his hand and food appeared on my side of the table.

“You're here early. I didn't know when I’ld be seeing you again.” I say sitting down happy at the large meal I don’t have to cook. Short stops eating and wipe's his face.

“I apologize” he said sincerely. “The gate is, acting out of parameters. As I'm the only one with magic able to interact with the gate I was called to investigate.” A bit of worry creeps up my spine.

“Something wrong with the gate?” I ask dreading if our only lifeline to earth was having issues. remembering vividly the discussion nick had with the gate technician. “Was the gate working too slow or something?” Short was stunned for a moment.

“Yes, it was. How did you know?” he asked. I shrugged taking a bite.

“When I came through the duty van driver was asking the guy watching the gate why I was the only one that came through.”

“Ah,” said Short, tension leaving his shoulders. “I will try to explain, the gate works with magic similar to my own. Like all high mages, I have an instinctual understanding of what's going on. But not the vocabulary to express it all that well. So please bear with me if I don't do that good of a job explaining. Earth and New Eden are constantly in motion, moving through space at speeds hard to comprehend. The gate that connects both worlds is more of a wormhole than pure teleportation. Teleportation is from one point to another, easy. A wormhole is like a long rubbery tube, and it can only stretch so far between worlds. the further the connection is stretched the longer the gate has to stretch and strain. I was called in to… how to explain? I had to thicken the walls of the connections so there's more material to stretch.”

“So,” I say still concerned, “it's fixed?” Short looks uncomfortable.

“For now, I and a few others and working for a more permanent solution.” An uncomfortable silence fills the room as we eat.

“How much do I owe you?” I ask Short.

“For what?”

“The food, the house. I'm not made of money but I pay my way. What do I owe you?” I ask again while gesturing with my hands. Short laughs and waves his hand.

“I don't mean to laugh at you, it's just you said you're not made of money. You a mage, a high mage! You never have to worry about money again.”

“I don't follow,” I say lost.

“What's most worlds currencies backed by?” he asked me.

“Gold, silver, goods. So what?” I say while shrugging, not seeing his point. Nodding at me Short pulled a large box out of nowhere and opens it the box was filled with hundreds of small tablets of gold

“As a mage you have access to most magics as a high mage you have vastly superior access to different magics. There are at least 22 different known Magics that you can use to produce gold and silver with various levels of ease.” I sat stunned one moment I was broke the next I could make fortunes.

“Holy crap, so you're saying I can just make gold?” Short picked up a large stack of gold tablets and tosses them to me.

“Make, find, transmute, create, that's why mages have a different currency system than non-mages.”

“How so?” I say flipping a gold tablet in my hand.

“We can only spend a certain amount a month, otherwise we would destroy the economy. As a high mage, you, while not working can spend ten thousand a month. The more you work the more you can spend.” Putting the gold down I feel cheated one moment I’m rich the next I have a spending limit

“So let me get this straight, I can be rich at any moment but it doesn't matter because I can’t use any gold I may dig up.” Short collects his gold and the large box disappears

“Precisely, it sounds unfair but in reality, if we didn't have that rule in place the city would be flooded with gold and silver making it practically worthless.”

“So how do I expand my spending limit, I know ten thousand sounds like a lot but I want to set myself up in this house or maybe build something outside of the city. I planned on spending the next few years saving up but now I can make some good progress. A few grand won't go all that far if I'm trying to rush things.” I say.

“oh that's easy,” Short said waving his hand as two large mugs of coffee appear on the table. “You get a job.”

“A job?” I echoed, thinking about what I could do. “Well, I was going to do what I always did and either join the military on this side of the gate or keep on monster hunting. But I'm a mage now, I think I can try something else.”

“Like what?” Short asked intrigued.

“Well I don't know really, I’ld like to see more of the planet so I guess something that lets me travel.” Short hums drinking his coffee.

“I can think of a few jobs that would let you explore. Monster hunting for one will let you do that but it's mostly limited to the surrounding area. Research groups will go on explorations every once in a while but it is not guaranteed. There is a group that may fit, it won't pay as much as a hunter but you will get out more. After class today do down into the city, they call themselves the Explorers League. I can guarantee they would take you. They're just down the street from the restaurant I took you to.”

“I think I will,” I say sipping my coffee thinking it's something I’ve never done before. Wondering why Short’s here I ask “Did you need anything from me or just checking in?”

“Just checking in,” he said gulping down the last of his mug. “I heard about your challenge, wanted to see how you are holding up.”

“I'm fine, mad as hell but I'm ok now. The worst part about yesterday was Tompson trying to hook me up with his mom.” I said waving off his worry. Short laughs hard almost sending coffee out his nose.

“He didn't! That boy. He needs a hobby.”

“Yes, he does.” I say nodding. Looking at my watch, the watch I finally found. The stupid thing was next to my compass, a compass that's now completely worthless. The needles just keep’s spinning around and around. But thankfully my watch works, just took forever to find with it stuffed at the bottom of my pack. Apparently, Nick tossed everything around finding the first aid kit. “About that time,” I said standing up.

Short pulled out his pocket watch.

“So it is, I’ll be seeing you Sledge, if you have any issues or questions feel free to find me.” Waving our goodbyes Short walks into a portal and is gone. Gulping the last of my coffee I'm ready for the day, I head to the front door where my war axe sat leaning against the wall. Stopping I look at it in wonder the blades of the axe had cut into the stone. Only to stop a few inches deep when the blades got too wide. Shaking my head I grab the axe and use earth mana to lift it and sling it over my back using a shoddy strap I made last night to hold it in place. I headed to school at a light jog, as I got closer I could see what looked like Kody rise out of the coliseum and fly off. Not thinking much of it I made my way inside once Tompson saw me I could tell something was up. Tompson looked guilty,

“Hey Man.” he said waving at me weakly “I, I got something to tell ya.” He handed me what looked like a thick wrist band “I got good news and bad news.” Tompson said refusing to meet my eyes

“Ok,” I said slowly looking from him to the armband. The thing looked like it was made of smooth stone about 2 inches wide but thin almost paper-thin it was gray and plane but somehow looked polished and refined.

“Bad news first I guess,” I say playing with the band.

“Ya ok,” Tompson sighed heavily “so Kody, well he...” Seeing how hard it was for Tompson I put push his shoulder lightly.

“Lighten up kid I'm not dying, what's up.” He smiled and relaxed for a moment then lost the smile.

“Kody said he can't train you. He said he's not a combat specialist and said you are good enough to self-study. That's what the armband is for.” Tompson seeing me get angry spoke fast “I'm sorry man,” his head down. “I tried to talk him around but he kept saying it was for the best.”

Looking at Tompson I was confused why he was acting like a scared kid. Until I realized he was exactly that. I’ve seen it before, kids with hard lives attach themselves to an adult. Hell, I did that when I was a kid I was 10 or so when I did the same, I idolized my sniper trainer. He was an older man who paid attention to me. I didn't understand that he only spent time with me because I was a good shot. We all called him Grandpa, to them it was a joke, something to get back for hard lesions on an older guy. but to me he was family. Even if he didn't know it himself, looking at Tompson I had to make a hard choice. Let that idolized thinking happen, it wasn't healthy unless I stepped up. No one did that for me, everyone I knew either didn't care was killed, or transferred I was left alone. Putting my hand on his shoulder I smiled at him

“It's cool kid, he would hold me back anyway. Man who doesn't have the balls to say something like that to my face isn't worth my time. So let's forget about him, want to show me what this doodad is?” Tompson visibly relaxed.

“So this thing is really cool, Kody must have felt bad ditching you to get you this. It's an enchanted item, hard to make, and harder to get. Think of it as a magic internet but with almost unlimited storage. From what Kody said he loaded it up with our complete archive of magic. He said to put it on and put some pure mana in and it will bind to you.” Shoving my hand through the band it hung loose on my wrist. Feeling inward I felt for my mana. A memory came slowly, a memory of pure mana flowing deep underground untainted by the elements. The memory had a bland feel to it, almost like a meal with no seasoning or a painting made with only grey paints. While the food may fill you and the painting may still look nice there was nothing extra. The mana inside me responded freeing itself from my magic core the pure mana moved powerfully, steady, but bland. Like with my axe I had to push it into the armband and like my axe it took a few tries getting the mana to stick. Splitting my focus was harder than I thought it should have been. When my axe grew heavy I forced my will to push through making both streams of magic solidify their connections. The armband flashed gray then shrunk onto my arm I could barely feel it was there. A small screen appeared mid-air with text reading [CHOSE COLOR OF INTERFACE] a wheel of colors appeared next to it. Playing with it a bit the screen became a dark blue. The screen looked just like a computer screen easy to use working as a floating touch screen. On the bottom left of the screen was an icon called Magic Compoream. Clicking it the screen transformed into a large open tome with an open tab reading basics 101.

“Cool,” Tompson said looking over my shoulder as best he could. Seeing his excitement we played with it for a bit. After a few minutes, the wonder started to wear off once it was clear we were playing with a magic computer, cool but not world-changing, I shut it off.

“Well, I better head out,” I said. “Keep practicing your ability kid if you ever need any help with your ability feel free to ask.” Tompson smiled.

“Will do, where are you going now you don't have to train?”

“To get a job.” I said laughing hard once a look of horror crossed Tompson's face. Leaving the colosseum I made my way into town it took much longer than I would have liked to find my way but the canals and lack of bridges made things much harder than they needed to be. After getting so lost I somehow wound up back at the base of the mountain. I got fed up and looked up magic lessons on water magic the armband already coming in handy. Following the books and memory instructions I called forth my water mana. I forced my will onto a large pool of water and extended it over a canal. With another application of will, I called forth my fire mana to take the heat from the water freezing it. Effectively making a bridge of ice over the canal, handrails, and all. it was a bridge albeit an ugly bridge. With my newfound bridge-making skills I made good time. I only got lost once due to bad directions from a kid with patched-up pants. The building was smaller than I expected and more run down, even the restaurant had a sign. this building just had explorers league painted on the wall by the door. And not even neatly. Walking into the building a bell chimed.

“Hello?” A woman called. An East Indian woman came out of a side office she was a good bit shorter than me and stood about 5’4” maybe in her 40s. Then again with the war she could be younger and just had a hard life. she walked with the elegance of a practiced dancer and while her smile was kind her eyes were sharp.

“Can I help you?” She said looking me over her eyes stopping at the battle-axe slung on my back “Mr?”

“Names Sledge. I'm here for a job, if you guys do is what I'm looking for that is.” I said going to shake her hand. She eyed my hand for a moment then confidently placed her hand in mine. feeling something off I looked down and saw her middle finger was gone along with some bad scarring on her hand.

“My name is Lucile Triss, I am the head of the Explorers league,” she said letting go of my hand.

“My office please,” waving me into her office. I see a small warn desk shoved into a corner trying to make the office feel bigger. On the outside wall was a sad crooked window framed all wrong. with nails half sticking out of wood, apparently whoever installed it didn't know you can't hammer nails into solid stone. The only nice and new thing in the office was a coffee pot. She shimmied behind her desk with as much dignity as she could the desk being way too close to the wall to be comfortable. Sitting down in her chair it screeching impossibly loud which she either ignored or had heard so many times it no longer registered to her anymore.

“I'm going to go out on a limb judging by the Axe on your back, that can only be a magic item and say you’re the new high mage? And if you are why would you want to work for me?” I took a moment to look around not entirely impressed, I noticed her noticing me noticing the, well, frankly piss poor office. She was trying not to look uncomfortable as if she knew exactly what I was thinking

“Well,” I said. “I want to see the world, travel and explore. And you were recommended to me so here I am. And yes I'm the new high mage, news traveled that fast huh?” Disbelief practically radiated off of Lucile “it does, this city while incredibly large has a small population. and someone recommended you, a high mage? to look for work with us? Who recommended you?”

“Peter Short,” I said not quite understanding where she was going with this. Her left eye started to twitch at the mention of his name

“So this is a prank then! I'll have you know this is a promising organization and we are on the cutting edge of discovery. We search for lost history and civilizations. Artifacts and lost knowledge I for one will not waste my time.”

“Wow wow wow,” I said backing up as she angrily attempted to shove her dest out of the way “ I'm legit!” She stopped and looked at me hard

“You're not joking?

“No, I'm not joking,” I said relieved she was calming down. She sat back down slouching, she took a long deep breath rubbing her eyes

“I, apologize” she righted herself back ramrod straight. “We, we as in the few of us in the Explorers League work tirelessly trying to be seen as legitimate. The ones in control see us as a nuisance. As you can guess going out into the wilderness for days or even weeks at a time takes resources and manpower. while just about every other scientific group gets funding we have to pay our own way. Apparently, the ones in charge back at earth feel we have discovered enough of this new world and want all resources allocated elsewhere. We were ‘lucky’ to be sold this building” she waved her hand around her office as if to showcase how little the once in charge thought of their group.

“Wait.” I said. “Why does anyone from earth get a say on what happens on this side of the gate? And how do they have any power or interest in selling buildings? There's no way to get the money? is it commercial buildings you have to bye or do you have to pay for housing?”

Lucille gave a half shrug.

“I honestly feel the people from earth think the gate will be fixed. and be open both ways, even with all evidence pointing contrary. And housing is not free you either rent it from the housing administration or spend a lot and bye a home.”

“I was told my place was free?” Lucille rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Of course it was. You're a high mage, from what I understand they follow a different set of rules. Hard to tell someone what to do when they can kill you in a blink of an eye. I myself have an ability but that doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things. so normal rules and fees for me.” Realizing how off-topic the conversation was going she started looking through her desk and pulling out paperwork “Let's get back on track, you said you want to travel?”

“I do.” I said nodding

“Your name is just Sledge?” she asked tapping something on her desk and a screen appeared floating in front of her.

“Yep”

“I'm going to pull up your file, I won't get full access just what you filled out concerning jobs when you first applied for immigration earth side. Any major changes since then?”

“Other than being healed and being a high mage all the same.” I said pointing to my axe. She smiled at me and rolled her eyes

“Ok no formal education, but you tested ok in most areas, id suggest remedial classes but that can come later.” She stopped looking at the screen her eyes snapping to me.

“Your age, for the first platoon you joined you were 3. Is that true?”

“It is. Obviously, no combat but I cleaned what I could for any extra food they had laying around.” I shrugged. She looked at the screen than at me then back to the screen.

“We will move on. You have extensive training in just about everything military it's honestly impressive. Your monster kill number is amazing, I'm seeing an EKC 437 what does that stand for?”

Damn. I think to myself. I hate having to fill that out.

“It stands for estimated kill count,” I say uncomfortably. I stood there watching her as her face changed from confused to a mix of fear and revulsion. Watching her I wished I didn't have to answer that stupid question. I never liked the killing but it was always me or them, and I was in a lot of battles. My numbers rose over the years, stupid mandatory questions. Probably only on the forms because some government stooge thought it was impressive to show off your number of kills. with no regard to the ones that had to actually kill a person, as if we all thought killing was a game with high scores.

“That's a high number,” she said a slight quiver in her voice. “Don't you think your, skills would be better used elsewhere?” Seeing my frown she hurriedly waved her hands. “It just seems, well.” she stopped talking clearly at a loss.

“That number is a high number,” I said my voice hard.

“I'm a killer, I know it and after seeing my file you know it. It's all I’ve ever been. Killing people, and monsters is what I know. But I came to new Eden to start over, to try to be something other than a killer. If that number is too high for you I can accept that. Sorry for wasting your time.” With that I turned and walked out of her office.

“WAIT!” she yelled. I stopped and looked back into her office She reached under her desk and took out a piece of paper looked at it and blew off a layer of dust.

“ This is a contract for a High Mage.” She said pulling out a pen and signing it.

“To be completely honest I only printed it out as a joke a few years back. I never thought one would want to join us. But we would love to have you.” She said smiling at me. the smile was a bit forced but I could see she was being genuine. Walking back into her office I look over the contract. Like all contracts, it was flowery and overly complicated but it bumped my spend limit to ten thousand to thirty-five thousand a month. I signed my name and we shook hands.

“Well,” said Lucille clapping her hands. “Welcome Sledge the Explorers League as our new head of security.”

“Happy to be here.” my crest felt hot for a moment looking down I could see a slight glow through my clothes. Pulling my shirt down I looked and saw the head and beak of the eagle filling with color giving the already life-like image a sense of life. A sense of urgent need filled me with a need to go out and find something new to discover and explore.

“Phweeee.” Lucille whistled. with a start, I realized she was only a few inches from my chest. I let go of my shirt and she realized how close she had gotten. An awkward silence filled the office

“So,” I said feeling a little exposed. “When is the first exploration.”

“Exploration?” she said slowly her eyes fixed on my crest thankfully it lay hidden under my shirt, her eyes filled with questions.

“Right!” she said tearing her eyes away from me. “We have been ready for an excursion for weeks but we haven't been able to hire anyone to do security. But now that you're a part of the group we can start loading up.” She pulled out 4 thin folders and handed them to me.

“These are our planned trips, the folders have all the information we have been able to discover on expected routs, optimal campsites, estimated monster populations, clean water sources, and so on. We got the information using long-range drones.” Opening the first folder I looked over the information and shook my head I closed the folder and handed it to Lucille,

“That trip is a death march. We need to either toss that entire trip or go around the 50-mile stretch of forest you want to go through” Lucille opened the folder and looked over the information visibly confused. Opening the second folder I marginally felt better about this planned route but not by much.

“Wait,” Lucille said looking at the folder I gave her. “I don't see a problem, in fact, this trip should be the safest of the group. Its the shortest time out and easiest terrain to cross. What's the problem.” Putting the second folder on Lucille’s desk I looked at the folder she was holding and pointed at a small sentence. She read it out loud.

“Estimated hunting and gathering resources?” She read even more confused. Seeing I was going to have to spell it out I met her eyes.

“In a 50 square mile stretch of the forest, there's an estimated 0% chance of hunting our own game. The pictures show a healthy-looking forest nice tall trees and a lot of nice green pasters dotting the area with water sources all over the forest. The forest should be teeming with life.” I said pointing at the pictures. “Its empty the seemingly healthy vibrant forest is devoid of all animal life. So that means?” I asked trying to get Lucille to see what I’m seeing. She looked at the pictures for a moment then her eyes went wide.

“Somthings killing all the animals.”

“Maybe,” I say opening the third folder. “Either something is hunting everything down. So all the animals, and monsters! Remember the drones didn't see any sign of monsters, we can assume there all being eaten by a super predator. or the local wildlife knows to stay clear of the area for some unknown reason. Either way death trap, for now. We need more information to know for sure.” Lucille placed the folder on her desk clearly unhappy

“That was the excursion we planned on trying if we could have gotten the security.” I shrugged and handed Lucille the fourth folder. “Good thing I'm here then. This is the safest trip you have by far.” She looked it over.

“This excursion will take us weeks. The trip ends 400 plus miles to the east.” She said.

“It's either that or we go with Folder 2 but if we do we need to remap out the route and do more recon on the nocturnal wildlife.” Lucille looked at the folder hard searching it. “This is our best bet?”

“It is, by far.” I say nodding.

“Well,” Lucille said a sense of excitement filled her. “We have been trying to get a real expedition going for over a year and have been stopped by red tape and fees. I can barely remember the last time we really have been able to go out and do our jobs. Now we have a chance to finally go out into the world. Let's make it a winner!”

“Sounds good, when do we leave?” I say filled with excitement.

“Now! Oh before I forget Sledge go pack what you think you need, ill go stock rations and essentials for you.” Lucille looked to a wall clock I hadn't noticed.

“Meet at the east gate in 3 hours to meet the crew. Then we will head out!” With that Lucille power walked out of her office. Feeling a bit rushed my crest pulsed with a sense of excitement that radiated from deep within me. It felt like the crest was urging me to go out into the world and face the untamed and discover the hidden. To carve a path for countless others to follow. Filled with purpose I left the office and headed home, for some the sudden trip out into the wilderness would probably be a huge issue. I grew up in the military going from war zone to war zone. The trip was sudden but something I grew up with. Mostly I was thinking of how to kill three hours, I procrastinated and didn't unpack. I mean why would I, I expected to be in the city for a few more weeks I thought I had time. ether Lucille thought I had already settled in or vastly overestimated how much I owned.

“Oh well,” I said absentmindedly as I made an ice bridge over a canal every bridge getting easier and more refined as I made them

“If nothing else I’ll have some time to go over some new magic.”