The drive to the portal was painfully slow no one talked, no one knew what to say. Lucille and Stacy sat in the back holding one another crying for the loss of a friend, a father figure, and to Lucille maybe she was morning the loss of something more. Tompson sat with them looking lost, my bee sitting in his hands apparently content at being held. The bee had grown again, it looked like a big black and yellow tennis ball of fluff. Sio sat next to me a crude map in her hands. Her face was tear-stained, and her eyes looked haunted filled with pain and turmoil. She looked how I felt, or how I wished I felt. I had friends die before, hell just about all my friends died in the war. I vaguely remember crying when I was a kid when a friend or mentor died. I remember burying them and saying a few kind words. As the years went on I stopped saying anything, no last rights for the ones I cared about. I don't remember when I stopped caring, I just know I was around 14 when I stopped burying them. I stopped crying for them, I stopped feeling. Now here I am, a new world, new friends, a new me. But I can’t cry, Jimmy was a good man. I didn’t know him long but I can say we became friends. I wanted to care. I wanted to feel his loss. The part of me that felt the pain of loss wasn't moved. In the back of my mind, I could hear whispers saying. You didn’t know him all that long. He died an honorable death, you avenged him, at least it was quick. I hated the whispers, I hated that everyone was sad except me. I hated that everyone could weep for Jimmy, even Tompson and he barely knew him. I hated how my friend just died and all I can think about is who’s going to cook now. I hated that his body isn't even cool yet and I’ve moved on ready to bury him and forget his name. Sio’s hand grabbed mine. I jumped slightly in surprise looking at her, she raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly at the steering wheel. My eyes go wide seeing what I had done. The steering wheel was twisted in my grip. Sio pulled a hand away from the wheel and held it. The steering wheel looked pulverized where I held it. I felt Sio pat my hand that she was still holding. I looked over at her. She smiled at me, a smile filled with pain, guilt, and understanding. I smiled back then turned away, focusing on driving. I kept holding her hand and as I held on a part of me that was long since buried under a lifetime of pain and loss stirred for just a second. It wasn't much but it was something. The seat belt was itching my neck so I grabbed it to readjust and of course, it locked. Rolling my eyes, I gave a small yank only to rip the seat belt in half.

“Why did you do that?” Lucille asked looking up for the first time in a while. “What did you do to the steering wheel?” she asked alarmed.

“I… I don't know,” I say shrugging. “The strap just snapped, must have been damaged in the fire or something.”

“And the steering wheel?” Sio asked playfully.

“I, well… I don’t know,” I say a bit lost.

“How far till the portal?” asked Tompson. We looked at Sio as she studied the map for a minute. “We’re almost there,” she said. “Maybe 15 minutes give or take.”

“I’m not feeling so good,” said Stacy holding her head. I looked back Stacy was holding her head a large knot was forming on her forehead.

“You may have a concussion,” I say looking for a place to park. “I’ll pull over and heal you.”

“No, I’ll heal her.”

“What?” I ask looking in the back seat. “Who’s going to heal Stacy?” Lucille looks at me odd.

“You are.”

“No. Someone just said they will heal her. I thought I was the only one who could heal.” I said shaking my head. Lucille and Tompson share a look.

“You are the only one who can heal.” Lucille said.

“No, you aren't,” said another voice.

“Ok who’s talking!” I asked my eyes going wide.

“Maybe you should let me drive,” said Sio. Her voice gentle if not a little concerned. Bzzzzz, my bee flies in front of Stacy’s face a small glob of honey being held in its feet.

“Open up.” The voice said.

“I guess she wants me to eat it.” Stacy said as the bee ramed into her mouth for the third time. The bee tosses the honey into Stacy’s mouth. Stacy’s eyes go wide as her body locks up a golden glow emanating from Stacy’s mouth. Her veins start glowing gold, lighting Stacy up like a Christmas tree the knot on her head glows brightly then in a flash the gold glow is gone and Stacy sat stunned. She looked completely healed.

“Holy crap!” Stacy said patting herself down. “What the crap did I just eat?” The bee flies onto my shoulder.

“Told you I can heal her.” My bee said, looking smug.

“Ok I think I’ve lost it.” I say. “My bee is talking to me.”

“Yaaaaaa,” Tompson said eyeing me warily. “Sio should drive.” He said.

“You haven’t lost it, I am talking to you. It’s a part of the bond we share.” The bee said.

“The bond?” I say to the bee.

“He’s talking to it.” Stacy said in a not-so-hushed whisper.

“I am not an it!” said my bee. Buzzing angrily at Stacy the bee looked at me. “Can I sting her? She needs a good poke.”

“No! You can’t sting Stacy!” I say shaking my head.

“What!” Stacy cried looking at the bee. “I’d like to see you try! You over-stuffed ball of lint.”

BZZZZZZ “Lint, Lint, LINT! What's lint?” she asked me. I rolled my eyes.

“This is getting ridiculous,” I say very done with this new craziness I put the jeep in drive heading to the gate.

“Are you ok to drive?” asked Lucille. Pushing my frustration down I answer.

“Yes, I’m good.”

“Is your bee really talking to you?” she asked.

“As far as I can tell. Yes, she is talking to me. No idea how or why but she is.”

“She?” Sio asked. “How can you tell?”

“I…” How did I know the bee was a she.

“It's the bond, you instinctually know me and I you.” Pointing to the bee sitting on my shoulder.

“She said it’s our bond, I’m guessing there’s more to the high mage magic at work here than I thought.”

“Well I guess she will need a name.” said Tompson.

“Why?” I ask.

“Well,” he said pointing at the bee. “If she can talk then she’s not just some bug.”

“I vote Tiny,” said Stacy looking at the bee smugly.

“No.” the bee said buzzing angrily.

“Guess that's a veto,” said Lucille. “How about Milly?” The bee thought about it for a minute nodding its head.

“I like it, I'm Milly from now on. Queen Milly!”

“Queen?” I ask Milly.

“Yes, how else do you think I make royal honey. It's hard to make only bees of the royal line can do it.”

“She’s a queen?” asked Lucille her interest spiking.

“I guess.” I say.

“If she’s a queen where is her hive?” asked Tompson. Milly seems to shrink in on herself.

“My hive, my old Hive was lost. The only reason I’m alive at all is because your magic bonded me. For a queen I’m really young, I’m only a few weeks old. I won't go into all the relevant information would take too long. I wasn't born in the hive like the rest of my family. Something had happened to the hive killing everything, before whatever it was got to the queen she used most of her life force to have me. I was taken out of the hive as a larva and protected. I don't think the plan to save me had a high hope of working. A queen bee in the first few years of life consumes a lot of magic, it takes most of the hive to keep a queen fed. I only had a few guards and workers I was barely alive when I felt your bond. Your magic saved me.”

“Well dang.” I say.

“What?” asked Lucille. “Unlike you, the rest of us all we hear is buzzing.”

“Sorry.” I say repeating what Milly told me. The conversation stopped when the cave to the gate came into view. We drove slowly the terrain making any progress slow. I stopped at the gates distortion.

“We ready for this?” I ask. Looking at one another they all give me a nod. Taking a deep breath I press the gas and drive into the gate. As with the other gate in a blink of an eye, the trip is over. Like the drone, we come out on the side of a small hill. We drove slow all of us looking for any hidden danger the trees were packed together closer than we first thought from the footage of the drone. Not only was the forest denser than we thought but the ground was covered in some kind of vine that blanketed the forest floor in dagger-like thorns. We drove a few feet before we blew a tire. I had to patch the tire and enchant the rubber to withstand the thorns. The drive to the top of the mountain the monster lived on was another challenge. Loose rocks with random vents spewing large jets of compressed steam. It made the drive perilous at best. I had to use a lot of earth mana to carve us a safe path up the mountain. With a collective sigh of relief, we made it to the top of the mountain. Making a ramp into the valley of the mountain we finally make it to what we hope is a safe place to be.

“Ok all,” I say. “I know it's hard but the first thing we need to do is bury Jimmy. After that, we need to make some defenses and camp. After that we can call Short. Does that plan work for everyone?” Lucille closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

“Yes, that works.” She said. I nod turn off the jeep and take a step out. Once my boot hits the ground the world goes white. One second I was in the jeep the next I'm in a white void.

“Ooooo this is exciting,” said Milly making me jump.

“Where are we?” I ask looking around. She flies over to me and lands on my shoulder.

“We must be in your Mind Void, the place where you make important decisions that affect you or your magic. The monster you killed sure was stupid to leave a place of power alone as he did.”

“What?” I ask feeling more lost and confused than before.

“My hive was built on a place of power, a location of great magic infusing the land. Usually, sentient monsters take over the area for instance a queen or the lizard monster that held this place before you killed him. Now it's yours if you want it.” She said.

“Wait, what? How does that work?”

“I don’t really know if it's the same in humans as it is in monsters only certain monsters can claim a place of power. It's either a line of powerful monsters like me being a queen and all, a royal line. Or the lizard who was old and powerful was able to claim it. I think we got really really lucky when we killed him.”

“Why do you say that?”

“If he was able to claim and hold onto a place of power he was much stronger than we should have been able to fight. I'm guessing the injury he had was much worse than we thought. That's in the past now, you and he fought, you won killing him. This place of power is now yours if you want it.”

“Is it worth having?” I ask. Milly does the equivalent of raising her hands

“For the lizard yes, for a human?”

“How do I go about taking it?” I ask.

“How should I know?” Milly said. “I’m practically a baby.”

“Well, great, just great. I’m in some kind of white void with a talking bee discussing real estate. I need to get drunk.” A tingling started emanating from my chest. I pull my shirt down and my crest comes to life the lion jumps from my chest and lands softly. He’s larger than life and twice as scary. Well, at least to me Milly buzzzed happily and flew into the lion’s main. The lion seemed to sigh and looked at me like it was my fault Milly was buzzing around in his impressive main. The lion shook its head it's main shaking vigorously. Milly held on to a clump of hair going ‘weeeeeeeeeeeeee’ seeing its plan to dislodge the little pest not working the lion gave up and decided to ignore Milly. He walked up to me and looked me in the eyes. Concepts entered my mind, family, pride, territory, protector, king. Then a question, the lion didn’t ask with words, it needed no voice to convey what it meant. I felt the question in my mind I felt it lay heavily on my shoulders and I felt it beat in my heart. It was a question of responsibility do I accept, can I handle responsibility. I wanted to say yes. I wanted to be sure of myself to say I would face what may come. But I knew myself I have failed before I’d given up before I’ve fallen apart before and I ran away before. Could I be sure I’d face every challenge, no. No matter how powerful I may become no matter the magics I learn and master, I can never say I have it in me to never fall short. But I'm willing to try, I'm willing to make an attempt, to fail and try again. The lion nodded its head and bared its fangs I felt its challenge. It wasn’t challenging me the lion was ready to challenge the world and he waited for me. I closed my eyes my heart beating like a war drum I clenched my hands, fingernails digging into my palms. With a snarl I yelled into the sky I will take this land and to hell with any who try and take it from me! Magic mixed with intent and a vortex of violence erupted from my mouth sending gale-force winds in every direction. The lion raised his head and roared with me its power and challenge mixing with my will creating something more than the sum of its parts in the center of where our magic met a storm grew. Lightning hit the ground between us over and over somehow melting the ground under us. In a flash the ground shattered under us a power welled up meeting the storm. As the powers clashed I saw images of the monster who owned this land before. Its lingering power not wanting to let go its magic barely keeping claim of the land. With one last flash the monster's power was shattered and the land rested. My magic calmed down easing down into the land beneath me. I blinked and I was free from the void. My chest was tingling I pulled my shirt down and looked at my crest the lion was being filled with color.

“Are you ok?” Sio asked rushing around the jeep. Lucille jumped out of the jeep and the two helped me up. Stacy and Tompson looking around in search of a hidden enemy.

“My magic, I claimed this place.” Sio gasped at my words, as Lucille looked confused.

“What are you talking about?” Lucille said half panicked. I wave off the two women holding me up. Getting my feet under me I hold onto the jeep steading myself.

“I guess the lizard had a magical connection with the land. When I killed it I was given the option to take the land for myself.”

“What does that mean?” Lucille asked.

“To be honest I don’t know, but I’ll find out.”

“No!” Lucille said sharply. “We will find out, we're a team! The explorers league and this is just the kind of mystery we take on. You're not alone in this.” She looked from me to everyone. “None of us are alone, The League,” she said putting her hand out.

“The league,” Stacy said placing hers on Lucille.

“The league,” Sio said smiling placing her hand as well.

“If you'll have me,” Tompson said. “The league,” he said placing his hand over the girls. I smiled.

“The League,” I said placing my hand on top Milly flew and landed on our hands.

“The league,” she said to me.

“She said ‘the league,’” I said.

“I know,” said Lucille. We let our hands fall to our sides.

“We need to bury, Jimmy,” Stacy said sadly.

“Right,” I said. “I’ll dig a grave, just give me…” The ground a few dozen feet in front of me sank into itself with a perfect gravestone rising. Above the hole is a white marble casket. In the back of my mind, I felt a small tug on my mana into the ground.

“That was fast,” said Stacy.

“It was,” I say distracted. I shake my head, I have a friend to bury, mystery powers later. Tompson, Sio and I move Jimmy’s body as respectfully as we could to the grave. We lay him to rest closing the casket

“I have a few things to say,” Lucille says. “Jimmy was more than a teammate more than a friend. He was family and only now that it's too late I realize my love for him. He was braver than I thought, a better man than I thought. I’ll always miss him and I’ll always regret I was too late to be with him.” Lucille turns and walks away sobbing not looking back. Sio steps forward.

“My people have an unwritten law. If someone saves your life you must repay them. Honor demands it, it's tradition to give a great gift to the one who saved you. But the one who saved me is gone I can give him no gift. Tradition allows for me to repay his kin, but he has no relatives to give honors to. I am in debt to a man I can never repay. I will do what I can, honor demands no less.” With that, she pulled out a small pocket knife and cut off a strip of her hair. And let go. “I make a vow to the wind on my honor I will find a way to repay Jimmy.” As if listening a gust of wind blew her hair off into the sky. Sio took a step back. Stacy stood shaking, tears falling freely.

“He was more a dad to me than my real family. We moved to New Eden as a family group. I didn’t want to come, I had friends on earth I had a college all picked out when I finished high school. I had a plan but I was just a no-nothing teenager no one listens to teenagers. So I moved to New Eden and lost everything, I hated it here! A land of monsters, the city air was always wet making my hair impossible to work with. On earth, I had a bright future as a straight A student with scholarships coming in every day. On new Eden I was nothing! My ability was interesting but useless so I was useless at least to my family. The day I turned 18 I moved out of my parent's place and got 3 nothing jobs. Cleaning toilets, waitressing in bars having soldiers and mercenaries feel me up, and as a shoe polisher. I had nothing, the first time I met Jimmy I slapped him. I was getting off of work at a bar and I dropped something. Jimmy picked it up and ran to give it back to me. I thought he was some creep, he didn’t get a word out and I started hitting him. He stood there watching me cuss him out taking it as I kept hitting him. After I was done he held out my lipstick and said I dropped it. I felt so bad I just started crying. He held me as I fell apart, he asked me if I was ok, I don’t know why I told him what was going on with me, I told him everything. My life, my jobs, he took me to Lucille's place and went and found my bosses in the middle of the night to tell them I quit. He got me the job with Lucille and him. Found me a place to stay and taught me everything I know. Even helped me get an online degree. I remember I accidentally called him dad once I was so embarrassed until I saw how happy it made him.” Stacy walked to the grave kissed her hand and placed it on the grave. She walked away crying going to join Lucille.

Tompson and I had nothing to say. Sio was busy watching Stacy leave. So I waved my hand and the tombstone was engraved with [ here lies Jimmy Stevens a good man, a good friend, a good father]. We took a while to unpack the jeep we moved slowly the weight of the last few days catching up to us. Grief and exhaustion taking their toll. I used stone to build a few huts for us all nothing fancy but it would keep us close and safe and make a bit of privacy available. I placed the stone Short gave me down just out of camp and activated it. I waited a few minutes but after seeing nothing happen I gave up and went back into camp to make a cooking fire. Stacy had her laptop on her lap going over data biting her lip

“Hey guys I don't know if this is a problem but I think I should let you know.” She said.

“What up?” I ask, the team coming over to us I raise up stone seats for us all to sit by the fire to talk.

“Well, the other day when I said that the gate sent the drone 800 miles that's not exactly accurate.”

“What do you mean?” Lucille asked. Stacy looked uncomfortable.

“Well, I read the data wrong, the way it displays distance in the readouts messes with me sometimes and I read it wrong. You see new Eden is much larger than the earth, like by a lot. And so when the maps were created they compressed the numbers a bit so we didn’t have so many zeros on the maps. I thought we were 800 miles away from our old camp. But I forgot to convert the new compressed format into miles so were actually closer to 30 thousand miles away.”

“WHAT!” shouts Lucille. “That's larger than the earth we're over a planet away from the city!”

“Ummm, ya…” Stacy said sheepishly.

“Can Short portal that far?” I ask Tompson.

“I…” he said looking worried. “I don’t know, he should be able to, the only real limitation he had was interplanetary portals he couldn't keep a portal stable once it left the planet's atmosphere.” The team's mood plummeted with our only lifeline to the city in jeopardy. I got up and started making dinner I wasn't a good cook so it was slightly burnt eggs. We started to eat Stacy frowning at her plate.

“Sorry,” I say. “I know it’s not the best.”

“No, no,” she said quickly. “It’s not that, it’s just… hold on.” She got up and went to the jeep then came back with a comically large salt shaker “For Jimmy.” She said shaking the shaker 8 times over her eggs and dumping salt on her eggs. She took a bite eyes going wide and started laughing.

“What?” Lucille asked. “You ruin your eggs?” Stacy waved at Lucille as she struggled to swallow the mouthful of eggs between laughing fits.

“No I’m ok, it’s just… I dumped salt on my eggs and it's still not as salty as when Jimmy made eggs. How much salt did he use?” Lucille took the last shaker and turned to Stacy.

“How many did you do 7-8?” Lucille asked. Stacy counted to herself.

“Eight, I think.” Lucille shook the shaker over her eggs 9 times and took a bite she swallowed her eggs.

“Not as salty as Jimmy's,” she said giggling. Sio took the shaker and did 10 shakes and took a bite and started laughing.

“No, not as salty.” I did 11 shakes laughing with every bite. Tompson hadn't eaten any of Jimmy’s food but he didn’t want to be left out so did 12 shakes, Stacy took a bit and still wasn't salty enough. We got to 15 shakes of salt before we found the magic number. For the rest of the meal we took a bite and would start laughing. Once the meal was over we sat sipping water trying to flush the salt from our bodies.

“So?” asked Tompson to Sio. “You’re an elf?” Sio gave him a cold look.

“I am not an elf!” Tompson put his arms up in surrender.

“Ok not an elf, but your not human right? Are you from New Eden?” He continued. Sio sighed.

“I suppose you all have a right to know I am not from New Eden I to am from another world like all of you I came here from a gate thats now closed.”

“Are you the only one on New Eden?” I ask and Sio nods.

“It’s not an easy story to tell but I will do so. My father hid a great crime committed by my younger brother, my father who was dishonored and executed. My younger brother in an attempt to save himself pushed the blame onto me. He had little evidence to support his claims but what he lacked in evidence he made up for in our father's money. Using what I can only assume was most of his inheritance he succeeded, I was dishonored stripped of my name, and given a three day head start before they were allowed to hunt me down for sport. I was desperate and young. I believed in my grandfather's stories of a gate to another world. Following his tales with hunters on my trail, I ran for weeks. Never much food or sleep but I pushed on. When I thought about giving up I found the portal. The gate was flickering the connection was almost lost. Without thought, I jumped into the portal. I don’t know how but I came through injured, it’s hard to describe the pain or damage. It was like I was at death's door but fine at the same time I was sickly and weak for months. I hid under the roots of a tree by a stream eating whatever I could, I was alone for a few years. It’s hard to tell time alone but in what I think was my 4th year on new Eden Lucille found me I had gotten sick after a winter storm got too cold. She saved my life, she broke many of your laws making a fake identity for me. She has been my best friend ever since, I owe her much.”

“That sucks!” Tompson said outraged. “You lost everything because of your brother! You home, your people, your name… wait isn't your name Sio?”

“Siofra,” said Lucille “I chose it when I forged her file”

“What’s it mean?” asked Stacy. Lucille blushed looking at Sio apologetic.

“It’s Celtic I think, for elf.”

“WHAT!” shouted Sio. “You named me- elf? I feel like I owe you much less than before. Elves are short and entirely too cheerful.”

“Sorry,” Lucille shrugged not feeling very sorry. Just out of camp a light flashed and Short was there. He spun on his heel and saw us. Sio dove behind Lucille who took her coat off and handed it to Sio who quickly made her way into her hut.

“Are you all ok!” Short shouted. “I’m so sorry for your loss. Jimmy was a good man.”

“Wait?!” said Stacy. “How do you know what happened?”

“The drone you used, it was connected to the satellite for most of the fight. Whatever it transmitted to you it sent to the city too. I’d say just about everyone saw Sledge here merge with a tree and fight a talking monster. They put the fight on several big screens. most of the city's fighting was done, over a few days ago but tensions were still high. But after seeing the monster we all kinda stopped the bickering and fighting. Anyway, the drone was too far away to see everything I could barely make out Jimmy when he… well when it happened. If you could can you tell me what happened?” So we told Short our tale from when he left to Tompson showing up, to when I grew the berries to test for the food shortage, the drone’s first sighting of the monster, the fight, Jimmy's death, my bee being able to talk, and make magic healing cocain honey. My connection with the land. We told him everything except about Sio, that was explorers league's only knowledge. Short sat in silence the sun having gone down some time ago. The team huddled close to the fire drinking hot tea and coffee, Lucille thankfully had a hidden stash of Irish Whiskey ‘for medicinal purposes only’ so our coffee was more Irish than coffee. I even gave some to Tompson, old enough to fight and die- old enough to drink.

“I would like to see the portal you guys found and study it, I can open a portal and anchor it for others to use but it takes weekly maintenance. But for now, we need to make a connection to the city. A lot of people are eager to meet you Sledge and I could use your help.”

“Is it safe now?” Stacy asked.

“There is still tension like I said but since everyone saw the monster you fought. General consensus is that we have bigger problems besides internal struggle.” Short said.

“When do you want to leave?” I asked the team, Stacy got up and started cleaning up.

“I guess now.” Said Lucille also getting up and starting to pack.

“Can I talk to you alone Sledge?” Short asked. I nodded and followed Short taking a moment to grab my war axe, shocked at how light it felt. Adding that to the growing list of questions I had. I moved to follow Short to the stone he pulled out of a pocket watch and poured magic into it. A distortion was being made in the air like heat waves coming off of hot stone the air shimmered. “The gate will take some time to form, your camp is rather far away from town. But I’d like to talk to you about your magic.”

“What about it?” I ask watching the gate slowly form.

“I believe you have gone through a phenomenon unique to high mages when we first awaken our magic we are not much stronger than regular mages but as we use magic our body is saturated to it absorbing it and refining it. We call it the refinement, like a smith forging steel our magic forges us. So far we have documented up to 7 refinements I myself have been refined 5 times.”

“Ok?” I say. “What does the refinement do?”

“It's different for all of us but there is some consistency, our magic power grows, we gain better control of our magics and we gain new abilities in line with our high mage magics. It was only on my 5th refinement I was able to make permanent gates. I think your ability to talk with your bee is one such ability gained with refinement. When we get back to town you will need to practice your magic and see what you gained proficiencies for. I’d also suggest taking classes on different magics maybe healing magics since you keep getting into fights.” Short smiled at me and gave me a wink.

“That sounds like a good idea, maybe an enchanting class or something. I have to use that magic a lot and I don’t think I’m very good at it.” The gate shimmers to life.

“Hey all!” I shout to the camp. “Gate is ready let’s go.” The team comes to the gate. Short goes through first I have the team go before me making sure the team makes it through. I step into the gate and I’m standing in the Explorer’s League headquarters.

“I need to fix this place up,” I said looking at the cracked and flaking walls.

“Soon but not for a few days,” said Lucille. “We need a break, a week off all of us. Then we will have a meeting and discuss where we will go moving forward. But until then rest relax take showers.” Short followed us as I walked to team to their homes. There was few people out this late at night but once they saw me hurried away. I look at Short.

“They must have seen the video of you, almost everyone did.” Short said shrugging. “Words got out the war veteran, mercenary, monster hunter is a high mage and apparently gets into fist fights with monsters that talk and shoot lightning. You have what the kids call a hardcore rep now.” Tompson snorted and rolled his eyes. Once everyone was home safe Short portaled me to my house.

“Here,” said Short handing me a slip of paper. “One of the best enchanters we have in the city he’s a bit odd but a good guy and fair with his prices.”

“Thanks,” I say shaking Shorts hand. “For everything.”

“Don’t mention it.” Short said patting my arm. “In a few days, I’d like to have you come with me to a meeting if you don’t mind”

“No, I don’t mind.” I wave off his worried expression.

“See you in a few days then.” With that Short portaled away and I went to sleep. The next day I got up and set about my workout routine. Sprinting up the mountain no sweat. Swinging my axe felt natural I stopped doing push-ups at my 825th push-up without feeling any strain.

“I guess I know what my high mage magic did to me.” I say finishing my workout without even sweating. Once I ate and got ready for the day I headed to the enchanter's place. The walk was nice the air cool and refreshing the people I ran into were very eager to move out of my way. The enchanter’s place looked deceivingly normal I looked at the address a few times to make sure I was in the right place. I knocked on the door. A few moments later a man opens the door. He stood about 5 foot 10 inches with brown hair and brown eyes. He had on really tight pants and a button-up shirt with a bow tye. He had on round rimmed glasses and his hair was long pulled up in some kind of heavy braid with copper wire interwoven.

“What can I do you for?” He said in a thick southern accent.

“Short said you teach enchanting. Was wondering if I can get some lessons?” He waved me in his shop. If the out side looked normal the inside was a testament to everything odd. Glowing instruments floated in the air only to explode then reassemble themselves. Along one wall was a sign reading HP ideas, a line of brooms in various stages of floating then falling to the floor took up a lot of space. Along with a large desk covered in sticks with feathers poking out of the ends. He had a large projector playing some British show of a skinny man in a bow tie that was running to a police box for some reason holding some kind of pen. On the back wall was a tall door with about 20 locks on it with a sign above it written in glowing gold letting saying you shall not pass.

“So friend.” the man said. “I’m Jeremy Finn and this is my lair, if you’re going to learn from me you need to know one thing.”

“Ok.” I said not really sure I want to learn anymore.

“See this bowtie.” Jeremy said pointing to his neck.

“Ya?” I say wondering if it was too late to just walk out the door.

“I got this from an auction before I moved to new Eden, it was worn by the doctor in the show. So you can look but you can't touch, no matter how bad you may want to. Got it.”

“Ya, I guess.” I say really considering leaving. “Why would I want your bowtie?”

“Really?” he said incredulously. “Because bowties are cool!”