Cloaked under three different spells of concealment and dressed in the newly altered clothing of a Xethian peasant, I stared in trepidation at the rippling surface of the portal. Streaks of multicolored light played across the iridescent dimensional membrane, occasionally clearing up for a moment to reveal tantalizing glimpses of what lay on the other side. At the moment, all I could see was gray sky and bits of buildings, but I’d heard that while the portal was moving, you could see directly into the great void between realities.

A quiet cough pulled me away from watching the portal and I turned to look at the single guard lounging against the leg of a towering golem. I’d been momentarily surprised when I’d entered the portal room and found it almost completely empty, but on second thought, it made sense. Even for Port Anangala, a much more prosperous and powerful place than my homeland, Avalon had only posted a few people. Combined with the two mages who I knew were standing just beyond the portal, along with the dozens of war golems ready to spring into action at a moments notice, a single guard was plenty on this side of the portal. It would take just about every mage the country had just to fight through what was here already, and there were plenty of powerful reinforcements just a short teleport away.

The guard cleared his throat and tapped the base of staff lazily against the short pillar that held the record stone. “You goin’ somewhere, kid? Otherwise, I gotta remove you from the logs before you run off. There’s a big fine for not using them properly.”

“Oh, no, don’t worry about it. I’m going. Just… Yeah. I’m going.”

I took a deep breath and looked down at my clothing, already slightly regretting this part of the plan. I hadn’t really wanted to stand out when I arrived, I wanted a chance to look around without getting caught up in whatever greetings they had ready for Avalon mages, so I had prepared accordingly. It had been years since I’d worn my old clothing, and absolutely none of it still fit, but between Rea’s meager sewing skills and my own transmutation prowess, we’d managed to make something that I hoped wouldn’t stand out. Honestly, I was mostly worried that the shoddy craftsmanship might end up looking suspicious, but it wasn’t that bad and would do until I could get something better to replace it.

I really would need to get something better soon though. I hated to spend the money on clothing I didn’t really need, but I could afford it and, since the portal was going to be in the area until after the winter recess, I did need something suitable for the area. I nervously adjusted the leather overcoat I was wearing, but the overly stiff material just wouldn’t lay the way I wanted it too despite my best efforts. Similarly, my long pants and tucked-in shirt were just a bit off, cinching uncomfortably in some places and hanging awkwardly in others. Who would have thought there was so much work that went into making clothing properly! At least my boots were fine, good leather boots were pretty universal as far as I could tell, and my current pair was just as suitable for Xethis’ rocky terrain as it was for harvesting ingredients in Avalon’s greenhouses.

The guard coughed again, and I exhaled loudly. It would be fine. Shit, I shouldn’t have thought that. Everything was going to be fine. I stepped through the portal, nodding politely to the two guards flanking the gateway and registering my mana signature with the departure stone. “Hopefully this time is a bit less exciting,” I joked. The guard on my left, who I’d recognized from my… eventful time during the dragon attack, chuckled loudly while the woman on my right looked at us disapprovingly.

“You can say that again!” He said boisterously, ignoring his colleague’s glare. “You’re lucky, I made the call to summon reinforcements so I had to fill out so much paperwork after. Didn’t even get to fight anything and they still had us file triplicate after-action reports!”

“The policy exists for good reason,” the second guard said quietly. “Though I will admit, the paperwork is only barely worth the amount of points we earn doing this.” She turned to look at me, though I noticed the small constructs fluttering around her continued to watch for any approaching threats. “Do they still make students declare what courses they are taking to each Professor separately? That scramble was always such a mess.”

I nodded and she shook her head ruefully, “At least Professor Molly finnally fucked off into retirement. She used to hide her box under a mountain of illusions. It was such a bitch to deal with.”

“Don’t think any of my professors have done something like that. I think Professor Igor still drapes intestines over his box, but everyone’s mostly used to it by that.”

“That sounds like something he’d do. Never had a class with him, but I’ve seen the displays.”

I set my hand down on the record stone for a moment and channeled mana into it until the pedestal flashed briefly.

“Oh right, you’re good. Might want to renew the shroud before you go, it's slipping. They don’t have anyone particularly impressive watching the portal, but best to be careful.”

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.”

I walked up to the edge of the bubble around the portal, rapidly recasting my spells of concealment. They wouldn’t last very long, nor hold up to any higher-circle detection spells, but I only needed them for the few minutes it would take to get away from the area immediately around the portal. Then, I stepped through the boundary and entered Xethis for the first time in nearly a decade.

It was the smell that hit me first. The cool breeze blowing off the ocean and mixing with the scents of native grasses washed over me like a half-forgotten lullaby. Under it I could feel the fainter tastes of home, fresh breads, roasting meats, and the sweet perfume wafting off the many strands of laurel vines draped across the sides of buildings.

I was almost overwhelmed by it for a moment, half-forgotten memories rising unprompted in the back of my mind, but then I shook myself and pushed through it. Under the cover of my spells, I walked briskly away from the portal, scanning my surroundings for someone to ‘reappear’ as I went.

Like in the last city I’d left the hidden realm, the Avalon portal was situated in the center of a bustling market square. The scale was different of course, I could see maybe a third the total number of people as back then, and the square itself was considerably smaller, but the overall atmosphere was very similar. The outside of the square was lined with shops and cafes offering all sorts of local products and cuisines. Judging by the smells coming from some of them, I had a feeling I would be ‘exploring’ them in more detail in the coming days and weeks.

In front of those shops and extending down every street leading away from the street, hundreds of smaller stalls had been set up, some of them still empty while others were already advertising their products to everyone around them. Even though nearly half of the set up stalls were unoccupied, I was honestly surprised to see it so busy already. The portal had only arrived a few hours earlier and I doubted more than a few dozen members of Avalon had left the area so far. Still, maybe it was profitable enough to sell to whatever travelers had already arrived to do business with the academy? That seemed plausible.

After a minute of searching, and carefully avoiding running into anyone who couldn’t just sense my mana despite my concealing spells like the guards had all been capable of, I found a good spot. Taking a seat at an out-of-the-way table just off the square, I double-checked that nobody was watching me and let my spells drop. I waited for several minutes, making a show of examining the small menu card I’d snagged from a nearby vendor.

In all honesty, the food on the card sounded incredible, but I had eaten at the cafeteria just a half hour earlier and only wanted to take a short look around today. Promising to myself that I would come back some other time, I returned the card to the little box by the stall and continued purposefully down the road. Between my local appearance and clothing, nobody tried to bother me as I walked down the bustling street. I looked just like so many other workers hustling from place to place, though I noticed I hadn’t quite managed to capture the look I had been going for. Still, it was good enough for now.

Eventually, my feet took me away from the central market and out towards the less busy parts of the town. Cafes and other shops were replaced by houses and inns. In the distance, I could see a large, castle-like building, the local mage school I assumed, though the light fog that was so common on the islands made it hard to see it clearly.

Stopping at an intersection, I leaned up against a cobblestone wall and looked up at the sky. The sun was hidden by a thick layer of gray clouds, and I could smell rain in the air. Combined with the everpresent fog, it was honestly somewhat gloomy, and yet? It felt incredible. The weather in the port and in so many other places I’d been over the years was objectively so much better, but somehow this just… seemed right.

A loud shriek tore its way through my peaceful contemplation and I sighed in annoyance. Couldn’t whatever idiots had decided to fight take it somewhere– another scream echoed through the narrow street and I paused. This… wasn’t Avalon. Random shrieks weren’t supposed to just be something that happened, right?

Should I… no, this wasn’t my problem. Whatever it was, someone else could deal with it. The city guards, or whatever it was they had around here, could figure out what was going on. I pushed myself off the wall and continued down the road, content to put whatever that was out of my mind. Hopefully there would be some nice little shops closer to the other side of the town and I could avoid dealing with all the shopkeepers eager to rip off travelers.

Then, another shriek echoed through the air, a high, girlish scream of pain, and this time… something about it sounded almost… familiar? Without consciously thinking about it, my feet changed direction and I turned left. A protective barrier snapped into place around me as I moved down a winding alleyway, long years of avoiding fights at Avalon giving me a good idea of where the noise was coming from.

Turning another corner, I finally saw the source of the commotion. A girl was lying on the ground, arm held protectively over her head and legs curled up against her chest. A small bag lay discarded several feet away, a large boot print marring the neat leatherwork. Around her stood a group of four men and two young women about the same age as the third. They were dressed in moderately fine clothing, nicer than my own but still well suited for the unpleasant weather so common to the islands.

A heavy boot from one of the men slammed into her chest, knocking her sprawling onto her back. She gasped loudly in pain and my augmented senses heard something crack. “Fucking dyke whore, think you’re so much better than us! Well, not so high and mighty without your bitch friend, are you!”

One of the women stepped forward, using the tip of her low-heeled shoe to grind the girl’s face into the cobbles. “I heart she’s engaged to a proper man now, no room left for a dumb slut like you. The moment she found someone better, she tossed you to the wayside, isn’t that right? Bless her bleeding heart she didn’t send you to a whorehouse where you belong.”

“I’m sure we can correct her oversight,” a heavyset boy growled as he stepped forward. “A proper brothel’s too good for a twat-eating hag like you.”

I took a silent step backwards. This looked exactly like the sort of mess I didn’t want to end up involved in. I didn’t know who any of the people involved were, and I really didn’t care what their problems with the cowering girl were. If it had just been a simple mugging or something, that would have been a different story, but I could feel weak auras of magic around all six of the attackers. They were only at the bottom end of the second circle, but that was still enough to show that they were clearly not nobodies.

Then, one of the men stepped forward, and I got a clear look at the girl’s face for the first time. Crystal-blue eyes met mine as they looked back at me past rapidly swelling bruises. White-blonde hair fanned out around her, dirtied by boots and gritty cobble, but still nearly shining in the dim sunlight. Her face, twisted into a rictus of pain, but so… very… painfully… familiar.

Muscular arms reached down, grabbing the front of her thick, fall dress and lifted her off the ground. The look of hopelessness in her eyes as she raised her head to look up at the man towering over her… Mana surged inside my chest and suppressed rage bubbled up like an uncontrolled potion destabilization as I stepped forward, shedding the magical aura of normality that I had cloaked around me.