He and Noone casually walked around the counter down and down the lone hallway. Noone nodded to the barkeep who looked on disinterestedly, only vaguely acknowledging him.
The walls and floor of the hallway looked to be made of a common wood planking, but a frown very quickly formed on Noone's face. Immediately he noticed his divine sense being suppressed, unable to pass through the regular wooden walls. The building seemed to naturally repel his divine sense the way water repels metal.
Noone snorted in dissatisfaction, but he continued to follow Alaviv.
Finally, the gnome arrived in front of the third set of doors. Noone casually glanced back down the hall, only to notice that the doors were further apart than they had seemed when he walked the hallways just now. Most inns had as many small single-person rooms crammed under their roof as possible. But judging by the doors, Noone assumed these rooms must have been quite a bit larger.
"That's no surprise for a gold coin." He reassured himself.
The small gnome easily slid the key into the door on the right, but instead of entering the room, Alaviv left the key in the lock and then turned around, opening the door on the other side of the hall instead. Noone’s eyes widened, and he didn’t immediately make to follow.
The gnome wizard looked back at him and nodded to Noone with a smile. “Well c’mon then. Haven’t got all day.” He casually stepped inside the room, not waiting for Noone’s response.
Noone looked back down the hallway to see the back of the bartender who didn’t notice or didn’t care about Alaviv’s actions. Finally, he shrugged and walked into the same room the gnome had moments before.
From the hallway, the room the gnome had entered looked no different from the room at any inn, but Noone’s eyes widened and his whole body tensed as soon as he passed through the doorframe, the door shutting unnaturally behind him.
Besides Noone, Alaviv stood there casually, waiting for his reaction.
Apart from slight shock – an increasingly common reaction for Noone when dealing with Alaviv – he managed to compose himself rather swiftly, immediately spreading his divine sense to try and feel out the world in front of him.
The problem was… nothing Noone saw was being picked up by his divine sense. Everything was invisible to him. Noone frowned but decided to take the initiative, not waiting for Alaviv as he stepped forward and placed his hand on the wooden railing to the stairs in front of him. It felt… real.
When he had stepped past the doorway into the room, the entire area within the space had changed. It was not a mere inn-suite like what he saw from the outside. Instead it was like he had been teleported. He stood in front of a large staircase leading to a brightly lit building, similar in style to the inn they had entered from. Only this building was a thousand times more decadent.
Alaviv followed Noone with a particularly excited pep to his stop, following closely as Noone entered the ‘inn’ in the strange space.
Noone couldn’t help but stop in his tracks as soon as he entered the building. Unlike the building he and Alaviv had been in initially, this one was bustling with all manner of people.
Humans, dwarves, elves – so many elves - and even a number of gnomes like Alaviv. No one seemed to notice or care about Noone’s sudden entrance except a few who were appreciating the shocked look on his face. When Alaviv entered behind Noone – obviously accompanying the odd gray statue of a man – most people gave him a nod and then went back to their own business. Apparently, he was well known here.
“Alaviv… what is this place?” He finally asked, looking down at the small gnome.
If it weren’t for the existence of classes and magic in this world, their difference in size would seem comical to any onlooker. A hulking statue of man wielding a dark grey great-axe and two war-axes, and a small frail-looking old man weighing no more than some breeds of dog. One could only assume any onlookers would surely ball up laughing when considering the complete disparity in strength between Al and Noone.
But in this setting, it was clear that Noone was the follower.
“This is a special magical space set up by the various magic and wizarding factions across the common realms.” Alaviv casually commented, walking between the tables and towards the bar. “Magic is a wonderous thing Noone. The wizarding schools have been in control of the teleport transports for centuries, keeping it out of the hands of those who might want to misuse it. What you see now, is an extrapolation of that magic. Two pints’ please.” He commented to the bartender. Noone was surprised to see that it was the same woman who had given Alaviv the key at the real inn they had visited.
She easily handed over two large mugs, one for Alaviv and one for Noone. Noone looked at it skeptically before glancing around the room. Everyone else was casually drinking and eating and talking, so it should be fine, he thought. Finally, he took a sip. Noone’s eyes widened and he gave a long exhale. “That’s good,” He said, looking down into the mug.
“Mhm.” Alaviv grunted as he drank. “The nice thing is that you can drink as much as you want here and never get drunk.” Alaviv smiled. The look in the gnome’s eyes made Noone wonder how much experience this little gnome had in regard to that.
“You see Noone, this space is an extrapolation of real space. But it isn’t real space. Our real bodies are still in that room at the inn in Creekview. What you see here is just your consciousness being projected into this common space. It’s much easier than trying to teleport a whole person, and much less resource intensive.”
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“Okay…” Said Noone, not sure he was fully understanding what Alaviv was saying. “So… what happens if something occurs to our real bodies back in Creekview?” Noone asked. Were they just defenseless?
“Easy. You’re too weak so you can’t compartmentalize your consciousness, but I am still just as aware in that room in Creekview as I am here.” The gnome chuckled and then held out his hand, creating an image out of thin air.
In the image, Noone could see the small gnome sitting in a rocking chair reading a book. When the image zoomed into the gnome, he looked up and smiled from his chair completely aware of what was happening. What caught Noone’s attention though was not the gnome, but his own body which was crumpled in an unceremonious heap on the floor.
Noone found himself unable to hold back a glare. Alaviv chuckled closing his hand and removing the image with it.
“Normally you would have to at least be a level 12 to gain permission to enter this space.” Alaviv commented casually. “But we have business to attend to.”
“And what business is that?” Noone asked. He didn’t like how the gnome would constantly use ‘we’ despite Noone not seeing anything of his as the gnome’s business. Alaviv smiled but said nothing.
The two sat around for the better part of a half hour, with Noone asking some casual questions about magic and the others in the space. Alaviv for the most part was happy to answer except when Noone was trying to eek more information about their purpose here.
As they sat chatting, Noone couldn’t help but listen in to some of the nearby conversations. Even he knew that the chance to eavesdrop on powerful beings like this wasn't one to be squandered.
Various topics were being discussed around the room at varying intensities. Everything from local politics in areas Noone has never heard of, to discussions of family or the composition of magic Noone didn't understand.
"The country of Cinapul sure has it rough right now." Noone managed to catch the vague tones of a man's voice from a nearby table. Despite Alaviv saying it was impossible to get drunk in this space, this man definitely seemed tipsy - to say the least. "An encroaching army from the west, a dark-elf migration from the southern lands, and tenuous relations with Coatlan and Bepieds... are you sure you want to go down there?"
The woman at the table, a young sorceress judging by her robes, merely nodded. "What do you mean about the dark elves though? I haven't heard anything about that?"
"Oh, that's right. Not everyone has heard yet. Apparently, the dark elves which like to keep to themselves in their underground cities have been pushing northward lately, encroaching on border regions."
"What? Why would they do that? They already have a pretty shaky relationships with the common realm." The woman put a finger to her chin in thought.
"I don't know." The man shook his head helplessly. The dark-elves were a very exclusionary race which were for the most part content to keep to themselves. Their society was completely independent from the rest of the common realms. Whatever brought them northward, it was either signs of an approaching war, or...
“Alright.” Alaviv said, finishing off his drink. “It should be about time.” The small gnome casually hopped off the stool and motioned for Noone to follow before arriving at a staircase near the back of the room. Noone took one last glance at the people who he had been listening to, before getting up and following Alaviv to the second floor.
When they arrived at the second floor, Noone was surprised to see a wide and almost-empty room with no furnishings or people. Instead, scattered halfhazardly through the space was one door after the next.
Each one was different. Different colors, sizes, and designs. The only thing that they had in common was that they all were freestanding in space, hovering an inch or two above the floor.
Alaviv waved his hand and produced a plain mask which he casually slid onto his face.
“Do I get one?” Noone asked, fairly sure of the answer.
“Sorry Noone. Only got the one.” He chuckled, casually passing door after door and looking around the space. “Ah, there it is.”
Noone frowned at the antics of the gnome, but he couldn’t do anything about it, so he simply followed along. Inside of his heart though, he was remembering this. “One day...” Noone thought silently to himself, letting the idea trail off.
Alaviv casually let his fingers trail across a plain wooden door, holding it open for Noone before entering himself. Noone gave Alaviv a hard look before shaking his head and entering through the freestanding door. Much like he had been expecting, as soon as he passed through, the entire scene had changed around him again.
No longer was he in a large empty room filled with freestanding doors. Now he was standing in a small room with a large table set in the middle and a single light shining from the ceiling like a miniature sun.
Numerous chairs circled the table, and Noone was able to make out the vague shape of people sitting in them. There were eight in total, and they all turned to look at Noone when he entered.
One of them raised a single hand and pointed at Noone, they looked like they were about to say something when a whoosh of noise came from behind.
Alaviv suddenly appeared next to him… or at least Noone thought so. There was a small being next to his leg, about the height of Alaviv, but the entire person was covered in a misted fog like the beings already sitting, so it was impossible to tell anything other than his vague figure.
“Don’t worry Noone, it’s me.” Alaviv looked up at Noone, smiling at him even though he knew Noone couldn’t see it. Noone Nodded but said nothing.
“Put your finger down Agnis! Don’t you know it’s rude to point?” Alaviv chuckled, casually dragging Noone to one of the chairs around the table before sitting in his own.
The person – Agnis, apparently – put her hand down with an almost visible scowl.
“You’re half an hour late, Al!” She barked, not caring for the gnome’s foolishness.
“Oh, am I? Sorry about that. Had some trouble finding the right place.” He said noncommittally. Noone couldn’t help but stare at the shape of his friend, smiling wryly. He quietly wondered just how the little gnome got to be so thick-skinned.
It just so happened that they had been wasting time in the lobby downstairs for exactly half an hour.
Was it an age thing? Or maybe it was a gnome thing?