It didn't take even 24 hours before Jin's dislike of honest and hard work would show up even in his new profession. By the time the sun was rising, everyone received a wake-up call they wouldn't forget. Tiny sparks entered everyone's rooms and then manifested into a glowing image of Manuel. If the light itself didn't wake the kids up then his shouted "Good morning!" certainly did.
"I need you all in my tower in about an hour. I repeat. In my tower in an hour. Don't be late!" The apparition winked and disappeared.
Jin reached for his helmet and almost threw it at the projection, but this early in the morning, his reaction time was still far too slow, so the wizard managed to disappear long before the metal lid would hit its mark.
Almost an hour later, four small figures gathered at the top of the hill overlooking the village. The way they shuffled their feet and wobbled from side to side made them all look like the product of necromancy.
"Mornin'" Jin mumbled to the others.
"Nin'" Kaili replied. "Early wake-ups can be brutal," she complained.
"Kaili, shut up. You didn't just walk up this entire hill," Cia grumbled.
"Neither did you!" Jin hissed, commenting on the fact that a few minutes ago, she managed to persuade him, through ceaseless begging, to carry her on his shoulders.
"We really need those rooms in the tower," Airo said.
"Did you talk to your parents?" Kaili asked. "How did they take it?"
"Got very emotional about me leaving the nest, but they'd allow it," Cia shared her story.
"Mine were also quite okay with it. Manuel is like a local hero, so the idea of me working for him as a sort of apprentice got them really excited. They still want me to stick to my duties and call the clouds though," said Airo.
"You guys are lucky," Jin muttered.
"Yours didn't take it well?"
"Nah. Got scolded for turning my back on family tradition. They agreed eventually, but I had to listen to their lectures for hours!"
By the time the group reached the tower, Manuel was already waiting for them, waving from the doorway.
"Come on in, come on in! Please wipe your shoes and feet before you enter, I have swept the floor for the first time in... five months? Six months? Basically, clean floor, so no dirt around here!"
Jin looked down at the doormat, which, like almost anything else in the tower, sported the image of Manuel's winking face.
"You really don't mind people wiping their shoes into a picture of you?"
"Of course not. My friendly yet stern look reminds them they should try to keep this tower clear. Now please, wobble your way over to the dining room. Breakfast is ready."
The quartet shuffled inside and up the stairs. To their surprise, Manuel had prepared for them quite the feast. Each of their plates was filled with a different kind of meal.
"Have a seat. Bacon and eggs for the little devil and our short human. Fruit smoothie for Airo, along with a can of fresh mountain air. And for our vegetarian dryad, a toast with a goblin avocado spread. Bon apetite."
The kids sat down, staring at the marvellous plates in front of them.
"Now, eat up. I will prepare today's packages in the meantime. We've got our first three customers! I'm so excited!" The wizard quivered with joy and then immediately disappeared.
Jin did not wait for one second before diving into this culinary experience head-first, and Cia didn't let herself be left behind. Compared to the oatmeal or buttered bread they were used to, this was like the feast of royalty.
"What on earth is a goblin avocado spread?" Kaili asked, looking confused at the green paste covering her toast. She reluctantly reached for it a took a bite. All the doubts dissipated the moment it reached her taste buds. It was mild and soft, yet with a pleasantly sour taste, almost like eating a lemon-flavoured creamy cheese.
Airo smiled when he saw his own breakfast. Usually, people never prepared anything for him. After all, the nutrients Cloudfolk needed were absorbed from the air, and therefore nobody ever even gave him a plate, let alone prepare a drink for him. He took a sip. The flavours in the smoothie were not ones he would recognize. There might have been a strawberry someone in there, but it was smothered by the myriad of other, much more exotic tastes. Nevertheless, he could not complain. The drink was delicious.
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"Okay, I'll take the air," a grumpy voice broke the silence and the sound of cutlery. A long, green serpent with a beak not too different from that of a tortoise emerged from Airo's back and headed for the can of air.
"Nu-uh!" Airo protested and Jin, seeing the Whispcoil manifest itself once more, quickly pulled the can away.
It has been years now since Airo met Pecker. During their very early childhood, the young Cloudfolk had a fascination with reptiles. All the kids remembered the times when they used to go out onto the rocky meadow to the east and look for lizards bathing in the sun. Unfortunately, they found something else as well. Whispcoils were a symbiotic species, attaching themselves to the souls of people, offering their wisdom in exchange for food. Pecker, however, was much more of a curse than a blessing. His wisdom could barely count as common sense, and Airo's inability to eat normal food meant that the serpent was stuck living on air for the rest of his life. For years now, they have been each other's personal hell.
"Come on! He gets the smoothie, I get the whiff!" Pecker complained and gently, yet uncomfortably, bit Jin in the forearm, trying to make him drop the canister.
"Hey! Let him go! We'll both have some!" Airo tried to come to a compromise, which the serpent agreed to, but not without rolling his eyes a bunch of times. The two pressed their heads against each other and stuck their noses as close to the can as possible. The moment Airo opened it, a fresh, cold air filled his lungs. He let out a satisfying "ah!" almost automatically. It was unlike anything he breathed before. He had heard that mountain air was fresh and wonderful for the Cloudfolk, but he never had the chance to taste it until now.
The food as if it had poured new life into their weary bodies. All signs of fatigue were gone, and as they headed downstairs to join Manuel, faint traces of excitement tickled at the backs of their minds. Pecker, now satisfied with the food, had also retreated back into the depths of Airo's soul, keeping himself hidden from the archmage.
"Alright, here's the deliveries!" Manuel exclaimed as he teleported the last of the three boxes onto the table. "One will be delivered to Rainet in Lucana province. Ever been there?" The kids shook their heads. They barely knew on which continent the Lucana province was, let alone knowing anything about some specific city. "The second is... huh, coordinates are pretty much in the middle of nowhere and underground. Oh well, I'm sure that'll be fine. And the third is on a small island somewhere near the 30° mark. Can't say I've ever been there, so you'll have to find a way around on your own."
"Umm, hold on a sec," Cia interrupted him before he could continue. "Those places are like all over the world, no? How the hell are we supposed to find our way around?"
"Not to worry, languages in those places should be mostly the same, minus the dialects. Plus, each package has a specific address written on it. All you have to do is find the place with the same label and give the boxes to their new owners."
"Alright, but how will we get there in the first place?" Kaili threw her own question into the conversation.
"Simple! Follow me. And take the boxes."
Each of the packages was tied down by a series of straps, two of which were sticking out, allowing them to be fastened onto someone's back, like a backpack. Judging from the sizes of the crates, it was clear that Cia could not carry either of them, as they were almost bigger than her. The remaining trio therefore took a box each before following Manuel down another set of stairs, into what seemed to be a cellar.
The place was much colder than the rest of the tower. Everything down there was made of precisely carved stone bricks. Only the stairs stayed wooden, matching those found on the upper floors. Down there sat a single large round room. Stone arches were embedded into the walls, almost as if the tower once had more chambers down here, which were eventually sealed away, except for one, which still seemed to be available, only hidden behind a simple wooden door. Tiny blue gemstones were hanging from the ceiling on thin chains. Their glow provided the place with some much-needed illumination. The thing that grabbed everyone's attention, however, was the orb floating above a pedestal sitting in the very centre of the room.
"This here is the Cordicon. Come on, don't worry, get a bit closer. See the surface? It's not actually smooth." Manuel was right. Upon closer inspection, the object truly didn't seem like a ball, but rather some sort of a polyhedron with so many sides they could not be easily counted.
"It has 120 different symbols. They work as coordinates. You touch six different symbols and a portal opens to a place with that address. And before you ask, yes, I did map countless of those locations myself. Yes indeed, it was quite a difficult task, and yes, it took me several decades. If you'd be curious about some of the addresses and where they lead, I have a detailed documentation in the library upstairs. Look for a book with a yellow cover labelled My Hand-picked Locations for Perfect Teleportation, by Manuel Luzardi." His fingers danced over the surface of the orb. He pressed a symbol, then waved his arm around to rotate the object and pressed another. Like this, he put in the entire six-symbol address. A beam of blue light shot out of the Cordicon and towards the wall, where the light spread out, fully filling out the space in one of the arches with what seemed to be a wriggling pool of blue jelly.
"There we go! The portal is all ready and set. Now after you land, make sure to sit down. Your minds will need time to adjust to the different orientation of that part of the world. You might feel like the ground is bent or going uphill, but that is only temporary. I recommend not going anywhere until the effects subside, or you might fall. Oh! Also, if you fall, please make sure you fall forward. I can fix almost any injury you might sustain during such a fall, but fixing a broken package would be much harder, not to mention that it might cause some significant delays in delivery. The portal will close after you but don't worry, if you approach its previous location, it will reopen for you. Every traveller is automatically marked by the portal, so they can return where they came from without risking some passerby accidentally stepping through. Quite the brilliant safety measure, if I do say so myself." He stepped aside and waved towards the portal, signalling that his little couriers were free to go.
"Wait, what if we get into trouble?" Jin asked, doubts gnawing in his mind where excitement once resided.
"Oh, you needn't worry, my friend. You are well prepared to face any trouble you might come across. But just in case, I'll be keeping an eye." He winked and practically pushed Jin into the portal before the others could even react. "Now, who goes next?"