Mahon and Jorik walked through the streets of Lakefield, following their map to the famous Living streets, the supposed meeting place of mathemagicians. Siraye had talked a bit about that place, but even then, she couldn’t have said anything that would have prepared the duo to the awe they felt once they entered the area.

From bottom to top, the walls of the street they walked through were painted and sculpted. One could barely make out the windows and doors, given how well they were concealed in the work of art. Real-size humans were depicted and sculpted conducting their daily business.

Hundreds and hundreds of them.

The ones at the forefront emerged from the walls, here a head or an arm, carved out and painted, almost looking alive for how detailed they were. Behind them, a city life had been painted with such realism that it was hard to tell at a glance if it was real or not. Shops, restaurants, people, they were all depicted in all their complexity.

Above their heads, trees and branches were emerging from the walls, sometimes even touching each other through the width of the street. Birds were flying through their foliage, monkeys were chasing each other under their shades, and many other animals were inhabiting the top of the walls.

They were all frozen in stone, obviously, but so vividly depicted that it wouldn’t surprise Mahon if they suddenly came alive. Adding the fact that a real bird, or cat, would fly or walk through them from time to time, and the illusion of all of them being alive was more than complete.

It was even more the case for all the human artworks. The scenes were only the result of sculpture and paintings, and yet it was so well done that the overall impression was simply shocking. Real people were wandering the street like everywhere else, but in the Living streets area, it only added to the confusion of what was real and what was not.

In the end, Mahon got the feeling he wasn’t in a street anymore, but instead in the large plaza of a dreamy city, lost somewhere in the woods.

He and Jorik forgot their goal for an instant, and they simply followed their feet along the streets. Watching the endless scenes and getting immersed in the magic atmosphere of the Living streets. They didn’t know where to look at, lost among the many landscapes the streets were taking them through.

“Excuse me, young man.” A middle-aged man with a beard as long as his arms and shaggy hair stopped Mahon. “Are you looking for me?” He pivoted his head and looked at Mahon with a single globular eye.

Mahon’s first reflex was to reach for his sword. He hadn’t sensed the man coming for him, but he quickly realized the worst that man could do to him was to announce the end of the world or try to recruit him in a weird sect, but he was otherwise harmless.

“No, sorry.” Mahon tried to move around the man, but the latter walked in his way.

“Really, boy? My senses rarely fail me. Weren’t you looking for a mathemagician?”

Mahon stopped dead in his tracks and looked skeptically at the man. “You’re a mathemagician?”

“But of course! Aren’t you listening to anything I just told you? Who could I be but a mathemagician?”

Jorik eyed the situation from the side with the same skeptical look as Mahon. “A beggar trying to rob the tourists by pretending to be a mathemagician?” He chimed in. “I swear if your next move is to ask for money for a divination, I’ll kick your ass.”

“What?!” The man opened his eyes wide and turned his head to the side when he looked at Jorik. “How am I supposed to eat if I don’t ask for money? Uh? Tell me, you smart dumbass!” The man pointed his finger threateningly towards Jorik. “The young have no respect for their elders these days.” He muttered in his beard. “Well, then it’s up to you to believe me or not.” The man shrugged and started walking away.

“Wait.” Mahon intercepted the man. “How can we know if you’re the real deal?”

“Pfah!” The man laughed. “Just look at me!”

“I only see a man exhausted by life.”

“It’s because you’re only using your eyes!” The man knocked on Mahon’s head to reprimand him. “You don’t see shit!”

Instinctively Mahon used the Flow, but nothing special appeared about the man.

“Pretty trick!” The man knocked again on Mahon’s head, a bit harder this time. “But you’re still not getting anything! Why is everyone so blind to the world?” He added for himself, but it was loud enough that Mahon and Jorik heard him pretty well.

“Ah.. Kids, these days… They expect everything to fall into their mouth, cleaned and cooked…” He gestured for them to come after him as he started to walk aimlessly between the passerby. “Tell me, what do you see?” He made a wide gesture encompassing all his surroundings.

“A street?” Mahon tried.

“Wrong!” The eccentric man snapped immediately. “That’s only an interpretation of your stupid brain. But if you go beyond that, the world is made of numbers.”

“Numbers? Like 6 and 28?” Mahon suddenly grew interested.

Although the man was rambling nonsense after nonsense, they approached a subject that related to the Fada.

“Shut up! Don’t mention them if you don’t know what they mean!” The man reprimanded him. “You’re way too low to understand a damn thing. I said numbers, not perfect numbers. How do you think the world exists? What characterizes you? Or him? Or this house?”

Seeing Mahon’s pensive look, the man stopped and pointed his finger below Mahon’s nose. “And don’t dare spit any bullshit about feelings, heart or whatever crap you got in your head!”

“I don’t know.” Mahon shook his head, lost by the man’s jabbering.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Eh! Not so lost, then. The first decent answer I heard in a while!” The man acquiesced with an appreciative look before moving close to them. “Let me tell you, then, since you came looking for answers. If you look behind the curtain,” he started to whisper while mimicking pushing away a curtain, “there are constants!”

The man then didn’t add anything for seconds. “Constants?” Jorik chimed in after some time.

“Shut up, boy! I was obviously not finished! Can’t you just wait for the explanation? Not only do I have to make it simple enough for your dumb mind, but if you don’t make any effort yourself, there is no point in talking about it!”

The man glared at Jorik as if waiting for something, and Jorik finally muttered a word of apology that seemed to satisfy the old man.

“So, as I was saying. Numbers are just numbers. And they aren’t. Because constants. Get it? Otherwise it would crumble on his own foundations. That’s basic knowledge. But what are our constants, eh? The Fada knew, obviously, otherwise they wouldn’t have made such a mess about them.”

“I don’t get it.” Mahon finally said, after waiting for a long minute without any other word from the man.

“Ah! See? You’re getting smarter by the minute! Told you it was worth listening to this old Goodman! Now, how to make you understand such a simple thing… Oh! Come! Follow me! I’ll show you!”

Mahon and Jorik exchanged a puzzled look, but since the man had mentioned Fada and wasn’t that adamant to take their purse, they decided to follow him. Siraye had explained how most mathemagicians had not all their heads, and it was comforting them into thinking that this Goodman person was the real deal. Worst-case scenario, he tried to rob them, but there weren't many things that could threaten Jorik, and even less Mahon so they simply went along the flow.

Goodman walked through the streets with a clear purpose. For him. Because what he was looking for completely escaped Mahon and Jorik’s comprehension. The man was almost walking on his four, searching for something between the passersby’s legs and the street walls.

After walking like that for a hundred meters, and before Mahon decided they had followed him long enough, he suddenly stood up while shouting loudly.

“Ah! There it is!” He made a gesture to Mahon and Jorik to come closer while pointing to something curved on itself, stopping in a theatrical pose. “The constants!”

Mahon walked to him, but after looking at the cat-like animal the man was pointing to, it only added to his confusion. Except the animal had six legs instead of four, Mahon could only throw a puzzled look at the man. “A cat?”

“A cat?!! You dare!” He exclaimed. “Don’t get angry sweetie, he doesn’t know what he is talking about.” Goodman added as if talking to the animal, placing his hand around his mouth in such a way Mahon wasn’t supposed to hear, but he spoke so loudly he didn’t make any difference. The cat-like animal only glanced at them with an indifferent look before going back to its nap.

“This is a bisduo!” The man then spoke to Mahon with a wide smile.

Seeing Mahon didn’t share his wide smile, nor had any sudden illumination he sighed loudly before sitting down near the bisduo who continued to ignore them completely.

“Ok. I can feel you’re starting from very, very far. Tell me, you know what reproduction is?”

“Yes.” Mahon answered almost defensively at the abrupt change of subject.

“Ehh… Why am I not even surprised? Kids these days, they only think about… Anyway! Where was I?”

“Reproduction?”

“No. Before that!”

“The bisduo?”

“Oh, right! Ok. Say you take two opposite sex whatever and they reproduce. How many offspring would they have?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Just answer the question, boy! I’m trying to help you!”

Mahon thought about it before he tried his luck. “It depends on the species?”

“Exactly!” The man exclaimed loudly, taking Mahon by surprise. “It depends! Hehehe. But! There is a catch. Indulge this old Goodman for a bit longer, and imagine there is a species that only reproduces once and only has one offspring. What would happen of it, in the long term?”

“You mean after endless cycles of reproduction?”

“Of course boy that’s what I meant by in the long term! No need to be so specific. Stop your perverse thoughts now and answer me!”

“Their population is halved after each… uh… cycle… and in the end there is none left?”

“Good answer! And now, what if that same species had three offspring? What would happen?”

“It would grow? Becoming more numerous after each cycle.”

“A second good answer! I’m starting to believe you’re less stupid that what you look. I just need to explain for long enough… Ah! Whatever! Now you see it, right? The constant? If a species has exactly two offspring, then it will stay the same forever. Two is the reproduction constant. Less than it and you dwindle. More, and you inflate.”

Goodman took a dramatic pause before continuing while pointing at the sleeping six-legged cat near him. “The bisduo is exactly that species. Almost immortal, only reproduces once it’s about to die and gives exactly two offspring. It’s a constant of our world.”

“Ok…” Mahon answered, not sure of what he was supposed to understand, nor infer from their previous topic. “What about the Fada, then?”

“The Fada admired the constants, obviously, as we should all. The bisduo is just an example of one. There are actually so many of them! But so few that actually matter…” Goodman added with a mysterious face.

“Like the colors?” Mahon tried.

“The colors? Pfaah! What about it? They’re an infinite number of colors. How could they be any constant? Don’t start to get dumber on me! You’re still seeing things with your eyes when you should observe with the constants! They define everything!”

“What are the constants then?”

“Who knows? The constants are variables!” The man smiled widely. “But! There are constants worth more than others. The Fada weren’t just mere admirers, no. They understood… The reproduction constant is just a dumb cat shit good to entertain children. But when we’re talking about the constants, then they can only be six. Makes sense, eh?”

“...”

“You ain’t ready to know them, though. You’re too stuck to your sight. Colors? Bah! I haven’t heard that one in a while!”

“Can I ask you a question?” Mahon was finally starting to lose patience. If that man was really a mathemagician, then there was nothing much they could get out of it. Even if they managed to decipher what he meant behind all his nonsense, that wasn’t going to help them find anything about the Immortal Kings.

“Too late! You already did!” The man bursted out laughing.

“Do you know anything about the Amentiae?” Jorik interrupted before the crazy man went further into madness.

“Amentiae?! But of course, my dear! Why didn’t you ask directly? It would have saved us a lot of time!”

“Really?!”

“No! What the heck is Amentiae? Do I look like an encyclopedia to you? Seems like I will have to add stupidity to your list of constants. Make sure not to raise it to a power, eh?”

Jorik threw the man a dead glare while the madman laughed even louder than before.

“That face! It’s worth more than anything you could have paid me, you poor ignorants! Consider ourselves even, then! It was Nelson Goodman performing for you!” He saluted, mimicking taking off a hat. “And bring some food the next time you come. I’m always hungry for knowledge!” He added before walking away while whistling leisurely.