Terrance had a boring life.

     A low-level file clerk in the public records office, Terrance’s life as anything but interesting. With this supreme and inextinguishable free time, his life was primarily spent online. Terrance, unable to get a date, felt scorned by the ‘other’ gender. Terance, upon being overlooked for a promotion in favor of an immigrant who had twice his service years felt railroaded. Terrance was not alone.

     Listening to podcasts and reading material others in his generation would deem ‘unenlightened’ he felt a strange kinship to this group. Sharing adventure stories where they played the hero, Ideas of valor and unity under a common goal.

     Children… Children are pure because they know no better. However, they must also be protected because they know no better. But when one does not outgrow their childish thing, a level of self-reflection is a necessity for the separation of fiction from reality.

     That self-reflection is not what he got in his group of like-minded peers. Cheering him on for how right he is and how people who disagree are just mad about how right he is.

     Now, in the year 2037. That was nearly twenty years in Terrance’s past.

     Having made no effort in seeking happiness he still blames the monotony of his life on others. However, one important thing has now changed. The return of magic, the great equalizer of all in his mind.

     After being sent away from his boring yet enjoyably predictable desk job he has been brought to another country because of some treaty he knew nothing about. Not fifteen minutes after stepping out of the portal, Terrance heard a word he never thought would be used in a realistic setting.

     “Genie.”

     ***

     “Jamie, I would like to introduce you to Terrance the HIGH ELF.” The last two words being emphasized with near-magical authority as Zippy clenched his teeth. “And Brandon, the Canadian Leprechaun.”

     Jamie, having not heard Zippy’s impassioned speech against the High Elf state of mind, did not understand why he was so upset. “Good to meet you.”

     Slowly Jamie pulled the Hunter’s Dagger out of their pocket and handed it to the short gnome whos eyes grew as big as dinner plates. “Where did you get this? This is a relic this is… I’ll meet you at the store shortly.” Zippy quickly rushed away, pulling the high-elf by his sleeve as the person stared long at Jamie.

     Jamie had more to talk about but Zippy did seem busy, walking away to find their best friend Billy Joe. On a Friday like today Jamie walked down to the local diner, expecting Billie Joe to be in her usual spot.

     When they got closer to the center of town, the gigantic green portal was active once again. Construction materials and even pre-made buildings being hauled in by gigantic trucks. The middle of town already gaining two new buildings.

     A large building, more tall than wide with at least three floors stood not too far from Clarice’s Butchery. The entire building was a purplish black. A small signboard was being put together in front of the building. So far, the sign read ‘Zephryndale’s Eth…’ and what looked to be a humanoid bird was finishing the lettering.

     The other was… A forge? A literal forge was being constructed just to the other side of Clarice’s Butchery as well. Jamie stared on in amazement as multiple builders were hauling massive pieces of timber or bricks over, constructing the furnace. Darnell’s voice could easily be heard from the outside by any passerby, yelling orders about one thing or another.

     Going toward the diner on the south side of town, past the portal toward the lip of the flying rock; Jamie spotted something, off. Jerome was inside the diner, and across from him was the lamp and the glowing red rope of pure magic!

     Rushing inside Jamie was panting as they saw the two look over at them. Yes, look, as the rope of magic had now formed ahead for itself. Reptilian, no, Jamie quickly recognized it as a kind of salamander, an axolotl, having multiple small fins right behind its head and an almost dopily happy look on its face.

     “What are you two doing here?” Jamie asked in exasperation.

     “Eating. Jerome responded, holding up a double bacon burger; making Jamie’s stomach churn a little. While not forceful about it Jamie was a vegetarian, simply disliking the idea of eating anything they may one day find out was cute. Cows and pigs are quite cute.

     “I noticed that, but what’s that fella doing out of the shop?” Jamie asked, faking covering their face in exasperation. Truthfully they were covering their nose, even though they had a conscience, they couldn’t deny how good it smelled.

     “I asked if I could try the eating thing everyone else keeps enjoying.” The now axolotl faced apparition said, slurping a gigantic milkshake with a small order of pretty much everything the diner served in front of them. “I quite like this drink. I didn’t at first, but then Jerome said I should try making taste buds and now it’s great!”

     “I’m partly at fault too, I wanted em to make me a burger but it didn’t know what it was so then one thing led to another an’ here we are.” Jerome smiled with a handful of fries in his mouth.

     “So, you’re saying some of these are creatures? Like they have to die for the components to make this?” asked the mana being as it tried a bite of faux fried chicken.

     “Yeah, well, they don’t but just hackin’ off a piece would be cruel ya know Will?” Jarome responded, letting out a low burp of satisfaction.

     “Hmmmmmmmm.” Was the only response from Will.

     “Will?” Jamie asked

     “Yes?” Came an eager reply from the genie.

     “Hold on, let me explain. Looks like thisn’s name’s Will, picked it themself.” piped up the sheriff.

     Jamie, now having a weird respect for the genie put their hand forward without thinking. Will, for their part, understood what was going on; putting their non-head end in the hand and shaking it.

     “Good to meet you Will, I’m Jamie.” the shopkeeper smiled down.

     “I know.” The axolotl smiled dopily then got back to their milkshake.

     Jamie, now realizing how out of nowhere that was blushed a little, then got back to trying to find Billy Joe. Sitting at the counter like normal she was smiling at the waitress again.

     “You do know she’ll never figure it out if you don’t say anything, right?” Jamie asked from behind the young woman, startling Billy Joe.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

     “Shut it, what’s up? Thought you had shop duty today.” She smirked at them.

     “I do, but well, our red friend over there surprised me this morning. Even considering the other stuff I mean. Just trust me, you have GOT to come with me right away, I’ve found something sooooo cool!” They said, nearly jumping from excitement, their baggy clothes making it much easier to hide.

     “Fine, but it better be good. And I do mean better than game addicted stuffed animals and action figures.” Billy Joe laughed, standing up from her seat and leaving a twenty-dollar tip on the receipt.

     Jamie and Billy Joe walked back past the portal, past the courthouse, to the small gravel side road and 'Savvy Scavengers.’

     Zippy was already waiting; tapping his foot impatiently on the ground. “Come on, get back inside, show me that knife!”

     As soon as Jamie unlocked the front door Zippy pushed the two young humans inside the shop, magically locking the door behind them.

     Jamie, getting the clue sat down at a small set of chairs and a table, pulling out the hard magic list of items and handing them to Zippy. “Looks like the Genie knows about these six, I know this knife is good, Those are some videogame worthy bonuses there, like boss drop stuff. What am I looking at for these?”

     Zippy, letting out a loud sigh smiled at them. “How about we go through this one by one, huh? Looks like first we have… looks like the Sourglass. Hmm. Food storage has gotten a long way from my time, even ice mages would have liked something like this to keep their food fresh when cooking. Maybe a butcher? There have to be expensive yet rarely sold cuts of meat and such. Do we know how long the thing needs until it’s reset?

     “Looks like the hourglass was originally eight hours, eight times eight...sixty four. Only needs to be turned once every three and a half days or so.” Jamie said after checking an older digitized inventory log on their phone. Seems that effort was finally paying off.

     “Good, then I’d say you could get about Four to Five hundred from a meat seller. I’d recommend the butcher, she’s kind of intimidating and you might want to be on her good side.” Zippy nodded in solemn reverence.

     Jamie, understanding her fury quite well agreed. “Alright, after that we got… The Elder’s Staff of Tricks. Huh, honestly I don’t see this selling too well. It’s so specific that even using it as a walking aid wouldn’t help that much, and I’d rather not sell something off that is, you know, MAGIC for too cheap.”

     Zippy nodded in acknowledgment. “What about this ‘Tireless Derby?’ what do those stats mean?”

     Billy Joe, noticing the specific stat listed raised an eyebrow. “Intelligence?”

     “According to Will it helps you study better or something, it helps you remember what you learned while wearing it.” Jamie nodded succinctly.

     “Will? And how much is plus five? Depending on the scale that could be great or awful. Five percent?” Billy Joe countered.

     “Good… point.” Jamie conceded.

     “Alright, so that’s a maybe on the hat, next we have the ‘Picto-Globe’ huh. This would be worth hundreds of pounds of gold in my time but now? I’d say donate it to a classroom.” Zippy acknowledged solemnly.

     “Gathered as much. What about the knife?” Jamie asked hopefully, handing the treasure to the gnome.

     “Hmmmmmmmmmm, it looks to be a relic, this was used for an extended period of time by someone who accomplished a great task. I think if you fou. AAAH?! WHAT?” The gnome jumped back as a small blue screen appeared above the knife.

     “What the hell?” Billy Joe asked in a singsong voice looking closely at the pannel.

* Hunter’s Dagger of Skinning: The Forgotten Trail of the Forgotten Trailblazer.

* This dagger was used by a great person in a time of deep strife. This blade was used to provide for the downtrodden, to clean kills, and to deliver the supplies for their oppressors downfall. This Dagger has forgotten the name of its once great owner. Discover the name to fulfill this enchanted item’s request.

* Reward: Name change of item. Psychically imparted survival and hunting knowledge.

* Optional Quest: Return of the People

* Return this item to the survivors of the people if there are any.

* Optional Reward: Great yet unknown power.

     “Is that a…” Jamie mumbled it out.

     “Quest screen… But how?” Billy Joe responded, still enraptured by the odd event.

     “Well, I’d say by the genie, Will. Seems they can touch the souls of inanimate objects, grant them wishes or something. Considering the knowledge it’s taken a liking too, is it really so odd for it to mimic it in some way of trying to balance the universe?” Zippy asked, wide-eyed and still just as enraptured as the rest, but for a much different reason.

     “Don’t you see what’s happening? Will is a manifestation of mana, of magic. It would not be too far of a stretch to consider Will to be the literal will of magic. There may be changes happening that I could have never predicted. What will a world starved of magic give up as its greatest items, how will the world handle those items… I get the feeling I should stop by a town with a games store and do some research.” Zippy half mumbled half ranted.

     “So uhm… what does this do to the value?” Asked Jamie confused.

     “Well, you could sell it as-is with a markup for the quest but… I don’t know, even I’m getting a powerful feeling from this artifact, you may just need to take whatever price you get from the ‘right buyer’.” Zippy said cryptically.

     “Huh?” Jamie asked confused, finally pulling themselves from looking at the screen.

     “Well, from what I can tell the last hundred or so years has been obsessed with great quests and such right? You may not have had the hands of fate before, but you do now. Hold it, you tell me what you think is right.” The ancient mage responded.

     Jamie, picking up the dagger knew. Knew it somewhere deep down, someplace they didn’t know they had. In that deep core of their being, they knew they needed to hold onto this. “Wh.. what do I do with it then?”

     “Well, I can right up a runic contract. Let hunters take the knife out and use it, magically compel them to bring it back after so long.”

     “That’s… those are real? And what if something happens to it and it breaks?” Jamie asked, flabbergast.

     “Yeah, but there’s tons of rules, still, a general loaning agreement is really simple and as for breaking it.. Well…” Zippy placed the knife closed on the table. Focusing for a second, a purple aura surrounded his hand. “Got anything metal that’s fake and you don’t mind breaking?”

     Billy Joe pulled out one of her old knives. “Got this from an ex.”

     Zippy brought his hand down against the side of the closed knife. A noise like sandpaper rubbing at high speeds filled the room, Jamie and Billy Joe had to look away. When they returned their vision, the knife had been cleanly cut in two, the loose blade flopping to the table.

     “Now, see what happens when I touch this,” Zippy said with a grin, bringing their magically enhanced hand of destruction near Jamie’s big payday.

     “Noooooooo!” Jamie screamed it so loud and it tapers off in such a way any defeated villain would be proud. Zippy took his hand and pressed as hard as he could against the knife, yet no damage was being taken by the blade, the casing or any part of it.

     “Enchanted items, hard to break. The heavier the enchantment, harder to pop. This thing would be most likely near-legendary, something that if made on purpose would take someone maybe one hundred years of their life and mastery in the craft. I genuinely doubt anything short of a volcano could hurt it.” Zippy said, an air of cockiness in his voice.

     “Okay… so you can make it safe to loan out?” Jamie asked confusedly, but still excited.

     “Yeah, I’ll bring the papers by in the morning.” Zippy smiled at the antiques dealer. It was an honor to be in the mere presence of something like this. This would be a jealously guarded relic in the age past. “And what about this cursed whip?”

     “Jerome already bought it to hang up or something. Said he liked its character or something.” Jamie shrugged, everything about that thing made them uncomfortable.

     “Ah, well, fine enough. I don’t think it would have changed the price anyway.”

     Suddenly a massive orange light shown through the windows in the shop as it sailed straight up in a column of light. Then, a massive booming sound and debris flew through the sky. The buildings and the portal in the way it was impossible to tell what had happened, however.

     Zippy, sighed ruefully and got to his feet, pulling his two companions with him. “I really was hoping people would have changed more in the time we’ve been gone. Still seems near impossible to trust a High Elf.”