The plates empty, I leaned back in my chair. Tom was doodling a dragon warrior fighting a cat creature, wielding sabres in each of its four arms. I looked around.

At night I was just hurrying to the hotel and it was dark so the colours weren't well distinguishable. All of the buildings on the square were painted in warm, subdued colours. The town hall in the middle was red from the first floor, the columns on the ground floor white. In the corner, further along, the side of the square the restaurant we sat at was, stood a gothic church. It seemed empty and unused. I guess, at some point, the priests settled here and moved out somewhere else by now? Honestly, the place was scarily similar to Cracow in Poland. There were even drunks swimming in the fountain on the corner we came in last night.

I couldn't remember if there was a fountain in the square in the Old Town there. Oh well.

The waiter came from inside the restaurant, carrying our bill. The door behind him remained open, propped by something. Tom threw my pouch over to me.

I put down two silver coins without checking it. "I will be back with the change in a second." The waiter said.

I jumped off the chair and waved to Tom. "Let's get you some clothes."

The kid looked over at the waiter, shrugged and followed me.

"You lead." With these words, I jumped onto the kitten's shoulders. "There are a few shops across the square", he responded with a nod.

Tom got very fluffy with his evolution and was super comfy to sit on, now that he showered. I reached to pull out a book to read but realised I left my bag at the hotel. I sang "Sympathy for the devil".

"Oh, I know this melody. Dad hums it when working." Tom piped up and began skipping a bit. I patted the kitty on the head.

I was in the middle of my third song when the cat stopped before a with a picture of a jacket on the signboard. Behind the shop window, were various mannequins dressed in fantasy outfits, you'd expect on a low-level adventurer. We came in through the open door and I had to hug Toms head, to not hit the frame with mine.

The inside continued with the anti-fantasy feel. All of the damned gear, laid or hanged neatly on shelves and racks. They were at least made out of wrought iron, and the wood for flooring was aged. Behind a counter made out of lighter wood, - on some sort of platform I guessed - stood a bare-chested, young dwarf.

"Howdy adventurers!! How are y'all doing?" Came the voice and I fucking turned off. He had a cowboy hat.

"Tom... once you've got your gear, we are going back on the road. I want my magical adventure." I said tiredly to the cat and got a pat on the head.

"Apologies kids, my brother owns the shop, but he's got sick." Yeah, yeah... I jumped off Tom and went outside. "Call me to pay!"

During the day, the shield in the air was even less visible than at night. I studied the clouds, imagining flying among them. Cowboy dwarf, manning a shop in a fake medieval city because a bunch of dragons don't like science. I chuckled, it was somewhat funny.

Ahead of me, was a shop with regular clothes, looking similar to the one behind me. Winging it, were two shops with wooden fronts, breaking the otherwise paint on brick monotony. They had tiny wooden windows without glass in them. The left one had a herb drawing and was called "Rustic Alchemy", the other one had a crude drawing of a sword and wand crossed and no name.

People were milling all over the place. Some had boxes with coverable holes, I forgot what those sorts of primitive cameras were called. Others made sketches of the sights. Mostly I thought, it was locals just going about their day.

Everyone got a little livelier when a pair of elf looking people, with a small boy between them - all of them in clothes shining with runic enchantments - walked up the street. The kid was waving around a flat stone, with a round magic circle in the middle. Occasionally he raised it, to show his parents whatever was on the other side of the device.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Both the tourists and locals pointed at the trio and whispered between themselves. Some heavily breathing teenagers run up to the pair and got some pictures signed.

The teens noticed me when they were running towards the square laughing and showing the pictures to each other. They stood and looked at me for a while, but then collectively shrugged and moved on.

Maybe nobles had celebrity status.

"I got everything Mads!" I heard from within the shop. After a few stretches from sitting on the ground, I went in. Tom was wearing a new armour set. A gambeson, in a red and black chessboard sort of print, black leather pants fitting his legs and black, leather armguards with round studs. "I hope it's okay, that they're on the expensive side?"

I shrugged and threw a gold coin towards the shopkeep. He caught it and looked at it for a while, then began grumbling and searching through shelves under the counter.

"Let's go," I said and turned to leave. From behind, Tom called out, "Not that expensi..." I was out the door, so he just followed after me.

I got picked up and put on the cat's right shoulder. The other one was occupied by a bag with Tom's casual clothes.

Tom sang something to the melody of "Bad to the bone", in a language I didn't recognise. I swayed to the beat. I wondered just how insanely diverse the music scene of a world with countless Transported was. Maybe everyone came from similar Earths and it was just endless repetition.

Back in the hotel, the priest was talking to an identical clone and two other priests. One was a woman. They all had brown hair, pale skin and similar features. The non-clone priests had sad looks in their eyes when they saw me, but turned back to continue their conversation.

I left Toms shoulder to jump over onto the reception desk. "Could you get our things?", Tom nodded to my question and run up the stairs.

"We will be leaving," I informed the receptionist. A smoke person, wearing a beige suit. The smokes features sharpened, forming a feminine face. "Of course...", the woman searched under the counter and pulled out a wooden plaque, about the size of a credit card. "Touch your key to this card, in case you will forget some of your luggage, we will send it to the Academy. You can retrieve it with this." With those words, the receptionists became unfocused again. I blew some mana at the grey cloud of a head and the woman formed a wide, fangs filled smile on it. I giggled.

"Here," Tom said and pressed the key into the card on the counter, the handed it to the smoke. I supposed he read up on this custom. I jumped onto Tom and lifted our things onto a mana platform. The card went in the pouch.

I hummed to myself all the way out of town. During the day, the large gates were open. When we passed the threshold, it turned out, rather than open, they were see-through and passable from inside. When I threw a copper coin at them from outside, it bounced off. That was a proper feature, for a magical town.

"Lead on General. To fame, glory and proper education." Tom laughed at my words and sped up.

During the day, I hunted some marmots, we passed higher up the valley. The stop for the night, we took by a mountain lake. Having a snowball fight with Tom was fun. When I began cheating with mana propelled balls, he began to shimmer a bit, appearing thinner. He was also much faster in making new snowballs and enhanced himself with mana, to throw faster balls. I responded by boosting sideways and up, or putting up mana panes. The panes mostly broke, once the cat began putting even the tiniest bit of mana in them.

Once we tired ourselves out, Tom turned in to sleep in the tent he strung between some lakeside bushes and I climbed one of the larger rocks.

In the middle of the night, I got woken up by an eagle picking me up, but since it was just an eagle... There would be some chicken for breakfast. I stored the carcass in my bag and went back to sleep on the path. The beach was just a lot of stones, so it wasn't an option. Tents got hot in the morning so I'd never sleep in one.

Someone was shaking me intensely. "Soorrry M-m-aads, I can't continue." Toms crying woke me up.

"What? Why?" I looked around, but he there was anything or anyone new in the area. It was a pleasant morning, even if the warm wind was a little strong.

"I just can't. I'm too weak, a nobody peasant... What am I doing going to such a prestigious Academy?" He was trembling. I blasted him with a manaball to the face. The hell he was doing, being this annoying in the morning?

"God!! FUCK!! MOTHERFUCKING WIND!!" The cat screamed out. His eyes widened. "Um.. don't tell anyone I swore like that." He said bashfully.

"It's fine kid.. so.. in these mountains, the southern wind is magical?" I asked, but before he could answer I just waved my hand. "Whatever, I have some chicken for us, you pluck it and I will find the spices." 

I took the eagle out of my bag and crawled into Tom's tent to search his backpack. Inside, I blasted my own face with the manaballs, just in case. I felt my irritation wash away. Halny, huh? Hopefully it wasn't a common wind here.

When I came out, Tom was bleeding from his right arm and the eagle was laying on a flat stone. "I will bandage myself." He said, shaking his head. "Stupid banging wind." He mumbled as he was passing me.