“What is wrong with these people?” Ian muttered while using a towel to soak up the water that spewed from his mouth earlier. The previous News announcement left him fairly dumbfounded. Apparently, the radicals of the Nature Purist movement had gained enough influence to get national laws put in place for their beliefs. Something about it did not sit right with him.

“How am I supposed to answer that? If you don’t understand the people of your world, then it’s doubtful I would do any better,” Gaelan retorted, answering the rhetorical question. The man, still sitting on the couch, ran a hand through his black hair, which he had untied. In Ian’s opinion, he looked very similar to Aragorn from the old Lord of the Rings movies, especially with the five o’ clock shadow. Too bad his purple irises ruined the image.

“Well, based on what they said, I’m pretty sure it will cause conflict within the group since the supposed leader doesn’t exactly adhere to that,” Ian said.

“Still, your world is crazy,” Gaelan replied. “Is all the stuff they said on that box actually going on?”

“Sort of,” Ian answered, standing up with the damp towel in hand, “A lot of it gets altered, though most people prefer not to worry about it and let themselves get swayed by half-truths. That last bit, though, seemed true enough, as strange as it was.”

“Hoh~? You are probably the strange one here, aren’t you?” Gaelan asked, cackling for a moment, “Although we’ve only known each other for a few days, I get the impression that you fit in better in Regnoras rather than here.”

At Gaelan’s words, Ian stopped drying off the coffee table and fell into deep contemplation. He could not deny the statement. After all, besides the initial painful experience of obtaining Dark Matter or running into a werewolf, he enjoyed every moment of living in Regnoras. It gave him a sense of belonging.

“On another note,” Gaelan continued, “the magic here is… strange.”

Raising a brow, Ian asked, “What do you mean? There’s never been magic in this world.”

In response, Gaelan furrowed his brows, rubbed his beard, and said, “There is. It just feels… asleep, I suppose. If there wasn’t any magic, I doubt that gateway between worlds would have appeared in your room. There are probably more out there, too, considering Dustin made it to Regnoras as well.”

“Ah, I forgot about him…” Ian somberly muttered. Then, he thought, Wait, doesn’t that mean there might be others who can use magic here?

Lifting a hand, Gaelan said, “I’m going to test it.”

Dark particles emitted from his uplifted hand even as he spoke. They dispersed around the room like the feelers of an insect. Later on, Ian would come to understand the function behind it, but for now, he could only observe with a puzzled expression.

A minute later, the particles raced back into Gaelan’s arm and he frowned. Face scrunched in concern, he said, “It would seem that I can’t recover any magic here after using it. Any magic we use will be severely limited. The Dark Matter stored in our bodies will gradually run out.”

“What do you mean by Dark Matter in our bodies?”

“Oh, the little black things you see when we use magic comes from our own bodies. Ambient Dark Matter is invisible to everyone without exception, though I didn’t understand everything Dustin explained about it. Did I never mention it?”

“No, you didn’t. Explains why I don’t see black dots everywhere, though,” Ian replied as he resumed wiping up the water on the table.

Shrugging, Gaelan leaned back on the sofa and closed his eyes. Silence fell over the room aside from the squeaking generated by the hand towel rubbing against the faux marble surface. Once Ian finished drying it, he wandered over to the kitchen to hang the towel on the oven handle. Along the way, he yawned. He felt more tired than he had in several days. Looking around the corner at his mentor, he said, “We may as well go to sleep now. Do you want to sleep on that couch or my bed?”

“The couch, for sure,” Gaelan instantly answered without hesitation.

Recalling the times he slept on the couch, Ian understood the man’s decision. Without further ado, he retrieved a spare quilt and pillow from his closet for the man. Prior to falling asleep, he took a shower and showed Gaelan how to use it after he finished. One does not simply use the shower at a friend’s house, however, especially when from an otherworld city lacking plumbing. At least the man proved good at adapting to unfamiliar scenarios and quickly figured it out. Afterwards, Ian left the guy to it and plopped down on his foam-topped mattress and pulled out his phone.

“Miri, pull up my jungle account.”

[Very well.] Came the electronic reply. Immediately, Ian’s phone opened a web page for the account. Then, he took pictures of the chisels, hammers, and other tools his mentor gave him. Sitting against the headboard of the bed, he hoped these items would open the doorway to earning enough to keep the apartment.

“Miri, what’s the average selling price for handcrafted chisels or the other tools I took pictures of?”

[..........A single chisel runs anywhere from five dollars to several hundreds depending on quality or popularity of the craftsman.]

“That much?! Seriously? Man, I need to get popular quick. I guess I’m just starting out, though, so let’s set the prices around twenty or so dollars and see how it goes.”

With that, he set up the data entries with the pictures. While waiting for drones to pick up the merchandise, he set his phone back on the charging station and relaxed on the memory foam beneath his back.

“I should buy some of this stuff to bring back to Regoras with me…”

* * * * *

The next morning, Ian awoke to his shrill 6:30 a.m. alarm, head pounding in rejection of the noise. At first, he rolled out of bed thinking he needed to go to work but shortly remembered he could go back to sleep without worry. Rolling back under the covers, he dozed off again.

Around eight o'clock, he finally woke up again feeling more refreshed than earlier. Before crawling from the covers, he stretched. A groan slipped from his lips. Afterward, he climbed down from the bed and stepped over to his dresser to put on clean clothes.

Craving cereal, he wandered toward the kitchen. Along the way, he briefly glanced at the couch. Wrapped comfortably in the tan quilt, Gaelan snored away, hair untied and sprawled all over the place. Although startled by the sheer amount of hair, Ian walked more carefully in order to avoid waking him.

Before anything else, though, he started a pot of coffee. After all, he had already suffered through one caffeine headache over the last few days and did not feel like experiencing another. While it brewed, he poured cinnamon squares into a large bowl, but several knocks on the door interrupted him. Apparently, the noise woke Gaelan as well, considering the man rolled off the couch and hit the floor with a thud. A low groan followed.

Sighing, Ian left the open box and dry cereal on the counter and ambled over to the door. Although he knew his sister would be standing on the other side of the door, he wondered why she showed up so early in the morning.

When he unlocked the door and swung it open, lo and behold, there stood his twenty-three year old little sister. Even now, he struggled to come to terms with the fact that his baby sister had grown up. It made him feel old. Staring back at him through similar hazel eyes, she leaned on one leg, hands resting on her hips. A sleek visor-like object, an ARV, rested atop her head, flattening some of her short brown hair. The last time they saw each other, her hair reached halfway down her back but she obviously cut most of it off since then. Contrary to her profession, her clothes looked rather ordinary, consisting of a blue v-neck shirt with an eagle logo around the left chest area and tight-fitting jeans. Her thin, glossy lips curved into a gentle smile as she looked up at him and said, “Hey, Ian, long time no see.”

“Uh… Hey, Alayna. I guess it has been a while, hasn’t it…” he replied.

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“So, you gonna let me in?” she asked with an almost pleading look in her eyes. Obviously, her acting skills were still top-notch.

“Yeah, I guess,” Ian evasively answered while backstepping from the doorway.

“You know,” Alayna said while entering, “I’ve never actually seen your apartment.”

Unsure how to continue the conversation in any way, Ian simply waited for her to set down her purse and remove her sandals. Since she was his sister, he did not pay much heed to her generously endowed rear end hugged tightly by her jeans. However, he did briefly wonder how many people touched her there due to her profession.

“So this is your sister, eh?” Gaelan tiredly asked, still haphazardly wrapped up in the quilt and lying on the floor between the couch and the coffee table.

Visibly startled, Alayna froze and stared at the man. Her thoughts swirled in confusion. Since when did Ian have friends? What kind of friend was he? What was he doing on the floor like that? And, most of all, what was with those locks of silky black hair that would easily fit into a hair product commercial?

Noticing his sister’s hesitation, Ian shut the door and explained, “That guy is my mentor, Gaelan. Your knocking woke him up, by the way.” Although not meant as a jab, the statement sounded like one once it escaped his lips.

Practically ignoring the slightly accusatory statement, she asked, “Mentor? What kind? Mom said you lost your job.”

At least her voice lacked the incriminating air his parents would have brought with them if they visited instead. Actually, that probably explained why their mother sent her over in her place. Their older brother lived even further away, so he was not a viable option either, not to mention his personality. In the end, sending Alayna probably served as their mother’s attempt at pulling him back into her strings of influence. She always did love to feel in control of everything around her.

Moving on from the negative thoughts, Ian said, “He’s a blacksmith, and a good one at that. And, yeah, I lost my job due to taking an apprenticeship with him, so, for the foreseeable future, I’ll be learning under him.”

“Oh, I see. I guess mom was just overreacting like usual, then,” Alayna replied with an understanding tone. “If that’s the case, I can just visit like a normal person, right?”

“Uh, yeah? I guess that’s fine,” Ian hesitantly answered. Truthfully, he still struggled with feeling awkward around her due to knowing her profession. It made him uncomfortable, but he certainly didn’t despise her or anything.

“What do you mean by ‘I guess’ and fine’? I’m your sister, and haven’t seen you for two years!”

Well, she seemed upset… maybe… perhaps it was sarcasm?

“Didn’t mean anything by it,” Ian replied. “Feel free to sit down or something while I grab my cereal.”

“You haven’t eaten yet? Did you just wake up? Must be nice~”

Rolling his eyes, Ian ambled back to his bowl of dry cereal and brewed coffee. A strange feeling of forgetting to do something tugged at his mind, but he decided to ignore it.

“Gaelan, you want some cereal?” Ian called out.

“Uh, sure?” the man answered unassuredly, reminding Ian that his otherworldly mentor probably had no idea what cereal was. He would probably enjoy it anyway.

Meanwhile, Alayna approached Gaelan and crouched right in front of his face, though she kept her knees in front of her and rested her arms on them. Although the man’s purple irises caught her off guard at first, she concluded it was due to colored contacts or something. Moving on, she asked, “So, mister blacksmith guy, how is my brother? Is he gonna become a good smither person?”

Although slightly thrown off by the girl’s speaking patterns, Gaelan sat up against the couch, pulled his hands out of the quilt, and reached up to gather his hair back into a ponytail using twine. While doing so, he answered, “He certainly has talent, but how far he takes it is up to him.”

From the kitchen, Ian could hear the conversation and worried what his sister might mention. However, he decided to let it flow onward. If he planned to live with Gaelan for a while, it would definitely be better for the man to know more about him.

“So, he finally found something he’s good at, did he? Well, I guess he was pretty good at a lot of things in the first place. Probably why he ended up here…”

Intrigued, Gaelan inquired, “What might you mean, miss sister of my apprentice?”

“Name’s Alayna. Anyway, he was always good at a lot of stuff, ya know? But, well, a bunch of people expected awesome things from him and whatnot and he kinda cracked under the pressure, I guess. Uh… maybe it’s better if he explains it since that’s only what I saw from the sidelines and everything. He’ll probably tell you, though, since you’re his new employer, er, mentor, or something.”

Rubbing his beard between forefinger and thumb, Gaelan said, “I see. Sounds like something that might be more of an issue here compared to where I’m from… Oh, you can call me Mister Marlow, by the way.”

“Sure. So, where you from, Mister Marlow?”

“Middle of nowhere, I suppose,” he vaguely answered.

“Oh, so from the country? You’re a rare breed around here, then,” Alayna said, grinning.

Catching onto the ice-breaking nature of her statement, Gaelan cracked a friendly smile of his own and retorted, “Of course I’m a rare breed. People like me don’t show up everywhere.”

“Heh. Yeah, Ian found a good person. Please, take care of him. Or, beat him into the dirt if you have to. Either way works,” Alayna said. Despite the joking nature of her words, the kind nature behind them did not pass over Gaelan’s head. Contrary to his expectations of the possibilities of her character, she turned out to have a kind and watchful heart. Now, he understood why Ian asked him to treat her like a normal person. In fact, if Ian never mentioned her profession, he never would have guessed it. Even when crouched in front of him, she kept her legs closed in a reserved manner. Honestly, it was an unusual experience for Gaelan to meet a young woman like her after running across a few floozies back in Regnoras. In a way, it served as something of an eye-opener for him.

A moment later, Ian walked around the kitchen wall with two bowls in his hands. One, he set in front of Gaelan. The other, he set on the other end of the table. Then, he made a second trip to grab two mugs filled with coffee and handed one to Gaelan. Although the man raised a brow upon seeing it, he refrained from asking about it due to Alayna’s presence. As soon as he shoved a spoonful of cereal into his mouth, his brows raised to an exaggerating degree. Once again, the quality of the factory-made food took him by surprise.

In between bites, he glanced at Ian, who sat down cross-legged across the table, and said, “Sounds like you had some issues here before finding me.”

“I guess you could say that,” Ian replied. Honestly, he didn’t know exactly how to reply. Up until now, every conversation with his new mentor flowed like a lively river. This conversation, on the other hand, looked like it might become a dam in that river.

“I see…” Gaelan muttered before falling silent for a minute.

Alayna, who sat cross-legged at another side of the table, glanced awkwardly between the two of them. However, she decided to remain silent. This conversation needed to be left solely to her older brother.

“So,” Gaelan resumed, “my take on what your sister said is that you pretty much struggled to find anything to hold your interest and ended up following whatever others told you to pursue.”

“Uh, yeah, I guess,” Ian hesitantly replied. His barrier of false confidence cracked.

“Hmm… I think I get the picture a little now,” Gaelan muttered with a nod, “Smithing is an outlet for you? Are you going to give it up due to the pressure once the newness of it wears off?”

“No, sir,” Ian answered assuredly. Although he struggled to stick with anything in the past, blacksmithing was the first thing he truly believed would allow him contentedness in life.

The middle-aged blacksmith stared hard at his new apprentice for a few seconds before adding, “Yeah, I believe you can do it. I mean, you were practically made for it. But, as I said before, how far you go is up to you, and you alone, understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Ian answered. The man gave him guidance he never received while growing up. No path forced onto him by others lay before him. Rather, Gaelan simply gave him a guidestone to show a general direction, a possibility. A ventured, yet unfettered path awaited him, and he would take it.

Raising a finger, Gaelan added, “One more thing. Always remember that there are no mistakes in blacksmithing. That’s not just a motto for the materials you craft. It’s something my own mentor hammered into me; something to live by. The reason I taught you how to make a chisel first is that it is a symbol to show you that you can carve out your own future from the stone, or rather, your life.”

Something to live by… The phrase reverberated within Ian’s mind. Although he had goals and ambitions, he lacked a creed to live by. In his mind’s eye, he could imagine a chisel chipping away at his soul, forging a new image of himself piece by piece, and it all started with Gaelan teaching him about blacksmithing. A deep gratitude welled within his heart, though he had no idea how to express it.

Once he finished pondering the hazy, ever-changing image of his future, he raised his eyes to meet his mentor’s, grinned, and said, “Thanks for having me.” Compared to the first time he said such a thing, this time felt like it held more weight. It felt more genuine.

“No problem,” Gaelan replied, smiling broadly enough for small dimples to appear beneath his beard. “Well, moving on from that, I assume we’ll be running those errands and heading back?”

“Head back?” Alayna questioned, tilting her head. Her brows furrowed into a puzzled expression, yet her hazel eyes, almost like a sharper version of Ian’s, radiated curiosity. The two men, having almost forgotten about her, looked at her.

“Yep,” Ian answered. “We can’t exactly do any smithing in this apartment, you know?”

Gaelan chuckled at the thought of such a thing. If they forged anything there, the place would likely burn to the ground, especially since their magic could potentially run out before stopping any fires.

“Well, makes sense, I guess. You gonna be gone a lot from now on, then?” she asked curiously.

“Probably.” Ian shrugged. “I plan to come back from time to time, though. Oh, now that I think about it, do you think you could spread the word that I’ll be selling handcrafted works on Jungle?”

“You’re already selling? Da~ng, you’re quick. But, yeah, I guess I could tell a few people, maybe spread the word on social media and whatnot, though you gotta do me a favor in return,” Alayna said, grinning slyly from ear to ear. That scared Ian. That particular smile never meant anything good for him.

“Uh… that depends on what it is,” he hesitantly replied.

“You have to come hang out with me more often and stop acting so awkward around me.”

“Dammit… Oh, I said that out loud…”