“Well, how are you today?” asked the reigning archmage of the kingdom after setting up a few barriers.

“I... you speak English?” I asked.

“Oh that's right, you're a physical. It would be obvious is you could see my aura, all of us have rather similar auras, bubbles as it were. As soon as I saw you I knew, it's just too obvious.”

I'd been told that my aura looked like metallic bubbles before, and that it was a bit odd, but nothing too surprising as almost everyone's was different. However she was right, I couldn't see them.

“So you're also from Earth? Wait, you'd have to be from like, I don't know... seventeen hundred or something? You're supposed to be three hundred years old or so.”

I was promptly bopped on the nose. “It's impolite to ask a lady's age, but something like that. Ah, I guess I can tell you that time doesn't exactly work the same for the transfer. I don't really understand all of it, but we were scattered all throughout time and sent to this world. There are a few others too, but those aren't exactly my secrets to tell.”

“The ancient elven king who died however long ago,” I pointed out.

“Perceptive, but others too.”

“You obviously, because you created the portal network.”

“Technically speaking I didn't come up with it, just figured out how to make them. All that's ancient history though, what happened to the missing one?”

“Stolen,” I told her. “But you already knew that.”

“I did, but it doesn't hurt to confirm,” she admitted. “Did you have anything to do with it?”

“No of course not, what would I do with a portal?”

“Lots of things, some of them rather dangerous. There's a reason we don't keep too many of them around and that's because they're disasters if used incorrectly. If you were older and properly educated I could run you through even the basics of the security protocols, but if you've even started making a core I doubt you're far.”

“I... I started at least.” It was clear she was looking down on me.

“No worries then, you'll get there eventually. Please tell me everything, leave nothing out.”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

I'd already had to run through this story a few times, so once more wasn't a big deal. She asked about details, all of them, and didn't even blink when I told her that I thought I saw a goblin in the sewers, just tapped her chin thoughtfully.

“Wonder how those got off that island. They didn't seem particularly smart.”

“Um... someone brought them to the city and they escaped, and as for smart some of them can at least speak. One of them spoke English.” Following her lead we were speaking in English, a good protection from those who weren't reincarnators.

That got a sharp look, a very sharp one.

“You're sure?” she asked.

“Very,” I nodded.

“That is concerning, and something I'll be bringing to the attention of a friend of mine when I get the chance. We certainly don't want them spreading if they're anything like the old stories. Who knows if that's true though.”

“I mean yeah, elves live for like, way longer,” I pointed out.

“The pure-blooded ones never age, fact of the matter is that most of those around are kind of mixed now. They have reproductive problems, so ended up mixing with us a lot.”

That was unexpected, I mean, I'd heard stories but I'd thought they were just that. Nobody could really live practically forever could they? Then again I was talking to a centuries old woman. Of course Archmage Penumbra was at least old, very old.

“That's... how do you know?”

“I've met a few over the years. Not many mind, but a handful. They tend to keep quiet and run things in the background, actually a lot of the really old beings in this world, self included, are fairly private. Maybe at one point we weren't, but at least so long as I've been around we've let others take the limelight.”

“Don't suppose you'll share the secret of immortality with me?” I asked hopefully.

“I'm not immortal, ageless or otherwise, so I'm afraid not. I did put a lot of effort into anti-aging magic, and am almost stable, but even I'm slowly dying. Priests can keep themselves from getting that way, but only if they have no doubts about it being the right thing to do, and bards can slow the process dramatically if we put tons of effort into it. Sadly I don't know of anything for physical magic users, if I did many others would still be alive.” There was some pain in those last words, the pain of loss, of loved ones gone.

“I'm sorry for prying,” I said, regretful that I'd torn at old wounds.

“You are by no means the first person to have asked that question Percival, and I have grown used to answering it. Some take my answer very poorly too.” For some reason I didn't doubt that in the least, an immortal telling you you couldn't be one too was not something anyone really liked to hear.

“So what now,” I asked.

“What now is I go after those fools who stole that gate, the danger is greater than they can imagine if they play with it too much and I'm not willing to let them try. The first time I played with them I nearly found something far worse than any beast that has walked this world. Keep that in mind should you even end up in possession of one. For there are things far worse than men or monsters out there.” She rose, and I quickly followed, hopping out of my hospital bed.

“Well, obviously I'm coming with you,” I said as she looked at me with an odd expression, seemingly unbothered by the fact that I was half-dressed and putting on my damaged clothes and weapon as fast as I could from where they'd been lain by the bedside.

“You're a child,” she muttered.

“Lady, I'm like forty, well if you count both lives, and I do. I've also fought my fair share of monsters, and trained with a blade. I'm coming along, because you need some backup.” I was having some difficulty putting the sword on my belt, with all the ruin that everything was.

“Fine, fine, one second.” She hummed a tune and my destroyed outfit put itself back together like it was being destroyed in reverse, then she chuckled. “If my mother had seen that she'd have loved it.”

There was another undercurrent of pain, of loss. Perhaps it was because we were speaking English, or because I was from the same homeworld, but I got the feeling that this was something that a lot of people didn't see. The reports of this woman's behavior were few, but all pointed to the idea that she was a towering danger to those who angered her, not the almost sad old woman I saw before me now.

I wondered how many people she'd lost. Not that I would ask, but it had to be almost countless, friends, lovers, perhaps even children. That would be such a weight, a weight I wasn't sure I'd want to bear. Were people even meant for that? I didn't know, but I did know that the fact that I'd been reborn gave me some hope in the existence of the soul, knowledge that death didn't have to be the end, and that was rather reassuring.

Steeling myself I locked eyes with the old bard. “Alright, let's go teach some thieves a lesson.”

“That I can agree with.”