Thornewood glanced at Ardwyn, giving him a subtle nod of encouragement. “Go ahead, Ardwyn. Tell her what happened.”

Ardwyn swallowed hard, suddenly aware of the weight of both Elara’s and Thornewood’s gazes upon him. He took a deep breath. The scent of old books filled his lungs.

“I'm...” he started, his voice barely above a whisper. “I’m not from here.”

Elara sat there patiently listening, not interrupting him, nor jumping in to speak even though Ardwyn took long pauses as he formed the words carefully. Her eyes were fixed on him, without breaking eye contact. For some reason Ardwyn could tell she was wise beyond her years.

“Not just from this realm,” Ardwyn said, “I mean, I’m not from this world at all.”

Elara leaned back in her chair, still patiently listening. “Go on,” she said, her voice gentle but filled with an undercurrent of excitement.

Ardwyn nodded, gaining some confidence. “Where I come from, there’s no magic. At least, not like this. We have technology instead — machines that can fly, devices that can show you information from all over the world in an instant.”

As he spoke, the Ethereal Blossoms began to glow softly. Elara noticed them. She seemed to take the effect for granted and looked back up at Ardwyn.

“I was running,” Ardwyn continued, the memories flooding back. “There was something chasing me in the woods near my father’s house. I found these strange stones with glowing runes, and then I found myself transported here. Into this world.”

The Ethereal Blossoms in his armed pulsed more brightly than before, their glow intensifying with each word.

“And these?” Elara asked, gesturing to the Ethereal Blossoms. “Where did you acquire these?”

Ardwyn looked down at the flowers, their warm light comforting him against the overwhelming strangeness of his situation. “A herbalist in the market gave them to me. She said I had an affinity for mana.”

At this, Elara sat up straighter, taking notice. A faint aura of power seemed to emanate from the robes, making the air in the office feel charged, like the moment before a lightning strike.

Elara stood up and walked from her desk. She approached Ardwyn. “May I?” She asked, her finger pointing at the Ethereal Blossoms.

Ardwyn hesitated for a moment, then nodded, holding out the flowers. As Elara’s finger’s neared them, the blossoms’ glow intensified dramatically, bathing the entire room in a soft, otherworldly light. The magical instruments on her desk began to whirl and spin, and pages in several books flipped as if some unseen wind had entered the room.

“They are quite rare,” Elara said, not seeming to pay attention to the physical objects in her office responding to the flowers.

“What exactly is the significance of that?” Ardwyn asked.

“The Ethereal Blossoms are a rare kind of flower that blooms on the side of mountains once every hundred years or so. They are special in that they respond to magical potential or mana, for which you seem to have some affinity. That seems strange to me considering you came from a different world.”

“Speaking of different worlds,” Thornewood said, “that’s actually why we’ve come to you, Elara. We wanted to call on your expertise to know if there’s a way to open a portal back to Ardwyn’s world.”

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“Where did the portal open?” Elara asked and turned Thornewood.

Thornewood said, “Outside of the town of Zalmore, in the meadows, perhaps two hours journey from the town walls.”

“I see,” Elara said and considered something in her mind.

Ardwyn felt his heart race, hope and anxiety coming over him. “Is it possible?” he asked. “To open the portal?”

“I don’t know,” Elara said. “But those stones have been well studied — they are called the Nexus stones, and they are one of the oldest remnants of an ancient portal ever found. There is very little known about them because all we have to go on are those stones, and the runes —- did you notice the runes glowing at all?”

Both Ardwyn and Thornewood nodded in agreement.

“Hmmm,” Elara said. “Here is the thing. Many mages have tried to open that particular portal. None could, and now the portal is considered just a mysterious artifact from ancient times. However, I’m fascinated to meet someone who actually came through that portal, and what’s more from another world. That indicates the portal is still active, even after all these years. Fascinating.”

Elara’s glance turned back to her shelves. “Hold on a moment,” she said, her eyes carefully studying a row of books in the upper shelf. “Should be somewhere around — aha! Here it is.” She took a large dusty book from the shelve.

Archaeology of Ancient Portals. The books inscription was gold on a brown ragged leather jacket.

“I remember reading something about the Nexus portal in here, if I’m not mistaken.” She turned to the table of contents, and then started flipping through the pages, scanning the text.

“Here it is,” she finally said, pointing her finger down the page. She read out loud. “The Nexus Stones, believed to be remnants of an ancient portal system, have long puzzled mages and scholars alike. Dating back to the Age of Primal Magic, these stones are inscribed with runes in a language that predates all known magical scripts.”

Elara continued to read, her finger following the text on the page. “Legend speaks of the Nexus Portal as a gateway between worlds, created by the Primal Mages to traverse the multiverse. However, the knowledge to activate and control these portals was lost in the Cataclysm that ended the Primal Age.

“Attempts to activate the Nexus Portal have been made by countless mages over the centuries, all ending in failure. Some theorize that the portal requires a specific type of magical energy, one that no longer exists in our realm. Others believe that the portal is a one way passage from another realm.”

One way passage. Ardwyn considered the phrase. Was he really stuck here? He wondered.

As if reading his thoughts, Elara said, “Remember, scholars don’t have much to go on about the Nexus portal, so a lot of this is just mere stipulation.” She closed the book, putting it back on the shelf. “Fact is, no one has been able to open up the Nexus portal.”

Ardwyn looked out the tall glass windows of the room. Snow started to fall, settling on the window panes. The soft snow flakes drifted from the darkening sky, which seemed to mirror the sinking feeling his stomach. The world outside, cold, distanced from his problems.

One way passage. The phrased echoed again in his mind, driving home the gravity of his situation. He was stuck here, in this world, perhaps forever.

Ardwyn turned back from the window, his eyes meeting Elara’s.

Thornewood who had been silent during most of the time, stepped forward. “But no one like Ardwyn has ever come through the Nexus portal before,” he said, shadows in the candlelight filling the scar on his face. “That has to mean something.”

Elara slowly nodded. “That does indeed change things. Contrary to what scholars previously believed in the past, the Nexus portal seems to be still active after all this time.”

Ardwyn looked down at the Ethereal Blossoms, their warm glow a stark contrast to the cold, snowy world outside. He thought of his past life — his mother, his friends, the life he’d left behind.

“Whatever it takes,” he said in a moment of resolve. “I need to find a way home, or at least understand why and how I got here.”

Elara closed the book and sat down back at her desk. She said, “We can start with everything we have on the Nexus stones. I can reach out to some of the scholars personally who happen to be friends of mine. I assume you both don’t have a place to stay for the night.” Elara said. “We have plenty of space in the dorms for you to stay if you would like.”

“Thank you but I’ll be on my way,” Thornewood said. “Urgent matters to attend to in the east. I shall be back soon enough.”

“How about you?” Elara said, turning to Ardwyn.

“That sounds fine by me,” Ardwyn said, his stomach hungry, and his body freezing.