The night came and went, and the trio found themselves sitting at a shady bar early in the morning. The structure was a wooden thing, plopped against the protective wall that surrounded Noctis. It was located in a side of the city that was close enough to the mountains, and to the walls, that there was no direct sunlight hitting the place at any time of day. Early morning felt like dusk, and the air was thick and carried the scent of alcohol and filth. Around them, a protective spell Melina had cast made the light passing through it flicker slightly like they were surrounded by a thin film of water.
On the table, the remnants of a surprisingly good breakfast given the state of the place were strewn about, leaving a large gap in the center of the table. The friendly chitchat had slowly turned somber, the events of the previous day obviously not forgotten, but a night of sleep had allowed all three to reflect on what had happened. Ishrin, at least, was feeling much better and much less paranoid. And it seemed that Melina too was much more relaxed.
The protective spell was a necessity both of them had agreed on. He had let her cast it, Tier 6 being that much more powerful than anything he could bring out at Tier 1.
He was holding up two fingers as he spoke.
“The fact that multiversal travel isn’t a better-known thing is telling. From how I see it, there’s only two possible explanations. Either it’s so uncommon to not even be on anyone’s mind or there’s a force keeping it hidden. And I have reason to believe the latter is true. Tell me, have you ever heard of anyone from another universe in the whole guild?”
“No. But there has to be someone.” Melina argued, but she didn’t look very convinced of her own argument.
“How do you know? Is that what made you paranoid?”
“Yes, Ishrin. The guild somehow knows. They know you come from another place and they know you were Tier 15 there. Were you? That powerful, I mean. It’s crazy to think about.”
“I was.” He said. He had thought Tier 15 was the peak, but then he met literally god and realized how stupid he had been. Besides, not even at that level of power had he been able to discover multiversal travel on his own. It had taken a god for him to gain the means to do it.
He changed the subject back to the guild. “But how do they know I come from another universe? It’s not exactly public information and I don’t believe it’s easy to deduce just by watching me.”
“I have no clue. You can understand why I was feeling a bit weird. It was one thing to read all that in the reports, another thing to see you cast spells like you did. I couldn’t pretend it wasn’t real anymore. Tier 15? I’m basically talking to a former god.”
“Trust me. Gods are different.” Ishrin said with a shake of his head. Meanwhile, a thought was forming in his mind.
Melina went on. “There’s more. I was warned by a friend. The guild is going to come looking for you now.”
“They want my knowledge. What will it be I wonder? Multiversal travel or knowledge on how to advance the tiers? How many people know?”
“Impossible to tell. Apparently someone hacked the Guild Network, sending information about your presence in Noctis to everyone who was using the system. Everyone, no matter their clearance level.”
Ah. The thought took root. There was really only one possible explanation why they had information this impossibly accurate about what should have been a nobody, orb of cracked sky notwithstanding. It could have still been a coincidence if it stopped at that, but this weird glitch in their magical systems? If there was something spending so much time in Mekano’s world had taught him, was that logical systems – magical or not – did not glitch in any constructive way. Ever.
And this was too specific to be a random glitch.
While all of this went through his head, Ishrin also chose not to reveal the whole god-sent conspiracy just yet. There might be the budding seed of trust between them, and he could feel that their shared experiences and emotional states were building some bonds, but he did not think revealing the existence of god to them would go well. Especially if said god had plans with him that could or could not endanger them all.
“I see.” He said, deflecting. “Then we can expect to see people who want power popping up all over, maybe even planning to grovel at the feet of a god and changing their mind once they see how weak I am. And on the other hand, we might also see powerhouses who only just now realized how stuck they are in this universe and who want out. We’re talking higher than even the tier I reached.”
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“Is that a real possibility?” Melina asked. Lisette had perked up at that.
“Is Tier 16 a thing?” She asked.
“Not within a single universe it’s not. But since the universe is not all there is…” He trailed off.
“Then it might be possible.”
He nodded. “It must be connected to the multiverse.”
He knew more, courtesy of Albert’s little gift of multiversal travel, but chose not to say.
“And the guild knows.”
He nodded again. “You said it yourself, the guild knows I am from another universe. This doesn’t automatically make the guild a multiversal power, but it shows that it’s at least aware of the fact. Aware, but it keeps it hidden from its pawns. Do you know of anyone who knew the guild was a multiversal power?”
“No.”
“Right. Case one: the guild knows but can’t. This means higher-ups will come looking for a way to use me to gain access to the wider multiverse and all the promises of riches it brings with it. Tier 16 and beyond. Case two: they know and can, but keep it hidden for some reason. This is like the first case, where people come looking for me but it also adds the fact that the guild will want me gone before I can reveal the knowledge to too many people and they can’t contain it anymore. Supposedly they have a good reason to keep the fact that they are a multiversal power hidden, but even if it was just a silly administrative thing, a silly thing from an organization that big still brings about more heat than this planet can dissipate.”
In the end, they came up with a temporary solution while they gathered more data and grew strong enough to actually deal with the problems at hand. At Tier 1 Ishrin couldn’t do much, but even Melina at Tier 6 couldn’t harm a hair of any serious powerhouse that might visit their backwater planet in the future.
Fortunately they had some time. According to Melina, the guild had regulations that had to be followed, and timelines to be respected. In the meantime, she would forge a false identity for Ishrin disguising him as just a normal adventurer, hidden from any magical inspection and Guild System check for as long as her authority held.
Could be days, could be years. Hopefully it would be the latter, as it would allow Ishrin to gain some of his former power back and deal with the situation proactively.
“It’s going to take a while, sadly. It’s not easy to forge documents.”
“I can help.” Lisette said. “I have… expertise.”
Melina made a face, but didn’t ask. Ishrin likewise abstained, and the three parted ways.
It did take several days for the counterfeit token to be made. The first few of which Ishrin spent looking over his shoulder, expecting an attack on his person to come at any time. But as nothing happened, and then some more nothing happened, topped by even more nothing, he began to relax. Perhaps the information leak inside the guild had not been as bad as it seemed, or it had been somehow contained.
He could not fully relax, of course, but for the first time since arriving in the new world as a new person, perhaps he could enjoy life a little bit. After all, his main goal was to become a new, better and reborn man so that he when he finally met whatever conditions Albert expected of him and was reunited with his wife, she wouldn’t hate him.
A sudden wave of sadness washed over him. He missed her so, so much. His mind tried to grab onto the only image he remembered of her face, from when the god had shown it to Ishrin during a torture session, but it slipped away, turning the day a whole shade more grey.
***
The smell of rotten eggs from the volcano had infiltrated even the guild rooms, seeping through the wards built into the foundation of the building. It said more about the state of said wards than anything else, but it was uncomfortable and had forced many adventurers to cast spells and use charms to have a momentary reprieve from the torture.
The atmosphere was tense. For some reason most could not fathom, the guild master was being very slow to respond to this possible threat. Protocol would demand that the event had to be investigated with as much alacrity as possible, due to its dangerous and unexpected nature, and that missions be posted for strong enough adventures to help the official team. But these were all things that happened outside of the automated Guild Network, and required the local guild master to act. Which she didn’t.
Melina had other matters to tend to.
She slowly went down the stairs back to the main room of the guild, the tavern where the weary adventurers could drink and eat and rest. The quest board at the corner of the room was full, as usual, with requests of all kinds coming from every remote corner of the Guild Network. She didn’t really know how the board, a magical tool in its own right, operated. It was rumored to be sentient, or at least intelligent, but she didn’t believe that. What she knew, however, was that the board always seemed to know what quests to show to the adventurers.
The only ones missing were the ones she should have put in there herself, days ago, concerning the volcano. She had procrastinated too long, but had her good reasons. Reasons that occupied her mind and demanded her attention at all times of day.
Melina stopped on the winding stairs right before the hall could come into view. Her mind was a swirl of thoughts: Lisette’s weird behavior, Ishrin’s power, unknown origin and motives. She wasn’t too worried because Ishrin looked like he was a good person, but everything else that came with the package was anything but reassuring. The message from Paradise’s guild master, for instance. With a deep breath, she clutched the counterfeit, fake identity token and went down to meet him.