As the other visitors sipped their sips, individuals gossiped around, and business partners furiously talked about their ideas, the café's atmosphere was one of anxiety, but also stillness - as Ares' life would change forever. Ersa sat in a little crevice in the corn, clutching a small white cup in her hand. She shifted her attention when Ares and his brother Alan, who wore a more solemn face, entered. Ersa waved her hands towards them, indicating her eagerness to speak.

"All right!" Ersa greeted the two, "I'm so thrilled to see my two favourite people ever!" Ersa said cheerfully yet mysteriously. She shuffled aside so Alan and Ares could sit, rolling her eyes ever so slightly.

Alan sat down with his arms crossed, "Alright, tell us fully about your plan, I already agreed with Ares about him going - but I still need some slight convincing before I allow you to work with my family on the shop. After all, you might be way too reliant on black magic and cause us to go into some troubling areas."

Ersa giggled, "Oh please, with my knowledge and intellect the minute you add me on the roster of your shop - sales will boost up dramatically." A silence permeated the table as Ersa quickly re-invigorated the life of the conversation, quickly coughing and saying "What I meant to say -- you really don't need to worry about me."

Alan rolled his eyes and slowly gulped down the cannister of water that he had brought before hand. He glances at the eyes of Ares, seeming to be asking "Is this what you really want", but Ares had made up their mind, he shook his head back at Ares, and the head nod was reciprocated.

"Tell me about your plan, and what my little brother needs to do in order for this whole exchange process to work." Ares said, disgruntled about the whole situation while bouncing his right foot on the ground and scratching his arm.

"Well, let me write it all out," Ersa in a snap of a finger was able to take out a deep burgundy parchment out of thin air, it poofed in and out of view as it finally fell down on the table.

"Uh huh, sure, you're totally not reliant on magic." Alan said, rolling his eyes to the back of his head for dramatic effect and starting to slouch back on his chair, while Ersa attempted to remain apathetic to his actions.

"Alright then!" Ersa said, as they brought out a comically large black pen that was nearly the size of her entire clutch and started to write. Alan and Ares stared as she wrote in a very neat font style but also saw her taking her time to make sure everything was easily understandable for the two brothers.

Finally, when she was done, she unveiled the piece of paper and began to talk, "Here it is, the master three step process plan for Ares and I to essentially switch lives!" Ersa folded the piece of paper up into the three sections that she had written out and talked about each section in great detail."

The first section read out, A New Look, "Alright, this one I hope is pretty self explanatory, and will hopefully be easy for Ares - well after all, our faces look like a mirror image of one another." Ares and Alan looked at each other in confusion on where the conversation would head, but before they could really deeply think about what she said, her voice rang as she said "So, pretty simple, Ares basically just has to impersonate me to get into Stelmaugh - pretty standard stuff, I don't think he needs to change much actually! Just wear the same cloaks as I do, and to wear slightly longer hair - other than that, not much change is needed if I'm being honest!" Ares seemed to just nod and was totally alright with it, but Alan shifted his eyes.

Alan rebutted to Ersa, "Wait, what? Why is this all necessary," Alan paused for a second before reaching for an object in Ares' satchel. Alan showed the necklace with Ares' name on it "What about this huh? Doesn't this demonstrate and allow Ares to get into Stelmaugh?"

Ersa shook her head, and then nodded back down. "Well yes, but actually no - you see," Ersa said, while gripping onto the necklace Alan had showed her, "This is and will be able to let Ares get into Stelmaugh... but you have to know how expensive Strata is to live in right? All of the expensive amenities too, and you've got a tall order to pay for."

"I could pay for it, if it was all for my younger brother." Alan replied.

Ersa smiled and said, "Well, thanks for being this uptight white knight, how ironic considering the origins of your magical abilities." she let out a small laugh, hiding underneath the mask of a hand held over her mouth. "But don't worry, by going under my name - it'll make this whole problem be resolved quickly.

Alan pondered and looked back at Ersa, "What?"

"Well it's rather simple actually," Ersa said, ready to describe something that wasn't exactly simple. "Fundamentally, it boils down to me having great academic intellect and recognition in the black magic academia community... which is a blessing, and a curse... but needless to say, I'm able to live free on campus - and so will you Ares! As long as they think you're me that is..."

Alan responded by saying nothing and simply just nodded back at Ersa. Ares didn't really have any rebuttals to this whole predicament, after all - he wanted to practise his necromancy and go on an adventure so badly, the fact that he had to take over someone's identity was just another fun aspect to the whole situation. Ersa began to annunciate her plans again.

The second section read out, Communication, "Okay, Ares - I know as a necromancer... even at your puny level... so I'm pretty sure you've packed summoning stuff - and basic things to perform black magic right?" She said while pointing at Ares' satchel, in which Ares responded with a tiny thumbs up.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Good! However, throughout your stay in Stelmaugh, events may develop in which you may be... how could I describe this? Challenged to them!" Alan responded with a little cackle, which was quickly silenced as his baby brother scowled back at him with eyes, Ersa began to talk again. "And this is where this comes in! Ta~ da~!" the two brothers looked as Ersa reached into her maroon purse and grabbed something from it, she flipped in the air before shoving it in the faces of the two brothers, Ares noticed a weird contraption out and about that was loaded with both gears and had a mystical aura surrounding it. He thought it looked elegant - but familiar.

Ares cocked his head back at the contraption and narrowed his eyes, attempting to see the inner structure and what the device may be, but his drowsy intellect couldn't puzzle it out. After seeing Ersa waiting for a response, he swallowed his pride and inquired, "So, uhh, what exactly is this... this magical device?" He was met with a loud sigh from Ersa.

"Okay, I realise you're incredibly sheltered and that Upper Nimbia isn't exactly known for black magic, but have you never heard of these?" In answer, Ares and Alan both shook their heads. "Well, this is a Portable Transmitter, and it can basically send messages to any other Portable Transmitter to which it is linked." Ersa pointed to the gears' dials. "It's rather simple actually, just press these dials in the correct order, and it'll connect to your consciousness, simply think of a person you want to call - and their Portable Transmitter will also ring, here try it out!"

Ersa tossed Ares a Portable Transmitter and let Ares place their hand on the back of it for five seconds - once this process was completed - the Portable Transmitter lit up. Ares sat in awe for a while before being instructed by Ersa's voice to attempt to call her. He pressed the dial and put all his effort into calling Ersa, and eventually after enough waiting - a small ringing and clacking was heard from her purse. In it, Ersa's Portable Transmitter had been shown.

"Pretty cool right? I know you guys probably have regular transmitters, but these ones are super handy, and are pretty cost effective in terms of magic needed to use them!" Ersa said, gauging at the reaction of the two other men, "Ah! Don't worry Alan, here's one for you too, after all, I don't want Ares to rely too much on me." Ersa threw a second portable transmitter, in a much worse condition, but still amazed the brothers nonetheless.

"How much money did you use to buy this?" Alan said in a shifting glare.

"Depends on how much it cost for me... or how much it was supposed to cost." Ersa said cryptically, before continuing on as if nothing happened. "Anyways, make sure to call me and Alan okay?" Ares nodded back, obviously he would call both of them - Alan was his emotional support, and Ersa essentially was his source of information.

The final third point of the plan read out in a slightly bigger text as, Working With You, Ares had effectively tuned out the conversation as he played around which his transmitter. Her heard as Alan and Ersa slightly bickered about each other on living arrangements, working times, and other boring stuff he didn't really seem to care about - but as he heard them talk, he learned that Ersa was actually quite passionate about all of this stuff, she really did seem to want to live a normal life here.

"Anyways, pretty standard stuff... oh one last thing!" Ersa said, before pulling out a ticket from her purse. "Here you go! A one way ticket to Strata City for tomorrow, I felt a bit fancy - so you actually got an upper class ticket, your welcome!"

"Oh... thank you so much... for everything!" Ares said with teary eyes, which were quickly wiped off by Alan. "I'll make sure that your spot at Stelmaugh with me won't go to waste!" Ersa gleefully smiled back, and looked at Alan - who also has a soft smile on his face.

Once they concluded, a plan was set out which could be quickly summarized by the following three points. One, dress up as Ersa and go to Strataon a blimp, contact with Ersa and follow the directions she says, and in general - just enjoy his life at Stelmaugh.

After their plan was completed, the three of them departed the building, but Ersa motioned for Ares to accompany her for a bit. Ares took a step forward, and Alan followed, but Ersa extended her hand and pushed Alan away. Ares and Alan exchanged glances, and Ares was divided - but also wanted to honour Ersa's wishes, so he looked at Alan with doe eyes and begged him to go... which readily worked on his elder brother.

"Hey, what do you want to say?" Ares said, anxious - but slightly intrigued.

Ersa scratched the back of hear head and began to speak, in a very ominous voice she said, "Hey, just so you know... this experience will be hard, I feel like I know that you want it, but I want to hear it from you just to make sure you speak from your heart... do you want to go Stelmaugh?"

Ares laughed, "Of course I want to go to Stelmaugh, I've jumped through so many hoops with Alan to get here... and of course I know it'll be hard, I feel like you've made that really clear... but I'll work hard to study black magic!"

Ares was expecting for Ersa to be proud, but her face was more stoic then the other times he's met her, "Very well, I wish you luck," she said before walking off. Ares saw her turn, and before she walked to turn around the corner - she stopped for a while. She looked back at Ares with a perplexed expression on her face, seeming to contemplate on what was the best thing to say, she simply looked back and said a simple phrase.

"Simply put, the issues you may face will most likely have little to do with things beyond your control... and much to do with me."

To Be Continued [https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/987905342132351006/988145743208513566/to_be_continued....gif]