"I wonder how long have we been walking? Solon mumbled, raising his arm to shield his eyes from sun while looking at the horizon and the endless sea of sand that stretched underneath it.

"Pretty long. You can't even see the temple anymore." Sheela replied, looking back at the direction from which they came. She hopped across the sand, slightly gliding above its searing hot surface between each step.

"Think we are going to find anything anytime soon?" The mercenary asked.

"No clue. All I see are dunes. This place used to have lush oases and bustling villages, back when I reigned supreme." The woman grinned and spun around, watching as her makeshift dress fluttered.

Solon did not grace her with a response, merely waving her off with his right hand, choosing to conserve this words and energy.

The sun had already slowly begun to set, as the two wandered the desert. Sheela, though not openly admitting it, was mildly impressed by the soldiers durability. The man hadn't lost his posture nor stride, despite an entire day of walking under the merciless sun.

A good distance away from the pair, a slow moving caravan moved across the dunes, raiding a cloud of sand as it went. Solon crouched down, closing his right eye, allowing his prosthetic left one to focus in on the caravan.

"They got big wagons and sheets, don't seem like bandits. The sheets seem marked with some sort of wiggly line or something, like a double loop."

"Ugh. Beast folk slavers." Sheela spat onto the ground, at least tried to, as her mouth had gotten as dry as the sand around her.

"Also, you can see that far from here?"

"Yeah. The other eye can see thermal, night vision and also be used as a scope. It not just to fill the hole in my skull where the read eye used to be." The man replied.

"So, they clearly have information on where a village might be. They're heading to one or coming from one, either way works for us." He continued.

"How do we go about this? I can act like I had captured you or."

"I would rather choke to death eating this sand here, than have anyone ever think YOU enslaved ME." She scoffed at his proposition, cutting him off mid sentence.

"If anything, you are the one with a pet name here, so you act like the captured one. With your mangy appearance and lack of arms, you fit the role perfectly."

"Up yours bitch." Solon grimaced and flipped the former genie off with his metal arm, before turning into the direction of fast approaching caravan. Clearly whoever had been steering the convoy had noticed the pair and had now changed direction, heading straight towards them.

"Guess they spotted us." Sheela said.

"If what you said is true, they won't bother us much, as we are not beast folk."

"What's a beast folk?" The mercenary stood up, watching as the cloud of sand got closer and closer.

"You'll see soon enough." She responded nonchalantly.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Helloooo there! What brings a lovely pair such as yourselves this deep in the desert? And on foot no less!"

The cheerful leader of the caravan, a elder looking man of short stature shouted to them, as the caravan came to a halt.

Solon flashed a smile back to the man while making a mental count of all the guards and their weapons. Surprisingly, the caravan didn't seem nearly as big as he thought at first, and was lightly guarded. No more than 4 guards, no bigger than the old man himself, armed with spears, daggers and dressed in thin cloth armor. Their heads, necks, arms and legs were entirely unprotected, which surprised the soldier, as he expected a slaver caravan to be much better equipped.

"Where we come from does not matter to either of us, as much as where we are headed." Sheela answered.

"But worry not, we are not wandering aimlessly."

"Ah! Pilgrims, I see. Well my apologies for stopping your holy journey." Smiled the caravan leader, lifting his tattered hat and bowed, his bald head glistening in the dusk light.

"Oh not at all, you came like the gift from the Gods themselves. Would you mind if we humbly ask for directions." The woman continued, bowing in return.

"By all means, do ask. If it is villages you are looking for, to rest and shelter from the desert, there is one not too far from where this caravan is headed. If it is of no offence to your holy practice, I offer you to join my caravan. It would save you a couple of burns on your feet and a few days of travel." The man offered.

"A delightful offer no doubt. But we have no means of paying back such generosity. Pilgrims aren't known for an abundance of material possessions after all." The former genie joked, moving her hair out of the way, to better see the man.

"Hah! That much I know. Believe me, I expect no payment other than an honest prayer for mine and my family's good fortune when you reach your destination. My name is Vur'z. The 4 boneheads in the back trying to look as tough as the kings guard are my sons. Quilk, Sedef, Hyrul and Kopak."

The man gestured to his sons, who seemed to relax a bit now, no longer trying to hold in their breaths and their stomachs sucked in.

"If that is the case, we delightfully accept your offer Vur'z. Come, pet, let's keep the good folks standing around." Sheela smiled, hopping on to the wagon.

Solon simply nodded under the hood, saying nothing, but making a mental tally for payback at a later date.

He climbed on to the cart, as the caravan began to move again.

"You have bagged yourself quite the servant my lady. That arm, clearly not of this world. I have been here and there, wherever business takes me, but I have never seen an invader this far south." Said the caravan leader as the woman smiled victoriously, giving occasional glances to the annoyed mercenary.

As the sun finally sank beneath the endless sea of sand, the caravan slowly making its way across it, Sheela turned to her companion.

"Human, tell me, how did you end up here in the first place?"

"I already told you back at the temple." Solon replied.

"I know, you told me the short version of it. But I want to know the full story. Why have you chosen to invade this world." She continued, the tone of her voice more demanding.

"Yes, I too would like to know, If you do not mind sharing your tale." Vur'z joined in, unable to resist the allure of a good story.

The human nodded, leaning against the wall of the wagon.

"Alright."

Even the four sons that guarded the caravan got closer to the head wagon to hear the story.

"As I said before. On my world, thousands of years ago, powerful mages arrived from here, in an expedition of sorts. On this world, they constructed portal gates and have finally managed to open a rift towards somewhere else. Be it elven or human, they came to Earth through these portals. What awaited them was a primitive civilization, no more advanced that using stone tools." Solon spoke.

"They, with use of magic, quickly gained worship as demigods from these primitive people, and ruled over them for a time. But as my world does not have magic, or at least not in the same amount as this one does, they quickly realized that it would not be long until all their power was drained with no ways of replenishing it. So the mages began to construct the same portal gates on our world, to link back to theirs, so they could go back home."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"So that's how the portal gates ended up on your world." Sheela nodded.

"Yes. Most mages went back where they came from. Others remained even as their magic disappeared and lived the lives they had built there. Others clung to their demigod status for as long as they could, until they perished. With no way to reactivate the gates from our sides, the structures eventually were abandoned and forgotten by everything except time itself." The soldier explained.

"But you are here. So, the mages came back?" Vur'z asked.

"No. Thousands of years passed, but for centuries, many archeological groups who dedicated themselves to studying of the ancient civilizations, worked to figure out what the gates were for and who made them. Finally, by piecing together the instructions left all across the world, they figured out how the gates worked. Those same instructions the mages gave their followers back when they first constructed the gates."

The man took a swig from a water pouch, before continuing the story.

"Eventually, we figured out how to turn them on. But had no clue how to select where they lead. We sent in probes, drones, and when we made sure it's safe enough, people. The first civilization on this side of the gates, that we encountered, were actually the dwarves. The kingdom of Venhket, near the center of the continent. The dwarves were a lot less cautious than we were, probably because humans exist here too already." Solon told the other two.

"So you waged war on them?" Sheela added.

"No. Shut up." He pointed at her as if he was silencing a toddler, causing her to frown, but say nothing.

"The relations with the dwarves of Venhket were actually pretty good. Our people and their people even exchanged some goods. To them, we gave some blueprints for slightly outdated mining machinery and equipment and in return they parted with a few mana stones and a few ingots of their high quality metal."

"But the team we sent in could not enjoy the hospitality of the dwarves for too long, as keeping the portal gate open for an extended period of time, required enough energy to power an entire small city. So they made each other promises to meet again soon, and to bring the dwarven representatives to our world next."

"So your first encounter with the people here was quite pleasant, I see. Why the invasion then?" Vur'z asked.

"I'm getting to it." Said the human.

"When our team came back, the things they brought with them were enough to get many world governments and trade conglomerates involved. The mana stones, which are one of the reasons this world is so packed with magic, are a source of clean energy unlike any other. It even rivaled our own nuclear energy in terms use. The only issue was that in our world, it would bleed that energy everywhere, turning the mana stone into a nice decorative rock in a matter of a few days. No matter what type of container you put it in, it would deplete on its own in a few days. That issue was mitigated by Doramite."

"I see." The caravan leader snapped his fingers.

"The dwarven ingot."

"Yeah. Keeping a mana stone in a container made of Doramite, would significantly increase its lifespan. Not to mention that Doramite was a metal as light as titanium alloy, but more durable than anything we had back on Earth. Non conductive and an incredibly high melting point." Solon nodded.

"Doramite was made by the dwarves to combat dragons after all. So it's resistance to fire is to be expected." Vur'z added.

"With those two priceless finds, the agreement was made to the second delegation to be sent back to Venhket to establish even better relationships with the dwarves. But as I said before, we could open the portal, but had no clue which portal on this side it would connect to. So the second delegation ended up in the Vatur kingdom, through a massive portal gate just outside their forest. The elves, were not as friendly as the dwarves." The man shrugged.

"I always believed elves to be a peaceful race, keeping to themselves most of the times." One of the sons chimed in, his head peeking through the curtain of the wagon.

"Manners boy!" His father grabbed what seemed to be a ball of string and threw it at the guard half heartedly.

"Do not interrupt a man when he is telling a story. Plus you are thinking of High Elves. The regular ones just have a superiority complex."

"That they do." Smiled the mercenary, probably for the first time since they joined the caravan.

"Here, the elves seem to call the shots, somewhat at least, as their magic is unparalleled by most neighboring species. So negotiations with them did not go as well as expected."

"How come? Humans and Elves are quite the allies." Vur'z rubbed his chin quizzically, as if trying to find the answer before the man could provide one.

"Humans here have a lot of different species to coexist with and their civilization is helped by magic. We are both humans, but compared to them, we may as well be orcs. They coexist with their world and it's creatures, we dominated ours into submission. We found for centuries over things that humans here would consider stupid. And we are lot more prone to war. So our diplomacy is very tailor made to us, logically. No threats or mockery or many demands. Everything gets voted on with the aim to achieve a balance. Have both sides at a neutral point, at the very least. It took us centuries to get to that point, but oh well." The man clapped his hands together, as if dismissing any accusations or opinions that could be made about that last sentence.

"But for the elves, who have not gone or felt war in millennia, your form of negotiation and diplomacy came off as weak and timid. Am I right?" Sheela said.

"Yep, right on the money. The Elves felt insulted by the entire ordeal and the fact that delegation sent to establish a good relationship with them had no magic whatsoever, gave them the impression that they were far superior than us. They rudely refused any deals and even denied the delegation their request to leave. Now, on my world, killing or imprisoning a political representative or an ambassador, is ground for war, if not an open declaration of one." Solon continued.

"So the elves decided to show off their might, and invite themselves over into our world. Thinking their superior magic would make us easy to subjugate. For the first time in thousands of years, a portal gate on our world came to life and opened from the other side, to send several elven units over."

"Good Gods. I cannot imagine the fear of having an invading nation appear in the middle of your towns and cities wit the intention to conquer them. I feel sorry for your people human. Many lives must have been lost." The old man said, bowing his head to show condolences.

"How many did they kill before they got pushed back?" The former genie asked.

"None." Replied the human.

"None? How come? Were you expecting them?" She asked, surprised by the answer.

"No. The gates have been constructed during the dawn of humanity. They served no purpose besides being an object of fascination for historians, archeologist and tin foil wearing nutjobs. The gates are scattered around the world, in forgotten locations mostly. Unlike here, where people had built entire cities and temples around the gates, over in my world, they sort of just collect dust in the middle of nowhere." Solon explained.

"Huh, guess it makes sense. So did the elven troops just get stranded somewhere?" Vur'z asked, chuckling a bit.

"Yeah, the gate they opened linked to the one in the Northern region of Europe. It wasn't a massive gate like the one's near Vatur or Venhket, so the energy signature of it's activation took a few days to elicit a response. Plus it was in the heart of Siberia, so no one really gave a shit anyways. By the time the Russians actually responded and went to investigate, the winter had already sunk its teeth into the elven soldiers. Wolves too." The mercenary laughed a bit.

"Uf, can't imagine the elves took that well." One of the guards chimed in, this time out of range of his father's throw.

"They didn't. But their little unsuccessful attack attempt, made us realize that gates can be open from their side too. On top of that, we still haven't had our delegation returned to us, so we assumed them dead and with this the world unanimously agreed to accept the elven declaration of war. A huge amount of resources had been given to research team to find out everything they could about the gates. In about a years time, with no incident, we've found a way to keep the gates open and stable for up to 24h. We also learned, to some degree, how to link gates together, so we don't end up at random locations each time. Thanks to the elven failed attempt in Russia, we've discovered several more gates across the globe and with that, war was officially the name of the game."

"Huh, quite the interesting situation." Sheela said as Solon finished the explanation.

"How long since the invasion started?"

"It's been a little under a year now. At first we only sent in small recon troops and ground units. Humvees and the like. No aerial combat units. Maybe a few long range artilleries. OH, yeah. And a single long range, ground anchored, rail cannon." He replied.

"Not really fast in terms of progress."

"Boy!" Yelled Vur'z to his son, looking around for something more solid to throw at him this time.

"Keep you mouth shut."

"Well, we still can't send too much through the gates at once, plus this isn't an annihilation scenario. Elves are sentient enough and on par with humans, and there are domestic humans from allied kingdoms aiding them. So by rules of war and human rights, we aren't really... allowed... to uh. What's the word? Cleanse them from the land." Solon replied to the guard who made the comment.

"Fucked world you live in if you need rules of war." Another son said, joining in on the conversation.

"Cheers to that." Nodded Solon, raising his left fist into the air.

"Well, I am getting tired. Been a long day of walking and I could use some sleep." The former genie said, moving to the back of the wagon, laying down on some decorate carpets, arranging them like a makeshift bed.

"You boys chatter on, but do be quiet."

Vur'z turned to Solon, scooting over closer to him.

"Are you really her...?"

Solon turned to the man, closing his eyes and slowing shaking his head left to right.

"Ah, I thought as much." said the old man, giving a light chuckle.