“Two hundred and thirty years?” Eric asked.

“That’s what I said. Are you getting deaf now?”

“Like … in your years?”

“What do you mean, your years? You’re making no sense now. More so than usual.”

“Yeah, you don’t even know about the difference … but … that’s too long …”

“Long is a subjective term. What is too long for someone is way too short for someone else. Still, it’s not a blink of the eye, but it’s not that much time either.”

“It’s not …” Eric let out a heavy sigh, “I guess you’re right about it. Since everyone is so long-lived in this world.”

“Oh? Are your people short-lived?”

“Compared to the people of this world, yes. We’re long-lived compared to most other creatures in our world, but here …”

“What is your life expectancy?”

“In your years, it would be some … sixty years, I guess. And that’s if you’re lucky.”

Phisola looked him in the eye for a few moments without blinking.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Really.”

“That’s like … that’s like the longevity of cattle.”

“In this world, yes.”

She stared at him for a few moments more before bursting into laughter.

“Hahaha! Sucks to be you!”

“Thank you for your consideration.”

“You’re welcome. But how is that even possible? What kind of fucked-up deal is that?”

“That’s just how it is.”

“Haha!” Phisola wiped a small tear out of the corner of her eye, “Ok, you got fucked when it comes to longevity. But what did you get in turn from your patron deity? There has to be something you got in return, right? Some impressive ability no one else has. Although, looking at you, I don’t see anything impressive at all.”

“I’ve already told you our world has no gods.”

“Oh, come on! Do you really believe that?”

“Hmm … let me ask you something. Is your longevity a gift from god?”

“Among other things.”

“So, without gods, you wouldn’t live nearly as long as you do?”

“Yes, but it’s not really about the gods themselves. It’s about their gifts. Specifically, it’s about the soul.”

“So, it’s the soul that lets you live so long?”

“Soul is a magical essence of a person. Spiritual, if you wish. It fixes many imperfections in the body which would stop it from working properly. Soul provides intelligent solutions to primitive problems.”

“Could you … clarify? Make explanation somewhat specific?”

“People love talking about intelligent design, how we are all created by intelligent, higher beings we call gods. However, few people understand the real meaning of this word. There is nothing intelligent about, let’s say, our bodies. There is nothing intelligent about using the same tube to breathe and eat. An intelligent design would remove any possibility of choking. Another great example is that no intelligent creature would ever put an entertainment park next to a sewage canal. That’s just bad engineering. So it’s not our bodies that are intelligently designed.”

“That sounds like something I’ve heard on a TV once.”

“The fuck is ti vi?”

“Don’t worry about it. Please, continue.”

“Our bodies are quite … animalistic, you could say. We have the same organs as the animals. Our bodies have exactly the same functions. Hurt a person’s body, and you’ll get exactly the same reaction you’d get from a hurt animal. What is intelligently designed though, is the soul. Soul enhances the body through magical means, uplifting it to a higher level. Some people love saying how a soul is spiritual, but that’s no different than magic. Magic and spirit are essentially the same thing.”

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“Really? What about the spirits themselves? Like, the spirits of dead people.”

“The spirits are classified as magical beings for a reason.”

“Hmm … I guess that makes sense.”

“Just make sure to remember it. I didn’t waste my time to have you ask me about it again.”

“Why are you so worried about the time when you got hundreds of years to spare?”

“Just because I have some free time, that doesn’t mean you have a right to waste it!”

“Speaking of wasting time, is there a way to speed up this blood gathering? I’ll be dead in a few decades, so I’d really like to cut corners if possible. Would my blood donations help?”

“Donations? Huh, that’s an interesting way to put it. Sure, it would help, but I don’t think it would help much. You said your world has no magic, so your blood is probably similar to an animal’s. At least when it comes to fueling magic. Hell, it could even be worse than an animal’s, at least the animals of this world have had some interaction with magic.”

“Oh, one more thing. I’ve never considered it before, but would teleporting me increase the amount of blood we need to gather? Is the cost based on the number of people you’re teleporting or …”

“No, it’s not. If that were the case, I wouldn’t even consider teleporting you.”

“… once again, thanks for your consideration.”

“And once again, you’re welcome. I need the blood to summon the portal, not to move us around. That would be way too ineffective. It will be open for a few moments and then disappear, but that’s all we need.”

“In other words, you’re creating a wormhole in space?”

“I don’t know what that word is, but yes, I’m manipulating space. The world isn’t like it’s on the maps. It’s,” she started moving her hands one over the other, “… it’s much more fluid. Space isn’t set in stone. We think that it is because our primitive senses tell us so, but it’s much more complicated than that. It’s bendable in a way.”

“I think that our physicists believe the same thing. I remember hearing that travel would be much quicker if we’d just bend space instead of go through it.”

“Are these guys similar to mages in a way?”

That made Eric smile: “Yeah, you could say that.”

“You can only understand the true nature of things if you have magic senses. And when those senses are sharp enough, you realize that everything is different than what it looks like. You realize that your other senses have been deceiving you the whole time.”

“That’s what quantum physics is all about. Tell me, what do your magical senses think of this? Is it possible for one thing to be at two different places simultaneously?”

“You’ll have to clarify that a little bit. First of all, what do you mean when you say thing?”

“Uhh … how do I put it …” He looked around nervously as he struggled to find the words, “I’m not an expert on the subject, so I may not describe it properly, but I’ve been reading about how our scientists did some experiments with energy signals. They’ve created several roads for those signals and were trying to figure out which road the energy will take so they’d know how to optimize our energy circuits to be as efficient as possible. And as they were looking at results, they realized that the same signal would move through several different roads simultaneously.”

“That does sound interesting. The logical explanation would be to say that energy has divided itself, but that’s what flesh and bone people would think. Proper mages know that energy always follows the fastest route.”

“It couldn’t divide itself, they used the smallest, most basic signals. Sorry, but I don’t know how to explain it better since your tongue doesn’t have the necessary words.”

“It’s ok, I can see you’re way out of your depth. Sill, you explained something that could be an interesting proof of concept. Yes, energy can act that way. That’s how gods can be in several different places at the same time. Gods are essentially overpowered magical beings. They aren’t creatures but beings.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Creatures can’t function without a body while beings have no body at all. At least not a permanent one.”

“Aren’t creatures also beings?”

“In a broad sense of the word, yes. In an academic sense, no.”

“That’s …”

“That’s how it is. And while I do appreciate your willingness to engage in an intellectual conversation, I must say that you clearly have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I said that I’m not an expert right at the very start.”

“Yes, you did. And it’s painfully obvious. The thing is, I’m not a teacher. I don’t have the necessary patience or motivation to teach you higher knowledge. Besides, you don’t need to know how a portal works to help me make one. All you need to do is catch prey for me.”

“Can I ask just one more question? Just one. I promise it will be very reasonable.”

Phisola sighed tiredly while rolling her eyes: “Ok,” she lifted her index finger up threateningly, “But just one.”

“How will the portal know where to teleport us? I bet you’ll give it some instructions, so I’m curious how that works. Do you need to chant the location of our destination? Is there some grid system for it, a map of sorts? Or do you just need to think about the location?”

“That’s five questions in one! Are you sure you’re a diplomat? You’re talking like some opportunistic senator.”

“Do your people have a senate?”

“I said one!!!”

“Ok, ok,” Eric said timidly while raising his hands in defense once again, “Jeez, there’s no reason to get so angry about it. I’m just trying to learn more about your culture, that’s all. And if you don’t want to talk about it, fine, I respect that. But really, how do you set a destination for the teleport?”

Phisola stared at him for a while, giving him the same stare his mother gave him whenever he was way too naughty.

Finally, she grabbed the pendant on her necklace while still staring angrily at him.

“This is how. Yes, the methods you’ve described work, but that’s way too much work. Entering a destination manually is extremely hard and time-consuming work. But luckily, I have it already done. The location is in this pendant. Anyone who is someone has one of these around their neck, in case of emergency. When I start casting the portal, the spell will pick up the location from the pendant and set it right.”

“And … I take it that location is your home?”

“Yes. Not exactly the home itself, but a chamber near it.”

“So, I’ll be going with you, to your home?”

“You can always stay here.”

“No, I … I’m not complaining. I was just hoping there is a way for us to go our separate ways.”

“No, there’s not. You won’t be seeing your home for quite a while. If ever.”