When one heard “civilized,” ohought Falkad. Streets awash in schors, natural philosophers, and the most inbred pure blooded nobles any nd had seen. Spires rose like pore quills around all kinds of grand buildings structed for the glory of whichever religion was the majority that tury. At the time, it was Lukoro gregationalists. In the ms, mist rolled off of the o and filled the ravines of the cracked pteau upon which the city perched.

  In the Sixth tury After Gantian Colpse (A.G.C), two jewels shined brighter than any other on the that was Falkad. The Royal Collector Array of course needs ion. It is so well known that the style of buttresses used to keep its bulk in pce became known as royal buttresses.

  The Aial, however, slipped from the attention of most people. Sure, it was a massive plex that looked down oy from its pteau on top of the pteau, but only the intellectual sorts would be able to identify it by sight. To everyone else, it was a of guards who bred with each other to give birth to baby guards who flooded out if you set a sioe too close without papers. Josarl Starx not only had papers, he lived there.

  From within the bowels of the Aial, he trained, studied and experimented. He would be the first to leave their reality with a single purpose. He would study the pces he traveled, talk to any learned me and delve into any stores of knowledge he could find. All he needed was a single piece of information. On it depended everything. Today, however, his attentioowards far more immediate s.

  A simple robe ated for his adorhat day. His uniform was far too thick for the ing task. Besides, he khat he’d just have to ge when he arrived at his first stop. The Aial’s halls were narrow in the living quarters, but as he neared his destination, they widened. 764. It was screwed into the stone above the door. No words. Inside were a variety of workstations, each aly anized. Some of the traptions, like the unlit fe, he reized. The sorts of tools a smithy would use to maal and keep structed products from def. Others were entirely new, heavily relying on intricate formations of metal that did everything from form passageways through the air to things he could hardly uand. In the ter of the room stood a bust ensced ial with the senior armor smith standio it.

  “Good m, Vulestus,” said Josarl

  “You’re here. Good. We have a few things to go over. First,” the armor smith held up a round medallion with a ripple textured jewel fixed into a hole in the ter. “This is your transtion medallion. You get one. We couldn’t make the jewel out of primordial energy, so we had to force the jewel and the medallion to work together. We, uh, don’t knoe got it to work. It sort of just… does. So don’t lose it!” He ha to Josarl and held up a cube with a pyramid shape attached to it. “This is your recall, uh, thingy. Twist the top, pull up, push down and twist it to the position opposite of where it started. At least that’s how the boys from 732 expi to me. If it works that will- well you already know- and if it doesn’t work- I- you- uh, here.” He hahe recall device to Josarl aed his hand on the armor.

  “Alright, so listen attentively. This is important. It looks like pte armor. It feels like pte armor. And it has a quarter of the durability. It probably stop bronze or iron ons, nothing more. Learn this. Embrace this. The armor is only. For. The. Enviro. We’ve made a seal that will keep air in and a tank with fresh air. The tube is particurly vulnerable, si was a sedary addition. Any breech will mean you lose what air you have. If that happens, pray that the air is breathable. Do you uand?”

  “I do, but how much air do I have?”

  “More than five minutes, which is all you really need for today. Now the’s get this on you.”

  A knot formed in Josarl’s stomach that he didn’t bother to a. Vulestus crafted everything to be the best it could. If an improvement could be made, it would already have been.

  The armor was as light as it was g in protective qualities, cumbersome to have put on and impossible to peel off alone.

  “How does it feel?” asked the armor smith.

  Like I’m being pressed to death by a wearable coffin was the first thought that crossed Josarl’s mind.

  “Snug.” He moved his arms, testing the mobility. “Restrictive.”

  “Yes, we figured that would be a problem. We’ll keep trying to make a better design, but flexible seals are revolutionary enough as it is. Making a good one is one dragon too many right now.” The armor smith handed him the helmet. “I’m going to show you how to affix it and then you’re on your own. Duke Loftner should be along shortly.”

  “If I may ask, why is my armor orientatiohan an hour before I go on a mission?”

  “Because the Duke thinks hopping over for five minutes and ing back doesn’t need an ih orientation. You know Ued shouldn’t ask questions, though.”

  “Yes, you are right. My apologies. The prospect of going to a pce where water bei isn’t even guaranteed make a man…”

  Vulestus nodded sympathetically. “Yes, I suppose I would also be more ined to questions.”

  Vulestus walked him through the csps and seals that kept his air in. Once Josarl could remove and repce the helmet at will, the armor smith left him alone. He tugged at a couple straps to distract himself from his feelings. There were just so many. Lookiht revealed a slightly less than one hundred ay degree field of vision. Messing with the breastpte and shoulder guards failed to help. He turo the full length mirror.

  The armor looked as it was supposed to: a bastardized pte armor suit with a tank on the back, tubes feeding into the helmet and a pack strapped to the front waist for carrying small things. A triangle of leather dangled forlornly at his side, the start of a scabbard that was not to be. The image was foggy due to the gss used in the helmet’s slit growing warm from his presence. He couldn’t even lift the face pte. He was entombed inside an airtight suit without a sirace of Josarl Starx to be seen.

  The door opened. Slipping through the frame like water through a sieve came a man that looked as if he perpetually envisioned himself in the middle of big dramatic happenings. His muddy eyes usually held a distant look while his body strutted about as if on a stage.

  “My lord!” Josarl performed a half kneel, going as low as his suit would allow.

  “Rise,” said Duke Loftner.

  Josarl obeyed.

  “Are you nervous, Mr. Starx?”

  “Yes, M’lord.”

  “Good. I do not suffer fools. e. The final adjustments to the pendium Gate should be pleted soon.”

  Josarl followed the duke at the css appropriate position: slightly behind and to the side where he hear but not be seen. They passed dozens of people. Sage looking men in robes oversaw younger men dressed for bor as they carried away tools and long objects covered in cloth from the pair’s destination.

  “Whether you succeed or fail today, you will be remembered long after any other Ued. Just don’t panic. I’m sure it will work. I know we haven’t tested it because we couldn’t but- well… Ah! Archduke Kolfka!”

  A regal faced man with a withered arm approached. “Duke Loftner,” came the curt response.

  “What brings you to the Aial?”

  “The Grand Vizier asked me to e over. He wishes me to observe the first mission through the pendium Gate and ask about our problem in the-” Archduke Kolfka g Josarl.

  “He is briefed on the breach,” said Duke Loftner. “And I will tell you what I told him st time. Two hundred years at the current rate of decay.”

  “But you expect the rate to increase.”

  “That is what my schors say.”

  “And you drafted this Ued because?”

  “He is capable. His has a philosopher’s mind, more than capable of fulfilling his task. And he volunteered.”

  “Iing. Tell me, Ued, what are you doing today?”

  “We will be testing the recall, uh, device today. The test will start by opening the gate. I am to enter, wait out the five mi takes to recharge the gate and use the recall cube to return.”

  The Archduke nodded and the three carried on to the point where the hallway diverged. The pendium Gate’s chamber y ahead. A stairlit off on the left leading up to an observation and and area.

  Duke Loftner poio the chamber. “Enter and await the gate’s opening.”

  “Good luck,” said the Archduke.

  He watched the dukes climb the stairs, disappearing into a Gothic arched doorway, before himself proceeding into the gate chamber with false calm. To behold the pendium Gate was an arresting experience. A ring posed the tral structure, which drew attention to itself over all other things. A hazy mass of indistinguishable metal structs reached from many points in the walls, the ical roof, and the floor to ect with the gate, but they were so highly detailed that the eye teo overlook them all. Clear crystals seeded through the structures poked through as small glimmers while a half ring of dark red crystals lihe back of the room. Everything ected to the ring through cloudy, stale white crystals that jutted out like withered sun rays.

  A pair of people in thick, armor-like leather suits with beaked masks and hoods checked the white crystals while men in dark gray robes ied the rest. The people iher suits always hahe white crystals. At several points during the project, Josarl asked about them to no avail. He supposed it was a big military secret, though that never fully squared away the reas he received when he asked people in the know about the white crystals.

  “Portal stru will begin in five minutes!” someone called from the observation deck. “All hands clear the chamber!”

  Support personnel ed up their tools with unhurried speed. Josarl became unfortably aware of the is. Awareness often helps iing, but here it acted as a weight drawing his eyes down to look at the gate’s base. It stood on a rge pilr surrounded by a pit so deep, the bottom was obscured in darkness. Rails guarded against falling in from the outside, but the bridge to the gate and the tral ptform did not have any, being him over the edge. A call to shove off his mortal coil in favor of the best flight of his life.

  “Begin charging sequence,” said the observation deck coordinator.

  Robed men assumed positions at each of the red crystals, iing runes into slots within each crystal’s support struts. Soon they began to glow faintly, leading to a cascade of clear crystals simirly glowing until the sequence arrived at the white crystals. They respoo the flow of energy by hissing, releasing a pu smell that Josarl could not quite pin down. He swore he’d smelled it before, somewhere other than the permaly repulsive leather suits of the crystals’ handlers. Such thoughts dissipated as the gate’s activation sequence reached the final stage. A bloom of light burst from the ive spaside the gate’s ring. Josarl had closed his eyes in preparation and only saw a handful of spots when he opehem again. Lime green crackles of energy ran along the rim of the ring, framing the image of a greehat turo a mossy wood whose trees all had blue leaves and brahat spread like a mirror of their roots.

  “We are ready to proceed. Good luck Master Starx. May Lukoro protect you.”

  g echoed through the chamber as Josarl stepped up to the bridge. With the helmet on he couldn’t see the edge. He slid one foot out. Then slid the other one up. Left scraped along. Right scraped along. Each slide caused the grinding of metal oal to echh the chamber. The miicked down. He kept imagining a narrow beam. The bridge was wide enough for a man to walk fortably across. Finally, he faced the portal. A nervous hand reached up to double check his helmet’s seal. Theepped through. For a moment, everything seemed fine. A cool breeze wafted from his right. A single bird chirped in the silence right up until the crack. Josarl turo the portal.

  In an instant, all appeared undone. Uanding broke upon his mind like a colpsing house as he saw the vast ive space behind him. The moment, he could feel that ive space. In a cloud of dust and rock he fell, smag into small trees that desperately g to the bluff side he so untrolbly traversed. Josarl almost became ie to his difficulty breathing, or the pain, or the only heart he had putting in its best effort to explode. A couple seds ter, a yer of lesser branches slowed his dest enough that he mao snatch a sturdy handhold. Looking around, Josarl tried to dis what exactly had occurred. When nothing clearer than “I fell down the bluff” revealed itself, he turned his attention to cheg his own person.

  Fortune had smiled a rge toothy grin on him that day. While he had hit an inordinate number of trees on the way down, they were so close together that he never gained enough momentum to actually break any bones. He would have bruises. So many bruises. Bruises for days. He figured he could live with that, so long as that was the extent of his pain. Time to check his gear.

  The air tubes were intact. The seal was intact. Dents marred every sie of the armor, but nothing seemed to be breached. The carry pouch was torn. Ay. Josarl looked below and could barely see the form of a cube with a pyramid bolted onto the side. The recall device looked undamaged. All he had to do was get down. So he rexed iree, hoping to recover his strength. Because he’d stopped moving, the armor no lround against itself, allowing him to hear them.

  They were ing quickly, invisible due to the tree cover. They broke upon the recall device like a flood. He couldn’t tell what the creatures were and in the moment, did not care. The deformed things had seen him and the recall device. Him they hissed and s. One of the smaller ones picked up the recall device.

  “We take it to the dark lord!” It spoke with a slight lisp.

  “What about that one?”

  “Don’t waste time. We’re already overdue.”

  The creatures obeyed and were gone as quickly as they appeared.

  Josarl began w his way dowree. Immense pain washed over him when he moved. In response he bent his mental energies towards remembering what he’d seen right before the bluff broke to block it out. Woods that opened into orderly fields and something that might have been a vilge. Either that or yellow rowth.

  When he reached the bottom, Jnced around to make sure the coast was clear. He remembered the limited air supply quite clearly. Without the recall device, he had no choice but to try his luck. He shut off the tank and popped his seal. Dreary iron smells were bsted away by something that felt like spice for the nose. He shook his head untrolbly for a moment while his eyes watered and his body adjusted. While unfortable, the air seemed breathable. He just couldn’t use his nose.

  With er dires, Josarl walked towards where he thought the vilge might be. Now that his initial experience had settled, he had time to experiehe new world iail. Other than the blue-leafed trees, the flora seemed remarkably like his home reality’s. Thehought occurred that he wasn’t particurly familiar with any flora since he was not a herbalist. He had no idea how close they were or were not. This ck of familiarity was further pressed home by a bird he sapeared perfectly normal until its beak started spinning and it drilled into a tree. With no point of reference for that event, he hurried on.