-Callen-

  Waking up in the morning, the sight of a familiar ceiling made me smile. I start to try getting up but notice my side burdened by an unusual weight. Lying on my arm was little Rylin. Disturbed by my movement, Rylin nestled in closer to my arm while peacefully drooling on me. Carefully I shift myself to slowly pull away from my little brother while carefully tucking him in. For a moment I think he’s about to wake up as his arm grasps at me as I slide away, but ultimately he keeps sleeping. Looking back I saw Mom smiling at me from the doorway. I give her a smile back as I head over to the door and gently close it.

  “Breakfast is ready. Will Callia be back soon?” Mom quietly asked while we went down the stairs. I shook my head at that.

  “No, apparently one of the queens has taken a liking to Sis, so she’s having tea with her.” Mom just gave me a strange look like she thought I was lying but couldn’t see through it.

  “Right, well, you can still send her some breakfast. If she’s busy with the queen, then maybe the queen would like to try some.” She grabbed a plate of pancakes and handed them to me. Not being one to deny Mom’s demands, I passed the message along to Sis while I shifted the pancakes into the void for Sis. After that I dug in, enjoying the taste of home. However, seconds later, Callia contacted me regarding the mayoral transfer; she had arranged for it to be finished tomorrow. I took a moment to digest that revelation. I suppose being close with the boss's wife has benefits in getting meetings brought forward.

  Finishing my food, I cleaned my dishes and bid Mom goodbye on my way over towards town. The first Void Gate I made functioned but only barely. The interference from the void made enchanting nearly impossible, which resulted in shoddy workmanship on the previous gate. In fact, the entire structure collapsed shortly after I left the gate. I just didn’t realize at the time how close I had been to being cut in half in my rush to visit Crescent.

  So now that I had access to all my tools, I wanted to make a Void Gate worthy of how epic the name sounded. The plan was to make a full door-sized gate connected to a similar gate that would be seamlessly attached in the void, and the other gate would connect to a third doorway in the real world. When complete, it would function as a portal between any two points in the real world. The only limitation is that it requires activation by someone with void affinity on both ends. If only one end is activated, it would send people into the voidspace, but they wouldn’t be able to leave until someone outside activated the doorway.

  My first step was visiting the town carpenters to order an ornate set of matching door frames. After all, I had all day to make it look nice, and what's the point of portal doors if they don’t look nice? The negotiations were easy enough, and my presence in the city even caused various people to cheer in celebration. The idea that I would be taking back over seemed to ease the tension that had been brewing the last month. It’s funny how before I left, people couldn’t get rid of me fast enough, but now that I’m back, people are running to the taverns to celebrate. Just goes to show that despite how much hate someone might perceive, often it's only those who are upset who speak loudest.

  The frame was designed to be fitted on top of the layer I was enchanting so that I could get my work done while they took their time making their side the best quality they could manage. When I described what I was making, it seemed to really fire up the carpentry team. I suppose a door to anywhere was the kind of project that you can brag about the rest of your life. In fact, I had trouble refusing all the volunteers for the project. Eventually I settled the discussion by agreeing to hire the three best carpenters. They had until the end of the day to decide what that meant. As I walked away, I noticed the men arguing as they broke into teams of three. I think I might’ve started a spontaneous 3-man team doorframe crafting competition.

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  Well, sometimes if you want the best product, you make people compete for it to get the best results. Regardless of how it goes, I’ll be sure to compensate the ‘losers’ for their effort. With the outsiders contracted, I returned to my workshop to get to work. A single gate for point A, two connected gates with no outside access for the inner void setup, and another single gate for point B. While making the gates outside of the void was infinitely easier for me to get right, it was also far more apparent just how much I left out in my previous work. Tier 4 enchantments were massive and complex pieces of work; each gate took hours of careful adjustments to properly and permanently enchant.

  As the sun set I finally wiped sweat from my head and realized that I completely forgot to collect the gates from the carpenters. I rushed out to try finding them before the sun completely set. Just as I exited my door, I was confronted with a large outdoor barbeque, with Mom passing out trays of meat to the various men sitting in the spontaneous gathering. Various frames covered by cloth resting against the side of the house. The carpenters must’ve brought their work over when they finished, and while waiting for me to finish, Mom decided to feed our guests. Now the boss of the carpenters was working a grill with large pieces of monster steak sizzling temptingly while the others chatted.

  Not a moment later cheers broke out as the men noticed me standing at the entry of my workshop. The groups eagerly grabbed the frames and stood them side by side. I went along with the presentation as each group unveiled their frames, pointing out the intricacies of the designs. One group had covered the frame in sailing and fish motifs since it gave a kind of sailors' door to Davy Jones vibe of forbidden and fishy. Another work focused on forest motifs, making a kind of ancient ruined door in the woodlands. However, my favorite was the space-themed door. The man painted the door mainly in dark colors with swirls engraved in the wood with deep purple misting and stars spiraling in galaxy shapes. Apparently the inspiration was from his father, who was a ship's lookout. Since the man specialized in farsight, the carpenter had stories of the night sky seen with precision impossible for natural eyes. The man chose that theme because most people in the town thought it was what I had.

  Honestly, I liked all the frames, and since they all went through the effort of making them, I figured I would buy them all, but I declared the galaxy gate my favorite and the first to get used. I chuckled in amusement as the losers handed over the money I paid them with for their frames to the winner. The group of men left the clearing rowdily cheering and in good spirits.

  I attached the frame to the first and third doors. Ideally nobody would see the frame of the second gate because when both doors are active, it should be a seamless passage from the first door to the third. If only one door was active, then a blank wooden board would be visible until the second gate activated.

  I contacted Callia while I set the first and second frames in place. She took the third and set it up in her room. In sync we activated the doors and a passageway from home’s front yard to Callia’s luxury room in the capital. It was like a window to another world. Despite the success, neither of us crossed over because we need to be on both sides to keep it active. Constant contact with the frame of the doorway was necessary to keep the enchantment active, so without a third member to hold the door open on one side, crossing might require sacrificing the tip of a finger. That didn’t mean Mom and Rylin could take the chance to visit the capital and give Sis some love. Eventually we did need to pack up for the night. Tomorrow was going to be busy.

  Dire News

  Meccas looked at the emergency report Viscount Nox handed him. It was an urgent letter from his territory about the coordinated invasion of multiple elven tribes. He struggled to understand how. He left his city on high alert for the week he dedicated to responding to Nox’s urgent summons. He knew what Nox intended the moment he got the message because just the week prior he had an elite team escort the children in the city south at the orders of the duke.

  If he was honest with himself, he understood Nox’s plight, which is why he made time to hear the man out, but now that he was gone, something unprecedented in the history of the kingdom had occurred. Small elvish tribal raiding parties were nothing new, but this wasn’t just a raiding party but a multi-tribe organized invasion with siege ladders and tactics unlike any seen since before the fall. His city held long enough to send the message, but Meccas didn’t dare delay as he urgently set out to face the greater threat. Nox was convinced that Harlanou’s purpose was to form something silly like a child army, but Meccas now saw that the duke must have discovered the threat through undisclosable means and acted to save the children of the domain.

  Meccas gave no notice to Nox’s efforts in raising conscripts nor the messengers being sent to spread word of the disaster. His people needed him yesterday, and he was certain that he wouldn’t leave them waiting a moment longer than absolutely necessary. His sword in hand, he moved through the forest with ease. For reasons Meccas didn’t understand, the blade summoned itself back to him, but ever since the blade had felt different. At times he could almost feel a connection with the blade as they fought together with a grace that transcended his previous limits. He would have to thank the boy from Port Town for whatever it was he did. The baron smiled confidently with his sword gleaming as they darted down the road, covering a vast distance in moments.

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