“Hey mate.” Gavin said, leaning back on the railing near the site of the ambush two days earlier.

  “This I'd Gavin Pene?”

  “It's Penē, but just call me Gavin.”

  “I must confess, I'm surprised you called.”

  “You've had your boffins analysing those chairs I left out the other day?”

  “We have, they're made of a material that's got several very smart people scratching their heads.”

  “Ha, well, I've had some time to calm down a bit and I thought we could help each other.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “I want to know if you have any methods of detecting magic and if you've come across any other magic on earth.”

  “And in exchange we get?”

  “Materials from the other world, the happier I am with the information the more you get.”

  “Not enough. My scientists would be over the moon, but I’m not giving up classified information to keep them happy.”

  “It wouldn't be just metal and wood, there's healing potions, enchanted items, and the method we use to get magic powers” Gavin said.

  The line went silent for a second and he heard the creak of a swivel chair.

  “You can give people magic powers?”

  “I can. Not a meta build, it's basically just stuff I've looted over the last few weeks in the other world, but there's a couple of good ones in there.”

  “Where would you like to meet?”

  “The fortress, I'll allow four people inside if you can give me the information I want.”

  “Is your home as difficult to leave as it is to get in?”

  “You could set off a nuke inside it and it would probably only damage the furniture in that room.”

  “We can be there in an hour.”

  “Good. Lunch is on you then.” Gavin said, hanging up and stashing the phone in his inventory.

  ***

  Two men and two women stood outside the fortress door dressed in crisp military uniforms. One, a man in his late thirties with short salt and pepper hair and steel grey eyes knocked on the door four times. Gavin opened it a moment later, beaming. He gestured them inside, noting the second man carrying an open cardboard box of stacked pastries with approval.

  Stoic faces cracked as all four craned their necks in wonder, getting what was likely their first look at actual magic. Glowing globes of light hovered overhead, casting a diffuse neutral light over the gothic stone walls. Stained glass windows were eerily dark, like it was perpetual night outside.

  Gavin led them into the dining room and took his customary seat at the table where Sam, Judy and Val were sitting at ease comparing notes on the various musicians they'd spent the morning researching. He pointedly did not look at the latest work he'd deliberately left out in the lounge.

  “Is that?” Harding asked, his eyes bulging as he fixated on it.

  “So, we should probably introduce ourselves, I’m Gavin, this is Judy Hawkthorne, Samania Starbourne and Valerie Westhart. Over in the other world we are what are called wardens, which are basically just a guild of monster hunting mercenaries, as you can probably guess, we’re not super keen to stay on a planet with no monsters which is where I’m hoping you guys come in.”

  “Well, I’m Thomas Green, You've met Harding, this is Angela Braithwait and Rose Harawera. Angela is my superior, and Rose is the head of our magical research division.

  “You the one who authorised him to kill me?” Gavin said nodding to Harding, who at least had the decency to look guilty.

  “I did, and for that I apologise. Our models suggested-”

  “Lets not get into that.” Gavin said, cutting her off. “Suffice to say that shooting first is probably the dumbest thing you could have done. I'm only level two and even then a bullet to the head just gave me a bit of a headache, there are people on the other world that can bend reality with their wills, probably best off negotiating first if it comes up again, yeah?”

  “Noted.” Angela said.

  “So, I'm hoping you can let me in on some state secrets, and someone has to put up first, so I’ll come to the table with something you'll all want to know about.”

  He retrieved a small crystal from his inventory and rolled it across the table to Rose. All eyes in the room watched the vortex of fiery orange and crimson contained within as it reached her hand. She took it up and examined it in the light of a glow globe, the swirling colours playing over her stunned face.

  “That is a demon soul crystal of fire breath, you get them sometimes from killing daemons, there's also monster souls, elemental souls and so on, they're all basically the same thing, you're just more likely to get certain kinds of powers from each, monsters are usually passive powers, demons are external powers, but not always.”

  “And how do you use it?” Rose asked, turning back to Gavin, along with the others.

  “You absorb it, just will it to bind to your soul.”

  “There's no such thing as a soul.” Rose said.

  “Which is probably why you can't use it I expect. Some people can absorb them, some people can't, there's a lot more people in this world that can't than the other. Harding and Angela there can absorb them, I'd advise not letting them touch it, without access to mana having powers would be a very bad time for them.”

  “Explain.” Angela said shortly.

  “This world is a magical desert, it sucks the magic out of anything in it unless it's got some very specific defences against it, with one power it might just leave someone with a low mana headache for the rest of their life, it's a bit like a brain freeze, as you get more powers and level up your body becomes more magical.”

  “Is that what happened to the fifth person you arrived with?” Angela asked, leaning forward “She disintegrated almost immediately.”

  “Yeah, actually, she was level twenty, which is about as high as you can go.”

  “And you absorbed these powers too?” Rose asked, “You haven't had any adverse effects?”

  “None. I'm stronger, better memory and faster than I was before. At higher levels you can manually control your own body functions, hiccups, bloodflow, whatever.”

  “Even-?” Rose asked with an eyebrow raised to the other three women.

  “Yes.” Val said with a nod.

  “So, now it's your turn.” Gavin said, steepling his fingers in an imitation of a movie villain.

  “Rose?” Angela nodded to her subordinate.

  “Magic creates a localised zone of electromagnetic radiation that can be detected with sensitive equipment.”

  “The TV works fine?” Gavin said indicating the television with the logo bouncing across a black background.”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “It's about as subtle as the interference you'd get off a two or three kilowatt electric motor.” She clarified.

  “And you can detect that?” Gavin said, eyebrows raised.

  “Not usually, your little display in the graveyard set of about every alarm we have, from there we used old fashioned facial recognition to track you down.”

  “I wasn't gone for that long.” Gavin said peevishly. “I get back and now pak n sav wants to take my photo to make sure I'm nor stealing stuff.”

  “Civilian technology trails a decade or two behind military technology.” Angela said by way of explanation.

  “Right. So, this is to say you know where there's magic stuff in the world?”

  “We do.” Angela said, smiling like the cat that was about to get the cream.

  “Okay, got any wizard towers lying around? Maybe ones that you can't get into?”

  Angela raised an eyebrow and remained silent.

  “Right.” Gavin said, thinking a moment.

  He reached into his inventory and pulled out a stack of ingots and laid them out side by side.

  “Mithril, adamantium, etherium, obstinite, darksteel, ebonite.” He said pointing to each one in turn.

  Angela remained silent, holding out for more.

  “Look, I'm being diplomatic as a favour to you guys so you don't get up my ass when I tear the world apart looking for what I want. We can do this the hard way if you want.” He said maintaining eye contact with Angela, who couldn't help but let her gaze to drift over his shoulder.

  “Threats Gavin?”

  “I invited you here as guests, you're completely safe, I just don't like to play games.”

  Beside him Val laughed a single ‘Ha’, Sam coughed ‘bullshit’ into a cupped hand, and Judy let out a squeak of amusement. Gavin turned to look at them all with a look of exasperation.

  “Oh, right, setting a tone.” Sam said miming zipping her mouth closed in a passable imitation of Gavin himself.

  “Right. So, I want in to the wizard tower, what you've got here is enough to advance materials science by a hundred years, and in exchange I want information that you can't use without my help. Does that sound like a good deal?”

  “We want to send a contingent in with you.” Angela said quickly.

  “It will be dangerous, it's probably dangerous for us, anyone who goes in should not expect to come out.”

  “Thar is our rist to take, not yours.”

  “Okay, it's your funeral, but I have a condition too. Anything you find out about those metals and the soul crystal specifically I want to know about. I can get more metal easy enough, but it's theoretically possible that I can make more of those crystals if I can figure out how they work.”

  “Deal. I'll arrange the details on my end and keep you in the loop.” Angela said, standing and offering a firm hand shake.

  ***

  “Don't you guys look fancy.” Gavin said as a semicircle of soldiers fell in around his team.

  “I'm told that this is your operation and we are to follow all reasonable orders you give.” Harding said, stepping forwards.

  “First thing you should know is Sam here is in charge when we're in the field. You might have picked up on my somewhat frivolous attitude, she's the professional here so you listen to her. I'm just the one who can be bothered talking with the big wigs.”

  “Right.” Harding said, seeming a little more at ease.

  “Second.” Gavin continued, “all the science bros stay right the fuck outside until we've cleared the whole thing. Last time we went into one there were some crazy powerful mechs and there was an explosion that blasted pretty much everything inside to ash.”

  He emphasised his point by retrieving a partially burnt book and waving it in front of the soldiers. It was still hot from the flames and smouldered gently in the morning air.

  “And third, if you hear me or anyone on the team calling a retreat, get through my portal immediately.” Gavin said, summoning his stone arch.

  The portal filled with pearlescent light, its twin standing several metres to the side. He took a step back through the first and reappeared at the second in the same moment then back to stand where he'd been a second earlier.

  “And lastly, absolutely do not touch the sword.” Gavin said, pulling up on the hilt that had sunk down to ground level. “It's super dangerous, it's easily the most, and I can't stress this enough, you will die an instant horrible death if you touch it. Actually, if anything looks vaguely magical, it will probably annihilate you if you go near it.”

  “You're such a drama queen.” Judy said.

  “It's not a joke.” Gavin said serious for one of the few times in his life. “Here.”

  He held out an ingot of solid steel to Harding to inspect, satisfied it was indeed a brick of solid metal he gave it back. Gavin suspended it between his fingers just over the edge of the blade and let it fall. The bar dropped without resistance, separating as if it were no more substantial than a hologram and clanking to the concrete as two perfect halves.

  “This thing is like a light sabre on crack, and if there's literally any defences in there it's the only thing we have that can actually deal with it, your guns probably wouldn't even damage the books in there let alone anything actually out to hurt you.”

  “I think you've impressed them all a little with your scary speech Gavin.” Val said, half bored.

  “Not yet. Here.” Gavin said fabricating a target out of the thinnest sliver of adamantium he could craft held up on a stand. “Shoot this, go on, have a go.”

  He stood back and watched as Harding shrugged, pulled out a pistol and shot it dead centre. The bullet splattered across the surface as a steely smear not even denting the tissue thin metal. Gavin took his own rifle from his inventory, casually waved it at the target and pulled the trigger.

  Splinters of adamantium rained down across the courtyard behind them as Gavin slid his gun back into his inventory. He looked at Harding and the soldiers to make sure they had internalised what they'd just seen.

  “If there are any defenses in there whatsoever, our weapons won't even scratch them, and they'll move faster than we can think let alone react to. I'm dead serious, this is a bad idea and you lot need to understand that shit will hit the fan and we can't do a lot to protect you.”

  “Thank you for the warning. But if it's all the same to you, I got into this job to experience something no one else in the world even knows exists and I've spent the last seven years guarding a bunker, I think I'm ready to peek behind the curtain.”