Yelric had made the offer to finance Izzy’s magic core a few hours ago.

  “I like to think I can see a good investment when it is in front of me,” Yelric had said to an aghast Izzy. “You’ve done some incredible things with spell coins all while without a magic core and I think we can work well together. You seem to study well and ask intelligent questions, so I think anything I teach you will go to good use. If both Rajir and Titus hadn’t confirmed what happened with the healing spell, I’d be a little more reticent in offering this so freely, but I trust their assessment. Titus was a little more pushy than normal, but he has a hard time with change or anything or anyone that doesn’t fit into how he views the world. I set him straight and he shouldn’t disturb you.”

  Izzy’s eyebrow raised with the use of the word “freely”. Izzy had been witness to Yelric’s slow, methodical, nearly conniving, way of negotiating prices on his wares. Several times there had been rich-looking patrons that came in with an idea of what they wanted, but left with two or three other must-haves once Yelric was through with them. Izzy had watched the creation of several items and was astounded at the price the wares fetched.

  There was something shrewd there and Izzy was still a little hesitant. So far, Yelric had been a gracious host. But Izzy still had a deep-rooted feeling of uneasiness and powerlessness in this world that he couldn’t let go of quite yet. He decided to push a little at the idea that Yelric was the one that was worried about going through with a deal.

  “Freely?” Izzy said, forcing some suspicion into his voice. “I’m all about fair trade and want to pay appropriately, I just don’t see how I can without already having magic to earn the money or being indebted to you for a long time. I’m aware that indentured servitude is a thing here, but I’d rather work in a quarry earning wages on my own terms than being an “almost slave” where loopholes and expensive contract negotiators find ways to keep me impoverished.”

  He’d almost said lawyer instead of contract negotiators and had decided against it, they hadn’t made much headway with the translation weirdness going on. Yelric looked almost insulted at the mention of it; this made Izzy feel better.

  “No Izzy,” Yelric said, “I have my Scintillae for that kind of thing and I believe in mutually beneficial arrangements. Though by the look on your face, I’m realizing now that was a little test of your own. I see now how disconcerting that can be… Well done,” he said, bowing his head a little. “Perhaps now we can start working on a bit more trust between the two of us. I confess to wanting a few assurances of my own, but nothing so drastic as indentured servitude. When it comes to magic cores, sponsorship is common since it can be so cost-prohibitive for the average person. Such contracts are heavily moderated by local governments and the Pathfinder Guild. They don’t want rich people building up little armies of indentured casters.”

  “Hmm…” Izzy said thoughtfully, “so to go through with this, I’ll have to register with either the government or the guild? Makes sense, these powers can be extremely dangerous and, with them being a part of reality and not going away, the people who want to have them should be offered the chance with an appropriate amount of oversight from a third party. People are okay with this?”

  “Oh yes!” Yelric said. “They get what they want and the powers-that-be can keep an eye out for the dangerous ones. It doesn’t stop people from getting cores and doing terrible things with those powers, but if they weren’t registered there is an increased amount of investigation into their activities. It can hurt too many people for there to not be extra scrutiny. The ones that are registered and do stupid things are easier to track down and deal with accordingly. Can even act as a little bit of a built-in deterrent in some cases.”

  “Okay,” Izzy said, satisfied. “How do we go about this? Also, I apologize for poking at the contract details that way. You’ve been a wonderful host. Please just understand that I’m aware of how apparent my helplessness may be to other people. I was just trying to get an honest reaction out of you on a very important point.”

  “I understand,” Yelric said. “I hold a lot of the cards here, so no offense taken. We will continue winning each others’ trust as we move forward, I have no doubt.”

  He smiled and Izzy gave him a genuine grin and nod in return.

  Yelric continued, “As for moving forward with getting you a core, usually we start with figuring out which core you’re going to absorb.”

  His speech began to pick up pace as Yelric seemed to be enjoying himself.

  “Earth is the most common since so many people see the direct effects. Everywhere you go, there will always be a need for even low grade builders, and Earth magic is the foundation for most healing. Technically it is possible with Water magic, but it isn’t as common and hard to manifest the skill. Most people with Earth magic have a low affinity for healing even before enhancement with a Water shard, but the affinity usually goes away if they enhance their core too deeply into Earth magic.”

  “Is that the cheapest then?” Izzy asked, trying to think ahead to the terms of the sponsorship.

  “Actually, no…” Yelric said. “Its usefulness makes it the most in demand while there doesn’t seem to be a commensurate supply of them. These cores don’t just come out of nowhere. Well… Actually they kind of do, but that is besides the point. With Earth cores being what most people want for the opportunity for work, they end up being the most expensive.

  “Second is Wind. Messengers, fighters, and sailors will take Wind because of the flight and speed it gives them. Fire and Water cores come out to about the same cost below Wind. Fire and Water magics are much more niche and normally only useful for offensive and defensive spells, respectively. Most Pathfinders and guards will have a Fire or Water core. They’re cheaper, but the work you can get is typically more dangerous.”

  “What about crafters, like you?” Izzy asked, realizing that Yelric didn’t really fit into any of those categories.

  “Normally?” Yelric smiled impishly, a strange look on his big face. “Normally crafters will have an Earth core. This helps them manipulate the materials of the stuff with which they are working, preparing the piece to take an enhancement or making the enchantment much easier to entrench into the final piece. Some will have a core enhancement of another kind to do the enchantment themselves, but normally they will outsource that work or have a partner. I, on the other hand, have the Space core and specialize in communication and spatial or magical enhancement enchantments.”

  “Like the bag,” Izzy said. “You enhanced its spatial characteristics so that it was bigger on the inside.”

  “Exactly,” Yelric confirmed. “Add in some reinforcement Earth magic for the straps and Wind magic on the bottom to handle the fact that it is carrying around a dimensional space, and you get a backpack in which you could carry a small boat.”

  “Which core is the best?” Izzy asked, guessing the answer.

  “It depends,” Yelric said, “but I suspect you knew that already. The question comes down to what do you want to do with your magic? Fortunately, with shard enhancements you can always shift your focus a little; however, you do need a general idea because you can only shift so much. You can get a taste of other magics through shards, but it won’t be nearly as strong as what is possible for a core user of that attribute.”

  Izzy nodded as Yelric spoke. From his research, he was getting an inkling of how magic related to science. Nothing more specific than “fire is essentially free activation energy for combustible chemical reactions”, “earth magic moves and can change the properties of raw materials through applying kinetic energy and by altering the molecular structures, respectively”, and “space magic is hard and you need to be careful in case you squeeze yourself out of reality but it can be used to enhance any other type of magic, also portals”, but felt like whatever he chose it needed to be as broad as possible.

  Once he cracked the code, there would be time to drill down into what each of the magics were capable of. If they were loosely related to fields of science, there was going to be plenty of crossover. After all, you could do chemistry while being ignorant of physics, but chemistry made even more sense when you learned some quantum mechanics.

  Izzy was trying to discover the quantum mechanics of magic.

  “I think I want a Space core,” Izzy said, sounding less confident than he thought he was. “I want to learn as much as I can about magic as possible. It sounds like all magic has some level of reliance on spatial magic or is heavily enhanced and affected by it. Magic has to come from somewhere and all magic takes place inside space, right? I want to study this relationship. Is magic research a thing?”

  “Oh yes,” Yelric said, a wide smile breaking out on his face. “Yes, magic research is definitely a thing, Izzy. This aligns nicely to what I was hoping to propose, but I’m glad you landed there yourself. I thought you might with how you attacked those books like they stole your lunch.”

  Izzy chuckled at that, remembering how he had almost snatched a book back from Yelric when the firbolg had needed to refer to one for something on which he was working. It had been the Space magic book.

  They spent the next couple hours ironing out an agreement. Izzy was glad to see the amount of autonomy it afforded him, while Yelric could express the contract in either garnished wages from established businesses or the Pathfinder Guild, subcontracts for specific work with Yelric, or a set of generic hours worked.

  It appeared to Izzy it was valued at about 1600 ISC, or about 24 months of garnished wages with the possibility of large reductions depending on the value placed on shorter stints of specialized work. He could either pay it off, or spend the time working directly for Yelric. There was even language for negotiations on the value of services rendered with the Pathfinder Guild providing mediation.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  It almost sounded like the opposite of a grant proposal; instead of asking for money to research something with more money promised if breakthroughs were made, Izzy was promising a value or amount of time unless he helped in some big way which would decrease his obligation.

  Izzy also made a point to negotiate that the first four contracts he took would pay directly to him. He was going to have some upfront costs of his own and wanted some walking around money before the contract started taking anything off of the top. Yelric agreed with the rationale and added in the stipulation. As an entrepreneur, he understood that one had to spend money to make money.

  After discussing some of the details with Rajir, Izzy was satisfied. Rajir’s eyes had lit up with excitement and had told Izzy that this was an amazing deal. Most sponsors took about the same but for even longer and didn’t have the option for reduction, showing a certain amount of trust Yelric had in Izzy.

  “He sees your potential and is hoping for a longer relationship than the terms of the contract,” Rajir had said. “At least, that’s what this reads like to me. My sponsor was with a building company and they had stipulated about a full year worth of pay. If I hadn’t worked so hard, it could have taken 2 years; I got it done in just under one. I did additional work on the side to pay it down faster since they allowed for it. They were impressed and hired me on full-time!”

  —

  The next day, the morning of Izzy’s fifth day, Yelric and Izzy went to the Pathfinder Guild to register the contract. Getting the agreement formalized was easier than Izzy thought. He’d bought a house and there was less paperwork involved with getting vast, cosmic powers than with signing up for a mortgage. Yelric had taken Izzy to the local Pathfinder Guild where a nice, energetic young human named Terrance had guided them through the process.

  Terrance took the scroll upon which the agreement was written, took their full names into a ledger, and filled out some information on the bottom of the scroll matching his ledger. Izzy realized Terrance was basically a magical notary.

  After scribbling some stuff in the ledger and the scroll, Terrance took a stone from his desk and waved it over the scroll and held it up asking each of them to read it while he clung to it with an air of importance. Izzy didn’t notice any changes other than the information at the bottom:

  Spatial magic core sponsor: Yelric Alabaster Mooni, esquire. Grade 8

  Spatial magic core sponsee: Izaak Berchtwald Schiller. Grade 0

  Pathfinder attendant: Jerome Orontee. Terrance, Grade 3

  Izzy wanted to ask why the man had introduced himself as Terrance if his name was actually Jerome, but he had never liked doing paperwork so he wasn’t willing to make this take any longer than it needed to. Terrance appeared to be some sort of generic clerical title.

  Terrance/Jerome then took a multi-colored piece of crystal and beckoned to Yelric. The crystal looked like a giant, glowing piece of children’s sidewalk chalk. The young man had taken the chalk thing and had pulled it along the scroll over the entry for Yelric and had Yelric place his hand on the paper. He had then drawn an outline of Yelric’s hand with the chalk right in the center of the scroll. This process was then repeated with Izzy and then Terrance did it to himself. Nothing actually appeared on the paper, the magic infusing itself directly into the scroll.

  Finally, Terrance took the scroll, laid it over two more scrolls of identical length, weighing them all down with small brass weights. He took a third crystal from his desk; this one was a long, thin white rod and waved it systematically along the length of the scroll like a hand scanner.

  Terrance took the original scroll, rolled it up, and put it in a wooden tube of some sort. He capped it and held the first crystal against the cap. The cap melted into the tube making it one solid tube of wood with no visible seams or blemishes other than a small brand on the end where the crystal had touched it. Terrance then handed over the other two scrolls, one to each Yelric and Izzy. They were perfect copies.

  “Huh…” Izzy thought. “Carbon copies. Paperwork is the same everywhere you go apparently!”

  “You’re all set,” Terrance said brightly, breaking Izzy out of his thoughts, making Izzy look up and around, confused. The entire process had taken about five minutes and Izzy couldn’t believe it. He didn’t know what he had expected, but he was being approved to be granted magic powers; maybe he was disappointed with the lack of pomp and circumstance.

  Yelric got up and shook practically the entire forearm of the young man with his giant hand, and Izzy followed suit. Terrance beamed at Izzy, there was a gleam in his eyes. Izzy couldn’t tell if it was just general good humor, or if there was a hint of sarcasm. The man had barely said five words and had never acted suspiciously, but Izzy thought there was more going on there. He commented on it to Yelric as they made their way back to the shop.

  “Oh don’t mind them,” Yelric said. “Terrances are a dime a dozen. Career bureaucrats. They take pride in how fast they move paper.” He scoffed, shaking his head. “Wind magic users… They never learn to slow down and think.”

  Izzy was surprised at what amounted to an emotional outburst from the slow talking, fast thinking Yelric.

  “Whoa… easy there Caligula, you’re getting all sorts of crazy.” Izzy said, not bothering to check the reference.

  Yelric had gotten better about glazing over them and leaning on the context. It had been a relief when Izzy could start making jokes and references without each one being scrutinized for additional meaning. It had gone a long way to help Izzy start feeling a little more like himself again.

  “I know, I know…” Yelric said. “People generally try to be indifferent about people’s core choices. Could be a real source of contention depending on how they go about it. Doesn’t stop it from happening, and some professions take the brunt of it.”

  Just as he said this, a person of some sort whipped past them, zooming in and out of the flow of the crowd at an unnatural speed as the figure rushed towards the keep.

  “Wind magic users…” Izzy said, shaking his head and imitating Yelric’s previous tone.

  “Precisely,” Yelric said, smiling down at Izzy. “Some messengers take their duty a little too seriously,” he said, fixing his clothes and hair after the rush of wind caused by the blur.

  —

  Back in the privacy of the workshop room, Yelric sat down and got serious.

  “Last chance Izzy,” Yelric said. “You can still back out or choose a different core. We can march back over to the guild and either annul or amend the contract. Once we do this, you’re in. Undoing core selection is… messy. Some people are left crippled or their magic is heavily impeded.”

  “You’re really trying to sell me on this, huh?” Izzy laughed.

  “I’m just trying to make you take this seriously,” Yelric said. “Normally I leap to close deals, but I want you to know what you’re walking into. Spatial magic core users are usually the unfortunate exception to the ‘don’t make fun of people’s magic’ rule. Wind users catch some jokes, but we’re usually the ones everybody gangs up on.

  “One in a million magic core users make a name for themselves, even fewer of those are spatial magic users who get to the point of teleportation and portals. On top of that, if you get a lightning affinity, there might be some people who just decide they don’t even want to talk to you. They’ve been known to do terrible things. Unequivocally, you’re picking the hardest road.”

  Izzy grinned viciously; that clinched the deal in his mind.

  “I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference,” Izzy quoted confidently. “Yelric, have you regretted your path? Not… ‘do you have zero regrets?’ Everybody has something, but your journey overall. I’d suspect not…” Izzy finished, taking in Yelric’s face and looking around the room.

  Yelric grinned, “No, I have not. All right then, in that spirit, let us help you take your first steps on a new path.”

  He got up to leave the room and went deeper into the building. Izzy had confirmed on one of his excursions outside that, indeed, the inside of the shop was absurdly larger than the building outside. Having seen what went into making a small backpack bigger on the inside, he was humbled by the amount of magic that the interior of the shop implied. He hadn’t even known where to start to ask Yelric about it, so Izzy had resolved himself to just accept it and be excited about the implications and possibilities it suggested.

  Yelric came back into the room holding a simple wooden box, looking like a cheap, children’s jewelry box. He placed it on a stool in front of Izzy and backed up, not saying a word. Izzy looked down at the nondescript box.

  There was nothing particularly special about the box, but Izzy’s stomach suddenly lurched like the day he fell into this world. The box felt like it was both pulling and pushing Izzy, setting his equilibrium off a little. Izzy looked up to Yelric with concern on his face, a severe lack of confidence suddenly coursing through him.

  “What if it doesn’t take?” Izzy asked, trying not to lose his breakfast with the wave of vertigo. “I haven’t even opened the box and I’m getting a bad feeling.”

  Yelric’s eyes went wide.

  “You… you already feel it?” He asked haltingly. “Izzy, that’s a good thing. Most people barely notice spatial magic cores and then react poorly to spatial magic castings. If you’re feeling it before you even open the box, it means it is likely to resonate with you very well. I didn’t even feel mine through its container when I acquired mine, and that one wasn’t as well shielded as this one is. That being the case though…” He trailed off, concern coming over his soft features. “Well… just take it slow. This could get messy.”

  “Uhh… messy?” Izzy asked, holding a fist over his mouth as a nasty belch made its way out.

  The core was really getting to him and he hadn’t even gotten a look at the damn thing.

  “Yes, very messy.” Yelric said. “It is the sign of a strong connection, but we’ll have some cleanup to do before I set my Scintillae back to work. The residue of core absorption can be… persistent.”

  “But, it’s safe?” Izzy asked, beginning to question all his choices after landing in this world.

  Yelric peeled his eyes away from the box and looked in Izzy’s eyes.

  “Yes Izzy. Even if something went strangely with the resonance and subsequent absorption, I assure you that there is no safer place to do it in Xhansarim than my little workshop.”

  Yelric’s confident tone and a wave of his willpower washed over Izzy. It helped Izzy refocus and built his confidence. He looked back at the box and, with a gulp, he opened the box. It started no worse than when Yelric had set the box down on the stool. Some nausea mixed with vertigo, but nothing worse than getting dizzy from spinning a few too many times.

  He saw a little sphere, about the size of a softball with a hole in the top. He picked it up and saw three more holes spaced around the sphere along the same plane. The sphere was impossibly black; the absolute and complete absence of light. At least that is what he thought until he noticed small, blue-white arcs deep inside. He focused a little harder on the little ball in his hand and his mind exploded.

  —

  Yelric watched in silent anticipation as Izzy picked up the spatial core, recalling the rush of emotions when he had received his. As Izzy stood there, holding the spatial core, Yelric was excited for the young man who had shown so much promise already. Yelric felt the rise in magic resonance between Izzy and the core. There was a sudden, extremely strong pulse, and Yelric leapt to his feet crying out.

  Izzy had popped out of existence.