Pov: Stacy

  I had been trapped in that pce for months.

  And yet, only a few days passed.

  That city has gone under much specution since its appearance a few days ago.

  At first, everything was normal, until we split up.

  When alone, time bent and extended or shortened.

  We were only able to figure out it happened when we were alone.

  We were terrified in the moments when we weren’t alone though.

  The things, the collective as he called them, watched.

  Some seemed more, attentive, some less so.

  Until that st one. That one that let them out, we couldn’t discern their intentions.

  We weren’t brave enough to ask, so we just walked. We even disobeyed orders.

  Luckily, there was transport avaible to home immediately.

  Now, I’m finally at my aunt and uncles home.

  My eyes almost tear up the moment I see familiar faces.

  I hug them almost immediately, and then spot my cousin behind them.

  He’s dressed in a tie, how cute I think to myself.

  “Do you want to see what I made on my tablet? I used that one 3d drawing app.”

  “Sure” I say.

  And it’s… it’s the city.

  The city I was trapped in for months, and now he has modeled it.

  “Where did you see that?”

  He answers “I was inspired by my dreams, I made it… bh bh bh…”

  I stopped paying attention as I thought of something.

  Asterios, Aster, Asterios and Aster, Aster-ios.

  Now Aster knows the city.

  Fuck, he’s in danger.

  I don’t know how, but he’s tied in this somehow.

  Why? He’s just a kid.

  I gotta contact S.I.O. immediately.

  We are in a city, its kind of cool, the guards let me in with the group.

  This pce has x security, I mean I could be some evil person looking to infiltrate.

  I mean, I am looking to infiltrate, but I’m not evil.

  This pce smells weird actually.

  I just realized something, I don’t think I’ve ever had this body bathe.

  I just occasionally bring it into space, that usually cleans off everything probably.

  I feel gross now.

  Uggh.

  I ask the party, “is there somewhere in town I can bathe?”

  Elowyn responds, “yes, but it’s quite expensive.”

  Oh?

  I ask her, “how much does it cost”, to which she answers, “4 copper coins.”

  Huh, I wonder how money works here, so I ask.

  “How does money work here?”

  She gives me a confused and somewhat baffled expression for a second, then collects herself. “Well its divided into 4 denominations, the first being…”

  She rambles on for what feels like an hour. The currency here isn’t magical, or at least not at the level we’ll probably deal with.

  All of the copper coins are pretty much the same, so I duplicate myself a hoard of 50,000 and set them inside my city.

  I put some in my pocket as well.

  I ask her, “is this correct?” while pulling out 4 coins.

  She says “yes” and then asks while pointing at my pocket, “where did you get them? Also, where are your clothes from?”

  I ignore both questions and decide to find a bath.

  “Where are you going?” Durn asks.

  “To find a bath” I answer.

  Hercle grabs my hand and says, “wrong way, there’s one at the guild.”

  “What’s a guild?” I ask while being dragged towards the guild.

  I probably can guess what a guild is, but you can never be sure when in a fantasy world.

  They all look towards me, and then continue dragging me.

  They don’t even answer, it’s probably such a stupid question that they won’t even entertain it.

  When we finally enter, it’s somewhat filled, the main area seems to be a waiting area.

  There’s several people with weird boards floating in front of them.

  We walk towards one of them.

  “He wants a bath” says Elowyn while pointing at me.

  “A room with a bath, or just a bath?” asks the person in front of us.

  “You want a room with a bath” says Durn.

  Why a room?

  “That’ll be 4 silver” says the man.

  Why silver? They said 4 copper before?

  Are they in league with the guild to steal my money? My duplicated money that I didn’t work for!

  I ask, “how many copper is that?”

  He responds “54”

  I pull 50 more copper out of my pocket, and then I realize that my pockets can’t possibly hold that much.

  While there are 54 copper on the floor, I ask “is this enough?”

  He answers “yes, but…”

  Hercle whispers in my ear while leaning down, “there’s usually a 10% tip.”

  I pull 6 copper out of my pocket and hand it to the man.

  60 copper in total, guess I have a little less than 50,000 copper now.

  The man hands me a key, and I finally really look at him.

  He might be an Elf, he’s tall, although it seems that humans are taller than me, I might just be short. His ears are covered by his hair, so no telling whether he has any ears at all.

  I look at the key, and realize I am illiterate, except in my outside view, but reading this myself might cause problems.

  “How do I find the room?” I ask while looking Durn.

  “Give it” he commands.

  I do and then he hands it back.

  He gestures for me to follow, and I do.

  We get to a room and he gestures for me to try it.

  I unlock the room, and then walk in.

  It’s small and has a bath inside of the room.

  Huh.

  I thought it would be a bathroom or something attached, but it’s a room with a bed, bath, table, and chair.

  The bath doesn’t seem to filled, but then I look and the water is literally crystal clear.

  I did not expect this.

  I turn to look at the group and ask, “do I need to do anything else before I bathe?”

  They say “no” and then leave.

  I close the door and then get ready to take a bath.