As Master Mage stone went through the portal Zack looked back at his friends. “There is no way on earth I am walking through that portal.”

  Marko grunted, “I don’t know what an “Earth” is, but I agree one hundred percent. We are half day’s journey from Shoreview, I think we should walk.”

  Teesa smiled at Zack and asked, “Do you all think maybe we should help Zack process all the information he just learned from Mage Stone? Based on what you have told us that must have been an overwhelming amount of news to learn.”

  Sophie replied, “Seriously, that was some heavy shit he just dropped on you.”

  Teesa and Sophie began replaying the last half an hour to each other when Marko noticed that Zack wasn’t paying attention to them and hit Sophie on the shoulder. They both looked at Marko and then noticed Zack was giving the “thousand-yard stare look” into the woods.

  They all stared in silence at Zack while he seemed lost in thought. Finally, Zack noticed they had been quiet for a long moment and turned to his friends. He blushed as he realized they had been talking to him.

  Zack said, “Sorry, I was lost in thought, that was a ton of heavy shit he just dropped on me!”

  Sophie rolled her eyes and laughed, “Yeah it was, want to talk about it?

  Zack thought for a moment, “I am not sure. I have many more questions for Paxton. However, I feel like we need to get to Shoreview post haste.”

  Teesa replied, “It is up to you.”

  Marko said, “Are the questions for your own edification or are they answers you need to be successful in Shoreview?”

  Sophie tuner her head to Marko, “That is exactly the right question.”

  Zack thought for a moment and said, “That is the right question, frankly it is more for my own wants and not something that is mission specific. Let us make our way to Shoreview. Before we go, I want to try something.”

  They looked at Zack and Teesa said, “try something?”

  Zack nodded his head and asked, “Which of you has the best perception?”

  The three looked at each other, and Sophie spoke up, Marko has the best radial perception, However Teesa has the best magical perception.”

  Zack looked at Sophie questioningly, “Radial perception?”

  Sophie replied, “Radial perception mean he can detect almost anything creeping up on him within a certain radius. Whereas Teesa can perceive magic being used around her.”

  Teesa interjected, “How well I can detect magic depends on the type of object or person and the surrounding landscape. Any magic within a 100 yards is easily detectable.”

  Zack said, “Good, I want you both to go down the trail about a half mile. I am going to try to hide Sophie and my presence. Call out when you can detect me.”

  Teesa looked at Marko and said, “Sure we can do that? Are you trying to figure out a camouflage spell?”

  Zack smiled and replied, “I don’t really do spells, I just kind of do magic based on my will.”

  Marko replied, “That is strange dude. No spells or arrays, you just wish it to be so, and it is?”

  Zack laughed, “Kind of, there are some weird rules or guidelines. I can just wish for things. I must conceive of them and bring them about in my mind. If I do it correctly it happens in real life.”

  The group just stared at him. Finally, Teesa spoke up, “That is just weird, it is like you bypass all the crazy shit we must learn to wield magic. You just do it. It’s like you don’t need a middle process.”

  Zack replied, “Pretty much, so I want to give this a try. I think entering Shoreview openly might be a bad idea. I want to create explore how I can hide our presence or at least deceive interesting parties.”

  Twenty minutes later Zack and Sophie walked down the path. As they walked Zack thought about a bubble around them that absorbed all magic around them. His intent was to make their presence impossible to see magically.

  After 15 minutes of walking, they came across Teesa and Marko sitting on a fallen tree talking. Suddenly Teesa looked up in their general direction.

  Marko stood up and said, “Do you detect their approach?”

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  Teesa shook her head, “No, it is more like a black spot in the moving on the road toward us.”

  As Zack and Sophie walked by Teesa kept looking in their location.

  Finally, Teesa said, “I know you are there, but I cannot see you.”

  Zack dropped the bubble and startled Marko as they were just a few feet from him.

  Zack asked, “How did you know I was there?”

  Teesa replied, “If I had not known you were coming, I probably would not have noticed you. To be fair I did not ‘notice you’ as much as I noticed a dead spot in the road. What were you attempting to do to camouflage?”

  Zack told here about creating a bubble that absorbs all magic to remove their presence magically. “However, it seems I removed all magic present from the space we were in.”

  Zack asked them to go ahead another half mile so he could try again. The results were not much better. This time Zack concentrated very hard on maintaining a balanced magical presence around them. However, Teesa spotted them earlier than last time.

  She asked Zack, “Why are you glowing purple?”

  Zack looked shocked, “You can see that?”

  Teesa snorted, “I saw the purple glow before you came around the corner.”

  Zack said, “huh, I did not know you could see that. According to Paxton system magic users give off a yellow/gold glow or aura as they use magic. Wizards, however, give off a purple aura when they use magic. Paxton told me it will give me away to anyone who can perceive magic.”

  Sophie chimed in, “That will be a problem if you are in Shoreview and cannot use magic because it will become obvious to everyone you are not a system magic user.”

  Zack turned the ring Paxton gave him around in his finger and Teesa exclaimed, “Whoa wait you just turned from purple to yellow. How did you do that?”

  Zack replied, “Paxton gave me a ring which hides my identity. When I was really focused on hiding my presence, I must have overpowered the ring or something. It is good to know the ring has a limit.”

  After several more attempt he was able to get the camouflage bubble to perfect attunement without revealing his identity.

  The group traveled without incident for the next four hours. Marko spoke up after a long silence, “So do we have a plan?”

  They all looked at Zack, expecting an answer.

  Zack replied, “That is probably a good idea. I have been lost in thought about Stone’s words. I suppose just walking in and asking to see Mage Stone is a dumb plan.”

  Teesa looked sideways at Zack and said, “Um yeah, that would be very dumb. Zack, how much do you know about Shoreview?”

  Zack stopped walking and looked confused for a second, “You know what, I don’t know a darn thing about it. Hhhmm, this is kind of embarrassing. I have been just moving from one thing to another without thinking out my actions or having a plan.”

  Sophie gave a patient smile, “Zack, we really need a plan. It is about 7:00pm and the sun will set in a few hours. I think we should very quietly stop for the night in the outskirts of Shoreview, grab dinner and make a plan.”

  Marko and Teesa nodded in agreement.

  Zack said, “That makes sense. I feel a little off and my magic can be dangerous, even unpredictable when I am not fully on my game.”

  Marko replied, “What game are you playing?”

  Zack laughed “That is a phrase from my world meaning one is not feeling centered or doing well.”

  Marko scoffed, “Why don’t you just say that?”

  Zack smirked, “I thought I just did.”

  Marko shook his head and started walking down the path.

  A few short hours later with Shoreview in site, they came across their first suburb of sorts. They stopped at the gnarled thorn Inn for dinner and a room. All of them were exhausted and they agreed to meet for breakfast in the morning and make a plan. After dinner Zack went up to his room took a long overdue bath and settled in for the night.

  As he was on the verge of sleeping the mirror in the room lit up with a purple glow. Moments later he was looking into the room where he first met Paxton. Paxton entered the room from a far door saw Zack and smiled.

  Zack spoke first, “heck of a cell phone system you have here.”

  Paxton looked at him quizzically, “What is a cell phone?”

  Zack rolled his eye and ignored the comment. “This is a pretty nifty trick, has this been an option the whole time?”

  Paxton looking distracted replied, “It is one of the many perks of being a wizard! I see you are about to enter Shoreview. How are things going?

  Zack shared what he learned from Master Mage Stone and the revelations about Queen Aadici being an imposter stooge for Mage Hogant.

  Paxton took a long pull from his tea and sighed. “Master Mage Stone, he is involved in the group that “pulled” you over? But he also claimed not to know of the Veneficus Sicari?”

  Zack asked, “Do you know Mage Stone? Is he a good man? Is he powerful?”

  Paxton replied, “I have been watching him ever since he entered the order. At one point he was the most powerful mage on the planet. He started out straight and narrow, a real rule follower. He had been one of the mages that truly believed Wizards were a fictional story to scare kids. He saw it as nothing more than conspiracy theories told by people who lived in the margins of power.”

  Zack scoffed, “He seemed harmless to me. He told me he was powerless in when I held him in my grasp.”

  Paxton nodded, “That may or may not have been true, he may have wanted you to underestimate him. That being said, you probably did scare the day lights out of him.”

  Zack turned serious, “If he didn’t believe in wizards how did he get involved in summoning people from another world? “

  Paxton replied, “Ever since he retired from being Shoreland’s mage he really fell off the radar. I have not seen him or even heard of him being active in the magical community for several decades. It is odd to hear him pop up all the sudden looking for the person they brought over. It seems like too much of a stretch that he is involved with that group. However, in his day he was a formidable as any mage that ever lived and would be a tremendous asset to that movement.”

  Zack responded, “Two questions, do we trust him and engage the “queen” to determine if she is worth creating a relationship with for Vinstra’s safe keeping? Second, how important is it that I keep my identity hidden while I am in Shoreview?”

  Paxton replied, “If what Stone said is true that might be a major relief when it comes to the safety of Vinstra. By all means meet with her and secure that relationship. I cannot stress this enough; you do not want to confirm your existence any more than it already is. Right now, you are an interesting side story in Shoreland and nothing more. Once the news of Hogant’s death gets out there your legend will grow. Do nothing to confirm that legend. We do not want the acolytes to have time to plan.”

  Zack nodded, “ I agree, I will keep you posted on how things go.”