The next few days passed quickly, a bit quicker than Lucy personally would have liked. Ardonis on the other hand was looking forward to testing the mirror on the planet. “So our objective is to observe mortal life and get a taste for it ourselves,” Ardonis said as the three of them stood on the terrace looking over the planet. “A good way to understand how this multiverse and the life within it works.”

  “Also keeping our egos in check,” Lucy chimed in. “I’ve heard stories of gods who met their end by being too cocky and arrogant toward mortals.”

  “And those stories would be true,” Milsa said. “I myself have born witness to such a situation at one time in the past. Any intelligent being like us is prone to becoming arrogant unless we keep ourselves in check. Or else something will for us.”

  “We’ll keep that in mind while we’re down there,” Ardonis said.

  She nodded, “Good luck to you both down there, I’ll be occasionally checking on you for reports on your progress. You may just discover a secret or two of why being restricted is beneficial.”

  They both looked at her questioningly but she just smiled mysteriously and a moment later a white light took their vision. Both could feel the magic being used and when they regained their sight, they found themselves at the edge of a forest. Turning around Ardonis saw what was either a large town or a city. The large stone wall surrounding it made it hard to tell which it was.

  “So we are on the planet now,” Lucy said, conjuring an arcane rune on the ground. “It’s true, our power is cut in half, this rune is far more draining than it should be.”

  Ardonis nodded, “I noticed it too, it’s almost as if chains have been thrown around our souls and restraining us.”

  “I wonder what Milsa meant about the restriction and secrets,” Lucy pondered, tilting her head.

  He shrugged, “It restricts our power so I assume something to do with that. Shot in the dark, maybe it'll increase our power if we fulfill a special requirement or something. Or she could have just been throwing us for a loop. Anyway, let’s check out that town over there, our first objective should be to find exactly where we ended up.”

  Having studied about the planet alongside his project, he knew the main kingdoms and continents. Although that didn’t mean he knew all of them, they could have ended up in a smaller country that wasn’t covered. The only way to find out would be to check.

  “Should we magic up some disguises?” Lucy asked. “For our clothes I mean, I have no clue if what we have on will look strange here or not.”

  The two were wearing what would be called modern by mortal standards. For them, it was just average casual clothing. Lucy was in a sleeveless white t-shirt with a purple arcane rune in the shape of a heart in the center. Along with black pants with the same purple arcane runes on them. While Ardonis was wearing a blue T-shirt and black pants.

  “That’s a good question, for now, let’s just keep what we have on. I know a few kingdoms have this kind of style. So if it comes down to it, we can just say we are foreigners, which wouldn’t be wrong.”

  She nodded and the two headed off toward the walled town. By the position of the sun, Ardonis guessed it was right before evening. There were a few people on horseback, wagons, and even carriages, passing them on the dirt road going either to or from the town. The people were wearing tunics and cloaks, establishing the most likely custom of clothing.

  “So this is our story,” Ardonis said, “We’ll ask about what kingdom we are in with the cover that we were magically teleported here. An accident as we were experimenting with magic. It exploded in our faces and next thing we knew, we were a few minutes away from the town.”

  “That works for me,” Lucy said, happy to follow his lead. It only took a few more minutes for them to reach the open gate and the guards standing on either side. They didn’t stop anybody from entering or leaving, but their eyes were focused on everyone who happened passed.

  Once within the town, the two looked around, people all around were going about their day. Some had small merchant stalls set up, Lucy in particular researched them. Peddlers and scammers who tried to sucker anyone visiting the town. “Be wary of them and don’t fall for their tricks,” she quietly warned Ardonis, who nodded. “That said, where do you think we should go to ask questions?”

  “Most likely an inn or tavern, great sources of information where there aren’t too many questions asked about a person’s identity. Or so all of my research on them has shown. I suppose it is time to see if that is true or not.”

  “First we have to find one though, or rather ask someone where one is, that wouldn’t be strange for travelers. Or in our case a duo who found themselves in a different land after an incident,” Lucy said, though Ardonis noticed a certain look in her eyes.

  “Well, we don’t have to find one right away, we could take some time to explore first and see how mortals live their day-to-day lives,” he replied, the glint in her eyes brightening.

  She happily grabbed his hand and took the lead as they walked through town. Only a few gave them a passing glance. They went to several different shops, although they realized early on they had none of this world’s or country's currency. They didn’t even have any Celestial currency as there was little point. It was evening by the time their little date was over.

  “Was I able to satisfy you, my lady,” Ardonis asked with a teasing tone.

  “Why yes my good sir, I am quite satisfied with our date,” she responded with a giggle. During that time they did find out the location of an inn, however, Ardonis had the thought that perhaps a less-than-reputable tavern may not be a better start, but it was all they could do. And that was what they were currently standing in front of. It was called “The Yellow Boar” and though there were no letters, there was a sign depicting the image of a golden boar. From what they’d been told, it was exactly what he was looking for, a great place to get information, very hush-hush, and of course, criminals and scoundrels. Even if they somehow found out something they weren’t supposed to, no one would believe it, or if it came down to it, miss them.

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  The building itself was rough with some broken boards in places and a boarded-up window. All in all, it wasn’t the best looking place, and the criminal type would frequent the place. However, that suited Ardonis just fine, it meant secrets were kept and information was plenty.

  Besides, even weakened the two of them could defend and take care of themselves from a few local criminals and bandits. He had already established that there wasn’t anyone in the town who could stand up to them via magic. It was an advanced power-sensing spell that he made sure to master a couple of decades ago. Knowing that it would come in handy eventually.

  Lucy looked over at him and they nodded at each other before entering, a good number turned to the two newcomers, but more than half didn’t glance their way. Ardonis was sure they were all watching, just a bit more discretely. He and Lucy stopped in front of the bar and took seats at the old wooden stools that scrapped on the marred flooring. “Excuse me bartender, but might I inquire as to what country and town we are in?”

  “Who’s askin?” the gruff and grizzled older man behind the bar asked. He had seen better days given the scar over his eye that was closed. He wasn’t as burley as one would expect, but he had the presence of a bear.

  “Just a couple of travelers who wound up here by accident,” Ardonis replied. “I’m not asking for too much am I?”

  “Well, that depends on what the girly here decides,” a somewhat scrawny man said as he got up from his table and approached. “If she gives us a good time, then we’ll see about answering those questions.”

  Ardonis’s smile turned into a straight line, “I wouldn’t if I were you, she doesn’t react well to those who aren’t me getting too close.”

  “You must really be a mouse if you are intimidated by a woman,” he said as he reached out to grab Lucy’s arm. A magic sigil showed up on his arm the moment it got within an inch of her and promptly set his arm on fire. He quickly pulled it back screaming, the fire going out a moment later on its own.

  “I tried to warn you,” Ardonis said indifferently with a shrug. He turned back to the bartender, “Listen, we are just a couple of mages who wound up getting teleported ten minutes from the town after an experiment gone wrong. If you’ll just tell us what kingdom we are in, we’ll take our leave.”

  He turned to the rest of the rest of the room, “And if any of you try anything in revenge, or any other reason,” his aura burst around him, pushing down on everyone and making them buckle, “You will severely regret it.”

  He withdrew his aura and everyone in the room was able to breathe easy again. “Marvleto,” the bartender said. “That is the name of this country, now get out of my tavern. I’d rather not lose everything I own.”

  Ardonis smiled at him, “Gladly, but one more question, where is this kingdom in relation to the kingdom of Clarn?”

  “Clarn is on the other side of the world on a different continent. I assume the only reason we can speak is because of your magic translating your words,” he answered quickly.

  “And where might the nearest port be?” Lucy asked.

  “Three days travel on horseback to the capital city, Marendov.”

  Ardonis nodded and the two left the tavern, the sunlight was starting to fade entirely, luckily the restriction didn’t seem to take away the basis of their immortality. Not needing to eat, drink, or sleep. “What do you think Lucy, should we stick around until morning, or get a head start and fly a good distance?”

  “Well, we aren’t in any rush, and it isn’t like we are actually from Clarn, let’s stay and observe these people for a few more days. Then we can go to the capital for a bit and hitch a ship to Clarn.”

  Ardonis nodded, “That sounds good to me, although we may have to take out some criminal waste if they don’t heed my warning.”

  “That is perfectly fine by me, not that it would take very much,” Lucy said. “We should be careful not to make too much of a mess, just in case some bigger authority does come for whatever reason though.”

  Ardonis nodded and took out the hand mirror as the two jumped up onto a roof. “Activate,” he commanded. The mirror shimmered and a moment later showed Eradis. It was day wherever he was and he now seemed to be in some kind of desert. The sand appeared to be white and there were rolling dunes of it. “I wonder exactly where he is,” Ardonis thought aloud.

  “Why? I’d rather steer clear of him for as long as I possibly can,” Lucy retorted.

  Ardonis sighed, “You know exactly why, I know you find his banishment as suspicious as I do. He’s a complete womanizing asshole no doubt, but have you ever heard of him going so far as to sleep with or even next to someone un-wanting? And if he’s bold enough to do that with a goddess of Milsa’s caliber, then what about you? Why didn’t he ever try it then?”

  She nodded, “As much as I hate to admit it, you’re right, I’ve known him since we were little kids. Not even he, as he is now, would try something like that. And when I said the stuff about letting him die… that was because I knew she was listening. If it were mere banishment, she would have at least said something.”

  “Not to mention the brief look in her eyes when she realized I interfered and saved him,” Ardonis said, “Something with her just doesn’t add up. We should be careful now more than ever about what we say, in case she’s watching. At least until we get to the bottom of this. I don’t like suspecting her of foul play, but she gets an ominous aura at times as well.”

  “Also saying some pretty off-putting things,” Lucy added with a shiver, “Like the time in training when she said she was going to turn us into another source of power. She played it off as an in-combat taunt afterward, but her eyes were serious.”

  “It would seem that she just has red flags about her left and right,” Ardonis sighed, “Once again, we should really be cautious from now on. Find a way to meet up with Eradis and get to the bottom of all this.”

  “I suppose we don’t have much of a choice, but we can’t appear as if we are looking for him, let’s stick to our initial plan for now until we can come up with something,” Lucy said, holding his hand tight.

  He squeezed it back, “We’ll get through this, no matter what. Whether Milsa turns out as our enemy in the end or not. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  She giggled, then burst into full laughter, “Listen to us getting all sappy and sentimental over future possibilities. Let’s just take things as they come, one at a time. We’ll cross bridges when we come to them, for now though, we have a set plan. So let’s enjoy ourselves a little.”

  Her bright smile and lit-up tanned face from her shimmering and slightly glowing purple hair with the backdrop of the night sky made Ardonis pause for a moment, stunned by her beauty. Her deep purple eyes that had star-like twinkles in them full of love and confidence. He couldn’t help a smile coming to his own face.