“Me and Riki tracked down and scouted out the rell forces that attacked the Lodge,” Desmond stated. “They had a camp set up 10 kilometers or so northeast of the Lodge, but get this, they weren’t alone. There was this weird portal that had these hairy goat-like men coming out of it.”

“You mean, like the Caprian Beast Clan?” Garrick asked.

“No, these things looked like nothing I have ever seen before. They looked far more like bipedal goats than humans,” Desmond replied. “And this portal they were coming through had these strange runes on it that I didn’t recognize.”

“Hmmmm interesting, could you draw them for me?”

“I can do you one better than that,” Desmond said as he took out one of the array pillars he had found in Ben’s spatial ring. “I have recently come across an artifact with just the same runes.”

Garrick’s whole demeanor got far more serious the moment Desmond took out the array pillar.

“Where did you get this,” Garrick said in a stern voice as he focused on the pillar.

“It was in Ben’s storage ring,” Desmond replied.

“Are you sure the portal you saw had these same runes on it?” Garrick asked.

“Yeah, it was unmistakable.”

“This is bad,” Garrick said as he got up and started to pace. “This is very bad. These are void runes Dez.”

“Why does that make it bad?” asked Desmond as he got increasingly concerned by Garrick’s growing intensity.

Void magic was a sub-aspect underneath Arcane magic. Desmond didn’t know much about this type of magic other than it wasn’t natural to the world itself but existed in the space between worlds, and that everyone who studied it very quickly went insane.

“It shouldn’t be possible,” Garrick replied with conviction. “Void runes mean that the portal is from outside of this world. The Church's Holy Monument is supposed to make that impossible. Something has gone very wrong here Dez, and now we could be looking at an invasion from a different plane.”

“Well fuck!” Desmond exclaimed. “Do we bring this to the Empire or Lodge? That portal was pumping out dozens of these goat men each minute.”

“Based on what you described, I think the official name for those goat men is aries,” Garrick said after regaining some of his calm. “But I’m getting sidetracked here. Who else saw this portal?”

“Just me and Riki.”

“That should be enough,” Garrick stated. “Desmond, could you come with me to the war council tomorrow? The Lodge is still having meetings to try and determine their response to this recent attack, and they need to know about this.”

“Of course.”

“Good, meet me at noon tomorrow at the Lodge,” Garrick said. “I have a few things to prepare before then. Also, could I keep this array pillar for a bit? I will return it after I have had a chance to inspect the runes. It could offer, insights.”

“Sure, I don’t mind,” Desmond said. “Are you sure these runes mean they are from outside our world? Couldn’t they just be portaling over from another continent?”

“There would be no need to use void runes if they were coming from somewhere in our world,” Garrick answered. “Besides, no one in our world has developed void magic to this degree. This array pillar is leaps and bounds beyond anything I have seen. You said you found this in Ben’s storage? How did he get an array from another world?” This last question was said in a whisper and clearly rhetorical.

“It would seem things aren’t so simple.”

“Yes, we need to get to the bottom of this and quickly,” Garrick replied. “For now, I have several things that I must look into. Thanks for bringing this to my attention Dez, and I will see you at the Lodge tomorrow.”

Garrick moved through the clutter with a practiced ease as he made his way up the stairs.

***

Desmond left Garrick’s house and was walking down a busy street. The sun was just starting to set, dyeing the sky and clouds in vibrant colors. The fall chill was starting to set in during the nights and Desmond was not looking forward to camping out again. Hopefully, Riki had figured out their housing issue.

Now how was he supposed to find Riki? She seemed to always be able to locate him, but he didn’t know how that worked. Desmond lacked some way to find or communicate with her when he wanted.

“Hey Dez!” Riki said from right behind him. “I found a great place and it was for a good deal as well.”

“You have magnificent timing,” Desmond replied. “I was just thinking about you.”

“Naturally, timing is everything when it comes to the real estate market,” Riki said with a fake thoughtful expression. “Well, the threats do help a little as well.”

“Don’t tell me you held someone at knifepoint to get the house?” Desmond said with some amusement.

“Nothing so extreme, I assure you,” Riki continued. “It was just a subtle hint of possible violence if they tried to overcharge me. Oh, that reminds me, here is your change.” Riki handed back to him 3 silver enchanted plates which Desmond put back into his storage ring.

Desmond laughed at the thought of Riki subtly threatening someone. Riki had great stealth skills but when it came to dealing with people, she was anything but subtle.

“Well, let’s go have a look at it shall we?”

“Of course, we are actually pretty close right now,” Riki said. “It’s just up the street here.”

***

After a few minutes of walking with some idle chatter, they came across the residence. It was a large three-storied Victorian-styled home at the end of a street made of red brick. There were numerous front-facing windows with white trim and shutters which made the house look quite fashionable.

The house was part of a row of homes all connected to one another and there was no front yard to speak of. This was an area located right off the Winten Campus so land was incredibly expensive here.

“The image of you holding someone at knifepoint and forcing them to sign a contract is making more and more sense to me,” Desmond stated.

“Oh please,” Riki replied. “If I really held someone a knife point I would have gotten it for free. Let’s go have a look!”

Desmond got the grand tour of the house from Riki. It was a nice home with magic lighting in all the rooms and running water in the kitchen and bathrooms, which was probably also done with magic somehow. These were not common amenities in this world, but were of course available for the right price.

The ground floor had a drawing room, kitchen, dining area, bathroom, and a large living room. There was also a sunroom on the back of the house that led out onto a small porch that looked over a tiny backyard.

Going up the stairs, there was a lounge area with a few couches that looked over the living room, a master bedroom, two bathrooms, three other large bedrooms, and an office or library-like room.

The final floor was much smaller with a laundry room and five small bedrooms that looked like servant quarters. The house came fully furnished and all in all, was incredibly cozy. Desmond had been doing a lot of camping outside lately, so finally getting some basic amenities back was a godsend.

“This is much better than camping out at the Lodge,” Desmond remarked.

“The master bedroom even has a balcony,” Riki said sounding very excited. “Yeah, it’s looking over a busy street but still. There is even a full bath on the second floor which is even more amazing than you are picturing.”

“Wait, you have already used it haven't you?” Desmond asked already knowing the answer.

“Yup! You were taking so long at Garrick’s place, and I didn’t want to interrupt your little romance there so I found something else to do.” Riki replied with a smile.

Night had set in as they finished up the tour. The house seemed rather large for just the two of them and Desmond was going to have to get a servant or something to take care of the property when they were out on hunts. But he considered it money well spent.

“I’d say it’s time to try out the new bed,” Desmond said. “That last hunt turned out to take much longer than I would have liked.” Somehow the most tiring part of the whole thing was dealing with the random hunters they had to escort back to the city.

Desmond entered the master bedroom and went right to the bed. It was probably a little larger than a king-sized bed from his past life but was incredibly feminine looking. The blankets and sheets had bright blue, purple, and pink floral patterns. There was a wooden canopy with hanging frilly drapes and the bed legs were way too small for what he and Riki were going to put it through. It would all have to go, but not tonight.

Desmond lifted the covers and laid down on the bed. He was soon joined by Riki, who laid down next to him.

“You’re not going to bathe before bed?” Riki asked.

“I’ll bathe in the morning,” replied Desmond. “Right after I burn this bed with a vengeance. So there is no problem.”

Riki chuckled. “I don’t know. I kinda like it,” Riki replied. “The drapes are growing on me.”

“I feel like the bed legs are going to snap on us while we are just lying here,” Desmond joked. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we woke up on the floor.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time we broke a bed,” Riki joked back with a chuckle. “But I get to pick the new bed. Your sense of decor is horrible.”

“That’s fine by me, I hate decorating. I enjoyed the rooms at the Lodge, they always had a minimalist and efficient design.”

“Yeah, but now this is our house,” Riki stated. “We can make it look beautiful.”

“Efficiency is beautiful,” Desmond said with full conviction.

After a few more minutes of idle chatter, Desmond closed his eyes to fall asleep.

“H-hey Dez, you still away,” Riki said softly after a few minutes of silence.

“Yeah, what is it?” Desmond replied with a yawn. That was a stupid question given that there was no way Riki couldn’t tell when he was sleeping.

“You, ummm, said that,” Riki mumbled as she seemed lost for the right words. “You can see souls right?”

“Yes, I can enter the Soul Realm and interact with them to some degree,” Desmond replied. “How much is still to be determined though.”

“Can you ummmm, look at my soul?” Riki asked and she turned in the bed to make eye contact with Desmond.

“Yeah,” Desmond replied. “But what caused this sudden change? You seemed very against it last time.”

“Well, there are reasons for that,” Riki said with a downcast expression. “My soul is likely broken or warped in some way.”

“That makes two of us then.”

“Mine is probably, worse,” Riki replied. “Way worse.”

“I guess I will just have to look at it to know,” Desmond stated in a serious tone. “I’m still new to this soul stuff, so if we are going to do this we need to set some ground rules. My safe word is pineapple.”

Riki chuckled, more at Desmond’s attempt to lighten the mood than at the joke itself.

“Does the safe word actually work?” Riki asked with some amusement.

“No, I’m completely incapacitated and vulnerable when in the Soul Realm.”

“Well don’t worry then. I won’t take advantage of you too much.” Riki joked.

“Maybe I should have left that part out?” Desmond said with some humor. “Anyways, on to the actual rules. When I’m looking at your soul it is dangerous to move around. Shifting around should be fine but you can’t get up or leave.”

“Got it,” Riki replied. “Next?”

“Ummm, that’s the only rule I can think of for right now.”

“Then why did you say rules?” Riki asked.

“Don’t know,” Desmond replied. “I honestly thought I would think up a few more on the spot. Let’s just say I was preparing for the future.”

“Then let’s do this. Do I have to do anything in particular?” Riki asked.

“Nope, just lay there and follow the rules,” Desmond answered.

“You mean rule,” Riki corrected.

“For now.”

Desmond rolled over and closed his eyes as he tried to enter the Soul Realm. It was odd for Riki to bring this up after her clear aversion to it last time. Something had to have happened to cause her to change her stance on this so fast.

He would have to find a way to get Riki to tell him about it. Desmond was under no illusions. He knew he had no chance of finding out what caused this if Riki wanted to hide it. He would have to convince her in some way to open up.