Chương 13: Omnimancer 13: Takora

It was only after the fifth suspicious look that Jax learned the teddies were, in fact, completely invisible to normal people. A detail they had conveniently forgot to mention. Jax understood he'd been played when they laughed their asses off after he mentioned it. The verdict was still out on whether Jax looked sillier talking to himself or to a couple of teddies, but either way, it made the bears' nonstop curiosity more than a little embarrassing.

"Ohhh, that must be one of the fabled food stalls!" Cups said, waving her tiny paw at a man that was serving cornbread on the side of the street.

"Meh," Misu replied." That stall there's much better! Loyal minion! Let us judge the quality of this food humie! This… Foomie? No, this foodie!" The bear whacked his paw repeatedly against Jax's cheek until he replied, denying him the option to pretend like they didn't exist. It wasn't exactly an unpleasant sensation with how soft and furry he was, but Jax would die before inflating the smug little bear's ego any further.

"Can you two even eat human food?" Jax asked, drawing more looks.

"You wouldn't want to upset your cosmic stomach or something."

"Oh! You might be right," Cups, ever the reasonable one, bless her soul, said.

"Misu, he might be right!"

"Ehh, It's fiiiine," Misu said.

"Where's your sense of adventure! Now c'mon! I wanna try." Unable to stall any longer, he resigned himself to ordering three portions of a pumpkin stew, earning Jax yet another look from the stall owner.

"Don't ask," he said, holding two bowls in one hand and the third in another. The second they had walked away, the bowls had magically vanished from Jax's hands into the bears' paws, which were far too small to properly hold them. That didn't seem to matter, though, as they floated midair, pouring their contents into the bears' mouths.

"So delicious!" Cups said, looking as though she were melting.

"Mmm, yes. Misu approves. Minion, give me more!" Before he had a chance to react, Misu had warped Jax's bowl away and was busy shoveling it into his mouth. Jax wondered how they could eat so much before remembering their true forms. He shuddered.

"Say, can I ask you something?" Jax said, trying to take advantage of the opportunity.

"Anffshn!" Cups said, her mouth full of food.

"No talking with food in your mouth," Jax scolded, to which he got an "O-oh! I'm sorry!" Jax couldn't help but smile.

"Why'd you two bring me here anyway?" he asked, half-guessing the answer.

"Bring you here?" asked Cups after finishing chewing, tilting her head.

"What do you mean?" Jax stared at her big eyes.

"There's gotta be a reason, right? The portal on Everest, you two covering my Gift into another world, and I'm just supposed to… what? Sightsee?"

"Ohh, that!" said Misu.

"No reason." Jax blinked. He'd expected a variety of explanations, but not… that.

"You're serious…"

"Uh-huh!" Cupcake said cheerfully.

"So there's no evil overlord I'm supposed to fight? No dark power threatening the world?"

"Nope," Misu said, swinging his stubby legs on my shoulder.

"Just do whatever!" Jax's shoulders slumped, jostling the bears and earning him yet more paw whacks. Of course they had no reason. He should've known the second they'd 'yanked' him. Still, he couldn't deny it was a liberating revelation. Goals made for good motivation, but they were also like shackles. Even a goal like summiting Everest quickly turned into a series of tasks that locked in his daily schedule. Mostly training, training, and yet more training. Without any of that, he was free to do as he pleased.

Not a feeling he got to experience much in his normal life.

"Great," he muttered.

"So what are Transdimensional Entities, exactly? And how do you relate to Luxor? The System called her an Administrator. Isn't it about time you told me?" The bears exchanged a nervous glance.

"Um," Cupcake said.

"I don't think we're supposed to tell you that. Aunty would get upset. And I think she's already really upset."

"Aunty," Jax repeated dryly.

"Who'd be the goddess Luxor, yes? The most powerful being in existence?" Misu laughed before immediately clapping his paws over his mouth, eyes wide, like a kid in the middle of spilling a secret.

"Uh… yeah. Her. We're, erm, playing hide-and-seek. Mhm!"

"Right," Jax said, wondering which part that laugh was aimed at.

"She doesn't know you're playing hide-and-seek, does she?"

"O-of course she does!" Cupcake stammered. Misu nodded a little too fast.

"Y-yeah! Totally! How can you play hide-and-seek without her knowing? Ha! Haha! Hahaha!" Even by teddy bear standards, these two were terrible liars. Jax rubbed his temples.

"Why do I get the feeling this is gonna cause me a whole mountain of trouble?"

"Eh, don't worry about it," Misu said, as though that made it all better.

"But, uh… it might be better if you didn't stick around, if you know what I mean."

"No, I really don't," I said.

"Stick around where? Takora?"

"Yep," Misu said.

"Aunty's got good eyes here. Not the best place for hide-and-seek, if you catch my drift." Misu looked at him expectantly, no doubt smug with himself that he'd used another Earth expression. Cups, meanwhile, nodded earnestly.

"Lots and lotsa eyes. Hard to hide here!" Jax got that same sinking feeling in his gut he always did before things went horribly sideways. Except this time, he was stuck in a game between deities and… who-the-hell knew what these bears really were. Important, was what they were, and nothing ever good came of getting swept up in the affluent's affairs. He stood up, scooping the bears into his arms and setting them on his shoulders.

"Uh, ummm, where are we going?" Cups asked.

"Yay, adventure!" Misu cheered.

"Let's go that way!" He said, pointing toward a distant cluster of random buildings.

"Nope," Jax said flatly.

"I've made up my mind. We're going back to the temple." Both bears froze. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"W-why?" Cups squeaked.

"You can't go to the temple!" Misu said, waving his paw in front of Jax's face.

"She'll find us!"

"That's kind of the point," Jax said.

"Please don't!" Cups pressed her fuzzy face against his cheek, her big eyes looking like they were about to shed a waterfall of tears.

"You can't do that to us! We… we just wanted to have a little fun. Please? Aunty's so boring… she never lets us do anything!" It was ridiculous. Completely absurd. The only logical thing to do was to ignore them. And yet he just couldn't find it in his heart to do that to these two.

"Fine," he sighed. He was doing that a lot ever since these kids showed up.

"But I am checking out that temple later."

"Later!" Cups chirped.

"But first, let's go play at the clothing store!"

"Yeah! Yeah!" Misu added, bouncing on his shoulder. Jax groaned.

"I really gotta stop sighing this much," he muttered.

"Alright, fine. I really do need those clothes."

"Yay! I love clothes!" Cups said excitedly, clapping her paws.

"Uh, huh," Jax glanced at their naked teddy bear bodies.

"Sure you do."

"Alright, then," he said.

"Since you're so eager, why don't you two show me the way to a nice shop?" Misu closed his eyes and tapped Jax's cheek with his paw, nodding knowingly.

"Say no more, chum!" Their "shopping trip" somehow ended up turning into a full-blown city-wide adventure with t he bears dragging Jax from one stop to another. From eateries to clothing stalls to parks, and half a dozen landmarks they clearly only pretended to know all about.

"And this here," Misu announced proudly, pointing to a broad cobblestone square, "is the Square of Luxor!"

"Uh-huh," Jax said.

"And what exactly happens here?"

"Flashcups!" Cups said, raising her tiny paw like an eager student.

"Flash…cups?"

"Yup! It's where boys and girls come to do naughty things at night," she said matter-of-factly. Does she mean hookups? Jax thought, though he didn't dare correct such obviously flawless and omniscient beings.

"But only at night!" Misu added, folding his stubby arms and nodding sagely.

"Because that's when the Dark One comes out!" He flailed his arms, making Cupcake squeal and cover her eyes. Jax had learned by now not to take anything these two said at face value. Still, he couldn't deny their enthusiasm was contagious, and they'd proven surprisingly good company.

"Say, I've been meaning to ask," Jax said, earning a "hmm?" from both bears as they leaned over his shoulder to meet his gaze. Jax tried briefly to look at them both, but that quickly proved impossible so he gave up, choosing to look at Misu. He seemed to have the looser tongue of the two.

"Why is it that you two hide your Lux leakage? Everyone and every beast I've seen leaks their Lux like crazy. But I don't get any of that with you two." If Jax was honest, it was quite refreshing. Like finding a car with its engine off after seeing everyone have theirs idling for no reason, burning gas. It irked him.

"Oh that's because everyone would definitely die if we didn't," Misu declared proudly.

"Actually, it would destroy the mortal plane too!" Cups added with a raised paw.

"First the weaker beasts, then the nightswarm, then the ones on Luxspire, and then the land too!"

"Mhmm! Mhmm! There'd be nothing left at all," Misu said, waving his stubby paws around before mouthing a Boom sound, clearly oblivious to the fact that Jax's face had gone pale. He didn't dare ask how they knew such a thing. By the time the sun had climbed high overhead, Jax was dressed like a proper local, decked out in a thick leather overcoat that, while not especially warm on its own, was plenty large enough to hide his lighter down layers underneath.

Between that and the leather gloves he'd bought, he was both warm and finally looked like he belonged.

"Thanks, you two," he said, glancing up at the sun. Checking his Alpinist, he was surprised to see that over four hours had passed since they'd started shopping. In that time, he'd discovered just how sprawling a city Takora truly was. He'd been right that an entire labyrinth of tunnels spread beneath the city like a beaver den, connecting nearly every major building in the city.

Some residences even had basements that opened directly into these hidden passageways, creating what was essentially a whole undercity network. It was a dizzying maze of intersecting halls that wound all the way up into the crater's rim. The bears claimed there were more than thirty levels from bottom to top, though only the city guard and military were allowed to actually exit topside where the city walls were. Though disappointing, Jax thought it made sense.

That wall was the last line of defense protecting the city from the world beyond.

"What a fascinating place," Jax muttered as they walked. Religion seemed to bleed into every aspect of life here. There were temples around almost every corner. Shamans tended sacred fires, mumbling chants that very clearly filled the air with magic. What that magic did, Jax couldn't begin to guess. All he knew was that the language was identical to his magical chants.

Prayer totems filled with some form of spiritual energy were found in nearly every dwelling and the words adorning the many flags that fluttered in the wind were the same as his Tier I spells. It was like they worshiped magic right alongside their gods, and the two were so intermingled that Jax doubted he understood it all. It was beautiful in a strange, unfamiliar way. But there was another thing they worshiped, too. Altitude. He saw its effect everywhere once the teddies mentioned it.

The richer, more powerful people had their homes exclusively within the crater walls, their higher homes reflecting their elevated status. Peaks were said to house deities and were worshipped, while a city's altitude was tied inextricably to its status on the world stage. The higher it was, the more prestigious. On and on it went, to the point where Jax felt it bordered on obsession. Which, as a mountaineer, only fueled his excitement.

Some of those lavish compounds had sweeping views of the city, and the higher one climbed, the grander the homes became. He knew because the bears had insisted on touring a few of the unoccupied ones. Jax had said no, of course, but when the teddies teleported him in, he realized he had precious little say in the matter. Breaking into luxury homes wasn't exactly on his to-do list, but, well, it had been eye-opening.

He didn't steal or touch anything, of course, and he put his foot down when the curious teddies started grabbing stuff. And as much as he hated to admit it, there was something about going to forbidden places that tickled the inner child in Jax. Worse—the bears had quickly latched on to his weakness. That being the big, innocent eyed look, and they exploited it fully, knowing fully well he didn't stand a chance. He'd make a terrible father. Still, the experience taught him quite a lot.

For one, despite Takora's communal, sharing culture, individual wealth still existed, and status was very much a thing—an aspect of humanity that apparently spanned worlds. There wasn't nobility in Takora, at least not in the traditional sense. The bears told him that titles existed elsewhere in the world, but here, leadership came from an elected council headed by a chief. It surprised him. For a world that seemed so ancient and mystical, their politics were surprisingly democratic.

Medieval was perhaps the wrong word. From magical lighting to luxurious rugs to powers that de-iced their roads and heated their tunnels on a city-wide scale, Takora might not have had cars or computers, but magic made that gap far smaller than it should've been. They had city lights, running water, steam baths, and healthcare capable of feats far in advance of anything modern science could achieve. Most of the comforts of modern life—just fueled by magic instead of electronics.

Maybe, Jax thought, this world wasn't as alien as he'd first believed. Sure, there was no TV or internet—but somehow, he didn't mind. Maybe he could even grow to like it. He could certainly picture himself settling into one of the lavish crater bungalows quite nicely…

"Well, that was fun!" Cupcake said, bouncing up and down on his shoulder with the sort of excitement only kids could muster.

"We gotta go now, but we'll come back later to play, okay?" Jax chuckled and nodded.

"I'll be here." What should've been a lonely, somber day had actually turned out to be… kind of great. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he was already looking forward to seeing the little chaos gremlins again. The two bears waved, giggling as they poofed out of existence. Suddenly alone, Jax exhaled and rubbed the back of his neck. How quickly life changed. Talking teddies vanishing into thin air didn't even make him blink anymore. But the day wasn't over yet.

He looked up at the temple that loomed in the distance. His work wasn't done here. After all, he still had a Goddess to investigate. Rat didn't know what terrified her more—that this strange man kept pulling out more and more magic seemingly every hour, or that her heart nearly seized when an almighty wave of force rushed over her. He knew. He knew! It should have been impossible, but somehow, he'd turned to her exact location. Yet after that thoroughly traumatizing experience, the strange man didn't say a word.

Didn't even make a threatening gesture. A million questions ran through Rat's head. How could that even be possible? The hallmark of the Skinwalkers was that they were indistinguishable from regular animals when shifted. They could be found out if they did something unusual for an animal, of course, but Rat was a rat! They were everywhere in the city, and she'd done nothing to garner any attention.

Then again, she'd seen this man use fire, heal a girl, create rifts in space, vanish his clothing, and who knew what else? Not to mention all those times he'd simply stopped and stared with his eyes glazed over at what could only have been his Gift's page. Who was in love with their Gift that much? Who had that many spells they needed to consult it that often? Rat had never seen a human so utterly lacking in Soulfire who scared her more. Which, of course, only compelled her to follow.

As powerful as he was, he wasn't long for this world now. Not with Hakan's hounds on his tail. They'd ambush him at dusk, when he returned from his little outing. At a spot where there would be no witnesses, with the best that Hakan had to throw at them. And Rat would be there to see it, counting not coppers or silvers, but the gold coins she was about to earn from it all.