Power Without a Price

[curiousdiscoverer]

The first time Ezra finds Milliways he spends most of the experience overwhelmed by psychic sensory overload. Postcognition doesn’t really mix well with inter-dimensional nexus.

However when he walks out and tells about the experience, the true nature of the place is eventually revealed, furthermore he discovers that the Traders are very interested in using the unique location to seed magic to other worlds and they pay very generously for it. So Ezra’s family all hear about the story and stay in the look out for another door, just in case.

Years pass, and Ezra’s family gets a little smaller, and starting wishing for a door to show up.

Because resurrection is possible, but expensive and bringing three people back is impossibly costly without extreme circumstances.

So Ezra feels extremely lucky the day he finally finds a door again, with family in his apartment where they wait behind after Ezra grabs a few things while Temps holds the door.

He is now in better control of his powers and Milliways massive history doesn’t overload him anymore.

Ezra looks around the bar, sits on a table with a nice view and observes.

Is anyone here that could want and deserve magic?

Comments

[mage_see_mage_do]

"Huh, You would be very convenient if you accepted," Temperance said "but we also would need to make a few... tests to see if you aren't a completely horrible person that will try enslaving making kind after developing some destructive or manipulative power. We also need to address that. Answering your question... I think Security would intervene if people start doing nefarious things, but I don't know if they can sense magic related attacks... Bar?"

A napkin appears with the words: The current Security can sense magic and can tell if it is used for malicious purposes. She has sleep and dream related magic and she can react within seconds and make you fall asleep immediately, she can also make you sleepwalk out of the door. The door's choices aren't perfect and hard to understand, but it does prefers patrons that can be contained before causing too much havoc.

"So when you said that she was asleep but still could protect us..." Temperance shrugs and turns to Max "Okay, I suppose now you have to decide if you trust the Bar. I don't mind that you are suspicious, at least it shows that you can take things seriously. Also, Magic is sort invisible. I mean you can perceive the effects, but if you are a mage you could sense it actually floating around the things it is affecting."

[unblinkered]

Max shuts his laptop and returns it to its bag.

"Decide if I trust the bar? Now... that's a question, isn't it? I didn't have a choice but to trust it, until now- I didn't have any kind of decision to make based on whether or not it was telling the truth."

He backs up, towards the door.

"Now I come back for the first time, and the very first thing that happens is you try to rope me into this, saying I can use the bar for protection. It established itself as a neutral party, that's what... that's what it was doing, before."

[mage_see_mage_do]

Temps did not expect such strong reaction, it is a little sad, the lost opportunity.

"I don't know what to tell you," Temperance says sadly "but I understand the... wait, a minute, how do you explain the book? The one about Faster-than-light travel?"

[unblinkered]

He halts. "Just to sucker me in, probably. I don't doubt it can really hand out things like that, I just doubt its purpose in doing so. If its purpose is to lull me into a false sense of security so that I allow one of its co-conspirators to cast some time-consuming spell on me without resistance, giving gifts is completely in accordance with that."

A napkin indignantly denying Max's accusations goes ignored on the countertop.

[mage_see_mage_do]

"I assumed you had somehow verified if it was useful," Temperance says.

She gives up on Max, and then starts thinking really fast.

"Okay, I don't think I can convince you of my good intentions," Temperance says "I would ask you to give the book to the people outside the door. I might have robbed your world of potentially good knowledge and technology..." she pauses "I honestly don't know if I should make cryptic references to magical consequences if you don't do it, but that defeats the purpose of trustworthiness... and I suppose you could just interpret that as cryptic reference already. Damn."

Temperance hates paranoia.

[unblinkered]

"I'm not giving away the book. I-"

He stops.

"Hold it. The people outside the door? What peo- the ones I- if the door was already open, then... you already...?"

[mage_see_mage_do]

"Breath" Temperance says "Under your logic, the book is either useless... or maybe the supposed conspiracy is powerful enough that it can hand space travel as a gift to earn trust," Temps shrugs "We already infused two people in your world, they are leaving and you managed to pass through the door. I thought I at least hinted to it?"