"Follow me," she said as she walked back to her counter, sliding behind it with a practiced ease. "Now, I don't suppose you know much of the Emporium's methods, yes?"
They approached and stood across from her, the wooden counter separating them once again. Uriel leaned forward slightly, resting his weight on it, and shook his head.
"I don't." He glanced sideways at Enoch. "You?"
Enoch shook his head in return, his expression neutral.
Uriel looked back at Lady Ayah. "Do you mind explaining it to us? Sir Thoryl said it'd be a surprise of sorts."
Lady Ayah beamed, her smile beneath the veil warm and pleased, as if she had been waiting for exactly that question.
"Of course!" She cleared her throat delicately before beginning.
"You see, the Gate Emporium is where your housing is located, yes, but it isn't just that. It is also an introduction, your first real one, to the universe's greater functions and operations."
She outstretched an arm, pulling her robes aside just enough to reveal her hand, slender and supple. With a graceful motion, she pointed toward a small, cube-like mark on the back of it.
"Check your hand."
They did as instructed. To Uriel's shock, and to Enoch's quiet expectation, they too bore a mark, slightly larger than hers. It shone a beautiful platinum hue, faintly reflecting all colours as if light itself bent across its surface.
"That is called a Dimensional Gate Mark," Lady Ayah continued, her tone proud. "Born from, evidently, a Dimensional Gate. We also generally call it an Abode Mark, but for future reference, it's good to know both names."
She tapped the mark on her hand, and from it a small floating cube appeared.
Within its translucent edges, they could just barely make out the faint arrangement of an entire house, filled with countless structures they couldn't quite name or identify.
"That," she said, "is the Dimensional Space contained within your mark. It will act as your housing when you're on the move in the future, or if you simply decide to live a nomadic life."
She let the cube hover between them.
"It is a dimensional space where you can live, but it is also a storage space, and much more that you won't quite understand yet. It's really useful, and really…" Her gaze narrowed, sharp and serious. "…and I mean really, sought after."
She lowered her voice.
"So please don't expose it if you can, especially once, or if, you ever leave your world and travel across the vastness of existence."
Her eyes locked onto them.
"Understood?"
Enoch nodded sternly. He had learned that lesson long ago, and bitterly at that.
Noticing that Uriel was entirely lost in his thoughts, staring at the mark with unfocused fascination, he lightly elbowed him in the ribs.
Uriel snapped back to attention and nodded fiercely, having barely heard half of her warning.
Lady Ayah nodded back, apparently satisfied.
"Since you're here so early, your marks must be of the highest grades. That means even in their current state, they're most likely ten times as large as my own."
She gestured vaguely around them.
"And to give you a sense of scale, my space is three to four times as big as this hall."
Uriel's jaw dropped instantly. Even Enoch seemed taken aback, though for entirely different reasons.
"In the future," she continued smoothly, "yours will get even bigger. As you've guessed, by nurturing your mark, you can expand it and add perks to it. But again, I'm beside the point."
She tapped her mark once more. The cube vanished, and she pulled her robes back over her hand, retreating her outstretched arm.
"The reason I explained the mark and its details is because it directly relates to the use of the Emporium."
"You can use your mark as a storage device in any circumstance, but to use it as an abode, to sleep within it, you need to anchor it to a dimensional terminal."
She paused, then waved the thought away.
"In the future, you won't need to. But that's neither here nor there."
She stepped out from behind the counter once more and walked deeper into the hall, the two young men following after her.
The sound of her heels striking the marble floor echoed rhythmically as she led them toward a floating platform of black stone.
They stepped onto it together. With a simple flip of her hand, she summoned a tablet from her mark. After typing in a few parameters with practiced efficiency, the platform trembled beneath their feet.
A bubble of liquid metal surged upward from the platform and solidified instantly, encasing them. The trembling stopped, and suddenly they felt themselves moving, sliding through space, rising higher and higher.
"And that's your reward," Lady Ayah said calmly. "While the others will need to figure out a way to pay the locals for housing, you'll have the luxury of staying here, in your own private spaces."
She smiled.
"And of course, we don't expect you to have the necessary furniture, so we've prepared a set for you upstairs. You'll be able to use it to fill out the space and decorate it as you like."
"Oh, and your rewards are also contained in your mark."
Uriel didn't hear any of the second part. His gaze sharpened, narrowing to pinpoints.
"Furniture," he repeated slowly. "You say?"
He stepped forward, towering over her, his hands trembling with barely contained excitement.
Lady Ayah froze. Her gaze met Uriel's.
No words were exchanged, but understanding passed instantly between them.
They had found a fellow enthusiast.
…
A long while later, after spending far more time than strictly necessary in the furniture room, the group hopped back onto the platform. It carried them upward once more, stopping only when they reached the highest level of the tower.
The bubble popped.
What was revealed was yet another hall, entirely different from the last.
It was circular, with floors of ancient, rough stone. The ceiling and walls were made of curved glass, offering a clear view of storm-consumed, starless skies beyond.
Lining the walls were hundreds of small, pod-like terminals, interconnected by a web of wires and tubes that pulsed faintly with energy.
"Go ahead," Lady Ayah said gently. "I'll be downstairs if there's anything you need, alright?"
Bidding her farewell, to Uriel's distinct chagrin, they stepped off the platform as she turned and left.
They approached two terminals next to each other, cuboid structures of gold and white marble. Each placed a hand against the surface.
[ANCHOR?]
[YES / NO?]
Uriel selected yes.
Instantly, his mark felt clearer than ever before, pulsating, binding itself to the terminal.
[ANCHORING SUCCESSFUL.]
With a thought, he felt as though he could teleport away, slipping into a new realm entirely. The sensation was novel and strange, but undeniably exciting.
He suppressed the excitement with effort and turned to Enoch.
The latter placed a hand on his shoulder, and with a pulse of power, they vanished together, leaving the highest floor of the Emporium empty.
TSHI!
Uriel's vision cleared.
He was met with a new world.
It was a wide, expansive space of dull grey walls and floors that somehow felt textureless, closer to foggy projections than solid matter.
It felt like the foundation of a reality, upon which a world would eventually bloom, rather than a place mortals were meant to inhabit.
The room was cold, yet softly lit, as if it illuminated itself.
"How strange," he murmured.
In the far distance, he could see dozens of bundles of floating items. One bundle in particular was massive, overflowing with what he now recognized as aether.
He took several moments to observe Enoch's dimensional space with childlike wonder, only just barely registering that this was all truly real.
'It's still hard to believe,' he thought. 'I'm in a separate dimensional space, next to a man from the future, in a world full of humans with supernatural abilities, fighting to survive.'
A small smile crept onto his face.
'It is much better than the prison, though.'
Shaking his head, he pushed the memories aside and refocused on Enoch.
It was about time they talked.