Gateway 3

Gateway 3

Arriving home was an event.

My parents were understandably worried about the “terrorist attack” and very confused over my coming home via private jet.

I don’t think my lie that I got that by saving the daughter and granddaughter of some mafia bigshot helped matters a whole lot, but at least it's an excuse that they accepted easily enough.

During the week, I got together with my friends for a ‘Welcome Home’ party and relax a bit.

But after that life returns to normal.

___

A few weeks later, I was already bored out of my mind.

The second week of my arrival home Carlos’s promises came through, first the lottery, then all the rest.

It’s kinda scary how effective they were in making everything be mom’s idea. The healthcare for dad was obvious, but the house was a “stroke of good luck” to be found and my tutors were part of an “excellence program aimed only at those with the most potential” she saw online.

If I was still a normal person this would probably be my dream life, enough money that I can do everything I want, a lot of free time to do those things, and friends that I know care more about me than my money.

But I’m not normal anymore, even apart of the whole Campione thing, just knowing that magic is real is enough that the mundanity of my current life is, well, boring.

Case in point, I got magic lessons three times a week, but my progress is glacial.

It’s not the tutor’s fault, I can see that she’s a great teacher, it’s just that even the most basic of magics go awry when I try to cast, and with my horrendous level of control, it’s too dangerous for me to even try without a controlled environment most of the time.

The spell to light a candle, the literal first that newbies learn, almost burned down the Order’s academy. Thankfully it was a weekend so it was empty, but the danger of repeating it is too great for now.

As I lay in my new, king-sized bed listening to music on my new, top-of-the-line computer and sound system in a room with too much space and annoyingly bright colors I think about what I need to actually make progress in my studies.

‘I need a better way to learn magic. I know there’s different systems out there, so I need to find one that I can actually use right away without the risk of killing everyone around me, maybe a more limited one? Or at least with a limit in the beginning, just so I can practice contr-’

And that’s when I felt it, the Door, suddenly restricted and slowly changing between the same four appearances, one with red Chinese furnishings, a futuristic one with sleek metal surrounding it, one with golden details that brings a feeling of decadence, and a simple black wooden door with a medieval feel to it.

But what surprises me most about these doors is the sheer difference in cooldown to use each of them.

The first has the normal cooldown for anywhere I’ve been to since becoming a Campione, but the others? Their cooldown is in years.

The futuristic one is right out, even when using a physical door I’d have to wait around five years to be able to use my authority again and I don’t know if I’ll be able to return home considering how I have no idea where It’ll lead me, Janus used his Doorways make people time travel after all.

The detailed one is much more reasonable, a little bit over four months of cooldown using a door, but I honestly have no intention of dealing with whoever would choose to have such a door, even my house doesn’t have that level of decadence on a door of all things, and I’m literally one of the seven Kings of humanity.

The last door has the best cooldown, around a month, and its simplicity is comforting. No weird futuristic stuff or stuffy people with a too high opinion of themselves, just something simple, maybe even an old hermit! I learned that some mages can extend their lifespan, maybe one of them locked himself up in the middle of nowhere and spent decades or even centuries delving deeper into magic’s secrets!

Decision on the Door made, I approach my room’s door to avoid the original cooldown of over a year, quickly sending a message to Carlos to notify him of my absence and for him to get someone to make up an excuse for it.

Taking a deep breath, I focus on the Door I want while reciting the aria for my Authority.

“This is the Doorway that heralds all of the beginnings! Who’s opening brings forth the new era! Open! Heavenly Doorway of Transmigration!”

___

Passing through the Doorway brings me to a scene that I was most definitely not expecting.

It’s a kitchen.

No, it’s not just a kitchen.

It’s a kitchen that looks like it's been decorated by a 6-year-old with an overactive imagination.

The kitchen, a perfectly circular room, with a stove, sinks, and cupboards curved to fit the walls. All of it is painted in bright primary colors with flowers, insects, and birds.

It was overwhelming.

A light, airy laugh brings me out of my reverie to see a girl sitting down on the table at the other side of the room, a little younger than me, with dirty-blonde hair and pale silvery eyes whose curious gaze was directed right at me. Beside her is a middle-aged man with the same hair and eyes standing while staring at me.

“Hello there stranger, what brings you to our humble home? Unannounced, uninvited, and almost unnoticed?” The question he started calm but progressively became more serious and ended with what is very much a threat from the way he’s discretely pointing a smooth, polished stick that I can only assume is a wand in his hand towards me.

“Hey there, sorry about that,” I said as I put my hands in the air. “I was not expecting to end up here when I used the Door. But that’s my fault, I should have known that assuming what would be on the other side was a bad idea.”

“Hoh? Why would using a door bring you somewhere unexpected?” He said, crossing his arms and lifting an eyebrow. “One would think that, from the mechanics of which doors function, the result of going through one would be fairly obvious, especially when there are signs on the yard naming who would be on the other side.”

“Ah, yeah, you see I’d need to go through the yard to see the signs,” I say as I relax when his wand isn’t pointed at me anymore. “And I have a Door that can bring me to other doors but, well, I didn’t exactly give it precise directions this time.” I finish as I scratch the back of my neck in embarrassment.

“Well, that seems like an interesting story,” He said while returning to his seat, “Come, sit down with us and tell us your story. My name is Xenophilius Lovegood and this is my daughter, Luna.”

“Hi!” The girl, Luna, said while returning to what she was doing before I arrived. As I approached the table I could see her pulling a piece of blank parchment and start writing something on it with a quill of all things.

“Hi, I’m Alexander Lupi, but you can call me Alex,” I said as I took a seat. “And honestly, I don’t have much of a story. I’m the newest Campione and I was having trouble in my magic classes, so I used my Authority to go somewhere I’d have an easier time learning.”

“Campione? Authority? I understand the first means champion in Italian, but I don’t understand your use of it.” Xenophilius replied, his brows furrowed in clear confusion.

“Must be a difference in terminology from where I’ve been,” I said, nodding to myself as, by their accent, we were probably in the British Isles. “Another term for it is Godslayer.”

“That is, a rather powerful title,” Xenophilius said slowly. “But it doesn’t change the fact that I’ve never heard of anyone truly having it.” He finished with an accusatory tone.

“But, how? Black Prince Alec is the King of the British Empire, leader of the Royal Arsenal Mage’s Association and, even if they are rivals, the Witenagemot still recognizes his position as a Campione.”

While Xenophilius started to massage his temples after my mini-rant, Luna stopped writing, did a once over on her parchment, and gave it with her quill to her father before turning to me.

“You said you used an authority to get here, what is that and what does it do?” Luna asked, looking intently at me, while Xenophilius started to write.

“Authorities are the divine right Gods have to rule over their Domains, they’re also the main prize a Campinoe receives for killing a God,” I explain, reciting it directly from the explanation I got. “As for my Authority, it lets me go to any Gateway or Doorway in the world instantly, although this time the cooldown for it was massively higher.”

That is an interesting train of thought that I haven’t had time to think about since coming here, why was the cooldown so high? Before passing the Doorway I thought it involved a high level of magical protection made by a centuries-old master, but seeing as it obviously wasn’t that, then the only other option would be…

“Say, Luna,” I start, dread pooling in my stomach as I think of the answer I’ll get. “What year is it?”

Xenophilius’s head snaps up from where he was writing on the parchment, his wide eyes mirrored by his daughter as he slowly puts the quill down.

“1994” She barely started on the first syllable before I was already groaning, covering my face with my hands as I tried to process the sheer dread of being somewhere a year before my own birth.

“Wh- What year did you come from?” Xenophilius hesitantly asked.

“2010” I answer, forcing myself to calm down and think.

‘I really wish I was wrong about the time travel aspect of the Door, but I should have figured it out when I saw the futuristic Door before coming here.’

Thinking about the futuristic Door I remembered something, why did a medieval-looking Door bring me to 1994? And looking around, I don’t see any evidence of technology or even electricity. Cellphones might not be common at this time but phones and TVs were, and that’s without mentioning lightbulbs.

I stare at one of the various gas lamps in the room before turning to Xenophilius.

“Why don’t you use lightbulbs?” I ask, hope blossoming in my chest as subtle hints start becoming apparent.

“Lightbulbs?” My random question confusing him for a moment from the shock of our discovery. “Oh you mean those muggle things? Arthur told me about them once, said they need something called eclecticity to work, he’s always raving about that, why do you ask?”

The sheer relief of not having to deal with time travel made me laugh, hard.

After a few moments, my laughter subsided, and I finally managed to answer him.

“I didn’t time travel!” I cheerfully said. “Well, technically I did, but I didn’t do it to my own world’s timeline.”

“Your world’s timeline? Are you saying that you come from another world?” Xenophilius asked incredulously.

“I mean, it makes sense, doesn’t it? You not knowing what a Campione is is already a lot, but not knowing you’re ruled by one is a bit too much to ask. Add into that you only know of lightbulbs and electricity in passing while this close to the turn of the millennium and it makes a whole lot more sense than time travel.” I said, finally relaxing in my seat.

“And why would not being familiar with lightbulbs and electricity be so important?” Luna asked curiously, having taken the quill and parchment when I was distracted.

“Well, the only groups I know of that don’t know about it are the uncontacted tribes in the Amazon” I replied easily.

“What about the Statute of Secrecy? Or is magic in your world common knowledge?” Xenophilius pressed, leaning forward expectantly.

“I don’t know anything about a Statute of Secrecy, and knowledge of magic isn’t common, although there are non-magicals who know about it, some are even members of Mage’s Associations!” I was now officially curious about why he decided on this line of questioning. “What is this Statute about?

“The Statute is an international law that was established by the end of the 15th century, and it demands complete separation between the magical and muggle worlds, with the exception of squibs, non-magical children from magical parents, and muggleborn, magical children from muggle parents.” Xenophilius explained.

“Pretty drastic, but I didn’t get far enough in my studies at home to know if the situation is at all similar.” I replied, and, seeing Luna finish writing, asked “By the way, what are you writing there?”

“Oh, this? It’s your interview!” She answered while passing the parchment back to her father. “It’s not every day that someone so interesting just comes in and starts talking, you know?”

“You’re reporters!?” I ask incredulously, it’s just my luck that I’d fall in their laps and start babbling.

“I’m the main Editor and journalist for the Quibbler while Luna here is mostly in training when she isn’t at school” Xenophilius absentmindedly said, his focus on the interview he was reading.

“Well, with world-shattering revelations over, for now, I’d best get started on dinner. Luna dear, could you please expand on the interview in the meantime? And Alex, you are, of course, invited to eat with us.” Xenophilius said while standing up and going to the stove.

“Of course Daddy!” Luna gleefully replied, already reaching for the quill and parchment.

“Sure, and thanks for the hospitality, Xenophilius.” I said, accepting my fate.

“Please, call me Xeno.” Xeno laughed, braving the chaos that was the cooking area of the kitchen.

___

After finishing dinner we got up to the living room/Quibble’s office through the iron spiral staircase in the middle of the kitchen to finish the interview.

It was a chaotic place, with a stone bust wearing a bizarre headdress and what looked like a medieval printing press at the other side of a sitting area for guests.

It still took a while.

After finishing the interview, Luna and I drank tea and coffee respectively while her father worked.

“So, we got so distracted asking about your world during the interview that I forgot about it, but you said you came here to learn magic?” Luna asked, softly blowing on her hot tea.

“Yeah, learning magic back home mostly revolves around building up power and control at the same time and I, thanks to being a Campione, have so much power that even the most basic spells are lethal,” I replied, cringing at the reminder of the damage I had done to the academy. “So I was thinking of other types of magic to learn when the Door suddenly restricted itself to four options and the one I chose led me here.”

“Hmm, I don’t know enough about magical theory to help you with that,” Luna said, pulling out her wand. “The magical world here uses wands, but I only ever heard about wands helping focus the magic, so I don’t know how to help with that. Daddy, any ideas?”

Xeno turned around at that.

“Well, no. But I know the person you’ll need to answer your questions,” He said before looking out the window to the dark sky. “But it’ll have to be tomorrow, we took too much time between the interview and the late lunch, Garrick is already out by now.”

“That's fine,” I replied, although that brings me a new worry. “Xeno could I?” I barely start the question when he answers.

“Obviously,” He said, rolling his eyes. “You’re still a child, for one.”

“And for the other?”  I asked.

“There’s no way I’d let you out of my sight until you’ve told me everything about your world.” He replied with a smirk.

“Yeah, I should have seen that coming.” I said with a sigh.

I really should have, these two were like bloodhounds throughout the interview, it’s hard to see them not wanting more of it later.

“Now you two go to bed, I still need to finish here and it’s better to talk to Garrick in the early morning.” He said, already turning back to his work.

As I followed Luna up the staircase, listening with half an ear to her constant chatter about this Diagon Alley, I wondered if it was as weird as she was making it sound.

‘Well, I’ll see it tomorrow.”