Boots hit the pavement hard as the young man ran forward to the large, swirling purple portal that stood in the middle of town. There was no going back now. His breathing quickened and his heart pounded. What a rush. “’Scuse me, pardon me! Sorry, miss!” He exclaimed as he hurried through the crowds of people filling the square. Lucky for him the town square in Riven was particularly overloaded with people that day, probably because the newest shipment of fish had come from the ports miles away and all the townsfolk wanted some. It was nearly impossible to get to the Way Gate with all the people swarming around it. [i]Come on… come on!![/i] 

The authorities were after him; Meredith had made him look like a thief who wanted nothing more than to rob the citizens blind. She had finally had enough of him and he guessed that was what he deserved, but he refused to go to jail. It was so frustrating. At least they couldn’t see him among the masses. In a last ditch effort to get to the Way Gate, Phoenix dove forward through the crowd. [i]Ow.[/i] He landed flat on his stomach and slid a little. The tips of his fingers touched the silver hoop that went around the portal giving it its round shape. The mage scrambled to his feet, giving a last glance behind himself before stepping into the portal. “Too easy.” 

When at last the mage arrived in Irakix, which only really took a few moments, he was surprised to find that this particular Way Gate led to a slummier part of Irakix. One he had never seen before. “Hah. Bookstore. No, food. I need work.” He muttered to himself, speaking his thoughts out loud. There were spell books that he wanted and he knew there were always book shops with ancient books in places like these. However, he needed food or else he was sure he’d faint. When was the last time he had eaten, yesterday? Oh that was such a long time ago! 

The first thing the young mage noticed after stepping through the Way Gate was the smell, it wreaked like dead things and rear ends. Or something of the sort. “Yuck.” He moved his hand to plug his nose. “Oh! Artemis.” All along his chest were claw marks from where the ferret had clung on desperately. The mage hadn’t even noticed until now. “Great. Now I’m going to get blood on my shirt. You think I have more than one of these? You silly ferret.” 

Artemis wiggled as Phoenix removed him from the shirt and held him close to his face, rubbing the fuzzy creature against his cheek. “Hey buddy” He said affectionately, “We made it.” A smile spread across the mage’s face. His friend sniffed the air for a moment before scurrying back down into the mage’s shirt.  “I know it’s no good, it’s just this part of town, the rest of Irakix is beautiful, I promise.” 

Ahead, he saw a large group. He noticed that a handful of the authorities was filing into the group arresting someone. “Oh great, more guards. Come on Artemis. We gotta see what’s going on.” He thought for a moment before taking a step forward. His sense of justice strongly outweighed his laziness and he took off toward the group. Pushing his way through, Phoenix saw who the guards were arresting, the man was, deformed looking. Like no one he had ever seen before. Why would they be arresting such a man, when he could hardly defend himself? “Hey!! You guards better not  be wrongly accusing this man!”