Elfael's Atlas

The voice faded away, and the walls around me disappeared. Buildings made of white bricks appeared around me, pavement under my feet, and a large tower in front of me. The ivory tower's architecture took my breath away, spiraling into the skies, easily 50 stories high. I blinked, feeling a pleasant wind and the warm sensation of the sun's rays on the skin of my arms. My ears twitched, making me jolt in surprise at this new sensation as noises of a living medieval town filled my surroundings. I stood in a busy alley, turning around. I smiled, amused as I saw a few other elves wearing starting gear, looking around as well. Many different kinds of stalls were aligned along the alley, selling mainly food items, but also weapons, armors, clothes, books, jewelry, and trinkets. I turned around and walked toward the scent of freshly baked bread that was drifting in the air. I stopped in front of a small bakery shop, barely repressing the craving to get inside and buying some of the elaborate pastries on display.

"Focus Alice... you're not sure you can even afford this. First thing first, let's see if there's a map."

I tried thinking about a map, or my location, trying to summon one from the system as I usually do to open any panel related to the weave. After a few unsuccessful attempts, I hesitantly tried to speak aloud.

"Map! ... Coordinates ! ... Fast travel!... Teleportation!..."

I coughed, trying to hide my embarrassment as a nearby stall owner selling wooden items stared at me, visibly trying to gauge if I was some kind of retard. I raised my head and moved toward him awkwardly.

"Ahem... Excuse me, sir, would you know where I might be able to buy a map ?"

The annoyed-looking elf laid down the wood piece he was holding, half of it carved into a hummingbird head, grumbling.

"You can go to Elfael's shop. It's about 100 meters this way." He pointed toward the left with his knife. "He has maps, I don't know about their accuracy, but they look good. Now, if you're not buying anything, get lost. I have work to do and customers to attend to."

"Thanks, I'm sorry, I might come back later if you sell staffs or wands."

"Well, then come back when you want to buy something then."

He shooed me away with his hand, still holding his carving knife. I followed his directions, thinking to myself.

This was an NPC? I Didn't expect them to be so lifelike. This one wasn't too friendly, but at least I know where to go.

I walked around and quickly arrived in front of my target: Elfael's Atlas. The words were written with gold leaf above a large window, showcasing metallic globes and an assortment of maps, some drawn on parchment or leather, others carved into wooden plates or bones. Before pushing the door and getting inside, I took an instant to appreciate the painting of a lone mountain peaking through the clouds, trying to read the captions that described the different paths and dangers on the way to the peak.

The bell rang, and an aged elf motioned toward me.

"Ah... young apprentice, what can this ancient one help you with? We're selling all kinds of maps here, practical ones, decorative ones, and some might even say dangerous ones..."

Taken aback, I can't help but blurt.

"Dangerous ones ?"

"Yes, of course, dangerous ones... leading to untold dangers but also riches, knowledge or power. Treasure maps. Adventurers that find this kind of maps but do not dare adventure where they may lead often sell them, but young lady, I will be blunt, none of the places these maps lead to are suitable for an apprentice such as you. So what was your purpose in coming here?"

"You're Elfael ?" He nodded, confirming my assumption. "A woodworker from a stall in the street pointed me toward your shop. Actually, I'm only looking for simple informative maps, of the town, of the region, and if possible of the world."

He smiled, placed a monocle on his right eye, and scoured a pile of documents. He took 3 parchments and aligned them on the counter.

"Here... This is the town's map, you can have it for free, it shows the Spire, the commercial and residential districts. If you need a place to rest and if you are not averse to the taste of honey, I would suggest the Honeycomb, their cuisine is to die for."

He circled a building in the southeast part of the town and kept going.

"This one is for the region. These markings are the Spires scattered on the plains, each of them the center of a town or city just like here in Tornala. Here you can see Spirea, the first and tallest Spire, where the most potent archmagi or our race live. This map is pretty detailed and shows all the roads one would need to take when traveling in the region. As a bonus, I added a color scale, showing how safe each route is. This map will be 5 silver coins."

He pulled the last map and looked at me.

"Another youngster came just before you, and he seemed surprised when I showed him this map as a map of the world. This is the map of Elvenheim, our world, or plane, call it as you like. There are numerous planes. You can picture them as evermoving bubbles floating around. It is possible to travel from one to another, but it gets more and more complicated depending on the actual distance they are apart from each other."

He got up and walked to a sizeable metallic device made of numerous golden rings and silvery spheres.

"This is a planosphere. If you pay attention, you will see that all of its parts are moving. It shows most of the known realms and their approximated positions. It is not very precise, but we are talking about worlds, slight inaccuracy is acceptable. Here are Elvenheim, Midgard, where humans live, and Nidavellir, where you will find dwarves. Our planes have been close enough from each other for simple transportation and trade the last 10 millenniums, and they should still be for the few to come. Planeshift to neighboring realms is feasible for traders and rich people, but it is still quite expensive for an individual. If you ever want to visit another plane, you will either need to accompany a caravan or pay 50 gold pieces."

I nodded, listening attentively as he seemed to answer most of my questions without me even formulating them.

"Back to our world now."

He walked back to the counter and took the third map.

"This one shows its different regions but is not too detailed. You can see the Wood-elves' forests, our plains, the rift, entrance to the Underdark, the frozen steppes where Ice-elves live, and the largest underwater cities of the Shoreborn. There are large regions of unclaimed lands where fairies, beasts, and monsters reside. This map you can buy for 1 silver coin."

I opened the inventory window and realized I only had 50 copper coins, just half of a silver coin. I raised my head toward Elfael.

"Thank you for all the information... but I don't have the money to pay for the maps... I should come when I've earned enough... Do you have any tips for an apprentice like me to make a few silver coins ?"

The old elf seemed to ponder for a moment, his calculating gaze gauging my abilities.

"I have thought of four possibilities. I am sure you can find a menial job and make around 10 coppers a day, give it 2 months, and you should be able to afford the maps, but with your abilities, I would not wait that long. Working for an older wizard in the Spire would pay better, maybe 1 silver coin per day. Taking requests from the adventurer's guild might be the fastest way, but it also is the least reliable and the most dangerous. And lastly, you could help me here in the shop, my assistant has been sick lately, and I need someone to fill in. You would copy basic maps. If you manage to make 5 passable ones, I will let you make your own copy of these 3."

I nodded furiously, not expecting his offer in the least.

"I'll take the last offer. When do I begin ?"

"The components should be delivered during the afternoon. You can either come by the evening or tomorrow morning. There is no urgency. Until then, feel free to look around in the shop."

"Thanks. I'll tour around the city and come back tonight. Thanks again, Elfael."

I took a last look at the maps exposed on the walls, more akin to works of art than functional items, and got out into the street, my mood mixed, happy that I found so much information, but also worried. It didn't look like meeting the others would be easy...