Tilting her head slightly heard the clicking sounds of booted feet heels against the stone floor, walking in her direction. The sounds seemed to reverberate strangely along the corridor, echoing into the distance as though not meant for her. As far as her eye could see there was a bend, and that was where the sounds originated from – gradually getting closer. Tap, tap, tap, tap! It almost as if the person was walking down steps. Tempted to draw her blade, decided to wait instead, having no idea if the other was hostile or not. Not that she was afraid she just did not really want to start a fight in such an unfamiliar place. Especially with the purposeful way the other was making an entrance.

Slowly, methodically, now whoever it was had style. Tempted as she was to walk to the end and go around the corner, decided not to. Anticipation and all that, hopefully it would be worth the wait. The man walked around the corner, his crooked nose and eyebrows like caterpillars!

“You old goat!” she shouted in annoyance. “How are you not dead?”

“Now that is a story, besides aren’t you happy to see me?”

She shifted uncomfortably, he face flushing.

“Annoyed, or embarrassed?”

Looking down briefly, “A little of both actually,” taking a deep breath met his eyes, her expression stern. “My question still stands though.”

“Fair ‘nuff” he replied good-naturedly. “What do you think of the place?”

Deciding not to push the issue, for now, watched as he beckoned her to follow.

“Come along now Nemaya, don’t have all day” he said smiling sweetly. His loose fitting blue trousers, and long red knee length boots looked a little silly. Not as much as his red cape which stretched down to his waist, at his waist was an ornate one handed sword in an equally ornate scabbard.

As he smiled, his grey hair turned blonde and his wrinkled face smoothed so that he resembled his youthful self once more.
Her eyes widened in surprise.

“How did you do that?”

He shrugged, “Magic obviously, of a sort at any rate.”

They continued walking but as she reached the end of the corridor it opened out. To her it looked like a hotel reception of one of those technological worlds she had visited in the past. It was literally hundreds of feet wide in every direction. The floor was expensive beige marble that had a definitive shine to it, large pillars with deep grooves running down them, twenty yards ahead was a red carpeted staircase that went up to another floor. Glancing up, saw balconies and handrails each with a deep brown varnish. What was up was truly spectacular.

There were likely hundreds of floors all if which had the same balconies and handrails.

“Where are we?”

“We are in the Grand Tower, AKA the Nexus. Each floor holds a different multiverse.”

Her jaw dropped, mouth opening and closing like it was some kind of exercise. “Multiverse?”

“That’s not best bit. All of this is only one floor” he said cheerfully raising his arms in an expansive gesture. “Each level here lets you access an individual plane, and every door on that level a different universe, dimension, and world. And there is an infinite number of them.”

“I’d like to sit a minute if you don’t mind?”

He gestured. “Sure, go right ahead. Mind blowing isn’t it?”

Raising her arms in an ‘I give in gesture’ lowered her head into her arms. Moments seemed like minutes or hours, she wasn’t sure. Slowly raising her head looked at the younger Rushan.

“How did you find this place?”

Raising an index finger pointed at her. Smiling into his eyes, “Now that girl is an intelligent question. Walked through one of those damn doors you did. Explored and in doing so became one of the many Wardens that walk this place.”

“So you’re not the only one?”

He shook his head. “Nah,” pausing briefly, “while you were busy fighting one crusade after another I explored, went to thousands of different worlds.”

“Wait a minute” she interrupted. “If each of those floors leads to another plane,” turning back towards where she had come from. “What about back there?”

“Ah, they’re called Gossamer Worlds. Many are only solar system sized, others much larger; but on the whole much smaller and in many ways not part of the multiverse where the Lords of Order and Chaos roam yet for many it is still part of it – although the Tower does not think so.” He remarked affectionately patting a pillar.

“You make it sound alive.”

“I think it is.”