As the two descended the winding path leading down the valley, Elena could now clearly see the rising sun’s glow illuminating the layered skyline. Even from this distance, the city’s vibrance seemed to hum with life.

Noticing her awestruck silence, Irin decided that now was a good time to begin introducing her to the Confluence’s origin and purpose.

“Earth is just one world, right?”

Elena nodded.

To her, the answer might’ve seemed obvious, but to Irin, the concept of such an isolated, singular existence seemed rather strange and lonely.

“Ah, I see. Out here, there are basically infinite worlds, and no two are quite the same.” He chuckled before adding, “It’s kind of like what you said about dreams earlier.”

He traced a horizontal ring in the air with his finger.

“The Outer Realms is the farthest down you can travel in the Realm of Possibility, but it's much larger than the rest of the Realm.” He traced a second, smaller circle within the first with his other hand. “Moving inwards, you first reach the First Frontier, and if you make it past that, you can finally start moving upwards– and I don’t just mean physically.”

Elena nodded, her eyes slightly distant as she envisioned Irin’s explanations.

“Upwards,” Elena murmured. “So do the people up there get to dictate Possibility down here?”

Irin remained silent for a bit. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to answer the question– he simply didn't have one.

Coming to that same realization, Elena decided to drop the topic.

“Anyways, that’s getting a bit ahead of ourselves though. Here in the Outer Realms, most worlds are connected, meaning people of vastly different cultures and origins can cross paths.”

“So like countries, but larger,” Elena thought.

“To better establish relations, centralized ‘hubs’ were formed as places where people from any world can coexist. After all, old worlds are frequently swept away and new ones are formed in their place. The Confluence you see before you is the largest of those hubs.”

“Are there other adventurers like you?”

“Yes– quite a few, actually. These hubs are one of the few places where adventurers can convene and share tales or information from their expeditions to the Wild Ring.”

“Wild Ring?”

“Oh, right! I almost forgot. That jungle world we were just in is part of the Wild Ring. It exists as an untamed, uninhabitable zone between the Outer Realms and the First Frontier, since Possibility there is usually quite unstable and dream leeches also roam there.”

“I’m assuming ‘dream leech’ refers to entities like the one I killed?” Elena asked, before thinking, “Although, I don’t think ‘killed’ is quite the right word for something of that nature.”

Irin nodded quickly before returning his eyes to the road.

They were now quickly nearing one of the gates leading into the Confluence. Castle walls seemed to surround the entire city, save for the lone, large opening that faced them.

On either side of that opening stood two guards in heavy steel armor, each wielding a large axe that was firmly planted into the ground.

“We rarely have aggressors or monsters that dare to attack the Confluence, but the protection helps keep those who stay longer at ease,” Irin whispered.

“Irin, who is your guest, and where is the rest of the party you departed with?”

“I met her out in the Wild Ring. I was…” Irin hesitated as Elena glanced over at him, “separated from my party after an encounter with a dream leech. I’m here to leave a report with the adventurer’s branch.”

The two guards looked at Irin, then Elena, who they scrutinized for a much longer time.

Defiantly, Elena stared back at the gaps in their helmets where she assumed their eyes were.

“Very well. The two of you may pass.”

As they entered the city, a hushed yet smug voice echoed from behind, “Did you see how small her Possibility Density was? I bet she can’t even perform shaping!”

Neither Elena nor Irin had noticed it, but at those words, a faint pressure flicked out behind her.

He assured her, “Don’t pay them any mind. They like to judge the adventurers that pass through here.”

“Not like I’d ever spare those kinds of words my attention.”

“Hah. They haven’t seen the side of you that I met.”

From a distance, the Confluence appeared to be a symmetric, congruent whole. Up close, however, Elena could now see that almost all the architecture and even infrastructure had been stitched together rather than blended.

The wide central road that led inwards from the gate was neatly paved by stone bricks, but the paths that branched off from it seemed to have no sense of rhyme or reason. Some of them were purely dirt, while others seemed to slope upwards or downwards even though the terrain didn’t demand it. There was even a path of magically powered floating platforms, leading upward to a building unnaturally perched atop another–

The buildings were an entirely different story. Medieval stone inns shared their walls with sleek buildings that resembled Earth’s modern architecture, and wooden homes with paper windows neighbored metallic spires.

Even the languages being spoken along the road were ones unheard of on Earth. Yet, despite their sounds being incomprehensible, Elena could understand their meanings without an issue.

As they traveled through the crowds, Irin provided some general overviews of the most notable buildings.

And despite the many differences, some cultural aspects seemed to have been homogenized, such as the use of wagons as a means of transportation or wooden notice boards. 

On one such notice board, Elena glimpsed a paper that read: “Unresolved outbreak at C36-I4-CC2. Dream shard recovery request. Reward…”

They rounded a corner before she could finish reading.

“For a society that perceives dreaming the way they do, they sure do use that word quite a lot.”

Finally, they arrived before a grand building that towered above the usual houses and shops, featuring large double wooden doors.

Irin pushed one open and led Elena in.

“Welcome to the Adventurer’s Branch of the Confluence.”

Noticing that he suddenly stopped talking, Elena inspected Irin’s face, which now bore a more serious, almost somberly empty gaze. 

As they walked down the central hall, supported by pillars reinforced by metal braces and illuminated with candle-lit chandeliers, Elena began taking note of everything going on.

Branching off from the hall, there seemed to be various places for people to simply relax, including bars, tables, and chairs. The walls near the more popular spots, from which conversations and laughter overlapped, seemed to have been patched over several times.

Off on another side, a notice board similar to the ones she had seen outside was being scrutinized by a small group of adventurers. Several repeated phrases stuck out, such as “Party Missing,” “World Shift Notice,” and “Hunting Quest.” Some papers were visibly aged and faded.

After discussing for a while, the group tore off one of the papers, the edges of which remained nailed to the wood, and headed out the door.

Irin now walked alone towards the front desk while Elena waited, the person standing before him being clad in armor that clinked against itself and their gear as they walked away. As Elena stood alone, looking around, several pairs of eyes flicked over, cautiously observing her.

After a brief wait, Irin returned, stating, “They don’t have anyone to process reports right now.”

“So we have to wait then?”

“Yeah… Sorry about that… I wanted to show you around the Confluence more.”

“It’s alright, really, don’t worry about it,” she replied with a smile. “This place is pretty interesting anyways.”

Irin still seemed dissatisfied with himself, not quite accepting her reassurance.

“How about this, while we wait, I could teach you the basics of shaping? Hopefully it'll help you learn what exactly you’re able to do here as well.”

“Now that’s something I can get behind,” she said, her eyes brightening as she now scanned the hall for a place to sit.