Chapter 656

The name Walker Between Two Worlds had caught Evenson completely off guard.

If the Sorcerer Supreme, the Ancient One, considered this person a mentor, and that mentor had taught her how to wield the dark power of the Void, then he was obviously no ordinary figure.

Evenson turned the name over in his mind several times.

Nothing.

Not even a flicker of recognition.

He had no idea who this person was, but someone important enough to have taught the Ancient One about the Void was not something he could simply ignore.

"Who is he?" Evenson asked. "Or, more accurately, what is he?"

"You don’t know?"

The Ancient One looked genuinely puzzled.

From her expression, Evenson could tell she had expected him to know.

"Your organization has supposedly been protecting the world in secret for generations. Someone who came from beyond this world should have been recorded somewhere. And judging by how sensitive you are to anything involving the Void, there’s no way you would have overlooked someone who was standing beside me when I first accepted its power. So why don’t you know about him?"

Apparently, I really did oversell that organization back then.

Evenson wanted to curse.

If you were going to fall into the hole I dug, why did you have to grab my ankle and drag me in with you?

His heart was pounding, but his expression remained perfectly composed.

"You know how our organization’s traditions work. Most of our knowledge is passed down through correspondence. I’ve never even met the previous generation."

He paused.

"And we’re two completely separate organizations. Who knows whether we’ve ever had any cultural exchange? The same person could have completely different names in our records. You call him the Walker Between Two Worlds. For all I know, our records call him... the Two-Time Traveling Merchant."

The Ancient One actually seemed to find that reasonable.

Evenson immediately pressed his advantage.

"So give me a detailed description. What does he look like? If you tell me enough, I might be able to figure out who you’re talking about."

He was hoping to squeeze some useful information out of her and bluff his way through the rest.

Fortunately, the Ancient One bought it.

"That makes sense. Since our organizations have never really exchanged information, there could certainly be discrepancies in how we identify certain things."

She thought for a moment.

"He looks human, but I don’t believe he qualifies as a living creature. At least, not by the standards of normal biology."

She stopped there and looked expectantly at Evenson.

Evenson waited.

Nothing.

"Could you elaborate on the not normal part?" he finally asked, growing impatient. "None of the things in our records are normal."

The Ancient One sighed and continued.

"His body is composed entirely of pure energy. He also wraps himself in bandages from head to toe, almost like a mummy. I believe they help maintain his physical form. Oh, and he wears a purple robe and a strange, oversized hat."

Evenson’s eyes narrowed.

A humanoid being made entirely of energy, wrapped in bandages...

That sounded familiar.

"An ethereal?"

"Yes!"

The Ancient One nodded sharply.

"He did mention that. The Walker Between Two Worlds is merely his title. Ethereal is the name of his species."

You’ve got to be kidding me.

Evenson had guessed correctly.

That was the good news.

The bad news was that he knew almost nothing about the ethereals.

Who could blame him? Back when he’d been playing World of Warcraft, ethereals had barely registered on his radar. They had spent most of their time lurking around the edges of the story, looking like they had wandered in from a completely different genre.

At the time, Evenson’s grind hadn’t yet reached its final form. The outdoor zones were brutal, and the bizarre leveling progression from 55 to 68, followed by 68 to 70, had consumed far more of his attention than it should have.

So he’d never bothered learning much about the ethereals.

He vaguely remembered that they became more important later.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t stuck around long enough to see it.

He’d arrived in this world before the ethereals could properly enter the stage.

I’ll have to ask the Eredar twins about them when I get back.

The Burning Legion had been dealing with the Void for countless years. The twins should have some intelligence on the ethereals. More importantly, they’d been around during roughly the same period when the ethereals were active.

They had to know something.

"My power was obtained under his guidance," the Ancient One said, her voice taking on a faintly nostalgic quality. "And it was thanks to his teachings that I managed to keep from losing myself."

Evenson’s attention snapped back to her.

Then came the part that made his stomach drop.

"So, once this convergence of the stars is over, I intend to ask him to teach Clea."

Evenson’s face immediately fell.

You’re going to hand my girlfriend over to some mysterious Void-powered mummy in a purple robe?

How was he supposed to be comfortable with that?

On the other hand, Clea had already touched the dark power of the Void. That wasn’t something she could simply walk away from anymore. If she was going to use it, she needed someone who actually understood it, someone capable of teaching her how to wield it without letting it consume her.

That left Evenson with a problem.

A very large, very unpleasant problem.

After wrestling with it for a while, he finally managed to come up with a question.

"The Walker Between Two Worlds..."

The Ancient One waited.

"Is he a man or a woman?"

The Ancient One nearly stumbled.

She stared at him in disbelief.

"Your organization distinguishes between male and female bandages?"

"..."

Evenson scratched his head vigorously until his hair looked like he’d been struck by lightning.

"This is a serious matter. I need to think about it."

He’d planned to find the Eredar twins after returning home, learn everything they knew about ethereals, and only then decide whether he was comfortable with Clea being taught by this mysterious figure.

Unfortunately, the Ancient One wasn’t finished.

"Clea hasn’t officially married you yet, has she?"

"No."

"Then why does everything she does require your approval?"

The Ancient One’s expression became increasingly amused.

"I didn’t realize you were such a controlling man."

"Of course I am."

Evenson lifted his chin, folded one hand behind his back, and thumped his chest with the other.

"The moment I handed my paycheck over to Clea, we established three very important rules. Any major household decision, including any expenditure over ten thousand dollars, is my responsibility."

The Ancient One stared at him.

"Right."

A beat passed.

"How... impressive."

Her tone made it abundantly clear what she thought of his impressive authority.

"Anyway," Evenson said quickly, "now that we’ve cleared everything up, I’ll head home. You can drop the Mirror Dimension."

The Ancient One gave him a pointed look.

"At least change your clothes first."

Evenson glanced down.

He was still wearing his corrupted armor.

"Right."

He dismissed the corrosive magical equipment and changed back into his ordinary clothes.

The Ancient One raised one hand.

The world around them rippled.

The streets, buildings, and alleyway warped like reflections across disturbed glass. Then the Mirror Dimension folded away and vanished.

Fortunately, they had reappeared inside a narrow alley with no one around to witness it.

Once they parted ways, Evenson watched the Ancient One walk away.

He couldn’t help shaking his head.

You remembered to tell me to change clothes, but you didn’t think about changing yours?

The Ancient One was still walking around Manhattan in full sorcerer’s robes, her bald head gleaming under the streetlights.

People were already taking pictures.

And then, to Evenson’s astonishment, she stopped and posed for one of them.

Seriously?

Another group approached.

She took another picture with them.

Do I need to tell you that no amount of pouting is going to make that look cute?

Evenson turned away.

Then he froze.

Something suddenly clicked.

His eyes widened.

"...That old fox."

He looked toward the direction the Ancient One had disappeared.

She had deliberately given him just enough information to make him worry, while simultaneously steering him toward exactly the conclusion she wanted.

She’d known perfectly well what she was doing.

Evenson muttered a quiet blessing after her retreating figure.

"May the Light watch over you..."

Then he let out a defeated growl, clenched his teeth, and started walking toward the New York Sanctum.