The van took the runner in the direct vicinity of the portal without any incidents. Walker’s mini drone confirmed to them that the drones he “fixed” for Dusquenes were still way up north. The professor and her coworker were still investigating the wrong place.

On the physical plane, the location of the portal looked pretty mundane. An old and small building that seemed to have grown against the hill of Montmartre rather designed and built. Once on site, Rex—still a bit shaken by the flashback from his past, got the intuition the portal would open on the roof of the building. He could not really explain why, but he somehow knew.

Walker’s drone reported quickly that there was nobody else monitoring the old building. As far as the runner could see, they got here before anyone else. They still had a couple of hours before midnight to get into position and prepare, as much as they could, their trip.

Rex peered one more time into the astral in the direction of the portal’s location. As expected, no trace of it. From what he gathered from the book, the portal will not manifest before midnight. However, something else happened in his mind. Another memory from the past came rushing in. He was now seeing himself in a Zen garden trying to mediate and “open his mind to the Kami” as the voice of his mentor echoed in his head.

The mage froze for a minute. Why was he suddenly retrieving his memory? Could the magic of the portal explains this? Or was it something else?

<<The weirdest thing just happened: I just remembered one of my first summoning lessons. Something in this place must have stired my subconscious. I think it will be a good idea to go to the roof and build a low force temporary lodge there. Two hours should be enough. Once done, I can try and meditate a bit. Maybe I can learn something of interest that way. So do me a favor and keep an eye on the surroundings. The Son of the Blackened Blade will keep an eye on me.>>
Calling up a veil and a levitation, Rex left the car and ascended to the rooftop. Still invisible he took the shape of an ape, so he could more easily build a lodge

#213

"Do you want help or assistance from a drone of mine? I'll run overwatch, no problems."

<<Certainly can't hurt.>> Rex replied while already drawing the necessary patterns to create the temporary lodge.

#214

While keeping overwatch on the Matrix and with his Fly-Spy, Waywalker sent his Rotodrone to protect Rex on the roof.
"This should do. Hope you do not mind the noise!"

Sneaking on the roof for Rex, as always shape into a canine form, was fairly easy. It was a funny sight to see a dog levitating on top of a building but in the darkness of the evening it went unnoticed. Joined thereby Waywalker’s rotor drone, he started set up is magical lodge. The process was a dull one, but fairly straight forward, however, midway through it, Rex had to make a pause. A sudden movement in the astral had again played tricks in his mind. He got some flashes of his past—too fast and indistinct to make anything out of it, but clearly the proximity to the portal was already affecting Rex. It could feel his memories bubbling to the surface, they were so close, but still out of reach.

Hovering in his drone over the dog shaped mage, Waywalker could feel that something was wrong. He could see that Rex stopped while pushing some magical component and was no longer moving…

Rex kept still while these thoughts... no memories began stiring in his mind. There was a young woman... his daughter, yes, he was sure of it. And there was that large building out on the sea... an Aquacology? But just as quickly as the flashes had come, his mind closed up again and Rex was left with the memory of a memory.
Still, if it was indeed CFD that had befallen his physical body, what effect would travel to a different realm have on him? Might his soul disconnected from the flesh regain parts of himself that he thought lost?
Rex redoubled his efforts to finish the lodge, eagerly awaiting midnight to see what else he could learn.

#215

"Rex, are you all right? You do not seem like it..."

The monkey shaped mage choose to ignore Waywalker’s inquiry and simply resume setting up the lodge. Not willing to disturb more his partner during a difficult task, Waywalker simply resume patrolling the area. The lodge was quickly finished but it was still a few minutes away from midnight.

The two runners were now waiting with anticipation. Rex was quite happy he opted to build a lodge. As midnight was getting closer and closer, he could feel the mana changing in his surroundings, but through the safety of the astral barrier set up by the lodge. The wave of astral shift around him was quite potent, he was happy not to be exposed to them directly.

Finally, midnight came, but for a few seconds it seems like nothing happened. Waywalker’s drone could not see any change in the physical plane. Rex felt a mana surge, so he knew that something did happen but he could not spot right away. After a few instants, however, the portal entrance finally becomes clear to him. It was quite difficult to see, because it looks like a black tear in the fabric of reality. At this time of the night, it was barely seeable.

Suddenly, the mage realized he was not alone on the roof. Pooping one by one was a dozen stray cats appearing around his magical lodge. All were gazing into the tear, like if they were to be considering jumping in it. Or not…

Rex called to Waywalker: <<The portal just opened and large host of cats has gathered to watch. I'm going to leave my body and have the Kami stand watch over it. If you can, follow me in your anthro drone into the portal. I could use the help.>>

With that Rex went astral and took a look around - first at the cats, then at the portal before he decides to move across.