"Oh, I'm sorry," he says to Temple, "I didn't mean to be rude." 

(Alex will just be ignored, then. That's fine, saying the exact wrong thing is a bit of a recurring problem, he's used to it. He'll just be over here remembering that most invasions involve a lot of innocents suffering and dying.)

"So," Jamie says, pulling the conversation away from this topic, "Elan, Earth, Elsewhere... what about the others? How many are there?"

"Huh? Nah, I am cool. And total of six, two of which are boring. Epoch and Exile, which are the ones that have been part of the Elsewhere cluster of worlds since ancient times. Exile has very little complex life to the point of being nicknamed 'Mossball'. So remains of its inhabitants showed that they are likely human with weird proportions and maybe some physical boost related to the proportions. Epoch has even less life and also gets the matching nickname of 'Dustball', oxygen levels there are low, you wouldn't die right away but any research settlements needs some help. They also have these crystals that might or might not be sorcery in origin that store memories."

"So whichever world sorcery came from, it's either one of those or it's gone?" 

He pauses, then adds, "How varied do gifts even get? If you can have something like 'creating a whole other world'." 

"That's the most likely theory," he says to the first question.

"Gifts can be really varied. They can't create lifeforce out of nothing. Also, they don't really mess with space and time. Which is a strike against the 'creating a whole other world' theory - there is just not a better explanation. Gifts can be things like moving matter, transmuting it, affecting the classical elements, affecting the chemical elements, becoming intangible, sensing things. And so on."

"...Those memory crystals," Alex speaks up, a little uncertain of his welcome, "You mentioned that there's all those effects caused by crystals in Elsewhere. Could there have been more kinds in Epoch, at some point, or could they have had the ability to make them?" 

"That's a connection, yeah. But we don't know for sure. They have memories of ancient past, but they are patchy and not really informative. Nothing that shows that they had other kinds of magic."

(Alex nods, thoughtful.) 

"What about the last world? Earth, Elsewhere, Elan, Exile, Epoch, and...?"

"Efross. Annexed after Earth was. Their humans have the ability to absorb, store and release heat, which they managed to evolve because of a magical field their universe naturally has, which the downside that the field is causing an ice age, and they most have Stone Age level of technology. It's the least populated."

"That sounds like a pretty powerful ability," he notes. "How easy is it to visit these worlds, anyway?" He asks. He'd like to see all of them, himself, even the dead ones - ancient ruins sound interesting! 

"I mean, it's not that different from traveling between continents?"

"If you know the right people. I mean. And I guess depends on where you want to go or if you just want to check an item off a bucket list. There are portal hubs that sell you the technical experience of going to another world."

"No, not like that - I want to actually see them." He's not much of one for guided tours. For one thing, they usually stay on the ground. 

"You don't really learn what a place is like, if you're just seeing the parts they show the tourists. You've gotta... go off the map. Talk to all sorts of people, explore, get lost." Sure, it can be a bit dangerous, but that's part of the fun of it. 

"Aw, man we should organize a trip together at some point. Though, I am also the sort to like guided tours. And those are doable. Except in Epoch, pretty sure that you can't... go hiking without being too dangerous, or worse, boring."

"Boring?"

"If you're well-warded enough a dust storm is basically standing on sand, blind and deaf."

He makes a face, "Yeah, that doesn't sound like a good time. How well mapped out are these places, anyway? There's gotta still be new things to discover, right? It might be worth the chance of getting caught in a dust storm, then." 

"There are definitely new things to discover. They have teams for that stuff if you don't mind sharing the glory."

"Might be a good idea to try Exile or Epoch first. Somewhere with air that can sustain you."

"It's not really about glory - It's about walking somewhere no one's been in ages, finding things no one's seen. So I wouldn't mind company." 

He shrugs at Felix, "You're probably right, even if I could probably last a bit longer in thin air with my gift." 

"Ooh, I didn't even consider that application. Can you make a air bubble around you while underwater?"

"We are totally related."

He grins a little shyly at Temple's comment. 

"Yeah! We lived near the ocean for a bit, I used to go not-snorkling." 

"Oh, neat! My ability to manipulate air is not that good, but I want to try something like that."

"Being able to manipulate the water helps, too," he nods.

"Are there oceans in Elsewhere?" Alex wonders. "How large is it?"