Not even 2000 words, but this was the logical stopping point.
Eric looked at the grant paperwork with a sigh. As usual, small towns didn't have anyone who knew what the requirements were, so someone was doing their best. At the same time, these were the projects that were most needed. Applebury had been the site of a copper mine, and now that the mine had closed down, water was accumulating in the abandoned pit mine, which was washing various heavy metals into the local water supply-and poisoning the orchards and farms of the town.
Eric had three options, the first, one many of his co-workers would take as it was easiest, was to reject the application, cite the missing and incomplete paperwork, and tell them to try again next year. The second, was to tell the city what paperwork was missing, what was incomplete, and give them a week to finish it. The third was to contact them, set up a teams meeting, and help them through it. Sighing, Eric sent an e-mail with a teams request.
“Eric, did you see the news?” Roger asked. Roger was the type who would have just rejected the request, as it would be less work and more time to gossip or read the news.
“No Roger, what happened now?” Eric obligingly asked.
“Folks at Burning Man say a big rift opened up in the desert and giant scorpions came out, some of the folks there were killed. At first everyone thought it was just some bad drugs, but I've seen the pictures of the scorpion they killed, it is the size of a car!”
“Um hum” Eric responded politely, sure that it was just a combination of drugs and then the drug addled folks making a sculpture of some sort to fool the rest of us.
“You don't believe me? Look!” Eric looked, expecting to see something chiseled from stone or formed from plastic... But what he saw was far too real.
“OK, so...there are rift scorpions now? Are they endangered?”
As soon as he suggested it might be more work for them, Roger's face fell. “No...they can't be, they aren't from Earth, right?”
“Oh, so an invasive species? We have a protocol for that, we will have to mobilize a lot of people.” At this point Eric was just twisting the knife, but he felt a guilty enjoyment. Roger was the sort of employee here that he hated, just here for the job, no care for the actual people and animals they protected.
“Uh, I should get back to my desk,” Roger hurried away. Still, Eric couldn't help thinking about it.
Eric's home was outside the city, where he could still be around the natural landscape instead of imported grass. He took the bus to the edge of the city, catching up on his reading, then he would bike the next two miles. It kept him in shape, and he felt like it was his little bit for the environment.
Halfway home Eric saw something strange, it almost looked like a rip in fabric, except it was floating in the air. While it was dusk, Eric could see a night sky with stars through the opening in the sky.
Curious, Eric approached it, pulling out his can of bear spray just in case of scorpions. When nothing came out, Eric stepped just inside, only for a blue screen to appear:
Welcome Eric Grays to the system. Please think 'stats' to see your character sheet, as a new user, you have the option to choose a 'class' at this time. Given your personality and abilities, recommended classes are 'Druid,' 'Ranger,' and 'Traveler.' If you wish to have more information on one of these classes, please think of that request, if you wish to see the full list of classes you qualify for, think of that request. If you wish to choose your class now, select it mentally. If you wish to wait to select a class later, please also think that request. Thank you!
Eric wanted to know what all three of those classes meant, and before he could organize his thoughts he saw:
Druid: A defender of the forests, or any wilderness for that matter, able to use magic based on nature, able to commune with nature, able to gain the assistance of animals and the forces of nature.
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Ranger: An expert on the wild, able to use many weapons, able to befriend animals and able to use a few nature spells.
Traveler: A person who loves to see new places, new things, and meet new people. A traveler has a number of movement based abilities and some magic. Travelers also have social abilities and can often talk their way out of conflicts.
Eric thought 'honestly, the traveler one seems best, yes I'm into nature, but social abilities are something I lack, always moving around for the job.'
Class Traveler selected!
Wait...what? Eric hadn't intended to select the class, but apparently he had? Still, it was the class he wanted, so he just shrugged.
He looked around the area, seeing terrain much like what Earth had on the other side of this 'rift.' Then he saw a group of five people approaching, riding...large wolves? As the people came closer, Eric saw that they had green skin and all looked like gym rats, bulky muscles under skimpy clothing. They saw Eric and started to hoot and shout, spurring their wolves to move towards him quickly.
As they approached, he could make out more details. They seemed to have long canine teeth that extended out of their mouths, almost like tusks, and they had larger, more pronounced jaws. As he didn't act hostile or run, the group slowed as they approached him. He was pretty sure, from her chest and the way that her chest was covered, that the leader was female, there was another with a covered chest, and three obvious males with bare chests wearing only a sort of skirt/shorts garment.
They stopped, and began speaking to each other in a guttural language, as Eric watched, fascinated. Then the leader asked him “Why do you trespass on our lands pale one?”
Eric shrugged, “I am a traveler, I just entered the rift behind me and saw your lands, and was curious, but if I am trespassing I will happily return through the rift and leave your land in peace.” Eric wasn't used to speaking so, well, diplomatically. But it came out naturally. He saw the strangers relax. Then the leader saw what was in his hand.
“What weapon do you wield?” She demanded.
“Oh this? Um, it is bear spray, it is a way to drive off animals without killing them. It works on people too.”
“A weapon that does not kill? Like water that does not quench thirst or a fire that does not warm!” She protested.
“No, really, watch, I'll use it on myself.” Eric braced himself, he had accidentally taken a blast once a few years ago. He shut his eyes and pulled the trigger for as short a blast as possible, hitting his face and chest. “Fuck, ow ow ow, fuck, ow, it burns.” He kept his eyes shut and his breaths as shallow as he could. What he didn't realize is that the cloud would hit the leader of the other group as well, who was also bellowing in pain.
Eric pulled his water bottle and sprayed his face, and the pain started to recede. Seeing his action, one of the other strangers pulled a water skin and doused the leader. Once Eric realized what he had done he was apologetic. “I am so sorry, I should have moved further away.”
“Traveler, I am sorry I doubted your weapon, or your bravery. To endure that without fear shows you are a strong warrior. I name you orc-friend, and you shall always be welcomed at our fires.” The leader did something and suddenly Eric saw a tattoo on his left hand of a thorn...no, a tooth, an orc tusk.
Eric spent a few hours talking with his new friends, sharing stories. Mursha, the leader, Grom, her son just now old enough to patrol with the warriors, Lena, the other female, who was looking at him in a way that made him nervous, Paal, the brother of Lena, and Yuk, an older male missing an eye, who seemed to find humor in all things.
They found his tales of flying machines and weapons that caused explosions fascinating, and he found their tales of hunting and battling the hated goblins equally interesting. But he realized he should get some sleep as he had work in the morning, so he headed to the rift, got back on his bike, and headed home.
The next morning he did his best to fill out a 'Foreign agent communications report' form, but he didn't have a nation to list, so he put 'orc' on the form. He provided the information he had, and turned it into his boss.
An hour later he was back in his boss's office. “Eric, is this a joke?”
“No sir, I had a communication with a group that I do not believe to be US citizens, so I filled out the form as best I could.” Eric responded honestly.
His boss sighed, then straightened. “You know what Eric, fine, I'll send this up, there have been some strange things happening. But don't blame me if something happens.” Eric returned to his desk, now worried. What did his boss think would happen? He spent the rest of the day thinking about the orcs, the rift, and what might happen with his report. At the end of the day he stopped at the rift to chat with his new friends.
He entered, looking around for them, and saw a number of tracks from the rift into the desert. Following them, he found...his friends. Well, their bodies. They had all been shot, then someone had pulled out their tusks, stripped their weapons, and just moved further into the new world. Eric also found the wolves his friends had ridden, but they had been skinned. All of the bodies had been left to rot.
Eric didn't know how to react, how to deal with this. These were people, gunned down in cold blood, their bodies desecrated, their animals skinned. He didn't understand how someone could do this! Numb, Eric returned to the rift and rode his bike home.