He stood there, the whites of his knuckles seemingly reflecting the shimmering red light emanating from the center of his otherwise lightless room. The shadows were dancing across his face and the walls, as various discarded wrappers and sheets of paper were thrown about. The shimmering portal standing in the middle of his cramped bedroom was already dwindling, but each step closer seemed to take more and more effort as the air seemed to push him back to normalcy. With one final gulp, the young man jumped into the portal and it closed with a rubbery snap.
A mere hour earlier, the young man had woken up and he felt knowledge flow into his weary brain as he slowly rubbed his eyes.
Within the hour you, and three others you know, will find a portal opening in front of your respective persons. Beyond it lies a world of swords and sorcery and of lost technology and wonder. Do be entertaining.
It took a couple seconds for his mind to even process the information flowing in his brain and then he immediately snapped upright causing something to go flying off his bed. The room was cluttered and made it difficult to find whatever it was, but within a few minutes the young man found a suspicious golden ring sitting on top of a sheet of paper.
So, weird message that I somehow just know is telling me the truth. Check. Weird ring that I’ve never seen before. Check.
“Bets on the ring being on whoever else was invited to come along, anyone?” he asked the room.
As he thought this, he quickly started scribbling down a farewell to everyone he knew onto the sheet of paper. It was short and to the point, though his hands faltered when he finally tried to address the letter to someone.
“To…”
His hand unable to write what he wanted to convey, he started scratching his head in frustration.
Damn it, I need to get my preparations ready. I don’t have time for this.
After thinking that, he quickly scribbled down the first thing he thought of.
‘To everyone I know,’
Soon, the room looked as if a tornado had hit it. Everything had been thrown onto the ground with no regards to cleanliness and nothing had been spared from the tornado’s wrath. Even the young man himself looked completely disheveled as he inspected himself in the mirror.
He was of relatively short stature, standing a centimeters or two shorter than the average person with a crop of short spiky hair that seemed to never flatten as each strand of hair seemed to refuse the call of gravity with every fiber of its being. He wore simple clothing, jeans and a black shirt, but on his back was a camping backpack filled to the brim with various tools. At his side hung a laptop bag and on his face a beaming smile as he appreciated his purchase of a solar charger.
As he jumped towards the portal, time seemed to slow down. The closer he got, the longer the next moment took as his eyes started to rapidly dart around, absorbing as much information as he could.
I’m definitely moving forward. I mean, my foot’s shadow moved slightly past that mark on the ground. Wait, could that have been the change in the light from the portal? Wait, that would mean that things are still going forward so thats a good sign, I think?
What felt like an eternity suddenly collapsed into an instant as he fell onto the cold stone ground below and as another three bodies smashed together on top of him.
“FAAAGHHHH GET OFF,” he yelled out.
“Yeah, give me a moment,” replied another man’s voice.
“I’d appreciate getting dug out, guys,” came a woman’s.
“When whoever that is gets off me, sure,” replied the final man’s voice.
The area around them seemed to go quiet. Men, women, children and all sorts of humanoid figures had been suddenly interrupted in their day to day lives as these three had fallen into the middle of their busy street.
“Look momma.”
“Honey, don’t poke fun at them.”
“Damn Crystal malfunctions. Those’ve been happening a lot lately.”
“It’s a conspiracy I say, I conspiracy.”
“Great, get out of my way. I need to get this stuff delivered yesterday.”
Soon, their passing interest faded and business went on as usual for the locals as the crowded street continued to ebb and flow through the arteries of the large, sprawling city they called home.
As he finally got up, the young man had quickly opened up his bag and checked its contents.
Everything’s fine. Wait, laptop check. Looks good. Phone? Check. No harm done. Good
“That’s an elf”. The voice seemed to trail off in amazement.
“OH, and there’s a dwarf!” the voice continued.
“What, the hell,” it gasped, accentuated with a long exasperated sigh.
“Oww,” one of the men said, rubbing his face.
“I fell face first. That is NOT cool man.”
“MIKEY,” proclaimed the first man.
“Good to see you here,” he continued.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Don’t call me that, Charles. My name is Michael, not Mikey” he replied, awkwardly returned the hug.
Michael looked to be almost completely mundane by modern standards. His facial features were very undefined, his height was about average and his hair was cut in a way that obscured his eyes.
Charles on the other hand was half a head taller than Michael. He looked somewhat pale, but his body was lean. On his head was a ridiculous, neon pink elephant hat and he wore a goofy smile..
Both were dressed in similarly mundane clothing consisting of jeans and shirts of differing designs. They carried large bags, bursting at the seams with the amount of gear stashed inside of them.
“Guys, that bloody hurt. You weigh like a tonne “Mikey”.”
“You don’t call me that either, Stephanie” Michael replied, the irritation starting to seep in.
Unlike the rest, Stephanie had dressed as if for a hike, her clothing rugged and decorated in camo patterns. Dirty blonde hair coming down to her waist and on her back, a small backpack. It was barely able to hold a textbook but it had been quickly modified with rope and duct tape to stop the various books and tools from falling.
“Hey, even Nathaniel’s here,” exclaimed Michael as he tore away from the hug to pace over over to Nathaniel’s side.
“Yeah, just checking to see if the laptop’s fine,” responded Nathaniel in a weary tone.
“Worrying about a laptop when you could be worrying about where the hell we are. Look around you! Holy damn, there’s fantasy stuff everywhere here.” Michael proclaimed in an excited tone as his eyes widened like an excited child’s.
“Guys, look up” Charles whispers in awe.
The buildings around them looked to be victorian-esque in their construction, but they each displayed impossible feats of architecture as they all seemed to extend well into the sky above them. It was almost impossible to see the sky above their heads as the towering structures blocked their view, save for the small patch directly above them. Stationed at regular intervals of 10 meters along the street and up the buildings seemed to hang lamp posts, illuminating the area around them with an unwavering flame. The sheer size and amount of buildings seem to have blocked all natural lighting, only the lamp posts illuminating their surroundings.
“Get yer asses off the road, ya dumbass taffers,” comes a voice from within the crowd.
“Woah, who said that,” Charles said as he started scanning the crowd.
“Who said what now?” questioned the other three.
“The guy who told us to move.”
“I said it’s time to bloody move, people’ve got work to get to.”
The source of the voice strode towards the three as they find their attention placed back onto their mysterious surroundings. Before them stood a man of bulging mass, standing a head taller than everyone else around them.
“Uhh… Hi?” waved Michael at the new arrival.
“You understand him, Mikey?” Charles asked as he quickly scanned the man.
“Yeah, you guys don’t?” Michael said as he quickly looked around for an escape route.
“No bloody clue,” replied Nathaniel as he started fumbling around his pockets, looking for anything to use.
“Just make sure you don’t piss him off or we’re leaving you as bait,” Stephanie replied while discretely trying to reach for something strapped to her bag.
“Yer accent’s amusing, so y’must be frontier bumpkins. Here’s a tip, stop bloody gawkin or somebody’ll make you and I’m about to volunteer for that role”
“We, uhh, just got here so yeah we’ll take that offer,” Michael said as he and the group began walking with the flow of people.
“Dammit, we shouldn’t have been standing in the middle of the street, guys,” Nathaniel said as he started leading the group along with the flow of the street.
“Yeah Mikey, what made you think that?” replied Charles.
“And anyway, what’s up with you understanding the language. Sounded like gibberish to me,” continued Nathaniel.
“No clue, I’m just in the dark as you are.”
“Well then, did you get anything unique before coming here? I woke up with a ring in my hand.” Steph asked as she began rummaging in her pockets.
“You mean this ring?” Michael said as he brought up his arm to show the other two the golden ring on his right index finger.
“So, mysterious ring that you had no clue whatsoever would be beneficial and you wore it?” asked a dumbfound Nathaniel.
“Yeah”
“What if it’s cursed?”
“Eh, what’s the worst that can happen” Charles says as he slips the ring on.
“Oh hey, I can kinda understand what everyone’s whispering about around us. Neat”
“Ughhh, fine I’ll put it on my pinkie. I can at least bare to cut that off if it is cursed.” Nathaniel said as he follows their example.
Stephanie looked at them in anticipation.
“You guys dead men walking?” she asked.
“I’ve been wearing mine since I woke up, it can’t possibly be bad” Michael replied with a shrug.
After walking aimlessly a couple blocks, Nathaniel broke the silence with a question.
“Guys, where are we going?”
“I dunno” “No clue” “Why are you asking me?”
“Ok… Why are we even walking?”
“I dunno” “No clue” “Beats me”
“Ok… I vote Michael for leader.”
“I dunno” “Sure” “Why not?”
“Three to one. Michael, if I die because of you, I’m totally haunting your ass”
“What? Aw, c’mon. Could you not? I don’t need that kind of responsibility”
“Fine, Scissors Paper Rock for it?” Charles suggests.
“Uh… I guess?” Michael says as he faces towards Charles.
“Ok, you two. 3… 2… 1… Go” Steph said, refereeing the match as she shared a knowing glance at Nathaniel.
Michael throws out a rock while Charles throws out paper.
“So I guess I get to haunt CHARLES’ ass when I die?” Nathaniel said as he nonchalantly walked ahead of them both.
Their back and forth argument lasted for quite some time and once it dies down, the group found themselves wandering into an alley. Unlike the roads they had left behind, the alley was deserted and seemed almost as if it had been ripped out of a modern day city as the various neon-looking signs flicker displaying letters they could not read.
“So, where does our glorious leader want to take us now?” asked Nathaniel.
“Maybe we could find ourselves a police station? Do they even have those here?” Michael suggests.
“I was thinking we find someone who doesn’t look busy and ask them to give us directions” Charles said, looking around them.
“Directions to where, oh glorious leader”
“What about one of those places with the weird sign?” Charles said as he points towards a door nearby.
“Go for it, I’ll be standing right… uhh… over here” Michael says as he begins distancing himself from the group.
Charles walks towards the door without looking at the rest of the group and knocks on the door. As his knuckles meet the wooden door, it seems to be pushed back slightly and seems to be open ajar.
“Go for it, boss!” Nathaniel says as he joins Michael.
“Onwards, brave leader!” Michael says as he waves at Charles .
“Really, you two?” Steph said as she jogged up to Charles .
Charles gave a small shrug as he walked in, finding himself in what seemed to be a rather well kept bar. There didn’t seem to be anyone around, except for the one small figure scurrying on the bartop. As Charles steps forward to inspect it closer, the lights illuminate its features and before him seemed to stand a large pale animal, with fur that seems to spark with erratic flashes of electricity. Not only that, but it stood on its hind legs washing cups in its small tailor-made tuxedo.
Charles stood there, shocked and just stared at the creature as Michael poked his head in.
“Charles, you dead ye- WHAT IS THAT!” Michael said as he ran up, beside Charles.
“It’s a rat... thing in a tuxedo” Charles slowly said.
“What the hell”
“Not dealing with this” Michael says as he walks back out the door.
“Can I keep it?” Nathaniel asked.
“If it lets you, I guess?” Charles responded as the creature turned to Nathaniel and gave him a stern look.
It started muttering various sounds in what seemed to be some form of language, but the meaning was lost to the three still left inside.
“Ok… we're all new to this place. We just got here and are a bit lost. I was hoping you could help us out a little, with directions, or something similar?“ Charles asked.
It nodded and responded in the same language it was using before.
“Though,” Stephanie paused ”we don’t exactly have any money to pay you with”.
The creature merely shrugged before motioning for everyone to sit down.
“Mind getting us some water too? We’re probably going to be asking you a lot of questions” Charles said as they took a seat.
“Mikey, get in here. Time to figure things out” Nathaniel yelled back towards the alley.