After we were done eating, Hert and Finny drew in the dirt, and through gesturing and me guessing and asking at different meanings, I found out they were going to search the area for Orcs. Which, funny enough, was called Orc. This was the only time I found a word that seemed the same, and I didn’t understand why. Anyway, they asked if I knew where they came from, and I said they always seemed to be going through my area in the same direction. Always by themselves. Hert and Finny seemed to think we should start by looking in the direction they were coming from. I couldn’t guess why they were looking for them, but I agreed to help them look. I really didn’t want to get left behind and also didn’t want them hurt. They seemed very confident and capable, but still, they were my lifeline. I wasn’t letting them out of my sight if I could help it.

As soon as we finished breakfast, we cleaned up and headed in the direction we had planned. I went with my map at half-vision again and started off. I also turned on tracking and looked for Orc tracks. They had feet resembling humans but bigger, so I could tell when I saw a set. I started following them back the way they had come. After a few miles, I saw older sets heading in different directions but consistently tracking back the way we were going. After about five miles of this, we found a whole group of them. I let Hert know about 35 of them were in a clearing up ahead, and he told me to wait here. He and Finny continued the way I pointed and returned about 20 minutes later, indicating we should return to camp. This was fine by me. 35 Orcs seemed like way more than we could take care of. I had my troubles with one, and even if Hert and Finny were at a high level, that seemed too much to chance.

We got back to my camp at about 12, so I went to look at my sundial. It wasn’t quite at the shortest point yet. I had to assume then that the days were longer than 24 hours. I kept checking it as Hert and Finny used the brook to clean and then prepare lunch. At 1pm, the shadow finally reached the same point it had the day before. 25-hour days. Ok. I could work with that. I reset my clock to 12 and set an alarm for 1pm daily. I would just reset it every day so I could at least use my clock to keep track of time. It seemed somewhat trivial, I know, but to me, this wasn’t just verifying the length of the day. It was pulling information with what I had and taking back some control. It felt like a win in my situation, and I needed all the wins I could get.

Another somewhat difficult conversation made me understand that my new friends were returning to where they came from. Apparently, they had come to find the Orc camp and evaluate its strength. I indicated I wanted to go with them, and they seemed happy to have me come with them.

I had nothing to pack, so we headed out as soon as we were done eating. This time, Hert led on, and I said farewell to my little camp. I hadn’t been here as long as I thought I would, but it seemed like a lifetime with how much had happened to me. Our route headed down several valleys, and we camped at night. At night, I just lay near the fire. I didn’t have my grasses to keep me warm, but with my warmth spell, that wasn’t an issue. I only needed to sleep 6 hours or so with my Time Slow on. It didn’t level up again, but it made it so I could wake up and chat with whoever was on watch.

I started to learn as much as I could of their language as we went. It was slow, and I only learned some nouns and a few verbs. It was worth it, though, and while Hert got tired of teaching me pretty quickly, Finny was happy to have something to do during her watch hours.

Every day at 4, I would head off to hunt for breakfast. Sometimes it was Hatmar, and sometimes it was another animal. Never anything significant until the 3rd morning. I came across an Orc sleeping and killed it and cut out its heart marble as I had come to think of them. I didn’t know what it was, but I figured if Hert collected them, they might be worth something. Then, when I checked, I realized that my Exp hadn’t gone up as much as it did before. I had to assume it was because we were closer in level now. I barely had enough to level, even with the other animals I had trapped. I decided to go ahead. I didn’t know what was up ahead and wanted to be ready. My Agility was starting to lag behind, so I put one point into balance and one into learning new skills. The first had to help during a fight, and I was hopeful that upping learning new skills would make it so my efforts to acquire new skills and then level them up would see better results. I eyed my 5 skill points but didn’t want to use them yet. Mana Manipulation and Time Control had slowed down. I wanted to use skill points for things I either couldn’t get on my own, like magic, or leveling up things when they wouldn’t go up on their own.

Name: Jake Smithson

Race: Human

Level 9 (13%)

Age 25 plus 8 years 10 months 11 days

Main Categories (Select to see subcategories)

Wisdom 10 (Mana 5, Mana Control 2, Knowledge 1, Mana Regen 2/10min)

Intellect 9 (memorization 3, recall 3, Speed of thought 3)

Strength 11 (Attack 6, speed 2, endurance 3)

Constitution 9 (Resist Poinsons 1, Vitality 6, Protection 2)

Agility 8 (control of movement 3, balance 3, learning new skills 2)

Will 10 (Discipline 4, Ability to overcome adversity 2, desire to win 3, resistance to charm or intimidate 1)

Charisma 10 (Good Looks 2, Luck 4, Communication 1, negotiations 1, leadership 2)

Later that day, we finally saw our destination: a fair-sized town surrounded by a stone wall probably 10 feet tall. It wasn’t a huge town, and the wall seemed like overkill for its size, but what did I know? With Pelur and Orc roaming around, I could see the need without thinking too hard about it.

As we got closer, I became acutely aware of my appearance. I had bathed yesterday, but I had a week’s worth of beard growth, a shirt with one sleeve torn off, and a pant leg that was also shredded. I asked Hert to borrow his knife, and he handed it over with a questioning eye. I took off my shirt, cut both sleeves to match, then turned my pants into shorts and returned his knife. He looked at me, laughed, and said “Ballthar” while slapping me on the back, which I had come to understand meant ok, good, and right. It was kind of a catch-all word when he approved of something I did.

We continued toward the town, and when we got closer, I saw a short line to get in, with farmers and their wares being checked by the guards. Two of them were in what looked like chainmail and leather, with a sword at their hips. When we approached, they gave me a long look, but they seemed to know Hert, and he talked with them for a bit, gesturing at me, and they let us through.

I was all eyes as we walked through town. I tried to take everything in at once. I started to analyze everything I saw as well. Not because I wanted to level it… well, that too, but I was trying to figure out what things were. There were foods on sale I didn’t recognize and shops with weapons on display. Everyone seemed to be armed. No one batted an eye at Hert and Finny, armed for battle. We walked for a bit and then came to a large building. It was one of the biggest we had passed. Hert and Finny indicated I should follow them inside, so I did. After entering, I found myself in an ample open space with many people roaming around. Some were looking at a board with flyers on it. Others were at tables talking in groups, and there was what looked like a reception area with a few people behind counters talking with what I had to assume were clients. Hert, Finny, and I got in line for a receptionist. This one was a red-haired lady in a smart outfit. What I could see of it was a white shirt and a green vest. When it was our turn, Hert walked up to her counter and said something while showing her a metal plate. I didn’t know what it was, but he had also shown it at the guard post when they let us in. The lady looked at me and said something. ‘This again.’ I thought and said, “I’m sorry. I seem to be understood but can’t understand what you are saying.” She started and stood up. She said something, and I just shook my head no and said, “I don’t understand.” I noticed Hert had a smirk on his face as if he was enjoying this. The receptionist said something to Hert. The only word I understood was “wait,” and she ran to the back, where there were a few doors, and went through one into what looked like back offices.

Stolen story; please report.

Several minutes later she came back out with a large man, and after doing the same dance with the man, they asked me to follow them. Hert and Finny didn’t look like they were coming, so I looked at them, raising both eyebrows and indicated with my head they should come too. They said something to the receptionist; she seemed to give her concent, and we all went back to one of the back rooms. The one we were led to had just a room with a large table in it. The large man waited with us, and the receptionist left and returned with two pieces of paper and a thin metal plate.

We all sat down, and the man handed me the paper. I looked at it. It had some writing I didn’t understand and various patterns on it. The paper started to glow and float up as soon as I touched it. The receptionist and the large man looked surprised, while Hert and Finny were calm, with smug looks on their faces. The paper kept getting brighter as it floated there, and then it was like all the brightness got sucked into me. My head hurt, and I got a little dizzy.

Hert handed me his canteen and said, “Drink those spell scrolls can really mess with you.” I took the canteen and took a drink before I nearly choked. He had said that in English. I stopped and said, “Hert! What did you say?” He laughed and said, “You heard me.” “But you can speak English?” That is when the large man interrupted. “He doesn’t son. Everyone is given a language spell scroll so that they can understand other languages as a child. They are cheap and easy to get. Everyone can understand every other race. You not having used one meant we could understand you, but you couldn’t understand us. That said, the scroll you just used is a special scroll. The one that is left is the normal one. The one you just used I never thought I would see activate. We started with that one at Hert’s suggestion…” What is the difference?” I asked. “Well, you see, that one would only activate if you were from a different world completely.” I looked at him for a minute and got ready to activate Time Stop. Hert had been kind to me, but being out of the bag now meant I had to be careful. “What does that mean for me? Am I in trouble?” I asked. “Not at all, son. You are indeed a rare occurrence, but not at all without precedence. Everyone here is a descendant of someone brought from another world.

The god of guidance, as we call him, has seeded our world several times throughout the ages from worlds with elves and dwarves and all manner of people. First off, let me say welcome to Ornfall, your new world. Humans like us come from various worlds. Kattie, can you please go get the world book? This town is called Large Fall and is a fair-sized town, but before we get into local geography, Kattie is going to get a book to help us figure out where you are from. The last time anyone was brought here from a human world was nearly 100 years ago. It has been happening less and less as we humans tend to have lots of offspring. We already outnumber most races by at least a little.”

At this point, the receptionist, Kattie, returned with a book and asked me the name of my planet. She looked for it and couldn’t find it. She asked if it had any other names and then asked about peoples, Continents, and other things to look up. She then asked me if I recognized information on other worlds but never found my world in her book. Kattie started to write everything down and said that I must be from a new world and that we needed to update the book so that when others came through, they could help them adapt. “Others?” I asked. “Yes. When the god of guidance starts to pull people from a world, he usually pulls 10-20 at a time. We don’t know why, but it is always more than 5 and never over 50. They typically show up near a city, and we try to help them get on their feet and, if they desire, connect with each other. The others won’t come to this city. They will be spread out, but our guild is found just about everywhere. We will get the word out that it is happening again, and guild members will be looking for other humans from your world, Earth.

Does your world have magic in it?” She asked. “Not a lot. I would say.” That makes sense.” She said. “Humans usually come from worlds where there isn’t a lot of magic, or it isn’t used much. We don’t know why that is either.” I had an idea why. This god of guidance guy was looking for places he could sneak in and steal from. I wasn’t about to insult their god… or one of them anyway. People tend to be touchy about religion. “What should I do now?” I asked. The large man I hadn’t gotten the name of yet interjected here. “Well, first, we will need to hear Hert’s report on a mission he was doing for us. It is a little time-sensitive, but we will help you figure things out afterward. Alright?” “Of course,” I said. I was interested in what Hert and Finny were doing out in the woods, looking for Orcs, anyway.

He turned to them, and Hert started in. “It is like we thought, Mr. Ricter. There is a camp of Orcs five days northwest of here. When we checked, there were 35 in the camp, and it was around mid-morning, so they probably had hunters out. I would say 70-80 total would be a fair estimate. Jake here had only come across them 1 at a time, but I saw one group of three bring in a Pelur. They also had several warriors and a spell caster. Weapons were just a few clubs like normal, so I doubt they have any higher-class Orcs. Just level 15-25, most likely. It was definitely above our pay grade, so we got out of there.” Mr. Ricter, whom I now understood was the large man’s name, asked, “What do you suggest? It sounds like a job for a couple of silver-rank parties.” “I would say yes.” Said Hert, “unless you have a gold-rank party hiding around here somewhere. Two parties would be a minimum for safety. They would need to cut their numbers down by hunting the Orc hunting parties and then kill the spell caster before wiping out the rest.” Mr Ricter turned to Kattie. “Kattie, go ahead and send for all four silver-rank parties. Let them know we have a town-sponsored job for them. Then send a runner to the mayor and have him come to talk about the reward.” He turned back to Hert and Finny. “You did a great job going out there and back so quick. We must get ahead of this before they get bigger or notice our Large Fall so close to their hunting area. If they find the farms outside our walls, it will be a disaster. Let’s go figure out where they are on the map.”

He turned to me. “Jake, was it?” He asked. “Yes, sir. Jake, and you are Mr. Ricter? It is nice to meet you.” He smiled at that. “That it is. You seem a good man. We are going to leave you here for a bit. I’ll have Kattie bring you some food and then start working on helping you get your feet under you. How does that sound?” “I am fine with that. It sounds like you have a serious situation on your hands. I am happy to wait. I don’t have anywhere to go after all.” I turned to Hert and Finny. “Thank you for bringing me here. Considering how you found me, I’m not sure I’d be alive. I hope to see you both again once I have a better handle on things.” Hert nodded and said, “That sounds great, Jake.” He turned to Ricter and said, “Just so you know, Jake has the makings of a woodsman himself. He was doing ok by himself. His tracking and hunting were better than I would expect from someone new to this world. A little training, and he could be a real asset to the guild if he wanted.” Ricter nodded and said, “We will see what his aptitude is, but with your recommendation, we will certainly consider it.” With that, they all pardoned themselves and left the room. I was grateful for a chance to reflect on all the information I had just been handed.