The figure in front of me scared the shit out of me.

Sitting in the same pose in front of me was a nondescript man. He was sitting on a mat. It was exactly the same as mine. My eyes seemed to slide past him as I looked at him. He wore black jeans and a black T-shirt with the scream movie mask on the front. His grey Crocs seemed almost new. He was wearing socks with them. I immediately did not like him wearing Crocs and socks; that was a stupid British tourist thing to do. Crocs as footwear were an affront to good taste.

I tried to identify him.

??? Dance ???? ????Identification Skill offline. Improve Perception for greater insight. Connect to Empire System for further information.

His blueish or greyish eyes snapped open and onto me.

"It is considered rude in the wider multiverse to greet someone with discourtesy. So sorry. Did I startle you? I am here to welcome you to the club."

He stood and smiled at me. I stood, bouncing lightly to my feet, ready for anything.

"The name is Dance."

He waited, obviously, for me to say or do something. I just looked at him, waiting.

"Oh, before you ask, Dance is not my real name." He said, tapping the side of his nose, "You and I are going to have a busy month, or maybe we have already had one. Wait, to avoid confusion, I’ll go over the formal bits. I am the duly assigned mentor on call, which means you are my mentee. Done. Now, the informal bits are much more fun. I can tell you it was an easy vote for us. Everyone loves your style, so unlike that other doofus, you were a shoo-in to get into the club. We don’t understand what you see in him. That’s why he is hosting the shindig. Here. "

He passed me a small black card with small white writing in a slightly awkward and ugly font.

Luke Hammond and Sarah Owen’s Welcome Gala Event – Dress to Impress the Empress.

No Strategic Level Weapons. Check Grudges at the door. Let Luke know your dietary requirements. See the gift register for ideas. "Min Min Cantina" 28:11:15:09. RSVP 15:00:00:00. Theme: Earth. BYO, if you don’t like Earth Booze.

The card itself was a thick cardboard business card. It was premium stock, slightly glossy, and the back of the card was embossed, a black-on-black dragon head, with the word "Drakes" in gold embossed lettering below. That, too, was also an ugly font. It was over the top and pretentious.

"You don’t need to RSVP. By the way, it’s your party. You can cry if you want to, ha. I always wanted to say that. If you’re not there, you’re not in the club, and it will look bad for you and ten times worse for me. I’d be laughed at for losing a noob, that is you, by the way. Look, if you need help, I am unsure if you should be a Drake. OK, fine, if you need help, find me. Welcome to the bottom of the biggest league now."

He squinted at me for a bit. A big grin spread across his face.

"Well, well, that's new. I can see you have had a peek at a bit of the big-boy league, too, so welcome to the middle, I guess, but let’s face it, the really big league is not for you or me. Well, if you are smart, it's not for you either. If your brain is the size of a nebula, you will need a lot of cold beer to get a buzz."

He tapped his nose again, "If you know what I mean, and dull, could you imagine having a party when you needed to take a week just to get dressed, or maybe they don’t. Imagine having a dump the size of Pluto. Don’t want to think about it. It really makes my brain hurt. Being this size is so much more fun. Oh, Pluto is a planet too, fuck resolution B5 and the International Astronomical Union, those crazy bastards got it wrong. "

"Can you help me get back?" I asked.

"Interesting question. It is my job to get you ready to be a full member, and I have a lot of discretion, but you are supposed to work for it. Getting you back is such a relative concept. I can help you move forward. Not even Lumat, don’t ever call him Lumat the Cat, even though he is one. Not even he can travel through the temporal vortexes safely with all the confluences and disruptions. He is a time and space mage, by the way, maybe the greatest mage alive – never tell him I said that because we all give him shit for being crap, or I’ll, well, I don’t know, but it won’t be pleasant. Anyway. Mentor, "he pointed at himself, "Mentee, " he pointed at me, "I can help, maybe baby, ha, it sounds so much better in the song."

He didn't stop for a breath. It was exhausting listening to him, "You need to make it worth my while, " with a grin and a wink, "not like that, not that you aren’t a serious contender in the looks department and all that, but I know you are kind of taken by that doofus. You have to be careful, or you will make some old ducks jealous, but you are like a thousand years too young for me. But make me an offer, and I might help. Move forward. Hey Solace, want me to pass a message back while your meat sack works out how to get you home?"

Solace: Well, I never. I would never call you a meat sack, Sarah, even if you are a crude biological. Tell him to pass this to Sprite or Petal, e79f2fa10d407033e34ce7de65e18bd2bcb1a048

I recited the message.

Dance scowled, "Nicely played, little one, not often I get one put over me, now be silent." he smiled and turned back to me. "It would be more effort than I like to spend to read that. Maybe the shop could help."

He paused for a moment. "Nope. It's too expensive to bother, but I could predict what it says; I'll listen in when it gets decoded. "

Local System: All communication with AI, Solace, Locked (Tier ???)

"Just for that, I don’t think you need much help. With your AI, she is all kinds of sassy. I guess she will be an Honorary member, too. Tell her that. I’ll give you two bits of advice and send you on your way. I can’t stay here much longer; all this chaotic energy makes my hair curl unless there is a party or something. It would get under the scales if I had them today. Number one; Trust no one. Wait, except for me, of course. So, amended, that is Trust no one except the very trustworthy Dance. The second bit of advice is here; you can make reality what you want it to be. You should be active, keep moving, think, and pay attention."

He stopped. I just looked at him.

"Have you got anything to drink? I’ve only got this tequila. Want some?" He took a pull from the bottle that appeared in his hands, stood, and passed it to me. "Pity we don’t have somewhere comfortable to sit."

I stood, rolled the mat, grabbed the Emporium chair from my inventory, sat and had a shot of his tequila, coughing as it burned its way down. I also grabbed some random box from my inventory, turned it on its side and made an uncomfortable chair for him. For someone who could not stay long, he sure stuck around.

I felt a little adrift without Solace to bounce some ideas off, but as we drank, Dance was annoying, frustrating, fun and full of stories that were less than half believable. As we finished through the tequila, he name-dropped so many seemingly influential people, whom I had no chance of knowing if they were real. Each had outlandish names, and each story had a dig at either himself, the person or me. He also ensured I knew the expectations as a member of The Drakes; have fun, gain power, and protect others. I was curious whether they were his priorities or the groups. I was pretty sure that he saw the important one was having fun.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

By the end of the bottle, I had a minor buzz, but nothing like I should. I wondered if the shop sold something like Tier 3 or 4 alcohol. Dance confirmed that there were indeed some very lovely mind-numbing intoxicants at Tier 3 and above.

"Tier 5 is where it is at. Knock your socks off and leave you with a nasty case of cat litter mouth. What are your plans to get out of here?" he asked me, serious for a change, "Not looking good from where I am sitting, and it’d be a pity for you to miss your party."

"We picked up a strange interference. We were heading to investigate, hoping there would be some more information or at least someone or something to help us get out of here." It was not much of a plan when I said it out loud.

"Hmm, interesting. There are many weak zones between the different continuums here, and if you expend enough power, you can punch through, like what you did to get here. I don’t suggest using what you did again to get home, but it is an option, one of the worst, and it is a long shot you would end up at your anchor point. Speaking of which, you could anchor something through your teleport spell if you get enough power. Do you have some anchors for that setup? You would need to time that, right? You might need to team up with someone with loads of power. Be careful, too. If you go into a power deficit here, you might get stuck. The entropy is strong in this zone."

He briefly focused on me, "Although you also found another possible way out already. A dangerous and risky one, but you were lucky if you spent enough time building your internal reserves, meditation and all that you could find a way. Dangerous, though, the next outsider you meet may not be so benevolent. You are blessed, cursed and lucky to have survived and know they exist."

He paused again and looked at me seriously, "Don’t tell many people about your encounter. When you meet beings of power here, the best you can hope for is indifference or curiosity. You were lucky the being you connected to seemed one of the good ones, but who knows what games the bigger fish are playing. Whatever it is, you are a pawn in a long game. One day, you can tell me."

I wanted to ask more here, but Dance became evasive and forgetful if I pressed him. Silence seemed to work on him since he liked the sound of his own voice.

"The interference could be a trap, or it could be genuine. It could be thousands of years old. Be careful. I’d bet money on a trap. I know it is, but I can’t tell you. I, too, am bound by some accords that make it uncomfortable to discuss certain things. Just know it is also someone genuinely in need of help, your help, but giving help means that there might be obligations, some hidden, some of your own making. But not all is as it seems. Am I making sense? Sometimes, when you can read the Karmic threads, it gets weird. It’s easier to get high on mescal. Wait, I wouldn’t know about that. I can’t involve myself here, well, not too much. You needed an invite and a push," he smiled.

I waited again, having another drink.

"Stop that. I know what you are doing, and it won't work on me. Hey, this could be your first mission for The Drakes. To test you out, we always give rookies quests and tasks, kind of like an initiation. Wait till you see the hazing. Now that will be a blast. Not that you are supposed to know about that. Forget the hazing. When we haze you, pretend you didn’t know." I got a wink from him, and he tapped his nose again, "But feel sorry for doofus. We used to have dozens of these missions all the time. Now, we are lucky to see a new rookie each decade. That stupid war."

He rambled, and I think he was trying to tell me stuff without telling me stuff. It took a lot of work to follow. He was a frustrating individual.

"Now we have a couple of new rookies. You can do stuff for us. It’s not like a genuine quest or anything. We don’t do quests, just favours and things. It keeps it nice and simple, unlike the Empire’s stupid System and that god-awful Prism. That Harold looks kind of … well, forget that I said anything about Harold. If you get a chance, I’d bet money on him. Seriously, that was not meant for you."

For the first time, he looked a bit worried. "We try to keep most of our business away from them, so no experience or crap like that. When you get to our age, there is more to life than the Empire’s little game system. Or even The Prism - that boring Karass Overwatch, Overlord, or whatever it styles itself these days. Stay away from that nasty piece of work. She is a real bitch. I wouldn't tell your precious AI we think it is a game. As I said, we like to keep our business out of the Empire, too, which is why I am on the sideline for this. Sometimes, we need to poke and put the right people into the right place. This sounds like fun for you. Maybe we can have some fun; here, let's make it official."

He stood and spoke solemnly, "As your mentor in the esteemed organisation known as the Drakes" he paused, looking pleased with himself. "I hereby request that you investigate the interference, render assistance as needed and report your findings to me within thirty days."

He sat down. "Phew, that was hard work, and why I get paid the big bucks. Please don’t ask me to do formal too often. OK, the serious stuff now, Remember to Save the Cheerleader, Save the World, no wait, that was that TV show. Anyway, A Drake saves people who need saving. Saving the world and saving people is easy, but now that is where it gets hard. Especially when they don’t want no saving."

He sounded insane. Mind you, he had dropped that he was over a thousand years old. I hoped I was half as sane at the same age.

I smiled at him and flicked a bit of my drink at him, "I have no idea what you are talking about."

"That’s good enough for me. That all sounds official enough. When you get the notification for completing your induction, make sure you agree and rate me well. You can report to me if you think I have done a crap job. I’ll introduce you to everyone you need to know at the party. Oh, make sure you have an accurate report. We have high standards, " Dance laughed, " and nothing boring. If it is boring, I’ll make you do something else that is really painful to practice reporting. Oh, and don’t die. Make sure you don’t die. That would be inconvenient. We have a pool going on if you make it to the party. From what I hear on the other end, you are the long odds, but since you’re my rookie, I have a lot riding on you being alive and at the party. It is going to be a blast." He tapped his nose again, which looked stupid.

"I’m not above making sure my investment pays off." he gave me a round cylinder that would fit in your hand, which he pulled from nowhere, with a big red button on the end of it. It looked like a trigger for detonating a bomb or something, "take this. Please do not use it unless you are not going to make it or you are going to die. It will return to me if you return, leaving a random bit of my junk behind. There will be consequences if you tell anyone about or use it before you are nearly dead or will be late."

"Thank you. What is it?"

"Oh, nothing. It’s just me cheating. Well, not cheating, but rewriting the rules a little. It is a translocation device that will port you to me, but it is flagged as a bit of random treasure. You can’t tell anyone—especially your AI or anyone else, cause I never cheat. Just be careful. Well, enough of being serious. It can be such a drag, really. You need to lighten up a bit. Have fun. Meet new people, make friends and be cool. The Drakes are a good bunch, a bit stuffy so that Luke will fit in, but you, with a little help from me, boy, are we going to liven things up, oh yes indeed! The Drakes don’t just take anyone you know. We have standards; we look after our own, but we police our own; before your party, make sure you read and sign the charter! Oh, and the dress standards are high. Make sure you dress to impress the empress. You look amazing, so it shouldn’t be too hard. Although our resident DJ Pandemonium might be upset at you, she gets really jealous."

It was peculiar. As Dance spoke, he just faded from view and was gone, as if he had never been there.

He faded back in with a huge smile, "Oh, welcome to the Drakes. If you make it back, I’ll make sure you get a welcome pack."

Then, and he was gone again.

Solace: Miss Sarah, I am not sure who or what that was, but he was able to silence me. I could not communicate with you. I could sense everything as usual, but I had no way of interacting. I did not like that. I think I was frightened, and I did not like it at all.

I want to say it’s OK, but I’m not sure either. We will have to work out how Dance did it and how to stop it from happening again. I liked him. I trust him a little, not a lot, but I think he doesn’t mean harm to us.

Solace: He did not seem to like the System, and he had some extreme powers. I do not trust him at all.

We need all the help we can get now, so I guess keeping on his good side is the best we can do for now.

Solace: You are right. You can trust me. I will keep an eye on him.

That won’t be an issue if we are stuck here, in any case. We need to keep moving and keep thinking.

I looked at the cylinder:

Random Piece of Junk (Tier 4).

Identification Skill offline. Improve Perception for greater insight. Connect to Empire System for further information.

Not helpful. I put it and the now vacant chair and box back into my inventory.

We have a direction, and I can be cautious, so let’s keep going.

I started into my jog again, following the direction of Solace’s arrow in my HUD.