“Alright Strai’Ze,” Emily said out loud for the benefit of the group around them. She placed a hand to the Pillar in case that was needed. “Accept the Quest Reward!”

Put 15 Monsters to Sleep: (Completed)

Reward: Access to Shared Pillar Room (Accepted)

Suddenly she was being pulled in by the golden substance that made up the System Pillar. She had never walked into it before. It was sure to be safe but having the goo cover her arms, neck and then face was still alarming. She took a quick breath and then stepped through.

The golden goo seemed to wrap itself around her completely. Each of her hairs seemed to be covered. However, it never tugged at her or hindered her progress through the Pillar wall. Two steps later she had exited the goo and felt at her hair. Nothing out of the normal. If anything it felt less oily than before.

“Whoa!” Emily and Strai’Ze said at the same time.

The room she had stepped into was covered in the same silvery metal she had seen from Jeff’s experiences. It had golden streaks running through the metal that would light up in a slow wave like an RGB keyboard. The large room was filled with a strange assortment of tables and chairs. They were clearly made for a variety of species. She didn’t know for sure how she knew, but after living a life of seeing stuff made for humans, it was clear they weren’t all intended for her species.

Surprisingly there was far more color in the room than she had expected. Moving forward she glanced at a red chair that seemed made for a giant. The seat came up to her chin. The same golden wave of light went through the chair as well. Strange… Looking down it also seemed to be connected to the metal ground.

Was it made of the same metal as the walls? Was everything here?

She looked around and saw the same telltale signs on each furniture piece. Curious, Emily tried touching a soft looking round armchair. It was clearly metal, but also looked quite comfy. With a press of her fingers the couch cushion sunk in naturally. Well, almost naturally. There was a texture in the metal that seemed contradictory with its movement. It looked like a woven fabric cushion but moved like a leather one. It was subtle, but stood out to Emily.

“Wow,” said Strai’Ze, breaking Emily out of her investigation. “Being here lets me connect to the System much easier. Kinda like when we were touching a System Pillar, but even better. I’m still sifting through all the available information that this System provides, but I believe this space is on a different planet.”

Emily’s eyes widened with alarm. “Wait, what?!” Did she just abandon her friends on Earth by accepting that reward? “How did we go to a different planet? I just walked through…” Her heart was pumping fast.

“No, no no.” Strai’Ze tried to interrupt. “Well…Yes. We did teleport away, but I think that is standard procedure.”

“What do you mean? Am I able to go back?” Emily wasn’t totally sure why she wanted to go back to the planet that was currently experiencing an apocalypse, but she did. It was her planet and she’d much rather help than escape.

“I am almost totally sure we can go back. Remember I’m still new to all of this too but I think this is just how the shared rooms work. From what I have gathered the System Pillars don’t actually have rooms inside of them. They are just teleporters that use Myst to send you to another place.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Emily breathed, trying to bring down her stress levels.“Do we have any control over where we end up when we teleport?” She remembered the man who ran into the Pillar and then ran back out the same side but completely turned around.

“No…” Strai’Ze admitted. “We are technically completely at the mercy of the System when we use them. But that doesn’t mean we can’t trust the System. It is assuring me that if we leave you will be sent back to Earth.”

“What? How do you know? Are you on the Systems version of chat help?”

“Chat help? What is… oh no, that’s not what it’s like. Well, kinda, except what I do is a lot more in depth than that. Just trust me, okay, Emily. We’ve got nothing to worry about here.”

“Okay,” Emily said with a bit of a pout. She needed to remember that Strai’Ze was not Kazi. Jeff’s spore was her first impression of what a spore should be. She had a hard time not expecting the same from her companion. But Strai’Ze was not a Boschyan spore and had never been a part of a System like the Boschyan System. She needed to give Strai’Ze some grace.

“Oh shit,” Strai’Ze said suddenly.

“What?! What now?!”

“Oh, I just forgot to accept the request to have your friends join. You are okay with them coming to your shared room right?”

Emliy breathed out again. She just couldn’t get the idea of “being on another planet” out of her head. Even though she knew it was possible, the thought of taking two steps and then being lightyears away still seemed absurd. “Sure, they can come. Uh…they’ll be able to get back too, right?”

“I am mostly sure!” Strai’Ze said in a bright tone. “Here they come.”

A moment later tree branches started poking through the golden archway. Velanid was the first to come through. Emily hadn’t processed how high the ceiling was until her tree friend walked through without any trouble. He walked in and nodded to her politely before moving to a tall chair and sinking into it with a loud creaking noise.

Interpret was able to get the gist of what Velanid was saying. His creaking and swaying translated to, “awww, is this why you humans always sit? Having knees and feet really can be exhausting.”

Emily smiled at her friend. How he had forgiven her so easily was still a mystery to her. Maverick still had a much harder time with her actions when they first met.

“Are Maverick and Eduardo coming through as well?” she asked. The golden arch had been inactive longer than she’d expected.

Velanid swayed in a way she recognized as a laugh then said, “Maverick was scared of going through. I went ahead to show him how to do it. It felt…funny.” He then shuddered which translated to a shudder. Interpret did not need to always help her with the sapient trees' communications.

“Maybe Eduardo could carry him through?”

“I already tried that,” Eduardo said, pulling his leg from the archway. “Wow, this place is truly something!”

“You tried pulling him through?” Emily asked. “Then where is he?”

Eduardo was still turning in circles, checking out the space. “The System won’t let you force someone through. Not sure if that would change if someone was hurt or unconscious, but it didn’t let me carry him through. The Pillar rebuffed me right away.”

Emily was always impressed with how thoughtful Eduardo was. He seemed to find answers to things she had never even thought to ask questions about. “So he’s just waiting outside?”

“Yeah, but I told him he would be missing out. Have you ever seen a dog be left out of something? I bet he’ll overcome his fear any second now and come running through.”

Sure enough the golden retriever dashed out of the archway a moment later. The dog stopped, seeing his surroundings, then hurried over to Eduardo to shake his fur. “Is this place safe?” He asked with a bark.

“I am mostly sure,” Emily said, “come on. There’s got to be rooms and beds. Let’s go check it out.”