I snapped back to attention feeling an odd sense of disconnect. It was like I had just been a million miles away. Why was I on the sidewalk? I had been at home… I was driving to see Jake, and then… I felt a memory tingling at the back of my mind just like earlier today and I knew if I had a second it would hit me. I was almost there when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see a lady quickly withdrawing their hand. She looked like she was in her mid 20s and her brown hair was about shoulder length.
“Sorry, but I thought it might help to be properly conscious before someone took you to the orientation.” she said sounding a bit apologetic. I stared for a moment.
“The what?” I said confused, and she quickly responded.
“The orientation, oh that’s not helpful is it, um, it’s over by the tree. The delvers explain what's happened in the last four years and well, um, oh thank goodness.” That last part was prompted by the arrival of a man in maybe his early twenties with shortish dirty blond hair.
“Hey I’m here to take you to orientation. If you would please come with me at orientation what’s going on will be explained, and we'll provide the resources you need to deal with your new circumstances.
“Umm, yeah? Okay, yeah, that sounds good.” I started hesitantly then repeated with slightly more confidence. He slowly started to walk the direction he had come from, and when I started following he sped up to a normal walking pace.
We walked silently for a minute passing plenty of houses. there were people around and in them, but not a single sign of children anywhere.
“Earlier, that lady said that it had been four years, what was that about?” I asked after a few minutes and my new guide took a moment to think before answering.
“What was the last thing you remember?” He asked, and I ran through what I could remember.
“I was just backing out of my driveway- well my moms driveway. I ran up against the memory I had failed to recall earlier, and then it rushed to me all at once. Metal screaming, ice cream on the floor, a jagged gash in the sky, the shining figure, blinding light. And then suddenly waking up standing on the sidewalk.
This all happened mid step and I stumbled. My guide (who I really needed to find out the name of) caught my arm and saved me from a face full of concrete.
The moment I recovered I looked up but the tear was gone.
“The tear is closed right now but when it opened four years ago everyone was pulled into it. Every year a chunk of the population returns which is what happened to you today.” He explained calmly, and I wasn’t sure how to respond. My first instinct was to protest, to say that it was impossible for it to have been four years. I almost did that, but I paused, his voice had been so matter of fact and self assured, and he had confirmed I hadn’t just imagined the tear. but… four years, what had happened while I was gone? I didn’t ask any more questions the rest of the walk. My mind still too occupied by the memories of the tear and the revelation that it had really been four years. My guide slowed to a stop after a while and I stopped as well, unsure why we had until I looked past him and my jaw dropped.
The sidewalk we were standing on abruptly stopped, as did the road the houses and the trees. We were standing on the edge of a 20 foot cliff and ahead of us was a grassy crater that had to be at least a thousand feet in diameter, maybe even in radius. That alone was insane, but the middle of the clearing made that look tame because in the middle of the clearing was a massive tree. The tree looked for all the world like just a massively scaled up maple. Its trunk was at least 100 feet wide and the canopy started somewhere around three times that, blocked my view of the tree's exact height. its leaves looked like they belonged on a normal sized maple which both felt strange and reassuringly normal. The tree’s canopy extended over the entire crater ending just short of us. After a bit I turned my vision to the ground level. Upon further inspection the road didn’t just end, there was a flight of concrete stairs. The stairs lead down to a gravel path that led in turn to a larger concrete sidewalk which in turn led to the tree. The sidewalk was as wide as a full road and had plenty of foot traffic, likely due to the fact that it was lined with buildings. As we made our way toward the maple my guide gave a quick explanation about the area.
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“the tree was here when the first people returned. The appearance of it took a chunk out of a highway and a apartment complex under construction as well as vanishing over a million cubic feet of dirt and stone. The resulting clearing is now called maple district and is the home of the dungeon and most things dungeon related.” he wrapped up around when we reached the first of the buildings. There were mostly stores by the looks of it, and many of them had “returning week” sales. As we passed down the street people parted to let us through. Ahead of us I saw a few people with the same shirt as my guide leading other people, all looking around with the same awe I felt.
Everywhere was such a strange mix of familiar and bizarre a couple waiting in line for milkshakes, both wearing swords on their sides. A guy getting fitted for a suit of glossy black plate inside what looked like an armor boutique. A girl around my age walked past holding an entire crate of red and green fruit in one lightly glowing hand as she chatted with a man an unnecessary amount of knives on his person. I felt like I was at some kind of convention, but everything was real. If my guide wasn’t so nonchalant I would have felt scared of all the armed people around, instead I just felt intensely uneasy.
After a bit I shifted my attention to the buildings themselves. Most of the buildings were made in the same style with concrete bases and wood for the second level and higher. There were exceptions like an apartment building that looked entirely modern, but the wood buildings were the norm. Around fifty feet from the tree was a dramatic change as the buildings stopped entirely and it was easy to see why. All around the tree were exposed roots, the only exception at the end of the road where the roots formed a smooth ramp. The ramp led to a massive 30 foot wide gate set into the tree. The gate was made of perfectly smooth wood and set into it was an ornately stylized symbol of a maple tree.
Just before we reached the ramp to the door we turned, going up a manmade staircase that brought us atop the roots. From there we went around the maple on a wooden path built between the roots. We passed a ramp going up the maple and when I looked up I realized that it circled all the way up the tree with another ramp opposite it. The ramp ended in the canopy where there were dozens of buildings built on top of its branches. I got sick just thinking of going to one of those buildings, hanging hundreds of feet in the air. My guide noticed what I was looking at and gave me a quick explanation.
“That's the dungeon guard HQ, you'll learn who they are at orientation. speaking of which its just up ahead.” In front of us was the ramp down to the south side of the clearing. The buildings didn’t extend to this side of the tree, with one rather noticeable stand out, a full blown castle. It was surrounded by a wall and moat with all sorts of parapets and machicolations and other features of castle architecture that undoubtedly had equally cool names. after a minute of walking it quickly became clear that this was our destination. We passed more people, many of them doing activities that looked like they belonged at a renaissance fair. There were a couple of people shooting some bows at small targets from a remarkable distance. further along the path some people were sparring with what looked like entirely real weapons, no blunted blades or foam in sight. “This is the Delver's guild area, the castle is the headquarters and they use the field to train and for events like the orientation.” We reached the castle and stepped into a spacious courtyard to an unexpected sight. there were hundreds of metal folding chairs arranged in several layers of half circles around a 5 foot tall ten foot round wooden stage. Almost half of the seats were already filled with people. There were some people around my age there but the majority were closer to their thirties and forties, and some were even older. Regardless of age everyone shared the same expressions of confusion and uncertainty. I took a seat towards the back and my guide (who to my embarrassment I realized I still hadn’t learned the name of) walked over to several more official looking people and had a brief conversation with them. after a moment he left the castle presumably to find more people to return with. I watched as more people were led into the castle and seated until almost every chair was filled. I sat patiently with the crowd for almost half an hour before at long last someone stepped up to the stage. Save his head his six foot plus frame was clad entirely in red painted plate, but despite this he was the oldest person I had seen since waking up on the sidewalk, at least in his sixties. His hair and beard were both short and gray and his white skin had a number of wrinkles, but they almost seemed to vanish as he smiled. He raised his hands to silence the crowd and then he spoke, his voice carrying across the courtyard with ease.
“Thank you all for your patience as we worked out the last few technical issues. I'm John Green, and the only speaker for this event. Now, I’m sure all of you dearly want to know what's happened so without further ado let's begin orientation!”