Later, I regrouped with the Johnsons. They had been waiting for me, wanting to know what happened.

Danielle was the first to greet me. “Cass! We were so worried about you. Is everything okay?”

Okay? No. Everything is not okay. Far from okay, but that wasn’t the message they needed to hear. They were worried about their kids and the last thing the Johnsons needed was more to worry about.

So I smiled at Danielle.

“Everything will be fine. Let’s find a safe place to set up camp for the night and I’ll tell you more later.”

We camped together that night. After the kids had fallen asleep, I relayed what I had seen to Danielle and Taylor. The horror in their eyes, as I told them what I had seen, mirrored my own.

Taylor looked at me, the orange flames casting light and shadow upon his face. “Shit! This situation is worse than I thought. We should have considered joining the other parties. If there are other races here that will subject us, the larger the numbers, the safer we are.”

“Perhaps.” I said.

Taylor looked at me, one of his eyebrows raising. “You think otherwise.”

“No, for the most part, I agree with you. Though that depends on the group. Remaining hidden is likely the best option. At least until we are stronger.”

I ran my hand through my hair, stopping at the back of my head. “I doubt there are enough of us to stand up to a large organized group of orcs, or elves. Joining a group of people will only help us if they stay hidden.”

Taylor nodded. “I see your point. That will need to be our priority, then. How do you propose to do that?”

“Let’s be smart. We need a place where we can live, but perhaps we keep it small, organized, and have an exit plan should the need arise.”

We did just that. Using Danielle’s magical map, we explored. Carefully, Taylor used her map and investigated the surrounding area.

Lana was also helpful, as I had her monitor for threats. Every animal, as far as we were concerned, was a threat and treated accordingly. There were many beasts. Small carnivorous horned rabbits scavenged on meat left over from larger predators. Sleek green squirrels scurried across tree branches and chittered. Majestic Elk and flighty Deer. There were even a few owl bears we saw at a distance. Giant and brown, the bears were the size of grizzlies. Their backs had a large hump near their head. From their beak to their mane, they had long brown feathers. Using my glasses, I could see their yellow eyes, speckled with black. They were terrifying. Long black talons were set on the end of their enormous paws. They used these deadly weapons to capture and crush the life from their prey.

Besides the creatures that roamed the mountains, the thought of being captured by orcs had us jumping at shadows.

Fear. It was real. I never appreciated living a life where you had to make up things to be afraid of. The things that couldn’t hurt you. Not really. What’s turning in a work report late compared to encroaching upon the territory of a fearsome beast? A beast that can disembowel you with one swipe of its paws? That provokes fear. The kind you feel deep inside you, and can’t suppress. Yet we humans are adaptable, and by the end of the week, the fear that was at boiling point reduced to a simmer.

At one point, we saw a group of shifting trees. They were large old looking trees located deeper in the mountain. When I first saw them, I thought they were moving because a giant beast was traveling through their gnarled boughs. Ocular vision is a wonderful thing, though. Upon further examination, I realized it was the trees themselves that were moving. Amazing! I marked that area off limits. Just like the other forbidden zones. The deeper into the mountain pines you went, the more mystical and dangerous the creatures. We stayed on the fringes of the mountain forest.

Danielle’s magical map was remarkable. It identified terrain, paths, and roads like a regular map, but it also had magical traits. You could run your finger along map scale to zoom in and out, much like the cell phones of earth. The map automatically updated any discovery we made while traveling. This was useful for foraging for food and hunting away from camp. It also had pins for every member of our camp. Danielle could track a set amount of people with the map as long as they were within a certain range.

Basecamp ended up being in a wooded area in a small side canyon. There was a knee high cave that housed a trickling spring. One had to crawl through the wet tunnel until it opened up into a room-sized cavern. It also had another small channel that exited further up the canyon, which would make for a good escape tunnel if the need arose. Water filtered through the rocks into a shallow pool, then bubbled over the mossy stones of the tunnel until it dribbled down the mountainside.

The Basecamp was about four hours’ walk from the meadow, far enough that none of the orcs would find us. At least, that was what I hoped.

I thought back to the captured men and women. Were they okay? What information did the orcs get from them, and how would they act on it?

They would be back. I could feel it. It was the only logical conclusion, unless the elders didn’t believe the humans’ story.

Staying here may not be a good long-term plan. The canyon we were in was out of the way, but near to the meadow. If we stayed here for long, it was likely that any search parties scouring the area would find us. The spring and escape tunnel gave me more peace of mind, but it was still a risk.

I reeled back my wandering mind. “One problem at a time, Cass.” I mumbled.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Lana was a wealth of information. She put together information packets I used to learn skills. Bushcraft and foraging were now skills in my profile and while they weren’t exciting skills, they turned out to be very useful.

The Johnson’s were helpful. They had received items from the system that were crucial to our survival, especially for the first few days. They had food, a bow, a magical map and some other survival gear, including a tent and pads.

Taylor’s archery skills were improving, and he had even killed several small squirrel like rodents along with a decent amount of rabbits.

My skills were improving too. The identification skill used in tandem with earth to-do guides was valuable. I had used one of those guides today to splendid success. I had just finished up with a whole day's foraging. Tired, I considered my haul. Not a bad one. I had found some berries, wild carrots and pine nuts and a plant that I could make into a cord.

Yum. The wild carrots were a find. Filling and delicious.

Lana analyzed plants while we explored. I had told her I wanted to find root vegetables. She shared a packet of information about root vegetables like turnips, potatoes, carrots and parsnips. That resulted in me pulling up plants of all types until we came across the wild carrots. My stomach bulged from the tubers and the Johnsons were lightly snoring in their tent about ten feet away. Gazing around, I spoke to Lana.

“Activate threat protocol for the night, if you will?”

"Yes, I will wake you if I detect movement within the camp.”

“Thanks Lana, good night.”

“Sleep well, Cass.”

I laid down and wrapped myself up in the wool blanket Danielle insisted I take. It was rugged and itchy, but very warm and comforting.

I continued to shift, the branches that made up my cot cracked as I rolled, attempting to find the perfect position. There wasn’t one. While it sure beat sleeping on the ground, I missed my bed. Fortunately, exhaustion and a full belly caused me to drift off to sleep.

Bing! A loud chime pierced my ears. Ugh, that’s what I get for sleeping with my glasses on. Out of habit, I flung the notification to the middle of my blurry view while in my zombie state. I am not a morning person.

Yumi: Cass! They have teleported me to a strange world with no friends, no baths, no electronics, and most of all, no Abby! How am I supposed to survive in this wretched world? I know you won’t get this, but if you do, tell my family I love them. Share my fate with them. Ripped from a life of luxury and cast into a world of magic like the Japanese light novels of old.

Not fully conscious, I groaned, then messaged my response, rolling back into bed.

Cass: Yumi, too early. Go to sleep!

Without another thought, I rolled over to fall back a sleep when the reality of the situation hit me. Yumi!

I shot back up, a spike of adrenaline running through my blood. I couldn’t believe it. That was Yumi! I wasn’t alone in this orc infested land.

I felt a warmth spread through me. Not alone. I’m not alone. The comforting feeling was still running through me when another chime rang out.

Yumi: Cass! Wake up! You lazy butt! This is an EMERGENCY! You are getting my messages. Where are you? What’s going on? There is a group of us that were magicked away from Earth… You need to alert the authorities. Get us a rescue party. DON’T IGNORE THIS MESSAGE? I REPEAT! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!!!

Unable to contain my smile, I laughed. Crap! Contact the authorities? That wouldn’t be possible at all. Though in that moment it didn’t matter. I sent a message back to her.

Cass: I know Yumi. Unfortunately, I can’t help much. I’m here too. I’m camped out with another family, near the meadow where I showed up.

Cass: You need to be careful. A week ago, we saw orcs capture people. I don’t know how many are in your party, but you should tell them.

Yumi: Orcs… That is terrifying. Like video game orcs with tusks and everything?

Cass: Yes, exactly. Large, muscular, NBA player sized orcs.

Yumi: WOW orcs, pun intended. Were they nice, I wouldn’t mind getting whisked away by a large, muscular green man.

Cass: Yeah, if you want to be tied up and treated like livestock, then go right ahead.

Yumi: Yikes! That is terrifying, forget it. Okay, noted, stay away from the evil orcs. Why couldn’t they have been dashing and heroic…

I groaned. While Yuri’s banter was one of her best qualities, joking around about something so serious wasn’t good for my heart.

As if she knew what I was thinking, another message came through.

Yumi: Seriously though, I’ll be careful. You be careful too. A variety of beasts have attacked us in the mountain. Most fearsome being the saber-toothed coyotes. We almost lost a couple of people. Fortunately, we have a healer with us and our leader killed the alpha coyote. The others left us alone after that.

I blinked, twice. Saber-toothed coyotes? That sounded both ridiculous and terrifying at the same time.

Yumi: If you’re at the same meadow I was at, meet up with us.

Cass: Sure. I also need to talk to the family I’m with. Two parents and two kids. It might be good for them to join. Do you trust your group?

Yumi: Well, mostly, our leader has been keeping everyone in line. I trust her to keep us safe. She’s deadly with a sword and has a class.

Cass: A class. How did she get that? Do you have a class too?

Yumi: Yes, they come up at Level 3. I’m a Technomage, her class is Jade Blade. There are others here too with classes like healer, ranger, etc.

What in the hells? This new world really was run with gaming mechanics. I should have guessed there would be classes. It only made sense with everything else that happened. Next priority on my list, get a class. It would help.

Yumi: Cass, I’m using mana to send these messages. My mana is running low, so we may get cut off.

Yumi: Stay near the meadow. I need to talk to the group, but I’ll come find you. That will be easier than you finding us. Especially if you're in the meadow we started in, though I would have thought I would have seen you…

Of course, she didn’t see me. I was unconscious for hours in the meadow before waking. I wonder why I seemed to be the only one affected . Another mystery.

Cass: Yes, well by the time I was aware, everyone was gone.

Yumi: Okay, tell me later. My mana is about out. I use it to power electronics. I’ll get with the leader, then get back to you with a time. A day or two. I’m the human battery for the camp and not supposed to use my juice this way, so be patient.

Cass: Thanks Yumi, feels like old times. You bailing me out.

Yumi: That’s what friends are for. Besides, I’m sure you would do the same for me.

Cass: Haha, yeah I would, just like the time I alerted you that your skirt was on backwards.

Yumi: I don’t know what you are talking about… That never happened!

Cass: Sure…

Yumi: Well, I’m out of mana, bye!

Cass: Sure…

No response. The sunlight was just peeking over the mountains. The red ball of plasma crested the mountain first and was beautiful. Sometimes in Denver, we would experience a red sun. Especially when the smog of the city was very dense. While the smog itself was disgusting, I always found red sunsets enthralling. Now I saw the same effect, but better, the red rays of the sun seemed to make the green pine needles pop that much more. This place might be dangerous and it wasn’t home, but it was beautiful.