Chapter 5 – 'The Others'

Mason was driving to his crappy job in his crappy car. He was currently a receptionist at a 4-star hotel located a couple miles from where he lived. It wasn't the greatest job, but he didn't mind it, though he did find it quite difficult to bite his tongue when rude customers were being assholes.

He was taking the route he always took, but today's road seemed unusually bumpy for some reason, and he was feeling a slight pressure in his belly as if something was pushing down on it. He came to a stop as there was traffic ahead, but oddly he kept feeling like he was going over the bumps. Ignoring it for now, he gazed out the window. Stuck in traffic on a busy road, the last thing he expected to see were hundreds of trees. One in particular tree drew Mason's attention. At the bottom of this tree, there seemed to be a lot of blood.

Mason looked at his hands on the steering wheel. They were raw and bloody. Shocked, he looked back at the trees. Mason jerked awake when he saw 2 plate-sized yellow eyes staring at him from behind the bloody tree.

Disorientated and confused, Mason woke. He soon discovered that the bumps and pressure he felt while dreaming were due to Mayry carrying him. She had, apparently, thought it best to throw him over her shoulder and start toward the town with him unconscious.

While Mason thought this quite undignified, he wasn't about to complain as this transport mode came with a decent view. The way he was being carried caused his eye level to be at the perfect angle to stare at Mayrys backside. She was wearing trousers that fit her so incredibly well that Mason couldn't stop himself from saying, "I wish I had been woken up with this in my face every time I'd been knocked out today."

This resulted in him being dumped onto the floor in front of a scowling pink-faced Mayry. "Pervert! how long have you been awake?!" She said, taking a step towards him.

Remembering what she had done to the tree, he raised his hands and replied, "Just now, I swear."

"Hmm, well, we're nearly there anyway. Maybe now you can tell me what your deal is."

They started walking as they talked, Mason following slightly behind Mayry.

Sighing in defeat, "Fine, what do you want to know?" he said, deciding to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"Well, maybe start with why you aren't wearing clothes?"

Defensively he replied, "I'm wearing boxer shorts, thank you very much. And I've already told you it's the only thing the system would give me."

"Yeah, I was hoping for more information, like what the 'system' is?"

"Oh, you don't see stuff when you close your eyes? Levels, quests, stat points, stuff like that? Then how did you make that tree go kaboom?" He had thought that maybe the game-like system he had was just the way it was here.

Her face scrunched up for a few seconds as if she was trying to figure something out. "No, I don't… My family magic lets me manipulate the elements, and I'm pretty advanced, so that tree wasn't a problem." She said smugly, "Is this system thing your family magic, or is it something else? It must be weak if you couldn't knock down a tree."

Not understanding anything she was saying, he asked, "What is family magic? Is it genetic or just magic only your family knows?"

The look she gave him in response was surprising. She looked shocked, as if he had just asked her what colour the sky was.

She stopped walking. The suspicious look from earlier returned, "Mason, I need you to be honest with me. Family magic is something every child is taught about at a young age. How do you not know what it is? How didn't you know what the name of the forest was? Where are you from?" as she spoke, her hand started faintly glowing orange.

"Err, I'm not from around here. I have no idea where here is even. This is going to sound ridiculous, but I think I'm from another world."

Before he could continue, Mayry pointed an open hand at him, a ball of fire spinning in her palm. "You're one of them? One of the 'Others'?" Her face changed from suspicious to angry. The ball of fire in her palm grew larger and started spinning faster.

Her words tore his focus from her action, "Others? Are there others like me? People from earth?" He was weary of her now. If he could find others like him, maybe he could find out what happened to him, maybe even how to get home.

Mayry appeared conflicted, her angry expression faltered, but she kept her hand pointed at him, fireball ready to annihilate him with a thought.

"Earth? What's Earth? All the stories I've heard say the 'Others' come from a world they call Ganehfrel. Tell me, are you one of them or not?" She was almost shouting at this point.

Mason's heart dropped, his face showing his disappointment. Mayry continued, answering her own question. "No…, you couldn't be. The 'Others' had the power to destroy cities with ease… you couldn't knock down a tree."

*DING*

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Mason spoke up to defend himself, mentally waving the notification away, "Can we maybe stop bringing that up? Still kind of a touchy subject."

Ignoring him, Mayry continued, fireball finally fizzing out in a puff of smoke, "Earth is the name of the world where you come from?"

"Yeah, big ball of land and water, 8 billion people, no magic whatsoever. Pretty decent place sometimes but a shit hole the rest of the time. I assume you've not heard of it?"

"No magic? Like at all? That's pretty weird…." Her body language had changed entirely; seconds ago, it had felt as if she was about to attack, and now she seemed excited to study him.

Looking at her, not knowing what to think, he asked, "Are we good? You aren't about to barbeque me, are you?"

"Nah, you're far too weak to be an 'Other' I was just thrown off when you said you were from another world." She paused, smiled and motioned for them to continue walking. "So, you really know nothing about this world? About magic?"

"No, nothing. The only magic in my world is in stories unless you count the power of Love?"

She gave him a strange look.

"That was a joke." He said.

"I got that, but I thought jokes were supposed to be funny?" She gave him a condescending look, then relented. "We are just about to get to the town, so how about this? I will give you a rundown of this world and a basic understanding of magic. In return, you let me run a few tests on you to try and figure out how you got here and what this 'System' you mentioned is. Sound like a good trade?"

"Yeah, sounds go…What kind of tests?" He was eager to learn more about this world but still wasn't sure he fully trusted her just yet.

She stopped walking, smiling at him innocently, "Just past those trees is the town gate. I'll go in first and get you some clothes, so you don't stand out so much. I don't suppose you have any money, do you?"

"Actually, I do. I don't know how much it is, though. How much do you think you'll need?" Mason opened his inventory, looking for the coins he had obtained, but did not find them in any of the slots; he looked around the inventory tab and saw a small coin symbol in the top right corner. He focused on it, and it expanded slightly, showing 5 pictures of coins, 2 with labels and 3 without.

Copper - 1

???

???

Silver - 2

???

"I'll just get you something simple. Maybe give me a couple bronze coins?"

"Oh, I only have 1 Copper an-"

"Ah, that's not very much at all… don't worry, I can get this for you, and you get me back another time?" She said quickly, interrupting him.

Shooting her an annoyed look, he continued, "and 2 silver coins I got off that Drake."

She looked at him, paused, opened her mouth to say something again, and then just stared at him.

He tried to wait her out, seeing if he could get her to speak first, but after 2 minutes of silence, he couldn't take it, "What?" he said defensively.

She snapped out of it and stopped staring, her face turning a shade of pink. "Nothing, that's more money than I thought you'd have. I'll still just buy it for you… I don't think any of the shops in town would have change for a silver, and I don't have time to run to the bank."

"Wait, how much is a silver," Mason asked, excited at the prospect of being rich in this world.

Mayry started walking toward the town as she said, "Just add currency to the list of stuff I'll teach you about if you agree to take those tests!"

Just before she disappeared through the trees, she added, "please try not to get into any trouble while I'm gone."

"Wait! You never told me what the tests were! Goddammit."

Suddenly, the suns seemed to dim, with everything getting slightly darker.

Figuring they had just gone behind a cloud, he shrugged it off as unimportant.

While waiting, he remembered the notification that had popped up earlier, so he opened his menu and was surprised to see 3 new notifications instead of the 1 he had expected.

Notification – 1/3

Quest Received! One quest or the 'Other.'

There are others in this world who come from another place. Find out more.

Reward – Knowledge is power!

Accept? Y/N

While he wasn't sure how 'Knowledge is power' was supposed to be a reward, he accepted anyway as he was probably going to find out more anyway.

Notification – 2/3

Achievement unlocked! Passing out Parade.

You have been knocked unconscious 4 times in under 12 hours. On average, that's once every 3 hours. What the hell is wrong with you!

Reward – 2 points to intelligence – Hopefully, that will help you prevent a 5th time.

Notification – 3/3

New Skill Unlocked

Skill - Emotional Wreck (Basic)

Triggered Effect – The more emotional you are, the more damage your strikes will deal. Scales with Perception.

'Good to know that I can get skills in ways other than skill selection, but this specific skill is slightly embarrassing. It could be useful, though.'

While he had it open, he decided to check his character sheet and inventory while waiting for Mayry to return.

Name: Mason Hughes

Level: 3

Current XP: 211/ 300

Race: Human

Class: N/A

Health Points (HP): 190

Mana Points (MP): 155

Stamina: (SP): 130

Stats

Strength: 19 Agility: 7 Endurance: 6 Vitality: 9 Resilience: 5(+1) Intelligence: 11 Perception: 7 Willpower: 6

Free points: 0

Skills:

Identify (Basic), Magic Bolt (Basic), Emotional Wreck (Basic)

Base Skills:

Universal Translator, Inventory (Basic)

Current Quest:

* Quest Received! One quest or the 'Other.'

There are others in this world who come from another place. Find out more.

Before moving on to his inventory, he heard a growling sound. Closing his menu, he saw a cat.

"Aww, kitty kitty, you're not growling, are you? You're purring!" Thinking his luck had turned, he identified the cat, wondering if they were called cats here too.

Beast – Level 9 Attackat – In your world, some people use Attack dogs. Here they use Attackats. This one is a stray and is very, very not friendly.

"Oh, for fucks sake."