Reaching in the bag with my mental fingers crossed I grasped something rough. I tugged it out enthusiastically to see what it might be. A tent?

I immediately dove back in and brought out another bag. This one looked remarkably similar to a bento box. I unzipped the dark blue outer layer and found three layer rectangles stacked with chopsticks, fork, knife, spoon and dark blue cloth napkin. Yeah this is definitely a bento box. My curiosity led me to see what food might lay inside.

As soon as the top cover was opened my nose was feasting on the smells of lasagna. I stared down at lasagna with garlic cheese bread. I closed it.

Then I opened the next layer to find myself looking at a completely different meal, Bibimbap. I put it aside without closing as I was excited to see what the last meal was going to be. I looked down at a stew of corn, beans, cassava, sweet potato, chicken, and morcela; other words Cachupa.

I couldn’t believe the meals were so earthbased. I secretly had hoped there was going to be something I didn’t know from a world I knew nothing about. Being a foodie who dabbles in the kitchen I was really looking forward to experiencing new flavors. I closed the bibimbap and cachupa and then reopened the first box to get a taste of the lasagna but to my surprise I didn’t smell lasagna but hamburgers and fries!!

The bento box was a roulette of dinners!!

I picked up the loaded bacon cheeseburger and it was the perfect temperature. I took a huge bite. Wow, this is delicious!. I would swear it had come fresh off the grill. The lettuce was crisp, the bun was steamed and the meat was tender. It had to be one of the best burgers I had ever eaten. I popped the fry in my mouth. Then dug in earnestly and before I knew it I was swallowing the last bite. I cleaned myself off with the napkin leaving residue on it.

I wondered if there was a way to get something specific to show up or if it's good luck, hope you like one out of the three or you will be opening till you do like something.

As I reconstructed and zipped the bento box. I looked about where to put the used napkin but the napkin was no longer dirty!

Yes! Magic cleaning!! This is so amazing!

I found myself getting fidgety like I drank too much coffee. My leg was shaking and my fingers were tapping on everything.

Why am I so restless now? What kind of burger and fries gives you the jitters?

With my body vibrating I reached back in the pack with urgency only to find more camping comforts: sleeping bag, fire starter, etc.

Then I pulled out a coil of rope. I whooped out a loud laugh.

I was now in the possession of basically the standard adventurer's kit including my very own bag of holding!!

I looked around again: What do I do now? Are there directions? Surely Claeffen sent directions: I can't just be, good luck. This place is ideal for you to learn.

Thinking about the Chronicles of Claeffen books I tried to place my current terrain; the purple hair grass? and the omnidirectional glow in the sky wasn’t reminding me of any of the books. So there didn’t seem to be a correlation between the books and here.

I stood up and tried to read the signpost again. All this really let me know was that there must be destinations if I follow any of the roads.

I tried to sit back down but this restless energy was making it difficult.

I forced myself to sit and I began examining everything closely. Well as closely as I could as I picked up and tossed everything.

I picked up the coil of rope again and I noticed there was a little spot of what might be paper. I pulled on it and out popped a note. Finally a clue!

“Lifeline Clue: Go to that building.”

I snikered as I put everything back in the bag of holding and slid it into my front pocket. I turned toward the only structure in sight when my thoughts were interrupted with someone yelling at me.

“HEY BUDDY! Get out the road!!” Startled, I looked all around and couldn’t see anyone.

“Up Here!! Get out of the way! You're in our path!”

I looked a bit up to my right and found myself looking at a space vehicle speeding towards me. I looked at them and then the sign post.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

My head whipped to the sign post and I got my first clue to why it was free spinning. The sign post was pointing to the vehicle and blinking orange almost red.

Confused on which direction to go, the sound of a whistling jaunty tune started playing like it would in a movie or a game. Confused but still spatially aware of my pending danger I darted to my right off the road, hoping that the vehicle couldn’t go back in the same direction it was coming from. This is what I thought I was going to be doing.

However as I took my first step I knew something was off. I felt my hair being blown and I flew across the ground tumbling like a leaf in autumn. I watched as everything turned fluffy purple then bright glow over and over. Within seconds I heard the vehicle land on the paved road right after the jaunty tune ended.

Woah did I just experience some kind of speed boost from the song? I was now sitting sprawled on top of a small hill. I looked down back toward the road following through an open path of flat purple fur grass.

I could see four people down below waving at me to come back down.

I stood up and waved back at them.

I could see them standing next to a brass scaled personal race ship. The exterior looked like snake skin. Weird.

The people themselves were straight out of a sci-fi tv show I loved watching as a kid. Standing before me were vengeance demons!! Their pale white blue eyes were sunken. Their bodies looked skeletal and muscular with a hint of different hues of grey and peach running across their flesh. This environment didn’t match the tv show at all.

My mind was trying to puzzle out how this was happening at the crossroads of a meadow of purple hair, grass? What is it? Is it grass? It felt like fur or hair. Then a daunting thought hit me and I decided it was in my best interest to stop wondering about what it might be.

A deep voice reached my ears as I walked down the hill. “Hey! I wasn’t sure you were going to make it out the way. Once you have the manifold open to the sprite fuel there is no slowing down for anything. Those racer sprites really know how to get things done. Are you okay? You looked like you had never heard or knew how to use the time dilation jingle.” He laughed “but you surely must, as you did go a long way so i am guessing you were pretty focused on your task.”

As I got closer I noticed his mouth make motions that didn’t match the words I was hearing. It was like entering into a badly dubbed movie. I couldn’t keep myself from letting out a small burst of laughter as they continued talking.

“Buddy that’s quite a trail you left behind! You might want to leave before they (interdimensional traffic cops) arrive. You probably don’t need me to tell you how expensive the fine is for disrupting native terrain!!”

The warning he just gave struck very loud in my mind, expensive fine. I realized I needed to start thinking fast and not get distracted with the novelty of the experience…hefty fine is not something I want to worry about when I don’t even know the currency.

I leaned forward and smoothly asked, “Uh yeah maybe you could help me with getting out here before they arrive? I don’t have any transportation and your vehicle sure does seem to be super fast.”

“Yeah sure thing buddy, hop in! We will get out of here faster than fire weevil in a Netanthian race. My name is Tregi and these are my buddies, Nrek, Chak, and Gege. We are just on our next stop for the “Trazarian Maze Quest” to get to the mash potato key first. Honestly buddy this race can really get to you.” His friends vigorously shook their heads to confirm what he was saying as they entered the ship.

As he continued talking I looked around the ship to find the only empty seat which looked like a jump seat that a flight attendant would sit on. There were lots of random items next to the seat. I assume the ones they collected for this Quest. I sat down on the hard bench seat.

“Make sure you press the fuchsia button to get your gravity aligned to ‘O’ Slay’. She’s a beauty isn’t she” He said these last words while he caressed his vehicle. I panicked looking for the button. I found it right behind the headrest. I pressed it as fast as I could manage.

Tregi looked back at me while adjusting something. I heard the whistling jaunty tune. I craned my neck to look outside. I saw the signpost flashing through colors as it spun in a new direction.

“Hey, Chak, how far off were we from the Pthantiarican ruins?” His friend looked at a map while chanting in what sounded like Indian matras.

“Bro it's right over the radius of the clasp of anvil!!” We are almost there!” He yelled in excitement. “I bet we are still in the lead. That was one hell of a short cut.”

This is when I realized that the purple hair and omnidirectional glow was gone. I was now looking at the all too familiar psychedelic landscape passing me by with my mouth trying to work because I didn’t think I was supposed to leave that location.

I had my own quest to become a mage!!

Now I was caught up in some quest that seems like a great race competition. The good news is I won't have to worry about those interdimensional fines any time soon.

“Uh, guys, uh, I didn’t realize you were leaving that planet.” I tried to get myself heard over their loud enthusiastic voices as they congratulated each other on taking the right path.

As panic set in my voice screeched to a yell, “Guys! I need to go back! I am supposed to be there!”

“Buddy, look we are racing against the clock to win a quest. If you really need to get back we can take you when we are done or you can just call a sphinx when we get to a city. Honestly there isn’t much on that planet. I thought you wanted off planet when you said you didn’t have your own ride. Some people do get randomly shuffled to locations when using the caterpillars mycelium. Or a prank.” Looking at his friend he snorted a laugh and his friend made a gesture I could only take as an insult reply. “We did find you at a crossroad after all. It is the typical location where blind jumps drop people. Gege had to camp at a crossroad for a week before anyone passed him. How long were you at that crossroad?”

At a loss of words I just stared from face to face. I knew there wasn’t anything I could do but be grateful for them picking me up in the first place. Sounds like these blind jumps abandoned people in desolate locations. Did Claeffen just send us through blind jumps?!! Maybe the planet didn’t matter? Could he have foreseen me being picked up by these quest runners?

I decided it was best to be polite to my rescuers, “Thank you for your help. I see your friend, Gege, has a bit of a story about the crossroads. I would love to hear it.” I really hoped I came off sounding grateful and interested.