If someone would ask Adam Harrison about his life so far, he would tell you, “Oh, it’s been average.” He has lived a life like that of any other twenty-year-old guy — he graduated high school when he was eighteen, then began working at the grocery store that sat only two houses away from his apartment. Adam had drifted into sleep to the familiar hum of Canton Town's nightlife, the occasional laughter, and the distant bark of a dog. It was a comforting symphony of normalcy until it was shattered by the shrill cry of the alert, slicing through the night and his dreams with equal sharpness.
“Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!” A siren blared from the dimly lit streets of Canton Town before a calm voice echoed through the speakers. “All citizens please be advised that a rift has broken open just north of town. Seek shelter immediately!”
“What in the world?” Adam muttered as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He heard the siren and announcement repeat once more and his eyes opened wide in shock. With his heart racing, he threw on a pair of dark jeans, then pulled a red hoodie over his white shirt. Adam pushed his long, black hair back, then fit a black hat over his head, slipped on a pair of shoes, then made his way out of the apartment complex.
Adam thought about how for the past fifty years, rifts have opened around the world, but most of them have opened all around the country of Naru. They show up randomly and only the larger cities have ways to detect them, so smaller towns like Canton Town are often left vulnerable.
The streets were full of people marching toward the fire station. People murmured their fears as they walked and some people, Adam noticed, jumped at every sound. Standing on a street bench was Mr. Glaski, a retired police officer who was one of Adam’s neighbors, stood in the street and was pointing people where they should go.
“Head to the fire station, Adam!” Mr. Glaski said.
“Come on, you should come with me,” Adam replied to the older man. Mr. Glaski was still wearing his pajamas and Adam knew that he must be cold.
“I’ll get there eventually,” Mr. Glaski said with a reassuring smile. His smile faded as he scanned the area with his hand over his right leg. Adam assumed that the old man had a concealed pistol just in case of emergencies.
Adam shrugged and followed the mass of people parading to the fire station. Adam briefly waved to the neighbors he recognized but did not find it an appropriate time to begin any small talk, so he remained silent. Looking around, Adam realized that all his neighbors were on the older side, which he had never realized in the year that he had lived there.
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He well-kept roads and sidewalks made the trek easy. Adam thought about walking around in Gibbon, a city west of Canton Town, and how unkept the roads and sidewalks were even though the city was much wealthier than this small town. When Adam passed by the grocery store where he worked, he could smell the freshly baked bread and wondered if he would still have to go into work if the monsters destroyed the store. Adam then thought about Phil, his manager, telling him that he would have to get the store cleaned up so they could reopen, then shuddered at the thought.
“I can’t believe we have a rift opening in Canton of all places,” a teenage boy shouted into the ear of the elderly man whose wheelchair he pushed.
“It had to happen eventually,” the wheelchair-bound man said with a shaky voice. “I remember when we didn’t have to worry about those darn things.”
Adam nodded his head at the old man’s comment. He had lived in Canton Town for a year now and this was the first rift to open near the town. When he lived in Gibbon, rifts were a constant threat, but that city had mages securing it. Here in Canton Town, Adam does not remember ever hearing about any mages guarding the area.
Adam wished he could have been lucky enough to be a mage. People can enter the rifts, but they must kill the monsters inside within a day or so or else those monsters will emerge from the rift and wreak havoc on nearby settlements. Those with an affinity for magic attend Alora Academy to learn how to harness the magic that comes from the rifts. Adam’s family did not have enough money to test Adam or his two younger siblings for magic. They are the ones who are tasked with protecting citizens from the monsters in the rift, except as Adam has learned, not every town has one.
A commotion up ahead pulled Adam from his thoughts. People knocked on the solid, metal doors to the fire station. They attempted to pull doors open, but they were all locked. Some people even knocked on the garage door and made a tremendous amount of noise, but nobody opened them. The tension that filled the crowd erupted as they feared being out in the open when monsters were due to flood the area soon.
“There’s an emergency, they have to open up!” Cried an older woman from the crowd.
Adam looked around to see if Mr. Glaski was anywhere near him. Mr. Glaski knew the fire chief and could probably make a call to him to get the doors open. The boy’s heart dropped when he did not see his neighbor.
He did not want to go back, but Adam would feel guilty if anything happened to the old man. In the year that Adam had lived in Canton Town, Mr. Glaski was the one person who always seemed to have a smile on his face. He would sit on the bench in front of the apartment building and greeted anyone who walked by. Adam never had a chance to really sit down and talk with the retired officer, but he noted that Mr. Glaski’s cheerful greeting everyday was one of the highlights of his day.
People questioned Adam as he walked against the mass who flocked toward the closed shelter. When Adam turned the corner toward his apartment, he was greeted by the scent of something burning, then fear caused his legs to stop moving. A massive fiery bird flew ten feet over the ground and hovered over Mr. Glaski, who pointed something at the creature. Adam knew immediately what it was — Mr. Glaski, the elderly man who greeted him every day, was a mage.