Earth. 10,000 years later
There was something off about the old homeless guy that lived under the bridge.
He never spoke. Not even to ask for money. He would just stare at those who walked past as if he was examining them. Most people stopped using the path under the bridge after he showed up. His gaze unsettled them.
Daniel Porter was too lazy to avoid the path under the bridge. It would have meant adding another fifteen minutes to his walk home to do so. Though, he too found the old man disconcerting. His imagination couldn’t help but create wild scenarios of the man attacking him as he walked past. But the man never did anything. He was like a statue.
That did nothing to soothe Daniel’s paranoia. In fact, it only deepened it.
Normally, Daniel would avoid eye contact and stare straight ahead. This time, he studied the homeless man as he walked along the path. The man was old, with wild, long gray hair and a beard to match. His clothes were several layers of shirts over a ragged, thick brown coat.
Daniel understood why people avoided him. He looked crazy. But Daniel also knew that appearances could be deceiving. He dropped some money into the hat that sat next to the man and hoped it would help.
“Would you like a game?” The homeless man asked.
Daniel stopped in his tracks. “Uh, no thanks. I’ve got to get home.”
“It will only take a moment. Besides, you’ve already paid for it,” he said, pointing at the hat.
Daniel wanted to leave, but he didn’t want to be appear scared of the guy just because he was homeless. That, and he was curious about what the game was. He asked the man about it.
“The game is quite simple. I, the great John Smith, will use my magic powers and a sacred pair of dice to foretell your likely future.”
Daniel grinned, waiting for the joke. After a long pause, he asked, “how is that a game? There are no winners or losers.”
“If you say so. Now hold out your hand. You need to touch the dice first.”
Daniel went along with it and held out his hand. The old man didn’t seem dangerous, but he knew he was being reckless for doing this.
John Smith pulled the dice out of his pocket and dropped them into Daniel’s hand. They were red twenty-sided dice like the kind people used to play Dungeons and Dragons. Instead of numbers, each side held a strange black rune that Daniel didn’t recognize. He stared at them and for a moment, he swore the symbols glowed.
Must be a trick of the light, he thought.
He gave the dice back to John Smith, who whispered something under his breath before he shook the dice and rolled them on the ground in front of him. The old man studied them intently until Daniel’s patience wore thin.
“What does it say? That I’ll be tested soon in an unusual way or that love will find me in the place I least suspect?”
John Smith ignored Daniel’s sarcasm and shook his head. “No. It says you’ll stay at your crappy call center job for years longer than you expected to. That you only move on to something that pays marginally more money when your long-term girlfriend starts nagging you about moving in to a bigger place together.”
“I don’t have a girlfriend.”
“You will. Four years from now, after you go through another depressive episode and gain a significant amount of weight. Co-workers, who you don’t even like but are polite to, will invite you out for drinks. You’ll say yes because it’s been so long since you did anything with other people. There you meet a woman and fall into a relationship together. She puts up with your broodiness and self-loathing while you tolerate her mood swings and dumb friends. Eventually she pressures you into becoming an assistant manager at the local Foodmart, then marriage, then a small house that you’ll spend the rest of your life struggling to pay for. At every moment, you tell yourself that this is what people do. That it’s normal. That this is what life is. But you’ll hate yourself through all of it. Each time wishing you’d tried harder in school. Then you tell yourself this is just temporary and that things will get better. But they don’t. Three years after your divorce, you die alone of a heart attack at fifty-two while eating a microwaved dinner in front of the TV.”
Daniel was stunned. “That’s… kind of a fucked up thing to say to someone.”
The homeless man shrugged. “I only repeat what the dice tell me. Plus, I said it was only the most likely future. It’s not guaranteed.”
“Having a wife, a steady job and my own house doesn’t even sound that bad aside from the heart attack and divorce part. Some people would feel lucky to have those things.”
“Does that ever actually work?”
“What?”
“The, ‘well some people are starving in Africa so I should be grateful’ line. Has the unimpeachable logic of this fact ever actually removed any of your suffering? Because you are correct that there are those with greater hardships than you. People with terminal illnesses, for instance, who will never even make it to fifty-two. You think if you tell yourself to appreciate what you have enough times that it’ll remove your suicidal ideation?”
“I’m not going to kill myself.”
“Of course not. The dice say you're too much of a coward to ever go through with it. You’ll just suffer. Mostly in silence, since whenever you try to explain how you feel to someone, they give you a weird look and tell you that’s just how life is.”
Daniel’s heart stopped. How could he have known that?
“The closest you get to considering suicide is when your wife texts to say she’s divorcing you while a customer at the Foodmart angrily berates you for not stocking their favorite brand of cookie.”
Daniel refused to believe it. “You don’t know anything about me. You're just some bitter old guy messing with people for sadistic fun.”
“I know you work the night shift earning minimum wage, speaking to people who detest and resent you for calling them. I know that you hate your life and wish things were different. And, I also know how you can change things for the better. I can see the anger inside you. That frustration of feeling that no choices are truly your own. You know that you’re capable of more. That you have great potential yet live a life that’s nothing but a series of reluctant concessions.”
He sounded passionate but also like he was selling something, which made Daniel wary.
“What exactly are you offering?”
“A chance to be more than you are now. You’ve always suspected that there was more than all this,” he said, gesturing around. “How’d you think I knew about your current job? You think I followed you dressed like this? No, the dice told me because they’re magic. You could learn it too if you stay. You could avoid the fate that the dice have laid out for you.”
He said it with a kind of desperation in his eyes that made Daniel uncomfortable. Like John Smith needed this more than anything.
Daniel couldn’t accept what he was saying. It was too crazy. “No thanks. I’m not interested,” he said before walking away.
“Come back later if you change your mind,” John Smith called after him. “After today, I’ll be gone forever!”
*****
Daniel didn’t have the luxury of obsessing over what had just happened. Though he wanted to, a more pressing matter took focus. He was late for a job interview. Which meant running. He hated running.
Daniel burst into his apartment, swept past his roommate Adam, and went into his room to change. He threw on the only piece of clothing he’d ironed recently. A formal blue shirt, specially prepared beforehand. Then he went over to his desk to set up his laptop by stacking it on top of a couple of old textbooks. That way, the webcam would be eye level for the interview. He felt it looked more professional that way. Finally, Daniel sat down and checked the time. Success. By running, he’d just made it in time.
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Except there was nobody there.
A few minutes passed, and he wondered if there was some kind of error. Daniel rechecked his internet connection. It was fine. He then proceeded to reread the email to verify the date and time to see if he’d misunderstood. He was not mistaken. The person who was supposed to interview him was simply late.
“Kill confirmed,” loudly rang out from the TV in the next room.
“Hey, turn it down!” Daniel yelled.
Adam apologized and lowered the volume.
It bothered Daniel that he could have been in the next room having fun. Playing video games with his friend before work. Instead, he was stuck waiting. Hoping that this person would finally show up.
He checked his appearance and attempted to comb his messy dark hair with his hand into a neater style. He wondered if shaving had been the right move. At twenty-three, it made him look a few years younger, but it was hard to tell if that was a positive thing or not. He looked tired though, with a kind of weariness that he struggled to mask.
Suddenly the invite icon appeared. Daniel pumped his fist in the air before taking a deep breath and clicking accept.
See, in Daniel’s mind, this was almost a sure thing. He’d interviewed for this same position in another place four months ago and had come close to getting it. He knew exactly what questions they would ask, and he’d been rehearsing his answers for the last couple of days in what little free time he had. This interview meant a lot to him. It was more than a job opportunity. It was a life raft. Ever since dropping out of university, he’d struggled to find his way. Sure, he currently had a minimum wage job that kept him afloat, but that was all it did. Just treading water while growing older. He desperately wanted more for himself. This new job was a real opportunity to make more money and maybe even have a career one day instead of simply having a job.
The video call started, but there was no sign of the interviewer’s face.
Daniel frowned. “Hello? Can you see me? I can’t see you.”
“Yes, I’m not using a webcam for this interview,” a curt male voice told him.
“Oh, okay. Give me a sec to turn mine off too.”
“No. I’d prefer that you leave it on.”
Daniel swallowed his displeasure and smiled as the faceless voice began the interview.
“So, Daniel… what made you decide to apply with us?”
“Well, I think the company has a lot of values and strengths that align with mine and…” Daniel’s words trailed off as he heard the keyboard typing on the other end. He paused until the clicking stopped, then he continued on, “I think that this presents a good opportunity for me…” The keyboard started up again.
Is… is he literally typing out my answers as I say them? Daniel stifled his frustration over the fact that the interview could have been recorded. Is he just too lazy to play it back afterward? No. Ignore it and keep going. You can do this.
“I use your service every day and I’d love to be part of improving it and making it even better. Joining your company would be—”
“Wait, you’re not with the company already?”
“Uh, no.”
“You’re not the Daniel Porter from Northview?”
“No, I’m from Southlake.”
“Can you find your account number for me?”
Everyone who applied with this company had to sign up for an account and got issued a unique ID number. Daniel told him the number. The man entered it in and then tsked. “It says here that you applied for this same position at another branch four months ago?”
“That’s right.”
“There must have been an error with the system. You’re not allowed to apply or interview for any positions here until your six-month block has been lifted.”
Daniel’s stomach dropped. He’d been looking forward to this for weeks. Sometimes, the fantasies of telling his manager that he quit were the only thing that kept him going.
“My six-month block?”
“That’s right. If we choose not to hire you after an interview, then you are barred from applying again for six months.”
“My last interview was four months ago. So does that mean I have two left?”
“Hmm, no. Unfortunately, since we did officially interview you today, the block on your account has been reset. So now it’s going to be another six months.”
I’m being punished for your mistake.
“But this wasn’t an official interview. You had the wrong candidate,” said Daniel.
Doesn’t he see how insane this is?
“If you have a complaint about our process, I’d be happy to forward you to our customer service line,” the man replied in an emotionless voice.
Daniel knew that tone. The man considered the matter done with. Daniel didn’t. Not after all he’d done to get this interview.
“If I apply again in six months, do I at least go straight to the interview phase?”
A couple of keyboard taps later. “Hmm, no. You start again from the beginning.”
That has to be a mistake. Daniel tried to reason with him. “But I applied with a resume and cover letter. I completed the timed online text interview and the online English and mathematic tests. After that, I had to go spend an entire day in an in-person testing center where I did audio and roleplay tests. All of that just to get an interview. And you’re telling me that all those successful test results have been deleted? That I have to start again from the beginning just for the chance at interviewing?”
“That is correct. As I said, if you have further queries—”
Daniel hung up on him and slammed the laptop screen down. He wanted to scream.
How can they treat people like this?
He needed a distraction and fast before he broke something he’d regret. Daniel left his room and found Adam still in the living room playing video games. They’d met at university and became roommates quickly thereafter. Adam was a boisterous heavy-set guy that had graduated with a chemistry degree. He now works as a paid intern at an insurance company.
Adam took one look at Daniel’s face and winced. “That bad, huh?”
“Yeah,” he muttered, joining him on the couch.
Daniel explained what had happened, hoping to get some sympathy. But Adam thought nothing of it.
“Yeah, that’s how it is. The last person who interviewed me was forty-five minutes late for the interview. Plus, a lot of places are adding those tests to win a chance at interviewing.”
“The position was barely more than minimum wage working outside though. I only went for it because everyone talks about how great the company is as a career path.”
Adam shrugged. “That’s just the way it is.”
That’s just the way it is. Daniel had been hearing that line a lot lately. He was sick of it.
They played video games until Adam glanced at his phone and asked, “don’t you have work soon?”
“Yep.”
“Are you gonna go?”
“Nope.”
“Don’t you think you should?”
Daniel paused the game and turned to him. “Since when do you care?”
“I’ve got a girl coming over later and I kinda think things would go better if I had the place to myself.”
He felt too tired to argue and sighed, “fine. Whatever, I’ll go.”
Daniel threw on a jacket and left the apartment still wearing his nice shirt. He didn’t care. What did that matter when everything else felt so unfair? Like the deck was stacked against him.
It was dark and raining when he left. One of the perks of his commute, he supposed.
When you drop out of university to address your depression and then live off of savings for a couple of years, things don’t get better. They get worse. When Daniel’s health improved and, to be fair, he ran out of money; he began looking for work. Of course, a two-year gap on his resume made that difficult. So what does he do when he gets desperate? He applies for the jobs nobody else wants. The jobs with the highest turnover. The ones who never take down their job applications from websites because they always need new applicants.
Most people consider customer service in a call center to be the rock bottom of office-based jobs. But beneath that bed-rock lies the telemarketer. In the year that he’d worked as one, Daniel had personally witnessed three people quit on their first day. It was unpleasant work if you couldn’t handle the constant death threats, tears, or angry monologues about how big of a piece of shit you were for calling them. Luckily, the company accepted anyone with a pulse and so Daniel was able to acquire gainful employment. The only problem, other than the work itself, was that they only had a night shift position available calling foreign English-speaking countries. Thus, the nightly walk in the rain.
Daniel went back to the bridge. A part of him hoped that John Smith was still there. Despite their last interaction, he knew that he could complain about what had happened and that the man would understand.
Sure enough, he was there, gathering up his things like he was getting ready to leave.
“What does winning the game look like?” Daniel asked.
“Every person has to decide that for themselves. What could be winning to one person might be losing to another. Only you can know what it looks like.”
“But you said you’d help me.”
“I said I’d teach you magic,” he corrected him. “But not here.”
“Then where?”
“I come from another world. A world filled with magic called Alarstardes. And I have a confession to make. We did not meet by accident. I’ve been waiting here for you. Your great-great-grandparents are from my world. They came here to hide from an enemy and became trapped. You carry their royal blood. Heir to a kingdom and powerful magics. A mighty destiny awaits you if you join me,” he spoke with a desperate fervor.
Daniel chuckled. “Could I have some of what you’re having? Because I’ve just had the worst day.”
John Smith shushed him and rolled up his sleeve. He held his hand out, palm facing up, and muttered something.
Sparks flashed over the outstretched hand. They grew stronger and more frequent until solidifying into an orange ball of flame. Daniel’s eyes widened. It was a fireball. He could feel the heat radiating off of it from where he was standing.
It was impressive, but Daniel wasn’t so easily convinced. He walked around him, examining John Smith’s arm for some kind of hidden tube or device. There was nothing.
“Hold out your hand,” John Smith said.
Daniel did and watched, spellbound, as he transferred to fireball to him. It floated two inches off of his hand. He stared, entranced by the flames roiling in and around the fiery sphere. He waved his hand back and forth, watching as the ball never left its spot above his hand.
John Smith pulled out an old pocket watch to check the time and grimaced. “Hand it back to me,” he said. “The portal will open in a moment, and we need to be ready.”
“The portal?”
“To Alarstardes. That’s what you wanted, right?”
Daniel nodded and reluctantly gave the fireball back to him. Though he couldn’t hide his disappointment over not being able to throw it. The fireball moved over to John Smith’s hand just as a police siren blared nearby. John Smith whirled around in alarm, accidentally releasing the fireball. It shot down the path and slammed into the side of a parked car. The car was knocked onto its side and became engulfed in flames.
“We need to go,” said John Smith hurriedly.
A few paces behind him, a large circular portal appeared. Glowing blue crackles of energy surrounded its edges. It was currently night on this other world too as the portal appeared to lead into a dark, empty field. He moved to get a better look but John Smith blocked his path and asked, “do you consent to localized portal travel?”
Daniel nodded.
“Vocalize it please.”
“I consent to localized portal travel,” said Daniel.
John Smith smiled and gestured for him to go first. Daniel closed his eyes and held his breath as he stepped through into another world.