“I got a delivery here for a uh…” the large sweaty man looked at the clipboard in his hand. “Adam Yu...Yuzuki?” His thick Brooklyn accent gliding over every word as he spoke. The large man stood in the back kitchen doorway of a small mom-and-pop shop that sat in the east side of Brooklyn.
“I’m Adam Yuzuki,” a slim younger man said as he rounded the corner into the kitchen.
“Good, delivery for ya,” the large man said pointing to a tall box behind him.
“Uh, okay,” Adam replied as he grabbed the clipboard to sign his name. “What is it?”
“I dunno, man. I just deliver stuff, I’m not a magician,” the large man said as he swiped the clipboard away from Adam. The man then quickly snapped his fingers and another sweaty man wheeled the large box in on a dolly and deposited it in the kitchen.
“Uh, thanks…” Adam said as he eyed the mysterious package. The two men left without a word, leaving him alone with the box. He looked at the box curiously. He couldn’t recall ordering anything recently, and even if he had, he wouldn’t have sent it to his parent's restaurant.
His parents ran a small Asian fusion restaurant. It wasn’t fancy or gourmet by any means, but it was popular and loved by all of the local clientele. It was some amazing street-food style cuisine and Adam couldn’t deny it, he loved eating the food just as much as he loved cooking it. His parents had named the shop “Koibito” which translates to “food lover” in Japanese and both of his parents were.
Adam had grown up helping his parents run the shop since he was a young boy, and had loved working in the kitchen, tossing different foods in a hot wok, testing new dishes and just learning everything there was to know about cooking in general, he loved it.
Adam continued to eye the box and even peered around it trying to get a better understanding of its dimensions. It was their afternoon break, their restaurant typically closed for a few hours during the afternoon to clean up from the lunch rush, and prep for the dinner rush. He decided to open now, find out what it was, then deal with it later, and so he grabbed a nearby box-cutter and began to cut away the box encasing the mysterious parcel.
After a few minutes of cutting and frustrated tearing, Adam finally uncovered what lay beneath the cardboard and to his chagrin, it was just an old refrigerator. It wasn’t a new-fangled, stainless steel one with two doors or even one that had a drawer freezer, this one was almost an antique. It stared at him, one large gleaming white door, and as he gazed at it, he was actually surprised at how well it had aged, it looked almost brand-new and it had to have been at least 60 years old by his guess.
Adam quickly looked at his watch and realized that he’d already spent too much time focusing on this strange refrigerator, and was already behind on the evening food prep. He hurriedly threw the excess cardboard in the dumpster behind the restaurant and got back to his food prep.
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The evening has passed in a flash like usual, orders came in, were quickly, yet lovingly prepared, and then went out to the customers in the small dining room. Despite the fast-paced atmosphere of working in a kitchen, Adam didn’t mind it. To him, every dish he prepared was a way for him to share his love of cooking with a customer, and the fact that they all loved his food meant the world to him.
As the last customer left, the last of the dishes were washed, and all the food put away as it was supposed to, Adam found himself back in front of the old fridge. It had been gently nudged against a wall in the kitchen to keep it out of the way during the dinner rush, but now Adam could inspect it. He pulled the door latch, and it opened with a soft hiss. The interior was immaculate, but of course empty. The top portion contained a small freezer area, and the lower area was the actual refrigerator section.
Aside from the actual refrigerator, the whole situation was very strange. Why had he been sent this? Who had sent it to him? Why did they send it to the restaurant as opposed to his home? An array of questions began to flutter about his head when something startled him.
“Hello?” a voice resounded as the refrigerator suddenly snapped closed.
“Huh?” Adam said almost falling backward away from the fridge.
“Are you Adam Yuzuki?” the voice seemed to be originating from the direction of the fridge, but Adam knew that no one was around. Everyone had already left for the evening, even his parents.
“Who’s there?” Adam asked exasperated to the empty kitchen.
“So you are Adam,” the voice said, “excellent.”
“Where are you?!” Adam was beginning to panic now, either he was hallucinating, having an aneurysm or someone was very well hidden in the kitchen, and neither was a good situation for him.
“I’m right in front of you.” Suddenly the door to the refrigerator swung open, but instead of the clean interior he’d seen earlier, Adam was now presented with something different. It was as if a section of outer space had suddenly inhabited the inside of this old fridge. It warbled an odd green-yellow hue, and Adam really felt as though he could reach out and touch it.
“What is this?” Adam asked in a mix of surprise and disbelief.
“This is a portal,” the voice replied plainly.
“To where?” Adam was now to the point where he figured he was either dreaming or was slowly dying from the aforementioned aneurysm.
“To Enterra,” the voice replied again.
“Which is…” Adam felt as though he was having to pull out the information to help solve this ridiculous mystery.
“Enterra is a different world. One filled with magic, new creatures and beasts and of course… new food,” the voice emphasized when it mentioned the food. This, of course, attracted Adam’s attention.
“So this is about food?” Adam asked almost incredulous.
“Of course,” the voice stated. “I figured the refrigerator would have helped convey that.”
“Is that right…” Adam was at a loss. Was this actually occurring in front of him, and if so was he believing it?
“You, like me, are a lover of food. I wish to bring you here so that you can explore new foods, as well as sharing them with us here in Enterra.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“You…?” Adam was still perplexed, as he was technically, speaking with the inanimate object in front of him.
“Oh,” the voice giggled for a moment, now obviously more feminine to Adam’s ears. “I’m not the refrigerator in front of you, I’m just communicating to you and opening the portal for you.”
“Right…” Adam was still mostly in disbelief, but even if he actually believed this was really happening. Would he actually want to jump through a magical portal to another world because of food? What about this restaurant? What about his parents? What would happen if he just disappeared from this world? There was almost too much to consider, yet… would he regret saying no? This seemed like a once in a lifetime opportunity if it was indeed happening in front of him.
With his curiosity brimming, Adam moved closer to the fridge. He needed to reach out and see if the portal was actually real. He’d seen those sci-fi movies with portals, and he assumed he knew what it would be like, and maybe that would help him decide if he was hallucinating or not.
He was slowly inching forward, the portal growing closer and closer to his fingers as it warbled and fluctuated. It was as if he could see inside the space, kind of like watching a 3D movie, yet it sat in two dimensions, it was weird to see.
As his fingers broke through the portal, he felt an odd moist sensation. Within the next moment, he felt the door of the refrigerator collide with his back, pushing his whole body through the portal, and the door snapped shut with a hiss. He was gone.
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Adam awoke and found that he had fallen asleep on a small bench in a park. Gazing around him, he realized he didn’t recognize the park he now found himself in. The small park seemed to be bunched up next a market that sat to his left, and some housing to his right. The market was buzzing with excitement, he could hear folks barking in an attempt to sell their items, while others were casually conversing. Looking to the houses that sat to his right, he noticed the unique architecture, it was almost as if he was in some fantastical Europe of the past. Where am I? he thought to himself as he gazed around. How did I get here? There was a faint memory, but it was fuzzy and it was just enough out of reach that he was unable to grasp at it.
It was within the next few moments that Adam began to realize there was a peculiar smell coming from the nearby market, it was a smell he didn’t recognize. The fact that he did not know what was being cooked, perplexed him, but also intrigued him far beyond words. He decided that he really needed to investigate and attempted to stand up, but found that he couldn’t. It was as if some force was holding him there, preventing him from leaving the bench. Before he could panic a voice called out to him.
“Adam!” He looked around to try and find the origin of the voice. “Adam!” He finally noticed a young girl with gray-blue hair running towards him. She wore a light flowing dress that seemed fairly casual. She finally stopped in front of him and bent over to catch her breath.
“Uhhh…” Adam managed to get out as the girl stood in front of him.
“You ended up… further away… than I had hoped….” she managed to get out between breaths.
“Right,” Adam said. “But… who are you?” His hysteria had vanished by this perplexing development.
“My name is Airi, and I brought you here!” she looked up at him and smiled sincerely, though a hint of mischief seemed to creep around in her eyes.
“Brought me here?” Adam was unsure of what she meant, though to be honest, he didn’t understand most of what was happening around him.
“You don’t remember?”
“Nope,” he stated plainly.
“Could be a side effect of the transport…” she murmured to herself. “You were in your kitchen, and your refrigerator began to talk to you?” She said in an attempt to help him remember.
“My kitchen?” The image of an antique fridge started to come back to him. He took a long moment to try and remember, and suddenly it all flooded back to him. “You were the fridge?!” Airi’s smile grew sinister as he remembered.
“I kind of possessed your fridge, so in a sense, yes,” she said haughtily.
“You pushed me through the portal!”
“Well…” she seemed to grow timid as he mentioned this. “I wasn’t sure if you were going to come, but I knew you’d be happy if you came here. I didn’t want you to second guess yourself.” Adam didn’t respond right away and took a moment to observe the girl. Though she did have an air of mischief, it did seem her demeanor was sincere, and Adam couldn’t deny that.
“Be that as it may, I still would not have preferred to be pushed into the portal,” he said in a serious tone. “For right now, though, can we figure out why I can’t leave this bench?” She looked confused for a moment after he said this, but then snapped her fingers.
“You’re still an outsider in this world,” she began. “I didn’t want you getting too far away from me before I could get to you.” She made a few swirling movements with her fingers, in which they began to glow with a light-gold hue, and touched Adam in the middle of his forehead. For just a moment, his body exuded the same hue and then dissipated and he felt his body relax as if a large weight had been holding him down. “Unlike your world, this world is governed by some different laws, like magic for example.”
“Magic?” Adam asked fairly incredulous. “That was magic?”
“Yes, it was,” Airi stated plainly. Adam had always been a fan of fantasy books, movies and television, but to see actual real magic first-hand was something else entirely.
“That’s amazing,” Adam said still awestruck. “Can everyone use it?”
“Not everyone,” Aira began. “It depends on the person, really. Some races have a better affinity for it, bloodlines and all that stuff. I can use it because I’m a Sprite.”
“Is that right…” Adam gazed off at the sky for a moment. “Is it something that I would be able to use?”
“Maybe, we’ll have to see once your body adjusts to this new world,” Airi jumped up in the air and twirled around in front of Adam, excitement seeming to fill her bones. “Adam, welcome to Enterra!” she said smiling. “This is the kingdom of Alcasia,” Adam observed his surroundings once more, this time with more understanding, his previous thoughts had actually been correct, he now was in a fantastical new world.
“Wow, a different world, huh?” He said quietly.
“Yes, but we now have to get started,” she declared excitedly.
“Started doing what?” Adam asked, very unsure of what his future held.
“We’re going to register a guild!” Airi replied with her smile stretching ear to ear. Adam could tell this person in front of him, this Sprite was indeed a mischievous creature.
“Like a new one?” Adam understood, for the most part, what a guild was. From his ventures into fantasy books and media, he knew that guilds were groups of people that had a specific focus, like blacksmiths, or mercenaries. Knowing this, he wasn’t sure exactly what kind of guild Airi had in mind.
“Exactly,” she said, finally sitting down on the bench next to Adam. “This world… is full of creativity when it comes to magic, art, and even literature. When it comes to food though… it’s severely lacking. Now, most of the folks in this world, just don’t know any better, but I do. I’ve tasted food from other worlds, I’ve even tasted your food.”
“You have?” Adam asked full of surprise.
“Of course,” she replied. “When I tasted your food I could sense your passion for food, and your passion for creativity with food and this world needs that.”
“Really?”
“Yeah!” she said, almost smacking her head. “The food here is so boring in comparison!”
“That sucks for sure,” Adam said smiling.
“You don’t even know, that’s why I keep trying food from different worlds. We need better food here.”
“Okay, well… let’s get started then.” Adam smiled at the young Sprite next to him.
“Awesome!” Airi exclaimed, leaping up from the bench. “Follow me!” She quickly began to charge toward the Market area.
“What have I gotten myself into?” Adam asked aloud, slowly easing himself off the bench. He quickly peered around once more, then hurriedly followed after Airi.