The next few hours found David faithfully serving and cleaning up after some drunk guests. The entire process was rather uneventful, but it gave him time to think about what had happened.

He knew he wasn’t dreaming, and he knew he was on another world. Strngely, it had many of the same plants and animals that would be found on Earth. Maybe it was an alternate dimension?

At that point, David didn’t know what to think. On one hand, he could potentially live rich with knowledge of the modern world at his back. But everyone he knew—everyone he cared about—they were all gone. He knew the reality of it hadn’t hit him yet.

Before he knew it, everyone was either gone or too drunk to move. David finished cleaning a table and leaned against a wall.

“It looks like everyone’s pretty much done now,” the catgirl said, talking in a more relaxed voice than before.

“Yeah,” he said, walking over to the counter. “I’m David, by the way.”

“Aurelia. Here.” She passed him a bowl of soup and some bread.

Only then realizing how hungry he’d been, David inhaled the food in seconds. “Sorry about how I acted earlier. I was surprised.”

Aurelia offered a bit of a smile. “Nobody behaves like you do, and you seem honest. I believe that you lost your memories, it happens sometimes. Anyone who wanted to freeload would be gone as soon as I mentioned work.”

“Thanks. Anyway, I noticed a huge pit in the middle of the city. What is it?” He was hoping to learn anything he could about the world he found himself in.

Aurelia laughed, then noticed his look of confusion. “Sorry, I’ve just lived here for my entire life, so it’s weird when someone doesn’t know what it is. People call it The Hole, and the city lives off of it. It’s why this place was settled in the first place.”

“The city lives off it? How?” David asked, incredulous.

She nodded. “It goes deeper than anyone knows, one of the seven wonders of the world. There are animals, some peaceful, and others deadly. There are more trees and plants than anyone knows what to do with.”

“That sounds beautiful. And crazy.”

“It is,” Aurelia continued. “I’ve only been once, just fifty feet down. Past there it gets dangerous. The most common and wealthiest jobs of the city involve going deeper. Exploring, mining, harvesting. But the death toll is really high.”

Then she motioned toward a bottle of beer sitting on a shelf. As if gripped by an invisible hand, it floated over to the counter and landed softly.

David’s jaw hit the floor. “What did you just do?”

Aurelia frowned. “Don’t tell me you’re surprised by magic? It’s common knowledge.”

He laughed hollowly. “Yeah. Maybe I’m from a different world or something.” Sometimes the best lie is the truth. “But is magic rare? I’ve only seen you use it.”

“No, almost everyone has it. It’s just considered dangerous to use in public. And illegal. Imagine the sort of destruction if someone was showing off their fireball.”

David nodded, but his eyes were once again drawn to her ears. Shaking his head, he chastised himself. No. Don’t ruin the one friendship you’ve made.

But then she tilted her head toward him. “Go ahead. I don’t know why you’re so fixated on them.”

Eyes widening, David reached up and rubbed her soft ears. The sensation was even better than he could have imagined. After a few seconds Aurelia pulled away, much to his dismay. Her face was a little red.

“Your room is upstairs, the third door to the left.” She took out a key and gave it to him.

“Okay. Thanks. Again.” He made his way up the stairs and to his room.

It was tiny. The only things there were a bed and cabinet. He took his shirt off, only then noticing its make.

His clothing was nondescript—brown and plain. Yet it was comfortable enough for his modern taste not to notice. Interesting. David collapsed onto the bed and passed out.

…

He woke with a start, confused at the room he was in. But then his memory booted up. Everything was real. He was actually in a different world.

It hit him then. The realization that he’d never see his friends or fam—well, fuck his family. But he’d miss everything else. Although, AP exams were certainly a bitch.

David sat on his bed, brooding, for a few minutes. Eventually, he decided to get on with his day. There was magic here. Actual magic. The prospect was actually a little exciting.

It was quiet downstairs. A few people were eating breakfast, but the room was pretty much empty. Aurelia was serving breakfast at the counter.

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“Hey,” he said, walking up to her.

She looked up and passed him a plate of what looked like meat and bread. “Good morning.”

“What’s this for?” Still, David started eating. He wasn’t about to give up free food.

“Breakfast is included with a room.”

He nodded, too busy eating to respond. The food didn’t taste amazing to his modern taste buds, but it was still better than he would’ve expected.

His hunger led to him to finish it in less than a minute. “I’m thinking of going out to get a job. I’ll be back tonight if I make any money.”

“Kozan gets bigger and wealthier closer to the hole. It’d probably be easier to find one there.”

Kozan is probably the city’s name. David stood up. “Well, I’d better be off. Thanks again.” He waved goodbye and walked out of the inn.

The omnipresent stench immediately assaulted his nose, and he had to brace himself. It took quite a bit of willpower to not run back inside.

After quite a bit of traveling and getting lost, David saw that the houses were gradually becoming larger and nicer, and the smell was even getting a bit better.

The first up-close sight he had of The Hole took his breath away. It was surrounded by a stone wall a few feet high, but his position let him look over it.

It was so big that he could barely see the other side—which was amazing, considering that the human eye can see for miles if there are no obstacles. The inside was a sheer rock face—he didn’t have the angle to see further down.

There were frequently-placed stone buildings at positions around it, and groups of people in line. They were probably waiting for some kind of mechanism that would lower them.

The area around it was pretty open, with a bunch of merchants and heavily-armed groups of people standing around. Their weapons were pretty interesting, going from normal swords to huge serrated daggers and magical staffs.

David thought that it was particularly interesting to see the diversity of the groups. Humans blended with many other species seemingly equally. He didn’t know anything about the history here, but humans were inherently greedy, control-hungry creatures. There must be some kind of story behind it.

The groups seemed to be actively recruiting; it was probably a hotspot for those who were going into The Hole.

David quickly noticed a pattern. Most groups had five or six people. That was probably the ideal range for what they were doing. So he needed to find one with less, and hopefully one that wasn’t going too deep. He didn’t want to die the day after being transported to a different world. Most of them probably had qualifications he wasn’t going to meet, but he needed to start somewhere.

The first one he approached had three members. He went to the person who seemed in charge, a large middle-aged man wearing silver armor. David was surprised to see that he dwarfed his own six-foot-two.

“Hi,” he started. “Are you in need of another member for your group?”

The man, who’d been staring at a notebook in his hand, looked up and scrutinized David. “What kind of magical and physical experience do you have?”

There it was. “None, actually. But—”

“The harvesters are over there,” the man interrupted, pointing to another section of the ground.

“Okay,” David said. He’d expected this. “Thanks.” He walked in the direction that the man had pointed in, and there was a noticeable difference in the people gathered. They seemed younger, with poorer gear and weapons.

He went up to a group, one with four members, and repeated his question. A man that looked a couple of years older than David stepped forward.

“Yes, you can join. We’re only going to the first layer.” Seeing him nod, the man continued. “We’ll function as a team to kill any larger beasts and find more valuable plants. If you don’t carry your weight, you’ll be kicked out. At the end of the day, we’ll split up the loot.”

“Sounds good.” David turned to look at the other members. They were all human, which seemed to be the predominant race in Kozan. A black-haired teenage girl, younger than him. Besides the leader, there were two other males, who were also teenagers. Brown and black hair, which seemed to be the most common color.

“This is Tabitha,” the man said, pointing toward the girl, “and they’re Nathaniel and Daryl.” He motioned toward the brown and black-haired kids, respectively. “I’m Forst,” he finished.

“Cool.” He waved toward them, but they all seemed confused at the gesture. “I’m David.”

“Alright. I’d say five is enough for today.” Forst motioned them to follow and started leading them to the closest building near The Hole. That was pretty simple, although I guess most people do this every day, David thought. It makes sense that they want to be efficient.

The building was relatively small and plain looking, and a few guards stood in front of it. Forst walked up and handed one of them around five copper coins. He’ll probably take enough out of what we get to cover the cost.

The guards waved them through, and their group stepped inside. It was not what he was expecting. There was a hole in the middle of the floor, and and a large box hung by a cable over it. It was connected to a huge metal spool.

The thing was a medieval elevator. You can’t be serious. This thing can’t be safe. But everyone else quickly hopped inside, causing the contraption to swing a bit. David was never afraid of heights, but the thing had to violate some safety regulations.

“Come on, David,” the brown-haired kid said impatiently. Nathaniel was his name. “We haven’t got all day.” Looking up, David realized that everyone was waiting. It probably wasn’t in his best interest to tell them this was his first time.

Taking a deep breath, David hopped across the bottomless hole, landing in the elevator as nonchalantly as he could. It was rather spacious, and easily held the five of them.

One of the guards slammed the door closed, then slapped the wall. A bright circle lit up, and the elevator started moving. Magic, David realized. It looks like they have some kind of enchantment. Makes sense.

The elevator was barred, providing the clearest view he’d ever had of The Hole.

It was beautiful. The rock face was jagged but pretty much vertical. Ledges of grass, which were actually hundreds of feet large, gave rise to huge forests. Some kind of fog restricted his field of view to a depth of about a half mile.

Then he felt something. Something unlike anything he’d experienced before. It was as if The Hole itself was trying to call out to him, as if it yearned for him. A deep connection formed—it desired him, and wanted him to reciprocate.

The intense feeling broke as Forst started speaking. “We’ll be going to one of the larger forests close to the first stop. Make sure to stick together.”

David frowned, but given everything that had already happened, wasn’t very surprised. Probably happens to everyone the first time.