Kai woke up to the soft chime of an alarm. He recognized the sound, and the room he found himself in, from the day before. He knew it wasn't his but anywhere was better than back home. Especially here. With a soft grunt, he threw off the insulating comforter keeping his body pinned to the soft bed, and made his way to turn off the alarm.
The young man found a neatly folded pile of fresh clothes in the drawers and helped himself to a fresh set, which he brought with him into the bathroom to get properly freshened up for the day. He started with a two minute session with a toothbrush, followed up by a nice, hot shower. As the young man stood under the stream of pleasantly hot water, he let his thoughts wander to that of his future.
The people who had taken the teen in gave him two options with what to do after he “graduated.” He could choose a friendly, fantastical World to settle down in, but there was one caveat to that option. No adventure. From what several people had described, from Rafael at the arcade to Sheila’s “other half” Gus, Dark Lords and the call to adventure were apparently quite rare, and he’d never get the chance to experience something like that for himself. So he’d be tending to a farm, working an anvil, or something equally mundane.
Kai groaned as he lathered up his hair with the traveller-sized bottle of shampoo he found in the small shower-side alcove. As the young man finished up and let the water wash it away, he considered the “alternative” his caretakers presented him with.
The teen could stay with TOAL and work with them as either a researcher or a soldier. The details he was able to glean so far were honestly pretty vague, what with so many distractions marring his second day, but he hoped there would be plenty of time to ask around before he’d have to make any decisions. Still, with his fear of violence and cowardice in the face of danger, Kai felt like he wasn’t cut out to be a soldier. Which was ironic, because that was his original plan back home.
He let out a barking laugh at the thought. He was quick to accept at least one good thing about this whole ordeal, that he’d learned more about himself in a few days than over the course of his 4 years at high school.
Speaking of high school, that was the first thing on the young man’s schedule for the day, at least after breakfast. But did that really count? Schooling with Ms. Neal, where he’d have the chance to clear the rest of his doubts about what the hell he was supposed to do with his life.
Kai turned off the shower and began drying himself with the soft, moss-green towel. After putting on his clothes, he exited the bathroom and pocketed his belongings; smartphone, wallet, and the strange flip phone Sheila provided him with the day before. His own phone showed the strange time of 3:24 am while the flip phone displayed the much more reasonable 7:30.
The teen shrugged. Rory had mentioned that Worlds didn’t always work along the same time zones. Whatever, Kai wasn’t heading back home anytime soon, so he was grateful for whatever magic they worked on him on his first day to get over the jetlag. They even set it so that getting up at 7 felt like sleeping in until 10! The young man couldn’t help but appreciate being blessed by these absolute miracle workers.
As Kai was about to leave, the flip phone began ringing. He took it out of his pocket and answered the call.
“Good morning, Kai!” answered a giddy woman from the other end. “Glad you actually picked it up today!”
“Hey Sheila,” answered the young man. “I happened to recognize the caller ID this time.”
“So you learned how to read since yesterday!” she joked back with an amused chuckle. “Speaking of learning, you’ve got school in a bit after breakfast. Your escort should be waiting outside right now!”
“Cool, but why do I still need an escort? Gus’ paranoia?”
“A little bit,” she replied with what sounded like a shrug from the other end of the line. “But mostly because this place can be a real maze sometimes. It’ll just be for the rest of the week, after which you’ll be free! Unless you still need help figuring this place out, which I won’t blame you for, in which case they’ll stick around for a bit longer.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Kai replied with a sigh. “So what about that ghost? Did you start looking into it?”
“Gus already started the investigation after you left for Stony Braids to drop off the ice cream. So far we have nothing, and the machines breaking in the arcade seem to have been caused by a known, perfectly mundane malfunction.”
“So you don’t believe me, then?” asked Kai with a drooping face.
“I do!” exclaimed Sheila in a surprisingly comforting shout. “But even if this ghost can cause those kinds of malfunctions, it shouldn’t affect any important machinery. The arcade happens to be one of the least defensible rooms here, while everything else is warded against anything like the entity you described. So for now, it’s been relegated to a slightly lower priority. You’ll hear an update when there’s one to give, trust me!”
“Alright, I’ll trust you,” replied the teen with a careful nod. “See you later, then.”
“Alright, bye!” she exclaimed as she hung up.
Kai put the flip phone back in his pocket and opened the guest room door.
“Hey there, Kai!” exclaimed an armored guard as he awkwardly stuck his hand out in the air in a jerky wave. “It’s me, Marnick! From yesterday? You threw the table at me.”
“Oh right,” replied Kai with an embarrassed chuckle. “I remember you. Sorry about that, by the way.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he replied, attempting to scratch the back of his head through his helmet. “Waking up in a strange, new place like that can set off a lot of people. And I’m perfectly fine!”
“Well that’s good,” nodded the young man.
“Right. Anyway, let’s get you to breakfast. Follow me!”
The two made their way down the winding, fluorescently lit halls on a path Kai didn’t quite recognize. Probably because he got lost right after leaving his room the day before. The young man decided to commit this path to memory, along with any others he might take throughout the day, so that he wouldn’t have to continue relying on an escort after the one week was up.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“So… um, Kai,” asked Marnick, breaking the silence with the stilted opening. “How was your day yesterday? Do anything interesting?”
“It was alright,” he replied with a terse nod. “I saw a ghost, beat up some kids, and got knocked out by a dwarf.”
“All on your first day? Wow, that’s way more exciting than mine!”
“A’ight,” said the teen with another brief nod. The two continued walking for what felt like hours squeezed into a handful of seconds before the sheer awkwardness forced Kai’s tongue. “What was your first day like?” He asked with an eye roll.
“TOAL wasn’t as big back then, so I just got to meet a bunch of the people here and they told me how I could help them out if I wanted. Or that they could drop me off in some nice Fairytale World for me to settle down in.”
“Yeah, that does sound boring. But you got to choose for yourself on day one? They’re making me go to school first.”
“I’m actually kind of jealous!” exclaimed Marnick. “The place was small enough that they couldn’t really spare anyone to teach me anything beyond the bare basics, let alone what’s needed to become a researcher, so I had to choose pretty quickly.”
“And you became a guard?”
“Yup! These people saved me from what could’ve been a really bad time in a Gilded World, so I didn’t just want to take their hospitality for granted. I honestly didn’t have what it takes to be a soldier like the big shots, so I decided to become a guard! Got trained in some basic martial arts, magic, and how to react in a tense situation. And now here I am.”
“Hmm, so that’s an option too?” asked Kai. “I haven’t been able to get a straight answer from anyone about what my choices are yet, so what else can I expect?”
“If you choose to stay here? Plenty!” continued his escort. “Pretty much everybody’s hiring, from magical and technical researchers, to arcade machine technicians, portal engineers, alchemists, civil engineers, soldiers, guards like myself, medical staff, diplomats, scouts, the list goes on!”
“Uh, wow. I didn’t expect to have that many choices,” replied Kai with wide eyes. “But some of those choices sound like they’d need a college degree to go with it. Like, I wouldn’t trust anyone from my school as they are to play doctor on my organs.”
“Oh yeah, if you do choose something like that, TOAL will send you to another World that has a university that teaches the subject. They’ll even pay for your tuition!”
“For real?! Where the hell were they back home?!”
“In Europe, I’ve been told,” shrugged Marnick. “But at least you’re here now!”
“Yeah, at least I’m here now.”
The rest of the walk continued in contemplative silence as Kai digested his options. Free college for whatever major he wanted? With half of them being for magic?! He changed his mind, this was the most unbelievable thing he’s heard since he’d gotten here. Maybe Marnick was just embellishing things, and there’d be some kind of blood contract if he took TOAL up on the free tuition, where he’d have to work for them for a decade under slavish conditions.
Kai shivered. He’d just have to ask around to be sure, and be careful to read the fine print of any agreements that came his way. Sure he believed in miracles, but he also believed in things being too good to be true.
Eventually, the duo reached their destination, the cafeteria. Whatever damage was caused by the frycook golem attack and later rush for cake from the day before had been cleaned up, leaving the room in pristine condition. Perhaps it was an army of cleaning robots like from the kitchen? Kai wondered who would clean up the mess if they went rogue?
As the young man lined up to get breakfast, he considered his options. The menu looked the exact same from the day before, but some of the text on the various panels were lit up. He recognized dishes like pancakes, omelettes, and oatmeal amongst various international and fantasy foods he didn’t. All breakfast items, probably.
“So what are you going to order?” asked Marnick, from right behind Kai.
“Shit,” replied the teen with a gasp, grasping at his chest as he took a step back. “I didn’t realize you were still here.”
“Of course I am!” he replied with a smile beneath his visor. “I’ve gotta get you to class after this! And I’d might as well get something to eat myself.”
“Yeah, that makes sense,” Kai nodded warily. “Probably going to go with the oatmeal and strawberries again.”
“Again? You ate that yesterday, right?”
The young man nodded again.
“Come on, you have the biggest breakfast menu imaginable, and you want to eat the same thing for breakfast twice in a row? There’re foods here that people from back on Earth can only dream of trying, and when it’s put on a silver tray right in front of you, you choose to ignore it?”
“Woah dude, no need to be so forceful about it, it’s just breakfast,” replied Kai with a pout, putting his hands in his pockets.
Marnick stood silent for a moment before sighing. “Sorry, Kai. When I first got here, I didn’t really have a chance to get the grand adventure I always dreamed of, since TOAL picked me up almost immediately. So I always think that everyone new here feels the same way. I shouldn’t have pushed you like that.”
Kai regarded his chaperone; the emotions he wore on his padded sleeves, the deep frown emerging from behind his faceplate, and the sagging form behind the thick body armor. No amount of protection could’ve covered up how he was feeling. The teen swore to himself at the situation he'd dug himself into, but he didn’t have much of a choice.
Kai lifted his right hand and placed it on the man’s shoulder. “It’s alright, I actually appreciate it.” He let out a sigh matched by a melancholic smile. “That’s actually what happened to me. I got rescued from a Gilded World as soon as I showed up there, so I am kind of salty about missing my ‘adventure of a lifetime’.”
The guard brightened up, his head lifting to make eye contact with the young man. “Thanks.”
Kai swore that his eyes were actually sparkling behind that screen.
“Hey, I mean you don’t have to try something new just because I asked. It’s only your third day here and you’re still adjusting, so take your time!”
“Alright,” Kai nodded back. “Maybe I’ll start with something small. Looks like there are fruit choices besides strawberry. What are ‘wilki berries’?”
“Ooh! Those are great! They’re from some jungle World, and taste super sweet! Like a mix between strawberries and kiwi.”
“Kiwi? Alright, I’m sold!” exclaimed Kai as he lifted his right hand off the man’s shoulder and back into the air.
When the two arrived at the front of the line, they both placed an order for the wilki berry oatmeal, Marnick also requesting a latte for himself on top of that.
The two ate their meals in relative silence to completion, both of them not really sure where to guide the conversation with mouths full of the delectable porridge.
“Alright, that should be everything. Let’s put our bowls in the back and get you to class. Wouldn’t want to be late!”
“Yeah, let’s go.”