Waking to darkness, stumbling into the stone room with its odd lights and odder table, prompted continuously to hurry by the featureless Jean, Nate had just surrendered to the surreal. It had all been so strange, so utterly unexpected, that at some level his mind had treated it like a joke, an illusion. A trippy dream.

After stumbling through the glowing doorway, that surreal quality of a world gone mad both faded and became more intense. Nate found himself in a massive, vaulted room. He was in the center of a short stone platform, its edges decorated with unfamiliar symbols that burned with a faint, bluish glow. The ceiling above was lined with stone buttresses, and sunlight flooded the room through a multitude of tall, narrow windows, a dazzling array of colors created by impressive panels of stained glass. He was immediately reminded of Notre Dame, a structure that had taken his breath away when he had seen it in Paris the year before. But where Notre Dame seemed permeated with the somber weight of history and tradition, this space felt somehow fresh and invigorating. Every color seemed to be sharper than he was used to, the light dancing through the glass banishing all but the most stubborn shadows.

Like Notre Dame, the room was filled with a crush of people. To either side, Nate saw more glowing platforms, identical to his own, and these were the only spaces not crowded by bodies. In fact, it seemed his was the only one occupied. Even as he thought this, though, the circle immediately to his left flared with light, the glow of the odd symbols growing in an intensity that culminated in a blinding flash. As the light cleared, Nate saw that the platform was no longer empty. It now held a…

“What the fuck is that?” Nate muttered to himself.

“Never seen a gnome before?” A gruff voice came from behind him.

Nate gave an undignified shriek and whipped around to spot the source of the voice. What he saw made him want to shriek again, though he stopped himself with a forceful snap of his hanging jaw, making his teeth click.

The creature that had been lurking behind was around five feet tall, and clad in a long, loose green robe. The hood was up, but that did nothing to conceal the face, which jutted out from the loose garment in a scaled snout. Black, beady eyes considered him, then the snout opened and there was a terrifying crackling sound. It took a moment for Nate to realize the creature was laughing.

“The little folks are pretty rare, I suppose. You must be from a newly integrated world to have never seen one before, though.”

Nate stared blankly for a moment before he remembered what the creature was talking about. With an effort, he tore his eyes from the lizard man and looked back at the gnome.

It was tiny, around the size of a seven or eight year old child. Though it was impossible to mistake it for a kid. The skin was greenish and wrinkled, with a wide head and slightly wilted, pointy ears. It wore loose pants, a white shirt, and carried nothing that looked like a weapon. It was rooting through some kind of shoulder pack, nodding and muttering to itself as it catalogued its contents. Then, as if sensing Nate’s eyes on it, the gnome’s head snapped up to look directly at him. As it did, a small lens affixed to the side of its head rotated down to cover one eye.

The gnome squinted and scowled at Nate, baring wide, flat teeth.

“They don’t like being stared at.” Came the gravely, snarling voice from behind him. Nate whipped around again to consider the lizard creature next to him. It leaned in, its voice softening.

“What’s your name, lad?” the lizard-man rumbled.

“Ahh…”Nate struggled to force moisture into his suddenly dry mouth. Then he forced out, “Nathan. Nathan Sutton.” The new surname felt slightly odd in his mouth.

“Well, Nathan Sutton, you need to relax a little. It’s a lot to take in at first, but by the time the city opens in a few days you’ll have adjusted just fine. Just try not to do anything stupid right away.” The creature bared long, wicked fangs at him, and Nate almost recoiled before realizing that this was meant to be a comforting smile.

“Right. Of course. Nothing stupid.” He said, trying to sound earnest. It seemed to satisfy the creature. Its lips pulled back even farther, revealing even more pointed teeth.

“You had best hurry along. You must be one of the last to arrive. The commencement will be starting in the Great Hall soon.” The creature gave an encouraging wave. Nate just nodded and took a breath. He glanced again to his neighboring platform, but the little gnome was gone. Squaring his shoulders, Nate stepped off the platform and into the smothering crowd.

Nate had never considered himself a people person. Yet, he had always loved crowds. He had long ago mastered the art of losing himself in an anonymous crush of bodies, dodging artfully through the crush while never moving with too much speed or purpose. In a sea of humanity, where most were simply waves, Nate was the fish that cut through the water.

Stolen story; please report.

But this crowd was like nothing he had ever seen before. Mainly because this sea of humanity wasn’t entirely human.

Oddly enough, there were humans. More than half the figures he saw were recognizably human, a nearly even mix of men and women. Many had their hair in unfamiliar styles, and one woman he saw had her face almost entirely covered in dark tattoos. But they were human. Most wore simple armor or carried longbows, making it clear which of the class choices were most favored. He caught glimpses of others wearing robes with various designs, but they always disappeared into the crowd before he had time for more than a glance.

Mixed in, though, were other, decidedly less human beings. He didn’t see the little gnome again. Instead, he saw an impressively diverse array of creatures. Some were nearly human. The tall, lithe men and women with narrow faces and pointed ears were easily categorized.

Elves, he thought.

There were also a large number of hulking, grey-skinned monstrosities with deep-set eyes and tusks that gutted from wide jaws.

Orcs, maybe? Did that really make sense? From what Jean said, he had found himself in the middle of some kind of cosmic, Universe-bridging event. Was it actually plausible that he was seeing aliens for the first time and, rather than the little green men from movies, it was the cast from some World of Warcraft fanfiction?

The crowd shuffled forward, passing through an wide entryway into some room beyond that Nate couldn’t see yet. As he approached, he dodged out of the crowd into a small alcove partially shielded from the crowd by a large stone, gaining a moment to stop and breath. He paused, closing his eyes. He tried to settle his breathing. Find his center. Find his pool of calm and sink into it.

There was a thud, and then, with a heavy thump, Nate was slammed backward into the large stone.

“Watch where you’re going!” A deep voice rumbled at him.

“You’re the one who slammed into…” Nate started, rubbing at the spot on his chest where a shoulder had struck him and opening his eyes angrily. The words died in his throat.

Before him was the biggest of the grey-skinned brutes that he had seen yet. It towered above him, muscles bulging beneath metal studded leather shoulder pads. Narrow, deep-set eyes looked down at him with a cruel gleam over a face that looked like it had been caved in with the flat side of a shovel. The beast had a massive, double-bladed axe set through a loop in its belt. One of its meaty hands flexed over the axe menacingly.

“What did you say to me, little Rogue?” The monster asked, in a voice like a rockslide.

Nate opened his mouth, though he wasn’t sure what was going to come out, when he noticed a faint blinking light on the edge of his vision. Reflexively, he focused on it. A box appeared, hovering over the head of the brutish figure before him.

Grundar Shieldbreaker Class: Warrior, Level 1 Race: Orc

Nate gaped in surprise as the information hovered in view.

“You are an orc,” he said dumbly, surprised despite his earlier guess.

“And you are a worm!” The orc snarled. “Why do you stare at me like a fish waiting for the mallet?”

Nate had no idea why a fish would wait for a mallet. But he knew the feeling of being on a knife’s edge. He decided quickly that some groveling was in order.

“Forgive me, mighty Grundar,” he begged plaintively, letting his eyes go wide and innocent. “It’s just that I’ve never seen such a spectacular specimen as you before. I apologize if it caused me to stare.”

The orc harumphed, but his chest swelled slightly at the compliment, and he looked at least somewhat mollified.

“You should be more careful around your betters, Nathan Sutton,” Grundar sneered, still unpleasant even if he seemed less angry. Nate was caught off guard by the use of his name, though he realized immediately that, to the orc, it was probably hovering in the air just above him. The orc also said it strangely, putting the emphasis on the wrong syllables.

“Oh, I will, I will. I promise,” Nate said, attempting to make a graceful bow. He stepped awkwardly, causing him to stumble and bump into the orc again.

A powerful hand shot out, grasping him by the leather of his vest and lifting him to the tips of his toes.

“You must be the stupidest, clumsiest Rogue to ever live.” Grundar shoved hard, and Nate lurched backward into the stone again, wincing at the impact.

“Ha. That’s very possible, mighty Grundar.” Nate said, giving a sheepish grin.

The big orc gave a final grunt, then turned and strode away with the now dwindling crowd. Nate was apparently not worth any more of his time.

Nate took in a deep sigh of relief, then paused a moment to study the stone he had now crashed into twice. Upon closer inspection, he could see that it wasn’t a stone at all, but rather a statue. The clean lines that might once have adorned it had faded with age in a way that nothing else in the cathedral seemed to, making the details hard to discern. But it appeared to have the vague outline of a person, head bowed, hands hidden at its sides, the whole body draped in indistinct clothing.

Nate studied the statue for a moment longer. There was something faintly menacing about it, though he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. Then, with a shrug, he gave the statue a little wave before melting back into the stragglers of the crowd, soon to be among the last to pass through the massive entryway.

He kept an eye out for Grundar as he walked. But the orc had vanished. Nate sincerely hoped they would not cross paths again.

Jean had warned him to be cautious. The odd lizard-man had told him not to do anything stupid. He considered both as he hefted the weight of the purse in his hand, newly acquired from where it had rested on Grundar’s belt.

Eh, Nate thought as he tucked the purse into his vest beside his own, it’s only stupid if you get caught.

With that, he joined the others in the Great Hall.