He found himself standing in an alleyway. At least that’s what it looked like given the amount of light. The only light came from a single bulb mounted over an old back door that still managed to look shady. The glass cover, covering the light bulb was covered in soot. Ethan didn’t know what to make of the place. Each building was built right up against the next. Wafts of smoke and rotting smells competed in the night air. It was definitely urban. Where and when was anyone's guess.

Ethan frowned. The smell stuck to him like sweat on a hot, humid day. He had no idea where Leita was. Probably a different space and time altogether. He wasn’t concerned. They’d been on enough quests, to expect the unexpected. Ethan was sure Leita was on her own quest, probably with Doc and something more suited to her. They had planned this quest to be all about Leita. The idea was Leita and Doc would go back and continue their work at the commune, while Ethan hung out with Bubba and Raven.

That had been the plan, but Ethan knew better than to think he’d be allowed to hang out with his buds while his wife was off doing her thing. Everytime you enter a quest you get one, and your intentions have very little to do with what it will be. It’s what you need. The truth was, Leita needed to be building new worlds without Ethan’s influence. Hers was a naturally peaceful nature, and the worlds she created would reflect her. Ethan, on the other hand, well, he wasn’t surprised to find himself in the back alley of a stink hole.

Personally, he felt good. He felt strong; almost invincible. His mind and body were fit and in sync. He felt very much like he had on his last quest. Maximized with the warrior mind. Alert and calm. He looked around him with detachment and objectivity, but also in readiness. He wasn’t fearful of anything.

There was something else. In addition to his strength of body and mind, he felt different. He felt more of himself than he had anytime before, even in the New World. This was the most curious thing to him. You lose the connection to your enlightenment when your quest takes you back to a time before humanity experienced it. It was different too. Enlightenment in the New World is so AI assisted, interconnected with the collective and God, you never feel you're actually the enlightened one. Here, Ethan felt human as hell, but there was no question he was actualized. He knew he could drop into a wormhole right now and travel a billion miles away if he wanted to.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

The motion of a rat entering the field of light caught Ethan’s attention. It seemed used to having the alley to itself. At least being exposed by the light didn’t put it off. Just then, something leapt out from behind a nearby dumpster. It was a girl, not more than 12 or 13. Quick as a whip she struck down on the unsuspecting rat with what looked to Ethan to be one of those spiked mallets used to tenderize meat. That rat was dead.

Ethan watched the girl grab the rat and perfunctorily drop it into a cloth grocery bag she had slung over her shoulder.

“What the hell are you doing?’ Ethan asked, genuinely curious.

“What?” the girl said, snapping her head sideways to look at Ethan. “Where did you come from?”

The girl was spry looking. Tall and lean, like she had just gone through a growth spurt. Her hair was long and appropriately blonde, seeing it was tangled and looked like a nest of straw. She was dressed poorly and looked like a street urchin. Even her long, pretty face was forming some rough edges. The kind that comes from malnutrition and being exposed too much to the elements.

“What are you doing?” Ethan asked again.

“Catching rats,” she replied, like it was obvious.

“I know that,” Ethan said. “But why?”

“For Bill. He gives me ten cents apiece for them”.

“What does Bill do with them?”

“He cooks them,” she said, and seeing the surprised look on Ethan’s face, added, “On a stick”.

“Hmm”, Ethan mused. “How many do you catch in a night?”

“One time,” the girl said, drawing herself up to her full height and not without a little self-satisfaction, “I caught 27”.

Ethan whistled. “Wow! You’re some hunter”.

With this, the girl managed to puff herself up a little more.

“Come on,” Ethan said. “I need a hunter like you by my side. Leave the rats. We’ll go after bigger game”.

“But I already caught seven rats. That’s almost a dollar,” the girl protested.

“Come on,” Ethan replied, turning towards the exit. “Show me around”.

The girl looked at her bag of rats, and then Ethan. The man had a self-assured bearing she had never seen before. More out of instinct than anything, she dropped the rats and ran up beside him.

“My name’s Elsie”.