It was a cloudy, dreary day in the hometown where Ryan worked as a convenience store worker. His shift was nearing its end, and he could return home. He had been excited to try the new Knights of Idettica online video game. When his shift ended, he made the long trek along the lit-up houses that lined the sidewalk. His mind wandered about what he would do in the video game first. He stepped up the stairs to his apartment and got to the front door, where he stayed. Ryan rushed in and ran to the computer where the video game was already installed from his planning this morning. Little did Ryan expect that when he clicked the “Start Game” button, his vision turned to black.

“It’s time”

“Huh?”

“It’s time”

“What?”

“It’s time”

His eyes opened to the sight of a sky full of stars and large, colorful planets that he had never seen before. His eyes flickered back and forth as he watched the streams of light from above blink at him. “Where am I?” his thoughts slowly coming in. He sat up and looked around; he was in a field of grass. In the distance, he saw a city filled with lights that dotted the coastline of a vast ocean that continued on into the horizon. Tiny fishing boats were also on the water.

He stood up and brushed the grass stems off himself. He decided to head towards the city since there was a road nearby that he could see. As he was walking, he heard a wagon behind him approach slowly.

“Hey! Fellow traveler!”

Ryan looked back and saw a stout woman with blonde hair waving at him. Her dress was blue floral with an apron, and wearing lace gloves. The wagon was stopped beside Ryan, and the woman said, “Going to the city? Hop in.” He got into the front wagon seat, and the woman started asking him questions, “What’re you doing out here this late?” “I’m not sure where I am, but I was just logging into a video game and I ended up here…” he replied. “Video game? What’s that? No matter, we’ve seen your kind come to our city many times and become adventurers of the labyrinth!”

The wagon went through the front gates while she said that and stopped at the front of a large building. “Adventurer’s Guild” on a wooden sign in ornate golden letters could be read. “Go inside and tell them about this video game you were telling me about; they will help you.” The woman whipped the reins and headed off into the quiet, lamp-lit streets.

He thought to himself, “Where even I? Is this a dream or something?” He became pensive while walking up the stairs to the adventurer’s guild. “No matter,” he thought, “I’m pretty sure this is a dream of some sort”. He pushed open the doors of the guild and entered. Inside, he saw a large receptionist’s desk with stacks of papers. The accents were all wooden with some metal bars here and there. Some fern-like plants were placed with a purpose in mind. To his left, he saw a large waiting room filled with long benches, chairs, and tables. To his right, he saw the sign that said “Adventurer’s Hostel,” and it led into a hallway with many entrances. Before he could explore further, a woman’s voice called out:

“Hello!”

He turned to see a black-haired woman, about average height, with a short pixie cut and a scar on her nose. She was wearing a cobalt blue uniform skirt with a matching beret. Gold and colorful badges with chains decorated the front of her uniform.

“Uh… hello, my name is Ryan, and I was told to come here.”

The woman clapped her hands together and put on a smile that could light up a room with eyes closed.

“Ryan, it’s very nice to meet you. This is the adventurer’s guild, and we’ve had many of you, what we call off-world people, show up in this city fairly often. Right now, everyone is asleep, and I’m just here to watch the night shift in case people like you show up, among other things…” she motioned at the large stack of papers on the desk. “Let me show you to a room, and when you wake up in the morning, we can begin orientation. Let’s see… There is about 3 newbies tonight…” she put her index finger to her pursed mouth. “Follow me.” She pushed past him towards the adventurer’s hostel hallway. He followed closely behind her.

“So what is your name?” he questioned.

“Oh, right, sorry.” The woman turned around and made a fist towards her head while looking at Ryan. “My name is Eri.” She smiled warmly before turning back around and looking into each room, which was filled with people sleeping. Ryan followed closely on her heels while looking at the small incandescent lights on sticks that lit the blue stone hallway up. They finally got to an empty room way at the end of the hallway.

“Here we go…” Eri stopped and gestured towards the room with her arm. “This is where you can sleep, mind you, we prefer you sign into the room with the clipboard on the side.” She pointed at the desk where a small orb on a stick glowed. “The bathing area is that way to the left.” She gestured to the end of the hall. “There is an eating area down the opposite hall.” She gestured in the other direction. He could barely make out a sign that said “Canteen”. “Anyway, have a good night’s rest and come to the front desk in the morning for orientation.” With that, Eri walked back the way they had come.

He did feel weirdly tired as he sat down on the straw bed. His eyelids were heavy from accepting the idea that this might not be a dream. “Maybe I’ll wake up in the real world if I go to sleep. On the other hand, I know of those stories where this happens.” Ryan stretched his body out on the bed and let the warm glow of the blue desk light lull him to sleep.