Arc 1 Chapter 1 - A Rough First Day

“AHHH. . ! AH. . ! AH. . !”

Dark, everything was dark. He wouldn’t open his eyes, he refused to do so. All he could hear, all he could see, all he could think was: hot.

Searing hot. Burning, scorching, charring, flaming, broiling heat had just engulfed his entire body. He wanted to thrash around, punch something, break something apart. Absolutely anything to distract himself from the overwhelming pain of having his organs liquidated from the inside.

He was about to do just that when. . .

“. . ? Hey, watch where you’re going. . !”

Something bumped into him. More accurately, someone had bumped into him. Their voice sounded like a man’s, probably around the age of thirty. Come to think of it, he did feel as if he had stumbled back a moment ago.

“. . .-gh?”

It was like a switch had been flicked in his brain, and the conscious part of him was being called upon once more. He could still feel his hands shaking, and somehow amidst the chaos, he’d fallen backwards onto something.

“. . .A-Ah. . .”

There was a wall behind him. His back was up against something, and his body’s weight was being supported. It was such a surreal feeling of rest compared to where he had been moments ago. In fact, it should’ve been impossible.

‘Where’s the rain?’

The thought rang out, silent in his confusion as the absurdity of his question sank into his mind. Just moments ago, he’d been at his local park, sleeping peacefully on a bench. Had he simply dreamt up that horrible feeling?

“. . .W-What is this?”

The feeling of the ground beneath his hands was completely different from concrete or grass, it was like he was touching something rougher like a cobblestone. For many reasons, this set off alarm bells.

“. . . !?”

He still hadn’t opened his eyes. Surely, this mystery would be solved once they were open.

“. . .I guess I just have to open them, don’t I?”

Muttering that statement with a nervous laugh, he calmed his breathing down enough to still his hands and his knees. He must have been taken to the hospital, or perhaps resuscitated by someone that happened upon his body.

‘To be honest, I don’t look forward to the sight of my body looking all singed and worn. I hope I at least get one of those cool lightning scars for my trouble. . .’

No matter how much mental preparation he did, there was no way he was going to cope well with seeing his body baked alive. This lie to himself was really to instill the guts in him to go through with his plan, no matter what he ended up seeing.

“Here goes nothing. . !”

“. . .”

As his eyes began to flicker open, sunlight reaching him for the first time in what felt like forever, he gazed upon the scenery in front of him with a mystified expression. The true magnitude of his circumstances was even more unbelievable.

“. . .N-No way. . !”

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Otis Keizer, seventeen years old, was a true product of the 21st century. Despite being born in America, he often ended up moving around because of his parents’ work. While he dearly loved them both, the isolation that accompanied a lifestyle like that had left him stunted in many ways. His current status being a perfect example of these shortcomings.

They had been living in Oregon for around a year when Otis was informed that they would be moving back to his hometown of Arlington, Virginia. It wouldn’t be apt to call any place of his a ‘hometown’, as even though he’d lived there the longest, it only accounted for around six years of his life. By the time he was old enough to begin making friends and attending school, his father’s work had resulted in them moving to a completely different country.

How had he managed to mess his life up so much, one might ask?

If one were to ask his acquaintances what they thought of him, most would say he was completely average. Some might go so far as to say he was a textbook underachiever. Despite this apparent lack of talent, his parents would indulge all his interests so earnestly that eventually he became the person to refuse their offers.

Before long, his hobbies had completely shifted away from group activities and into the online world of games and media consumption.

Due to an unfortunate incident at his new school, Otis had been expelled only a few days ago. Unable to break the news to his parents, he packed up everything he could carry, found himself a bench to sleep on, and ended up transported.

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“. . .C-Could it be?”

Otis looked in front of him, mouth agape at the indescribable scenery that lay before him. He had, indeed, been standing on a road made of cobblestone. However, the constitution of the road was not what perplexed the young man’s eyes. He actually had more experience with that sort of construction compared to most.

No, what vexed him was the group of shocked onlookers that had quickly crowded around him. He could see that the houses and buildings that surrounded him appeared to be cross between the quartz pillars of the ancient world and the semi-modern construction of the enlightenment age. It was a truly fascinating sight in it of itself, but all of it was ultimately explainable in his own world’s terms.

However, there was also something unexplainable about this.

“You there. . ! Just what are you staring at?”

“Hey. . ! Kid, what was that screamin’ all about?”

“I don’t recognize those garments. . .”

The crowd in front of him consisted of what could only be described as non-humans. Perhaps humanoids would be a better term? There were a few humans intermingled in the crowd, but there were also folks with wolf ears, lizard scales, even a couple with fangs. Despite all the questions being directed at him, the people seemed to be gradually losing interest as the shocked boy stared at them in bewilderment.

“. . .Eh, ya know what. I ain’t gonna get involved with this.”

One of the wolf-people spoke with a scowl on his face, walking away with his two kids in tow. As if that had been a signal, the rest of the crowd began to slowly disperse as well, although they kept their wary gazes locked onto him.

“This goes beyond simple cosplay. . !”

Otis muttered under his breath as he examined the people around him more closely. His thoughts began to race with all the logical explanations that could explain the view before his eyes, but kept falling short of one.

‘I’ve been carried off to the world’s most realistic fantasy convention, right? Surely, a little walk will take me off set and I can figure everything out from there. . .’

It was impressive how everyone around him managed to keep the act going so seamlessly despite his outburst, but with all the time and money that probably went into this, they must all be professionals that can work on their feet.

‘M-Maybe I should keep the act up too? I’m not dressed for the part, but I don’t want to be the one to break the immersion.’

With a quick cough into his fist, and a smile on his face, Otis waved to the crowd and began to walk away as if he had been a part of the scene the entire time. Eventually, he put enough distance between him and the spot he woke up that nobody seemed to recognize his odd behavior.

The view he was getting was absolutely immaculate, as the sun beamed down on the masterfully carved arches on each of the buildings, accentuating the vibrant colors adorning the exteriors with a reflective sheen.

“I have to give props to the architect; they clearly held nothing back. . .”

He extended his hand out, running it across each structure he came across with unreserved admiration in his features. He could tell these were not only visibly appealing, but also structurally sound, which would be a whole other nightmare for the builders.

“Come to think of it, isn’t this a bit extreme?”

Otis could see nearly a half mile down the road from where he stood, and there appeared to be no end to this convention site. It would take years to make a set this huge, not to mention so much land and capital that it would honestly be hard to fathom the cost.

‘An event this huge would have to make its money back somehow. . .’

It was weird that he hadn’t heard of it, especially now that he’d woken up here. If the event planners knew what they were doing, they wouldn’t have let someone dressed so casually into the middle of their set.

“I’m sure the food here is delicious, maybe there’s a stand I can go to that takes card.”

He continued walking around aimlessly until he found what looked like a café with tables out front. He could see that there was no line for entry, so all he would need to do was walk in and place an order. Simple enough.

“. . .Hey, wait a second. . .”

Otis stopped in front of the sign for the café and put his hand to his chin. He tried to read the language on the sign, but it was almost completely illegible.

“This is a café, right? Shouldn’t this be in French or something?”

He was not fluent in French, but he had lived in France for a couple months when he was younger. This was definitely not any words he was familiar with. Even the characters were completely wrong.

“. . .I can’t believe they went so far as to make a fake language for this.”

Otis shook his head, and continued to walk into the café with a disappointed slouch. If someone was so dedicated as to construct dozens of buildings and hire hundreds of extras, it shouldn’t be surprising they’d go the extra mile to craft a new written language. At the very least, he had already ascertained that they spoke English here, so even if the signs were wrong, he could still place his order with no issues.

‘Wait a second, am I on a movie set?’

The thought occurred to him right as the server arrived at the counter to take his order.

“Your order?”

The blunt attitude in which that request was delivered broke Otis out of his thoughts almost immediately.

“A-Ah, right. . ! Sorry, I can’t read the menu, so if you could. . ?”

As he finished speaking his request, the server’s lizard tongue flicked out of its mouth and back in at lightning speed. The gesture made Otis stumble backwards for a moment, but he quickly cast away his doubt and re-centered himself at the server’s tired glare.

“You can’t read Veric, but you can speak it. . ? No, before that, what are those clothes you’re wearing?”

At this judgement, Otis felt like they’d struck a nerve. It was already bad enough that he’d been kidnapped and thrown onto the set of whatever massive movie they are filming, but to also deny him food and water because he didn’t fall in line with the script? His choice of dress might not be something everyone is wearing, but it certainly isn’t lowly enough to deserve any insults.

“Where I’m from we’ve got a phrase called ‘the Customer is always right!’, ok? Also, what’s your beef with Khakis?”

To add to this nonchalant gesture, he dug into his pocket, ignoring the confused stare he received from the server, and fumbled around with his wallet. He didn’t like the fact that he was spending his parents' money, but in this case, things were so dire he really didn’t have a choice.

“Just where are you from that would chant such a phrase so shamelessly. . ?”

The server’s confused expression was not noticed by Otis, as he pulled out his debit card and handed it to the lizard server with a small huff.

“Here you go. I don’t see your scanner anywhere, so I suppose you’ll have to do it in the back to keep up the immersion. Just get me a coffee and a pastry of any kind.”

The server took the plastic card with a wary glance, examined it from the front and the back, bent it a little, and then handed it back to him with a frustrated expression of his own.

“I don’t know what this is, so please don’t go handing me it and expecting me to know what to do with it.”

At this point, the joke was beginning to run a little thin. The commitment to the bit did not overshadow the need for food and water! Otis hadn’t even asked to be brought here in the first place, and now some person in a bunch of expensive makeup was looking down on him for breaking the larp? It wasn’t his fault that he’d been kidnapped in khakis and winter jacket. He’d only brought those to insulate himself a bit better out on the bench.

“T-This isn’t funny anymore. . . Seriously, I’ve been a good sport about all this, but even I have limits. You can’t just kidnap every homeless guy you see to be an extra in your film!”

With this, a small panic set in for both parties. Otis had initially believed that the people who had kidnapped him would be willing to let him go once he told them of his circumstances, but now he wasn’t sure anymore. Surely this broke every law imaginable, right?

The server could only look at him like he was crazy, as not a single sentence this guy spoke to him made any sense.

“Kidnap. . ? I don’t know what you’re talking about. . . If you aren’t going to order anything, then leave!”

The look on the lizard-man’s face was suddenly a lot scarier, as two bouncers appeared out from behind him with their arms crossed.

“. . .W-What’s going on. . !?”

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After being thrown out of the café, Otis was left to wander the streets aimlessly, relying on the food he had packed in his bag to tide him over for the day. It wasn’t much, just a few strips of jerky and a couple of protein bars.

He’d been hoping to make it last as long as possible when he ran away, but. . .

“It’s all gone now. . .”

Otis looked at the empty wrappers, stuffed them back into the pocket of his backpack, and continued walking with a hand on his stomach. Although it did sate some of the hunger, he still could feel his body grumbling.

“. . .I didn’t think I’d be walking around all day. . .”

He’d had an assortment of colorful interactions with people, although the end result was almost always the same. He’d ask them the name of the movie or festival they were in, and they’d look at him with an uncomfortable smile and walk away. No matter what methods he tried, he could never get them to break character. He would compliment their colorful hair and makeup choices, try to build some rapport, but eventually would be dismissed.

He couldn’t even ask them for directions off the set.

“. .I can’t believe how stupid I’ve been.”

A small spark of hope reignited in Otis’s chest as he remembered the phone he’d been carrying with him since he’d run through the park. It should’ve been the first thing he checked, but his attention was dragged away from it for one reason or another.

‘I’ll just call the police. Even if it means I have to go back home, it’s better than starving to death. . .’

He opened his phone, put in the password, and was shocked to see that there was no reception. He internally kicked himself for not having his phone out as he walked, as there might’ve been a place he’d passed by earlier where he could’ve made a call.

“Nothing!? So I’m really on my own then. . !”

Otis placed it back into his pocket, took a seat on the ground, and started digging through his backpack. Besides food and water, he’d brought a knife, blanket, change of clothes, and some trinkets from home. It wasn’t much, but he’d assumed he would find a shelter or somewhere else that he could shack up in before his situation became dire.

“Damn it. . . This is really bad.”

For now, this would have to do.

‘I’ll find somewhere to sleep before the sun fully sets, then figure out the rest tomorrow.’

Otis walked for what felt like several miles, until the bottoms of his feet began to scrape with each step. His goal was to find somewhere hidden away where he could ensure his stuff wouldn’t get stolen while he slept.

After a long while, he saw the amount of people walking on the main street begin to taper off, which was a sign that people were beginning to retire for the night. There was nothing to gain from walking these empty streets besides burning his remaining calories.

In a last-ditch effort, Otis moved onto a side street and walked the last mile of the night with the hopes of finding an abandoned alleyway he could set up camp in.

‘If this really was a movie, I can’t think of any explanation for stationing actors 24/7.’

His predominant theory was looking less likely by the hour, and his original guess of this being some cosplay convention was also beginning to lose steam. The sheer scale of everything he’d experienced so far simply defied any rational understanding of the hobby.

“I’m getting tired. . . Whatever’s around this corner will have to do for tonight.”

As Otis meandered down this side street, carrying his backpack in front of him in his spare hand, and the blanket he planned to sleep under in the other. He stretched his arm, flicked out his blanket, and turned the corner into a nearby alleyway. With this increase in elevation, he was finally granted a glimpse of the full city he had wandered.

“. . .!”

Otis could only appreciate the view in awe.

The city he’d spent all day exploring, trekking through, and traversing with his last scraps of food, was in fact, not a movie set. Nor was it some elaborate cosplay festival.

“. . .Yes, there’s no other explanation then.”

He fell backwards onto his butt, finally accepting the truth he’d tried denying all along.

The capital city of Argina sat atop a mountain thousands of feet in the air, the mountain where dragons make their nest.

“I’ve been summoned to another world. . !”