CHAPTER 81: RECONNECTIONS AND REVELATIONS

Marcus saw the note Tyler had left on the kitchen counter when he stumbled home late from his security course: "Dude, since I'm back we never hang out. Tonight I'll order pizza, bring soda, let's catch up properly."

He went to work feeling beat up. The whole month of rushing between worlds had taken its toll on him, but today was special. Remaining gun workshop crew was finally returning from the Texas fair, and Marcus needed to get their insights about his rifle designs. This could be his chance to learn the advanced techniques he needed for both worlds.

When he arrived at Pressley Guns, he was surprised to find Irene there early, and she seemed unusually lively. She'd put fresh flowers around the front desk area and was chatting and laughing with the gun range workers in a way he'd never seen before.

"Good morning, Marcus," she called out with genuine warmth.

"You're early today. Good morning to you too."

"What do you mean? I'm always early." But she was smiling as she said it, and Marcus could see she was in much better spirits than usual.

Marcus noticed increasing noise coming from the workshop area. It had been closed for nearly a month, and now it was coming alive with the sound of nearly ten workers who'd returned from the fair. He could see Alex, Mr. Pressley, and a blonde man in an expensive suit laughing together as they moved from the workshop area toward the gun range side.

"Marcus, come here. Let me introduce you to your manager and our head of sales, Edward Carline. They made huge sales at the fair. These next weeks will be full of action." Mr. Pressley was practically glowing with pride. Edward was a typical manager type, well dressed and well groomed, probably in his mid thirties.

"Nice to meet you, Marcus. You can call me Ed." Edward extended a firm handshake and studied Marcus with calculating eyes.

"Nice to meet you too, sir. Congratulations on the sales success. I've been reviewing our innovations in rifle design, and our competitors in the same market segment seem to lack proper safety features, so I figured we'd crush them in sales."

Edward seemed genuinely impressed. "Boss told me you dropped out of college, but if you can really make assessments like that, you could have been a really good businessman."

Alex interrupted with forced humor. "Wait till you see him shooting. You'll beg him to get back to school." The joke fell flat, and nobody laughed.

Mr. Pressley forced a chuckle. "We don't actually need a security guard anyway, but he's still acing both practical and theoretical tests at his certification course, right Marcus?"

"Yes sir, the course is going great."

"Okay Marcus, Alex, give us a moment please. I need to have a meeting with the boss," Edward said, clearly dismissing them while he turned his attention back to Mr. Pressley.

Marcus took the hint, but Alex still tried to linger around them, offering coffee and making himself available. Marcus headed inside the workshop, his heart racing with excitement. While the crew had been gone, he hadn't wanted to tamper with their equipment or workspace, but now he had a chance to meet them properly.

Before his time in Valdris, before starting a business and learning to network, he never would have been bold enough to do what he did next. But Aldric's influence had taught him valuable lessons about building relationships and gathering information.

Marcus went to everyone's workstation, introduced himself as their new coworker, checked their personalities and attitudes, and offered to get everyone coffee. When he returned with a tray full of steaming cups, he handed them out strategically, saving the friendliest seeming worker for last.

"Here's your coffee, Agustin," he said, sitting beside the man while giving him his cup.

"Thanks, Marcus. So you dropped out of University of Chicago? I graduated there two years ago. Good times there. Did you take classes from Professor Hernandez?"

"Yeah, Intro to Biology, right?"

"Yeah, he made me realize I wasn't cut out for the medical track. Then I focused on engineering classes instead."

They chatted for a while about shared experiences and mutual professors. Marcus was consciously using Aldric's sales tactics, but now he was selling his credibility and building rapport to eventually get insights about rifle designs.

"Yeah, I quit because my parents said they wouldn't support anything other than the medical track, and it didn't seem logical to take on huge loans when I could learn what I really wanted by working with experienced people." He was obviously lying about some details in order to manipulate the situation. Is this growing up, Marcus wondered, or am I becoming a bad person? This life doesn't matter as much, he rationalized. I'll be fine here. He pulled out his design sketches.

"Like this design. I'm trying to create a handcrafted, fully automatic rifle, but honestly I don't know where to start."

Agustin studied the papers carefully. "Let me look at this. Marcus, this design is way behind current standards. But for a starting project, you've chosen something really difficult. Handmade everything will cause you massive delays, and you'll need incredibly precise craftsmanship."

"That's okay, it's a passion project. I'd love to get your insights about where to start and which parts are essential for a working prototype."

"Alright, let me finish my gun fair report first. Then I'll take a detailed look during lunch break and give you some real guidance."

Just one day had brought so much progress. Marcus felt energized by the prospect of learning advanced rifle mechanics that he could adapt for Valdris. After his security course that evening, he wanted to spend as much time as possible drawing and memorizing the core components and mechanisms.

As he was about to enter the apartment building, he remembered Tyler's note about buying soda for their hangout.

Inside, he could hear Tyler wrapping up his livestream. "Alright everyone, I hear my roommate's footsteps. Today is it, see you all tomorrow. Alicia, don't come to the house if you're watching the chat. This is a man date, alright? See you all tomorrow." Tyler closed his stream with those parting words.

Marcus felt guilty about coming empty handed. "Tyler, I forgot to buy soda. If the pizza isn't here yet, let me run to the store."

"No need, dude. Today Alicia and I went to the mall, and I bought a bunch of drinks. Some of them are the fun stuff, if you know what I mean. Alicia's twenty one," Tyler said with a conspiratorial grin.

"Sweet. Let's catch up properly. Work life has been so intense lately."

"I feel like I never see you anymore. You go to work, then your course, then bury yourself in your laptop and notes."

Marcus sat down on the couch, suddenly feeling the weight of his dual existence. "These next few years are probably going to be like that."

"What do you mean? We're nineteen years old. We should be going out and having fun."

I wish I could, Marcus thought. I wish I could enjoy the pleasures of both worlds, but when my family is facing a famine crisis and my city is under threat from dark wizards, how can I relax and party like a normal college student?

He smiled sadly. "I will. But later."

Tyler opened a couple of beers and they settled in to wait for the pizza. For the next few hours, they talked about their lives, made fun of each other's quirks, shared memories from before Marcus's world had become so complicated. Tyler told stories about his streaming successes and failures, his relationship with Alicia, his plans for building his audience.

Marcus found himself relaxing for the first time in weeks, almost forgetting about mushroom harvests and royal audiences and world seeds. For a few hours, he was just a nineteen year old hanging out with his best friend, eating pizza and drinking beer and complaining about how expensive everything was.

"So what's really going on with you?" Tyler asked as they finished the pizza. "And don't give me some generic answer about work stress. You've been different ever since you dropped out. I don't know... distant."

Marcus chose his words carefully. "I'm trying to build something important. Something that could really matter. But it requires sacrificing a lot of normal stuff."

"Like what kind of thing?"

"Skills that could help people. Knowledge that could make a difference in critical situations." Marcus was walking a careful line between honesty and secrecy.

Tyler studied his friend's face. "Marcus, you know you can tell me anything, right? I mean, we've been roommates for over a year. I know when something big is going on."

For a moment, Marcus was tempted to tell Tyler everything. About Valdris, about the world switching, about Malachar and Celestine and the impossible responsibilities he was carrying. But how could he possibly explain that he was living in two worlds simultaneously, that he was trying to prevent a famine in a medieval fantasy realm while learning modern weapons design to fight an interdimensional wizard?

"I know, Tyler. And I appreciate that. Right now I just need to focus on learning as much as possible, as quickly as possible. But I promise, when I can explain everything, you'll be the first person I tell."

Tyler seemed to accept that, and they spent the rest of the evening playing video games and catching up on movies they'd missed. For those few hours, Marcus let himself be a normal teenager, pushing thoughts of royal audiences and mushroom cultivation and portal magic out of his mind.

But as the night wound down and Tyler headed to bed, Marcus felt the familiar weight of responsibility settling back on his shoulders. Tomorrow he would return to Valdris to prepare for his meeting with the King. Tomorrow he would continue his weapons research at Pressley Guns. Tomorrow he would advance his plans to save two worlds simultaneously.

Tonight, though, he'd remembered what it felt like to be young and normal and free from the burden of impossible choices. It was a reminder of what he was fighting to protect, in both worlds. The simple human connections that made life worth living, even when the stakes were higher than anyone could imagine.