Well, at least that’s something thought Micky, “I’m like 15% less mental now which is good I guess. Still talking to myself out loud though which probably isn’t ideal.”

Left alone with these less than comforting thoughts Micky found himself turning the pamphlet over in his hands. The cover was bright yellow with an implausibly cheery font, bearing the title ‘Welcome to the System, a TRC guide to your new life’. Oh, great thought Micky, its basically a dummies guide.

Flipping it open he found it was more like a travel brochure, glossy pictures of sandy beaches and people with the physique of roman gods, although he doubted the EasyJet brochures had quite as many centaurs or butterfly people. The main gist of this stupid little booklet was that life here wouldn’t be too bad, although Micky found the lack of concrete information more than a little concerning.

As Micky began to read the captions he noticed Clarita returning to the foyer, this time following behind a sharply dressed man in a dark navy suit. It said something for Micky’s mental state that he noticed the figure’s suit before the fact he had four arms coming from his torso, or that his hair was styled into a violet topknot.

Before Micky could rise to his feet he heard the man speak “ah, you must be our newest arrival, Micky isn’t it?”

Rising to his feet Micky offered his hand to the man “um yeah, that’s me” he replied.

“Splendid, simply splendid. I’m Blaes Andrews and I work as an orientation officer for the TRC here in Baer’s Landing. On behalf of the entire TRC, I would like to officially welcome you”

The whole speech felt somewhat scripted to Micky, but instead of feeling insincere, something was comforting about how banal it was.

Blaes continued with his welcoming spiel “now, I’m sure you have literally thousands of questions and I’m going to do my level best to answer as many of them. For now, though I’d like you to follow me into an arrival chamber, it’s supposed to be the first place all new arrivals are taken”.

Following Blaes and Clarita was a little like being towed in the wake of a miniature tornado for Micky. He was led down several corridors and through unmarked doorways into a large circular room with a pedestal in the center. Resting on the pedestal was a smoky crystal sphere.

“Now, I understand that you’ve already been introduced to the basics of the system Micky?” Asked Blaes.

“Yeah, Barrett showed me how to open my menu” replied Micky.

“Ah, capital, that makes this process so much easier. Now, this crystal is going to interface with your system and give us a printout of your stats and skills. That will let us make the best possible recommendations and assist you most effectively. Just place both hands on the stone, open your menu, and then accept the interface.”

Coming to a halt before the crystal Micky looked up at Blaes and Clarita who had both stepped towards the edge of the room, “after I do this you guys will explain what the hell is going on right? Because my current explanations are either that an alcohol-induced stroke killed me, or someone slipped me the mother of all trips.”

Clarita chuckled out loud while Blaes looked on, a sincere expression on his face “I can assure you that you are neither dead nor hallucinating Micky, and I promise we will be more forthcoming as soon as this step is completed, we just want to make sure that your unconventional arrival hasn’t had any complications.”

As Micky raised his hands to the stone he heard Clarita mutter under her breath “you owe my five copper, I told you he’d ask about drugs.”

Micky resolutely ignored her, feeling the strange smooth sensation of the stone under his fingers. Concentrating on his tattoo he thought ‘Menu’

Interface crystal detected, will you accept the connection?

Mentally selecting yes Micky prepared himself for whatever was coming. The first screen to appear to him was the familiar sight of his profile.

Displaying and analyzing profile

Name

Michael ‘ Micky’ Taylor

Level

-

Class

Unassigned

Hp

36 of 36

Sp

48 of 48

XP

0

Stats

Might

6

Grace

8

Will

12

Wisdom

9

Sway

13

Balance

7

Having had slightly more time to think about his stats Micky had no idea what to make of them. He was more than a touch offended by his ‘Might’ but over the moon with his ‘Will’ and ‘Sway’. Before he could spiral down this train of thought the screen shifted, displaying something totally new.

Completed.

Displaying and analyzing skills.

Skill

Rank

Cooking (mundane)

Novice (22)

Driving

Apprentice (37)

Evasion

Novice (14)

Performance (metal)

Novice (14)

Performance (shanty)

Apprentice (41)

Persuasion

Novice (18)

Research (mundane)

Novice (12)

Tackling

Novice (6)

Hah, thought Micky, and my mates all said those open mic nights had been a waste of time. He was more than a little concerned by the fact that his highest skill after 26 years of life appeared to be singing sea shanties.

Completed.

The crystal in Micky’s had given out a single dim pulse then faded back to its clear smoky appearance.

Blaes strode towards Micky in the center of the room “wonderful Micky, thank you for being patient with us. I’ll have one of our analysts check the readout and then we can do a consult, but for now, I think you’re owed some answers."

"Let’s head to my office. Clarita thanks for all of your help, could you head back to the desk, hopefully, we don’t have any more surprises.”

Clarita gave a small wave a walked out the door just as a small spectacled goblin in a lab coat scurried into the room to collect the crystal. Gesturing towards the door Blaes began to walk, leaving Micky to again follow in his wake. Taking a winding path through several more hallways and up three flights of stairs Blaes led Micky to an oaken door.

“Here we are then, please come in.” The office itself was richly appointed with a dark wooden desk and several bookcases dominating the space. Behind the desk was a gorgeous window made of rectangles spread out in a tight fan which cast the afternoon light across the office.

Settling himself behind the desk Blaes spoke, “Why don’t you take a seat Micky and I’ll do my best to answer all of your questions and I’ll try to explain what the TRC can offer you.”

Flopping down into one of the leather chairs before the desk Micky began to massage his temples. Pausing for a long moment before he began to speak “I cannot tell you how glad I am to hear that mate, I still don’t have a BLEEPING clue what’s going on here, or where here is for that matter. Also why the BLEEP can’t I swear?”

Blaes laughed out loud before responding “Well, I can’t exactly tell you why you’re here, that’s more a priests department, but I can tell you how. How familiar are you with the idea of a multiverse?”

“You mean like the idea that there are hundreds of different universes?”

“Ah good, then you may have an easier time with this. I want you to imagine a bubble, a perfect sphere floating free, and inside this bubble is everything you would think of as your reality, all the planets, all the peoples, all the cultures.”

“Okay, I’m with you so far” replied Micky, although he had begun to massage his temples more vigorously.

Blaes continued in a calm smooth tone “now imagine that that bubble is floating alongside billions upon billions of other bubbles. In each of these other bubbles is another reality containing its own worlds, peoples, and cultures. Some of these realities would be quite familiar to you, while others would be beyond comprehension. Now sometimes these bubbles pass one another in the void and for the briefest of moments, they may touch. We call these moments convergences and during these convergences, it’s possible for things to be transferred, sometimes in the form of physical matter, other times in less tangible forms like an idea or a piece of music.”

Upon hearing this Micky’s hands slipped from his temples until the heels of his hands rested against his forehead. “Are you telling me I’ve fallen out of my universe and washed up here?”.

"Not exactly" Blaes continued “if the transferred matter, in this case, you, would be unable to survive in the destination reality they are redirected through a mechanism we still don’t entirely understand here to Outremer. Welcome to your new home.”