A thin line of white light appeared just inches above the ground before growing vertically and spreading open. A man walked through, tall and lean; his forest green eyes staring straight ahead. The world was silent as he stood there taking in the scenery. It looked like he remembered. Different, but the same. He turned around and watched as the doorway he had just walked through vanished. He sighed and started walking up the long driveway. Snow fell and the maples lining each side of the dirt road stood naked. Memories flashed quickly into his mind before a screen popped up in front of him.

  Time: 1356. Date: 25 December 2029. Location: Seattle, Washington, United States, Earth. Magic Level of Current Location: Low. Increase level of basic skill - perception - to extend radius of spatial knowledge. Weather: Winter. Temperature: 29 degrees fahrenheit/-1.6 degrees celsius. Your current attire allows for increased cold resistance.

  The man mentally swiped the screen away and pulled the fur-lined jacket a bit tighter around him. It had been a long time since he had felt the cold weather. Even the enchantments lining his clothing didn’t keep all the cold away. As he walked, the man looked around, a sad smile creeping on his face. He had missed this. He didn’t realize it until now. He had adjusted to his new surroundings quickly after everything had happened. He would think about this place every now and again, but the longer he was away, the less real it felt. He could hear children playing as he got closer to the house. And then he saw them, four children bundled up for the snowy weather, and a dog running around chasing them as they ran throwing snowballs at one another.

  One of the kids stopped and stared at the man before turning and running inside. The dog noticed the man and began barking. He knelt down and held out his hand patiently waiting for the dog. He smiled as she gingerly walked towards him. She paused and sniffed the air, then crept forward. The other kids had run inside following the eldest one. The dog moved closer and continued sniffing, until she got close enough and finally recoognized the man. She began jumping and running around him. He laughed and petted her head and back. The blue-grey husky was a year old when he had gone away. She was so much bigger now. He wasn’t really sure she would remember him, but he had hoped.

  “Hi Aggie,” He smiled and stood back up. “Come on, let’s get inside.” The dog jumped in front of him excitedly, ran a few feet forward and then came back to his side. By this time an older man had walked out the front door and down the rest of the driveway.

  “Can I help you?” the voice was gruff, but not unfriendly.

  “Hey dad,” the young man said. “Merry Christmas”.

  “Aidan?” The man asked confused. “How are you - where have you? I don’t understand”.

  “I know, I’ll explain everything. I promise. But can I come in a sit down? I’ve had a long trip,” Aidan replied, finally looking up to face his dad.

  “Yea, come on,” His dad said waving him towards the house.

  The dog ran up to Aidan’s father and then to the front door, tail wagging and waiting for it to open. Aidan followed behind his dad, looking at the house and the christmas decorations. The door opened and a woman, in her early fifties, was standing there. She pushed the screen door and Aggie ran inside, shaking the snow off her fur as she went deeper into the house.

  “Who was it Roger?” The woman’s voice came with an undertone of concern. His parents had lived down a private driveway in the woods just outside of Seattle. Unless you drive down there accidentally or were invited, you weren’t just walking up the road. They owned twenty acres of land and had held it since the early nineties. Aidan had grown up there, playing in the woods with his siblings and cousins; climbing trees and floating in the small lake in the summertime. Everything felt so similar to him, the same one story house his grandfather had built in the sixties. The cars out front, the rusty and dented red truck parked out by the barn. Yet there was a foreignness to it too. Something screaming in his head that he didn’t belong here. That this was not his home, everything and everyone had moved on. Just like he had done. Just like he had had to do.

  Aidan’s father stepped to the side and revealed the young man walking towards the door. He scratched his head awkwardly and smiled, “hi mom,” he said.

  “Aid-Aidan?” The woman whispered. She walked out in her slippers and slowly stepped towards him. She cupped his face and looked into his eyes. He saw the worry and fear and relief flood through her. He could tell she didn’t believe or didn’t want to believe, but the longer that she looked at him, the more she knew it was true. She smiled, tears rolling down her face and collapsed into his body, her arms wrapping around him. He hugged her back

  She pushed herself away wiped the tears from her face and then punched him in the arm, laughing and sobbing more. “Where have you been?!” she hit him again. “It’s been five years! Five years Aidan! No calls, no letters, no nothing. You just disappear one day. And we hear nothing from you. You’re dead. You know that right? You’re officially dead. We had to. The student loan place wouldn’t stop calling. We hired a private investigator after the police gave up. There was no trace of you. If I didn’t have pictures of you, I would have started to believe you never existed in the first place.”

  “I know,” Aidan replied, putting his arm over her shoulder and walking back to the door with her. “I know. And I’m sorry. I promise I’ll explain everything. You’re not going to believe it and it’s a long story, but I’m going to tell you all of it. Everything that happened.”

  Aidan, his mom, and dad all walked into the house and closed the door. They walked into the kitchen and saw the kids next to their parents. Aidan smiled and looked around. “Hasn’t changed a bit,” he remarked. “I go away for five years and you still only have pictures of Jack and Sophie, and now their kids, on the fridge. I thought maybe if I died, I’d at least get a spot on the door.” He smiled at his mom and she punched him again.

  “Finally decided to be apart of the family again huh?” a tall, muscular man asked.

  “Heya Jack,” Aidan said walking over to him. “Well, you know, figured five years was long enough, might as well make my grand entrance.”

  Jack was taller and bigger than Aidan. Where Aidan was lean and had some definition, Jack was muscle. Years of working out, playing sports, and climbing mountains. “Where the fu-” Jack looked down at the little girl holding onto his leg. “Where have you been?”

  “Was it drugs? I bet it was drugs. Rehab looks good on you,” a shorter woman said, walking over and pushed a finger against his shoulder. He looked at her and she shrugged, “Just had to make sure you were real”.

  “It wasn’t drugs,” Aidan replied. The family looked at him quesitoningly. “It wasn’t drugs!” This was going to be harder than he thought.

  “Okay, okay, leave your bother alone Sophie. He said it wasn’t drugs. So we’ll believe him,” their dad said.

  “For now…” Sophie whispered under her breath smiling mischeviously at Aidan.

  He shook his head, “You know, I thought there’d be tears and hugs and offers of food and drinks. Maybe presents”.

  “Mom had the tears and hugs covered,” Sophie replied. She nodded towards Jack, “We’re the interrogators. And presents are for good kids who don’t run away and die for five years just to come back to life. For all we know, you could be a zombie”.

  “Definitely not a zombie,” Jack said. “He’s not trying to eat our brains.”

  “Not yet,” Sophie looked at Aidan.

  “Not a zombie Soph,” Aidan said. “Maybe I’ll leave for another few years. You just let me know when you’ve gotten this out of your system”.

  “Would you two leave your brother alone,” their mother said. “He’s not a zombie and you’re not interregators. Go sit on the couch I’ll bring you some coffee.” She pointed to the living room.

  “What are you wearing?” Jack asked, finally noticing Aidan’s outfit.

  “Yea, what are you wearing? It’s like something out of a post apocalyptic movie,” Sophie said looking him up and down.

  Before he had left, Aidan had put on a light fur-lined jacket and pants, with a thin cream colored undershirt. He wasn’t sure what the weather would be like when he returned. This outfit had been sewn with an enchanted thread that gave a buff to cold resistance. But it was still light enough that had he returned in the summer, he wouldn’t be too hot.

  “They’re clothes, there’s nothing wrong with them,” Aidan replied looking at himself.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “You sure it wasn’t drugs?” Sophie eyed him again.

  “Positive,” Aidan said. He walked towards the couch and sat down. He looked around the living room and saw wrapping paper thrown about. There was Christmas music playing from the tv with a yule log crackling on screen. The tree was covered in lights and bobbles. A few strands of tinsel hung on the upper half of the tree. His mother had always hated tinsel and made a rule that it couldn’t be on the lower half because the dogs might try and eat it and choke. And the last thing she wanted was a dead dog on Christmas. The same angel that the family had had since he was a kid stood atop the tree; her wings gently, robotically, waving back and forth. The room smelled of cinnamon and apple, but he couldn’t tell where it was coming from. His mom handed him a hot mug of coffee. It smelled wonderful with more creamer than coffee, just the way he liked.

  “Thank you,” he smiled and took a sip. It was the first taste of coffee he had since he left. Aidan closed his eyes and savored the flavor.

  “Hmm-mm” Jack cleared his throat in Aidan’s ear. “So, did Santa just drop you off at the end of the driveway or maybe the CIA?”

  “Oh yea!” Sophie said sitting on Aidan’s right. “You worked for the CIA huh? That’s why you disappeared. You went deep undercover and couldn’t tell us where you were. You could have at least told us a war was coming before you vanished”.

  Aidan looked at her confused, A war?”

  “Yea, like six months after you left, China took over Taiwan and the Philippines,” Jack said. “They surrounded Japan cut it off basically. Russia moved into Afghanistan. Israel bombed Iran. Iran bombed them back. Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran teamed up, I think they’re officially called the Eastern Axis or something like that. They’ve gained control over most of the Middle East. Israel has held out, but they’re expected to fall in the next few weeks. The U.S, France, Germany, and the U.K. have been trying to gain territory in the Middle east. They took back Egypt and Turkey two years ago and have held those. They secured South Korea and Japan earlier this year, but China is trying to push them back again. Australia has been fighting in the South China Sea and South East Asia. We’re basically in World War Three. Luckily, the idiots running the countries, haven’t used any nuc’s yet. But it’s only a matter of time. But don’t you know all of this, didn’t you work in the CIA?

  “No, no I did not work in the CIA,” Aidan replied slowly, taking in everything his brother had just said. His mother and father had sat down in the love seat next to the couch. The kids had gone off to the bedroom to play with their Christmas toys. Jack’s wife Julie had sat down next to him and Sophie’s husband Mark was standing at her side. Aggie put her head on Aidan’s legs and he was scratching her head. “Listen, I know you’re not going to believe me. Because I know how incredibly ridiculous this is going to sound. But I swear it’s true. And I just need you to listen to the whole story. And then you can ask whatever you want.”

  The others sat in silence waiting for Aidan to continue. “Okay, so five years ago I was starting work towards my PhD. I was in the library at school looking through some books for my research. I went down into the basement where they keep all the old manuscripts. I was walking through the shelves and then there was this bright flash of light, like someone had just taken a picture but brighter. I walked over to see what it was and there was a bubble. A huge floating bubble just sitting there. It was glowing. I got curious-”

  “Oh my god. You touched the bubble, didn’t you?” Sophie accused.

  Aidan nodded, “Yea, I touched the bubble. And it sucked me in”.

  “Of course you did. And of course it did! Didn’t mom and dad teach you not to touch things that don’t belong to you?!” Sophie shook her head.

  “We’re never going to get through this if you keep commenting,” Aidan said.

  “Yea, shut up Sophie. We have to listen to Aidan’s not drug story,” Jack replied.

  Aidan looked at both of them and rolled his eyes. “Anyways, the next thing I know I’m in a forest. At first I thought I had just passed out and was dreaming. Then I thought maybe I had died and was in the afterlife. Turns out, it was neither of those. I had been teleported to another world called Estea. I was going to walk back through the bubble, but it was gone. And I was stuck there. So I panicked a bit, yelled for help slapped my face and pinched myself to try and wake up. The normal stages. I had left my phone on the table outside of the manuscript room because we weren’t allowed to have them inside. And my wallet didn’t seem to make it through the bubble either. I didn’t know what else to do so, finally, I got up and started walking. I had no idea where to go or what direction I was walking in, but I walked until it got dark.

  “Luckily, those forced family camping trips came in handy. I was able to start a small fire. Turned out that was a mistake. At some point in the night, three men found my campfire and sat down with me. They started some small talk and asked why I was out in the woods. I told them the group I was with had gotten separated but they weren’t far off. They saw that I wasn’t wearing clothes like theirs. There was a fourth man that had been sneaking up behind me. I heard him at the last minute before he attacked. I rolled out of the way, but one of the others caught me and picked me up. One of them punched me in the gut until I fell down. I tried to crawl away but they kept pulling me back. I honestly thought I was going to die.

  “All of a sudden a ring of fire shot out above me and spread. It hit the men. I didn’t know what it was, but I got up and ran. I could hear one of them chasing me. I knew that I had to do something, so I hid behind a tree and tripped him as he ran by. He fell to the ground and I jumped on top of him and just started beating on him. I found a rock close by, grabbed it and smashed it into his face. I didn’t want to. But I had to. I never thought I’d kill somebody, but I didn’t have a choice. Wherever I was, I had to stay alive.”

  Aidan looked at his family. They were all sat silent, watching him. He could tell they didn’t believe him, but they were worried. Maybe he shouldn’t have come here. Maybe he should have come back to do what he needed to do and then returned to Estea without seeing his family. No. He pushed the thought away. They needed to know. Even if they didn’t believe. They had to know he was alright.

  He continued, “I didn’t have time to think about what I had done, I got back up and kept running. As I did, a ringing in my head started. It was soft at first and then got louder and louder. I tried covering my ears, but the ringing didn’t stop. I looked back and couldn’t see anyone following me so I sat down against a tree and tried to catch my breath. The ringing was so loud I thought I was going to pass out. But then it stopped and a screen appeared in front of me. I tried pushing it away but my hands just went right through it. I didn’t understand. I threw a rock at it. Nothing. Words started appearing on the screen”

  Time: 2219. Date: 23rd Rotation of Autl. Location: Grattik Forest, Faltean Peninsula, Kingdom of Faltea, Estea. Magic Level of Current Location: High. Increase Skill Level - Perception - to gain more knowledge of surrounding area.

  Welcome to The Guide. This guide will help you as you level up in the world. It will track your progress, skills, and enhancements. People, creatures, and places that you interact with with be noted and can be referred back to at anytime.

  You have killed a level 15 Necromancer Defiler. You have done so without access to The Guide. Congratulations! You have leveled up to Level 3. Continue leveling up to unlock class and specializations. Your current stats are: Intelligence - 18. Strength - 6. Charisma - 10. Vitality - 12. Wisdom - 16. Perception - 9.

  You are an outsider. Not from this world. You have gained additional stats due to your outsider status. Passive stat Luck - 11 - You have survived in unfamilair territory with no access to The Guide and fought enemies over 10 levels above you. You’re Lucky. Mother’s Tongue - 18 - Due to your background in History and Languages, you have gained an understanding of complex conversations and writings in foreign languages, even ones you have not yet studied. Level up this skill to understand ancient and/or dead languages. Stealth - 13 - You were a wallflower on your previous world. This allowed you to come and go as you pleased without notice. While it may have made you lonely there, here it gives you a boost to your stealth stat. Increase this stat to master the darkness.

  All stats are currently locked at a maximum of 20. Reach Level 10 to increase stat level maximum.

  “And then I passed out,” Aidan said. “This whole guide thing just appeared and started spitting out information. I didn’t understand any of it. I realized I had actually just killed someone, and the ringing had came back. I very much remember puking my guts out and then passing out. That was my welcome to Estea”.

  Aidan looked at them and nodded his head, “I told you it’d be hard to believe”.

  “Sweetie…It’s okay if you were addicted to drugs,” his mother spoke at last. “Every family has one. Sometimes even two. You remember your Aunt Estelle? Everytime she went to ‘cooking class’ she was actually going to rehab. It happens honey”.

  “That makes a lot of sense,” Sophie muttered. “Woman couldn’t cook for shit. But she was always in a cooking class.” She lifted her eyebrows and looked at Aidan. “You need to go to ‘cooking class”?

  Aidan sighed and sagged deeper into the couch. He closed his eyes. “So it’s like a video game?” His brother spoke up. “You play, you kill monsters, and you level up. So, if we believe you, every video game has some storyline. What’s yours?”

  Aidan opened his eyes and looked at Jack. He wasn’t sure if he was being egged on or if his brother was genuinely curious. But he continued, “Well, on Estea at first it was just to get home. I had to get stronger so I could live long enough to get home. After I woke up, I was laying next to a fire. A creature was sitting there puffing on a pipe. He looked like a hamster that came up to my waist. He had rescued me. He had sent the rings of fire out. He said he was a Basic Fire Mage. Said he couldn’t do much more than scare people and light his pipe. But it kept him and his convoy safe when needed. He was a trader and his group hadn’t been too far away from where I had built my fire. He had gone out for a piss, saw my fire and watched as the four men attacked. When he saw that I couldn’t or wouldn’t defend myself, he shot the rings out. He said they were more for light than doing actual harm. But he managed to scare a few of them away. He saw me take off and one of the men chase after me. By the time he had caught up, the man was dead and I was passed out.

  “He couldn’t drag me, so he built a small fire and waited for me to wake up. His name was Kaistos. He allowed me to travel with his family. They were heading south to the city of Magerat; a large port city on the southern tip of the peninsula that I had ended up on. He said it would take about a month to get there. If I wanted to leave he wasn’t going to stop me, but I’d find more help in a larger city. Or at least a guild to join. I decided to stay. As we traveled south, he told me about Estea. About the different races and kingdoms. The guilds. I told him I wasn’t from here, that I was something The Guide called an Outsider. He said that Outsiders were rare. Not unheard of, he had never met one or even seen one. The last one he had heard of was over a hundred years ago. And that it was that kind of information that I should keep to myself. The wrong kinds of people might take an interest in me.”

  Aidan stopped talking and focused on something. His family looked at him and then towards the corner of the room.

  “Aidan?” His dad asked. “Everything alright”

  “Something is coming,” a low growl came inside the young man’s head.