She was standing on a straight line made of white bricks and metal blocks, which may have represented the border between the two cities she was seeing.
"The line you are standing on is one of the three borders of Nikoan. It stretches for more than 500 kilometres in one direction."
Aefia looked back to see who it was.
"Ms.Tortoise-"
"I know you have a lot of questions; save them for later. This is your work as a participant anyway."
What work can I possibly have in a world that I know nothing of?
"Well, I am new to this world, and I currently don't know what I am supposed to do or what assignment I am getting. Can I ask questions on those first?"
"Well, I won't mind. However, the walk to the office will take some time, so I prefer that we start walking first. Then, I will tell you about this world. Your assignment isn't my job though, so the least I can tell you to do is simply exist. That's all."
Exist? So I just survive until I have a job to be done? That's easier said than done!
Aefia walked in the direction Ms.Tortoise was walking. To her left was a cyberpunk city, with tall buildings made of glass. Moss and mushrooms were growing from the corners. The streetlights were blue and pink in colour forming a purplish shaded light before they hit the ground.
I didn't expect this world to break all the laws of physics, chemistry, and biology, but don't mosses grow on moist areas? Unless maybe the glass is made of a totally different material.
To her right was a vintage city with houses made of wood and bricks. Unlike the glass buildings, these houses shone like polished glass. Instead of streetlights, there were streetlamps.
This city looks like it has been taken from a historical fiction movie. And both cities are facing each other like the future is interacting with the past, and I am walking in the present.
"The world we are in is named Nikoan. The world of the three genres of fantasy in the language of Ancient Aglic." Ms.Tortoise started explaining.
"Is that the language of this world?"
"Yes, you will have to research it as a side job, so I won't explain any further about it."
Ma'am, I just entered the competition. As a teenager with no work experience, this is already too much work for me.
"Ms.Tortoise, can I maybe know about the competition? What is my real mission, or how can I get back to Earth, and how do I notify my parents about my current situation?"
"About going back to Earth, you can only go back by dying during a failed mission or by completing the competition goal. Mr.Grizzly will take care of telling your parents about your current situation and participation."
What? Dying? Failed mission? What have I gotten myself into?
"About the competition. If you don't know yet, I am a citizen of Nikoan. Every Earth year, during the 'Great Yearly Catastrophe', a planet needs to be destroyed in order to get the energy required to run Earth and its humans. This year, Nikoan is going to be destroyed."
"Wait ma'am, do you know the source of the information you got?" Ididn't know Earth ran on energy from a ruined planet.
"It is from the revelation by the Guardian of Time."
"Guardian?"
"A guardian is a supernatural being with equal strengths to that of deities."
"Is there going to be research on guardians? I believe it has a major factor playing with the 'Great Yearly Catastrophe'."
"Well, it's not part of the research, but you are going to have to learn about it to survive in this world."
"Alright, I will remember that. So the 'Great Yearly Catastrophe' is the result of energy being transferred to Earth?"
"Well, I can't say that you know, it's your job to find out. But since it's your first time, I will prove that yes, it may be the result of the energy transfer, but the source is still questionable, so you have to do deeper research on that part."
"Alright. And I would like to ask about the time on this planet." Ican't believe I haven't asked such a critical question yet.
"I am not sure if it is precise but as far as I have heard, ten years on this planet is one month on Earth. And also, as long as you stay in this world, you will not age. Your body is basically frozen in time."
"Are there other participants?" So I won't be able to celebrate my birthday.
"Yes, there are fifteen other participants. And in case you don't have fighting skills, there are six mentors, including me, to assist you."
Fighting would be more than necessary. I don't even know how to cut vegetables!
"Are the helpers all citizens of Nikoan?"
"Not all, some are from other destroyed cities and the rest of us are citizens who were born in another world."
So they decided to get together and form a competition to get help?
"Are the participants from other worlds too?"
"No, all participants are from Earth. They say 'humans of Earth are one of the most powerful kinds to exist', so we got three participants from different countries to join the competition."
"Alright. May I ask why fighting skills are needed?"
"You will need them to fight monsters and mages, maybe even beasts."
"So are we going to rely solely on fighting skills?"
"No of course not! You can't fight paranormal creatures without magic powers of course!"
Magic powers?
Aefia's eyes sparkled at the thought of it.
Imagine what I could do with magic powers!
"What kind of magic powers?"
"It's not my job to explain that, you will come to know about it soon." Ms.Tortoise smiled.
"Aren't you going to ask me about the accommodations, payments, and transportation?"
"Yes, how about those?" Aefia answered thinking about a place to sleep. How could I have forgotten to ask that? This proves that I have zero survival skills. Aefia smacked her forehead.
"Before that, you might want to look up."
Aefia looked up at the night sky. It was full of stars that were too distant to see from Earth's night sky. The moon was a blue crescent, just a tiny speck compared to the stars.
"This moon represents the fourth month of the Aglic calendar. There are seven months in a year in Nikoan. You will need to memorize the names of the months and know the divination behind each one of the seven moons. And you will also need to know that in Nikoan, nighttime lasts sixteen hours while daytime is only five hours."
"So the time schedule here is different too, I guess? I mean like work time and school times?"
"Yes, school time here is only during the day. Work too. At night, people like to spend time doing other stuff."
"That's interesting."
"Right where was I? Oh yes, the accommodations and transportation. I will explain the payment method later. Firstly accomodation. We have our office near the intersection of the three borders. Specifically the cybercity, Nepolitan. So we would prefer you stay somewhere close. The city to your right, Robertstown, is the most recommended since the training centre is there. The third city, Smod, is where we would recommend staying if you want to get easy access to a library with revelations dating back to the year 502. The current year is 4783."
"So do I get to choose where I want to live? Or will there be recommendations?"
"We will recommend it of course, especially since you are still a minor. We will make sure you live near a mentor's place if you have basic survival skills. If you lack the basics like culinary skills, you will be taken in by a mentor and trained for three months after which you will be set off to live on your own until the end of the competition. In your case, I am willing to take you in. I have heard of you from people around during my stay on Earth; you have several skills that you lack."
Uh...thanks? "So where do you live?"
"I live between Smod and Robertstown."
"Alright, noted. And about the transportation?" It was about this time that they reached the border market. Each stall had souvenirs of its own city. This place wasn't as crowded as the border markets on Earth.
"Transportation modes vary from city to city. For instance, if you choose to live in Nepolitan, your form of transportation would be electric trains and cars. If you choose to live in Smod, your transportation mode is by horse-drawn carriages-"
"Wait, by chance, is Smod the city of Kings and Queens?"
"Smod is the city of Dukes and Emperors and everything else in the middle. Dukes are the highest position while Emperors are the lowest. You might find it strange but Kings are people who have powers immeasurable compared to Guardians. Now back to transportation. If you live in Robertstown, your transportation would be steam trains and buses."
"Let's say I stay at Robertstown and I want to go to the other two cities and back, how would that work?"
"Then you will have to break your journey into three parts."
***
"How far is the office?" Aefia finally asked. Her legs were tired from walking what felt like four kilometres.
"There are certain denominations in this world which you are going to have to learn, but my calculations say we are one kilometre away from the office."
ONE KILOMETER? I don't have the motivation to even walk one step.
"Are there technologies in Nepolitan?"
"It may look like that but no one was ever smart enough to craft a phone here."
Should have known.
"And what about the money system?"
"Well, you need to be good in math to survive in this world, in case you don't know. The money system is quite complicated here. We have four denominations. Angcle, salar, vetor and gadien. One angcle is equivalent to a hundred dollars on Earth. One salar is twenty, one vetor is five, and one gadien is equivalent to ten cents. Similarly, one angle is equivalent to five salar, one salar is four vetor, one vetor is ten gadien."
Ma'am, I don't know anything! They like math so much that they use tailored math terms as money denominations? I am good at math but not that much!
***
"I can tell that you are thinking something," Ms.Tortoise spoke after a few minutes of silence.
"Huh? No, I was just thinking, how did the fiction world I saw in movies, play games, or even read about become reality?"
"I thought the same once. When I was a kid, my parents would read me stories about the humans of Earth."
"So stories from Earth are taken and interpreted as novels in other worlds like Nikoan?"
"Yes, we really enjoy the memoirs, histories, and the pieces of life that people write about. We don't know how the stories came to us or who wrote them, but if you weren't a human from Earth, how would you think of Earth from what you hear about it from here?"
"I would take it as a work of fiction like I think of other worlds as one."
"That's how I felt before I realized that each story that you read is a real-life incident that happened in another world. We don't know, though, but what if someone from an outer planet wrote the story as a memoir or piece of life and sent it to Earth for someone to read? Won't the humans think it is by someone from their own world who wrote it and think that person has a vast imagination? That's why seeing fiction come to reality is a bit hard for you to adjust to."
"Was that a revelation?" Aefia asked sternly.
"Sorry?"
"I am asking if you got the information through a revelation." I can'tprove it, but that sounded one-sided.
"Well, to be precise, an elderly man once said that fiction is reality in another world, and soon after saying that, he disappeared. Some claim that he probably died but others say there might be something suspicious about that man. What wrong should an elderly man do?"
"Was the appearance of the elderly man connected to something?"
"Well, there are somethings that happened that day, but the Duke confirmed that it was just a coincidence. Why are you asking such a thing? You know if you were a citizen, the Duke won't hesitate to call on a trial. You are going to need to study Nikoan laws."
"Oh sorry, I will make sure not to mention it."
My suspicion was correct. I just need to dive deeper and prove it.
"Anyways we have arrived." Ms.Tortoise said letting out a breath. Aefia fixed her expression and looked at the building.
(Note: New chapters will be published withing 48 hours of the previous chapter. I will try my best to publish everyday.)