Chapter 1
Ro’s eyes flicker awake as he begins to regain his bearing. He looks around the room slowly and deliberately as if he were making sure everything was still there. He reaches for his laptop on the floor and opens it to begin another mundane day as he usually does and prepares himself for the agonizing wait for the laptop to boot up. Too lazy to move he stares at the screen for a second before realizing that the blue light isn’t coming on. Suddenly awake he frantically checks that the charger is plugged in and notices that the green light on the adapter is off. “****.” Ro says under his breath. Looking around the room again he notices his clock isn’t working either. Sighing, he gets up to check if the rest of the house has electricity expecting his dad to make another rent joke but once he opens the door he quickly shuts it again and reopens it.
“What?” Ro breathes. Outside the door to his room is a long stone corridor heading who knows where. “How did I get here? And where is everybody else?” He touches the wall and returns to his room to check his phone and tablet. Finally he tries checking outside the window but it’s blocked by a large tree. “This seems real enough.” He says to himself as he plucks a few leaves from the tree. He notices that all of his battery powered electronics all still work but none of them charge when plugged in. “Shit.” He whispers to himself as the realization dawns on him that there is no more kitchen or bathroom around to his knowledge. Making sure all his electronics are off Ro grabs two days of clothes and stuffs them into an army bag along with his remaining pack of cookies from the day before. Sliding a knife into his pocket he takes one last look at his room to make sure he has everything before he leaves to check out his new surroundings. Not three meters out does he realize he forgot his headband to keep his glasses steady. Retrieving the headband he smiles to himself as he returns to his new quest for the day. “Well it’s better than lying around or working.”
After another few meters Ro reaches a wooden door that looks like it came straight out of a fantasy anime. With one last look behind him Ro slowly opens the door with his hand on his knife. The door opens into a small room with another two wooden doors and a bright candle in the corner as Ro exhales dramatically. “What is this? Some kind of point and click escape game? Probably.” Ro hums Green Day’s Boulevard of broken dreams comically as he enters the left door which leads to an empty and small windowless room. Beginning to feel paranoid Ro draws his knife as he closes the left door and moves to open the right door. Ro takes a deep breath in order to calm himself down as he throws the right door open and slides in knife at the ready. Again he finds nothing but the sight of a new stone hallway that all but brings back memories of a certain cave horror movie. Ro slinks his way through the torch lit hallway if only for the prospect of food and water. Seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, Ro charges full speed towards it and comes face to face with yet another wooden door.
Ro opens the door to the smell of fresh forest air that he knows all too well after leaving the city air. He turns to look at where he had come from and sees that the door is basically part of a large cliff. “Heh, it’s like Night Raid’s base. Or maybe not.” He laughs to himself. He decides to resist the urge to talk to himself for now as he walks onto the trail through the woods conveniently placed close to the cliff.
As he begins to tire he spots a very old school looking merchant’s wagon complete with horses. The men mean mug Ro as he approaches. “You there!” One of them calls out. “Where did you find clothes such as those?” Ro smiles at the man. ‘He must be a merchant. What is this? A fantasy manga?’ “I got them at a store dude.” The man looks confused. “You mean market right?” “Yeah sure, Whatever. Hey man, can you give me a map of this place? I’ll give you a shirt in return.” Ro says taking one of his shirts out of his bag and putting his knife away. The merchant’s face lights up at the prospect of finding out the origin of Ro’s clothes. “You’ve got a deal my boy.” Ro offers the T-shirt and steps into the merchant’s wagon. “Eh, could you give me a ride to the nearest point of civilization too?” Ro says with a sheepish smile. “Certainly lad.” The merchant responds. “I was planning on heading into the next town anyway. “Ah. Thank you Sir.” Ro says gratefully as he sits behind the horses next to the merchant who smiles widely. “Sir? I am no knight lad. But simply being called that makes me feel good.’’ “There are knights here?” Ro asks. “You didn’t know?” The merchant asks again confused. “You live under a rock my boy?”
Ro chose not to answer that as a loud feminine yawn was heard from the back of the wagon. “Ah that is my daughter Alisa. Jerome our body guard should also be back there as well.” ‘Alisa?’ Ro thinks. ‘I like it.’ “Daughter huh?” He says out loud. “Jerome, get off of me!”He hears her yell. “Terribly sorry Miss.” Jerome apologizes. “It seems I fell asleep.” “Call me by my name. How many times do I have to tell you? Dad…” She pauses as she notices Ro’s presence. “Who are you?” Ro takes in the face of the first girl he’s seen in a while. Average. But good enough. “I am Ro.” He says simply as she ignores him and turns to her father. “Dad why is this guy here?” “Be nice Alisa, I have received a new good from him that I intend to sell myself and in return I shall bring him to the next town.” She looks at Ro again and retreats into the back of the wagon as Jerome pokes his head out to see the new guest and he too ducks back into the wagon. “I never did ask. What’s your name?” Ro asks the merchant. “Oh I apologize for waiting until now. The name’s Frank D’Amico and… Look there is our stop the city of Andromeda. I will have a map made for you there. Until then explore to your heart’s content and meet me by noon tomorrow.” Ro Okays Frank as the city comes into view. Large and doesn’t look like there’s a single watt of electricity. “Should be fun.” Ro says nervously.
