Eli

  I knock lightly on the door on the garden entrance of a brownstone. I glance around, the whole thing Is not what I would call a garden, covered with trash, and flaking paint, it's all really quite disgusting, I can't imagine how many rats are hiding down there.

  As I wait someone cracks open the door. “What do you want?”

  I turn to them with a smile. “Hey, you know about the whole fantasy world thing right?”

  He growls. “Of course I do you jag off I haven't been living under a rock.”

  I flash him a beaming smile, all the while seriously doubting that. “Well great, so the government of the fantasy city that the portal opened in, has noticed a big uptick in earth illicit substances, so they were looking to hire someone to help them identify, and catalog these substances.”

  His eyes narrow through the crack in the door. “How much pay?”

  I smile. “That depends, though we will provide free room, and board, in a city that isn't infested with rats. Also, you would be surprised how good our sewer system is, they just finished building it, and are allowing people to pipe their houses, or apartments into it, and it works like a charm, there is probably less shit on those streets than these.”

  He cracks open the door. “I'm currently being prosecuted for making some mistakes as a cop. So if you pay me decently, provide me room and board, as well as sheltering me from the cops in this world. I'll do it.”

  I smile wide. “Happily big guy.”

  He nods. “Ill start packing. I assume you have a room ready.” He opens the door, and lets me in to talk, while he packs

  I chuckle. “No we don't have a room ready but also, it isn't the US. The city lord can just kick them out if you really need a place to stay.”

  He tilts his head. “Fair point. I'm assuming you're a city official?”

  I shrug. “Sort of. I mean, technically I'm the apprentice of someone who is currently employed to defend the city. I'm not sure if you know this, but they are actively under siege. But they wont lose, not with my teacher helping them.”

  He glares at me. “You’re taking me into a warzone?”

  I roll my eyes. “There are walls, the enemy don't have catapults or anything, and the house you will be in will be close enough to the portal that if anything happens you'll be able to get out immediately. It's really not a big deal. Also the defenders won't fall, and we have reinforcements coming so we are fine.”

  He glares. “This job is sounding less, and less appealing. But also… I'd take it over jail. Let's go.” He hoists a medium sized suitcase onto its wheels in his left hand, and a large backpack onto his back. “I've never done this before, so you get to guide me.”

  I smile. “Come on.” I lead him back to the portal, but the government has been trying to set up checkpoints to try to get through. Despite this the portal was in the middle of a neighborhood, and nobody wants to sell those houses, so it's pretty much just some fencing surrounding the portal, with workers checking IDs, and stuff before ushering them in. Not that those workers do much to stop anybody who actually wants to get in from getting in.

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  I walk up to them, and they look at me. “ID?”

  I smile, and pull out my visa for the city. “No, but I'm a city official for the city on the other side.”

  They glare at the visa for a second. “I'm not paid enough, whatever.” He ushers me in, and I drag my new friend along with me. “By the way, what's your name?” I ask him, as we walk close to the giant glowing sphere.

  He sighs. “James.” Than he steps into the sphere, his form is distorted, and twisted, before being pulled away, and I follow shortly behind.

  With a jolt we long atop the cobble within the tower, the lanterns casting a rough glow down upon us. “Exchange your dollars for coppers.” A bored droll voice calls out, and we turn to find a man wearing a loose pair of shorts, and a rolling stones T-shirt, sitting behind a desk.

  I nod. “You should do that James. We don't use dollars here, we use coppers. Each copper i've found is worth about a dollar, give or take, silver is 100 copper, and gold is 100 silver.”

  James nods, and steps forward. He reaches into his bag, and removes a roll of cash passing it to the guy who quickly exchanges it for some money. James nods, and thanks him, before another voice calls out. “Get a visa over here!”

  James turns to me. “Visa?”

  I nod along. “Yeah, so basically slavery is legal here, and because none of you earth people are registered citizens, you can be taken as slaves legally here. So, by buying a visa you basically guarantee protection from slavers, and get the same protection as a citizen.”

  James quirks his eyebrows. “So buy a visa?”

  I continue, “I would usually say yes, but we will be giving you a work visa, which is much cheaper, so no. Let's go.” I pull him away and we begin the trek up the stairs, and into the world. At some point we stop to look out a window. We are still below the rim of the pit, so we cannot see the whole place, but we do get a beautiful view of the lake, far below, fishermen floating through, on their light floats.

  James begins to speak as we walk. “So how developed is this city, and how civilized, by earth standards.”

  I begin to speak. “We live in a feudal system, so our lord, Baron Milo, is currently employing my teacher, Alistair. Because this is a feudal system our lords, and stuff have a lot of power, I mean it's basically a dictatorship. Luckily Milo is a pretty chill guy, and takes care of his city.”

  James frowns. “Not a great sign.”

  I grimace. “It's more complicated than that. The rulers are people who have the power to protect us. It's not the same on earth, but here, there are actually monsters who will descend upon you, and kill you, and destroy everything you love. So giving power to your lord, allows them to martial forces to fend off those monsters. I mean, it's happening right now, our city is actively under siege, and lord Milo is holding them off by using the funds from our tax payers, and since he pays taxes to the king, he can afford an army to come reinforce him, which is headed here now.”

  James shrugs. “I guess fair point. How about social amenities, like diseases, and sewer systems, and everything?”

  I nod. “Good question, we have sewer systems that work pretty well actually, and we don't have modern healthcare, but we can emulate it using magic.”

  James shrugs. “Cool, cool. How is the city? Is it falling apart, disgusting?”

  I grin. “No, actually Milo has restrictions in place to keep things relatively safe, but also, we have a large population of dwarves, who are excellent architects, and so our city is actually quite well made. We are nestled within a basin, shear cliffs, on all sides, with only three passageways into the city. Almost half of our city is houses carved into the side of those sheer cliffs.”

  James nods. “I want a cliff house. I assume they have a good view?”

  I smile, and kiss my fingers, in the kiss the chef way. “The best actually, this city is actually so beautiful.”

  James grins. “Sweet.”