From a shadowy corner, a hooded old man watches the young man talk to the bartender with interest. The wine in his hand does little to reduce the ache in his joints, but he takes another sip, anyway. Some drips from his mustache and he wipes at it thoughtlessly. His hearing isn’t as good as it used to be, but better than it should have been. This place…does things to a man. He focused on the conversation the newcomer was having with the bartender. Was that the sound of the American Midwest in the boy’s voice? The old man grimaced. He knew what he had to do, and did not relish it.

  As the boy finished his drink and made to leave, the old man gathered his bow case and pack. The boy was heading north, to the Hollowbrook farm. And that was where he was going to get him. He didn’t have to rush.

  ***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

  It was midafternoon when I reached the turnoff for the Hollowbrook farm; the sign was clear and easy to read. It was nice I didn’t have to puzzle out a new language. “Hey voice, why is it I can read this sign?”

  There was no answer.

  “Hello, oh disembodied voice. Are you there?” I asked. I waited for a moment and got no answer. Had I imagined or offended the voice? There was an odd feeling of loss at its disappearance, as it had been the first contact since I woke up in this place. No matter the reason, there was no answer, and I had a job to do. Likely the first of many, if there wasn’t anyone in this area that could tell me how to get home. I tried not to focus on how long I had been away, worrying about my little brother. Though he was a sophomore in high school, I couldn’t be here for too long. I was all he had. Well, there was Mom, but she was working all the time, so she really was only there on weekends.

  I gritted my teeth, trying to force thoughts of my brother being alone down as I needed to focus. I had to do this job, and do it well. Where my brother was involved, I had no choice. I walked down the rutted path, trying not to think of my responsibilities. Soon some fields came into view, as well as large pens and barns. I saw a crowd outside one pen and made for the people.

  “Excuse me, I heard you had a wolf problem. Who do I talk to about that?” I asked. Some of the crowd turned to look at me and a middle-aged man stepped forward.

  “You can talk to Pa. He’s in the pen there.” He said. The man ushered me to the inside of the penned area they all focused on. I saw an old man leaning over his cane, looking at a pile of curly fur and offal, what once might have been a sheep. Or a goat. He didn’t look at me until I had climbed over the hip-tall fence and approached him.

  “Who the hells are you?” He said with a start.

  “I’m Finn. I heard you needed help with your wolf problem from the bartender in the village south of here. Said a man named Gam brought word?”

  “Eh? Speak up boy, no need to whisper!” he snapped at me.

  “Pa’s hard of hearing.” A woman said from the crowd.

  Great, just great. “I SAID, I’M FINN! HERE FOR THE WOLF PROBLEM?”

  “Not so loud, boy! I’m not hard of hearing!” he said.

  “Yes, he is.” Another person said from the crowd.

  The old man glared past me before squinting at me. “Finn, is it? Good. I’d hoped Gam would get us some help. And it’s wolves, boy. More than one. Look at this ewe. Dead, and nothing to salvage. The wolves have been attacking the farm every night for weeks!”

  “Do you know where they are during the day?” I asked.

  “Eh? In the wood to the east of here.” He replied, pointing.

  I looked at the ewe, and back up at the old man. “Do you know where to look in the woods?”

  And he looked at me like I was an idiot. “Of course we looked! We used dogs. And we could not find a whiff of the monsters! They’re destroying the livelihood of this family! Of course we’re gonna look, you idiot!” By the end, he was waving his cane and I thought he was going to hit me. He planted his cane in the mud and leaned on it. “Why do you think I offered to pay someone? Use your brain, boy!”

  I stood there, letting him berate me. The money. I needed the money. “I hear you. How many wolves are there?”

  He waved in the general direction of the crowd, done with me. “Go ask one of them.”

  I let out a deep breath, nodded, and left the muddy pen. After talking to the crowd of Hollowbrooks, the consensus was there were five wolves. Though a younger boy swore there were seven.

  This wasn’t very helpful, but having a better idea of how many there were had made the finding of the wolves part a little easier. Either way, it would not be a simple task. I would have to first find the wolves by tracking them to their den. Hopefully, I would find them while they are still not very active and be able to deal with them quickly or trap them. Not having any weapons at all was not working for me.

  If I had a rifle, I could attempt to take them out from a distance. But that would require them to be hanging out in the open, so it really didn’t matter. I didn’t know the range of my spells or even how to figure it out. Not having the Voice to ask questions was really making this difficult. I was just going to have to get close, and that was not the best way to deal with wolves, at least in their home court. Or home den.

  I got to the woods with about a half an hour’s worth of sun left. The wood itself was dark and cluttered, like something from one of those horror movies where people ignore the foreshadowing and end up on the wrong end of a chainsaw. But there was enough light for me to see wolf tracks, the fresh ones overlaying older ones. It was so obvious, I couldn’t understand how the farmers had missed it. I didn’t have to get down and check, look for tufts of fur, or broken plant stalks. The only way this well-traveled wolf highway would be even more clear was if it was glowing.

  I followed it through the trees, around bushes, and through a small stream. The light became twilight, and the trail led to a cave opening. A large cave opening. “There is no way I’m blocking that.” I no longer had a choice. It was too dark to head back under threat of the actual possibility of wolves at my back. And it was too dark to go into the cave.

  Or was it? I tried to cast light. Nothing happened. “Fuck me, I have to aim at my target.” I slapped my forehead and suddenly I was surrounded by a glowing nimbus. That shouldn’t have worked, but hey why not? I stepped into the cave and walked carefully down the sloping tunnel. I started thinking about what other spells I had. Wasn’t there a shadow spell? I put my hand on my chest and thought about it. I noticed nothing and kept walking. The gravel underfoot was strangely quiet. I heard movement farther down the tunnel and stopped.

  This was as good a place as any other. The tunnel was wide and well lit, plus there was a turn in sight. I could wait for them to and hit them with my spells as they came around the bend. So I had some choices, but I really wanted to try the chain lightning spell. I had a memory of my brother talking about this third person looter game dealing with religion or something. He had unlocked chain lightning, and it hit multiple targets. He talked about it like it was a bazooka, a bomb. No, he said it was THE bomb. I had to try it.

  And then they were. Six giant ass wolves came around the corner and the first one stopped five feet from me and started sniffing the air. That one started growling. I aimed at that first one and cast chain lightning.

  Holy cow. I was speechless. The lightning shot through all six wolves and around the corner. They all started seizing up and whining, and four of them fell on the ground. They twitched. I let out a whoop and peppered them with Ice Shard. Javelins of ice nailed them to the ground and the walls. I’d done it. I let myself relax.

  Suddenly SIX MORE wolves ran shakily around the tunnel bend, and I freaked out, frantically zapping them with chain lightning and backpedaling until I ran out of mana. In my flailing attempt for more, I fell on my backside. It wasn’t until the sparks and smoke cleared that I realized I had won. I got back to my feet and looked at myself to see if I was injured, but saw nothing but a dark outline. A shadow… with a glowing nimbus. I’d successfully cast my Walk in Shadows spell, but my light spell made me visible enough. “Oh fuck. I should be dead.”

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Our hero, Finn the Mage, is triumphant in his quest to save the farm! The wolves are dead, and the people will praise the name of Finn. Though our victorious mage is out of mana for the time being, his foes are vanquished! He will need to take proof back to the farmers and look for any loot to be found.

  “Voice! You’re back! Can you help me out? I have so many questions.” I replied, relieved. And I waited for some answer, something that would help me survive.

  Nothing. Just that brief thing about me completing the…quest? Whatever. I took what the Voice said to heart and checked the wolves for loot. Using the small knife in my backpack, I found I could gut them and found a tied bag of 25 gold in one stomach. A little weird, but I took it! I then skinned them with the small knife and went to look farther into the cave. The chamber I found after ten minutes of walking was full of bones and offal. I found a cool dagger, but without a sheath. At least I finally had a weapon.

  I walked back up the tunnel and looked at the wolf carcasses. I wondered if the skins were good enough proof. An hour later, I walked out of the cave into the night, my backpack full of wolf heads. It was gross, but I couldn’t take the chance the farmers wouldn’t believe me and withhold payment. I would have to scrub out my backpack, even though I wrapped them in the wolf skins. Hopefully, this would be the worst grossness I would ever have to deal with.

  The walk back to the farm took longer than the walk to the cave. I was tired, hungry, and covered with wolf blood and offal. I had cleaned myself off the best I could in the stream in the woods, but without soap, it wasn’t very good. But the Hollowbrooks didn’t care. They looked at the heads, all twelve of them, and cheered. I didn’t care. Then the old man made his way to me with his cane.

  “Well, boy. I see you got the wolves. How you did it, I’ll never know. But thank you. You saved my farm, and the livelihood of me and my family. Please take this gold. It’s not much, but I hope it will work for you.”

  I took the bag of gold and hefted it. I thanked him for the payment and gave him a wolf’s head. He handed it to the boy who spoke up earlier. The boy held it above his head and cheered, the rest of the family echoing him. I left, not wanting to deal with these people anymore. It was a long walk back to the village, and I needed food, sleep, and a shower.

  I hadn’t made it more than a quarter mile before a figure with a bow stepped out from behind a tree ahead of me. This was too much, as I was too tired to deal with any more bullshit. I put my hand into my front pouch to grab the dagger I’d found in the cave, but the arrow suddenly in front of my left foot made me freeze.

  “No funny business, boy. Slowly remove your knife and drop it.” The figure ordered. His voice was deep, with a bit of a rasp. He sounded like a Latino actor that had been in a show I had liked, a real badass. I dropped my knife.

  “What do you want? I don’t have much of anything, and I haven’t eaten a god dammed thing all day.” I said listlessly. I hoped he wouldn’t take the gold I’d just earned but, there was nothing I could do. It was clear this guy could probably kill me with his bow before I could do a thing about it. I was just too worn out to care.

  He stalked towards me, another arrow nocked and ready to react. He stopped just out of arm’s reach and lowered his bow. “What’s wrong with you? How could you not have food? Didn’t you get the free food pack at the end of the tutorial?”

  “What the hell is a tutorial? And who are you? The Spanish robin hood?”

  “Not Spanish, boy. I’m American, just like you. Come.” He turned on his foot, no longer seeing me as a threat. I didn’t doubt that I was never a threat to him. After a moment, I picked up my dagger and followed him off the dirt road to a small campsite hidden by a massive pile of rocks. The archer got down and restarted the fire with a few deft motions. He made pained noises, getting back up and moved to sit on a log near the fire and motioned me to sit on another. “You can turn off the light spell. We don’t need it.”

  “I…I don’t know how.” I admitted.

  “Hmmm. Just touch yourself where you did originally and think light off.”

  I did as he suggested, and my nimbus winked out. He snorted when he saw me touch my forehead.

  “Good. Now. I am Juan Santino Venegas. You may call me Juan. What do you go by?”

  I looked at him, this old man, maybe in his sixties. A man who moved like he was much younger. He had a bushy mustache and goatee, which really made him look like some sort of old-fashioned hero…like one of the musketeers. I was in awe of this man. He was dangerous, like he had been doing this for a long time and had become stronger, faster.

  “I…um…I’m Finnegan. Finn. Nice to meet you, Juan.” I said.

  “Thank God you have a normal name! Over the last few years, I have met people who have chosen such strange names that make no sense. I just don’t know what happened in the years I’ve been here. Who calls themselves SassyMstrBlstr76? It’s so strange!”

  “How long have you been here? Wait, do you know where we are?”

  “Calm down, Finn. I’m not sure where we are exactly. But as to your first question, I’ve been here about forty years.”

  “Oh no,” I whispered. Forty years. Forty years stuck, god knows where, to grow old and likely die without ever getting home. “Juan, what the hell is this place? What is this tutorial you spoke of? How am I…How can…my brother…my mother? Juan, I need to get home.”

  He looked at me with concern. “Hey, hey, hey. It’s okay, Finn. Let me get some food for you and I’ll try to explain what I can. Okay? I need you to hold on.” He pulled a pack from behind the log he was on and rummaged through it, pulling out a cooking pot and some paper wrapped items. I watched him fill the pot from a clay jug that he returned to his pack and open the paper packages of meat and different vegetables, already sliced, and drop them in the water. Then he added some spices and stirred it a bit, leaving it to simmer.

  The smell was intoxicating, and my spirits were lifted. He pulled a wine bottle and two cups from his pack, popping the cork out with a small knife. He poured some into each cup and handed me one. I took a sip and coughed.

  “That’s not wine,” I croaked. The burning in my throat made it obvious it was not wine.

  “You looked like you needed something stronger, yes?” he said in apology.

  We sat there until the soup was ready and he ladled two portions into bowls that he also had in his pack. I ate too fast, burning my mouth, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t tell you how good the thick soup was, but at the time it was the best I had ever tasted. Two bowls later, I felt mostly myself again.

  “So, Juan, can you fill me in as to what’s happening? I really do not know how I got here, how things work, or even where ‘here’ is.”

  “Yes. So starting with the tutorial. When you get here, an unseen person walks you through how things work here. Your stats, skills, how to use your inventory, how to access the map, and so on. I spent two days conversing with this individual, as so much of it made no sense to me at first. Once I was feeling sure of the way of things, I left the area and was congratulated on finishing the tutorial. They provided food for each day, and then a week’s worth of rations when I was leaving.”

  “Oh boy. So I really messed up by leaving the meadow so quickly.” I felt a little woozy, and not just from the liquor Juan had given me.

  He smiled. “don’t feel too bad. When I started talking to new people who arrived here, most did not go through the tutorial.”

  “Thank god I’m not the only one. And they turned out okay?” I felt some hope that I might make it.

  “No. the ones that would listen to me, to get the training they didn’t in the tutorial are mostly still alive. But the ones who wouldn’t listen, well, they died within the first week. Most on the first day. I tried to get to you before you faced your first big challenge, but I was too late. And yet, you survived with just a dagger. Were you in the Army? Marines?”

  “No, I’m a college student. Not even in the ROTC. But I found the dagger in the wolf’s den. I went in there with no weapons. Just spells.”

  He looked at me with some admiration in his eyes. “Good. That’s good. So what class did you choose? Necromancer? Wizard? Spellsword? No, not Spellsword. You were unarmed….”

  “Not all of those were options for me. I chose the mage class. My brother liked mages. Or wizards. And I think sorcerers? But yeah. He’s the nerd and knows this stuff, so I try to remember what he went all autist on me with.”

  “Autist? I don’t know this one. But you’re the first mage I’ve seen in years. Come to think of it, you’re the first new person I’ve seen in a couple years. I was beginning to think they were done with the program.”

  “The what now? Program? Are we in some sort of VR simulation?” this was something I’d heard of. Like full body suits, IV drips, etc.

  “VR? Oh, virtual reality! Yes, I’ve heard of that. There was this woman, ten years ago. She was positive it was this VR. Very convincing arguments. But no. We are guinea pigs, yes, but not hooked up to some computer. Do they still have computers on desks? Or just those phones that you don’t have wires with. The ones as powerful as computers?”

  I looked at him, astounded. “Do you mean smartphones? We still have PCs and laptops, but for a lot of the day to day we use smartphones.”

  “Wonderful! I used to design computer programs. We had to use a machine that spit out cards that had holes in them. They were called punch cards, and we fed the punch cards into the computer and the computer would run the program. It was time consuming, but cutting edge.”

  “I…that’s cool and all, but can we focus on where we are and how we got here?”

  “We can…but it’s mostly conjecture. Over the years, I and others have put together theories based on information we’ve gotten from new people coming here. Not everyone has anything to go on, but…. every once in a while someone has a piece of useful information. And there are rumors of a man here that knows everything: where we are, how we got here, and how to get home. But he’s just a rumor.”

  “What we know is that there is an organization, or government agency, that has been sending people here for many, many years. I am one of the long timers in this place, but when I got here, there were people who had been here for decades, and people before them. Nobody remembers what happened in the hours leading up to coming here…at least mostly nobody. I remember meeting a woman… I think she was a recruiter. I met her at a restaurant. And then I was here.”

  I felt like he had dumped a lot of information on me. “I don’t even know where to start asking questions. So the government is recruiting people to come…wherever here is? Is this a facility of some sort? It seems so normal, almost like a national park in the middle of nowhere.”

  “You have yet to see any monsters. No, Finn, I’m not convinced we’re in a facility. This place is too big. Countries and continents big.” He took a deep breath and drank down a cup of hard liquor in one gulp. “No, we’re not even on Earth anymore. This place…its laws of nature are not the same. Wherever we are, Finn, it’s a long way from home.”