Michelle’s first day of high school: a new beginning, a new environment, new friends. She didn’t feel like she had left anyone behind at her old school. She still kept in contact with her friends and even missed them, but this was a fresh start. Her father had been offered a new job to head a department at his company and had accepted the position, which meant they had packed up everything and moved.

  Her mom had mostly been a stay-at-home mom. She was an artist, so she could work from anywhere. And she had taken some time to raise Michelle and her younger brother, Connor Jr., but now that they were older, she concentrated on her art. The routine was that she would drop off Michelle at her school and then Junior at his elementary school; he was four years younger. It was the same routine in the new town they had moved to.

  That morning, she was excited about getting there early. She hadn’t had a chance to go to orientation, as they had missed it by a week, being the new arrivals in town. She had done her unruly hair as best she could, made sure her nails looked good (she didn’t wear a lot of makeup, and her freckles stood out too much), but she had put on some light makeup with her mom’s approval. She needed to make a good first impression.

  Her mom dropped her off, waved goodbye, told her she loved her and had driven off to drop off Junior. The school was pretty large, everything she had investigated about the school said it was a big school. They had a large football program, fairly large for a high school, the coach a Heisman Trophy winner that had taken the team to nationals multiple times. The school staff was very good as well, the school prided itself on providing a good education and had won multiple awards.

  She had picked up her formal schedule in the main office. She had a preliminary schedule that had been emailed to her, but she needed to verify that no changes had been made since she had received it. Her first class was Algebra I—not something she was looking forward to; she wasn’t fond of math. This was followed by English, Biology, World History, her elective (Mandarin I), and finally, P.E. She was fine with P.E. being last; who wanted to be all sweaty or have to take a shower in the middle of the day?

  She had been assigned a Junior to walk her around to her classes. “Hi there, my name is Emiko.” The other girl extended a hand. Emiko wore a cheerleader outfit in blue and white, which were the school colors. Emiko was a very pretty girl, thin and carried herself with a lot of confidence.

  “I’m Michelle, nice to meet you,” She replied. With that, Emiko led her around the campus and pointed out how it was laid out. While Michelle had seen a map and read where everything was, it was nice that someone showed her around. Lastly, Emiko dropped her off at her first class before hurrying off to her own class.

  The math class had gone well; not much was going on, as it was the first day. The teacher had gone over what they would learn that semester and what the grading policy would be. The class ended, and she hurried off to her next class. The rest of the classes followed suit, each going over what they would learn and the grading policy. The day ended with P.E. The teacher had gone over the rules and then had set them jogging, pointing out the different fields as well as everything they would do in P.E.

  Her day ended, and she went home. She had met a few people but hadn’t made any friends that first day—not that she had expected to. She had really liked Emiko, but she was a Junior and on the cheer squad, and Michelle didn’t expect her to even remember her name. She went to bed early that night, ready to see what the following day would bring.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  She arrived early again that day. Like any other high school, there were kids hanging around before classes started. Michelle saw cliques hanging out: some goth kids all in dark clothing with outrageous hair, one with a green mohawk that had to make him a foot taller; some preppy kids with khaki slacks and polo shirts of different colors; and what had to be one of the sports teams—each kid had on a jacket with the school initials and all looked similar in the way they acted and what they wore.

  And there they were: the cheer squad in their uniforms, Emiko among them. It was like every teen movie out there—all the different groups represented. Which group was she going to be part of? she wasn’t sure at all. Though she wouldn’t mind being part of the cheerleading squad; maybe she should go to tryouts whenever they were scheduled.

  “Michelle!” Emiko had seen her and waved her over. “Hi there, welcome back! How was your first day?” She liked the other girl, as Emiko had made a good impression on her the previous day.

  “Hi, Emiko. It was fine, not much to tell—first day and all.” And, true enough, nothing of note had happened the previous day.

  “These are the girls: Tamara, Emily, Maria, and our captain, Joe.” Wait, her name was Joe? Why was her name Joe? She waved at the other girls. “Ladies, this is Michelle. She just moved to town and started yesterday.”

  They talked for a little while and went their separate ways before classes started. Emiko was the vice-captain of the team and would take over as captain after the semester, as she was being groomed to take over after Joe graduated. Joe was actually Joelene, and as a kid, had been somewhat of a tomboy and had been called Joe since elementary school. Michelle had looked at the other girls, each one from a different background, and had liked each one.

  The week ended, and she had gotten to know more of the cheer squad, which included four boys: Troy, Evan, Rob, and Kabir. Kabir was the youngest of the four boys and had made the squad the previous year. He was also the smallest of them; the others, much bigger, could pick up any of the girls on the team and toss them into the air without much of a problem.

  Since they had been very welcoming, she had started to hang out with them; somehow, she had become part of the group. There had been an open tryout period during the summer, but they would hold another in two weeks, as they had a new routine that needed three more people to make it work. Michelle decided that she would be part of the tryouts. The day came, and she was paired with one of the other girls and would shadow her for the week, and then they would be tested. Seven girls and three boys tried out. In the end, Michelle made it, but it had been a close call, as the other girls had been really good.

  The previous year, she hadn't seen herself as part of the group she was with now. Her mom and dad had been extremely proud of her for making the squad, and she was ecstatic and proud of herself as well. It wasn't all fun and games; it was a lot of work to be part of the squad. Her classes and the extra practice left her little time to get her homework and studies done. But she loved it; it was the most fun she had had since leaving her old town.

  So the year continued. She was a big part of the group—not the best, but she was good, and she practiced hard to not let everyone down. They had games and competitions as well. Being part of a larger school, it wasn't just about the games and various school rallies; their coach also pushed them to do competitions. So, instead of being lazy and just hanging out on weekends, they would be off to practice or a competition. Was there downtime? Yes, there was, but that was the time Michelle would take to catch up on any schoolwork or school projects she needed to take care of.

  Her parents were extremely supportive of her, and she considered herself lucky to have them as parents. Her mom, especially, was a tremendous help, volunteering and just being there for her. Was she able to do it all the time? No, of course not; she also helped Junior out with everything he needed to do. How her mom handled or juggled it all was beyond Michelle, but she just considered herself lucky to have such a wonderful mom.

  Her dad wasn't always able to make her competition, but he let her know as soon as he could if he was going to miss any. But he made most of them; the important ones, he never missed. His work was strenuous and took up a lot of his time, but he pushed himself to be with his family. Michelle appreciated all the time he spent with her and the life he had given her, her mom, and her little brother.

  So the year came and went, and she was invited to a big party to celebrate the end of the year that weekend. Overall, she was very happy with all her decisions and how the year had gone. She was extremely happy that she had met Emiko and the rest of the cheer squad. Emiko had taken over as captain and had done a great job; she pushed the team hard, and herself even harder. Michelle, with the help of her team and her coach, had learned a lot, and she could do many of the stunts: back flips, front flips, handstands, and more.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  She was getting ready for the big party. This was both to celebrate the end of the school year and to celebrate a big win at one of the competitions the cheer squad had gone to. They had taken first place in their division, and their parents had chipped in to throw them a big party. Kabir’s family owned a large property, and their parents were letting them have the party there. The property was huge; there were trees of all kinds, and it was adjacent to a forest on the outskirts of town. The property actually belonged to Kabir’s great-uncle, who was out of town on a business trip and would return the following week.

  There was a heated pool and jacuzzi, not that they were needed. It was the start of summer, and the weather was pleasant; the real heat of summer hadn’t hit yet. From what others had told her, it got pretty warm in the peak of summer. The team had worn their uniforms to take pictures and would change later to enjoy the party. She had brought her swimsuit—a pretty modest one-piece, as she was a bit embarrassed to show too much skin. Some of the other girls, not so much. Emiko had brought a two-piece that showed entirely too much skin, at least Michelle thought so.

  Michelle had turned fifteen two weeks earlier and had had a small gathering of friends come over—nothing fancy, as she wasn’t one for parties, besides, she was at the big party now. So it was a celebration for her birthday, the end of the school year, and the win the squad had taken. What more could she ask for? The parents had hired someone to decorate and cater for everyone attending. Whoever they had hired had done a superb job with everything. The food was delicious, the decorations were in the school colors, and they had hanging lanterns everywhere.

  And, being a teen party, someone had snuck in some alcohol. She had been offered something to drink, but she wasn’t interested. Michelle stuck to her lemonade or water and had some of the food that had been brought in. Everyone had a great time, and it was getting late. She started to yawn and tried to stay awake, but her eyes were closing. Maybe she should take a nap or something. She told Emiko she was tired and that she would be heading upstairs to rest. They had access to all the rooms with the exception of two, so she went to one of the ones that the girls had picked.

  She had thought about changing out of her uniform, but she just needed to rest a little—plenty more partying after she closed her eyes for an hour. At least, that had been the plan when she closed her eyes.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Michelle heard something, but what was it? Some kind of chant? Darkness took her once more; maybe she was dreaming? Then a flash of light—probably one of the other girls had turned on the light. It was momentary; it came on, then it was off. She felt a slight breeze and grabbed the blanket she had covered herself with, wrapping it tighter. She wasn’t ready to open her eyes quite yet.

  She felt the breeze once more. What was going on? Did one of the other girls open the window? She opened her eyes and was confused by what she saw. There were stars—lots of stars. And was that the moon? And behind it, another moon? No, that wasn’t right; most definitely a dream. She closed her eyes once more and fell asleep again. What a weird dream. All that strangeness would be gone when she woke in the morning.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  A lot of light was coming through her eyelids. Yup, she had fallen asleep and hadn’t woken up throughout the night. Guess it was time to wake up. She opened her eyes. Well, that was confusing. For some strange reason, she was outside. She looked right, then left. There were trees, bushes, grass, and other greenery. She was sure, since she had fallen asleep first, that her squad mates had pranked her.

  She looked down. Still in her uniform and still had the blanket she had fallen asleep on, and under her, the sheet was still there. So her friends had carried her out here and left her. It wasn’t funny—okay, maybe it was a little bit funny. She would get revenge on them at the next opportunity.

  She got up and grabbed both the blanket and sheet; she would need to bring them back into the house. She tried to get her bearings, since she didn’t know the place very well, and she would need to figure out how to get back to the house. She looked around for her phone, but it wasn’t there. Great, it stayed inside the house. She started walking; they wouldn’t leave her too far from the house.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  She walked for five minutes with no sight of the house. It was time to turn around; she probably went the wrong way. She looked up to see where the sun was to try and figure out what time it was—maybe eight in the morning, not that she paid much attention to that, since she just checked her phone or her alarm clock at home. To the left was the moon. It seemed different, a bit bigger than usual. Maybe it was one of the supermoons she had heard about. And to the left, she saw another moon? Wait, how is that possible? Maybe she had fallen last night and had a concussion. Yeah, that had to be it—a concussion. She felt behind her head for a bump or something that would let her know she had fallen, but felt nothing.

  Wait, had the dream not been an actual dream? Were these the two moons from the dream? No, that wasn’t possible. What was going on here? Something was not right. She looked around some more and noticed the differences from the area around the house she had been in. The trees were different, and now that she paid attention, the vegetation was different as well, and the grass was purple. Looks like we’re not in Kansas anymore.

  “Siri, what is my current location?” She waited, then it dawned on her: no phone. Now what? She needed her phone badly. How was she supposed to figure everything out without her phone? How was she going to call her parents? How was she going to call for help? She needed to dial 911 and get rescued.

  She stopped walking and started to call out for help. “HELLO! ANYONE AROUND?! I’M LOST AND I DON’T HAVE MY PHONE!!!”

  She continued to move slowly and yelled every few minutes to see if anyone would respond. She was starting to get scared. How did this happen? Why was this place so strange? And how had she gotten here? Tears started to form in her eyes. Was she crying? There was no time for crying. Pull yourself together, Michelle!

  She sat down for a minute, and even though she didn’t want to cry, she let herself cry. She sobbed a little and just sat there. What was she going to do?

  “Are you okay?”

  She looked up, and it was another student, probably from the party. He also had a blanket with him. He was wearing jeans, a printed t-shirt, and sandals, with an earring on his left earlobe. At least now she was not alone. Whatever happened, it had happened to others as well.

  “Um… yeah, I’m okay, just a little lost and frustrated.” She wiped at her face to clean up the tears. Now that someone else was here, she felt a little better.

  “I know you. You’re Michelle, right?” He didn’t look familiar—someone from school, maybe one of her classes; she didn’t know everyone.

  “That’s me, and you are…?” She couldn’t place him at all.

  “Oh, you wouldn’t know me. I saw you around school, and we hung out with different people. And I’m a year ahead of you. I’m Gary, Gary Miller.” He stuck his hand out, and she reached out to shake it. He helped her up, as she was tired and she was done with her crying.

  “Nice to meet you, Gary. Got any idea what’s going on here? Where are we?” Maybe he knew what was going on.

  “Sorry, I have no idea either. I woke up, and I was in the forest, just like you. I was looking around, and I heard you yelling for help, so I rushed over. I thought maybe my friends had pulled a trick on me, but I guess that’s not the case, since you’re here too.” She nodded.

  “Yeah, I had the same exact idea. Have you noticed the moons?” She pointed up to the double moons, one much smaller than the other.

  “Yeah, I saw that. Not sure what it means—the whole forest thing and the purple grass, not something you see every day, or any day, for that matter. We should probably stick together for now and try to figure it out.” Yeah, that sounded like a good idea.

  “Let’s see if we can find any others. Since we’re both here, there are likely others as well.” She was in a strange place and in even stranger circumstances, but she had had her cry, and now it was time to figure out what exactly was going on and how they were going to get home.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Two more teens had joined them: a girl named Nana and another boy who went by Stump. Michelle had no idea why he was called that, but that was probably a story for another time. Nana also went to her high school, and Stump was starting after summer; Nana was the older of the two. His brother had been invited to the party, and he had tagged along.

  All four were worried about the situation but had no idea what to do, so they stuck together to try and figure it out. They walked north not really finding anything but more strange forest. Gary had some camping experience and had been a Boy Scout for a few years, so he somewhat knew his way around the woods.

  The sun started to go down; it was dusk now, and soon it would be fully dark, though the moon was still around, so it would provide some light. Gary had instructed everyone that they should find some firewood and keep close by; there was a small area where they could camp. Each had a blanket and a sheet that they could use. Michelle thought that the night might be okay; the day hadn’t been too bad, and the previous night, other than the light breeze, wasn’t cold or hot.

  “Guys, I found something!” That was Stump. They had returned to the little clearing they had chosen to camp at. Stump seemed excited about something.

  “What’s going on? Everything alright? What did you find?”

  “Something even weirder than this place. Follow me.” So they did.

  And yes, it was most definitely strange. Michelle looked at the blue neon arrow sign, very confused. What was it doing here? It pointed somewhere; guess they should follow it. There was another sign about thirty yards ahead; this time it was yellow. The buzz of the neon sign could be heard; there were moths flying around it. Michelle looked at her companions, shrugged, and continued to follow the signs.

  They found another sign, this time a neon pink one. Then, after coming around some bushes, they found something even stranger than the neon signs. Floating in the air was a shiny ball, and in front of it, it was projecting letters that read “WELCOME.” This place gets stranger and stranger, was the only thing that came to her mind.

  Again, the group looked at each other and moved toward the strange floating ball. As they got close, the welcome sign switched off. “Hello, my name is Registration Node 1A25, but you can call me Regi,” it said, then chuckled.

  Had she died, or was she stuck in a weird, drug-induced hallucination? It would explain so much. But she didn’t do drugs, and she was pretty confident she hadn’t passed away. But do people actually know? Had she died? No, there was no way. It didn’t explain the others with her.

  “Hi, I’m Michelle.” What else was she supposed to do? When someone presents themselves, the only polite thing to do is present yourself. The others did the same.

  “Welcome, welcome! If you could please form a single line and register, we can get this show on the road.” Wait, what were they registering for? This made no sense; it was like an online registration to open an account. Guess the place could get stranger.

  “Register? What are we registering for, Regi?” That came from Nana.

  “Oh, I get it—Regi, Registration Node. That’s kind of clever,” Stump said. She thought it was silly, but he laughed.

  Stump got in front of the floating ball and waited.

  Bloop, beep, screech. “Place both hands on the registration node, as indicated by the flashing lights.” Small blinking lights on either side of the node indicated where Stump should place his hands, and he complied.

  Beep, beep, bloop. “State your full name for the records.”

  Stump shrugged, placed his hands on the node, and said his name. “Okay. Michael Stump Madison.”

  “Michael Stump Madison, welcome. Scanning to optimize recommendations.” Lights flashed on either side of Regi, and he felt a pinprick on his right hand, as if a small bug had bitten him. “Please step aside so your companions may register.”

  They all followed suit and did the same thing, giving their first and last name, each feeling the pinprick on their hand. After they were finished, the node asked if they were a party; they had no idea what that meant. They shook their heads, and the node acknowledged that they were a temporary party. It then proceeded to give them other instructions and something about a help node. It explained something about roles, then classes, what they did, and what they were good for. Nothing made sense; it all smelled of video games. She didn’t have a lot of time for games, but the games she played with her brother reminded her of that.

  Michelle wasn’t sure what to go with, but she felt that the Rogue class was calling to her for some reason. From the explanation about what it was, she thought that her skills as a cheerleader would help. So she had gone for that. Both Nana and Stump had chosen wizard, and Gary had gone with healer. They had each been issued a map, like an old-school rolled-up map. She unfurled it and saw some detail about where they were and where they had been, but the rest was blank. Not an extremely good map, if you ask me, Michelle thought.

  “Excellent choices! Role registration is now complete. Welcome to Reladur. We hope your stay here is pleasant and that you will visit us again. Now, for the FAQs.” A screen materialized before their eyes.

  That was extremely strange. There was a floating screen in front of her, like a blue thing with white letters. She read through the FAQs, which were strange. The first and second ones were a bummer; she had hoped that this floating ball had some answers. Guess they were going to have to figure things out by themselves. She felt that this was a little suspect; the floating node wasn’t giving them everything it knew.

  The whole “not a video game” thing, even though it felt like it was, was weird. Who had asked that they provide some FAQs? And what was up with the death thing and getting hurt? She hadn’t signed up for that at all. And this “Starter Town” place—where was it, and why did it have such a silly name? It all screamed video game, if you asked her. So many questions and little to no answers.

  “And I know you want to know about the whole ‘die, get hurt’ thing. Try not to die, if at all possible. There are some rather nasty effects if you manage to get yourselves killed—effects that last a while. Also, avoid getting the world’s inhabitants killed; unlike you, they will experience true death. Any other questions?”

  Well, at a minimum, he had gone over that topic—not that it made Michelle any happier knowing about it. “Where is this ‘Starter Town’ place you mentioned?”

  “Your map has been updated with the location.” And, sure enough, she glanced down at the map, and there it was. It looked far away, and it only showed this little town picture, but nothing in between.

  “Now, before we proceed, please look at your status page.”

  The blue screen had changed from the FAQ’s and now she could see a screen with a bunch of information about her and her group.

  “You can see your base stats here.” Each of their names was highlighted one by one. “Now that you are registered for these roles, you will need to seek a mentor to teach you more. For any more questions, please ask your HelpNode. Again, welcome, and have a great time. This is Registration Node 1A25 signing off.” There was a flash… and it was gone.

  So, what was the “HelpNode” thing he had mentioned?

  That was weird. She heard it in her head. It was a weird feeling to have something speak in your head, but this she could understand; it was just like Siri. Though this one sounded male, a young guy, to be exact—sounded somewhat sexy and sultry. Michelle liked. So the weird adventure had begun. She now had a direction to go, and even though she had more questions than answers, she would keep going forward and figure this out.