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[center][b]The World Was Destroyed, and I had to Fight for the Right to NOT be the Main Character[/b] Chapter 04 And on my own I go, and am not left alone[/center] So, the first thing I notice isn’t how bright it is, or skinny trees going high, or even the other people around me. No. What I notice is that I’m not holding anyone. “Lau Hu?” I call. I look around. “Lau Hu!” It would be just like me to lose him as I get him. how can I suck so bad? I had him in my arms. They’re looking. If I wasn’t already freaking about what might have happened to him, my face would burn up right now. It is, but it’s the outside heat. “Have you seen him? He’s tiger, this high.” I move my hands a foot and a half apart. “Wears mechanic coveralls. The name tag has his name on it. He can’t have gone far. I can’t—” “Your familiar?” a frog person ask with so much disdain dripping, I’m surprised he isn’t choking on it. “Not he….” And I remember what she called him. “I guess?” The eyes actually roll to the point all I see is the white. “Then summon it.” “What?” “Didn’t your master teach you anything before saddling you with a familiar?” “I didn’t—” I close my mouth. I don’t know what his problem is, but I’m not making myself part of it. And she did say I could summon him. Of course, I didn’t ask how I did that. So…. Lao Hu, please come back? “You really need to learn to chill, Bud,” he says, in my arms. I hug him. “Thank the Lords.” He mumbles stuff, tapping my chest with his paws, and I loosen my grip. “What have I told you about stressing my stuffing?” He shrugs himself back into shape. “Sorry.” “You keep doing that and we’re going to have to set boundaries.” “Sorry, I’ll be more careful—” I can feel their eyes on me. Their judgment. Me, a grown man, talking to a plushie. Well, this. I straighten. Stand as tall as I can and I make my voice as cold as I can. “What?” I demand. Burying the shame of whatever they might have been thinking under pure willpower. “What the are you looking at? What? You aren’t lucky enough to have a familiar? You wouldn’t be worried if he vanished out of your hands? Just what kind of people are you?” You know, other than animal people. Okay. To explain what just happened, I want you to imagine this kid. He’s a mix of introvert and dependent on other people’s opinion for validation. No idea if that’s normal. Just what I was like. A side look. A comment about how weirdly I was dressed—it was warranted, but not the point—and I would crumble into tears. You have no idea how horrible it is to be in public when you are terrified you’re going to lose it like that. I was in my mid-teen when I came across a phrase that literally changed my life. I can’t tell you exactly what it was, but it’s something to the effect of, ‘Act as if you already had the emotions you want to have.’ I didn’t want to care what people thought of me. I wanted to be able to walk among them standing tall, and have all their judgment just shed off me with no effect. So, I started acting that way. was it hard. You can’t imagine how hard it is to stand tall when you’re shattering inside. But I did it. I did it day in and day out. And you know what? At some point, years later, I realized it no longer took any work at all. Somewhere along the way, I’d done it. I had stopped giving a what anyone else thought of me. Oh, it wasn’t foolproof. Trust me to know how to make a fool of myself in public very easily. But I remembered the lesson. Might have gotten in the habit of overdoing it, too. So that’s how I weathered their mocking until they looked away and one of them said. “” and look utterly relieved. “Of thank God,” the rabbit says. “I thought this place had some sort of anti-swearing filter.” Hey. I’m the one telling the story. I’m going to bleep out the swearing if I feel like it. “Well,” a tall, amused, muscular wolf standing before the lot of us, says. “Now that the entertainment’s done. How about I welcome you to Arshkesh, World of Sins and Fun. I’m Tamika, your welcoming committee from the Gladiator’s guild. And let me tell you how happy I am the lot of you are here. I see a lot of possibility here.” He only wears light brown loose pants and sandals. He rubs his hands. “Oh, I am going to have fun.” Our group is loose enough that a glance around gets a head count. Fourteen, including me. Two of each species. That’s interesting. A guy and a girl. Oh, please tell me that doesn’t mean what I think it means. “What my associate means,” a woman lynx standing straighter than I was and wearing loosed clothing that has no business being that white with all the surrounding sand. “Is that you have been summoned here out of dire need, and we expect you to live up to our expectations.” Oh, yeah, forgot to mention that. There is a lot of sand. I can see green in the distance, and masts behind that, but here it’s a few skinny tree, maybe palms, a few bushes, and a lot of sand. And heat. Man, is it hot. “Excuse me,” a woman said among us, a bear. “But I thought we were refugees. Our world was destroyed and no one—” “And whose fault is that?” another woman, a frog, asked. “He told me how you people destroyed my planet and then yours along with it. Just what kind of idiot does that?” “I would be very careful how you address us,” the male frog, who, I’ll be generous here, explained how to get Lao Hu here, says. “Do not make the mistake of massing all of us with those whose desperation to save our world from demons outweigh their common sense.” “Demons?” the female asked, surprised. “Yes. Demons overrun my world, and while ill advised, some actually attempted to put that to a stop instead of accepting their lies. If I—” “That’s all very interesting,” a brightly and expensively dressed squirrel said. Then she gives the biggest yawn I’ve ever seen. “But standing here isn’t being productive. I have business to attend to. So how about you two get this moving?” like the other two, her clothing is loose. Like everyone here, actually. But unlike them, and us, in our dour beige shirt, pants and sandals, hers are in bright reds and yellows and blues, with gems and broches. She’s the one with all the money in this group. “If you’re bored,” the wolf said, “you can go back to that business. we only needed you here for the summoning. Just go off to count all those chits you’re hiding.” “And let you profit off this little endeavor alone? Not happening. I also invested a significant amount of my profits into this. I am going to see a return on my investment.” Why am I raising my hand? “You call getting those oils significant?” the wolf mocks. “I actually had to put in work into getting those jewels. Considering how many you wear, you could have volunteered those. Instead, you went and took what was needed off someone else’s ship.” The lynx’s eyes are closed and looks like it’s taking a lot of her willpower not to turn around. The other two are glaring at each other, so I might as well put my hand down. “Excuse me?” I say. Great, what am I up to? Come on, I’m not going to ruin the suspense just because I know where this all leads. What kind of storyteller do you take me for? Right then and there, I had no idea what I was up to, so neither do you. You already know I survive whatever mess I land myself into. Be content with that. If I could, I’d definitely hide that little nugget. The three of them look at me. Come on. You started this. Say whatever you have to say. “I was told you couldn’t force us to join this guild of yours.” The wolf smirks at the squirrel. She and the lynx look unhappy at what I said. “While true,” the lynx said. “I can promise you that there are significant advantages to taking our offer. If nothing else, you will learn—” “Yeah, but you can’t force me to go with you, right?” “That is true, but—” “Okay. I’m going to go that way. You all have fun with all of this.” I head toward the green and swaying masts in the distance. That probably means water, but I have no intention of going that far. It’s way too hot, but I just want to be far enough they wont think I’m just playing hard to get. “You don’t think learning about this place is a good idea?” Lao Hu says. I raise him to my shoulder, and after rolling his eyes at me, he sits there, grabbing onto my hair for support. My fur. I don’t have hair anymore. That’s a bit of a shame. Took me nearly a decade to get it to the middle of my shoulder blades. No idea why it wouldn’t go any longer. My mom had hers all the way down to her ankles when she was in her twenties. I’ve seen the pictures. I stagger, and my chest tightens. No, not an incoming anxiety attack. This is me realizing that, just as always, I didn’t think about the important stuff. The Earth gets destroyed, and it’s only now that I remember that my parents were on the planet too. I didn’t even think to ask what happened to them. No idea if she could have told me, but it’s the fact they didn’t even cross my mind. No. It doesn’t hit me as hard as you might imagine. Stuff like that’s happened too often for me to let it hit me. You have no idea the number of friendships I destroyed by my thoughtlessness. I take a breath, wish my parents well with whatever they picked, and move on. “You okay?” Lao Hu asks. “That looked painful.” “Nothing that can be done about it.” A glance over my shoulder shows the group being led away to a building. Looking around, the only other building around it might be a kilometer away, for as far as it is. While the back of the…town? City? Is a bit under that. In the other direction is nothing but sand. This place is the definition of ‘out of the way’, which makes it perfect. “How do I summon the jeep?” “You just do it.” I groan. Does he have any idea how not useful that is? The frog’s advice worked because I was scared and desperate to get Lao Hu back. I can’t just go, Jeep appear here, and— The Jeep’s there. Huh. It worked. It’s close. In fact, if I were to measure it, I’m confident it would be no more than five feet away. The green’s kind of drab in the daylight, but it’s going to be covered with dust before the day’s over, so that doesn’t matter. I walk to the driver-side door and realize I forgot a kind of important question. “How do I lock it? It would suck for someone to steal it.” “The doors won’t open unless you’re within two meters of it. You’re also the only one who can drive it.” “You can’t?” He rolls his eyes. “Have you looked at me? Not only am I too short to reach the pedals and the steering wheel, but how do you expect me to turn it? I’m made of stuffing, not muscles.” I sit, and he climbs onto the headrest, then drops between the seats and climbs onto the passenger side. During that, the dash lights up. I have dials for the speed and the fuel, but nothing else. The tank’s only half full. Typical. “Wish that had been digital instead.” “Give me three copper wires and six Light Bugs, and I’ll fix that for you.” He’s looking at a page floating in the air. “What’s that?” “The list of upgrades. You wanna see?” I snort. “Not without being able to even contemplate doing something about them. I’m going to check out the back.” I exit and nearly collide with the squirrel. I’m the one who yells while backing away, while she stares at me impassively. “Would it kill you to make sounds when you move?” I demand, catching my breath. “Yes,” she replies. “What is this?” “It’s a jeep. It’s a mode of transport. Conveyance?” I try. “A chariot?” I shrug. “That works. Sits five officially. No cops around here, so I could squeeze at least one more in the backseat.” I motion to the bench. “Cargo in the back is…. I don’t know how much would fit, but you can see for yourself.” I step around her and open the back. Only once I’m showing her the inside of the jeep, with Lao Hu now standing on the backseat, looking at us do I realize I didn’t open the larger storage. “That is not a lot of space.” “The back seat can be lowered to give more cargo space.” She doesn’t look impressed. “Is it pulled by horse or camel?” “Neither. It’s self powered. Magical.” “Really,” she said, a smile forming. “How far can it go?” “I—” realize I don’t know. “Five hundred kilometers,” Lao Hu says, “on one charge.” “That is…impressive.” She now sounds speculative enough I’m glad I opened the real life cargo. “You are going to be of great use to me.” “No.” I’m bristling. My fur is actually bristling. That is such an odd feeling to have under clothing, no matter how loose it is. The rough material isn’t as heavy as it looks. “I meant that we can each help each other greatly. With this, you can—” “You don’t listen very well, do you? I said no. I’m not working for you, or anyone else.” “The contract would be quite fair.” A man laughs. “Never, ever sign a merchant’s contract,” the wolf said. “What are you doing here?” she demands. “Noticed you were missing, and I couldn’t think of what might pull you away from your investment just as one of them mentioned those ‘cheat powers’ they got as part of the deal. Then I remembered one of them also wasn’t there and I just knew you’d try something.” “Go away,” she snaps. “We’re conducting business here.” “I’m not stopping you,” he says, planting himself in place. “I just want to see how you do it. You know, get pointers to bring my greed up a few points.” “How about you two take this little feud elsewhere?” I say. “I want nothing of what you’re offering.” “I am the better choice,” she says. “I don’t care. I don’t need you.” She stiffens. “You do. I control the trade here.” “I don’t care,” I reply, fully understanding I’m probably making my life more difficult. Yeah, when I get angry, which annoyance is at the start of. I stop caring about stuff like that. It actually served me well, back on Earth, in a fully civilized world. Here, I’m in for a few surprises. “We’ll see how little you care.” She walks off. “Do not expect me to be kind when you come groveling for help!” Unless she controls trade everywhere, I’ll be fine. “Never sign a contract with the merchant guild without a rep from another guild there. They’re as bad as the thieves.” The wolf pauses. “No. They’re worse. At least with the thieves, you know they’re going to rob you. The Merchants will have you believing the contract is in your favor while you’re handing them your last tur. I’m about to ask what a tur is when the answer pops into my head. It’s money. An iron coin with a stamp of wheat in front of a sun. It’s surprisingly intricate for what she called a medieval like society. Then again. I wasn’t expecting a desert. I know it’s stupid, but you tell me medieval, and I only go to the English countryside. But there’s something more important to deal with. “I don’t want anything you’re offering either.” His smile is mischievous. “What if I’m offering you a good time?” he caresses my cheek. Tall, buff, and assertive. I’m attracted and bristle at the same time. Remember when I said I don’t know what I want? It applies to my sex life too. He takes his hand away, but the smirk doesn’t leave his face. “But it looks like you’re not interested.” Don’t you have a nose? Aren’t you people scent driven the way animals are? Can’t you smell how turned on I am? Are you counting on me to make the first move? We’re both dying of old age before that happens. I don’t move. I don’t do anything. What is wrong with me! “And all I’m here to do is convince you to come back to the group. There are things you need to know about this world that—” “I’ll just ask around.” “That won’t get you the information you need. What’s your name?” “Do names have power here?” Earth isn’t—wasn’t magic, but we have writers, and those have imagination, and as a group, we probably thought of all the ways magic could work. Names giving power over someone is a big one. “It gives me the power of being polite and not having to call you, ‘Hey Lyvelin!’” “What is your name?” Hey, I might as well get his. That way, if they do, I have some power as well. “Tamika.” “Sylvester.” “It’s a pleasure to know you, Sylvester.” And I only now realize he might not have given me his real name. I so suck at this. “But yes, you should come in. We have food, if nothing else. If you’re like the other ones the summon’s made you hungry.” “I’m fine,” I lie. He looks at me, then cants his head the way I’ve seen dogs do when hearing a strange sound. Then he looks startled. “You should at least come in and listen to the explanation of your attributes.” “I’ll figure it out on my own.” He chuckles. “So you already know that you’ve been touched by the Makers?” My mind drops in the gutter right off the bat, and I have to pull it out. “By what?” “The Makers. You know. Those of made us? Well, me. Although it looks like they had a hand in making you.” I stare at him while I process what that means. Then I glare at the sky. “No! I told you I don’t want any of that! I am not main character material!”