The ring grows brightly as a sticky, dirty hooded figure reappears in the guild teleportation center. The mage technicians frown at the smelly, dirty adventurer that teleports before them. Expressions of disgust cross the faces of anyone the hooded figure passes by. The hooded figure stops by at the job reception area and waits in line. Either because of the smell or grossness of the adventure, the waiting lines suddenly became empty leaving only the hooded figure waiting in line.

A female front desk agent wrinkles in her nose in revulsion. With hesitation and struggling not to gag on the smell, the female agent painfully says, “How may I help you?”

“Sorry, but I wasn’t able to fulfill the black wolf mission. I was wondering if I could get an extension,” the hooded figure coolly replied.

The female agent hides her snicker at the newbie obviously out of their depth. She swiftly types the information in for open black wolf mission and finds it. She somewhat gleefully looks back up and coldly states, “I’m afraid the 3-day time limit was gone over per guild policy the job was reposted and has since has been taken by another guild member. However, should you have any complaints, please feel free to file a complaint with the public relations department to have the case reviewed by a guild policy case manager. Is there anything else I may help you with?”

The hooded figure sighs but doesn’t reply as the figure swiftly turns around and departs. The female agent is handed air freshener by a nearby college as she freshens the area around her desk and passes it dutifully to the next agent. The female agent whose tag reads Cindy Hoo leans over to a colleague as the there are no adventures to help. “Can you believe it? Three days to fill a simple black wolf mission, but that newbie couldn’t complete the mission. Talk about pathetic,” Cindy simpered.

Another female agent nods in agreement as she cattily adds, “And that smell? Did he fall down into a monster feces pit?” The women snigger as they wipe the tears from their eyes, before sitting up as a handsome adventure approaches. With disappointment, the adventurer did not line up in front of their desks, but heads towards their colleague a married man. The two-woman sigh and fix their make-up just in case, because one never knows when an unexpected romantic opportunity may come their way.

*

Izo frowns at the response given by the receptionist as she had been afraid of just that. She should have read the small print first before accepting the job. Well, at least she got some exercise and realized just how out of shape she was. It looks like she was going to have to complete a daily regime to get back into shape. But first, she was going to do so research.

As Izo exits the guild headquarters, she finally notices the individuals covering their noses from an unpleasant smell. Confused, Izo turns her head and suddenly gains a whiff of herself. Izo snorts in disgust as she hastily pulls her head away from her shoulder as her eyes water from the stench of monster drool.

Embarrassed, Izo scurries across the stairs and darts into a nearby park and comes across an empty playground. The shadows of the swing set are long and thin as the playground shapes contort into strange shapes. Izo chants two spells in a single chant form, “Ire ‘t Isible.” Izo floats in the air only a few meters above the ground. Tired, she strides rapidly across the air as though walking on solid ground.

The park exit soon looms overhead as Izo carefully ducks her head under the metal gate entrance. The street is full of walking persons on dates or other business. With interest, Izo halts just outside of the gate and glances down at her feet watching the people below her feet. Unnoticed she stands above them as they pass by busy with their daily lives. The crowd moves like the river surging at times and other times no more than a trickle.

Izo resumes her unnoticed and more importantly undisturbed walk home. A hot shower and meal would be just perfect. With that in mind, Izo hurries her stride and crosses over a line of cars waiting at a red light.

*

A little boy in a car mouth gapes open as he spots a hooded figure walking unnoticed on top of the halted cars at the stoplight. He excitedly turns towards his mommy and daddy. “Mommy! Daddy! There’s a person walking on top of the cars!” He excitedly proclaims as his parents mumble vague replies, “Really?” “Is that so?” “Well, what do they look like?”

The little boy scrunches his eyes and says, “They’re wearing pants and a coat that says,” the little boy pauses as he sounds out the words, “Nu-rm-l Pee-pu-l Sss-c-air Me.”

The parents stop chattering as they repeat the phrase until it is audible in their minds, “Normal people Scare Me?” Their eyes widen as they whip their heads to the sides and glance out the car windows, such a specific phrase couldn’t have been made up by their five-year-old son.

They both turn around and exclaim, “Please show mommy and daddy, where?”

The little boy shrugs and says, “He’s gone now. He just crossed the street and went that way,” the little boy pointed to the left. The parents both study each other with concern as a driver honks at them reminding them that the light had turned green. The father hastily drove forward as the mom sat back down in her seat. The two swiftly forget the strange incident, while the little boy’s eyes are full of wonder and hope for the future. The little boy stares at the window with excitement and promises to one day do the same.

*

A concierge at the front desk glances up as the front door opens and closes all on its own. Frowning he studies the door, but nothing happens. He concludes it must be a glitch as a loud ding causes him to flinch. The elevator door swings open and closes. But the most worrying part, the elevator rises all on its own to the 3rd floor. He blinks and shakes his head. He must be tired, maybe a vacation would do him good. After all, it had been over five years since his last. With that in mind, the concierge grabs a shiny white corded phone from the phone stand and dials his wife. The phone is picked up on the second ring as the concierge proposes a vacation to someplace warm. The wife squeals excitedly in delight as they begin to plan the wondrous and unexpected event.