Allen returned Sophie’s and Blake’s blank looks while all the teenagers picked up their clothes. They looked between each other silently and turned the rough leathers over in their hands. Stacy and Ashley shared a few conspiratorial whispers about the linens being, quote, “high-key big yikes.”

Allen could hear them as if they were whispering directly into his ears, but he chose not to comment. “Quickly. Put them on, we have to go,” he said in a tense voice, causing nearly every teen to jump out of their shoes.

Sophie’s face twisted into an expression that practically screamed “do we have to?” Yet, under the eyes of Allen and his group, she hesitantly reached for the hem of her shirt and pulled it up with slightly trembling hands.

“What are you doing? Use your inventory,” Allen said suddenly, interrupting the teens before they could start stripping.

Sophie and the others jolted again at the sound of his voice. Only Blake and Sophie looked like they might have made a connection in their heads.

[“Hey, they don’t know what you’re talking about,”] Ty said, glaring into the back of Allen’s head.

Allen mentally sighed, [“I know that,”] he began, [“but they don’t know that I do know what they don’t know… uh, wait… I mean, I know they don’t know about their inventories, but they don’t know that I do know that they don’t know about their inventories…”]

[“Just shut up and let me handle this,”] Amelia said, shaking her head. [“Honestly.”]

[“Fine.”] Allen threw his hands up, sighing externally and pursing his lips as Amelia took his place in front of the teenagers.

Amelia gave them her best disarming smile before holding out her hand and summoning a potion from her inventory. “I’m not sure why you haven’t learned to use your inventories yet, most parents teach their kids how to dress themselves as soon as they turn five and unlock their system.”

[“Huh? The hell are you saying Amy?”] Camila butted in.

Even Ty palmed his face.

[“Don’t call me that, you dimwitted knuckle-dragging tramp.”]

Allen had to grit his teeth and temporarily close off his end of the telepathic link to prevent his mental laughter from bleeding through.

“Our… our parents didn’t have magic!” Stacy blurted out. “We’re from Earth!”

Jayden spoke up to, eyes flicking between Amelia and his fellow highschoolers. “Yeah, no cap! What she said!”

“Earth? As in… the ground?” Amelia asked, cocking her head to the side as an innocent look glossed over her face.

The teenager’s faces went pale, and they shared more hesitant anxious looks and clearly audible whispers.

“We’re from a different world… than they are,” Blake said, turning around to face his classmates.

“Wh-What should we do?” Sophie asked the nerdy kid, her shoulders dropping.

Christopher interrupted the conversation from the back of the group. His hands were still occupied with a spell he was conjuring when he cleared his throat. “Not to be rude, but I suggest we take this conversation elsewhere. I don’t sense any presences nearby, but that doesn’t mean we’re safe. Allen can hide from my senses within arm’s reach, after all. Hurry and get dressed, those clothes are not fit for travel in this place.”

Allen’s eyes lingered on the spell Christopher was working on for a moment. Its color was a deep golden-orange, indicative of the Mystic aspect. “A scrying spell maybe? I can never tell what skills he actually has and what he’s just doing manually.”

The professor’s reminder had managed to spur everyone back into focus. Amelia clapped her hands to get the teenagers’ attention.

“Well, anyway,” she started, “your inventory is like a pocket in the back of your mind,” she began. “You can put stuff into it and take stuff out as long as you have mana. It doesn’t cost any mana to use though, which is kinda confusing... You can also equip things in your hands or on your body when you take them out.”

Sophie’s eyes widened, and she looked down at the boxcutter between her feet. “That’s where I got this, kn-nife,” she said.

Amelia smiled again. “Yes, and you can put your clothes into your inventory just like you took that knife out.”

“And then we put the clothes on from our inventories?” Blake asked rhetorically.

Amelia nodded.

Sophie and the others focused on the piles of clothes in their hands. Blake got his set to disappear in only a few seconds, finally seeming happy for the first time since he had first shown up. Then it took the rest nearly two agonizing minutes. Two minutes during which Blake failed to figure out how to equip anything without it just appearing on top of the desired body part and falling onto the floor. It was also two minutes during which Allen and the rest of his group became increasingly nervous of their position.

Christopher hadn’t sensed anything alarming; the other lights must have been farther away than they appeared. However, there were still many small creatures lurking around. Nothing appeared more dangerous than a fly to anyone from Allen’s group, a mundane fly that is, but they were still an unknown.

In the end, the teenagers settled on just putting on what they could the normal way. Heavy-duty boots, rugged trousers, and hardened leather jackets would provide more protection from the elements or any biters than the street clothes the teenagers were wearing underneath.

With that, the group found their way to what was left of the main entrance of the ruined cathedral. Allen and Camila went first, with Amelia and Christopher in the middle alongside the teenagers, and Ty following up in the rear.

On the outside, much to the surprise of Allen and his group, they found themselves in the middle of an urban city; the kind of ‘urban’ that Allen would associate with Earth or some other developed world. The streets were paved in asphalt and filled with various kinds of unrecognizable vehicles. There were buildings of concrete and glass looming on either side of where they stood, skyscrapers even, but none of the architecture was quite right.

The most standout feature, however, was that everything was ruined, exposing steel beams, demolished interiors, and dried-up sewers beneath crumbled streets. It looked like a warzone in every way but the thick layer of foliage and overgrowth blanketing the cityscape. Moss and vines covered everything, and entire trees grew up through the pavement and out from buildings. It was difficult to tell apart wrecked and rusted vehicles from chunks of cement, and it was impossible to see down any street for more than a few blocks before a fallen building got in the way.

Then, of course, everything was dead silent.

“Christopher, what do you think the timeframe of this will be?” Allen asked aloud. “My gut isn’t telling me anything,” he added.

The professor was silent for a while as they walked through the streets. They didn’t really have any destination, but they had to pick a direction; the main road seemed like the better choice, and it wasn’t blocked until much further in the distance.

Christopher cleared his throat just after finishing whatever he was casting. The orange magic swirling into a baseball-sized orb and hovered over his palm. Allen glanced over his shoulder and found a miniature Eye of Sauron staring back at him.

“What?”

“Well, my best guess is that the difficulty of the monsters will increase exponentially,” Christopher said, flicking his wrist and making his conjuration spin around. “What that means for the timeframe, I’m not sure yet. We could be here for days, or months. It depends on how many of us there are and how quickly the monsters emerge.”

“Makes sense,” Allen replied, tearing his gaze away from the little, orange slitted eye.

“Wh-what if the rate of monster spawns is also tied to the number of players left,” Blake asked.

Allen raised an eyebrow, having nearly forgotten about the teenagers walking along behind him. He also nearly forgot to ignore the kid casually slipping into videogame terminology.

“That’s a good question.” Christopher nodded along, looking thoughtful.

“It’s just…” Blake continued, “that kinda thing is u-usually used to encourage… PVP. More people means more monsters.”

“We can rely on them for now,” Sophie added, giving the nerdy guy a nod.

Allen pursed his lips. “We’ve already established that PVP is enabled,” he thought.

“What are you talking about you freak!” one of the girl’s shouted at Blake and Sophie. Stacy, if Allen’s memory served. Either way, Allen could hear the fear and shakiness in her voice. “This isn’t a videogame! We’re gonna fucking DIE and you’re talking about videogame shit again!?”

Blake nearly tripped over a root, quickly putting Christopher between himself and the other girl. It didn’t look like he had anything to say back, just looking down instead.

“You’re not making things any better, bitch!” Sophie blurted, jabbing a finger at the blonde girl.

Jayden ever so slightly backed off from the whole situation, walking closer to Ty instead.

“The fuck did you call me!?” Stacy shrieked back, even startling her friend.

“You’re a BITCH!” Sophie repeated. “You’ve done nothing but bitch about everything since we saw the snake. Even during the tutorial, you didn’t do shit to help us with the slimes!” She was shaking too, but it was more from pent-up anger and anxiety than anything else, the way her face turned red. “Allways bitching about your damn makeup and nails. You’re lucky that shit got magicked away ‘cause holy fuck—”

“Fuck you! You think you’re hot shit because you can punch some fucking slimes. Your ass was crying like a little pussy half the damn time! Only that fucking weaboo was worse, pissing his pants n’ shit.”

“They did the tutorial together?” Allen wondered. “That’s kinda lucky.”

“Bitch, stop making fun of him!” Sophie shouted back. “He’s the only one of us who seems to know what the hell is going on! Your ass can’t even stand still for a minute without your fucking phone!”

Blake just mumbled something under his breath that not even Allen could make out.

“Stace, it doesn’t matter…” Her friend mumbled, standing meekly off to the side.

“No, it does matter!” Stacy said, planting her feet and stopping the whole entourage. “This little girl thinks she’s the boss of us!” She took a threatening step towards the other girl with fury in her eyes.

Sophie stepped up to the challenge, gritting her teeth. She balled her hands into fists and lunged forward just as a metal glove backhanded her to the ground. There was barely any strength behind it, but the blow still sent a trail of bloody spittle flying out of the girl’s mouth.

Stacy staggered back in shock, then she laughed. “Oh shit! How’s that feel bi—” She couldn’t finish before Camila grabbed her by the shoulder and belt, throwing her nearly ten meters into the air over Allen’s head.

Allen watched her sail over him, screaming and tumbling around, before ultimately slamming into the mossy undergrowth near the side of the road. It was better than open pavement, but he could still hear the sounds of multiple bones snapping like twigs.

Allen winced.

Sophie was on her knees, staring wide eyed at the crumpled mess of her classmate, a trail of blood rolling down her swollen cheek.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Camila roared, easily drowning out the pained, labored groans of the other girl. The sound of her voice echoed through the streets, travelling for many, many blocks around the ruined city. “You godsdamned kids are getting on my fucking nerves! This shit isn’t a field trip! Fuck around again and we’re leaving you in the nearest gutter!”

The whole group was quiet for a moment, nobody making a sound except for Camila’s heavy breathing and Stacy struggling to breathe with both her arms bent the wrong direction.

“Damn, girl,” Ty murmured, not really seeming upset.

“Stacy!” the other girl cried out, running to her friend. Ashley was her name.

Allen just turned and gave Amelia a look. She just sighed and rolled her eyes in response, not needing to be told.

The Healer leisurely walked over to Stacy with the rest of the group, kneeling down to inspect the damage. It looked like she had nearly landed on her face, breaking the fall with her arms instead, which had dislocated both and shattered her left shoulder. Then there were a few broken ribs, a collapsed lung, some internal hemorrhaging, a broken nose and jaw, and lastly two spinal fractures.

Well, according to Amelia’s diagnosis. It would take her a few minutes to heal all that, leaving the lung for last so they didn’t have to hear her screaming so much.

Less than a minute in, however, Christopher cleared his throat. “We have company,” he said. “Just small unidentified creatures. It seems all the noise has lured them here.”

“Wh-what are we gonna do?” Blake asked.

Looks were shared, eventually settling on Allen. He sighed.

“I guess I’ll go investigate,” he said. “It beats chaperoning, that’s for sure.”

The professor hummed. “Follow my scrying eye,” he said, “there’s a group of them forming.”

Allen nodded, equipping his mask as the little eye above Christopher’s head flitted off down the road at a decently fast pace. Only three sprinting steps, and he was right beside it again.