The sun went down. I had lost track of how much time I spent on the floor. Apparently enough for the store manager to come up to me and give me a piece of his mind.

“Sir, what are you doing? You’re disturbing our clientele.” he said pompously.

I noticed that other people were giving me dirty looks. I didn’t know how long that had been going on.

I gave him a nasty look and said, “I’m just sitting here.” my voice was hoarse.

“That won’t do! Out with you! This is a proper establishment.” he scowled and shooed me with his hands.

Just leave me alone, man. I’m not bothering anybody.

“Sir, please I… just want to sit. I have nowhere else to go.” I pleaded.

When I said the last part, it sent him fuming. I guess he knows I’m broke now.

“You have 10 seconds to vacate the premises or you will be removed. By force.” he said loudly.

I don’t have a choice then. I got up slowly, with the help of a nearby table. I nearly knocked over a few books on it.

“You clumsy oaf! Hurry it up.” he said.

I shrank away from the looks I was getting and held my head down. I tried to find the exit and when I did I proceeded towards it.

It was then that my stick fell out from under my shirt. It made a clear thud on the floor.

The store manager looked at what had dropped and gasped.

“Wizard!” he gasped flamboyantly, pointing at me.

Soon others began to join in the frenzy.

“What, a wizard? Here?” shouted a man in a business suit.

“Darla, where are you sweetie?” yelled a lady.

“Where are the guards?” shouted another man who looked like a university scholar.

In a nervous bout, I reached for my stick. My energy had forcefully come back to me and I bolted.

On the way, I bumped into someone.

“Eeeeeehh, stay away from me!” I heard a young woman exclaim.

I heard the words Stop him! but they were getting further away. I pushed open the exit doors and just ran in whatever direction first caught my eye. I had no time to think.

Wizard? I thought as I ran, gasping for air. Wizard implies magic, right?

Me? Because of this stick? But it doesn’t do anything!

I ran until I found a small group of trees planted for scenery. They were large enough to hide under, especially in the darkening evening. I stayed under the lowest hanging branches, on the side facing away from the stores. The long shadow they cast was sure to conceal me.

I held my mahogany colored stick firmly in my hand. Though I never did have a surgeon’s hand. It was shaking so much, I’d be removed from any operating room.

There must be something it can do.

“Maximize magic!” I said under my breath.

Nothing.

To be fair, that was from a popular anime I had watched. I guess I was trying to cheer myself up.

“Alright, let’s try… conceal!” I said, a little quieter.

I was hoping I might turn invisible so I could get away from the guards that were sure to be looking for me.

Nothing.

People undergo extensive training in magic in the shows I watched… so without someone to tell me what to do, I’m useless right? If I even am a “wizard”. I thought.

I gave up on expecting anything out of this stick.

I’m running on pure adrenaline right now. I’m starving, but who cares about that right now. I’m going to find everyone even if it takes me all night.

I got back to what I was doing earlier: getting the hell away from the Academia Emporium.

Shops started blending together as I stopped caring what the fancy letters said. My legs thankfully weren’t giving out on me. After several minutes, I was back at the original place with the big sign that said “ROYAL SHOPPING DISTRICT.”

My adrenaline had worn off. I was back to feeling like a slumpy moose. I was sure I wasn’t being followed by guards. Then again I wasn’t sure what the guards would look like since I ran off before I could. Maybe they’d look like the guy from the gate who let us in, or the guy carrying the halberd. Who knows.

It was surprisingly cold at night. I was angry because I wish the temperature had been like this when we were walking under the sun towards the city. And I was starting to shiver. I rubbed my hands together.

Maybe if I rub my stick and my brother’s together it’ll make a fire. That sounds like about all the magic I can do.

I needed to get my head straight. Complaining about everything wasn’t going to solve my problems. I didn’t want to start running and have to inhale cold air and out all the time, so I just walked with my hands in my pocket.

Let’s figure this out. I started laying out all the cards before me and trying to come up with a solution.

I’m in another world. No one knows me here. The people that find out I’m carrying one of these wizard sticks start seeing me as an enemy. My family is here, somewhere. I left them with the professor, but that was hours ago and I have no idea where they went. I want to find them.

It’s possible that mom or maybe Flo shared that they had nowhere to go and that he gave them a place to stay. He seemed like a nice guy. But then again he tried selling one of his books to us, so if we broke the façade that we had money, he must just have found an excuse to leave.

It’s also possible they might have started looking for me, probably starting in the direction I went. Maybe I can start asking anyone left if they’ve seen four people in nice but strange clothes. Clothes that might have looked like a noble person’s. That’s what they were compared to anyway. Okay, let’s go with that.

So I began my search for my missing family members. I stopped anyone I met and asked the same question, while also keeping an eye out for any patrol guards that might have heard about a ‘wizard’ on the loose.

I don’t know what they expect from me anyway. It’s not like I’ve seen any real magic since I got here.

I must have asked about 4 older men, 7 women, 2 younger women maybe in their teens, hell I even asked a few kids that were playing on the street. That was my estimate. I had lost count.

Exhausted, and frankly tired of talking to people, I gave up my search and focused on finding a comfortable place where I could sleep. To think that just a few days ago, I would have been sleeping soundly on a bed. Now I’m in a world where computers probably don’t exist.

I genuinely started questioning how I was going to survive without the internet. It had been my close companion for so long. I had grown up with it and it had brought me some of my fondest memories. The thought of having to become a normie in this world when I’d started to accept my nice quiet life at home was enough to get me breathing heavily.

I started getting angry. I reached into my pockets and pulled out my stick.

This piece of trash has gotten me into so much trouble. I should just get rid of it.

I made up my mind. I would throw both mine and my brother’s stick as hard as I could.

Just as I thought that and prepared to throw them, a faint voice called out to me in my head.

“Don’t.”

It sounded far away, almost ethereal.

What… was that? Did something…speak just now?

For some reason, all desire to get rid of them vanished.

And now I’m cold and alone. Who knows when I’m gonna eat anything. At least the streets are clean. I guess they didn’t call it royal for nothing.

I left the Royal Shopping District. With a lot of panting and a growling stomach, I had made it to a smaller plaza with two story buildings, the kind that had dormitories and living quarters on the top floor and shops on the bottom.

I stopped and gazed up at a building. I wished I could get inside.

Must be warm in there.

Then I saw the side of the buildings and there was an alley that connected a few of them together.

I am really doing the dark alley thing? That’s where bad people show up. But where else do I go?

For the first time since I got to this new world, I started to cry.

Why? I sobbed. Why did this happen to me?

The dark alley had a few trash cans open. Flies were gathered around the ones that were almost full. There were a few doors, which were probably used for quick access to dump garbage.

I wanted to disappear. The thought of having to sleep next to this stench was making me sick, but my body had reached its limit. I lined up two trash cans and sandwiched myself in the middle of them. I didn’t have a blanket, so I put my arms inside my shirt. I started stuffing the side of my shirt where I was hiding the sticks with some trash I dug up beside me to pad them and make sure they didn’t fall again. I was probably going to be smelling horrible for the next couple of days, but I didn’t care.

Then I drifted to sleep.

Just… just be left alone… for one night. Tomorrow I’ll… find them.