October 9, 1639

Orange County, California

Under parting clouds, the sun shone upon a residential neighborhood. Anders looked out his Mercedes, rolling his windows down and enjoying the breeze as he coasted down the roads. The homes and sidewalks were completely different from the last time he was here; trash and debris no longer cluttered the area. Everything from the storm several months ago had been cleaned up, and the neighborhood looked as if nothing had even happened.

The only difference he noticed was an increase in ‘for sale’ signs. He passed almost a dozen such signs before he pulled up to his driveway. Noticing his neighbor Greg watering some plants, he walked up to him. “Hey, Greg.”

Greg looked up from his plants and cracked a smile when he saw Anders. “Oh hey Sam! I take it you’re on vacation?”

“Yeah, I’ve got a couple weeks. Been pretty crazy working with all these new fantasy folks.”

“Oh? Yeah I’ve seen some stuff about that on the news. Wish I could go check out this Qua Toyne place, but I’ve been busy with getting the company back together.”

“Tough times?”

Greg shrugged, turning off the water. “Eh, somewhat. The first couple of months were pretty bad. Lot of folks around here got hit hard when the economy and labor market tanked.” He gestured around, pointing at the various ‘for sale’ signs.

“Damn,” Anders muttered. “I’m glad you’re still kickin’ around though.”

“Ayup, I’m one tough bastard. So how are these new folks?”

“They’re… a bit arrogant. I don’t think they’d try anything stupid to maintain their influence though. But then again, these guys are pretty aggressive with their policies, so I’m not so sure. Everyone else is fairly polite though; we’ve got a few new nations requesting contact.”

“Huh. Well that’s something.”

“Yeah, and I also heard about a specialized group of marines and special forces teams getting sent up north. This ‘Operation Doomslayer’ has been quite the talk of the town, on the fleet at least.”

“Doomslayer? They going to kill demons or something?”

“Something like that. Kingdom of Topa wants our help, and being the good Christian nation that we are, we pretty much accepted their request right away.”

“Ha, sounds fun. I wish I could’ve done that back in the day, but man I’m getting old. Wife just said my beard’s turning white the other day.”

“Well, you still look fairly young to me.”

Greg chuckled. “No need for flattery, Samuel. I’m already planning on embracing the new look, maybe getting an eyepatch haha!”

Samuel smiled and shook his head. “So anyway, how are things overall?”

“Well, gas is fucking eight a gallon. Used to be nine, but it’s been going down recently; thank God. Oh, and pineapples are through the roof. I gotta say, I never expected to have to pay like ten bucks for one of those things. Everything else seems fine though, economy’s back up and running. Stock market’s recovering decently, magic shows are becoming more popular. Can't tell who’s a phony and who’s real, unless of course they’re one of those furry fellas or pointy ear fellas.”

“Oh, that’s interesting. I wonder if we’re gonna see some new celebrities popping up.”

“Oh, yeah. There’s this new elf girl who got on the news a few times. I’d tell ya more, but the wife gets jealous whenever this elf girl gets on the screen!” He laughed.

“Gee, I wonder what my wife would think about the girls I’ve been running into lately. The diplomat from the Parpaldian Empire — that arrogant country — is like a supermodel. I bet that womanizer Reiker would’ve loved to get posted there. Oh speaking of which, I should go tell my wife I’m home.”

“Alright bud, I’ll catch you later.” Greg waved Anders goodbye.

Anders knocked on his house door, prompting his wife to come running to the door. Excitedly, she opened it with a big smile and hugged Anders tightly. “Oh, I’ve missed you so much!”

Anders reciprocated her embrace. “I’ve missed you too darling.”

“I wish I could go with you…” She looked up to him with puppy eyes.

“Yeah, I do too, but it’s —”

“Too dangerous, I know. So, come on in, tell me about your adventures! I’ve got your favorite ravioli ready on the table!”

Anders walked in with a loving smile and began to tell his wife about his adventures.

——

San Diego, California

Director Kaios stepped off the large metal ferry, accompanied by his assistant, Raita. Afraid of Remille’s wrath if he had traveled to the United States as a diplomat, he decided to travel during his break. Due to restrictions on international travel imposed by the Americans, he had to travel first to the Rodenius continent and then, using Qua Toyne as a conduit, secure a ride to the mainland.

With the rising influx of Elysian tourists, a helpful tourist center was propped up to help associate the new guests with American culture. A gigantic sign in English and Elysia’s common languages helped direct the tourists, along with the help of several native guides, who had learned English and American customs with astonishing speed. Merchant vessels were also docked alongside them, contrasting greatly with the giant cargo ships.

When their ferry’s passengers finished disembarking, they were split into several groups and each assigned a tour guide. After taking a few moments to admire the scenery and discuss amongst themselves, the guides brought the tourists to a cool, air-conditioned dome-like structure. Multiple screens were posted around the building, each displaying instructional videos to groups seated on rows of chairs.

Kaios and Raita were brought to the first section, where they learned the basics about the American economy: what form of currency is used, what goods and services can be bought, and where to exchange currency. Afterwards, they were led to a section where they learned about basic traffic rules and emergency services. The remaining sections almost leaked out of their heads, but they tried to retain the information in order to make the most out of this alien place.

“So, Raita, how long have we been here?”

“Close to two hours, sir.”

Kaios groaned. “Ugh, that felt as if time was passing at half the usual rate! Goodness, it almost seemed like an eternity. I will be honest: I do not remember much of these important details.”

“That’s alright, sir. I kept track of everything.”

“Well then, excellent. What do we do now?”

“First, we should go to the currency exchange booth so we can trade our pasos for dollars. We’re gonna have to find a room at a hotel, and then we need to buy a phone for Uber or a bus pass to go places…”

Kaios held up his hand, causing Raita to stop talking. “Okay, I’ll have you handle these complications. I’ll just follow you.”

“Alright, Director.”

After trading their pasos for dollars, they walked outside of the building and emerged into a crowd of tourists, fantasy enthusiasts, and enterprising businessmen. Kaios noticed a group of furry demihumans engaging in active discussion with some giddy Americans, and even posing for pictures with them, as was demonstrated in one of the educational videos. It then struck him that these people from Earth were new to the existence of demihumans, although they peculiarly were not new to the concept itself; their literature seemed to contain numerous references to what they deem ‘fantasy’. Raita explained that the world these people originated from was populated only by humans, although things such as magic, dwarves, and elves existed in tales.

He wondered if there must have been some sort of connection between Elysia and Earth at some point in the past, to explain such a strange coincidence. Noticing that Kaios was staring, Raita pulled his arm to bring him back to reality. Kaios followed her to a small stand, where a man conversed with a group of elven tourists.

“Well, Mister Kanata. I’m glad you liked our services the last time you were here. Here’s the address, and be sure to show this paper when you reach the lobby. Have a nice day!”

Raita walked up to the man.

“Hey there, young lady. Looking for a place to stay?”

“Yes, I’m looking for a room for two.”

“Alright.” The man gave her a pamphlet. “We’ve got a few slots open for rooms with one bed, only $150 a night.”

Kaios ignored the discussion, continuing to look around. After a few minutes, Raita brought Kaios to the side and explained their hotel details. “I booked a room at a hotel, and we need to take one of those yellow cars over there and give them this slip of paper. This is the address to the hotel; we need to make sure we don’t lose it, so that we don’t get lost.”

Kaios simply nodded and allowed Raita to hail a taxi.

After getting in, the driver turned around and analyzed his new passengers. “Interesting getup y’all have. Where y’all from?”

Raita answered him, “We’re from the Parpaldian Empire, sir.”

“Parpaldia eh? Oh yeah I’ve heard about Parpaldia. Got that interesting 18th century style stuff. Would love to visit myself, but the travel restrictions are still in place,” he said as he pulled away from the harbor and entered a freeway. “We can only visit Qua Toyne and Quila, unless we’ve got a special work permit.”

“Oh, 18th century?”

“Yeah, so right before we got whisked away we were in the 21st century. So ‘bout 300 years ago.”

Kaios’ heart dropped as he heard that. Was the Parpaldian Empire truly that far behind the United States? He continued looking out the window, but increased his attentiveness toward the conversation.

“I see, so you’d essentially want to visit our country as a historical experience, then?”

“Oh certainly. I’m pretty interested in history, and going there would probably be the closest thing I could get to time-traveling back to the 1700s.”

Raita prodded the man for more information by asking questions. “Interesting. But then why won’t the government let you indulge in this? Why are there travel restrictions?”

The driver looked into the mirror and shrugged. “Beats me,” he said, driving with one hand on the wheel. “They just want to make sure it’s safe out there. In our history, medieval and even renaissance era civilizations weren’t that safe. I guess what I’m trying to say here is, we don’t trust this world enough to let our citizens just go out all willy-nilly, y’know? Just imagine if a group of tourists like, got caught in a war somewhere and were executed or something. That’d give President Lee a real bad reputation.”

“That makes sense.”

“Alright folks, your stop’s gonna be right there,” he pointed to a large multi-story structure. “It was nice meeting ya. Your fare is six dollars and eighty cents.”

Raita gave the man eight dollars, making sure to adhere to the local culture of tipping. After bidding the man goodbye, several hotel staffers came out to assist them with their luggage.

“Would you like us to bring these up to your room?”

“Yes, please,” Raita said. Then, turning to Kaios, she said, “Let us go to the lobby so we can check in.”

There, they found the same group of elves from earlier. After the elves finished checking in, they noticed Kaios and Raita. One of them walked up, apparently recognizing the Parpaldian duo. “Oh hey… aren’t you Director Kaios from the Third Foreign Affairs Department?”

“Yes,” Kaios wondered who the elf was, then realized his identity. “Prime Minister Kanata, was it?”

“Indeed. So what brings you here to the United States? I was under the assumption that Parpaldians didn’t visit ‘barbarian’ countries.”

“We don’t. However, something tells me that the term ‘barbarian’ is slowly becoming anachronistic. After seeing their technology for myself, I was convinced that there is more to the United States than just their location outside the civilized regions. It dawned on me that geographic location shouldn’t be the dominant factor in determining whether a culture is barbarian or not.”

Kanata nodded, impressed by Kaios’ words. “To hear that from someone of the upper ranks of Parpaldian society… I never could have expected that. Well done, Director Kaios. You’ve shed your arrogance since the last time we met.”

“Don’t push it, Prime Minister.”

Kanata held his hands up. “Very well, Director. I will say though, you made the right choice by coming here. We couldn’t believe their tales when they first met us, but here we are, surrounded by towers of glass, horseless carriages, and majestic aircraft.”

“I’m not here for official Parpaldian business. I’m here for vacation, and for myself: to see whether or not the rumors were true.”

“The rumors are true alright, and so much more. I suggest checking the front desk for recommendations. They have programs explicitly for new arrivals.”

“Thank you, I’ll take that into consideration.”

“I hope you also consider what your leaders are going up against. Louria made the mistake of underestimating the United States.”

“Certainly, although my superiors may not think the same way…”

Kanata gave a dejected look, almost putting Kaios. “That’s unfortunate. In any case, I wish you well, Director. Good luck with your duties.”