Materializing into Eternium was like walking into a stadium. Everything was fine until you got inside. Then, Marlow couldn’t even move. It was very hard since everyone was packed together like sardines in a can.

Jabbing, wiggling, getting squeezed, or not being able to breathe for a second when another soul entered the world. The only thing that filled Marlow’s vision was panicked faces and hair. As so many people attempted to make their elbow room, which resulted in a few bruised ribs.

He could have sworn he’d seen a figure dressed in knight armor teleport in and immediately drown in the sea of people. He couldn’t even move his arms. At this point, the mob of people had become so dense that he wasn’t sure if he was even touching the street.

Not to mention the noise. It was like a rock concert playing a thunderous solo in his ear. It felt like a fate worse than death, surrounded by millions of people in the same itchy tunic and pants. He should have taken his chances with the mutated cats.

Marlow turned his head, attempting to find an exit. He instead saw a child riding atop his mother’s shoulders. The kid was crying. Marlow looked down at the kid’s feet. Which were beaten red and swollen.

This caused a light bulb in Marlow’s head. He wiggled his shoulders and arms while kicking his feet. Finally, he shinnied on top of the person in front of him. Getting some vulgar profanities from the person he was now pig backing.

But now wasn’t the time to be weighted down with insults. Instead, it was time to start searching. Since Marlow hadn’t seen his family come through the post office he was at, they must have come through the other post office near them. So they must be here, somewhere.

“No family emergency plan included being transported to another world! Just breathe in and out. In and-”

Just as Marlow closed his eyes, his heart finally dropped back into his chest, creating a new portal. Sending another sudden surge of people into the tightly packed area. The compact's pressure began to overflow as waves of people started to be unwillingly hoisted on top of other people. Finally, people began crying out as they were smoothed by newcomers.

Marlow was even being pulled over by the constant wave of people. Just having bonked heads with the person he was piggybacking. People murmured, saying rude things, asking if someone was moving off them. Then put something where it shouldn’t belong.

This, too, Marlow is all background noise. He only had one objective to find his family. Everything else was secondary except for eating, drinking, and finding a place to sleep. But his family was his priority.

Crowd-surfing on top of the masses, he wiggled. Then, putting hands on faces and feet on overburdened shoulders, he slowly squirmed his way out of the Town Square. Slithering on top of the thinning crowd, he first touched the ground.

From his position, he noticed something shiny that looked almost out of this world, a ladder, untouched in an alleyway. After getting stepped on by a dozen people, he eventually stood up. He threw himself between a pair of bodybuilders and got hammered in the process, but he made it into the alley with the ladder.

He took a running start, jumped, and grabbed the ladder's first rung. Unfortunately, the ladder broke loose, which caused Marlow to fall back down to the ground and freed the ladder to come crashing. Turning Red in the face from all the weird looks he got. He set it against the wall and climbed onto the roof nervously to finally begin his search.

The rooftop was empty if you didn't count a couple of birds watching the action. Marlow stepped up to the edge of the building. Below him were thousands, if not millions, of people flooding the streets of this new world.

A literal sea of faces, but he only had eyes for three. The ladder raddled behind. He turned around and saw another person clambering onto the roof.

“Listen, I'm just trying to find my brother, man. You cool if I just bump on your roof for a little bit?”

“Oh! I'm looking for my family too.”

“Oh, that's cool, man. I won't tell if you won't tell.”

With a mutual understanding, the pair began watching people. As Time ticked by, more and more people found their way to the rooftops. It was like watching a flood in slow motion as more and more people began filling the streets.

Marlow scanned the crowd. Hoping that he could find a familiar face, haircut, whatever. Someone that he knew so that he wouldn’t have to be alone.

Other people also made their way over to the edge and began their search through the crowd. Others jumped to other rooftops, getting from the overpopulated roof. Marlow didn’t care that he was being bumped. He would find his family.

He heard a commotion behind him, so he checked over his shoulder and found the child riding on his mother's shoulders. He was crying. Thankfully, some adults were trying to comfort him.

He turned back to the crowd. Some other good Samaritan would come along and save the day. But no Samaritan could help him spot his family. Sifted through the sea of people. He’d spotted a familiar brown wavy hairstyle, Yelled and waved his arms! He’d found his dad!

The person turned around, and Marlow knew with a sinking feeling. That just yelled at a random stranger for no reason. He buried his face in his hands and hoped the stranger would turn right back around and forget his face.

Peeking through his fingers, he spotted a woman weeping out across the street. Removing his hands from his face, he realized that a woman was the mother giving a piggyback to her child earlier.

He could be THE good Samaritan and reunite child and mother! … But who was he kidding? What could he do, shout at them and point them in the direction of each other. How could they even hear him specifically over everyone else? He couldn’t help. He was just another face in the crowd.

He turned his attention back to the sea of people that continued to pour out around the fountain. Once, he believed he spotted his father, so-called out again, only to find that it was just a stranger with a nice beard.

The sun that was once high in the sky now sank below the horizon. Bulled-over streetlamps lit up, illuminating the streaming mob. Rooftops that were once barren became occupied by similar people overlooking the crowd. Sifting through the assemblage mob in the hope of finding their loved ones. With little to no success.

Marlow's thirst felt a nudge from behind him, then a second and another until he found his toes sticking over the gutter. That his foot, then himself as he tumbled into the mob without prompting or warning.

He came down on some poor sap trying to free himself from a pair of Karens. Marlow wiggled himself upright before elbowing his way out of there.

At this point, Marlow decided he could try his luck somewhere where there weren't as many people. So he began slowly, painstakingly, edged himself away from the Town Square, getting bumps and uncomfortable lumps all over.

Having jammed his way through a pack of old geezers, Marlow finally found the space to stretch his legs. Weaving through the crowd now was like walking through the halls of his old school, challenging but doable.

He looked left then right and noticed an odd line leaking out of a house. No, not a home, a tiny barracks. The line stretched almost around the whole block. Waiting to see if the line would move, a guard walked out of the overfilled house.

“FIVE WEEKS UNTIL WE CAN PUT YOU ON THE WAITING LIST TO HELP YOU FIND YOUR FAMILIES, FIVE WEEKS!” A low growl rumbled from the assembled people.

Debating whether to join the line or not. Marlow saw a familiar sleepily face standing at the back of the line. It was the child, motherless and alone. The only part of his face that was clean was the paths his tears dug out. Marlow turned around, compelled to find another place.

“Another great victory for Mighty Marlow.” He followed traffic flow farther and farther out from the town square. The farther out he traveled, the more intricate building became. Grew in length and size, it seemed they could fit a whole neighborhood inside. Eventually, Marlow came across a sign reading ‘refugees sleep for free. Making his way inside the building, he found coats lining the floor.

Not wanting to cause a Ruckus, he picked a cot out of the way and fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow, not even pulling up a blanket for comfort.

The next day he was offered a small slice of ham and an egg for breakfast. Then he went back to the town square. Scanning the masses for any familiar faces. With no success. He forced his way through the mob of people. The homeless shelter also provided a slice of bread for dinner. He discovered this when he’d called it a day and headed back early. His cot neighbor asked if he had any crumbs to spare.

Each day got a litter harder and harder to travel the town square. As people mob of people grew evermore. Not to mention his appearance. First, his hair became slick with grease since no showers were available. Then his peasant clothes became compressed with wrinkles and sweat stains as there was no way for him to do laundry without bumping into someone or getting it stolen. With each passing day, the waiting list grew so much that it eventually plateaued around one year.

Six days after he arrived, one of the portals diligently dumping out people by the droves suddenly closed. This would have caused such a ruckus if there hadn't been so many. But five days later, half of the portals were gone until one week later when the last portal finally blinked out of existence.

Marlow saw it with his own eyes as an Indian girl fell from the portal, landing on a jam of people with the sky now clear behind her. No more survivors were coming, or at least as far as he knew. Now was an excellent time to finally get on that waiting list. Crawling on his way back down doesn't matter. He had set up oh so long ago. He felt a rumble in his tummy.

He'd already gotten his allotted morning breakfast. But that was all he was getting. Now is the time to go and explore. Then again, he could begin to sift through the masses instead of waiting a year.

They might have come while he was asleep and had gone to a different homeless shelter. Or we were sleeping on the streets! In that case, it would help if he would go and explore! Not like the growing pit in his stomach was uncomfortable or anything. So, no, that couldn’t be it.

Slithering through the packed rooftop. Marlow made his way down the ladder and into the cramped Street below. Having to put his arms above his head to square his way between the crowd. It only took him about three hours to get out of the Town Square. A new personal record. He was getting good at this, or at least he thought.

Marlow traveled. He’d walked farther than any I've ever had. He found so many black alleys that looped around on each other, which could be good and come in handy when he was being chased if it ever came down to that. Hopefully not.

He noticed a large building that changed colors every few seconds, which was not too far away. He began working towards it. Traveling down an unnamed street, he saw a door slightly ajar. Glancing around, he saw a few windows broken, a couple of hand railings bashed in, and a foul stench akin to spoiled milk.

He was just about to turn back a crack behind him, along with some unfriendly voices talking maliciously about ‘getting the goods ready for the boss.’ Marlow took off to the door without getting mixed up in any of this.

He rushed in and became flushed as a sudden heat wave bombarded him. Blinking away the sudden growth of the temperature, he spotted a chicken plucking the ground. Then, feeling a stiff breeze kiss his back, he closed the door behind him.

Marlow’s stomach grumbled hungrily at the side of the loose chicken, but he could just kill it. But, of course, it wasn't his in the first place. So I'll just be rude. Who knew how many chickens one person had?

The floor was riddled with a not wanting to have the establishment's Proprietors get the wrong idea. But, because of his sudden appearance, he took a peek around the corner to find them and explain his current dilemma.

He instead saw nesting boxes upon nesting boxes full of chickens. Spreading beyond the original size of the building, it may be expanded into the nearby buildings.

It looked like a warehouse was converted just to house this many chickens. Sure they weren't free-roaming, but if they were, the ground would be plucked clean.

He ventured forward and saw an odd detail. Each cubby had a light above it. Curious, he lifted a chicken with a light and found a small opal egg. Grabbing the egg with his free hand, the light went out. Setting the passive chicken back down, it clucked.

An odd tingle rose from his gut. As if something was watching him waiting to see what he would do next. He spun around, catching only chickens going about their business. Then, worrying that the owners might have caught him on camera, he decided that maybe taking more than one egg wouldn't hurt. So might just cash in while he still could.