Chapter 27 Exposition
The excitement from Em’s new interns was contagious.
They shared a greasy meal of cafeteria pizza with her and Sasha, happily chatting over future plans for the plotline.
Ideas were passed back and forth between napkins or cups of soda, the interns finding every opportunity to impress Em with their skill set and resumes.
Except for Marq. He choked on his pizza and fell limp in the red cafeteria booth, but none of the others seemed too concerned. Apparently, his “pretending to die to get out of assignments” included this new internship. And the beautiful chaos of his nonsense increased how hard Em smiled at it all.
This was finally feeling right. Like the book she wanted her plot to start as.
She let the interns take turns and flip through her journal, which had magically filled with the previous chapters of her shitty questline so far. The interns studied it like it was holy writ, taking notes and asking questions about the jumbled details.
“We so need a bonding quest,” Ming said with her mouth full, a bit of cheese dangling from her chin.
“Shouldn’t we focus on killing the necromancer?” Jane said, eating her pizza with a fork and knife, which happened to be gluten-free and vegan.
“No, a good mentor always ensures their Main Character’s new companions can learn how to communicate and train well together,” Ming said, wiping her face.
“I’m surprised Faylorn didn’t try to train you more, Em.
You might’ve been able to overcome your stomach ailments and lack of cardio stamina with a bit more practice. ”
The mention of the old wizard tugged at her heartstrings. Em bottled the numbing grief away. She couldn’t be distracted by her Character Separation Attachment Disorder.
“I figured my time at Sanderson was enough,” she said.
“Not even close.” Ming shook her head. “You need a proper experience to level up your Main Character skills. As one of my mentor idols once said, ‘it is our experiences that show what we truly are, far more than our history.’“
“That’s not the quote,” Harry sneezed.
“Bless you,” Jane chittered, earning another sneeze from the vampire.
“Whatever.” Ming waved him off. “My point still stands.”
“It would be good to get some practice in,” Sasha nodded. “Want to reach out to the others and take on a Side Quest with the guild, sweetheart?”
Em wrinkled her nose. “I don’t need the others right now. I need to connect with our new characters and form some bonding experiences, like Ming said, so we can create something original together.”
“Which should include the rest of your party…” the dryad pushed.
“Later.”
“Aren’t you even a little bit worried about them?”
“They’re fine without me,” Em said. She pulled back her book from Harry and used Inky to write across the page: and Roden, Gair, and Polo were perfectly fine at the Long Rest Tavern and Inn, staying out of trouble…
“See?”
Sasha bit her lip, eyes narrowing. “Fair enough.”
Just spelling out her friends’ names itched the empty longing in Em again. This time, the urge to go back to them grew a little deeper inside her. She pushed the feeling down with the grief for Faylorn.
Later. I can worry about it all later.
“Nothing to worry about.” Em showed her work to Sasha, and the dryad scowled further.
“I really don’t like you messing with them like that, sweetheart,” Sasha said.
“I didn’t do anything harmful. In fact, I’m probably keeping them safe from gallivanting halfway across Novella to reach us.”
“I’ve heard walks along the beach and stopping by a coffee shop or exploring local malls are a good way to connect with new friends,” Jane offered, causing Harry to blush and sneeze again. “And I could really use some new leggings right now.”
“What we need is a good dungeon crawl!” Ming hit the table a little too hard, clattering everyone’s dinnerware and scaring Marq into jolting back up with a moan.
“We need adventure,” Ming pushed. “Danger and trauma bonding!”
“Now that I’m down for,” Sasha said, grinning.
“I think my pizza is poisoned,” Marq groaned, leaning his head back on the table and gagging exaggeratedly.
“Quit dying, Marq.” Harry slapped the giant barbarian on the back. “It’s not good for you.”
“You’re the mentor, Ming,” Em said. “And you know these other interns better than I do. I’ll follow your lead… so long as what you choose is original and can help advance the plot.”
“Kriqir’s got an outpost in the abandoned Dinniman Dungeons under the Shelley Ghostly Swamps,” Sasha offered. “If we infiltrated it, we could regain one of the regions he’s invaded. We might be able to find some of his battle plans for conquering the rest of Novella down there.”
“We can work on that,” Ming said. The Tiefling mentor-in-training tapped her fingernails along the metal table in thought, bouncing her leg underneath. “Dungeon… yes, that’ll work. And we can all figure out more of our on-the-scene strengths and weaknesses…”
“You sure you’re ready to mentor a whole Main Character, girlie?” Sasha raised a wry eyebrow.
Ming nodded, jittery as if she’d consumed an entire bottle of caffeine. “Yes. I can do this. I just…” she let out a puff of air. “I’m nervous is all. This is my first real story.”
“You got this.” Jane laid a ginger hand on her friend’s shoulder. “It’s not that hard once you get into the flow of things. Besides, Em’s plot is completely predictable. We’ll be ten steps ahead of everything else the entire time.”
Em winced at the stinging truth.
“You’re right,” Ming said.
A rumble shook the entire cafeteria. The ground quaked under them, light fixtures swinging, and glassware rattled.
Students’ screams erupted as plates fell off tables, shattering across the ground.
Shit shit shit. Em ducked low in her chair, covering her head as a ceiling tile crashed down close by. Dust flew in its wake. Her teeth chattered inside her own mouth, her whole body jerked and jolted by the turmoil. Everything around her trembled.
A loud crack cut across reality.
The cafeteria’s electricity flickered out, nothing but pale sunlight left.
A few students fled from the dining hall, some crying, some yelling for help.
With a hissing sigh, the earthquake stopped.
Em peered from under her arms.
“Holy crap!” Harry exclaimed between an intense fit of sneezing. Jane clung to the vampire, her blue eyes wide. Both interns pointed toward the center of the cafeteria.
A large, jagged fracture split through the foundation of the floor.
What the hell? Em’s pulse raced. She leapt out of her chair to get a closer look.
The earthquake had split the ground as easily as a broken ceramic plate.
Layers of concrete and dirt stared back at her from within the crevice.
It was wide enough for her to fall into if she got too close, dropping several meters into pure abyss.
Severed pipes on either side of the crack spewed sludgy water.
“Well, that was fun.” Ming gasped, clutching her chest as she came alongside Em. “Everyone okay?”
“Is this normal?” Sasha asked.
“No,” the interns all said in unison.
Em shuddered. In all her life, Em had never experienced a natural disaster on this scale on Adventuras Island. She hugged herself.
“I overheard some of the furries say something like this happened over in the Glorious Musclewood two days ago,” Marq spoke up, no longer ‘dead.’ He fidgeted with his hoodie strings. “Something about a big earthquake that ruptured the Wood Elves palace floors.”
Em’s mind instantly went back to the night she danced alone in the big ballroom strung between the silvery trees and waterfalls. When Gair had snuck in to follow her, an aching stab flashed across her vision. She winced past it, grinding her teeth.
Shit.
“What’s wrong?” Ming surveyed her.
“Nothing,” she lied.
“Your Character Separation Attachment Disorder is growing rapidly,” Inky sang out from her pocket, much to her demise. Em was beyond grateful no one else could hear the sentient pen. “Would you like to return to your original party before any long-term effects take root?”
“What would those be?” she muttered under her breath.
“Nausea, headaches, and emotional instability,” Inky said cheerfully.
“No, thanks. I can manage.
“Unresolved tension can lead to damaged character growth,” the pen went on. “You might want to consider at least closing one of your loose ends before you take on any more responsibility.”
“I’m fine.” Em tore her attention away from Inky and focused on the splice in the middle of the cafeteria. Her companions gathered around it, murmuring amongst themselves. Sasha simply remained at their booth, chewing on a lip in thought.
A shrilling alarm cut through the air.
Jane let out a scream, grabbing onto Harry. He sneezed at their physical contact.
“What is happening?” she cried.
“That’s the fire alarms,” Ming shouted over the ear-piercing screech. “The administration likely wants us to evacuate so they can check the structural integrity of the building!”
“Let’s get out of here,” Marq tugged at Em. She couldn’t agree more.
They stumbled out of the cafeteria into the crisp, sunny afternoon.
The fresh air and lack of sirens gave her an ounce of relief.
Students and professors clustered along the sidewalks, passing hushed voices and paled expressions.
A few held onto their lunch trays or textbooks, their afternoon clearly interrupted.
How many other realms are experiencing these quakes? Em nearly stopped in her tracks. Am I the cause of this?
Sasha’s watchful eye dug into her, as if the dryad were trying to read her thoughts.
Ming led the group through the winding paths to the outskirts of campus.
“I just need to run by the wizardry lab to collect my wand,” the Tiefling said. All worries about the earthquake seemed to melt off her, but the stress gnawed at Em. Her ears still rang with the snapped sound of a cracking foundation.
“I need to grab my backpack from my locker and a change of shoes before we leave for this swamp,” Jane said. “Meet at the central fountain?”
“Deal!” Without another word, the four interns split down different sidewalks to fetch their belongings throughout campus.
Em was left standing alone in the middle of the sea of brick buildings and expensive landscaping, unsure where the central fountain was. Second doubts crept into her, but she shook them away.
I need this originality.
For whatever reason, Sasha knew where to go. She led Em past a greenhouse to the center of campus. Each building they passed still sang out with fire alarms, and the muttered conversation of passing students warned her that all electricity had gone out on the local grid.
“Just how big was that earthquake, Inky?” Em asked.
“It appeared to be of large magnitude, but not enough to damage the structural foundations of the buildings or cause serious injuries,” Inky said cheerfully. “The source of the quake is identified as being Lack of Orderly World Building.”
“What does that mean?”
“Excellent question! Lack of Orderly World Building happens when a Great Author leaves their dimensional realms in disarray due to a lack of editing or proper maintenance; this can often lead to environmental disruptions. To exist and function without any major problems, the world of Novella requires the ordinance and supervision of its Authors.”
Shit. Em’s heart jumped into her throat, her mouth drying.
“What’s the pen thing telling you, sweetheart?” Sasha interjected, stopping them along a marble fountain covered in statues of famous heroes from Adventuras Island. But Em was too distracted to take in the grandeur of the sculptures of her childhood idols.
“That being an Author is more complicated than I thought.” Em ran her hands down her face. She twirled the feathered quill in thought, trying not to think too hard on how stony Sasha’s stare had become.
“How do I maintain and supervise Novella to prevent further earthquakes?” she asked the pen.
“That would require writing about current affairs, political structures, cultural significances, and ecosystems for each realm at present,” Inky sang out.
“Would you like me to sketch out a beginner’s guide spreadsheet into your journal so you can begin to input this information?
World-building can be a daunting task for a beginner writer. ”
“I don’t even know where to begin with any of that. And I don’t think I have the time right now.” Em almost choked on her own voice. The echoing fire alarms drilled into her ringing ears. “How long do I have until this needs to become a major priority?”
“Novella should always be your priority, sweetheart…” Sasha began, but whatever she said next faded compared to the brightness of Inky’s tone.
“You have around one week before irreversible damage to the foundational integrity and climate of Novella takes place,” the pen explained too cheerfully.
Well, fuck.
“I can walk you through a play-by-play of Stephanie Sawyer’s last updates of Novella tonight once you are completed with your Side Quest at the Shelley Ghostly Swamps this evening,” Inky went on.
“Although I must warn you, it is not a quick task. World building can be very tedious… I recommend lots of hydration and mental rest before undertaking the process.”
“Noted, thanks.” Em winced in the growing pressure.
“Would you like to further discuss your current spike in stress levels right now and how to best cope with those?” Inky asked.
“No.” Em stuffed the pen back into her pocket. She forced a smile in response to the shadowy glare on Sasha’s face. “Everything’s under control, just a weird hiccup in my new role.”
“Sure,” the dryad snorted.
One by one, the jittery interns returned. Each had a brightly colored backpack; Jane’s was covered in small pins, Ming’s was overstuffed with potions and textbooks, Harry’s was a small shoulder bag that hung limp, and Marq’s was a more stereotypical adventurer’s pack.
“Alrighty then!” Ming said. “Take us away to the swamps, Em! Let’s start this dungeon crawl and take back Novella before Kriqir takes over!”
For a moment, Em almost regretted stealing Inky and taking on the heavy responsibility of becoming her own Great Author. But she quickly shook it away and focused on the task at hand: getting some damn originality back into her life.