THE MOMENT
"Where to next?!" Excitement fluttered in Tila's stomach when she saw several black portals appear. She was nervous following the team through one the first time; she didn't realize it was a portal until she emerged into a new world on the other side. She felt the odd sensation of knowing she should be concerned; but, actually not caring. And every time they left another world behind she cared a little less. They killed monsters and visited dungeons together and Tila was ready for more. She wanted adventure and now she was hooked.
"I think we're done for the day," Aurora the team leader, said. She was a young, blonde teenager. Tila felt slightly out of place when she first met up with the group - she was the oldest member and the rest were teenagers.
"See ya!" Tila's new friends, Emily and Vivi, waved as they disappeared into a portal. Valentine, gave her a friendly nod as she walked into a separate portal. In moments she was left with the brown-haired teenager with golden highlights. She realized she needed to speak up quickly as Aurora gave her a wave and headed to the last portal.
"Hey, wait...," Tila called out. Aurora paused.
"Yeah?" she asked.
"Ummm...," Tila glanced around the dense forest. It was much different than her port city where she met the group. She wasn't even sure how many portals they'd been through much less where she was on Earth. "...where is this?" she asked. An amused smirk formed on Aurora's face.
"You're not kidding are you?" she asked as she stepped closer to Tila. Tila shook her head and Aurora giggled louder.
"You've been Awake since we met up, I checked," she said while continuing to chuckle. "...this whole time you've just been coasting along for the ride without asking questions?" she laughed when Tila's only response was a nod and a shrug.
"I don't even know what you're talking about now...," Tila said.
"Well, don't worry too much about that, Mundo'll give you answers," Aurora replied. "And now I know why you didn't really help with any of the encounters," she added.
"How did all of you get so... magical?" Tila asked. She saw them all do some pretty amazing things.
"It's not that magical, that's just the AlterNet," Aurora replied. "You'll get some Abilities too once you make your character," she said. "What you get access to depends on the Class you choose."
"I can learn too!?" Tila asked with wide eyes.
"Sure, if you can play video games you can handle the AlterNet." Tila nodded in agreement; it seemed like a reasonable assumption.
"What's a video game?" she asked.
"It's not important, you're skipping over them anyway," Aurora laughed. "So, do you want to go straight to Mundo or do you want to get anything from your home Earth first?" Tila tilted her head.
"Home.....Earth..?" she asked.
"Mundo's it is," Aurora nodded with a grin. "They'll explain it to you better; but, this...," she pointed at the air and a tall black portal formed; the kind she'd been through half a dozen times already. "...is a portal to an alternate universe. There are an infinite number of Earths out there; we picked you up on one and now we're here on a different one. Questing took us all over the place," she shrugged, then stepped closer to the portal.
"Travel between Earths is super easy. Once Mundo explains things you can go back to your own Earth or any other one you like," Aurora explained.
"Any other Earth...?" Tila asked. "What's out there?"
"Infinity," Aurora replied. "If you can imagine it, it's out there. Mostly."
"Infinity...?" Tila's stomach flip-flopped at the thought. She stopped walking and a pensive expression took over her face. She felt like a big fish in a small pond for her whole life. She knew there had to be more to see out there and that was why she joined the adventuring guild. But now, her mind was alight with the possibilities before her. She got exactly what she wanted even if it didn't happen the way she imagined it. To some people, that kind of limitless choice might have been paralyzing. But, to Tila, the choice was simple. She took in a deep breath for courage, then smiled at Aurora. The teen stood by the portal patiently, and she returned the smile.
"If it's infinity, then I should get started," Tila said. She stepped forward to walk through the portal. "First Mundo's, and then, I'll explore everything else."