THE MOMENT
The first few hours were everything that Lance Whitman had hoped for. He was in a world of fantasy and magic and the enchanted forest he appeared in made that very apparent. He caught sight of fluttering fairies and possibly even a unicorn; but, he didn't want to chase it down to be sure. He spent some time exploring in circles. When he was comfortable and sure it was real, he decided to find his way out of the woods. He crossed a dusty path a few times and with his mind made up he returned to the path and chose a direction.
Lance considered himself a good man, and his presence in the forest was almost proof of that. It wasn't a direct reward; but, he took the prize as a favor from the universe itself. How many people could say they were given the chance to go to any world he could imagine? His isekai dream came true and he'd made it to a fantasy world.
But, just like the life he left behind, it didn't take long to find injustices. It came rolling up the dirt path right to him. A wooden wagon with a rough-looking heavyset man sitting up in the box seat with the horse reigns in hand.
"Whoa,..." he pulled on the straps and brought the wagon to a stop by Lance. "... afternoon good sir," the coachman smiled down at Lance. "It's not often I pass a traveler on foot in this forest, how goes it? Do require any assistance?" He was friendlier than Lance first expected by his appearance; but, he was in a new world now. It was as good a time as any to stop judging a book by its cover.
"Thank you, I could do with a ride to down, if you're headed to one," Lance nodded. he took a step closer and noticed the full carriage for the first time. He'd expected small wooden doors like he'd seen on TV, with maybe an elegant lady or dapper gentleman visible through the windows. Instead of doors, the side of the carriage consisted of black iron bars with three elven women chained together.
"Hop on up here with me, you don't want to ride with them," the driver smiled and shuffled his body over to make room.
"Are they ... prisoners...?" Lance knew better. He'd seen enough of the genre, and the malnourished bodies of the elves to get the full picture. But, he was curious if the fat man had enough sense to lie.
"Prisoners?" The man chuckled and shook his head. "They're this month's rent. Taking them to auction...," he said.
Lance considered himself a good, moral man. Slavery might have been the norm in this new world; but, it wasn't right. He wouldn't have stood for it in his own world and he didn't have to stand for it now. He closed his eyes for a moment to try and calm down. Unfortunately, the driver chose that exact moment to speak.
"So.... are you joining me or did you decide to nap instead?" the driver asked. Maybe if he'd worded it slightly differently, Lance wouldn't have reacted as he did. But, the mere idea that he would 'join' the trader for anything was offensive. He acted on instinct, even before he opened his eyes again.
When he did, he caught the sight of the driver's legs as he tumbled down to the ground on the other side of the carriage and his flintlock was still smoking.
"You're free!" he hoped the elven women would understand him as he rushed to the cage. He only took his eyes off them for a minute to make sure the coachman wasn't standing up; but, when he looked back the women were gone. The cage was still closed but it was empty now.
"Huh?"
"Is there a reason you're interfering with my trade routes?" a new voice spoke up from behind Lance. He was scared and spun around to see another rotund man, though younger and closer to Lance's own 24 years. He had poofy, curly dark brown hair and a bored expression as he waited for Lance's answer.
"Slavery's wrong!" Lance raised his weapon to threaten the unarmed newcomer. Not only did he look as young as Lance, he also wore contemporary clothes; blue jeans and a t-shirt.
"Ah geeze, another one of you guys...," the newcomer sighed with a touch of humor, and he shrugged. "Hi, my name's Aurelio Luna," he gave him a half-hearted wave. "And, you need to learn to adapt to your surroundings," he added.
"I'll never embrace slavery!" Lance replied without giving his own name. He didn't want to be friends with slave traders.
"Cool," Aurelio nodded. "Then, don't. But, leave my routes out of it," he said. He flicked his wrist upward and a smokey-grey pane of glass appeared in front of him. Lance recognized it, he had his own Slate that he'd prodded at for a bit before exploring the forest.
"You're from a different world like me...?" he asked.
"You're nothing like me...," Aurelio shook his head. "How did you get here? I mean, who gave you a node and put you here?"
"A corporate representative.. she said she was from Io Limited..?"
"Huh.. alright, I guess that kind of explains why you're missing some details..," he nodded. "Let me get things started up again, and I'll take you to Mundo to get you a proper orientation."
"Started... again?" Lance tilted his head. Aurelio had to be talking about his slave trade; but, Lance couldn't piece together what that meant. "No more slaves...," he said as he reminded Aurelio about the gun in his hand.
"First of all...," a saucer-sized black hole opened in the air next to Aurelio. It looked like a smaller version of the portal that brought Lance to this new world, and he wasn't sure what to expect. Then, the gun was yanked out of his hand. A second hole appeared next to him, and Aurelio reached into the black to take the gun from him, then he dropped it on the ground at his feet, several yards away. "... that's just rude...," Aurelio said. "Second of all...," he nodded at the carriage and Lance looked over in time to see the slaver materialize in his seat again. A few moments after he took shape, the slaves in the cage also reappeared. "They're just NPCs, they're not actually people." After a second, the driver whipped on the reins and the wagon moved forward.
"I couldn't have known that...," Lance replied.
"No, but you did know you came to a new world," Aurelio said. "And, the first thing you did was try and force your old morals onto a new reality. You gotta be more flexible in the AlterNet," he gestured at a new black hole that opened in the air next to him. It was tall enough for Lance to walk through, and Aurelio encouraged him. He didn't need a lecture from Aurelio and changed the conversation.
"What happened to the slaves? I didn't see them run away, is that because they're NPCs too?"
"They ceased to exist when you killed the driver. But, I got here fast enough to recover them," Aurelio nodded.
"Why didn't they go free?" Lance still wasn't completely sold on Aurelio's kindness. They might've been NPCs; but, it was still slave trading.
"Go free?" Aurelio shook his head. "That's not how things work here. I hope you realize that before you go around trying to 'free' more slaves."
"What do you mean?"
"They're NPCs," Aurelio reminded him. "Slave NPCs... without a Slaver... they don't exist."