I awoke standing on the side of a dusty road, my backpack slung over my back and my headphones blasting some Midnight Oil. Instead of the many buildings of my rural town's busy main street, there was an open barren land with a long, straight asphalt road that looked like it was in need of maintenance. What little trees that I could see looked either half-dead, ready to keel over, or were dead dead. Just a couple hundred metres away was a green sign, half covered with spray paint but still somewhat legible. However, instead of the usual 'KM' that stood next to the number to signify how far a certain town was, only a single 'M' stood in its place.
"Night City… 150 metres? No, that wouldn't make much sense… it must mean miles, but whose bright idea was to use a different metric system on Australian roads? And how is Night City even an actual thing?" I took the headphones from my ears, confused about my situation. The last thing I remembered was crossing the street to the local hobby shop I frequented, keen to play some cyberpunk- the very next second, I was here. I didn't know why a sign with a fictional city was just there, but the whole situation was so ridiculous that I didn't believe it to be real. Not even for a single second.
"Ouch."
I was still standing on the side of a dusty road, my situation not becoming much better other than the knowledge that this wasn't some lucid dream, confirmed by my index finger and thumb pinching my cheek. You couldn't feel pain whilst you dream,right? But there was no way that I had been isekai'd to a fictional world that had no right to exist. The idea was far too ludicrous.
Calm down. Take some deep breaths. Panicking only brings harm- that's what Bear Grylls says, right?
I reached into my back pocket, placing my headphones within so I could concentrate, only to feel something crinkle under my grasp. It felt and sounded like paper, but I was never one for shopping lists, so a random piece of paper resting in my back pocket left me confused. Not as confused as my current situation, but still confused, nonetheless. I removed the foreign object from my pocket, expecting a folded piece of printer paper, with some random slur written. Something I could chalk up as a prank from a stranger. That wouldn't quite explain the dusty road, dead trees nor the spray-painted sign with a fictional city upon it though.
I pushed that last line of thinking from my mind, and what I found was a neatly folded yellow sticky note that felt somewhat cool to the touch, although, that could just be the sweat upon my palms from the humid air around me. The sticky note looked perfectly ordinary, with nothing abnormal about it- as if it had been taken from an office.
"What guy carries a sticky note in this day and age?" I muttered as I opened it, only to find that foul languagewasn'twritten within, but a sentence wishing me good luck. I couldn't read the name of whoever had signed the letter, the words glitching in and out of reality- like a visual bug from a early access game.
I wish you good fortune, Elijah. - L̶̼̩͚̖̣͎͇͇̹̯̇̋̓̀̀͊͑̔̈́̒̇̿̈́̈̃ẹ̵̡̈́͜f̶̧̠͕̲̬̲͇̝̗̼̘͐͗̎̊͗͗̔ͅt̸̡̛͈͎́̀̈́̽͂̒̏̅͊͌͝͝͝ ̵̛̠͂̓̿̀̐̂̑͜t̷̛̤̗̳̬̟͋͐̈́̈̀͋̌̎̊̿̅͘͝ö̸̝̝̲̟̟͖̲͇͠ ̷̧̣͚̣͙͖͍̰͎̬̏͗͆̈͆͋͆̅̋̋̈́̐͘͠Ğ̸͌̔̓̉̕ͅę̷̭̦͔̩̥̭͚͉̇̍ͅt̶̜͍̪̮͐̀͐͑͋͂̂͊̎̏̚̚ ̸̮͔̾̏̈́͛̐̔͑̆̐̅͑̽̍͘M̸̛̗̺͕̘͙͇̳̳̪̽̀̽̾͒̆͋́̄̄̂ͅį̸͖͉̮͈̗̼̺̎͂̑͊̈̓͝ͅl̴̡̧̛̛͓͕̻͙̼̙͍̼̤̻̭̐͛͊͑͌̈͌k̷̫̭̤̜̭͙̤̗͛̈̽̈́̿͂͂́̃̾̔̇̊͘͝
I scrunched the piece of paper up and shoved it back where I had found it, my situation becoming just a tiny bit worse than before. I could no longer hope that this was a dream. I could no longer remain delusional.
"Time to accept the reality, Elijah. I've been isekai'd."
The very next second, I screamed out towards the sky in outrage, kicking dust around my feet as I did so.
"FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKIIIINGGGGG CCUUUUNT!"
I wasn't a survival expert, but the sun was at its peak, or close enough that it didn't really matter. It was noon, that much I was sure of, however, my watch disagreed, however, proudly stating that it was three-thirty. It seemed that whoever had built it had never accounted for interdimensional travel, and I couldn't really blame them. The whole fucking idea was ridiculous and very frightening. I was panting with my hands on my knees, feeling just a little bit fatigued from just screaming my lungs out, I had only stopped when a car whizzed past.
I carefully dumped my backpack onto the ground, right before my feet, and took stock of what I had. I needed a mental checklist of everything I possessed, so I briefly rummaged through what was my only lifeline. My situation may have looked bleak beforehand, but now, it looked disastrous. All I had were my many rulebooks from the cyberpunk series, a drink bottle, a largely unused notepad, with a couple of pens and coloured pencils. The items placed inside were designed for a very different situation- not for survival. I wasscrewed. What added salt to my wound was the missing character sheet that I had made only a couple of days prior.
"No big deal. Not like I spent an entire afternoon on it." I whined rather pitifully, trying to find something,anythingto divert attention to the danger of my current situation. However, a piece of paper could only keep my mind occupied for only so much time. My situation could be summed up in just one sentence- I had been displaced in a country I wasn't a citizen of, with no food, limited water, and a bunch of useless shit that I didn't really want to dump- at least, not for a good reason. Oh, I was also trapped in the TTRPG I often played, where any average joe could kill me with the pull of a trigger.
No matter how you sliced it, I was in a precarious situation. I didn't want to go anywhere near Night City, but the threat of the unknown was still a good deal scarier than the coastal city I had often experienced through the tabletop. I looked towards the spray-painted sign, fear and anxiety bubbling away in my heart. Left with no other options other than walking as far away in the opposite direction as I could, which wasn't really an option anyway- I walked towards the sign.
"Night City, here I come."
I picked up my bag and started my long, life-changing hike. For better or worse, I had to keep moving forward.
I soon found that life on the road had three pains- those were a parched throat, aching calves, and the fatigue of walking without much of a break. Sure, I took a fifteen-minute break every now and then, however, the summer sun overhead didn't allow me to feel comfortable, and a short break could only hamper the discomfort in my legs so much. There was also the lack of water, which should be my main concern.
It turned out that walking upon a highway road in the middle of nowhere, with the hot sun above, was a great way to quickly become dehydrated. Even though I had tried to limit the amount of water I drank, I had found my resolve lacking after three hours of walking. My backpack felt a little bit lighter than before, with my drink bottle now completely empty, save for a few droplets of water.
That wasn't my only issue, though- it was getting darker. I didn't know what dangers the night would bring, but I just knew that it would bebad. My best hope would be to ask for a lift to Night City, but out of the couple hundred cars that had passed me by throughout my hike to the 'city of dreams', no car had even bothered to slow down. Getting a lift wasn't looking to be much of an option at the moment, no matter how many thumbs up I wave.
My second-best bet would be to find some kind of shelter, hopefully, some kind of town along the road to beg people for help, or at least, a petrol station that I could use as a light source to rest for a while- and to fill up my empty bottle with some tap water. Maybe the twenty dollars I had in my wallet could purchase me some dinner, although, I had no idea if the Australian dollar would be accepted. Somehow, I doubted it.
It was getting dark, and I was running out of ideas.
"Hey, kid. You alright there?"
I heard a gruff, male voice echo throughout my eardrums, and I jumped out of fright. I looked to my side, and a small station wagon with faded red paint had pulled up right next to me. It was dark out, so I had my phone in my hands, and the flashlight turned on to its lowest setting to save whatever power I could.
"You alright? You look lost."
The voice belonged to a middle-aged man, dressed in an old blue shirt and a face that had once been rather handsome, but had weathered with age. He was missing a few teeth, and those he had left were yellowing. Although, despite that, he had an easy-going smirk, idly tapping away at the steering wheel of his car.
"Um, yeah. I guess I'm just a little bit lost." That was an understatement, but I couldn't really say that I came from a parallel world- I didn't want like I was crazy, I didn't want to let this opportunity slip away. Maybe if I played my cards right, I could get a free lift- or a lift that accepted an entirely different currency.
"Where're you heading?"
"Night City."
"Then you're in luck, I'm heading there to do a… supply run for a couple of friends. Get in, kid."
The car looked sketchy as hell, and the guy himself somehow looked even shadier, but I had no options left. Despite walking from noon until night, I had yet to come across a single petrol station, let alone a town. I stood there for a few moments before I released whatever anxiety I had left with a deep breath.
Man up, Elijah. Now's not the time to get cold feet.
"Then I guess I'm the luckiest person on this road tonight. Names Elijah Hobbs." I walked around the back of the car, before opening the passenger door and jumping into the old, fake leather chairs.
"Ethan. Got no need for a last name, and no need for.. anyunneededquestions. You understand?"
His gaze was hard, and sent a shiver down my spine, and I quickly nodded. Ethan reached into his pocket, pulled out a cigar, lit it with a portable lighter and put his foot to the pedal. The engine roared out in pain, and off we went, leaving dust and a trail of smoke in our wake.