I continued on with the party in silence, all earlier conversations stifled. After running into the strange green creature, I had a much better understanding of why Pascal's people were trying so hard to be quiet. I didn't know what that thing had been, but it was clearly a threat. I felt next to certain that it hadn't been alone. How many of them were there? Had the creatures decided to attack, I wasn't sure what would've happened. Would the party have been able to defend itself?

One thing was certain: this world I found myself in was full of dangers I didn't even know about, let alone understand.

It took over two hours of hiking across the rugged terrain before I finally caught my first glimpse of our destination. Up ahead, I caught sight of a wall rising above the nearby hilltops. The land here changed from the flat, rocky, rugged appearance I'd gotten used to near the cliff face and into something more like rolling, grassy hills. The area certainly seemed more pleasant, but it was still one of the most barren places I had ever seen.

This whole Crater felt desolate compared to the Earth I'd left behind.

Once the city was finally in view, the party seemed to relax some. Pascal sent one of his warriors ahead to inform others of our impending arrival and what we'd found. The rest of us carried on, taking periodic breaks to rest weary limbs. A woman named Maria took over carrying the stretcher for me; I gave up the post with gratitude. Carrying the burden had felt like the right thing to do, but my arms were exhausted from the journey, and my whole body still felt weak in the aftermath of the spider’s venom.

"Wasn't expecting to run into orcs today," William said.

I assumed he must be speaking of the green creature we'd run into. I glanced over at William. "That green guy with the axes? Is that who you're talking about?"

"Yup," William replied. "Oh, yeah. That was your first time seeing one, wasn't it? Humans aren't the only intelligent species inhabiting this place. Lots of humans get pulled in, of course. Just like you. But other species do as well. Some of the things we fight here are essence-spawned monsters like those giant spiders. But others are strange beings, like those guys. They’re more like us than they are like the spiders. Stranded here, same as those who came before us were.”

"You call them orcs?" I asked. I thought back to every fantasy novel I'd ever read, wondering if the books had gotten the idea from real creatures from other worlds, or if the humans here named the creatures orcs after the books.

“No, that’s what they call themselves. Interesting. You know the word orc, but you clearly haven’t seen one before,” William replied. “I take it you don’t have them where you came from?”

“Just legends about them,” I said. “Stories.”

I had to wonder how many other stories were real in this place. Giant spiders and orcs were here. What other surprises waited for me? Probably more than I could count. I found myself equal parts worried and excited at the idea. After all, I’d grown up watching plenty of movies about dragons, monsters, and heroes. It seemed like I’d found myself in a place where a lot of those stories were day-to-day life.

That was at the same time incredibly cool and utterly terrifying.

William said, "Yeah, I’ve heard of that from other newcomers here. They’d arrive here with stories about orcs and magic and dragons, but never having seen the real thing."

I asked, "Wait — dragons? For real?"

William grinned at me. "Oh, they’re real all right. You don’t ever want to meet one, though. They’re the most lethal killing machines in the Crater, and they’re the reason no one ever climbs the cliffs that ring this place."

I asked, "Let me guess, the dragons live at the top of the cliff?"

"Got it in one."

Well, that explained why folks didn’t try climbing their way out. If a bunch of fire-breathing reptiles lived at the peak, it would make any sort of climb near suicide. Maybe if someone could fly up—invisible? That could work. Was invisibility a thing, though? Was flight? So many questions and so few answers! I considered pumping William for more information, but we were getting nearer to the city, and we were all tired enough that I held my tongue for the time being. I figured I’d get more answers soon enough.

As we approached the city walls, the crude trail we’d been following for the past hour turned into an actual dirt road. On either side of the way were small fields; more like large gardens, really.

Little plots of vegetables mixed with a few stands of fruit trees lined the road and stretched back a good distance from it. It wasn’t enough to feed a city, but maybe they had larger crop fields elsewhere? On the other side of the city, perhaps.

Then we were approaching the gates. A pair of guards stood there in suits of scale armor, spears in their hands. They hailed Pascal as the group got near, and welcomed us all in.

One of the guards asked, "Picked up a couple strays, did you?"

“Saved two. Lost two, sadly,” Pascal replied.

“Better day than some.”

“That it was. We ran into a band of orcs on the way back, though,” Pascal said. “Make sure to pass the word. We’ll want everyone alert, just in case.”

Then we were through the gates and proceeding through the city. And it was a city, albeit a small one. Near as I could tell, there were at least a couple thousand people living there. Maybe more; it was difficult for me to get a good feel for the scope of the place.

It was built on a large, low hilltop. The center buildings were elevated enough by the hill that their tops were well above the height of the walls. That also meant I could only see the nearest streets, not the ones on the far side of the hill. A long, broad street paved with cobbles ran from the gate straight toward the center of town. That was the path Pascal took us down, while ignoring the numerous smaller streets that branched away.

The construction around me was simple, but mostly well-built. Some timber was used in construction, but most of the buildings were made from stones and mortar. A few were even constructed from something that looked a lot like cement. By and large, they were all three stories tall or less. No skyscrapers present toward the edges of town, anyway. A few truly tall buildings jutted skyward as we got nearer to the center, however.

It quickly became clear that Pascal was aiming us toward one of those taller structures, but despite having a good idea where we were headed, nothing really prepared me for the sight of the hilltop area. A round circle of carefully manicured lawn surrounded a large palace-like structure. A circular street wreathed the grass. Outside the round street, there were eight structures similar in style to the palace, but a bit smaller. Each was still a massive stone edifice in its own right, however, looking more like a city hall than anything else. We aimed for one of those.

As we approached, people rushed from the building to greet us. The stretcher was gently taken from the two people carrying it, then swiftly moved inside. I followed Pascal and the rest of his team through the front doors of the place into a massive atrium just inside, full of dozens of people busily moving about.

“What is this place?” I asked aloud.

“Guardians Guild Hall,” Pascal replied. He came over to stand in front of me. “We keep the city safe, fight off monsters, and rescue folks like you who get into trouble.”

“Sounds like an intense line of work,” I said.

“It can be. You’ll be able to join us, if you’d like,” Pascal said. “But that’s for later. Right now, you must be exhausted. This has been a crazy day for you. There are people who will want to debrief you, but that can wait. For now let’s get you settled into a room.”

“Thank you,” I replied. “You guys saved my ass, and then escorted me back here, now you’re helping me find a place to stay?”

“All part of the job,” Pascal replied. “Tania, make sure everyone else is sorted? I’ll see to our newcomer.”

“You got it,” she replied.

“Come with me,” Pascal said, starting off toward a tall flight of stone stairs.

I followed close on his heels, making sure to take the steps quick enough to keep up. The last thing I wanted was to get lost in this place! It seemed large enough that someone could starve to death trying to find the kitchen, and I said as much to Pascal, who laughed in reply.

“It is big. But you’ll get used to it fast enough if you stick around. Of course, there are plenty of other options for you to pursue as well,” Pascal told me.

“I’m getting the idea that ‘going home’ isn’t one of them, am I right?”

Pascal’s face went from vibrant to grim in an instant. “Unfortunately, no. The one thing we really can’t do for you is get you someplace else. We understand the basics about how people end up here in the first place, but we don’t have enough knowledge to get anyone out of the Crater. No one has ever escaped, as far as we know.”

With that dark statement, our conversation dried up. I followed the man wordlessly from the stairs down a hall that was dimly lit by a few windows. It sounded like I was well and truly stuck here. Was it too much to think that maybe I could find a way out? Maybe; but that didn’t stop me from hoping there could somehow be a path that worked.