Author’s note: yes, it’s one of those ‘place yourself in the game’ stories… Anyway, if you’ve ever seen the Stratosphere in Las Vegas, Nevada, from Sunrise Mountain, You’ll know the beauty of the sight.

Never Thought I’d Miss It All

I always hated living where I did… and I never thought that I’d miss it… that was, until I became stuck in Gaia. It was a normal day, I had to chase Steve for taking my lunchbox for the 15th time in a week, Toby was insulting me in Japanese, and April was bugging me about something or other. When I got home, Grandma yelled at me for not making the bed, and Briana was using my computer, so I had to use her slow, virus-filled one… and on a messy desk with noodles a month old from ramen she had made for herself… not so appealing. I finally locked myself in a bathroom and looked at my reflection in the mirror… but in the mirror, on the door, there was writing… I turned around to read what looked like ‘tiles 1, 3, 5, 2, 5, 4’. There were five tiles in each of the rows, so I decided to step on the tiles in this order. When I stepped on the last tile, my eyes became blurry… when I could see, I was no longer in front of a streaky mirror in my bathroom, but in front of a window in a small village… I looked around me; the room I was in had four beds, and a divination machine that read ‘Color Fortunes: 10 Gil per Divination’. What was Gil? To my left was a bookshelf, full of stupid moneymaking books… useless. I went through a doorway in front of me, and saw a strange creature, which kept saying a sound like ‘kupo’.

“Excuse me,” I said to the creature, “but what are you?”

The creature looked at me. “I’m a moogle, Kupo! My name’s Gumo.”

“Do you know where we are?” I asked.

Gumo answered that easily. “The Village of Dali.”

I wondered how stepping on tiles out of curiosity could cause me to travel from Las Vegas, Nevada to the ‘Village of Dali’… but of course, curiosity killed the cat. Just as I began to think, a group of four oddly-dressed people entered… but it seemed they found me as strange-looking as I found them.

I walked up to the one that seemed to be the leader. “Can you get Mr. Rustiness to move? He’s in my way.”

The man in armor jumped up and down in anger… it was quite amusing. “I am Aldebert Steiner, Captain of the Knights of Pluto!” he shouted at me.

“I’m Alice, but I don’t shout it for the world to hear.” I walked out, and looked around. There weren’t many buildings here… I was used to the tall buildings found in my home… and the beautiful view of the Stratosphere from Sunrise Mountain… but it was a nice town nonetheless. It was quiet; I liked the peacefulness. I walked into the shop closest to me.

“Do you know how far we are from Las Vegas, Nevada?” I asked.

The girl at the counter, shopkeeper Eve, stared at me in wonder for a while, and then finally answered. “I’ve never heard of Las Vegas, or Nevada.”

I’m that far from home?, I thought. Anyone living in America would have known about Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s nicknamed ‘The Entertainment Capital of the World’! Come to think of it, maybe I wasn’t even on Earth anymore…

I went to the windmill, where I found one person in the group of four I’d met at the inn… He appeared to be crying. “What’s wrong?” He looked up at me, and I got a bit freaked out… the child’s face was pure black, with glowing yellow ovals for eyes.

He shook his head. “N-nothing…”

“I’m sorry… I’ve never seen anyone who looks anything like you… I hope it doesn’t hurt your feelings.” I told the child.

“I’m a black mage.” he said.

I thought a bit… “Where I’m from, the only magic that exists is luck… People press their luck way too much, though… What’s your name?”

“Vivi.” Vivi said.

“I’m Alice. Sorry if I was rude earlier… you know, at the inn…” I said. “Anyway, I’m going to look around a bit… I’ll be back in a bit, okay?”

“Alrighty!” said Vivi, looking back at the windmill as I left.

I went back to the shop across from the inn; and another of the group was inside, this one, a woman wearing orange, with a silver pedant that had a jewel in its center.

“Um… Can we talk a bit?” the woman said to the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper looked questioning. “Talk?”

“Show me what you’re selling.” said the woman, just as a little kid ran inside, nearly knocking me over.

The child shouted. “Eve!”

Eve looked at him. “Yacha, can’t you see I’m with a customer?”

“But I just heard something awesome!” Yacha exclaimed.

Eve sighed. “Can’t you see I’m working?”

The woman shook her head at Eve. “Um… Please, don’t mind me…”

Yacha looked grateful. “Thanks, lady… now, what I was gonna say was…”

Author’s note: short, but next chappie will be longer! Promise!