Healing Incorporated

As soon as they passed through the foyer doors, a small chime rang in Eli’s ears, accompanied by a brief tingle on his neck.

Quest Complete: Rescue Amy

"What’s happening?" Amy asked.

"I got a quest to rescue you, and I just finished it," Eli replied.

Energy surged through his body. A small ding echoed and a level-up notification appeared in the lower-left corner of his vision: Level 2. A new pop-up layered over it:

Attribute allocation unlocks upon choosing a class.

He willed the window away and glanced at his quest reward: some experience points, 100 copper pieces, and a few health potions.

"Nice," he said. Just for fun, he pulled a health potion from his inventory and felt its weight pop into his hand. It was oddly satisfying. Eli held it out to Amy. "You want this Health Potions? For the one you gave me before."

Amy shook her head. "I have more of them."

"Ready to climb?" he asked, returning the potion to his inventory.

"As ready as I'll ever be for twelve flights of stairs," Amy grumbled.

The building was filled with leaves and dirt. Grass had started to sprout in cracks, and small bushes popped up in some areas. The structure itself seemed to have stood for a long time. None of the windows had glass anymore, just wide, gaping holes. They passed quite a few people on the stairs since it had become the main thoroughfare up and down the building, with the elevators out of commission.

It was a bit eerie. The power was off, and there were no windows in the stairwell, meaning they ascended in darkness, doing their best to avoid bumping into others. Some people had already chosen their class. A few even had skills or spells to light the way. Most looked like Mages or Fighters of different sorts. Once, a Tinker passed by, proudly holding a lantern that he'd clearly crafted himself, judging by its rickety nature.

They passed a Beastmaster carrying a bow, decked out in leather armor in dark colors, blending in like a ranger from a dense forest. They also saw Peddlers and even a towering woman, nearly naked, with rippling muscles. A huge two-handed sword was strapped to her back with leather bindings. Eli thought he recognized her.

"That Barbarian who just passed us, wasn’t she one of the administrative assistants?" he asked.

"You mean Charlotte?" Amy replied. "Yeah, we had lunch together once. She works on the lower floors, so we don’t see each other much. But yeah, we talk on the phone."

"She’s a Barbarian now," Eli said. "Her square jaw looks like it could break a car in two."

"Good for her," Amy chuckled.

Eli grinned, but he felt the strain in his legs as they climbed. They had conquered eight flights already, and sweat was pouring down his face. He wasn’t wearing much, but he was still feeling the heat.

"A lot of people have picked their classes already," Amy noted, stepping aside to let a group of middle-aged women pass. They were all Peddlers."

"Yeah, I’ll probably see what The Dragon says before I pick. Seems like there are a lot of options. Maybe even subclasses."

"I think Shepherd might have a few different subclasses," Amy said. "But I can’t access information about them until I’m at a higher level."

"What do you think would suit me?" Eli asked. "I'm terrible at making these kinds of decisions."

"I think you should just pick whatever seems most interesting," Amy said. "We’ll probably be in larger groups most of the time, anyway."

"Yeah, I just want a hint," Eli sighed. "In every RPG I’ve played, I spend hours on the character creation screen, stuck trying to decide."

"I’m sure management has some thoughts on that," Amy joked.

Eli groaned, but the two trudged forward, finally reaching the twelfth floor.

"This is me," Amy said. "Good timing, too. I’m dying here."

Rufus barked a small, happy sound from behind her.

"See you soon," Eli said. "I’ll head up to fourteen and we’ll meet later."

"Sure," Amy replied, smiling. "And Eli, thank you for coming back for me."

"Of course. I wouldn’t leave you."

She exited the stairwell, leaving Eli to continue alone in the dark for two more floors.

When he reached his desk, it looked much the same, except all the electronics were gone. No computer, no phone. The place seemed empty, except for a few others sitting at their desks, not doing much of anything. At least there was light coming in from the windows, so it wasn't as dark as the stairwell.

Eli opened the door to Mr. Thomas’s office and peeked inside.

Mr. Thomas greeted him with a grin. “Elijah, finally, you’re here.”

“Did you miss me?” Eli joked.

“Of course! I was beside myself with worry. You said you’d be right back, and then you went and braved the forest alone! Then, our lookouts saw you fighting that green little beast.”

“I didn’t fight him,” Eli said. "It was a goblin named Solomon."

“A shame,” Mr. Thomas said, sounding almost disappointed.

Eli continued. "Anyway, we got some information out of him. Solomon didn’t know much about what’s going on with us. He wasn’t too fond of me, I think, but he liked Amy. He told us there are other humans in this world, but not around here. Also, goblins don’t like us, and he warned that we might be attacked if we stay here, so we should leave."

"Go? Where?" Mr. Thomas asked.

"Back to our world, maybe, if we can figure out how. If not, he said there are roads if we head north."

Mr. Thomas sighed. "Fair point. But for now, we have to adapt to this world, or it’ll consume us."

"Very well," Mr. Thomas said. "It's good you have yet to pick a class. HR’s working on a system to distribute people into optimal roles. That meeting is just about to start. Come with me," He raised his big hand and pushed Eli forward and out of his office.

Together, they hurried to the same conference room they had all been before the black hole sucked them into another world. A line of people waited outside, some familiar, some not. They all had one thing in common: none had picked their class yet. A clerk from the archives was at the head of the line. He shot Eli a dirty look as they pushed ahead of everyone and entered.

Inside, the conference room was nearly full. Most of the people Eli recognized were already seated, even the administrative assistants. HR sat in their usual spot, and senior management was present as well, with the CEO at the head of the table. Marketing and legal were absent.

"Ah, look at that. It's the last of them," Mr. Harn, the CEO, said. "Now we can finally begin."

Eli leaned over to Dana after sitting down next to the window. "What's going on?"

"We're in a goddamn nightmare. That's what's going on."

"I mean, with the meeting."

She shrugged. "They're talking about the different classes like we're not sitting right here."

Everyone around the head table had picked their classes, except for Mr. Thomas, who remained undecided. The CEO and most of management were Commanders, and HR wore robes of different sorts. Eli inspected them closely, realizing they were all Mages. Each of them had a small symbol next to their class, and when he focused on Barbara, he saw she was a Cold Mage. How fitting.

The woman beside her was a Conjurer, though he had no idea what that meant. Everyone, except for the conjurer, had some sort of elemental affinity. Fire, water, lightning, earth, or wind. They were all level one.

When Eli minimized the information window, he realized all eyes had turned toward him.

He swallowed hard, looking around. "I'm sorry, what?"

"He," Barbara said, pointing to Mr. Thomas, "tells us you were in contact with one of the denizens of this place. Care to explain?"

"Sure. Before that, we encountered a trap in the forest, so you should tell people to be careful. The goblin's name was Solomon, a goblin. He came to deliver a warning."

The CEO raised an eyebrow. "A warning about what?"

"His kind. He told us we would eventually be attacked if we stayed here."

"So, we should leave and go where? And what was taht about a trap?"

Eli pointed north. "Just a trap. Amy got stuck and it exploded in my face. There are apparently more people around. I mean, humans."

Silence lingered for a moment before Barbara smacked her lips. "Let's put a pin in talks about traps and goblings for now and return to our previous topic of conversation. As you can see on the paper before you, the QA interns have put together a recommended distribution of classes for the company."

A stack of papers was passed around, and when Eli received his, he saw a pie chart, handwritten in ink and still drying, showing various classes. Some were far more represented than others. Fighters made up the bulk of employees, with Mages following close behind. The tiniest sliver, marked "Undecided," was perhaps five percent of the total, representing no more than the people in the room and the fifteen or so waiting outside. A few classes were severely underrepresented, with Healer, Bard, Apothecary, and Shepherd sitting at exactly zero percent.

Eli raised his hand. "This chart is not up to date, I think. Amy is a shepherd."

"Amy's here?" Mr. Deer asked excitedly. "Thank goodness. I don’t know what I would have done without her."

Barbara’s face reddened slightly. "Well, it’s a developing situation with plenty of moving pieces. The important thing is we try to adhere to QA’s distribution. They, more than anyone, understand these sorts of systems."

The bearded administrative assistant farthest from Eli fake coughed into his hand. "Nerds."

"Why didn’t QA go with IT?" Eli asked, forgetting to raise his hand. "Aren’t they the same department?"

Dana chuckled softly but said nothing when Eli glanced her way.

"It seems," Mr. Thomas said, "that IT did not want QA to follow them in their exodus. They are apparently not very fond of that part of their department."

"Oh," Eli muttered.

"As senior management, we trust Mr. Guy to pick a class fitting his station and skill set. That leaves the fifteen people outside this room and the four of you inside."

Everyone turned to look at Eli, Dana, and the two other administrative assistants sitting along the wall.

"But you need to pick classes that haven’t been selected yet," Barbara continued. "Since you are secretaries to senior management, we expect you to fill these roles."

Dana raised her hand. "I call bard."

Everyone stared at her. "What?" she asked. "I was in a band in college. Bard’s one of the open spots, right? So, I’ll be bard."

Everyone turned to Barbara, who nodded. "That is acceptable, Miss Taylor."

"Screw that. I’m not playing support," said George, the assistant who'd called QA nerds. He was a guy Eli’s age with a magnificent beard and ears full of small black rings. George immediately chose the Crafter class.

As soon as he selected it, the CEO stood and pointed toward the door. "Mr. Smith, leave the room."

"What?" George asked. "You’re going to fire me?"

"No, but you’re on thin ice. Leave now."

George shrugged, got up, and turned to Eli and Samantha. "Don’t let them push you around. Pick whatever you want."

Samantha wilted in her chair. She was thin and pale with long blond hair, and she was painfully shy. Eli still couldn’t figure out how she managed a job as one of senior management’s assistants without being able to talk to most people.

"Sweet," Dana whispered, elbowing Eli. "I get to pick an instrument. What do you think? Bongos or lute?"

"Lute," Eli croaked.

"I don’t know," Dana mused, standing up. "Well, I’m going to leave too and read up on this class. Do you still need me?"

"Not at this moment," Barbara replied. "You may leave, Miss Taylor."

Once Dana and George left, HR and senior management all turned their attention to Eli and Samantha.

"Apothecary or healer," Barbara stated. "One of you needs to be a healer."

"I haven’t even had time to read about the classes," Eli protested.

"I'll be healer," Samantha stammered.

"Good," Barbara said. "Select your class and then leave, Miss Johnson."

Samantha picked her class and fled the room, leaving Eli alone in his row of chairs, everyone staring at him.

"I got in an accident in chem," Eli muttered. "I’m not going to be an apothecary. I’ll blow myself up."

"We really need someone to shoulder that responsibility, Mr. Elijah," Barbara began. "From the description and the short introduction from QA, an apothecary crafts potions of different sorts. We'll need a lot of those."

"Why didn't you pick Apothecary then, rather than Mage, one of the most common classes from what I've been able to tell?"

Barbara turned a frosty glare on him.