It was dusk before Trevor made it to the Hero House. Once he had gotten his bearings and calmed himself, the young man had meandered towards his new, temporary home. It was on the outskirts of town near the wall, and in fact was built outside of it. However, this area's architect had made another wall to go around these buildings.

Just as Jackson had claimed, it was a compound instead of just a single house and was made of five distinct buildings. The central structure was built in a modern style that threw Trevor off the moment he saw it. It was sleek with several large windows, and wouldn’t have looked out of place on Earth. The inside was dark, so he couldn’t see what it held within.

The other buildings were built a good thirty or so feet away from the main one. They were all decently sized, definitely bigger than his studio apartment had been, though he couldn’t see into the windows due to the blinds. These were all painted in different colors, with the first one being a cool orange. It was tidier than all but one of the other houses with a garden of vegetables growing alongside the porch.

As Trevor walked around the compound, he stopped in front of this home and saw that the garden was similar to any he would see on Earth. It appeared as though everything had been harvested already, but it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Soil, vines, and a wooden divider between that and the grass. He also noticed long strands of white fiber, not numerous enough to be the remnants of spider webs but curious nonetheless.

The next house to the rear left of the compound was painted brown. This one was the cleanest out of all of them, and had a white door and two windows flanking each side. On the porch was an envelope, and Trevor could clearly see his name on it.

Reaching down, he grabbed it and opened it up to read the letter inside. He was pleased to see that this one was written in English.

Trevor,

I’m glad that you made it to the Hero House. This is the place that you’ll be living during your time here in Tosa, and your key is inside the envelope.

The key is magical and will get you into not only your home, but the large building in the center of the compound. This was Wayne’s idea, and he built this whole place, but it fits as a communal living space. There are places to relax if you’d like to be social, a fully stocked kitchen in the style of Earth, and anything else you need.

Your house is your place to go if you’d like peace and quiet. It has its own bedroom and Earth style bathroom as well as an area for lounging and entertaining guests, should you so choose. Just like how the key is magical, so is the lock, and no one will be able to enter without your permission. If you’d like to give anyone that permission, then simply imprint your will on their key. It’s not dissimilar to how you reached out to your Power earlier today.

I hope that everything is going well for you after your first day in Tosa. If you need anything at all, please do not hesitate to come by and visit me at my office. Whether you have business or just want to chat, that’s fine too.

Best regards,

Mayor Jackson

P.S. You should visit Thimbleden’s Sundries when you get the chance. I feel like your Power will be quite useful with this particular Quest Giver.

There was that mention of Wayne again. As the one who brought up Daylight Savings Time, the style of buildings he created made Trevor all but certain that this guy was from Earth. An Earth, at least. He would have to remember to ask about how many there were next time he saw Jackson. Or Wayne, whoever came first.

Trevor finished off the letter and put it under his arm as he stuck his hand into the large envelope. His fingers grasped a thin key and pulled it out to see what was essentially a bronze stick with two rectangular teeth at the end. He regarded it curiously for a moment before shrugging and allowing his inventory to swallow it, the letter, and the envelope.

While Trevor certainly wanted to check out his new home, he was also curious about the rest of the Hero House. The environment here was relaxing, and he was reminded of the summer camps he used to go to. They hadn’t been all that great at the time, but he looked back fondly now that he was grown enough to appreciate them. Nostalgia was a powerful feeling, after all.

The next house on the tour was painted light blue and had fish drawn on the door. They weren’t done particularly well, and only the bottom three feet or so, but it made Trevor smile. This one was, however, by far the messiest house.

While nothing touched the grass, the porch was littered with laundry, water spots, and an overabundance of scented candles. None of which were lit now, but many of them were nearing the end of their life span with wax securing them to wherever they were strewn.

Even though he was curious, Trevor decided not to get close enough to the porch to see what kind of clothes this Summoned wore to find out what kind of person they were. It seemed like a real invasion of privacy, and he gave the house a wide berth. He would find out when it was time, after all.

Arriving at the last house, the young man found himself staring.

The door to this gray home was open, though it was too dark to see anything. Outside was a large flag hanging from a support on one of the porch’s banisters. It had a blue rectangle on one side, and a white rectangle over a red one. In the blue was a single white star, and Trevor frowned. He wasn’t exactly sure where that flag had come from, but it seemed incredibly familiar.This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

His eyes scanned more of the porch. This one was chock full of comfortable furniture. They all seemed to be made of the same kind of wood, and each had a set of plush, gray pillows haphazardly tossed around and covered in black hair. Sitting atop one of the chairs was a large ten-gallon hat, and realization hit the young man all at once.

“Oh no,” he whispered. “He’s not just from Earth, he’s Texan.”

“Meow,” came a voice from inside the house. It was almost as deep as Klar’s.

Trevor’s attention snapped to the dark void to see a pair of yellow eyes reflecting light back at him. It wasn’t up where he would expect a human’s to be, but low to the ground. The young man paused, regarding the floating eyes for a moment before the creature emerged.

The dimming light illuminated the sleek black fur of a somewhat plump cat as it cautiously took a single step onto the porch. Trevor found himself smiling and immediately squatted down to put his hand out for the creature. It had no collar, but didn't seem like a stray. The cat regarded him with as much curiosity as he did it.

When Trevor waggled his fingers and blinked slowly, it started running towards him. Its tail was a surprise. He had expected it to be bushy like the rest of the animal, but the expectation did not meet reality. Instead, it had a long appendage nearly twice as long as the creature it was attached to, and had unbelievably fluffy, long hair. It fully reminded the young man of some kind of duster.

Surprise aside, the black cat didn’t seem to notice and immediately ran up to Trevor and pressed its head against his hand. “Meow,” the cat said again in its unusually deep voice. It sounded exactly like someone saying the word meow instead of an animal making its own noise.

It took him a moment, but Trevor started scratching the strange animal.

“Purr,” the cat continued.

“Did you just… say purr?” the young man asked.

“Purrrrrrr,” the cat repeated before it actually started to purr.

“You’re, uh, not Wayne, are you?” Trevor felt a little silly for having to ask.

“Meow,” was the response as the cat started rubbing against Trevor’s legs.

“… Translation, please?”

[[Translation: Mr. Tiggles says “Meow.” I hope this was helpful.]]

“Okay, well, now I know his name is Mr. Tiggles,” Trevor said dubiously as he stood up.

“Meow! Meow, meow!” The cat started getting louder as the hand petting him was mercilessly taken away, and he jumped up onto Trevor’s shoulder in one graceful leap.

“Alright, I get it, I’ll keep petting you,” Trevor cooed, amused.

Mr. Tiggles continued to meow loudly until he got the pets he wanted, and then he settled. The cat’s long tail wrapped around Trevor's neck and smacked the young man in the face, but he managed to keep it under his neck after the second time.

“Wayne? Rashie? You guys back already?”

Trevor spun to look at the newcomer. The door to the orange house was open, and a woman was stepping out. He paused as he watched her.

His eyes met her soft, slightly glowing orange ones. It was hard to tell in the fading light, but her skin seemed to be a soft tawny that paired well with the thick white hair on her head. Trevor thought that was where the strands in the garden must have come from. She wore a set of black pajamas with bare feet, and didn’t leave the porch.

What was coming out of her hair kept Trevor’s attention. Although she was human in shape, her long ears were fuzzy, similar to that of an animal’s, and she had two horns growing out of her head just above them. They were bulbous at the bottom before curving upwards to a point, and had ridges nearly all the way to the top.

Even though he had no sense of what it would be like to have horns, Trevor felt an empathetic pain as he looked at the one on her right side. It had been cut through nearly to the base, and when he squinted he could see that she had a slight scar. They were not, however, adorned with any jewelry or cloth, and the young man forced himself to look away as Klar’s words went through his head.

“I’m, uh, I’m Trevor Anderson, ma’am,” he announced loudly, standing up as straight as he could before bowing in greeting. Mr. Tiggles shifted on his shoulder and headbutted his ear. “I just arrived today. Summoned, I mean. I was summoned just today.”

Their eyes locked again, and Trevor could see a wariness behind them that took him aback. Her posture had shifted slightly, barely enough to be noticed, yet it made all the difference. Despite the clear warning, he found himself of two minds.

The young man wrangled with an instinctual awareness that this woman was incredibly dangerous.

The other mind couldn’t help but wonder how she got that way. Jackson had said three of the four Summoned here were adventurers, was that how she could glare like that? He wasn’t sure what she had done or could do to have eyes like that, but it was noted and stored to be processed later.

Trevor was terrified, yet intrigued.

The woman observed him for a few seconds, and the edge left her gaze. “Jackson summoned you just today?” she asked. It didn’t sound like she was expecting an answer to that, so Trevor didn’t offer one.

“Meow,” Mr. Tiggles said before jumping down and trotting to the woman. He weaved between her legs before she reached down and picked him up.

“What do you think, Mr. Tiggles?” she asked the cat, cradling him upside down in her arms. “You don’t usually like strangers, do you?”

“Purrrrr,” he said, sounding content as his belly was rubbed.

“I see,” she said, giving the cat a serious nod. Then she looked back at Trevor, who wasn't sure if she could actually understand Mr. Tiggles or was just messing with him. “I’m tired, so I’m going to bed. Breakfast is at 7 AM sharp. If you’re not there, I’ll not wake you. Understood?”

Though her words were stern, her tone was only cautiously so, as if she didn’t want to scare him off or intimidate him.

“Yes, ma’am,” Trevor answered, still bowing.

“Good night, then.”

“Good ni-“

Before he could finish, the door was shut as the woman reentered her home with Mr. Tiggles. Trevor stood there for a solid few minutes as he processed the exchange he just had. Not just with Mr. Tiggles, but also with the woman who hadn’t even given him a name. In the end, he made a decision.

“I’m going to bed,” he said, sighing as he shook his head. Pulling the key out of his inventory, the young man headed back to his new, temporary home.