1. Macabre Marmalade (COMPLETED; EDITING)

I (1.1)

     The old Renault drove him to his job. With every meter, Todor's heart sunk a bit more. The eight hours of drudgery hurt him on the mental and emotional level. The jam factory he was employed at was the only work he could get. How would a history major graduate find a job in the world that considered history only the time before the realms separated and after they merged again? The time his World existed everyone considers just a footnote. Hell, even if the Knitting hadn't happen and he wanted to work as a historian he would probably have a hard time finding the job as well. Now, it was impossible. He clenched the steering wheel harder.

     He tried to park the car in his reserved space but big Auridilion was already parked there. He looked at the new and shiny car and tried to clench the steering wheel even harder. He backed up and drove to a smaller area not far from there where parking was legal. Problem was that he needed five more minutes to walk back.

     The clerk at the entrance smirked when he saw him.

     "Late for work again, Teddy?"

     "Some jerk parked in my place, again," he responded half-heartedly. It doesn't matter it was someone else's fault, you should have come here earlier, he heard his manager saying in his head.

     "Yeah, yeah. One more and your pay will be docked," the clerk said more seriously. Mordin, that was his name, Todor remembered sliding his employee card through the reader. The display showed he was seven minutes late. Damn it.

     "I know Mordin, give me a break," he said through clenched teeth.

     "Ok, ok. Just making sure you know the consequences."

     Todor swallowed the replay and hurried up to the changing room. He grabbed a white coat from the locker and the hat and gloves from the dispenser. He didn't change his shoes for a company approved model but he was in a hurry to get to his post. Luckily the production hadn't started yet so he let out a sigh of relief.

     The first four hours went as every day. He would press a button, the jam would drip into jars, he would press the button again and the jars would get closed, the third time the line would move and a new batch of jars would appear in front him. And the cycle would start again.

     "I hate jam," he said under his breath when the last batch was finished.

     "I rather like it. The plum one," the feminine voice responded right behind him.

     He jumped away from the source of the voice, turning around a moment later. There stood a girl with few blonde curls managing to get away under the hair net everyone was required to wear. Irrindonila was her name and she was an elf. Another addition to which Todor had to get used to. Although many Anadori considered the human term elf to be a slur. But Irry wasn't like most of her kind and she liked it.

     "Shut it elf. I am really not in the mood for your jokes," he said a lot less harshly than his words suggested it. She was a friend of sorts. When he was looking for a black market she helped him. It was there he bought mind-link stone. She never asked him why he looked for a black market and Todor was really glad for that small mercy. So he was usually cordial with Irry. But something today just made him be on edge.

     "Oh, if I waited for you to be in the mood all my good jokes would go to waste," she said with a grin. He couldn't help it, he grinned back.

     "I am sorry Irry. It has been seven long years and this entire world still looks like a nightmare to me," he said truthfully.

     "It must be hard. I can't imagine it. My grandfather fought in the war after the Knitting you know," Irry said pulling him towards the cafeteria.

     That spiked his interest. Todor was fascinated by ages long gone. He even practiced HEMA for five years before his MMO addiction took hold of him. And he did major in history after all. For seven years I was looking for a way to bring back the internet and at that time I could have studied the history of this new world. He thought sourly.

     Irry glanced at him when they sat in the corner with plates of food in front of them.

     "What? You look like you just swallowed a frog," she said stuffing a large chunk of pork into her mouth.

     "Funny, in most mythologies of The Old World elves were vegetarians," he responded by following her example and taking a bite out of a chicken leg.

     "What is a vegetarian?" Irry asked with a half-chewed food still in her mouth.

     "People who only eat plants," he explained with a smirk.

     "Why? What is wrong with them?" Irry asked and after a second continued. "Oh don't change the subject! What is wrong? Did I said something insensitive again?"

     "It was something you said but it wasn't insensitive at all. You mentioned the Post-Knitting War."

     "Yeah, they call it The Three Banners war. A bit of a bombastic name for a historical event. So what with it?"

     "Well, I know very little about the history I missed. I was shut in my little pipe dream of getting the internet back. And I actually majored in history. So it's a matter of professional pride here."

     Irry looked at him blankly.

     "I went to college and graduated with history being my area of expertise."

     "Oh. Right. But you only knew about the things that happened after the Sundering."

     Todor sighed trying to stay calm. It's not her fault, it's this entire world!

     "Yeah. So, what did your grandfather said about that war?"

     "Well, he is one of the old school Anadori. He slept for thousands of years waiting for realms to merge again so he can wage war upon Morgothlites. I remember him saying: 'We thought when realms merge again and the world becomes as it should be, we would continue our fight against hated Morgs. But we were foolish. We forgot the mistakes we made. Those damn apelings, the hybrids. We made them into our tools, our slaves, but they went out and cut the world into three realms. And even though they can't use magic anymore they made the war costly. They fought both us and the Morgs and they held their ground. I can talk down on them for being soulless but they know their war.' I always thought that funny. Prim Anadori general respecting soulless apelings."

     "You know I am one of those soulless apelings, don't you?" Todor said trying not to laugh. Irry could be so clueless and Todor thought that was part of her charm.

     "Oh, sorry I didn't mean anything by it."

     "Don't worry. I will grab a book from the library on my way back. It was about time I start exploring this world instead of moping around for things I can't have back," Todor said standing up.

     "So does that mean you are quitting your obsession with bringing back that techno-arcane spiderweb you always talk about?" Irry asked from her chair.

     "Oh no, I am just broadening my research area," Todor said withconviction. Somehow he found something to do that will not bring him down. Sothe remaining four hours at work didn't felt sosoul-crushing.