THE MOMENT
Fiona was surprised and disoriented as she took in the office surroundings. It was a small space, about the size of the living room in her 10th story apartment, with polished chrome walls and elegant gold touches. She felt like she couldn't even afford to sit in the white velvet and platinum chair beneath her, but the most notable aspect of her new location was the young, small woman with translucent insect wings attached to her back. She was formally dressed in a chrome blazer with a matching polished chrome tie and wild blonde hair. The supernaturally petite woman fluttered behind her desk, not quite seated but still maintaining a relaxed posture in the air.
"Welcome to Chroma Corp.," the fairy smiled at Fiona. "May I ask your reason for visiting?"
"I...," Fiona hesitated as her mind tried to make sense of things. She'd been walking through a meadow just to clear her mind and came across a fairy ring. A circle of mushrooms was widely associated with a direct connection to the fairy realm, and in her exact mood, she wanted nothing more than to leave behind all her troubles. Based on nothing but idle gossip and the dream of something better, she jumped into it. She expected to land on the soft grass in the middle with nothing else happening, but instead she landed in the office, seated in front of a fairy. There'd been some jagged rocks just outside the fairy ring that she didn't pay much attention too, but now she was wondering. Maybe she landed really wrong and hit her head. "... am I dead?" she asked.
"Not at all," the fairy maintained her pleasant smile. "You've jumped into a fairy ring, and it happened to be active. Judging by your surprise, I'm going to assume you didn't expect it to work. Since it did, you have a few choices. You can return where you came from, and even forget all about this if you prefer. Or, if you'd like to learn about the multiverse, I can arrange a meeting with a Mundo to get you oriented."
"I don't want to go back," Fiona needed to make that clear. She'd been planning to state it as soon as the fairy mentioned returning, and once she did, she processed the rest. "Did you say multiverse?"
"Yes," the fairy nodded. "Chroma Corp. is a multiversal corporation with branches on billions of alternate Earths. You're more than welcome to choose a new Earth to live on, and Chroma Corp. will help get you settled there. Would you like to see your options?" she asked.
"Wait, wait..," Fiona shook her head. It couldn't be that easy. "You're just going to give me a place to live on a new Earth?"
"Not just a place to live," the fairy smiled. "You'll have all your needs met. Food, housing, even employment if you'd like to join our company."
"What? Why? I'm here by accident...do you help everyone like this??" she asked. Again, the fairy nodded with a smile.
"Once you meet Mundo, you'll get everything explained more thoroughly," she said. "But, it's simple. Chroma Corp. opens millions of fairy rings across the multiverse on any given day. People in the know use them as shortcuts, though, of course, we get plenty of people who aren't initially aware of our company," she gestured at the quaint office around them. "This is actually the immigration and naturalization department; it's sort of the default location if a person enters a fairy ring without a clear destination in mind. So, in general, yes," she said. "We help everyone who comes through here. Due to our understanding of multiverse mechanics, Chroma Corp. strongly believes that it's our mission to help anyone who finds their way to us."
"I'd like to see what's available, please," Fiona replied. But, the fairy shook her head, still with a smile.
"It's a vast multiverse, I need a better starting point than that," she said. "What kind of Earth would you like to live on?" Fiona still hadn't fully registered her situation, but that was an easy question she had an answer to. She blurted it out while still trying to accept her new reality.
"One with fairies!"