THE MOMENT
"It doesn't look that exciting," Oz said. He focused on the crowd of gathered farmers as they approached. An older man in a plaid shirt stood atop the truck bed picking out volunteers. The crowd eagerly waved their hands at the farmer hoping to be picked. The truck was parked in the center of a dead field.
"We're not there yet; show him the pouch," Astra said. Oz stepped closer to the crowd and held up the red velvet pouch that started the quest.
"In you go," the farmer said. He reached out and grabbed Oz's outstretched hand to help him into the truck. Once in the truck, the farmer gave Oz a plaid kevlar vest along with a rifle. Oz sat down with his equipment and looked back for Astra but she wasn't in the crowd anymore. He stood up again to get a better look; but, Astra spoke up.
"Over here," she said from the spot right next to him.
"Then why did I have to wait for him to pick me?" Oz asked. He gestured at the old farmer that was gazing out onto the crowd; but, he didn't seem to be accepting any more volunteers.
"I already did it," Astra said.
"Oh," Oz nodded. "Then, why don't you just...," Oz wiggled his fingers at Astra. "...Traverse us there?"
"Because you haven't done the quest," Astra replied. "Marciegeddon got so popular that Sharp Development put up a barrier that prevents unauthorized Traversing. And to cut down on new strangers, they added a long quest chain just to get access." The truck jostled upward under Oz and he turned to see the Farmer had hopped off. Then, he slammed the tailgate shut. Oz was sure he'd seen other farm hands get on the truck but when the tailgate closed he and Astra were the only ones there. The farmer walked around and got in the truck, then he started it.
"What's the quest exactly? Is there a way to check my quest log or something?" Oz asked. He started the conversation expecting the ride to take a fair amount of time; not that he knew where they were going.
"Oh yeah, sorry," Astra said. She shrugged at Oz. "I usually keep mine off so I didn't even think about it. If you bring up your Slate, you can look through the options and change whatever you want." After Astra spoke, a dark flash enveloped Oz as fast as a blink; then, the farm was gone. They were now atop a green hill overlooking a cityscape. Oz stood up to take in his new surroundings.
One section of the city below was covered with a thick cloud of dust. But, Oz identified a humongous shadow moving in plume and looked back to Astra.
"Wait. That's not for me, is it?" he asked. Astra nodded with a large grin.
"Well, better get goin'," the old farmer got out of the truck and stood next to Oz. He nodded at the giant shadow. 'Taint gonna harvest 'isself."