I rolled out of bed at the sound of someone banging on my door. I hadn’t slept at all. From the time I woke up, I spent the rest of the night trying to make sense of my strange dreams.

“Sam, it’s time to get up! You’re gonna make us late.” My little sister shouted.

“I’m up, I’ll be out soon,” I yawned.

After a quick shower, I stumbled into a black T-shirt and some ripped jeans then made my way down to the kitchen.

Mom was sitting at the table drinking coffee and finishing up her breakfast. “Happy birthday,” she said, giving a smile as I entered.

"Good morning," I replied, “and thanks.”

She swallowed her final bite of sausage then pointed her fork at the microwave. “Yours is in there.”

“Hurry, hurry, hurry. I want to go already!” Mirina demanded as she bounced on the couch.

Sleepily I nodded and retrieved my breakfast. “Where’s dad? He not coming?”

“He is, but he had an errand to run first. He’ll meet us there,” mom answered.

Once I finished eating, Mirina rushed us out the door. 

The AR fair was located in a rural area thirty minutes north of the city; although, the drive felt twice as long with my sister asking, “Are we there yet?” every thirty seconds. 

We arrived at the site early afternoon, parking our car among hundreds of others. After grabbing a map and VR headsets from a booth near the entrance, we set off to explore.

Mirina raced ahead of us, shouting, “COOMMMEE ONNNNNNN! I wanna ride a dragon now!”

She was all too eager to reach the dragon stables, we hadn’t even put on our headsets yet.

As mom and I caught up with my sister, we were stopped by a man wearing a black cloak that covered everything but his face.

“It seems you travelers haven’t been registered with a guild yet,” he said. “You’ll have to register before you can get a job and earn some gold, before you can ride a dragon.”

“No way,” Mirina complained—her excitement instantly sapped away. “There’s laws against child labor you know!”

The cloaked man laughed boisterously. “Don’t worry young lady, I’m sure you’ll find the prospects to be more fun than work. Just follow me to the town hall and we’ll get you all set up.”

We followed him to a small building where a bored looking woman sat behind a desk.

“Welcome to the AR Fair,” she said cheerfully. Starting with Mirina, she asked, “What name will you be using today?”

“Mimi,” she replied quickly. “And I want a job that involves dragon riding or something with unicorns.”

The clerk nodded. 

“Actually, no…I want to be as close to the dragons as possible.”

“Okay, and—”

“Wait no! I want to groom cute critters, something fluffy.”

“That’s doable, how about—”

“Nevermind, I thought about it and I really want to be with the dragons, close enough to touch them.”

“You’re sure?” the clerk asked tentatively. 

Mirina gave a determined nod and the woman pressed some buttons and turned to my mother before my sister could change her mind again. “And you ma’am?” She asked.

She hummed for a moment, then said, “I think Silvia has a nice ring, and I’ll do something that lets me stay with Mimi; although, I would prefer to be a mage of some kind if possible.”

Her choices startled me since it was the same name as the magic tutor from my dream, but I figured it was just a coincidence and didn’t read into it. 

“Of course, ma’am,” the clerk said to mom before she turned to me with a smile. “How about you sir?”

“Definitely something with magic,” I began, “beyond that I’m not really sure of the options.”

“Well, there’s quite a few. You can tour around and choose a job a later if you want, but I do need a name to register you with.”

Mirina used her nickname and mom had come up with something unique. I wasn’t going to use Sammy and I wasn’t exactly creative either. After a moment of thought, “Silvon” sort of tumbled out.

The clerk typed into her computer then printed out three cards, handing one to each of us.

“These are your ID cards now. Place them into the slot on the side of your VR helmet and you’ll officially enter the magical world of Thalevistia.”

We did as instructed and immediately everything changed. What had been an ordinary office building full of clerks in normal clothes and fairgoers trying to get registered, became a bustling hall of adventures in all sorts of different armor.

The clerk herself was clad in leather and chainmail while the people around us wore robes, plate metal, and even various animal pelts. Everyone seemed to be having a good time as they chatted loudly and laughed often.

The names we’d chosen hovered above our heads making the whole thing feel like some kind of mmorpg except that each avatar was a real person.

Mimi was practically dancing as she spun around admiring the scene. “Wow! I wonder what it looks like outside?”

Silvia laughed, “let’s go find out,” she said, guiding my sister towards the door.

The woman before me only resembled my mother in facial structure, but otherwise she looked completely different.

Her avatar was an elf, short, but clearly seasoned. Her long blonde hair was braided down her back and her green eyes methodically took in her surroundings.

Reaching the door, she looked back and called “Sam—I mean, Silvon, you coming?”

I nodded and hurried to catch up.

“Happy travels!” The clerk called enthusiastically as we left.

Outside, the rolling hills, tents, and farm buildings had transformed into a small town. It was impossible to tell the staff apart from the visitors, which I imagined must’ve been intentional, but I just assumed the people running stalls or working behind counters inside buildings must be staff and everyone else was like us.

It really did feel like we’d traveled to some other world, creatures—like the ones from typical myths—filled the skies. I spotted a griffon, blaming birds that resembled a phoenix, and occasionally a dragon would pass by overhead.