Richard's First Day

Reaching for his lighter, Richard rolled a cigarette before holding it in his mouth.

He knew he shouldn't smoke but he didn't have much time left anyway, so why not?

With familiar movements, he lit his cigarette and took a deep breath. The feeling of smoke filling him was unsettlingly relaxing to him, he wouldn't breathe the smoke out while in his car, he didn't want it to smell since it had all his stuff in the back.

Blowing the smoke out the window he looked on the horizon to see what he had been driving nearly half a day for, his new home of course not by choice, he had to move because of the situation he was in.

Time crawled while driving down the motorway, Richard wasn't built for such long rides, especially at his age. The sun had started to set in the sky, basking Richard in an orange glow akin to his cigarette, which had nearly reached its end.

The highway was desolate at this time of day, only the occasional car in the distance kept Richard company. Richard didn't want to waste time on his journey to the city, he barely stayed under the speed limit, something his dodger charger could handle.

It was nice of them to let him keep it, he would have missed the car if they didn't. Anyone would think it was just a nice car at a first glance but police officers would notice the push bumper and the slight changes to it, after all, It had only been given a paint job. Even with its lights removed, the push bumper was a give away that it was a cop car.

His last car was destroyed during an accident so they bought him a new one to go with his new life in a new place, Richard however just left like they were buttering him up so the let down would be easier.

With a sigh, Richard put his cigarette into an ashtray so he could throw it away later, contemplating about lighting up another, the city started to come alive. From street lights to buildings, the whole city seemed to welcome Richard into its loving embrace.

And with such a warm welcoming, and very little time, Richard decided against lighting up another cigarette.

He kept driving towards the city, stroking his grey beard he chuckled to himself.

"I never thought I would miss that nickname." He was chuckling but sadness, longing and regret laced his tone, he would never forget his old friends.

He had done a little reading about the city before coming here so he knew what to expect and what to avoid although the guide he read wasn't that accurate, the city had only been built nine months ago yet it nearly rivalled Tokyo in size and it was predicted that the population would reach 10 million by the end of this year.

Richard simply found it amazing what the world could do when they put their heads together, surprisingly the city didn't have a dominant race, while not 100% equal there was an equal spread of every race there.

After all, when the world found out about a newly discovered continent, thrill-seekers, businessmen and the sought all rushed in.

Or tried to.

It took nearly a month to find a safe way to enter the island, with the choppy seas surrounding the island it was near impossible to enter by sea. The barrier of fog at made pilots unwilling to enter, which the world should have listened to, for only three days a year did the fog barrier open and it was random when it opened, be it the place it opened or the time, it could be the same place for three running days or once at the start middle and end of the year in completely random places.

If you tried entering where there was no opening the fog would cling to the plane and destroy the engines, everyone aboard was found fried alive by an electrical fault in the plane.

Records dated back to the Vikings about when they first saw the island, with their brilliant intellect and naming sense *cough* Greenland Iceland *cough* They named it Southernland because it was south of South America, the log roughly told the tale of how they all got drunk and lost at sea before seeing the island, they believed it to be a place of an old race so they ventured there and all died after the ship was capsized.

Using the Vikings impeccable naming sense they changed from southern land to the something the captain had personally called it.

No sun land which was changed to Sulund by the explorers.

The journal was from the captain and was only found in early 2014 and after searching they found the island in mid-2014. Now it was the beginning of 2015 and Richard had started his first day here in Sulund.

The strange climate, the odd biomes and the fog barrier at first deterred the general public but after finding out that it was possible, it was all naturally formed. Well, the government said it was possible.

His friends were probably laughing right now saying things like "Viking it looks like your ancestors had come here before!" or "If Vikings are still alive there you don't have to worry, they would take you with open arms!" Richard would be lying to himself if he said he would be angry at the jokes.

He liked the name Viking because it suited his long beard and his hair, while people had told him a relic like him shouldn't have an undercut but he liked how his hair looked, the black hairs he had were long gone now.

Richard snapped out of his thoughts, just remembering his old name had made him think about the continent's history.

He daydreamed too much, be it in daily life or on the job. Now he was sixty he could finally retire and enjoy the rest of his life in this new world.

Getting off the highway he slowed down to thirty and started looking for some signs, he would be damned if he was going to aimlessly drive around the city at night.

After an hour of following his GPS, he finally made it to his new temporary home.

Driving around the front he saw the sign what was sticking out of the grass.

Downpour apartments, a funny name if you were to ask him. The region was known for its almost constant rain so houses and apartments were naturally a little bit lower here than the rest of the city.

Parking in the little car park outback, Richard strolled up to the front door and went inside. The cold outside air didn't penetrate the building making the entranceway nice and warm, as warm as a corridor with a security office could be.

Greyish walls with a wood floor, the lights in the ceiling didn't flicker and everything was clean, it looked like a nice place to stay.

It wasn't a hotel so Richard didn't expect a lobby or anything, he just walked up to the little plastic barrier in the wall and knocked on it.

If the guard had a ceramic mug instead of his plastic cup, the situation would have been a whole lot worse because as soon as Richard knocked on the barrier, the man jumped in his seat and knocked over his coffee which luckily didn't spill because of the lid covering it.

"H-How may I help you?" He was a slim build, very little muscle but little fat coupled with brown hair and green eyes. Eyes what were filled with sleep deprivation and a little annoyance.

"I'm here to rent an apartment, my name is Richard Hyde and..." And thus started to process of renting an apartment.

On the 15th of January 2015, Richard made his first appearance in Sunlight city.