Melange's Menagerie of Mayhem presents:
An entry into Rasufelle's Halloween Challenge 2015.
A spooky little story for a spooky little time of the year.
Get out your warm blanket, dim the lights and snuggle down, my little ghouls, because it's...

The next morning I was too excited to stay still. After getting dressed in the same golden dress, leaving Crier on the bed, the dance had no place for him, I went to the cafeteria and had to force myself to eat. I saw Sam briefly but he was following a wisp probably to prepare for his fight. I went to Mrs. Jones and listened as she nattered on about how happy she was that I was going to be dancing for the 'town'. I didn't have the heart to tell her that if I did well she might never see me again. Better to let her be happy a few more hours and then forget about me later.

The final chapter of the book. Things come to a head for all the characters, forcing them to use the skills they have developed in the short time since the Ilos launch to survive. Tasalin and Corvid launch the raid against the corruption in the Western Forest and get more then they bargained for. Nick and Jess are ambushed by some mysterious attackers, and Aria faces off with the first boss solo.

This chapter starts in Kent-Wood Michigan

Aria explores a bit about the Ilosians and magic, then discovers her traveling companion is gone. Trying to catch him, she travels the entire day to the city of Travant, where all is not as it seems.

Nathan stared down at his open sock drawer in confusion. This absolutely was not the way that it had looked the day before. He’d had maybe a dozen white socks and a few black dress socks. He certainly had not had three dozen pairs of socks of varying lengths and colors, some with pictures of animals and cartoon characters. And there was no way that he’d had a small collection of rolled-up tights and leggings of various colors and patterns.

Mrs. Jones wouldn't let go of my hand as Sam and I went to the infirmary. Having Sam at my side and the crazy woman who suddenly decided I was her daughter hugging me, made the rasping, purple antechamber more bearable. I needed the help, I wasn't as hurt as Sam, but my cheek was swollen to the size of a tennis ball and the blood dripping down my throat, despite all the spitting I was doing had given me a bad stomach ache.

I thought I was straight before my Halloween engagement... Jenn talked me into going to a Halloween Party as Little Bo Peep. What could go wrong; well maybe nothing did.

“Hi mum,” I whisper hoarsely. “Hi dad. I- I’m Stephanie…” My legs shake harder and I almost collapse to the floor as, with a stoic expression on his face, dad slowly rises from his seat and walks toward me…

The Bell tolls, taking with it some of the players, but leaving behind Nick and Jess. Nick tries to find out more by talking to the NPCs and David has vanished from Ilos, but what has happened on Earth?

Please note, I am the original author of this story. It was posted originally over on TG Storytime under the pen name A. Kent, I'm now attempting to finish it here. While I appreciate emails saying someone has stolen my work, in this case everything is kosher.

This is the beginning of the story of Ilos, a virtual land... or is it? Join David and his two friends as they embark on their adventure through this incredible place that is much more than it seems.

"Come on, stop fading away," dad chastises me as I rest my head on the back of the sofa. "We haven't seen you in weeks, don't want to watch you sleep all through your visit!"

"Sorry," I mumble, blinking to try to keep my eyes open.

"Honestly, Steve," mum says, handing me a much-appreciated cup of tea. "Why don't you just take a week off and come back here, put your feet up, play on your Xbox and recharge your batteries? You don't know how many people I see everyday who works themselves to the point of exhaustion, some as young as you."

There were about twenty people milling around. Someone pointed us to a table with name tags and told us to write our names and preferred pronouns.

This part pushes things a little near the end, all I ask is that you read to the end the final part is very satisfying and should change some of the opinions people have messaged me about Glitch.

Cyberspace,
Nighttime, July 9th, 2007

In the morning, Nathan didn’t feel the least bit rested. He was struggling to keep his eyes open even in the shower. If he didn’t perk up soon, he was going to have a hard time staying awake through his morning classes.

Shampoo, conditioner… where’s…?

There was no body wash on the shelf in the shower.

I don’t use body wash, Nathan realized, groaning. It was going to be one of those days, wasn’t it? He grabbed a bar of soap and scrubbed himself down quickly.

A knock at the door, his mother, let him know that he was running out of time before the bus came. Nathan turned off the water and got out, grabbing a towel from the rack. He rubbed himself dry, but paused when he saw his stomach. It looked different… flatter? Sure, being Chinese, Nathan had always been smaller and thinner than other boys (much to their amusement and playful mockery), but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was… wrong about him.

I realized that whatever Eric and I had had going was dead. Stone-cold dead.

Carrying two take away meals, Rona walked uneasily into the Changeling wing of Poe, and saw that while the physical damage had been repaired, she and Ruth were getting some strange looks, especially the horrible UV band on Ruth. Everyone had to know what had happened. She resisted the urge to turn invisible, she had to face what had happened. Dana came up to them, since she was Absinthe's roommate she had to have heard everything.

“Hey guys, what happened today?” the girl asked, trying not to sound accusing, but not doing a great job of it.