Summoned: An Accidental Adventure –
Prologue v

Chris looked down at the terrain they had set up on the gaming table. It was a detailed forest simulacra with representative building walls, carts, beasts of burden, town folk, guards, and of course unique little figurines representing the various players characters.

“Hmmmmm…..” his gaze was focused downward. Intense as he continued to contemplate the many and varied choices that may or may not actually be available to him in the contextual form of a pen and paper fantasy game. As always, playing with visual representations instead of just words made everything just that more real to the group. So much so that at times the extended study that Chris would often employ could reveal strategies that would have eluded him if done without.

The world of medieval plots and twists, of forests and ogres, of swords and sorcery shattered around the large man as the Jeopardy theme song was hummed loudly right next to him. Loudly and badly in stereo by Felix and Malachai.

“Damnit you two.” He sounded a bit irate after being pulled out of his tactical reverie.

“New Record.” Nicholas stated. “Four seconds to break concentrative trance.”

Felix handed James a one dollar bill, who them proceeded to snap it a couple times to its full extension before placing it carefully folded into his pocket.

“You were Betting on that?!?” Chris was incredulous. “I know I was not THAT unaware!”

“Say who? So much concentrate. So much ‘blivious.” Malachai stated in his normal pidgin.

“They set it up last game session Chris. Your penchant for getting caught up in the tactics is becoming legendary in the guilds after all.” Their most intrepid game referee and master story teller replied. At least that was what he considered himself. The others perhaps a little bit les so.

Chris looked at James before he responded. “But, one dollar?”

Felix was the one to answer, with a poor imitation of an upper crust Wall Street accent. “It is not the Amount of the bet that matters, but rather the transaction of monetary format that takes true precedent in the matter.”

Chris gazed at Felix with an expression of strange incomprehension. As he did so James pulled out the bill once again to pull it open, straight and sharp. “Truly my good man. For at this level what is the value of just one dollar against the Millions it could truly represent?”

“Resist the urge to facepalm Chris. Resist it.” Nick said. “They got a hold of some old Eddie Murphy flicks recently.”

“Game on Guys.” Felix pointed back at the board, once again interested in their weekly session rather than verbal shenanigans.

Chris of course was more than happy to do so. So once again he gathered his attention and turned his mental focus inwards. The figurine stood outside the walls of a ruined castle. To him the painted and etched Styrofoam walls seemed to gain more detail as in his mind he once again because a human of roguish looks and talents. This was altogether a normal thing for him, it was how he would get drawn into the tactical reality of whatever he did after all. Normally it was only a minds eye imagining, no matter how detailed. For some reason this time the damaged landscape felt more there, more true. Sort of like his senses becoming aligned to the textures far and above what had happened in the past. Sight alone would have been a powerful illusion, but the smell of the battlefield carrion amongst the chalk and tar threatened to churn his stomach.

The taller man was brought out of his intense vision by Felix cursing out loud and waiving his hands in front of himself. The smaller person was dealing with his own visual shift. In his case it was a strange swirling vortex of colors that seemed to outline every solid object. As if he could see the very whisps of air and matter as a rainbow kaleidoscope representation gifted directly into his visual cortex. More real than any experimentation that he had yet indulged upon. He could count himself lucky though as it was only seen and not felt by any type of accompaniment like he had dealt with when on various types of substances. The young man could do nothing but curse aloud as he did not trust moving around.

For Nick the world suddenly seemed to get very small and fragile. Like it was made of cardboard and tinfoil. A thought of how easy it would be to destroy the end table next to him if he just twitched his leg wrong. That if he was to sneeze or cough the gaming area would be blown through the wall opposite. If not shred the meat from the bones of his friends nearby. The pressure from sitting down became conscious to him. What would happen if he shifted? Would the couch break, shatter? Worse? He was holding very still until he heard Felix begin cursing up a storm. He startled and felt some of the wood frame crunch below him.

Across from Nick James saw the outlines of people moving through the room. It was completely fascinating, so much so that he didn’t say a thing. Just concentrated on watching them. As he processed what he saw he was tempted to share it. He loved to analyze, it was a part of his core being. Watching others and discerning what they would potentially do was more than just a past time for him. Many would think that James was just a bit slow or perhaps quiet, but in reality he liked to make sure he was spot on before opening up his mouth to state anything. He continued to watch the ghostly figures, it almost like they were acting out a crime scene investigation like he loved to watch on the streaming networks. Yet with barely more than their silhouettes moving around he was not yet sure what he was looking at.

They vanished like the popping of soap bubbles as soon as Felix howled out sparking off the crunching of the wooden frame under their game master.

Where Chris was focusing down and through Malachai found himself pulled up and out. His consciousness expanding to encompass more. He did not know what this ‘More’ was, only that he could now comprehend concepts that had been beyond his ken prior. Now mere child’s play to conceive. The equations of reality his to command. The underlying truths that everything is connected. Everything entangled below the quantum level. With a wave of his hand in one direction a person would make a choice across the world different. A sneeze could make or break an empire. The butterfly effect was a truism to him now rather than a fascinating discussion. He was about to tell his friend Felix how to truly win his age old argument when their cursing pushed him back into his body.

“Damned Cocksucking donkey balled liver goodie two shoe fracking asshole destroyed testicular monkey shit fuck damn box fuck!” Malachai shouted out in his own stream of cursing.

The other four looked at him, expressions of extreme bewilderment on their faces.

“Shit Mal, I didn’t think you had it in you.” Chris said. His own brief sojourn into an altered state of mind temporarily forgotten.

The others watched on, their own inquisitive or querulous expressions at their friends sudden burst of out of character profanity.

“What? Just worked how bring Sword to Gunfight and Win.” He said with a nonplussed tone.

Felix looked around the room. “Did we just experience a group hallucination?” He picked up his beer and looked at it suspiciously. “Fuck Chris, where’d ya get this drink?”

Nick struggled to get out of his now sunken seat in the damaged couch. He was a good foot lower to the ground and was being poked by the framework in ways that were not really that comfortable. “Guys, I’m not sure that was actually a trip.” He gave up attempting to get himself out of the couch. “A hand anyone? I seem to have damaged the couch.”

James got up out of his seat to grab his friends hand. Once grasped he felt a shock, almost like static electricity but not. “I’m not sure we are done quite yet…”

Things began to get weird again.

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“No, no, no, no, no……” The old man Chanted in rejection as the energy matrix of the room was attempting to stall out.

He stepped out of the Eldritch flow when he came to a largish console with an old style cathode ray tube lower screen and a biological interface clamshell holograph above. The many hued flow of sparks and streams continued in his absence, like a river still moving even after its source went dry.

The keypad below his hands was a mechanical affair, it gave off metallic clacking sounds as his spidery digits rapidly flew across it. Code streamed down the flickering displays. Whispering to it gently the upper graphics flexed into a glowing violet ball. The code sphere bobbed over to the nearest bed, the one containing the granite skinned man.

“So Gonarded. Search protocols are corrupted. Soul encounter programs are being…. Grounded?” He scratched the side of his head in confusion. “Not right. Need to enter an extant algorithmic web."

He stepped away from the console to move in with the Aetheric Flow once more. Presenting his body as a source in the stream not unlike a stirring ladle in a giant cauldron. He moved, pulling the pulsing lights along in his wake. A turn of the room, then another. The large flywheel contraption along one wall began to spin up properly, now discharging the Heart Pulse again. Now that it was stabilizing the Old Man stepped up to a complicated multi format bellows. Seven accordion push and pull oiled cloth bars comprised the machine. In a defined yet slightly chaotic order he worked the control rods. A whistling tune began to caterwaul from inside the vessel. At different pitches as the bagged device hollered out the bodies of the Great Warriors would twitch and flop. First an arm, or leg then a grasp of toes or hands.

“That’s better.”

The next device was a more standardized computer interface. Something mass manufactured rather than cobbled together. Except that with each keystroke a mote of energy would sift in the flow of the room rather than letters appear on the screen.

“There you are Wilheim… But why so far? Your shell is safe. You need not travel to the next inclination.” He tapped out a different combination and the coded sphere moved out of the granite body and on to the dusky rose skinned warrior.

“Bethran. I see you, but is that you? Energy ordered in the way of Essenz. Vital and secure yes, but where is your spark of ingenuity? Xentul could not have devoured that and not devoured you whole.” He walked clockwise once again. Stopping at the bovine head to feed it a long yellow tuber. Once it was munching contentedly and the wired leading out of the side of its skull pulsing with a similar colored energy he moved on to the bellows once again.

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“Nice to finally get settled down from all that weirdness.” Felix said as he reorganized his papers for the umpteenth time.

Nick had found a new place to sit after they had checked the various gas and smoke detectors to make sure they hadn’t been breathing something odd.

“Alright, lets get back to it shall we gents? Sheets out and dice up, there’s a keep that needs storming.” The Game Master stifled a large yawn as he spoke.

Chris shook his head as he passed out some drinks to the group. “Don’t start that so early Nick. Especially after already downing an energy drink. We haven’t even had a chance to figure out if we’re getting epileptic octopi or suicide bomber beetles yet.”

The others chuckled as Malachai added with an ominous tone. “Not giving Nick ideas. Bad end we find.”

James was going to add something but found a sudden grounding of his energy. As if suddenly he had been up for an entire week straight. He could not stifle his own yawn as his energy came back just as quickly. “Chris, are you sure your carbon monoxide sensor is working correctly?”

He laughed. “We already checked those. Remember?” We have a few more yawns and suddenly it’s a gas leak again?” Besides we alre-“ He yawned greatly and felt his vision waver for a moment. “Shit. Felix, get the front do-“

Nearest to the door Felix was no slouch and was the fastest of the friends. As Chris fell over mid sentence he was already moving into action, yet he never made it to his objective. His last thoughts were about why they seemed to be suffocating on such a beautiful clear day.

By this time James was already unconscious and had ceased to breath, his head lolled to one side. Malachai slumped forward, falling face first into the table that contained the game miniatures on the fake landscape. In the kitchen doorway Nick was clawing at the trim of the frame. Sweat beading on his forehead as he desperately fought whatever had been pulling him into the abyss. Eventually he too fell. His head hit the hardwood of the floor and bounced once. Nicholas Anderson’s eyes were wide open and glassy. Unseeing and still as the flicker of whatever it was that made a person a person fled from within his body.

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End Prologue V

Authors Post Script –

So, what do you guys think? End of the Prologue! On to the first chapter of the Book! I’ll be working on this tonight and my hope is that I’ll get at least a couple thousand words of it done before I get too exhausted. The Muse has me by the short hairs tonight, I must comply!