Alvin Smithson was always a loner, with few friends and fewer close ones. It didn’t help that names passed him by like smoke in the wind. Early on, this led to him being bullied. Not that he particularly cared.

Though this probably had more to do with the people who tried to bully him. They weren’t the cool kids, but rather a small group led by a small triangle of a boy with a mouth full of rotten teeth. It was a mystery how he ended up in charge of his little gang of kids. The group liked to try and beat up Alvin.

Operative word there is try. Alvin was a wild child. While he loved a good book and could often be found reading late into the night. He was in the end a child filled to the brim with energy and imagination. Living on a small hill half covered by a small forest meant much of his days were spent out exploring.

The bullies would try to corner him on the playground but Alvin would run circles around them. Not that he always avoided them. He loved a good fight but it was easier to avoid trouble if no one ended up bleeding.

Not that a bit of blood bothered him. Alvin didn’t mind the pain. Others cried over it but he would just not care about it. Though that covered most things if he was to be honest. He was in his own little world and everything else could take a hike.

Speaking of hiking, Alvin’s family enjoyed it and while out on the trails Alvin would pick up all the interesting rocks. Very few times Would he get home without the pocket’s of his cargo shorts filled to bursting.

One of his favorite trails had an abundance of serpentine. A beautiful green mineral that turned out lovely when you put it through a rock tumbler. His favorite find started out as a fang shaped piece of the stuff with a base of some normal rock and what appeared to be the smallest seam of gold in it.

After a run through the rock tumbler, the edges were smoothed and the golden seam was brought out more. It was his, and thoughts of dragons and snakes danced in his head.

Years passed and eventually the bullying stopped and the instigator vanished. Where? Alvin didn’t know or care. The kid just stopped being there. It might even have been as simple as being on one of the alternative lunch times as Alvin’s grade alone had over a thousand kids in it. The bully’s disappearance however didn’t mean he started making friends.

There were, of course a few groups he would hang out with because of shared interests or situations. Mostly trading card games and being stuck in church together. On the playground, he kept to himself. Running around and causing chaos or with his nose stuck in a book.

During this time, a number of beliefs had grown within him. Beliefs that even he admitted were crazy. But that didn’t matter because they had become founding principles for him.

Magic was real. Dragons were real. He was immortal.

Alvin would joke about it with others and of course no one realized, no one could believe that it wasn’t a joke to him. Delusional, weird, a few marbles short? He readily admitted it. But he was too far gone at that point. In fact, one of his goals was to be rich in the future so he can be eccentric.

As he put it, if you’re poor, you’re called crazy because you can’t pay for a psychiatrist. If you’re middle class, you’re insane because you can pay for one. But if you’re rich? If you’re rich, you’re eccentric because you can afford to not get help.

Not that anyone really thought he was crazy. You might think that an unshakeable belief in one’s own immortality would lead to some risk taking. Alvin however saw that as a fool’s path. Living forever doesn’t mean you’re in a good situation. If anything, he was more careful. After all, who knows how long it would take to heal a broken spine?

And with that, he started to spend more time immersed in books. Digging deep into fantasy and science fiction. Soon enough, he was known for never being without a book. And as time changes all things he stopped his physical exploration for mental. The wild child became the bookworm. Reading more books in a summer than most of his classmates would in their entire lives.

Yes, time changes everything. His favorite stone broke along the golden seam and the woods next to his house became overgrown with thorny vines. He still wasn’t normal. In fact, his classmates leave him alone even more so and see him as a force of nature. Something that happens and all you can do is hold on.

Then more time passes and his parents separate. He didn’t see it coming though it was obvious in hindsight. Alvin never cared enough or paid enough attention to notice. While it didn’t really bother him, that didn’t change the fact he ended up going to therapy for a while because of his dad’s insurance.

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While in therapy, he smiled and spoke endlessly about how he didn’t care. Not specifically but in general. Alvin didn’t know what the therapist thought of this, but assumed they chalked it up to the divorce.

In the end, he went with his father. Not because he cared one way or another. More of just because it was expected of him and that was a lot easier on his side.

During this time, he fell into a new thing. ‘Twas of the devil if the church was to be believed. Not that he even pretended to care about that. So with a great gusto he started learning about tabletop roleplaying games.

To start with just the latest version of the original because everyone knew it and “dragon” was in the title. What’s not to love? Though he definitely didn’t stick to just that. Alvin dived into both the older versions and entire other games.

In a near haze, the next couple years passed and with it highschool wrapped up. He wasn’t top of his class but it wasn’t so bad that he wouldn’t get into college. Not that he had any solid plan for that beyond going in general. The claims of getting a degree equaling a good job were pounded into even his thick skull.

Alvin probably would have ended up going for a business or IT degree. Would have, that is, if not for one little incident.

There was a bright light in my eyes. Not the best way to wake up. Especially when the last thing I remembered is driving home in the middle of the night.

On the bright side, heh, the light wasn’t from the sun. It wasn’t from a hospital room either, so going by what I recalled from the night before, things weren’t kosher.

When my eyes had adjusted and I was greeted with the sight of two guys who looked like they couldn’t decide between cosplaying as the men in black or wizards, so split the difference. Well, suffice to say my thoughts were confirmed. That and my memories of the night before were probably a lot realer than I wanted to deal with right now. Not that the cosplay duo let me get too far down that mental rabbit hole.

The dude on the left gave me the most curdled milk smile I had ever seen up till that point. “So, what do you remember from last night? We found you on the side of the road, car totaled.”

The other guy smiles. “Don’t mind him. You aren’t in trouble as all the evidence points towards this not being your fault. We just need to get your side of the story.”

I laughed, “Fifth amendment, I want a lawyer.”

The guy playing the good cop sighed at that and turned to the other dude. “You know what Jeff? Ever since that became well known our job has gotten so much more frustrating.”

Harold shrugs, “What are you complaining about? We both know you love any chance to play with your toys. Plus, it isn’t like we could actually trust his statement, anyway.”

The other guy shakes his head at that. “It doesn’t work as well if they aren’t already talking.”

Harold rolled his eyes, “He already knows something is up. Just zap him.”

At that point I tried to speak up but something prevented me. Then the guy brought out an egg-shaped piece of metal. Not being able to verbally respond and with a growing sense of unease I focused on that metal egg and watched as etchings appeared on its surface.

What looked like a mix of Arabic and Chinese characters with some Viking runes thrown in for style points spread across the bottom two-thirds. The top third of the metal egg instead developed deep grooves until the outer layer of metal was split apart. Once both sides finished, the upper part opened up and a sickly near blue glow flowed over the edge closest to where I was sitting.

I really tried to struggle at that point. Light shouldn’t move like that. Of course, however they had me secured was top grade. If it hadn’t been for my ability to wiggle my fingers and toes, I would have thought myself paralyzed.

Though even their best restraints started to fail when the glow approached my face. I can’t quite remember the details but I think I got an arm up when the glow flowed into my eyes, nose, and mouth.

At that point, there was a disconnect between me and my body. I was still trying to scream my head off but my body just relaxed. Though I was soon to follow its example as I clearly wasn’t going to accomplish much. And a good thing too because that let me pay attention to the two cosplayer wannabees as they got my body to spill the beans.

For the first bit, things were normal. They just asked me what I remembered from last night and my body began reciting what had happened. Nothing too interesting, I had been at the local game shop for a trading card game tournament that went late. Didn’t place well but I had stuck around to play some games against the others.

It was easy to tell that the two mooks weren’t interested in what I was saying. Though more importantly, they were looking for something or else they could have had me skip the boring parts. Then they perked up when my ride home was approaching the ridge.

Living in the middle of nowhere means I have to drive by a lot of farmland and forests. The thing is that the forests are well back from the road for most of the distance. Not on the ridge, though. A horrible bit of landscaping left behind by the glaciers that draws a line between my dad’s house and the closest thing to a city within a few hours drive.

The two leaned in as I described going up the ridge nice and slow to save fuel. And my body, in the most nonchalant manner, drops the bomb. “Then halfway up the ridge a werewolf looking git was thrown out of the woods and smashed the front end of my car. I came to a stop and threw on the emergency brake. After that, I sat there and watched the werewolf change back into a guy. I think something else came out of the woods at that point but I can’t be certain as whatever it was knocked me out.”