The group departs the gaming store, but the excitement of the upcoming game lingers. Unfortunately, the storm prevents them from having any real discussion in the parking lot. Most rush to their individual vehicles, except for Vryce and Lucy, who usually ride together.

Vryce jerks open the passenger side door of his car and makes sure Lucy is safely inside before rushing around to his side of the car.

Both of them are soaked by the time they get seated.

"So what do you think?" Vryce asks. "This game seems a little weird."

"You're the weirdo that's talking about sacrificing cats." She gives him a glare.

"If Rabu can talk to rats, then maybe it'll be easier to find sacrifices." Vryce shrugs. "But that doesn't mean all of the strays are safe."

"The first thing I'm going to do is build a cat sanctuary to protect them from you." Lucy grins and leans over to give Vryce a playful nudge. "By the way, are we really just going to stick with the character names? I have to call you Vryce from now on?"

"Those are the rules." Vryce shrugs again, seemingly unbothered by it. "It's kind of what we did with Big Mike's game too. After a couple of weeks, we called each other by our character names more than our real names."

"I hate that I met you guys too late to join that one." Lucy leans over to look up at the sky. "It seemed like a lot of fun."

"It was for a long time…" Vryce's words trail off and his expression grows dark.

"Did something happen?" Lucy perks a brow, noticing the look on Vryce's face.

"I don't really want to talk about it," Vryce says, glancing up at the sky. "This storm is crazy."

"Yeah, it is." Lucy follows Vryce's lead as he changes the conversation. "I thought it was supposed to just be some light rain."

"Apparently not." Vryce says, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

Vryce and Lucy continue to talk as they drive to Lucy's house, then they say their goodbyes. Vryce waits for Lucy to make it indoors before continuing on to his place. Once he's home, he cracks open a beer and starts drafting up some ideas for his character. After a few hours, and several beers, Vryce has written an entire backstory for his half-elf necromancer.

Unbeknownst to him, the rest of his friends are doing something similar, although only a couple go as far as to write out a detailed backstory. Malakai, in particular, is expressing his creativity through art, drawing his character the way he sees him, while laying out some general notes about the characters time at the temple.

All of this underneath the raging storm, which quickly becomes more volatile than anyone could have predicted. It isn't long before the power starts to go out, and as the estimated time for restoration becomes available, everyone decides it is time to call it a night.

They all expect to wake up the next morning and continue developing the character they will be playing in Bryconia.

But fate has other plans.

***

Leone Lebrae is the first one to wake up, but instead of waking up in his bed at home, he's laying in what appears to be grass. His head hurts so bad he struggles to open his eyes, but when he finally does, he sees a bright blue sky overhead.

"What the hell?" Leone sits up, rubs the side of his head, and tries to make sense of what he sees.

In the distance, he can see a small village, but it doesn't look like one he's ever seen before. It certainly doesn't look modern. It reminds him of a village from a movie set in the middle ages. To his immediate right, he notices a tree, and as he tries to stand up, he stumbles towards it because his legs are weak. He catches himself on the tree and notices a woman on the ground.

"Lucy?" He tilts his head slightly.

The woman on the ground looks similar enough to his friend to be recognizable, but her attire is strange. She's wearing a dirty white tunic, muddy pants, and only one shoe, which is barely more than tattered leather cobbled together.

Leone kneels down and shakes her, saying her name again. "Lucy! Wake up!"

"Huh?" Lucy's eyes slowly open and her hand immediately goes to her head. "Where am I? Wait, who the fuck are you!?"

Despite the pain, Lucy panics, rolls over, and scurries away from the strange, golden haired elf.

"It's me, Lucy! It's Leone!" A strange look settles on Leone's face. "I'm not Leone, I'm Leone. What? I'm trying to say my name, but it's just coming out as Leone."

A realization settles across Lucy's face, and the panic seems to dissipate. She studies her friend closely, recognizing some features that remind her of the guy that sat near her at the table last night, but he looks a whole lot different now.

"You're Leone?" Lucy also tries to use Leone's real name, but her words betray her.

"Fuck." Leone slumps down to the ground. "What the hell is going on here?"

Lucy looks at her hands and feet as she tries to stand. Like Leone, it's a difficult process and she stumbles over to the tree before slumping down on the ground next to her friend. As Lucy tries to shake the disjointed thoughts out of her head, Leone attempts to stand for a second time, using the tree for support.

"Are we in Bryconia?" Lucy asks. "That's what this is, right? We made these characters last night."

Leone doesn't respond, but the expression on his face darkens. He looks around and a few seconds later, a string of profanities pulls their attention to the distant right, where they see a figure dressed in much nicer attire, complete with a tabard that has a strange symbol on the front.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

"Is that…" Lucy squints.

"Palmer!" Leone says, then pauses as he realizes the name he tried to say has once again been corrected. "Palmer, over here!"

Palmer staggers, then falls to a knee. Leone attempts to walk over to assist, but he's still struggling to walk. He's finally forced to lean against the tree and watch as Palmer painstakingly crosses the field to get to where they are, falling and stumbling the entire way.

"Leone?" Palmer says, then his face registers confusion.

"You won't be able to say his real name." Lucy drags herself closer to the tree to support her back. "I think we're in Bryconia. Somehow we're…"

"Our characters." Palmer nods as he finishes Lucy's sentence. "We need to find everyone else."

"That might be difficult since we can barely walk." Leone says in a huff. "How bad does your head hurt?"

"Like I got kicked in the face by a mule." Palmer sighs and leans against the tree. "Maybe if we rest for a few minutes, we can figure this out."

"You're a cleric, right?" Lucy asks, moving closer to Palmer. "Can't you heal us or something?"

"Uh, maybe?" Palmer says, as he ponders Lucy's question. "But I have no idea how to do it."

"Didn't Jenkins say something about a book?" Leone leans forward and points at the satchel hanging from Palmer's waist. "Look in there."

"Right." Palmer nods and opens his satchel. "This must be it."

Palmer pulls out a book titled Prayers of Grath. He flips it open and almost everything it is garbled except for the very first page, which has two prayers listed.

Prayer of Healing I: In Mani Grath

-Heals 5 hit points

-Mana Cost: 50% of your total Mana Points.

===

Prayer of Holy Power I: Sanct Rel Grath

-Imbues weapon with the Holy Power of Grath for one hour, which allow the wielder to draw the attention of one enemy, as long as the wielder's intentions are honorable.

-Mana Cost: 5 Mana Points

"I guess I just say the prayer?" Palmer turns towards Lucy. "Maybe I put my hands on you or something?"

"Try it." Lucy nods and moves closer.

Palmer studies the phrase, practicing it silently before leaning over to Lucy, and putting his hands on her arm. The older cleric closes his eyes and recites the words from his book.

"In Mani Grath," Palmer says, and suddenly, a light blue glow pours from his hands. It envelopes Lucy and quickly fades.

"Whoa!" Leone blinks in surprise. "Lucy, how do you feel?"

"I feel…" Lucy puts her hand on the tree and is able to stand up. "Better. Not perfect, but better."

"Alright, Palmer." Leone smiles. "Heal me."

"Wait." Palmer shakes his head. "This drains half my mana, which means I can only do one more heal before my mana recharges. Whenever that is."

"Hmm." Leone contemplates what Palmer said. "Okay, Lucy go look around and see if you can find the others. Also keep an eye out for anything we can use as weapons."

"Do you think you're in charge or something?" Lucy tilts her head slightly.

"You're the only one who can walk, for crying out loud." Leone grumbles under his breath. "Will you just do it? Please?"

"Try asking nicer the first time." Lucy turns and starts walking away from the two men by the tree. "Oh, look. I found my other shoe."

"Great." Leone sighs. "Now try to find Vryce, Rabu and Malakai."

"I'm looking, chill." Lucy wanders further away, the strength in her legs seemingly restored by Palmer's prayer.

Leone tries to get to feet again, but he feels even weaker, so he remains where he is. Palmer begins digging through his satchel to see if there is anything else that could be useful.

"Hmm." Palmer pulls out a bag that jingles and opens it. "I guess this is my gold."

"You're buying dinner." Leone chuckles then feels around his waist to find a similar coin purse. "I only had five bucks on me."

"These coins are strange." Palmer pulls a handful of them out of the bag. "I've got some that are stamped for King Brynn, and then others that have markings I can't understand."

"Let me check mine." Leone removes his coin purse and dumps the five gold pieces in his hand. "Mine are the same say. I've got two for King Brynn, and the other three are different."

"Let's hope they all spend the same." Palmer shrugs and drops his coins back into his bag. "We need a plan."

The conversation is interrupted by Lucy, who calls out to them.

"Leone! Palmer! I found Vryce!" She leans down and a couple of seconds later, a bewildered looking man sits up.

"Doesn't Vryce have some kind of healing spell?" Leone glances over at Palmer.

"Yeah, but he has to sacrifice something. If we find Rabu, he can talk to rats, right?" Palmer shakes his head. "I can't believe I'm even considering that, but maybe he could convince a rat to come to us so we can sacrifice it?"

"This is crazy." Leone grunts.

The two men watch Lucy and Vryce, who aren't talking loud enough for Leone or Palmer to hear what they are saying. Judging by Vryce's reaction, Lucy appears to be explaining the situation to him. Vryce sits in stunned silence for almost a full minute before he attempts to get up. He struggles, but with Lucy's assistance, he begins staggering towards the tree.

"Here, I'll try to help." Palmer pushes himself up with a groan and shoulders some of Vryce's weight before the duo collapses.

Lucy seems more nimble than she was in the real world, and is able to easily retain her footing.

"I was really looking forward to playing Bryconia." Vryce lets out a chuckle. "But not like this."

"Lucy, see if you can find something for Vryce to sacrifice so he can use his heal." Leone motions towards the field.

"There you go giving orders again." Lucy puts her hands on her hips.

"I don't even know how to cast my spell." Vryce sighs and looks to Palmer. "Lucy told me what you did, but I don't have a book or anything."

"You're a necromancer, right? Half of one, anyway." Lucy ponders the situation. "Maybe just close your eyes and focus or something."

"I'll try." Vryce lets out a weary groan and closes his eyes.

The rest of the group stares at Vryce as he concentrates, but when he opens his eyes, it's clear he's made no progress.

"Anything?" Leone asks.

"No." Vryce grumbles. "I really have no fucking idea. Plus, this robe is hot as hell. Why did I ask for a robe?"

"You were trying to be intimidating." Lucy lets out a light chuckle.

"I changed my mind." Vryce strips off the robe, revealing a tattered tunic and pants that are far too short for him.

"Your intimidation went way down." Leone snorts.

"Fuck it, I don't care." Vryce pulls himself close to the tree and leans against it.

"I'm going to go look for Rabu and Malakai." Lucy says confidently, then turns and walks back into the field.

"Screw you, Jenkins." Vryce looks up and shakes his head. "You son of a bitch."

"We don't know if he's actually responsible for this." Leone furrows his brow. "Remember, there was a really bad storm last night. Maybe something got… I don't know."

"There you go," Vryce says. "Always defending him even though he's the reason Big Mike's game ended."

"That was my fault too." Leone sighs. "I could have handled it differently."

"Whatever." Vryce shakes his head. "We'll find Rabu and Malakai, then we'll figure out how to get home."

Lucy walks around the field. The others regain their strength. As night comes, the group comes to terms with the fact that they can't find their friends. Lucy has walked in every direction, without venturing close to the village, and the others have been able to do some light scouting, but they still haven't regained all of their strength.

"We need to rest." Leone says. "We'll be useless if we don't."

"Yeah," the slender brunette says as she finds a comfortable spot on the ground. "I can't see a damn thing anyway."

"I can see fine." Leone chuckles. "But we still need rest."

"Wait, you can see in the dark?" Lucy perks up.

"It's different, but yes." Leone nods, then looks towards Vryce. "You're a half-elf. Can't see you see in the dark?"

"Not enough to call it special." Vryce shrugs. "I guess I didn't get that ability."

"I can't see anything." Palmer leans against a rock. "Hopefully, we'll have our strength back tomorrow and we can find the others."

"Exactly." Leone sighs. "Then we'll figure out how to get home."

Despite Leone's best attempt at confidence, his statement is hollow. They are all worried about their future. Finding their friends was a priority, but then what?

Was it even possible to get home again?