Flustered, the girl brushed a strand of her long, bronze hair out of her face as it fell past her shoulders and over the simple, dark brown blouse above her jeans.

“Agh, I still have no idea where to go…!” Felicia cried out with comical tears in her eyes.

She had just wanted to take a look around to get a better feel for this event but had been swept along by the crowd of people against her will like a lone penguin trapped on an ice floe on the open ocean. Still, even with all of that misfortune the Zaunder heir had learned something new about herself.

“I hate crowds.” Felicia sobbed. She liked it much more when she just had to watch the crowd from the safety behind her counters and not diving headfirst into them herself.

She had even seen one familiar looking girl get stuck between the stands a while earlier… and again a few minutes later in a different spot. And there had always been her probably boyfriend helping her out.

“Was kinda cute…” She mumbled with a small blush, wishing she had someone like that help her out.

With a sigh, she let herself drift onwards through the aisles, unknowingly passing by the group of four friends.

———

The indie hall had become much more crowded with nearly every stand finally set up. And consequently the amount of tempting merch on offer had risen exponentially.

Amused, Natalie’s lips curled into a grin as Tania and Daniel had practically doubled their bags, now filled with mangas, art books and various other goodies. Both of them visibly struggled to carry all of their purchases. She shook her head with a playful sigh.

“See? That’s why you should train more. You always buy far too much.” Natalie teased. “Come on, let me help carry some of that.”

She held out a hand. In contrast to the others, she had barely bought anything yet. Though her eyes had strayed interested over a few, cute figurines a while back. Grateful, Tania and Daniel handed her some of their bags.

“You’re life saver, Nat.” Daniel smiled in relief, shaking his aching hand.

“Sure~ After all, you’ll still have to carry all of that back home on your own.” Natalie chirped.

“Don’t suppose we could hire you as our pack mule, then?” Tania asked with a grin.

“2k upfront and you have to buy me the tickets to and back.” Natalie didn’t even hesitate to answer, making her and Daniel blink.

“…why am I not surprised you had been prepared for that question?” Daniel wondered, gazing with sagely calm and a soft smile towards the ceiling. Slowly he nodded as if untold wisdom had been imparted upon him. “Yes, nothing else you should expect from the Queen of Greed.”

Natalie’s eye twitched at her rather infamous nickname as Merryland.

“Oi, don’t irritate the girl helping you!” She called out and then narrowed her eyes at Maria, the gremlin had been suspiciously quiet. She blinked far too innocent back, earning herself a deadpan stare.

“What are you cooking, tiny red?” Natalie drawled.

“How much for you to carry me for the rest of the con?” Maria replied with big, adorable eyes, hugging her plushie tight.

“Not in a million years, Red.” Natalie answered, not even bothering to pay her any more attention.

“Muh…” Maria pouted with a grin and turned towards the Daniel and Tania. “So, how much for little old me to convince you to convince her?”

“Hm…” Daniel sounded demonstratively, stroking his chin as if needing to think deeply about this offer, while Tania quietly and definitely inconspicuously scooted backwards behind Natalie with an evil grin.

“Annoy me and I’ll seize your stuff.” Natalie warned. “I’ll do it.”

“Welp, looks like the matter solved itself!” Daniel cheerfully clapped at that.

“Who woulda thunk?” Tania bopped her head in agreement, holding back her laughter.

“A mystery.” Maria nodded as if her words were some sort of profound revelation.

Natalie just shook her head and smiled, stifling her own chuckles. This was the reason she loved whenever she collabed with them as Merryland and they managed to rope Daniel into it. There was just something about their chemistry that made everything more fun. They added that little extra spice that was missing in Channel Destiny.

They continued through the crowded aisle, glancing at this and that stand with curiosity before passing them by. It was surprisingly Maria who kept them on track. For all her hyperactive tendencies, when she had something she wanted to do or a place to go to, she always made sure everyone was ready in time.

But it was a stand closing in to towards the end of the aisle that caught their attention, notably Daniel and Tania. Numerous, customised book bindings were on offer of varying themes, primarily high fantasy as well as some more technological scattered among them, the occasional gothic influence slipped in as well. Some looked like actual spell books and fittingly a small assortment of model wands stood besides them. A variety of elaborate bookmarks and other knickknacks were laid out as well.

“Wow! They look incredible!” Tania’s eyes shine with interested as she regarded all the creative bindings on display. “Have you made them all yourself….?”

She addressed the young man behind the stand, dressed in a white and red striped shirt and beige shorts, who was more than happy to answer. It was rare for Tobias that anyone had so much genuine interest in his hobby.

“Yeah, all the books and most of the small stuff. Wands are bought, though.” Tobias chuckled, with a smile he looked at Daniel who had hesitantly browsed through the examples. At his asking look, Tobias nodded amused and Daniel grinned as he allowed himself to actually pick one of the high fantasy display pieces up.

“They’re really great quality, too…” Daniel mused, liking how the material actually felt like leather and not just cheap plastic. He had always been fascinated by creative bindings like these. Sadly publishers didn’t care for such detail and so none of his favourite books ever did something like this.

“Haha, thank you.” Tobias laughed, feeling a bit embarrassed by the praise.

Natalie and Maria, watched amused from the side as their friends looked around. It was more idle hands than actual interest that had them browse along, waiting for them to finish up. Still, they were incredibly well made, Natalie had to admit, and Maria was having fun, too.

“Ooh~! That one’s especially great!” Maria grinned, pointing towards the centre piece of the stand.

“Ah, that’s the only one I can’t take the praise for…” The book binder smiled and picked it up. “Got it through my gram and is the inspiration for even starting this hobby in the first place. Wanna hold it?”

Tobias looked at them with a mischievous sparkle.

“…why do I suddenly have a bad feeling about this?” Natalie mumbled confused to herself and blinked.

“Cool!” Tania grinned. A pouted grumble puffed her cheek out. “My grandma didn’t leave me anything besides some crummy life advice.”

“Maybe you should write them down and get them bound like this?” Maria offered idly and excitedly accepted the tome, letting out a startled gasp at hw heavy it was. With sparkling eyes she oohed and awed over the smooth leather binding, tracing the silver chains with her fingers as they chimed.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Huh, that’s a cool idea, actually.” Daniel noted amused.

“She has her moments.” Natalie smirked.

“Don’t you worry that we could accidentally damage it…?” Tania sweatdropped at Maria struggling to hold the tome up.

“Nah, don’t worry about that. It survived my niece without scratch, so I doubt there’s anything you could do to even just nick it!” Tobias laughed as Maria unlocked the chains and browsed through the pages with some difficulty. Not too interested in the words, she handed the tome over to Daniel, Tania taking a peek over his shoulder.

“Uff, heavy!” Daniel gasped and Maria laughed.

“Wow, a lot of text…” Tania blinked and Daniel sweatdropped as it was honestly an understatement. The pages looked near completely black, so tiny was the lettering!

“Yah… never even tried to read any of that myself. Too tiny, doesn’t help that I got pretty bad dyslexia.” Tobias admitted sheepishly. “I listen more to audiobooks.”

“Perfectly reasonable.” Maria nodded sagely, making him smile amused.

“This honestly looks like a real spell tome.“ Daniel voiced his thoughts as he browsed a bit more sparingly through the tome. Squinting his eyes, he could actually see that the text was actually legible and not just random gibberish… or a language he didn’t know. Still, most of it was filled with weird terms and metaphors.

“Ooh, come on! Let’s read something out of it!” Tania grinned impishly, poking Daniel expectantly in the side.

“Dew it~!” Maria encouraged from the side, mirroring Tania’s grin.

“Sure, if you ask me like that.” Daniel chuckled and skimmed through the pages.”Let’s see…”

He smiled wide as he found the perfect the section right in the middle of the tome. It was an incantation, a short poem, that stood out against the rest of the tome with its text being of much larger print and elegant handwriting. Spread across two pages, the text flowed around a central spell circle.

“Okay, how we want do this? Alternate lines?” Daniel offered.

“Yes, but we have to do the last verse together!” Tania nodded firmly.

“Well, this I’ve gotta see.” Tobias mused watching with a smile.

“Yup!” Maria nodded cheerfully in agreement.

Even Natalie looked curious, but she was more weirded out by the small crowd that gathered around the small stand, waiting for the show to start. Not that Daniel and Tania seemed to have noticed, much to Tobias and Maria’s amusement.

“I will start then!” Jack declared with a smirk as he stood up straighter, holding the tome together with Tania so the two could easily read the poem.

“Three times three the darkness lost…!”

“…In tome it was bound its final fate!”

Tania continued seamlessly with a playful reverb.

“But what was once paid now unequal the cost…!”

“…To undo the unjust throw open the gate!”

Daniel’s voice echoed strong and theatrically through the air, putting as much weight into his words as he could. Meaning laid within each intonation.

“Three times three the darkness was gone…”

“…A sin of ancient times we mourn.”

“But with your absolution let Magic return…”

“…So let us welcome a new age dawn:”

Tania’s voice continued on with every syllable, her amused timber replaced by a melodic and intense inflection. Nearing the poem’s end, a somber echo had weaved through their words. And with solemn declaration they spread out their free arms, so focused on the words they never noticed them slowly spin around the circle.

““We unleash the darkness breaking the seal

Now let the chains unravel as we take the deal!””

Daniel and Tania echoed in perfect synch the final verse of the incantation, a ripple that washed over the entire convention.

Everybody was struck silent, the crowd joining Maria, Tobias and Natalie’s widened eyes. It had started perfectly reasonable. A gently breeze blowing around Daniel and Tania, slowly growing stronger the further they got into the poem. Maybe someone had smuggled a wind machine in, who knows? But then the whirling gale had been joined by dark green wisps, glowing beautifully as they danced within it. A soft green mist weaved itself through the wind, joined by shadowy smoke billowing and roiling forth beneath them. Black crackling energy surged around the storm of green and black as the climax neared.

The idea that this all could have just been special effects laid to rest by the crowd at the intensity of it all. This feeling of something Greater happening. Daniel and Tania oblivious to the storm around them, their forms somehow unaffected by the powerful winds whirling around them, standing at the veritable eye of this storm of roiling darkness, green mist and ethereal wisps. Entranced by the poem, everything beyond the tome had become meaningless to the two.

Their listeners were unable to turn away. The sound of the convention had been silenced to eery stillness.

Until the final verse was spoken and the massive book broke free from their grasp, floating upwards into the air.

“W-wha…?” Tania gasped stunned, blinking out of her trance as she gaped with Daniel at the tome floating within this arcane storm. Both their mouths opening and closing in mute disbelief.

With a flutter of pages, the tome snapped close again. Its dark silver chains locking back into place. Only for the notches holding them in place to sink into the binding, a calm ocean of shimmering darkness visible for but a second before the chains fully disintegrated. At the centre, the leather broke open to reveal a sharp, slanted eyes of emerald green iris, the sclera a dark amethyst of roiling mists.

A moment passed. And the chaotic storm was sucked violently into eye. With the last wisp sinking into the ominous eye the tome began to shatter. Darkness weaved with deepest green spread across the hall, casting everything into its shadow.

“Free at last!” A deep voice rumbled, making everyone shudder to their very core.

Three sharp eyes of emerald iris and amethyst sclera, blinked open one by one from the darkness above the stand. A zigzagged cheshire smirk melted from the shadows beneath.

Daniel and Tania swallowed heavily and glanced at each other with looks that perfectly screamed What-the-fuck-did-we-just-do?!

“I AM DARK TERRA!” The voice bellowed out louder than before and many winced as their ears rung painfully. Laughing deeply, the being seemed to throw its head backwards as its eyes and smile vanished back into the darkness before reappearing closer to Daniel and Tania, looking a bit more downscaled in size.

“And you are my liberators! How nice of you~” Its grin widened somehow before regarding a terrified looking Tobias.

“My current holder is here as well, I see…” It gleamed at the poor guy, utterly petrified in terror of the entity that his grandma’s book had contained.

“P-P-p...!!!” Tobias sputtered out helplessly and utterly terrified, eyes growing large before he promptly fainted, slumping into the conveniently placed seat behind him.

The darkness chuckled deeply and turned its attention back around.

“Now, it’s time to thank you all for my freedom!” A wicked smirk played through the shadows. “By playing a game with me~”

“Wait, what?” Daniel blinked started at how genuinely excited the being had suddenly sounded, still dark and all that but without the terrifying presence echo.

The darkness ignored him as its eyes flitted around the convention, eagerly drinking in everything it saw. Books were swallowed by darkness and green mist weaved into machinery. More and more its eyes seemed to sparkle with delight.

Awkwardly terrified, Daniel and Tania looked at each other and then towards their friends. Both Natalie and Maria returning their looks with terrified disbelief.

“Yess… I believe this place has given me a wonderful basis for our game~!” It laughed diabolically and returned back to Daniel and Tania. “And you, my dear liberators, are going to be the players… with everyone else to be NPCs and enemies!”

And at its declaration the shadows washed over the convention, swallowing everything and everyone. Startled screams and struggle echoed through the convention as they wrapped around the people and all was dark. Everyone but Daniel and Tania who watched horrified as Natalie and Marie vanished in the darkness. But only for a moment as long drops of transparent darkness rose from this ocean of shadows, everyone trapped within them.

Space began to warp and elongate as the darkness washed away. Even the darkness above rippled and dispersed, unveiling a vast blue sky dotted with cute, white clouds.

The ground transformed into vista of green, a tall hill rose to the side, separated from the plains by a few scattered trees, and to the other side stretched out a lake. All of it quickly growing and changing, the lake unraveled into an ocean, the trees spread into a vast ocean while hills became mountains the green vista turned into a vast meadow stretching along a beach, rolling hills obscuring the view towards the mountains and forest.

All of it, Tania, Daniel and Dark Terra overlooked from up in the sky, floating among the clouds. The duo watched wide eyed, awed and more than a little bit terrified as the drops of darkness rained down on the newly created world. The cloud of darkness looked rather smug and proud of its creation.

“S-so... What’s the game…?” Tania managed to ask, swallowing nervously.

Its gleeful smile didn’t give her much confidence.

“You’ll be given avatars fitting to your true desires! Travel the Lands of Seven and defeat the monsters and bosses to free your friends!” It laughed as six drops of darkness flitted to its side, glowing faintly green, with all their friends trapped inside. Jake, Luna, Maria, Natalie and also their new friends Sarah and Elise. They looked frozen as if trapped in amber or time. With a flourish it spread itself wide as if throwing its arms out within a billowing cloak and Daniel and Tania could only watch as their friends shot forwards. Their drops rapidly spinning around each other, making it impossible to know where was who, before scattering across the six Lands as shootings stars of shimmering emerald.

“Only once you have saved all six may you take on the final Land and face me for a final showdown!” It declared with a cheerful grin and a star of writhing, purple magic appeared underneath the duo.

“And how do we even find them…?!” Daniel scrambled to call out before they were fully swallowed by the mass of purple.

“Oh, don’t worry about that~ I can promise, you’ll know exactly where to go. There’ll NPCs to help you out and I was even so nice to prepare a little tutorial for you!” It reassured him with a carefree laugh. A smirk played through the shadows. “Wouldn’t do for you to give up before the game even starts, after all.”

And before they could get in any further words in edgewise, they were swallowed whole by the star. Their bodies were enwrapped and warped by the magic as the star floated upwards and shot towards the first Land of Meadow Beach. Their first adventure was about to begin.