Nick and Evelyn left Derek’s house soon after noon. Nothing else happened, and there were no monsters that returned. Nick and Derek made a list of all the creatures they remembered were in the lair, hoping they could at least not be surprised. Derek then spent the rest of the evening researching every bit of lore about the monsters Torraq had hidden in his lair just to be prepared. When he saw it was canon that Torraq had a fire dragon, a lightning dragon, and an acid dragon, Derek felt like slamming his head on the desk.

Milo was outside, doing experiments on the dirt. He accepted losing a couple of hit points every hour to be out there in that heat. He kept pulling out glass vials and filling the different piles of dirt and sand he had collected. Derek had done some experimenting of his own. They couldn’t exactly bring their characters with them to school. So he dropped Milo off at his house and told him to stay in there while he went to visit Evelyn and Nick for a bit. When he returned, Milo was just fine, happy to keep doing his experiments. Derek texted the results to Evelyn, Alejandra, and Rafael so they didn’t have to worry about taking their characters to school with them. Truthfully, Derek was a little disappointed. He kind of wanted to take Milo with him to school. It wasn’t like anyone could see him. This whole situation was like a pendulum. It was the best thing that ever happened, and the worst thing.

It was late when his mom, Amanda, came in to wish him good night. He mumbled some sort of excuse about prepping to be a game master of a one shot so he was stuck in mountains of research. His dad, Miguel, was often traveling. He knew Miguel would rather be at home more, but the moments he was home, he always made the best of it. Amanda simply ruffled his hair and told him not to get too addicted to the game.

Derek had a huge list of creatures that were walking around the world right now. It didn’t comfort him at all. He made a list of the different hit points and attacks. He checked his phone to see the usual messages from his other groups of friends about school starting in two days and requests to compare schedules. Derek went through his contacts before he pulled up Tyler’s information. He sent a quick message.

Visit tomorrow about CCNC?

He waited for the response as he continued to write down hit points. He glanced at Milo out the window. Now that it was dark enough, the mana fusor wasn’t taking the usual hit points, but he only had four left. At least he was about to get a long rest. Derek’s eyes lingered on the mana bar. The one that was half gone, even after twenty-four hours. His mana fusor was squishy, and the only way he would ever get stronger would be if mana returned.

His phone buzzed.

Sure! Should I come to you?

No. Derek made sure to send that first. I’ll come to you. Sprained wrist, remember?

Tyler’s reply came soon after. I can hardly feel it.

I’ll wait until you’re off meds before I believe that.

Derek tucked his phone away as Milo walked in with four different vials. “Do you have a lab here, by any chance?”

Derek raised an eyebrow. “A… lab? Like… a science lab?”

Milo nodded, still holding the vials gingerly. Derek stared at the vials, then frowned as he tried to think. “Um… no. No, I don’t.”

The mana fusor’s face fell. “Well, this is going to prove more difficult than I thought.”

“Sorry, man. But I’ll see if I can find you one.” Derek wasn’t too certain about how well he could come through on that promise. He tried to think of anyone he knew with a lab, but he was drawing a blank. If Milo didn’t have a lab, then how was he going to make things?

Then again, he wasn’t sure if his mana fusor could even find mana.

“Come on, let’s get some sleep. You need to replenish your hit points.”

“So do you,” Milo said.

Derek gave him a strange look. “You see hit points above me?”

“No. I just assumed it was a common custom in your land to say such things before going to bed,” Milo said.

Derek smiled, forgetting that they probably didn’t see the hit points on each other. Despite everything that happened, he still felt an excitement that this was happening.

His mom was right. He was probably addicted to CCNC.

***

Alejandra watched as Rafael walked into the room, followed by Ezekiel. “Is he going to help you at work today?” Alejandra asked.

Rafael tied his grocery store apron around his waist. “What?”

She gestured toward Ezekiel. Rafael frowned, then looked toward where Alejandra gestured. Her heart sank as she realized he couldn’t see Ezekiel again. A dawning recognition hit his face as he met Ezekiel’s gaze. “Oh, hello. I guess you’re still here.”

“I am,” the cleric said, not at all alarmed.

Rafael was checking his phone. “Could you… could you perhaps stay here? I’ve got to go into work, and stocking shelves is going to be boring.”

Ezekiel shrugged. “Of course.”

“Perfect. In fact.…” Rafael walked back into the living room area, straight for the bookshelf. “I know you love books.”

A light entered Ezekiel’s eyes. “I do!”

Rafael pulled out a thick book then walked over to him, placing it in his hands. “You can read English, right?”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Ezekiel squinted, bringing the book closer. “The… Lord… of… the… Rings…”

Alejandra rolled her eyes.

“That is all three books in one binding. Bet you anything it’ll blow your mind. It’s kind of ironic, if you think about it.” He slapped Ezekiel on the back. “Knock yourself out, my friend. I’ll introduce you to the movies sometime, but maybe we’ll wait on that technology.”

Ezekiel did not seem disappointed in this outcome in the slightest. He flipped open the book, finding the beginning. Alejandra rubbed her forehead. “What’s this story about?” Ezekiel asked.

“Daring adventure, good verses evil…” Rafael said.

“Unbreakable friendships?” Alejandra offered.

“Corrupting artifacts,” Rafael said, clearly ignoring his little sister. “Honestly, you read that, and I will be most curious to think about what you think. I mean, if you think about it, it’s pretty funny. There was a huge lawsuit back in the day between CCNC and the Tolkien estate. There’s a reason hobbits aren’t in the game anymore.”

“Hobbits,” Ezekiel said, trying out the word.

“Hey, when you finish with that, I’ll give you the Hobbit next.” Rafael was halfway out the door. “See you later, Ezekiel!”

Alejandra shook her head as Ezekiel turned a few pages and settled himself down on the couch. Knowing Ezekiel, he would stay on that couch all day. Rafael knew how to keep his character at a distance.

***

Derek pulled into Tyler’s apartment in Tuscan. It was a solid half an hour from their town of Elmwood, and since it was Sunday, the traffic wasn’t too bad. He used the smaller car instead of the minivan to drive. Tyler opened the door before Derek made it down the stairs. His sister’s ex-boyfriend had brown hair and blue eyes. He had a tattoo of a d20 on his wrist. He wore his Rollin’ 20s t-shirt like some people wore their favorite metal band. Rollin’ 20s was the CCNC podcast, with a bunch of complete nerds streaming their CCNC game for anyone to listen to. If Derek wasn’t careful, they would just be talking about Rollin’ 20s the whole time. He had more pressing matters to talk about.

“Hey, man, good to see you.” Tyler waved, and Derek noticed some sort of a medical brace on his wrist. Milo walked in first, moving right past Tyler without his friend seeing him.

“And it’s great to see you.” Derek followed Milo in. “Glad you survived the crash.”

Tyler shrugged. “It wasn’t that bad of a crash. The aches and bruises are already lessening.”

“Well, good. Because I’d like to pick your brain. Talking about CCNC shouldn’t be too strenuous, right?”

“Not strenuous at all.”

We’ll see about that.

“I’ll move my stuff. I’m currently making lunch. Are you hungry?” Tyler asked.

“No, I just ate.” Learning from Izzy, there was no way he was going to eat anything from a college student. Tyler was currently enrolled in the summer semester at Arizona State University to speed through his electrical engineering major. Mostly to take a basic English class everyone needed. There was never enough room. He was super stoked that it meant he could take the alien class in the fall.

Derek heard him talking about it and did not believe him that there was a science class about aliens. Tyler showed him the syllabus online, going through the history of scientific discoveries like the big bang and stellar evolution and discussing theories about whether intelligent life was there. The major project was to watch three movies about aliens and give a full-blown scientific breakdown of what might happen during a supposed first contact. It was an extremely sought after class, one that caused Derek to want to attend ASU. He, too, would have taken a summer semester of general classes for a chance to get into a class like that.

Tyler moved his books off the table as Derek sat down. He tried to think about how to start this conversation and wondered if he could segue the alien class into the current situation with CCNC. Instead, Derek simply blurted out, “How much do you know about Torraq and his lair?”

“Plenty. What do you want to know?” Tyler asked.

“Everything.”

Tyler laughed. He poured ramen into a bowl before sitting down with a fork. “We could be here all day.”

“And you think I mind?”

Tyler gave another chuckle. “This is why we’re such good friends.”

“Please get back with Izzy,” Derek mumbled. Not quietly enough, considering Tyler was back to laughing.

“Kind of hard, since Izzy’s over on the east coast,” Tyler said. “I’m hoping I’ll find a girl in my alien class. We’ll probably have similar interests.”

Derek shook his head. “I still can’t believe you’re taking that class.”

“Dude, the protests on campus were legendary when they threatened to cancel it. The class is legit, and once the dean actually attended a class, he realized it was quite educational. Science is all about wondering. It’s why we, as a species, got curious enough to not just ask questions, but find the answers.”

“Mmm, I like him,” Milo said.

Derek glanced at Milo, then back at Tyler to see if he noticed anything. Tyler swirled his fork around in his ramen before taking another bite. He gestured at Derek with it. “Anyway, Torraq is an ice elemental, and likes to be known as the best. Frankly, he is. This new edition of Torraq’s quest that you guys have been playing makes that incredibly clear. Since he’s so good at ice, he will often surround himself with monsters that aren’t as strong with ice. Not only to keep them in line, but if adventurers try to break into his lair loading up on all the anti-ice artifacts and other such spells, that they won’t be prepared for the other monsters who have the different elementals.”

“Like the acid dragon?” Derek heard the strain in his voice.

“Precisely. He’s also got a fire one and a lightning one, too,” Tyler said.

Derek rubbed his forehead, looking at nothing. “So I’ve heard.”

Milo sat there, looking worried at this development. The mana fusor seemed to understand other people couldn’t see or hear him, so he was trying not to distract Derek. “Do you know anyone with a lab?” Derek asked.

“Um…” Tyler looked confused at this sudden change of conversation. “There are the labs at uni. Pretty sure you have to get special permission to use those.”

Derek sighed. There was no easy way to ask this question, so he might as well ask it now. “Have you… have you ever heard about… about characters coming out of CCNC?”

To Derek’s absolute surprise, Tyler smirked. “Yep.”

“Yep?” Derek dared exchange a glance with Milo. “You’ve… you’ve heard about that happening?”

“Obviously. I mean, it never actually happened in real life, but you’ve heard of the demonic scare in the eighties about this game when it was getting popular.” Tyler took another bite of some ramen.

Derek blinked at him. He’d heard that too, but perhaps he hadn’t heard the whole story. “I thought it was just because people in the eighties feared fantasy games. Or that the devil would possess people who played the game.”

Tyler shook his head as he chewed. “Well, there was a lot with CCNC in the eighties. Mostly because it was so popular. But the rumor was that if five people sit around a lit table playing CCNC, it would open up some sort of demonic portal and bring the evil creatures into our world.” Tyler took another bite. “The eighties must have been a crazy time to be alive, man.”

Derek did nothing more than stare at Tyler. His friend was focused on his ramen, then glanced up, noticing his gaze. “Are you alright?”

Derek swallowed. “Um… how certain are you in these rumors?”

Tyler frowned as he kept chewing. “Dude. They’re just rumors. Rumors to ruin a really fun and popular TTRPG. Honestly, the mindset of the eighties were if it wasn’t the devil’s fault, it was probably Russia’s. If there were Russian devils out there, they were on top of the FBI’s most wanted.” He swallowed, smiling.

Derek didn’t exactly know what to say. This was the closest anyone had come to guessing the truth.

Tyler seemed to notice Derek not responding. Tyler took another bite, waiting curiously. Then, all at once, he stopped chewing. With a mental capacity Derek could almost sense, Tyler tore his gaze from Derek and stared at Milo. The mana fusor was tapping a finger against his arm, trying to figure out some mental problem in his head when he noticed Tyler’s gaze. He gave a tiny wave, and in response, Tyler dropped his bowl of ramen on the ground.