Evelyn could not focus, even though her book was interesting. Derek and Tyler were talking quietly amongst each other as she pretended to read. It was about ten minutes after five. No doubt Neal would have a hard time being pulled away from everything, since he was the creator.

When it was twenty minutes after five, she started to worry. Her fingers drummed on the outside of her book, her mind refusing to focus. What did Neal mean by not getting any hopes up? It felt so ominous.

The door opened, and Neal walked in wearing a super fake Torraq mask. He took it off pretty fast, dropping it to one side. “I got here as fast as I could, sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Tyler said.

Neal did not hesitate. “So, you three have had your characters pulled into this realm?”

“I was the game master. These two, plus three more of our friends, got their characters pulled in. They, um, couldn’t come with us to con.”

Neal nodded, his face looking bleak. “So… five characters. Okay.” He ran a hand through his hair, sighing. “There’s… little you can do. This contract has existed since I created the game.”

Tyler raised an eyebrow. “Contract?”

“There is no way for your characters to return to the Shrouded Domain.” Neal’s voice was heavy. Evelyn’s chest froze. Clarissa can’t go back. All of them are here. Forever. She had a hope that they could do one last mission to start a portal, send everyone back, and not have to worry about being around each other.

Around Rafael.

“They’re… stuck here?” Derek asked.

“As with the many other characters who have trickled into this realm,” Neal said, his eyes heavy.

“I’m sorry…” Tyler tried to gesture with his hands, but he got all confused. “You… there’s no way back?”

“None. At least… not that the others have found,” Neal said.

“There are others?” Evelyn asked.

“How did this even happen?” Tyler asked almost at the same time.

Neal sighed again, covering his face. “Okay, look. I was young. Stupid. I wanted fame and fortune. Someone came offering a way. He looked human. He wasn’t. I… signed the contract, anyway.”

Tyler’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry, are you… did you actually sign a contract with the devil for fame and fortune?”

Neal ran his hands down his face. “If the devil did exist, I’m pretty sure it’s this guy. No doubt he started those rumors in the beginning of time. He’s a sort of ruler of this universe, though.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Derek placed a finger from each hand on his temple. “Are you seriously telling us that the Shrouded Domain is an actual place in our universe?”

“After everything you’ve experienced, are you really that surprised?” Neal folded his arms, leaning back, looking at none of them. “There are billions of stars, and billions of more galaxies with billions of more planets. I have no idea how our two worlds connected, but they are. Possibly from me signing the contract. The man I met promised riches and fame beyond my imagination, and I got it. But I was also too dumb to read the fine print.”

“Who was that guy?” Evelyn asked.

Neal hesitated, rubbing his shoulder. “There are beings in this universe on a different plane of existence with abilities and powers that truly make the rest of us feel like mortals.”

“Gods and Goddesses?” Derek asked, raising an eyebrow.

Neal shrugged. “As far as I can tell, I signed a contract with the guy who is literally chaos incarnate.”

“Chaos,” Tyler said, nodding. “And… Order?”

Neal nodded. “As far as I can tell, Chaos and Order are siblings, each with their own set of children. Justice, mercy, benevolence. All these ideals are higher beings.”

“Children?” Evelyn asked. “Who are their spouses?”

Neal shrugged. “They don’t have them.”

“Can they be killed?” Derek asked.

“No,” Neal said, glancing at Derek. “I’ve tried for over forty years. You cannot kill Chaos. He is an eternal being, written into the very laws of the natural universe.” Neal sighed. “The closest I could explain this concept is Plato’s Idealism theory.”

“Plato?” Tyler scrunched up his face, thinking.

“You know Plato’s Ideals?” Neal asked.

“Just from my freshman philosophy class. Plato said somewhere in the heavens there was the perfect chair. All other chairs in this world are simply an imitation of it.”

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Neal nodded. “I’m impressed.” Tyler smiled. “It’s not just physical things, though. Truth. Justice. All those have a perfect personification in a different realm.” Neal then looked at Derek. “So, to kill Chaos, you must first get rid of chaos in our world and all the worlds. Which is…” Neal trailed off. Evelyn realized what he meant. Chaos was so ingrained in their world that she could hardly imagine a world without it. Unrest, war, hate. She could hardly watch two minutes of news before chaos was present.

Tyler rubbed his head, looking sick. Evelyn understood the feeling. She just wanted to send these characters home, not have a philosophy lesson that had real world consequences. Clarissa had a family to return to. Evelyn didn’t want to tell her about all this.

Tyler dropped his hand. “So, this being, this personification of pure chaos… came to you?”

“Yeah,” Neal said. “And as far as I can tell, I signed the contract, and people’s characters started trickling into our world. Ever since the eighties.”

“Sorry, I just…” Derek still had fingers digging into his hair. “I created Milo. From my imagination. How is it possible that there is a place that actually exists in our universe that has Milo when I’m the one that created him?”

Neal lifted his palms in the air. “That, right there, reflects the perfect balance of Order and Chaos. A place existing in imagination but is real. It’s impossible to tell which is from Order, and which from Chaos.”

“And all the other campaigns? The different lore? Our snake rogue is the son of Akshi. Akshi never had a son canonically,” Tyler said.

“For whatever reason, whatever campaign is chosen for the portal is the lore they decide to set,” Neal said. “I don’t know why only a handful of people experience something like this. I wish no one had to. But they’re here now, and we’ve got to take care of it.”

“And no one can tell our characters are here because… because they can’t see them,” Evelyn said.

Neal pointed to her. “Exactly. There is some sort of mythical power when they first arrive that keeps them from interfering with the real world. From what I remember, they can slowly become part of society. It usually takes half a year to a year before people see them better. It’s up to you all to help them integrate into earth life.”

“Even with a snake rogue, an elf, and a half-orc? Will they become more human?” Evelyn asked.

“No. That’s the other thing I must warn you about. I don’t remember any of the characters that entered earth. Not until someone tells me they’re here. That’s why I was so confused when you told me. There is a powerful magic in all our brains that forces us to see what we are most comfortable seeing when dealing with a reality so beyond what we can comprehend. Your elf and snake will always look like an elf or snake to you, but the people around you will see them as human. It might take seven or eight months, but they will see them.” Neal sighed, looking at no one. “Pretty sure I’m going to see a handful of elf movie stars now.”

Tyler still stared at Neal. “But… we’ve got to return them to the Shrouded Domain. We can’t… they can’t stay here.”

“I wish I could. I really do. But that’d be the same as asking me to figure out how to get people to land while sailing in the middle of the ocean on a submarine. It cannot be done. And I’m sorry.” Neal rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m really sorry.”

“Will earth turn magical instead?” Evelyn asked. “Will mana start to creep into our world? Can earth people gain magical powers?”

“No,” Neal said. “No, those that came with mana will be the only ones who can use it. It’s a good thing they’re usually kind, characters that come. Sometimes chaotic, but not destructively so.”

Evelyn’s throat tightened. “What do we do about… the enemies that came with them?”

“Kill them. Quickly. As fast as humanly possible. The longer the enemies are here, the more they’ll be able to mess with this realm, and we can’t have another incident.”

Derek’s eyebrows furrowed together. “What incident?”

“We had three very powerful bad guys enter through the portal. It… was a slaughter. You don’t remember what happened, and that’s all that matters,” Neal said, staring right at Derek.

Tyler and Evelyn exchanged terrified glances. Evelyn was having a hard time breathing. Tyler looked back at Neal. “Sir… they… we… blew up. The entirety of Torraq’s lair. They’re all… here.”

Neal’s muscles went stiff, his eyes widening. “How many…”

Tyler cleared his throat, pulling out his phone. His hands trembled as he opened a document, then turned it toward Neal. “About two thousand creatures.”

Neal stared at the phone. He slowly backed away until he hit a wall. He leaned his head against it, breathing deeply. “Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit.”

“Are they… is earth going to be in trouble?” Derek asked.

“Oh, god, you’re just kids.” Neal had his hands in his hair. “Okay, okay, we can… this is still…” He closed his eyes, shaking his head. “This has to be doable. Everyone else only took four or five months to track down and defeat the handful of enemies that came with them. But…” Neal still had his hands in his hair, staring at nothing. “This… this is…” He pulled his gaze from nothing to stare at them again. “Order wouldn’t let it happen unless it was doable. When did your characters get here?”

“Beginning of August,” Evelyn said.

“I will reach out to those people who have their characters here. We can see if they can help in any way. They can still do combat and work on tackling some of these monsters.” Neal covered his face. “I’m assuming… Torraq was in his lair at the time?”

“Yes, sir. And… Akshi’s controlling the vice principal of our school,” Evelyn said.

There must have been a limit of bad news Neal could handle. All he could do was stare at Evelyn, then he tore his gaze to look at Derek, then at Tyler. He took out another little notebook from his pocket. “Here’s my personal email address. I’d prefer it if one of you emailed me. Keep me posted on everything. As I get more things figured out, I will also send you contact information to the other people who experienced this decades ago. Our biggest issue right now is getting all the creatures killed that we can before...” He looked again at the three of them. “You’re far too young to be doing this. I cannot believe they’re…” Neal shook his head as he tore a piece of paper and offered it out to the three of them. Evelyn and Derek both glanced in Tyler’s direction. He took it almost reverently.

“Thank you, sir,” Tyler said.

Neal shook his head. “Don’t. I deserve no gratitude. If I’d known then…”

“You’re helping us now,” Tyler said.

A haunted look entered Neal’s eyes. “One last thing.” He looked at Derek and Evelyn, then back at Tyler. “None of you die in the next year. And for god’s sake, don’t TPK. I know telling you not to die is stupid, but… but if you die at the hands of one of these beings from the Shrouded Domain during the year they are transitioning to the real world, no one will remember you. Your parents, your friends, everyone else, it will be as though you never existed. And if all your characters die at the same time, you will forget, and so will I. All the creatures who’ve come into this realm will have free reign, and they will completely take over earth next August.” Neal’s eyes were getting red, and again he stared off into the distance. “There was a thriving city back in the early nineties. No one today remembers Alwick, Wisconsin. I barely contained it with the two other groups, but…” Neal covered his face. “You’re just kids. I can’t believe this.”

Evelyn was not feeling comforted in the slightest. She found a chair and slowly sank into it; her knees no longer worked.