"Come with me Alannah!" said Elder Laoralai

Alannah followed the Elder away from the rest of the elves and into cave rooms where the elves kept wine that was being aged. 

Elder Laoralai looked around.  "I don't know how long we are going to manage here," she said.  "We have plenty of food, and shelter, but these caves were not built for elven occupancy.  There is no privacy.  No view of nature and the sky.  And I suspect the presence of all this alchohol will lead some of our people into temptation."

Then she stopped and gestured to Alannah, "Tell me about this blue screen you saw."

Alannah quaked under the Elder's fearsome gaze.  She spoke hesitantly, "Elder.  I have seen the blue screen at least three times.  Maybe more.  I stopped counting.  All I have to do is wave my hand and it goes away.  When I was fighting the Roombies, or Zoombas, or whatever these terrible creatures are called, the screens were very distracting.  I swear to you I didn't do it on purpose."

"Nobody is blaming you, dear child.  Go on with your story,"  said the wise but ferocious elder.

"That's it.  They say that I have gained a level.  That I have attribute points to spend.  I don't know what it means."

"Neither do I.  Neither do I." said Laoralai.  "Dear child, would you be willing to perform an experiment?  There is an ancient chant, that has been passed down the millennia from elder to elder.  It may to nothing.  It may confirm my suspicions that we are undergoing the same kind of blue screen apocalypse that happened thousands of years ago.  And it may do nothing."

"Will it hurt?" said Alannah.

"I don't know child.  This is as new to me as it is to you."

Alannah thought about it for only a brief time.  "If it will help my people then I will help."

The frail elder, sat crosslegged on the ground.  "Sit, sit child.  My old mind has to remember the words, and I do that best sitting.  I can't have you standing there looming over me." 

Alannah sat down cross legged across from Elder Laoralai.  She too, like the elder closed her eyes and concentrated on remember all of the strange things that had happened to her that day.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

After a while Elder Laoralai said to her.  "Okay.  I think I remember.  This may not be entirely correct. Child when you were younger, did you ever play the game where you would sit in a circle with your friends and whisper a secret to the first person, who would pass it on to the next, and pass it on to the next, until the secret got back to you and was entirely different?  This might be like this.  It has been a very long time.  But we Elders are very good at whispering secrets, so this might also work."

"Alannah child, clear your mind and repeat these words:"

"Darkness and light, 

blessed tree mother and sky father,

From your holy Status Menu

in the name of hill and stream and lake and mountain

I Alannah Choose the Summon Spell sub menu

Oh great godesses and gods,

Here my plea.  

Grant me the fourth option down in the second column

I choose the spell Summon Companion Familiar

A holy symbol of the divine power of nature

And in the wisdom of our forebears, 

I cast the spell I have chosen,

Cast Summon Familiar from Far Away Earth

Use All Mana Except One Point

I grant 50% of my experience points, 

Shared as equals

For the trial and duration

Of the coming days."

Alannah repeated the words, blue screens opened and closed in front of her eyes.  She felt oddly drained, as if something was being sucked out of her body.

A golden light began to form in the center of the room.  The light grew bright and brighter as the Alannah grew tired and tired.  Then at the peak of Alannah's exhaustion, when she thought she couldn't loose another bit more of whatever she was loosing, when she thought she would fall into unconsciousness or maybe die, the light in the room coalesced into a figure.

The new figure looked strangely like one of the horrid beings outside.  But Alannah could sense no evil from it.  

"A Roomba," said Elder Laoralai, "Run child.  I will try to destroy it, but if I cannot, you must get help.  Our defenses have been breached.  

"No Elder.  I think your spell brought it here."  Said Alannah.  "I can sense no evil from it.  I think it is a human."