Chapter 1

Roden stood on that rooftop in the dead of night and watched Riakon perform his strange ritual. If not for Miriana’s, correction Zamira’s, intervention he would have intervened. He knew this was going to happen.

He had wanted so much to avoid it here in this world, but art tended to imitate life in an exaggerated way. And just as Jo had been going through things in his own life, when he had made this dark turn with his character, so too was Riakon dealing with dark thoughts.

Roden knew this was more than what had happened at his table. First, Riakon didn’t perform such an elaborate ritual. He wasn’t that clever of a Game Master by that point in his Adventures and Antics career.

In a way, what had happened at the table was a shallow poorly acted out version of this scene as if it had been first passed through a game of telephone.

When the explosion with no sound had finished, Roden could see Errrkkkk walking directly up to the grounded Riakon. Not wanting to be seen, he crouched down and retreated back to the far side of the roof.

Roden realized Miriana was nowhere to be seen…

‘It was Zamira damn it!’ He chasited himself. He knew it was Zamira in his core. There was no mistaking it now after her intervention.

Roden hopped off the backside of the roof and into the shadow. When he stood Miriana was standing to his side.

“Jeezus!” He exclaimed, startled greatly by her sudden appearance. “Would you stop doing that!”

The woman just chuckled, “Oh Roden.” she said with a sigh. “I really wish it didn’t come to this, but I suppose it makes sense you would figure it out eventually.”

It was safe to say Roden was confused, but saw an opportunity to make her think he knew more than he did, which wasn’t much if he was being honest.

“Okay Zamira, it’s time you tell me what you’re doing here and why you stopped me from stopping Riakon.”

She took a deep breath and let it out in a huff, “Okay okay, but I’m not doing it here standing behind a peasant shed in the shadows. Meet me in your room in the treehouse and we will talk.”

Roden eyed her intently.

She rolled her eyes, “Don’t look at me like that, I am still your mother. I will be there when you are ready and be sure to come alone. There is no telling what damage would be done if Errrkkkk and Riakon were to find out I am here.”

Roden kept his gaze pinned on her, but conceded to her plan with a nod. He needed to check on the others anyway and he felt like it was going to be a long conversation, preferably one over tea and a pipe.

He walked around the building and into the market where Riakon had performed his ritual. To his surprise, it looked as though nothing had happened.

The bodies were gone and so were Errrkkkk and Riakon. Roden was wary of that seeming discrepancy in reality, but figured they must have fled the scene of the crime as quickly as possible.

When Roden returned to the treehouse he saw Errrkkkk was up in the nest, just getting settled into his cozy bed.

“Hey Errrkkkk.”

The birdman peered over the side of the nest down at him. “Oh hey Roden, glad you made it back, cacaw.”

“Yeah, is everything okay? Where is Riakon?”

Errrkkkk studied Roden for a long moment, “Yeah everything is fine… Riakon’s okay. He just needs some rest, cacaw.”

Roden noticed a hint of hopefulness in his voice as if he was trying to will his words into reality.

“Okay mate, well, have a good night then.”

“You too, cacaw.”

Roden went to the door to his room and hesitated before opening the door. Inside that door was hopefully at the very least some of the answers he was looking for.

‘What does it all really mean though?’

He struggled to grasp everything that his next conversation could reveal.

‘Is all of this actually real real?!”

He gathered up all of his courage and stepped into his room, where, by all accounts, a god was waiting for him. He tried to enter the room as confidently as possible, but he didn’t feel confident.

He saw Miriana was sitting at the table before the fire. On the table was the chess board from their home. The one they had shared so many games on over the course of his time at his home.

Miriana raised her eyes to meet his, “Would you like to play while we talk? For old times sake?”

Her warm motherly smile nearly broke his spirit. The night had been so taxing already that he truly didn’t feel strong enough to muscle through the conversation.

“Okay, but no bullshit, please I am exhausted already.”

She nodded, “Okay dear.”

Roden dropped all of his gear before taking a seat at the table across from Miriana. He figured he might as well get right to it.

“So who are you right now? Are you Roden’s mother Miriana or are you Zamira?”

She had given him white for this game so he led by pushing his pawn two squares.

“Before we get too deep into all of this I should preface this by saying I can’t tell you everything. There are going to be things I simply do not know and there are going to be things I must keep secret for the safety of this world.”

She sighed and pushed her pawn to mirror his move. “As to your question, the answer is complicated. In ways I am both. However, it may be more accurate to say I am Miriana now, but I was Zamira before.”

‘She admitted it!’

The fact that he had been right filled him with elation and relief. He wasn’t going crazy.

“What do you mean by you were and are now?”

He pushed another pawn setting up his favorite opening, the King’s Gambit.

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Miriana shook her head playfully, “You and your gambits.” she said, taking his gambited flank pawn.

“I suppose the easiest way to explain things is to say I am both in the same way you are both Roden and August.”

He hadn’t heard his real name in so long it felt like a distant memory. He had locked that part of himself away as touching it hurt too much. It brought too many memories of home and the life that felt so far away.

“What do you know about that? How do you know about me?” He snapped, the questions spilling out nearly on top of each other.

“It is as I said before I brought you here and I brought you here because I need you. The only way to do that was to bring you here as Roden.”

Her answer did little to remedy his confusion. He grappled with his thoughts and rotated his knight from its home square.

“What do you mean by as Roden?”

It was Miriana’s turn to knit her brows in slight frustration.

“I am not sure I can answer that question fully just yet, but as I am sure you have figured out already. Roden had a life before you arrived. You currently are sharing the controls of Roden’s body that is why you have both yours and his memories.”

Roden was stunned, too many thoughts and implications were racing through his mind. Miriana steepled her fingers and kept talking before their silence became deafening.

“I am in much the same situation, I was once only Zamira, but certain events resulted in me joining with Miriana…For certain reasons I cannot share with you.”

Roden knew there was a lot she was leaving unsaid beyond the things she was admitting she wasn’t telling him.

“Okay so then can you at least tell me why you brought me here? And for that matter where the hell is here?”

Miriana was growing visibly vexed at the topic of the conversation. She seemed to strain under his questions as if being crushed by a great weight.

“Well the basics of it is I need your help with my plan. That plan needs you to do one very specific thing. I need you to ensure your journey here with Errrkkkk and Riakon plays out as you know it should. No more no less.”

She seemed a little relieved to finally get at least some of her intentions out in the open. She moved her bishop to a central square attacking his weakened king's side.

“Okay, but doesn’t me being here already change things?”

She nodded, “It does, but I have accounted for that much. As long as you don’t change big events, everything should be fine.”

Roden was not happy with this revelation. She had taken him from his wife and his home. She had given him no direction or help…

“You!”

Miriana looked startled at his sudden raise in his voice.

He continued his tirade, “You were the GM when I was at the Outpost! You made me think this was all just a game!”

Miriana winced, “I did, and I am sorry about that. I thought it would be an easier transition to a new world if you had something familiar to hold onto.”

‘Ha! She admitted it! Wait… so this isn’t a game at all?!’ his thoughts were all over the place as the repercussions of her admission washed over him. His mouth dropped open and he raised a hand to cover it. He spoke quietly, his voice was shaky.

“So…Everything here is real then.” He said it as a statement and a challenge as if daring her to deny it.

Instead she nodded yes.

For how he felt she might as well have punched him in the chest. He got up from the table and started pacing the room.

‘The world was real…Mir was real! How in the fuck?’

She turned away from the board and their forgotten game.

“Roden, I know you have a lot of questions, but I need you to understand just how important it is that you follow my plan. I know you are angry. I can see it in your eyes. You know…The eyes of my son, who I have raised for nearly thirty years.”

She had caught him off guard with that. He was in fact quite angry, but part of him had a hard time staying angry at her.

‘That must be Roden’s feelings,’ he thought.

He took a deep breath to calm himself. “Okay let’s just say I do follow your plan and I fail. What happens?”

Miriana’s face scrunched in a distasteful look. “Well best case scenario, this world is ruled by a tyrant. Worst case scenario this world is destroyed.”

‘You have got to be fucking kidding me!’ Roden was beginning to regret wanting to be a player on that night, however long ago now.

‘If that wish even mattered…’

“Okay so I can’t change things. I can do my best, but ummmm…I don’t know if you realize this or not, but you have already changed things.”

At his own words another realization struck him, “As a matter of fact you aren’t even the same Zamira I wrote.”

She smiled at his second bit, “Ha, you have that right. There are many things that are different from what you had done in your life on Earth. This Mir is not exactly the Mir you created, but it isn’t not the Mir you created either.”

“Do not tell me one is possessing the other or I am going to lose it.” He said flatly

She laughed, “No no, they are one in the same. The details just don’t always make the journ–” She cut herself off.

“Just keep thinking of this place as your world. Between your knowledge and Roden’s memories you shouldn’t have any troubles.”

Roden’s frustration was bubbling up to the surface. None of her answers were helping him piece together anything other than his quest, or rather the quest she demanded of him.

“Well jeezus, you’re not really helping me here. If you want me to do something then at least do something to help me help you… I just want to get home.”

His words seemed to strike a cord in Miriana as her face softened. “I have been helping you. I have helped as much as I can with what power I have left. How else did you think you ended up with two Clerical Domains?”

“Wait, what?!”

She nodded, “Yes dear I was the one who granted you the Adventure Domain…I also must apologize I had to slightly modify Roden’s memories to avoid some suspicions. There are no Adventure Clerics in this world as there are no gods who have laid claim to adventure. But, I have and you are my first champion of Adventure.” She said it with a weak smile.

Roden puzzled over his experience with his Adventure domain. It made a strange sort of sense when he considered it. That domain’s abilities had done everything to keep him safe and comfortable in this strange and dangerous world.

“Also do you have any idea how hard it is for a god to maintain a connection to a cleric who doesn’t worship them?” She raised a well manicured eyebrow at him.

Roden winced, ‘That was definitely a sore spot between her and her son.’

“Quite difficult I imagine…”

“It is quite difficult.” She harrumphed in godly affrontedness. “It’s bad enough you pray to that tawdry ginger wench every morning, but receiving no prayer is just hurtful to a goddess’ pride.”

“I’m sorry…” He said sheepishly, he had seen this look before on the many women in his life and knew to tread carefully.

She shook her head and huffed. “It is not your fault, you didn’t know and as you correctly assumed, following her was the correct way to ingratiate yourself with those boys.”

“Okay right, but can you appreciate how frustrating it is to be hanging out with friends one minute and then waking up on a DIFFERNT FUCKING PLANET!”

A hint of indignation crossed her face, but softened quickly. “Yes I know, and again I am sorry. I had to do it. If you must know you are the only one who can do what I need done and not because of some great magic. Only you can do it because you already know what needs to be done…and before you say anything, keep it all to yourself. Even the gods of this world must not be privy to what you know.”

That took a bit of the heat from him, she seemed desperate. It was hard for him to see his mother so desperate.

“Sorry, I’m just frustrated. I didn’t ask for this.”

She looked him in the eyes, “But if I had asked you, you would have come? Wouldn’t you? You are that kind of man even in a world where you don’t have to be.”

He had to admit she had him there. If she had asked him to save her world and he knew he was the only one who could…Of course he would have agreed. He would have liked to say good bye to his wife before he left though…

“Fair enough.” He admitted, “So what now?”

A bit of relief seemed to wash over her, “Well you just keep doing what you have been. You have done a wonderful job keeping them on course. Just be sure you don’t actively change anything too major.”

“Okay okay… I guess I’ll do it.”

He walked over and sat back down at the board across from her.

She watched him closely, “Well don’t look so defeated, you’ll break your mother’s heart.”

“I’m fine, it’s just a lot to take in and it's been a rough day.”

She reached out and placed her hand on his. “I do have one final thing I really should tell you before you get too comfortable.”

Roden groaned, “What is it?”

“I was hoping that once we had this conversation I could perhaps convince you to… change your Order…? Roden sensed a hint of embarrassment in her voice.

“What do you mean? You already said I was your champion.”

“Yes, but you only have a full connection with Era. We don’t have anything of the sort. It would be a great help to me to have my champion fully on my side.”

Roden considered for a moment, “What would that mean for me?”

“Well it would mean your powers would come from me instead. I could be more of an asset to you as your Goddess. I could answer your prayers and guide you in ways that…Your current Goddess does not.”

“Would my abilities change?” He asked even though he knew they would, but he had to hope.

She nodded, “You would be able to keep your Adventure abilities, but Fire is not one of my domains. We would have to find you something else.”

He was disappointed at the thought of having to give up his fire spells. They were all so cool and being a pyromancer had been an amazing experience. Then he realized he’d been burning things to death since he had gotten those powers and his overall enjoyment dropped precipitously.

“Any suggestions? You would know best.”

Miriana’s eyes sparkled at his answer and a wide girlish grin spread across her face.

“How would you feel about taking my Death or Storm Domain?”

He gave her a half lidded look, “Don’t those seem a little sinister to you?”

She gasped and placed a hand to her chest, “Sinister! Says the man running around setting fires.”

He continued to stare at her, clearly not affected by her melodrama.

“Fine, I could also grant Fate or a subdomain of the three.”

Roden grew annoyed as he pondered which would supplant his Fire abilities as seamlessly as possible.

“If you were picking for your son and you didn’t want him to have to carry the negative connotation of being a Cleric of Zamira, which domain would you choose?”

She seemed a little taken aback by the way he phrased his question.

“Fair enough, I would choose Storm. While I am sure you imagine it to be all thunder and lightning, you be wrong. There is much more to my Storm domain than such simple things.”

Roden did like the thematics of having storm abilities, but trading fire for lightning felt like trading a grenade launcher for a bazooka.

“Would you care to elaborate?”

She rolled her eyes, “Well there is also the element of water included in the suite of possible abilities as well as some for wind and clouds.”

Roden considered her words and nodded, “Okay.”

Miriana looked shocked, “Really?!”

“Yep, how do we do this?”

She clapped her hands, “Easy silly, we pray.” She reached across the table, her hands on either side of the game board.

He placed his hands in hers and closed his eyes. He felt a rush of coolness wash over him like a wave of cool water on a hot day. He felt himself fade into his mindspace once more, but this time Miriana, no Zamira was guiding him.