Chapter 1

“William, the news is on! Get in here so you don’t miss the story about the local murders man. The story is almost live and I want to bounce ideas off you about it!”

“OK! OK, I’m coming, just wait a minute.” I yell at my roommate from the kitchen table. We share a two bedroom apartment with the living room and kitchen area combined, so it’s not like I couldn’t hear it where I was sitting at the table. “Let me finish putting sleeves on my cards Dan. I have to get my deck ready for tonight’s tourney.” My roommate Daniel tends to get a little hyperactive when it comes to crime shows, as he is studying for a criminal justice degree. He loves hearing if there is anything of note, crime wise, happening locally.

“Will, I want to say as your friend and roommate, respectfully, find a different hobby dude. Women don’t care about trading card games. You need to go out more often. You are twenty-five years old William. Go to a bar, get drunk, pick up a woman and show her a good time. You need to act more like a regular guy.”

“Daniel, you know I don’t drink and the only thing I find interesting to do at a bar is play pool. Besides, most people that go to a bar just want to hook up. All they are interested in is just looking for a one night stand. I want a real relationship. Why would I go to a bar and not enjoy myself, when I could just go to the local LGS and just play some card games with people I do know.” I finish putting away my things in my bag and grab a cup of water from the sink and make my way to the couch.

“Whatever dude, I was just making a suggestion. If you want to continue going to the “lonely guy store”, heh, that’s your business. I was just trying to get you to put yourself out there more.”

“You should be a comedian Daniel, you know the term is ‘Local Game Store’, also there are women there as well. No matter how many times you make that joke it’s still not even the slightest bit amusing. Also, you shouldn’t be such a prick all the time. I get tired of your constant ribbing about my hobby.” I made sure you to use my fingers for air quotes as I was sitting down next to him on the couch.

“Yeah, yeah. Shut up, the story’s starting and I want to hear it without your yapping,” he said. I just shake my head as we begin to actually pay attention.

(“Breaking news this Saturday afternoon as details of the ongoing murder investigations have been released by the police. We go to Bobby, our man on the scene, to give you a live report at the town hall.” “Thanks Jill, as you can see behind me here, the Sheriff is about to give a statement about the murders that have been transpiring.”

“Good afternoon, I am Sheriff Justin. We want to thank you for your patience today as we have waited for you all to assemble. What I’m about to share with you is very graphic in detail however, I believe we may get some tips from the local community by doing so. We have had five murders in the last six months. There has been two men and three women killed. Each of the victims were between the ages of twenty to thirty and were found stabbed to death with their throats slit open.)

“Oooh, a serial stabbing. Hey Will, what do you think they were stabbed with and where in the city their bodies were found?” My friend yells at me.”

“Why don’t you shut up and listen to find out?” I say sardonically.

(The only connection we could find, outside out of the method in which they perished, was that they all seemed to visit the same type of establishments. All of these stores are around the city. The victims all visited places that are related to tabletop gaming. The victims all played a fantasy based trading card game with characters who traverse worlds with magic.)

Daniel turns his head and raises his eyebrow at me. “Isn’t that the same card game you play Will?”

I nod at him. “Yeah, I mostly play a format with a 100 card singleton deck however, I don’t go to any of those games stores.”

(Also of note is the fact that each victim had a card shoved in the spot where their throat was slit open. Upon further examination from the coroner, it also appears that each victim had a ritualistic circle of some kind carved into a different spot on each different victim’s body. We do think this is the work of a serial killer. If anyone has any info related to this case, including anything they may have seen or heard, please contact the tip line number that is displayed in front of me.

We want to assure the people of this city that the police department is working tirelessly to resolve these crimes as fast as possible. Thank you very much for your patience in regards to this case. That is all.”)

“Well that’s an extremely weird case. Why would anyone kill people that play trading card games Daniel?” I said as I stood up.

“William... are you sure it’s a good idea to go out tonight? I know you go every Saturday but, don’t you think you should reconsider in light of what we just heard? Maybe you should go visit your family. You haven’t seem them in months.”

I looked at him incredulously. “No I don’t think I will. You know that I haven’t even talked to my mother in a year. I don’t want anything to do with them. Besides, Saturday is the only day I can go. I work Monday through Friday and I go to church on Sunday. The only time I have free is tonight. The odds of me actually meeting this mysterious killer are incredibly low. You know we live in city of over one million people right? So basic math tells us that I have at worst a 0.0001% chance of that happening to me. There is no way I’m that unlucky.”

“I don’t know man. I still wouldn’t chance it,” he said.

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“Just drop it Daniel,” I told him as I walked away to grab my backpack of stuff.

“Whatever dude. I was just trying to look out for you. Have a nice time tonight at the game store Will.”

“OK Daniel, I’ll see you when I get back. Have a nice night.” I waved bye to him as I was left.

*Huff, huff, huff* I stop running for a moment to catch my breath and to gather my barings and then take off again. You may wonder why I am running for my life. Well that’s an interesting story.

I left my apartment and hopped on a bus to go play some card games. You would think having that riding a bus for 30 minutes to get to close to the game shop wouldn’t be a particularly interesting time. I exited the bus at a gas station 5 blocks from the game store where I would be spending my night. I went in to the gas station with my backpack, filled with my deck and other things I would need to play, to use the restroom and grab a snack.

As I left, I just happened to notice someone in a hoodie was staring at me. I couldn’t make out his face clearly because its November and it’s already dark but, dang. This guy was massive! He had to be at the least seven feet tall and it looked like the guy ate molten steel for breakfast and crapped out girders for a living.

You would think with someone being so massive that it would be easy to spot him however, nobody else seemed to notice or even acknowledge the man’s existence. I thought it was strange but, since I moved to the city, I have seen weirder things that that. For example, I’ve seen someone shot to death and their body fell on the sidewalk. Everyone just walked around it like it wasn’t even there. Heck, I even saw someone walk on it because the person was so engrossed with their phone.

Well whatever, I thought as I pulled out my phone to check the time. CRAP, I’m going to be late! Its 6:30 PM and I’m going to have to hurry to make it on time for the tournament at 7PM. As I started walking I had this weird feeling that I was being followed. When I moved to the city I learned that you have to be mindful of your surroundings and you start to listen to your gut feelings. You really need to pay attention to who is around you especially at night.

Now listen, I am not the smallest man by any stretch of the imagination. I’m twenty-five years old, 6 feet tall and 240 pounds. As such I’m not what you would consider an easy target. However, when there’s such a large population in one area, there will always be crime but, I digress.

Either way, as I stopped to look behind me to make sure no one was following me, everything around me turned gray and it seemed like everyone else had stopped moving. I know, I live in a city and like most modern architecture, almost every building is gray, bland, and ugly. This was different. Something wasn’t right. As I turned around to look, I was shocked to see the behemoth of a man that I saw at the gas station right behind me. How the heck had I not noticed him get so close?

He runs up and reaches for me and my stomach goes cold. I start running with everything I have in me, which isn’t much considering I don’t really exercise regularly. Plus I am carrying a backpack, which weighs about fifteen pounds, full of decks and other things to play at the shop, Why is this happening? What the heck is going on? I stop for just a second to get my baring, I turn my head to look behind me to see how close the man is to me and I see he isn’t there anymore. Where did he go? I take off again as fast as I can. I look back one more time to see if I am still being chased when I suddenly hit something. *WHAM!*

I fall to my back on the ground in pain. What t did I just run into? The sidewalk didn’t have anyone in it when I started running away from that yeti of a man. I open my eyes and I look to see Mr. Girder, which I decided to name him, looming over me. I crab walk backwards as I see Mr. Girder pull out what looks to be a knife of some sort and decide, maybe I should try to plead with the man.

“Hey man, you don’t need to do this!” I shout as I quickly stand up shakily and lift up my hands.” “I don’t really have anything of value that you might want besides my phone and I don’t carry any cash on a regular basis. Is there anything that I can do or give to you so I can go home? I swear I won’t tell anyone what you look like man!”

As I stand there I see him remove his hood, he grins predatorily at me and I gasp in horror. What the heck is this guy?! He has a shrunken, tiny bald with skin as dark as the abyss of space. The sclera of his eyes are crimson with a white iris. His nose is that of a pig but, oh my gosh, his teeth. His teeth look as if someone ripped all of them out, took a bunch utility knife replacement blades and shoved them all in his mouth where the teeth would normally be. The most unnerving part about his face was the seemingly normal salt and pepper handlebar mustache that was completely out of place, which for some reason was more disconcerting than the terrifying visage before me.

“Uhh…. ni ni nice mustache my guy.” I say with a stutter.

I just hear him sigh and say with a surprisingly baritone voice, “Of all the things you could have said, that is what you choose? In all of these situations I have seen you humans screaming, crying, begging, and maybe blubbering on the ground while rocking themselves in a fetal position. You are the first one to comment on my facial hair. I thank you for the compliment in your attempt to appeal to me however, that will not stop me from killing you and throwing your entrails to the dogs.”

“I will however, tell you my name. There are two reasons for this. One, I relish in making my prey agonize before their death and two, you were the only human to say something mildly amusing since I have arrived on the cursed planet. My name is Deltra’xix! May all who come before me fall in fear and tremble in their last moments!” He bows to me as he gives his introduction. “If you wonder why you will die, let me just say that it’s all for a game. A game which you will no longer be a part of. I will stab this knife into your throat and watch you as your lifeblood spills onto the ground. Goodbye you pathetic and puny human.”

I run as I see his “teeth” fly out of his mouth towards me and as they travel, they enlarge. I trip over my own foot, clumsy me, and fall face first towards the ground. Just before I hit the pavement, I’m kicked in my stomach which flips me around. I gasp for breath while flying into the air with my back now towards the ground. Deltra’xix grabs me and throws my on the back on the pavement and I feel something in my back break.

As I lay there grasping for breath, unable to move, I see the flying “teeth” in the sky above me. They suddenly stop and shoot towards my broken body, which pierce me all over from head to toe as I’m pinned to the ground. I scream as Deltra’xix slowly saunters up to me with the strange knife in his massive hands.

He says to me, “Finally some screaming? What a shame. I was quite enjoying your stoicism. With your death I can finally leave this wretched place and return to my sovereign. I will make this swift, if only to leave sooner.” As I feel myself dying I notice his knife change into what looks like a trading card. What the heck?! He leans forward and plunges the strange knife towards my throat, going so deep I hear it pierce the concrete.

As I laid there in my last moments with my vision fading, all I felt was regret. Regret at not being able to make it to the tourney and regret at not being able to see my family again. I even regret that I couldn’t do anything to fight back against that monstrosity. It’s so freaking frustrating. I breath one last breath as I see Deltra’xix disappear and then my vision fades.