The Twenty-Sided Dice

Chapter 3: Candles

"What rules? What did I do wrong? Who even are you?" Maya screamed into the infinite black sky.

"The rules of the powers. You aren't supposed to be able to have multiple campaigns running at once, and you definitely aren't supposed to try to use that to take advantage of the powers. And I am the one who was watching your game from the forest, the Game Master. The one original creator of D&D, the creator of the powers, and the creator of all these candles. Each candle represents the life of a D&D character. When they flicker, it means that the character has taken significant damage. When they go out, the character dies. Sometimes, the candle will be relit, which means that an important D&D god has intercepted the character's soul and placed it back into the character's body, bringing them back to life. The amber that covers the floor is the melted wax from burnt-out candles, and sometimes, the wax will be melted down and reshaped, which means the player has made a new character. But the amber on the floor is from the players that quit the game, or their campaign reached a natural end, and they aren't planning on making a new character for a long while. You are in the Plane of Souls." The Game Master's voice resonated through Maya's ears, filling her with a calming sensation that seemed to originate from the voice's unique tone.

"But for now, I think you need to learn what you're actually trying to achieve with this goal that you have." And with this statement, the voice exhaled loudly, and Maya was swept up by the powerful wind.

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Maya jolted upright, echoes of the strange voice bouncing through her head. She rubbed her eyes vigorously to make sure there were no strange amber walls, then she actually got out of bed and got ready to go to school. The house looked vaguely unfamiliar, and so did the people in it. Before she could take a moment to ponder that, she heard a strange voice from downstairs.

"Erin, you slept in! What's going on with you? You usually wake up earlier than everyone!" A tall man walked easily into the room, smiling cheerfully at Maya. Immediately, she realized something was very wrong. She nodded slowly, and he went back downstairs. Wait. Maya's house didn't have stairs. She recognized this place...

She was at Erin's house! Which could only mean... No. Oh, no. That's what the Game Master had meant when they had said that she would learn what she was trying to achieve. She was Erin! She was the DM! She looked at her familiar brown hair, noting that it still looked nothing like Erin's jet-black hair. So she was still herself, but everyone seemed to see her as Erin. That was very strange, but she was too excited to care. She would have a real opportunity to be the DM! Suddenly, the man, who she now recognized as Erin's father, came into the room again.

"You have to leave now! You're gonna be late to school!" he exclaimed good-naturedly, handing Maya a teal backpack that was so unlike her ordinary gray one that it took her a moment to realize that this was Erin's backpack. She would just have to get used to all these strange things that Erin's life contained that her own did not.

She soon found out that she was expected to walk to school, unlike how she was normally driven. Maybe Erin's house was just closer to school than Maya's was. She had to open a navigation app on Erin's phone to figure out how to get to school, but as soon as she found it, she began pondering what she was going to do with this new position. Her first thought was to try out her newfound powers. As she expected, her lightning wasn't working, but she tried to do some other things, things that she had expected Erin to be able to do, and they still didn't work. She was a little bit confused as to what Erin's powers were, but she didn't want to worry about that yet. Right as she finished that thought, she arrived at school, the bell rang, and she hurriedly rushed to her first class, History.

As soon as she stepped into the classroom, she was met with a bunch of confused faces, and she immediately knew she had made a mistake. She had gone to her first class, instead of Erin's. Luckily, the teacher wasn't in the room yet, and she saw Erin, sitting in Maya's normal seat, giving her a panicked expression that clearly conveyed that she wanted answers. Maya gestured for her to go outside, and they met in the hallway outside the room. Immediately, Erin spun to face Maya and her face hardened.