Maya was bored. Her amazing adventure with her D&D group was over, and she missed that exciting thrill of running through the forest, nothing but her spells and her friends to guide her. She was a changed person, she knew. She would never see lightning the same way again, she knew that for sure. And she could tell that her group had changed too.
Erin had become less serious about the powers and more relaxed with using her abilities, Xavier had been studying the Monster Manual thoroughly to make sure that if anything like that ever happened again, he would have a bank of knowledge to use, Emma was still Maya's kind and reliable best friend, though they were starting to include the rest of the group in their powerful friendship bond, Alexa was still nowhere to be found, though Erin accidentally let it slip that Alexa had tried to contact her, and Ashley had started to avoid all of them. She was probably traumatized by the near-death experience, since she was younger than most of the group. Tanya... well, Tanya had been acting very weird lately. She wasn't avoiding them all like Ashley was, she only subtly dodged talking to Erin. To the rest of them, she was her ordinary, extroverted, comedic friend. But to Erin, it was like she had become a completely different person, and somehow, Erin didn't even notice. And Maya was starting to have a lot of questions.
Questions about the history of the powers, the origin of how Erin had known about them in the first place, and other questions that Erin was continually avoiding. So one day, she finally worked up the courage to ask her directly.
That weekend, during their D&D session, they were having a great game. Tanya had just found an Immovable Rod buried deep in a crevasse between two massive boulders, and she was having a lot of fun ruining Erin's story with her clever loopholes. At one point in the session, she even managed to avoid a dangerous pit trap by clinging onto the rod. Erin was having fun too, but also struggling with how she was going to help the story move along. After they decided to take a break mid-session for them to chat (and for Erin to regroup and figure out what to do next), Maya finally tried being blunt with Erin about her questions.
"Hey, Erin? What did you mean when you said all that stuff to Charlie in the forest? How did you find out about the powers in the first place?" As Maya finished her question, Erin grinned widely.
"So you know how all the players get the abilities of their characters?"
"Um... yeah?"
"Well, the DM gets her own powers... and you're about to see them in person." And with a dramatic flourish, Erin made a gesture with her hands and they all slumped forwards, their eyes flickering behind closed eyelids...
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The entire group opened their eyes at once and immediately saw a young girl who appeared to be about 11 years old, playing D&D with her friends. That's Charlotte, Tanya thought unexpectedly. Her thought bounced and echoed throughout everyone's minds, and Tanya didn't seem to notice. And poor little Evelyn. She was so young back then.
At hearing this thought, Maya started wondering who these people were, and how Tanya seemed to know them so well. At the same time, Erin seemed to wonder how Tanya knew them, but she said nothing. Tanya realized that the others could somehow hear her thoughts, and made a significant effort to quiet down her brain, though they could all faintly hear her thinking about that other girl, the one who looked like a DM but with somewhat less authority in her figure.
Xavier could hear Tanya's thoughts more clearly, though, and he broadcasted that the DM's name was Madison, the tall girl was Taylor, the short girl with long black hair that their vision was centered on was named Charlotte, the smaller girl who seemed to cling to Charlotte's every move was Evelyn, and the boy who appeared to be trying to hide, at least in Maya's point of view, was called Jamie.
At the sound of this name, Tanya, who had been deliberately not thinking about him, seemed to be really, truly happy for a split second before she started thinking very intensely about Evelyn, and then, surprisingly, about Erin. They all somehow recognized that they were sharing their thoughts with everyone else, and Ashley pressed her hands against her head and whimpered softly.
Meanwhile, it was Evelyn's turn in the initiative order, and she rolled to attack the goblin that they were fighting using her daggers, and rolled a natural 20. Her hands seemed to flicker for a split second, then she looked at Madison gleefully and rolled for damage.
Oh, I remember this. Before Evelyn's... breakdown. As Tanya's mind fell into a stream of memories, Maya realized what was happening at the same time that Xavier did.
That little girl has the powers! They both thought this simultaneously, and Ashley stared at Maya in shock. And as Evelyn mimed drawing a set of imaginary daggers and plunging them into the back of the goblin, a pair of real, shiny, steel daggers materialized in her hand. She swung the knives down towards the floor, and everyone in both groups watched in horror as the blades cut cleanly through Jamie's shoe. The group was a silent for a moment, varying expressions on their faces, but there was no question about what was going through Charlotte's mind.
"How could you do that? You almost cut Jamie!" Charlotte was on the verge of screaming at Evelyn, her voice raised and her face contorted in an expression of fury. Evelyn, surprisingly, refused to back down. Under that soft, gentle exterior, there is a monster waiting to break free. This is where it all goes wrong. And with this ominous statement, Tanya retreated to her own thoughts.
Taylor was comforting Jamie, Madison was simply watching the argument, wanting to stay passive, and Charlotte and Evelyn were yelling loudly in the center of the clearing.
Tanya emerged from her mental bubble to watch Jamie wistfully, her mind murmuring about how they were supposed to end up together. Oh. She really loved him. Maybe she still loves him, even now after this distant past. I still don't know how she fits in with this chaotic story, though. Maybe I could ask her... someday. Xavier's thoughts were a distant background noise, penetrating everyone's brains but not really being processed.
Suddenly, Charlotte seemed to back down, and they all noticed a thin line of dripping red on her arm. Only Maya noticed the gleam of silver steel in Evelyn's hand, however, and she was met with a barrage of alarmed thoughts when she shared that with the group.
Abruptly, Charlotte tore away, sprinting through the forest with the exceptional speed of a rogue. Now Madison looked at Evelyn with new alarm in her gaze, and nobody said a word until Evelyn clapped her hands quickly. "Alright, you guys, let's go try to find her. We can't just leave my sister in the woods, after all."
That could've been a really kind statement, except it was really scary. Xavier thought about this for a while, then turned to look back at the rest of the members of the group, who were currently scouring the forest for any sign of their friend.
As Taylor searched through the forest, scanning the ground for footprints or other suspicious clues, Charlotte emerged from the undergrowth and pulled her into the bushes.
"Charlotte, what is going on? Why are we hiding? Shouldn't I go back to Evie now that I found you?" As Taylor whispered this to Charlotte, she replied with an incredulous expression.
"Didn't you see how she cut me? And how she almost hurt Jamie? She's going insane, Taylor. We should get out of here, while we still can. Before she loses her mind completely. These powers... they're controlling her. That... creature is not my sister anymore." But Taylor was already shaking her head vigorously, fervently denying this statement.
"She's your little sister, Charlotte! How can you talk like that about your family? And besides, she didn't mean to summon those daggers. She's just encountering some obstacles on her journey to find herself."
Seeing that Taylor would not be convinced, Charlotte made a split-second decision and dashed into the forest, far away from Evelyn and Taylor.
"She's charmed the whole group. Even Taylor fell for it." Charlotte muttered to herself, once she was sufficiently far away as to not be spotted by even Jamie's acute eyesight. And as the whole group was watching this play out, suddenly, there was a bloodcurdling scream coming from the direction of Evelyn and the others. As everyone shifted their attention towards this scene, Charlotte listened carefully, trying to recognize the voice, but not wanting to risk getting closer.
In the clearing, Maya looked on as Evelyn's face started to turn bright red, red like a flame, and she wielded a red-hot dagger, holding the scorched metal with her bare hand. And lying on the floor, blood bubbling up from clean lines in their throats, were Taylor and Madison.
No. What happened to the calm, sweet child we saw at the beginning? What has she turned into? Ashley thought about this very hard, tears welling up from her eyes as she forcefully turned away from the violent scene. Tanya and Erin were stricken, reliving the familiar horror as they, too, looked away. Only Maya and Xavier were able to hold their stares, expressions of numb disbelief engraved into their faces.
This isn't how most stories go. The heroes are supposed to defeat the villain and everyone lives happily ever after. Why isn't this a normal story? Ashley was really starting to break down now, and Tanya gently came over to comfort her.
And now, as Evelyn's eyes transformed to blazing red, interlaced with flickers of yellow sparks, Jamie turned to face her, shield in one hand and a paladin's greatsword in the other.
"This isn't right, Evie. Don't you see what you just did?" Jamie tried desperately to plead with Evelyn, but to no avail. Evelyn merely stared blankly back at Jamie, her eyes blazing orange, her sleek silver and red daggers in her hands, all spirit burned out of the shell that used to be a child. And Jamie, just a frightened young boy himself, drew his sword and lunged straight towards Evelyn. She grabbed the sword with her bare hands, laughing as it melted in her grasp.
"Even you, Jamie? I thought you, at least, would be somewhat loyal to your friend." She flung the burned, melted mess of a sword to the side and focused her glowing eyes straight into his. Jamie knew he couldn't beat her alone, so he instinctively ran away, searching for Charlotte.
"You can run, but you can't... hide..." Evelyn's eyes faded back to their normal soft brown color and she collapsed on the floor.
Erin felt a painful flash of memory as she stared at the young girl, who was looking at Taylor and Madison with a heartbreakingly guilty expression. They all watched as Evelyn realized what she had done.
She slowly crawled over to Taylor and Madison, forcefully looking away from her friends' motionless faces.
"How did I lose control so easily? I thought I was handling it. I thought that even if I did... break, you guys would be here to fix things. You're supposed to be the ones who fix everything. What do I do?" A single tear slowly slid down her face as she deliberately turned away.
"You would tell me to think about things logically. Well, I know that Jamie definitely hates me. Charlotte does, too. They probably think I'm going to try to hunt them down, so they're gonna stay far away from me. Maybe they'll even start a new group without us. I know I deserve that, but you guys don't. I... I can't do this." Evelyn ran into the forest, passing by the table where Erin's group played D&D every week. Evelyn started to fade from their vision, and their physical selves began to phase in and out of sight, and only then did their vision fade to black and their minds disentangle from each other.
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Immediately, Xavier figured it out.
"You're Evelyn! Did you change your name or something? Of course you did, it would've been the only way to hide from Jamie and Charlotte. Charlotte must be Charlie, but wait. How does Tanya fit into this?" Xavier turned to face Erin, questions buried beneath his eyes.
"First of all, you're right about the first two things. Second, I think I have an idea of who Tanya was..." Erin looked pointedly at Tanya, awaiting an explanation. And once again, Xavier was the first to understand.
"Taylor? But I thought you died! How are you here?" Xavier's words tumbled as he spoke, stuttering and hesitating as he struggled to grasp the extent of which they were involved in this old group.
"My character was an Arcane Trickster. It was a simple illusion, but very believable. Even Evelyn... er, Erin, thought Madison and I were dead, up until a few weeks ago. That is when I could tell that she had figured out who I was." Tanya, or Taylor, none of them were sure which name to refer to her by, was staring at Erin expectantly, clearly expecting something big to happen. Almost immediately after that, Erin's face lit up in joy.
"Madison survived too? Where is she?" Erin sighed as she remembered that Madison most likely wanted nothing to do with her, as would Jamie, if he was still involved in their group. Tanya didn't respond, knowing what she had just realized.
"So, wait. What names should we use? You know, since your names are apparently not your actual names, which one would you like us to use?" Xavier piped up, a confused expression on his face.
"I would prefer if you called me Erin, just because I've gotten used to it over time."
"You can call me by either name, I honestly don't see a difference."
Right as they had finished awkwardly explaining that, Ashley burst into tears.
"I don't want to be a part of this group anymore! There's too much sad history and I just want to find a group that plays D&D normally..." She rushed away, avoiding the awkward interaction that would follow.
"So..." Tanya said hesitantly, "I know that was bad, but look! We leveled up again!" She pointed excitedly to her character sheet, which now said Level 2 on the corner of the paper. They all cheered and laughed and celebrated this accomplishment, but as Maya walked away from the clearing that evening, she couldn't help but stare at Erin, wondering what the full extent of the DM's powers were...
[ 2480 words ]
rlly proud of this one :D now vote or a cat will step on your tail