Mark called out as Keith was closing in on the small cave. “Watch the big rock right past the entrance, it’s in the middle of the opening.

  Keith dodged the rock and sat down on a stone inside the cave, watching Mark as he looked over the brush they’d just walked through.

  “See anything?”

  Mark sighed. “You’d know if I did.”

  “Don’t know if I believe you.” Keith snorted a short laugh. “I want confirmation you saw something, or else I’m back to pretty sure I’m insane.”

  Mark glanced back at Keith, “I believe you, there are plenty of places out there to hide. I haven’t seen anything yet, though.”

  Throwing his hands up, Keith ground his teeth. “I understand and am sorry. I guess I’m not handling this well.”

  “I don’t think anyone would handle it well at this stage. Remember, I have a few days on you.” Mark leaned against the wall at the opening.

  Keith looked down at the ground, then glance back at Mark. “What’s the big rock for, it looks moved.”

  “It is, moved it there to block the bulk of the light of the fire I use to cook, stay warm, and as a first round of protection. Don’t want to attract things that wouldn’t notice unless they could see the flames. Dug a shallow hole to keep a small fire going once I lose the natural light.”

  “Makes sense,” Keith nodded as he spoke. “I wonder why the delay? And I’m still wondering what happened to us, too.”

  Mark shrugged, “Not sure on the delay, haven’t had time to think that one through. The what happened part, magic is the only thing that makes sense that I want to have in my head. Any other explanation means one of us isn’t real and the other is not doing well, mentally.”

  “We keep coming back to sane or insane, but then I have nothing better than magic as an answer, either. The tie into some of our old characters doesn’t really give me any kind of warm fuzzy either.”

  “Yeah, I get that. Still could be our sub…wait. Something is moving out there.” Mark pointed slightly to his left.

  Keith sprung up off the rock and looked down at Mark’s arm to where he was pointing. The blue-hued bush might have shaken a little, but Keith couldn’t be sure. “Missed it. Did you see what it was?”

  “No, unless it looks like a plant.”

  Keith stared at Mike. “That’s a comforting thought.”

  “Ain’t it though. But we have to consider it.” Mark turned back to watching out the entrance.

  A melodic trill sounded from the area Mark had pointed out. Keith shivered at the following shriek and deep growl. He felt fear travel up and down his spine.

  “Didn’t like that sound,” Mark whispered.

  “Me neither.” Keith answered in a hushed tone. Skwilly, do you know what that was?”

  “The first sound was the last one that creature will ever make. The growl, no I don’t know that one.” Skwilly answered in a hushed voice, while shaking his head.

  “Perhaps I can help.” A voice came from the back of the cave.

  Keith ducked and twirled, instinctively grabbing at the dagger at his waist. A katar? A bright light flashed in front of him, leaving spots in his vision. He heard, but didn’t understand what Skwilly said. He sensed Mark running past him and the sound of metal thudding against something.

  He slashed out at a figure stepping out of the shadows, the tip of his katar bouncing off an invisible shield. Carrying the slash to the side, he brought his arm around for a punch—springing forward, putting his weight and momentum behind the jab. The blade slide through the barrier, coming to a stop a half-inch from the nose of a startled young man.

  Another, dimmer, flash of light played across the unseen shield. He saw Mark wailing at the barrier, his sai a blur as he attacked.

  “Hold on, I’m on your side!” A voice broke through Keith’s fear and fury. “Please, stop. I don’t want to hurt any of you.”

  Mark grunted but kept on swinging. Keith saw Skwilly fire off a beam of light. The barrier seemed to absorb it. Everything they tried continued to fail. His katar remained stuck in the barrier. He didn’t know of any other attacks he could try.

  “Who are you?” Keith shouted at the man.

  “Mark knows me as Fred or Muse.”

  Instantly, Mark stopped punching at the invisible wall. His forehead wrinkled and his head cocked to the side.

  “You know me as Game Master.”

  Keith’s expression reflected Mark’s. Game Master? The character?

  “Fred’s not real,” Mike called out, without conviction.

  The slender young man smiled. “I assure you I’m real. You both met me in your dreams, years ago, for both of you.”

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Wha…who…how?” Keith sputtered.

  “What he said.” Mark quipped.

  “Malcolm, Valgrin.” The young man nodded to both. “I’ll let down the barrier if you agree not to attack me. And that goes for Skwilly as well.”

  “I’m agreeable if Kei…Valgrin is.” Mark looked over at Keith.

  Keith returned Mark’s look, then looked at the young man, then back to Mark. “I don’t know what’s going on. This makes little sense. I guess I agree. Skwilly?”

  “I will follow you lead, but will be ready to blast him if he tries to hurt you or your friend,” Skwilly answered.

  Skwilly and I agree,” Keith stated.

  “Get a hold of your dagger. It’ll fall when I release the barrier.”

  Keith reached up and took a hold of his katar.

  Fred waved a hand, and the katar released. He walked over and sat on the stone where Keith had been. “Now, if you want to gather around and get comfortable. I’m here to help explain what I can about what’s going on.” He waved his hand above his head.

  “I’d rather stand right here,” Mark grunted.

  Keith looked over at Mark, down at the translucent blue blade of his katar, over to Fred, back to Mark—then he shook his head and shrugged. He stepped over to another stone close to Fred and sat down. “I’ve gathered round, but no chance of me being comfortable.”

  Skwilly came at sat at Keith’s feet.

  “Fine,” Mark muttered as he walked over and sat down on the other side of the stone Keith had set on.

  “Thank you, and I’ll try to be as brief as possible. Both of you recognized the reference point I gave. So, I’m going to make the assumption you’re both agreeable to the fact you know me—you don’t understand how or why, but you at least accept you know me.”

  Both Keith and Mark nodded in agreement.

  “Okay, first some setup. Please let me get to the end before questioning anything. I am a Game Master, though that is not my name, it is my job. Not as running a game as you know and have been, but in this…um…realm it is my function. I can use magic across different realms to influence other people—not unlike a muse. My primary focus of influence is in what you know as role-playing games.” The Game Master paused for a second, hand held up to avoid questions, then proceeded. “Why do I do this, outside of it being my job? Because we use those games as entertainment and possible instruction in the EverNever. Yes, that’s a name of a game world you created Keith—with my influence. Your ideas, both of yours, and some of the gameplay were replicated back in the EverNever for others to watch. In a very high-level nutshell that is how and why we’ve crossed paths before. Questions?”

  Mark looked over at Keith. “Okay if I go first?” After Keith nodded, he continued. “Easy one first. Do we call you Fred or something else? Now, if I understand correctly—you fed us ideas, then somehow replayed what we did with those and the games we played back to this EverNever, sort of like a show or movie? If that’s true, why? Why not come up with you own?”

  “Basically, we need the ideas from others. Not all realms that make up the EverNever are that creative—and those that are have been at it for a long time. Adding other realms inputs and interpretations have kept things, um, fresh. But as far as replayed, more like dramatizations—which I’ll get into later. And yes, you can call me Fred, for now.”

  Keith leaned forward, took a deep breath, and worked hard at keeping his voice calm. “Why did you take us physically? How do we get back home? What happened to us back home? Is my wife going to think I just left her?”

  Fred shifted around, then finally stood up. “This is where things will not be pleasant. I brought you here for a couple of reasons; neither of you is running a game, and you haven’t in years. The other reason is there are members of the Board, the people who run EverNever, who want more realism in their entertainment. So they wanted you brought here, in hopes to liven things up. As far as getting here, you did just disappear in your sleep—leaving a mystery behind. We have taken what steps we can to make sure you families and friends suffer as little as possible.”

  “What!” Keith jumped up, stopping short of pulling his weapon out.

  Fred raised his hands, palms forward. His voice carried a note of resignation, “For what it is worth, I disagree with all of this.” His eyes darted to the floor before meeting theirs again. “But I wanted to keep my job,” he added, his shoulders slumping slightly, “so I don’t have much of a defense. I can tell you that time works differently when we jump from realm to realm. And we have some ability to play with time when you get sent back. I don’t control when that is, so I can’t tell you when or if.”

  “What if I don’t play along?” Keith screamed.

  “Then you’ll never get home. If you play along, you get a chance. That’s all I have to offer. I can’t send you home. It has to come from the Board and have the Structure’s approval.” Fred answered in a cold monotone.

  Keith glared back. With an abrupt turn, he strode over to the entrance of the cave, his back to everyone else.

  “How do we find out the when of getting to go home?” Mike asked in a muted voice.

  “I don’t know.” Fred ran his hand over his face. “Listen, I don’t have a lot of power in the EverNever, anymore. The politics of this place have shifted drastically. If you play along, they will probably send you home. They have to answer to another layer—we call it the Structure—and it, typically, plays more fair than not, but it isn’t the fastest either.”

  Keith walked back and sat down, arms crossed.

  Fred continued. “I do not know how the Structure is viewing this, so I’m at a loss. What I know is that I was required to set things up for both of you to be brought here. I’m to take on the role of your handler, so to speak. My future and possibly my life depends on you playing along for now. One of the rules is this type of conversation is not viewable for entertainment, so I’m being as honest as I know how. Once we’re outside of this conversation, you’ll be watched.”

  Fred stood up, sparks shot upward from his raised index finger. “I’ve just cast a blocking spell, just in case someone had decided to not play by the rules. Here it is as straight as I can give it to you. If you don’t play along, you will have no chance of going home—and will probably be killed outright. If you play along, you’ll get a chance to go home—maybe. Not everyone on the Board likes this new direction, but they are the minority. New political factions have dramatically altered the landscape. Your only hope to go home is to play along. I admit there is a selfish motive in this for me. If I don’t play along, I will either be demoted and jobless, or dead. Back to your situation. I can try to see if we can get some magical quest set up for an artifact that can send you home—but I can’t promise that.”

  Keith looked over at Mark, who shrugged. Yeah, I get it. What choice do we have? This sucks and I’m going to make taking this board down as part of my plan. They can’t play these types of games with lives.

  “Okay, in all transparency—I’m going to constantly looking for a way to get home and take it the minute I find it. The only way to change my mind is to give me something concrete about getting back home.” Keith sat back down on the rock. “So you have us—what is this all about?”

  “Before we get into that…your full character sheet has been unlocked. Maybe we work through those—we’re running short on time and I need to get you up to speed or none of what we’ve been talking about will matter. Both of you say or think character sheet. The entity you named Sandy will respond.”

  Keith hesitated for a moment. How far is this going? Character sheet. He gasped at the flash of light and wall of text that flashed before his eyes.