C.U.C.K.E.D H.E.R.O

The red dragon dived upon the battlefield as we approached the castle keep. The sound of swords clashing armies battling overshadowed by the roar of the beast. Heat from the lava fields distorting the air, making every step we took unbearable. The smell of brimstone and **** mixing into a stench most foul.

“A red dragon?” Sir Vortagorn said. “How are we supposed to defeat something like that?!”

“Standfast hero!” I cried. Rallying the troops. “We're not backing down this close to the deamon king's lair!”

I watched the dragonic beast closely as it guarded the drawbridge over the lava moat. Content to watch us approach… without engaging… hmm…

“Lady Fay! You can see through illusions, can't you?”

“Uhh.. I think…. Just let me look…”

“Honey, are you guys nearly done?”

“Ugghh. Mommmm! We just started!”

“But you've been down there for two hours?”

Mom came down the stairs to the basement. Carrying a basket full of clothes and completely ruining the atmosphere of our campaign finale.

“I'll just be a second.” She smiled at the group. Walking past our table to the washing machine. “You guys should really turn on the lights down here.”

“We're fighting for the fate of our kingdom in what is essentially hell.” I tried to explain to her. “Lights aren't exactly fitting.”

The thin basement windows provided enough light to see, but kept it dim enough to build the atmosphere. One of the main reasons we always played at my place, the other being the usual lack of interruptions.

“How are you doing, Hailey?” Mom asked her. Ignoring my comment. “The boys aren't giving you too much trouble?”

“Uhh.. no ma'am!” Hailey shot her head up like a startled animal. Before diving back down to her notes to look over her spells.

Two years of playing this campaign in my basement, and 3 months of officially dating, yet she was still so shy around my mom. With her head facing down to the table, Hailey's long black hair formed a cage around her. Blocking her soft round face, that I knew she didn't think was as cute as it was, from the outside world. Her big baggy jumper and tracksuit pants doing much the same to hide her body.

I think that was why she started playing with us in the first place. To have a chance to be somebody else. Somebody more confident. It was why most of us played, really.

“That's good. You boys better treat my future daughter in law right!” Mom smiled as Hailey blushed so hard I could see it through her hair. The embarrassment making her struggle even harder with her notes.

“And what about your future husband?” Vance grinned as he shamelessly stared at my mom as she bent over. “Those yoga pants make you look ten years younger, by the way…”

Had to fit one last comment in, didn't you Vance? For two damn years now he'd been ‘Jokingly’ hitting on mom. Every damn session. Telling her her legs were ‘Perfectly thick’ or her ass has ‘its own orbit’ or begging her for a taste of her ‘Mommy milkers’. She just seemed to enjoy the attention of a younger man, not realising how embarrassing it was for me.

“Oh stop it!” She cooed. “But thank you! You look quite dashing yourself.”

In the bitter-sweet emotional blend that came with the end of a long campaign, knowing he'd never have the chance to perv on her again was purely on the sweet side.

“Hear that Mason? Looks like you might have a new daddy before the end of our campaign after all…”

Vance grinned at me and I just rolled my eyes. At 5” 4’ with an acne scarred face and brown hair that was already starting to thin, I wasn't threatened. Mom could, and would, do so much better than a guy like him. She deserved better.

“Guess that makes me your future daddy as well, Hailey.”

Vance grinned even harder across the table. His barbs stopped getting a rise out of me a while ago, but Hailey wasn't as thick skinned.

“Shut the fuck up Vance.” I yelled. Putting my arm around Hailey.

Vance was the kind of annoying asshole who liked to go around insulting everyone he met, and then claimed it was all a joke when people got mad at him. Not exactly a good friend, not to me or to anyone, but there weren't any others willing to sign on when we first got the game going.

“I told you to play nice!” Mom scolded us as she finished up loading the washer. “And watch your language around the lady honey.”

We were all adults now, eighteen years old and she still treated us like children. Well, at least she hadn't started asking me to pay rent yet.

“Yes Ma'am.”

“Yes Miss.”

I had to tell Vance to tone back the hazing.

I could take it, but it really got to Hailey. Especially when he made sexual comments. I hadn't pried into the issue, but it was clear that something was up. In the three months we'd dated we hadn't even kissed once, and the most I'd seen of her body was when she wore a baggy T-shirt that showed off her arms. I wasn't the type to let that get in the way of our relationship, and I think that's what she appreciated about me.

“”Have you found your spell yet, fair lady?” Vance asked. Laying his sarcasm on thick.

“I… it's here somewhere…” Hailey half whispered, half mumbled.

“It's okay.” I held her a little tighter. “Take your time, we've got all day.”

“You know, if we were really fighting a dragon it'd eat us while she was still looking for that spell.”

“If a dragon really ate you, it'd die from food poisoning.”

He was in a mood today, not normally dragging things on like this. He'd been extra snappy ever since me and Hailey started dating. So obviously jealous. I could remember him harassing her for months when we first started playing. Practically begging her to go on a date with him. I'd been surprised she stuck around through it, and more surprised when she finally said yes.

Their one date hadn’t led to anything. Vance didn't know how to treat a delicate girl like Hailey. Didn't understand how to take care of her like she deserved. He was rude, brash, and made everything about himself.

But on the table? There he was a different person. A brave paladin that fought for what was right and just. His good behaviour in game was the only reason we didn't kick him out. Well… that, and the fact that we needed the third player.

“You kids should take a break. Get out of this dank basement and get some air. There's going to be an eclipse any minute now, do you really want to spend it sitting underground in the dark?” Mom had filled up the basket with dried clothes and was heading back upstairs.

“What eclipse?” I asked. Too late to catch her ear. “You hear about an eclipse today?”

“Nope. No idea what she's on about.” Vance kicked his feet up onto the chair next to him. Leaning back and twirling his pencil around his fingers. “You hear anything about an eclipse today, Tim?”

“Huh? No! W-why….” Tim jumped up, looking over the DM screen at us. His eyes looked a little bloodshot, his face a bit clammy.

He'd been kind of quiet outside of his role as Dungeon master today. Not really saying hello, not looking anybody in the eyes. A sad, almost guilty look on his face. I thought it was just final sitting jitters, but was there something else? Was he getting sick? Worried he might ruin this last adventure for us?

“Don't worry about it. She probably just misheard somebody on the news.” I watched Tim a little closer. Was…was he shaking?

“Hey Tim, are you-”

“Got it!” Hailey shot back up. Holding a scrap of paper worn down from constant scribbling and erasing. “It wasn't a spell, it was a magic item! The truesight spectacles.”

“Oh right, from that goblin con-artist. Did we ever check to see if they were real.”

Hailey and Vance kept chatting while I stared into Tim's eyes. As he stared back at me, it almost felt like the whole world was slowing down. Every sound except the beating of my heart fading away. The deeper I looked the less sure I was that he was really there. A chasm, and endless void without substance or shape in his place instead. The beating of my heart shifted into the beating of drums, as something from that nothingness reached out towards us.

“Mason?” Hailey shook my shoulder and brought me out of my daze.

“Huh? Yeah?”

“I said, are you ready to play babe?” Hailey’s smile slowed my beating heart. An odd feeling when looking at her normally made it best faster.

“Yeah I'm good. Let's get back to it.” Whatever had made my heart race had passed, and I was finally ready to reach the end of this long campaign.

“Then…. We're ready to begin?” Tim asked, voice cold. Only his red eyes visible over the top of his screen, staring at Vance.

“Come on, let's go! Sir Vortagorn has an oath to fulfill!” Vance raised his shoulders and sat up straight in his chair.

Tim's gaze moved across the table towards Hailey.

“Yeah! The people of the land need our support!”

Finally they rested on me. His red eyes almost glowing in the dim light of the basement.

“We're ready. Let's go be some big damn heroes!”

“You find yourself underground. Closed in by concrete walls in every direction.” Tim started. His voice humming on the still air.

“Uhh, Timmy? Did you forget where we were?” Vance asked, but Tim continued on.

“You feel the chill in the air as winds turn and the light fades from the land.”

As if somehow on cue, a gust of wind blew open the basement windows. The howling of the wind reverberating around our room.

“How did you plan that…” I asked. Feeling my spine shiver and all my hairs standing on edge.

“As the light fades and fades, you can sense the wrongness inside. The taste of what is to come fresh on your lips. You are unprepared.”

A physical pressure grew in the room as what little light there was died off, sucking away the colour with it. The wind howled louder, rattling the windows like a tornado was raging outside. The air becoming so heavy you could **** on it.

“Day become Night. Barrier become Gateway. Day become Night. Barrier become Gateway.” Tim kept chanting the phrase. His words soft as a whisper but so loud I thought my ears would start bleeding.

“What the hell are you doing man!” Vance kicked back his chair and grabbed Tim by the collar. The whites of his eyes entirely replaced with a deep red now. His irises replaced with a blackness. No, with void. They became a deep well of nothingness that had no end. His blood red eyes washing down that void like a waterfall, framing it.

“Day become Night. Barrier become Gateway. Day become Night. Barrier become Gateway. Day become Night. Barrier become Gateway.”

Tum kept chanting even as Vance threw him against the wall. The light fading faster and the crushing pressure of the room made every movement feel like you were wading through water.

“What the fuck is going on.”

“Uhhh guys… the sun disappeared…” Hailey stood by one of the windows, looking out and up. Screaming at us to be heard over the roar of the wind and the monotone chanting that came from every direction.

Struggling against the air I hobbled over to her. Following her gaze to the colourless sky, and the ring of fire that hung within it.

There it was again. Void.

Not the moon eclipsing the sun, but void. Just like Tim's eye's. Swallowing the sun and taking all the world's warmth and light with it.

Then, the word was still.

The wind, quiet. The chanting, silent.

Only the besting of my heart, and the rushing of my blood remained.

The air was so heavy that standing became impossible. Every breathe weaker than the last. Only enough strength left in me to put my arms around Hailey.

Vance lay on the ground next to Tim, hands bloodied. More blood dripped off of Tim's head, down the table and pooling St the floor. That deep red the only colour that remained in the room.

As my vision faded, I say something emerge from the void. A tint purple gem, that gleamed in a light which didn't exist. Slowly floating in the air in defiance of everything I'd once held dear.

With my last ounce of strength I moved my head to look up and out if the window. Moving against a pressure so intense it felt like an invisible hand was forcing me down to the ground.

In the sky, with my last moments of consciousness I saw it. The same gem that was emerging out of Tim's eye.

Everything went black, and I heard his final statement. Not from without, but from within.

“Let the way be walked and followed unto darkness by his legions. The stage is set. The circle is open.”