Vol. 1 - Another Typical Day (The Wizards of Eredwynn)

  Another Typical Day

  Daniel Harris Copyright © 2014 Daniel Harris

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN:

  ISBN-13:

  DEDICATION

  To my wife and kids who not only tolerate my insanity,

  Encourage it!

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I’d like to thank my brothers for playing fantasy games with me when we were kids, my parents for letting me read absolutely everything and my wife for forgiving the light at all hours of the night.

  Chapter One

  It was just another typical day in the life of David Stephenson. That would be me. Moreover, it was another typical Friday at that. 4 pm and I was just now getting home and grumbling about poultry plants. Too cold, hours too long and of course, my pet peeve, Supervisors! They rushed us through the last dozen shipments, only to announce that they would be cutting hours afterward! A good way to cut pay was all it really was.

  Since it was a Friday night and I really had no plans, (nothing-unusual there,) I tossed a TV dinner in the microwave and started sorting through my games. My life consisted of games, the net and scraping by on the bills. Either, as most that know me have been told, or have guessed through seeing my lifestyle… I am not very highly educated. I tested out highly intelligent but college and I didn't see eye to eye. It was something about showing up and doing homework. How odd, right? NO! I don't live in my mother’s basement (mostly because she doesn’t have one)! I have always thought that it would be nicer to have a basement to live in. It would be better than putting out the dough for rent each month! I don't have a girl and have only a few real friends. Yes, cyber-friends do count as real friends. My life for the last few years has been as a gamer. What else do I need?

  The ding of the microwave tore me away from my labors of deciding in what fantasy world I was going to spend the weekend. Food is always a good idea before a long trek into the already known and over done. Every game I own I had ‘won’ countless times. If only there was more money or some free games to give me more adventure. My pixel life was getting as boring as my real life, and that is sad.

  After a healthy dinner of processed meat something or other and preserved corn with a potato-like substance, I leaned back and thought for a bit. Going outside would be nice for a change. There are woods back behind the house about a quarter mile away. That was always a nice place to sit and think, or mope, whatever the case may call for. I grabbed my jacket because the early spring air still had a chill. I am not a big fan of cold because of my size. I am not very tall at 5’7” and quite thin being only about 125 lbs. Cold just goes right through me. As I went out the door, I killed the TV and the lights and locked the door. There was nothing to steal but better safe than sorry. I started off down the hill to the west. A few frogs braved the early spring evening and sang their song to me as I strolled along. I guessed that this was the closest thing to nature that a nerdy gamer could hope for. About 20 minutes later, I found the little clearing that I visited when this mood took me. The sun was setting and shone in my face. It created a nice warm feeling that belied the spring chill. I sat on a log facing west and watched the setting sun and it seemed to settle my mind a bit. Maybe things weren’t really so bad and a different outlook was called for.

  As the sun slipped under the horizon, I adjusted my position on the log to watch a beautiful full moon that had been coming up, unnoticed, behind me. This was a very good choice for a night to walk. For about an hour, I sat and listened to the frogs, watched the moon and the light fog that formed around me. My thoughts were lighter and the cares of the world seemed to lift away. The only problem with the fog was that sort of seeped into your clothes and left you with a damp feeling all over. Time to go back to the real world I suppose.

  As I stood and gathered myself for the trip back up the hill I caught a glimpse of white out of the corner of my eye. I was instantly annoyed that someone had come to MY clearing and dropped trash in it. It was about twenty feet away and in the dim light and fog, a bit hard see. It looked like it may be a plastic bag from the local grocery store or something similar. As I got closer, it appeared that there were other things scattered around it in a circle. Maybe the bag had contained other trash that was scattered there as well. People! No respect! The closer I got the less the big piece of trash looked like a bag and more like a large rock and on close inspection the smaller pieces of trash were mushrooms in an almost perfect circle around it. Wow! There was a fabled Fairy Ring. It was just the thing to set the tone for my fantasy gaming weekend. All the games, myths, and lore warned about Fairy Rings, so naturally I ignored all that. I thought, just for kicks and to get the night started, I would jump on the rock and do my newly (just now) created lord of the fairies dance! Therefore, I hopped up on the rock and spun in a circle. Lo and behold! Nada.

  Chapter Two

  I felt a bit sheepish and glanced around to make sure that I was alone. I wouldn’t want another person walking in the woods tonight to see me acting the fool. Nevertheless, it was fun, in a juvenile sort of way. I guessed that the fresh air must be getting to me. I supposed it was time to head back to my modern life and my fantasy games. Crossing real life with my game life still had me a bit embarrassed.

  I turned back to the east and started up the hill towards home. It seemed a bit odd that I couldn’t see the lights from the houses that I knew were there and hoped that the electricity hadn’t gone out. That would put a major crimp in my plans. After 10 minutes of walking, I still couldn’t see lights and now I was getting a bit confused because I couldn’t see the outlines of the houses either. Another thing, the moon had been just cresting over the eastern horizon and now it was almost straight above me. The full moons light allowed for a clear view of the hill all the way back to the low clearing below. There were no houses and no electric lights. There were no sounds from cars or barking dogs that could be heard everywhere in any city. What was going on? There was no reason to worry. Ten more minutes and I would be right back in my cozy, if dark, house. I couldn’t understand what could have happened. Power outages were rare in our little city.

  After walking another 10 minutes, I came to the top of the hill. I should have been almost standing in my back yard but something was missing. I couldn’t seem to find my back yard. My house and neighborhood also seemed to be missing. I had made this walk dozens of times so I knew that I couldn’t have made a wrong turn. There were no turns to make. The trip was just down the hill and back up the hill. So either I was dreaming or the city that I lived in had just disappeared! From the top of the hill, looking back west, I could see the river that bordered the city from the next state so not everything was missing. I had to be in the right spot! Maybe if I continued walking to the east I could come across something or someone that would explain this madness to me. I was more confused by this than a man should ever be.

  The moon was bright overhead and gave a silvery glow to everything. After the first hour of trudging along and seeing nothing of civilization, depression started to set in. This kind of thing just doesn’t happen. Cities, roads, houses and people can’t just disappear! After another hour of walking, the stress, depression, and unaccustomed exertion caught up with me. Cold or not, I had to sleep. I found a large tree that had a good branch structure that could make me feel as though I had a roof over my head. I curled up near the base, wrapped myself up in my coat as best I could and drifted, shivering, off to sleep.

  I woke the next morning to the beautiful sound of birds singing in the day and the not beautiful chilled joints. I hate cold. I guessed it was only in the 50’s or so but for me, that
was cold. I wandered in a circle around my tree for a while to get the blood flowing. At the base of the tree, in the root structure, I found a pool of rainwater. It looked clear enough and I hoped it was too early in the season for the mosquitoes to have found it. It was cold, in a good way, and quenched my thirst.

  I looked around, with no real plan, and decided to continue my eastward trek. I felt like a confused pioneer so Eastward Ho it was. By noon, I had found exactly…Nothing. No power lines, highways, roads or even paths that had not been made by animals. I used the rainwater trick whenever the urge hit me and I was almost starting to enjoy the freedom to wander. Good thing it was Saturday! I didn’t have to be back at work for a few more days and something would happen between now and then.

  As the sun started drifting to the west with no sign of people, I started planning for another night in my new wilderness. I found a small clearing so I could see the stars, and started to toss together a lean-to. This, I found, is not exactly an easy task with only a small pocketknife and deadfall wood. An axe or hatchet or machete would be wonderful but I guess a person has to make due when stuck in a situation. I also decided to build a fire tonight. Cold, you know.

  I gathered the wood for the lean-to and a pile for the soon to be fire. The lean-to went together more quickly than I had anticipated and it didn’t look half-bad. As long as the wind didn't pick up or a thunderstorm hit, I should be fine. I piled up a few sticks and went to work with my trusty little knife. A four-inch blade with the hilt half serrated. I was sure glad that I had it! I started shaving ‘fuzz sticks’ to use a kindling. That survival book I had as a kid was going to get a workout over the next couple of days! I found a nice straight stick to use for my drill and flat piece of bark to use as my spark tray. I pulled out a shoelace and attached it to a nice, strong stick to use as my bow, then prepped for an easy fire-starting task. I fastened my bow to my drill stick and started to whir. I spun the stick back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Two and a half smokeless hours later, I resigned myself to another fireless night. I really thought that I had read enough on fire building to have no trouble at all. I guess that just goes to show that books and practical application are two different things.

  I sat staring at my nicely laid out campsite with the prepped fire pit and wondered what else I could do. What I could try that I had not already? You know, in my games starting a campfire was a whole lot easier. In the games, all I would have to do is get close to my campfire. I acted this out as I thought of it. Why not? I cupped my hands over the pretty pile of wood and said the word that would cause a campfire in my favorite game. Incendium! I felt a strange lurch in my chest and heat on my knees! My campfire had burst into flames and suddenly I realized that my hands felt as though they had been dunked in boiling oil! I ran to the closest tree that I had seen rainwater in and stuck my hands in it. Cold is good, sometimes. I pulled my hands out and looked at them. First and maybe, some second degree burns on both of them. I knew I hadn’t been close enough to that wood and the fire hadn’t been nearly hot enough to burn me that quickly. The only thing that I can guess was that whatever started that fire had burned me also. Nevertheless, what had started the fire? Was it really the spell word that I refused to think again right now? Was it some strange fluke of nature? Was it passing thunderstorm with no clouds, wind, rain or noise? Ok, now I am reaching. I will have to sleep on this but at least I will be warm tonight!

  I woke a few times during the night to stoke the fire and question its existence. I was not complaining at all, just questioning. At sunrise, I woke to the friendly birds and a grumbling stomach. Just as I get fire, another need would crop up. Well, I hadn’t seen a microwave or TV dinner anywhere in these woods so something would have crop up soon. I guessed that pizza was out of the question. I had never been a big fan of cold pizza but now I could see the appeal. I left the fire burning for a while as I started to tear down the lean-to. Woodsmanship 101 is to leave the campsite better than what you found it. Except for a bit of scorched wood, I hoped to leave this the untouched clearing I had discovered last evening.

  As I prepared to drop the logs that supported an end of my makeshift tent, something moved at the edge of the clearing. I froze. Thoughts of wolves, bears, lions… ok, ok. I was new to the area so I didn’t know what to expect. I turned slowly to my left, and faced this new threat and then the rabbit hopped farther out into the clearing. It was now no more than fifteen feet from me. After I made sure it was not a rabbit-wolf, I started to think of survival. I needed food. Now, I knew if bent over to pick up a rock or stick to throw at it I would just scare it away. I had never been a sports fan let alone a baseball pitcher. Frustrated with my lack of options I decided, to be the smart-aleck gamer, and pointed my finger at the critter like a gun. I whispered ‘magicae telum!’ without thinking. My magic arrow fired from my fingertip, across the narrow gap between the rabbit and myself, killing it instantly. PAIN! I felt as though I had lost the hand from my right arm. I raised my hand to my face to look at it and saw that the tip of my pointer finger, my gun finger, was missing. Blood oozed from around the tip of the fingernail above the damaged tissue. Now, this magic stuff working was cool but I didn't like the idea of injuring myself every time I tried to use it!

  Well, there was the business of this rabbit. I skinned it and gutted it just like a pro that doesn't know what he is doing and is favoring one hand. I had to admit, working in the poultry plant did give me a hand up on how to take a creature apart. I guess all critters are put together about the same way. I slid the meat onto a sharpened stick and propped it over the fire. All the time lamenting the lack of flour, salt and pepper but happy to have food just the same.

  After my rabbit was cooked, well done and then some, I ate for the first time in awhile. Food really tastes good when you are hungry, even without condiments. I started to think about what I had learned in the last day or so. It would seem that the magic spell words from the games I so often played would actually do what was expected of them. Second, they hurt me almost as bad as the target. Third, I am a big wimp when it comes to having my fingertip blown off and if I didn’t get something for the pain, I may just go a tad more insane. That was saying something for someone that could lose a whole city that was supposed to be only 2000 feet away.

  I closed my eyes and thought. If my mage, in my game, were walking through the woods and blew his own fingertip off, what would he do? I sat straight up. The answer was so obvious, but I cringed when I thought of it. Of course, my mage would HEAL! But then again, he wouldn't blow his own finger off with a magic arrow. And why wouldn’t he? His wand would pull the magic away from him and focus it at the desired target! How simple, in theory.

  Dreading what I was about to attempt but knowing that something was going to have to be done I closed my eyes again. A few deep breaths and then I focused my thoughts on my hands and said the word consano! Instant morphine! My fingertip tingled as if something was crawling over it. I looked and saw that the feeling was coming from my own flesh, and skin growing back and rejoining. Finally, it seemed, I got a spell right without trying to cook or maim myself. It was a joyful turn of events!

  Chapter Three

  Due to the new developments in my life, I figured that sticking around this clearing for another day might just be fun. When your hands aren’t burned off, you don’t have blown off fingers, and you have food in you, things don’t look so bad. My first thing to do was to fix up my lean-to and add a few extra branches to the sides in case of weather. My next was to see if the idea of a wand would really be doable. I was thinking that my wand should be about the diameter of my thumb and about 10 inches long. I admitted to myself that any ideas that I came up with about this subject would be 100% guess work, but I could live with that. I walked along the edge of the clearing looking for green wood that could be shaped into something that would feel like a wand. I had been into the fantasy genre long enough to have a basic idea of what one should look like, but I knew that was j
ust fantasy. Reality might call for something a bit different, so I wandered and guessed. After about 15 minutes, I spotted something that might work. Like everything else that had occurred since Friday night, this came with a snag. I saw a small branch fifteen feet up that had a burl near the trunk and was three feet long. If I could get that down from there and trim it down, it could look like a cool fantasy wand and a miniature wooden lance at the same time.

  It was time to talk to myself. I always seemed to mumble and talk to myself when I had a problem that I couldn’t seem to work out. Talking out my troubles was how I always described it when someone would say, “What?” Now, this tree didn’t have any branches low enough to grab so that I could shimmy up and cut loose that branch, and that really was the branch I wanted. If there were only a way that I could yank it down from the ground, but I couldn’t touch it with anything. I thought there might be a spell that I could use to get it down but I couldn’t remember the word that would activate it. I sure hoped it wasn’t one of those spells that would rip your arms off, but it won’t do anything if I can’t remember it. Mumble, mumble, mumble… I stared at the branch and mumbled to it, “If I could remember the spell word for ‘Telekinesis’ you would be mine!” As soon as I used the word telekinesis, the branch whipped back and forth like a living thing. Oh yeah! The word for telekinesis is telekinesis! Once again, I felt really dumb. This place was really putting a crimp in my self-esteem. I focused on the branch a few inches below the burl, and could already start to feel the odd tingle in my chest. I muttered ‘telekinesis’

  The branch snapped cleanly from the tree. Still focused on it, I guided it slowly to my hand, and then relaxed. Again, I had done magic that didn't bite me back! I just had to be more careful here and think about things before I acted. Gamers never did that as a rule, but I needed to be both gamer and mortal it seemed.