No Longer a Game

Authors note on the geography of the world: The land of Faerûn is a continent on the world of Toril that is on the Prime Material Plane. There are many other planes of existence, such as the Demonweb Pits where Lolth is located and other planes where the other gods and goddess's reside; there are the Nine Planes of Hell, the Sixty Nine layers of the Abyss, and many others. Like other dimensions, these other planes may overlap, surround, or penetrate the Prime Material plane, or they may be connected by some mystic avenue (Portals), often requiring magic to explore.

Chapter 28 -- Home Sweet Home?

Rain, Jason, and Lou knelt around Michael's charred bones while Christie held Natalie in her arms, the pretty brunette girl still emotionless and seemingly unaware of her surroundings. The more the friends looked at the bones they could tell that Michael had died in mid-transformation as he jumped though the portal; the lower half of his body was dwarf bones and the upper half human.

"He...he saved us." Lou sad in a weak voice full of sadness. "He risked his life so we would get home."

Jason wipe his eyes, "I...I never told him...he was my best friend." Jason choked up and Rain hugged him tighter. "I...when I first met him it was cause the coach said I needed some type of social work or community service activity that he required for guys on the team." Jason took a deep breath, "Anyway...I...he became my best friend."

"I am so sorry, Jason." Rain comforted him. "Michael was a great guy."

"So...what...what do we do?" Lou asked.

"We need to call the police or something." Rain said.

"No we go back!" The three friends turned and looked at Christie.

"Go back where?" Lou asked.

"To Faerûn...the other side."

"Are you fucking crazy?" Rain shouted.

"No...we need to go back. We...we can find someone to bring Michael back and...and help Natalie."

"That insane, Christie!" Rain objected. "We can't go back! Jason, Lou...tell her!"

"I...I agree with Christie." Lou said.

"You're fucking crazy...both of you. So what, Lou, you want to go back so you can be this powerful wizard? Sorry but I am not going back!"

"It's not that, Rain...well not all of it, but think about it. We call the police about Michael...which we should do I agree...what then? It will play out like this. The police will question us naturally, find out we were playing a fantasy role playing game and not only is Michael dead but Derrick is missing and we all know they will never find him and then Natalie is so fucked up and catatonic and even if we did tell them the truth no way they will believe us. They will come to this conclusion. We were playing a fantasy role playing game which we have played for two years now almost once every week and then we get carried away and start to confuse reality with fantasy. We kill Michael in maybe some sort of strange ritual from the game, maybe killed Derrick and did something with his body or he got scared after we did something to Michael and he ran away. Natalie joined us for the first time and what we did was so traumatic she just totally lost it. We all go to jail and they put Natalie in a state mental hospital where they force feed her tapioca pudding for the rest of her life. I agree with Christie, we have to go back at least for Michael and Natalie's sake."

"Oh my God!" Rain exclaimed and turned to Jason. "Jason, say something. Tell them they are both crazy."

Jason looked up, "I...I can't, Rain. I agree we have to go back. Michael gave his life to save us. We have to for him."

Rain stood up and started waving his hands, "I don't believe you...any of you. You are all crazy. We have family here, friends, school...I graduate in the spring and going to law school next year. We all have futures."

"Not all of us." Christie joined in as she held Natalie tight. "She doesn't. Michael doesn't."

"And out futures don't mean shit if we are in jail. Lou is right about that. We will be blamed for Michael's death and go to prison." Jason told him. "You don't have to go back but I am."

"Ok fine, say we all want to go back, how? Habersham is not going to just send us back now that we can't help him go there."

"He'll send us back," Jason said firmly. "I will make him send us back."

"Yeah we force him to and he drops us in the middle of the ocean or transports us right into a dragon's lair or something like that."

Jason shook his head, "No we make a deal with him. He sends us back and we help him like he wanted. There has got to be more portals and if not well someone made the one we used so someone can make another one. Maybe when Michael is resurrected and Natalie healed we come back home again."

Rain sighed, "Ok I will help but I am not sure if I am going back."

Christie nodded, "Fair enough and if you don't we need to think of something that will explain our absence cause people are going to ask you."

"Anyone have a clue what time it is or what day it is?" Lou asked. The others shook their heads.

"So what's the plan?" Christie asked.

"First anyone know where we are?" Rain added and looked around.

The friends were sitting in an open area of tall grass and weeds and below past a wooded area they could see the dirty brown water of the Ocmulgee River. Directly behind them was large hill with a flat top and to the right of that a smaller hill also with a flat top and between the hills was a well-kept grass pathway. In the distance past the river they could see the skyline of downtown Macon.

"The Ocmulgee National Monument." Lou told them. "Remember Habersham's letter? He said the portal would bring us here. The larger mound is the Great Temple Mound and the smaller one is a burial mound."

"How do you know that?" Christie asked.

Lou smiled, "God y'all have never been here?"

"I never knew this place was here." Jason confessed. "And why here? I mean you would think a portal to another world would be at someplace like Stone Hedge or something."

Lou shrugged, "I don't know but this place is a lot older than Stone Hedge. This place has evidence of 17,000 years of continuous human habitation; from Ice Age hunters to the Creek Indians before colonial days. To the Creek people this place was very sacred and according to their oral history they called it the 'place where we first sat down' after their people migrated east. At one time there were thousands of Native Americans of the Creek Nation living here and it was a huge trading area for them as well. Tribes would come from hundreds of miles to trade or just visit a spiritual site. Hernando de Soto even documented the place in his journals." Lou chuckled, "He thought they would give him directions that would lead to him finding gold, which the Creeks knew were in the mountains of north Georgia, but they gave him directions west and hundreds of his men died from malaria and Indian attacks. Clever Indians."

"How the fuck do you know all this?" Rain asked.

Lou shrugged, "I guess you guys didn't have Professor Sanders for history. He was obsessed with Native American culture and this place. He took us here several times."

"Ok enough of the history lesson, we need to come up with a plan. Anyone know where Habersham lives?" Jason asked.

"Yeah he owns that mansion on College Street; you all know the one, across from the post office." Christie answered.

"Fuck, that historical home? He must have money like he said if he owns that house." Rain replied.

"Ok we need to get back to campus. I guess we walk since we don't have any money for a cab and no cell phones to call an Uber. It's not that far, only a few miles, but we can't walk around carrying Michael...I...I mean his bones." Jason choked up.

"The gift shop." Lou said. "There is a gift shop in the visitor's building and they sell replica Native American blankets. We can break in and get one and wrap Michael in that."

"Ok. Rain, you go with Lou."

Rain nodded and she and Lou walked up the pathway towards the visitor's center. Breaking into the visitor's center was easy, there was no alarm because there was not much anyone would want to steal; besides a few cheap gifts that replicated the culture that once lived there and some of the artifacts found in the archaeology museum. Lou grabbed the largest blanket that could be found while Rain paused at the clerk's desk.

"It's only seven forty eight." She said looking at a digital clock. "And...fuck according to the calendar we have only been gone for a little over two days."

Lou nodded, "Yeah remember Habersham said time worked differently. Hours here are shorter than days on the other side."

"Oh yeah." Rain nodded and the two left.

The wrapped Michael's bones in the blanket and decided since it was just early evening they would go back to Natalie's loft apartment and wait until early morning before going to Habersham's house. Jason wanted the man to be asleep so they could break in and confront him.

"We can't walk down the main streets in this neighborhood." Lou said. "It's off the Fort Hill area."

"So." Christie said.

Jason nodded, "Lou's right. This area is known for gang and drug activity and any police seeing five white college age people carrying a blanket and walking this area will stop and ask questions."

"We could go through the woods to the river and then walk up the Riverwalk to the bridge on Martin Luther King where it comes out at the Otis Reading Memorial. That will put us right near downtown on the corner of Martin Luther and Riverside. There it's an easy walk up Cherry Street to College Street and Natalie's apartment. Rain and I saw a calendar and its Friday so downtown will be full of people going to the restaurants and clubs so no one will bother us." Lou told them.

They set out down the hill to the river; Natalie now allowing Christie to hold her hand and guide her. They made it without incident and the doorman at Natalie's loft let them in to her apartment. He knew Christie as Natalie's girlfriend and after she explained they had been at a party and someone spiked Natalie's drink with some type of drug he opened the door to Natalie's apartment without any questions.

Once inside they had time to rest before they went to Habersham's house. They took showers and Christie bathed Natalie and then the cooked some food and ate. Christie cooked hamburgers out of some ground chuck she found but there were no buns so they used loaf bread instead. Natalie had a variety of chips and drinks. As they cooked and ate at the table, Natalie just sat on the sofa staring off into the space of her apartment.

"God I never thought a hamburger would taste so good." Rain said as she took a large bite of her burger. "And ketchup."

"I'm glad Natalie went to the store the day before we left." Christie took a large sip of her wine. "Also glad she does not drink much and the bottles of wine I gave her are still here."

"Do you think someone on the other side can help her?" Rain asked as she looked at Natalie.

"I...I don't know but I am willing to try. That's why we have to go back, Rain, for her and Michael."

Rain nodded, "I...I know...fuck...it's just that we have family here and people who love us and...fuck it's not that easy for me ok. You have Natalie to go back for, Michael for Jason, Lou cause he wants to for his reason but...but me...I just don't know."

Jason reached over and put his hand on Rain's shoulder, "You don't have to go. But if you stay you need to come up with something to explain our absence. We can write letters or something to our families making up some bull shit stories why we ran off to help but soon they are going to ask questions, Rain."

Rain nodded. "Ok."

Jason wanted to wait until early morning before they confronted Habersham so the friends decided to get some sleep. But sleep did not come for any of them and Natalie just sat in her oblivious state staring at the wall. It was two in the morning when they decided it was time and left the loft and took Natalie's car to Habersham's house on College Street.

Habersham lived in a large historical mansion on College Street with a colorful history. Named the Massey House it was built around the turn of the century by the Massey Family. The house was sold to Emmitt and Eugenia Barnes a very prominent couple of the southern city of Macon, after Mrs. Massey murdered her husband inside the home. The Barnes' at one time hosted magnificent parties and was famous for its annual Daughters of the Confederacy Christmas gala where all invitees were required to dress in antebellum costume. The Barnes' lost the home in the late seventies when Emmett Barnes was arrested and jailed on various fraud and racketeering charges with connections to the Dixie Mafia and his assets frozen and then claimed by the Ricco Act. The house was put up for auction and sold to the Historical Society of Macon who used the home for tours and rented it out for events. Not having the funds to remodel the old home the society sold it in early 2000 and it was purchased by Habersham when he came to teach at Mercer. The professor remodeled the home to its former glory.

"So how do we get past the gate?" Lou said as they sat in the car across the street from the home.

"We climb the wall." Jason answered.

"Natalie can't climb, Jason, and I am not leaving her in the car alone." Christie said.

"OK...Rain and I will go in and find a way to open the gate from inside the house and you drive the car though."

Rain and Jason left the car and walked across the street where they walked around the walls of the property and saw no surveillance cameras or anything that may be am alarm system. The walls were made of concrete block and stucco and only stood about six feet tall so it was easy for Jason to boost Rain up and then climb himself. The two then walked to the back of the home and Jason took off his shirt, picked up a rock, wrapped the rock in the shirt, and broke the glass of the door that opened into a sunroom of the home. Jason then reached in and unlocked the door.

"He doesn't seem concerned with anyone breaking in huh?" Rain said. "No alarm, no dead bolts on the door, or anything."

Jason nodded, "Go see if there is a button or something near the front door to open the gate. I am going to wake the good professor."

"Don't...don't hurt him, Jason. We still need him to cooperate with us."

Jason smiled, "I won't...much."

Rain shook her head and made her way to the front door while Jason went into the kitchen and got a large chef's knife from a knife holder on the counter. As Jason made his way throughout the house looking for the master bedroom he took note of the many antiques that decorated the home; antiques that he assumed dated back thousands of years from various long ago empires and cultures now extinct. Jason found the master bedroom on the second floor and in the large bed he found Professor Habersham sleeping.

"Time to wake up, professor." Jason said as he roughly shook the man to wake him.

Habersham woke instantly and his eyes flew open and he looked up in fear but then relaxed when he recognized the young man standing over him.

"Jason! You are back!" The professor exclaimed and sat up in the bed, "You gave me a fright dear boy. I thought you were a burglar."

Jason grabbed Habersham by his hair and held the knife to the old man's throat. "Yes we are back...some of us."

"What's the meaning of this, Jason? Let go of me and put the knife down, boy. We have a lot of things to discuss."

Jason smiled, "Oh yes we have things to discuss but first." Jason punched Habersham in the face. "That's for Derrick." Jason hit him again, "That's for Natalie." Jason hit him another time, "That's for Michael." Jason hit him again. "And that's for all of us."

Habersham was bleeding from his nose and mouth and his left eye was already starting to swell as Jason pulled him out of bed by his hair.

"Let go of me, Jason!" Habersham yelled out as he fell to the floor and landed on his hands and knees.

"Fuck you!" Jason screamed back and kicked the man in the side.

Habersham groaned out in pain and curled up holding his ribs as Jason picked up the lamp on the night stand and cut the electrical cord and then bound the professor's hands behind his back. The younger man then reached down and grabbed a handful of Habersham's hair and pulled to lift the man's head.

"We are going to have a talk and you are going to do something for us." Jason growled. Jason then shoved a dish cloth into the professor's mouth.

By the time his friends came into the room, Jason had Habersham tied and gagged to the chair in the bedroom. Rain placed the blanket containing Michael's bones on the floor and Christie sat Natalie down on the bed and then walked over to the professor and slapped his face hard and raised her hand again to slap the man once more but Rain grabbed her wrist.

"Christie, stop it!" He shouted. "Fuck, Jason, did you have to beat him?"

"Fuck him; if we did not need him I would have killed the motherfucker."

Jason removed the gag from the professor's mouth and the older man spit blood on the floor.

"What's the meaning of this, Jason? You...you made it home and now you can help me get back."

"Help you? Fuck you, Habersham! Yeah we made it back...some of us. Derrick died the first night, his guts spilling out on the floor of some tavern in Lund, Natalie was tortured by the drow so bad she is basically a walking vegetable, and Michael...see that blanket, asshole? That's what's left of Michael after the dragon burned him and as for your portal it's gone...destroyed by the same dragon fire that killed my best friend!"

"Destroyed? Are you sure?" Habersham asked.

"Is that all you care about? That fucking portal?" Lou asked. "We should let Jason kill you."

Habersham smiled, "But he won't will he? He can't...none of you can."

"Don't be so sure about that, old man. Killing you would be nothing compared to some of the things we did on the other side." Christie said.

"Oh I think you are quite capable of killing me...don't misunderstand me. I mean you won't because you need me for something. If not I would be dead already."

"We need you to send us back." Lou blurted out.

Habersham laughed, "And why would I do that? You said the portal was destroyed so there is nothing in it for me."

"When the police come to question us and then most likely arrest us we will tell them you had something to do with what happened to Natalie, Derrick, and Michael." Jason told him.

"That does not frighten me. I have over a dozen ways to avoid being known and can disappear quite easily."

"If...if you send us back we promise to find another way for you to get there also? We know you lied to us in your letter and we know who you are and why you escaped from that side." Christie said, almost pleading. "You...you have to help us for Natalie and Michael. It's the least you can do."

Habersham laughed, "Escaped? Is that what the historians say? I did not escape. I was imprisoned here...here in a world without magic. I did not create the portal; someone else did. Even if I sent you back none of you would have the power to create another one. Natalie maybe...but by the looks of her she can't even toast bread."

"Why her?" Christie asked. "What was so special about her? Why did you need her to send us to the other side?"

"Cause of who she is...more to the point who she is descended from."

"What do you mean? Who she is?" Christie asked.

Habersham laughed again. "I see the old history books in Faerûn were wrong or left out a lot of the facts and truth."

"Just shut the fuck up, professor; or you going to help us or not?" Rain interrupted.

"Let him talk, Rain. I want to know about Natalie. Anything that we can use to help her." Christie said and turned to the bound man. "So you got punished for trying to conquer the world, that we got but how does Natalie fit in."