MystikQuest, Jeff Schanz [red seas under red skies .txt] 📗

you bring this one? It sucks.”

Wes furrowed his brows and answered in a whisper. “I like it. It’s cool.”

Marc spoke at normal volume. “You guys don’t have to whisper. They know we’re down here, and they wouldn’t know what we’re talking about anyway.”

AJ rolled his eyes. At normal volume, he said. “This quest sucks. Didn’t you bring any other ones?”

The footsteps and voices got suddenly louder.

“Doesn’t matter,” said Marc. “Just start playing whatever that one is.”

The upstairs door opened. Three voices barged in. One was Mr. Koepplinger’s current girlfriend, and the other two weren’t immediately recognizable.

“…And we’ll call you up for cake later,” said the girlfriend to the two other unknown people. Louder, she said, “AJ? We have some more friends joining you.”

More friends? We don’t have any other friends.

A sullen-looking teenage girl, arms tightly crossed, tromped to the bottom of the stairs. Following her was an older boy, hands in the pockets of his leather jacket, less sullen than the girl, but plainly disappointed to be there. He descended two-thirds of the stairs before making a seat of one of the steps. Wes recognized both kids.

Tyler Hanson was a sophomore in high school, played varsity baseball, dressed in hip, mall clothes, and had perfectly styled brown hair that swept up and back like someone from a boy-band. He was accepted in the popular circles, but didn’t seem to hang out consistently with any particular crowd, though he would occasionally talk to some of the same geeky acquaintances Wes knew, which was weird. The popular kids mocked the geeks and the geeks mocked the popular kids. The twain shall not meet, except for Tyler. He was a free agent that didn’t seem to care for any clique. His posse of friends didn’t have defined labels either.

Katie Hanson was in Wes’s junior high, but they didn’t have any classes together. Besides her brother, she had few friends, most of them goth or emo, and tended to keep away from public view. Wes had never seen Katie happy, or even amused, unless she was being sarcastic or insulting someone. She had a slender shock of pink hair framing her face, with the rest dyed ebony black, and a similar shade of lipstick to match her overall dark style. Her clothes were a statement: black rubber and crystal bracelets, black tank-top with red plaid over-shirt tied at her waist, black leggings, and black ankle-high Chucks sneakers. Wes didn’t know too many thirteen-year-old girls who were allowed to wear the heavy amount of make-up that emos like Katie wore, but he wasn’t one to judge anyone’s style. He didn’t have a style he was personally aware of, although he seemed to be recognized as a geek or nerd wherever he went based on his outward appearance. What’s a nerd style? He straightened up in his chair, smoothing down the wrinkles in his “Middle-earth’s Annual Mordor Fun Run” T-shirt. Katie wasn’t the kind of person Wes would normally seek as a friend, but she was a cute girl despite her emo ‘tude, and cute girls got reflexive reactions from boys, period. AJ and Marc got a little taller in their chairs as well.

Schroeder was the first one to notice that it was way too quiet in the room. That, or he really assumed they were playing the MystikQuest game. “I don’t have a character,” he said.

Marc snapped out of his distraction. “Remember, you’re the – uh, the…” He waved his hand discreetly at AJ.

AJ grumbled behind gritted teeth, “This quest blows,” then quickly added louder, “Schroeder, you’re a halfling thief named Giddle Goodfoot.”

Marc cocked an eyebrow and bent his mouth like he was about to say, “what?” AJ presumedly understood the unspoken question. He held up the slender booklet showing the title of the story quest: “The Witch Queen of Morduum.”

“Oh, that one,” said Marc, less than pleased.

“S’why I was complaining,” sulked AJ. “Marc, same as last time, you’re the human warrior, Taurus Thorne.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Wes frowned. “What’s so wrong with the quest? It’s a cool quest.”

“It’s a lame rip-off of ‘Lord of the Rings,’” said AJ. “Wes, you’re the wizard, Elyssian, again.”

Wes was ruffled by the first remark. “It’s not a rip-off! Just cuz a few things are similar – it’s got totally different stuff in it.”

AJ shook his head. “Stuff ripped-off from every other fantasy story ever, and not even good rip-offs. Freakin’ gay as crap.”

“You’re such a homophobe, AJ,” said Marc.

“Am not, ya fag.” AJ’s mouth was bent in a clownish grin. It was his go-to expression when he wanted to ensure his mockery was seen as a joke. AJ’s favorite uncle was gay and AJ loved the guy, and as far as Wes knew, AJ didn’t care about anyone’s sexual orientation. He liked to insult everyone equally, all creeds and colors, just because he liked the reaction he got and thought it made him cool. As said before, one either took AJ as he was, or avoided him altogether.

“I don’t want to be a halfling,” said Schroeder.

“Tough orc titties,” said AJ. “The only other character left is the girl elf warrior.”

“I don’t want to be a girl,” said Schroeder.

“Which is why I said you’re the halfling,” huffed AJ.

“I don’t want to be a halfling,” said Schroeder.

“Jesus, Joseph, and James T. Kirk,” AJ sighed. “You can only use the characters made for the story, and all the other characters in this lame quest are taken.” He glared at Wes and said, “See?”

Wes grimaced and searched the page in front of him. “What about the druid?”

“I’m the druid,” said AJ.

“Ok, then – what about the, uh – the half-ogre?”

“He was killed last time we played,” said Marc.

AJ nodded without looking at Marc.

“Then, uh – let’s just start the quest over when the half-ogre is alive,” suggested Wes.

“Uh – cheating,” said AJ.

Marc squinted and gritted his teeth. Without opening his jaw, he said in a hissing whisper, “We have bigger things to worry about, AJ. So, right now, let’s just play the stupid game.”

“Fine, whatever,” said AJ, then flipped a few pages of the booklet. “Schroeder, you’re the half-ogre.”

“I like druids,” said Schroeder, sliding the druid character’s page toward him.

“I’m the druid,” said AJ, snatching back the page. “Be the ogre, or I’ll make you a transvestite orc.”

“There’s no such thing,” said Schroeder. “Orc genders are considered definitive, and in no cases have there ever been…”

“It’s a joke and no one cares, Schroeder,” grumbled AJ.

Though AJ was harsh to his half-brother, the sentiment wasn’t completely unshared. Wes had only met Schroeder a few times and had to admit the boy had a penchant for reciting unwanted information or announcing awkward observations at embarrassing moments. AJ just delivered all his comments with a sledgehammer instead of tact.

A voice came from the stairwell. “What are you guys doing?” It was Tyler, who seemed more perturbed than interested.

Wes answered, hoping the question was from curiosity about the game rather than their suspicious behavior. “Oh, you know, same stuff we’ve been doing all afternoon. Nothing else. Just this game.” God, I am terrible at lying. Wes pushed the stone a little deeper into his pocket as he spoke. “Uh, which is called MystikQuest. It’s a role-playing game where we use dice and characters to complete a story quest. This one is about an evil witch who is trying to take over the land of Mesoteria by defeating the kingdom of Arkadia. There’s orcs and…”

“Don’t really care,” said Tyler, holding his hands up in surrender. “Sorry I asked.” He sighed and looked away, agitated about something that, if Wes had a guess, had nothing to do with them.

“Yeah, well, the game’s only for cool people,” said AJ, playing the politician. “So, we’ll just get back to the…”

“No one is the elf girl,” said Schroeder, turning his head toward Katie.

“Uh, well, we didn’t have enough people last time,” said Marc, nervously darting his eyes to Katie, who hadn’t glanced their direction. “And the game gives you the option of writing off characters, so she wasn’t in the party before. Let’s just skip her. Kay?”

“But we have enough players now. She should be the elf warrior,” said Schroeder, pointing at Katie, unfazed by Marc’s deflection.

Wes shook his head slightly, Marc did the same, and AJ tried to press Schroeder’s hand down to the table.

Katie never so much as shifted an eye in their direction, focusing only on her iPhone and said, “Dream on, deekis. I’m not interested in your stupid game.”

Schroeder didn’t seem to register the insult, he just looked back to his character sheet.

“There ya go,” said AJ, gathering up a handful of dice. “Elf girl stays home and Snapchats while everyone else gets on with the game.”

Katie glanced up from her phone briefly. “You know that, like, everyone at school thinks you’re losers for playing that stupid game, right?”

“Aren’t you out of your coffin early, Vampira? The sun’s still up,” AJ shot back.

Katie gave AJ a murderous glare.

Everyone was surprised when Tyler snorted, trying to hold back a laugh. Katie’s attention left AJ and focused on her brother. He held out a placating palm.

“Sorry,” he said, drowning the last of his chuckle. “It was kinda a good burn, though.”

AJ raised his brows, though he remained silent.

Katie rolled her eyes and lifted her iPhone in front of her face. She tried to look indifferent, but Wes saw the corner of her mouth quiver.

Tyler might have seen it too because he stood up and descended two more steps. “You dish it out a bit, sometimes, Katie. Ya know?”

“Leave me alone,” said Katie, curling her knees up and angling herself away from everyone.

Tyler turned to the other boys and shrugged. AJ shrugged back, looking surprised.

Marc tried to change the subject. “Hey, it’s all good. Let’s play, man,” he said, trying to get AJ’s attention.

AJ obliged by gathering up some dice and rolling them.

Wes kept thinking about the little mouth quiver he saw on Katie’s face. Though he was no psychiatrist, he absorbed all sorts of information, and he liked to use his knowledge in real-world scenarios. There was something about this situation that he felt he recognized. The girl who tried so hard to be an outsider because she believed nobody wanted her around. Defensive personality, proactively driving others away to excuse why she was outcast and miserable.

Wes spoke to Katie, “Don’t mind them. We can play something different if you want to join us.”

AJ and Marc looked stunned.

Katie’s eyes flashed to Wes for the briefest moment before she turned away and tucked her legs tighter to her chest.

Wes had no idea how to respond, and worried he had made things worse, so he gave up and turned back to his friends. He reflexively rubbed his legs with his palms, rolling over the lump in his pocket made by the rock. Marc just gave a “whatcha gonna do” expression and straightened the character sheets in front of him. AJ bit back a smile and raked in the dice he had just rolled. Schroeder ignored everyone.

AJ announced, “Ok, so magically the half-ogre isn’t dead anymore, and skipping back a little bit, we’re in Fyrnig Forest again. Marc, your character, Taurus, is the first to reach the stone ruins of an ancient circle. It appears to be deserted. There’s some writing on the large stone in the middle of the circle.”

“Ok, lessee. Uh, can the druid do a check for nearby creatures? He can feel them, right?” asked Marc.

“Yeah,” said AJ, dropping a twenty-sided die on the table. “He doesn’t sense anything.”

“Cool,” said Marc. “Do I recognize the writing on the stone?”

“No,” said AJ.

“Ok, uh, Wes, you got a translation spell?”

Wes searched his sheets. “Maybe,” he said, absently fingering the rock in his pocket. As he did, he noticed a strange heat in his fingertips. A moment later, his hip was burning where the rock rested. He stood up, slapping at the spot. “Frak!”

“What?” asked Marc.

“I don’t…” started Wes, unable to finish his sentence because the burning had suddenly increased in intensity, becoming unbearable. The