Chapter 1
Two women walked into a small house in corner of the Kingdom of Landen. One of them was tall, brown-haired woman dressed in white armor and wearing a white cape. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. With every step there was a light clang made from one of the two daggers she wore hitting against the sword that hung from her waist, a symbol of royalty.
The other woman was a bit shorter. She wore a red suit of armor distinguished by white shoulder guards. Her long blonde hair was in braid. She stood out from other people not only by her armor, but also by a red jewel that she wore on her forehead. Although she was not a huntress, she always walked with a bow slung on her shoulder.
Upon entering the house, they were greeted by an old woman who sat at a table in the parlor. On the other side of the table were two chairs.
“Please sit down, your majesty,” the old lady said kindly. “And this must be the ethereal Princess Laya. It is an honor.”
Laya, the blonde woman, bowed her head in respect and sat down, as did Queen Sari, her companion.
“Before we begin, let me congratulate you on the triumph of your quest. You all must have fought gallantly.” The old woman spoke with firmness, in spite of her slightly-feeble voice.
“But I didn’t fight against the Dark Force,” Sari corrected.
“Oh, but you sowed the seeds that led to its demise. You are to be commended as much as Prince Sean, Princess Laya, and the rest of the party.”
Sari blushed.
“Now that darkness has been expelled from our land, new challenges and adventures await you both, just as they await everyone here.”
Sari and Laya looked at each other with raised eyebrows.
“Madam,” Laya began. “These challenges you mention, are they of a personal nature or are they for everyone?”
“The two are the same. Your personal conquests will lead to good things for the people. But you know that the triumphs are only sweet after the bitter trials.”
“Well, I can safely say that I’ve had more than my fair share of bitter trials. I can’t wait for the sweet taste of victory.” Sari exhaled loudly.
“Although, Sari,” Laya mentioned, “I would note that your friendship with Ayn reconciliation with Rhys and Kara, and the fact that you have your so-called nephew, Prince Sean, would be little successes.”
“Yeah, I know,” Sari sighed.
The fortune teller coughed, getting the girls' attention once more. “All I can tell you two things at this very moment. First of all, I have dreamt that, on the day of Prince Sean’s wedding, the Alisa III shall enter the orbit of a new, habitable land.”
“Wow, that is good news.” Laya said cheerfully. “And the other?”
The fortuneteller smiled, “Your lives will change on the night of Prince Sean’s wedding with the sudden arrival of some unexpected guests.”
* * * * * * * * *
Corg, Piotr, and Jack lay out on the lawn in front of Piotr’s parent’s house. They had spent the last seven hours playing Phantasy Star III, trying to complete the game. It was a special mission of theirs, as Corg’s wife, Cristy had become pregnant. All of them realized that Corg’s being a father would make some drastic differences in his life. He wouldn’t have the time to visit and play video games like he used to. Work, school, marriage, and fatherhood would become the main focus of his life. Corg was able to convince Cristy to let them play (and beat) just one more role-playing game together, just for “ol’ times sake.” She’d have to let go of her husband for a couple of weekends, but after a little convincing she gave him her blessing.
“Wow, so we finally did it, didn’t we?” Corg commented, his pale white skin glowing in the moonlight.
“Heck yeah! We hecka learned the Dark Force!” Piotr exclaimed.
“Dude! The sucker put up a fight, though--always trying to heal himself,” Jack commented.
“Yeah, well. After severing that hand of his, we put an end to that nonsense,” Corg said with mock arrogance.
“Well, the stupid had it coming,” Piotr said, hitting his fist in his palm.
“So guys, what did you think of this whole experience? You know, us getting together, deciding on a wife for our characters, and stuff? How was it?” Corg asked earnestly.
“It was phatty awesome, dawg. Hecka constitutes some of the best memories I have playing games,” Jack responded, raising his voice a few notches.
“Yeah, playing video games is always better when you do it with the crew. Doing this stuff alone just doesn’t cut it,” Piotr said.
“Well, I hope we have more opportunities later on down the road,” Corg mused. “I think we will, just not quite as often.”
“Yeah, although busting out the RPGs like this—I’m not sure,” Jack said.
“I got an idea!” Corg blurted out. “We could always do it by emulator.”
“You mean, like trading the ‘Save State’ and stuff?” Jack asked.
“Exactly. That’s exactly what I mean. It’s not the same thing, but it still could work.”
“Corg, I hecka need to beat you for that,” Piotr laughed. Both he and Jack tapped Corg on the side of the head.
“Hey guys?” Corg asked.
“Yeah?” both of them said.
“When you were younger, did you ever imagine yourselves in the video games you played? You know, bustin’ it out with the heroes and stuff.”
“Me, not so much…a little,” Piotr answered. “It would be pretty tight, though.”
“I hecka did,” Jack said. “I always imagined myself in the Double Dragon games, hecka performing the flying knees and beating the peepz down with bats and stuff. What about you?”
“Yeah, I did,” Corg said, matter-of-factly.
“In what? Street Fighter II?” asked Jack tauntingly. “You know you wanted a piece of the Chun Li.”
Corg blushed. “Any game where I could just bust out the phatty beatage and kick it with some schwing woman, that’s where I wanted to be.”
“Here’s to that,” Jack agreed.
“You both are...er...words can't describe you two,” Piotr said, laughing. “Hecka wanting to get up in the gameage. I don’t know. I guess I didn’t have as much exposure as you guys did. Although, maybe going a quest with the crew would be just as phatty as doing it through a video game.”
“Maybe we still can, maybe just one last time,” Corg said.
The other two laughed.
“You can always depend on Corg for these wacky ideas. I think he must use some sort fine weed to get these ideas,” Piotr joked. “And how do you suggest we do that?”
Corg hesitated for a moment. “Hm…Okay. Close your eyes…”
All three of the closed their eyes.
“Imagine they game we just got done playing…”
“Okay,” said Jack.
“Done and done,” said Piotr.
“Now finally, imagine us there to receive the Sean and his friends as they arrive triumphant from their quest to destroy Dark Force. Imagine yourselves surrounded by all the great heroes of the game. Imagine seeing the great weapons and the festivities and whatever you think happened after that.”
And all went black.
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