Ko, Katsuki, Emiko, Rin, Daijiro, and the outer space aliens described in this story are from the Science Fantasy novel, They Left Magic in Their Wake, by Marilyn Peake. The magical items, including the sunspot bombs and blooddrop bombs, are also from this novel.
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“Are you sure the aliens will be here?”
Ko glanced at Katsuki while trying to keep up their pace. He didn’t want to be late for the D&D game. “Yes. I’m certain. We have great intel.” As he hoisted his backpack higher on his shoulders, a dragon tattoo on his arm appeared to breathe fire.
From behind them, Emiko commented, “I wouldn’t exactly call it great intel. It was supplied by the winter witch…you know, the woman who looks like a real-life D&D figure. We’re still not sure she isn’t just a crazy woman spouting nonsense.”
Rin placed his hand gently on Emiko’s back. “Yeah, but Daijiro vouched for her. She’s been here before, apparently.”
They looked around, taking in the scenery as they continued their brisk walk from their hotel room to the game pits. They’d traveled through space and time from the underground facility where they currently lived in post-apocalyptic Japan to arrive at RinthCon 2324, a science fiction convention held in the underground tunnels of an asteroid near Saturn. Attendees and staff arrived through special bridges that allowed them to travel through space and time from any place, any time in all of existence.
For the first day of the convention, Katsuki, Ko, Emiko and Rin were dressed as characters from manga books they’d found in the abandoned city of Tokyo. They’d also found items from a game played by the ancients there: Dungeons and Dragons, or D&D. They’d worked hard learning how to play the game by studying an old D&D handbook. Now, they were going to try to play with a D&D group at RinthCon. They’d received tickets to quite a few sessions, along with instructions on how to create their character sheets. It felt like a dream come true—although not entirely, as they were also on a mission to find magical items that could keep their facility back home running far into the future.
Katsuki gestured to her left. “Check out that guy. He looks like the kind of alien in the photo Daijiro gave us; but we’re at a science fiction convention where everyone dresses up as all kinds of characters, so for gods’ sake, how are we supposed to know if we’ve found the ones we’re supposed to contact?”
Ko wrapped an arm around Katsuki’s shoulders, giving her a quick squeeze. “Relax. It’s OK. Either they’ll have the magical items, or they won’t. It doesn’t actually matter if they’re the aliens Daijiro told us to meet or not. If they have the magical items and we manage to bring those back with us, that’s all that matters.”
Emiko laughed. “You’re telling her to relax, don’t be emotional? Man, you’re asking for trouble.”
Katsuki chuckled in response. “No, it’s OK. I need that reminder. I’m so freaking nervous right now.”
Ko stopped walking. He studied the sign above the entrance to an establishment in the underground labyrinth: Dave’s D&D Cavern & Watering Hole. The letters glowed with orange light. “We’re here.” He looked at his friends with an earnest pleading in his eyes. “Remember. We’re just supposed to be D&D players, here at this convention for the very first time. We’re supposed to be excited about the con, discovering all kinds of new things. If we see the magical items, we can ask questions anyone would ask out of curiosity. Other than that, we’re supposed to be calm and relaxed about spotting the objects, as though we don’t know what they are.” He stopped talking as a woman dressed like a faerie came around a curve in the tunnel. One of the huge sparkling wings attached to her back brushed against Emiko, knocking her in the head.
“Oh, sorry, sorry.” The woman had bright blue eyes accentuated with shimmering blue eye shadow. She stumbled a bit, twisting her ankle. “Ooh, ow, that smarts!” She straightened up. “Sorry again. I bought these wings from a vendor, but I’m obviously not very good at maneuvering them.”
Emiko went from anger to annoyance to amusement. “No problem. I like your outfit. It’s cool.”
The young woman smiled. “Thanks for understanding. Hey, you guys look great.” She gestured toward Katsuki. “Kagome, right? From InuYasha?”
Katsuki looked at her with surprise. “You know about InuYasha?”
“Of course. I’m a huge fan of all things manga. Coming here for several years now, I’ve even been able to collect manga from different centuries.” As though remembering something, she glanced up at the glowing sign. “Well, I gotta go. Don’t want to be late for my first D&D session at this year’s RinthCon.”
Katsuki hoisted her backpack higher on her shoulders. “Seems we’ve got more shared interests than InuYasha. We’re on our way to a D&D game as well.”
“Awesome.” The faerie woman gestured for Katsuki and her friends to go first. “After you. I’ve gotta figure out how to squeeze through that entrance with this costume.”
Banging her wings against the sides of the narrow entrance, she shouted to the group as they walked ahead of her, “I’m Adelina, by the way. See you on the other side.”
Katsuki turned around briefly to offer a faint smile, then continued on with her friends to find the event they were supposed to attend.
At the end of a long, winding tunnel, the group entered a huge cavern. The space was dimly lit and bustling with activity. In the center, a flickering sign hung above a circular bar: The Watering Hole. It was noisy, all kinds of creatures tossing back drinks and engaging in conversation. Raucous laughter rose from a bunch of orcs at the far end.
Emiko pulled a wrinkled map from her pocket. “OK. We’re supposed to go to D&D Room #5.” Looking up, she pointed. “If I’m reading this map correctly, it’s over there, on the far side of the bar.” She shared the map with the others. “Does that seem right, or am I holding this upside down?”
Katsuki and Ko looked in the direction Emiko had indicated. Rin glanced at the map, then immediately said, “Let’s go!”
Finding the correct room, the group chose seats around a large rectangular table. A map covered most of it. There were six other players at the table plus the dungeon master, all dressed in various costumes.
Pulling a photo from her pocket, Emiko looked as surreptitiously as possible at two of the players. That had to be them! Both had bluish-green skin, almost turquoise but darker. Tubes emerging from the tops of their heads, same color as their skin, swayed like underwater plants every time they moved. They both had large, deep black eyes that sparkled with specks of light.
Emiko passed the photo to her friends in a folder containing her character sheet. They studied the aliens with brief glances, then passed the folder back to Emiko, nodding as surreptitiously as possible.
A few minutes later, Adelina entered the room, choosing a seat next to one of the aliens. She ended up whacking him with her oversized wings. “Oh, sorry, sorry. I’m such a klutz.”
The alien didn’t seem amused.
The dungeon master looked at Adelina with a pained expression.
After Adelina got settled, she waved to the group she had met on her way in. Emiko raised a hand in acknowledgment.
The dungeon master, human in appearance, was dressed as a werewolf. For all anyone knew, he was actually a werewolf but without a full moon at RinthCon, he’d never transform. He sat behind a dungeon master’s screen painted with a beautiful scene: a snow-enshrouded mountain capped with clouds, dragons flying overhead. He glanced at a clock on the wall across from him, then clapped his hands. “All right. Let’s get started. Everyone have their tickets? Please place those and your character sheets in front of you. I’m Max. Human. From Earth, year 2024. I play D&D with my friends all the time. This is my second time as a dungeon master here at RinthCon. I always enjoy it. It's a lot of fun. So, to begin, it was a dark and stormy night…” He paused, flashing brilliantly white teeth in a playful grin. “Just kidding. It was actually a dark and cloudy day.” A number of players laughed. “Your group has been traveling through space and time to get to RinthCon 2324. Somehow, you’ve ended up at the wrong place and time. You’ve landed at the base of a snow-covered mountain on a strange planet none of you recognize. Same as this asteroid, however, the area is riddled with underground caves.”
At that moment, Adelina pulled a few things from her backpack. As she did so, a dice bag opened and a bunch of dice tumbled out, along with two glowing, very tiny, round stones: one yellow, one red.
Katsuki covered her mouth, stifling a gasp. She immediately regretted that, as they were supposed to be operating in secret, unable to recognize magical items. But the shock went through her like lightning. Sweet, bumbling Adelina was in possession of at least two magical items: a sunspot bomb and a blooddrop bomb! Things were about to get very interesting.
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