the end

[ex-god]

Introductions  -  page 5

"HELLO! This is your friendly guide speaking... Everyone please wake up, this is the time for me to explain to all of you fantastic spell casters how to complete the test that you have all signed up for. No, Merripen, you can't ask any questions, so if you would please allow me to speak... That goes for all of you, this is important information that you will regret if you do not pay close attention.

OK. This is the world known as Eden, Heaven, Hell, Paradise, or really whatever you want to call it, because believe it or not, it doesn't matter what you call it, it'll still be the same place. Now that I've expressed the lack of meaning in names, I can get into the real exposition. Each of you have been given a couple of items, you should find them on the ground.

FOR THE LOVE OF SANITY SHUT UP CHILDREN! I will explain them, don't ask questions. The bag can hold pretty much anything. Yes, there are limits, no I will not be listing them, figure it out yourself. The book is a universal log book, anything you write in it will appear in all copies of the book, so you can, I don't know, communicate? It really is all up to what you want to use it for, or not use it. you're free to do what you want. There is also a map in the back of the book that'll mark where each of you are in the world. The third item is a weapon that was divinely inspired to be in your hands. if you are so incapable as to not know how to use them, there will be a special tutorial for incompetent individuals afterwords. You'll find things are easier to master in this dimension, you're welcome.

All right, now that we have those basics covered, go and get stronger so that you can defeat the enemy that has been tailor made to beat you. So, go show them who's boss with your awesome skills. Oh yes, and adolescents I will be there for each of you individually throughout your journeying. Now, if you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask."

[ex-god]

Page 4

Then came the whispering of the incantation. First came the soft yet firm voice of Lily that echoed throughout the vacuous room. Candles flickered. Then came Mortimer's chant, as the inhuman tongue flowed out, and chimed in a strangely melodic rhythm as it echoed throughout the room.

Thana took a deep breath and spoke her lines, lines she almost understood as she said them, but at the same time it was incomprehensible. Wind blew from behind her toward the center as they continued. Days seemed to pass as she chimed her lines, and though she was only repeating one statement in the bizarre and alien language, every time another person joined in, she understood that what she said was utterly different. It went from calm to hostile as the room itself seemed to shake and quiver at their voices. 

Then, as Joy's voice chimed in, the circle of voices was completed, and the candles simultaneously flickered out. Strangely, the room was brighter, as an invisible source of green light lit the room twice as much as the candles did.Wind began to pick up as they chanted, assailing them from all directions.

They final repetition was spoken, this time sounding beyond sinister. A purple light. A blue light. Both emerging from the center and intertwining to form a light and dark cloud. Tendrils of oddly colored smoke reached from the center of the symbol, gaining speed. As the last 'words' of the repetition were uttered, the cloud filled the entirety of the chalk outline.

For a single, infinite moment, there was an unsettling silence as the echoes cut out. 

Then there was a series of screams that penetrated the silence as dark, heavy tendrils began to grasp and pull in the casters of the spell.

And there was nothing and everything the moment they entered the spell. 

[ex-god]

Page 3

"I could probably code this." came another voice from the shadows, he was shorter than Thana, with a short haircut that looked fuzzy in the dim light. "It looks like its a really interesting recursive algorithm."

"Merripen, could you please at least try to speak english? or at least not attempt to freak me out?" Thana muttered, holding a hand over her heart in feigned shock. 

"Please call me Pen, no one needs to hear my whole name, I don't know what my mom was thinking leaving me with a name like this." Pen replied irately.

Thana and the others stood silently, no one able to respond to Pen's unintentionally cruel statement. 

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to bring it up so harshly." Pen apologized to the group, to which Thana offered a pale smile.

"It's fine." Chrys sighed. "It's not like we need to worry about our pasts after this."

"Hey, guys, Zoe, Coral, Joy, Damian, and Hugh all know their parts, I think we're ready to start." came a voice of the seventh person to emerge from the murky depths of the enormous but not well lit room. She had long red hair with freckles on her face.

"Took you long enough." Lily muttered, eliciting an over dramatized eye roll from Rose.

"Great, great, let's just get this all done here and now." Thana sighed. "Let's get into position to start this party."

"Finally!" Lily sighed as shooed the others to their positions around the shape. "If I'm stuck here any longer I'll go insane."

Thana watched as the other's shapes became less and less recognizable in the large room until they became just shadows flickering to the light of the inexplicably simultaneous flickering candles, and she knelt on the floor at her position.

[ex-god]

Page 2

They reached the door with flickering light illuminating the hallway. 

"After you." Mortimer said as he pushed the door open, releasing more of the candlelight into the dank hallway. 

"Thanks." muttered Thana as she entered the room, but she stopped and held her breath as she saw the elaborate pattern on the floor with candles at soft edges surrounding the image, with symbols in turn surrounding them. The enormous image filled the floor of the even larger room. Thana saw the shapes of her 'friends' through the candlelight around the room. 

"Glad you chose to show up." laughed a shadow that emerged into the light to reveal a tall but thin teenager with shaggy hair.

"Hey Chrys. Am I the last person here?" Thana yawned as she stretched her arms and pantomimed uppercutting Mortimer.

"Yeah, sleepyhead." came another voice from the shadows, revealing Thana's shorter friend with blond hair and eyes that eerily glowed their seemingly unnatural blood red color in the light. In her hands was the book Thana had found in her father's chest.

"So Lily, everything is ready?" Thana grumbled. 

"Yeah Thana, no thanks to you snoring in the other room." Lily smirked. "All eighteen hours of preparation done."

"It's not my fault that it's boring to write out chalk lines." Thana murmured as she rubbed the back of her head. "When do we do the whole chanting in tandem thing and get this over with?" 

"Well, Rose is going around giving the others their lines. We'll be ready to go any moment." Chrys answered softly, "That is if they remember, some of those guys are so dense, it might take her until tomorrow to get them to remember their parts. I don't see why we needed to bring them with us." 

"Because, the book is pretty specific with what is required when it comes to the spell, and they volunteered too. They all have the same feeling as we do, and if we need them, we might as well use it to our advantage." Lily retorted. "They aren't that bad anyway."

[ex-god]

page 1

"Are you all right?" a voice accompanied with a shake woke her from the dream.

"I'm fine." Thana said, rubbing her dry eyes of the sleep that lingered. She sat up to see her friend Mortimer standing over her. He ran his hand through his short brown hair, and she stretched her arms with a long yawn. "It was just a nap."

"Then let's go." Mortimer said, pulling on her wrist, helping her to stand up. "The symbols are all out. Everyone is waiting to start."

"Yeah, yeah." She followed behind him, her new sneakers squeaked on the floor of the old building. "But what if we don't do this?"

"Having second thoughts? That's not like you. besides, it was your idea anyway. You found the book, we cast the spell, nothing'll go wrong. Worst case, nothing happens, best case, our dreams come true."

"I know. I just." she shivered, but  didn't stop following behind him. "I just feel weird about doing this. I never knew my grandfather, and using an old spell-book from an old man's chest seems a little stereotypical. Don't call me crazy but I'm having second guesses."

Mortimer stopped and bent over to look her in the eyes, even though he was only a few inches taller than she was, because he knew it bothered her. "I swear we'll be fine. You read the book. It's not cryptic or anything, as soon as we pass the little test we get beyond what we could ever want."