A/N: This chapter is dedicated to pixy-dizzy, whose story To Fight or Fall always reminds me of Alethea (I do not know why); And to my mother who is making me read about spies.

I’m giving a list of names with no appearances because physical traits do not matter yet. Someone needs to burn my thesaurus.

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Brooke had had the strangest dream. She had experienced first-hand the destruction of a secret society of rebels. It had been like watching a season finale of her favorite television series. The story had gone unfinished, and it did not appear to be a happy one. Unfortunately, she did not have the time to imagine a happy ending because, even though it was Saturday, she still had an agenda. Brooke peeped out from under her covers, and saw that her roommate was still asleep. She got up, dressed and quickly made her way to the dining hall.

There she met Nate, who was still her best friend. Now that they were at college, they were meeting plenty of people whom she hoped to be friends with. It was their first Saturday since coming, and they were going with a large group of other freshman to the movies at one o’clock. When Brooke sat down with her food, she saw a poster halfway across the room, and attempted to read it. “That last line is just a little to small for me to read. Do you know what it says?” Nate scanned the poster behind Brooke, and read the last line.

“We will meet at seven o’clock. There will be refreshments.”

“You are such a boy. No, the one above that.” Brooke was still squinting across the room.

“ . . . Role-playing game. The introductory night is in the dining hall.’ Why don’t you just look at the one behind you?” As Brooke read the poster again, she became interested.

“Why don’t we go? I know that it will infringe on study time, but I bet that we would meet more freshmen there. I heard that the home-schooled girl likes this kind of thing.”

“Home-schooled . . .?”

“The sixteen-year-old girl that is in chemistry.”

“Oh, her. We should make sure she knows.”

“Hello. May I sit with you guys?” It was the home-schooled girl.

“Hey. We were just talking about you. I’m sorry that I can’t remember, but what’s your name?” Nate said as the girl sat next to Brooke.

“Alethea. I’m in the same chemistry class as you two.” Brooke nodded, her mouth full of eggs.

“Have you heard of the RPG introductory night?” Nate said for her.

“You mean the one advertised on the poster behind me? What are you guys’ names?” Alethea’s hair and eyes were the same very dark brown. She looked both like she ate well, and like she did a lot of sports.

“I’m Brooke, and he’s Nathaniel, Nate for short. We were wondering if you were going to go to the RPG thing.”

“Ya, I was. It’s not like I have a social life yet.” Alethea wasn’t being sarcastic. She was just blunt by nature. This trait often created awkward silences.

That evening Brooke and Nate met Alethea in the dining hall. She was sitting in a shadowy corner at one of seven tables. There were great piles of manuals on each table. The tables were organized by year. The seniors only had one table. The seniors also happened to be the organizers of this meeting.

Everyone was sorted into tables, and a lecture began about the traits of a good Game Master. Once this was finished, each table was designated as a party and advised to choose a cleric and a wizard. A plump, dirty-blond haired girl volunteered for the former. Brooke volunteered for the latter. Then came introductions.

There were four other boys and four other girls. The girls were Eleora, Gazelle, Valonia, and Jessica. Jessica was the cleric. The boys were Faolan, Perrin, Henry, and Gareth. They spent the rest of the night creating character sheets and arranging for their first adventure.

Brooke and Nate followed half of the same hallways on the way back to their dorms. When Brooke said goodbye and turned down a
corridor, Nate stared after her for a few minutes before whispering goodnight.

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Alethea had chosen to make an assassin. But after that, variation had become limited. Eleora had made a paladin. Gazelle and Faolan had made rangers. Valonia had made a barbarian. Everyone else had made a conventional warrior. As they were all new to gaming, they had made characters similar to themselves.

They had developed a history for the role-playing world. Brooke found it disturbingly familiar to her dream. But, over the first three sessions this perturbing feeling dissipated. But things changed for the fourth session.

Alethea had volunteered to host the fourth session. They had up until then been playing in the atrium. She also volunteered to GM, and provide snacks. Brooke decided to arrive early because that sounded like way too much work.

She found Alethea in the kitchen, attempting to chop green onions for seven layer dip without crying. “You cry for scallions?”

“I have very sensitive eyes.”

“Here, I’ll finish the dip. You go finish setting up the table.”

Half an hour later the snacks were ready, everyone had arrived, and they had finished their pre-game dialogue. Their last adventure had left them in the middle of a road. “Everyone roll a d-20” Alethea said. They did, but the dice just kept spinning, drawing their attention. Dominating their world.