No Longer a Game

Chapter 3 - No longer a Game

Natalie awoke by someone shaking her and calling her name. She was disoriented and nauseous. The last thing she remembered was the chemistry professor setting the mood for the night's game and then he started to speak in a strange language, the smell of an assortment of exotic scents filled her nostrils, the bright flash of light and then nothingness. She looked up at the person shaking her.

It was a young lady who looked to be in her late twenties and she would have been very pretty if not for an old jagged scar that started above her right eyebrow and ran halfway down her check. It was old, thin and faded but still noticeable. She is still extremely cute, Natalie thought. Her hair was a dark blue and braided in a single pony tail that came just below her neck line and locks of her hair came down beside her eyes in a wispy manner. She wore a black leather tunic that was sleeveless and her arms looked athletic and toned. She wore a cloth, black short sleeve shirt, black leather pants, and black knee high boots that seemed to be made of soft leather and were worn just as the pants were. She looked to stand about five four or five five and her ears were pointed like her girlfriend Christie had done surgically to hers.

"Damn, this girl needs to learn her color pallet. All that black just does not do it for her. She's sexy but still, gesh." Natalie thought.

Natalie saw on the belt she wore two long curved knives, a knife handle sticking out of her right boot, and two...no three...no four more smaller knife handles protruding from a 'X' strap across her chest. It was the knives that made Natalie back away in fear. She found she could not back up to far when she was pressed against a tree trunk. Natalie suddenly grabbed her head.

In her mind were strange words that formed phrases in a strange and what Natalie thought were some form of runic language. The words were spinning around her head making her dizzy. It was odd, she thought, it's not just words but more like images she saw in her head. The phrases kept spinning and spinning and started pressing against her mind wanting to be let out; to be released from the prison of her mind. They pressed hard but it didn't hurt. It actually felt rather pleasant. Somehow Natalie could sense the phrases had power in them, some more than others and a few felt very powerful. The more powerful the phrase the more pleasant it felt in her mind.

"Thank God, you're awake. We have been awake for about an hour or so and we were worried about you." The woman said kindly.

Natalie looked at the other woman again. She looked familiar. Very familiar but Natalie could not place where she met her before but she just knew she knew the girl.

Natalie opened her mouth to ask who she was, what happened, where was she, and about a million other questions but her words did not come out instead one of the strange phrases pushed its way into her mouth and Natalie uttered the words. She heard the words but was odd; as soon as she said them she forgot them and that phrase in her mind was gone and for just an instant, less than a blink of an eye, Natalie felt a great loss wash over her body as the phrase was gone forever. She felt a warm sensation in her right hand and looked down. She was holding a small ball of fire about the size of a baseball. It was warm but did not burn her skin. It actually tickled.

"Throw it! For fuck's sake throw it!" Screamed a voice that sounded panicked. It was the voice of a man.

As Natalie looked over at the voice the blue haired girl moved and she moved quickly. Natalie never saw anyone react that fast. She half ran and half jumped as graceful as any prima ballerina Natalie had ever seen. The girl with the blue hair fell to the ground and expertly rolled behind a large tree. Natalie then saw the man who screamed at her.

He was of average height and he had a swarthy look about him. Black hair, black goatee, dark skin, a large hooked nose and mean looking black eyes. He too wore a leather tunic, but his was a dark brown and worn. His pants were a lighter tan that seemed to be made of thick silk and they were puffy as was his white shirt. Natalie's first thought was he looked like a pirate. His boots were black and ankle high. He also wore an assortment of weapons. On his belt were a small sword and a knife. Then Natalie noticed his left hand was missing and was replaced with a cruel shaped hook.

"Fuck! Throw the God damn thing before you kill us!" He screamed again.

Natalie looked at the ball of fire and it was starting to grow. It was now the size of a softball. She felt odd. She knew she should throw it but she did not want to. It felt like if she did she was giving up a friend. She shrugged and threw the ball away from her and the man and the girl with blue hair.

Natalie never was good at sports and the very few times in her life she ever threw a ball she threw like a classic, prissy girl. But not this ball of fire. It lifted in the air and shot off. Natalie somehow could feel she could actually control the ball's path with her mind. It confused her and the ball of flame started zig zagging until it found a large wooden ornate chest. The ball hit the chest and exploded. Natalie could feel the heat blast as the chest erupted in thousands of charred and flaming embers.

"You stupid, bitch!" The one handed man screamed at her as he walked over to her. Natalie saw he drew his short sword.

"Nooooo! Nooooo!" Screamed another male voice. This one older sounding. "My book! My spell book!" The other man fell to his knees crying.

Natalie eye's focused on the man walking to her with his sword in his hand. Her mind whirled as the phrases spun around in her head but now she was getting adjusted to them and could read them. She instinctively knew what phrase to utter and once again the words came out of her mouth and were forgotten. A light blue aura surrounded her entire body and vanished just as he man's sword came down aimed at her head but the steel blade never touched her. It came within a couple of inches of her head and there was a dim flash of blue light and the sword bounced back. The man brought his arm up again for another strike and Natalie quickly found the right phrase once again but this one would kill. Just as she was about to speak the words of the spell the blue haired girl grabbed the man's arm and had the dagger from her boot pressed to his throat.

"Drop it, Derrick, or I swear to God I will cut your throat and watch you bleed out."

The man dropped the sword, "But she destroyed the chest. It's gone. All of it...all the good gear is gone."

"It was an accident. She did not know. It took Lou about twenty minutes to sort out the spells in his mind. Now go help him and see if there is anything to salvage."

Natalie looked over at the older man as he was quickly sorting through the burning embers muttering something about a book. Derrick? Lou? Natalie thought, I know those names; they are Christie's game friends. She looked up at the blue haired girl and it suddenly came to her where she had met her before but then she was a he.

"Rain!" She cried out.

Rain smiled and sat down next to Natalie, "Yeah it's me." She put her arm around the other girl.

"What...what the hell is going on? Mass hypnosis? Did Habersham give us some type of hallucinate drugs or what?"

Rain shook her head, "No I think this is no longer a game. We have been awake for over an hour before I got you up, we were so worried. Christie is beside herself and driving everyone crazy so Jason and Michael took her with them to look around."

"What do you mean it's not a game? What's going on? I want to go home." Natalie said in a panicked voice.

"Habersham gave us a letter I will give you to read. The chest you blew up...well...it had stuff in it we needed to get home; along with a lot of gold...I mean a lot...and some very powerful magical armor and weapons and spell scrolls and potions of all sorts. Stuff to help us get home."

Lou was still screaming about his book, "Oh and Lou's spell book. We got some of the stuff out like some of our armor and a few weapons like my boot dagger which is magical but there was still a lot of stuff in there we decided to sort out later no knowing what they did, specially after Michael about took Jason's head off with his magical ax that returns to him when he throws it," Rain giggled, "was kind of funny."

She pulled a back pack from behind Natalie, "Oh we got some of your stuff out also. Your spell book is in there and some mage robes for you...which you should change cause well...umm...you are about half naked. And a dagger that seems to be magical. Oh and some boots. I'll fill you in on more later or Christie will. Man she is going to be so happy you are ok even if you did destroy the majority of the good stuff." Rain frowned, "Including the map home."

"But...but everyone looks so different." Natalie's head was spinning but this time not from her spells.

Rain shrugged, "It seems we took on our game characters' physical appearances as well as their abilities...hence you fireball spell...and some of their personality traits. That was why Derrick tried to kill you. It was not really him...I mean it was but his character's personality is a prick...much more so than his real self, but he is also a cold blooded killer...goes with the rogue territory I guess."

Natalie thought for a moment, "But...don't...aren't you a rogue...you stopped him."

Rain smiled, "Well my game rogue is not as evilly aligned like his is plus she is better than his. She is evil just a little bit and has her moments, but not as bad as Derrick's."

"This is a dream right? I will wake up and be back in my loft handcuffed to my bed. I feel asleep waiting for Christie to come over. It's just a dream." Natalie muttered more to herself than to Rain.

"No, dear, it's not a dream. I am sorry...and handcuffed to your bed?"

Natalie blushed, "Nothing...so...so what do I look like...am...am I ugly?" She asked.

Rain stood up and laughed, "Nineteen charisma, no way you could be ugly. You are actually absolutely beautiful. You really have not changed much physically like some of us. There's a mirror in your back pack."

Natalie managed a weak smile, "I'm still vain even here huh?

Rain just smiled, "Probably but it's more a seer's mirror...for magic and stuff. I need to check on the boys and make sure Derrick calmed down and Lou does not have a stoke over his stupid spell book and see if there is anything left after you little magic trick. I'll make sure they don't look as you change."

"I...I am sorry...I didn't mean to...to destroy the chest."

"I know, dear. Here is the letter." Rain walked away and then looked over her shoulder, "Oh wait to you see the others, especially Christie. You thought you were attracted to her before just wait...hell I am gay but I may even try to get with the drow. And Jason is just...well...he was hot before but now...just wow."

Natalie managed a weak smile and opened her back pack. She pulled out the robe and it was silver and made of a material she had never seen before. It was very soft like the best cotton but also very satin feeling like the finest silk and when she got it spread out it reflected the sunlight and sparkled some. She could feel the magic power of the robe. It was very strong. She found a blue cloak with a hood, some silver boots made of the same material as the robe, a book that was bound in a fine white leather and tingled when she opened it, and the mirror.

The mirror was silver cased and had a small handle. She closed her eyes and held it up to her face and slowly opened her eyes. What reflected back at her was a stranger but also a lot of similarities to her true self. The first thing she noticed was her eyes. Gone were her black iris and now they were a deep rich blue with golden flecks speckled through the iris. Her skin was still the same alabaster complexion but now seemed to have a soft icy blue tint to it. Natalie thought it was very lovely. She looked at her hair which was unbound and a rich black color, similar to her real self's hair but longer and fuller.

Then she noticed her ears. They were larger and the points protruded out past her hair a couple of inches. The points were longer than Rains and she remembered Rain said something about her character being a half elf so that must be why hers are not as defined as Natalie's. Her face was still heart shaped and Natalie could see some of her old self looking back at her but she thought her new elf face was extremely beautiful. She put the mirror back in the back pack and stood up to change. She saw her height was still the same at five three and that Rain had been right, she was half naked.

All she had on was a fine gossamer gown that clung to her body like it was wet. The gown was split on the sides all the way up to her waist. She could see her own breasts as well her pubic area through the gown. She smiled at her breasts. They were larger than her other self's breasts, firm, and her dark nipples were replaced with light pink ones. Her pubic area was covered with fine soft black hairs that formed a perfect triangle and pointed downward.

She stripped off the gown and folded it and put it in the back pack. Natalie picked up the robe and slipped it over her head and tied the fine gold threaded belt around her waist and cinched it tight. Her bust line of the robe but it came up around her neck and the robe seemed to mold to her body and showed all her new curves. She wished she had a bra and panties.

While she was under the tree an acorn fell on her shoulder and she heard a slight ting of metal. She looked up and saw a squirrel looking down at her and she smiled and she could have sworn the small animal smiled back before it scurried away. She picked up the acorn and threw it up and let it fall on her shoulder again and there was the ting once more.

"Cool." She said and picked up the dagger and tapped it on the arm and once again it tinged as if hitting metal. She then put the dagger and its scabbard in her belt and put on her boots. The robe came about three inches above her ankles and the boots up to her knees. As she was putting on the boots she wished she at least had socks so they would not chaff and blister her feet but once on she felt she had no need for socks. The boots seemed like she was barefoot and same as the robe; it was so light that she felt like she was wearing just a thin piece of cloth. She then took out a blue ribbon and tired her hair in a single pony tail down her back and thought she would braid it later. She sat down and read Habersham's letter.

"My dear friends, I assume now you know you are not at Mercer and in room 122 anymore. Let me explain if I may.

"You are in the world of Faerun. Yes it is real very real. Every campaign you have played in this world is based on real locations and cities. I based our D&D game setting in this world of men, elves, dwarfs, magic and so much more. Ever since I was a young boy I could see this world in my head. At first I thought I had a vivid imagination but then as I got older I realized this world was real and I had power to see it but even more I knew if I was in this world I would have power beyond anyone who lived there. When I was twelve I discovered the portal to this world.

"I knew the portal could work both ways but where was it on our world I had no idea. So I started searching but no success. Then at age fifteen I discovered I could send objects to the world. I sent inanimate objects into the world with great success but when I tired live beings such as cats and dogs I failed terribly. They would die upon arrive in most horrible ways. But I was determined not to give up. The several years ago I discovered the portal in Faerun came out in Macon, Georgia. More specifically at the Ocmulgee National Monuments. Why there? I asked myself the same question over and over.

The monuments had been a large settlement and trading hub for the Native American's for thousands of years, the largest on the east coast. In Faerun there had been a powerful wizard who felt it was his duty to guard the portal and to guard it he summoned a protector on his side and then stepped though to do the same in our world but when he came to our world he found a world without magic and his own magic did not work and also found out he could not get back to his own world due to the protector he summoned prevented the portal to be used from the other side.

When he came to our world there was a small settlement of Native Americans already living there and with his knowledge and skills in healing they thought him a man of medicine and power and soon he became their chief. He still felt he had to protect the portal even then so he turned the local village into a mighty gathering and trading settlement and tribes from hundreds of miles came there to trade and meet and live. Whether he finally died of old age, maybe some disease he had no immunity to, or whether he just left to explore more of our world I do not know; but after a while all knowledge of his existence seemed to just vanish.

"I still struggled with how to send living beings through the portal and knew I could not send myself for some reason. I took a job as a professor at Mercer and waited and experimented then I met Natalie. She was the key. Somehow I knew it.

"When she too my class I questioned her about her family and her ancestors and through my research and DNA (yes I took strands of her hair the day we talked after class) I discovered she was descended from druidic people in Scotland. I don't know why she was important but I knew she was! That is why I kept asking Christie to get her to join the gaming group and when she did I knew I could send you through.

"I wish I could have sent you closer to the portal but sadly I could not. In our world the magic I used is a very fickle and random thing and I could only send you to the hill above the city of Lund. I have provided you with many magical items that will make defeating the portal protector very easy along with many potions and magic scrolls and weapons and armor enchanted with incredible spells. There is enough gold in the large chest to buy a kingdom.

"I ask that you return home and come to me and then once the protector is defeated I can come to that world and bring you with me if you desire. I will make you kings and queens and I will be a god. If you desire to stay in our world (which I would not understand why you would) I have millions of dollars and will make you very wealthy.

"Good luck my young friends and I await your return. Do not worry about being missed by family and friends as time works differently in Faerun. A year there is only a day or so here.

Professor Altos Habersham.

Natalie folded the letter and put it in her back pack and she looked around and then suddenly it hit her. This was not a dream. Everything was too real. Natalie sank back the ground and started crying with her head in her hands. She just wanted to go home. If Christie had not talked...not blackmailed her into going to play that stupid game she would be home! She would be at her loft reading a book, doing homework, watching television, or something but she would be home! Its Christie's fault! Natalie cried a long while blaming her girlfriend for everything.

She felt Rain sit back down next to her and she reached out and threw herself in the girl's arms and started crying harder.

"I...I...I want to go home." Natalie sobbed out.

"Shhh...it's ok, Natalie, we will get home. I promise we will get you home."

"Natalie!" A strong husky but very feminine voice cried out and Natalie looked around and saw two figures walking up the hill and a third running toward her.

The figure running to her was obviously a female; very obvious. Her skin was black obsidian in color with a slight bluish tint. Her hair was silvery white and she wore it in a high pony tail. The tail part of her hair stuck way up and was held in place by a gold tube studded with gems. The front of her hair she did not pull back and flowed to the right side of her face and as with Natalie her ears were pointed and longer than Rain's. She was about five six and her body was trim, voluptuous, toned, and athletic all at the same time and as she ran to Natalie her body moved seductively and sensually. Her body looked as if it was made for seduction, to entice, and for sex.