Forgotten Realms

by Cassidy Raine Wolters

  Plants, too, were altered. Some had become sentient, others carnivorous. Man-eating orchids became the dominant life form in the Far East while the forests of Europe were soon populated with trees that bled.

  But none of that mattered to Braaxikudlu. The beast's only concern was her growing hunger. The radical energies of the nuclear conflict triggered the Great White Worm’s asexual reproductive cycle, and soon she would bear a brood of thousands of her likenesses.

  She couldn't leave this plane of existence. If she tried to enter the vortex her unborn children would suffer. That simply wasn't an option. Nothing must interfere with the growth of her litter during this crucial stage of development.

  It would be different if she weren't carrying a litter in her womb. Decades ago, she and her amphibious attendants first crossed the temporal anomaly and entered this realm. It was a coincidence they first appeared on All Hallows Eve, but the vagabonds who lived in the subway tunnels attached great significance to that date.

  They watched in awe as Braaxikudlu's servants built a city for their queen. The structures were oddly-shaped and governed by a curious geometry that made them anxious and squeamish, but in time they began to worship the Great White Worm.

  As the years passed, Braaxikudlu's peculiar attendants began to die off. Because of their dwindling numbers they were forced to interbreed with the humans. While most of the offspring were stillborn, some managed to survive. The vast majority of those were sterile, but eventually a special class of workers of a horrific and abhorrent nature was created.

  During the world war of the previous century, trains had carried thousands of people to extermination camps, and now history was repeating itself as subway cars delivered human cattle to the Great White Worm to try and sate her gnawing hunger.

  A little boy was found wandering the ruined streets of the once-mighty metropolis above the subway system. It would have been easy to kill him and carry his body to Braaxikudlu, but the Great White Worm preferred live flesh, so the boy was herded aboard a train packed with hundreds of other victims.

  The subway car slowed to a stop when it reached its final destination. In days past, Braaxikudlu would have heard the noise and slithered out to devour her meal. But only her children would know the pleasures of soft flesh and warm blood for she had died in the throes of childbirth during the wee hours of the night amidst sights and sounds that are best forgotten.

  The Great White Worm's spawn had feasted on her entrails, but little was left of her rotting carcass so her amphibious attendants ushered them to the waiting train where they could continue to feed.

  Most of the victims were too scared to do anything other than scream in terror as their bodies were covered in a gelatinous substance secreted by the young worms. The mucous began the digestive process by making the nourishing proteins easier to break down.

  A few people did manage to break the spell of fear and flee from the train, including the small boy. While the others were quickly rounded up he managed to disappear into the tunnels. He passed the putrid remains of the dead leviathan and continued into the darkness beyond.

  He saw the village with its alien architecture and its population of crossbred workers. They paid him little heed as he continued forward, drawn by an iridescent light in the distance.

  An eerie sound began to echo through the tunnel. A vortex opened and the boy had to shield his eyes from the pulsating kaleidoscope of colors that issued forth from the gateway. He witnessed many inexplicable things through the portal, though it was hard to see them clearly because the material of that other dimension was made of bizarre fractals and the images were heavily pixilated.

  A great and terrible being emerged, having traversed a one-sided bridge that stretched across the infinte universe. He placed a great horn to his lips and sounded the magnificent instrument.

  The fusion of things, both cosmic and dreadful, plunged the boy into madness. He'd survived a catastrophic nuclear war. He'd survived the gruesome and repugnant aftermath. This, however, he could not bear. Unable to take another second he tore his eyes out.

  But he could still hear strange, slithering sounds as the children of Braaxikudlu, called by the horn, came like pets returning to their master.

  The End

  15 - The Toy Phone

  "Look at our little Suzie jabbering away on her new toy phone," her mother said.

  "Well, our five-year-old chatterbox better not be talking to any boys," her father replied.

  "Don't worry. When Gram bought it she said it was a magic phone for just the two of them to talk to each other," her mother said.

  "Good."

  "But you know, honey, the day will come when our little girl will start talking to boys on the phone—"

  "I don't want to hear about it," her father said as he headed off to grab a beer and watch the ballgame.

  Her mother stayed and watched from across the playroom as her little girl continued with her pretend conversation.

  "Thank you so much for getting me this phone, Gram. Now we can talk anytime we want! I'm excited to start kindergarten next week, but I'm a little scared, too. Guess what? I drew some new pictures for your refrigerator. There's a zebra, a kangaroo, and a ..."

  *****

  Suzie got off the bus and sprinted to her house. As she opened the front door, her Scottish terrier, Wally, barked and growled playfully until the little girl kneeled down and petted him. "Wait 'til Mommy sees my first report card. Straight A's!" she said as she set her Disney Princess backpack on the floor. "Come on, boy. Let's go to the playroom." The little dog wagged his tail and trailed along behind her as she headed down the hallway and up the stairs.

  About an hour later, her mother appeared in the doorway. "Suzie, dear, I'm afraid I have some bad news," she said, her voice heavy with emotion.

  "Mommy, have you been crying?" the little girl asked as her mother walked across the room and picked her up.

  "Yes, sweetie."

  "Why?"

  "Gram passed away," she said quietly.

  "I know," the little girl said.

  "You know already?"

  "Yes. She called me on our toy phone."

  "Oh, really?" her mother said with a chuckle. "And what did Gram tell you?"

  "She said not to be sad. That it was her time."

  "That's right, Suzie. She lived a long and happy life. Did she say anything else?" her mother asked, going along with the charade.

  "That I'll see her again, real soon, but until then I should take care of you," the little girl said as she wrapped her arms around her mother and gave her a big hug.

  *****

  "Don't you think it's a little odd that Suzie still pretends to talk to her grandmother on that toy phone?" her father asked. "The funeral was over a month ago."

  "Little kids are different than grown-ups, dear," her mother answered as she set the table for dinner. "To Suzie, it might only seem like a couple of days. Will you go tell her it's time to eat? She's in the playroom."

  "Sure thing," he responded. He strolled down the hall to the bottom of the stairs. "Suzie? Sweetie, it's time for dinner," he called. When he didn't get a response, he bounded up the steps to the doorway of the playroom where his daughter was talking on her toy phone.

  "Suzie," he said. "Wash your hands and come downstairs to the table. It's time to eat."

  "In a minute," she responded. "I'm talking to Gram."

  He walked across the room and gently took the phone from his daughter. "Now," he said in a firm voice.

  "Okay," she said.

  "Wash your hands really good," he called to her as she left the room.

  "I will," she replied.

  He looked at the toy phone for a moment and slowly put the receiver to his ear. He thought he heard breathing, but decided it was just his imagination.

  *****

  "I'm walking you to the bus stop today," Suzie's father said. "Your mother had to go to work early to get ready for a big presentation."

/>   "Wally, I'll see you when I get home from school," Suzie said as she petted her Scottish terrier and he responded by licking her hand.

  "Come on, sweetheart. We're gonna be late," her father said as he held the front door open.

  The dog barked as the door closed.

  "Why are you wearing a fancy dress to school today," her father asked as he took her hand. "Do you have a party?"

  "No."

  "Don't tell me you're trying to impress some boy," he said.

  "Dad! No!"

  "Why then?"

  "It was Gram's favorite and she wanted me to wear it today," the little girl said.

  "She did?"

  "Yep," she said, swinging her dad's hand back and forth as they walked. "She told me on the phone last night."

  Her father wasn't sure what to say, so they walked along in silence for a while.

  "Here we are," he said as they joined some other children and their parents on the corner. The school bus appeared at the end of the street and arrived moments later.

  "Bye, sweetheart," her father said as he kneeled down and gave her a hug.

  "Bye, Daddy," she said. She kissed him on the cheek before she bounded up the steps and found a seat. She waved goodbye out the window as the driver closed the door, shifted the bus into gear, and headed down the street.

  Two of the mothers stayed at the bus stop to talk.

  "Reports cards come out again this week. My little Jimmy will probably get straight A's again."

  "So will my Tess. How about your little girl?"

  "Suzie? Oh, her grades have been good."

  "Does she like school?"

  "She loves it."

  "I heard her grandmother passed away a few months ago. Is she doing okay?"

  "Suzie's taken it well. She still pretends to talk to her Gram on a little toy phone she has in the playroom. In fact—"

  He was interrupted by a loud crash a few blocks away.

  "And we end today's broadcast on a sad note. An elementary school bus was involved in an accident this morning. Most of the passengers only suffered minor injuries, but one little girl was killed..."

  The End

  16 - Friends Like That

  Where: The outskirts of Washington, D.C.

  When: The year 2063

  Hunter Frye was a typical 10-year-old boy. He liked video games, idolized his father, and despised his little sister, Iris.

  His father, a colonel in the army, came from a military family with a tradition of service that stretched all the way back to the Civil War when a Lieutenant Frye serving under General Robert E. Lee was shot three times at Gettysburg but still managed to survive.

  Hunter's father was a soldier through and through, tough as nails, with a face that looked like it'd been chiseled from a block of granite. But even he was showing signs of fatigue lately, a fact that was easily understood when you considered the ungodly amount of time he'd been spending on a top-secret project that went by the code name Blackpool.

  Colonel Frye was so well-respected in military circles that when he asked for permission to work from home a couple of days per week the request

  was immediately granted.

  The army installed special machinery in the Colonel's study so he could continue to work on Project Blackpool. Hunter was home the day the equipment arrived. The door wasn't completely closed and he caught a glimpse of engineers hooking up various electronic devices, including what looked like a massive TV screen.

  When his father caught him peeking through the open door, he pulled him aside. "Hunter, you stay out of my study at all times, you hear me?"

  "Yes, sir," the boy replied. Hunter was eager to please, especially when it came to his father.

  A few weeks later, Hunter saw his father in the study playing what looked like a video game. As he was watching the screen got fuzzy and he heard his father complain about the satellite link.

  The following weekend Colonel Frye was out of town. Hunter's mother gave him permission to have a friend sleep over. He asked Kenny Jackson, the coolest kid at school, and was thrilled when the boy agreed.

  They ordered a pizza and spent the night playing video games and talking about sports. Hunter's little sister, Iris, was especially annoying. At first, she kept trying to flirt with Kenny, but when he made fun of her mouth full of braces she decided to up the ante and pulled the plug on their video game.

  Hunter, who wanted desperately to impress his friend Kenny, was so embarrassed by her behavior that he called her all sorts of mean names and said she was ditzy and immature, two words that always drove her to tears.

  And that's exactly what happened.

  As she stormed from the room, her leg got tangled in the cords for the video game and the console got broken.

  Their mother arrived to sort out the bedlam that followed. Iris was sent to bed immediately while the boys were given one more hour until lights out.

  When they were alone again Kenny, said that he wasn't having any fun, a comment that made Hunter's heart sink. He was so desperate to please his friend that he was willing to do anything, even risk his father's displeasure.

  "Do you want to play a video game?" he asked.

  "We can't!" Kenny insisted. "Your sister broke it!"

  "Oh, I don't mean that video game."

  "You have another one?" Kenny asked.

  "Sure. In the study," Hunter said. He hesitated for a moment but realized he was past the point of no return. "You’ll completely flip out when you see the massive screen."

  "Well, what are we waiting for?" his friend asked impatiently.

  The door to the study creaked on its hinges as Hunter pushed it open. When he flicked on the lights, his friend let out a soft whistle as he examined the stunning array of futuristic equipment.

  "I… ahhh… never really played this game before," Hunter reluctantly admitted.

  "Don't worry. We'll figure it out," Kenny assured him.

  It took some trial and error but the two boys eventually tuned in a picture on the screen.

  "So what are we supposed to do? Kill the aliens?" Kenny asked as he motioned to the strange creatures they saw. They were entirely green with thin bodies and full heads of hair.

  "I guess so," Hunter replied. "They kinda look like asparagus."

  "I don't like asparagus," Kenny said as he pushed random buttons on his controller until a laser blast set a dozen of the aliens on fire.

  "Cool!" Hunter said and he tried combinations on his controller until a bomb dropped from the sky and completely wiped out one of the oddly-shaped buildings that appeared on the screen.

  The boys ignored their curfew and spent the next several hours figuring out a myriad of attacks running the gamut from simple hand-to-hand combat all the way to awe-inspiring space cannons. They didn't stop playing until they'd destroyed every single alien and reduced all the buildings to rubble.

  They finally crawled into their sleeping bags, completely exhausted.

  "Coolest game ever," Kenny whispered.

  Hunter didn't say anything. He just smiled.

  Soon the boys were fast asleep.

  *****

  "Wake up!" Colonel Fry demanded as he grabbed his son's shoulders and shook them until Hunter opened his eyes.

  "What is it, Dad?" Hunter asked, unable to keep the fear out of his voice. His father looked angry. Really angry.

  Hunter had only ever seen him like this once before, two summers ago when his father found out a salesperson had been peeping on Iris when she was trying on clothes in the changing room. His father hit the man repeatedly until the police finally showed up. By that time, there was so much blood that it was everywhere.

  "Hunter! What did you do? I told you to never go in my study."

  "We were just playing a video game," Kenny said through a yawn.

  "No! It wasn't a game! That was a real world. Those were living souls and you killed them all!"

  Hunter began to sob. "But Dad, we were just playing. We didn
't mean to hurt anybody. Honest."

  "The Ulonwin were an ancient race, long-time allies of the Earth. Their planet is in a strategically important sector of space, a buffer against our enemies that want to destroy the Coalition of Solar Systems. The Ulonwin feared an attack so we set up Project Blackpool to protect them."

  Kenny was crying now, too. "But it was all make-believe. You know, fake weapons. Like the toy gun I had as part of my Halloween costume last year."

  "No, they were real," Colonel Frye explained. "Drones operated remotely from various terminals here on the Earth."

  "No, it can't be true," Hunter insisted. "We were just pretending."

  His father sadly shook his head, but Hunter continued to repeat the words like a mantra that would someone protect him from the awful truth.

  "It was just pretend. It was just pretend. It was just pretend…"

  The End

  17 - Lost & Found

  Part 1 - Once More Unto the Breach

  Watkins Glen, New York

  1990

  Inspector Marcellus Rooney was three weeks into his mandatory retirement when he received a letter from his nephew, Kurt, a police officer in Tyrone, New York. Kurt wanted to know if he was interested in a cold case.

  He was going to politely decline until he saw a name that made him do an about-face. Elsie Bartlett. The story had been all over the news last year. A nine-year-old went missing. A cute girl with blonde hair and blue eyes like a porcelain doll. The Bartletts were a powerful family in Watkins Glen, not far from Tyrone, and they used their influence to whip up a storm of media coverage. Doug Bartlett and his wife Adele were on the news day after day begging for information that would lead to their daughter's safe return.

  Unfortunately, the girl was never found but a mountain of circumstantial evidence led to the arrest of Adele's old college flame, a man by the name of Jameson Lucroy. He was sentenced for kidnapping and sent to prison for five years.