The Story:

As told by Josh Gitlin

My Name is Josh. I am your average seventeen year old American kid. Sort of. I do have a "dark side"... But that is another story for another time.

I live in the small rural town of Wayland, Massachusetts. It was a slow January Saturday. Well, it started off slow. My brother Mike, who is eleven, was having "a few" friends over. I did not intend for this to be a quiet night.

Actually, Mike and his friends could be fun. Mike was a big fan of role-playing games, based on Dungeons and Dragons. I love to create my own worlds. Imagine, having a world all your own...

Well, this time the players were Adam, Pete and Nick. Adam is probably Mike's best friend, I guess. I'd have to ask him. He is a relatively small but bright kid. He had an interesting role in this game.

Pete is an older kid, by two years. He enjoys Dungeons and Dragons immensely, although he is probably the least smart of all Mike's friends. He is also not very serious when he plays. Playing D&D with Pete can get boring, fast...

Nick is another story. He had never heard of D&D before now... Playing with him was quite interesting... But, again, we will not go there.

It was later that night that things got really interesting. I am still not really sure what happened...

I entered Mike's room, to ask if he had a disk of mine. Well, I was not warmly received. Nick jumped on me and clung to my neck, trying to pull me down. However his 75 pounds were no match for my 200. I fled the room, dragging Nick by his foot. Silly Kids... I thought. Adam and Pete chased me as I left.

I ran into the kitchen. All of a sudden, I froze. It was hard to explain, but suddenly I felt very, very cold. A shiver ran down my back. I turned, so very slowly, to look behind me. Adam and Pete were frozen in mid-stride. Woah... I thought.

It was then that I heard the voice. Josh..... Josh..... Tumaz is waiting.... A world of true possibility.... And I choose YOU to rule.... Come to me!

All of a sudden, everything returned to normal. Adam and Pete rushed into the kitchen, apparently not knowing anything about the prior event. We all stood there in the kitchen, looking out the back door.

Too weird! I know it will sound insane, but the ground was glowing blue. Yeah, you probably think I was on something pretty heavy, but I swear! I walked outside with Pete, Adam, Nick and Mike.

It was really freaky. The entire backyard was cloaked in the veil of night. Everything was black, except for the pulsating blue light which was coming from the ground. I swear this is true. I was getting really freaked.

Then the voice returned. "Welcome, fools!" It bellowed, causing me to shiver. Nick inched closer to me. I knew that I could not get scared now. These boys depended on me to be strong. I picked up a large branch from the ground. Stupid to think it would do me any good, but I feel more powerful with a good hard sword-like object in my grasp.

"Who in Hell are you?" I screamed. "What is going on?"

"You are foolish to insult me," The voice taunted.

Do it, Josh! Kill him! A voice whispered in my head.

Drawing my "sword" above my head, I screamed and rushed into the darkness. I remember nothing more.

When I awoke, I was alone, standing in a strange plaza. It was night, and there were people all around me, in a circle. I was alone. Alone. Where was I? Where was Mike, Adam, Nick and Pete??? This was not good...