Prologue: From Past to Present
Hello, my name… well, that’s not important. Alright, so it might be seeing as I’m kind of the protagonist of this whole story, but really… okay, alright, whatever. My name is Tyler, and my life is absolutely… normal. I’m a college graduate, gamer, and avid outdoors man. What? You think I can be both a gamer and an outdoors man? Son, I am disappoint. I was a boy scout as a kid… for about two weeks, but still. What can I say, I hated knots, and that was all they did during the second week. I learned how to make a tourniquet, I figured out what poison ivy was, ouch, and I know the proper technique for punching a counselor… that last part was more of a self indulgence when I couldn’t show him the historical method of taking out a Gordian knot. But that stuff isn’t important, the thing I need to say is… blah, let me start over.
Hello, my name is Tyler. I am… no, was, completely ordinary, completely plain, I was the stereotype of a guy just coasting through life. I worked odd jobs that gave very little, lived in a family that cared very little, and lead a life that made little progress, but one day that changed… which as interesting as it might sound to some, is the sum total of cliché openings. For crying out loud, it is the textbook definition of the hero’s journey. I mean, I took one semester of writing and I know the hero’s journey, or circle, depends who you ask. It starts with normal Joe living life, a call to action, a refusal of the power, meeting with a mentor, crossing the threshold, blah blah blah blah blah, you get it, or you could be such a millennial and just look it up. Yeah that’s right, I see you typing there George, stop using Bing, it’s bad for you. Either way, back to my hero’s journey, and let me tell you, if this isn’t a textbook beginning to a story of this persuasion, I don’t know what is. Also… you know what, enough tangents, back to the story.
I need you to understand what caused me to reach this point in my life… another cliché, blast; I am bad at this ‘originality’ thing. My story begins as many of this genre, with me attending a con… shoot, there’s just no escaping it is there? Look, stick around; I swear that it’ll get interesting… eventually. Now, FINALLY we get to what you came here for. This is the story of how a guy from Pennsylvania became a bit more than some guy. This is how all that I accomplished, no matter how small it seems, began.
I grabbed my bag from the couch, slinging it over my shoulder. I double checked everything, making sure I hadn’t forgotten something in my rush. I turned back to the door, picking up my ball cap from the peg on the wall, setting it on my head as I chuckled into the phone.
“Sean, look, you need to actually make up your mind once in a while, and stick with what you choose. Sure, I’m glad you can take me and that you can come, but informing me that you are changing plans at the same time you pull up to my building isn’t exactly good planning.” I said as I opened the door of my apartment. I shut the door, locked it and carried on down the hall. “Someday you may just find that you don’t have time to breath, and then where will you be?”
“Wisconsin.” Sean, my cousin, replied dryly. “Just get down here quick before I decide I want to go alone.” He finished before hanging up on me. I shook my head with a smile as I stuffed the phone in my pocket, jogging down the stairs. I made it to the ground floor eventually, swinging by the front desk to hand in the spare key and my notice to the cleaning service. Three days at the convention, and the last thing I wanted to do when I got back was clean the place up in case company decided to show up without calling first, which basically means every time it shows up.
I dashed out the front entrance, adjusting my backpack as I did. I quickly found my cousin in his old, green Mitsubishi Mirage, sitting on the other side of the street. I made my way over, whistling all the while. I knocked on the trunk of his car, and smiled as it popped up, letting me throw it open and toss my bag in. I slammed the hatch closed and walked up to the passenger side door and made my grand entrance, the usual odor of my cousin’s ride hitting me as hard as ever.
“I hope you brought everything you needed for our three day jaunt, because I didn’t pack for two.” I commented as I buckled in, looking back at the rather vacant back seat, which only had a small black bag the size of a laptop on it.
“I got money, I reserved a room, and I got my laptop along with all my games, not to mention my costume, so yeah, I’m set to go.” Sean replied, shifting the car loudly into reverse and began to pull out of his parking space, turning all the way around in his seat instead of using his mirrors.
“What, no trail-mix?” I joked. Sean looked over at me before opening the glove compartment in front of me, revealing two large boxes of trail-mix and one of granola bars.
“Also there’s a six pack of Root Beer and another of Mountain Dew in the back behind your seat.” Sean stated without flinching. I slowly closed the glove box, looking away from my cousin as he shifted into drive and pulled out of the parking lot.
“Right then, a weekend with the over prepared cousin, sounds good.” I muttered as Sean drove through the various streets towards the interstate.
The drive seemed to pass by quickly, two hours on the road not being too much of an oddity for a guy who went to college out of his home state. The convention center, as usual, was full to over flowing. People all around us in their costumes of some of the more popular character from media, including, but not limited to, Punished Snake, The Flash, a short skeleton in a blue jacket with another taller skeleton in a splendid red cape, The Lone Survivor in his Vault 111 jumpsuit, and Laura Croft, though I also did notice a distinct presence of people in power armor, whether it be Brotherhood of Steel or Outcasts, or that one guy in hot pink power armor… I don’t know. Sean was among the people wearing a costume based on an older game, namely Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood Ezio, or at least that is what he told me, and seeing as I never played the games myself I had to take his word for it. What? I have different taste in gaming, plus one of my siblings told me that the controls were far too finicky and unresponsive, I feel justified in my decision.
Conventions are supposed to be large social gatherings, where people of different tastes within a larger subculture come together to share what they love, or to experience what others love… or make fun of everyone else. The reason of community and sharing of common ground is why there are events, including panels of actors, art directors, and famous people within the fandom itself. So why is it that when Sean and I first came to the convention, the first thing we looked for when we got our maps and were clear to meander through the various halls was the vendor hall? Honestly, it was because we both had cash to throw away. At that very moment I can recall seeing four different events that had started and three others scheduled to start within ten minutes, and yet we went to the place that would be there all through the event. How life could’ve been different if I had just convinced Sean to go and see a showing of a clip from a new movie, or a panel discussing the intricate detail work that goes into making anime, or ANYTHING besides going to the vendor hall, but, hindsight is twenty/twenty, and I wanted swag.
We walked around for a while, getting some stuff here and there, like a few pieces of art, a plush doll, a custom t-shirt, normal stuff… okay, seeing as it was my first con, I can only guess it was the normal stuff to buy, cut me some slack if you disagree with my definition of ‘normal’. Eventually we stopped at a table that had more varied franchises represented in its selection than there are planetoids in our solar system… I forget how many that means, but let’s just say that if I asked, they’d probably have merchandise from something so obscure as… well, just think of the most obscure show or whatever you can, and then make it twice as obscure; you get the idea.
As I scanned through the different trinkets and assorted items, something caught my eye. It was what looked like a very nice necklace whose pendant piece was the dragonborn’s emblem. It looked to either be made of polished steel or silver, either way, it was nice looking.
“Hey, how much do you want for the Skyrim necklace?” I asked the lady behind the table, or at least I guessed it was a lady since the person was looking at a magazine that only let me see the top of their head and fingers, and judging by how slender the fingers were, and how well kept the long hair was, well, you get the idea.
“Ten bucks.” She said offhandedly. I fished out my wallet and laid down the cash and took my prize. “Have a nice day, and good luck to you.” I raised an eyebrow at her before moving on, the last comment seemingly out of place, but maybe it was just a reference I didn’t get, there were a lot of those. I walked through various other isles of merchandise, but always my eyes strayed back to the table where I got the pendant. I watched as Sean, who had stayed behind a few moments longer, picked up a very nice looking crossbow. As my cousin moved on, I noticed the lady, and now I knew for sure since she lowered her magazine, take out her phone, quickly calling someone as she kept an eye on Sean, not even noticing me. I shrugged it off and moved on, only to have the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I stopped at a table, I think it had Attack on Titan stuff, and looked to my left as nonchalantly as possible. There was a horde of people in that direction, but the guy in a black robe kind of stuck out. I looked over the table quickly and shook my head, moving on, hoping the guy behind the counter didn’t mind window shoppers, even if he didn’t have windows.
I moved out of the vendor hall, making my way to the main hall, hoping to meet up with Sean again, when suddenly I was pushed around a corner by an unseen entity. When I stopped against a wall, I looked, and behold, my cousin looking a tad bit worried held me there as he looked around the corner.
“Sean, what are you doing?” I asked, only to be shushed. I raised an eyebrow at him, we were at a convention, no one, and I mean NO ONE, could hope to hear us, the hall was so… wait, why did it become so quiet? Looking around, I still saw people moving and talking, or at least it looked like they were talking since their mouths were moving, but no sound was coming out.
“There’s a guy in a black robe who has been following us, and not just because we are going the same direction. I took the longest, stupidest route, and he stayed behind me the entire time, not even stopping to look at the merchandise.” Sean told me.
“So why not contact convention security, they’d take care of it, right?” I offered. Sean shook his head.
“Tell me, where is the nearest security officer? If you can find one, I’d be extremely surprised.” Sean challenged, and to my surprise, he was very much right, there were no security personnel around anywhere, just convention goers. “We should get out of here.” I nodded in agreement. We both moved out towards the entrance, but as we did, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as the black robed person came out of the vendor hall, slowly making his way right to us. Sean and I increased our walking speed, quickly moving out the front doors as a sense of dread became stronger and stronger.
We entered the street, intent on getting to the parking garage across to retrieve my cousin’s car, when suddenly I heard other sounds again as a blaring horn and the sounds of skidding tires reached my ears. Whipping my head around I watched in what seemed slow-motion as a minivan came ever closer. The vehicle slammed right into me, sending me up the windshield and over the luggage rack, a small mercy in comparison to being fed under the wheels. The pavement felt cold and hard, not to mention wet. I rolled onto my back as the black figure reached me, his shadow falling across me. I looked to the side and saw Sean, in much the same condition, though his legs seemed to be much worse for wear. I tried to move towards him, but as I did the blackness closed in, my vision fading along with the rest of my being.
I slowly opened my eyes, groaning as I did, only to find myself in complete darkness. Was I dead? That would stink. Looking around at the nothing around me, I got the impression it wasn’t exactly nothing, and yet, it was also not exactly anything… either that is really profound or makes zero sense, probably both.
“You aren’t dead,” A voice echoed out of the darkness, “At least not yet.” Suddenly, a being came into view, the same person in a black robe that had been following Sean and me from the vendor hall.
“Where am I, and who are you?” I asked, continuing to look around at my surrounding, hoping to find something of use.
“I am called Horus. You and your cousin recently were in quite the catastrophic incident.” He explained. “I had been observing you among others, when you decided to do some rather irrational things, which ended in you being run over.” Horus finished.
“I wouldn’t call try to avoid mysterious figure that seems fixated on you as irrational, it seems pretty rational of an action to take in my eyes.” I shot back.
“Be that as it may, you are currently not in any condition to return at the moment.” Horus stated, fishing out a bag of some sort from his cloak, from which he too something out, which was tossed into the abyss of his hood. “Tat wittle incuwsion you had wif du,” He made and exaggerated swallowing noise which was quickly followed by smacking lips, “With the car has left your true body in a state of… well, less than optimal conditions. You are on your way to the hospital along with Sean in critical condition. I’m currently keeping your minds in a state of calm so that you don’t wake up and your bodies go into a state of shock and die before doctor can patch you up and you can recover.”
“You know, I dropped out of any semblance of med school before much of anything stuck, but even I can see that that doesn’t make near any sense.” I shot back, only to have something smack lightly into my face. Looking at the offending object, I found a piece of butterscotch candy.
“Shush your face. I am more than able to just end you, but out of my good graces, I am not going to let you die easily. If it makes you feel better, just say that I’m forcing you to stay in a coma until your body gets its act back together.” Horus shot back. Alright, with my one semester of med school, that did make a bit more sense. Medical induced comas were almost common practice with high risk patients, though I changed majors before we ever sunk our teeth into the subject.
“So what, do I just float around here and eat butterscotch for a few months?” I asked, genuinely curious as to where this situation was leading. Horus chuckled under his hood.
“As hilarious as that might sound, not to mention how entertaining that could shape up to be, I’m inclined to send both you and your cousin to another world for a while.” Horus explained as he conjured the image of a world from nowhere. “You see, the ‘person out of world’ thing is kind of popular right now, anyone who’s anyone in the great expanse of the multiverse is doing it, and plus, as an added bonus for me, I get the moral high ground while doing it, unlike the majority of those who do it.”
“And do I get any say in the matter? Plus, how do I know any of this is real?” I asked, not really liking where this had gone.
“Well, you could stay with me and eat butterscotch for a few months, that’s always an option, though I’m going to venture a guess that it isn’t one you particularly want to consider. As for this being real… look, how do you tell the difference between being awake and asleep, and how can you be one hundred percent sure if you got it right? When you are sleeping, you can't tell so unless special circumstances allow it, and many times you have a hard time believing what you live through on a daily basis is actually true life.” Horus countered. “Now if we are done with existentialism, I’d like to get this ride rolling. I still got your cousin to talk to, not to mention there are other things that I’d like to do today besides just being a Good Samaritan. Now shoo!” At that, I was spun around violently, in a motion that reminded me of those scenes in space movies when their thrusters malfunction. This spinning motion continued until I saw a woman that reminded me of the dead lady from the first Elder Scrolls game, at which point all momentum seemed to stop as I faced her.
“Who are you?” I asked stupidly.
“My name is Ria Silmane, you and the other are being taken to the land of Equestria by order of Horus. I am the spirit inside of the pendant that you now wear.” I looked down, and sure enough, the pendant that I bought before was still around my neck. “Should at any time you need help, I will be there to provide support, though I am confined to simply imparting knowledge since my physical form has been destroyed. We shall see each other soon, now go.” She said, before bursting into a shower of light, blinding me for a few seconds.
When I opened my eyes, a light flashed in front of me again, and a text prompt showed up. 'Select Race' it read. So either I was going to be given the option of being a black man or... then the rest of the menu popped up, revealing a guy just standing there with a side bar that contained all the options. Imperial, Nord, Khajiit, Argonian, Redguard... so basically I was in the start menu for an Elder Scroll game. I quickly picked my favorite, Nord, and the guy became a fair skinned, light haired mass of muscle. The next prompt appeared, 'Choose Appearance'. It just stared at all the sliders, cocking an eyebrow at it all.
"How about what I look like right now?" I thought out loud, about to reach for the sliders so that I could make my adjustments when the characters appearance changed to mine with another text prompt asking me to confirm if I was done or not. I looked over it, the shorter, light brown hair, decent muscle mass, and green eyes, yeah, that was me in almost exact detail. I gave a nod and then moved to press the yes button on the prompt only to find it had changed to asking me what my name was. Well someone got an update to the character creation menu. I thought back to my Skyrim days and finally settled on the name I had used then.
"Soran, S-o-r-a-n." I replied, spelling out the word. Back when I had played it I had looked up a wiki to list all the official names and naming orders of each race, and then chose the one that sounded the coolest, which also happened to sound like a pony's name. The text box filled out and asked me for confirmation. I again nodded, and the prompt closed before the picture zoomed out, showing my character in all his me-ishness, with each of the details about him with another box asking me if I was satisfied with what I had made. I looked over it all and sighed, giving a shrug before I finally nodded. The menu closed, leaving me with my darkness until I finally felt something against my back, and then realized I was lying down.
