Hello, my name is… well I am not at all sure what to call myself today.
Perhaps I should give myself a new name? I am in a totally new and wondrous land after all and I should have a name that matches this place.
Let’s see… how about … Cassandra? Yes!!! That is THE name!
Now that I have a name I can continue…
Hello my name is Cassandra. (I just love the sound of that.) I was born 18 years ago in a land called America. In a town called San Diego. I was just your typical teenager. Hated school. Loved boys. Went to the mall whenever possible and played this computer game called Diablo. I had been playing that game for about six months and I loved it. There was so much depth to this game. Each time you played it there was always something new to see and find. You see, this game was all about finding different and more powerful swords, armor, rings, and such and using those items to go through 16 dungeon levels and kill the demon Diablo at the end. And boy was I ever hooked on this game. I could sit and play this game for hours. And when I was not playing it, I thought about playing it. Planning what I wanted to find next, getting together with my friends that I had met in the game and just wanting to immerse myself in this fictional and fantastic land full of demons, zombies, walking skeletons and a town called Tristram…
This morning, after having breakfast with my mom and dad, I had headed off to school never dreaming that my whole world would be changed. I could not wait for school to end. I wanted to hurry over to The Place of Myth &Magic on my way home from school. M&M was a place that had all the latest computer games, fantasy books and just the most beautiful pictures that I had ever seen. There was one picture in particular that I wanted. It was rather small, just an 8 x 10, framed in a weathered wood that was the perfect match for the feel of the picture. I had seen this picture the day before and would have bought it then but I had left my money at home so I had had to wait ‘til the next day to buy it. The picture showed a woman that had to have come straight out of the game Diablo! She was the toughest looking Rogue that I had ever seen, and I wanted to be just like her. Her bow was held in her hands, ready to use should the need arise. She was dressed in a brown leather outfit that showed her well-muscled figure and long tan legs. She had a huge sword slung over her back. Dark auburn hair (just like mine) and you could see in the distance behind her a desolate town that was bathed in a red glow. Her eyes were what had really caught my attention. They were a light gray (just like mine) and they were filled with such a look of intense wonder and joy that I just had to have this picture for my room.
Finally the school day ended and I could now go and get my picture! I knew just where I was going to hang it when I got home, too. Right beside my computer so that I could see it whenever I played Diablo. Which would be a lot. After about five minutes of walking I was standing in front of The Place of Myth and Magic. Now listen close, because now comes the really weird stuff.
I stepped inside M&M and waving to my friend Martha behind the counter and seeing that we two were the only ones in the store, I headed straight for “my” picture. I reached down to pick it up, feeling a slight thrill at the prospect of having this picture in my room where I could look at it all the time, when suddenly my whole world changed. As my hand touched a corner of the frame that was around the picture, a woman’s hand reached out of the picture and grasps my arm! Suddenly I was jerked off my feet and pulled into the picture. All of this happened between one breath and the next. The sharp intake of breath that I had taken to be able to scream in the store as that hand had grabbed me was now expelled as I found myself standing on a grassy knoll! I looked beside me, expecting to see the rest of the woman whose hand had grabbed me, but there was no one there. After I stopped screaming, I looked around me again. I was standing about fifty yards from an old weathered house. It looked to but a single room dwelling with a simple wooden door and one window. As I walked around the left side of it, I realized that I was not dressed as I had been but moments before when standing in M&M. I looked down at my self and with a feeling of excitement that I had never know before saw that I was now dressed as the woman in the picture had been. Dark brown leather outfit…and for the first time I felt the bow in my hand and the sword at my back. “You have either gone completely crazy, or your home in bed asleep.” I said to myself. But somehow I knew that neither of those was correct.
I continued on around the house and found that I was at the edge of a small town. I could see people walking to and fro, although as yet no one had seen me.
There were about eight more buildings close by. And in the center of this town was a fountain filled with sparkling blue water. Beside the fountain stood a man dressed in a simple worn robe and leaning on a staff. A small boy ran up to him and I could faintly hear what he said.
“Master Cain! Please come to the healer Pepin’s house! Odgens wife is about to have the baby!! You must come!” Even before the boy had finished, he and the man he had called Cain rushed away toward one of the other buildings.
I stood there completely dumbfounded. The names he had said… this place…
“Oh My God!” I screamed. Now people were looking at me, and one man was walking towards me. “Those names are from my game. And this town looks so familiar.” Something was very wrong! “This is Tristram.” I said to the man that now stood staring at me with concern on his bearded face. “And your name is Grizwold, isn’t it?” I asked him.
“Yes, to both questions my lady. How do you know my name? I don’t believe that I have ever seen you in town before.”
Suddenly I was sitting down on the ground. Several more people were headed towards us and all I could do was just sit there. “Oh My God.” I whispered to myself. “This is Tristram. I am sitting here on the ground in Tristram. The town that has a desecrated church full of skeletons, zombies, and other evil and vile creatures. The town that has a crack in the earth behind Pepin’’s house that leads straight to HELL!!!!!”
I stood up. Brought my bow close to my chest as if to hug it and let a huge smile cover my face. “This is just way too cool.”
To be continued……
