You have been identified as a genetic offspring of this tome’s intended recipient. Read to live.

  That was far more motivational than an English teacher threatening a poor grade if we didn’t read some suitably out-of-date book she called a classic. Read to live. I could get behind that, so read I did.

  It became clear that this was my uncle’s diary. It covered many years but began with the traditional, “If you are reading this, then I am dead, but hope still exists.”

  Apparently, he was the third person to hold the Forerunner title. He didn’t go into how he got picked, but started describing his initial experiences. It sounded like a freak-show. The very fact that in just a couple of years, there were three people filling this single slot suggested that there wasn’t much job security or life expectancy, for that matter.

  There were a variety of challenges, from things as simple as one-on-one fights, to free-for-alls, to races. The variety was endless according to him, but those challenges were only a small part of what he considered important as a Forerunner. The biggest challenges were the dungeon worlds.

  He had to hunt monsters in dungeon worlds he was sent to, seemingly with little control, although towards the end he did hint that he believed there was a way to control the destination the portal sent you to.

  There was too much information to take in at one sitting. What I really paid special attention to was the part at the end. It was written directly to my dad.

  “Mark, I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye, especially after you were diagnosed, but the fact that you are reading this gives me hope. I know you needed proof, and I tried everything. I told the authorities, for all the good that did. The system restricted me and my words came out garbled, no one could understand me. I tried to video the portal. Nothing worked. Earth technology can be taken into the portal, but it doesn’t last very long.”

  I stopped reading for just a second. What he had written explained some of my own earlier assumptions. Except, he thought he was passing this on to my dad, the former marine, the all American athlete, the guy who could do anything. Well, anything except beating cancer, I guess. I wondered if he still would have wanted to pass it on to his nerdy nephew, whose primary athletic ability was running. Oh well, there was nothing for it now. I just had to keep reading.

  “Something as simple as a gun might last a few hours, but electronic devices like a smart phone fry themselves before I even touch the portal. Mana is the energy that powers the system which runs the multiverse and it is constantly leaking out of the portal. It changed me when I obtained a level. I was still human, but not. It’s hard to explain.

  “Suffice it to say that my body no longer works the same as it did before. I heal much faster and injuries which might have otherwise been instantly fatal no longer are, as long as I still have hit points left. It’s weird, I’ll leave it at that.

  “I asked for you to come, to take over my quest to save the Earth. If you can get help, great, otherwise it falls to you. I keyed the next Forerunner to be a relative by blood or oath. That limits it to family members but enables me to pass on more to you than I would have been able to otherwise. Just keep in mind that I had to start this with nothing.

  “If you came quickly enough, then you will find a set of crystals on the shelf. They are class crystal shards. You want to get your class core as quickly as possible because it grants you bonuses every time you level up. My time is short if what I believe is happening came to pass. The greatest gift I can give you though is the chance to see through my eyes. Then you will know what we truly face.”

  I felt a power building up within the book. It was humming in my hands, but I still was unable to move. Then I felt as though an energy reached out from the book and pulled me into it. Suddenly, my eyes weren’t mine, and my body wasn’t mine. I was inside of Uncle Dan's body, but it was so different from anything I’d ever experienced.

  I felt powerful, like some kind of superhero. If I’d had any control, I would have been doing cartwheels to get an experience like this. Then he moved his head, looking around, and I got serious—taking in the environment. I knew this was something that had already happened. There was nothing I could do to change it. I couldn’t even alter my perspective, but it was still so much more real than any VR goggles I’d ever tried out.

  He was standing at the top of a rocky cliff. The ground around him was torn up but showed signs of having once been verdant and green. Below was entirely different. He looked directly over the top of the cliff. For the first time in my life, I experienced heights without even the slightest twinge in my stomach.

  I was the kid who normally couldn’t even climb the monkey bars on the school playground without getting dizzy as soon as I looked down. Then again, this wasn’t my body, it was Uncle Dan’s and all the stimuli that I was feeling came from his body. My real one was paralyzed, helpless, and stuck in a murder hut where a monstrous, mutated squirrel had just tried to do me in.

  That didn’t cause any panic to rise in me… yeah, right. Who was I kidding? I was freaking out. I was on this rollercoaster of emotions, seesawing between trying to accept everything and mentally pushing the turmoil down. I needed to get it together. Deciding to accept this as real while not letting your mind panic, or curl into a little ball, were two entirely different matters. To focus myself, I tried to experience what Uncle Dan was seeing all that much more.

  As he looked down at the foot of the cliff, the ground was a churning mass of cratered pockets and fissures. It looked like there had been mortar fire or bombs—or something from a war movie. Everything down there was torn to shreds, there was no sign of greenery anywhere. The ground was barren rock, ripped up by tiny pools of lava and gaseous toxic fumes. Scattered across the landscape like discarded broken toys, were dead bodies.

  The creatures seemed like some sort of yellow salamanders, if salamanders wore armor and walked upright. The battle, or whatever this was, didn’t seem to have gone too well for them. Then a woman spoke to my uncle. He didn’t turn his eyes, so I could only guess who she was based upon her feminine voice.

  If I had to pick it out, I’d say it was an Indian accent, but I knew enough to know there were numerous languages, dialects, and accents in India. It would be foolish of me to assume too much just from hearing her voice.

  “I can’t keep this up anymore, Dan.”

  My uncle sighed. “We’re almost done. One last wave and then it’s over, another one in the bag.”

  “You talk about slaughtering these creatures like it’s just another day at the office. It isn’t so easy for me.”

  This time, Dan spun to look at her. “You think this is easy for me? Really!? What kind of monster do you think I am?”

  The woman had light brown skin, dark hair, and wide eyes. Her features were lovely, but sharply defined at the same time. She was wearing tattered, mismatched, leather armor, like she took pieces from multiple sets and then put them together. Her hair was held back by a slender band of silver metal. Each of her fingers had various rings on them as did her ears. Around her neck was a golden choker with a bone pendant dangling from it. Taken all together, it created a rather jarring impression.

  More than anything, though, she looked tired and wounded. One of her arms hung limply at her side and the more I saw, the more I realized her armor was torn up and she had cuts and bruises all over her body.

  “I don’t mean to offend, but this isn’t my specialty. I can’t stand back here and fight through minions. I have to get up close and personal. I’ve killed so many derlegs today that I’ve lost count.”

  “Which is why we can’t give up now. If we leave without finishing the last wave, we won’t get any world points.”

  The woman sighed, mostly just looking tired. “You think I don’t know that? Of course I know that. But I don’t want to die either. Jiang is off doing his own thing of course. Emil is still insisting that he has a contact within his government to get help and Nuri refused to come. She doesn’t like these slaughter missions.”

  I felt my uncle’s shoulders slump. “I know, but if we don’t keep pushing, you know what’ll happen. I tried to tell my sister, but I barely got started before she was talking about calling someone to have me evaluated. I don’t want to go through that again.”

  “I’m sorry, Dan. If you want to finish this one, you’re going to have to do it on your own. I’ll watch your back, though.”

  “I’m gonna have to burn a trump card to do on my own. Dammit. This mission was meant for a full complement of Forerunners. I was saving these for you know who…”

  The woman smiled. “You still insist that he can hear when his name is spoken?”

  I felt my uncle’s shoulders move in a shrug this time. “Yeah, but for all your doubt, I don’t hear you saying his name either.” Then he shook his head. “Might as well get this over with.”

  Then my uncle stepped dangerously close to the edge of the cliff. I felt his arms go up. In one of his hands, he was grasping a staff. I felt a tingling deep inside of him, and then it was like some invisible energy poured out through his pores and particularly through his hands. He felt so powerful and whatever it was, this was cool. He was using magic. At least that’s what my gamer mindset told me.

  “Drazel, come forth.”

  A moment later, a winged, vaguely humanoid shape covered in scales appeared in a white light.

  The creature opened his mouth as though to speak, but then looked down at the bottom of the cliff. “Still not done?”

  Dan said, “One last wave.” It was weird to feel his jaw moving as though it were mine, but then to hear my uncle’s voice come out.

  He repeated the same process three more times, summoning three more creatures. One was a four-legged, circular creature which looked almost like a pink hippo but without a visible head or backside. Its name was Wadal. Another was a skeletal giant, which loomed at least fifteen feet high, Innogaris. The final was a tiny, winged woman with a barbed tail. She was the only one of the other three who spoke again.

  “Ready to join the host, my summoner?”

  “No time for games today, Delilah.”

  The tiny woman giggled. “I still love the name you gave me. So appropriate. Who are we killing for you today?”

  “Just the final wave of derlegs. The others either never showed up or are out of steam. It’s up to me.”

  The winged woman couldn’t have been more than three feet high, but she ran her hand across Uncle Dan’s cheek. It felt oddly hot to the touch. “Such a noble warrior fighting for his people. I could reward you; you know.” She trailed her nail down the side of his neck.

  “What did we say about playing those games during the middle of battle, Del?”

  She pouted. “Fine, Master. I shall do as you wish.”

  Each time he had summoned one of the creatures he had listed their name and then called them forth. It was pretty simple in terms of magic, so I had to assume there was something he’d done to gain this power. It had my mind racing. Real magic… I might be able to learn real magic.

  Then he looked down. “Okay, everyone, I’m going to summon Fusaria. As you all know, it takes a lot out of me. Anika will protect me though, while I’m recovering. Fuseria is gonna tear through them, but I need the four of you to pick off any scavengers. We have to end this now or the last three days will have been for nothing.”

  The summoned creatures didn’t say much, but the three who could speak, including the skeletal giant, all confirmed their agreement. Then, I felt power course up within Dan. It dwarfed the power he used to summon the other creatures. A notification popped up. It was interesting that I got to read his notifications, just like I was him.

  Called of Fire- Active Ability triggered.

  Do you wish to use the Boon of Fuseria? Once used, it may not be used again for 1 month.

  He must have clicked yes, which I couldn’t tell. I heard what he said and felt what his body felt, but I couldn’t hear his thoughts.

  Then the ground below began to rumble. The cliff we were standing on shook, but that was nothing compared to what was happening beneath us. The yellow salamander people, derlegs, I guess they were called, had started to assemble again.

  Except that turned out to have been a very bad idea. The ground where many of them were standing seemed to collapse and fall away. Dozens of them were sucked into a massive sinkhole.

  It was a bit surreal. I was watching a memory of my uncle killing hundreds of lizard people. They might be the enemy, but it was still brutal.

  Then it got hotter. Up from that hole, a literal volcano erupted. Liquid rock burst into the sky, killing a few hundred more of the salamanders before they could flee. Yet I could still feel more energy pouring out of my uncle.

  The spell wasn’t done yet.

  The lava, which was just a massive pool on the ground, now began to flow backwards and rise until it formed a vaguely humanoid shape. The creature had a head, torso, and two arms. I’d say the torso was sorta female shaped, but it was hard to say because the body was literally flowing lava.

  There were no legs, but that didn’t stop her from moving.

  “Fuseria, destroy my enemies.”

  The monster moved forward faster than I would have expected. Streams of lava blasted out from its body to strike down fleeing foes. Their bone and leather armor provided no protection. The wave of heat even at top of the cliff was intense. Somehow, I knew that the only reason I could survive was because I was in Uncle Dan’s body, which was more durable than my own.

  I heard the screams of agony and wished to close my eyes, but Uncle Dan never did.

  It wasn’t that the derlegs didn’t try to fight back. They did. They fired bone arrows, which, of course, did nothing. Their warriors tried to attack the massive lava elemental only to die before they could even land a blow. Their shamans or mages, or whatever they were seemed to have a bit more luck.

  Magical gusts of wind and bolts of frost pelted Fuseria, but while they might slow her briefly, none of it ever stopped her. She was inexorable as time and as certain as death in the way she followed after them.

  The four other summoned creatures took off and hunted down any stragglers. Fortunately, I didn’t have to see all of that because it was happening too far away for even my Uncle’s exceptionally keen eyesight to make out. I wondered if I’d get improved vision too.

  Then another notification appeared.

  You have successfully completed the challenge: Halt the Derleg Invasion

  World Points Awarded: 49,500

  Forerunner Points Awarded: 164

  Specialty rewards will appear directly in the inventory of participating Forerunners as set forth by the Timosi who requested this contract.

  XP Awarded: +50% towards your next level.

  I was curious about the specialty rewards which he received, but he never checked on them, so I could only wonder.

  Now below, the lava elemental had dispersed, and her body had simply spread out over the battlefield. The other summons all had returned now. A couple of them looked worse for wear, but nothing too serious.

  The woman, apparently, Anika, looked at me or rather at my uncle, “See that wasn’t so bad.”

  “Says the woman who was just standing here. My boon is now spent for a year. Do you have any idea how hard it was to get that thing?”

  The woman obviously recognized a rhetorical question because she sighed and didn’t answer it. She stood there quietly for a minute before finally saying, “You need to take a break, Dan. Even one night off would do you a lot of good.”

  “You know we aren’t supposed to do that.”

  “Yeah, but you won’t go inactive until after the third night missed. No matter what’s been done to us, we’re still just people. We have a breaking point and if you break, it’ll be ugly. You know that’s what Nuri thinks happened to Him.”

  The word ‘him’ was practically capitalized with the way she said it. I knew I was missing context for this conversation, so I wondered why Uncle Dan had thought my dad should see this memory. It was certainly a powerful display, but still…

  That thought was stopped as another message popped up:

  A Revenge Contract has been accepted. The leaders of the derleg have been heard, and their request for vengeance has been accepted.

  Morvarg of Bar’jek has accepted the contract. You have been challenged to a duel. Do you wish to accept?

  “Shit,” Uncle Dan mumbled.

  He turned his head, but where Anika had been standing a moment before there were only sparkles. He mumbled again, “Of course she’d run.” He shook his head and with a heavy dose of bitterness in his voice said, “Not like I’m going to stay either.”

  He triggered no on the question, then started to de-materialize. He looked up, and I was just able to see a lone figure flying through the air. Well, he wasn’t really flying so much as he was standing, ramrod straight. Floating through the air, superhero style, using some type of levitation.