Randomly drawn Magic the Gathering cards and the main characters judgement (hopefully!) produce “emergent storytelling” (for instance think The Sims, Minecraft, Dwarf Fortress etc).
I’ve also borrowed a style from Dennis E. Taylors Bobiverse books, where the first person POV moves from character to character.
Let chaos ensue!
HEXWORLD (2605)
Day 1 – Spawning Breath
We always just lived with the concept of the total destruction of our world, you know? It was just one of those things you put to the back of your mind. The Mage War had ended in an uneasy truce and the Six Spheres retreated to their towns and cities, towers and universities, and eyed each other with mistrust – well you know all this already.
So, when I woke up naked looking up at the night sky my first assumption was that something along those lines had gone terribly wrong. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, then jolted, shook my head and spat as I realised, I was rubbing ash into my face. I stood up and looked at my hands in the moonlight. I then looked up at the moons. They were still there at least.
What could have happened? My last memory was of being at work. One of the apprentices had rushed in and said something like “they’ve only gone and bloody done it!” and then there was a blinding light coming from outside.
At that moment I’d been running some tests on a null cabinet down in the lab, one of the faulty batch that came back from… oh well, I suppose that’s not important, but anyway I’d always thought to myself should the end ever come, you know, if Ulmania ever went too far with one of their experiments and caused a thaumatological catastrophe then if I happened to be working on a null cabinet at the time I could step inside it and ride the whole thing out safe in an enclosed anti-magic null field.
Which, as it turned out, was exactly what I had done, and now here I was. Where was the cabinet? Where were my flipping clothes? Where was I?
You get the idea. I looked around. The sun seemed to be rising, so I waited. As the light came, I could see I was standing on a strip of white ash about twenty metres wide. On one side was a wall of fog and on the other was green dewy grass. Well, it was an easy decision, and I headed for the grass. When I felt the cool water droplets on the soles of my feet I reached down and ran my hands through the blades then used the water to clean my face.
As the sun rose, I could see more of my surroundings. The grassy area I was in was not completely flat; there was a higher area not far off and something low and square sat on top of it. Assuming it was the cabinet I walked towards it.
It was the cabinet, I guessed, when I got there, but it had been half buried in the ground and was full of water. It looked clean so I first drank from it, then washed. I looked at myself in the glistening water. A middle-aged man with a blonde beard. Oh yes, I thought, that same stupid looking face survived the end of the world then.
I sat down and leaned against the side of the well, facing the sun. What now? I wondered. Starvation probably. I tried to think what could had happened to rupture the world like this, but I had no idea. I was just a lowly Grade 3 Safety Inspector at the Greynold University, I barely knew what was going on in my own facility, let alone anywhere else. At least we took Health and Safety seriously at good old GU, not like those slapdash buffoons over in Ulmania.
‘Dang it!’ I said to myself. ‘Grade 3. Never rose higher in all my years. Always a disappointment to mother. Oh dear, poor mother, where can she be now?’
After a while my stomach rumbled.
I stood and leaned over the well to scoop up more water to at least put something in it. As my hand went to the darkness of the well, a small rectangular object bobbed to the top. It was a Mako Tablet, like the ones we used to store spells in before spellbooks became fashionable.
‘Huh,’ I said to myself as I turned it over in my wet hands. It was reddish in colour and had something written on it. ‘Oh, it’s in Makadot. Something something, breath. Something, fire?’ I muttered. ‘Some sort of fireball spell? That’s no bloody use to me!’
I fished about in the water, but there was nothing else in there, not unless I wanted to go diving for them.
As to the Tablet, I could cast it of course, any apprentice could do that, but what was the point? Maybe I could use it as a rescue flare or something? Or light a fire if I ever found some fuel for it.
From my vantage point, even though I was only a few metres above the grassy plain I could see that it extended out about half a mile in all directions, terminating in the ashy border and the wall of fog. Something had saved this small patch of land. And me of course. Had it been the null cabinet? Why was it buried in the ground?
I spent some time walking from one end of the patch to another. I wasn’t used to missing meals and I was hungry. It was like a pasture, short tufts of green grass, nothing that I easily eat, but there were some nettles on one corner of the patch and a clump of alliums in the other.
And that was it. There was nothing else! I lay down in the grass and looked up at the sky. The day grew hotter and I moved to what little shade the well offered. I worried, fretted and eventually fell asleep.
Day 2 – Clutch of Currents
I woke with a start. I was all cramped up and cold from sleeping naked outside. I stood, shook off my fatigue and stretched. It was hours before dawn, so I ran around the well a few times to warm up. My insides felt hollow, never in my life had I gone a full day without food. I patted my round belly. ‘Don’t worry my friend, filling you is my first priority!’
I went to the well and drunk some water with my hands. Something small and rectangular bobbed up to the surface. Another Mako Tablet! I picked it up and held it up to the moonlight.
I had no idea what it was, some sort of dispelling magic I thought. Dawn broke and in the morning light I scoured my small haven for food. I chewed some nettles and dug up an allium bulb which I cleaned in the well and ate.
This was ridiculous I thought. I’m still butt naked! I went up to the edge of the grassland and looked into the mists. Every so often a wind blew away some of the fog and revealed slabs of broken stone, cracked and cratered ground. I crossed the ash boundary and, in an experiment, took one step inside. Then stepped straight back out again as my bare skin was lashed with ash and dust from a wind that seemed to blow only on that side of the ash line.
‘Oh, stuff you then!’ I grumbled as I returned to the well and washed. As the sun rose, I warmed up, it was another fine sunny day.
With nothing else to do I tried to apply my Health and Safety mindset to my current predicament, but let’s face it, I was humped.
I wondered though, I had collected two Tablets now. Perhaps tomorrow there would be another one?
Day 3 – Thornweald Archer
My name is Daisy, I am of the Brambleweed Folk. I was in the militia, a well-trained and respected member of the Queen’s Guard. I remember being on guard at the citadel gates when there was a blinding flash and I entered a state of dreamless sleep. When my eyes opened, I was standing in a meadow. I stumbled and a small strange naked old man backed away from me.
‘Steady there!’ asked the man, hiding his acorns with his hand. He spoke Layduc, the language of the folk of Gulberry. My people were on good terms with them, but alas it was not a tongue I was overly familiar with.
‘Are you an elf? I thought it might be when I cracked the tablet.’
‘Brambleweed,’ I informed him.
‘Oh lovely! A friend then?’
‘What devilry is this?’ I asked.
The man backed further off. ‘Chill out, my dude. Short version, someone blew up the world.’
I paused to look the man over. He was unkempt and dirty. He had leaves and grass in his beard and hair.
‘Have you been here a long time?’ I asked.
The man smoothed down his beard self-consciously. ‘Um, just two days. I always keep my hair and beard long. I’m a mage. I’m a…’
I looked over his shoulder then walked off. I was drawn to the swirling mists that appeared to surround us.
‘Er, got any grub old chum? I’ve not eaten in days.’
I had my packed lunch in bag on my belt.
‘Eat it all,’ I said, handing it over. ‘I am not hungry.’
He looked dubiously into the bag. ‘Oh, elf food,’ he muttered, eyeing the dried fruit and nuts. ‘You know, I’ve been craving a hotdog all day. A really greasy one from the vendors on Hoggle Square. I never usually used to care for them, but oh boy I could go one now. Er, I mean thanks, I’m very grateful!’
He started to eat hungrily.
‘Only a little at a time,’ I warned. ‘Your human stomach may rebel against too much natural food in one go.’
‘Of course,’ he said as he munched. ‘I don’t wish to be a burden, but do you have any spare clothes? I’m stark naked and I’m getting sunburnt. My name is Harlo by the way, I’m a Safety Inspector at Greynold University, well I was…’
‘My name is Daisy,’ I told him. I then took off my coat and handed it to him. He talked much more throughout the day. Most of it I did not understand.
Day 4 – Primal Plasma
I had a good nights sleep wrapped in Daisy’s cloak. He wasn’t a talkative sort of chap. I thought he was a palace guard or something. He’d stalked all around our little enclosure, but he was none the wiser than me as to what was going on. Was this the only patch of our old world left? Who knew!
In the morning the Mercari Tablet that bubbled up to the surface of the well was blue in colour. Another summoning spell, but for some kinds of elemental. I put it with the others. No self-respecting Safety Inspector would summon some random water elemental without being sure he could control it.
My hunger came back by evening. I tried talking to Daisy, but I felt like I was no more than a yapping dog to him. His command of Layduc wasn’t great either. I spent most of the day speculating, mainly to myself about what I thought had happened. Daisy contributed little to the discourse. Whenever I thought about mother and the cats, a tear would well up in my eye. I didn’t want to cry in front of the elf though, so I spent my time trying (and largely failing) to remember my Makadot. Who knew, maybe tomorrow I would summon a hotdog vendor?
Day 5 – Act of Aggression
As was now my habit I drew a Tablet from the well. It was reddish in colour, the writing looked as if it had been hacked into it.
Today I suspected that Daisy was thinking of striking out into the mists. Although we were both pretty much in dire straits, I didn’t want to lose my only companion at the end of the world.
‘Listen man – I mean, elf - it seems random, but each morning a Tablet comes out of the well. Give it one more day before you risk your life, maybe?’
He nodded in agreement, then spent the rest of the day digging up edible roots from the grassland, which we then washed and ate as our only meal that day.
Day 6 – Tazri, Beacon of Unity
My name is Tazri, commander of the army garrison in Bachara, the second largest city in Wohen. When the end came, I was stood on the parapet of Bachara Cathedral looking over the city. Oh woe! I saw the world gobbled up, a wall of light that came over the hills and sped down into the outskirts. In another few seconds it was crossing the river. I turned and shouted, dropping my helmet, but what could I do? The light hit and I died. Or I thought I did, because my next sensation was a warm breeze on my face and the feeling that I had awoken from a long and dreamless sleep.
A small scruffy man naked except for a cloak, and a stern looking elf were looking at me.
‘Hi there!’ said the man. ‘How do you feel?’
‘What happened?’ was all I could manage.
‘Good question!’ said the man with inappropriate joviality. ‘I’m currently thinking it was the Ulmanians. That they set off a thaumatological chain-reaction. Just a guess.’
‘How?’ I said, then I choked and coughed and slumped down beside what I realised was a well.
‘There is water in the well,’ said the man. ‘We’ve no cups I’m afraid., We are on pretty meagre quarters at the moment. Ah, it’s safe to drink. Me and Daisy are thriving on it. My name is Harlo.’
‘I’m…’ I coughed again.
‘General Tazri, right?’ asked Harlo. ‘That’s what I hoped I’d translated the tablet as. I’ve heard of you. Bit of a legend down your way I am led to believe. I think I attended a lecture about one of your battles at the GU. Oh well. I’m sorry. This is it. No point in giving you a tour, it’s just me and the big fella…’
I held up my hand to stop the mage’s prattling. ‘Just, give me a minute.’
Day 7 – Flickerform
Today’s Tablet looked a bit situational to me, so I just stashed it with the others. Daisy searched our tiny domain one more time for food and we divided it up amongst the three of us. Two onions each, washed down with water from the well.
‘No food in the well?’ asked Daisy.
‘No,’ I admitted. ‘I think it is a sort of phasing spell. Not much use, currently.’
Tazri, who was a practical sort and seemed to be handling things pretty well today, asked, ‘you cannot summon food? I thought that was something you University mages could do.’
‘I wasn’t in catering!’ I snorted. ‘Ah, I mean, I was a Safety Inspector. I was more into, you know, the advanced stuff.’
Tazri gave me a withering look. She was hot stuff alright but not used to dealing with underlings like me. She clearly respected Daisy a lot more than me. Well, she’d just have to take me as she found me, and after all I was the only one that could fenagle the tablets.
In the afternoon she removed her plate armour and lay in the sun, her rich deep dark skin soaking up the rays. I hope I summon someone I can chat to or swap riddles with soon, these guys are no fun! Oh, and some food before we start having to draw lots.
