Somewhere in Colorado, USA
“I told you, I’m NOT wearing the wig until we are at the con, it’s pointless to wear it in the car, and the thing is too damn itchy anyway!” I protested for what felt like the one hundredth time since Mike started driving us to the convention.
“C'mon Robert, stop being such a crybaby! I’m sure a little itch is nothing for a ‘Master Outdoorsman’ like you.” Mike teased, knowing me far too well.
I liked the outside, and growing in Colorado, camping trips came easy. My father taught me how to survive in the wild, and I have enjoyed it ever since. We used to go camping almost every weekend, looking at all the beautiful places the state had to offer.
And I always wanted to invite my friends over to an adventure, but none of them had the time, or just didn't want to come. So I made a deal with my best friend, Mike. I would accompany him to the con, dress up as whatever Mike thought suited me, and he would go camping with me, see what the outside really looked like.
It didn't take long for us to arrive at our destination. Exiting the car, some bystanders managed to notice we were actually in costumes. Since he didn't want to spend any money, we decided to cosplay something simple, yet elegant. Mike managed to get a nice purple suit with matching pants, a yellow buttoned shirt, a green bowtie, white gloves and black dress shoes. I, however, was wearing a white, buttoned shirt, with a black, long-sleeved, undershirt, and old fashioned red vest with black, vertical lines running across it and black dress pants with matching shoes.
Placing the wig atop my head while he put on some red lipstick, we were finally ready for the con. If it weren't for Mike’s make-up, complete with green dyed hair and my ‘W’ shaped wig, we would've simply looked like impeccably dressed men, for a very questionable party.
We were kind of late to the fray too, since it was dark, and people were already exiting the con. But this didn’t bother us for we could still have fun tonight, and tomorrow we can muck around all day.
People wore the most amazing costumes I've ever seen! A guy with a BAD ASS IronMan costume, tho he still needed a helmet, still cool. There was also this guy rocking another awesome costume, I asked Mike what it was, and he told me it was from a game called Metroid. But he also added the character was a female, not a man.
“Dude, you need to stay in more, I bet half of the shit here you never even knew it existed!” Mike added.
“And if YOU got out more, you would know what it is to breath fresh air” I stated simply.
Getting through the crowd, I saw glimpse of some guy from Naruto, I think, hanging out with a robot ninja thing. There was this guy from one of the games Mike suggested me to cosplay as, but I lacked the physical appearance to pull it off so I declined.
We also managed to see this guy who looked like a lizard in a prison jumpsuit. Neither of us knew WHAT he was, but then he explained us he was a humanized SCP 682. I was still confused, but Mike chatted with him before he left.
I saw a hooded guy not far from me, his costume looked cool “That’s from the game Assassin’s Creed, but of course you probably never heard of it” Mike informed me.
“I’m not a gamer, and you know it!”
“I do know it, you are like the reverse hipster of modern age” He replied.
Before we could discuss for longer, we both got a glimpse of a Transformer, one of the few TV shows I have watched. “WoW…” We both rang out, looking like complete idiots, fawning over a robot.
Shaking his head, we continued deeper. We could see more awesome displays, more people dressed up and ready for action. We saw this cloaked guy with a white, polished mask, also awesome. A girl was also looking pretty lethal with her black cloak, silver hair and even fluorescent contact lenses with slitted holes in the middle for the pupils. Again I asked my friend what she was supposed to be, and as he turned around, he looked at her, a lot. After a while I noticed he was doing something ungentlemanly, so I took the liberty to slap him and make him come to his senses.
“Can you control your hormones for one minute? What if she had noticed?!”
“First of all, ow! Second, LOOK AT HER, she is soo badass, in more ways than one!” My perverted friend said, the grin plastered on his face suiting his character perfectly.
As I raised my arm to slap him out of his perverted fantasies, he called out for me “Hey, look at this! You MUST have it, ASAP”
I lowered my arm, and decided to stare at the thing he wanted me to see. It was a piece of jewelry, a golden collar with a red gem the size of my fist incrusted in it.
“Uhuh, soooo why I ‘must’ have it?” I asked, seriously, why would I want or need a pretty necklace?!
“Oh, yeah right, you never played Don’t Starve…” He drags me to the booth as he continues “This, is a Life Giving Amulet, it’s one of the items in the game that heals you periodically, as well as resurrecting you if you die while wearing it, BELIEVE ME, if anyone should buy this, it should be you, I haven’t really seen anything Don’t Starve related anywhere in the con” He said with his left arm around me, using the other to show the amulet like some sort of commercial.
“I agree with your friend, if anyone should have this piece, it should be you” Said a man from behind us. Turning around, well more like jumping like scared cats, we saw a man dressed in probably the most dapper yet evil suit in existence, with a vibrant red flower on his jacket.
“Holly shit, dude your costume is AWESOME, how did you get the materials to make a perfect replica of Maxwell?!” Mike asked exited, barely masking his gamergasm.
“Oh, well I’m glad you liked it, but I see you are looking at my amulet, and I won’t lie to you, nobody anywhere has ever had the chance to try this out, I should know”
“Well, how much for it?” I asked, faking some interest into the item.
“35$, but since nobody seems to appreciate it, I’m giving it to you for 21$”
Faster than I could blink, Mike had his wallet out, handing the exact amount to the strange man, who in return handed us the necklace. I took the amulet, however I didn't put it on, for crying out loud it was JEWELRY.
But before we could thank him, he was already attending someone else, handing him a mask of some sort. Having nothing to do, we exited the booth.
I was getting sick of the crazy amount of people, that and there where flashes of light everywhere. The amulet secured in my pocket, and my friend looking at me with a concern look on his face, we walked outside.
“Dude, are you sure you only need fresh air? Because I haven’t seen these flashes anywhere, just a giant crowd”
“Mike, I’m telling you, they should fix their fancy light show, it was giving me a headache”
“Hey, not to be rude, but can I get back in the building? I’m not seeing anything wrong with their lights and the crowd wasn't bothering me”
“Sure, just don’t mess with anything we can’t afford”
“THANK YOUUUUU” His voice echoed already half way back inside.
Being bored out of my mind I took the amulet from my pocket. It felt warm in my hands, probably from staying in my pants for so long. Deciding I had nothing to lose, I put it on, and felt… safe?
Then there was this flash of red light, it was decidedly bright, and almost blinded me. Before I could react, I was pulled to the ground, the amulet shot downwards, pulling me from my neck.
“Woah woah WOAH!!”
It feelt like it was strangling me, but I managed to get a hand in between to stop it from suffocating me. I tried to take the necklace off, to no avail. Then I saw a hand, pulling the collar of my amulet, I stopped sinking but I didn't rise either, the light was shinning brighter, and a humming noise came with it.
“SOMEONE, HELP ME!” I screamed, panicking. I looked around but everyone seemed to be ignoring me, almost everyone.
“I’m trying! Hold on!” A voice rang out, one I've never heard before. I couldn't see him, the amulet as bright, if not brighter, than the sun itself. The noise picked up, almost deafening.
“PLEASE! I DON’T WANT TO GO!” I begged, I felt it trying to pull me somewhere. And I didn't want to go.
I started to rise, and I managed to grab his hands. But before my right foot left the ground, dark hands sprung from the black pool surrounding me, grasping my limbs and pulling me back down.
I tried to speak, but one of the shadow hands shut me up. And then I saw the pool growing, engulfing whoever was trying to help me as more hands shot up to get him.
“FUCK I'M GETTING PULLED TOO!!” His voice screamed, and with it my heart sank, now we both were getting sucked into the ground.
I couldn't see anymore, all was darkness, but it felt like oil. The noise became nonexistent.
I passed out, I tried to tell him something, but I can’t remember what it was. All I remembered was that something went horribly, horribly wrong.
