Tucked away in a long forgotten alleyway in the town centre was a boarded up building. Once, it had been a shop called 'Spaceships and
Spectres'. The sign still hung jauntily over the door, where no customer had entered in more than a year. However, tonight, four boys were sat
in the basement, as they did most nights.
They were huddled around a large table, sporting manuals, character sheets and pizza; Dungeons and Dragons. Though sometimes they played
other role-playing games, sometimes they played War-hammer or retro video-games. They never LARPed, though. That was for nerds.
Being in his mid-twenties, Matthew Spencer was the eldest of the group. He was skinny and tall and had the rocker look about him. He had a
goatee and wore shirts with names of metal bands on them. When the shop was open, he had worked there, selling figurines, trading cards,
board games and similar things. The owner, Warwick, had allowed Matthew and his friends to use the basement then, too. After he died, the
shop closed down and was forgotten about. But while Matt still had the key, the boys had found no reason to go elsewhere.
All the other boys were only sixteen, each being in same class at school. Really, they were friends of James Spencer, Matt's brother, but Matt
didn't really have many friends is own age. James was perhaps a bit more mature than Matt, or more mature than he was at James' age. But they
got on well and James didn't mind that Matthew wanted to share his circle of friends. But then he wasn't aware quite how Matt felt about Lee.
Lee was a bit of a meek and shy character, scared of confrontation and wary of drama. With blue eyes and shaggy blonde hair, he had no idea
how attractive he really was. And Matt, being openly bisexual, thought that Lee was adorable. And while James had never picked up on it, Matt
could tell that Lee was gay. He had known the moment he'd met him but had never acted on it.
There were a number of reasons. One, for example, was that he was wary of making things awkward and ruining games night for everyone. And
that he wasn't sure how Lee would feel about the age gap. But the biggest trouble was because of how Matt discovered Lee was gay in the first
place: because of the way Lee looked at Ted.
Ted was perhaps the closest thing a nerd could be to a jock. He played on the school basketball team, though not with amazing talent, and
while he enjoyed the games, it was clear he wasn't as interested as the others. James didn't seem to like Ted very much, but Lee had known
Ted since they were both infants. There had been a time, sadly long gone, when they were inseparable. Nevertheless, it was clear to Matt at
least that Lee was completely besotted with him. But Ted had a girlfriend, whom he never shut up about.
"I'm taking her to Marco's, you know, the Italian place," Ted droned on, "Girls love that shit."
"You mentioned," said James dryly, "By the way, it's been your turn to attack for five minutes now."
"I know, I'm just saying," Ted replied, "Means I won't be coming tomorrow night."
"Fine."
Ted finally rolled and the game resumed, though Ted continued to reveal his stellar strategy with women for some time. Matt cast a wary
glance at Lee, who was staring fixedly at his character sheet. Keen to change the subject, Matt said, "I'm a bit tired of D&D."
"Me too," James nodded, "Anyone want to play Warhammer?"
"Nah," moaned Ted, who had never been very good at it.
"Magic?" Lee suggested.
"No, I want to play something different," said James.
"There'll be thousands of games in the store room," Matt pointed out, "Why don't we play a new game?"
***
The boys piled into the store-room. There were so many stacks of boxes there was barely space to stand.
"There's got to be something good in all this mess," said James.
They began inspecting boxes, but if it wasn't obscure card games it was mostly figurines or toys.
"Sod's law," said Matt, "The best stuff'll be at the back."
"You're the biggest," Ted observed, "You go get it."
Matt couldn't argue with that, and reluctantly began to clamber onto the precarious pile of boxes.
"Be careful," Lee told him.
A little elated that Lee was showing concern about him, Matt boldly replied, "It's not as hard as it looks."
At that moment, a posable Batman figure gave way and the stack Matt was perched on toppled over. He landed hard against another pile and
the entire mess began to fall.
"Shit!"
The four of them watched as the organised clutter became much less organised. With seconds, the entire room had become the nerdiest
bomb-site in history. But they did at least prove one theory true: that the best stuff would be at the back. Amidst the debris stood what
looked like a medieval coffee table. It was built out of dark wood and decorated with ornate and classic carvings.
"What's that?"
Matt waded through the mess and studied the table. It was hexagonal in shape, and on each corner was a raised section with a series of slots.
Wound around the centre in a tight spiral were a series of numbered squares, from 1 to 100. In the centre, another raised section on which was
what appeared to be book. It was large, leather-bound tome and was bolted down. The cover read "The Challenge of the Nightmare King."
"It looks like a game," Matt said, "It looks a bit complicated."
"Nice!" James said, "Can we play?"