The Test

[dru89]

Alright you guys, this is my latest story. Just a little commentary beforehand though. There are several grammar and spelling mistakes because this is the copy before I edited, printed, and didn't save the new copy :D. So disregard those and read it for your enjoyment. As a final remark. I at first had a bitmap inbetween each huge gap that you see, this signifies a change in characters/time/etc. I now give you The Test

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Nathan glanced over at his clock. 7:59. Any second his alarm would buzz loudly, filling his morning with a ringing in his ears. Maybe if he could just sleep these last few sec-BUZZ!-onds...nevermind.

 

 

 

It was just a normal morning for Nathan. He grabbed a cup of coffee, sat down, picked up his newspaper, watched a mysterious letter fall from the newspaper to the table, and went to the bathroom. Wait a second! He forgot the sugar for his coffee! Reaching down for the sugarbowl on the table, he notices the letter and opens it. He began to read it:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Mr. Anderson,

 

 

 

Congratulations, you've been accepted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, Nathan was a little confused by this because he hadn't to his knowledge, signed up for anything, but he pushed it aside and continued about his day as usual.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SEVERAL DAYS LATER

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Knock! Knock! "Mr Anderson! Open this door! This is your landlord! The rent is due! If you don't open this door I will be forced to open it myself!" He stopped to catch his breath after doing all that yelling. After catching his breath, he took a few steps back and then rammed the door with all the strength he could muster, but the door didn't budge. He did, however, feel a sharp pain in his leg. He reached down his pocket to feel a key. A key to this very door! Imagine that, since when do landlords have keys to the doors that they rent out? After rubbing his sore leg only for a moment, he opened the door.

 

 

 

"Mr Anderson, I -- What in the world happened here? He took a look around the house and saw that it was...clean! Usually Nathan's house was so cluttered that you could hardly see the floor. The only thing the landlord did notice that seemed odd was a burn mark on the table, right next to the sugarbowl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I feel like I got hit by a truck! Ugh! Where am I?" said Nathan, rubbing his forehead. He felt around for a lightswitch, and, after several minutes, finally found one. Now Nathan, who was about 23, must have been a very curious fellow -and possibly a bit dyslexic- becuase when he saw a button that said, in big, bold, black lettering "DO NOT PRESS," he must have seen "Hey Nathan! Come press the really big, shiny, red button!" And of course, Nathan felt more than happy to oblige. Now, as many people would know (but obviously not Nathan), "do not press" usually means do not press the button because you won't like what happens when you do. When Nathan pushed the button, all the lights turned back off, and being that the lightswitch was in a place he'd already forgotten, he was left in the cold, dark room...again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Sir, are you sure that Nathan is right for our...challenge?" came a voice coming from a dark room in an even darker corner.

 

 

 

"Do not question me! I know what I am doing. You are just a simple little sidekick of mine. Why, you don't really matter to me! I'm the most important person of all here!" thundered a booming voice from the center of the room sitting in front of security monitors in a swivel chair. "Wow! I love this thing, it makes my voice all big and scary," squeaked a voice that only moments ago was loud and thunderous.

 

 

 

"So how are we going to explain to the boss about Nathan being...err...an idiot?" came the first voice.

 

 

 

"We'll think of something," came the second as he turned of the video monitor to Nathan's room. As he stepped up to leave the room with the other, he tripped out of his chair because it was still a very dark room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After taking a good look around the living room, the landlord decided to head up toward's Nathan's room. "AHHH!" he screamed. Moldy pizza all over the floor. Dungeons and Dragons books left open. Techno musci was playing in his CD player. But that's not the worst of it, there were Pok̮̬̉̉mon on the floor, and it looks like he was playing...with himself!

 

 

 

The landlord shook off his fright. It was obvious tht Nathan was not there. He noticed a post-it note on a page in the D&D book and it opened to Nathan's created character: Visgoth. He chuckled at the odd name and then noticed the numbers on the post-it note: 4 8 15 16...err wrong story...the numbers were 1-12-1337. He figured it wa sa comination or a password or something, so he blew it off, until he saw his computer and tried it as the password. It worked!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nathan, finally back in the light, decided to sit back and wait for something to happen. After a few hours, someone... or something... finally came.

 

 

 

"Get up now! Come on! We have to go to the weapons room! Move it!"

 

 

 

Nathan obeyed, and looked around at the weapons. "WHOA! This is just like D&D!" said Nathan. He chose an extremely bright and shiny, silver longsword.

 

 

 

"Good. Now follow me to the arena. Quickly!" came a voice that sounded a little squeaky, but was very demanding, very much like Nathan's own mother, and his mother scared him.

 

 

 

Nathan, like a scared puppy that accidentally wandered from home, stood by the big, black, metal doors to the entrance of the arena, completely afraid, and completely unaware of what was on the other side. As the door opened, the scared little puppy yelped in fear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The landlord had become entranced by what he had found. "He's done it!" he yelled, "He's really done it! That geek did what no one thought was possible!" He was, of course, referring to Nathan's 56 pages of notes and equations that he had made on WordPad on how time and space travel was possible. (The notes were so complicated that I will not even begin to explain them to you. You are better off tryin gto learn by eating pages and hoping to gain the knowledge that is on them.) What he saw at the bottom shocked him and left him in fear. It seems Nathan had spoken to someone from another time, space, quite possibly another dimension. His conversation was recorded as follows:

 

 

 

Nathan : Hi!

 

 

 

Mystery Person: Hello. I'm surprised you found us. How would you like to join in one of my little games?

 

 

 

Nathan : Well that would be cool I suppose, but who are you? What are you people like? I want to know!

 

 

 

Mystery Person: Maybe later, all I need now is your consent.

 

 

 

Nathan : Sure, yeah, whatever! Just tell me!

 

 

 

Mystery Person has logged off.

 

 

 

The landlord could only stare at the screen in wonder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nathan stared around the arena, awestruck. He looked at the torches, flickering with the light of a thousand candles. He then looked up towards what looked to be a place for someone of high honor and saw a shadowy figure.

 

 

 

"You shall have three tasks!" bellowed the voice from the shadowy figure from above. "You have chosen your weapon, now get ready for your first task! You may choose one and only one person to aid you!"

 

 

 

Nathan looked over and saw to scrawny little guys and a fairly sized girl. "I pick her!" Nathan, who was now a growling pitbull, said to the shadowy figure.

 

 

 

"Very well!" the shadowy figure thundered. "Let the first task...BEGIN!"

 

 

 

Before Nathan's very eyes, another door was opened and a dragon, four times the size of both himself and the girl combined stepped out. The girl drew her bow and arrow and the two got ready for one of the most fierce battles of their lives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The landlord wanted to call the police and tell them that Nathan was abducted, but what could he say? He was abducted by someone from a parallel dimension? Oh, and there's no way to get to him either? Yeah right, not only would they not believe him, but he'd be thrown in the looney bin for sure. There was nothing he could do, however he was a bit hungry, he looked over at the pizza on the floor and almost gagged. He decided to go check out what was in his tenant's refridgerator, but just as he was about to get up, an instant message popped up on his computer from a MegaGeek1337.

 

 

 

"Nathan? Hey! I finally figured out how to make this device work! I fixed the bugs in it, no more exploding like last time. We can finally check out that other dimension!" came the message from MegaGeek.

 

 

 

"This is his landlord! Come over here immediately. I think we may have a problem!" he replied.

 

 

 

"Huh? What? Oh crud! Now you're gonna tell everyone about what we found!" texted MegaGeek.

 

 

 

"GET OVER HERE RIGHT NOW! NATHAN HAS BEEN ABDUCTED BY SOMEONE IN A PARALLEL DIMENSION!" typed the landlord.

 

 

 

"What!? I'm on my way!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"You know, for his new arena pet, you aren't too strong," said the girl that he had chosen for his partner. "By the way, the names Angelina, but you can call me Angie."

 

 

 

"Uh...thanks...I think," said Nathan, trying his best to dodge the dragon that was right behind him. Then Nathan tripped over a rock. (Of all the times for him to trip in this story, this is quite possibly the LEAST oppurtune time for him to trip, don't you think?) The dragon got right in front of him and reared his claw back ready to attack. Just as the dragon let his claw loose to attack him, Angie grabbed his sword that had fallen and chopped off the dragons leg. The dragon did however, manage to leave a huge gaping wound right in his left shoulder, tearing off the left sleeve of his shirt. With the dragon wounded moreso than Nathan, and lucky for Nathan being right handed, he took his sword and sliced it several times, making it bleed a lot. (An interesting fact to note is that dragon blood is actually navy blue, apart from the suspicions of it being purple.) Angie shot it with several arrows to the head, and after the dragons several attempts to take revenge for its lost limb, it died.

 

 

 

"Congratulations! You have passed the first task. The test of strength. Now get ready for your second. You will have 15 minutes!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the landlord was pilfering through the fridge, trying to find something to eat before this "MegaGeek" came over, he heard a car pull up.

 

 

 

"Are you MegaGeek?" he asked.

 

 

 

"Yeah, but you can call me Earl," said a guy that was fairly buff for being a geek.

 

 

 

"Alright so you said you can help me with getting back my tenant."

 

 

 

"Yes, do you have the double A batteries?"

 

 

 

"What double A batteries!?"

 

 

 

"You can't run anything mobile without battteries! You're not too bright are you?"

 

 

 

So Earl and the landlord went on a quest to Wal-Mart to buy new double A batteries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nathan and Angie ran frantically through the maze looking for anything that might help them. Finally at long last, the two of them ran into a door. Literally, they ran into a door, and for a few seconds they had to rub their sore heads. Finally Nathan took a look at the door. Nathan noticed the language for it was fairly understandable to most geeks, it was the language of elvish. He interpreted it for Angie:

 

 

 

"Answer the riddle and you will soon see. On the other side of this door will begin challenge three. To get there however is no easy task. Fail once and you might find you are both dead last. The answer of the riddle is quite simple to those who think. This four character word is the language of the geek."

 

 

 

At this Nathan knew exactly what it was. "It's leet!" he cried.

 

 

 

"What?!"

 

 

 

"One, Three, Three, Seven! Leet!"\

 

 

 

"I don't know! What if you're wrong?"

 

 

 

"But I know it! ONE-THREE-THREE-SEVEN!"

 

 

 

They were down to thirty seconds remaining.

 

 

 

"Only if you're sure about this!"

 

 

 

"I'm sure" said Nathan. He began typing in the numbers 1, then 3, another 3, and finally a 7 into the four slots. The timer stopped. Both of them waited a few seconds, and slowly the door started to open, they were back in the arena.

 

 

 

"Congratulations once more! You've passed the test of wisdom...err...sort of wisdom at least. I must say I didn't think either of you would make it," came the shadowy voice once more. "Now for your last challenge! Fight to the death! Both of you!"

 

 

 

The two looked at eachother in disbelief of what they had just heard, but they took their positions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nathan's landlord and Earl stood in the checkout line in Wal-Mart, unfortunately on that day they only had one lane so the line was backed up to electronics and they had the slowest cashier in the store working that day. They had already made it about half way through the line though when Earl decided to spark a conversation.

 

 

 

"So you never told me your name," said Earl.

 

 

 

"Didn't I?" said the landlord.

 

 

 

"Nope. I would like to know, I mean if the two of us are going to be travelling through time, space, and quite possibly another dimension together, I think it best that I know your name."

 

 

 

"Fine, if you must know, my name is Uidurshinalamba, most people can't pronouce my name, so they just refer to me as "landlord."

 

 

 

"I think I will too," said Earl, chuckling.

 

 

 

"I hope you know I find that offensive," said the landlord.

 

 

 

"I'm sorry. Hey look! We're at the end of the line!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nathan stood there. As did Angie. Neither one of them wanted to kill the other. They had both saved eachothers lives. They stared at eachother. Finally, Nathan walked over to Angie. He lifted his sword high above his head, and then handed it to Angie.

 

 

 

"Here! I can't do this to you. I would have been dead at the first challenge if it weren't for you. You deserve to win. I want you to kill me and get out of this arena. Leave, and never come back! I would ask you for your phone-number but I don't think it will help where I'm going," said Nathan.

 

 

 

"No! I won't do it! I won't kill you." Angie hander her bow to Nathan. "Take this. Walk over to the far end of the arena and shoot me. I would rather you win. I would have died in the second challenge were it not for you. Kill me and get it over with."

 

 

 

"UGH! I hate to see the love part! But you both have passed the third and final challenge: placing another's life before your own. You are both free to go. Keep the weapons as a token of this place."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earl and the landlord got to Nathan's house set up the satellite dish needed to transport them to their destination. After about an hour of getting everything set up, Earl said that they were ready to go. They both made themselves a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for the road, after all time/space/dimensional (maybe) travelling is hard work, and you are very hungry after all that. Earl flipped the switch and the two watched the lights flicker on and off, they stood on the pad that would take them, and Earl counted down.

 

 

 

3...

 

 

 

2...

 

 

 

1...

 

 

 

Just as Earl was about to push the button a storm approached. Out of this storm came a swirling vortex. Nathan popped out of the vortex and landed right in front of the two. They noticed the bow in his hand and noticed the scar on his shoulder, and the fact that it was missing its sleeve.

 

 

 

"What just happened?" said Earl.

 

 

 

"I thought you were dead, or kidnapped!" said the landlord, whom no one could pronounce his name.

 

 

 

Nathan was shining as bright as the sun as he simply said, "I'll simply just have to tell you about it sometime," and then ate the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches they had, because he had travelled space, time, and another dimension twice. He then collapsed to the ground and fell asleep. The two of them carried him up to his bed and wiped all the pizza crumbs off so he could go to sleep in peace that night. He slept very comfotably, and every night afterwards he slept hugging his bow and arrow, just in case he should ever run into a shadowy figure ever again.

[dru89]

What does everyone think?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

x/10

 

 

 

10 highest

 

 

 

0 lowest :P

[dragoncmd]

I give it a 8 out of ten, its intresting but really confusing, by the end of the story I still don't know who nathan is.