We sat quietly around Digital Creeks boardroom in Nutley, NJ, as Eminem
droned on the radio. Peet quietly mouthed the words, Del kept his head down
over his drawing. Frankie drummed his fingers on the table. The incessant
clacking of the keys on Joshs laptop continued over the beat, and Nichole
bopped out a little dance. Clay was asleep and my stomach was still in a knot.

11:57.

Hed be here any minute.

The room was still scattered with proofs, original artwork, and snippets of
text from UnderWorld. Gareth had left a few hours ago, all the way back to
Basking Ridge, NJ, where he had been living ever since his house was flooded.

Shudder.

11:58.

Frankie looked up.

“Who are we waiting for, again?”

“You wouldnt believe me even if I told you.”

“Nerd nerd nerd nerd nerd nerd nerd.” Mumbled Peet. “Its probably some game
guy none of us have ever heard of, and Seans gettin his nerd on. ” Guys ,
guys! Its the designer of the twelve-sided polyhedral wand of unintentional
celibacy! Hes coming to talk to US!”

I could be watching Cartoon Network now. You owe me, Jewboy.”

“Trust me, Mayor Mick-Peet, This is someone youll recognize.”

The door opened. And my heart jumped. If this actually happened, then I
clearly was not insane. I had to sit down as my legs gave.

A wet, disheveled men walked into the board room, shaking off the storm
outside. His light blonde hair reached to the small of his back, and he bore
glasses and a worn sportjacket over his “Trash and Vaudeville” T-shirt. He
was more broad-shouldered than me, but still had a slight build and small
hands. There was a gun under his coat and a grin on his lips, both of which
he flashed absentmindedly.

“I cant believe Im in Jersey.” He said, placing a huge stack of papers on
the table.

Nichole looked up and the gum fell from her mouth. She tapped Delmar , who
shook her away at first, but then looked up, riveted. Peets Jaw dropped, and
Frankie nudged Clayton, who remained asleep. Josh stopped typing and slowly
closed the computer.

“Ladies and gentlemen of Synister Creative Systems… Meet Nicholas Van Zandt.
Jackyler.”

“Youre kidding. This isnt real.” Said Josh.

“Karmic of the Underground, and Keeper of the Gospels of the most Holy
Apostate. Lorekeeper of Ahura Mazda.” Said Nick.

“Buh.” Nichole uttered.

“Thats the guy you asked me to draw, right?” Said Del. “You didnt tell me
he was a real guy.”

“I… didnt know at the time, Del.” I murmured.

Nick crossed straight to one of the proofs and picked it up.

“UnderWorld, hunh? Awesome!”

He picked it up and started flipping through it.

“Wait a minute.” Josh stood up. “You mean to tell me a guy we thought up
until now was totally fiction turns out to be real….AND hes a goob?”

Nick thwacked him on the noggin with the rolled-up proof.

“I was protecting you guys, you know.”

“From what?”

“From this.” He said, sliding the stack of papers across the table.

I picked up the stack as the others attacked Nick, demanding to see his
drivers license, Karmic of The Underground Tattoo, and Edentech gadgets, all
of which he quietly produced to even more gasps and raised eyebrows. I
flipped through the notes, sketches, photographs, and hastily-scrawled
reports. It was all here.

Nick looked at me over the UnderWorld print proof.

“Whats with second character sheet?”

I was looking into the eyes of the- sorry, A- Son of God, and Lord help me,
he was a Goob. Just like us.

“Josh put that in.”

“Yeah, I though it might be cool to have a Tagger sheet, and a subway sheet…

Something clicked in Joshs head.

“Do you know Dexter Tenchi?”

“Met him a couple times through Hobie Killian.”

“Hobie Killian? My…character? My character is real?”

“Sure. Asked to come by, but hes in Seattle right now on business. He wanted
to meet you.”

A new flurry of questions began as everyone jumped on Nick in the hopes of
learning about their characters, all of which, of course, actually existed. I
had to cut it short.

“Guys…Guys!”

It got quiet. Nick was grinning like a loon, clearly enjoying the attention.

I tapped the papers.

“This stack of paper is the culmination of all of Nicks work. We have here
all the information we need to create The Last Exodus as an RPG. We need to
get on the ball. You guys did an amazing job on UnderWorld, so lets put that
experience to good use here with The Last Exodus. Remember, we cant tell a
soul about …-”

“About what?” Asked Nick, sitting down in one of the swivel chairs next to
Nichole. She smiled at him and he threw his trademark snicker right back. I
could hear the girls heart pounding from where I was standing…an added
complication.

“About…this! About the fact that youre here, and all of you guys are real!”

“Why? Youre about to release a game about us. Plausible deniability, Sean.”

“What do you mean ?”Asked Delmar.

“I mean that no one will believe any of you if you talk about us anyway.

Tell people whatever you want…hell, write about this whole experience in your
column. Everyone will assume its just teaser fiction.”

“Umm…”

“Think about it… You guys claim to have met the actual characters and events
in The Last Exodus? You write it like a non-fiction report with a rules
system? No one will believe its REAL, but theyll taste the POSSIBILITY of
its reality. Remember White Wolf in the mid-nineties? Who didnt mess with
the possibility, at least once, that the Vampires put out the games
themselves to cover their own ass? Or Cyberpunk before that? Wasnt that
supposed to be a transmission into the past to prepare people for the future?
Presenting fiction as fact is nothing new, and in this case we present fact
as fiction pretending to be fact.”

“Real or not, me and this guy are gonna be fightin if he keeps talking like
that,” growled Peet. “Hes giving me headache.”

“No, I get it. I understand.” I rubbed my hands together. ” All hes saying
is that we can talk about this stuff freely, because no one will believe us.”

“I dont believe us, and Im right here.” Frank muttered.

“Wha..?”

“Go back to sleep, Clayton.”

“Yup.” His head returned to the table.

I picked up the sheaf of information. Incredible.

“Well, this half of what you asked for, so Ill be going now…” said Nick.

“Wait! Half?” I picked it up.

“Half. Ill get you the rest soon. You guys have a good Gen Con. UnderWorld
looks great…mind if I grab a copy? ”

“Waddaya mean, half? ”

“Gotta go!”

With that, Nick disappeared around a corner. Literally. The others searched
the entire office, the parking lot, not a sign of him.

I looked at the sheaf of papers as they scrambled and hunted.

“Jesus Christ. Jesus H. Christ. Call off the search.”

The others stopped. I held up the papers.

“Magnum Opus. The Sacred Rites of the Underground. No doubt this work is
Nicks Magnum Opus. We just watched him cross over to Eden. ”

We all shared a good shiver and got very quiet. A single slip of paper- a
napkin, by the look of it, dropped from the pile I was holding. It read:

“Dear Synister Creative Systems:

This is all about Messiahs and Ahura Mazda. Will get you info on Antichrists
and GODHEAD soon. After that, watch your damned backs. They WILL come after
you.

Thanks again- Nick”

I read the note slowly and quietly to my friends and co-workers, who didnt
talk much for the rest of the night.