Chapter 1: The Whitamore

“There weren’t always dragons in the Valley.” Clemson Johnson stated before taking a long, contemplative pull of his pipe.

“But they live there now, right, Uncle Clem?” asked one of the children sitting around the fire curiously. “How did they get there if they used to live here?”

“They flew, dummy,” another chimed in with a scowl. “Just let Uncle Clem tell us the story.”

“The question you should have asked Maya was, why did the dragons flee to the Valley when they had all of Manhattan to feast upon?” Clem asked.

He looked at the young ones gathered around the rooftop campfire eagerly waiting for him to go on with the story. They would never know or experience the world before the Shift. A world filled with lights, transportation, music, entertainment, endless food, and a host of other things he had taken for granted until the day it was all gone in the span of mere hours. Sure, there were markets for trade and neighboring complexes, each their own little village, but the rooftop of the Whitamore apartment complex had become Clem’s entire world since the Shift.

“Ten years ago, long before most of you were born into this strange world, there was what I like to call, the Shift. When it first happened, no one really understood what was going on. Family and friends became unrecognizable to each other. People were physically twisted into new species and races that had never existed except in our imaginations. Mythological creatures bloomed into existence, turning the common squirrel or the family dog into beasts of legend. The world we lived in became unrecognizable as we lost the power and technology that drove our society and we were plunged into darkness and chaos. Then the dragons came.” Clem paused as he remembered the roars that filled the air, the acrid stench of burning flesh, the screams of terror that never seemed to end…

“The shiny, towering skyscrapers became their nests, towering over the city and giving them the perfect advantage to pick us off while we were busy waging war with each other over food, water and shelter. They used our distraction to their advantage and the dragons started snapping us up like McDonald’s meals.”

“What’s a McDonald’s meal?” Maya interrupted. The other children shushed her, but Clem laughed. He had never thought to see the day when anyone, especially a child wouldn’t know what McDonald’s was.

“You know how you have to wait hours for food to be ready?” He asked them. Most of the kids nodded. “Well, before the Shift, you could get a meal in minutes. It was called fast food and people lived on it because they were always on the run. McDonald's was one of these fast food places.”

“Were they being chased?” a little boy with faun-like features asked.

“No, Tyler, they were just busy living their lives. People didn’t have time to cook or sit around fires to chat the night away.” Clem said. “I think of all the food from before the Shift I miss the most, it’s a delicious, juicy cheeseburger.”

“Oooh! My dad told me about cheeseburgers. He said they were yummy!” Squealed Victoria, an elven child.

“What’s a cheeseburger?” Tyler asked.

“It’s meat,” Victoria announced proudly, as if that explained anything to children who had never had any kind of animal product. Fresh meat was far less accessible these days.

“What’s meat?” Jessica, the gnome, wanted to know. “Is it a special vegetable we can’t grow?”

“It comes from a cow,” Victoria replied. “My dad said he used to eat them every day.”

“Whoa! Your dad ate meat? Does meat come from cows only?” A fairy named Joe asked.

“No, it can come from any animal like dogs, cats, pigs, ducks, unicorns, dragons…” Victoria ticked the animals off on her fingers.

“I’ve never had meat. It sounds tasty,” Joe mused thoughtfully.

“None of us have because there’s not a lot of animals to eat in the city.” Victoria explained. “My dad said there used to be places called farms that had animals and plants and when the meat and vegetables were ready to be eaten, they would be shipped to big places called supermarkets where people could buy them. He says that in other places people still eat meat, just not here.”

“Hey, wait! Tyler is an animal...kinda. Does that mean we can eat him?” Joe asked looking at Tyler wistfully.

“No, no, no,” Tyler scuttled back away from Joe looking utterly terrified. “I’m a person. I’m not food. My mom said that it doesn’t matter what I look like on the outside, I’m human on the inside.”

“Yeah, but isn’t your mom a faun too? Of course, she’s gonna say that.”

Clem was concerned by the look in Joe’s eye as he stared hungrily at Tyler.

“Listen up and listen well,” boomed Clem. “You are ALL human. Before the Shift your parents were all human. They had no control over what happened to them or how you were born but at our core we are all human beings. That means we do not eat each other or treat each other differently. For us to survive, we must stick together and support one another otherwise our humanity will be lost. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, Uncle Clem,” chorused the children.

“Excellent, now where was I?” mused Clem thoughtfully. “Ah, yes. We were at war with each other, and the dragons were snacking on us. However, once we realized that the dragons were a bigger threat to us than we to each other, we banded together to take them down. There were so many problems at the time: food was scarce, clean water was almost nonexistent, and many of our buildings had been destroyed by the dragons. Some very smart people realized that if we could kill a dragon then our food problem would be solved and so it became our mission to trap and kill as many dragons as possible. We brought down the towering skyscrapers, we stole their eggs, hunted their weak mercilessly. Food became plentiful but the dragons got smart. When they realized their food source was fighting back and winning, they decided to move on, right into the Hudson Valley. By that time, vegetable gardens had become common and established and clean water was accessible again thanks to so many heads working together and we finally had peace in the city once more.”

Clem ended his story while it still had a happily ever after. There was no point in bringing up the dangerous factions being established around the city, threatening the very kind of community he had built over the years. When he looked out at his now sleepy audience, he didn’t see trolls, fairies, gnomes, dwarves, and goblins. No, he saw children who deserved as much of a childhood as they could have in this kind of world. There would be time enough for reality when they were older.

“Uncle Clem?” queried a troll who had been sad and contemplative all evening.

“Yes, Ricky?”

“If my mom and sister stayed human during the Shift, but my brother and dad turned into orcs, how come I was born a troll?”

These were the tough questions. The kind of questions that science, if it still existed, would be unable to answer. Whole families had been destroyed over situations like Ricky’s. Clem knew that no matter how he answered, it wouldn’t make the troll child feel any better.

“I’m going to be honest with you, Ricky. I don’t know. I’m not sure if anyone has the right answer to your question but what I do know is that appearances don’t make you any less family.”

“That’s not what my brother Chris told me.” Ricky sniffled, running his arm along his nose. “He says that we have different dads and that I’m the reason his dad left us.”

Clem’s heart went out to the kid, it really did but Ricky wasn’t the only sad story in the building. All these kids had experienced loss and trauma.

“Why don’t you and I continue this conversation in private, Ricky?” Clem offered, hoping to avoid escalating the conversation.

“But I don’t want to be a troll!” Ricky yelled as he leapt to his feet and stamped his over-sized foot angrily. “I want to be a human or an orc like my brother so I can fix my family.”

A few of the children whimpered when Ricky stood up. Troll children tended to be taller than the others and at ten years old, Ricky easily towered over the other kids at a healthy 6’4”. His height and anger were enough to cause some of the younger children to cry.

“Okay, everyone! Story time is over!” Angelica DelGado, Ricky’s older sister, called out cheerily as she strolled onto the rooftop. “It’s past everyone’s bedtime, including you, Uncle Clem.”

The children dispersed; sniffling, yawning, and rubbing their eyes. Angelica watched them file through the doorway. As Ricky sulked past, she grabbed his arm.

“Wait for me in the kitchen. We need to have a little chat about your outburst.”

Ricky nodded, looking utterly miserable.

Angelica waited until everyone was off the roof before she turned to Clem and put her hands on her hips.

“You’re losing your touch, old man.” She teased.

“Girl, it is not my fault that your brother is an emotional fireball.” Clem protested. “I’m getting too old for this nonsense.”

“No one else can do what you do, Clem,” Angelica said. “You’re the glue that holds this place together. If you weren’t here, I don’t know what would happen to the Whitamore.”

Clem was the building’s super before the Shift. He had always kept a garden on the rooftop of the Whitamore, although it had been more flowers and less food in those days. When the Shift struck, Clem had been on the roof. As his body jerked and shuddered, Clem lost his balance and pitched forward hitting his head on one of the raised beds. When he came to, he had four very long legs and the torso of a horse. He had also become trapped on the roof, unable to use the stairs to get into the building.

“Don’t you get all sentimental on me, Angelica DelGado,” Clem brushed off her words. “You get that TV working yet?”

“Any day now,” Angelica replied with a smile. It was an old joke between them.

“Good, because I need something else to do besides watch plants grow.”

“You know, I was thinking, I could probably make some sort of an elevator to get you off this roof finally.” Angelica offered.

“No thank you.” Clem shuddered at the thought. “I’d die of fright before I hit the ground. Besides, someone needs to keep you folks alive. I’ve seen your thumb, Angelica, it’s blacker than this rooftop.”

“Hey, not everyone can be a skilled gardener. My strengths lie elsewhere. Thanks to me, you have plenty of clean running water for this garden.” Angelica retorted good-naturedly.

“That is true, I wouldn’t even know where to begin doing the things you do.” Clem conceded before turning to grimmer topics. “You need to have a chat with Christopher, Angelica. He’s going down a dark and dangerous path.”

“I know,” Angelica replied sadly. “I heard Ricky earlier. Ever since mom died, it feels like I just…lost Chris. He’s distant and angry all the time.”

“That’s because he’s been hanging around those Red Legion kids. They are bad news, Angelica. They will brainwash him until he turns on his own family. You need to stop that from happening.”

“How?” Angelica protested. “Everything I say to him is wrong. It’s not like I can ground him. He’s 9 feet tall and outweighs me by 250lbs.”

“You need to appeal to his heart. Find the Chris that came to the Whitamore all those years ago, clinging to his mother’s leg while she begged me for a place to stay.” Clem placed a gentle hand on Angelica’s shoulder. “It’s never too late, no matter how far gone you think he is.”

“And if I can’t change his mind?”

“Then I’ll have to ask him to leave.”

Angelica pressed her lips together and nodded. “Alright, I’ll speak to him tonight. Good night, Clem.”

“Good night, Angelica.”

Angelica found Ricky obediently sitting at the kitchen island. Chris wasn’t home. He was probably out somewhere in the neighborhood with his orc cronies.

“Do you want to talk about what I heard you telling Clem tonight?” She asked, pulling up a stool next to him.

“Not really,” grumbled Ricky petulantly. He sat with his shoulders hunched, his head hung low as his massive frame perched awkwardly on a stool made for a human.

“When did Chris say those things to you?” Angelica pressed.

“This morning.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because then you would be mad at Chris.” Ricky’s voice was small. “You two already fight all the time.”

“That has nothing to do with you,” Angelica reassured him. “Your brother isn’t making good decisions right now and us arguing is just me trying to help him find his way.”

“I don’t like when you and him fight,” Ricky said. “I don’t like being a troll either. It’s stupid. I can’t even do magic like Dominick.”

“Harry is a troll, and he is your best friend.” Angelica reminded him. “Troll magic comes in time. Dom couldn’t do any kind of troll magic when he first turned but now he’s managing basic spell-work.”

“That’s stupid.”

“It’s not stupid, Ricky. It’s the life you’ve been given, and you should be grateful for it. No matter what Chris says, we are family. Nothing will ever change that.” Angelica wished her mother was here. She was so much better at this sort of thing.

“I guess,” Ricky sounded skeptical.

“Look, it’s late bud, and Clem will be expecting you in the garden real early. How about you brush your teeth and get some sleep? We can talk about this tomorrow some more, okay?” Angelica suggested. Maybe by tomorrow she could think of the right things to say or at least get Chris to apologize.

Ricky nodded and shuffled off to the bathroom. She listened to the water turn on with satisfaction. Figuring out how to get clean water flowing through the building had been one of her crowning achievements since the Shift.

“Come read me a bedtime story!” Ricky yelled from his bedroom a few minutes later. Angelica smiled and headed down to his room. The irony of a giant troll with blue gray skin and black hair wanting a bedtime story was not lost on her.

Ricky was curled up under his space-themed comforter. His whole room screamed galaxy and outer space. Angelica remembered scouring for these items in local stores. Her mother had worked so hard to make this place comfortable for them.

“What story do you want to hear?”

“Something real. No stories about fantasy creatures or magic,” Ricky replied making a disgusted face. His amber colored eyes glowed in the dimly lit room. “Read me something normal.”

Angelica scanned the bookshelf for something that would suit his request.

“How about…Robinson Crusoe?” She suggested.

“What’s it about?”

“It’s about a guy who gets marooned on an island for a long time and then is rescued by pirates.” Angelica replied scanning the summary.

“Were pirates real?”

“A long time ago, yes.”

“And there’s no mermaids or talking fish or sea witches?”

“Nope, seems like a fictional autobiography.”

“Okay, go.” Ricky replied happily.

Angelica read until Ricky’s eyes drooped closed and his breathing became deep and even. She marked the page she had left off on and placed the book on his nightstand before quietly sneaking out of his room.

She was just starting to nod off, curled up on the living room couch when the front door clicked open announcing Chris’ arrival. The enormous shadow of her brother fell over her as he attempted to sneak past her to his own room.

“Chris?” Angelica called sleepily.

“Yeah, sorry to wake you.” Chris answered reluctantly. “Why are you on the couch?”

“I was waiting for you. Can we talk?”

“What about?”

“Come sit down.”

“I’d rather not, Gen. Make it quick, I gotta go back out.”

“You just got home.” Angelica protested.

“Yeah, I was just stopping by to get something.”

“I hope it’s a shirt,” Angelica raised an assessing eyebrow. “Since when do you walk around without a shirt?”

“It’s hard to find shirts that fit me, you know.” Chris retorted.

“Oh yeah? Cuz I’m pretty sure you have an entire dresser filled with shirts that fit you just fine.” Angelica rolled her eyes. “Chris, I’m worried about you. We need to talk about you ditching these Red Legion kids.”

“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.” Chris crossed his massive arms and widened his stance. “They are the only ones around here that don’t make me feel like I’m a freak. It’s nice to be with my own kind.”

“Your own kind, Chris?” Angelica asked incredulously. She stepped up onto the couch, planted her hands on her hips and glared right back at him. “WE are your kind. WE are your family. I can’t believe you told Ricky you two had different fathers…that you weren’t brothers. You know that isn’t true.”

“Actually, I don’t.” Chris replied off-handedly. “Explain how Ricky’s a troll but Dad and I got turned into orcs.”

“Explain how mom and I stayed human when ¾ of humanity turned into mythological species?” Angelica threw up her hands in frustration. “Explain how Luna became a gorgeous elf while Dominick became a troll. They're TWINS, Christopher. TWINS. Tell me they don’t have the same father or mother or whatever bullshit the Red Legion is passing off as logic to you.”

“It makes sense,” Chris insisted. “Mom was scared. She would have said anything to keep us together after dad walked out.”

“You’re really starting to sound like dad,” Angelica seethed.

“That’s not the insult you want it to be.” Chris dropped his arms and shrugged. “Look, Gen, you don’t get it. No one in this building trusts me. All these elves, gnomes, dwarves, fairies, even Clem – our almighty centaur leader – looks at me like I’m some kind of villain. It’s like they are just waiting for me to hurt someone.”

“That is not true –“

“It IS though. You don’t see it because you’re everyone’s favorite. The mega-genius who saved them in their darkest hour.” Chris’ tone was bitter. “But the real reason you’ll never understand what I go through daily is because you got to stay human and I’m…this.”

Angelica weighed her words carefully before she spoke.

“When I look at you, I don’t see a villain. All I see, is my brother. Not an orc. Not a monster. My family. Please Chris, you need to stop hanging around these guys. They are poisoning your mind. Can't you see that?”

“You’re wrong, Gen. The Red Legion is a safe space for creatures like me. The things they say at the meetings are proven on the streets. Everyone sees us as some sort of threat.”

“That’s because the Red Legion goes around terrorizing the neighborhood and burning down buildings. They prey on people like you who hate the way they look. People who feel lost and alone among their own. They brainwash you until you believe everything they say; until you're willing to turn against us. Chris, we’ve lost so much already. Please, don’t make me lose you too.” Angelica’s voice broke as she fought against the sadness rising in her.

“Please don’t leave us,” Ricky pleaded from the hallway. “Don’t leave us like dad did.”

Chris scowled at Ricky.

“Trolls and orcs are natural enemies, buddy. It’s only a matter of time before you start hating me too.”

Ricky’s eyes widened in shock and then his face screwed up as he started to cry.

“You can’t say things like that to him, Christopher! God, you are such a dick sometimes,” Angelica admonished, smacking Chris’ arm as she jumped off the couch to console Ricky.

“What? It’s true,” Chris said defensively.

Angelica gave him a withering look before turning her attention to Ricky.

“Come on, honey, let’s get you back to bed. Ignore your brother. He’s just in a bad place right now.”

When she returned to the living room Chris was gone.

Angelica woke up later than usual the next day feeling like she’d been hit by a train…not that trains still ran in today’s world, and cursed Chris for keeping her up late and draining her emotionally. She dressed quickly, donning a pair of black jeans and a light blue t-shirt before grabbing an apple from the kitchen and heading to her workshop in the back of the apartment.

After the Shift, Angelica became obsessed with turning things back to the way they were. She couldn’t let go of the promising life that had stretched before her before being ripped away without warning. She took everything and anything she could find apart, replaced fried or missing parts, and put them back together again, but nothing responded like it used to before the Shift. Apparently the Shift had done more than alter people’s appearances and turn animals into creatures of legend and myth. It had altered the very physics of the planet. Electricity no longer worked, no matter how many times and ways Angelica rewired it. Steam tech kind of worked but the pressures were all wrong and Angelica struggled to make sense of any of it.

As she made friends with some of the kids in the building who were around her own age, she learned of a game called The Kingdom. Luna Aurelia, an avid Kingdom player insisted that these new world dynamics mimicked the game play of the mystical land of Ourea where the game was based. Luna spent hours explaining to Angelica how things worked in the game and when Angelica began abiding by these new rules, items started to work again. Angelica had never played The Kingdom before and her family, although comfortable, could never afford to visit the lavish theme park halfway around the world that let its visitors become the characters they loved to play.

However, Luna and her twin brother, Dominick, had spent every summer of their childhood on Ourea playing real life fantasy. Most of the kids in the building had been to Ourea more than once and were happy to fill Angelica in on how things worked in game versus at the theme park. The Whitamore residents had all been beyond wealthy before the Shift.

Today, money was a thing of the past. Skills and food were the only currency now. Angelica spent her days finding ways to make old tech work in this new world and then she sold it to nostalgic customers who would trade food and goods in return for a piece of the past.

“Good morning!” Luna Aurelia announced cheerfully as she poofed into existence in the middle of the workshop.

Angelica shrieked; her concentration shattered as she nearly fell out of her seat. Luna grinned and spread her arms expecting the applause that wasn't coming.

“I’ve perfected the art of teleportation,” she said smugly. Luna was one of the lucky survivors of the Shift. She had shifted into what she claimed was The Kingdom version of the elven race, a magical group of beings who were tall and beautiful. Luna was no exception. Her hair, platinum blonde, always hung down her back in perfect ringlets, her ears had just the right amount of point to them, and her almond shaped eyes had an exotic slant and glowed a hypnotic purple. Plus, she was a mage. A real deal magic wielding mage, who could now, teleport, apparently.

“I can’t believe you did it. You've been working at it for years.” Angelica marveled. If she could have any gift from the Shift, it would be the ability to wield magic.

“I’ve been able to do it pretty successfully for a couple of weeks now. The only other person who knows is Dom. He’s super jealous.” Luna smirked.

“I bet, I’m pretty jealous myself,” Angelica admitted.

“It’s not all sunshine and rainbows. It’s disorienting and for some weird reason my palms get sweaty every time I jump.” Luna grimaced as she rubbed her hands on her jeans.

“Could be worse,” Angelica pointed out. “It could make you throw up every time.”

“Now that would be awful,” Luna agreed. “And it would mess with my plans.”

“Not this again,” Angelica begged.

“Yes, this again.” Luna mimicked playfully. “We can go to Ourea now. You can try to fix or reverse whatever happened over there and the world can go back to the way it was.”

Angelica closed her eyes and asked for patience. Luna was obsessed with the idea that Ourea was ground zero for the Shift and she had gotten it into her head that Angelica was the only person in the world left who could fix it.

“Luna, we’ve been over this, more than once. It’s not like someone flipped a switch or a breaker tripped. The world has changed at a molecular level. I can’t undo something like that with spare parts and elbow grease.” Angelica said. “Besides, we don’t even know that Ourea is the place we need to go.”

“I do.” Luna insisted. “Ourea is where it all started. I was watching the news with my parents. I saw the leaked videos from the island before the blackout. It was pure chaos. The newscaster mentioned a power surge and how the island had gone radio silent. Then a dragon ripped through Channel 7 right before it went off air. Next thing I know, the whole freaking planet went off grid and everyone started turning into Kingdom characters. Something or someone on Ourea caused this, which means it’s gotta be reversible.”

“Even if we did go to Ourea and “fix” the world,” Angelica made air quotes around the word fix. “You would give up magic? You would give up the model body and the amazing, good looks without a second thought?”

“I’m the exception to the rule. Dom is miserable, Chris is lost, Ricky is falling apart, your dad left, my parents didn’t survive, none of these kids have a real childhood, there are monsters around every corner, and nothing works.” Luna shrugged. “Yeah, I’d give up magic and some cosmetic pleasantry to have a somewhat normal life again. Please, Gen, You’re the only one who can fix this, I just know it. At least consider it?”

“I can’t just leave,” Angelica shook her head. “Chris is…well, I’m losing him to the Red Legion. There will be no one to watch Ricky. I can’t just abandon him.”

“We’ll take him with us.” Luna said quickly.

“Do you really think Dom would miss out on the adventure of a life-time?” Angelica reminded Luna.

“You’re right. Dom would need to come with us.” Luna contemplated. “Chris too. So, he doesn’t get sucked into that nasty Red Legion business.”

“Are you strong enough to teleport five of us across the country?” Angelica asked. “We aren’t talking about three floors. This would be thousands of miles and you’re hauling an orc, two trolls and a human in addition to yourself. That’s got to take quite a bit of energy or whatever your magic runs on.”

Luna pouted. She hated losing to logic.

“Fine, we will wait until I’m stronger, but we are going. All of us.”

“Luna, I am not leaving Whitamore for some crazy save-the-world adventure you’ve cooked up in your head. This isn’t some online game. This is real life. There are very real dangers out there and if one of us gets hurt or worse, dies, there’s no coming back from that. There's no respawning or second chances. It would be game over.”

Luna opened her mouth to reply with something outrageously optimistic when they heard the front door bang open, and Ricky came barreling into the workshop.

“Gennie, Gennie! Come quick! I think there is something wrong with Uncle Clem.”

“Why do you say that?” Angelica asked, instantly concerned. Luna tensed beside her.

“He never got up for garden time this morning and he won’t answer the door when we knocked. I think he’s sick or something.” Ricky explained.

"Okay, we'll go check on him, you wait right here," Angelica told him.

“No time like the present to start practicing,” Luna grabbed Angelica’s hand.

“We’ll be right – erp!"

The apartment jolted away, and the rooftop appeared in its stead. Angelica’s head swam and she felt intensely nauseous. Once it passed, she became aware of an equally disgusting feeling.

“Ew, your hands are gross,” Angelica yanked her hand out of Luna’s and wiped them vigorously on her black jeans.

“I told you,” Luna gave a half-hearted laugh. “Sweaty palms aside, I didn’t even break a sweat teleporting you.”

“Don’t start,” Angelica warned her. She looked around. The rooftop was deserted. The kids must have gone back home when Clem didn’t show up. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Me too.”

They walked over to Clem’s door and knocked.

“Clem? Are you okay?” Angelica called.

There was no answer. Luna swallowed uncomfortably and reached for the door handle. The door swung open to reveal Clem laying on the floor in a pool of his own blood, his throat slit. Both girls gasped in unison. Not only at the violence but at the red eagle symbol spray painted onto the wall behind Clem’s twisted body. The message couldn’t be any clearer. The Whitamore had been marked by the Red Legion as their next target.