Not Much Longer Now . . .

Mark shook his hand vigorously and sat up straight in his chair. "Sheesh. These invitations will be the death of me."

Warren snorted from his spot at another desk. "That'd be a little anticlimactic for Shattered, wouldn't it? 'And thus, Mark died from having to fill out too many invitations, even after he escaped suvorens and skirmishes.' Our readers would be more than a little miffed."

"The Author could always choose to revive me."

"Why would he bother? It's not like you've contributed to the story."

"Oh, aren't you the wise guy?" Mark rolled his eyes.

Warren turned to him and grinned. "You're too easy to bug, you know that?"

"I say everyone gets their fair share," David piped up. Warren chuckled at that.

"Tell me," Mark said after a moment, "why were we designated by the Author to invite his other protagonists to this anniversary thing? We're his newest creations."

"Not exactly." David put his pen down and rotated his wrist. "Ours was actually the first novel he ever attempted, except we were a lot different then."

Warren tapped his chin. "My memory's a little foggy on that, but weren't we soldiers at the time? Ones who acted more immaturely than we do now as grad students?"

"Pretty much. It was so bad that the Author went out of his way to do a whole series on his blog where he went through the original story and poked fun of a whole bunch of stuff."

"It's good that things have changed," Mark said. "But that doesn't answer my question. Why were we selected?"

"Probably because he trusts us the most," David said. "We're old friends."

"True enough." Warren bit the end of his pen for a moment. "Hope none of those nemeses of ours decide to crash the party."

"They'll be too busy planning to take over the world or finding items of power," David said. "They couldn't be bothered."

"You sure about that?" Mark asked as he went back to writing the invitations. There were just a few left, and the sooner they finished, the better. "If I were one of them, and I heard the Author himself was holding a big celebration without inviting one of the most important groups of characters . . . I'd be a little miffed."

"I really don't think they're that petty," David said. "In fact, it would be a golden opportunity for them to unleash some heinous plot."

Warren shook his head. "Whatever the case, I'm gonna stay alert. No need to get caught off-guard."

Half an hour later, the rest of the invites were all written up and sealed in fancy envelopes. "Perfect!" David clapped his hands. "You guys know your routes, so let's be on our way. Not much longer now!"

"What about the reader?" Warren asked.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Leave 'em one too."

Mark hastily wrote up another invite and left it on his desk. Once the trio left, all was still for a while. Finally, curiosity got the better of you, and you leaned in to grab the paper. It read in scrawling ink:

You are officially invited to Josiah Dyck's blogoversary celebration. The Author is hosting a party for two years of blogging, and he'd love to have you join in the festivities! No gifts or RSVP required. The event is being held on June 21st. We hope to see you there!