Cole Sumner

Cole Sumner
Aliases	CRSumner, CRSummoner
Known Associates	Deirdre Green (friend), The Mountaineers
Guild	Flinterforge
Biographical Information
Marital Status	In a relationship with Deirdre Green
Physical Description
Gender	Male

Cole Sumner is a magically gifted individual who runs the blog CRSumner. He has helped The Mountaineers on occasion.

Personality

A good guy with a childhood that haunts him and a broken relationship with his father, Cole is another "orphan" like Deirdre, Endri, and Eaves. He's had to pull The Mountaineers out of a few tight spots, and his willingness to jump into a strange or dangerous situation to help other people says a lot about him. He has a good heart and wants to connect, wants to belong, but something keeps him from fully reaching out. Even to Deirdre.

In a way, Cole feels like he's never belonged anywhere. But this ordeal with The Book of Briars, with Deirdre, has given him a sense of purpose. He had to be there for the fraylily, he had to be there for the obenhedge, the bridge, the clocks, the library. For once, what happened to him in the past isn't a burden, but maybe a clarion call for his future.

Biography

When Cole was 9 years old, he was involved in an accident that put him in the hospital. Afterwards, Cole was bed-bound for some time after, a turn of events that led him to escapism via books and art. . Cole described himself as "weird" as a kid, having no friends and always feeling out of place "in a world where you had to be this or that, one or the other" . Before the events of The Monarch Papers, Cole lived a relatively normal life as a personal trainer by day, and artist and reader by night.

Phase One

Recruits first met Cole in Fragment One, after tracking down a Tumblr post he had made about the FrayLily. In his post, he noted that he had dreamt about the flower and decided to illustrate it . Cole described his dream as being "about a flower that opened and these pieces of paper came folding out of it, making something" . This led recruits to be able to solve the first fragment.

Having identified Cole as magically adept, recruits began attempting to contact Cole on his Tumblr blog. Recruit Robert attempted to strike up a friendly conversation and try to learn more about him. Robert acted as a point of contact, asking him questions in order to jog his memory of Ackerly-Green Publishing . As it turned out, Cole did indeed remember the Ackerly Green's Guide to Magiq.

During Fragment Three, when recruits were at a loss to assembling lines of The Minnying of Ojorad in the correct order, Robert attempted to contact Cole to see if he knew anything of the poem or a hint the book had given them in the form of the word "Obenhedge" . Cole had known of the word, having recently dreamed of visiting The Last Traveller, who had tried to give him a plant called obenhedge and needed him to recite a remembrance poem to remember its true name . Once Cole was sent the lines of the poems, he was able to help rearrange them into the correct order . He then pmed Robert, informing him the he'd remembered the other name for obenhedge - Vhelicorus .

The Triplets Bridge Mission

Cole on his first periscope mission

Recruits were quick to turn to Cole again in Fragment Four, when The Devoted required the Mountaineers to retrieve a token in New York City. Recruit TheBellsAreRinging asked Cole where he lived to which he replied that he was from Hoboken . Somewhat reluctantly, Cole agreed to go to the drop site, hosting a Periscope stream of the retrieval. Cole's first journey took him to the Triplet's Bridge in Central Park. Trekking through the park at night, Cole tracked down Brandon's token. Initially he found the journey much more enjoyable than his poem dream, but he was later disturbed to find that the token had an extra set of ISBN codes listed on it that he swore wasn't visible when he found it.

The Clock & Phone Mission

Cole on his second periscope mission

Cole continued to be present during Fragment Four, helping recruits with a second periscope mission. Recruits needed to track down phone booths which held a special message from Brandon before The Devoted managed to find it. Cole was ready to assist, leaving after his shift . After successfully When recruits call Brandon's phone number to track down his secret instructions .

After the end of Fragment Four, Cole avoided the forums, wanting to live a magic-free life. This culminated in the post "I'm Not a Writer" in which Cole admitted that every time he tried to distance himself from the MAGIQ-verse, something new would connect him to the mystery. The post, which mentioned the Ackerly Green Book The Wolf and the Wild attracted the attention of Deirdre, who had set up a Google Alert for the book. The two began to talk, gaining a close relationship, although Cole lamented about hiding the truth of the Magiq-verse from her .

Phase Two

During Fragment Seven, Cole once again volunteered to retrieve a real-life item in New York . Traveling to the Morgan Library, Cole broke open the desk containing Seven Cradle Songs, although the book was stolen from him by Lauren Ellsworth, who was also seeking the book . Despite this, Cole managed to keep the contents of the book safe - a letter from Sullivan Green to Deirdre .

After the events of the Morgan Library, Cole met up with Deirdre, giving her the letter her father wrote to her. Cole talked to Deirdre for hours, telling her everything about the Basecamp, her father, and magic. She listened quietly until Cole was done, then left after saying she was tired, taking the letter and leaving him to wonder if he would ever hear from her again .

Phase Three

Cole's last Tumblr post was on March 8, titled "DG." Cole stated that he hadn't been back to the forum after revealing the truth to Deirdre, and that it was better this way, though he was there for the Mounties if they ever needed it. After Deirdre left the country, Cole was distressed, believing he was partially at fault for her departure.

In "Japan?," Deirdre revealed that she had called Cole, which lead to the journal unlocking after a feeling of adoration. At the end of Deirdre's globetrotting journey, in "The Door - Part Three, Deirdre returned to New York to be with Cole and the two started a romantic relationship. The two spent several weeks together in Hoboken, living away from magiq, until Deirdre had a revelation in "Did I Say Done?" that led her to resume the search for the truth. in "Birthday Girl," Cole supported her decision to continue pursuing magiq, stating her time with The Monarch Papers and the Book of Briars was not quite over.

Phase Four

In "Picking Up the Thread", Cole helped Deirdre translate the Morse code on the loose thread from her scarf, leading to the address of a hundred-year-old apartment building that at some point had been converted into a boutique hotel. The next day, Cole accompanies Deirdre to the apartments and they traveled to room 717. Inside, they met Meredith Grey Ackerly and spoke with him in "M. Grey Ackerly." After knocking on the door to room 717, an elderly man answered the door and was introuced to Deirdre. After stating that she was, the man introduced himself as Meredith Grey Ackerly. The conversation continued in "M. Grey Ackerly," talking to Deirdre and Cole for over an hour. He told them that his fake death had been Sullivan's plan, who believed that forces were out to kill the Ackerlys. Grey explained that the apartment had been preserved at great cost, first to protect him and others in the families, then eventually Deirdre. Ackerly gave Deirdre a box that he had held onto for her father and, after opening the box and finding the chronocompass and a journal, Cole and Deirdre left the Apartment.

On August 4, 2017, during Fragment Fourteen, Deirdre returned to Bunratty with Cole after the passing of her Aunt Monica. After several days, Deirdre insisted Cole return to New York to help the Mountaineers, giving him the chronocompass and the journal. Cole arrived at a landmark called the Portal Down to Old New York, which were obtained through coordinates from Inlaudetus, and the chronocompass began taking him around the city. The compass led him to several landmarks across town and caused him to unlock a very personal journal entry, which Deirdre described in "Neither Here Nor There."

Cole went to find Deirdre after her blog post, but found that the brownstone was empty and the journal and chronocompass were missing. Cole added that he had written down the locations he went to from his chronocompass journey and had found it near the entrance to the brownstone, wondering if it had any relevance to Deirdre's disappearance. Deirdre returned after several hours, where she revealed to Cole that she had been to Neithernor. Excited to show Cole where she had been, she summoned a door and took Cole to the warren. Deirdre and Cole had their first fight, because Cole didn't want to stay in the warren after it reminded him of a traumatic time from his childhood. Deirdre and Cole parted ways, with Deirdre continuing to explore Neithernor. Cole later went on the forums to explain the situation to the Mountaineers. As a child, Cole had been in a major car wreck that had broke two vertebrae, both legs, his left arm, and fractured his skull. Cole was unconscious in the hospital for several months while doctors tried to get the swelling down. During that time, Cole had memories of exploring another place and Cole had to see a psychologist, who believed he was trying to "paint over the accident." In his mind, he was able to escape the world and be the boy he felt he was inside, without any judgement. Cole's parents split up, and Cole became distanced to his father, who couldn't accept him when he came out as transgender. When Deirdre described the senses she felt in Neithernor, it reminded Cole of his old dreams and he became afraid, struggling to accept that the dreams had been real. Panicked and unwilling to talk about his memories at that time, Cole wanted to leave, which caused an argument, and Cole walked out after Deirdre wanted to stay in the warren. Afterwards, Cole felt remorseful for walking out on her.

After Deirdre went missing for several days, Cole sought her out in the brownstone. He found that the front window was shattered, leaving only her journal. Cole turned over the journal and found a note from Deirdre, telling him that the Storm had found her and she was trapped in Grey's apartment. Cole immediately went to Central Park, opened a door nearby, and kept it open to lure the Storm away from Deirdre. During Fragment Fifteen, Cole realized that the chronocompass was missing and found it in the Ramble, assuming it had fallen off the journal when it flew to the brownstone. Using the chronocompass, Cole was able to go to a new set of landmarks for another knocking pattern.

Deirdre and Cole explored a new location in "The Hike" and "The Tunnel", which was a lengthy tunnel that eventually led them to a small courtyard in "The Vault." Deirdre and Cole explored what they believed to be a castle, navigated the stone pathways until they came across a massive vault. The vault had all manner of artifacts and thousands of books. Nearly running out of food, Deirdre and Cole repaired a door in the vault and used it to knock back to the mundane world, where they left the door open so they could easily return. However, they soon learned that a door to Neithernor could only remain open for a short amount of time before causing issues. Deirdre decided to go back to the vault without Cole so that she could process the new location.

As Mountaineers planned to take down the Storm, Cole agreed to help lure it out and provide the items needed to trade for the Book of Briars. On The Day of Change, Cole met with Martin Rank in Central Park. Cole opened the door and the Storm arrived, and Mountaineers were able to take control of the Storm briefly. Cole attempted to exchange a backpack filled with Aisling Green's scarf and Deirdre's hippocampus necklace, but it was unsuccessful. Cole attempted to run, but was struck by lightning and was heavily injured. However, Deirdre appeared and struck down the storm after exchanging The Little Red House for the Book of Briars. Cole was sent to the hospital and he recovered there for several days.

After Fragment Sixteen, when Deirdre told recruits that her new goal in life was to explore Neithernor, Cole told her he would go with her. The two decided to go get pizza and head off together on their next journey. In the final video after recruits figured out the relevance of the roman numerals, there was a painting of Cole in the Bell Meadow.

Gallery

Concept image for Cole