Familiar Ground (OPEN)

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Corone was many things to many people. For some it was a land of opportunity, a land of trade and commerce while to others it was home. Though often overlooked for more exotic lands, it was still undeniable that Corone was beautiful in its simplicity.

On any given day the simple men and women of a small town called Harnsey would have gone about their lives. There had been little to bother them, the Radasanth militia had done well to keep the town protected, though turbulent times with the Brotherhood had caused the towns guard to dwindle to less than a handful remaining.

But so long as trade continued to pass through from Radasanth to Underwood, there would be very little that happened in Harnsey that would go unnoticed for too long.

But this day was not a typical day, not for Harnsey, not for Corone, and not for the rest of the world either. Talk was in the air, whispers and rumours of a coming calamity. A mountain had exploded, erupted with the force of angry god. The sky had been scorched deep obsidian by scarlet flame.

News was hard to come by, and for the people of Harnsey, fact and fiction was difficult to determine, leading to strange tales and even stranger expectations.

Worry was rampant in this town and not from the local bandits either.

For the day had carried with it an unusual omen. The sky was as grey as ash. The wind had carried the smoke all the way from Lornius crossing land and sea causing the sun to cast an earie orange glow upon Corone.

The towns people had been easily rattled as the day had gone on, doom Sayers grew emboldened at the coming end to come. Though none more so had become more unhinged than a simple man called Phil.

Or as he now preferred to be called by



Philgast the Great!



“The End is nigh!” The Portly man shouted while standing precariously atop a wooden barrel.

He was an average looking man, though short he was as board as a dwarf, and had a beautiful thick curling grand moustache that hid his upper lip. He tossed the cape he had borrowed from Miss Thornton back over his shoulder in an elegant flourish and held his arms wide for all to gaze upon him.

“A great darkness sweeps across the land, and yet no one has yet to do anything!” Philgast bellowed as he swept his arm across the small crowd that had gathered in the town centre to watch.

“Not you” He said pointing to someone in the crowd.

“Or you”

“Or even YOU!” he hollered accusingly to a passing stranger.

The residents of Harnsey could have been considered rather tolerant when it came to strange and wondrous things, though even their nigh legendary tolerance could be stretched thin when one of their own disturbed the peace.

“Phil? Get down from there” spoke a woman approaching the portly man from behind.

Philgast winced as he turned to face the woman “Not now Marge, Can’t you see I’m busy!”

“Busy?” She echoed raising her brow “All you’re doing is making my ears ring”

“Get back to the farm, have you even fed the pigs yet?”

“Fool, my greatness cannot be silenced.” He shouted gallantly, dismissing the meagre peasant.

“Behold! as I have finally unlocked the secrets of this strange …thing.” He said gesturing with another extravagant flourish over towards an admittedly rather strange sight.

It looked like a crack, something splintered along a jagged line like a torn piece of paper, though that was where the similarity ended.

It lingered in the air about seven feet off the ground and attached to nothing. It pulsed and stirred gently with a bright white light that if you were to tilt you head a certain way and squint, it would almost resemble the blazing sun high over Fallien. The wind stirred around it, and cast a sand ridden breeze across the town centre, before falling aimlessly to the ground adding more to the growing pile.

It had all the hallmarks of something magical, something dangerous.

It however, had been there all week, and despite the lack of any explanation of how it had got there, the Townspeople of Harnsey and long since grew bored of it and were waiting for someone to arrive from Radasanth to remove it.

Though once again, thanks to the conflict with the Brotherhood, such a request had been unfortunately delayed.

“With my mystic arcane powers, I have learned that it is, in fact, a portal to another world!” The barrel mounted wizard proclaimed at the top of his voice. And spread out his arms wide in a grand fashion like a master showman.

“And through it rejoice as I! Philgast the Wizard! Shall lead you all to Salvation!”

"Well he's arrogant."

Vitruvion Elssmith, lacking the noble 'Sir' these days, after a personal choice and after what he and his business kingdom had gone through, stood leaning against the wall at one of the alleyways to the square of Harnsey town. Lips pursed, eyes narrowed he stared at the one who called himself Philgast the Great and considered that this man was utter tripe, like the stains of old blood that refused to move from the floorboards of the dining hall in his, now, burnt down mansion.

"Yeah," came a grunt from beside him, brows raised, "he's arrogant? It's not like I've known anyone else who is arrogant."

Vitruvion looked down from his tall height, peering through the veil of snow-white hair at the small feathered creature beside him. She stood at around four foot, ten inches, and had a raven's head, complete with beak, upon her shoulders. Black eyes stared at the wizard Philgast, and a hand gripped the hilt of an elaborate katana. Her body was wrapped in a roughspun grey tunic, with the glint of mythril underneath. Slowly she breathed, small breasts barely noticeable, and held herself with rigid poise.

Gently, Vitruvion dropped a hand and let it rest on her head. He teased a feather, idly stroking it before he answered.

"Stare," he chided, "that is rather rude."

She said nothing in reply, only stood there resolute. Instead a glittering of amusement came into her eyes, knowing that she had somewhat offended him. It had been entirely deliberate. He was, after all, a bastard of a man (or, more accurately, god stuffed into the body of a man, bleeding out divine power and not able to talk to anyone about his true identity aside from a select few, such as her because he was her god). Lightly, he admonished her with a flick of a finger on her temple before lowering his hand again it his side. His eyes darted up to the tear in reality.

"Where do you think it might lead?" Stare asked quietly. "Is it possible it could be ..."

"The chances of it leading back to my father's world is minimal," Vitruvion said quietly. "But a tear anywhere is also an escape. As I am I cannot teleport us to another world, and a new one may be what need."

Ever since the skies had opened and rained ash, or the clouds had begun to turn black, the two of them had been either captured, or running. First Stare had spent two weeks within the clasp of their long-time enemy, Vitruvion's half brother, Vindrexis. The half-god had also torn apart Vitruvion's entire world, slaughtering his closest allies, burning down his offices, stores and house, and all this after spending months of slowly taking away everyone whom Vitruvion trusted in his life. Stare had felt those two weeks in almost constant torture and death, her only comfort her brother, brought back from the dead by Vindrexis, if only to haunt her ...

Vitruvion had rescued her, after his own personal battles, after temporarily gaining back his power as a god that was the only way he could kill the bastard. Then they had fled to the volcano on Lornius, the theory being that if they were closer to the volcano then they could keep a direct eye on the danger ... But a day and that had proved stupid. So now they were back here on Corone, only a few miles from familiar ground, surveying the prospect of beginning a new life. And not as master and slave any more, as they had once been, as something different.

As equals.

They had been through a lot.

"So we could go through that to ... Wherever?" Stare asked, slightly in awe.

"Indeed, some distant plane, some ... Planet far across the universe." He glanced down at her, and paused before grunting. "We keep an eye on it. We stay."

"But what if there is danger?" the kenku asked, eye closest to her god meeting his gaze. "What if we have just walked into another mess of chaos?"

"It's worth the try," he concluded, "to see what is beyond the tear.

Philgast frowned as he saw his crowd had been unmoved by his splendour. It was to be expected he surmised, in these dark times there would be few who would believe that their salvation would be so easily attainable.

Even he would not have been so easily swayed by such a bold promise. But this, this magical crack, it was special. He could feel it in his gut, the way it made his skin tingle every time he saw.

Philgast nodded solemnly “I see the doubt on your face”

And indeed the faces in the crowd, both familiar and strange, outsiders and traders all watched him with thinly veiled contempt. It was to be expected he allowed, because they did not know what he knew.

The revelation had come to him just the other day, as he had been watching some of the kids throw stones at the crack in some kind of game. The children however had not noticed as the stones passed by unimpeded, all except one. It had touched the crack and disappeared, and sand had leaked from the anomaly like a torn bag of flour.

There was something on the other side he had realised, and after that his own wild speculations had allowed him to envision what lay on the other side.

History would not remember Phil the Farmer, the one who found an escape from this dark and bleak world that was cracking at the seams.

But Philgast the Great, that would be something retold thousands of times in the new world.
Philgast hopped of the barrel with a grunt, and palmed a stone he had been keeping in his pocket since he had finished rehearsing his moment of glory.

Philgast strode towards the Crack, feeling the weight of the stone as though to gauge how to use it. “But I am humble, and I will not deny any one of you a chance to flee this world before it burns”

He began to wind his arm back for a throw, his believe that this was his crowning moment was unshakable.

“For I Philgast the Great will show all of you the way!” He roared and threw the stone into the magical crack as hard as he could.

The crowd watched the moment intently, fully expecting nothing to happen and for the facade to come crumbling down. Philgast was not a wizard he was nothing but a simple farmer.

By right, nothing should have occurred. The stone would pass through and reveal the broken man for what he was.

The Crack split upon contact with the stone, and where once there was a minor abnormality in the seams of the world was now a gaping maelstrom of energy.

Unobstructed by the veils of reality a torrent of sand was freed to fall down to the ground as winds unknown to this world hit Philgast and the crowd with an intensity of a desert storm.

Philgast marvelled at the sight of the open portal, and though the image was distorted by magical torrents of arcane energies, it was impossible to mistake the sight of a desert on the other side amidst a sandstorm. He hesitated, and for the first time he felt unsure about this gate to salvation.

Just what was on the other side of that portal? And was he better off on this side?

The portal grew hungry, and a terrible feeling began to spread from its maw, a Magical energy so unlike anything else began to seep into this world. It felt Foreign, corruptive, malignant, as though it was like acid to all it touches.

A black form began to form on the other side, but before Philgast could even make out what it was it spilled through the portal and tumbled the brief seven foot drop to the ground and landed gracelessly in a crumpled heap.

It groaned a complaint and shifted the dark brown traveling cloak from its face, dislodging the sand that had been caked into it. Long dark brown weathered hair fell freely from its head as the humanoid rose from the ground and deposited a curiously familiar looking stone from their palm.

"Its a girl?” Philgast uttered curiously.

Not only did she look like a girl she also human and while young, Philgast certainly thought she was pretty. He also thought that she had the look of a scholar as under the brown traveling cloak was a dark grey robe that would have also suited a mage.

She turned to him as he said that with her brows dipped down over grey coloured eyes, looking as though she had just been insulted. But even as she moved to speak the words died on her lips as the girl suddenly looked scared as she swept her gaze across him and gathered crowd.

And then she turned around to look up at the still open portal above her and stumbled back in fear.

“Oh simose” cursed the boy called Sage Ainsworth, a soul thought to have been lost to Althanas.

Vitruvion immediately pulled Stare behind him, his eyes growing large and full of sudden determination at this creature who had fallen from the heavens.

A young being, neither obviously male nor female stood in the centre of the square. Brown, luscious and well-kept hair fell in waves upon waves, some ends as long as the thigh. Dressed in a simple tunic the being looked confused, and then seemingly disappointed as he looked up towards the portal. That strange tear in the fabric of reality which had seemed a hope for the kenku and the god, yet was now spouting people.

The god's eyes narrowed as he ducked a hand within the folds of his grey travelling coat (practical yet still with decorum) and grasped something solid within. Certainly, he did not want to travel through such a tear if the realm on the other side had humanoids like this readily available to leap out of them. What he preferred was a fresh green land, somewhere that he and Stare could begin anew. If there was such a place, if there was such a dream, then he would seize it with every fibre of his being.

Yet now ... firstly they needed to figure out if this being meant aggression or peace. He had pushed his kenku behind him as a precautionary measure, not liking the idea of people suddenly dropping in from other worlds, but now all the being was doing was staring into the sky.

Not an aggressive action in the slightest.

He took in a breath, studying the newcomer. They had hair traditionally of a humanoid female, yet spoke with a male note to their words. There were no defining curves or breasts, yet some creatures did not have breasts. It was highly possible that they were also not of any gender, but for the sake of the voice Vitruvion settled on the pronoun 'him'. At least for now.

"Stay behind me," he growled, as he began to step out.

Stare blinked, and tilted her head in confusion. But she nodded, angling her katana to be able to stay close at a quick pace. Vitruvion's white-blonde hair swept back from his face as he strode directly over the square, his hand finally being removed from his pocket to reveal a long golden dagger. He did not hold it angrily or threateningly, but rather at an angle kept low to the ground. It was a warning, simply, he liked to think. Trapped in the mortal form that he was in, which reduced a great amount of his ability to create from nothing and be omnipotent he was not entirely unable to be harmed, and so it was intelligent to show that he had the possibility of fighting back.

Were he to be struck.

"You are approaching him?" she asked under her breath.

He nodded once, and did not give words to his answer.

"Oh," she replied.

And that was all.

"I am Vitruvion. This is Stare," the man radiating power stopped before Sage. Behind him the crow-headed kenku leaned out and waved. The god stuffed in human body, who told the world in general he was a half-celestial instead for a number of reasons, pointed at the crack in the sky. "Who are you and where do you come from? What is that and where does it lead."

The portal was going to be an issue the boy decided after he finished examining the vortex that was slowly beginning to wind down. Something had caused it to become unstable, and he was sure that he had done nothing to it on the other side, other than fall gracelessly into it when it opened up below the sand dune he had been stood on.

‘Something on this side then’ he mused for a moment before he realised something was off.

The crowd was still staring at him, some with open awe and others with tempered caution, it was beginning to make his skin squirm. He shyly retreated backwards and almost bumped into the portly man who appeared to be a wizard? He muttered an apology and ducked backwards again but the crowd was still staring at him.

‘Right, they probably do not see many people fall from a portal in the sky’

Sage shivered as a cool wind blew through his hair, the change in climate had been rather sudden and his body was ill prepared for the sudden shift in temperature. He hugged his arms close to him and almost complained when he started to actually feel a power looming over him.

The empire had been a place where magic was rare and he had slowly gotten used to a land where magic felt very faint. But here he could feel the magic in the air, ripe and even more abundant than Elrohir the fabled city of the elves. It made his skin itch and almost felt as oppressive as the desert air he had just came from.

Or it could have been the person who had just approached him.

As the young mage turned to the person in question, he was immediately struck in awe by how perfect the man looked, handsome with sharp features, long flowing silver white hair and unmistakeably male.

There was something ironic about that.

The man held the bearing of a politician or a wealthy merchant if he were to hazard a guess, but he thought better of it when he saw the golden blade held low. Not for an attack, but a warning? That was certainly nice of him.

Vitruvian wasted no time after introducing himself and his companion and began launching a series of rapid-fire questions at the boy, most of which he doubted had a simple answer.

“Wait, I”

Sage stumbled back with his arms held up in surrender unsure of which question to tackle first. He opened his mouth to speak but came up short when he looked between Vitruvian and his companion. He locked eyes with the one called Stare, and found it was all he could do.

She was a …Kenku? He was sure of it despite never meeting one in person before. But … if there was a Kenku here, had the portal just returned him back north to the Empires country side? Because as far as he knew the race had been exclusive to that world.

No… no, that was not important right now, what he needed to do was ascertain where he was, because if he was in the wrong place then he needed to return through the portal and try another while Captain Valliere was keeping overwatch.

He blinked, and rounded his attention back to Vitruvian, the new sense of urgency helped the boy focus past the man’s oppressive presence.

“My name is Sage Ainsworth, and I am from a town called Crossroads on an island nation called Corone” he answered and lowered his arms to his sides, keeping them relaxed despite how tense he felt.

“Is this Althanas? I am trying to get home you see after I…”

“Behold the Messenger, the world beyond the portal sends an angel to greet us into our land of salvation!” Philgast cried out from behind the boy startling him. Sage turned and wondered what the wizard was yelling about when he saw the portly man gesture both to him and the portal.

“What, Messenger?” Sage frowned, not understanding the context.

“Salvation is at hand, the world beyond awaits our arrival”

The boy watched the portly man continue to proclaim that the land beyond the portal would lead them to salvation, a prospect that Sage knew could not possibly be any more wrong “Hey, no wait, you must not.”


“Is it really a better place?”
“He did it”
“Is the angel going to guide us?”
“To salvation!”


His protest did not reach the crowd over the enchanted murmurs that began to spread among them, now all too eager to believe what Philgast had to say, wizard or not, in their eyes the man had promised salvation. And what better proof was there than the angelic looking being that had appeared before them as Philgast had opened the portal with nothing but a stone.

Sage knew he would never be able to sway the growing fever of the crowd, nor could he force the portal closed, not in the unstable state it was in. He considered wasting one of his spells to get their attention, but as good as he had gotten with his magecraft, he still had a limit to how many times he could use each spell.

And he was loathing to use any spell without a good cause, besides, the boy already had another idea in mind.

Sage turned back and favoured Vitruvian with a look of genuine urgency.

“Please you must stop them, the other side of the portal leads to the Vale of Dreams!” he neglected to mention what the Vale exactly was on purpose. unsure on how to even begin to describe the corrupted magic of that desert, or the eternal sandstorm frozen in time due to a meteorite that broke all of reality around it.

“Captain Valliere is keeping overwatch for any sign of Reavers on the other side of the portal. But I fear the magic in this land will draw their attention before long” he explained.

And yet as he spoke someone from the crowd screamed and Sage’s eyes swept towards the open portal where a long-bladed scythe that even death itself would approvingly consider for reaping began to reach through the portal.

It edged its way over to the end of the vortex and began to push it wider, slowly ripping reality asunder like paper, there was no sound to accompany it nothing but the wind howling through the gap between worlds as the desert of the vale of Dreams leaked across dimensions into the town of Harnsey.

Sage paled as the Reaver entered the world previously untouched by its kin. The corrupted magic of the Vale was known to do terrible things to a man after prolonged exposure, and any creature with even a drop of magic was all too susceptible to the changes that the magic wrought upon them. The rapid growth in size was a common mutation as is the grotesque muscle expansion and cancerous growths.

The ground thundered under the staccato of four stiletto tipped legs piercing into the ground as the Reaver took the seven-foot drop effortlessly. Its antennae tasted the air and a dozen asymmetric eyes turned to those it stood before and saw nothing but prey.

The Reaver would have once been an ordinary Preying mantis, but exposure to the Vale had turned it into a 12-foot-tall ravenous hunter, the scythe like appendage alone was easily seven-foot-long and would have cleaved through the entire crowd if they had stayed in one place and not ran for their lives.

The Reaver screeched its displeasure and leaped through the air to the roof of the local inn, multiple eyes along its head and body tracking each potential feast hungrily.

Sage stared as the Reaver seemed spoiled for choice, usually the blasted things homed in on the largest source of mana, which had usually been him as of late.

“That is a Reaver by the way. Umm… do you have any airships armed with Magitech cannons in this world by any chance?” he asked, but somehow doubted it.

Vitruvion glanced to the strange androgynous being, male by what he had so far decided, brows raised and entirely confused.

He had mentioned trying to keep the crowd still and calm. Certainly, Vitruvion, even at his reduced ability, would be able to hold the thrall of the crowd for some period of time. Although much of his empire had fallen he still held the charisma and demeanor to hold quite the scene, to give a speech that could hold an audience captive. He had smirked, and felt incredibly proud, knowing that this was indeed one of his talents. Lowering the golden dagger he had begun to imagine how best to start. He could have Stare dart out and take their attention, showing to the world her glorious wings. Yes, they were not far from Akashima, but she was unique in her kind that she could fly. Her own presence was strong and fantastic as well, and could incorporate well as a precursor to his.

Yet, that period had passed. Now there was some sort of creature pushing its way through the void, from this 'Vale of Dreams,' whatever that was. Vitruvion stood, with his dagger ready, heart thundering in his chest as he took in the words and the actions and all that had happened. Stare began to peek out, her own eyes staring at the creature before them.

Massive. Terrifying. Moving with curious noises that were clicks and whirrs and a deep voice. Twelve feet long, with pincers held as if about to enter a boxing fight it stood above the maddening crowd and town, a horrific sight to be seen. Some form of insect it was, evil by the intent in its too many eyes, and oddly familiar.

"The Reaper?" Vitruvion murmured, "you said the Reaper? And what is a magi-"

Suddenly there was a burst of light. The massive insect screeched as something assailed it from below. Black, fierce and quick; a small blur occurred as a feathered assailant came right at the creature from below, cawing out in some fabulous noise of war.

"Ansaldo's balls!" Vitruvion yelled.

And he blinked. Then he was gone. All to appear right beside the flourishing black form that was right now running for the mantis' leg.

Stare had had enough. Being told to keep back, being told that she was to stay. Vitruvion had not given any specific order not to attack the Reaver, and thus she had gone in, deadly katana drawn, singing into the day. Its edge was keen enough to cut bone like paper. She steadily unfurled her wings, calling out in her native tongue to challenge the beast as she swept up her eyes and aimed to catch one of those of the beast before her.

"Come and get me, fucker!" she yelled as she drew up the blade, aiming for the closest leg. Her eyes stabbed to deliver a swift blindness, calling upon all the bad emotions of times long before that Vitruvion had brought into her life.

"Stare!" Vitruvion cried, appearing directly beside her, stepping out of some thinly veiled portal of the air.

She ignored him and went in for the cut.

Sage blinked, and then the man called Vitruvian had vanished with little more than a pop of air. The boy quickly caught sight of the man now standing closer to the beast alongside his partner who did not seem to want to stop and wait to hear what he had to say. The boy flinched at that, the Kenku girl flew in without fear or hesitation that he feared would lead her to biting of more than she could chew.

Any hesitation he felt about facing the beast was lost in the single moment he realised that everyone in the town was in danger and that if he did nothing…

Sage took a single step forward as close as he ever would dare to get to a Reaver. He held out his hand, calling forth one of his own spells that ignited into existence with a flourish of black flames in the palm of his hand. The Eldritch Bolt was a thing of deadly beauty, the flames condensed into a perfect black sphere that contained no light and appeared more akin to a singularity.

It was the first offensive spell the boy had ever devised, his dislike of conflict was echoed in what spells he knew, most of them were benign and others were made for seeking out secrets. This spell however had a singular purpose, to impose a single kinetic strike as hard as his mastery of magic would allow.

But Sage froze, and the spell lingered in the palm of his hand with a calming hum. The spell was perfect, it would do exactly what he wanted it to be able to do but there was a singular flaw.

And that would be his aim.

"Please, don't miss" he silently begged of himself.

The Reaver cried in indignation, screeches and clicks quickened as it turned to rid itself of its assailant. It’s scythe like appendage rose up for the cleaving stroke but froze mid-way as the Kenku used a power that rendered it blind. Anger swelled with the madness of the vale and any hesitation or sense of self-preservation was lost long ago, it allowed the Reaver to strike out at where it had last seen the Kenku girl, piercing the ground deeply with its keratin blade.

The Reaver had missed its target completely and while still blind to the world it missed the moment when the blade of the prevalida katana cleaved through the stiletto looking limb like a hot knife through butter. The beast felt a bite of pain and instincts demanded instant retribution as it spun around to swipe its large scythe like limb at where it thought its assailant was yet again. But it stumbled as the limb that was struck parted with the rest of its body causing it to list as it tried to put its weight on a limb that just wasn’t there.

It fell into a tumble, screeching out in disgrace as it flopped and turned onto its back, thrashing around blindly. It stumbled back into its front but crashed sideways into the wooden wall of the town’s inn causing screams to start anew from inside.

Its blind eyes spun around helplessly still unable to see anything before it, but just like Sage, the beast had come from a world where magic was a lot thinner than it was in Althanas. And just like Sage, the presence of magic in artefacts or in people felt like an itch the closer they got.

The sensation would fade the longer they stayed in this world but for now something had gained its attention, like standing close by to a bonfire. And the Reaver was ever so cold, its hunger for the heat drove it to blindly ignore pain and forget everything in favour of filling the void that the Vale had callously taken away.

It struggled to adapt to using only three legs, but instinctively stabbed the ground with the scythe like blade to help balance itself as it made a mad dash towards Vitruvian.

His presence was like a neon sign for an all you can eat buffet for the Reaver, it salivated as it approached stomping loudly though unable to approach the man in a straight line. Sage Ainsworth took aim at the beast’s head, but the wild erratic movement caused the boy to hesitate and doubt that he could even hit such an illusive target at his current range.

“Maybe not the head” he reasoned with himself and adjusted him aim slightly lower.

The Reaver stomped towards Vitruvian with a hissing screech while raising its scythe to pierce its prey. But the blow never came as the black orb of Sage’s Eldritch bolt barrelled into its abdomen where the mantis’ profile was at its thickest. The blow was like a Warhammer had just been swung into its side, cracking the chitin under the tremendous blow and toppled the Reaver back onto its side where it again flailed wildly.

“Only three more times” The young wizard quietly reminded himself and hoped that the Kenku girl, Stare was her name? could put the Reaver out of its misery with the given opportunity.

The boy eyed the Portal wearily, he was unable to tell the extent of the damage the mutated mantis had caused to it when it forced its way through, it showed no signs of deteriorating just yet and he had no doubt that another mutated monstrosity would be able to find its way through in time.

“Right, Standard imperial response then” he reasoned and easily cast a different spell by uttering a simple word. ‘Lux’

A sphere of white light rose from his palm, lazily growing in size until it was no bigger than his head. The boy frowned in annoyance as he reached up to palm the light and pulled at it to unravel the spell into circles of glowing runes and connecting lines.

“I should have learned how to use magic like a sorcerer” Sage lamented as he set to work on locating a key function of the spell that would allow him to change a single aspect.

Memorising a complicated spell like this was surprisingly easy, repetition and familiarity allowed Sage to cast a spell with a pre-programmed function with ease. Spells like his required very little concentration and allowed him to cast and forget certain spells.

A sorcerer however was hard-pressed to keep the concentration for the duration of the spell, but the upside was that they were able to change a spells objective on the fly and repurpose them to fit other needs.

Which all meant that Sage was rewriting a single core aspect of his light spell to just change the colour that it gave off, which was a pain in the rear on its own.

He would not have been able to do the same thing with his other spells, But Lux was his first spell, and he knew how it worked because he had created it all by himself for the single purpose of having a light to be able to read at night.

Sage flicked his finger at one of the runes and redrew a different one in its place. The young wizard then pushed his hand back into the spells floating runes and watched expectantly as they compressed back into a mote of light that now glowed a brilliant bright red.

Satisfied he launched the red light upwards into the sky with a flick of his hand causing the orb to rocket upwards several yards before it came to a stop and began to shine as brightly as possible bathing the town in a faint red hue.

“That should be able to attract anyone’s attention. I just hope they realise the red light means trouble”

Nearby-

Lorenor awoke suddenly from his half-meditative position. He oft camped outside in the wilderness those days, realizing that he did not like the noise levels of busy cities like Radasanth.

What awoke him so suddenly was a feeling of dread, a powerful magic lurked in the area and at that precise moment a red light shot up in the air.

Lorenor did not know Sage and Stare directly, but he knew the forces of magic.

There are many powerful forces in the world... Lorenor thought to himself as he stood up and wiped the meditation out of his glowing blue eyes. He gathered his belongings and knew, no, felt compelled to where his next destination would be. Gathering his things, he quickly closed his tent and put out his campfire. He'd readied a basic pit for the campfire so that he would not harm nature at all...

As he stood up he placed his two handed great sword across his back at an angle and gathered his shield. Lorenor was a Paladin, a devout follower of the old ways. More importantly...Lorenor was an Undead Paladin at that. But he was a very specific kind of Undead. As he stood he felt a great power from nearby to where the red light shot up from.

Lorenor knew his hour had come.

Without fear in his step or hesitation, he walked towards the general position of Stare and Sage. In his mind, he was mentally preparing an escape route should the need arise. When he arrived on the scene, he saw Sage casting powerful magics, at least in Lorenor's eyes. Lorenor was never good with the arcane arts but he had one gift he could use if the need presented itself. Lorenor narrowed his eyes and looked at Sage and the nearby form of Stare. "What is going on here?" Lorenor asked...his voice was perhaps a bit more accusatory than he meant for it to sound.

Barely did he register the strange newcomer into their midst. Vitruvion was focused now, and intent, his eyes blazing with a form of celestial glory that could not be denied.

As Stare rushed forwards to again strike at the beast before them, Vitruvion glanced around them, seeing the various people who had been such an ardent crowd, cooing their admiration of the Philgast 'wonderful' man, who promised a new life. Now, they backed away from all, alongside the fanatic himself, hiding in alleyways, doorways and alcoves, or altogether having scattered. As the red light of Sage's craft blazed above them, bathing them all in a crimson glow, the people gasped and shivered, for fear of the beast who had stumbled into their world.

So far one of his legs - no two had bene severely wounded. And Stare had temporarily blinded the glorious bastard. Now she danced, dodging the mantis' strikes with the supernatural speed that her direct connection to Vitruvion granted her. Their relationship was one of true divinity and high priestess, the paladin he would never have. He watched in a moment of silence as she twisted her form, bending her legs to then excel herself into the air. Bounding, she aimed directly for the beast's back, her wings unfurling magnificently to give her lift. They beat once and she was soon in the air, aiming to get better of this creature.

"Keep the rest back," Vitruvion shouted back to Sage. "And I will deal with this."

In a blink of an eye he was gone. He then reappeared in midair, directly beside Stare in her almighty rise into the skies. For a second he floated - hovering like a ghost as if gravity and momentum meant nothing to the man - before he began to fall. Just before he did, however, he reached out, hand curling around State's upper arm.

And he dragged her to him.

"What the-" she began.

He swung an arm around her torso as they both started to fall back to the earth. Right back to where he and she had begun, nowhere close to the mantis' back.

"Fly," he commanded in a firm, low voice.

"Fly?" she asked, as they twirled onto their backs. The beast of mottled earthy colours shrieked and tried to lash out at them with one of its injured legs.

"Fly!" he confirmed with a yell.

And she beat her wings. At the same time a rush of energy, supernatural and divine, ran through him, moving into her body with the strength of an entity beyond her imagining. The power surged into her wings and as she beat them she found she was suddenly able to carry both of their weights, catapulting into the sky madly, sailing far more than a single beat should have, faster than should have been possible.

"Stop!" he growled.

And she stopped.

Turning them both in the air with a pivot of his form Stare found them to be now, suddenly, directly over the neck piece of the monster. It let out a ghastly clicking as it tried to turn, stumbling on those bleeding legs she had already caused.

"Blind it again! Pain!" Vitruvion hissed, as they, once more, started to fall.

Her eyes went wild. Inside of her she searched and found the memories that would spark emotions to cause the mantis suffering. With a single glare she cut off its sight, and then sent a reeling stab of agony into the head of it. Not enough to kill, but enough to stop it from moving out of the area they needed.

It paused, frozen in that time. Vitruvion drew his golden blade, clutching close still to his kenku, eyes focusing on the single point where the head met body. Wordlessly understanding Stare raised hers too as they plummeted as a joint bullet of death from above. Down they went, down they stabbed, as the monster let out another single, horrible, clicking yell.

And then blades met skin, slicing through like butter. They cleaved through shell, muscle and bone, gaining right to the central cortex.

Which they severed. Along with the head.

Killing the beast, there and then.

And they slammed into the ground, covered in blood.

Startled by the accusing tone of the stranger, Sage whirled his attention to a man he was sure had only just arrived to the town. Sage wilted back under the stranger’s stern expression he had cast upon him with eyes glowing a strange earie blue.

With his oddly bright eyes and pale complexion Sage thought that something about the man was obviously not entirely human, though what exactly he could not say. Sage initially did not know what to make of the man, other than he was dangerous and possibly an experienced fighter. Though the crest on his tabard was almost familiar, Sage could not put a name to it.

“I swear I have nothing to do with any of this” The boy blurted before he could have thought of any reasonable reply.

He winced when he realised that the stranger would probably find him even more suspect after saying something like that, so he gestured to the open portal instead.

“That portal leads to another world.” He said quickly

“Unfortunately, the other side leads to a place called the ‘Vale of Dreams.’ It’s a desert with a corruptive magic that changes creatures into monsters called Reavers” He hastily explained.

“Uh, Sorry. That probably does not explain much, does it?” he apologised earnestly to the stranger for what he felt was a severe lack of information. He would need both the libraries of the elven city and the lore keepers of the desert Kitsune that lived beyond the tainted desert to even begin to appropriately explain just why the Vale was the way it was.

But then again, not everyone liked to spend hours looking into another worlds obscure history like he had. Sage turned his attention back towards the Kenku girl, the last he had seen of her she had been utterly decimating the Reaver, but now she was soaring upwards to possibly gain a more advantageous position, but then Vitruvian joined her in her ascent.

“Wait …What are they doing?” Sage uttered dumbstruck as he tracked their ascent higher and higher, before they began plummeting towards the Reaver at what should have been terminal velocity all so that they could behead the beast with two decisive separate strikes.
It was a stupid move to make and made no sense from a tactical standpoint. The Reaver had been paralysed and Stare had already proven that its chitin and mutated flesh were no match for the blade of her Katana.

The most efficient way she could have dealt with the beast would have been to have just walked up and casually lopped off its head.

And yet Despite knowing how excessively unnecessary it was to finish of the Reaver in such a way, Sage cheered regardless. And he was not alone, the entire town became an uproar of cheer and jubilation as the townspeople all saw the beasts head hit the ground minus its body. Stare and Vitruvian became the centre of the towns praise as they clapped and cheered at the defeat of the beast.

That was when the boy had realised what exactly that had accomplished. While the Kenku could have just walked up and finished the Reaver off, there would have been no fanfare, no sense of victory. Instead this moment would now forever remain in the memory of each person who had witnessed her grandiose blow that slayed the beast.

For the people of Harnsey would always remember the Kenku who slayed the Reaver from another world.

If they had been seeking to establish any sort of reputation than they had succeeded, of that Sage had no doubt.

But not only that, Sage had noted from the way Stare and Vitruvian had soared upwards into the air that there was an intimacy between them, a connection that only companions, friends, lovers, or maybe even something closer to kin, or family would ever have. There was something special that was unique to them alone, a closeness that he could not put into words.

The boy’s cheeks began to burn red with embarrassment as he felt guilty that he had possibly caught a glimpse of something that was supposed to be private.

But his new-found adulation soon turned sour knowing it may only be a temporary victory. Sobered by his thoughts the boy quickly began to assess the current situation, and with a deep resigned breath, the boy stoically turned back to Lorenor.

“I am sorry to ask this of you, but can you please lend me your aid. I fear that the danger will not be over until the portal is dispelled. One Reaver has already made its way through, and I do not doubt it will be that last”

Lorenor listened to everything Sage spoke of.

He knew from past experiences, that there were alternate...versions...of reality.

In one such adventure, he'd encountered a reality where there were many versions of Lorenor himself!

The reavers were dangerous seeming creatures and they reminded Lorenor of another entity resident to Althanas' own beastiary.

The Endless. If The Reavers...are anything like The Endless...they might prove a worthy opponent. He listened to the boy speak, wise beyond his years, as most of the wizard types tended to be.

Lorenor kept his attention focused on Sage and the portal nearby in case more threats came through. As the proud Paladin stood there observing he considered the situation at hand and was presented with an interesting proposal. "Young one." Lorenor began. "My blade is yours to command for as long as you need it." Lorenor said calmly. He looked at the portal, strangely, it had a familiar aspect to it.

He didn't know what that particular dimension The Vale was. It did not really matter, Lorenor would have helped Sage anyway. Thinking back to a past life, Lorenor remembered an old friend and lover. Urei the vampire. Urei would have wanted Lorenor to help...he would have anyway as his oath demanded. Lorenor nodded. He looked towards the Kenku woman and her companion, Vitruvion. The later was familiar to Lorenor from a past adventure. Or perhaps, his mind was playing tricks on him again. It happened oft those days with the weight of history on his shoulders...

Slowly, unsteadily, they emerged from the blood.

Thick and visceral it clung to Stare's feathers, dripping in long ebbs, in crimson ugliness, as if the monster had possess something more than just bone and flesh. She pushed herself up on her sword, the point of the blade sinking slightly into the bone and stone beneath her as the enchantment that was cast upon it sliced through simple matter. Red coated her black form, and sliding down her brown clothes like a slime from rocks. Standing upright after a moment of stumbling she glanced around them, at the remains of the beast who had been intent on destruction.

Broken. Bends of joints and hard outerbody shell lay cracked from where they had downed it. Greens, earthy browns and greys were mixed with a mass of blood and gutty colours, that usually remained within the body. Those many eyes of the creature now stared from the decapitated head just a couple of metres away, staring blankly with the endlessness of death. As Stare rolled back her aching shoulders from the pain of their descent Vitruvion himself rose, lips pursing.

"Well," he said dryly. "That was something."

She nodded once, but it was a small, anxious nod. Glancing to her the god felt the stress and strain coming from her form, as her body shivered from what they had just done. He paused, calmly leaned over as if he had just been dancing at a grand ball himself and not taking part in the execution also, and he plucked her sword from her hand. Covered in the same blood he gently slid the blade back into the sheath at her side.

"Come," he grunted, smoothing back his white hair and frowning as his fingers came away drenched in loose flesh. "We must go see the stranger."

Stare didn't answer. All she did was gaze blankly at those dead, forgotten eyes. She fidgeted a little, not bothering about a slick drop of slimy, sickening torn muscle that slid down her beak.

The man let out a breath before he flicked a scrap of shell from his shoulder, as casually as one might loosen lint. Then, still with grave, he moved to curl an arm around Stare's form. She did not fight, and did not freeze, she just hung limp. Lifting her up he cupped a hand around her torso and wings and under her thigh. Her body leant against his as he turned and carried her one-handed out of the wreckage of the mantis they had killed and back towards Sage and the new fighter man there.

"Greetings," he said to the newcomer, "excuse me for our unbecoming state, but it cannot be helped. I am Vitruvion, and this is my kenku, Stare." He did not smile, but stopped short of a metre away to incline his head. Then, he turned to the adrongenous Sage.

"What can we expect now, sorceror?"

That was a good question, the boy thought as he mentally pondered the same thing. He was certainly glad about the knight’s oath to aid him.

‘Thank you’, he silently mouthed to the bright-eyed stranger.

Though he was hopeful that such aid would not be needed and that the portal would dissipate without anything else making its way through.
But wouldn’t that be a nice end to this temporal incursion, he thought incredulously.

But no, Sage knew he would not be that lucky. Since the first day he had expressed his interest in magic his luck had took on a rather sour note, with incident after incident of bad luck, until he had been swept away into a whole different world.
Sage inherently knew this would only get worse before any resolution could come of it.

He turned to the handsome stranger, who he realised had yet to give his name. Actually, Sage quickly noted that he had been the only one to utter his own name. Although he granted, there had been no time for proper introductions as the mantis reaper had been content to ruin everyone’s day.

“More of that I should wager” he answered gesturing to the headless mantis.

“The portal is frayed and unstable. It would be best that it should be left alone and allowed to disperse by itself” he said eyeing the portal. A break in reality was notoriously difficult to accomplish and usually took a massive amount of power to brute force your way beyond the walls of reality, such as what the chaotic maelstrom of the Vale had done.

But such methods were temporary at best, breaking a hole was easy, keeping it open long enough to not loose an arm or a leg, now that was the hard part. And sage’s mind boggled at the amount of force that had not only created this rift, but had also allowed it to remain open as long as it had.

It would have been akin to a magical enhanced hammer and striking it against an ordinary glass window.

“But reavers feed on uncorrupted magic, and this world has so much that my skin is tingling. It would be akin to an all you can eat buffet to any that catch scent of it” he said gently rubbing his arm feeling phantom winds.

“I fear more will come before long” Sage said with a melancholy tone. A decision needed to be made, he could stay here and help with the defence of the small town. Or he could go back through the portal, back to the vale and try his luck again with another portal to who knows where.

But the less time spent in the Vale the better off he was.

“I must ask again, Is this Althanas? I’m trying to return home to Crossroads and the Vale is currently my best option as it can open ways to many different worlds.” He said looking across the odd collection of fellows that were all in the right place at the wrong time.

From the handsome stranger with a beauty that appeared almost unnatural, to the intense stranger with the glowing blue eyes.

Even the Kenku was an odd one he thought, she had wings, and he did not think…

The boy recoiled away from the Kenku girl when he noticed that there was a piece of the reavers innards that was sloppily clinging on to the side of her beak. He opened his mouth to tell the girl, but found no words, he tried again a second time, and attempted to use his finger to point at the piece of giblet. But his nerves were for too unnerved to even attempt it, so he mentally switched his attention to her previous feat
.
“I, ah, sorry, but what you two did was completely amazing” he said, purposely not looking at the red and ichor stained girl. Instead he kept his attention squarely on the only part of the girl that was not covered in the blood of her for which were unironically her eyes.

He had thought that the stranger had an intense look about him, but that certainly did not compare to the stare of the Kenku before him, it was like she was not even seeing him, but rather was looking through him.

“Arcane enhanced eyes, perhaps?” He thought to himself and wondered if that had anything to what she had done to the mantis, dangerous, he easily concluded. But he would not deny that if not for the chaotic situation Sage’s curiosity over such magical feats would have easily overruled his caution.

Perhaps they would be open to an exchange of knowledge during a more civilised time. He hoped so, his time within the magic academy had been fun and a very educational time.

Lorenor's eyes narrowed in deep thought as he observed the portal.

Where have I seen such things before...? Lorenor wondered for a moment or two, it would have needed some deep recollecting of his past, or many pasts, to come up with a suitable answer. The old paladin looked at the portal for a moment, it had a sort of corrupted tint to it. He'd sworn he'd seen something quite similar to that in the past...

He shook his head. Thinking like that without much academical evidence was going to hurt his brain...

...Lorenor looked in the general direction of the Kenku girl and her companion. Now...THAT...is something more familiar to me. He'd seen a Kenku or two in his life before. But he wasn't entirely certain. Though the features of the woman were definitely feminine it was difficult to discern. She was already blood-soaked from whatever...The Reavers... were. Again, all of this invoked a strange feeling of deja vu in the old man.

Where had something like this happened before? Lorenor let the boy's questions hang in the air between them for a moment or two. "Oh, where are my manners?" Lorenor asked to nobody in particular. "Name's Lorenor, and yes you're on Althanas good thing you stumbled upon us and not some hooligans of this or that sort. And yes you're on Althanas. in Concordia Forest to be exact." Lorenor explained. "More you say will come?" Lorenor asked. Lorenor observed the body of the mantis like reaver...it was huge.

And likely extremely deadly. He turned to look at the boy. "There are settlements nearby in this area. If there are more that will come...we must hold the line here." Lorenor explained. He didn't know what a reaver was...but it couldn't have been as bad as that time. The time with the crazy ass shape-shifter demon. That's when it was...! Lorenor recalled the time he'd fought alongside a different Adventurer to rid the world of a different sort of alien threat..

Lorenor readied his weapon...just in case.

"If more will arrive I am ready to fight...come what may." Lorenor said carefully.

My kenku.

There was no doubt it was a fitting description.

As she caught her breath she leaned against her god, her eyes slipping closed just for a moment as he carried her out of the carnage that they had wrought and towards the two beings.

Stare could still feel the cling of death to her feathers, the stench of rotting flesh and the blood that slipped down the side of her beak. Slowly she breathed in, and when she did the hard reality of mangled carcass came to her nostrils, with the ringing of the bells of another worldly monster's demise. With her sword at her side, and Vitruvion holding her aloft she was a destroyer, a killer and a beast.

Vaguely, she was aware of Vitruvion talking, introducing himself and her. He went on, asking questions and a fourth being joined their conversation in speaking of Althanas. They seemed to be suggesting that their would likely be further assaults through the cracked void, that this fight was only the beginning. Killing the mantis had already made her pause. There was no doubt that she had the speed, the energy and the ability to destroy more of them, if they were to come, but something within her was causing a mental block. A strange lack of enthusiasm, despite the fact the monsters posed a serious threat to their home.She considered this as she stared blankly at the androgynous character.

Look at the one called Sage and the new being, Vitrivion mentally ordered her. Fully.

There was no doubting what he meant. Breathing in she summoned her power, and suddenly the two characters before them were lit up in colour and light. Around both of them shone a halo - an aura - of light that determined them to be of XXX INSERT HERE XXX. This was indeed workable in terms of personality. Vitruvion and her, after all, had worked with many types. What interested her more, however, was the intriguing bright rainbow of power that flowed through Sage, suggesting that he was a mage of great power, but with the ability to do a variety of spells, and not specialising in anything in particular - although perhaps light magic was a strong suit of his. He - or rather, perhaps, they - were a young adult for a human, for that is what they appeared to me, and of no determined gender. This was possibly because they had come through a void recently and that was messing with the determination of identification. He also seemed calm, and mellow, with an easy flow of chakras, except for a slight heat in the base of his spine, expressing a desire to survive. Stare saw this also in the warrior beside him; a point which seemed perfectly natural. With her attention switching to the new being she paused as she took in something that seemed to be ageless, and not human, and with a proud white light that spoke of divine powers. Who precisely this god was, she had little idea, but it flowed easily through his chakras as if it had existed for a long time and was regularly used.

A paladin, likely, and an undead one by his smell, Vitruvion spoke.

Blinking, Stare twisted around to stare at the face of her employer, god and master. As usual she could not see his aura, and nor could she see his power - that had always been alien to her. But she knew that he smelt similarly to how she saw, and that different scents spoke of a person's nature, personality, intention, age and species to him. Slightly, she tilted her head as Vitrivuion answered the paladin's thoughts.

Apparently he was called Lorenor.

"If more come then myself and Stare will assist," the god said openly. "Althanas is a world that I do not care to be invaded by yet another alien species. I need no more enemies than those I have."

“This is Althanas?” Sage whispered with disbelief.

He had felt elated to be home, that his adventure to another world had come to an end. He should have been happy now that he had crossed the dimensional divide and ended what would have been the toughest part of his journey so far.

But he wasn’t and the news made him feel sick.

“Just like that. My first attempt at getting back home and I just stumbled across it. And on my first attempt no less” He spoke quietly to himself as he looked at the portal with contempt.

The chances of him finding his way back home on his first attempt were … well, nigh unlikely and close to impossible. Sage felt his stomach twist at the thought of the entity that had stolen him from this world once before.

It was no accident that he had been lost to althanas, and even now he could still feel its vial presence all around him and the memory of the creature stalking him within the void chilled his very soul.

“Hello little one” He recalled the voice of the eldritch horror that spoke to him with a multitude of voices speaking as one, but with a single motherly voice at the forefront of all the others. He shuddered at the memory of the entity that claimed itself as merely an observer that was far beyond any god or deity.

“Take this boon, and with it you shall be the one to open the gate.” The voices gently pleaded, as two silvery white tentacles slithered towards him. His hand reached into his pocket and clenched the cursed stone that lay within that had no right to exist in this or any other world.

He looked at the portal and for a moment was horrified if he had just unwittingly heralded the coming of something … else.

“It can’t be … That thing and the Vale have no connection to each other” he muttered under his breath and let go of the cursed stone. While he certainly wanted to just throw it away and be done with it, he feared of what would happen if something or someone else found it.
As soon as he returned to his master’s tower, he was going to learn how to seal it away in a place where it would stay lost forever. That he promised himself.

But that would have to be done later, right now the Portal and the Reapers that dwelled beyond were his top priority.

He looked up at the group and realised that he may have spaced out for just a moment

“Sorry, but was there another wizard here, I do recall someone shouting out about a Philgast the grey?” He politely asked looking around for another mage.

“You won’t find anyone like that I’m afraid” Spoke out one of the towns people as they leaned over the white painted terrace of the local inn.

“Are you sure? we could use all the help we can get” Sage said politely but stepped back cautiously. Did this town have something against magic users?

The young mage did not think so but he had grown weary about prosecution within the Empire. They had been distrustful of Magic users and had imposed strict laws about the use of magic, only those with a license and training gained from the magic academy were allowed to use their talents openly.

“You could try Grant over there. he is the only one of us that has a weapon” The woman said as she pointed across the street to where a young boy stood partially hidden behind a bush.

Sage looked at Lorenor and Vitruvian as though he was gleaning some kind of guidance from their presence. Sage thought that they still needed more people who could fight, but if were up to him, he would have not been content with nothing less than a small squadron with a Vermillion frigate overhead with all six Magitech Beta Cannons primed ready to rain down hell on anything that stepped through the portal.
Still, even if She was not here in person Captain Claire Valliere was certainly still circling the sky above the Vale with the keen-eyed elven lookout keeping a close eye on where he had been searching for a dimensional tear.

He just wished that she was on this side of the portal.

The young boy the woman spoke off was cautious as he approached the curious looking group of misfits after the townswoman waved him over. He was young, possibly even younger than Sage, though his gender was certainly more apparent due to the messy short brown head of hair. He wore a simple gambeson with the coat of arms of the Radasanth militia, he even had a sword that hung loosely at his side.

“Ah, how can I help you?” Grant asked nervously as he looked over at Stare and seemed to wilt under the presence of Lorenor and Vitruvian. Sage felt pity towards the boy as he remembered not long ago that he himself would have fared a lot worse in their presence than the young guard.

“Your name is Grant, correct? Are you the only guard here, where are the others, surely they would have responded to any threat posed to this town” Sage asked the boy concerned that he was on his own? It was certainly not normal for Radasanth to leave any of the outlying villages without some kind of token force.

“Um, no its just me at the moment, I’m Grant Peterson, the others have all been called away to help fight against some kind of group that’s trying to take over. And the rest went into the woods because of some accident a week ago.” Grant said nervously shifting from one foot to another

“They, they haven’t come back yet, and I didn’t know what to do when that thing came through, I’m still training to be a guard” The boy scoffed at his own cowardice as he hit the hilt of his sword with his palm.

“Hey, it’s ok, I understand, I know what it’s like to be cornered into a dangerous situation” Sage said earnestly. That day in the alleyway of Scara Brae was a dark moment in his past he wished he could forget, his conscious had been stained red that day and the death of a person was entirely his fault.

After that day he had vowed never to be in another situation where he would be powerless, and had started to take his lessons in Magic seriously after that.

“But right now, we can do something about it, these people need to be evacuated as there may be more to come do you understand?” Sage said

“What can I do?” Grant said sounding a little less unsure
.
“Just take them further down the road, we will keep any more reavers held up here” Sage Promised to the young Guard, though he did not know how much help he would be able to provide in this endeavour.

Lorenor listened very carefully to everything Sage said and the boy, the guard, Grant said.

He absorbed all the information he learned at that point and was trying to figure out how Sage ticked. Stare and Vitrruvion were unknown factors to Lorenor. He'd only ever come across one or two other Kenku's in his long life...but they were different from Stare. Once Grant explained the dire situation that the town was in, Lorenor looked at Sage to see how he would react. "How soon do you expect more Reavers to be upon this location?" Lorenor asked of Sage. Lorenor thought back to the portal's position in relation to the town they were now in. His mind was already calculating and planning things.

The old Paladin had memorized the appearance and texture of the portal quickly. Though he had no direct power to open up such portals on his own, the Reaver portal was a threat to the town. In his tutelage and study with the old Vampire, Urei...his lover...Urei instructed Lorenor about the nature of the cosmos as they existed in the tomes of the Thayne Codex. Phantaria was a land of doors...in his travels, he'd ventured out to that plane of existence. One of the gates there lead to a land known to Lorenor as Ayenee. Urei told him once that Ayenee was ripe with natural resources and power.

Lorenor frowned when he heard that loud Wizard in question yelling at the top of his lungs.

Philgast said a very specific set of words that did not sit well with Lorenor. He looked at Sage and nodded. "Pardon me I have to talk to that man." Lorenor walked towards Philgast and looked at him with serious expression on his face. There was a small group of people gathered to hear the wizard speaking, Lorenor had once been a follower of N'Jal. The only one who had ever offered him true salvation was the old Hero named Sei Orlouge. Lorenor spoke to Philgast. "And what, pray tell, form of salvation do you offer, Wizard?" Lorenor was deeply offended by the braggart but he kept himself in check for Sage's sake. He waited to hear the wizard's response on whatever he was selling.

So he was from Althanas.

Vitrivion tilted his head as the andogenous man slipped his hand into his pocket and held onto something. A charm, perhaps, a reminder of an older time. The one called Sage muttered under his breath, seeming distracted as he twisted and turned, observing the three characters of Vitruvion, Stare and the paladin, and then the general landscape surrounding them. He seemed overwhelmed to some extent, perhaps confused, as if remembering something long forgotten, or a memory just recently made.

A curious one, indeed. Someone to keep in mind.

As someone from the town blurted out sentences to engage with their small party, Vitruvion grunted and let out a sigh. The danger at least was limited, and the jagged ruin in the sky seemed unready to spew anything out at least currently. Gently, he let Stare slide from his arm, and set her on the ground with some care before running a hand through her feathers at her head. He smiled at her, at the same time as taking in the name of Grant Peterson, and gaining the information that Sage was suggesting the townsfolk leave. Stare just blinked solemnly around, still caught in the shock of having dived through the carcass of the beast.

There was a noise as the new one to their party - the smart one in the armour called Lorenor - stiffly moved and nodded over to Philgast. The one who had identified himself as some form of prophet. Religion seemed to emanate from both of them, and that was fine. Vitruvion was not a stranger to religion; in fact he was on first name terms with a lot of the gods of Althanas. Gently, Vitruvion bid him good luck as he petted the kenku's head.

He waited until conversation seemed to have dissipated with Grant. Or at least come to a pause.

"We came from up that road," Vitruvion added. "It should be safe." Pleasantly, he smiled, looking like some lordling stroking his pet cat as he shuffled the feathers around on Stare's crown.

"Can you stop doing that?" she muttered after a few seconds.

"Ah, back to the land of the living, then, dearest?" he asked, his tone delightful.

Her black eyes slowly blinked, then turned up to him. "I was always here, Vitrivion," she said with a sigh. "Just ..." her gaze switched over to Sage. "That thing was - is - dangerous. We should set up a perimeter, a watch until it closes. From what I can see ..."

There was a brief moment where she stared at the rift in the air for an intense few seconds.

"... it seems to be readying for something. I don't know. There are auras coming from it, suggesting something evil within." She shrugged. "Any idea what's coming? Or how to close it?"

Sage Ainsworth curiously watched the Paladin approach the portly farmer with a raised brow. He did not think that the man had done anything to warrant the Paladins Ire but evidently something he had said or done had gotten under the man’s skin. He pitied the Farmer, the Paladin looked as stoic as he did capable and his burning blue eyes were a curious source of curiosity.

Was it a divine blessing? He Idly speculated for a moment longer before returning his attention to the portal. He was glad that the remining guard, although young was also now making good on gathering up the town’s citizens, and while most of them were eager to leave for safety, there was a clear sense of apprehension across their faces. None of them truly wanted to leave, but they did so because they were dealing with an unknown force.

Had Sage been in any sort of command he would have had the village evacuated weeks ago.

He narrowed his eyes as he stared at it and while it initially did not appear to be much different from before he could clearly begin to see small tell-tale changes that it had been undergoing..

“Do you see the edge of the portal and how its starting to fray? It’s not going to last much longer.” He said pointing towards the outer edge of the portal. It was not as clean as it once was, there was a vibration that caused the fraying edges to wither like the tides in the ocean. He speculated that if it was any thinner then merely throwing a pebble at it would probably cause the entire thing to pop.

Even The sand that had been constantly pouring was now no longer overflowing from that world to this one. It had all but covered the Village center now, leaving a small sandy dune that he could have climbed up to reach the portal. But before the portal could dissipate another shadow began to form from across its surface, followed by a large sand hued mass of ragged fur and blistered skin to unceremoniously tumble down the sandy hill. It slid down the last few meters, remaining motionless save for a flick of what looked to be a single ear.

“Another one” Sage said ruefully and took a calming breath. Filled with a renewed resolution he raised his hand with an Eldritch Bolt quickly pulsating to life in his palm.

This new Reaver was nothing like the previous one. The last one had been a mutated Mantis that had been exposed to the vale for most of its unnatural life. This one however, there were no evident mutations, no deformities in its limbs and although it looked like a sickly malnourished beast it was also evident that this one had not yet fully turned.

The creature was the size of a small horse and had slowly righted itself from its ungraceful fall with a guttural rumble that echoed deeply in its chest. It had a long vulpine face, teeth bared and its eyes milky white looked on unseeing, there were the remains of some king of markings that once adorned its cheeks and forehead but had faded too much to fully discern. But it was its long ears and twisting twin tails that gave a name to this creature.

It was a Kitsune. A fennec-Kitsune of the Dreaming Desert, one of those who stood guard over the sacred cleansing springs forever awaiting the return of their lost deity.

It looked towards them with blind eyes and its hackles began to raise from its back with ears pressed low towards its head as it was prepared to pounce.

Anyone else would have steeled themselves for an inevitable confrontation, Sage however stopped and looked very carefully at the creature before him and realised something. There was a familiarity that made him recall that his friend had been reported missing.

“N-no” Sage cried in horror and dispelled his Bolt. “T-those markings, it can't be?”

It could not be her...

“Wait. WAIT, Hold on! This one…” He cried out loud towards his unusual companions and prayed they listened.

“Wait” He said pleaded with them and stepped out before them with his arms held wide as he continued to stare upon the partially corrupted kitsune with a twisted sense of hope.

“… Pira…” He spoke its name softly so as to not startle the beast.

The response was almost immediate, the Kitsune very quickly lost its aggressive posture, its ears rose up pointed towards the boy so it could listen carefully. Even its snarling muzzle slackened into an uneven pant. Watching it responding to him is such a way emboldened the boy and made him dare to slowly start to approach the kitsune eagerly.

“Pira, it’s me, Sage, do, you remember me?” He calmly asked as he came to a stop half way to the beast. He felt his companion’s stares upon his back, and he knew he was being incredibly foolish right now, but he could not help it. If there was even the slightest chance that this was his friend, then he had to take it, she would have done no less if their fates were reversed.

The kitsune's chest rumbled unsteadily and it looked at him with blind eyes “S-sage?” It spoke with a deep distorted rumble that still somehow remained feminine if unhuman.

It was her, this was Pira, and knowing that he could not help but want to approach even closer because this was his friend, he knew her. But to see her suffering like this, a shell of her former self was heart breaking.

“Yes, w-we met at the Elven Magic Academy in Elrohir. You helped me create the Eyes of Antiquity Spell.” He said eagerly and full of hope that despite the corruption of the Vale, his friend had not yet lost.

“I. Know. You. Little Sage” Pira hoarsely replied with a hint of amusement that brought tears to the boys’ eyes. He hated that nickname that Pira had given him, it had been made as a jest but it always got under his skin with how condescending she playfully made it sound. She had teased him, and made him forget his melancholy that he had been in a strange world.

They had met at the Academy, the empire had not known what to do with the young Mage, his approach to magic was something they had thought was a lost art and they had intended to learn as much from them as he had from them. But Pira was from the Dreaming Desert, an area of the Vale still clean and uncorrupted and their close relations with the Empire had the Kitsune often visiting the academy to teach the students there about the Vale and her clans unique magic.

She had initially approached Sage because he had been unique, an outsider like herself amongst all the pomp and ceremony. She said that she had found him "Quite twee, but I like twee."
But seeing her like this, months after she had left to return home a mere shadow of her former self. There was no understating how wrong all of it was.

“Pira … Your sister said you went missing in the Vale.” He explained to the kitsune with a pained expression. Before they had ventured into the Vale itself to look for one of the rips and tears in space, they had stopped by the Pira's home town to stock up on some supplies. Specifically, the cleansing water that they used to wash away the corruption of the Vale.

“The Vale. Is long and far. Reavers, monsters … they all thirst for clean magic. The way home was … too far.” Pira answered with a melancholy tone as she began to tip from side to side.

“What about the cleansing water, do you still have it?” Sage asked, hopeful that they could still undo some of this damage. Instead, the boy felt his hope shattered when she shook her head and looked down at the ground. “Lost it … long ago.”

Sage looked at his debilitated friend and then towards the portal and back again. He tried to think of a solution, but he kept on coming back up with the same answer over and over again. Pira needed to be exposed to the cleansing water which was back in the other world. She had to return soon before the portal closed. And yet, even if she did, then Pira would once again be exposed to the Vale.

She was not going to make it on her own, not in this condition. He would have to return with her to keep her focused, to stop her mind from descending into the Vales madness. It was the only way he would be able to save her. The portal Began to pulsate, its steady hum up to now was beginning to wind down into a torturous whine that made the boy all too aware that time was running out.

“The portals closing Pira … if you stay here you won’t be able to return.” The boy begged and slowly began to approached once more. Although foolish he would physically push the Kitsune back through if he had too, regardless of how big or heavy Pira was in this form.

“Death comes for all eventually little Sage.” Pira said so abruptly that Sage stopped and stared at her “What?” he recoiled in surprise.

“You are a Kitsune Pira. If you die, your soul will just return to your tribe to be reborn. But I don’t know if that will happen if the portal closes, I don’t know how far away both worlds are from each other. your soul could be lost for eternity” He said urgently, silently begging for Pira to listen to him. He shook his head violently causing his long hair to swing from side to side.

“Pira, can you return into your human form? You should be able to resist the corruption of the Vale better if you do. Please, you need to get back to your world, Captain Valliere is on the other side, we were asked to keep an eye out for you.” Sage said desperately, pleading with the Kitsune.

But she just fell backwards on her haunches unmoving save for her twitching nose and swivelling ears. It was crystal clear that Pira had made a choice.

“Then this is … your home … it feels. Wonderful, and alive with Aether.” She questioned admiringly as she allowed herself to bask in the world’s connection to the Tap. Her world was so far more removed from such a magical force that in this world where the magic was still pure and untainted, it was so easy to lose herself in its caress.

And now that she allowed herself to focus on her friends beautiful home, she now found it impossible to miss the presence of another she had initially overlooked. She had thought him just a man, but now she could see him, not with her eyes, or her senses, his mere presence was enough to stir her most primal of instincts. It rekindled feelings she had not felt since she was last in the presence of her lord and felt an unparalleled happiness swell within her heart.

“… My lord? Is … that you? My lord, we thought you were lost to us.” She said eagerly looking towards Vitrivion. “Your loyal servants are, and always have been eagerly awaiting your return.” She said reverently as his presence called her to him, causing her to blindly approach the man and turn her back on her world.

“Pira, no, please, go back.” The boy once more pleaded, with one more step with his hand outstretched.

Her jaws snapped closed as she lunged forwards narrowly missing his hand by the barest of inches. Sage stumbled backwards in surprised as he watched Pira’s vulpine face frozen with horror at what she had just done. Her body spasmed as her chest convulsed with skin and fur began to shed sand.

“… I … I … Aahh … I … am … hungry … thirst … y-you … Run… r-RUN!!” She warned her friend and promptly dissolved into a pile of sand.

His friend was gone, and all that was left was …

Sage rolled over and leapt away from the snarling vulpine head that emerged from the sand below him, teeth snapped around his shirts sleeve and tore it away with little resistance and dragged it back under the sand. Sage quickly retreated back to his companions and realised in horror that the field was covered in sand. The Kitsune of Pira's Tribe were easily able to submerse themselves within the depths of the desert like it was an ocean and would hunt by hiding under the sand and strike at anything that came close.

"Stay away from the sand" He warned taking several more steps back.