Familiar Ground (OPEN)

[Sage]

“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.