Chapter Twenty

Repent Sinners! The End is Near!

Marith and her party had been on the road for a couple weeks and in that time, she had gotten to know a little more about each of them and what drove them to be adventurers. They had come in sight of the large costal town of Orpha and were approaching its thick wooden gates. Two local town-guards stood on either side of the gate. Sel’van, the elf ranger, looked up at a shrill cry of a hawk and raised his arm to protect his face from the hawk diving towards him.

The hawk landed on his arm and opened its beak and a human’s voice emerged from it. “Asternosis Tome has been taken to another plane, dimensional laws of magic not in effect, do on use portals, hurry on your journey,” the voice spoke than the hawk closed its beak and lifted off into the sky.

“What did he mean?” Marith asked with trepidation.

Herbalt the Sage, the human wizard answered. “The Asternosis Tome is the guard against other planar beings from breaking into our world and is what keeps magical portals stable and predictable.”

“Are we in danger of demons attacking?” Silla the female half-orc asked worriedly.

“No, hell is guarded by more than just the Asternosis Tome, it takes a being with a soul to invite a demon into our world in order for them to gain entrance,” Herbalt assured her.

“What does it mean?” Marith asked.

“That the entire world is at danger. As the fabric of our reality goes without the Asternosis Tome’s protection portals to the other planes will begin to open all over as they try to absorb the First World, and with them will come the beasts, creatures and elementals of the other worlds. Fields will burn when fire elementals walk across them, villages will be flooded when portals to the plane of water open and they let loose a never-ending stream of water, wind elementals will scatter homes to the wind, and earth elementals will demolish fortresses. I can’t even begin to imagine what would happen if the Astral sea were to be open up to or even worse the Shadowfell,” he said with a shudder.

“We must have faith,” Marith said, “and we must find a ship.”

It took until evening until they found one captain willing to take them across but the price he demanded was exorbitant. They excepted the deal though since they were being financed by the Temple of Fesla and various other orders and since their need was dire. There was one other catch the ship was old and there had been many pirates at this time and this was almost the winter months when the merrow migrated from the northern ocean to the southern pillaging ships they came across. Despite the dangers they had to cross the ocean to the bad lands now, the First World was in the balance.