JollyDoc
Explorer
SNICKER SNACK
It was exactly one month from the appearance of the first First World bloom when the last one erupted, quite literally, on the front steps of Veritas. In the early morning hours, Mox, Stevhan and Velox were summoned to the battlements by Harold. On the plains before the capital city a strange and sinister forest had grown seemingly overnight. Protruding from the center of the mass of twisted trees, thorny vines and evil-looking fungi, was a ghostly image of an impossibly tall alabaster tower atop a hill that looked too round to be natural. A spectral phantasm of an immense black wyrm could be seen flying in circles around the tower. A tremendous clamor of screams, growls, roars and howls emanated from the forest, echoing across the plain to the ears of every citizen of Veritas. As Mox and the others watched, a veritable army of horrors exploded out of the bloom. Murderous beasts, crazed satyrs, giant worms, slavering, deformed wyverns, lumbering giants, and blood-drinking plants swarmed towards the city walls. Mox’s eyes went wide, and she turned to Velox, knowing the answer to her question before it was asked. Their armies from the war with Pitax had been disbanded.
Velox didn’t hesitate. He sent runners to spread the call-to-arms to the city guard. After the war with Pitax, the general had spent months personally training the watchmen for just such an eventuality. Kardashia had grown too large to maintain a permanently standing army, so each province had been charged with forming its own militia to answer the call in time of need. With the exception of Fort Drelev, Velox’s own city, Veritas was the most prepared for such an eventuality. Within minutes, the best archers of the guard were assembled on the walls, while the infantry set to clearing civilians from the streets, and reinforcing the main city gates. As the hordes of the First World charged recklessly across the plain, the bowmen of Veritas opened fire. The swarm of arrows was so dense that it cast a shadow between the horde and the sun, and scores of fey fell screaming to the ground. Still the swarm came. They reached the city walls, where the giants formed makeshift siege towers that the smaller creatures began to swarm up. Again and again the archers fired, but the sheer numbers of the enemy were overwhelming. Then, a rallying cry went up among the defenders as the Royal Magister, Selena, the Warden, Tungdill, and the Queen herself strode out atop the battlements. On Mox’s command, the three rained fire, ice and burning acid down upon the ravening mob below. The wave broke and fell back, self-preservation overcoming their savage blood thirst. The reprieve was brief, however. The next assault focused on the main gates, and though the massive portals were made of iron-backed hardwood, and barred by massive iron bolts, the splintered under the unrelenting pounding of the giants. The guardsmen found themselves in bloody, brutal hand-to-hand combat through the city streets. Yet they were not alone. Velox, Davrim and Stevhan stood shoulder-to-shoulder with them, and though the casualties were high, the horde was beaten back once more. As the fey army was pushed back outside the city walls, the archers opened fire again, and that time, Mox, Selena and Tungdill ensured that the victory would be total. Under the horrific power of their magic, not a single fey survived.
__________________________________________________________
“What’s next?” Mox asked Evindra.
The Queen was seated upon the throne. Aside from the nereid, only her immediate lieutenants were present. In the aftermath of the First World assault, the city was still reeling and struggling to both recover and come to grips with the losses they had suffered. It had only been two days, and the wounds were still raw.
“I…I’m not sure,” the fey replied uncertainly. “Nyrissa is very powerful, but I feel that her ability to maintain the blooms is becoming stretched. Still…I feel…there’s something I’m missing…,”
As if in reply, a peal of thunder rocked the very foundations of the castle, rattling the glass within the window frames.
“What the Blazes??” Tungdill cursed. “There ain’t a cloud in the sky outside! Checked the weather m’self this mornin’!
“I’m guessing this isn’t going to be a natural occurrence,” Velox sighed. “Looks like the fey queen isn’t done with us yet.”
_________________________________________________________
As Tungdill had said, the sky was clearest blue when the companions emerged from the keep, but the thunder rolled again, deafening in its intensity. Citizens began to pour into the streets, curiosity mixed with concern upon their faces. The city watch reported no sign of activity on the plains, nor the lake. The sky remained empty. Again and again came the peels. It was Stevhan who first mentioned the regularity of them…every ten minutes. Then, as the sun reached high noon, the rhythm changed. It came more quickly, with increasing regularity, almost like…footsteps…
A final crack of thunder, the loudest one yet, shook the city, and then, with a flash of emerald light, the boundary between the First World was sundered. Momentarily, a rent appeared in the fabric of reality above Veritas, and a True Monster stepped between worlds. The hideous, reptilian beast stood nearly thirty-feet high, with a long, scaly neck, a vaguely draconic body, and a sinuous, whip-like tail. Its arms and legs were thin, but incredibly strong, ending in sharp talons. Immense, draconic wings flapped on its back, and its ovoid head was a nightmare of bulging eyes, sharp teeth, and long thin antennae or whiskers.
“It is the Tane!” Evindra screamed in fear. “She has sent the Jabberwock!!”
As the crowds began to run and shriek in panic, Stevhan felt a sudden flush of heat from his back, and then heard a voice in his mind.
‘I am Briar,’ it said, ‘and I have awakened. My time with you is brief, for the final reckoning has not yet arrived, yet if my enemy has indeed sent the Tane among you, then I cannot remain idle. Take me up, young warrior, for it was you that I chose. Fear not to wield me. My power is yours to command, and I shall protect you as I vanquish our common foe. Rise up! Snicker-snack!!’
“Get these people out here!” Velox ordered the captain of the guard as his eyes began to glaze over. Iomedae’s might filled him, and he swelled to twice his size. Beside him, Tungdill vanished into the cyclonic form of a whirling elemental.
“Go!” Selena cried to her companions. “I’ll try to hold it back for a moment!”
Her hands wove magic in the air above her, conjuring a powerful dweomer able to paralyze the muscles of even the strongest beasts. But not, apparently, a Jabberwock. As it descended towards the ground, it burbled a cacophony of strange noises and shouted nonsense in various languages. The effect was maddening, and many among those fleeing threw themselves to the ground, their hands over their ears, while others turned on their neighbors, attacking them unprovoked with whatever improvised weapons were close at hand.
Tungdill’s vortex rose into the sky and crackled with black lightning. The druid sent one of the bolts sizzling towards the Tane, hoping to snuff out its life with a single strike. The Jabberwock flinched and snarled at the stinging of its flesh, but to the druid’s disbelief, only a small, black smudge marked where the devastating bolt had struck.
Still on the ground below, Velox reached deep inside to harness the power of his patron. He extended his palm, and ebony light lanced towards the Jabberwock. Under ordinary circumstances, the powerful spell would be capable of healing even the most mortal of wounds, but the oracle had altered its purpose, intending for it work in exactly the opposite fashion. Such harm would it inflict, that the target would be wounded almost unto death. The Jabberwock recoiled from the blast, but otherwise seemed unfazed. Lost in his battle fervor, it occurred to Velox only remotely that this might be a fight they could not win.
Stevhan never for a moment doubted Briar’s word. He reached into his belt for a flight elixir, and then leaped into the air, the sword glowing like a beacon before him. The Jabberwock’s eyes locked on him instantly, and its jaws snapped forward, savaging his leg. The ranger veered in mid air and brought Briar down upon the monster’s neck, hoping to sever it cleanly. At that last moment, the Tane jerked away, leaving a horrible in its hide, and something in its eyes that Stevhan was shocked to see…fear. Then, its eyes started to glow with crimson fire, and twin beams of crimson light flared from them. Both struck the prince, setting him ablaze and tumbling from the sky.
Tungdill rushed forward, catching the falling ranger in his vortex before he could hit the ground.
“Not so fast, boy!” the elemental rumbled in a voice like thunder. “We still need ya!”
The druid channeled healing magic into Stevhan, closing his wounds and returning him to consciousness.
“Thanks old timer,” Stevhan smiled grimly. “I owe you one.”
“You owe me plenty!” Tungdill growled as he hurled the ranger back into the sky.
Mox watched, tight-lipped as her husband joined the battle once more. Davrim rose into the air with him, but the Jabberwock batted the inquisitor aside like a leaf in a windstorm. She feared for Stevhan’s life, but she would never speak the words aloud. This was their duty. Their calling. No life of ease was ever promised them. She closed her eyes, slowly exhaled her breath, and began her own incantation. With luck, before her husband even reached the beast, she would be able to suffocate the air right out of its lungs. No sooner had she cast the spell, however, than she knew it would fail. The Tane unleashed its fiery gaze again, and though Stevhan was singed, he continued upward.
Briar flared like a small star as Stevhan struck. The blade bit deep into the hide of the Tane, and each time it did, the beast screamed like a child. Again and again it lashed out at the ranger, both with its eye beams, and with tooth and claw. Stevhan burned and he bled, but he did not waver. He did not retreat. He fought like a man possessed, until finally, with an inarticulate cry of rage, he drove Briar through the Jabberwock’s breast and into its heart. With a final scream, the Tane exploded into a thousand pieces.
‘Well done, young prince,’ Briar whispered, its voice already fading. ‘I have chosen well. We shall meet again soon.’
____________________________________________________________
“If Nyrissa sent the Jabberwock for you,” Evindra opined, “then perhaps she’s reached the limit of her ability to assault your world…at least for now.”
“What are you saying?” Mox asked. “That she might resume the attacks?”
“In time,” Evindra cast her eyes down. “She is immortal after all. Time is her ally.”
“And you are supposed to be ours!” The Queen’s voice rose angrily. “Weren’t you supposed to be researching a way for us to take the fight to this bitch?”
“Yes, my Queen,” Evindra nodded. “I cannot be certain, but I think I may have found something after all. I had planned on telling you sooner, but with all of the blooms coming so quickly, I wasn’t sure the time was right.”
Mox’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Perhaps if you’d told us sooner, then we wouldn’t have had so much trouble with the blooms. Now…what have you found?”
“The Castle of Knives,” Evindra replied. “The ruins you found in Thousand Voices. I think the portal might lie there. Go there. Take the bloom tokens you’ve collected and…we’ll see.”
“ ‘We’ll see??’” Mox snapped. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means…I’m not certain,” Evindra whispered. “It’s all I can tell you.”
Mox turned to her companions, her face burning.
“Prepare yourselves,” she said. “We leave at dawn.”
___________________________________________________________
It was nearly midnight and Selena stood outside, gazing across the castle's gardens from atop her tower's balcony. Suddenly, a silent shadow blocked the pale moonlight above the witch. The massive form of an ancient black dragon glided above the tower. Leaping from the beast's back, the Queen of Kardashia glided down upon her own black, leathery wings and landed beside Selena. The pair faced each other and each nodded respectfully.
"What is the reason for our private meeting, my Queen?" asked Selena.
Mox folded her arms across her chest before speaking.
"Hunting down this Fairy Queen is a great concern and a huge threat to the kingdom. I believe that facing her on her own plane will put great risk to everyone making the attack."
Mox turned and gazed out over the walls of the castle.
"I believe the time has come to ask a great service of you, Selena. I feel we may need the power of the Eye to guide us through this crisis. I'd like you to consider taking its power before we cross into another plane."
"What about Velox," asked Selena. "You know he and the orc will not allow me to have it."
"Your powers and my illusions will protect you.” Mox replied. “ I will use my magics to make your eye appear normal. I will cast it upon you each morning and it will easily last until the next day. If that fails us, things may become physical. However, it would be foolish of them to attack us. I assure you. Let me know of your decision as soon as you've made it."
Mox raised her hands, muttered a soft incantation, and vanished in a billowing cloud of black smoke.
____________________________________________________________-
The Castle of Knives, deep in the forest of Thousand Voices in the foothills of the Branthlend Mountains, was nothing like Mox and her companions remembered it. When they’d first come upon the place, it had been little more than a ruin. Now, however, it was a complete structure of sharp towers and confusing architecture of dozens of colors that seemed strangely too vibrant for the surroundings. The entire castle was surrounded by a wrought iron fence that contained a single gate flanked by statues of beautiful women. The statues formed an arch with their raised hands, while in their other hands they each held high a sword that bore a striking resemblance to Briar. As Stevhan neared the gate, he felt a pulse of power from Briar, and simultaneously, the two blades held by the statues momentarily glowed with emerald light.
“Looks like the place,” Mox smirked. “Shall we?”
One-by-one, the companions passed beneath the arch, and as they did reality transformed around them. When they emerged on the far side, they found themselves, not in the courtyard of the castle, but rather on a narrow path leading into a dense forest. It was twilight, though it had been mid-morning before they had stepped through the gate. The forest hemmed them in oppressively on both sides, and the trees rose up several hundred feet above them. The gloom was alive with cries of fear and fury, sounding at once miles away and just around the corner. The Voices of Thousand Voices spoke of helplessness in a pitiless and unending night. Beyond the screams were other sounds: weeping, singing of children’s rhymes, shouts of anger, feral cries, and howls. There was no doubt in the minds of the heroes of Kardashia that they were very, very far from home.
There seemed no choice but to go forward along the path, deeper into the dark of the forest. It was a narrow, winding trail, no wider than ten feet, and overhung by thorny branches. Time seemed to have no meaning in that strange world. Hours may have passed, yet the twilight seemed unchanged. After an unknown passage, however, the forest cleared, and a broad lake of dark water filled the majority of the resulting glen, leaving a fifteen-foot-wide path around its edge. Dozens of black swans glided along the lake’s surface, apparently unimpressed by the immense but strange silent whirlpool that churned at its center. Along the forest edge, many of the trees seemed to be dying or dead, their twisted branches drooping and their trunks scarred with disease and burns.
“This looks sort of familiar,” Davrim noted. “Does anyone else feel like we are about to be attacked by giant elementals again?”
“I dunno,” Tungdill offered. “I think them fellas wanna have a go at us first.”
The dwarf nodded towards the woods, were several of the dead, lightning-scarred trees had uprooted themselves and were lumbering forward along the shore. Velox and Davrim instinctively moved forward, swords in hand, but before they could move more than a few paces, an odd thing began to happen. Crackling lines of electricity began gathering among the dead branches of the walking trees. In a matter of seconds, these lines coalesced into coruscating halos around each of them. Then, in a flash, bolts of lightning lanced out, striking the oracle and the inquisitor, and then arcing to each of the companions in turn. They jittered and jerked were they stood before the electricity released them, and by that time the trees were upon them. Velox and Davrim launched themselves forward, somewhat stiff, but no less deadly. Stevhan joined them, and the trio wove a devastating dance among the creatures. They hacked each down in turn like skilled lumberjacks. Finally, when only tree still stood, Mox reduced it to a pile of ash via a coruscating blast of emerald fire from her hand.
“The blooms,” Selena sighed as the last tree fell. “Please tell me that each of them was not linked to some part of this forest. I think we are in for a long, long journey.”
It was exactly one month from the appearance of the first First World bloom when the last one erupted, quite literally, on the front steps of Veritas. In the early morning hours, Mox, Stevhan and Velox were summoned to the battlements by Harold. On the plains before the capital city a strange and sinister forest had grown seemingly overnight. Protruding from the center of the mass of twisted trees, thorny vines and evil-looking fungi, was a ghostly image of an impossibly tall alabaster tower atop a hill that looked too round to be natural. A spectral phantasm of an immense black wyrm could be seen flying in circles around the tower. A tremendous clamor of screams, growls, roars and howls emanated from the forest, echoing across the plain to the ears of every citizen of Veritas. As Mox and the others watched, a veritable army of horrors exploded out of the bloom. Murderous beasts, crazed satyrs, giant worms, slavering, deformed wyverns, lumbering giants, and blood-drinking plants swarmed towards the city walls. Mox’s eyes went wide, and she turned to Velox, knowing the answer to her question before it was asked. Their armies from the war with Pitax had been disbanded.
Velox didn’t hesitate. He sent runners to spread the call-to-arms to the city guard. After the war with Pitax, the general had spent months personally training the watchmen for just such an eventuality. Kardashia had grown too large to maintain a permanently standing army, so each province had been charged with forming its own militia to answer the call in time of need. With the exception of Fort Drelev, Velox’s own city, Veritas was the most prepared for such an eventuality. Within minutes, the best archers of the guard were assembled on the walls, while the infantry set to clearing civilians from the streets, and reinforcing the main city gates. As the hordes of the First World charged recklessly across the plain, the bowmen of Veritas opened fire. The swarm of arrows was so dense that it cast a shadow between the horde and the sun, and scores of fey fell screaming to the ground. Still the swarm came. They reached the city walls, where the giants formed makeshift siege towers that the smaller creatures began to swarm up. Again and again the archers fired, but the sheer numbers of the enemy were overwhelming. Then, a rallying cry went up among the defenders as the Royal Magister, Selena, the Warden, Tungdill, and the Queen herself strode out atop the battlements. On Mox’s command, the three rained fire, ice and burning acid down upon the ravening mob below. The wave broke and fell back, self-preservation overcoming their savage blood thirst. The reprieve was brief, however. The next assault focused on the main gates, and though the massive portals were made of iron-backed hardwood, and barred by massive iron bolts, the splintered under the unrelenting pounding of the giants. The guardsmen found themselves in bloody, brutal hand-to-hand combat through the city streets. Yet they were not alone. Velox, Davrim and Stevhan stood shoulder-to-shoulder with them, and though the casualties were high, the horde was beaten back once more. As the fey army was pushed back outside the city walls, the archers opened fire again, and that time, Mox, Selena and Tungdill ensured that the victory would be total. Under the horrific power of their magic, not a single fey survived.
__________________________________________________________
“What’s next?” Mox asked Evindra.
The Queen was seated upon the throne. Aside from the nereid, only her immediate lieutenants were present. In the aftermath of the First World assault, the city was still reeling and struggling to both recover and come to grips with the losses they had suffered. It had only been two days, and the wounds were still raw.
“I…I’m not sure,” the fey replied uncertainly. “Nyrissa is very powerful, but I feel that her ability to maintain the blooms is becoming stretched. Still…I feel…there’s something I’m missing…,”
As if in reply, a peal of thunder rocked the very foundations of the castle, rattling the glass within the window frames.
“What the Blazes??” Tungdill cursed. “There ain’t a cloud in the sky outside! Checked the weather m’self this mornin’!
“I’m guessing this isn’t going to be a natural occurrence,” Velox sighed. “Looks like the fey queen isn’t done with us yet.”
_________________________________________________________
As Tungdill had said, the sky was clearest blue when the companions emerged from the keep, but the thunder rolled again, deafening in its intensity. Citizens began to pour into the streets, curiosity mixed with concern upon their faces. The city watch reported no sign of activity on the plains, nor the lake. The sky remained empty. Again and again came the peels. It was Stevhan who first mentioned the regularity of them…every ten minutes. Then, as the sun reached high noon, the rhythm changed. It came more quickly, with increasing regularity, almost like…footsteps…
A final crack of thunder, the loudest one yet, shook the city, and then, with a flash of emerald light, the boundary between the First World was sundered. Momentarily, a rent appeared in the fabric of reality above Veritas, and a True Monster stepped between worlds. The hideous, reptilian beast stood nearly thirty-feet high, with a long, scaly neck, a vaguely draconic body, and a sinuous, whip-like tail. Its arms and legs were thin, but incredibly strong, ending in sharp talons. Immense, draconic wings flapped on its back, and its ovoid head was a nightmare of bulging eyes, sharp teeth, and long thin antennae or whiskers.
“It is the Tane!” Evindra screamed in fear. “She has sent the Jabberwock!!”
As the crowds began to run and shriek in panic, Stevhan felt a sudden flush of heat from his back, and then heard a voice in his mind.
‘I am Briar,’ it said, ‘and I have awakened. My time with you is brief, for the final reckoning has not yet arrived, yet if my enemy has indeed sent the Tane among you, then I cannot remain idle. Take me up, young warrior, for it was you that I chose. Fear not to wield me. My power is yours to command, and I shall protect you as I vanquish our common foe. Rise up! Snicker-snack!!’
“Get these people out here!” Velox ordered the captain of the guard as his eyes began to glaze over. Iomedae’s might filled him, and he swelled to twice his size. Beside him, Tungdill vanished into the cyclonic form of a whirling elemental.
“Go!” Selena cried to her companions. “I’ll try to hold it back for a moment!”
Her hands wove magic in the air above her, conjuring a powerful dweomer able to paralyze the muscles of even the strongest beasts. But not, apparently, a Jabberwock. As it descended towards the ground, it burbled a cacophony of strange noises and shouted nonsense in various languages. The effect was maddening, and many among those fleeing threw themselves to the ground, their hands over their ears, while others turned on their neighbors, attacking them unprovoked with whatever improvised weapons were close at hand.
Tungdill’s vortex rose into the sky and crackled with black lightning. The druid sent one of the bolts sizzling towards the Tane, hoping to snuff out its life with a single strike. The Jabberwock flinched and snarled at the stinging of its flesh, but to the druid’s disbelief, only a small, black smudge marked where the devastating bolt had struck.
Still on the ground below, Velox reached deep inside to harness the power of his patron. He extended his palm, and ebony light lanced towards the Jabberwock. Under ordinary circumstances, the powerful spell would be capable of healing even the most mortal of wounds, but the oracle had altered its purpose, intending for it work in exactly the opposite fashion. Such harm would it inflict, that the target would be wounded almost unto death. The Jabberwock recoiled from the blast, but otherwise seemed unfazed. Lost in his battle fervor, it occurred to Velox only remotely that this might be a fight they could not win.
Stevhan never for a moment doubted Briar’s word. He reached into his belt for a flight elixir, and then leaped into the air, the sword glowing like a beacon before him. The Jabberwock’s eyes locked on him instantly, and its jaws snapped forward, savaging his leg. The ranger veered in mid air and brought Briar down upon the monster’s neck, hoping to sever it cleanly. At that last moment, the Tane jerked away, leaving a horrible in its hide, and something in its eyes that Stevhan was shocked to see…fear. Then, its eyes started to glow with crimson fire, and twin beams of crimson light flared from them. Both struck the prince, setting him ablaze and tumbling from the sky.
Tungdill rushed forward, catching the falling ranger in his vortex before he could hit the ground.
“Not so fast, boy!” the elemental rumbled in a voice like thunder. “We still need ya!”
The druid channeled healing magic into Stevhan, closing his wounds and returning him to consciousness.
“Thanks old timer,” Stevhan smiled grimly. “I owe you one.”
“You owe me plenty!” Tungdill growled as he hurled the ranger back into the sky.
Mox watched, tight-lipped as her husband joined the battle once more. Davrim rose into the air with him, but the Jabberwock batted the inquisitor aside like a leaf in a windstorm. She feared for Stevhan’s life, but she would never speak the words aloud. This was their duty. Their calling. No life of ease was ever promised them. She closed her eyes, slowly exhaled her breath, and began her own incantation. With luck, before her husband even reached the beast, she would be able to suffocate the air right out of its lungs. No sooner had she cast the spell, however, than she knew it would fail. The Tane unleashed its fiery gaze again, and though Stevhan was singed, he continued upward.
Briar flared like a small star as Stevhan struck. The blade bit deep into the hide of the Tane, and each time it did, the beast screamed like a child. Again and again it lashed out at the ranger, both with its eye beams, and with tooth and claw. Stevhan burned and he bled, but he did not waver. He did not retreat. He fought like a man possessed, until finally, with an inarticulate cry of rage, he drove Briar through the Jabberwock’s breast and into its heart. With a final scream, the Tane exploded into a thousand pieces.
‘Well done, young prince,’ Briar whispered, its voice already fading. ‘I have chosen well. We shall meet again soon.’
____________________________________________________________
“If Nyrissa sent the Jabberwock for you,” Evindra opined, “then perhaps she’s reached the limit of her ability to assault your world…at least for now.”
“What are you saying?” Mox asked. “That she might resume the attacks?”
“In time,” Evindra cast her eyes down. “She is immortal after all. Time is her ally.”
“And you are supposed to be ours!” The Queen’s voice rose angrily. “Weren’t you supposed to be researching a way for us to take the fight to this bitch?”
“Yes, my Queen,” Evindra nodded. “I cannot be certain, but I think I may have found something after all. I had planned on telling you sooner, but with all of the blooms coming so quickly, I wasn’t sure the time was right.”
Mox’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Perhaps if you’d told us sooner, then we wouldn’t have had so much trouble with the blooms. Now…what have you found?”
“The Castle of Knives,” Evindra replied. “The ruins you found in Thousand Voices. I think the portal might lie there. Go there. Take the bloom tokens you’ve collected and…we’ll see.”
“ ‘We’ll see??’” Mox snapped. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means…I’m not certain,” Evindra whispered. “It’s all I can tell you.”
Mox turned to her companions, her face burning.
“Prepare yourselves,” she said. “We leave at dawn.”
___________________________________________________________
It was nearly midnight and Selena stood outside, gazing across the castle's gardens from atop her tower's balcony. Suddenly, a silent shadow blocked the pale moonlight above the witch. The massive form of an ancient black dragon glided above the tower. Leaping from the beast's back, the Queen of Kardashia glided down upon her own black, leathery wings and landed beside Selena. The pair faced each other and each nodded respectfully.
"What is the reason for our private meeting, my Queen?" asked Selena.
Mox folded her arms across her chest before speaking.
"Hunting down this Fairy Queen is a great concern and a huge threat to the kingdom. I believe that facing her on her own plane will put great risk to everyone making the attack."
Mox turned and gazed out over the walls of the castle.
"I believe the time has come to ask a great service of you, Selena. I feel we may need the power of the Eye to guide us through this crisis. I'd like you to consider taking its power before we cross into another plane."
"What about Velox," asked Selena. "You know he and the orc will not allow me to have it."
"Your powers and my illusions will protect you.” Mox replied. “ I will use my magics to make your eye appear normal. I will cast it upon you each morning and it will easily last until the next day. If that fails us, things may become physical. However, it would be foolish of them to attack us. I assure you. Let me know of your decision as soon as you've made it."
Mox raised her hands, muttered a soft incantation, and vanished in a billowing cloud of black smoke.
____________________________________________________________-
The Castle of Knives, deep in the forest of Thousand Voices in the foothills of the Branthlend Mountains, was nothing like Mox and her companions remembered it. When they’d first come upon the place, it had been little more than a ruin. Now, however, it was a complete structure of sharp towers and confusing architecture of dozens of colors that seemed strangely too vibrant for the surroundings. The entire castle was surrounded by a wrought iron fence that contained a single gate flanked by statues of beautiful women. The statues formed an arch with their raised hands, while in their other hands they each held high a sword that bore a striking resemblance to Briar. As Stevhan neared the gate, he felt a pulse of power from Briar, and simultaneously, the two blades held by the statues momentarily glowed with emerald light.
“Looks like the place,” Mox smirked. “Shall we?”
One-by-one, the companions passed beneath the arch, and as they did reality transformed around them. When they emerged on the far side, they found themselves, not in the courtyard of the castle, but rather on a narrow path leading into a dense forest. It was twilight, though it had been mid-morning before they had stepped through the gate. The forest hemmed them in oppressively on both sides, and the trees rose up several hundred feet above them. The gloom was alive with cries of fear and fury, sounding at once miles away and just around the corner. The Voices of Thousand Voices spoke of helplessness in a pitiless and unending night. Beyond the screams were other sounds: weeping, singing of children’s rhymes, shouts of anger, feral cries, and howls. There was no doubt in the minds of the heroes of Kardashia that they were very, very far from home.
There seemed no choice but to go forward along the path, deeper into the dark of the forest. It was a narrow, winding trail, no wider than ten feet, and overhung by thorny branches. Time seemed to have no meaning in that strange world. Hours may have passed, yet the twilight seemed unchanged. After an unknown passage, however, the forest cleared, and a broad lake of dark water filled the majority of the resulting glen, leaving a fifteen-foot-wide path around its edge. Dozens of black swans glided along the lake’s surface, apparently unimpressed by the immense but strange silent whirlpool that churned at its center. Along the forest edge, many of the trees seemed to be dying or dead, their twisted branches drooping and their trunks scarred with disease and burns.
“This looks sort of familiar,” Davrim noted. “Does anyone else feel like we are about to be attacked by giant elementals again?”
“I dunno,” Tungdill offered. “I think them fellas wanna have a go at us first.”
The dwarf nodded towards the woods, were several of the dead, lightning-scarred trees had uprooted themselves and were lumbering forward along the shore. Velox and Davrim instinctively moved forward, swords in hand, but before they could move more than a few paces, an odd thing began to happen. Crackling lines of electricity began gathering among the dead branches of the walking trees. In a matter of seconds, these lines coalesced into coruscating halos around each of them. Then, in a flash, bolts of lightning lanced out, striking the oracle and the inquisitor, and then arcing to each of the companions in turn. They jittered and jerked were they stood before the electricity released them, and by that time the trees were upon them. Velox and Davrim launched themselves forward, somewhat stiff, but no less deadly. Stevhan joined them, and the trio wove a devastating dance among the creatures. They hacked each down in turn like skilled lumberjacks. Finally, when only tree still stood, Mox reduced it to a pile of ash via a coruscating blast of emerald fire from her hand.
“The blooms,” Selena sighed as the last tree fell. “Please tell me that each of them was not linked to some part of this forest. I think we are in for a long, long journey.”
