"Oh, where am I? There's fire everywhere..."
The world is indeed on fire, and it shows no sign of burning itself out. Simon wakes to find a ominous portal in front of him, and leaps through it without hesitation, hearing the voice of his friend on the other side. The sensation is dizzying, but the shadows within cannot hold him, and he passes through it without passing into the beyond.
Sand lies scattered on the rocky ground, as if it had rained from the sky, for indeed it had. Simon holds a flint and tinder innocently, forgetting himself, then puts it away sheepishly when he realizes the devastation around him it may have caused.
Lewis shakes himself, stands, and they climb back over the dunes, carefully around the portal, and looks down on the burning lakeside city on the plain below.
The city is something out of a memory; where once were homes now lay foundations still smoldering, and still more sand. Their airship lays broken into too many pieces, and two journey companions sit and wait: a man known only as Old Peculier and the legendary Skylord Lasander, who seems to have landed too close to a piece of burning tinder. With enough sense that shows he suffered no great injury or concussion from the crash, he leaps into the lake to extinguish himself.
"Hurry, heroes, follow me through the portal when you are ready!"
Old Peculier, old though he is, seems more recovered from the emergency landing than his fellows, and is fearfully driven to resume their journey.
The heroes pick through their remaining supplies, and wearily but bravely climb back up the altar steps and into the cave that holds the ominous portal.
[01:03:13]
The portal stands alone, dark and foreboding, and the heroes stand within its reach, but nothing happens. They can feel the shadows of the demons within, but none can grasp them. Undeterred, they climb down the other side, and decide to destroy it instead.
"Curse him! He has sealed the way! This portal must be destroyed."
There seems to be no way to unseal it, so Simon approaches with his pick and starts striking the obsidian that encircles it. Slowly the glow fades, and Simon's pick is a little battered, but for his effort, he holds one block of the darkest stone.
The Skylord and Peculier are muttering to each other, concerned looks on their faces, but they show no signs of wanting to share their conversation with the others.
Peculier finds himself suddenly weary, the weight of his world bearing him down. Memories of his love and once well prepared food seem to revive him well enough to continue their journey toward Mistral city, where, perhaps, he may find some solace.
[01:06:44]
A narrow tunnel extends from the cavern of the altar, and the heroes follow it, lighting the way through. Their memories remind them that this leads the way to their magnificent home, providing enough hope to brave the darkness.
When they come to the end, however, nothing but more devastation meets them. Their once illustrious and expansive home lays in ruins. Lava pools on the rocky bottom, welling up from the deepest reaches of the earth below. Water courses into one side where once stood a magnificent waterfall. Narrow and unsteady arches of dirt and rock, once great mountains, tower over them; and an old staircase hangs broken from one of the walls, sections intermittently precarious and missing.
Tears rise to Simon's eyes, the dwarf feeling broken and betrayed by their journeys away to find so little remaining.
[01:10:30]
The heroes gather on a broad deck that used to be their well-tended ground floor, and find some refuge in the surviving structure. The sun is beginning its descent, and night will be upon them soon.
Lewis explores the edges, hoping to find some solace in his memories. Climbing his staircase, he finds himself with a remarkable into the distance, and though there is no landing for him to perch on, he ponders the landscape.
[01:11:35]
They hold a brief meeting, lighting what they can of the deck, debating whether to stay the night or push on forward.
"I can't stay in this place," speaks up Peculier, "the smoke," he claims, though by his behavior, ghosts of his past also haunt him in this wreckage, and he yearns to set them to rest.
Skylord Lysander nods in understanding. "You are right. Gather your supplies, and we will head out immediately."
Simon and Lewis, with pockets already bulging with supplies, gather their wits and prepare to strike off once more.
[01:14:30]