John faded into consciousness, but didn't recognize anything around him. All was quiet, entirely silent, and all was white and rather bright. His body seemed intangible. John felt like he should begin to panic, but he felt strangely serene. A few moments later, a figure began to pierce the white. As the entity approached, John saw that it was a young woman. She had long, black hair that fell around her constantly moving. Her skin by contrast was nearly as white as the empty space around her.

"Hello, John," She spoke. "You are in danger."

"Danger? What happened? What's going on and where am I?" John asked barely finding the words to speak. "...And who are you?"

"My name is Typheus. Your situation is grave. If you do not do as I say, you will perish." The woman said plainly.

"What? I don't understand, the last thing I remember-" John racked his brain to think, but it was difficult. "I was in the hold? And then... The assassins-Dad! Is he- Are my friends-?"

"Your father is dead. Your friends, the three names you spoke, they live and are safe for now. However, should you die, they will not remain that way."

"I still don't understand." John was only getting more confused by the second. It was very difficult to think clearly.

"You must do as I say for your sake and the sake of many others. I'm sorry, but I must ask a great deal from you and your friends."

John wasn't sure how to respond. He still didn't know what was going on. In a moment of unexpected clarity, he knew there was only one thing at this point he was absolutely sure of: he must live. "I understand. Ask what you will."

"Very well."


John awoke with a start. His mind was much clearer now; his body felt tangible again. A strange dream? He thought while sitting up. It was then he realized that the dream may not be entirely over. He looked around to find himself sitting in a grassy plain. The grass was long and strangely smooth and colored like a pastel painting. Very small, cotton-like tufts floated just above the blades and gave off a slight glow. Based on the lighting, it seemed to be just before dusk, but John could not spot the sun anywhere. In fact, the sky-even the air around him-seemed quite foggy and ethereal.

"Hey! He's awake!" He heard a voice from behind him. John turned around to see Dave, Jade, and Rose coming toward him. Jade ran to him and threw herself into his chest wrapping her arms around him. John felt a pain in his left arm. He noticed his wound was cleaned and wrapped in bandages.

"Thank god you're okay!" She sobbed.

"I'm fine. I'm fine." John said returning her embrace. "But where are we?"

"Hell if we know," Dave chimed in. "You went all blank faced in the middle of a fucking battle. Then you slapped that weirdass scrap of paper, and now we're here."

"To put it plainly." Rose added. "However, I think I may be able to clear some things up. But first, John, where did you get that piece of paper?"

"It was from your chamber. On your writing desk. I'm sorry; I don't know what came over me when I took it." John responded with notes of shame in his voice.

"It's not your fault, John. The original sigil from the book obviously contained significant, unknown power, but I figured if I made a copy onto an insignificant piece of parchment, it would be merely a symbol. I should have been more careful." Rose explained. "That aside, this confirms my thoughts on where we might be."

"Which would be-?" Dave pressed.

"Which would be Eden, the realm between realms." Rose finished.

"The what?" John questioned.

"While mages like John and Jade use magic to directly influence the world around them, diviners like myself use magic to summon spirits to perform such tasks. These 'spirits,' however, aren't truly what most people think of them. They may take an intangible, ethereal form in our world, but in their own, they have a corporeal body as physical and definite as our own. That ethereal form we observe is a manifestation that diviners call an 'avatar.'"

"And what does any of this have to do with where we are or what 'Eden' is?"

"Eden is the name given to the realm between ours and that of the spirits'. It is generally believed to be just an empty space, but just looking around, it is obviously so much more than that."

"Why must you sound elated in the most inconvenient of times?" Dave interrupted.

"Excuse me if I can appreciate such an incredible discovery. In fact, we are probably the first people to set foot here ever. Besides, we are out of danger for the moment."

"Right, let's just frolic through the interdimensional meadow and not even give a second thought to the fact that we have no idea how to get back to our own world."

"And that brings me to my final point," Rose sighed. "Since there are absolutely no records of anyone ever entering Eden, there are just as many records of anyone getting out."

"So we're stuck here?" Jade joined in.

"Maybe not." Everyone fell silent and looked at John. "While I was out, a girl spoke to me like in a dream."

"Woah, John, we don't talk about those kinds of dreams out loud, buddy." Dave heckled.

"She said her name was Typheus." John continued pretending not to hear Dave's tease.

"Wait," Rose interrupted, "Typheus? Like the patron spirit of air?"

"I guess. She didn't say, but she made me agree help her-to become 'allies.' And in return she gave me this." John raised his hand to reveal the palm of his right hand. In the center of his palm was a silver symbol, a triangle with a horizontal line through the middle.

"John, that is indeed the sigil of Typheus. Diviners use sigils like this to bind a spirit to an object. But binding to a living creature, let alone a human, has never really been done successfully. Not to mention, it's been generally viewed as a really bad idea."

"That's weird," Dave interjected. "When I examined your wounds, there was some weirdass symbol on your palm there, but it wasn't that one. It was much more complex like an eight-point diagram."

"Most likely from the parchment John used to bring us here." Rose suggested. "The sigil, from what I could tell, seemed to be some kind of pact or trade. So, upon binding said pact, the sigil was probably imprinted onto John's skin to connect him to whoever the other party of said pact would be. It's just like enchanting an object, it would seem. You use the sigil to make a seal on the object, and the object then contains the power of the respective spirit that the sigil represents. It's an extremely difficult process, but it creates invaluable tools and weapons."

"But it looks like Typheus has managed to overwrite the seal somehow with one of her own. Does that mean this 'pact' is off?" Jade inquires.

"Either that or the pact has already been completed," Rose adds.

"John, you mentioned that seal gives us a way out of here?" Jade turns to John.

"Right, yeah." John stands up. "Typheus said that she had the power to travel from Eden, but lacked the ability to get here in the first place. So instead, she granted me her power so I could use it."

"Okay, but how do you use it?" Jade asks.

"I'm not really sure, but I think I might have an idea. Are you guys ready?" John motions for everyone to get in close.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Jade said.

"Let's get outta this dump." Dave added.

They all huddled in around John shoulder-to-shoulder. John extended his hand downward and clasped his wrist with his off-hand. He focused his mind on the seal and attempted to converge his magic into his hand. To his surprise, his hand began to glow with the concentration of magic energy. In an attempt to make something happen he gives an internal push and clenches his hand imagining the way he summoned wind magic before. The air around his hand began to swirl rapidly and grew consuming his arm. The bigger it became, the louder the sound. In mere seconds, the whirlwind bubble had completely surrounded him and was now enveloping his friends. The sound of the gust filled his ears and he was unable to see even directly in front of him from the way the wind distorted the air around him. He felt weightless.

Suddenly, the wind ceased, and all was dark. John felt a comfortingly solid ground below his feet. He could tell it was stone.

"Is everyone okay?" Jade's voice came from the dark beside him.

"Yeah, I'm alright." Dave's voice emerged from another direction.

"I am fine as well." Rose's voice was directly behind him.

"Hold on." Jade said. In a moment, light filled the room. John tracked the source of the light to Jade who had conjured a flame that now emerged from her hand.

"Where are we?" Dave wondered aloud.

"It appears to be a temple of some kind." Rose answered.

"I found a torch." Jade called out as she lit the sconce.

"Another one over here." Dave responded.

Jade lit Dave's torch and the four of them began examining the dank room they were in. The walls were carved with an unfamiliar, ornate design. It seemed foreign, even other-worldly. The far wall had what appeared to be a shrine with an alter and a statuette of a figure John didn't recognize. There were fluted pillars all around the room.

"Over there," Dave pointed toward the end of the room opposite the shrine, "It looks like there's some stairs over there. Perhaps a way out."

They proceeded to the stairs. The mouth of the corridor was fairly wide as if to accommodate a crowd. They climbed the stairs, and after a few turns, they could see light ahead. They emerged out of the temple to find themselves at the base of a cliff. The entrance of the tunnel was equally ornate as the inside. Greek-like architecture was carved into the cliff with more fluted pillars. All four of them took a brief moment to gaze at the sight.

"It looks like we still have some daylight left. We should get moving and see if we can find civilization before nightfall." Dave suggested. The sun appeared to be at high-noon, so it was about midday. "Who knows where we ended up."


The group took a brief inventory before setting out. For the most part, all they had was the clothes on their backs with the addition of John's spellbook Jade had given him, Dave's sword, and Rose's satchel. Rose's satchel was fairly small and only contained a couple pieces of parchment, a well of ink, a quill, some money, and an assortment of unusual herbs she collected from Eden.

They spent the next several hours traveling across the plains and hills of the unknown land which none of them recognized in the slightest. The temperature wasn't particularly sultry, but the humidity in addition to the constant walking made all of them hot and sticky with sweat. They had waded through multiple rivers and traversed through a bog before finally spotting what seemed to be a fairly large town in the distance just as the sun began to touch the horizon.

The party proceeded to the town in hopes of finding a place to stay as well as a clue to their location. As they entered, the town seemed to be overflowing with vagabonds and vagrants.

"Damn, seems they have quite the homeless problem here," Dave muttered to his companions.

"Such are large city with so many vagrants-there's no way this is normal," Rose concluded, "it's almost like all these people came for a festival or some event, but have no way to return to their home."

"But the weather is fine, and it doesn't seem like there's anything or anyone keeping them from leaving." Jade added.

"Over here," Dave leads them toward a nearby inn, "we can ask about it while we find a place to stay. Rose, how much money we got?"

Rose patted her satchel that sat at her hip. "I don't have much, but it should cover us for a night and a few modest meals."

They enter the inn which seemed to serve as a tavern at ground-level. They approached the bar to speak to the barkeep and presumably the innkeeper.

"I don't suppose you have any rooms left, sir?" Rose asked politely.

"Goddammit, not another one. I keep telling you refugees, we're completely booked, and that ain't changing anytime soon. So tell ya friends to stop asking." The barkeep turned around to face them clearly irritated.

"Hey, if you're full, just say so. No need to be a dick." Dave laid his hand on his sword.

John quickly nudges Dave behind him. "I'm sorry about that; my friend is just tired from all the traveling, see." He says with a convincing smile. "We're just travelers passing through." John turns to Dave. "Why don't you and the others take a seat in the tavern, I'll see if I can get us some directions."

Dave complies with a small huff and proceeds to the corner of the tavern accompanied by Jade and Rose. John turns back to the bartender.

"Again, I apologize for my friend's rude behavior. He's just some hired muscle; we're travelling merchants, you see." John lied kindly with a professional finality. This seemed to noticeably ease the barkeep.

"Ah, I'm sorry for my poor reaction. As you probably noticed, the streets are filled with the people we and every other inn in this blasted city has had to turn away. Well, welcome to Nantes, stranger." The barkeep said with a slightly sarcastic sigh.

"You mentioned refugees?"

"Right. Thanks to our city being right on the border, they've all come pouring in like vermin from Neustria."

"Refugees from Neustria? What's happening there that so many would be exiled?"

"You don't know? Your merchant group been living under a rock the past few months or something?" The barkeep seemed genuinely surprised by John's ignorance. "The rapture? No? At least that's what people are calling it now."

"I'm sorry, we've been away from local gossip lately, mind clueing us in?"

"Well, you may want to sit down because the world is changing, stranger. The people say it's the end of times, but that's all hogwash if you ask me. Anyway, a couple months back, Neustria invaded Austrasia. It was a stab in the back; the two nations may have been on edge for some time, but they were allies nonetheless."

What the hell? John thought. A couple months back!? How long have we been gone?

The barkeep continued, "Neustria was met with great resistance which culminated to an enormous battle that lasted for weeks at Tertry. Just as it seemed Tertry was going to fall to Neustria, it was overrun from the East by a third unknown faction. They say it was monsters-terrifying, savage beasts-that were organized like a horrific army. They completely crushed the Tertry fortress and almost wiped out Neustria's army before they were forced to flee. The beasts chased the army back to Neustria and finished them off at the border-destroyed everything and everyone, no survivors. It wasn't long after they reached the capitol. Now, the entire country is in turmoil, and people are fleeing by the thousands to neighboring countries. Sadly, they won't find much peace here or anywhere else in Brittany with this blasted civil conflict going on."

John was completely silent. He was in shock and didn't know how to respond. He couldn't even think.

"Wow, you really didn't know a word of this?" The barkeep went on. "Well, I'm sorry to be the bearer of such bad news. I sure hope you didn't have any family in Neustria-or Austrasia for that matter. No word has come out of Austrasia for some time. They say the duchy has been completely overrun by the damn monsters."

The barkeep sighed awkwardly as he began to notice John's distraught reaction. Just as the barkeep opened his mouth to offer what would have likely been some vague note of condolence, John's face returned to a composed, polite expression.

"Well, thank you for the information." John said with a smile. "One last thing, you mentioned a civil conflict here?"


John shared the unfortunate news with the rest of them. They were all equally astonished and appalled. They sat in silence as the frightening truth settled in: they truly were refugees now. None of them knew what to do next. None of them except for John who, somehow in the heat of stress and shock, found clarity and absolution. He knew the others were now considering the possibility of finding a new place to live and attempt to build a new life somewhere in this foreign land. That wasn't good enough for John. He was already formulating a plan to retake Austrasia from this unknown enemy.

John sent Dave, Jade, and Rose off to set up camp on the outskirt of town and went off on his own to "gather some local information." John had noticed when they had first walked into the tavern of the inn that nearly all its patrons kept a fair distance from a particularly rowdy group on the far end of the open room. He broke a large, heavy branch from a dead tree that was nearby and leaned it by the exit of the inn before taking a seat in the tavern near the door.

After about an hour of quietly observing the rowdy group, about half of them had left in groups. The sun had fallen and most of the people in the tavern had left. John saw an individual of the group get up to leave alone. John inconspicuously followed him out the door and grabbed the branch he had left. John tailed the young man into an empty alley and got his attention.

"Hey, sorry to bother, would you mind pointing me to the inn?" John said while swiftly approaching the man.

Just as the stranger had turned around, John swept the branch at his ankles with great speed causing him to spin into a horizontal position parallel to the ground. John brought the heavy branch down on the man's torso as he fell, slamming his body into the ground with incredible force. The young man gave a strained yelp in pain, the wind knocked out of his lungs. John took advantage of this moment to remove both the long bodkin dagger from the man's belt and the small stiletto tucked into his boot.

"You and your friends seem awfully well armed to be normal citizens." John began. "Yet, you guys obviously aren't simply a mercenary group because the local people give your entire company a wide birth and divert their eyes when you pass by. So tell me, where can I find who is in charge of your group?"

"What the hell!?" The young man gagged spitting up specks of blood.

"Look, I don't want to harm him or any of your comrades, I just want to have a talk."

"Well, what have we here?" A voice came from behind John startling him.

John spun around to find a man with wild, black hair with streaks of red holding a short polearm in a relaxed position. Behind him were about ten men, all with weapons ready.

"What have you gotten yourself into this time, Tavros?" The man in front said with a sigh.

"I'm sorry. He jumped me." The man John had put firmly on the ground coughed.

"Who are you?" John asked, his make-shift club at the ready.

"We are the Free Army, and you have found its leader." His polearm was a blur as he spun it around from its previously relaxed position and brought it down vertically to the ground with a loud, intimidating thud. "You may call me Rufioh."