Midday rays shined threw the trees onto the dirt road below. A horse trotted along pulling a wagon with two sets of seats. In the front was Ross holding the reins of the horse and Burmilla sitting beside him. In the back sat Levi and Rory. They had travelled in silence for a while but Burmilla finally spoke up.

"It's so beautiful are all the horses in this world like this?" She had been staring at the horse for a while mesmerized by its shiny coat.

"Most of them are this one is a seal brown, I think." Said Ross. "Wait until you see a mustang though no other breed can compare."

After Burmilla's intervention Rory relented and now they were on their way to Charleston. With the hilly roads the journey would take two hours. Levi felt very relaxed, it had been several years since he had been in a horse driven wagon. It took him back to his childhood.

"What does this city look like?" It was Rory.

He snapped out of his thoughts and turned to her. "Hmm Charleston? I've only been there a few times myself after joining the National Guard. Its not an impressive place by any means. Still, you might be impressed by the large buildings and horseless carriages…"

Rory winced. "How do they move without horses?"

"It uses an engine."

"What's an engine?"

"Umm… It uses combustion to move, sort of like an explosion to propel itself forward."

"Oh, I see." Rory smiled. "You use your fire magic to make it go."

Levi thought a moment. "Sure, fire magic." He didn't want to further explain nor ruin her elation.

"Do you think this governor of yours will really listen?"

"Well, he's technically my boss. He should be interested in what I have to say. The hard part will just be getting in without a fuss." He looked upon Rory's attire. "Speaking of which do you think you could wear something a little less conspicuous?"

She shook he head. "I told you before this dress has ceremonial significance to me, I can wear nothing else."

He sighed. "Just try not to attract too much attention."

"What will you say when you get there?" asked Ross.

Levi shook his head. The truth was he was starting to get cold feet about explaining what was really going on. Perhaps it would be better to make up a story about another coal miner revolt that had spiraled into an armed uprising. After thinking a minute, he dismissed the idea. "I'll tell them that we've been infiltrated by a large and organized army, and that we require immediate action to crush it. Rory will then explain exactly what happened and what were up against."

"It's incredible that they were actually able to do this. I never thought it could ever be possible." He replied.

Levi was confused by the response. "What do you mean by that? Are you implying you knew that such a thing could actually happen?"

"I was hoping that a peaceful solution could be reached. Blood was never meant to be spilled like this."

"What the h*ll are you saying. If you know anything…"

"Isn't it clear?" interrupted Rory. "The man before you is a Huguenot one of this world."

"Of this world? What do you mean?" Levi said bewildered.

"Have you not heard the term before?" replied Ross.

Levi thought. "I think so, but I have no idea where from or what it means."

"Huguenots were French protestants in a predominately Catholic country. After persecution the Huguenots seized a number of cities, but the king would not tolerate such a schism. The Catholic League formed to eradicate them. The cities were soon retaken, and the inhabitants massacred. Amiens was the last city to hold out and fell under siege. After five months the Catholics broke through the walls and the remaining survivors took up refuge in the Protestant church and prayed to God for salvation. While in prayer a grey mist appeared, and it was believed that the church had been lit on fire, but the mist soon turned white. With the Catholics breaking into the church the Huguenots walked into the light believing that they were being called to heaven.

On the other side they were greeted by a beautiful land but were soon disappointed as they had not been transported to heaven but a foreign world. The white light which allowed them through had vanished leaving them to explore the new world. They met the inhabitants and attempted to preach to them, but few converted. Most scoffed claiming that their God had no power in this land. They were not deterred in the slightest still believing that they had been saved and led to this new land to spread their faith. Inspired by the Hospitallers they set up a number of monasteries in the mountains to treat the sick and offer refuge to those less fortunate.

After several years a woman in light appeared to them and it was initially believed she was an angel, but she quickly denied the notion. She revealed herself to be Miritta the Goddess of Fertility. She claimed to have been responsible for saving them and bringing them there. In return she demanded that they worship her as their souls were at her mercy. In addition to calling on them to forsake God she also recommended their women act as prostitutes to guarantee healthy childbirth. If we refused our souls would be given to the goddess Hardy and sent to the underworld. She then disappeared in a flash of light.

The Huguenots fell into despair and the monasteries nearly disbanded, but a native of the world who converted to the faith claimed our souls could be saved. Over the years the power of magic became well known, and while initially shunned it soon became accepted as an ability to perform miracles as told in the New Testament. This convert who took on the name Alexander claimed he could create a small rift back to our world. Although it would be far too small for a human or even object to pass it would allow our souls to pass through upon death.

Although many were initially skeptical it soon became tradition for him to create a small light at the end of every funeral to allow the soul of the deceased to return to our world. As he aged, he soon taught his skills to a handful of apprentices. He strictly required the rifts to be only opened to allow souls to pass through but upon his death his apprentices began to experiment opening bigger and bigger rifts. They threw objects through including messages claiming their origins and explaining the world they were in now. One day they created a rift, and something fell through. It was a message claiming to be from a church in France. The apprentices replied and soon found it was the very church they left decades ago. This continued for over a century and Huguenots of Earth kept such power secret and such secrecy led to them being branded a cult. Eventually the French government disbanded the church and the denomination migrated to America in the mid 19th century and settled at the compound at least until now."

For Levi initial confusion had changed to a hostile attitude. "So, you knew all along! Why did you not warn us?"

I left a long time ago. We knew they were trying to make the rifts larger, but the more power they placed into it the more unstable the opening would become. The largest thing to pass between worlds was a book. Although the idea of allowing a baby to pass through was entertained it was decided it was too risky."

"Did you ever experiment with animals?"

Ross nodded. "Mice. But the issue was sometimes what was sent through was not found on the other side. They were not sure what happened, but it was assumed the animals were being transported somewhere else. It was not usually an issue with inanimate objects."

"But what of the incident? Why did they take people hostage?"

Ross shook his head. "I left them five years ago and did not keep contact. I can only assume someone wanted to expose our secret and was being held against their will."

Levi was still skeptical he suspected that Ross had deeper roots with the group then he was letting on. "How is it possible they opened such a large rift then?"

Ross turned to Levi a second before returning his attention to the horse. "There's only two explanations I can see. Either in desperation they found a way to open it larger or it was the work of a god."

"It was the gods." Levi turned to Rory. "The Harvester is cursed by the gods so that he can never find rest. Even if he does conquer this world a new gate will be opened in Falmart. He is doomed to fight in endless war for all of eternity."

"So, the people of Earth are nothing but pawns to your gods?" replied Levi.

"The gods do will you to find a way to defeat him, but your fate is your own. Your people are part of his curse nothing more nothing less."

"Your all deceivers, cowards all three of you! You failed to stop this monster and now you have dragged humanity in to clean up your mess!"

"Levi please calm down." It was Burmilla. "If any of us had told your people anything would they have listened?"

Levi sighed. "No."

"We tried to warn your people the best we could. This world is large and even the Harvester is unaware of how vast it really is. We need merely to muster a large army of this world and crush the Harvester's army before he gains a foothold."

"It's a little late for that."

"Do you think there's a way to kill the dragon?" asked Ross.

"Nothing short of a battleship would be capable. Perhaps once we get things organized, we could find some way to lure it to the coast."

A few minutes later the wagon emerged onto a flatter paved road the road that would take them to Charleston.