This is the remastered version, and I promise you that this remastered will be completely different in the later chapters I promise.
2499 IC Altdorf, The Colleges of magic.
Janna hurried through the labyrinthine halls of the Celestial Collage, her Azure blue robes swaying with each step as she steadily ascended the school's highest tower's winding stairs. A day ago, she received a message through the Azyr from her master, Patriarch Raphael Julevo, calling for her urgent return to the college. The minute she saw her master's message forming in the night sky, she packed up her personal effects and her post on Kislev's border. She hoped her fellow magisters could continue scrying for chaos threats while she was away at the capital.
The trip went by quickly. She made regular use of the swift-wing spell, allowing herself to be carried by the Azyr to fly for the majority of the journey. She jumped from mountain peak to mountain peak until she reached Altdorf in a beam of blue energy. While a risky method of travel, Janna knew Julevno would never write a celestial message unless the matter was truly important.
She felt a wave of nostalgia wash over her as she walked into college for the first time in ten years; at 35, she was one of the order's youngest fully fledged master wizards. Despite having only had a brief appearance within the college's walls, she felt a strong attachment to the place. The wonder of discovering magic for the first time when she was nothing but a poor Ostland merchant's daughter was truly one of her happiest memories. Second, only when she was picked by the Patriarch himself to be his personal apprentice did her years of hard work and study truly pay off.
But she soon noticed the calm, serene atmosphere she remembered from her schooling years was replaced with a static, tense feeling, like dark clouds before a thunderstorm. The usually tranquil Celestial Magisters were in a frantic state, completely ignoring her as they rushed by. On several occasions, she had to step out of the way as some apprentice or wizard barreled down the corridor carrying various tomes and scrolls.
She did her best to avoid any obstacles, adjusting her auburn hair as she headed up the last flight of stairs to the great astrolabe, the magic center of the Celestial College. She entered without hesitation, pushing the huge double doors with a gentle gust of Azyr-infused wind. The wards quickly recognized her magic, allowing her entry into the massive crystal dome that housed the astrolabe.
The magnificent dome was the highest point in the college; it provided an unparalleled view of the heavens above, showing each star in perfect clarity. She remembered spending hours here with the other apprentices, learning about every star in the sky, magnified even further by the many lenses of the great telescope at its summit. But the most important artifact was the Great Astrolabe itself, a mechanical artifact baring thousands of celestial symbols and able to arrange itself into innumerable different combinations to depict whatever future the Wizard sought.
Her master was hunched over the mechanical marvel, dressed in dark blue robes, so engrossed in watching the many dials twist and turn that he didn't seem to notice her entrance. However, as she was about to greet him, Raphael jolted upright and turned to face her with his usual smile.
"Ah, you arrived within the 10-minute time frame I expected," he said as he turned back to look at the astrolabe.
"Master I..." she began, but before she could finish, Raphael grabbed her arm, urging her to look at what he was looking at.
"Watch this," he said in a low voice. "Tell me what you see."
She focused on the dials moving across the astrolabe's surface; every 5 minutes they seemed to repeat a pattern, spelling out the same message again and again.
"You see that?" he said, leaning back tiredly and cracking his back. "The exact same pattern has been repeating for the last 24 hours. No matter what I or the acolytes do, the astrologer refuses to show us anything else."
This news surprised her; the astrolabe was the empire's primary means of predicting future threats, and for it to behave so strangely had to mean something major was on the horizon.
"Have you managed to interpret the meaning?" It would take time for her to decipher everything herself, so she hoped he already had an answer.
"Yes, I have." He said tiredly, "I have cross-checked it with all my colleagues; we went over the meaning a thousand times just to be sure, but we can't decipher the last one," He turned to her with an uncharacteristically grim expression.
"What we were able to decipher is that a chaos invasion, so large that no one can stop it, is coming years from now, an invasion to end all invasions."
Janna stared at him in disbelief, trying to comprehend the meaning of his words—how could something so significant pass without her notice? In all her years at the Empire border, she had never failed to predict a chaos attack; not even the smallest warbands escaped her notice.
"How could that be! I have been scoring the stars at the border for the last 10 years, and I have never seen a single portent indicating a Chaos attack of this size!" she exclaimed, raising her voice
Raphael firmly tapped his foot on the ground, and an Azure wind swept out from under his feet, snapping her out of her mental trance. "You will calm yourself within the Astrolabe or you will leave," he said flatly.
"I thought I taught you better than this; you know as well as I do that our sight is limited; we catch mere glimpses of the future; it is never certain that we see everything."
"Which is why we have this." He said, gesturing to the To help us see that which we fail to see ourselves." He turned back to watch the innumerable silver dials spelling out the message once more.
"All possible futures seem to lead to one result; the stars all point to one end; chaos will sweep the Old World, and the Empire will fall." Her master's discourse was borderline heretical, he said, each word filling her with dread; it's one thing to say an invasion is coming; it's quite another to say all hope is lost and destruction is guaranteed.
"Are you implying there is no means to prevent this?" she asked carefully.
Raphael seemed to find her words amusing, letting out a dry chuckle. "There is a way, but it becomes... perplexing."
"There is no way to prevent the coming of chaos, but... there is a means to stop it when it finally comes." He said it with a small smile growing on his lips.
"Stop it?" Janna questioned, hoping he would elaborate rather than dance around the point.
"Precisely." He exhaled now with a full-blown smile on his face. "The astrolabe is clear; our only hope is to find this Aen Hen Ichaer to save all of the Old World," he said while turning away to walk over to one of the many desks dotting the room. He leaned over to pick up a leather-bound book and handed it to her with care.
"Here's the full translation of what we managed to decipher; the Azyr is clear; the Empire and its people can be saved." He moved beside her and pointed at one of the pages. "Look here, the message indicates that this Aen Hen Ichaer will appear somewhere in Sylvania." "Should we manage to find this Aen Hen Ichaer, we might be able to stop the forces of chaos from winning," he said with finality.
She pondered this information, reading through the pages multiple times to make sure she did not miss any details. "Who is Aen Hen Ichaer? Is it an ancient weapon, a spell, or possibly a person?" She said it almost disbelievingly.
She closed the book with a small thump and handed it back to Raphael while her mind processed all its contents.
"It could be all three, but we don't know how precise the message is," he said, taking the book under his arm, "but what we can tell you is that this Aen Hen Ichaer will arrive three years from today. Now you see my dilemma, our dilemma."If we do nothing, we die, but how do you go about convincing the Emperor to find the one thing that could save entire nations of millions if we do not know what it is or what it looks like?"
He sighed, placing the book back on the table. "Even with the Emperor on our side, it will be a difficult task. I will do all I can to convince the Emperor's son of the coming threat. Karl Franz has proven amenable to my words in the past." He then pointed at her.
"You, Janna, will go to Kislev. I will pen a letter with all the Celestial Order's findings, and you will deliver it to Tzarina Katarina and stand by her side to assist her to the best of your abilities." He turned back to the astrolabe, his blue eyes focusing once more on the gears.
"If the old world is to survive, we must unite." He intoned gravely.
Rather than respond, she simply nodded, detecting the tone of dismissal in his voice. She turned to leave the dome to think about what she had learned; while she would have loved to catch up with her master, now was not the time.
They had a lot of work to do.
This is a dark age, a bloody age, an age of demons and of sorcery. It is an age of battle and death, and of the world's ending. Amidst all of the fire, flame, and fury, it is time, too, of mighty heroes, of bold deeds, and great courage.
At the heart of the old world sprawls the Empire, the largest and most powerful of the human realms. Known for its engineers, sorcerers, traders, and soldiers. It is a land of great mountains, mighty rivers, dark forests, and vast cities. And from his throne in Altdorf reigns Emperor Karl Franz, a sacred descendant of the founder of these lands, Sigmar, and wielder of his magical Warhammer Ghal Maraz.
But these are far from civilized times. Across the length and breadth of the Old World, from the knightly palaces of Bretonnia to ice-bound Kislev in the far north, come rumblings of war. In the towering World's edge mountains. The orc tribes are gathering for another assault. Bandits and renegades harry the wild southern lands of the Border Princes. There are rumors of rat things, the Skaven, emerging from the sewers and swamps across the land. And from the northern wilderness, there is the ever-present threat of chaos, of demons, and beastmen corrupted by the foul powers of the Dark gods.
As the time of battle draws ever near, the Empire needs like never before.
Okay, this story is a prequel to The Witcher and the Hammer, detailing Ciri's adventures in the Warhammer world and how Rudolf and Ciri met. You know, just to clear things up, and don't worry; I'm still working on the other one. However, I might need some help with the Warhammer fantasy timeline, along with the season, if you don't mind.
Tell me what you think, and have a happy new year boys and girls.