Chapter 1 part 5

It had been far easier for Avery to track down Keeneye than for Keeneye to find the way out of the small dungeon. Keeneye had managed to avoid all of the roaming guards with difficulty.

Avery, on the other hand, had gotten lucky and never saw any of them. In fact, until he caught up with Keeneye, he had begun to wonder if he had been forgotten. Once united and working together, though, Keeneye and Avery had made quick work of the relatively simple maze and soon arrived at the main hall at the top of a long flight of stairs.

The room was large with elegant furnishings and was designed to accommodate many people. In addition, there were several tables at one side next to a brazier and cauldron. Sitting at one of the tables, was a thin old man. Avery had used a simple spell that he had been taught by Ultrecht to enable Keeneye and himself to understand the man’s language, and the elderly gentleman had introduced himself as Mager, the caretaker, immediately upon their arrival.

Since that time, Avery and the old man had been having a conversation about magic. Keeneye could understand only a bit of the subject at first, enough to hear that their abductions had been accidental. At least that was what the man claimed. But soon the archer was lost in the unusual vocabulary and dialect used to represent and negotiate magical forces. So, he busied himself with exploring the room.

From some of the paraphernalia, it appeared to be part of some kind of pagan temple or shrine. The room was also a thief's dream. There were gems of all sizes and types laying everywhere. He had picked one up, a rather large emerald, and was examining it when he heard a noise coming from the stairway.

A quick glance at Avery told Keeneye that the ranger had also heard the sound though it seemed to have been missed by the man. Their elven heritage had gifted Keeneye and Avery with hearing that was a bit more acute than that of most men.

Immediately, Avery turned toward the stairwell with a hand on the hilt of his long sword and the other reaching into a small pouch at his side. The sounds were coming from a group of people coming up the stairs. Keeneye quickly followed Avery's lead and dropped into a crouch with his bow in hand. The gem he had been holding was stuffed unconsciously into a belt pouch.

Avery peered into the dark area that surrounded the stairwell. It was being kept dark, he surmised, so that the main room's occupants could be observed undetected by someone at the top of the stairs.

Being of elven heritage, though, he had the ability to see the shapes of warm objects in the dark and he strained trying to make something out from that blackness in the stairwell. Unfortunately, the heat from the torches on the room's walls combined with the light made it impossible, and that was also probably by design.

It would be a good place for an assassin to strike from if the room were populated enough to hide the sounds of footsteps like those which had alerted Keeneye and himself.

As the sounds grew louder, it became clear to all three defenders that there were several
individuals coming. Even the man who until alerted by the noise, Avery had been taking to became aware of the approach of footsteps. He showed surprise that anyone should be coming up the stairs. That look of surprise alarmed Keeneye who quickly grabbed a special enchanted arrow armed with an explosive tip and fitted it into his bow. If there were a group of enemies approaching, he wanted to try to kill as many as possible in one shot.

He needn't have worried. As soon as the first figure came into view, a powerful, heavyset
dwarf with an unmistakably gigantic red lock of hair tied on top of his head, the group was instantly recognized.

"Scarlet!" Keeneye's cry echoed throughout the room. Avery and he were supposed to be exploring an area a great distance farther than the one where Scarlet was supposed to be working. The fact that the dwarf was there in front of them was an unexpected surprise. He was even more surprised when seven other familiar figures followed Scarlet into the open hall.

"Well," Tyson mused thoughtfully, "is this all of us or should we be expecting others?"

Ultrecht walked pointedly over to where Avery was standing next to the only unfamiliar figure in the room. "While I'm glad to see you, Avery, I must confess myself to be a little peeved. Do you know anything about why we have been abducted, and who will be the unfortunate recipient of our gratitude?"

Avery knew that Ultrecht rarely got angry, but the edge in the elementalist's voice could be taken for nothing else but anger. "Allow me to introduce," the ranger held up a hand and presented the elderly man at his side, "Mager, the caretaker of this place. He doesn’t
understand our language, so you might want to use a translation charm."

While Ultrecht performed the magic that would allow the others to speak and listen in Mager’s language, Avery introduced the stranger to the other new arrivals.

Taking that cue, Mager quickly began to explain. It was obvious, even to him, that his guests were agitated to the limit of good manners. "Good friends," he stammered, "first of all, allow me to assure you that your arrival here was purely accidental." This seemed to calm the small mob from a lynching mood to simple aggravated assault.

"Yesterday," he continued, "my associates and I finished casting a very powerful and dangerous spell. A spell which we derived from information we discovered in the Tome of
Creation." Mager stopped. He was used to some reaction to the mention of that particular
book. He was taken aback when they showed no sign of understanding. "I said," he repeated, "we cast a spell from the Tome of Creation."

Ultrecht looked at Armegon who in return just shook his head and shrugged. "I'm sorry,"
Ultrecht said, "but we have never heard of this book."

Mager lowered his head for a moment then looked back up. "There is much you should hear," he said, "and I'm afraid you aren't going to like what I tell you."

"We already don't like it," Tyson said interjected irritably. He made himself comfortable in a chair with arms crossed. "But we'll hear you out."

Mager motioned that his audience should be seated and began pacing back and forth at the front of the room. Some seated themselves, while others indicated that they would rather stand or just grumbled intelligibly.

"Two weeks ago myself and ten of my colleagues finished the construction of a spell we
derived from what was contained in the Tome of Creation." He glanced upwards. "The spell was supposed to summon a group of deities. We could not be very sure where they would come from, only that it would be outside our multiverse." Ultrecht let out a whistle and Armegon's left eyebrow rose in wonder.

"The spell was completed in ten days. My brother Joman was the first caster. He spent an entire day in this room. When Cardone, the second caster, entered, we were puzzled why Joman did not come out." Mager hid his face in his hands. "That is how it was for each day our next caster would enter and no one would exit. Finally on the eleventh day, it was my turn to cast the last component. When I entered the room, the light was so bright that I could not see. I had to work by my sense of touch only."

Mager eyed his audience; he looked old and weak. He was on the verge of tears. "When the spell was over and the light faded, I stood in the room alone with ten sets of empty robes."

Mager was barely whispering now. The horror of what he had been through was evident. "My friends," he sobbed, "my brother, all dead. We had not foreseen the terrible cost of the spell. All of them made the ultimate sacrifice to bring new deities to us." Mager sat down on the alter and wept soundly.

"I have got to get a copy of this book," Ultrecht said absently. No one was really listening to him. They were all trying to visualize the power of a spell of such magnitude.

"Am I to understand that we are no longer in our own universe?" Tyson's tone was not benign.

Mager’s haunted eyes revealed his regretful answer.

“That would explain the pagan décor and his inability to speak Calligan Common,” Avery
supposed analytically. "But if I understand what he has said correctly, not only are we not in our home universe, but we are completely outside our home multiverse as well."

"Multiverse," Scarlet asked. "What's a multiverse?"

"A continuum," Ultrecht replied. "The universe is the world, stars, planets, and other
structures that you can physically get to. But the Abyss or Paradise, or the Astral Plane are outside of the universe. They are, planes that act as other universes. And yet they are all a part of the same family of universes. That is what makes up a continuum or multiverse."

"If what this man says is true then," Keeneye supposed, "we are on a world that is beyond our universe or any of the planes that touch our universe?" The question hung in the air as silence followed for many moments.

Armegon rose and walked over to the altar. A question that had been missed by the others was playing on his mind, and he was not sure he wanted to know the answer. "Mager," he asked softly, "why were you trying to summon deities here?"

Mager stopped sobbing and made an effort to regain his composure. When he had some
degree of control over his emotions, he continued his tale. "It all started about a thousand
years ago," he said. "The people were happy and well. The gods were pleased with us and our sacrifices and devotions.

But then, somewhere a bard or minstrel or sage began to spread a prophesy that the gods were not really gods. This individual also prophesied that some day mortals would rise up and overthrow the gods." Mager searched Armegon's eyes for understanding, but found none. The sorcerer simply listened intently.

"At first everyone ignored it. After all it was just a myth. But, in spite of the temple's efforts to eradicate the blasphemers, the cult began to grow." Mager had turned from a sobbing man to an angry mage. "Just five years ago, the gods gave the world an ultimatum. We were to eradicate this cult by next year or they would destroy us all and begin anew."

"Well that is a rather harsh position," Scarlet blurted out, but no one laughed.

Mager gave the dwarf a cold glance and then continued. "For the last five years we have been trying to stamp out the cult of non-believers, but for every one we converted, they gained two more. It was terrible. There has been a cleansing and letting of blood in the name of the gods that has created carnage worse than any war ."

Mager raised his arms in a gesture of hopelessness, "When four years had gone by, and the entire minority of non-believers had become the majority, we knew that we needed to do something drastic to try to stop the gods’ wrath."

Mager bowed his head apologetically. "That is when we retrieved the Tome of Creation from the Cornerstone of the World. When we opened its pages and read the texts, we found that it agreed with the cult of non-believers. In the Tome it is written,” he recited, “'In the beginning, the Creator made all things! To watch and care for his Creation, He also created ten minions whom He called the Overlords.’” Mager gestured grandly as he continued. “The Tome further says that long ago, a race of powerful beings struck a bargain with one of the Overlords. In return for his help in destroying his brethren, they would make him their king.”

Mager’s voice was barely more than a hushed whisper. It was almost as if he was afraid of
being overheard. “So, it was that the Overlord we now know as the "Godking," betrayed his brethren and aided the gods' rise to their present position."
"Though there were only nine Overlords, the battle between them and the gods cost the gods almost all of their race. Now only a few remain. In the end, it was the overwhelming number of their enemies that defeated the Overlords, and in the last instant before they were destroyed, the Creator himself intervened and took the last three loyal Overlords away.”

Mager sighed. “The Scroll of Coming,” he continued, “is another prophesy we found with the Tome that tells us of the return of the Overlords in the guise of mortals. It states, 'they will live in secrecy as mortals until the cries of the world can no longer be ignored. Then they will rise up to overthrow the gods; the Godking himself will at long last know true death at the hands of his brethren'."

Mager surveyed the room slowly. "With this kind of nonsense running around, you can see why we were desperate. So to protect ourselves from our own gods, we tried to summon deities who would be bound to us as would a demon from the abyss. Only the Spells of Creation have that magnitude of power, but no spell like that existed in the Tome of Creation, so we had to construct one." He shook his head. "I am truly sorry that we failed. I, and I alone am responsible for your current dilemma, and I shall seek a way to return you to your own world."

"Perhaps you did not fail." All eyes turned to Ultrecht. He, in turn, scanned the room and his comrades. Then, he sighed as he strode over to Mager. "Look," he said, "my art is that of the elements. But, I know a good deal about the structure of the multiverses and magic. It was something that my own master was very adept at, and I picked up a few things. Your spell chose us probably because our continuum was the closest one to your own at that moment or the barrier between the continuum was weakest."

Mager nodded his comprehension. "But the spell was seeking deities. Why didn't it summon one of yours?"

"I can answer that." It was Avery speaking this time. He rose from the chair where he had
been listening to the sad tale. "Your own story tells you why. This ‘Tome of Creation’ tells you that there are no ‘gods’, only the Creator. Your spell picked us because there were no so called 'gods' in our continuum."

Mager started to protest, but Avery held up a hand. "In our universe, there is only one
Supreme Being, the Creator, just as your Tome tells you. He made all things, including this continuum. He created the whole multiverse just as your book states. No spell could summon and bind one such as the Creator."

Once again Mager tried to interrupt, but Avery continued. "You said it yourself, even in this world, the Creator watches what is happening. This cult, as you call it, is following the true path. These gods are nothing more than charlatans. Powerful and undoubtedly immortal, but pretenders, nonetheless."

“So our hopes are dashed and we are to die at the hands of the gods?” Mager could hardly believe his ears.

"Maybe not,” Armegon answered. “We may not be gods, but we might be able to help."

"Whoa! Armegon," Seymore exclaimed, "your ego is making some pretty big promises. If you think for one minute that we are going to face off against gods, you've got another think coming."

"At least not sober," Scarlet added.

"The way I see it," interrupted Marlena, "this problem has nothing to do with us. I say we
should let these people solve their own problems and keep us out of it. We have enough to do at home and I'm not keen on getting involved in any more wars."

"I am afraid," Norwind said hesitantly, "that I must agree with the lady. I am truly sorry for
what these people are going through, but the problems of this world do not concern me."

"I also must agree with Marlena," Samson spoke up. The big man moved over to stand by
Norwind and Marlena, his chain mail was almost noiseless as he walked. "In my opinion, by calling in upon outside forces, these people have upset the delicate balance of power in this universe. To equalize that imbalance, we must not interfere with any of the natural
occurrences of this world in any way."

Armegon glanced up at Avery. It seemed that the vote on whether or not to help these people was going against him, but he knew he did not need to ask the ranger to know that they were in agreement. Finally, Armegon turned toward Keeneye. "Well," he said, "what do you think?"

Keeneye hesitated and then turned his head away. "You know I will stick with you."
Armegon stepped over to where Keeneye was standing. "That's not what I asked," he said softly. "I know that if I were to walk into the very heart of Hell, you would follow me. But, what I want to know now is whether or not you think we should stay and help these
people."

"Armegon, I have followed you into worse places than the heart of Hell and have come out again unscathed. This time, however I think you are asking too much of yourself. If it were a campaign against a single god or even a few gods, I would say yes, but against all of this world's gods at once and a being called a Godking? No, I think you should let this one go."

Armegon shook his head and placed a hand on Keeneye's shoulder, "Thank you for being honest, my friend." He then turned to Tyson. The man was now sitting on a stool next to where Marlena was standing. There was no need in even asking his position, it was quite clear.

Turning to Avery, Armegon composed himself and said, "Comrade, it would appear that we have been outvoted on this little adventure. I would not ask anyone to risk his life under these circumstances. Also, I won't try to undertake this task with less than two thirds of our number." Turning to Mager, he said simply, "I am sorry."

"No," Mager said quickly, "it is I who should apologize. We should never have tried to cast a spell out of the Tome of Creation to begin with. The Tome itself tried to warn us that we had not the endowment to summon power. In fact," Mager said nervously, "the script warned that those summoned would lose a part of their power as a condition to their survival across the barrier between the worlds."

There was a brief moment of silence, which was broken by the quite voice of Ultrecht as the archmage calmly walked over and said in a low tone, "Okaaaaay. Do you want to run that by me again?"

Mager stepped back. He had been holding back on this bit of information hoping to get them to agree to help before he told them just how much power they had lost in the transition to his world. Now there was no choice but to tell the truth. "The Tome stated," he said with a shaking voice, "that crossing the boundary between worlds would drain the life force of any traveler. Only the most powerful could survive the journey and they would be significantly weakened in the crossing."

"That's not good," Seymore said slowly.

"Do you mind," Ultrecht said through his teeth, "if I take a gander at this 'Tome of Creation'?"

"Not at all," Mager walked over to where most of the jewelry and chests were located. "This vault is really the only place in the world where the wards are powerful enough to prevent the gods from detecting our efforts. That is why the Tome was brought here, and that is why we cast our spell here." Mager reached into a chest and drew forth a large, thick book with what appeared to be stone covering. He gently wrapped it in a thick fur and carried it over to the work table where Keeneye was sitting.

When Mager unwrapped the book and opened its cover, Ultrecht saw that the pages were
made of some translucent crystal, and the writing had been etched into the sheets of crystal by some sharp point. Sitting down at the table, Ultrecht and Armegon began studying the Tome of Creation and greedily digested the secrets within its pages.

With Ultrecht and Armegon reading the thick book, Avery asked Mager if there were maps of the world around the vault. There were, and Mager made them available for Avery, Tyson and Keeneye's inspection. At the same time, Norwind, Seymore and Scarlet announced they felt it their duty to sample the new world's forms of liquid refreshment to verify its fitness for consumption. They had appropriated a few flasks from the wine stores earlier. While the others were occupied, they made themselves at home.

With everyone else busy, Marlena noticed that Samson was on the other side of the large room examining a small pile of cylinders atop an octagonal table. Finding Mager boring, the map table crowded, and having absolutely no desire to join the three mug-keteers, Marlena strode over to see what Samson was doing.

"Samson?" she asked as she approached, "What are those?"

Samson Okmar picked up a cylinder and held it out for Marlena to see. "I am not sure, my lady, but it would seem there are ten scroll cases, here have our names on them."

Marlena peered up at him, her eyes widened. "Do you think Mager has been lying to us?"

"He claims we were abducted by accident and that he does not know or has never heard of us. But, these scroll cases seem to imply that someone does know us." He glared over to where the old man was talking to Avery, Keeneye and Tyson. After a thought he said, "Marlena, could you make a moral check on him? Find out if he is evil or good?"

"Sure," she assured him, "that is a simple spell, and he will never know we checked."

Samson watched as Marlena drew forth a dried leaf and crushed it into dust. She then blew the dust into a cloud between her and the man across the room. She peered intently through the cloud in the air in front of her. After a moment there was a look of confusion on her face then anguish and surprise. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and repeated the sequence.

"What's wrong, Marlena?"

Marlena shockingly looked at Samson with a tear in her eye. "Oh Samson," she sobbed, "one of the simplest spells of my craft and it failed. And worse, I can't recall any of my greater spells abilities. I have lost my powers."