“This is different,” Zorea said as they activated the map and transited back from the Workshop to Sprite’s Corner Hill. The newly created Sigil gleamed in Saul’s hand, casting an eerie, otherworldly light in the darkness.

“We’ve never brought a Workshop-crafted Sigil back to the regular world,” Saul agreed. “It’s a strange thing, but it makes me feel that the System’s finding its own potential even as we are.”

The little timer had vanished from Saul’s view now that the Sigil had been created and was ready to be applied. Saul stepped forward to the stone pillar.

“It feels really strange to be here holding a Workshop Sigil like this,” he admitted to his friends. “The Workshop Sigils are something from another plane of existence. Bringing them into the world…it feels like we’re at the start of something huge.”

He knelt before the portal stones, following his instincts, and held the Sigil up. The strange light fell on his face, lighting up his sharp cheekbones, his keen, wary eyes, and his set, determined mouth, casting flickering shadows across his high, furrowed brow. To his friends, he looked like some figure from an older time, holding up a sacrifice to some old-world shrine.

Zorea felt a shiver in her soul as she thought of the old-world magic that was her inheritance. Her hand reached out and slipped into Brand’s as Saul’s Sigil floated up and hung for a moment, suspended between the two stone pillars.

Portal: Harald’s Tomb Hill

Portal Sigil Ready

Select: Take Control of Portal

Select: Destroy Portal

“Whoa, you have the option to destroy it?” Brand exclaimed. “You don’t want to do that!”

“I sure don’t,” Saul agreed, “but that’s interesting to see. But now, this portal is mine.”

With that, Saul selected the option to take control of the portal.

In an instant, the Sigil exploded outward into a sheet of white light, filling the space between the stones just as the red light had done when the ambassador of Keljek had used the portal against them. This time, the light didn’t boil and hiss. Instead, it sparkled like a sheet of beaten silver, gleaming so brightly that they blinked and turned away. The hill was lit as if by a lightning bolt.

Then, after a moment, the light vanished.

Saul and his friends blinked away the afterimages from the brightness of the spell. Magic flickered across the stones for a moment like flames, and then passed away into darkness.

“Well, that was even more impressive than the crafting,” Elman Tell said into the darkness after a moment had passed. “I’ve seen some things in my time, Saul, but this takes the prize. What’s next?”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“The map,” Saul said immediately.

“You’ll need a light,” Elman said. He reached for his bag, but before he could pull the torch that was there, Saul held up his hand and reached into the School of Fire spells, glancing through the Tier 1 options.

Spells Available: Tier 1

Kindle Fire (Survival; Ranger)

Generate Heat (Mild)

Light Globe (Advanced)

He activated Light Globe and, instantly a beautiful sphere of pale light rose from his hand and floated up until it hung a few feet above them, casting a mellow glow onto the scene.

Elman sighed, smiled in amazement, and said nothing, visibly resigning himself to constant surprises from now on. Saul chuckled as he felt the man’s emotion along the Squad connection. There was no need to remind Elman that he hadn’t seen anything yet; the man knew that well.

Activate Regional Map

The map flickered into life before them.

This was no roll of parchment. Instead, it looked like a tabletop with a model of Xorn, four feet square and rendered in immaculate detail. It appeared out of nowhere and floated at waist-height between them. The colors gleamed as if freshly painted by a master sculptor, the trees, mountains, and rivers all displayed for everyone to see.

“It’s glorious!” Elman gasped as he drew closer. “Look, there’s the Dragon River that marks the southern border of Xorn, and there’s Jillin in the west and Blackrock Castle in the east, and the road that runs north to the woods and the northlands, and there’s Harkin’s Holdfast and the wild Northwood around it! But why are some areas obscured by shadow?”

“The map shows the areas I’ve been to,” Saul said. “Look, it can show all of Keldor, not just Xorn, but there’s not much information there yet.”

Saul moved his hand in a pinching motion above the map, and it changed as the view zoomed out. Under the cloak of shadow, they could see the outline of the whole continent of Keldor, of which Xorn in the north was only one part.

The difference, however, was that while most of Xorn was visible in full detail, the rest of the continent was hidden under a cloak of shadow, with only the vague outlines and the major landmarks visible. They could see where the Keldor River ran through the middle of the continental landmass from the mountains to join the sea at the Bay of Bones in the west, and they could see the outline of the seacoast and the southern mountains that bordered Keldor on its southern extremity but, beyond that, all was hidden.

“Here, you can see the portals we’ve opened,” Saul said, zooming the view in. When they were looking at Xorn in more detail again, they could see that gleaming red circles marked both the hill where they were now standing, and Eastwood Clearing in the Northwood, northeast of Harkin’s Holdfast where the other portal lay.

“Now that we have this second portal, we can use the map to activate travel between here and the Northwood portal in an instant, a journey that would usually take weeks. I have business to attend to there. Zorea and Brand will come with me, but what about you, Elman?”

“Yes, I will,” Elman declared. “I’ll not leave you now, Saul. Let me send a message back to Blackrock to let them know that I’ll be away for a bit, and then I’ll come with you gladly.”

At that moment, there came an unexpected noise. It was partly a squeak like a frightened cat, and partly a cough. This was followed by a second noise that sounded suspiciously like a fist striking flesh, and then a yelp of pain.

Saul’s friends were instantly on the alert, but something told Saul there was no danger. He felt curious rather than wary, and he looked in the direction of the trees, where the sounds had come from.

There was a thick fringe of shrubby bushes at the edge of the tree line, and Saul gazed thoughtfully at them. All had gone deadly quiet.

“Come out, then,” Saul said in a clear voice that carried through the night air. “I have a pretty good idea of where you are. I could blast the whole tree line with fire if you prefer, but I suspect you’d rather just come out and show yourselves.”