Losuda sat quietly for a moment to organise her thoughts.

“Millenia ago, beings of near unimaginable power came to our world.”

As she started talking, the room dimmed, and musical notes played softly in the background.

“These beings were the Lords that gave our empire the tools to succeed. The first to arrive were the brothers from the world of sand. The Lord of death and the Lord of war and deserts.”

Motes of light burst from the magical candles that were fixed to the walls and floated into the middle of the group. The lights melded and shifted forming an image of faceless beings arriving to this world in a whirlwind of sand. One of the brothers was wrapped in bandages and carried a crook and flail. The other was a huge man with an animal head and a spear.

Noticing David’s confusion Rustrur leaned forward and whispered

“Don’t worry laddie, she picked up the storyteller class as a side job. Gets us a bit of coin whenever we stop.”

“These Brothers taught our ancestors the art of war, and then how to care for the resulting dead. We were also taught how to tease life from the most arid of deserts.”

The image changed to the animal headed Lord leading a group in battle and then just as quickly switched to showing the bandaged Lord leading another group in funeral rites.

“The next to arrive were the Lords from the world of Monsters and Life. These Lords were father and son. The Lord of the skies and the Lord of the forge.”

Following Losuda’s words the lights changed once again. This time they showed two Lords arriving in a flash of lightning and the music echoed the sound of a hammer striking metal. They then strode forwards and stood before a large audience. The first Lord was a striking bearded figure draped in a white robe and holding a weapon in the shape of a lightning bolt. The second Lord was a horribly disfigured being. Despite his disfigurements, the second lord was outstandingly muscular and had a belt with a variety of tools affixed to it.

David leaned forward to whisper to Rustrur.

“Why do none of these guys have faces?”

“Well it happened millennia ago, no one has any idea what they looked like.”

“Surely there is art or statues or something that have their likeness on?”

“Maybe there is some art, but if there is no one is sharing any of it. As for statues? Well just listen to the story.”

With his questions answered David resolved to not ask any more questions until the very end.

Losuda looked at the pair with narrowed eyes for a moment but then relented and carried on with her story.

“The Lord of the Forge was the first Artificer and taught his followers how to craft miracles. Without his tutelage and his followers handing down methods and new skills learnt through the years even this caravan we are sitting in would not have existed.”

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David looked around the vehicle with a new eye, appreciating the work that it would have took to keep track of methods that could have easily been lost to the mists of time.

“The Lord of the skies taught us how to harness the wind to allow our ships to sail across the seas. He also taught us how to deal with sky-based disasters.”

“The third and final set of Lords to arrive were another father and son. These Lords hailed from the world of ice and darkness.”

As expected, the motes of light changed the image again. A swirling darkness enveloped a small area and it was suddenly pierced by a beam of rainbow coloured light that slammed into the ground from above. Stepping out from this blinding light David got a look at the last two Lords. The first Lord was a grizzled old man with an eyepatch and two ravens flying in circles above him. The second Lord was a slim young man wearing a horned helmet with the horns curving backwards.

“The Lords that arrived were called the Lord of wisdom, and the Lord of magic and chaos. The Lord of wisdom gave the empire the gift of runes. His followers guard the knowledge fiercely and rarely let newcomers learn the details. These runes are used on many expensive items and they vastly improve the abilities and stats of whatever they are added to.”

Losuda’s eyes shined as she talked about them, obviously entranced by the idea of seeing the runes in action. Her voice had also sped up slightly from the slow melodic pace that showed her excitement.

“The Lord of magic and chaos taught the citizens of the empire how to use the magic that was in the air all around them. This created new classes and brought amazing advancements and joy to the world. As due the Lord of chaos however, it also brought great ruin and evil. Many people during that time used their powers for evil.”

On that note Losuda seemed to slump slightly looking somewhat exhausted and the motes of light floated back to the magical candles and light returned to the dim room.

Prepared for this eventuality, Gladys passed her a cup of tea and bade her to relax.

“Are you alright Losuda? What happened?” A worried David asked.

“I’m ok, the light show is a new skill, its just a bit exhausting to use, but I’ll get better at it the more I use it. Father, could you finish the story please.”

“No problems lassie, you rest up there.”

“Now David. I told you to listen to the rest of the story so you would know why there are no statues. Well here goes. There were statues, and plenty of them according to history. History also tells us however that these so-called Lords turned vicious and spiteful and started treating our people as sheep to be experimented on. With all the gifts that these Lords gave our ancestors, they had some hidden powerhouses, so it apparently wasn’t too difficult for them to force the Lords into retreat. When they left, our ancestors tore down every statue they could find and used the rubble to rebuild.”

“If your ancestors hated them so much, why do they still have followers?”

“We are nothing if not a pragmatic people. We still need the gifts that the Lords gave us, so we hate them for what they became, but love them for what they were.”

“Ok, I think I understand, And I think I actually recognise some of the Lords, maybe they visited my world as well?” Struck by a sudden thought David asked, “Do you happen to have anything that has the runes engraved on it?”

“We only have the one runic item; they are somewhat expensive. Tommlein, go grab the dowser. David, what are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that I’m going to recognise the rune. I studied a particular set of runes for fun a while back. I think I’ve still got the alphabet saved on my phone.” As he said that, he pulled out his phone and immediately set it to battery saver and low brightness in an effort to save the battery. Quickly pulling up the app that had the runic alphabet on David took the dowser out of Tommlein’s hand.

“HAH! I knew it. Rustrur, Gladys, this is the rune for water, right?”

“Yes dearie, how did you know? We had to pay extra for that information.”

“Like I said I studied this runic language for a bit. Its Old Norse runes from my world!”