He found a good site to stop for the night not long after Vermilion left him, and after a quick meal for him and the horse he bedded down, there was a chill in the night air so he slept still wrapped in his cloak. Kadin slept for a few hours soundly and started out early the next morning. As the sun began to rise he made a start, there was still a chill in the air but at least this time there was little or no wind so he was able to ride fully wrapped in his cloak with the hood up, the enchantments on it keeping him in a relatively comfortable temperature. The Vampire told him that he felt the dark magic a few days ago which meant that if this was the necromancer he was leaving Kadin further and further behind, so he pushed himself and his horse pretty hard for the day using his magic to reinvigorate the horse as it tired – this was still not good for the horse as the build-up and strain on its muscles would not be fixed through magical means so Kadin cycled his horse; walk, canter, gallop every few miles to keep it going for the whole day. As the distance passed and the vast forest veered away to the right of the road giving way to open planes and grassland where Kadin could see the occasional farm dotting the landscape and still he carried on. An uneventful day, but he didn’t let his guard down and he would still use his long sense to scan for life as well as magical activity around him, as the sun started to set he could see the mountain range far on his right behind illuminated by the setting sun, little dots in the sky coming from the forest heading to the mountains be they wyverns, hippogriffs or Chimeras, heading to their nests in the range; the hunting done for the day. He was still about half a day away from Ashvale, however his path had merged with a busy trading route from the coastal city Quam the road was well maintained long, straight and smooth, so he decided to push on and get to the trading town in the night, he could still find an inn get a few hours’ sleep and trade up his horse … letting his current mount rest for a few days. Putting himself in a state of half sleep as he and his horse plodded on along the road as mile by mile passed by, on occasion he would pass a trade caravan off the road where they had settled down for the night, he would force himself awake and scan the camps and caravans where there were the odd guard still on watch some well-trained with their backs to camp fires, looking out across the landscapes other less trained, less professional with them being huddled around their own small camp fire more focused on keeping warm than looking out for any potential threats. But there was a cold wind starting to pick up coming from the far norther realm of the snow elf’s, Kadin had only seen a few in his time – but he was reviewing and remembering all the information he had about his destination as it the blasted lands were getting closer and closer. For the ice elfs anything above freezing was uncomfortably hot for them, and their natural ability to lower the temperature around them made dealings with them somewhat rare however the northern realm had rich crystal deposits that were used heavily in enchanting so there was a trade route going through Turin to the north and for the elfs part they also had a trading hub just outside of the barrier that separated the frozen north from the temperate south. The barrier converged on its eastern side with the harsh and extreme heat from the desert tribes passed the eastern mountain range Kadin had been following along since he left the capital. The extreme cold of the North and the extreme heat of the east caused a magical storm zone known as the blasted lands where the demon horde had been driven back to and cast out of this world during the great war and the unity of the mortal realms. The landscape of the blasted lands was hostile and inhospitable to all with the never ending magical storms and even the ground itself in constant upheaval and mutation. But even with that hellscape the borders still had goblin tribes in the hills to the south who worship the demons that once inhabited that land and that drove the mortal races to near extinction with there never ending army’s. The northern area of the blasted land had mountains of Ice which also held Ice trolls and yetis. The trolls themselves were not very smart and every so often they would be seen by scouts wandering the blasted lands … searching to see if they could find where the noise was coming from so they could smash it and get so quite time. There think hides making them immune to both heat and cold, and the abundance of magic in the area also meant they were very resistant to magical attacks – rumours the ice elf’s had domesticated the trolls were abundant however none but they knew the truth of it.

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He was brought back into focus on the present when he thought he saw a faint flash of light on the horizon, bringing his mount to a gallop he pushed on, looking to the horizon to see if there was anything – it was still too far away for him to pick anything up with his long scene skill but he kept his attention on the horizon knowing that it was the general area of where he was heading he focused and watched intently for a few minutes but there was nothing no sign that anything was there or that anything had even happened but he decided to head on as quickly as he could pushing the horse hard and channelling his magic to keep its stamina high . The horse had been galloping for a while sweat coating its flanks as its muscles bunched. The horse was breathing heavily and it had started to get clumps of foam at the side of its moth as the ragged breathing went on and still nothing up ahead – Kadin was starting to think he had imagined it or it was a trick of his mind, there was still nothing so he brought his house down to a steady canter, then down to a slow trot as they were going the horses breathing steadied the sweat started to evaporate and the muscles got less tense. Kadin was on the verge of taking a quick brake to feed and water the horse and give it a good rub down when he saw it again – a light flash with a tinge of yellow to it just on the horizon, just where he assumed the town to be.

Sparing a pitying thought for his poor horse as he brought up back to a gallop pushing it to get there as soon as he could. As the distance flew by and time went on Kadin knew the horse was approaching its limit again so he dropped it to a canter to let it cool itself and get a small amount of rest.

The Horizon had started to become more active with the flashing lights some a deep orange other with a green glow quickly flashing into existence then snuffed out just as fast, it was happening every few minutes that he would see a flash now.

Kadin was beginning to tire himself now he didn’t have an unlimited pool of mana and the amount he had to keep pouring into the horse for it to keep it going was increasing every time. But even with that the horse was close to death now he could feel it at first a dull ache at the edge of the horses mind latter becoming a draining darkness – now it was a bone weary tiredness closing in on the poor beasts consciousness from all sides.

But Kadin was close now he could see the outline of the town in the far distance – he wasn’t close enough to see anything just black smudge in the distance. The flashes was almost constant now lighting up different sides of the town different hues to the lights as the winked out.

As he got closer he could start to make features out of the town, the walls of the town a tower at its centre, finally he was close enough to use his long scene and what he saw was chaos.