Once again able to move, Lan spun, ready to do… what? Not only was the woman long gone, but for some reason, fighting seemed wrong despite what she was and intended to do.

Standing there, Lan tried to process everything that had happened.

A Summoned Hero.

Not only were they real, but one of them was set on destroying the world. More than that, the young man wasn’t alone.

An odd Goliath-like man, a noblewoman whose eyes seemed to touch something deep in Lan’s mind, the necromancer… and then there was that Vampire. Lan ran his fingers through his blood and sweat-caked hair. He was starting to miss the goblins, Lan thought before the images of the Golems returned.

As he stood there, Tyr Finally caught up to him, which immensely helped his mood.

‘I’m glad you’re okay.’ Lan said as she landed in his hand.

Tyr sent a similar impression back to him, which made Lan smile.

‘Do you think you could find your way back there?’ he asked. Although he had some idea of the way, he spent most of that time running and fighting, so he didn’t trust his memory.

Tyr looked hesitant for a moment, and he remembered she, too, had been out of it for the end, and she had no doubt just flown back to him as fast as she could.

{I think I can help with that.} the voice said, opening his Tome before etching a new page in the blue glass book.

Lan looked at the page as lines carved into it before it hit him. ‘A map!’

{That’s right} the voice almost laughed.

‘But how?’

{Tyr’s light is a type of magic linked to you and me. From the moment I changed, I started recording everything her light touched.}

When the page was filled out, Lan could see that she was telling the truth. The parts of the forest they had travelled in were not only there but also the cave in its interior. Lan was sure he now had one of the most detailed maps of the city, if not the most thorough. Most magic-created maps were made using light reflection or sound, but none of the ones he had seen had this much information.

‘This… this is amazing.’ Lan smiled, seeing the clearing with the silk flowers. ‘this would have been good to have a day ago.’ he said, not getting a response. ‘Well, at least we know where we are going now. But Voice? This isn’t about the City or Crownguard. That Summoned Hero is trying to end the world. Isn’t there some way to tell…’

{I can not…} the voice said with the finality of the end of a conversation.

‘But…’

{I can not, Lan, this is the world of mortals… the days of the Lords of light are gone. Even if it ends the world, I can not interfere. Even if I could, the Mother would not intervene. No matter how daunting those five may be, they are still mortals…at least in the eyes of the Lords. And In all her love, the Mother will not arrest the autonomy of all living things again, even if it means her end, as long as there is even one Messenger left.}

Lan frowned. It sounded like what was taught about the Mother, but he still couldn’t bring himself to like it.

{Do not give up, Lan. We are far from doomed. Remember that even now, we are not without a Messenger. You are the Legacy of the greatest of them, for how else would their power still flow through your blood. Plus, Tyr and I believe in you.} As if to emphasise the point, Tyr landed on his shoulder.

‘Well… if that’s the case, then there is nothing I can’t do.’ Lan said, letting a smile form on his face as he started for the city.

‘Maybe you should rethink being an adventurer, Lan.’ Sam, the younger red-hair guard, said, looking like he would steady Lan if he started to wobble, getting a grunt from the older Guard: Talwin.

‘Boy’s got an overdeveloped sense of effort.’ Talwin huffed.

‘More like an overdeveloped sense for getting myself into trouble.’ Lan said, making Sam smile.

‘Well, it can’t be that bad if you can joke about it,’ he laughed

Lan looked down at himself, taking in the damage for the first time. His armour looked rough; parts of the leather almost cut through, and that was to say nothing of what he could see of his arm, which had turned rusty red with dried blood.

‘Yep.’ He said blankly, wondering how he would explain this to Lily before considering if he should say anything to the two guards. On the one hand, he liked them, and he was sure any form of warning would be appreciated; plus, they would learn about it anyway. But Lan knew it was best if the Guildmaster shared the news first.

‘Everything alright, Lan?’ Sam asked.

‘Yeah, it’s just that it might be a good idea to keep people from entering the forest.’ he offered. At least until I can speak with my Guildmaster.’

The two shared a look before giving Lan a nod.

‘Getting worse?’ Talwin asked, clearly up to date with what was happening.

‘No, just clearer.’ Lan answered, nodding to the two and heading into the city.

Reaching the Guildhall, Lan headed for the desk, for once not noticing if anyone had taken note of him.

‘Lan!’ Mari started, almost getting out of her chair.

‘I’m fine, Mari.’ Lan breathed. ‘The Guildmaster?’

‘He is free right now. I can ask if he will see you now if you want?’ Mari tried, but Lan was already moving.

‘Don’t worry about it.’ he called back, heading up the stairs.

Stepping into the Guildmaster’s Office, Lan was greeted by a questioning look from the head of his Guild. A look that Lan was sure was meant to make him wither at his abrupt intrusion, but Lan couldn’t bring himself to be sheepish then.

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‘I found your rogue Hero. The greater and lesser undead, too.’ Lan said, unsure if he was trying to be witty and finding his words ever the graver of the absence.

The Guildmaster looked at Lan as if searching his soul for a moment before sighing and waving for him to sit. ‘You didn’t see the dragons, did you?’

That made Lan pause, finding the idea to be unpleasant. ‘Light, I hope not.’

‘Tell me everything, son.’ The Guildmaster ordered, and Lan obeyed to an extent. Keeping anything about the voice to himself, Lan told the master about the undead and the cave.

When Lan finished describing the Goliath, the Guildmaster stopped him.

‘A red-skinned Goliath? That’s not a welcomed surprise.’ The Guildmaster said as he wrote something down.

‘You know what it is?’ Lan asked.

‘That’s right, red-skinned Goliaths were once known as God’s blood Goliaths. They were larger, stronger, and more bloodthirsty Goliaths, rarely born to the clans. It was said that they had the blood of a war god in them. Because of this, they would always become the leader of their clan.’

‘You have been using a lot of past tense.’ Lan stated before waiting for him to go on.

The Guildmaster nodded. ‘As you can guess, allowing a mutation to dictate the course of your clan’s future, a mutation that often leads those afflicted to crave war with other clans and races, didn’t lead to the most prosperous lives. And so, before the formation of the old kingdoms, Goliaths began to challenge the God’s blood in their clans. In time, none with the blood held power in any clan.’

‘What about any that were born after?’ Lan asked.

‘They would be treated like any other member at first, but if any showed a desire to lead, they would be challenged and killed. Or so we were told.’ The Guildmaster shrugged as if he didn’t fully believe it. ‘It’s safe to say anyone who lives today would be upset with the clans.’

Lan nodded, ‘But what about its odd proportions?’ he asked, remembering how unbalanced it had looked even though its movement had been anything but.

‘Could be several things, but none of it is linked to the God’s Blood, which means something we need to watch out for. What else can you remember.’ The Guildmaster asked.

Maybe it was the fact that this time Lan knew he was right, but the Guildmaster’s tone had none of the procedural air it had the first time he had given a debrief.

‘There was an older woman, a noble maybe, but her eyes…’ Lan shivered.

‘Her eyes?’ the Guildmaster paused in his writing and raised an eyebrow.

‘Yeah… gold disks with red spirals. At one point, she called an insect I had never seen the like before, planning on using it to make me talk.’

‘Hmm.’ The Guildmaster stopped writing. ‘Red spirals, you say…’

‘Something wrong?’ Lan asked.

‘There was a rumour about a noble girl with eyes like you described when I was a boy, but it was in a higher class noble circle, so I never paid attention to it.’

‘It was odd… when I looked into her eyes, I could feel parts of my mind wanting to bend to her.’ Lan said, recalling the experience.

‘Like a form of hypnosis magic?’ the Guildmaster asked.

‘Maybe…’ Lan shrugged,

‘What else?’

Lan thought about it. ‘Well, there was a vampire that gave me this…’ he said, turning his head as he shifted his collar, allowing the Guildmaster to see the two bite marks that already looked like year-old scars.

‘A Vampire!’ the Guildmaster sat up. 'a Vampire… in Crownguard?’ he trailed off.

‘And that is….’ Lan prompted

‘Unusual, vampires usually don’t come near lands ruled by the Lords of Light. The followers of the first Lord do a great deal to keep it that way.’ The Guildmaster explained before sighing. ‘But if her bite didn’t turn you, then she must be more than just a run-of-the-mill vampire. They have no control over their curse, quickly becoming problematic when one shows up. A Vampire Lord, a God’s Blooded and a Noble shrouded in mystery anything else?’

‘A necromancer that has found a new way to bring people back from the dead, and from what I saw, it’s far worse than being undead.’ Lan said, hating how the memory still pulled at his chest.

‘Hmm, and you still haven’t said anything about the summoned Hero.’ The Guildmaster stated.

‘No, I have not… I couldn’t talk to him for long, but long enough to know what he was planning. The man said he could change the structures of magic, which he is using to take over the Tear of Creation. Once he has the Tear, he plans to use her to take over other Tears. Then he plans on going after The Lords of Light and the Mother.’ Lan said. ‘I can’t be sure, but I think he needs souls to do this… that’s why he let me go. He wants me to bring the All Guilds Campaign to him.’ Lan ended.

He had thought about keeping that part to himself. The idea that the Guildmaster might think this was all a trick to lead them the wrong way came to him before he pushed that thought aside.

Everyone needed to know what they were getting into, and Lan could tell from the glint in the Guildmaster’s eye that he was right.

‘Wouldn’t be much of an All Guilds campaign if they didn’t know we were coming. This does seem to line up with all the different reports… now the critical part. Do you have anything solid I can go off?’

Lan just looked at him for a moment, so caught up in trying to recall everything he had been through that it took a moment before realising what the Guildmaster was asking for. ‘Oh.’

{Lan, I can make the map page of your Tome visible to others if you would like?}

‘You can?’ Lan almost said out loud.

{That’s right,}

‘Please.’ Lan thought with a smile.

{You are very welcome.} the voice said as the Guildmaster’s eyes widened.

‘Is that…?’

‘My Tome… yes,’ Lan said, finding the fact that someone else could see his Tome a little embarrassing. Pushing that aside, Lan stood and walked over to the Guildmaster and turned his Tome to face the man with a wave of the hand.

‘This is a map that we made from the city gates all the way to the Summoned Hero’s layer.’ Lan said, sharing a thought with the voice to make the map focus on the cave system.

‘You have a mapping ability? ‘The Guildmaster question, reaching into his desk for what turned out to be a small glass sphere, ‘can you transfer it to this?’ he asked, offering the orb to Lan.’

‘Uh Voice?’ Lan thought, touching the offered sphere.

{Give me a moment to work something out.} she said, and after just a moment, the sphere began to glow, drawing the map in the air with light.

‘This is… detailed.’ The Guildmaster breathed, looking at the city map, raising an eyebrow at one part before waving his hand to refocus on the cave system. ‘I will send some scouts to reconnoitre. I know.’ He said, cutting Lan off before he could even process the disappointment. I believe you at this point, but I have to have something I can take to the Duke. You said there are tunnels we could use to get around?’

Lan nodded.

‘I’ll have a scout there and back in a day.’

Even though Lan knew this was the right move, yet with what he knew, it seemed like every moment they weren’t preparing was a waste.

{Hmm.}

‘What is it?’ Lan thought to the voice.

{I think I may be able to convince him… could you touch the orb again.}

Doing so, Lan felt a tingle in his mind, ignoring the Guildmaster’s raised eyebrow.

{This… might hurt.}

Before Lan could ask what, the tingle turned into a biting pain, his vision flashed white, and he heard a popping sound.

‘Ah! Damn.’ Lan said, shaking his head as his sight cleared to see the orb blackened and cracked with a grain of light still projecting an image, a memory.

Where had moments earlier been the map, now Lan looked at the Tear of creation hanging over the black pool and casting light on the five figures just like he had seen them. Only now, it looked like the image had been pulled out of a nightmare.

Maybe it was due to the imperfection of memory or the damage to the orb, but the image had a hazy texture, with some features being clearer than others; the necromancer's odd clothes and gear, the Goliath’s skin and teeth, the noble, and her spiral eyes which seemed to have left enough of an impression on Lan that they were the only features of her face that had been captured.

Funny enough, the Vampire’s whole face was as clear as he could remember.

Lastly, the young man. He was just a shadow with those same dead fish eyes, and behind them, in perfect detail, was the Tear being slowly corrupted.

‘This is.’ The Guildmaster said, looking taken aback for the first time. Even if he had never seen a Tear of Creation before, there was no doubt that he would know what he was looking at, just as Lan had.

Sighing, the guild master reached for a piece of paper and scribbled something before placing it in a box. The moment he did, the box started to glow, and seven bluebirds made of light shot out of it and flew through the window.

‘You know that Mage eye cost a thousand Dragons?’ He offhandedly said, making Lan wince.

{Whoops}

‘Sorry.’ Lan returned, shrinking down a little.

‘It’s a little price to pay if it means saving the world.’

Still working out how he would repay the damaged Mage Eye, it took Lan a moment for the Guildmaster's words to sink in. ‘You mean?’

‘That’s right. I sent word to the other guilds and anyone who should know that I am requesting an All Guild's Campaign.