Lavernias had just returned from a lengthy expedition. Now, sitting in his study, he was mulling over a few sheets of old, tattered paper. The sheets were brown and worn, seeming to have been sitting for some time, forgotten. There were only three pages, yet Lavernias couldn't help but think they held some vital piece of knowledge he needed.

About a month before, he had set out to investigate some old ruins that had been spotted. An adventurer supposedly had seen a small, dilapidated, stone temple deep in the Aufarine Forest. Lavernias knew, from reading other ancient texts, that the Aufarine Forest did indeed hold magical properties. It was said that centuries ago the forest was alive with spirits of fey and elements alike. Now just an ordinary forest to most people, Lavernias knew that no ancient civilization would dare build upon the land of these spirits, and the spirits themselves did not build such structures. They were said to keep to themselves, but held vast amounts of magical power that helped them ensure their borders stayed safe.

That adventurer had either lied about the ruins simply to gain a little attention, or something far greater was at work there. Lavernias knew he had to make the five day journey out there. With any luck, he'd be back in two weeks time. But upon finding the ruin, Lavernias discovered something far greater than he had imagined. Indeed, there was a temple there. But it was not in ruin. It seemed to be in pristine condition.

Lavernias looked around cautiously. He was not The Great Wizard Arinn, yet he knew the ways of magic better than most. He knew a spell when he saw one. Or, more importantly, when he felt one. This meant so many things. Not only were there actually ruins here, but someone was attempting to hide them. At least, that's what Lavernias assumed. Although he had to admit, whoever was behind this picked a strange way to hide them. Then it hit him. Of course, this was a trap. A temple looking nice and clean would be much more inviting than an old building about to collapse.

But this made even less sense. Who was behind this? And why? He thought that perhaps another mage had heard the story of these ruins and decided to find these ruins before anyone else could. And then upon arrival decided to set a trap to get rid of anyone else who may have had the same idea. But wouldn't it have made more sense to simply cast a full veil spell over the ruin? That would ensure that anyone else searching for it would never find it in the first place.

Either way, another mage had traveled out here, just as Lavernias had, in search of these ruins. It was the only thing that made sense at all. It seemed logical that he wasn't the only one studied in magic to take interest in such a discovery. But that still wouldn't explain why the other mage decided to set a trap, instead of concealing the ruin entirely.

Lavernias cast a protection spell around him. Then decided there was only one way he would get the answers he sought. He readied in his mind what few attack spells he knew, then proceeded towards the temple. He tried dispelling the illusion, but to no avail. Whoever had cast this illusion was indeed very practiced in the art of magic. This only worried Lavernias more. Slowly he stepped closer to the large structure.

When he reached the steps leading up, he paused. Looking around one last time, he stepped onto the bottom step... nothing happened. He felt the stone, it didn't feel ruined at all. Then it occurred to him, what if the ruin the other adventurer had seen was, in fact, the illusion? A light went off in his mind. Someone wasn't trying to keep Lavernias out, or even trap him. Whoever was behind this magic was trying to keep the adventurer away by making the temple look old and ruined. But that still didn't make perfect sense. It explained why he was able to physically touch the stones without noticing the illusion change at all. But Lavernias figured that an old ruin would attract any adventurer even more. For that was often where they'd find great treasures. He was beginning to think this mage may be more far removed from society than he had previously assumed. A lot of mages lived outside of any settlement, including Lavernias. Though they typically still went to the market in a town or village to purchase goods. This mage had to be fully removed from society in every way, if he did not understand what an adventurer was.

Lavernias continued up the steps. Reaching the top of the temple, he looked around, and saw nothing. He had not seen any entrances on his way up the stone steps, and he saw none at the top either. There was no altar, or pyre, or anything one might expect at the top of a temple. This was all very odd to him. Lavernias decided to try a few spells of his own. First, he tried a simple dispell enchantment upon the temple stone. But the second he finished the incantation, he heard a sound right behind him. He spun, and saw... there was nothing there.

Growing paranoid, Lavernias decided to quicken his pace. But before he was able to utter another word, he felt something tug at him. It grabbed him, no, it grabbed his very soul. Lavernias felt himself being ripped out of his own body. There it stood, at the top of the temple mid chant, but Lavernias was now being dragged back down the steps. Panicking, he watched his body get further and further away. He tried to grab at whatever was pulling him, but his hands landed on nothing. Lavernias looked behind him but no one was there. Lavernias was pulled faster and faster until down the temple. It never seemed to end. The thing pulling him sped up, getting fast, and faster, until... he was standing on the grass, hands raised as if casting a spell. There was no temple. He looked around, and saw nothing but trees. He felt at his back, but of course there was still nothing there. He had never felt such a sense of helplessness before in his life. Lavernias decided that this was thoroughly enough for him. He looked up to check the sun, then hurriedly ran off in the direction of home.

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It was five days later when Lavernias finally saw the village of Larcast. The only village near the hovel he called home. Passing through the village, he went to the Opal fruit cart.

"'Ello Mr. Mage. Ain't seen you in a while." Beatry, the fruit cart vendor, said. She always saved the ripest Opals for Lavernias. After all, he was her best customer.

"Yes well, I've been on an expedition. I just need one today." Lavernias said, still a little on edge after his experience in the forest.

"Only one today?" Beatry said in mock offense.

"You've been gone almost a month and that's all you can do for me?"

He was really just tired at this point and wanted to go home.

"I'm sorry, I'll make sure to..."

Lavernias paused, looking confused.

"A month? I bought a whole bushel from you a few days before I left, not but two weeks ago."

Beatry looked confused. "No, I'm afraid you're mistaken Mr. Mage. That was right about 29 days ago. Been an awful while. Was beginin' to suspect you'd left our humble town."

Lavernias stared at her, then looked around. No, no that couldn't be right. Too tired to argue, he paid for the fruit and hurried back to his home, just within view of the town. His home was on the edge of the nearby forest. A small house it was. But still, with two floors, it was all he needed.

When he got inside he shut the door and latched it shut. A month?! He thought to himself. That couldn't be right.

"Am I going mad?" He said to himself.

He rushed up the stairs to his study and closed and latched that door as well. He sat and pondered what had happened. He hadn't dwelt on it too much on his journey back. He was so freaked out over the whole ordeal that he simply focused on getting home the whole time. But he knew that it hapd definitely taken him only five days to get to the temple. And it had definitely only taken him five days to return as well. This didn't make any sense.

He started to unpack his things, when he noticed something odd within his pack. Three sheets of paper he hadn't seen before. Strange, he thought. Not only were they unknown to him, but they seemed quite old. His eyes went wide. The pages didn't contain any writing he could recognize. In fact, he was certain that they were of no languages known to humans or any other intelligent species on Vernia. Excited, but also still a bit weary, Lavernias sat down to analyse them. He had discovered something that would change the whole of Vernia. He just knew it. Now all he had to do was hope that deciphering these pages would prove him right.

Lavernias spent days going over the books he possessed. He knew he must have some answers in the collection of knowledge he had acquired over the years. Eventually, he stumbled upon a realization. Where had these pages come from. He hadn't bothered to ponder this question yet, too excited by the prospect of deciphering the pages. He traversed for several days into the Aufarine Forest. A forest he knew once possessed a large amount of magical energy. It had to in order to house the powerful spirits of the past. But when he returned, what should have only been ten days, ended up being twenty-nine days. There was no obvious explanation for this occurrence. Except that it had to be magical in nature.

Lavernias knew that someone was trying to protect those ruins. And it had to be someone with great magical power. The only explanation he could reasonably believe, was that the fey and elemental spirits known only in ancient magical times, were never gone from that forest. They must still reside within it, only in hiding from the outside world. But why?

Mages had hypothesized before that these spirits still resided in the forest. Though in every book Lavernias read on the matter, it was always speculated that very few spirits still remained. Needless to say this discovery was a major one. In fact it might be the most important finding of the last five hundred years. That is, if Lavernias could prove its factuality.

So, that odd occurrence happened to him atop the temple... the pages AND his time displacement must have come from that event!

"Of course!" Lavernias said aloud.

"The fey still guard those lands. We had it all wrong." He quickly stood up and began to pace, contemplating these new revelations.

"These spirits must have actually built buildings such as that temple. And that temple must be one they still use. I suppose it was far enough into the forest so they wouldn't have to deal with anyone wandering around. But that one adventurer went farther than anyone else had. A strange man he must be." Lavernias continued to think.

"So the fey must have done something to me or with me in that time." The thought made him uneasy. But he seemed to be fine for the time being.

"They also must have put these pages in my pack. Maybe to get me to leave them alone. Or perhaps there's something within them they wanted me to know. hmmm." That didn't matter as much to him now. He now knew that the writing must be the language of the fey. This was a huge breakthrough.

Days passed and Lavernias only stopped to sleep. Talking aloud as he worked, Lavernias could feel himself drawing closer to the answers he sought.

"The suffix follows the prefix... or no, these fey didn't understand human languages. Bah!" Lavernias, merely mumbling to himself, grew more agitated as he thought. He paused.

"Oh where have I seen these runes before?!" Lavernias pondered for a moment. "No... no they didn't understand human languages. But some humans DID learn the languages of the fey!"

He stood up abruptly and, almost leaping across the room, grabbed an old, nondescript, leather bound book from a nearby shelf. Opening it, his eyes lit up.

"Of course! The explorer Waulfred came into contact with these very same runes two hundred and fifty years ago and wrote them down! Finally!" He sat back down, book beside the three, old pages.

"Now if I can just match some of these runes to the ones on these pages, and... Aha!" Furiously he began to read.

"'These runes. These runes I find are unlike any other. Though from the context of this sign, I can confidently translate 'fey' and 'spirit.' the rest are unknown to me. I fear I have made a mistake traveling this far into the Aufarine Forest. I should turn back, but something calls me further still. I pray only that my wife and newborn son may...' yeah yeah yeah." Lavernias said, cutting off the words of the book.

"That's it!"

"Waulfred was able to translate the words "fey" and "spirit." This could be the key to it all!" Furiously, he began to write.

Even with such a clue, it still took Lavernias days to fully decipher the three pages he had found. Once he was finished, however, he had discovered a piece of knowledge no man had been privy too for centuries. Lavernias had discovered what he thought was the secret to inter dimensional travel. What he had actually found, however, was the way to summon a hero from another world.