(Day 177) Aprilis 22nd, 12th year of the Dragon, Age of Enlightenment

Xsitant flew atop Grasar, an ancient red dragon who was his familiar, friend and companion. They had flown close enough to see the city of Venoran which was off in the distance to their east as they headed towards the location of the upstart that had thwarted the plans of the Council. He’d reviewed what he could and found that this man, Adamantadine was unknown to anyone and had seemingly come out of nowhere. Conducting further research and even utilizing a wish he’d been able to determine that Adamantadine’s Tower had once been Apolyn’s Abode, a location he’d known well. It was a shame that he’d have to destroy it. He had many fond memories of the mountain getaway. Of course, that had been a couple of hundred years ago.

Concentrating on the task at hand he contacted Grasar mentally, Stay close and high. Once I’m done I’ll need to teleport back to you, and we’ll need to leave as quickly as possible while staying close enough to verify the results. Grasar didn’t respond mentally but Xsitant received a feeling of acknowledgment that meant Grasar would do as asked.

Focusing on the top of the tower, Xsitant teleported down. Looking around he made sure there was no one visible then pulled a small silver orb from his pouch which he released. The orb flew over the edge, down to the door, and came to a rest against it. Both his Detect Magic and Detect Life spells detected two bodies on the other side of the door. If the orb had arrived just five seconds earlier he would have detected Adam’s other guests and magic. As it was all that his spells detected were two life forms.

Knowing the target was in the building, Xsitant recalled his orb and placed it in his pouch. He cast his first spell which simply drew an arcane circle on the roof. The next spell was a little more tricky and required all of his concentration. Drawing on the very base element of all order he cast his second spell, “Summon Chaos”. This spell would pull forth a sphere of chaos exactly one inch in diameter. After a time set by the caster, the chaos would be released from the spell which held it and very bad things would happen when the chaos came into contact with matter. On top of a ley line nexus, this could get interesting.

Later, Xsitant would admonish himself for testing fate with his thoughts. Interesting did not come close to describing what had happened. Immediately after teleporting back to Grasar, they’d flown due south away from the mountains. Grasar had even started into a dive to build up speed. Even so, when his spell had been activated a minute later both of them had been blinded by a searing white light that had originated behind them and filled their vision. Xsitant felt Grasar start to pull up to slow down and screamed “No, get farther away, we are too close!” He felt Grasar level out and beat his wings even faster and faster.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Still not able to see, Xsitant heard a rumble coming from behind them and immediately threw up one of his strongest shield spells. A Time Sphere time shield. Nothing should be able to make it through the shield though he knew against the forces of chaos the strength of such shields was unknown. As the shield started to get pelted from behind he cast the spell “Slow Fall” first on Grasar then himself. Just as he finished the second casting the full force of the explosion hit the two of them.

When Xsitant awoke, he was no longer blind. Also, he was no longer on Grasar and seemed to have come to rest on a desert dune. Immediately he sent out a mental call for Grasar with no success. The second thing he did was teleport to his home in Andidreas, the Capital City for The Council. When he opened his eyes he still stood on desert sand through the dunes had changed. Over the next hour, he teleported to every location that he knew of, and each time found only desert dunes.

Finally, he teleported to the entrance to the Dungeon outside of Venoran. Again, he found only dunes and the 30-foot-high remains of the obelisk. The entrance to the Dungeon, however, was gone. He thought about what he was seeing and realized that putting up a time shield, while it had saved his life had also not prevented time from penetrating the shield and affecting Grasar and himself. Thinking he had a clue about what had happened, he cast a very low-level spell he’d picked as a time spell caster, “Know time and place” When he was done casting the spell he learned that he was indeed at the former location of Venoran in the One-millionth age since ages were last-named. One-millionth age since ages since ages were last named? Where, better yet, when was he?

***

Grasar had fared better and had not been shot through time. When he came to he had crashed into some trees south of the mountain range. Shaking his giant draconian head, he’d checked himself over then launched into the sky. Heading North, he realized by the position of the sun, that not much time had passed. Still, it took him five hours to get back to the mountain range, if it could be called that anymore. The Mountain peak that the tower had rested on was gone in a one-mile radius leaving the remnants of a perfect sphere. Also, the trees near the mountains were devoid of all leaves and needles and even the village to the southwest seemed to have been hit. Looking more closely he saw that a magic-user or cleric of some sort had been able to protect the village with a barrier. He flew around for the next hour waiting for Xsitant to contact him. While he was waiting he looked over the destruction wrought and knew that something had gone catastrophically wrong. The death toll numbered in the thousands of creatures. In fact, it looked like a Mountain Giant had fallen from on high and been impaled in one of the larger trees. Remarkably it was still alive. Grasar was hungry and Xsitant was taking his time, wherever he was. There should be just enough time for a nice snack. It wasn’t often that he didn’t have to incinerate his food. Additionally, this meal would be large enough that he’d get to enjoy it. As He landed and began his feast he hoped Xsitant wouldn’t be getting back too soon.