After dozens of hours of scouring history books, Raef found the key to everything in a very old book on clothing. It was small and thin, and he couldn’t even remember why he had opened it. There was a color drawing on the cover, very finely preserved. Perhaps he wanted to see more of the drawings. Whatever the reason, it unlocked Ness’ history.

The book was organized by rarity, and while it was full of ornate and beautiful designs, the most expensive clothes were simple. It was why they were expensive that was important.

Spun from the gossamer threads of small worms, this material can only be found in the forests around Draque, far to the east and at the end of Dragon Road. When the Magic Guild brought the mountain down and permanently blocked the Road, the material, known commonly as liquid cloth, became impossible to procure. As such, it is highly valued not just for its luxurious feel but its great rarity.

By then Raef had a good idea that the road running through the center of Ness, marked by broad flat stones, most likely ran all the way past the Outlands to a huge expanse of water and a city called Kalisto and all the way to the east and through a forest to a city called Draque. He also knew that there was a West Ness, which he lived in, and an East Ness, which was strange and unknown. As far as he knew however, there was no way through the mountain, linking the two cities.

So, what was this road? It seemed impossible to carve a road through the mountain. There were the mines, of course, but even carving out soft coal was an arduous process. How could someone run a road though it? In fact, when Raef had looked at the dotted line on his map, he had first assumed that it was a treacherous path up and over the mountain, a path long destroyed by storms and landslides.

Now he had an answer. There was a road through the mountain, but the Magic Guild destroyed it. But where? Of the three big questions that bothered Raef, it was the one he could actually answer. All he had to do was follow the road into the mountain. While he was doing that, he could use the time to ponder his other two unanswered questions: What happened to the Magic Guild and what was the origin of the Thieves Guild?

There was no head of the stables yet, but the guild knights overseeing the Tower found Raef a gentle horse that wouldn’t be too hard for him to control, as he wasn’t very comfortable on horseback. The trail was soft and even along the Wall, making the trip fairly easy as he led the horse east along the Wall toward the river and the road he knew would be waiting for him.

While there were no detailed maps of the Old Quarter, common sense told Raef that the road through the mountains would be on this side of the river. Ness when it was a merchant center had been on this side of the river, with things only changing during the Great Migration. That meant that the road led from the former location of the Great Gate along the river and then over another bridge that crossed the Old Fork, a bridge long since destroyed, and along the river and then up into the mountain, which was where Raef was heading—to the river and then the road that would take him into the mountain.

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Raef shook his head. As he revealed one answer, new questions were raised. Why was the former gate blocked? Why was the large bridge over the Old Fork torn down? Why was the important trade route through the mountain destroyed? It was as if at the same time, the city wanted to expel the Wizards, shut down the trade routes, and create the Thieves—all while erasing all evidence of it happening.

Raef had been traveling for more than two hours, with the immense Ash Fields to his left and the Wall to his right. The Ash Fields were aptly named, with nothing but dust and dry dirt as far as he could see and signs of life living only on the distant horizon.

The smaller wall that blocked the Ash Fields from the view of the new parts of Ness came into view just as Raef reached the road. To Raef’s surprise, the road didn’t follow the river, but rather curved away from it somewhere to the north. From his vantage point, it looked like the river was a good two miles beyond the road at this point.

In the distance Raef could make out a massive waterfall that emerged from the mountain and created the Great River. Even from this distance he could hear the crashing sound of water falling on rocks and continuing as a river. It was easy to see, as the Great wall around Ness ended at the road and didn’t block the view in the distance.

The sudden sound of a clip clop broke Raef’s reverie over his surroundings. He was on the “Dragon Road.”

It was paved in flat stones and was wide enough to fit three wagons across. He wasn’t sure who kept the road up, but it appeared well cared for. As he turned to the right to follow the road into the mountain, it was all right there in front of him—a broad arch that covered a dark entrance into a tunnel.

Following the road, Raef crossed the threshold under the arch. There were two immense sconces on each side of the arch as he entered, but they were unlit. He was a little nervous making his way into the dark, but the road was just as clear inside the entrance as it was outside.

Raef wondered how far he could make it before having to come back another day with torches. There were torches on the wall in regular intervals, but like the large decorative ones at the entrance, they were unlit. As his eyes got better used to the increasing dark, he realized that there was no need for light. About fifty yards inside the tunnel the road was completely blocked.

It looked as if the entire mountain had collapsed on the road. Boulders the size of two wagons and larger were stacked from left to right, blocking everything. The ceiling looked like it had collapsed or was somehow brought down by an incredible power.

Dismounting from his horse, Raef looked at the collapse more closely. There were smaller rocks in between the larger ones, and as far as he could see, there wasn’t even room for a mouse to make its way through the barrier.

Raef nodded and walked back to his steed. There was a road that led through the mountain, but it had been blocked centuries before.