In the Amora Region, two natural landmarks dominated the landscape. The first was the Great Kar Forest. Situated in the northern part of the region, the Great Kar was a huge forest that humans needed days to cross. The forest’s western end bordered one of the great lakes of the world, The Windy Depths, and the Keg Mountains bordered it in the north. It was one of the greatest forests in the world of Ioplon.

However, as great as the Kar was, it was still dwarfed by another regional landmark. Compared to the Great Kar Forest and the majestic Keg Mountain, the Homeless Plains could be considered boring. A flat, sweeping landmass that did not change much no matter how far into it you went, the Homeless Plains only had one feature that was of note. It was huge.

Humans first named the plain Homeless because it was once believed that if you went into it, you could travel forever and never reach where you were going. It wasn’t completely wrong. The Homeless Plains stretched from the east end of the Great Kar Forest all the way to the southern part of the Amora Region. A few landmarks dotted the great plain such as the city-state of Yachium and the river known as the Invisible Stream, but all in all, it was a plain of nothingness.

Situated just south of the Great Kar Forest, the Invisible Stream was a good-sized river that cut across the southern part of the Homeless Plains, but if you asked the humans living in the region, most would not have heard of it. Most knew of a river that flowed between the Great Kar Forest and the southern reaches of the plains, but most would not be able to tell you its name. To them, it was just the river between the Great Kar Forest and the Homeless Plains. At least that was what the spirits within the Fire Hive were told.

A small red crystal that housed thousands of spirits, the Fire Hive was one of only two self-aware crystals in the world, and right now it was being carried to its new home in the south. Traveling along with the crystal was an assortment of creatures few in the world had ever seen. Fire Fairies, Hellhounds, and Werewolves surrounded the Fire Hive, each willing to die to protect the Fire Hive from harm. Some of the spirits within the Fire Hive thought that the creatures were over-protective but after almost being destroyed once by the humans, the creatures weren’t taking any chances and the majority of the spirits within the hive believed it was better to be safe than sorry. So the small red crystal lay quietly in a small leather pouch as they went slowly south, and the spirits slowly realized something.

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Travel was boring!

Nature spirits may love the Great Kar Forest, but the spirits within the Fire Hive were fire spirits and they were bored by the endless trees. Their boredom still wasn’t relieved even when they reached the Invisible Stream. The Fire Hive didn’t think much of humans, but it had to agree with them about the river. It was nothing. The water spirits of the world may disagree, but to the spirits of the Fire Hive, they couldn’t see what was so great about flowing water? The river wasn’t even all that big. The Fire Hive was just glad it didn’t have to get wet as the Fire Fairies intended to just fly over the river with the pouch carrying the Fire Hive. About halfway across the river, the Fire Hive told them to stop. The Fire Hive does not have eyes or ears, but it could still sense its surroundings, and right now the spirits within the Fire Hive just sensed something new.

There were dead bodies along the bottom of the river and these bodies belonged to animals the Fire Hive had never absorbed before. Being just above them, the Fire Hive began to use its energy to absorb the bodies but immediately found it to be more difficult than expected. The Fire Hive could only absorb a few creatures before having to give it up. It was just expending too much energy on the endeavor. The Fire Hive was weak, but more importantly, the fire spirits within the Fire Hive were unsuited to the water of the river. It was an element in direct opposition to the Fire Hive. The spirits within the hive went into a rage at the unfairness of it all. Creatures can’t live in flames and fire, but they could do so on land and in water. It just wasn’t fair!

Then one of the spirits within the Fire Hive gave a simple silly suggestion, and the rest of the hive quickly realized the potential of it. If there were no creatures in the world that could live in flames and fire, well, that’s something the Fire Hive just needed to change, right?