Grant’s vision returned slowly, as he blinked rapidly to clear away the afterimages burned into his eyes. A musty smell immediately assaulted his senses, and the humidity, while not bypassing his resistance to heat, instantly made his clothes begin to stick to his skin. Looking around as his vision continued to clear, he saw, to his relief, that his last-ditch attempt to alter the spell that Ed had cast had worked. Thinking about it, he didn’t quite understand how he had understood the intention behind the spell - a mixture of his ability to view magic and the large pool of power he had somehow increasing his sensitivity, maybe. Parts of it were still beyond him, but he had known the minute it had been cast that it was a teleportation spell.
Kyra, Fyodor, Lei and Tamiko lay scattered around him. Everyone except Fyodor was groaning and getting to their feet as they shook off the effects of the creature's final volley of attacks, apparently having failed to block them. Fyodor however was unconscious, the gory red hole in his gut causing Grant’s stomach to turn unpleasantly. Luckily, even as he watched, he saw the bleeding begin to falter, and could even see the wound was beginning to slowly close, far faster than normal - though still slow enough to make Grant slightly worried. He was distracted, though, by Kyra emptying her stomach against a nearby tree.
“Where… ugh… where are we? What happened?” asked Kyra, standing up and leaning against the tree for balance.
“I don’t know exactly, but we… I think we were teleported,” Grant answered, remembering at the last second not to act too knowledgeable about the spell, lest his cover be blown. “As for where we are… obviously I have no idea. The magical variant of the Amazon, I guess.”
They were indeed in a rainforest, ferns, vines, buzzing insects and tall trees surrounding them on every side. They stood - or in Fyodor’s case, lay - on the banks of a river, perhaps not Amazon-level in size, but still massive, the far bank at least half a kilometre away. The river was flowing more rapidly than one would expect for such a large body of water, the frothy water churning and roiling as it raced along. They appeared to be alone for now, but Grant felt an uncomfortable oppression radiating through the environment, as though the forest itself had noticed the invaders.
“Oh god, Fyodor,” Kyra cried out, noticing his injury for the first time and dropping beside him. “Lei, Tamiko, help me.”
Grant watched in astonishment as the other two stumbled over before also kneeling beside him, each of them placing a hand on his head or shoulders. He watched as energy began to flow through them, into Fyodor - not a spell, not a natural aptitude or manifestation, but instead somehow directing their energy to flow straight into his Source, filling it with their own magic. His recovery immediately began to speed up, flesh reforming and knitting together before their eyes, and soon enough the gaping hole in his stomach was replaced by smooth, flawless skin.
The three Forsaken let out a sigh as they released the tension in their bodies, halting the flow of energy and leaning back.
“He’ll be fine,” said Kyra, taking another deep breath and letting it out. That crisis addressed, she began to study their environment, a frown on her face. “I… I don’t understand. How are we here? Teleportation is nothing new, but this isn’t just teleportation, this is inter-door teleportation. That’s always, always been regarded as impossible. How the hell did Ed manage it?”
“How do you know it was inter-door teleportation?” asked Grant curiously.
Kyra gave him a look, before pointing into the sky. Grant looked up, following her finger, and immediately saw that he had somehow missed the fact that this world apparently had two suns, both yellow, both circling around each other far faster than any celestial body should have been able to move.
“Ah. Noted,” he said, embarrassed.
Kyra gave a tiny shake of her head at his folly, before continuing her examination of the forest. “So how did he do it? Is he just that powerful?”
“Maybe it has to do with the fact that the door was broken by that thing?” Lei suggested from where he was lying on the ground, catching his breath. “Besides, does it matter? I have some better questions - for one, where is everyone else? Is it just us here? And, perhaps most of all, what the fuck was that thing?”
Everyone fell silent as memories of the impossibly powerful creature flashed into their minds, Kyra and Lei especially shuddering powerfully.
“Whatever the case, we need to get back,” said Tamiko firmly, getting to her feet once more and patting her waist to check her various weapons were still secure. “I don’t recognise this world, and it's clear that wherever we are, we’re quite a distance from any doors. So we rest here until Fyodor finishes recovering, then head out. In the meantime, I’ll go scout to make sure there’s nothing dangerous nearby, and to find a good place to shelter. Lei, Kyra, Grant, you three should-”. She cut off abruptly as a now-familiar telepathic voice entered their minds.
I’m sorry, everyone, Ed said. I had hoped I was wrong, that I would never need to enact this measure. But sadly, the day I feared has come. Sanctuary is no more.
I have suspected for a long time now that there is more to Sanctuary, and this existence, than any of us knew. I never had proof, could never say anything, but every now and then… I would feel something. Something inside Sanctuary. Something, or someone, with more power than any of us, with a heart full of hatred and anger, that sought our destruction. So, I planned. For a long time, I have done more to keep us safe than I can say, attempting to combat and stifle this enemy of ours. Sadly, it seems I failed. Our enemy has destroyed the door to Sanctuary, and summoned their ally to ensure a speedy resolution to our fight. Luckily, many years ago, I began work on an emergency measure. An artefact, developed over many decades, that would propel you all to safety and, hopefully, give you the drive you need to save us.
I am sorry for the way I had to shape this measure - I am sure some of you are scared, alone and facing an unknown world. But it had to be this way - both for your own safety, to prevent anyone from ending up with the traitor in our midst and dooming whomever they are with, and to try to ensure that one of you, I hope, has the best chance of locating the Final Door. To that end, each of you has been transported to one of dozens of areas that we have uncovered over the years, each of which contains some traces of our predecessors. Sanctuary is no more, and it is up to each of you to find the Final Door, to push into those worlds that we have been too wary, too misguided, too patient to explore. Find the door, defeat all who stand in your way, and free yourselves from this world.
There was a brief pause in the message, before a slew of images and sounds was broadcast - a roar echoing through hallways, walls shaking and crumbling down, and the overwhelming power of the monster they had escaped, seeking its target. When Ed continued, his voice was far quieter.
Unfortunately, the spell I enacted required me to remain behind. I wish I was with you all, to offer you guidance, knowledge, support - but I will soon be gone. Even if I somehow live, this message is only able to be transmitted through the doors because of the lingering effects of the transportation. You will not hear from me again.
Good luck.
The message ceased, and the group stood staring at each other, processing what they had heard. Grant saw tears begin to form in Lei and Kyra’s eyes, and averted his gaze. Quiet sobs sounded for a few moments, before there was a long, painful groan, and Fyodor pushed himself to a sitting position.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“That bastard,” he panted, the exertion from just raising himself tiring him out. “How dare he go and do something so unbelievably selfless. I’m never going to be able to tease him again.”
“You were awake for that?” Kyra asked, wiping away her tears and moving to assist him.
Fyodor waved her off, sliding his legs over to a nearby tree and leaning against it. “Yeah, I woke up when the message started. A safeguard he built in, I imagine - can’t have anyone sleeping in and missing his final speech, could he? Impressive that he was able to create this teleportation spell, especially without me knowing. I wonder why he didn’t say anything? Paranoia, I suppose, would be the best answer, but it was still damn rude of him to save the day and overshadow my awesome duel with that scaly bastard.”
“You mean the duel that ended with you unconscious and spilling your guts everywhere?” said Lei teasingly, also wiping away his tears surreptitiously.
Fyodor nodded solemnly. “That is the one I refer to, yes. You were all mighty impressed, weren’t you? At least until Ed couldn’t stand not having the attention all on him. I always warned him, Ed, I said, do not rob our younger, more handsome members of their chances to shine, let them impress you some of the time.”
Fyodor continued to rant about Ed and his lack of leadership and selfish qualities, but it was obvious what he was doing. Grant could see the slight wetness to his eyes, the frequent blinking, and knew that the short Russian was just trying to distract himself from everything that had happened, and the loss of someone he clearly admired. Grant decided to help provide a distraction, while also getting some answers.
“Well, now that you’re awake,” he said, quickly taking advantage of a small break in Fyodor’s speech, “do you happen to have any idea where we are, exactly? Any chance you’ve been here before, or E… anyone told you about it? And, follow up question, what’s so special about these predecessors of ours? Oh, and what the fuck is the Final Door, and how does it help us?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Grant blacked out.
He awoke in his mindspace, standing in the great hall of his mind palace, as he had rather confusingly began to refer to his construction, even though it had nothing to do with a typical memory-trick mind palace. Ki was standing in front of him, hands clasped behind his back, brow furrowed.
“Sorry,” he said distractedly, deep in thought. “This is one of those times that I warned you about when we first spoke properly, about parts of your hidden memories unlocking upon certain triggers. In this case, learning about the existence of the Final Door. I thought I would drag the process out slightly by bringing you here, so as to not jar you too badly. Do not worry, no one else will notice anything, this will all occur in the blink of an eye to them. Just try not to react when you come back to reality.”
Grant nodded. “Sure, right. I vaguely remember you saying that would happen. Although it might be a bit weird to act like I don’t know what the Final Door is when I’m about to get a memory dump all about it.”
Ki shook his head. “No, this is not a long memory. Just a simplistic, short one, but I will leave it to your friends to explain their own perspective on what the door represents. But do not worry, I will release more of our conversation when next you sleep. Given the events of the last few hours, I must inform you more about the truth of this world and of the enemy we face. She… I do not know what she is doing. Which is… worrying.”
Grant nodded again, then looked closer at Ki, noticing for the first time that his eyes were bloodshot, the red freckles spattered across his dark skin pale, almost pink in colour. “Are… are you ok?”
Ki grimaced and looked away.
“It’s that monster, isn’t it?” asked Grant. “That… thing. You weren’t expecting to see it, and it… well, it scared you. What was that?”
Ki was silent for a moment, frowning at the floor. Then he shook his head. “Not now. I’ll tell you tonight.” He snapped his fingers, and memory flooded Grant’s mind.
“Once we have secured your mind,” Ki said, “and trained your powers, step two of the plan is locating - a sudden, sharp burst of static covered whatever Ki said next, before the memory continued. As I said earlier, this is complicated by the fact that she could be in any body. She could be a man, a woman, old, young, a newcomer, an elder, anyone.”
“Well,” Grant reasoned, “if she’s as crazy as you said she is, surely she’ll be easy to identify?”
“I’m afraid not,” Ki said. “You underestimate her, a fatal mistake. Despite her fractured mind, despite the toll of countless deaths weighing on her mind, she is committed. She will not compromise her mission. She is now over four thousand years old, and is more accomplished than anyone in existence at blending in. Her mask will not slip, no matter what her true thoughts or state of mind.”
“Hmmm,” Grant said, trying to anticipate Ki’s plan. “So in that case… we have to provoke her. Try to get her to reveal herself… hang on, what if I just say I’ve been talking to you? She’ll try and kill me, and show herself!”
“A bad idea,” Ki said, “at least any time in the next decade. While you will be far, far stronger than any of your fellow Forsaken, remember, she has centuries of practice at killing hosts. She will not just jump up and try to stab you. She is patient. She will wait, watch, find your weakness, judge the danger you pose, and catch you alone, weak, vulnerable. You have not even begun to train with your powers, and it will be years before you can wield them in such a way as to defeat her in direct combat.”
“Ok then, I give up. What’s your plan?”
“It is simple.” Ki smiled. “We must find the Final Door.”
Grant snapped back to the real world, the memory fresh in his mind. Ki was right, the memory hadn’t really explained anything to him at all, but it was an important experience, to know that something like that could happen at any time in the future randomly. If it had happened just a few minutes ago, when the creature attacked, Grant doubted he would be alive, but now if he was in a life-threatening situation, he would be prepared.
None of the others seemed to have noticed anything, and Fyodor was taking deep, slow breaths in an effort not to jostle his still-sensitive insides, before he looked up at Grant.
“To answer your first question,” he said carefully, attempting to remain as still as possible, “no, I don’t know where we are. Not specifically, at least. If we are where I suspect, I do remember Ed telling me about it many years ago. We’ll need to search around for some ruins before I know for certain if I’m right. As to your other questions… that is something that Suriya would have guided you through next week, if all was normal. But I suppose it falls to me, now.”
He took another slow breath, leaning his head back against the tree behind him. “To begin with, you may have been told by now that, while Ed is the oldest of us, he was not the first to be stuck here. When Ed first arrived, there was one person waiting for him at the arena. A survivor. I don’t know if Ed ever knew his name, but if he did, he never told me it. This man was apparently the last survivor of the previous inhabitants of Sanctuary, who had been wiped out years before.”
“Wiped out?” Grant asked. “So something like that monster attack has happened before?”
Fyodor shook his head. “No, no, nothing like that. If it had, the door to Sanctuary would not have been there anymore, would it? No, this group was wiped out by something far more mundane. A plague. Well, mundane except for the fact it was a magical plague.”
He winced slightly, adjusting his position. “From what I understand, the man's story was that someone had come back from exploring a brand new world, one unlike any they had encountered. A barren world. Not just barren, in the normal sense of a desert or some such, but completely dead, lifeless. ‘A husk of a world’, I believe was what Ed quoted. They had no idea what had caused it, until a few weeks after the initial explorer had returned when they dropped dead, their body and the ground around them turning black. Some magical malady had ravaged their body, strong enough to overcome any defences they should have had. In the days following, more people began to drop every day, each one advancing the spread of the disease through the ground and air, beginning to turn Sanctuary into another barren, lifeless world.”
He sighed. “But, this last man, the survivor, found a solution, at the end. He absorbed every trace of the disease into his own body and wrought a powerful spell to slow the effects of time on himself. By then, he was the only one left. So he went to the arena, and prepared for the new arrivals to begin emerging. Ed was the first he encountered, and they spent many weeks together, the survivor attempting to pass on as many details as he could. It was he who told Ed how to find Sanctuary, to avoid entering that plague-ridden world, how to set up the spell to alert us of new arrivals. And,” Fyodor took a deep breath, “perhaps most importantly, it was he who told Ed of the Final Door.”