Part One

"Are you sure, Master Gunkrate, the stone did not mean for you to go more toward the southern part of this mountain range? preferably where an old magic wielder could lay comfortably along the shoreline?" Draolof questioned in jest as the two climbed through the windy and rocky mountain range in search of the resting place of the Obsidian Stairs.

"It told me that this is the way. It branded itself to my brain and stays like an itch." Cal answered climbing the snow covered terrain.

"A branding sure sounds better than this cold, I'd say!" The old man said as his bones creaked as the cold chilled them.

"You're a wizard...make yourself warm." Cal came to a peak and darted his eyes around looking for something that would scratch the stones itch.

"Ah yes, why don't I set fire to my clothes or maybe just burn my insides! If I had a spell for such a thing I would, Master Gunkrate."

"Light your staff." Cal answered eyeing a target that seemed to itch. He rushed down the slope toward the oddly shaped dome carved into the mountain side.

"Preposterous idea!" The wizard said taken back as he followed the sell-sword down the slope. "I do hope Master Tungwreth comes back with blankets or at least firewood." He said watching as Cal approached the finely carved stone drenched in old snow.

"He's getting back up, not shopping. We need another hand in case there's any creatures that lurk this area at night."

"I would say keeping our bellies full in this wasteland of white is more important then an extra hand. I mean the four of us-"

"Three...three of us." Cal interjected turning his head and glaring at the wizard. "Do not count her."

The Wizard closed his lips for a moment and silently watched as the wanderer examined the stone, wiping the snow from its carvings. "A long time ago, I asked you if I could study her. That maybe we could learn more about magic and even possibly a way to get you home through her."

"No." Cal answered running his fingers across the engravings.

"Precisely. You refused. Yet I watch you fondle carvings looking for an object many claim doesn't exist. The goddess you ignore with a bottle, you still protect." Cal did not answer Draolof. He tried to decipher the etchings instead as the old wizard stood watching him. "Master Gunkrate do you have any idea where she goes when your senses are numb?" Cal stopped for a moment, but didn't turn or answer the Wizard who held his wide brimmed hat as the wind picked up, wetting his robes with frost. "She doesn't go anywhere. Sometimes she stands right beside you. Other times I can see her investigating a room, waiting for the moment you can see her again to offer her inspection. On some occasions-"

"Enough, dammit!" Cal bared his teeth at the wizard before turning back to his examination. Draolof looked to the side of Cal with a woeful nod. Cal heard him walk closer with a gasp of intrigue. "Very interesting find!" Draolof said looking in Cal's direction.

"I haven't found anything yet." Cal said confused.

"Not you." Draolof answered examining a small hole on the side of the structure. "Why, thank you, lass!" He said happily as he formed magical embers in his hand and ignited something deep in the structures stone hole. The carvings began to illuminate and from the snow touched ground the stone rose up revealing a doorway. "She is quite the smart one, Master Gunkrate!" The old man smiled.

Suddenly the two heard a whistle from up the snowy cliff. The small outline of ten men above them brandishing swords, maces and axes. They carried down the side, using the snow to carry them down. The man in front of the nine was a tall and stocky man who seemed to bring the image of a strong circus man into Draolof's mind. behind him were the typical sort of goons, dirty and unkempt messes of society.

"We've been looking for yous'." The stocky man spat through his teeth. He seemed to have been in enough tussles that his jaw could barely move as he spoke. "Lord Eabon heard about DubHill, asks me and 'me boys to find you, tracked yous' all 'da way to a weird door that wouldn't open, now we find yous' at another. Predictable lil whoreson, aren't ya'" The man came closer to Cal, licking his lips enticed with the thought of blood.

"I did nothing at DubHill." Cal answered calmly.

"Is that right? Lord Eabon sends you that way and not a day later he hears of it burning, just a 'bout of odd luck 'innit?" Cal could smell the mans rations of beer and cheese lingering on the strong mans breath.

"You have a chance to leave, before the snow turns crimson." Cal announced, staring daggers at the man.

The man neared Cal almost touching his nose to his own. "Tell me 'sumthing." The man asked with a large grin growing on his face. "I've heard the tales, so tell me, what's with the pipe on your-" A shot rang out. The mans face went cold as he looked down to see his gambeson drenched in his own blood. Cal held his pistol in his hand with his eyes still locked on the mans own. The man fell to the cold snow, staining it with his blood. The other men looked in horror, but quickly recovered knowing there was no way out now but through Cal and Draolof.

They rushed toward the two with waning courage as Cal steadied himself and summoned his warding shield in his right hand with his pistol. Draolof's staff began to shine with embers of all colors surrounding it as his right hand moved on his side forming a symbol that imprinted on his palm as he readied for action. The thwip of a speeding arrow rang out as the men rushed toward the two, then another and quickly after another. three of the nine fell to the ground with arrows protruding from their backs or neck. Cal could see on the cliffside two more figures on horseback. He could tell easily the unmistakable coat of Sable's steed, Chamomile

"I still don't believe we needed back up!" Draolof called out firing a bolt of energy from his palm, shattering one of the men into ash. Cal gave a nod to the two on the cliffside and rushed into the battlefield hacking one man in the shoulder and pushing him to the ground as he ground in the axe blade more. As he did, another swung their mace at him and he rose his ward shield to block, as embers from the ward flung off like a crackling fire with every hit. Cal soon was able to break the mans swing and fired his pistol as the projectile scraped the mans shoulder, stunning the enemy for a moment. It gave him just enough time to free his axe from the shoulder of the dying man and swung it into the man with the mace's side, cracking bone and cutting deep into the man.

Sable road down with the other figure who seemed to be an elf riding a pure white horse and wielding a longbow. The elf fired more shots as they road down killing two more of Lord Eabon's hired goons. As Draolof called upon the mountain and entrapped another in rock. Sable slashed from his horse the last one before parking Chamomile in front of the bloodied Cal. "I expected we needed back up from creatures, not men!" Sable grinned as he looked down on Cal still catching his breath from the battle.

"Please have a chat with the Lord of Foremount on my behalf after this is through." Cal said spitting up blood that had found its way into his mouth. Sable looked at the door in awe and then back at Cal.

"So you are sure of it, that's the door to the stairs?"

"No, not sure yet, but the stone guided me to it."

"Volieafel." The elf said sticking a hand down from his horse in greeting.

"Cal." The blood soaked wanderer answered sticking his hand out and shaking. "I'll go with Volie though, can't speak fast enough to call the whole thing out when it gets rough." The elf nodded in confusion as he turned to Sable who's only answer was a shrug.

Part Two

The night came and Draolof's dreams had come true. The mercenary with scars across his face had brought wood to this desolate mountain range. The fire warmed the old mans bones and he sighed with relief as he huddled close to it. Sable drank a large dose of wine from a skin and passed it along to the old wizard who happily drank ready to rest from the long day he had. Cal though stood far from the fire. He stood looking up and down the door, craving to enter, but knowing his people needed their rest before they could carry on. He thought deeply about what laid ahead and what he should prepare for. He thought of every potion he knew and every salve he had in his satchel. He thought deeply of his time here and deeply of his time in his own world. His mind raced with a million thoughts of a million things.

"Your heart races to keep up with your mind, I assume?" Volieafel asked as he startled Cal with his silent approach.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"What? Cal asked narrowing his eyes.

"My kinds hearing, allows us to hear what others cannot, your heart beat is the only one that beats faster then the others hear. Is this because your mind is thinking too far ahead?" The silver haired elf asked with a rigid posture. He craned his slender body around the door, inspecting it coldly.

"I am evaluating our situation." Cal answered gritting his teeth.

"Had you not done so before?" The elf asked with innocent curiosity.

"I have, I'm just doing it again."

"Ah, you evaluated the situation for all of us before. Now you are evaluating the situation for you." He said turning to Cal with a smile believing he had come to the right conclusion. "Are you worried it is all a lie, even though you were guided here? Or are you worried that you will want to stay?"

"I am worried there is no world to go back to." Cal answered with a certain honesty he hadn't shown in a long time. Something about being so close to the end, brought something out of him, a fear that had been buried away over the years.

"That is a fair worry to have." The elf answered as his smile faded. "My people worried the same thing after the war. as we left the battlefield and came back to the woods. We feared the enemies had burned it all down while we were gone. Slaughtered our young, our elders. They almost did! The forest was burnt, not all, but much of it. Yet nothing truly dies. Trees like all living things pollenate. Spread their being across the land and find new lands to settle. So even a dead tree lives on in a new tree in a distant place. That is what my people learned." Volie gave a smile to Cal as he stared toward the stone door. He walked off toward the fire and joined the other two who were in a deep conversation about which wine was better, the wine made on the southern end of Calda lake or the wine from the shining isles.

"Cal, take a drink!" Sable called out from the fire. Cal did not turn away from the door. He ignored the request and kept his mind on the task at hand. A part of him linger on the words of the newly-hired elf.

Hours passed and the fire began to dim. The sun arose against the peak of the mountains and shined light on the four adventurers. Cal rose with a shiver as he slept in front of the stone door. Covered in snow and wet dirt he padded himself off. He looked over to his group. The wizard, the warrior and the archer as they rose and cooked over the fire readying themselves for the day ahead.

"It wont be the same as the guiding stone." A voice appeared behind him. It was the blue women, Rendia, making herself know to the traveler. "I spent the night studying it. It wont be the same. The stone was a weapon, this is an entrance. Only a god is allowed inside."

"Don't speak lies to me, Rendia!" Cal snarled.

"I don't speak lies, I would rather my host not be murdered by his own stupidity!" She growled right back. "Not all of you can enter, but that is probably for the best anyway."

"Speak in the common tongue, not in riddles." Cal came closer to the black eyed goddess.

"I can get you in. I can shield you, just like I always have, but I must fully encompass you." She answered as plainly as she could.

"Possess me you mean." He answered furrowing his brow.

"If you wish to enter that is the only way." Cal stood stoically staring at Rendia, weary of her motive. "If you don't trust me, fine then. It will mean the end of us both. Or if you wish to find some other way, so be it, we stay here longer than we already have."

"Draolof!" Cal called to the wizard. Who quickly moved to the two at the door. "She claims the door is impassable for mortals." He explained before watching the old wizard narrow his eyes and look across the door. The wizard stuck his tongue out and swiped his finger along the carvings tasting the dirt on his tongue.

"I wouldn't say impassable, but I would say it is probable with an immense type of magic to move through without being destroyed on the spot." The robed man answered mauling over his own thoughts.

"Magic that you couldn't perform?"

"Magic that I do not know, magic that only ones closest to Vecor would know. Maddening magic." Draolof explained.

"So i'll have to do it then, if I want it to be done today, i'll have to do it."

"What?" The old wizard said in confusion.

Cal nodded to Rendia and turned back to the wizard. "Ready the others, in case of anything, I am going through. If you notice she is still inside me, end me." Cal commanded. The two still at the fire noticed the odd commotion and began to walk towards the wizard and the wanderer. before they could approach Cal's eyes turned black and his skin turned a bluish hue that blended well with the snow capped mountains.

"Cal!" Sable cried out rushing towards the possessed man. Draolof nodded solemnly and raised the earth between the wanderer and the scarred mercenary blocking his path.

"Vecor be with you." The old man whispered as Rendia guided the large mans body through the door.

Part Three

The door slammed closed. Leaving the wizard, archer and scarred mercenary in the desolate mountains alone. The scarred one barged towards the old man shoving him with hatred on his face. "How could you, How could you let him go in there alone? Into a temple of gods? Is your brain truly as wrinkled as you?" The old man fell to the ground and stared up startled by Sable.

"He has a god with him!" The old man shouted.

"He's ill you senile kook!" A sound rumbled beneath them. As if the snow itself was giving way.

Suddenly ghastly figures climbed out from the snow with a dark smoke bellowing around them. They had the look of women with the hooves of a goat and shrieked at the three. "Bananachs!" Gasped the wizard picking himself up from the ground.

"Protect the door!" Sable yelled unsheathing his blade. Volie pulled and arrow from his quiver and readied for the fight nodding to Sable. "He must have alarmed them somehow, we fight until we know he is not coming out!"

--------

It felt to Cal as if he dived into the blackest of waters. He tried to breath, but knew he couldn't. He had no control over the body. He was a being swimming in the black pelagic of his mind. Or hers, or maybe no ones. It was quiet, and warm. Something inside wanted to give into these waters, but he simply couldn't and let himself sink further. He thought to himself how it reminded him of before, the moment between the two worlds before he landed in the snow close to the shrouded mountains. between the veil. Maybe he was back in the in between place, maybe he would stay here forever now as Rendia piloted his body.

He saw something in the primordial blackness and let himself sink closer to it. It was like a statue sinking alongside him. Men with rifles bashing in a makeshift door clothed in copper armor and leather boots. "My old team...Before it all went away..." He whispered to himself before the image faded. Another appeared beside him. It was an image of city with a wall that surrounded it and a large tower in the middle. He could see bodies piled high on fire. "The riots...After that letter was leaked..." The image twisted into another of a lanky man with the face of a weasel. "That treacherous bastard..." More visions appeared. His first time meeting Sable, His battle against the orcs alongside Dregs, his escape from the goblin cult.

"Cal...Keep it together, you are trying to make sense of what you are going through right now." The voice of the blue one echoed around him.

"Where am I?" Cal grunted as it felt as if his being was being sucked down into the black.

"Are minds are merged, you are experiencing my being as well as yours."

He began to see images and scenes he was never a part of, he felt knowledge he couldn't understand, truths he couldn't comprehend. "Show me the outside, show me the temple!"

"I can't" She said with a empathetic tone. "It's made for gods. It would feel the same to you as where you are now, but without your own memories and ideas to hold onto." She could feel his pain, he mind trying to hold on. "Do not dwell on my thoughts, let them pass through you without thought. You could not decipher them if you tried."

"It hurts..." He whimpered. It was the first time she had heard him speak those words. The first time he had shown such an emotion in the years they had been there.

She nodded. "It hurts." She agreed with him.

Time went on and she didn't hear him as much anymore. "Cal?" Rendia said wearisome.

"Yeah?" She heard his voice quite as a mouse.

"We're almost there." She answered. It was quiet again for a moment and then she heard him again.

"How long has it been?" He asked with a shaky voice.

"Time moves differently where you are. Time is always, but that doesn't mean its always the same. Where you are it moves in all directions."

"Oh."

"Did you know time moves seven seconds faster in Athera then it does where we come from? I learned that a day after we arrived." She hoped she could take his mind off the situation.

"That's nice." He said softly. He heard her voice gasp and a sound he couldn't comprehend.

"I think I stabilized it for you, I think its safe for you to come out!" Cal's eyes turned back to their ice-blue color as the black waters of their merged mind faded from his view and a cobblestone room appeared around him. Rendia stood in front of him with a worried expression she held his shoulders looking deep into his eyes. "Cal? Are you okay?" She asked. Her voice was muffled to him as his body tried to reconnect with him. His fingers tingled and his mind was fuzzy. "Cal?"

"Where is the Obsidian Stairs?" He asked feeling his tongue again. The room quaked slightly.

"Don't mind that. This place allowed me to have enough power to make it more comprehendible to you. I also think I was able to seal you from view here?"

"Think?" He asked fearfully

"You aren't dead so I must have. The stairs are there." She guided his eyes toward it with her arm.

It was at the other end of the room, yet it didn't look like stairs at all to Cal, it was a slate of Obsidian stone, smooth and beautiful, but still only a thick slate of pitch black stone floating in the air. "This cant be it." He said astonished.

"You were guided here by a rock. Keep that in mind." Rendia remarked.

"A fair point." He said moving toward the slate. It made a humming noise as he came closer and moved lower to his feet. Cal took a step onto the slate and from the bottom unfolded more steps that climbed higher and higher. seventeen steps high. A rectangular light waiting at the top step, beckoning him to climb the seventeen steps. He turned back to Rendia standing at the bottom of the steps. She gave him a small smile and a nod of reassurance.

Part Four

Cal Gunkrate climbed the Obsidian steps that floated in the air of the temple. He walked through the shining light that suspended itself on the last step. The light felt calming, tranquil in nature as he stepped through it. His eyes adjusted as he walked through the lights threshold. He stood in a land of light. The air smelled sweet and eased his mind a gentle fog grazed his shoulders. He looked around at the empty land. The only thing that stood was a large vault-like door. It was round and finely cut. Cal could see his reflection in it. Symbols circled it that Cal couldn't decipher. They pulsated with power and seemed to hum.

"What is this..." Cal said with fire building in his chest. "Another damned door!" He screamed in a rage as he bashed his body into it and slashed his axe against the vault.

"Cal!" Rendia said appearing behind him. He didn't stop. He screamed and punched the door. "Cal!"

"No!" He said turning to her aiming his finger at her before marching to the blue one. "Four years!" He growled. "Four fucking years, and I finally find something worth a damn! And now I learn its just another damn door! No god, no Vitass, just another enchanted fucking door!" He turned from her and screamed to the heavens. "This was suppose to be it!"

"This is another realm." She said looking around. "a pocket in the space between. a puncture in the veil." She walked toward the large vault. "Where the gods hid themselves behind an impenetrable arcane sigil lock. The stairs were just the escape hatch." She looked at Cal who had fallen to the floor and leaned against the door. "They speak no more."

"Vitass was suppose to..." Cal answered as his voice turned into a mutter. "He was suppose to speak, help us find a way out." She could see his eyes become wet before his face fell. "I cant keep doing this...I cant, keep going on like this."

"We will find another way." Rendia said bending down to Cal.

"Everyway we have tried, has failed! Every artifact, potion, magic trick, nothing has worked, dammit!"

"No they haven't, but this world we find ourselves in is vast, and filled with mysteries and magic-"

"Stop." Cal said keeping his head to his knees. "Just stop. Every time I get my hopes up, every time I try, we end up right back where we started, its hopeless." She sat in front of him in silence for a moment. "I tried...I tried for four years, I put up with the failures the deaths, the blood the bruises and cuts for four years. I don't know what to do, I don't even know who I am anymore..."

"You're a leaf." She answered.

"What?" He raised his head meeting her eyes behind his stringy locks.

"The elf, he was right about you. You are a leaf. A leaf that crossed the ocean of the veil carrying the memories and experiences of our people to this land and making it better for it. Our people, live on with you!" She said smiling and put a hand out to wipe his tears. "There are people outside that stand guard for you, because you made their lives better, there are songs of your name telling the tales of your bravery the company of heroes you keep. You may not have found a way home, hell, you may never, but you have been given a mighty good purpose here."

"Sometimes its nice to be stuck with you." Cal said straightening his leather coat and cleaning himself up.

"We are the last of our world as far as we know. We need to stick together." She smiled as she watched him stand up.

He looked back at the vault and then back to Rendia in thought. As he thought for a moment the thud of a bell tolled and the sigils runes became red. "What does that mean?" Cal asked wearisome.

"They know of us." She answered.

Part Five

The snow was covered in the blood of the night before and the ash of the Bananachs. The elf was walking the wizard through elven breathing methods as Sable packed the camp. He turned to see the traveler exit the door. A small smile rose on his face and he walked over to the ragged blonde man.

"I suppose you didn't comeback to say goodbye, huh?" He gave a soft laugh.

"It wasn't the promise I expected it to be."

"Never truly is, but that at least means you can pay me back, with some help on the next contract, what do ya say to that?"

"Fair." Cal answered with a handshake. "I have a job for you, myself though, first."