All hell had broken loose on Omni. From their vantage point in wildspace, The Eternal Wanderer could see a huge plume of energy illuminate up from where the island of Glorin used to be. A column of brilliant, pure light poured from up from the planet, like a beacon, into the stars. A hole had been blown in Omni's atmosphere, sending dust, water, rocks, and ultimately portions of bodies into wildspace.
The force of the blast shook the mighty dreadnought, sending people and equipment all over the place. Blaise was sent over the rail from the command bridge, but Onestar used his psionics to gently help the arcane to the ground.
Hall remained on the helm, but with each new bump and shock the Wanderer felt, he felt it too. The rose crystal viewer still glared a pure, blinding white, revealing nothing.
"REPORT!" Onestar yelled.
[The ship's in one piece...barely!] Hall yelled, his voice coming from everywhere.
"Scanning the energy column," Ville reported. "Readings've gone off the scale!"
"What in the nine hells happened?" Blaise asked.
"Normakon!" Onestar cried out. "You mentioned something about the 'Bringer of Doom'! What is it?"
"It's an artifact of incredible power, captain," the beholder replied, picking himself up off the floor. "It's older than recorded history. When activated, it opens a one way gate to the pits of Hades, spewing forth all sorts of vile creatures! Look!"
Just as he had said it, the glow began to fade on the crystal. The picture changed, revealing a shimmering portal. In it's background, fires burned beyond control, plumes of black smoke bellowing forth. From the portal passed legion after legion of misshaped creatures, hordlings Normakon would call them, onto the broken land.
The image began to change. Of the beautiful island of Glorin, only charred ground remained. Buildings were vaporized, people reduced to dust. There were no trees, no homes, nothing that even resembled the peaceful community Glorin once was.
[Onestar!] Hall cried out. [There's another eruption on the main continent. And another! And a third!]
Onestar, Normakon and Blaise all ran toward the muster deck to look at the planet below. Sure enough, all over Omni similar explosions of white light were appearing over the continent, while not to the scale of what happened on Glorin, powerful enough to still be seen from space.
"By the elder powers," Blaise mumbled.
"What is it?" Onestar demanded.
"Te'Ess-Arr has built portals like this all over Omnispace, correct? Then he hooked the main portal up to the Bringer of Doom. Once the portals were activated, they were all linked together, and if the Bringer of Doom was opened in a portal..."
"By the Celestial Emperor," Onestar finished his thought. "Then those hellspawned gates will be opening on every planet in the sphere..."
As Onestar spoke, more and more flashes of light appeared on Omni. Throughout the sphere, wherever there was a gate, a portal to hell opened. Hordlings began to pass through, slaying anything they saw. The local militia was overwhelmed quickly. Omnispace was dying, consumed by the fires of hell.
Onestar looked down at Omni, straining to make out anything familiar. Near the center of the main continent, he saw something shine in the fading sunlight. Tall, it gleamed of metal. No openings had formed near there yet, but the samurai knew what it was.
"The Spire..."
"Onestar?" Blaise asked.
"I'm going down there," Onestar replied.
[Like hell!] Hall reprimanded the samurai. His voice seemed to emanate from the very air around them.
"This is no time for arguments, Hall." Onestar turned to Blaise. "Do you think you can open a dimension door to that gleaming tower below?"
"What, pardon the expression, in the hell for?" Blaise asked.
"Colicor is down there," Onestar explained.
"If he was caught in that explosion, then he surely must be dead," Normakon argued.
Onestar shook his head. "No. He's magi. He'll have survived, and probably reformed in his quarters at the Spire. I've got to get down there."
"Onestar, even if Colicor had survived the explosion, why do you have to go down after him?"
"Blaise, he and Ts'Ess-Arr are responsible for what has happened today. For the honor of those whose lives were lost, I must go down there and find him. He must die, or those who died today will not know peace."
[Listen, buddy,] Hall interrupted, [what makes you think you can kill him?]
"Remember what Monitor said, Hall."
Silence filled the air for a minute. [Blaise, open the door.]
"You're BOTH crazy!" Blaise yelled.
"If you don't open the dimension door," Onestar said, "I'll jump off this ship and drop to Omni like a rock! Open the door, Pascal!"
"How did i ever get talked into hanging around adventurers." Blaise weaved his fingers in the air, and a shimmering portal appeared. Onestar started to step through.
"If I am not back in one hour, get out of here!" Onestar ordered.
[Just get back here, will ya?] Hall replied.
Onestar passed through the portal, and it shimmered out of sight. However, as Blaise's closed, another opened on the bridge, right behind the helm. It sparked into existence, and from it, several dozen hordlings began to empty onto the Eternal Wanderer.
[All hands], Hall cried out, [we have boarders! Repel boarders! Repeat, ship has been boarded!]
Blaise and Normakon rushed in off the muster deck to see the bridge erupt into chaos.
"Somehow," Blaise began, "the dimensional barriers have been weakened! They must have followed my dimensional door back up here."
"Hypothesize later," Normakon cried out, a beam from one of his eyesprouts striking one of the hordlings, "we've got other things to worry about!"
