Dangerous Knowledge
by Noah BonebrakeRanier waited for the council to take their seats, his heart filling with dread at the report he knew he must give. A wizened man, sixty-two years of age, his hands trembled as he stood and faced the circular table where the Grand Council had gathered. Representatives from a dozen races faced him, elf, dwarf, fal, illithid, all eyeing him coldly, viewing the sage with a mixture of scorn and disgust.
Their leader, as imperious an elf as there ever existed, spoke.
"This Seekers' meeting is considered a closed session. What transpires here is never to be spoken of beyond these doors. No records are to be made of this report whatsoever. Is this understood?"
A rumble of agreement filled the room.
The elf fixed his gaze on Ranier. The old man closed his eyes in shame, waiting for his cue.
"Begin," was all the elf said.
Ranier opened his eyes and breathed deeply. There was no sound at all from the council; all their attention was fixed on him.
"I am deeply sorry. I have no report to give,"
A moment of silence.
"Do you mean to tell us that for thirty years you have squandered our resources? Wasted our money that was entrusted to you? For thirty years you have lied to us?"
"N-no..." Ranier stammered. "I do have a report, but it will have to be in my own words. The written accounts have been destroyed,"
A murmur of disapproval from the council.
The elf leaned forward, his face grim.
"We know. By your own hand no less,"
He paused, considering, before he continued.
"Very well. In your own words, tell us exactly what happened that led you to betray every goal we strive for. Start from the very beginning,"
Ranier swallowed, his tongue thick in his mouth. He glanced about, hoping to find a sympathetic face, one he could appeal to. He saw none.
"I was given this assignment thirty years ago," he began. "To discover the secrets the goblinkind found that led to the creation of the Witchlight Marauders. At the start I had no idea where to begin my search. All of the Seekers records of that time were very sketchy and seemed to contradict each other despite my best efforts. When I had exhausted all of our regional libraries, I traveled to Compendium, hoping that there I might find some clue as to the knowledge I sought.
"I was correct in assuming there would be some snippet of information present on Compendium, but it was of a kind I did not expect. It was in a book of poetry, Passageways into Night by Acis Cullagn, that I discovered mention of the subject I would dedicate thirty years of my life to uncovering.
"'In witchlight's gloaming-on darkened plane-did unholy gathering-ignite death's flame' began the passage. I memorized that poem until it filled my dreams every night, speaking to me of evil and despair. At the time I didn't realize it, but that poem would set me on a course I now wish I had not followed.
"After a time, I came to the conclusion that there were no other texts I could peruse. Not even the vast libraries of Compendium held the key I needed to unravel the mystery that had been set before me. The thought of returning to the council empty-handed was maddening. I convinced myself that it would be better to continue a fruitless search than to admit defeat. And so I remained on Compendium, day after day, poring over Cullagn's book, trying to twist my mind into the images he described."
Ranier paused, reminiscing.
"The strength of youth is its vigor, but wisdom was what I lacked. Had I known what was to come I would have gladly lain that book aside and pursued safer pastimes. But alas, my pride would not let me. So it was that the answer I so desperately needed came to me in a dream one night. I had fallen asleep, Cullagn's book in my lap, when I was transported to another place, where the stars burned with a ghastly greenish light and the air was filled with a fetid stink. The world on which I stood was unlike any other. Great strands of earth filled the sky, knotted and writhing like some living creature. Malformed shapes flew through the air or slithered in the myriad shadows that covered the land around me. Beside me stood a great pyramid, a ziggurat, crumbling with age and redolent with an aura of menace. Atop the ziggurat I could just make out a great construct of dark metal, its purpose unknown to me. In spite of the fear I felt I realized that this tubal world was my goal, that I had to find it, and perhaps then I could return to the Seekers in triumph. I turned toward the ziggurat, intent on climbing its steps to the prize that lay at its peak, when I awoke. Bathed in sweat, my body shook at the power of the vision I had received. I could still smell the air, like rotten mud, and for a moment I believed I could still hear the cries of those terrible creatures I could but partly see lurking in the shadows.
"I had to find that place. The hunger for it consumed me. I approached the council requesting funds for a ship and crew and in the interest of gathering more knowledge they gave it to me. I purchased a small craft, outfitted it with supplies and crewed it with a dozen men. Two years after I began my assignment we disembarked on our expedition.
"I won't bore you with the accounts of our journey. Most of it was spent charting unexplored spheres, which I have submitted to the council as, I hope, would be an adequate substitute for the information I willingly destroyed prior to returning home. But still the prize we searched for eluded us.
"Ten years passed. I replaced my crew every few years when those who had signed on became restless and wished to return home. I never told them the true purpose of our mission. That knowledge I kept to myself.
"I entertained the thought of giving up, of returning with nothing to show for my efforts. But even then I could not consider throwing away what had been my life's work. Despair overtook me, even as my ship plumbed the farthest reaches of the Flow. Then, one morning we found it, the object of my searching's.
"It was a small sphere, unremarkable in outward appearance. But as the phlogiston parted to allow a glimpse of its crystalline wall I felt a surge of recognition so great I thought my heart would leap from my chest. Quickly I ordered the crew to search for a portal, which they did in an astonishingly small amount of time. It was if fate had brought us to this sphere in the precise location we needed to breach its wall.
"We entered, and we were immediately aware of the intense cold of the void. It pressed against us like a living thing and chilled us to the bone. But the most amazing property I discovered was not the inhuman chill in the air but that it was not uncomfortable. Quite simply, we did not need to dress for warmth despite the fact our breath froze as it left our bodies.
"As fascinating as this discovery was, it paled in comparison to the sight that greeted us at the center of the sphere. Still vivid in my mind was the dream that had come to me ten years previous but I was not prepared for the full view of the world we gazed upon from afar.
"Great strings of earth surrounded a tiny sun that burned with a baleful glow, twisting and intertwining upon themselves over and over until it formed a second sphere around its primary. Here and there, great shafts of emerald light escaped from its woven prison to travel the very length of the sphere, and where those shafts touched the stars set against the wall they flared again, spreading out over the inner surface of the sphere in cascades of green, orange and other colors I had never seen before or since. As that woven world before us spun about, the shafts of light moved with it, playing across the entire sky.
"We gazed upon the spectacle for a long time, so much so that we were unprepared for what happened next. Our ship had entered very near to a place where one shaft of sunlight had reached the wall and as we watched it swept over us. In an instant I and my crew fell to our knees, the air around us suddenly filled with a thousand piercing screams. It was not pain or terror that lay within those screams, but rather a mad, howling joy that nevertheless shook us all to the core of our very beings. Then it was over as quickly as it began, the shaft of light that had surrounded us sweeping off into the void.
"We were shaken, but unhurt and a few of the crew wanted to leave the sphere immediately. Fortunately, I had handpicked each of my crews and the majority were hardened sailors for whom superstition was less a religion and more an occasional pastime. Still, we were pensive about exploring further but the call of discovery outweighed any fear we felt and so we began our journey to the world that lay ahead.
"How long our flight took, I am not sure. The passage of time, which accompanied us on our every voyage, left us the moment we entered the sphere. During our approach the helmsman would adjust our heading occasionally to avoid encountering any more shafts of light that split the darkness. I had a vague recollection of where to land; somehow my dream had imprinted upon my mind the location I had been shown, and with a sure voice I gave the command to take the ship down.
"As we entered the planet's atmosphere, the cold left us, perhaps confined only to the void, and was replaced by a noisome stench, moist and warm and thoroughly unpleasant. We set down on the dark side, only a few miles from the terminator on this great strand of earth and mud. The land was marshlike and the stars in the sky were half-blotted out by more strands that even as we watched seemed to move and shudder of their own accord. I knew this place well from my dream and as a confirmation that what I had foreseen was true, there no less than three hundred yards from where we had landed stood the great ziggurat.
"I disembarked alone, sure in the knowledge that I would not be harmed and made my way to the stone pyramid. The crew protested such a rash decision, but in the end I convinced them to remain aboard ship and to prepare to leave when I returned.
"As I walked, certain features of the land became clear to me. What I once assumed were merely outcroppings of rock and stone in my dream were revealed to be the ancient, gutted hulks of ships that matched the designs of those used by humanoid races so many centuries ago. My heart quickened at this discovery, for if indeed these wrecks were present on this world, then perhaps my path was near an end. It would be all too soon that I would discover the truth: my journey was merely beginning.
"At long last I stood before the ziggurat, its bulk rising out of the wet ground so unlike the rest of the landscape. Surrounding me were the ruins of buildings that once must have rivaled the pyramid in grandeur but now lay still and lifeless. I took a moment or two to investigate some of the closer ruins. From what I could interpret they were vast libraries at one point, the information they contained carved onto the cold stone columns, but now they were faded and shattered. Certain etchings looked to have been completely destroyed by some unknown hand and it was with some regret that I was unable to decipher what little remained.
"I also discovered the remains of what appeared to be a more recent building, constructed of wood, but now was nothing more than a charred husk. Later I would learn the purpose of that terrible place but for now I returned to the object of my desire, intent on ascending its peak and laying to rest any speculation I might have had on its purpose for being.
"I was forty-five years old when I stood on the top of the ziggurat and looked down at the land below. I felt much older, for I was the first to set foot on stone that had not been trod for a thousand years. And there, towering above me was the construct, a formidable basin that glimmered in the twilight. To the right, a stone stairway that led up to the lip.
"I continued my climb, hardly aware of my footsteps, until I could go no higher. This was the moment I had dreamed of for so long! But as I looked down into the basin, the triumph I felt drained from me so quickly I collapsed atop the stair. It was empty. A single crack ran across its center from each end. That was all. My hope had vanished and I was left with nothing in return. For a long time I lay there, emotionless and hollow, unsure of what to do. Was this to be my reward? So many times before I had pressed on in my searching, convinced that I would prevail, but now that I had come so far to the end to be crushed so completely I knew I finally had to admit defeat. I was about to turn and make my way back down towards the ship when something caught my eye I had not seen before. It was a little thing, easily overlooked, but in desperation I stepped off the edge of the stair and slid down the length of the basin towards it.
"It was a scroll case, placed on the edge of the crack that had split the construct in two. I fell to my knees to retrieve it, all the while reminding myself that it was unimaginably old and too valuable to be destroyed by my eagerness. I calmed myself, waiting for my hands to stop shaking, before withdrawing the parchment from its container and unrolled it.
"I nearly dropped the scroll when I read the words upon it. Not only was it in the common tongue, but it was my own handwriting! Here, atop a forsaken ruin in a forgotten sphere, I had found evidence that I had walked this land before! And it was at that point I realized I would travel a road of my own devising for the next eighteen years.
"I returned to my ship and ordered the crew to lift off. I withdrew to the confines of my cabin to reflect on the revelation that had come to me. Again I read the message I had left to myself, unable to comprehend the immense gulf of time it had traversed, waiting for the day I would come again to retrieve it. It contained a set of instructions, that I was to go to a certain house on a particular world in a sphere I had never heard of to contact a man that would set in motion a chain of events that even now I wonder at the consequences which would befall all the worlds we know were I to disregard that missive. It called to the sense of duty within me. I knew I would witness certain things and my hand would in part be responsible for shaping a history a thousand years past. It was not clear to me what those events were save that I would have to live with the things I would see and do for the rest of my life.
"A month passed, then two, as we made our way back through the phlogiston towards Spiralspace. We would stop occasionally at a few waystations to replenish our food and water supplies, and it was at one particular stop that I revealed my true mission and what I had found among those ruins to a handful of crewmembers I knew I could trust. As I expected they were surprised that I had kept my purpose secret from them, but, to a man, they embraced my quest as their own. We agreed that the entire crew could not be entrusted with the knowledge I had gained and we made plans to release those we could not trust from their employment once we returned to Bral.
"Two more months passed before we entered the Spiral system. I had planned to request more funds from the council for another expedition but ultimately I decided against it for the simple reason that it may have raised too many questions. Questions that, at the time, I was not ready to answer. We docked at Bral and after a much needed respite from the rigors of traveling the stars we set out again, our crew now less than one-half what it used to be.
"I shall not divulge the name of the system which was our destination; the less specific I am at this point the better. While on Bral I had purchased a number of star charts in addition to the one I actually intended to use, the better to avoid suspicion should any of my brethren seek to uncover my plans. Perhaps I was beset by paranoia, but preventing anyone outside my small group from learning of our journey was now a priority.
"Our voyage passed without incident; we found the planet my instructions had directed us to and we descended not knowing quite what we would find upon our arrival. Our vessel made landfall near a large range of mountains far from any civilized settlement. There was no sign that any intelligent being would have called that wilderness home. Had it not been for the faith I placed in the message I had found I would have believed we had erred in our landing.
Then the ground erupted before our ship, shaking the vessel with such force I was thrown to the deck and the wind was knocked from my lungs. Out of the soil rose a tower of basalt and glass, gleaming in the afternoon sunlight, so majestic and beautiful that any thought of fear was blotted out be the sense of wonder and awe that filled me. Up it climbed, higher and higher until I thought it would pierce the heavens. And then it stopped, groaning from its unfathomable weight as is settled onto its foundation. A single door set into the stone was the only entrance I could detect, and as we watched, it opened and from the darkness beyond stepped a man dressed in dark robes and carrying with him a wooden staff. He nodded to us, as if he had known all along that we were coming, and approached our ship. My crew, as well as I, had been left speechless by the appearance of the tower, but our wits had not left us entirely. We lowered the gangplank and waited for this mysterious stranger to board our vessel. As he did, I stepped forward to greet him and our eyes locked. A wave of recognition passed through me although I could not recall from whence we had met before. Before I could speak, he opened his mouth.
"'It is time,'
"With that he turned and gestured. The tower sank back into the earth as quickly as it had appeared, leaving no trace as to its existence. The stranger turned back and looked at me expectantly. When I did not speak he said,
"'Shall we be off, Ranier?'
"Shaken, I ordered the crew to depart. Clearly this was a mage that wielded incredible might but even so, for him to call me by name was a testament to just how powerful he truly was.
"We returned once again to the witchlight sphere and during our voyage our passenger discussed with us at length of what was to come. His name was Gothra, he said, a sorcerer who excelled in the art of temporal enchantments. He would accompany us back through the doorways of time as our guide. Indeed, he had spent his entire life preparing for this, to join us as I strove to complete my assignment. We were warned of the dangers of interfering with events that for us had already taken place and that we were to be for the most part, merely observers. But, he added, there would be a task for us to perform as well although he did not elaborate on this despite our continued questioning.
"Finally we set our eyes upon that forgotten sphere and again I was struck by the view of those unnerving shafts of light that emanated from the world ahead. Quickly we returned to the site of the ancient ziggurat and waited for Gothra to prepare his incantations.
"We gathered in a circle upon that twisted land while Gothra chanted his spell. There was an odd prickling at the back of my neck and the rushing of wind resounded in my ears. I had a strange sense of falling, despite the fact I could still feel the ground beneath my feet. Gothra's voice seemed to gain in volume in time with the howling of the wind and before I realized what had happened we were no longer in the world, but somewhere outside it. A featureless grey void surrounded us, empty save for my companions and a few silvery threads that hung in the air about us. Curious, I reached out to grasp one of these threads. It was cool in the palm of my hand and as I looked closer it seemed to stretch far off into the distance. I looked to Gothra questioningly.
"He explained that the realm we were now in was composed of the very essence of time and that the thread I held in my hand was the actual lifeline of a creature that inhabited the world we had just left. He directed our attention to a small bundle of cords that floated very near to where we stood. Much shorter than the other threads, they seemed to begin and end in only a small distance. These were our lifelines, brought into being the moment we had entered the witchlight sphere and ending the moment we stepped into the temporal plane. Only when we would leave this realm would our lifelines begin again. I confess I did not fully understand what Gothra told us of the nature of the temporal prime but I trusted his wisdom in this matter.
"As I pondered his words, I became aware of a gentle pressure on my body, as if I was being pushed by unseen hands in a direction parallel to the threads that floated around me. It was the timeflow Gothra said, the inevitable march of time as it moved from the past into the future and that our journey lay not in the direction we were being forced but against it. We began to walk.
"Words cannot describe the ordeal that we endured. Each step we took would take us back only a few seconds but we had nearly a thousand years to cross before we could exit this place. After a while, my mind began to wander, no longer focusing on the emptiness about me or the task at hand, but down strange paths that only show themselves in that moment between dreams and consciousness. The constant pressure exerted on us numbed me and I found my footsteps dragging more and more as our path wore on. In time I began to see visions in the void, great monstrous things from out of the most twisted of nightmares, and I knew I was dangerously close to slipping into madness. I am sure I would have been lost had it not been for our guide whose steady hand and commanding presence served as a beacon of sanity in this alien realm.
"We neither ate nor slept; for us time did not pass. We were caught in a single second that dragged on into eternity. Yet our bodies continued to age, the only sign that even here we were not completely immune to the inevitable progression of life towards death. Ten years I think we walked, plunging deeper into the past. The lifelines that were our constant companions began to increase in number, growing thicker and pressing closer together. Then we saw it: a massive lifeline suspended in the void above us, nearly six feet in diameter, larger than any other we had encountered before. Gothra stopped, gesturing to it with his staff. That lifeline, he said, was the one we had been searching for. Hearing this, a new vigor spread through our limbs as we looked for the beginning of the thread that would herald the birth of the witchlight marauder.
"It was nothing any of us ever expected. The great lifeline split not once but a thousand times over. A wall of threads blocked our view. There were countless numbers of them, crowding in on each other, tangled and disjointed. A great event had happened here, explained Gothra, an event of such magnitude each of the lifelines in that wall had been caught up by it, their fates intermingling and intertwined so completely that there was no way to alter the event without risking a backlash of temporal energy. Beyond that wall lay our exit point. Once again he warned us that we were only to observe the events and that to act rashly was to invite destruction. It was only a little further, he said, and then all would be made known to us.
"We picked our way through the threads, doubling back every so often when we could proceed no further, and eventually we passed through the wall to stand on the other side of the event. Weary and longing for our ordeal to end, we trudged on to perhaps a week before the great event was to take place. Again we gathered in a circle as Gothra intoned his arcane words and the reality of the temporal realm began to fade. I felt my body surging upward as the ground grew more solid below. And then we were back in the world we had left ten years ago, once again subject to the effects of time upon our bodies. We did not anticipate the panic that rose in us as we took our first gasping breaths for air, faltering as our bodies struggled to work lungs that had forgotten how to breathe. Eventually we returned to some semblance of normalcy, no longer forced to concentrate in order to breathe. Instead we were assailed by different, but no less basic needs. Hunger, thirst, these were new sensations and after ten years we could not wait to fill our bellies again.
"We ate feverishly, savoring each bite of dried fruit and bread like it was a king's banquet. The water we brought was the finest wine, the texture rich and cool in our parched throats. As we ate, we began to take in our surroundings. As before, the land was rotten, marshy, and odorous, locked in perpetual twilight. It was a land that may never have seen the light of its sun. But there was one difference, so shocking that I could not believe my eyes the first time I laid my gaze upon it.
"Far off in the distance lay the ziggurat, silent and brooding but no longer surrounded by the ruins of a once mighty city. Instead those ruins had been replaced by magnificent towering structures of an almost ethereal design. Though we were a good way off I could see that the buildings were already crumbling with age but still beautiful in their elegance. In addition the glow of campfires could also be seen from where we stood, scattered here and there along the outskirts of the city.
"Gothra stood at my shoulder, pointing out at the fires that burned in the distance.
"'The orcs are there,' he said, 'waiting to unlock the secrets of this place and to commit a crime that can never be forgiven,'
"I asked him what he meant but his only reply was that I must witness for myself what was to transpire. In the meantime we were to remain where we were; it was much too dangerous to move about now that an entire army of humanoids had arrived on this world. When I asked how I would be able to see what was to come Gothra said he would arrange everything. With that he turned away leaving me alone with my thoughts.
"The next day, or to be more accurate, when we had risen from our slumber, we found our guide crouched by the side of a pool filled with brackish water. After breaking fast we joined him , watching silently as Gothra stirred the surface of the pool with a broken twig. He glanced at us, an unfathomable expression etched upon his face.
"'In three hours the event I told you about will take place. I warn you again, there is no way you can stop what is about to occur. If you try you may very well find yourself erased from existence, such is the importance this one event will play in the centuries to come. Time is not a forgiving mistress and she will give no thought to your destruction. That said, observe the sins of the past...'
"He swept his hand across the pool and in a heartbeat the murky water cleared, lit from within by a scene I knew all too well. It was the base of the ziggurat, the stairway leading to the top ringed by orc warriors and illuminated by torches that vomited forth a thick smoke that seemed to fit the atmosphere of the place. Atop the pyramid, at the very lip of the great basin stood a group of robed figures, shamans or witch doctors perhaps. I was not greatly familiar with the titles the goblin races gave to their magic workers but they were fearsome in appearance, a menacing addition in a place already dripping with dread.
"The scene shifted to a great wooden longhouse, the location of which I recognized as the charred husk I had seen when I first visited this place. But now in its entirety I could see that it had been hastily constructed by the orcs for some strange, unholy purpose. I wondered briefly what could be contained inside when, as if on cue, the doors swung open and my breath caught in my chest.
"Elves! Hundreds of them! Taken prisoner from who knows where and brought to this world, they had been kept chained inside that building for this moment. As their captors herded them out of the longhouse I could see that my original estimate had been wrong; there were not hundreds, but thousands of them. Nowhere could I see any men of fighting age, the captives consisted of women and children and those too old to fight back. Many of them had been beaten or tortured and my heart broke at the looks on their faces. They were frightened, no, they were terrified. They had no idea what awaited them.
"They were forced to march to the ziggurat, up its steps and then on up to the very edge of the construct. Gothra's projection followed the first of the elves as they climbed and as we watched, the robed orcs at the top of the basin ripped the first, a mere toddler, from her mother's arms. Her mother began to scream hysterically but was silenced by a vicious blow from one of the guards. Holding the child above his head, the orc let out a exultant howl and cast the elf down into the pit.
"In the instant the girl struck the metallic cauldron, her body seemed to collapse into itself, twisting and melting into a thick fleshy liquid that slid the rest of the way to the bottom of the basin. As the full impact of what I had just witnessed bore down on me, I saw the mother follow her child down into the construct, her body transforming before my very eyes into that gelatinous liquid that pooled at the bottom. Slowly the basin began to fill as the elves were marched one by one into it.
"I could watch no more. Sickened, I turned away and vomited into the brush beside me, closing my eyes and trying to convince myself that what I had seen could not possibly be true. I whispered to myself over and over that I was dreaming but deep down I knew that this was no dream or nightmare at all but a cold reality that crashed against my consciousness as I fought for breath. My companions were similarly affected. There was no way we could have remained unmoved by that vision and still considered ourselves human. Even Gothra shed silent tears as the scene continued. For hours the march stretched on, the cauldron slowly filling until at last the final elf was forced into that horrid construct.
"Then the leader of the shamans stretched his hand across the flesh-colored soup and spoke a word so powerful that the whole of that basin's contents began to thicken and solidify. It began to move. Like some living thing, it began to pull itself out of the basin, sprouting limbs, heads, and organs that would then recede back into its mass. The shaman continued his ritual, weaving his fingers back and forth and intoning words of power. The metal of the cauldron began to glow, a cold green light that intensified as the ritual continued. The ziggurat trembled as the energy trapped within the construct grew, and it was not long before the tremors shook the rest of the city as well. It would not be long now before the finale of that orc's spell would come and I began to fear that we would not be safe regardless of the distance between us and the construct.
"The basin's light continued to grow, illuminating the sky with flickers of emerald fire. The ground beneath our feet began to tremble, and as I dared to look into the pool once again, the final stroke of the ritual was completed. There was a brief moment of silence as the construct's glow was snuffed out, and out of the darkness that followed came an concussive surge of light and force that ripped through the land like the very sun had touched the surface of this world. A great shriek tore across the sky, agonized and enraged beyond any human capacity for such emotion. I cowered in the wasteland, cradling my head in my hands as the aftermath swept over us. I think I began to scream, but if I had my voice was drowned out by the overwhelming howl of energy that continued to pour forth from the ziggurat.
"It was over in a matter of seconds. In fact it ended so quickly I thought I had died, but as I lifted my head I could still hear the groans of my companions and the stench of the marsh still pervaded the air. I could see nothing and I worried that perhaps the explosion had blinded me. Fortunately, it was only temporary, and as my eyesight returned I saw the first of the orc ships strike the ground close to where we had huddled. Several lances of fire fell from the heavens in the ensuing minutes. We later learned that the blast had disrupted the helms of those ships still in orbit, sending the vessels further into the planet's gravity well. Only those few spelljammers that had been on the surface during the ritual's completion had escaped destruction. Even Gothra's pool had been affected, reverting to the rancid mire it had once been. Quickly he began to speak his arcane language, and the pool grew clear again.
"The changes that had been wrought in only a few minutes' time were staggering. I was gazing upon a collection of shattered spires and fallen structures, surrounding an age worn pyramid topped by a broken cauldron of dark metal. A single crack ran the length of the basin, still exuding an emerald light that began to fade even as we watched. But where there had once been an army of orcs only one remained; the robed incantor that had called forth the construct's power. And high above the ziggurat floated a sphere that writhed and undulated like a thousand serpents slithering about each other. Again the robed orc raised his arms and the sphere unraveled, peeling off tendrils until the very center became visible. Twelve skulls, vaguely crocodilian in design faced inward, and as I watched, the wormlike tentacles of which the sphere had been formed began to cover the skulls, sheathing bone in tendrils of flesh and blood. As the heads of the twelve creatures formed the rest of the mass slid out to form elongated bodies, trailing squirming chunks until finally the transformation was complete and I was looking at twelve fully formed witchlight marauders.
"I said nothing as the marauders rose through the night sky to the stars above, nor did I speak as the robed orc descended the pyramid and cross the blasted ground to a ship that had somehow survived the explosion. I waited as the ship lifted up from the ground and even after it had dwindled into the darkness I still said nothing.
"Gothra waved his hand over the vision pool and the light went out of the water. He looked at each of us.
"'You have just witnessed one of the mysteries of the spheres and it has changed you for the rest of your lives. There is task that has been set before you and after what you have seen I think it will be one that you will accept. This event must never be allowed to occur again. The artifact that rests atop the great ziggurat of Makel'va is cracked, but it is not destroyed. Even I do not know how to accomplish such a feat, but there is another way to ensure this will never be repeated.
"'This city was a vast storehouse of knowledge which centered around the worship of Makel'va and his pyramid. This knowledge must be destroyed. The ease with which the orcs discovered how to work the construct is a sign that it is too dangerous to leave intact.'
"There was no hesitation for me as he spoke those words. I may be a Seeker, but there were some things not even our order should be privy to. This was to be my small attempt to wipe out any chance such an abomination could happen again and I would not rest until every column and fresco and mosaic in that entire ruined city was rendered indecipherable.
"Time slipped on as we worked. With hammer and chisel we worked. With rope and sledge and pick we would topple the columns that had not already fallen and we would smash them apart into rubble. Gothra's magic quickened the process, melting whole buildings composed of stone into mounds of cold mud.
"We continued to work, days turning into months and months into years. When it seemed that we could no longer continue, the memory of those elves that died to feed the depravity of the orcish soul spurred us on. I hated the orcs. I hated myself for letting such a thing happen, even though I knew there was nothing I could have done without being destroyed by the attempt. Instead I had to content myself with defacing an entire city of learning to exact my revenge. I found it ironic.
"I made one last discovery in that ruined place, one that finally shed light on the inspiration the orcs had in bringing their nightmare plan to life. Within the wooden longhouse I found a series of murals, copied from the walls of the city around it. They were simple drawings, showing the progression of growth the marauders would soon follow, from spaceborn monstrosity to land dwelling weapons that devoured all who stood in their path. The orcs had pieced together several myths from an ancient civilization to create a creature that should never have existed, the very making of which had proven too great for the construct to endure, and so it had cracked as it brought their vision to life. The prisoners held within these walls would become the very instrument of destruction the orcs had long sought, striking out against their former kind as perverted beings that knew only hate and hunger. As I beheld their plans I gave in to the anger that seethed within me. I tore down what remained of the longhouse and burned it where it lay and when it was done I scattered the ashes to the wind. As I stood upon the land that had witnessed this terrible act I knew my task was close to an end. There was only one more thing to do.
"I penned a letter to myself, a series of instructions to be opened a thousand years from now, to be placed in the very same scroll case I had found at the center of the basin so long ago. I climbed the ziggurat for the second time in my life, and left my letter exactly where I would find it and had found it. A thought occurred to me then, and I retrieved the same letter I had carried with me for so many years from my pocket and set my torch to it. The yellowed parchment lit easily and I let the flaming scroll fall to the ground it, a sense of completion enveloping me as it was consumed not two yards from where my letter still lay safe in its case. The circular nature of this paradox was baffling, but I decided it would be best not to dwell upon it for any length of time and so I left.
"Twelve years had passed by since we first entered the Temporal Prime. Our journey back was shorter for we walked with the timeflow instead of against it. Still, six more years would go by before I would see the light of the witchlight sun creeping across the horizon. Our ship was where we had left it, overgrown with nearly two decade's worth of weeds and several sections had rotted away but the helm was intact. Weary from our time on this world, we prepared the ship for space travel as best we could and finally, thirty years older, I began my last flight home to give my report."
Ranier's voice fell silent, his tale ended, and he waited for the council's reaction. He did not have to wait for long.
"So here your report ends, Ranier Thornwarden," spoke the council leader. "A tedious report rife with glaring omissions, it seems as though you have disregarded the standards to which all Seekers should hold themselves. Even worse, you have admitted to not only to destroying your own written accounts but an entire city's worth as well, should your story be believed. Unfortunately, there is no evidence beyond your testimony to prove that these events happened at all.
"Therefore I can only determine your punishment based upon what we do know. You have misappropriated funds and mislead our organization for thirty years. You have destroyed the written word, an act by itself would be grounds for expulsion. I can see no other alternative than to revoke you membership within the Seekers and deny you further access to our holdings. You are to receive a mark upon your forehead identifying you as a traitor to the society and you will be escorted from the Library of the Spheres within the hour. What you do with your life from this point on is of no concern to us. This judgement is final,"
"No!" Ranier shouted as the council rose to their feet. "Have you heard nothing I have said? I have uncovered a tragedy beyond comprehension and this is your answer? Have not my revelations opened your eyes for even the briefest glimpse of the truth?"
"The truth, traitor, is a most elusive thing," countered the elf. "What you have told us may be the truth as you see it, but here we cannot verify your words. Perhaps that is something you should have considered before committing yourself to the path you have taken. Ponder that as you are cast out from our society. This meeting is adjourned."
"You fools! You blind, arrogant fools! I gave my life to this assignment. What resulted may not have been to your satisfaction, but I maintain I did what was right! You have no cause to do this!"
There was no answer. He was cast out.
Ranier continued to stand, his fists clenched with rage, as his audience left the chamber. Tears began to streamd down his face as he spoke to the now empty room.
"I did what was right!" he whispered. "By the stars, I know I did what was right!"
