The Battle Beyond the Gate

Glenarrion and the forces of Azael – 6^th day of Maruk cy 4822

The scene is breathtaking. From above you and your companions witness the destruction of Azael’s second wave as they assault the second of the four Great Gates. Sharyr, the liberated great dragon upon which you ride, is equally impressed by the awesome display of swordsmanship below. Glenarrion punishes the remaining six demons that hover around him; his great sweeping strokes obliterate everything close. His dark haunted eyes are those of a madman, bereft of humanity…a man with a single purpose…a single goal. Before you is the harbinger of doom.

“When the demons are gone he will destroy the gate,” Sharyr intones in your head. “That blade is primal…when the Void is unleashed he will destroy the next riddle and half the mountain.”

Your whole body shudders as the dragon’s thoughts come true. Glenarrion thrusts his blade into an unseen opening and there is a cataclysmic explosion, one that halts Sharyr’s descent and makes him still. A huge section of the mountain shatters into a billion tiny fragments of black glass…glass that exists for only a second before it is gone forever. All that remains is a lone warrior. His sword held lightly in his hand he is perched on the remains of the mountain. It is as though a huge sword has sliced off the pinnacle and left nothing but a dark scar where there was once rock.

Glenarrion turns to Sharyr, in particularly you, Valadain. His gaze is like a thousand razor sharp needles down your spine, his eyes are dead pits; remorseless, deadly…soulless. “So you are the one?” he says.

“The riddle,” Sharyr interrupts with a worried tone. “What about the riddle?”

“The Gate is no more,” Glenarrion says. “Illem Runesabre is at the Third Gate and that will be closed before long. It is only a delaying tactic, however, because the Last Gate remains unguarded. Even now a thousand demons gather around the Menengor Mountain and more arrive every minute. It is to the north that Azael musters his forces…it has begun, friends.”

Sharyr cannot hide his anguish. “The next riddle…without it my masters cannot be liberated.”

Glenarrion grins. “That has already been taken care of. No force on earth can stop the momentum the high priest has started.” His tone is almost conspiratorial. To Valadain: “Give my regards to her, won’t you?”

You feel extreme nausea and you fall. Desperately you try to cling to Sharyr but the dragon is gone, the swordsman is gone and yet you see a similar backdrop. Mountains; the peaks all around covered in snow above their white carpet of cloud. You stand at the second gate with the Woman in White…or the gate before it was destroyed. Nature has dragged you back in time, bending her own laws to accommodate you. Her smile is in stark contrast to the ferocity of Glenarrion.

“You have come far, Valadain. High Priest indeed…I can see the pride in Malkar when he speaks of you. You have both come so far since we were all together in the valley of your father.

“Before you is the gate that marks the next riddle. In doing this I am probably signing my own death warrant. My own laws were never meant to be broken and here I am breaking them…such irony! Malkar the White and Willowstar will take up the mantle of protectors of my universe when I am gone…and the power of the Glaennyn will cement those holes in the two god’s agendas.

“The black army of Azael has come. They will sweep south like an unstoppable tide and only the power of the dragons can send them back to the Abyss. Wars are inevitable in such diverse societies but this war will be unlike any you have ever seen.

“I have grave news.

“As you know the Reaper was destroyed and Azael has tapped into the secret of harvesting all the dead and sending them back into his army as slave-warriors. Azael is like Death in many respects; though the Grim Reaper was always careful to follow the code I set him all those years ago (I allowed him certain indiscretions). Azael, however, feels no compulsion to play by the rules.

“I sense he is dabbling in things darker than any human mind could comprehend. I sense that he is manipulating certain souls and will unleash them back onto Grayhawk as slaves, protectors and lap dogs that obey his every call. Azael has kept two souls for his personal protection. Wherever he goes on this plane two dead guardians, two brothers in arms, will accompany him. Stripped of humanity they will be undead shadows of their former selves…his bodyguards are the two Kasadais – Vance Dextin and Agrius.

“You are close now, Valadain. Azael knows this and will now turn his attention toward you. Now he is on Grayhawk he will be acutely aware of how close you are getting to the valley of the Glaennyn. He will disregard the armies that face him and instead come to a simple conclusion…kill you and he has victory.

“But all is not lost. I have seen the true goodness of your soul and you have friends…powerful friends who will guide you and protect you.”

The Woman in White now displays the next riddle – the next clue that will draw you a step closer to the liberation of the dragons, and the salvation of every living creature in the universe. There are tears in her eyes as you stare at the verse…

Hugh: I’m not giving you the next riddle yet. Your knowledge of Google scares me a bit! However, your first action of the next game you play will be to solve it – when that happens you will be catapulted back to the ‘present’.