The Runic Alchemist

“One day, kid,” the Land-breaker said. “I will be back here tomorrow morning, and if I find any Faerunian soldiers on my island when I do—only death will greet them.”

Hellstorm did not answer, but the gritted teeth of his were answer enough. This matter wouldn’t resolve without a fight, and some Faerunians would indeed die for it. There was no way three transcendants could hold off the Land-breaker alone though—only the Sea Snake could do that. Damian doubted the king of Faeruna would come to blows over a single dungeon, even if it was the most ancient dungeon in the Five Kingdoms.

Damian could see Lily of Ruin flying back toward them from the distance. Depthcaller, also true to his name, had summoned an enormous wave in the ocean and was letting it transport him and all his soldiers back to the island.

“Let’s go,” Damian said simply and opened a waygate connecting to Vidalia.

She was the only one he trusted enough to give him a non-biased history of ten years of these four kingdoms. Just as the waygate formed, Damian frowned—she wasn’t alone. Many people were nearby, some mana signatures disappearing every second. She was in a fight. Still, Damian chose to step inside the swirling blue waygate.

He completely ignored Hellstorm’s darkened face, watching him open a portal without uttering a single word.

Damian came out into a large open muddy battlefield; rain was pouring down hard. The chaotic battlefield completely ignored the blue glowing waygate—except one—the person he had come looking for. Vidalia was fighting some man fitted with black armor, the emblem on it painted grey and blue. They were locked in a sword fight, both chanting spells while trying to kill each other. The soldiers fighting all around them were either wearing blue or green.

Faerunia and Eldoris.

What was this war? Damian could sense mana signatures numbering over twenty thousand in total. A small one. The place looked unfamiliar; it was a large open field surrounded by trees on two sides.

The man in black armor and Vidalia kept stealing glances his way, more so as others followed behind him. At first, they kept fighting, not letting the other take advantage of their split focus. Vidalia did not look tired or injured; the black armor of the man was dented in places, but he too was mostly fine. When they stopped, Vidalia and Damian’s eyes finally met—they stood there frozen in time, seeing each other.

The soldiers were still fighting though. Damian, with quite an effort, broke the eye contact and pulled his head straight up. In a second, a giant, tens-of-meters-thick beam of pure untamed energy in the form of fire unleashed toward the dark sky. It lasted for over a minute and a half. Damian could not control the length of his Hellfire skill. It was just an activate-and-shoot type of thing with a fixed mana cost.

The soldiers, seeing the scene from their nightmares come alive, stopped fighting and even moving from their place. The powerful beam of fire even cleared the sky and stopped the rain.

All the people that were with him crossed the waygate, and Damian closed it after them. He walked near Vidalia—once again, their eyes locked—but then the sudden clutter of armor sounds brought Damian’s focus toward the man in black armor. Another transcendant he didn’t know.

“Take a day off,” Damian said.

The man, taking his helmet off, did not argue at all and just nodded. Walking backwards, he slowly pulled away and ordered his men to fall back for the day. The Eldoris soldiers also started moving, tending to their injured and gathering dead bodies.

“Took you long enough,” Vidalia said, putting her sword back in the scabbard.

“Einar and Evrin?” he asked.

If the pigmen who came with Alex and Grace were here for ten years even though they had barely left a month before Damian and his group, then Einar and Evrin—whom he sent over a week before the pigmen—had to be here even before that.

“That.. we have them,” she answered.

Damian suspected something was up with that slight hesitation, but well, questions could wait. Vidalia started chanting for a water ball, but Damian made the runic circle before she was even twenty percent done. She only showed a slight surprise—it was more like she was saying ‘nice job’ than shock. She used the water to clear her face and stuff like it was her own.

Then she shouted some orders to her people, and they walked towards a quiet place without others. It was brief, but Vidalia had eyes on the Land-breaker, Mindseer, and everyone with him. Sam, Lucian, and others who knew her nodded when their eyes met.

“Did you come from Edgeheaven?” she asked while walking.

“Yes,” Mindseer answered. “What is going on? What happened there?”

“A lot,” Vidalia answered. “After the island demons attacked Voidshaper and the other Highswords present there, they took control of the island. There were many dead, but ultimately the demons won. We don’t know what happened to the Highswords and some of the students who were still there and could potentially have survived the battle. No one has seen them for eight years now.”

“Eight years? Not ten?” Sam asked.

“No. The academy was attacked four years after most of the Highswords went missing. Since you guys entered the dungeon.”

“So we’ve been gone for twelve years?” Karl asked.

“Yes,” Vidalia answered.

Damian did quick math in his mind. Twelve years they were gone, nine and a half since the Pigmen King and Grace had come here. That meant the normal, stable time difference for Earth and this planet was eighteen times. Time was much faster here—not the pigmen world–level fast, but still fast. A month on Earth was eighteen months here.

“Faerunia defeated the demons?” Land-breaker asked.

“Yes and no,” Vidalia answered. “Some of Ashenvale’s remaining lords banded together and started the fight against the demons. We aided them. Faerunia came later. The devils were gone, but it didn’t take long for them to make enemies of those who had remained—us.”

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