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Chapter 9

The group set out from the Temple the next morning, after an extensive goodbye to Tabol. They set out on foot, being faster than any beast of burden, and able to go across terrain the poor creatures would find impassable. Carrying their packs and pallets on their backs made the trip difficult at first for Kanto and Hatako who were neither of them accustomed to carrying heavy objects long distances, but they soon grew used to the strain and effort.

For three days and nights they traveled like that. Covering as much distance as possible during the day, resting at night, having barely enough energy to start a fire, cook their food and eat it before crawling into their tents and falling into their pallets. On the third night, half a day away from the research station that was their station, Firus dreamed.

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A forest. Firus opened his eyes to look upon a forest copse. He looked around, examining his surroundings, and discovered he was trapped by an impenetrable circle of trees. But, the trees he saw were familiar. They were a species that thrived in great numbers in the northern forests near Gryma. He heard the sound of someone quietly padding up behind him. He slowly reached towards his hip where he had strapped his longsword, but it wasn't there. He turned to face the stranger, reaching beneath his leathers for his hand crossbow, but it too was missing. As a last ditch effort he reached inside his sleeve for the dagger he kept hidden there, already knowing it wouldn't be there. Out of options, he looked up to study his supposed assailant.

The male wolf that walked toward him from the tree line seemed to be similar to his own color, yet different pattern. He was slightly taller, had a bit larger build, and was vaguely familiar. Who is this? He thought to himself

The strange male spoke in a deep all-knowing voice. "I am known simply as Knowledge young Firus. Who I am, that question is up for debate."

Firus was stunned that by the fact he had seemingly just had his mind read. "Did you just re-"

The Knowledge held up his paw, cutting him off. "No, I did not read your mind. My abilities are different. I know everything that has happened in the past and is happening in the present. I was given this ability by the pantheon of gods, whatever names you give them. I also have the power to integrate myself into peoples dreams and speak to them that way. I am also able to appear in a form that is comfortable to the ones I am speaking to if I so wish."

"Is that," Firus waited to see if he'd be cut off, when he wasn't he continued. "Is that why you seem familiar to me?"

The empowered entity smiled. "It may be, but that shall be for you to figure out." He gestured for Firus to sit and a pair of large rocks appeared before them. "Sit, relax, we have things we must discuss."

When they had settled themselves on their respective seats, the Knowledge continued. "First, let's drop a little formality, I feel like I already know you since I know everything about you. You may call me whatever you wish. Go ahead, try something out."

Firus thought about what little he knew about this mysterious male, and realized it wasn't enough to come up with a name for him. "How about we just stick with the Know for now?"

The Know smiled, "Fair enough, feel free to call me anything you wish should you change your mind. Would you mind terribly if I called you Spark?"

Firus twitched at the sound of the name his father used to call him. 'My little Spark.' That was what he used to call him before he died. "How do you know that name?"

"I told you," replied the other male. "I know everything that has ever happened, and everything that happens now. Which means I also realize that I've touched a nerve and I'm sorry. How about Ember?"

Firus scowled. That was his mother's little nick-name for him. He sent menacing thoughts towards the Know. "Want to dredge up any other memories?"

The Knowledge smirked a little. "No, I think those two will do for my purposes for now. Tell me, how is little Totem? I mean, I know how he is, but I want to hear it from you."

Firus growled. His mother had always called his brother that because he could see and speak to spirits. "I don't care that you know everything past and present, noone but my mother and I knew her name for Kanto. Who are you?"

The offender replied, "Like I said, that is up for debate. But it will have to wait for a later time. Don't worry, you'll know in time. You're too determined to figure it out now. But we digress. Firus, I wanted to discuss your 'quest' with you. The gods, or rather your goddess, has given me permission to guide you and give you information. The first thing you must know is the generic 'what's going on?'. You know that their have been weird manifestations on Condea, you know that someone is suspected to be behind them. What you don't know is that what's behind them is a very powerful Leog demon named Orgnul. He is the one that stemmed the flow of arcane magic twenty-five years ago. He's diverting all the power to craft powerful magics, summoning demons and devils to do his bidding, keeping his citadel afloat and hidden, and causing the odd goings on in the world."

Firus digested this information and asked the burning question. "And how, pray tell, is he doing that?"

"He's merging all of the planes of hell with your world. The elemental planes of fire, ice, wind, and water. The demi-elemental planes of poison, disease, acid, all being brought into existence on your home plane."

Firus stroked his chin as he seemed to contemplate what he had been told before leaning forward and telling his new acquaintance flat out, "Bull shit."

The Know was taken slightly aback at this. "What?"

"Oh, you heard me." He replied. "I said bull shit, and might I add 'Bluff!', 'You're crazy', and an old-fashioned 'Ha, ha, ha, nice try'. What you have told me of is not even possible. Even with magic."

The Know grew angry at his last statement. "Never underestimate magic! Never. Magic is the reason I even exist, the reason you are here, and the reason that any of your little group of friends and family are even alive." He calmed down slightly and said in a level voice, "You do not have to believe me, but do not forget what I have told you. Do not forget any of it, young Spark, tiny Ember." He smiled and touched Firus' head. "Goodnight youngling. Sweet dreams." He made an all too familiar gesture, kissing the top of his head, and then his nose before Firus fell into a deep, deep slumber.

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The research station was housed in a pair of relatively small buildings, one for the three tenants to sleep in and one where they actually did their work. Firus had nearly forgotten the dream he'd had the previous night by the time they arrived and introduced themselves to the researchers. Only the head of the little compound, which he said was more of a technical thing since they really ran it together, strayed back from the crystals and little altars where they did their scrying. He introduced himself as Hanchu, he was a small tan coyote no more than five feet eight inches tall standing. He looked rather young, no more than forty, but seemed to exude an air of wisdom that was only gained with age. He seemed pleased that they were there to give them some first hand experience of the areas under surveillance.

Hanchu clasped each of their hands, kissing the back of the two ladies', before starting his explanation. "I am glad you could make it here under such short notice, and with such speed and numbers. We only expected one or two of you, not five. This is indeed a happy time for us, as we need you to go to the areas we have been watching and observe them first hand. The things we are seeing are too disturbing to be believed. We need you to go there and make sure they are real, which not be a good thing. Come, let me show you exactly what I am talking about."

He led them over to one of the decorated altars, this one having a small mirror with foggy shapes in the glass above it. He waved his hand in front of the mirror. The images in the mirror instantly started to sharpen and clear. They formed what looked like a field that had been burned and eaten away by a green fog permeating the entire area. Firus started to remember little snippets of his dream.

Hatako was the first to realize what exactly was going on. "It's acid."

Hanchu nodded at her. "Indeed it is. It has burned a radius of approximately twenty miles from a central point. Naturally, we cannot believe this is happening since it would take very powerful magic to do this kind of thing." Firus' eye twitched a little "Here, look at this one."

He waved his hand in front of the mirror and the images blurred once again to be replaced with a vision of fire raining down on a forest, but the flames didn't seem to spread outside a certain point. "As you can see, there are some terrible disasters taking place in remote regions of the world. And since there is no more magic in the world, we cannot figure out what is causing this, and the gods will not tell us. All they say is that 'All will be well when the young hero realizes his potential.' Since we obviously cannot rely on the gods in this situation, we need you help us."

He waved his hand several times, each time the mirror solidifying into a different disaster. Diseased crops and animals, blizzards with no clouds, tornadoes destroying entire villages. "Please, help us. We have received word from Tabol that there might be a powerful entity behind this. Help us find it and stop it. We honestly cannot figure out anything about what is going on. It's as if-"

Firus finished the coyote's sentence. "The hells are merging with Condea." He sighed in resignation. "All right, of course we'll help. What do you want us to do first?"

Hanchu grinned and said, "Oh, thank you. First you will need to resupply your food and water of course. Then you should head out to this area." He made the mirror show one more scene that seemed to be peaceful and perfectly normal. "Just watch. The gods have told us there will soon be another disaster here." He said reassuring them. Sure enough, after watching for ten seconds, they started to see small trickles of water on the ground. Without warning an enormous flood swept across the plains, decimating buildings, ripping plants out of the ground, people and animals washed by the glass in the mirror. He waved his hand in front of the glass, obscuring the images from view again. "This area is about four days journey south of here. We think that since it is the most recent, it will have more clues about who or what is causing this. You are of course welcome to camp here if you prefer to begin the trip tomorrow."

The group was about to decline when Firus spoke up above them, "That would be wonderful, thank you. We'll try not to get in your way at all." He turned to his friends and simply said in a quiet voice, "Just trust me, we need to stay here tonight. We may not be heading to where the flood happened. I'll explain tomorrow."

The others looked skeptical, all except for Travol. "Alright Firus, do whatever you need to do. We can wait for an explanation."

Firus sighed and said, "Thank you Travol. All we need is a a good nights sleep."

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The forest was exactly the same, from the impenetrable trees, the pleasant field, down to the two rocks the Know had summoned last time.

Firus heard the vaguely familiar voice behind him. "Well?"

He sighed and turned to face the person who had so aggravated him last night. "I believe you."

The Know nodded. "Good, then the first thing you must do is travel west through the Tiljan Woods to the small town there. If you travel straight, you will find it. There are ruins near the village. That is where the first seal you must destroy is. But no normal force on this plane can destroy them, no magic can penetrate it's protection. In order to destroy the seals you will have to pass the tests the gods send to you. Every time you pass a test, you will gain what they have referred to as "states of Purity". Each of these will make you stronger, they will make you more of a vessel. In the end you will be a weapon of the gods. But they also take something from you. You will be un-able to do things you once did, they will make you more, well pure. When you gain the final state, you will become the most holy being on this plane. The first state will grant you the power to destroy the seals, other than that I know nothing about the individual stages. But in the end, you will be powerful enough to destroy Orgnul, and reverse his evil."

Firus took in the information and tried to accept it this time. "How many states are there?"

"Four," He replied. "Purity of Heart, Mind, Soul, and Intentions. After you attain a state, you will gain guidance to where you can attain the next state." He drew a long breath. "The catch is, there are only three seals. And I don't understand anymore than you do how that works. Your goddess just said that when the time comes for you to attain the fourth state, you will know where to go."

Firus seemed a little disappointed. "That's it?"

The Knowledge smirked. "No, I suspect that your little lily will have something she wants to show you when you get to the village. And tell your brother that the one person he wishes he could have met says, 'Hello.'."

"What does that me-" Firus was cut off as the Know put him to sleep again.

As Firus started to fade, he heard him say, "He won't tell you who I am either."