(WotH) The Rift

    Alex strolled cheerfully through Arborton’s outdoor market. Many of the townsfolk paused their conversations to exchange pleasant greetings with her as she passed by.

    Soooo, about that dryad on Old Man Herbert’s farm . . . a young girl’s curious voice popped into her head, not that it ever left her.

    After we get the groceries home, Alex casually responded in her thoughts, we’re gonna have to head over there and give her a talking to about property ownership.

    Doesn’t everybody know about property ownership?

    Here on Phoros they do, but dryads are from the Feywild and not everything works the same there. She probably sees everything as ultimately belonging to nature and doesn’t understand how a man can claim ownership over the land. I doubt she means any real harm, though, so we should be able to find a peaceful resolution.

    But what if we don’t? If she’s that convinced that Old Man Herbert can’t own the land, will we actually be able to change her mind?

    Optimistic as usual, Alice. However, that is certainly a possibility. If it comes down to it, we can always remove her by force . . . most likely the force of Steve’s shovel.

    Well anyway, when are we going to go on an adventure? And I mean a real adventure, one where we actually go out of town.

    I love adventuring almost as much as you do, but we don’t know when exactly our next one will be. We need to keep Arborton safe, after all. Don’t worry, though. Adventure will always come knocking sooner or later, and we have all the time in the world to wait for it.

    I guess you’re right.

    Alex reached the far end of the market and stepped up to the counter of Barb’s Corner Store. Manning the store was an elderly woman with blue eyes and neat grey hair.

    “Hi Barb!”

    “Alex! It’s so nice to see you,” Barb beamed. “Have you been doing well? Oh, I already have your order set aside.” She grabbed a basket of assorted groceries and placed it on the counter.

    “Yes. I just got back from helping Mr. Baker fix his fence. Those redcaps really did a number on it. Anyway, I need a couple extra things today. Here’s the list.” Alex retrieved a crumpled-up piece of paper from her pocket.

    Barb glanced over the list and quickly retrieved the items from a nearby shelf. “Here you go,” she said, placing them on the counter.

    Alex fished a platinum piece out of her pocket and placed it on the counter. “This should cover everything.”

    “Does Alice want a chocolate bar?”

    Of course!

    “That would be a yes,” Alex chuckled. She took the chocolate bar and turned to leave. “Thanks again, Barb!”

Ì

    “I’m home!” Alex cheerfully flung the door open and strode inside, basket of groceries in hand.

    Steve quickly appeared through a doorway. He was tall and powerfully built, with blue eyes, short brown hair, and a goatee. He was clad in a simple, but well-made, blue shirt, dark blue pants of similar craft, and short black boots. His tone was unusually serious as he spoke. “Put the basket on the table and follow me.”

    This can’t be good.

    Alex hurriedly set the basket upon the dining table and followed Steve into the living room, where she stopped in front of a large, oval-shaped, standing mirror. Her reflection was that of a strong and slender woman with emerald eyes and ginger hair that was pulled into a ponytail draped over one shoulder. She wore a simple green tunic, brown cargo pants, and knee-high grey boots.

    “A man from one of the cities near Argopolis passed through while you were helping out Mr. Baker. He brought news from the big city . . . It wasn’t good.” Steve sighed deeply.

    “The king never did seem to have things under control, did he?” Alex mused.

    “It’s actually the king that the news revolves around. He’s dead.”

    I gotta hear this.

    “What? How?” Alex paced back and forth, attempting to wrap her head around how this was possible. “Surely we would have heard of an invasion, even all the way out here near the border. What did him in?”

    “That’s the thing, the invasion came from inside Argopolis. No settlements were destroyed in a prior invasion. Nobody saw it coming.”

    The reflection in the mirror changed to that of a teenage girl with curly and somewhat unruly raven hair. Her left eye had an indigo hue, and her right was a piercing yellow. “The invasion came from within? Was it a revolt? I knew the old man wasn’t super popular, but I didn’t realize that many people hated him.” Alice’s voice was inquisitive and somewhat ethereal as it projected from the mirror.

    “Apparently Imperium Cleptarum has had its headquarters underneath Argopolis for years and invaded the city from a series of underground safehouses. With most of the king’s army guarding the borders, the city guard simply wasn’t enough.” Steve furrowed his brow in frustration. “Argos was done in by a fellow named General Grave who works for Blex, a beholder who has now declared himself king.”

    “What a buffoon.”

    “Jeez, I knew the king wasn’t the best decision maker, but surely this should have been preventable. Any news of the other royals? Where they also killed?”

    “They escaped. The queen is, unsurprisingly, quite opposed to Blex claiming the throne, and she has the backing of most of the remaining army. However, rumor has it that Imperium Cleptarum has an army of warforged. The man I spoke to said he anticipates a civil war and is going to vacation in Geckinghamshire to wait things out.”

    “So, what you’re saying is that civil war is brewing, and our choices are the same genius royal family that brought us the Argo-Undead war and didn’t notice a crime syndicate lairing under their capital, or a beholder mob boss.” Alex sighed and ran her hand over her face.

    “That’s about the size of it.”

    “I don’t think we should support either of those clowns.”

    “I agree.” Steve stroked his chin. “I think it best that we fortify the town, mobilize the Greenguard in case of an invasion, and just sit tight right here.”

    “You’re right. There’s little point in trying to win a civil war when both sides are in the wrong.” Alex continued her pacing. “We’ll just have to weather this storm right here. One side may try to invade, but they’ll be faced with a rude awakening.”

    Steve opened his mouth to speak again but was cut off as the ringing of an alarm bell split the air.

    “Son of a biscuit,” Alex muttered as she reached into one of her pants pockets, pulling out a full-size trident made from an aquamarine-like material with gold filagree and an aura of cold around its prongs.

    Steve said nothing and, likewise, drew an item from his pocket, his weapon of choice being a solid adamantine shovel.

    “Gotta love the rift’s timing, don’t ya?” Alice shook her head and disappeared from the mirror.

    The two do-gooders hurried out the door and towards the town square. In the square’s center, a jagged, shimmering rift had opened a few feet off the ground and was in the process of spewing out a horde of demons. The Greenguard, Arborton’s militia that had been personally trained by Steve and Alex, had already moved to engage the initial wave. Without a word, Steve lunged into the fray, swinging his shovel in wide, powerful arcs which sent small demons flying in all directions.

    A seven-foot-tall, humanoid fiend with great, leathery wings darted into the air, conjuring a ball of fire within its clawed fist. The demon pulled back its arm to lob the projectile when Alex’s trident plunged into its chest with a terrific thunk and an explosion of frost, flinging the fiend across the square and against the side of a building. As the demon collapsed into a puddle of ichor, the trident soared back through the air, returning to its owner’s hand.

    A cascade of vines erupted from the cobbles, ensnaring many of the invaders and holding them in place.   “Better make this quick before they can make it out of the square.” Alex raised her free hand into the air, conjuring a storm of hailstones which rained down upon the immobilized fiends.

    Another towering fiend lunged at Steve, taking a mighty shovel blow to the jaw and sailing over a nearby rooftop. Just as the wave of interdimensional invaders seemed to be dwindling, the rift tore open wider, and two more monsters stepped out. One was a lanky, emaciated fiend that would have stood nearly eight feet in height if not for its hunch, and it had a head like a ram-skull. The other was a huge, burly balor with tremendous wings who wielded an enormous, electrified sword in one hand and a massive flaming whip in the other. It stood about twelve feet in height, and the very air around it rippled with heat distortion.

    Finally, a challenge!

    The ram-headed fiend chanted in an abyssal tongue and conjured forth a wave of roiling green hellfire. Steve turned to face the incoming flames and slammed one foot into the ground. The pavement morphed and shifted in the wake of the blow, reforming into a wall of stone. The hellfire crashed upon the rock, spouting flames around its edges and blackening its surface, but doing Steve no harm. He punched the wall hard, shattering it into a volley of rocky projectiles which streaked towards the fiend. The creature put its arms in front of its face, shielding itself from major harm, but was battered, nonetheless.

    Alex hurled her trident at the balor, a barrage of icicles accompanying its flight. The fiend swung its burning whip, striking the weapon aside and incinerating many icicles. Though a number of the icy projectiles struck home, they had little effect upon the beast. Vines erupted from the earth to ensnare the titan demon, but it took flight and soared high above their reach. It swooped down towards Alex, plunging its blade into the ground where she had stood moments before, having jumped high into the air.  The ranger pierced through the balor’s wing with her trident and ripped a large gash in it on her way down. The heat radiating from the beast made her sweat.

    The monster bellowed with rage and lashed out with its whip, wrapping the flaming cord around Alex’s ankle. The demon swung the weapon through the air, intent on slamming her against the pavement. She caught the cord between the prongs of her trident and yanked it off of her leg, performing a mid-air somersault and landing on her feet. Alex threw her weapon once again, this time finding her mark upon the balor’s intact wing, rendering her assailant flightless.

    Steve charged towards the ram-headed fiend, swinging his shovel up at its head. Abyssal chains erupted from the ground and wrapped themselves around the handle, stopping the blow from hitting. With a tremendous heave, the hero snapped the chains and freed his weapon. The monster chanted in its forbidden tongue and conjured a bolt of red lightning from the heavens, striking the shovel and sending Steve to the ground.

    The warrior grunted in pain as he rose to his feet, setting his jaw and glaring at the demon with cold determination. With a mighty stomp, he sent a wave of stone spikes radiating from the point of impact. The fiend disappeared in a puff of smoke and embers. Steve hefted a heavily laden oxcart over his head with both hands and hurled it at his foe as it reappeared several feet away. The demon was caught off guard and thrown from its cloven feet as the cart smashed to pieces upon its form.

    The balor roared and closed the distance with frightening speed, its electrified blade already in motion. Alex stopped the blow with the shaft of her trident, but the demon’s strength was prodigious, and with a great heave upon its weapon, it sent her sliding across the street and into a shop’s wall with enough force to leave cracks in the brickwork.

    Leave him to me. I’ll finish this.

    Everything is under control, you know. I’m fine.

    I know, but I wanna fight a balor!

    Alright. You can take it from here.

    Alex’s eyes changed to match the colors of Alice’s and she took a confidant step forward.

    “Is that all you’ve got?”

    The balor struck out with its whip but hit nothing as its target became momentarily translucent and the cord passed harmlessly through her. She levitated rapidly into the air, flying above the demon’s gargantuan slash.

    “Let’s see how you fare against Mr. Hat.” Alex’s shadow disconnected from her, standing upright and changing shape. The resulting figure was that of a tall man wearing a trench coat and a wide-brimmed hat. He and his clothes were made entirely of the stuff of shadows, with his only other feature being eyes like burning red coals.

    The ram-headed fiend teleported to its feet and conjured forth a torrent of hellfire. Steve leapt to one side without slowing his sprint. He struck the demon in the face with his shovel, cracking its skull-like head and sending it flying several feet. The fiend rose to its feet and summoned a ring of hovering flame orbs which shot forth in rapid succession.

    Steve struck most of the flames from the air with the head of his shovel, but the last of them smashed into his hand, causing him to drop his weapon. He did not slow down, however. Leaping through the air, he grabbed his foe by the face and dragged it down with him as he landed, slamming it headfirst into the ground and crushing its skull-like head in the process. Steve flicked the ichor off of his hand as the beast melted and turned to retrieve his trusty shovel.

    The shadow man reached out and grabbed the shadow of Alex’s trident. The burning whip came down, but the man had already sunk into a shadow and emerged from a dim corner behind the demon. The monster whirled around as it was stabbed in the back of its leg and lashed out at the dark form, who narrowly sidestepped the blow. Alex let out a piercing screech that caused the demon to roar and clutch at its ears in pain, then she plunged her trident into its back in a burst of cold.

    The heroine withdrew her trident and levitated higher, stabbing the tines into the top of the beast’s head with all her might and bringing the balor to its knees. As the monster fell, the shadow plunged his own trident deep into its chest. A wave of brutal heat shot outwards as flaming cracks formed in the balor’s body. Mr. Hat dove into a nearby patch of shade while Alex levitated upwards and flickered into incorporeality, both narrowly avoiding the violent conflagration of the beast’s death.

    “I love getting to do that!” Alex levitated back down to the ground and her eyes returned to their normal emerald hues. At the same time, Mr. Hat returned to being her ordinary shadow.

    One last demon stepped forth from the rift as it closed, wielding a jagged scimitar. As it moved forward, a blade emerged from its chest in a burst of radiant light. The fiend melted into ichor as its slayer stepped out from behind it. He wore a long-hooded cloak of indigo hue and a white porcelain mask with a pair of black dots that represented eyes.

    “Randal?” Steve and Alex spoke in near unison.

    “Indeed. I come bearing dire news. Is there a good place to have a serious conversation around here?” Randal glanced around at the scorched and battered square.

Ì

    “Are you aware that your house is haunted? Because that is definitely not your reflection.” Randal stared nervously at the mirror behind Alex as he sat on the couch.

    “That’s just Alice. She’s a haunt I met during one of my adventures. I allowed her to share my body so she could still experience the world, and she helps me defend the town.”

     “Ohh-kay, then . . .”

    “You said you have dire news?” Steve looked intently at Randal.

    “Yes. I have had a vision that the entities are going to band together and start a tremendous war in the near future. Not only that, I have ascertained that Herobrine is hiding in plain sight as a seemingly normal human, and I observed 303 talking to some sort of three-headed undead king in another dimension.” 

    “None of that can mean anything good. We must mobilize the Greenguard at once and draw up a battle plan.” Steve stroked his chin and furrowed his brow.

    “And we may need the support of an army if a war is truly coming.”

    You were right, Alex. Adventure did come knocking.

    “Where is Kate?” Steve asked. “We’ll likely need all four of us to deal with this.”

    “She blew me off, as usual. She doesn’t want to be bothered until things get out of hand.” A deep sigh could be heard from behind the expressionless facade.

    “Figures.” Alex shook her head.

    We still have four of us.

    “Now let’s make that plan.” Steve unfurled a map of the continent upon the table.