Lena returned to Cheydinhal after her trip to Castle Volkihar. She was happy to be back home, to finally hold her newborn son in her arms without the fear of frightening him with her vampirism. Lucien was there too, having delegated any and all jobs to Ocheeva and Vicente during Lena’s absence. Everything was peaceful and cheery, yet Lena’s soul was not at rest.

“I feel grim tidings approaching,” she told Lucien when they were alone at night. “It’s like I have to take stock of all my bonds, my friends, my child, my heart… that is you…”

Lucien looked up hearing this, his eyes darkened, he too had premonitions.

“We’ll have to take it as it comes,” he said softly. “New trials for you, it seems. New trials for me too, but not yet. One of us must stay behind to care for Derric.”

“If we get any say in the matter,” Lena smirked. “Fate does not always offer us a choice.”

That evening was spent in a quiet conversation and the night that followed was not given to sleep.

…

“You’re Warlock Wolf, aren’t you?” An out of breath young man bumped into Lena in the street the next day. “Warlock of the Mages Guild?” He stared at her, trying to decide whether she was who he thought she was. “Here, I’ve got a letter for you!” He finally blurted out, pressing a sealed letter into her hands, then charged off before she could say anything.

“Interesting,” Lena mused. She turned the letter over in her hand, examined the seal – she did not recognise the crest. “Nothing good will come of it,” she thought, opening it.

We uncovered a new Ayleid ruin near the shrine of Vaermina. Your presence is required, Warlock, as it is your duty to the Mages Guild to assist in such matters. Do not delay, there is no time to loose.

The message was signed: Raminus Polus.

“This doesn’t sound like Raminus at all,” Lena shook her head. “This is a trap.” She folded the letter and returned home to prepare for the trip. Even though it was clearly a trap, she could not ignore it. She decided to allow herself another day of rest and another night with Lucien before setting off again. For all their closeness, they were rarely in the same place at the same time.

“We must assume you will be teleported somewhere, yes,” Lucien agreed with Lena’s assessment of the letter. “Another world, another realm perhaps.” He took her hand, their wedding rings touched, making a faint sound. “Go and come back. I’ll be waiting.”

…

When Lena arrived at the shrine of Vaermina, the worshippers had no idea of any new Ayleid ruin nearby. They also refused to summon Vaermina. “The Prince is not here to answer your questions, Breton!” One of them was getting aggressive. “This has nothing to do with My Lord, so leave now, before I get angry!”

Ordinarily Lena would have snapped with “Or WHAT?!” to such an impertenance, but that day she decided to ignore it. “Have it your way,” was all she said. She would circle around the shrine and look for anything out of place. She didn’t really expect any new Ayleid ruins either. Then, behind the statue she found a chest in the grass. “I don’t remember it being here before,” she noted, took a deep breath and opened the chest.

…

Lena was falling in the darkness. After a while she was able to make out walls at the edge of her vision. It was mostly bare rock, but here and there she saw lights, platforms, columns. “The Everfall,” she recalled. “I should try to land on one of the platforms.” And just as she thought it, she hit the ground and was knocked out by the force of the impact. This Everfall had a bottom.

…

“Well, which of you was it?” A menacing voice was repeating these words over and over. Lena opened her eyes. She was lying on the ground in a cave with several other people, all wearing prison garb and wrist irons. She looked at her own attire, and it was the same. “Which of you was it?!” She turned towards the voice – a mage and several guards stood on the other side of the bars of the cave. The mage was staring at Lena. “It was you, wasn’t it?” His voice grew more menacing. “I knew it!” He drew his staff. “Come on! Get up! Follow me!”

The other prisoners looked at Lena with pity and fear. “Here we go again,” she thought, getting up. “I wonder which world this is.”

The mage led Lena through some cave corridors, the guards were pushing her from behind every time she stumbled. She felt tired and weak, her magicka was depleted. “The wrist irons,” she realised. “They sap my strength and stunt my magic.”

“There,” the mage stopped in the middle of an opening that looked like a pit of a giant well. “The excavation site. Get to work! I shall not suffer another rebellion!” He glared at Lena and the guards pushed her towards the side of the pit where other prisoners were moving rocks out of a freshly blasted cavity. Manual labour. That wasn’t the worst that could have happened, Lena figured, picking up a rock.

…

“This will kill you ere long,” a familiar voice said in her ear. “The work is too hard even on us pawns, never mind someone like yourself.”

Lena nearly dropped the rock she was carrying onto her foot, but managed to jump aside in time.

“Rook?!” She spun around. “What..? Where..?”

“Hello, Wolf,” he smiled. “Welcome to the excavation site. Something will occur ere long, be ready.”

Just as he spoke, there was a noise of another explosion followed by more noise of falling rock, followed by screams.

“Let’s go see,” Rook winked, pulling Lena towards the noise.

A medusa towered in a newly uncovered chamber, it was quite annoyed to have been so rudely woken up. Its huge serpent-like body was uncoiling itself, the tail thrashing around, sending guards and prisoners flying.

“Don’t just stand there, KILL IT!!” The overseer mage bellowed, shooting spells at the medusa.

“Beware of medusa’s gaze!” Rook sharply pulled Lena out of harm’s way, but several guards were less fortunate and had been petrified on the spot. “This way!” Medusa’s thrashing opened up a passage, and Rook and Lena ran in that direction. Dead guards were everywhere, their weapons too. Rook quickly picked up a staff, Lena grabbed a bow and daggers, but rather than fighting, they just ran. There was daylight at the end of the passage, daylight and freedom.

“After them!!” The overseer noticed their escape. They ran out of the cavern, but the path ended on a cliff edge.

“Jump!!” Rook shouted, Lena thought he had gone mad – no one could have survived a fall from such a height. Yet it was Rook urging her to do something stupid, which was a contradiction in terms, Rook being the most level-headed person Lena could think of. She jumped. She landed on a griffin’s back. The griffin soared.

The land below them looked familiar, yet not completely. It reminded Lena of Gransys, but perhaps it was only because Rook was there. She saw mountains and the sea, towns and villages below, forests and a desert. “The desert is new,” she turned to Rook. “Gransys didn’t have a desert.”

“This isn’t Gransys,” Rook shook his head. “But it is indeed one of the worlds connected to the Rift. There’s a dragon too, and you must be the Arisen… But beyond that, I do not know what to expect.”

“I cannot be the Arisen,” Lena shook her head. “I got my heart back, remember?”

“And is it still beating in your breast?” Rook’s smile was sad, and when Lena pressed her hand to her chest, she realised with horror that she could not detect a heartbeat.

“Here we go again,” she said with abandonment.

“Indeed.”

As the griffin was flying over a coastal village, someone cranked up a ballista and shot it down. It spun as it fell, sending Rook and Lena into the river below. The brine engulfed them.

“Fear not, for neither I nor you will permanently perish,” Rook wasn’t trying to fight the brine which was pointless. “If you wish it, we shall meet again. Take your place in this world, Arisen, and find your path.”

…

“Hey, are you alright?” Someone was shaking Lena awake. She opened her eyes – she was lying on the shore and a group of soldiers stood beside her. One helped her up. “Hmm, we saw a griffin being shot down, and here it is, but who are you and what are you doing here?” He eyed her with suspicion.

“I… err…” Lena shook her head.

“She is concussed, can’t you see,” another soldier intervened. “Probably can’t remember her own name,” he smirked. “Let’s take her to the encampment, they’ll figure it out there. She’s no threat to anyone in her current state.”

The others agreed. After all, the encampment was nearby, and it was always a good idea to defer difficult decisions to someone else.

As they approached the encampment, Lena started getting a funny tingling feeling in her fingertips. She hadn’t felt it for a long time – the feeling she got near a riftstone.

“Arisen, we welcome your return,” a group of pawns stood by the riftstone. “Pray, select a pawn to help you on your path.”

“What – no trials first?” Lena looked at the pawns before her. “No ‘prove your resolve, Arisen’ kind of thing?” She squinted. “Does the Legion accept just anyone now?” She glared at them.

“That’s she alright,” one of the pawns said quietly to another. “It falls to us to deal with the insolent one.” Then turning to Lena he added: “Just touch the riftstone, will you? I’m sure any pawn will be thrilled to walk with you.”

He glared and bared his teeth. Lena glared back and drew her daggers.

“You have no idea!” She took a step forward. “Defend yourself!”

“Hey!!!” Several pawns cried out, rushing to stand between Lena and the other pawn. “What are you doing?! That’s against the rules! Pawns cannot fight an Arisen! You’ll ruin everything!!”

“Pawns cannot be given the Arisen’s Bond either, I was told,” Lena snapped, sheathing her daggers. “Yet the Bond’s magic does not answer to the Legion, as we’ve discovered. Don’t believe everything you hear.” She touched the riftstone and Scorpio stepped out of the Rift. “See, I don’t even have to go in. My pawn never left me.”

“Then the rumours are true, it is all your fault,” another pawn spoke. “You started it.”

“That illness that affects the pawns,” another one chimed in.

“Makes us restless and unruly.”

“Makes us defy the Arisen and act for ourselves.”

“Devastating.”

“Catastrophic.”

“Frightening.”

“Aha,” Lena looked at them in turn. “An illness to undo your curse, you mean? Yeah, that would be my doing.” She grinned ear to ear.

“But mayhap this world is not ready for it, Arisen,” Scorpio said quietly. “Mayhap this world still heeds the dragon’s dogma. You’ve been recalled, and I with you, and neither of us is free from the grip of the Legion. Where will it lead this time, I wonder?”

“And for how long?” Lena echoed Scorpio’s words, taking his hand. The Arisen’s Bond wrapped around their fingers, leaving the other pawns stunned. “There is only one way to find out,” she looked up at him. “Let’s go.”