Segu's Arrival, A Falling Star

Segu's experience with the time spell that Nangros had cast upon them was somewhat different than Agmir's, primarily due to the Red Mage's perception of what was happening. Deris's potion of Heroism had different effects on those who took it. For most it temporarily enhanced their normal physical abilities, granting them an increased combat capability, strength, and near invulnerability. But Segu was no normal person. He was the product of magical experimentation performed upon him as a child. The Wizards who had performed these acts had intended to summon and contain a fire elemental, and Segu's body had been the cage.

As things went, the skin-scribed runes on Segu's body formed their function quiet well, allowing him to spend his entire life not really being aware of the fact that something dwelt sleeping within him. That ended with Deris's potion. The elemental had become aware once more, and over the decades it had become bound with Segu's mentality. They were essentially the same being now - the same entity. They were one. But the shockwave of absorbing strange knowledge and memories had also altered Segu's own mind somewhat. He was not exactly the person who he had been. It was if he had awakened from a dream to discover that half of his life had been missing, and now it was restored.

Fire and emotion were the essence of the elemental, and those emotions were difficult to reconcile. Primarily they were rage at being confined for so long, and this had bled out into Segu's own personality. Rather than try and control it, he had given free reign to this rage during his combat with Nangros. He had allowed the elemental fire to come forth, using it as a weapon.

Now, miles and miles above Vola, it continued to rage, but now it raged against the confinement of Nagros' spell.

Segu did not see the world spin below him, or the speedy rotation of the planet around the Eye of Jhalla. He paid no heed to the fact that time was passing around him in this cocoon of dark energy. Rather he spent his brief time in orbit raging against it, blasting it with fire in an attempt to break it's hold.

The dark power held, however, and did not release him. Heat built up within the cage of magic, and continued to build, until, by the time Segu came down back to Vola, the interior of his prison blazed with red light and massive power.

When he came down, he appeared as a mighty red star, burning through the sky. Over the open desert between Forwell and Dwalkin, he was clearly visible to all those who traveled below. A shooting star rumbled across the sky, altered in its trajectory by the heat leaking from it.

The explosion of fire that occurred when the spell finally broke above the ground was massive. Waves of flame burst out at the impact point, burning the sand to glass for twenty meters in every direction. A fireball rose into the air, forming a red mushroom cloud. Beneath this cloud, the Red Mage arose, standing in a puddle of bubbling hissing molten glass. This did not harm Segu, but the same could not be said for his robes, which were completely burned away.

Naked, the one time servant of the Governor of Forwell now stood alone in the desert, contemplating his fate. Bound one to one with the thing that lived inside of him, he now wondered if he could control himself. Self control was the hallmark of a Wizard. Without mental discipline, there could be no magic, and Segu would not allow that, for magic was his life.

Struggling against the intense emotional rage that had overcome him, he pulled in his fire, and brought it back under control. The runes covering his body still glowed with a reddish light, but the incendiary force was back under control, at least partially. He stroked the beast within him, whispering to it in the back of his mind, promising it that revenge would still belong to them, it was only a matter of patience.

When it was over, he looked to the East, and contemplated his next step. He had no idea that he'd been moved forward into the future, only that Nangros had thrown him into the sky, and that he'd landed somewhere in the desert. Determining his location was surely the next goal. And then, he must find Nangros to continue the fight. Had Agmir and Deris landed nearby? He needed to find them, and to plot the next attack. If Nangros were left unopposed, then Forwell would fall, and Kyef would be next.

This area of the desert looked untraveled to his eyes, and the sun was soon to set. He must travel, you could not remain stationary in the desert and expect to live. He needed water to survive, and the potion Deris had given him would wear off soon. Once it was gone... he was unsure of what would happen. It's effect had awakened the elemental within him. Would it go back to sleep, or would it linger? He could not tell. But he would need water, and he was naked.

Being naked was something he could deal with easily enough. A simple spell produced a secondary set of robes. A short burst of flame surrounded him and then vanished, leaving his more formal attire in place. He typically only wore these particular robes for state functions and the Governor's Court, but they would do well enough.

Now, perhaps, a vision of the future would be good. He found a tall dune and looked around. Nothing and nowhere. Desert stretched out as far as he could see, so he sat himself down in lotus and began to meditate. He required a vision, and a direction.

When the vision finally came, it was swift and hard. His left side was warmed by the still setting sun, and the light leaking in through his eyelids on that side formed the basis for the strange sights pouring forth.

To the North, and the East, his mind's eye seemed to flow. There he saw a city, both familiar and strange. Walls surrounded the city like a fortress. They were stone in construction, but without seams, as if they'd been raised from the ground. Flowing over and past them, the vision displayed the interior of the city, and then he recognized it. This was Daroon. He had studied here once. It seemed a lifetime ago, although it could not have been more than a decade.

The Academy's towers and buildings still stood, and not far from them was the Tavern where he once spent an occasional evening drinking with his fellow apprentices, when they could afford the coin.

Inside the tavern, he saw a woman. He did not recognize her, she was someone he had never met, but he identified her face because he was here as well, speaking with her. The words they spoke were unknown whispers, but he could tell there was information being exchanged that was important to him, for there was a note of interest in his face. This was surely the future.

The vision drew back, then, and he was pulled backward through the desert. Thinking the prophecy was over, he was about the end the trance, when the view paused on a small caravan not far from where he was now. It was only slightly to the South, and moving toward where he sat. Ten men on bantas and two on reapers, he spied, and they were pulling two dyrkals, those wide wheeled desert carts, loaded with trade goods. This, he sensed, was happening in the present.

Ending the fugue, he stood up and stared to the South. The caravan had probably been attracted by his arrival and the fireball. They would have seen it and were coming to investigate. He could use that to his advantage. When they arrived, he'd tell them he was a lost traveler, and had seen the fireball too, coming to have a look. It was a pity he had no coin to offer, but perhaps they'd take mercy on a lost soul and give him transportation to Daroon. He would at least be able to offer them hospitality once they arrived. There were plenty of people in Daroon that he knew of who could put him up and give him a loan.

He began walking in the caravan's direction to meet them.

Kamora sighed as she finished burying another mercenary that had tried to collect the bounty on her head. She had hoped that after this long she would've been forgotten about and left alone, but it seemed the exact opposite had happened. She mused that she had become the unattainable and was the target for anyone trying to make a name for themselves. After all, having managed to survive with a bounty on ones head for over 100 years had to be some kind of record.

Saying a few words for over the grave of the man she had just slain, Kamora was sudden frightened by a giant ball of fire falling from the sky not far from where she was. It was like nothing she had ever seen before. She had seen shooting stars hitting the ground in the past, but this, this was something different. Remembering that there was a small caravan nearby, Kamora decided that she should go and check it out, and see if anyone from that caravan may have been close enough to get injured. That was the reason she told herself anyway. She knew that it had been far enough away, but curiosity drove her to investigate this strange happening further.

Arriving at the impact site, Kamora was surprised to find a man, dressed in what appeared to be very nice clothes, sitting on top of a dune. Having just scouted the area around the caravan earlier that day, she wasn't sure what to make of him for two reasons. First, she had come across no signs of a lone man wandering in this area save for the merc she had just dispatched. Secondly, his clothes looked brand new. No one ever managed to keep their clothing in that good of shape this deep in the desert. Deciding to let things play out a little more, Kamora stayed hidden to see what the man would do. When he stood and started to walk in the exact direction of the caravan, she knew she had to get involved.

Normally, she would've just put an arrow in the back of his head, but curiosity continued to drive Kamora and she decided for a direct confrontation. Pulling out her bow and notching an arrow, she snuck up behind until she was close enough to be within ear shot without yelling, but far enough away that she would have time to react if needed.

"Hold it right there buddy. I suggest you explain who you are, how you got here, and what exactly your plans are before you take another step towards that caravan."

Segu stopped in his tracks and turned slowly around, raising his hands in the air when he saw that the individual who was the source of this comment was pointing an arrow at him. The old panic, the fear of combat, came quickly upon him, but this time it did not overcome him as it had in the past. Something about Deris' potion had changed that. A combination, most likely, of the effect of the awakened elemental within him. It's emotions did not seem to include fear. That was quite typical of elementals, as they did not know death in the same sense that mortals knew death. Segu hoped it would stay that way when the effects of the potion wore off.

His dark piercing eyes analyzed the clothing and appearance of the individual threatening him with bow, and he recognized immediately that she was of Elven heritage, if not fully Elven. The dainty features and pointy ears made it obvious. Therefore, he switched to the common Elven tongue and addressed her, assuming that his knowledge of the language would imply that he was, at least, friendly toward her race, and not one of the many humans who looked down upon them.

"Greetings, friend Elf," he stated in Elven. "I am no threat to you. I am simply lost in the desert. I take it you are a member of the caravan that approaches. My intentions are only to beg a ride and perhaps some water. I have no coin to pay, but your direction marks you to be heading toward Daroon, and I have friends there. On arrival, I can obtain suitable coin to pay you, if you are willing to wait as long as that. My name is Segu. May I know yours?"

That probably sounded pretty butchered, but it should get the point across. It had been some time since he'd used the Elven language, and his accent was probably horrible.

Kamora took a moment to try and piece together everything the man had said with his broken elvish. Perhaps he didn't speak the common tongue. After all, he had failed to answer her most important question of how he had found himself in the middle of the desert, standing just outside of an empty crater, with no coin or water. Logic would dictate that he used magic to get this far into the desert and had used up all his water doing so. He was probably after the caravan in order to use theirs to get him back where he came from. Responding in her native tongue, Kamora answered Segu's question.

"You may call me Kamora, but I am no part of that caravan, nor do they even know that I am out here. You see, I am a ranger. I protect caravans like the one heading towards us. Without them even knowing I protect them from bandits and raiders who mean to kill them in order to steal their goods. When the opportunity arises, I even protect them from lost mages who seek nothing more then to steal their water to get them back to wherever it is they fell from. Daeleos perhaps? It matters not to me if you simply fell from Daeleos or were shot here by the dark hand of Nangros himself. Unless you can convince me your intentions are pure, you will not have the luxury of even seeing that caravan."

Kamora knew it could be dangerous to let Segu respond, but without water there was very little a mage could do. Besides, she lived by a code. Even if she hadn't officially been part of the rangers for longer then she could remember, she would not kill an innocent man that truly did need help.

Listening carefully to the language and piecing it together, and also noticing that she hadn't lowered the bow pointed at his head, he quickly understood that she was giving him the opportunity to lie about where he was from and what he was doing here. Lying was something Segu was intimately familiar with. You couldn't serve the Governor of Forwell in a political position without learning how to lie. The only question now was how much did he trust this Elf? He didn't really know anything about her.

Lowering his hands, he sighed and responded in Elven, "I suppose I could say that I am from Daeleos, for I have been to the sky city, though I was not aware that its existence was commonly known. You see, I led an expedition there. I was lucky to survive. We barely escaped with our lives."

Segu thought back to the expedition, the second failed trip to the sky city, and remembered all those who lost their lives there. They were good people, and had been strong warriors, but it had not been enough. Still, what they had learned of that place had convinced him that the creature lying there could be controlled. He had written an entire tome on the subject after his return, and left it in the hands of the Governor.

"But I am not from Daeleos, I am from Forwell. Only moments ago, I faced Nangros in combat alongside Deris the Alchemist and Agmir Dumas, the Wizard. It was our intention to destroy him, and route his army before they could enter the city. Alas, we failed. The power of Nangros was too much for us. As if we were mere flies, he swatted us into the sky surrounded in shells of magic. I do not know what became of the others, but I landed here. It sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? I suspect you will not believe me, but it is the truth. I would now return to Forwell to continue my battle, but I fear my arrival would be too late. Therefore I sought a vision, hoping to see where the others had landed, but instead only obtained instructions to go to Daroon and meet someone there. And though my visions are often missing pieces, and sometimes incorrect in certain aspects, I must have faith that they are accurate in their attainment of a goal that benefits me and therefore the realm. That is how I came to be here, and that is where I am going. Unfortunately, while I am a mage, I am one who specializes in fire, not in transportation. I bound to foot travel until a better form of transportation becomes available."

He licked his lips. "Now, if you're going to shoot me with that arrow, I suggest you get on with it. You'll find I'm well defended against such weaponry. At least at the moment. I would not be surprised if you believed none of what I just said. I certainly wouldn't, so if it's battle you intend, we might as well get started. Otherwise, I'd like to know if you have any water. I'm a bit parched."

Kamora began to laugh as she lowered her bow, but did not put it away. Tossing him some water, she kept the elvish language they had been using.

"I think the sun is beginning to take it's toll on you already. I'm sure you managed to put up a great fight against the Dark One before he took control of Forwel. There are only a few problems with that story. First, Nangros's power is the stuff of legend. While he may have been beatable back before he conquered any land around here, it is said that his power is limitless and without mercy. He wouldn't have sent you into the desert for standing up against him. He would've made you suffer more then you could even imagine, and then make you suffer even more. Oh, and the main problem with your little story is that this so called Dark God conquered Forwel around one hundred years ago now."

Kamora sighed to herself. Some people just weren't made to be in the desert for any amount of time at all. Know she would have to stick with this man and the caravan to make sure he didn't go completely nuts and kill everyone thinking they were minions of hell or something. Hopefully they could get him some help once they reached Daroon.

Segu was stunned by her words, and barely managed to catch the bag of water the Elf threw him. Taking the stopper out, he took a deep drink and tried to regain control over his emotions. 100 Years! Nangros had conquered Forwell! Of course, it made sense now. Surely Nangros had known that the combined power of two battle mages and a warrior alchemist were sufficient to defeating him, especially as powered-up as they had been after Deris' potion. Therefore the Dark Lord had done the next best thing, he'd sent them into the future to a time where his power would be even greater. It was one of the first rules of combat - choose your own time and place. And Nangros had done so by choosing the time. The place... well that was left to be seen.

"Where is he now," asked Segu, after he'd quenched his thirst. He threw back the bag. "Where is Nangros now? We had heard rumors that he'd taken over Dwalkin, and that he was building a huge shrine there for sacrificial purposes. The Wizard, Agmir Dumas, said that Nangros' power was derived by burning blood. If he completed his temple in Dwalkin, then I assume he returned there after defeating Forwell."

This was only a question. Segu had no intentions of going to Dwalkin now and facing Nangros, if that's where he was. First he had to collect himself, find out what it was that he needed to do. And he needed to find Agmir and Deris. They were probably in the same situation as he, lost and confused. Or worse, they may have even have landed in Forwell! There were those in Daroon who could help him. Surely the Order of the Arcane Academies had records of all the events that had befallen while he had been absent. Those would tell him what he needed to know.

"Hallooo!" came a voice from the distant sand. It was the caravan. One of the scouts in the lead had spotted them standing here. He was on a Drover, on of the two-legged fast riding beasts that were faster than a Reaper, but not nearly as strong. The man wore no body armor, he was armed with a bow and a sword. The rest of the caravan would be shortly behind him.

Kamora shrugged. "Hell if I know where he is now. Could be in Dwalkin, Forwel, or even on the front lines in Ky'rf somewhere. While I have no love for the man, and sometimes disrupt his supply lines a little, the last thing anyone with half a brain does is to go around asking questions about him."

As the scout for the caravan neared, Kamora waved back and then continued to talk to Segu. "I suggest you try to keep all your crazy talk to a minimum around there people. One mention on Nangros and they will likely either try to kill us both or abandon you for the desert to claim." With that Kamora jogged over to the caravan scout.

"Greeting, I am Kamora, a ranger in these parts. This man here is Segu who seems to have been the source of that giant fireball earlier. He seems a little disoriented from the event and seeks to barter travel to Daroon. Should you decide to help him I offer my service on the trip as well. I shall keep your caravan safe during the trip and help however I can, but will not require any of your food or water. I have my own supply of that and do not wish to be a burden at all."

Segu decided he'd best keep his mouth shut and let the Elf do the talking. He simply didn't know enough about what was going on right now. But he could listen in, so that's what he did, smiling and nodding from under his hood whenever the Elf referred to him, or whenever eyes were pointed in his direction. But he didn't say a word.

After a few minutes of talk, it became clear that the caravan was carrying slaves hidden away under piles of clothing and goods. They lay in the bottom of the cart. These traders had heard of the Elf and seemed to know and trust her. The slaves were refugees from Kyef, who were trying to make it to the border with Daroon. And these traders had agreed to help them for a price.

Segu's eyes opened wide when he saw the refugees. They had each been branded on the forehead with an "N." Even the children. Apparently this was how Nangros claimed his property. These people belonged to Nangros. They were his slaves. And that meant the merchants were thieves. Segu had never thought he'd find himself in the company of thieves, but in this case, they were thieves he agreed with.

Screw Nangros.

"I offer my services," he told them. "In return for transportation and water of course. I am a fire mage, and can assist you in defense. If you require proof of this, then I am willing to provide it, however my magic does consume water, and should therefore not be engaged in irresponsible acts. But I will do so if you need it."

They seemed satisfied that Segu was what he claimed to be. After all, the Elf vouched for him, and there was the fireball to consider, and the melted sand. An agreement was reached. Segu would ride with them to Daroon.

And the trip began...