Where to Go

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Ahsch had to wonder what Phashak had said to her daughter to get the dragon to be civil with his family. To be fair, he hadn’t expected her to threaten their lives or anything, but the politely neutral smiles and lack of a hard edge to her voice seemed… alien. She had also assumed a familiar disguise, that of the unassuming human woman; though this time she wore simple traveler’s clothes, rather than the plain gray robe. She kept her interactions short and simple, and seemed to avoid interacting with his younger siblings beyond simple greetings - though he did notice the contemplative frown she gave Sola and Luna.

Once she had been introduced and everyone had settled down, Phashim cleared her throat where she stood at the head of the table. “My mother bade me inform you of the locations which she had been unable to explore, regarding the fall of the hrafthi and other ‘outsiders’ of the past. There are eight such locations, which she believes correspond to eight races of outsiders. The hrafthi - and their innate power over bonds - would have been one, but the other seven and their powers are unknown to us.

“The locations themselves are… difficult to reach. And while we cannot confirm, we have several guesses as to what forces the outsiders marshaled prior to their fall, due to the challenges my sisters and I faced attempting to investigate them.”

With a wave of her hand, Phashim conjured a slowly-turning globe in the center of the table. “The first is actually nearby, close to where the feral hrafthi have settled in the wilds of the east. There is a zone of distortion, where those who enter find themselves… ‘lost’ is perhaps the best word. They lose track of their goal, their direction, and often wander out of the zone only to realize what their task was once they’ve left.” On the globe, east of the recognizable shape of the Kingdom of Starlight, a tiny mote of light appeared, marking the location.

“The next is north of your northern neighbor - what’s it called this era, Basali? Venturing there, one often finds themselves at divergent paths, and never at the same crossroads, and every choice seems to be the wrong one. Occasionally, attempts to enter the area simply result in exiting on the opposite side mere minutes after beginning the incursion, despite the zone being many miles in diameter.” Another light appeared far north of the Kingdom.

“Third is the most disturbing - an area of nothing. Few have managed to return, only ascendants and greater - even my sister who investigated feared for her very existence. The zone is a void, no air, no heat, time ceases to have meaning, mana is scarcer than within the bastions of ‘civilization…’ nothing exists there, not matter or energy or time, and we suspect not even space. It lies within your hostile western neighbor’s territory.” A mote of light appeared in the midst of the Nemvataten desert.

“A zone that warps all within its bounds lies at the bottom of the ocean, the deepest depths where no light shines. It took many ages for my sister to recover from the corruption of her body, mind, and soul.” Phashim said nothing more as a dull light emanated from the middle of the ocean, in the southern hemisphere about two-fifths of the world to the west.

“In the icy wasteland of the bottom of the world lies an area of warped space and time - the best description my sister was able to provide is that time lost its linear progression and seemed to exist in every ‘time-direction,’ at once, while space became… not truly confining, but seemed to only progress in one direction, no matter where she turned.” The south pole gained a light.

“Far across the world, almost perfectly opposite where we stand, and the sister who investigated it refused to venture far, as she could perceive so _much _present deeper in, a thickness of matter and energy. The heat emanating from within it should rightly vaporize all, the weight of all that is there should sink to the core of the world, yet it does not.” As she said, the far side of the world gained a light.

“South and east of that place, deep within a hostile mountain range, is another which the sister to investigate was **** to approach. Born of our mother, we are sensitive to souls, and that place…” Phashim bore a grim expression and shook her head, and Ahsch was surprised she didn’t shiver. “There rightly shouldn’t be so much soul-stuff present.” The indicated location began to glow.

“Finally, there is a jungle island which is laden with more Mana than I suspect the rest of the world possesses, dense enough that the very air seems to rival the barrier of my mother’s temple.” Ahsch and Kirasiel shared a glance at that. “The workings of magic upon that island are alien, and do not obey the laws of magic as we know them.” An island quite some distance from the continent they all resided on, far to the east, lit up.

“These are all the locations which my mother would have you explore,” Phashim said to Ahsch.

The hrafthi frowned. “I know that you and your sisters were rebuffed, but you seemed to indicate that others had attempted to enter these places as well and failed. What’s to say that we will succeed?”

“The power you wield,” came the dragon’s instant reply. “Your knowledge of what awaits. Most who ventured to these places were weak mortals who stood no chance against the dangers present, or were beings of power who were led astray with ease. Mother believes that your _dominion _over bonds will allow you to safely enter these places and reach what is hidden within them. She believes that whatever caused the zones did so to keep normal people out, and that it further protected them from beings such as Mother. You are not normal; nor are you on Mother’s level - yet. Though even if you were, I would suspect that your powers with bonds might allow you access that others cannot achieve.”

Ahsch made a sour face. “There’s a lot of ‘believes,’ and ‘maybes’ to this,” he pointed out.

“Then you should prepare accordingly,” Phashim replied without sympathy, before making a shoving gesture and sending the globe flying at Ahsch, only for it to vanish - and he knew, reappear within his personal demi-plane. “I doubt I need to, but I suggest you investigate the location within hrafthi territory, for obvious reasons.”

Ahsch nodded his agreement. “Thank you for the directions - and the warnings,” he said.