Fit Gets an Education

Druid Fitheach had been thinking about the portal that brought them to the Victorian town for weeks. She had visited the cave with the portal repeatedly and worn herself to exhaustion trying to reactivate it, with no result. It made no sense to her that it would transport them from their world and then cease to work. Fit poured over all the books in the old house looking for references to portals, but while she found some things that were obviously spells nothing referred to a gateway of any kind. If only they could make the portal work perhaps they could go back and find their friends from the River Lands and be reunited.

The Dead Portal

Determined to learn something, Fitheach set out for the bookstore she had seen the night the dragon got them all into trouble in the grocery. As she approached the shop, one of the sylphs popped suddenly into view and bounced excitedly in the air in front of her. “Oh yes Lady, you must go in, you must meet him,” she babbled almost incoherently. Fit knew sylphs were flighty, but this behavior seemed odd even for one of them. 

Pushing open the heavy door she entered the well-lit shop and looked around at all the books and maps. “How will I ever find what I need,” she wondered. The sylph danced down one aisle and stopped in front of a kindly looking old human male. To Fit’s surprise he smiled up at the sylph that most people could not see and said, “what have you brought me little one?”

The Bookseller

Walking towards the shop owner, Fit was struck by the golden yellow glow around him; she had seen a green glow like that around her friend and fellow druid Fiesty and a multi-colored one surrounding Master Druid Jaekob. She knew immediately what this meant; the man was an air element master, either a druid or a mage. How strange to find one here in this heavily machined place. The old man smiled at her and nodded slightly: “I see you are not from around here my elvish friend; what brings you into my shop, today?”

To her surprise, Fitheach was compelled to tell him the truth. “My friends and I came through a portal into this land some weeks ago; we were fleeing the shadow and took the only desperate choice open.” “We cannot open the portal again; where are we?” The shop owner nodded again and regarded her sympathetically: “You have reached the world called Terminus; the gate you came through ends here. Everyone in this world got here the same way; running from something and using the portal in extremity.” 

“There are many lands in this world representing all ages of time, this particular one is Victorian Steampunk.” “You can sail or fly to visit other lands; many of them contain portals, but none of those will take you back where you came from. Your former home no longer exists.” The old man offered a rolled up map: “ The closest lands are shown here, perhaps you would care to visit them?”

The Sylph and Fitheach Meet the Mage

Fit regarded the bookseller seriously: “We had friends in that old home that we sent off to safety before escaping the Shadow’s advance through the portal, is it possible to reach them?”

“And what kind of elemental master are you? Druid or Mage?” The book seller smiled again: “I am a mage of air, my lady, just as you are of water and other elements I can also feel. I am no druid though, to command the elements as you do; rather I work with the elemental creatures that you can also see, from the flighty sylphs to the great birds of the far airy realms, the giant eagles.” 

“And to answer the other questions, yes you can travel through some of the portals, if you can find the key and have the strength to open them.”

The elf druid grew excited; “Have you any books that would help me learn more about these portals?” The shop owner gestured towards the shelf in the back corner: ”There are books there that only the gifted can see; if you can find them, they will help you learn.” 

The Glowing Books

Fit rushed to the shelf and immediately saw two old leather books off to the right on one shelf that glowed faintly. Opening one carefully she found a page of runes that glowed as she traced her fingers over them. Clutching both books in her arms; she returned to the merchant. “Are these the right books?” The old mage beamed at her benevolently; “Indeed you have found what you need. Take them and learn.” 

Fit dug into her pocket, but the old man put out his hand. “I need no payment for helping a fellow traveler; I hope they lead you where you wish to go.“ The sylph, who had lingered nearby the whole time, giggled and spun in circles happily.