The typical travel time between the River Arnoc and the Caramort Keep was three days. This was of course for solo riders and smaller groups on horseback. Most took at least 5 days if not a week. Saorise, after leaving the main group just a few hours after their departure, arrived back at Caramort Keep in just two days.

Lady Helen waited with pride at the front gates, Saorise only nodding before she stepped passed her and down the open Western Hall, climbing without hesitation out of the arches and into her tree over the cliff.

Her safe place, the place where she knew she wouldn’t be disturbed unless it was an absolute emergency. She felt the wind carry her home. Had felt it more deeply than any other time in her life. And the speed with which Blizzard had run, the Stamina. Her enhanced senses…the dreams. The woman who only she had been able to see.

Saorise found herself standing in that tree, leaning against that trunk and able to breathe for the first time in weeks. She gulped it in, then reached for the little pouch hanging at her belt.

Her fingers untied the knot sealing it shut, reaching in to extract the seed she had saved from that strange fruit she had eaten what seemed so long ago.

“It started with you, I know it did,” Saorise said to it, “But why?”

A stronger wind passed by, stirring the orange leaves of the trees up and around. Saorise clutched the seed, afraid to lose it as she squatted down, holding herself closer to the trunk of the tree.

The leaves seemed to swirl before her, spinning around before the wind suddenly died, and in the place of the leaves was the woman in the dress the colours of autumn that she had seen whilst seated next to Peter some nights ago.

The woman gave a small, warm smile towards her, “Good Evening, Daughter of mine”.

Saorise’s mother had been beautiful, but this was not she, so only one other alternative was possible. Saorise averted her gaze swiftly, “It is an absolute honour, Great Mother”.

The woman’s laugh was like a tinkling chime, so much so that it made Saorise glance towards her again in wonder.

“Oh Child, there is little need for such formality, at least between the two of us,” Leisha smiled, “Besides, you are the Great Representative of the East now, you do not avert your eyes for anyone, unless of course they have earned your respect. But then, that has always been your way, hasn’t it, my daughter?”

“You know me?” asked Saorise.

“Of course, I know all my children,” said Leisha, “I even know those who do not whisper my name in prayer. After all, whether they know me or not, they are all living”.

“Why do you appear to me, Great Mother? I am not a Priestess,” said Saorise.

“So therefore, I cannot drop by?” asked Leisha teasingly, “Regardless, I’m afraid I do not attend to social calls. This is very much a rare occasion. Gods long ago stopped meddling in the Middle Realm, we left strong enough seeds that you could fend for yourselves even without our interference”.

“Then why do you come now?” asked Saorise.

“You’ve been having the dreams, have you not already worked it out?” asked Leisha.

Saorise thought a moment, “It cannot be because of Peter Westfold’s ambitions. Kings and Emperors alike have been ambitious for thousands of years, yet you have not interfered, regardless of their levels of success”.

“Indeed, though the Wendolan King is not wholly unrelated,” Leisha admitted.

Saorise thought again, then she remembered the darkness and the shadows that the boy had witnessed.

“Yes,” Leisha said.

“What is it?” asked Saorise.

“They are Denizens of the Lower Realm,” Leisha explained, “Beasts and Peoples that exist to taint and corrupt. They feed on it, and they relish destruction like nothing else. They are the opposite of us Gods of the Upper Realm in many ways. We call them Demons”.

Saorise’s eyes widened, “As in the Demons that the Gods fought and banished from the world?”

Leisha nodded, “The very same”.

“But…they were banished, weren’t they?”

“Yes, ten thousand years ago,” Leisha agreed, “Just as they were banished ten thousand years before that. And before that. But with each banishment back to the Lower Realm, they grow stronger, and now, the time has come once again when the Gate between the Middle and Lower Realms is beginning to break down”.

“The Gate?” asked Saorise. She had never heard of such a thing.

“There are Three Realms, the Upper Realm, where those you refer to as Gods reside, then there is the Middle Realm, consisting of the creations and in some cases devolutions of those from the Upper Realm. Finally, the Lower Realm where the Demons reside. They are balanced precariously, with the Middle Realm acting as a buffer between the creation energy of the Upper Realm, and the destruction energy of the Lower Realm. The Middle Realm therefore possesses two gates. One to the Upper Realm, which can be access by anyone with a key, and the one to the Lower Realm. Using the energy of the Gods and their warriors, the Lower Realm’s Gate has been sealed multiple times over the millennia, but sealing it always comes with a cost,” explained Leisha, “Not only is the seal bound to become thin and break down over time, but the Gate itself is moved to another location. One that is unknown until the seal begins to break down”.

“And you come because the seal is breaking down?” asked Saorise.

Leisha nodded, “It is thankfully a gradual process, and we found the Gate rather early this time. Early enough to cultivate a powerful stock of warriors to aid us”.

“Peter found it, didn’t he?” asked Saorise.

Leisha nodded gravely, “He had no idea what it was, but was lucky enough to survive the encounter. Now, Excavor does his best to groom him into the warrior he needs in order to carry his portion of the seal”.

“The sword,” Saorise realised.

“Yes, the sword,” said Leisha.

“Then I…” Saorise hesitated, looking down at the seed in her hands.

“Yes, you were my chosen, you carry a seed for the tree of life, when planted before the Gate, it will, when cultivated by the powers of the remaining twelve Gods, form a new seal and prevent the Demons from entering the Middle Realm,” said Leisha.