Alistair walked out of the doorway of his mind to find himself in a small wood hut. Just like some of the Aspect Rooms, the hut was one giant open room with a thatched roof. Light could be seen coming from long slits in the branches and trunks that had been dug into the ground to make the walls. A small wardrobe chest was placed near a straw bed, and as Alistair looked up he saw blinking flashes of light floating around the ceiling were in competition with the holes in the walls for brightness.

Movement caught Alistair’s eye, as small dirt cloud could be seen slowly coming from the pallet to the door. As it came closer, Alistair heard the patter of tiny feet and could almost see a salamander’s foot print compacting the dirt. Squatting, he looking down at the dirt cloud as it changed direction, in its wake was a small pea size pebble that hadn’t been there before. As his focus shifted to the pebble, a small sense that the salamander had changed the dirt in the floor to stone, and that if he let it be, sometime in the future he may get a stone floor. Careful not to step on the dirt cloud, Alistair went to the only other wooden door, which had been poorly fashioned from branches and without a lock, to get his first glimpse of the outside.

When Alistair opened the door and saw the blue mana sky, like a misty low overhanging fog, he felt a tiny bit of wonder at what his pocket dimension had turned into. He had read his pocket dimension had turned into Settlement, and what he had pictured in his mind were stone cottages surrounded by a well with farms stretching out. Instead, the clearing had small huts all made of the same wooden branches dug into the ground to provide a foundation. In the center of settlement was nothing more than a fountain, but unlike a fountain in a major city, this one was contained by common stone and three jets of water came bubbling up to the surface shooting about six inches into the air. Hovering over each jet was some kind of mist that sparkled like a rainbow. It wasn’t till he reached the third one that the rainbow had condense into a Steel Dagger, somehow suspended in the air, that Alistair realized the mists were various things being researched. The fountain flashed light across its surface and the water seemed to drain, leaving moist stones in its place. A small dirt cloud arose outside of the fountain and began to go to a one of the huts, as Alistair assumed that the Summoning Circle had recharge enough generate another Tiny Fire Salamander and that the water was the mana stored in the summoning circle.

Looking at nearby bigger dirt cloud, he noticed a small ghostly image on the outside of the fountain. It appeared to be a man no more than three inches tall shoveling dirt. The creature looked like a pixie without wings, as he placed his shovel in the ground and pushed the blade with his foot. Bending and heaving with all its strength, the ghostly pixie picked up a thimble size dirt clump and threw it over his shoulder. As the dirt began to fall, it dissolved into specks of light and began to attach itself to the fountain. The Lights joined the stone smoothing the rough cut flagstone into something that was beginning to look like a well cut block of stone.

Alistair took a moment to sit on the rough flagstone fountain enjoying the view of his settlement. A red haired young man perhaps just in the middle of his growth spurt came out behind a hut and smiled at Alistair. Alistair smiled back, Callum had grown from a little boy of eight or nine that he knew, into a boy about to be a man. Callum, had perhaps grown another foot, and gained a wispy beard that screamed, I am trying to be an adult by showing off my whiskers. His clothes seemed to be hanging on him like a sack of potatoes had been altered to put his arms and head through. Still Alistair felt a little more like this was home, after spending so much time in the magma pools. Picking himself up, Alistair came over to the boy and place his hand on the boy’s shoulder in friendship.

Alistair laughed as fuzzy memories of that time came back to him. Him fighting with a sword; staring at older men wondering when he was going to be taken seriously; talking about women, which now he could recognize as complete stupidity. He chuckled and wondered in another twenty to thirty years if he would look back and realize that he still hadn’t learned anything about women. Of course, he had to know something about women he told himself, as he was married after all. Alistair had a brief image of golden hair and expensive gowns and feeling of… nothing. At least with his mother he had felt safety and love, but with the fuzzy image of his wife, he wondered what nothing meant. Pushing the thought away, he gave himself the excuse that he was just stripped of his feelings for her and that was why he didn’t have any. For a moment, he thanked the God and Goddess of the Hearth, that only Callum and himself were here. The last thing he needed was Callum distracted by a pretty girl and what was underneath her dress. There was a quiet moment before a small prompt came up.

Event!God, Septra, and Goddess, Maydonas, have heard your silent prayer!Ones Hearth is their Home. When love fills one’s home, there is laughter, joy, and life. However, when only one person stokes the Hearth fires, there is no time for laughter. When only one person eats from the cooking pot, there is no joy. When only one person sleeps under the roof, there is no life.

Your prayer has been heard, know that this will not always be the case! Only a fool does not prepare at the warning of a God and Goddess.

Alistair quickly dismissed the prompt, as he didn’t want Callum to see and ask questions about what they had to prepare for. “Come on Callum, show me this path!” Alistair said as he released Callum. The boy nodded with a serious look on his face and walked behind one of the huts. Alistair followed him seeing that the forest undergrowth that surrounded them came within a few feet of the huts. Bushes, small trees, vines, and dead fall were all within hands grasp. Seeing Callum pointing at something, Alistair went over to it. There seemed to be a harden dirt pathway that came through the forest to their settlement. It was large enough to accommodate two people if one stood off to the side. Forest growth hid the pathway from view after a 100 feet as it turned away from sight. As Alistair took a step onto the path, a feeling of uneasiness came over him, like he was venturing into a wild territory.

Before Alistair could take another step out onto the road, Callum grasp his arm. “My Lord Alistair, don’t you want to take the Obsidian Dagger in case you run into any danger?”

Alistair looked at him for a moment and then a thought came to him. “What happens if I lose it while I am out there?”

Callum took a deep breath, “If you take the one that’s in the chest and lose it or die, then it is removed from the loot table and we can’t summon the Salamander boss again; but we can form one from the Summoning Circle’s mana and then you would at least have a weapon.” Alistair took a step back from the pathway and they went back to the fountain. Callum told him to focus on the Obsidian Dagger when reaching into the fountain. Alistair did so, and had to wait for another twenty minutes before the fountain filled up to his wrist. Once again a flash of light occurred and in his hand was a black stone dagger, chipped to have a dangerously sharp edge and a handle wrapped in leather. Alistair placed the dagger in his belt, hoping that his small leather belt would not be cut by the dagger as he moved.

Alistair and Callum went back out to the pathway. Giving Callum a pat on the shoulder, Alistair said, “Don’t worry Callum, be back in a little bit, I just want to see where this path leads too. Keep the creatures working and if the elemental attacks, do your best with the monsters to defend the circle.” With no other advice to give Alistair headed out.

The forest was strange. The foliage was dense around the path, while normally Alistair would expect the sound of birds or trees rustling in the wind. It was eerily quiet. Alistair had tried to look several times into the forest, but after a few feet blue mist began to accumulate and nothingness stared back at him. He walked on for another ten minutes before his path exited into a large dirt road. Alistair could see wagon wheel ruts in the dirt as if heavy carts came down this road often. Looking around he noticed that a sign post had been planted near the entrance to his path and Runic script pointed to his settlement. Part of him wanted to break the signpost and throw it into the forest, but freshly broken wood might tell people the wrong message.

Alistair seeing no merchants on the road, decided to at least press his luck and try to find out who his neighbors are. Turning to the right Alistair picked the first direction that had come to him. Keeping to the side of the road, Alistair wanted to be sure that if something or someone was going to attack him. He could at least escape into the dense forest. It was another five minutes of walking before Alistair tripped over something. In confusion, Alistair looked at the ground wondering what he could have stumbled on and saw the stump of a sign post had been hidden by grass. Looking at it, he wondered if someone else had the same idea as him. He searched the ground and the immediate foliage before he found a dirt path that was slowly being reclaimed by the forest.

Alistair wondered why the pathway was being over grown, perhaps it was because with the destruction of the sign the pathway became unused and was slowly overgrown. Curious as to where it led, Alistair started moving down the path, not thinking about the dangers that might come from the forest or a dungeon demon that didn’t want to be found, he pressed on. At times it was quite a bit of work, vines had started overgrowing the path, along with several fallen trees. As he pressed on and on, the blue mist began to get thicker on the trail, while the dirt trail turned more to mud. There came a point that the blue mist became so thick that Alistair was unsure if he should continue. However, he remembered an old Adventurer trick, trusting sound of his boots squishing in the mud would let him know he was still on the trail, Alistair kept moving forward. When he would put his foot out and feel something solid, Alistair would take a moment till he felt moist ground once again. For twenty minutes Alistair went through thick blue mist, searching with his feet for the muddy trail. Then in one step the world changed.

Alistair stepped out into what looked like a small plains town. Small stone, mud, and clay houses were in the middle of plain that was around mile wide. Tall golden grasses swayed in the wind, one lonely tree seemed to be planted next to a mud house with a sod roof. The house no taller than four feet had the roof caved in while the walls seemed to be crumbling. The muddy trail led to the town, and Alistair continued to walk forward. The pathway seemed to be fairing a lot better than the one outside of town, as it turned to flagstone. As he kept walking, the feeling that no one was here came over him. Looking to his right and left, houses were crumbling, inside, dishes on the table, toys on the floor, even half made clothes with sewing needles in them were lying about. It was as if everyone in the town had just stopped what they were doing and left. As he got closer to the middle of the town, a large fountain could be seen. No water seemed to be springing up from it. The expertly cut stones were broken and the mortar was crumbling. Giving the fountain his full attention, Alistair walked up, and looked down into the fountain to see a beautiful mosaic of tile on the bottom with tile pieces broken or missing.

“Haven’t had a visitor since the last raiding group come through here. Take the dagger out from our belt and turn around.” A voice said. The voice sounded ancient, like gravel had been added to it just to give it some way for the person to make a sound. Yet there was a strength in it that spoke if he didn’t want to do what it said the consequences would be far worse. Alistair, pulled out the dagger and softly placed it on the ground. With the upmost care and respect he turned around. In the door way of one of the better preserved buildings, stood an impossibly old woman. Wrinkles covered her entire face and hands, her right eye had turned milky white, while her complexation was so dark from endless hours out in the sun it looked like a dark mahogany hue. Even wrapped up in a shawl and bulky dress, she held a bow taught with an arrow aimed at his head. Alistair waited for a moment seeing that the ancient woman had enough strength in her to keep the bow and arrow steady while they waited for him to say something.

“Hello Madam, it is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Alistair, what is yours?” Alistair said in the calmness voice he could manage.

“Well that’s new. At least you have some manners, and since you are not carrying any real weapons with ya, guess you are but a pup of a traveler. Well Alistair, my name is Herma and it’s a pleasure to meet you.” She lowered the bow, but kept the arrow knocked ready to be aimed once again if the need should arise. “Welcome to the Destroyed Ziggurat of Hardune. Please come in so we can have a chat about what you are doing in my destroyed dungeon.”