Dear Spellbook,

Things did not go as planned.

Riloth 19th the 646th

Dagmar and I had long since adjusted our sleep schedules so that the reset occurred in the middle of our day. The transition from one day to the next was subtle in the dark of night, so I’d taken to casting a Light spell out in the Material Realm. Casting out of the Dahn was not warded against, and without Timothy’s Spatial anchor I could even Blink or Teleport out, so long as the door was open.

When the light disappeared one day, the barren burned forest replaced once more with the peaceful nighttime wilderness, I ran out to forage for the day. The fires did not always reach us at the exact time, but they never varied more than ten or twenty minutes. When sunrise came and the forest had yet to catch fire, I Teleported myself as far into the air as high I could, and saw that there was no fire to be seen.

We collected our packs, which had long since been waiting ready by the door, and I stopped briefly to leave a note before running out the Dahn. We made it to town around 6:30 to find everyone going about their day as normal. Mostly. A very dead Dagmar lay in her waking spot.

“Torc’s mercy, that is disturbing,” she muttered to herself as we examined it.

“Finally, you appreciate the terrible stench I had to deal with,” I mocked.

She hit me on the hip, and we moved on. Dagmar went to prep Levar while I Teleported down to retrieve Bearskin. I arrived in Levar’s shop while Dagmar was mid-explanation.

“Hey Levar, are you ready for an adventure?” I asked as I appeared.

“Do I have a choice?” he asked.

“Yes, but you should know your past self was very keen to be included.”

“Good enough for me,” he said, and got to work examining Bearskin.

“I’m going to go find Daulf and Trish... and Roland I suppose. There's an alchemy lab where we are going, but it's a few hundred years out of date.”

I grabbed a potion of clarity from Levar just in case, and then Teleported directly to my room to collect my things. There in my bed lay a dead version of myself and a fake spellbook.

Flood, that is disturbing.

I grabbed my sword, satchel, and other personal belongings and ran down to the gaming floor.

Trish was working the tables as usual, trying to recover her lost coin.

“Trish, we need to go. Go get your things and meet me at Levar’s” I told her when I wedged my way near her at the table.

She looked me up and down with critical eyes, as she always did of late when I spoke with her.

“Okay,” she said, and followed me out, no more questions asked. Though she did stop to collect her meager winnings from the table.

On the way out, I asked Simon to collect all the horses and carts he could manage in the next hour and that I’d pay any fee for them. I threw him my five gold as a downpayment and ran out before he could protest.

As an afterthought, I yelled back, “And load the cart with coffee beans!”

“Do you know where Roland is?” I asked Trish.

Suddenly defensive, she asked, “Why would I know that?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know where he is, and we need to leave. Now.”

“No, I don’t. Sorry.”

“Okay, I can get him.”

I cast the Message spell with Roland in mind, and spoke aloud, “Come to the Alchemist. Now.”

“Since when can you do that?”

“I have a lot to explain, but it’s best I do so later.”

With trust I felt was underserved, she let the issue drop and followed me.

“Daulf is going to require a face to face to convince him of the urgency,” I explained as we ran out into the tent city.

The brief run revealed the fruits of the last few months of training. It was easy to gauge the improvements of my magic in the small dimensional space, but it was hard to feel the results of daily endurance training while traveling through a dark forest. Running through the city I’d traversed hundreds of times before highlighted my growth. I’d always been in shape, able to walk all day without issue, but running at full tilt for five minutes was not something I could do without needing a break.

We found Daulf preparing to teach a bunch of bleary-eyed children, who perked up when he began to write in the air with his goddess’ power. When he saw us running in, he paused his lesson and stepped aside.

“Theral, what's wrong?” he asked, concern clear in his eyes, “Did something happen?”

Looking at his face brought to mind the torture, both real and imagined, that had been running through my mind all the time in the Dahn. The undersized beds were not the only thing that kept me up at night. As I expected, nightmares haunted my sleep.

“Turn on your truth eye thing. This is important.”

I waited until his eyes turned the magically bright blue before going on.

“I need you to come with me now,” I told him, recounting my prepared speech. “It's urgent, and if you knew all the details, I’m confident you would agree to come, I just don’t have the time to tell you.”

“Okay, though you weren’t so confident about that last part about time,” he said before turning to the gathered students. “Sorry children, I will need to cancel today's lessons. Urgent adventurer business.”

The kids were split, some running off with excited cheers, while the rest looked dejected. We ran back through the tent city and into the town. Levar’s was busy, with Bearskin trying to stand unobtrusively to the side while a frantic Levar threw things into his bags, which he then handed to Bearskin to carry.

“Bearskin!” Daulf and Trish yelled in unison when they saw him.

Roland was in the room, looking irritated to have been summoned so. He and Dagmar sat at opposite corners of the shop, avoiding eye contact.

Something happened already?

They went up to the huge man and reunited, while I went to Levar.

“How much gold do you have on hand?” I asked.

“Not much, maybe five or six? I mostly work through credit,” he explained apologetically.

Flood, I never asked about credit. Oh, well.

“Everyone” I shouted to get their attention. “Go to the Parlor. Simon has horses for us. Load up and get ready to leave.”

“What’s the hurry?” Daulf asked.

“I don’t know exactly, but urgency feels warranted.”

He nodded, his eyes not glowing, but trusting me all the same.

“I’ll meet you at the square.”

I took a potion of clarity from Levar’s mostly bare racks, and Teleported into Barion’s residence. He was still asleep, thankfully, and I dispelled his ward and stole his book without an issue before Teleporting down to his room of stolen wealth. I sliced through the lock using my sword, the ensouled blade making short work of the hardened iron. I pulled handfuls of coins into a nearby silver chalice, and Teleported to the Parlor’s steps.

Simon jumped when I appeared before him, but quickly regained his composure. I could see my companions entering the square and heading towards me.

“I hope this is sufficient payment,” I said, handing the impromptu container to Simon.

“Oh no, this is too much!” he protested.

“I insist, keep the change as a tip. For exemplary service.”

He looked from me, back to the chalice of gold, at a loss for words. I left him, and examined the horses. Ian and Knotian were present, along with two other horses I’d only ever seen at work pulling plows while fighting the fires.

I wonder where these had been hiding.

I loaded everyone on board, Trish and Dagmar sharing new horse number one, Roland taking new horse number two, Daulf taking Ian, and I drove the cart pulled by Knotian.

“Sorry Bearskin, I think you will have to run,” I said.

He nodded. He’d joined last, coming from the direction of the Clipped Ear with his weapon sticking out over his shoulder and a satisfied grin on his face.

We set off through the north gate. Once we were clear of the tents and on the road. I summoned a Gale behind us to give a tailwind and speed up our journey, if only fractionally.

“Is anyone going to explain what’s going on?” Roland asked after a short while.

“Not now, not here. We need to travel up the road for a few hours, but I promise I will explain it all tonight.

“Since when is the kid in charge?” he asked the rest.

They all gave noncommittal shrugs, and we continued on. About halfway to the Dahn, everything fell apart.

“There you are, little dragonling!” a discordant voice boomed through the forest, causing the horses to buck and whinny. Only Roland kept his mount, the rest throwing their riders free and fleeing into the woods at the first syllable. I Blinked off the cart as Knotian pulled it with him as he fled.

I turned directly to the demon, where it was visible flying towards us. The malice it radiated was palpable, allowing me to know his location.

“Flood!”

I threw Dagmar the runed blade she’d made for me, and she caught it out of the air with one hand while drawing her own with the other.

“This is what I feared would happen,” I said to no one in particular. “I’m sorry.”

“D-d-d-demon,” stuttered Levar in something between terror and amazement.

Trish drew her dagger, and her eyes grew wide as the mysterious celestial spoke to her. Daulf drew his sword and shield and prepared for battle, while Roland ran towards the forest.

Well, I didn’t expect that. At least someone will live, but I wouldn’t have picked him if I had the choice.

To my side, I heard Dagmar spit and mutter, “Coward.”

The demon called out again as it flew ever closer, “I’ve been looking for you. I found out how to bypass those stupid wards ages ago, and what did I find? You were gone. Imagine my disappointment when I found your corpse. Don’t worry, I still had fun with your friends.”

He drew closer still, the forest below his bat wings catching fire with each beat.

So transfixed was I on the demon’s approach that I didn’t know Levar was at my side until he poked me. I turned to him and saw a potion in his hand.

“Take this!” he said in a tone that suggested I’d missed the first two times he’d said so.

I took the potion, and saw everyone else discarding empty identical vials. I looked at it and saw it was a potion of fire resistance.

“Don’t use fire magic,” Levar went on to explain. “This is a Balor. Its body exudes heat. It’s immune to fire and poison. Good luck!”

Then he ran into the woods in the direction of Roland.

I looked around and saw Bearskin, Daulf, Dagmar, and Trish, all standing with weapons drawn, ready to face the threat.

Could we do this?

I ran to each of them, casting Mage Armor on them, Bearskin waved me away when I reached him, and I complied, trusting him to know what was best for himself. Mentally, I ran through my prepared spells. I could now hold ten spells in my mind, and I’d been cycling through them as I practiced them all to improve my casting speed.

I had Light, Magic Missile, Fling, Mage Armor, Shadow Blade, Floating Disk, Counter Spell, Dispel Magic, Clean, and Mend prepared. I was not ready for battle without Shield, I felt very naked, but the disappearance of the fire had been so sudden, I hadn’t waited to prepare the correct spells.

While he was just within my Teleport range, he saw who accompanied and shouted in a horrible imitation of joy, “Daulf! You’re here too! I missed our chats. And a big one. This should be fun.”

I took a potion of clarity, not noticing the taste at all for the first time. The demon no longer carried only a single weapon, but now held a silver sword as large as Bearskin’s in one hand, lightning crackling down its edge, and his flaming whip in the other.

I looked to the sword in my hand, and to Trish with her long knives.

“Use this!” I said, tossing her the rapier.

She stowed one of her knives while the sword flew towards her and caught it out of the air. She flourished the weapon experimentally and then held it out in a salute of thanks, adjusting the grip of her long knife.

Finally, when he was just above the treetops, I cast Magic Missile at him, watching as the bolts shot towards him. Before they struck, he disappeared, and reappeared behind me.

The heat of his body alerted me to his appearance. I was aware of it, though I could not feel the pain of it through the potion. The shocked looks of my companions gave it away as well, and instinctively I Blinked away, reappearing a dozen yards away to see the demon’s sword passing through where I’d just been.

The demon chuckled as if the miss was comical. Daulf, Bearkskin, and Dagmar all charged in. The Tattoos on Bearskin began to glow as he charged the monster. With his long strides, he met the demon first, and swung his greatsword at its left side. The demon brought its lightning blade up for a block, the sword giving way slightly to Bearskin’s strength, surprising even the demon.

The struggle was only briefly in Bearskin’s favor, for a moment later he was sent tumbling back as the Balor swung his sword through the block.

By then, Dagmar and Daulf were on him. The demon flicked his flaming whip at Daulf, ripping his shield from his hand just as before, but this time Dagmar struck at his whip arm with a blade runed for sharpness. The blade cut nearly as deep as an ensouled one, and the demon stepped back, swinging his sword at the dwarf.

Dagmar jumped back, not enough to dodge the blade alone, but just enough to get her off the ground so that my Gust could push her to safety. Daulf struck at the hip, same as before, while the demon was over extended, his glowing blade cutting deep, infused with the power of his goddess. Trish took that moment to jump in and strike at the wings of the demon. Where my rapier struck, the black webbing of the batlike wings turned white with frost, and her long knife cut straight through.

In response to the dual attack, the demon batted his wings and struck out at Daulf with his whip. Trish flew backwards, but she recovered midair landing unharmed in a crouched position. The whip wrapped around Daulf, but the knight was unfazed by its fire from the combination of the potion and my magical armor. The force of the whip’s constriction was another matter. The cord of flames had caught Daulf’s shield arm, and the demon pulled, tightening the coil and causing Daulf’s forearm to fracture. Daulf let out a grunt of pain, but managed to swing at the whip through the pain with his free hand. His blade lit up even brighter as it passed through the cord of fire, severing it and causing the part that lashed him to turn to soot and leaving Daulf free to charge.

The demon had stopped taunting us, and jumped back a dozen paces with a beat of his wings, reforming his shortened whip into a flaming club as he flew.

As soon as I’d seen Dagmar to safety, I began pummeling the demon with Magic Missiles and I hit him with two barrages between his swing at Dagmar and this backwards leap. The bolts landed without fanfare or reaction from the Faust spawned beast, but each dart left a small hole from which molten blood dripped.

His jump away from Daulf brought the demon closer to the forest edge. The forest fire had not yet caught up to him, and as he neared a tree, its roots burst from the earth and wrapped around the demon’s feet. Shortly after, three arrows flew from the woods, each puncturing a hole in his wing and then sticking into his back.

Dagmar let out a laugh at the sight of the arrows as she charged.

The roots and arrows burst into flame immediately upon contact, but whatever Blessing Roland had used had allowed his ammunition to pierce the demon’s flesh.

Dagmar, Daulf and Bearskin all closed in on the demon once again, as I continued to pepper it with Magic Missile, keeping an eye out for anyone who needed an assist. The demon freed one foot from the roots with a strike of its sword, and pivoted to meet the approach. He blocked Daulf’s opening strike, sending the attack high with the lightning sword and moved from blocking to striking, hitting Dagmar in the ribs. While his sword hand was occupied with them, he fought Bearskin with his club, batting his first attack aside.

With his wings open, I summoned an overpowered Gust. The sudden wind inflated the wings like sails, and with his foot restrained he was sent falling on his back. But he didn’t stay there long. Bearskin and Daulf were on him, both swinging at the downed monster like a woodsman splitting a log, but before their weapons stuck, the demon disappeared.

Trish’s shout of alarm alerted us to his location, as he appeared in front of her. Roland spotted it first, and soon arrow after arrow shot into his back, each one igniting and causing the demon’s head to be obscured by smoke and flame.

Unbothered by the fire, he advanced on Trish as we ran to intercept. She dodged its attacks and attempted to parry, but the weight of the weapons wielded against her pushed her back. Each strike at Trish came faster than the one before, and soon Trish’s weapons were knocked from her hands. The demon was on a rampage now, his flesh weeping blood that lit the dirt on fire and his wings full of holes.

The fight was not going the way he had expected, but he was making use of his rage. His club knocked her to the ground, the Mage Armor preventing the blow from crushing her, just barely, and the potion staving off burns, though her clothes burst into flames on impact. He brought his blade back for a killing blow and I could see that no one would get there in time to save her.

I cast Blink, appearing between the pair, really wishing I had Shield prepared. As a poor substitute, I Conjured my rapier to my hand, only to find that I couldn’t sense it and the cantrip failed without a target.

The realization took but a fraction of a second, occurring in the Arcane Realm with my sorcerous perception there. I groped frantically out at the Fonts, hoping for some divine revelation that would grant me a spell to save Trish, but nothing came.

My consciousness returned fully to the Material Realm, and by instinct drilled in by hundreds of battles, I cast Shield.

Only, I did not have Shield prepared.

Before my outstretched palm, an invisible barrier formed and the demon’s blade bounced off of it.

How?

I had no time to reflect or contemplate the answer, and followed up my Shield with another overpowered Gust, sending the surprised demon back towards my charging companions. My Will was nearly gone, and I took my last potion of clarity as I watched the four resume their melee.

Dagmar struck low at the demon’s legs as he fought desperately to block the mighty blows of Daulf and Bearskin. Daulf’s strikes began to wane as his strength fled him, but Bearskin carried on, as strong as ever, swinging his mighty obsidian weapon. Through it all, arrows flew from the forest and my own Magic Missiles pummeled the demon.

With a mighty bellow, the demon swung his club at Daulf, knocking his sword from his hand and sending him flying back. Bearskin took advantage of his foe’s commitment to the strike and swung a mighty two-handed swing at the demon's left leg. The ensouled wood and stone met demon flesh, and the demon flesh gave way. The strike severed the leg beneath the knee, and blood like burning oil spread over the ground.

The demon let out a roar that sent the world into silence as it deafened us all, and he lunged after the downed Daulf, catching him in one hand and taking off into the sky on his shredded wings.

My ears were beyond hearing, but in my mind I heard his terrible voice.

Watch as I tear this one limb from limb before your eyes.

We’d been here before, and I would not allow it. I cast Teleport, trying to pull Daulf from his grasp, but the demon’s will resisted my own, and I couldn’t pull him free.

Through sorcerous intuition, I knew that swapping locations with Daulf might prove more effective, and I tried again, this time willing myself to take his place. A battle of wills broke out, and still the demon resisted my spell, keeping his grip on Daulf, but finally, I won out, and suddenly was within the crushing grip of the demon.

Oh no. He said mockingly in my mind. I guess I will have to kill him tomorrow. I found your room, you know. It was a simple matter. I can stop you from summoning that dragon before you even wake. I am going to enjoy spending eternity with you.

The demon kept rising, further up out of Roland’s reach, as he taunted me. His rage blinded him to the past. The crushing weight of his fist made casting hard, but I sent myself fully to the Arcane Realm in an attempt to evade the pain. I summoned all the Will left to me, and pushing it into a Gust. I unleashed the spell on the demon, sending it tumbling towards the earth, but I stayed in the Arcane Realm, channeling more and more power into me without a spell in mind.

I will not let him kill them again.

Briefly, I considered the ramifications of my actions. A death spell could only be done by sorcerers, dragon sorcerers if the Tower was to be believed. What I was about to do, if it worked, would tell Daulf the truth about who I was. What I was.

Is it worth it?

I felt my body crush as we hit the ground, and then, the world exploded into a torrent of shredding wind.

And then, I woke up here in my room, back in the Parlor. The demon had either bluffed, or was daunted by his defeat. Levar, Dagmar, Trish and Daulf were all replaced with lifeless bodies. Either the demon destroyed their souls, or they are all safe in the Dahn. I still don’t know where Roland is.

What do I do?

Should I go to them? Face them with the truth of what I am? Will Daulf kill me on sight? Will Levar scream and flee? Roland won’t care, neither will Trish or Bearskin, though each for their own reasons.

Can I face them? Can I continue in the resets if I don't?

Wish me luck.