Gate Of The Abyssal Lore

The river ran backwards on the day the Queen vanished. The air flow reversed and was sucked away in an instant. At least, that’s how it felt to Callon.

The sturdy trunk of the Tree of Life that stood proudly in the middle of the village now housed new scars. Deep, charred scars.

“Bigum! Take a scouting squad and head to the Dwarven Kingdom. Eladan, take the riders and go to The Swamps.”

Callon’s life was turned upside down in the last few hours. He was never tested like this before. Queen Tialia was a pillar of support to everyone, him included. Now that pillar disappeared, and chaos filled its place.

“Commander Callon!” a scrawny elf called out to him from a nearby tree. She seemed more rugged than usual.

“Maiela, how are things in the square?”

“Most of the elders are accounted for, but we’ve had to stop rescue efforts because the fire in the village hall is spreading.”

“Take the Dragonfly Squad and put out the fire as soon as possib-”

“But sir, they’re spread thin already; between the fires in residential areas two and four, and the roof collapse at the granary, there’s no one to spare.”

Tsk. It was worse than he thought.

“Alright. Go and try to contain the fire. I’ll send some sorcerers to help as soon as I can.”

“Roger.”

Maiela disappeared into the trees. Hopping stealthily with speed from one branch to the other. There was a reason she was in the elite archery squad.

“Where’s Galadan?”

“Commander!” A tall, muscular elf replied. He was donning an impressive set of armour and a somewhat-oversized golden spear.

Callon turned around towards the voice, “Take your squad and head to the southern border immediately. We'll deal with things here.”

“Sir, are we under attack?” Galadan planted the butt of the spear on the ground.

“I'm not sure, but we need to be ready for anything. Check the barrier and send someone to me with an update as soon as you can.”

“Yes, sir!” Galadan gathered his squad and sprinted out of view.

***

Everything happened in the matter of minutes. It was a typical peaceful night until an explosion rocked everything in Daffenor village. Callon was on his morning walk when he saw a massive thunderbolt strike the Tree of Life. It crawled down the tree until it landed on the Queen’s quarters and obliterated it into nothing. Callon was shocked to a stop.

Fires erupted in different areas of the village at the same time, sending everyone into a panicked state. Callon stood and stared at the Tree of Life for what seemed like millennia, until he was jerked back to reality by the cries of children from a nearby home.

“ah... d-don't worry, everything is okay. Just stay inside.”

That reassurance was as much for the children, as it was for Callon himself. He needed to steel his mind and take control of the situation.

“Bigum!”

***

“Don’t be a fool! We need to protect the archives as a priority!”

“How are we going to defend ourselves if the armoury falls?”

The meditation garden was being used as a temporary gathering place for the elders. Everyone was filled with confusion, anger and anxiety.

All the elders were arguing about what happens next, but elders Etran and Beluar were the most vocal.

“Of course, the uncultured brute is talking about weapons. We elves must maintain our heritage and honour our ancestors!”

“And what use do we have for your papers when we’re dead! Ha?”

“What a buffoon! What are we elves if not-”

“Sileeeence!” Callon walked into the garden and the chatter stopped, “Is this the way dignified elves are ought to behave in a crisis?”

The elders didn’t like it, but stayed silent nonetheless. While younger than they were, Callon was the most capable commander in this village, and everyone was aware of that fact.

“Elders are supposed to lead by example. If you can’t keep it together, how are we supposed to calm the masses?!”

The elders simply lowered their heads in shame. Panicking and shouting was unbecoming of them.

Seeing the atmosphere settle, Callon started the emergency meeting without delay, “Aran!”

Aran had been working under Callon for long enough to know what the commander needed without explicit direction. He pushed his way through to the round table in the middle of the garden and opened up a detailed map of the village.

“At the moment, we don’t know what is happening. Fires broke out here, here, and here,” Callon circled a few areas on the map, “I’ve sent envoys to the Dwarves and Lizardmen in case we need their help. Maiela is leading the efforts to suppress the fires here but she needs help,” he lifted his head and looked around the room, “Syl, go and help them with this fire first, then head to the rest of the marked areas.”

“Yes, sir!” Syl didn’t hesitate. A light green hue enveloped her body before she launched up out of the garden and flew to Maiela’s direction.

“Now that the immediate issues are settled, we need to handle the Queen’s quarters...”

Though the room was already silent, the silence took a darker form now. It felt like all sounds simply stopped existing. The Tree of Life was in the middle of the village, so everyone saw the aftermath.

“I’ll go up there with a couple of policemen to figure out what happened. Aegor, you’re coming too...we might need you” the last few words were said with a heavy heart.

Aegor simply nodded. He knew what needing him meant. He was well known for his tracking magic, but he was more specialised in detection. Detecting life, more precisely. An unpleasant part of his job in the past was searching for corpses after battles. Even if they perish, all living beings release life energy for a few hours after their death.

***

“We can’t find anything, sir,” one of the Policemen walked up to Callon, covered in soot.

They had been searching through the debris for the past twenty minutes.

“Aegor?”

“I just finished sweeping through all floors. Other than a few insects, I couldn’t find anything.”

“Are you saying the Queen wasn’t here when this happened?”

“It appears that way, yes.”

Callon sighed in relief, “Okay, let’s stop here and organise a search party. Inspector Daena!”

She was covered in soot, like everyone else, but she held herself with authority as she walked towards Callon.

“Gather your team and span out. We're going to star-”

“Commander!”

Right at that moment, an armour-clad soldier appeared at the door. Or where the door used to be. One arm was holding a sabre like a cane, supporting him up, while the other was dangling by his side with blood running down it, dripping on the floor.

“What happened?!”

“We were attacked. The captain ordered me to run back to let you-” cough, cough. The soldier dropped his sabre and collapsed on the floor before he could finish his sentence.

“Aegor, take him to the infirmary. Daena, go sound the alarm, and gather all able bodies and ready them for battle!”

“Looks like war is coming.”