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Prologue

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After the great explosion was silence.

Two disheveled young women stood over their leader, who had caused the explosion in a last, desperate attempt to stop the evil from spreading.

It had worked, but the cost was high. Both Wardens were gone, simply vanished as if their lives had not existed. The three soldiers had been left to face the Magi alone after he had wrested control of the Portal from their leader. He had underestimated the strength of her will, and she had managed to retain a link to the Portal. Enough to follow him into the depths of his lair and force a battle before he was ready. In desperation, he unlocked the Gate with no restraints, and the creatures had come through, free to wreck havoc of their own instead of being under control.

In order to halt this spread of evil, the three scouts had combined their powers and released them in one single burst.

The ensuing chaos provided the distraction necessary for the leader to regain control of the Portal. Her companions were then able to return the creatures to their prison. Forcing the Magi into the Portal was a much more difficult task, and in retaliation, he unleashed his own brand of magic just as the leader was resealing the Gate.

The backlash of energy caused a massive explosion, blowing the roof off the top of the Magi's castle, and turning the Portal and it's housing into a pillar of flame. The leader, in her position to seal the Portal, was able to shield her companions. However, in doing so, she used the last of her energy, and was now lying near the housing, motionless.

The younger of her companions knelt next to her and lifted her head, her thoughts focusing on healing. The leader smiled slightly and shook her head a fraction. "No," she whispered, her voice barely more than a breath. "No need. Can't be done."

The younger shook her head, her eyes full of tears. "Don't say that!" she cried, propping the leader up against her body.

The leader simply smiled, a small twitch of her mouth, and slowly reached up to touch her pendant. Her uniform unraveled with a brief flash of light, and she was left in the same plain clothing she preferred, her pendant and chain now laying across her fingers. "Keep this," she whispered. "Someday, in the far future, it will be needed again. Keep it until then."

The older companion knelt next to them and closer her hand of the leader's. "We will. We promise," she answered with a shaking voice.

The leader smiled again at that, and slipped away. Her body began to glow, becoming so bright that her companions had to shut their eyes. After a few moments, the glow subsided, leaving her companions kneeling next to each other, the leader's pendant clutched tightly in the elder's hand. They looked at each other and stood up, their uniforms dissolving into their normal clothes as they did. They turned without further words and left the Magi's castle with a deep feeling of loss. Evil had been stopped for now, and they each knew their job was now complete. Yet with so many loved ones now gone, it was a hollow victory.

As they left the now-ruined castle grounds, a small wind blew the dust of the the once-elegant tiled floor. The clouds were being slowly blown away, and a sudden shaft of sunlight glinted off broken bits of glass. The Portal itself was now gone from the stone housing the Magi had built to control it, yet the sunlight couldn't penetrate it's center. The evil presence of the Magi was gone for now, but places where the borders of reality had been breached would always be weakened ever after. The Magi's servants, those still alive, gathered slowly around the housing, muttering dark prayers.

Where evil had once existed, it would exist again.