Part 1: Morven: The Hourglass

“Fear the Void, for it is unknowable and all consuming. Beyond the realm of existence there is nothing for the Celestials or their children, only the verdant lands of the Source may sustain us. But we must be ever vigilant, for existence is not sacred to Its servants. It will creep into the world and feed on our souls and bodies, unless we dedicate ourselves to eternity and grace. For that reason, we put our faith in Buldren. Alone, he is the god of unwavering stone, the power to hold back the ruin that preys on the young. With our trust he is the sovereign god of gods, the one who will seal it away and preserve all that is good. May he reign eternal in his struggle against It! But we must always fear the Void, for without lord Buldren, we will be powerless against It!”

Morven quietly read the words to himself in a hushed voice once more while he awaited his friend’s arrival. The book had been his guiding light since he first awoke in the Source. It contained all of the knowledge he would ever need, how to act in the Sovereign’s court and what dangers he would be called upon to fight when the time came.

His ears caught the sound of a door opening and he peaked out from behind his hiding place in the greenhouse. Lady Despuen was kind but aggressively defensive of the plants she kept there. After all, what if someone brushed pollen off of one plant onto another, could you imagine the centuries of botany flushed down the drain? Fortunately for Morven, she did not make an appearance today, instead it was one of her servants, a young man named Selon.

“Selon!” Morven gave a hushed call to which the gardner shook his head and ignored. “Do you know where Palador is?”

 “Doing his studies I would imagine.” Selon scoffed. “And certainly not skulking around Her gardens.”

Morven held up his hands defensively. “Sorry I asked!”

Selon caught sight of the book in his hands. “For pity’s sake, what are you two up to?”

“I swear to you,” Morven put the book down behind one of rows of plants. “Nothing you wouldn’t do.”

For a second it looked like Selon was about to speak up but instead he shook his head, finished his task quickly and began to leave the room with a purple flower in a pot. As he opened the door, a tall figure stood before him. Selon gave a quick bow and backed away from the door. “Good day, my lord. Morven is waiting for you.”

“Thank you Selon.” The tall man stepped into the greenhouse and Selon quickly moved to close the door. The second it clicked shut the man’s posture relaxed and exhaled a sigh of relief. “Why do we trust him again?”

“Come on Palador.” Morven waved his hand. “He’s just a gardner who only cares for his plants, and he hasn’t betrayed our trust yet.”

“Yet.” Palador walked to the back of the greenhouse, he saw that he actually had four books, one of which was open and filled with handwritten notes. Two of the other books were undoubtedly filled with similar notes. 

Morven wrote one last note before he closed the book and stood up. He wasn’t quite as tall as Palador. “How did it go? Did you find it?”

“It was difficult, but I was able to find this.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pack before dropping it into Morven’s hands. “What exactly do you intend to accomplish with this Morven?”

He held the bag to his ear and shook it to hear a clacking of rocks. He opened the bag and poured three small white stones into the palm of his hand. “These stones were saturated with magic from the edge of the Source, yes?”

“That’s why you had me travel that far. You’re lucky I had an excuse to go there anyway. Buldren is in a sour mood, we should consider moving out from here.” He watched as Morven grabbed a mortar and pestle and began to crush the stones. The familiar wisps of magic began to pour out of the mortar. “Morven.”

“I know. Trust me I don’t want to disappoint Buldren either, but,” He poured the contents into an empty flower pot before he set in on the ground. A bright light filled the pot but did not spill. “Imagine if we delivered a weapon to combat the Void? A power that could relieve his burden and let us live without the need for constant vigilance?”

“The Void?” Palador paused. “I take it you were busy while I was away?”

“Indeed.” Morven nodded. “While you traveled to bring back these samples, I investigated areas where the Void ‘leaked’ into the Source.” He grabbed one notebook and flipped through the pages. “What I found was remarkable.” The page he stopped on held a drawing of a cave. “This cave was made off limits a few weeks ago, since then magic hasn’t behaved correctly, you would think that it would flow into the cave but it’s the opposite. I found that the cave repelled magic with an intensity that I swear I could feel in my skull.”

Palador leaned over the pot. “Why do I feel like we’ll be cleaning this up for a while?”

“It’s simple.” Morven sat down and pulled out his own stone from his pocket. “I want to figure out what causes this repulsion. This stone was right at the edge of the cave and it’s very brittle in my hand.” 

“I see what you’re doing.” Palador sat down next to him. “We know magic on the border leaks into the Void, which is why you needed these stones. We can study the difference.”

Morven smiled. “It’ll likely do nothing. We have no real reason to think the Void interacts with objects like magic does.”

“But we do know that this stone existed in the absence of magic.” Palador said. “Regardless of the Void’s logic, we can assume something from that.”

“Which brings me to the last piece of the puzzle.” Morven pulled out a small bottle of blue liquid. “Selon had this brewed for me from plants that need constant care, so naturally they’re soaked in power. It should make a nice catalyst for magic. This should accelerate whatever happens.”

Palador nodded. “And I’m assuming I didn’t come all this way to stand around. What should I do?”

“Use your own power and keep the container steady.” Morven tied his long dark hair back to keep it from getting in the way, then he held the stone over the light. “And wait for my signal to stop if things go bad.”

“Alright.” Palador put his hands on the side of the pot and felt the warmth from the wild magic radiate outwards. “Ready.”

Morven nodded and he dropped his stone into the pot. Immediately the magic in the pot rushed to its sides and began to pour outwards. Palador focused as he felt the magic’s pressure in his arms. He had long ago learned how to keep magic stable and he pushed back. Morven gazed into the pot, the light was only across the sides and the rock was settled in the middle of the apparent halo. He looked back to Palador. “Are you alright?”

Through his own focus Palador spoke, “Yes. Pour the catalyst in.”

Morven quickly grabbed the flask and uncorked it. Carefully, he poured the substance onto the stone. It fizzled as if it boiled off immediately. At first, Palador had to continue to hold the power within the pot, but the outwards pressure began to ease off. The two gazed into the pot and watched the light begin to bend and swirl around the stone. Morven began to realize that there was not just a simple repulsion at work, it was as if the light was trying to reach the stone, but something was in the way. Like a dam holding back a river, but what could be surrounding this stone in such a manner?

“Is it holding?” Morven asked. Through his focus, Palador nodded. Morven held up his hand over the pot. “Ok, hold on a little more. I’m gonna figure out what’s going on.”

Keeping his hand over the pot, he could feel magic pulsing outwards, like a steady heartbeat. A constant thumping sound that he could feel in the back of his skull, an instinctual feeling that he had recognized since his awakening. Between every beat from the pot was a counter-beat that radiated out of Palador’s hands. Were it not for Palador’s counterbalance, the pulses would easily expand and spill out of the pot, but it should not be so active even with the catalyst in play. Perhaps the barrier was forcing the magic to overflow. What could this barrier even be? He brought his hand closer, now he could feel a heat rising from the reaction.

And beneath it all. A third beat, subtle and seemingly weak. Where the first two beats repeated with the heartbeat, this one was very infrequent. But too strong to be natural. It wouldn’t be too difficult to counteract, he would just need to block it with his own power. As the large pulse began, Morven pushed back with all of his might to break past it. 

Palador felt the pressure drop entirely and before he could adjust he felt all of the magic in the pot concentrate into the center. The churning ceased and he tried to pull away, but his hands were frozen in place. He watched as the light all flowed into the stone and grew brighter and brighter. Once all the light of the pot was concentrated, more began to seep through the pot where his hands were stuck holding tightly. A sudden pain shot through his arms and Palador lurched forward, he opened his mouth to signal Morven but he found no breath to speak. All he could do was pray that Morven would help him.

His silent plea for help was quickly registered by Morven. He panicked and released any hold he had over the magic to grab his friend. Immediately the magic surged forward from the pot and expanded to fill the entire greenhouse. Without any control it manifested into various forms. Both Morven and Palador were blown away as the pot exploded into several shards. Morven fell into the center of the room as magic enveloped him. The light congealed into flashes of light and as they circled him, they revealed strange ghostly images. A city on the shores of a great ocean with a great fire storm raging in the sky. A dark room dimly lit by nine clusters of nine candles each. And a might winged beast looming behind a young man. Time stretched before Morven, worlds beyond the Source passed through his mind, eight planets surrounding a halo of light. 

Morven felt like he could stay there forever. He felt as if he had just awoken from a deep sleep that he could easily slip back into if he only let himself. 

He saw Palador in heavy armor sitting upon a black horse. His posture was perfect and a look of anger was upon him. The two were alone on a large hill, a pale light shined behind him.

Morven’s eyes opened, energy and debris were still blowing around him. With a great effort he rolled over onto his face and he pushed himself up. Palador was still trapped near the initial reaction, trapped in whatever nightmare Morven had just emerged from. Morven pushed his way forward, the greenhouse was now a mess, shelves of plants were knocked over and dirt blew in the wind. Just as Morven was about to approach Palador a stray plant collided with him and pushed him back to the ground.

There in the middle of the storm he saw the stone from the cave, the one that magic had circled around. With little thought for himself, he grabbed hold of the stone and felt a tremendous power surge through himself. He focused his mind and attempted to accomplish the opposite of what Palador did, instead of containing the power he tried to push the power away from him. An eye in the tempest formed around him before a strong pulse emanated from the stone, purging it. The room fell silent and debris was thrown all across the floor. None of the plants were left, only withered dry husks remained. Morven fell to his knees and struggled to catch his breath, the visions still in his mind. He turned to Palador.

Palador’s eyes opened and he quickly pushed himself up, a look of fear in his eyes as he scrambled away from Morven. “W-what did you do?”

“I-” Morven paused, remembering the image of Palador on the horse. “We need to leave now. Something isn’t right.”

“You.” Palador spoke as if a horrible realization dawned on him “You have brought ruin to us haven’t you?”

“Palador?” Morven didn’t recognize his friend’s frightened face. “What did you see?”

Sounds of others were approaching. Morven reached out his hand. “We can’t stay here, Buldren will-.”

“Get away from me!” Palador backed up and held up his hand defensively. “Get out of here Morven!” He shrunk away, avoiding Morven’s eyes. With fear or guilt? This, Morven did not know.

Shouts and cries of terror were approaching, they didn’t have much time. Morven looked back and forth suddenly becoming aware of how cramped the greenhouse was, looking for some way to get both of them out. But his options continued to grow worse and a growing need to get out was building in his stomach. He ran over to one of the windows and threw it open before he looked back at Palador. They were on the ground floor of the court’s grounds and if they ran fast enough they could make it to a nearby treeline before they could slip away unseen.

The doors to the greenhouse swung open and several others saw the two of them. Morven jumped out of the windows alone, as he hit the ground he took off running from the court of Buldren.

Something was wrong, something far worse than strange magic in caves. The visions lingered that lingered in his mind had made one thing clear. There was a world beyond Buldren’s sovereignty, and the key to reaching it was hidden in the void.

Morven tried to find a solution to his predicament in his mind but the ordeal had left him drained and tired. But it was clear that this mystery was beyond his ability alone and he would have to find help outside of the Court. But first, he would have to flee as far as he could.