A black airship sails across the sands of the Himaat, recently refurbished, and with a new crew cobbled together from the best that the new owner could find. An Eeee air mage is seated in the center of a runic circle in the rear, providing a little extra boost to the journey, and an excuse to make use of the sails.

The Himaat is largely deserted … being a desert, after all … though occasionally an airship passes by close enough to be seen. One such ship, also headed away from Rephidim, is a rather gaudy affair, white with golden trim, flying the sails of the Temple – more specifically having the Star-and-Balance symbol of the Audit. On occasion, there are flashes of light from the deck, or strange ghostly forms swirling about and floating away from the craft. On occasion, the faint sounds of music carry on the breeze, though not enough to make out the melody.

Zoltan sits in a spot as close to the mage's circle as he can possibly get without disturbing her ritual – hoping to catch a spare breeze or two to help him keep cool. He diligently scrubs some ceramic and chitin beads with a polishing rag.

The other airship's course deviates slightly, taking it a bit further away from the black ship.

Wynona finishes up one of her rituals, then lets out a long breath. "Whew! Okay, that should keep us coasting for a while. Oh my! It's hot even this high up!"

Down below, clouds of sand are kicked up into the sky, tell-tale traces of sand-triremes making their way across the Sea of Sand. Three of them can be seen, flying brightly-colored banners that look more like a quilt-pattern of cloth than a unified symbol. In other words, they are probably merchant-traders making the trek across the sand, headed northward as well.

"Is shame. I enjoy you breeze," the Vartan scrawks to the mage. "So you decide whether or nots you want to come with when I go walking into zone?"

Wynona hmms at this. "I'm tempted, I must admit. I'd never had a chance to go back and investigate after my previous … adventure on the Lalee Papu." Her wings droop, and she makes a loud sigh. "I figured I couldn't afford it … but, frankly, I think I just didn't want to think back on that time very much. It's about time I did, though. If we find something worthwhile there, it could do wonders for my career! In fact… (sniffle) … maybe it could help me with my little … ah … nose problem." She giggles.

Zoltan droops similarly. "I woulds apprecate it if you came. You know more about magic than I do… and… hr… Herbir would probably recognise you before he does me."

Wynona gazes off into empty air. "Do you REALLY think he might be alive?" Her eyes look a bit wet. "I know the seer showed me a vision of what happened … and that it wasn't really my fault … but that was just a vision. For all I know, he could have just been kind … or maybe his magic was drawing upon what I BELIEVED to be true … or WANTED to be true. I so much want to believe that Herbir survived."

The Vartan rises up and pats Wynona's shoulder. "He alive… the Champion of Amber tell me so."

Wynona smiles faintly. "Well … surely TWO seers can't just be telling us nice little fables, hmm? In any case … yes, I think I would like to go along. But … just what do you expect to find? I'm afraid I never really had it explained to me."

"Kensington say that there a crystal thing out there that has windows to other worlds. I hoping that Cambio is on Abaddon, and that we can get theres from place in desert." Zoltan rubs the crystal streak on his chest. "I find no trace of him in Himar… so that mean that he must be where everyone else come from. Is long shot… and might just be wild Creen chase, but is all I gots right now."

Wynona squeaks, then says, "Really? Other WORLDS? I thought maybe this was just some land inside the Forbidden Zone. And … Abaddon? That's the Wanderer of the Sphere of Fire. Depending on which legend you listen to, it's either a sulphurous, flaming land of torment for the dead and doomed … or else it's a barren, lifeless, frozen desert. In either case … you might need an air mage just to make sure you can still breathe!"

The hippogryph walks to the rail to look out at the sands below. "There must be places you can breathe. Exiles in Himar could, and Champion say that Herbir alive… they do say that nothing grow there though, so I needs to get to him soon."

Wynona hmms and nods, then jolts, looking startled, as one of her candles flares up, then dissipates in a puff of smoke. "Forbidden Zone! We're almost there!"

Zoltan rushes to gather up his supplies. "Prepare to anchor ship! We going in rest of way by foot."

As Wynona alters the winds conjured by her spell, and then allows them to dissipate, the ship slows to a stop, hovers above the ground, and then slowly descends low enough so that large scoop anchors – specially chosen for the terrain – can be thrown out to hold the ship in place. They hold firmly, a testament that the sand below is not part of the Sea of Sand, but something much safer to traverse.

The airship is left behind, as three winged adventurers make their way … by foot. They are equipped for a journey through the desert, complete with goggles, sand masks, sand shoes, and full canteents. They also have bundled blankets and other weather gear to hazard the cold Himaatian nights … or whatever environment they might encounter in the Forbidden Zone … or beyond.

Bundled up, the Vartan tries to keep himself between Wynona and the winds… trying his best to serve as a buffer and make the trip as gentle on her as possible. He trudges off into the sands, hoping to find the crystal structure that might be his hope.

Ahead, the desert is clear, with no sign of anything that might be a tower within reach by foot. How can they possibly walk all the way to the horizon and then who-knows-how-much-further to a tower beyond that? However, as the Vartan has a chance to gaze onward, through the occasional clouds of sand kicked up by the breeze, his keen eyes pick up that the desert scene ahead is not as well defined as the rest of that around him. Oh, the differences are so subtle, since there really isn't much to SEE … but it's somehow a little more hazy, a little more blurry. The shadows cast by the dunes are cloudy. And maybe that shadow of a dune isn't really one at all … Maybe it COULD be a tower … and then the sky darkens above the trio, and a crackle of a lightning-strike shatters the silence. From nowhere, a storm materializes!

Zoltan trudges onward. "Wynona! How you holdings up?"

Wynona looks about her surroundings with wide eyes. "Ho boy … Ah … I'll just keep standing behind you, Zoltan. Otherwise, we might get separ – EEEEEE!" A gust of wind blasts through the group, kicking up a great cloud of sand, as a tumultuous thunder rumbles. A startled squawk can be heard from Kensington, as the world seems to tumble and turn randomly!

The Vartan makes a grab for behind him, hoping to get to the Eee before she gets blown away.

The hem of the mage's robe is just within reach, and even though nothing can be seen of the bat, the drapes grow taut, indicating that the bat must still be attached on the other side. The tempest tosses them about wildly, as they try to regain their bearings. So the ordeal continues … until … it slowly dies away … and the large black hippogryph finds himself in the sand, sunlight breaking out of the clouds and bathing him in its warmth again.

Zoltan shakes sand out of his feathers and glances at the bat behind him. "You okay?"

Wynona coughs and sputters, spitting out some sand. She wipes her hair (and more sand) from her eyes, and looks up at Zoltan. "Sure, I'm … ohhhhh!" She looks beyond him. "That must be IT! Ken – Kensington? Where did he go?" She looks about for any sign of the Korv corsair.

"KENSINGTON!" the Vartan calls out. He scans the sands for any sign of the Korv.

There's no answer. It would appear that the party has been split up, at least for now.

The open "clearing" of sand is surrounded by a wall of black … a cross-section of a storm that has been split at a distinct border, which encircles this patch of sand. In the center of the clearing is a broken stone tower that rises up from the sand like a bony finger accusingly at the sun. At the base, something glitters in the reflected sunlight.

Zoltan keeps his grip on the Air Mage in case anothee gust should pop up. "Come on. He know where to find us, and he gots supplies. If we go lookings for him we probably just get lost and even more seperated." He starts towards the tower.

Wynona nods, spits out some more sand, and trudges along. "I'm sorry I didn't get my preparatory 'corridor' spell fired off. I thought we were further out yet." She shakes her head, then looks at the black wall. "I guess I won't have the same problem on the way out, though, right?"

As the two approach the tower, it proves to be several stories tall, even though the top has been broken off, and lies in shattered pieces at the base. Most of the pieces are covered by sand, but here and there a glitter of shattered crystal can be seen. Though the exterior of the tower is dull stone, its heart must be shiny indeed. Also at the base of the tower can be seen a crystal or glass window. Despite the piling sands, the dust looks as if it has been blown away from this portal, keeping it open to the air.

The Vartan tries to pick up some of the pieces of the broken tower. He taps at the window with a talon. ( Kensington said that the entrance was at the top… I think. )

The crystal window is dark, but some faint lights can be seen within, perhaps reflections of the crystals that must be inside. The crystal wall is quite solid, though it lets off a sound like a chime when Zoltan's claws tap it. As for the pieces, most are too large to bother with, but there are several scattered bits that can be easily dug out of the sand, of varying sizes. There's no hint that they're anything other than mere crystal. They don't glow or do anything else suspicious.

"Do winds seem safe enough to make flight up to top?" Zoltan scrawks to the air mage.

The air mage mutters a cantrip, which takes all of fifteen seconds or so, then wets her finger and holds it up to the air. "It's calm here in the 'eye'. Whatever it is that's holding out the storm," she gestures to the black wall, "is doing a really good job of it."

Zoltan tries to dig out one of the smaller crystal chunks. "You no able to tell what doing it?"

Wynona shakes her head. "This sort of magic is the sort of thing that baffles even the best. And I'm not one. It's a Forbidden Zone, after all."

Wynona, taking a cue from Zoltan, reaches down and finds a piece of crystal, which she sticks in a pouch. "Maybe someone in the Temple would appreciate this."

"Well, Let's go see what inside, eh?" the Vartan scrawks. He unfolds his wings and makes a leap into the air, heading towards the top of the tower.

Wynona follows suit, winging after the Vartan.

The top of the tower is open to the air, an irregular fracture cutting off its top at an odd angle. As the two fliers rise, they can see more clearly the dazzling crystals that line the interior, glittering in the sunlight … and in the reflected and refracted lights of something deeper within.

"If I had something like this for store back home I be richest Vartan in Rephidim. Now I sees why Cambio like this place." He tries to land inside the tower.

The base of the tower is flat and smooth and devoid of sand, offering just enough texture to afford a secure landing place. Light pours in through the crystal window to the outside, which is clearer on this side, revealing a view of the desert, the black wall, and the deep blue of the endless desert sky.

In the center of the chamber hovers another source of light – a bright yellow orb that glows like the sun. Around it circle eleven orbs of different colors, covering each color of the rainbow and a few others – One of them slowly changes color as one watches, and another – surrounded by a disc-like ring – is rainbow-like in its hues.

Circling the base of the chamber are twelve crystal archways. All of them are filled by dark stone walls, save for the crystal window that opens out to the desert.

Zoltan carefully pulls out his piece of crystal, and then holds it against the mark on his chest. He's curious if the materials are the same.

It's possible, but even with Zoltan's expertise in things shiny, he can't make a positive match. Furthermore, the crystal scar has slowly been fading, blending back into the hippogryph flesh that should be there in the first place.

Wynona just gasps in awe at her surroundings, occasionally saying, "Ooo!" or "Oh my!" or "This is so WONDERFUL!" She suddenly throws her arms around Zoltan. "Thank you! THANK YOU! This is the most FABULOUS thing I've seen! I'm so glad you brought me!"

Zoltan ooomphs! "Hrr… you… welcome?" He looks at the orbs in the center of the room. "This part where it get tricky though." He looks for the sphere that might represent Abbadon.

There is one sphere that looks red, and it catches Wynona's attention as well. All of the spheres orbit the yellow central one, and this one's orbit might place it as the sixth orbit out … though it's hard to tell, since there are no convenient lines to trace the paths.

If this is a representation of the Wanderers in the night sky, it can't possibly be to scale, or else there would be many great orbs tumbling about the Procession.

The Vartan gently reaches out and taps the red orb as lightly as he can manage, hoping to get some kind of responce from the mechanism.

As the hippogryph taps at the orb … his claw goes right through what looked like a solid object just a moment before. This does not disturb the path of the orb in the least. Apparently it is naught more than a very solid-looking phantom.

*Tchack!* The clack of talons on crystal heralds Kensington's arrival, as he lands on his feet from above, his wings forming a shell around him. With two rough shakes of each wing, he throws sand and grit from his feathers, and his scarred beak opens in a harsh laugh. "Hah! Two victories for th' Cutlass! Storm: Nothin'!"

"Kensington!" calls out Wynona, and she throws her wings around the crow in a hug. "I'm glad to see you're all right! And … this place is WONDERFUL! … " She looks at Zoltan's inspection of the spheres. "It's also very weird. Can you tell us anything about it?"

"Kensington! I thought we lost you in winds. Glad to see you alrights… not want you to miss fun part of trip." Zoltan looks at his hand and then back to the little orbs.

Wynona says, "He just put his claw right through the red one!" She points at the red orb. "I thought for SURE it was solid. I guess this explains how it can float in thin air. Well … explain isn't quite the right word, of course."

The corsair throws a wing over Wynona's shoulder. "Heh, takes more'n a li'l sandblastin' anna stiff breeze to puts me down, m'dear. Though it slows me up, I guess." He gazes around again. "Well, I dunno iffen I kin tells ye anythin' ye can't see here."

Zoltan rubs his beak. "You remember which window you see Abbadon through?"

Kensington folds his wings, and sidles over to Zoltan. "Near as I kin tell, I didnae hafta do nothin' ta make 'em change. I t'were just standin' there when it did. An' I dunno that I saws Abaddon… saws a window with an ocean, anna window with a yellow desert, like th' one outside."

Wynona points at the window that shows the desert outside. "Well, that's the only window I can see. Where was the other window?"

"Just t'the left o' the one I saws the desert in." The Korv points it out.

The archway to the left of the crystal window is filled with dark, solid stone. Just like ten others that line the base of the inner wall.

Zoltan walks to the stone archway to the left of the window to the sands and presses the palm of his hand against it. "You do anything to make other windows appear?"

As the hippogryph steps in front of the archway … the one showing the desert suddenly darkens. Instead, the one that Zoltan walks up to lightens up, and is filled with a scene that casts a greenish hue upon the interior of the tower. Beyond the crystal wall can be seen crashing waves that come up against the other side of the window, and beyond that a raging tempest.

Green lightning crackles across the sky, and a tornado of water whirls across the ocean, suddenly splitting into two and then three that meander off into different directions, before dissipating entirely.

Kensington shrugs. "Iffen I did, 'tweren't nothin' special. I thinks I flew in, thens I just looked around. While I was thinkin' 'bout chippin' somethin' off, it changed. What… " The Korv stops abruptly as the scene changes in one of the windows.

As the hippogryph actually TOUCHES the window, it feels cold and wet … and not quite as solid as it looked. It's as if he's being pulled into it somehow…

Zoltan steps back, yanking his hand back in the process. He twirls around to look at the orbs again, to see if one of them looks different, and which one…

The blue orb, which had been glowing faintly (but not much compared to the yellow one in the center) now has a line of light tracing from it, across to the green orb – its neighbor in orbits. The green orb glows as well, and both are limned in a faint aura.

The blue orb might be, oh, five orbits away from the yellow sphere, whereas the green one is only four orbits out.

"Hrr… " The Korv eyes the floating spheres, then counts the number of spheres from the blue one to the red one.

It takes a bit of tracing, but it would appear that the red orb is six orbits out. That would make it a neighbor of the blue orb as well.

Kensington strides to the window on the other side of the yellow deserty one. "Seems like there's a kinda sense t'this, iffen ye think just so… " He pokes at the darkened window in a slapdash test of his theory.

The Vartan rubs his head a bit and moves to stand behind the Korv, waiting to see what happens.

The archway which Kensington pokes – this one being just to the RIGHT of the desert archway – lights up as the ocean scene fades. The room is filled with a reddish glow, as the archway lights up, and a scene appears behind it. It looks as if the avians are looking back on the rusty domain they left just a couple of weeks ago.

The Korv makes a gravelly chuckling noise in his throat. "Easy as walkin' a plank."

"Kensington… let me go first. There may be no way backs." Zoltan scrawks.

Wynona says, "Go? You mean … Oh! Wait! Maybe I should cast a bubble spell first? Or… ?" She looks askance to the black birds.

The red orb is now glowing. A thin trail of light bridges between the red and the blue spheres, and a faint aura surrounds each.

Kensington nods, and steps aside to make room. "Iffen ye likes. Eh… what's this 'bubble' thing yer goin' on about, Wynona?"

Zoltan nods his head at Wynona. "She think that air might no be breathable out there. This just to make sures."

"Ye thinks?" The corners around Kensington's beak crease into a frown. "'Ow long does this 'bubble' last, then? 'Ere, didn't ye say magic didna work on th' Red Cliffs, Zoltan? Might not work where we're goin' neither… "

Wynona says, "Now … this is going to take me an hour. Legends say that magic spells might work better in a Forbidden Zone, but I'm not going to take any chances on the casting time. Basically, all I'll be doing is taking some good ol' air from HERE and taking it with us. It should give us some limited protection from, well, stuff we shouldn't be breathing or the lack thereof. And a bit of protection against temperature, but that's iffy, too. I'll have to keep maintaining it, so don't expect me to be chatty." She giggles.

Zoltan sits down next to the portal. "I can waits." He looks out at the land beyond the gateway. "If it no work then I try to jump back through."

The corsair scratches the back of his head, trickling more yellow sand. "Well, yer th' expert, girl. I figures whoever puts this tower 'ere would think ta make it go out someplace wheres ye ain't gonna choke ta death… but 'ey, better t'be safe. Maybe some Sinai air'll be a nice gift ta brings 'em on Abaddon, har." He laughs raspily again, and settles down to wait as well.

Wynona sits down, pulls out her equipment, then silently regards a piece of chalk. She looks about the room, then back at the floor and starts – slowly, reverently – chalking out a runic circle. She sets out some candles, lighting them, and the long ritual slowly begins, with her squeaky chanting going on through the midst of it.

One good thing, at least. The desert air seems to be good for her. She hasn't sneezed yet today.

As the ritual continues, the view out the window reveals a bit more. There are wisps of smoke rising in the distance … and the not-so-distant ground as well. In fact, it takes keen avian eyes to tell for sure, but it appears that there are flames rising up from cracks in the earth. It is daylight there, much as the light from the open tower tells, but there's no sight of the sun to tell what hour.

The other side of the window indicates a location that is in a shallow depression in the rusty desert, thus limiting just how much of the landscape can be seen. Nonetheless, the sky does have a few wispy clouds.

After an hour of chanting, and a short game of k'tinza (played on a portable board that the Korv thoughtfully brought along), the magical bat finishes her ritual. "There!" she squeaks, then falls into chanting again, as she dutifully cleans up her runic circle. Wouldn't do to leave chalk on the floor of the ancients.

Nothing really feels different about the air about the fliers.

"Are we ready t'go, then?" He sniffs the air futilely, but then shrugs and presumes the bat knows what she's doing.

Wynona nods, and babbles gibberish at a regular and slow pace.

The Vartan's feathers poof out, but he rises up and pushes his hand against the portal. "We ready."

The archway lights up brightly, an ethereal glow eminating from the depths of the crystals that form its bridge and supports. The thin line of light connecting the blue and red orbs flares more brightly … and the crystal window ripples in a way much like a pool of water that has been disturbed by a pebble being dropped into its center. The hippogryph's talon sinks into the window and vanishes beneath the "water".

Wynona almost squeaks, but stifles the noise, not missing a beat in her incantations. Her ears blush, and she hurries to catch up with the Vartan, reaching out for his other arm.

Kensington starts to go in too, but stops short, reminded that Zoltan wished to see if there was a way to get back. He taps his foot impatiently.

Zoltan clasps Wynona's hand and presses forward through the portal.

Wynona's eyes go wide … and in a moment … the two are gone. The surface ripples. The scene on the other side does not change.

The archway is still bright, and the image still shows on the other side. No sign of the Vartan on the other side. The lights in the archway are very slowly, almost imperceptibly, starting to fade.

Kensington folds his wings behind himself, then takes to pacing fitfully. He begins circling around the chamber like some oddly-shaped extra planet orbiting the blazing light in the center. He begins counting the number of times he's gone around.

Time passes. The crystal archway slowly grows more dim. In fact, the whole interior of the tower is slowly darkening. The floating spheres become less distinct.

A quick glance to the roof of the tower reveals that it's still quite bright outside. In fact, it soon may become the only source of light inside the tower.

It dawns on the Korv that this could be a Bad Thing. "Damn this Dagh-spawned crystal witchery!" He tries to remember about how long it took to traverse the Forbidden Zone storm, in the hopes he can warn the crew back at the ship of what's happening.

Hard to tell. It would take a while. Maybe a half hour. More or less depending on whether the crow heads in the right direction and whether he gets thrashed about as much as he did before.

The harried Korv casts his gaze around. "Gah, no time, no time. *Rawk!*" Spying a few pieces of chalk and parchment left behind by Wynona, he scoops them up and begins hastily scribbling a message.

Out of the corner of the Korv's eye, he can see some movement in the window.

"If yur reeding this, we hav not come back from Abadun. Tel my crew to do with the ship as they pleez. Tell my cuzin, Gergesene St. Germain to light a candel at the chapel for me. Tel the coleegia abowt what hapened to Wynona. Tel everyone at Nikodeemuses Shiny Shop that Zoltan Cambio wuz looking for his da." The Korv pauses in his mention. Zoltan had kids, didn't he? Well, I hope they're provided for. "Tell Zoltan's kids that he luved… " At the movement, Kensington stops in mid-thought, and looks up.

On the other side of the window, a big black hippogryph can be seen, though the image is slowly fading.

The chalk squeaks as Kensington, startled, rips it across his writing surface. It falls from his wingclaw as he leaps to his feet, and rushes to the window. "Zoltan! Zoltan, can ye hear me?!"

The hippogryph waves frantically, his beak moving, but no sound can be heard. Both his talon-palms press against the other side of the window.

Suddenly, a bat comes into view. It's Wynona! She's holding a piece of parchment with writing on it. She holds it up. It says, "Reach out and grab me!" And then she looks at her own note, squeaks, and disappears from sight again.

Kensington raises his wingclaws to try to put one through the window!

Zoltan raises the note to the window, and his own claw … just as Kensington's wingclaw sinks through! There's this tugging sensation…

Kensington grinds his beak, and keeps sinking his wingclaw in, reaching out to get a grip on Zoltan's claw.

And then … the crow is sucked into the window!

The sensation is, to say the least, disorienting. The whole world stretches out, and the bird as well, for all he can tell!

Spots of light lengthen into lines, and the bird soars through a swirling vortex of light!

The corsair's beak starts to open, then snaps shut instinctively as he's pulled through the liquid-yet-not, feeling dizzy as his surrounding distort and blur into illumination.

The blurry vision congeals into a swath of red, a swath of blue, two dark shadows … and … *WHOMP*

A black crow bursts through the fading crystal window, and smacks right into an Eeee and a Vartan! The Eeee is propelled back, her wings flapping. "EEEEEEEE!" The Vartan, however, is unmoved.

Kensington whumps into Zoltan and bounces off like a bag of straw. He staggers for a moment, then sits down, hard. "Oof!"

Zoltan scrambles over to the fallen bat and helps her up. He looks at Kensington, then at the window, and then he lets out a long sigh.

The window fades into solid stone. The crystals stop glowing. Wynona squeaks. "Ow."

Wynona says, "Are we home yet?"

Kensington shakes his head. "I tried ta grab one o' ye, but the window just sucked me up likes a waterspout."

"Depend on what you call home. This home if we stuck here." The Vartan pulls his pack across his shoulders and motions towards the opening in the wall. "Come on. We mights as well get started."

Wynona makes a raspberry noise with her mouth. "Figures. This thing just is NOT friendly." With that, she gets up, groaning a bit for effect, and gathers up a few dropped components.

Kensington pulls himself to his feet. "I lefts a note in the tower. Iffen anyone sees it, they'll knows where we be."

Zoltan ducks out of a hole in the wall and looks up at the skies.

Wynona squeaks, pointing at one of the windows. "Zoltan, it's closing!"

Shards of crystal in a "broken" window slowly close together. Wynona hurriedly dashes through, to join Zoltan.

That leaves Kensington in the crystal chamber, though there's still plenty of room to squeeze through the closing window if he makes haste.

Wynona shivers, and unrolls a cloak from her pack, throwing it about her neck, and drawing her wings in close.

The Cutlass eyes the fusing crystals warily. "Well, I wanted adventure, so's adventure be what I got. Hope the air-dogs on th' ship don't claim her TOO fast. *Rawk!* Never e'en named 'er." With those thoughts in mind, the Korv follows after.

Zoltan stares at the broken crystal. "It heal itself?" He remembers the own shard in his pocket and digs it out again.

The broken crystal is unchanged from when Zoltan first picked it up. It shows no signs of being about to transform in any way. As for the broken window, the shards slide outward from recesses, and smoothly fit together – so smoothly that the cracks between the pieces disappear completely.

The result is that the crystal structure and its windows look completely unharmed, just as before. Only one of the windows – the one that the travellers came through – is darkened.

Beyond, the scenery is evidently not that of Sinai. Above, there is no hint of the Procession that would normally traverse the sky. There are no sky islands gliding about. No airships. The tower in the middle of the Forbidden Zone and the "black wall" are not to be seen.

Instead, a rusty desert stretches out, broken up here and there by vents in the rock that let out steam. Looking into some of the rifts, natural hot springs and even flows of lava can be spied. The air is very cold here … but at least these few openings in the earth afford some warmth. (And, fortunately, the travellers thought to bring along cloaks and blankets.)

In the distance, a citadel can be seen over the sands … and, beyond that, a great glassy dome that glitters beckoningly, surely large enough to encase an entire city.

There's a whole new world out there … and three travellers set out to explore it. Hopefully it's not so large that a single Vartan can't be found in it.