Until You Fall - Beyond

*by MagnaCorpus*

## Prologue

***Narrator:*** Rokar, a land once home to a nation of people - the Rokari - who had advanced technology they used to create and power their civilization for a generation. This technology was built from a material known as *æther* that exists naturally throughout the land of Rokar.

*Æther* in its natural form looks like a pale green glowing crystalline root sprawling across the rocks and trees.  When harvested and refined in a runeforge at the hands of a Master Runesmith this natural mineral became a potent and powerful component to weapons, buildings, and power sources throughout the land.

As Rokar prospered and fractionated into philosophical factions, a great tragedy befell the entire civilization.  *The Calamity*, borne of the *Void* - a mysterious, dangerous, and crimson plane of existence where unstable red æther grows - spilled into and across the land of Rokar.

City after city fell to *The Calamity* and to the horrors that came with it until none remained of the once proud civilization, save one: Agatha.

Agatha is a Master Runesmith whose skill with manipulating æther allowed her to transcend her Rokari body and become a being of pure, shapeless æther; a being with the power to travel through space almost instantaneously and who can possess inanimate structures such as large crystals.  Using her skills Agatha manifested a new Rune Knight from the remaining æther in her forge and imbued sentience into them. She tasked the Rune Knight to travel through the Shattered Woods, through the Forest of Rokar, past the Gateway to the City, and into the City’s Outskirts to find and destroy the ravenous Æther Horror.

The Horror is a creature of pure malevolence that crossed from the *Void* into Rokar after *The Calamity*. The Æther Horrors are destroying what remains of Rokar City and the entire land of Rokar. They corrupt the æther to create unnaturally large, unstable blooms and use those blooms to create monstrous creatures - husks of unraveled Rokari - as their protectors against the Rune Knight.

After many, many victories against seemingly endless Horrors, the exhausted but enduring Rune Knight talks with Agatha about her recent discovery.

## Gǣlek

***Agatha:*** Champion! You have done well. You have exceeded even my greatest expectations.  Creature after creature you cut down, and still they ravage our lands.  Mighty though you may be, you and I alone are not strong enough to stem the tide of this infestation.

Despair not! For I have news that will lift your heart! I have been searching through the æther for any sign of another runeforge, another survivor, and my search has borne fruit. I *knew* we could not be the only ones remaining.  In my search I found Gǣlek, a Master Runesmith and keeper of the runeforge on the eastern side of Rokar.

Using the æther you have collected, I believe I can reconstruct a portal in this runeforge and link it to Gǣlek’s runeforge using the connection we have established.  Once the portal is restored, you will be able to travel to Gǣlek’s runeforge and there, together, the three of us may be able to devise a plan to end this nightmarish incursion once and for all!

Stand back!

***Narrator:*** An explosion of light and dust knocked the Rune Knight back onto their heels.  Broken cobbles and stone began to rise from the heap behind the runeforge training husk and slowly reshape themselves into a bridge. The bridge extended deep into the depths of the runeforge where a pale yellow glow of an active portal burst to life from within the center of a dusty stone arch.  When the wispy blue æther dust dissipated Agatha spoke again.

***Agatha:*** Now, Champion, it is time for us to travel to Gǣlek and continue your quest to defeat the Horrors and restore Rokar once and for all.  I will be there with you when you arrive on the other side.

***Narrator:*** The pale blue pulsating glow of Agatha’s large crystal in the center of the runeforge faded to darkness.  Agatha had left, and now it was the Knight’s turn to take that fateful step through the nascent portal into the unknown. The Rune Knight walked across the reconstructed bridge and stood in front of the yellow humming portal. Uncertain of what lay ahead but filled with the trust that Agatha would not lead them to harm, the Knight stepped into the portal and was consumed with the familiar whooshing sound of teleportation.

## Beyond the Outskirts

***Narrator:*** Gǣlek’s runeforge was a mighty structure much like Agatha’s.  Though Agatha's forge lay buried deep underground where none but the knowing may find it, Gǣlek’s forge was set high atop a rock cliff. Its majestic twisting spires mimicked the natural design of the æther that lies veined through the rocks, grass, and trees. On the eastern side of the imposing edifice was a sheer drop of no less than one hundred and fifty meters. Impenetrable. Unscalable. It was a foreboding sight to any who imagined laying siege.

On the western side lay long, sloping foothills leading from lowlands just outside the City’s slums up to the impervious gate of the runeforge. No Unraveled or Horror dared travel this far from the City Center let alone attempt a breach of this Rokari bastion.

The Rune Knight stepped out of the swirling yellow cloud to find themselves perched upon a broad and expanding walkway.  Unlike the bright blue ambiance of Agatha’s runeforge, Gǣlek’s was far darker with a grim air of seriousness.  The walls were unadorned and high above a few arrowslits allowed daylight to filter down into the dim cathedral.  In the center of the room stood a tall forge, cold and dark.  No æther fire had burned for quite some time.

As the Knight absorbed the space around them, they once again heard Agatha’s voice ringing in their head as if talking closely next to one’s ear.

***Agatha:*** Welcome, Champion, to Master Gǣlek’s runeforge on the eastern side of Rokar City!

***Narrator:*** As if on queue a Rune Knight-esque figure began to coalesce two meters in front of the Knight. Gǣlek had no discernable face. Indeed, his body was little more than an evanescent mist of green æther, but his booming voice rang clear from where his face would be.

***Gǣlek:*** I welcome you both!  It has been so long since I have had contact with another. I feared I may be the last in Rokar.  But now that you are here and we have the power of not one but *two* Master Runesmiths I have a plan to retake Rokar from those devilish abominations. I was once known to be a great inventor of ætherial weapons and æther-powered devices that permitted me to defend this great forge.  Now again I have plans for a massive ætherial device that we may use to seal the accursed portal near the City Center where the Horrors crawl into our plane from the *Void*.

This device will require not only a significant amount of refined æther, but we will also need to connect it directly to the master Ætheric Generator in the City’s Center.  To establish a connection a warrior imbued with ætheric powers from myself or another Runesmith must fight their way through the Foothills and the City Barricade, past the City Slums and into the Inner City where they must touch the Ætheric Generator.  Once that connection is made my machine will have enough ætheric power to seal the rift to *The Void* once and for all.

Such a journey, however,  is unquestionably too perilous even for a valiant Rune Knight such as yourself.  Agatha has told me much of your exploits on the western side of the City.  But with my help and Agatha’s knowledge of ætherial manifestation, together we will create for you a companion, a Rune Captain to aid you in your quest. Behold!

***Narrator:*** Gǣlek and Agatha both began to chant ancient Rokari spells in unison.  The runeforge trembled and quaked as blue and green mists of æther swirled about the center of the room.  Suddenly the dorment æther forge jumped to life in a piercing blue-green blaze casting a blanket of heat across the Rune Knight’s face.

Scraps of armor clambered out from their dusty resting spots under stone and in forgotten corners mixing with the swirling æther cloud as the hulking form of a Rokari Captain emerged.  Lastly a heavy iron hammer floated down from somewhere in the darkness above into the firm grasp of the assembled giant.  A flicker of blue-green flashed into the eyes of the Rune Knight’s new companion.

***Agatha:***  Champions, go! Fight your way to the Generator and let us end this Calamity for good.