Impact, 27th Year of the Palsho Era

They’d gathered in Dargen. The capital city overflowed with pilgrims and sightseers. It was said that the star could collect all the wishes of the people and bring down the blessings of the ancients. It was said heroes could be chosen and would rise above the ranks of simple mortals. That anyone could be a hero if they wished hard enough.

But that was before.

It happened far too quickly. Stargazers were the first to see the growing slash against the sky. They warned their friends:

It’s coming! It’s almost here!

Why does it look different?

It was barely a thought formed into a sentence as masses crowded in the streets of Dargen to turn their faces up to the growing twilight of a midnight sky. There was a tremor in the people’s bones, a sudden feeling that, perhaps, their wishes would not be answered.

Maybe it would not pass by them after all. Maybe it would be too far to bless them. Maybe, after all this time, it simply would not work. What if its magic was gone? They had waited so long.

The serpent had been a quick black slip against the illuminated sky. Its jaws had been a wide, hungry shadow against the moon-bright streak and its sky of ghostly light. Then a burst of sound shook the tides and the stone roads quivered the people’s feet.

What should have been air in the next breath was only horror.

The Kilgana Star had shattered. Its pieces rained fire over their heads. One crashed into the ocean mere miles from the shore. A piece of the heavens never meant to touch the ground. Waves rocked the boats in port; the ocean pulled back in the threat of tsunami. Where had the dragon gone? Gone, a glowing thread fallen in the north.

Amid the crush of panicked people, a conscious thread pulled together, a question forming in every terrified mind.

What would happen now?

Two Weeks after Impact, 27th Year of the Palsho Era

Coryur Grislinger carved one more line into the crystal orb. The effect was instantaneous: the sigil glowed bright and sunk into the clear surface like a pebble dropping into water. He breathed a sigh of relief. It had been quite a long time since the magic that had awakened in him 175 years ago had been so bright. It felt like a muscle stretching after long disuse and, before he knew it, he was humming happily as he placed his final prototype onto the shelf of his office, a series of crystal balls with a thin line cut through their middles where they could twist open and close, encircling their foe completely.

“That should do it, eh?” He smiled up at his window.

The plant on his windowsill did not talk back.

Three days later, in what should have been the peaceful town of Diffler, the tiny scientist climbed over the corpse of a thirteen-foot tall owlbear to reach what he believed to be the cause of the sudden infestation.

In his experience, crystals were rather good at being shiny. This one was not. It sucked in the light instead, creating a shroud of magical darkness around itself. He resisted the urge to take measurements right away. Behind him, six ragged, blood-spattered adventurers with their newly awakened powers tried to catch their breath. One of them was definitely dead. And there seemed to be an angry horde of more owlbears racing towards their exhausted group.

He probably should get this over with.

He unscrewed the two halves of the orb and let it grow to the size needed to fit over the dark shard. Then, with a quick snap and twist, he had it.

He also fell with a hard thump on his backside. The owlbear he had been standing on was gone. So was the horde that had nearly caught up to his guardians. Sounds of birds and chittering squirrels refilled the forest around them and villagers peered out from behind their blockades.

“Haha! We did it!” Coryur lifted up the glowing containment orb, now shimmering bright yellow that illuminated the ground around him.

Coryur’s moment of glory was interrupted when one of the adventurers passed out from blood loss. Another raised his hand.

“Yes, Tormund?” said Coryur, trying to control his temper.

“Can… we bring a cleric next time?” asked the adventurer.

“Do what you want,” said Coryur, trotting off with a glowing globe the size of his middle. “I have experiments to run!”