Prologue

The Plains Before the Pōrteac, Terra Timeline 90124

Golden wisps blew back in the roaring winds as the pair rode across the plains to their destination at the Edge. 

"We are almost there, my lady." 

Sky-blue eyes searched the horizon behind for some sign that they were being pursued. None met them.

Not one wisp of smoke, nor the pounding of hoof-beats rattling the ground, could be heard behind them.

Only the pounding of their horse's hooves and the wind's howl.

The golden-haired beauty's chest ached. She leaned forward to tighten her arms around the rider's middle. 

Crimson dotted the corners of her eyes, she tucked her head into the shoulder before her. The rips across her bodice quivered when she shook as she remembered the blade that made them. 

"We are here, my lady." 

The lady's arms relaxed. She peered over the top of the horse's head to find the towering columns that supported Pōrteacaleum. 

The equine stopped at the base of its stairs. The shimmering pools of light from within the portal parted. 

A hunched-over figure, dressed in rags and supported by staff, came from the Pōrteacaleum's shimmering doorway.

A pale nose could be seen, the figure tipped its head upward as the young woman disembarked. 

A reedy voice came from beneath the cowl, "A fine mess." 

"I wish to undo it." The young woman stepped forward, her hands clutching her skirts, "I was told your kind could help me." 

A laugh that caused shivers to run down the lady's spine poured from beneath the shadowy recesses of the cloak.

 "What have you heard, stupid girl?" 

"I don't have time!"

A golden curl that was already growing dull fell over her shoulder.

"This can't be how it ends."

Her hands tightened upon her ripped skirts, her teeth glinting as she clenched them. 

The cowled head tilted and a thin wisp of white, almost silver hair fell.

"Turning back time comes with a price. It is not something to be done upon a whim." 

"Whatever it is, I'll pay for it." From the pocket of her cloak, the young woman brought forward a jingled bag filled to the brim with gold coins.

Long, thin fingers shot forward and grabbed her wrist, making her drop the pouch on the ground. The coin spilled across the terra and she let out a gasp. 

The figure drew close, their eyes peeking from beneath the darkness of their hood. One eye was a piercing amber and the other a glowing turquoise. 

"Lady Adeena Nesrin, you will never be able to move against me. The moment you do…" A deep cruel chuckle escaped him and his form shrugged. "There is always a penalty for meddling with time."

***

At the heart of Terra, in the caverns at its core, sat a tower of crystalline Pōrteacaleum.

It had sat undisturbed for hundreds of years. It came alive for thousands of moments rewound themselves within its facets.

The caverns shook and the face of the stone began to crack from the brunt of twenty years of lives lived and lost.

Faces and figures flickering across; their mouths open, shouting mute words as their actions became undone. The last scenes showcase life and death.

A falling star flew across each facet before the Pōrteacaleum gave its last shudder and burst into thousands of glittering shards. 

All that was left was starlight flickering in the darkness.