PROLOGUE (Oh I so much love the faint sound of a quill scratching paper)

- Please, let me in, I almost cried in tears to the chief of the
village. - I need to use your library.
The village was in turmoil, people weren't sure what to do, with all the
recent events happening around them. Some had began to gather their
valuables and pack for a travel, who knows where. Some forced theirselves
to stick on to old customs and tried to live like they always had. Some
had lost all hope and just wandered on the muddy streets of the village.
And some, like the village chief that had appeared before me, stayed calm
and tried to understand what's happening. This village had finally what
I needed: it had a small library of sorts. Who knows for what reason had
these countryfolk been entrusted with these precious writings, but I
didn't concern myself with that. I had been searching for a library for
days now, how many I cannot recall. The larger towns were impossible to
approach now; I had tried to enter Dunamor at first, but the city gates
were tightly shut, and other towns were in chaos so that reaching the
town centre was simply impossible. So I had to ride around searching for
one in smaller towns and villages nearby.
- And why should I give you our scrolls?
- Scrolls, books, paper! Please, I need paper. I must write down what I
have seen.
- So do you know something about the recent happenings?
- Yes and I must write it down now. Please.
The chief closed his eyes and thought for a while. Then he looked at me,
and then past me onto the rain-soaked street where some men were fighting
each other. Nothing too violent, just some quarrel to let some steam
loose, when there's nothing else you can do to protect your family.
- Alright, let's do this. In exchange for some scrolls, can you tell us
what is happening?
- Thank you so much, I answered hastily, - Like you would believe anyways,
I said, mainly to myself.

So much has happened during the last few days that I have trouble
remembering it all. Drenched and worn out of countless hours of travel,
I am not a pleasant sight, and not a pleasant company either. The
conversation with the chief drained the energy out of me more than
I thought, but it had to be done, because now I just need paper. Paper
is a rare item these days. The rain have been soaking the villages for
ages, and earthquakes have been collapsing buildings here and there, so
finding a dry building with dry paper was not an easy task to do.
Finally I found some. I do feel sorry for the records that I have to
reuse now, as I feel sorry for the other countless stories and scripts
that would be lost in this chaos, drenched under collapsed bookshelves,
but after having seen too many globs of paper mass while searching for dry
sheets, I have lost all hope of saving even a bit of this culture for the
next generation. At this point, I don't even completely trust in the
magical vaults of Batcity either. Who knows what destruction might come
upon them, as even Shadowkeep wasn't safe. Of course I don't plan on
dying myself, and as long as there are people, there are stories, but
libraries with their vast knowledge can never be repaired if lost.

I have a feeling that if I catch an eyeful of sleep I will forget it
all. It seems like a dream, and like you forget dreams when you wake
up, I am afraid that I will forget everything if I just close my eyes.
I feel a bit ashamed of myself; I, after all, am a bard who are supposed
to remember countless of lyrics and recall enchanting stories whenever
the situation demands. I shrug off this thought and, with no time to lose,
begin to write.

A FEW DAYS AGO (Don't ask me how many days)

Like all good stories start in a small peaceful village, also this story
began when I was relaxing by the fireplace of my hut, playing some lute,
entertaining the mice in the corners. It had been raining some autumn
showers for a while,
[SIDE NOTE: Well I know now that they weren't just autumn showers.
Already I had had some doubts but it wasn't so unusual to rain weeks and
weeks on in these parts of the world. The rain did seem heavier this
year, but I didn't find it unnatural in any way. On the other hand,
lately I had been just inside, inventing some new cool rhymes.]
so it was quite surprising to hear a knock on the door. More surprising
was to find Lyriikka standing on the porch, panting heavily and brushing
water off his clothes. He had tied his drake to the porch hastily, and
it was breathing deeply as well, but I trusted that it wouldn't burn my
home down by accident.

- What the..., I began to formulate a question.
- Would you first let a tired traveller in to catch his breath before
asking any questions.

Lyriikka seated himself on the couch while I went into the kitchen for
some tea and tobacco. I was anxious to hear whatever had driven him
here, so I just got any brand I could land my hands on. When I brought the
tray into the living room, he was already emptying his pipe and waiting
for me.

- I saw something you'd never believe, he said almost casually.
- I can believe anything I can see with my own eyes.
- Well this one you can't see any more, so it might be hard to test that
hypothesis. You see, I don't believe it myself either, yet.
- Please, tell me more. Lyriikka was indeed a bard, he loved to build the
tension in his own pace, and lead the audience to wherever he wanted.
- It all began a couple of days ago. I was out walking in the rain,
listening to its tones and humming to it's drumming. I was quite high up
in the hills when it happend. The ground started trembling.
- Now that you mention it, the ground has been trembling here a lot lately
as well. I thought they were just normal earthquakes.
- It's what I first thought, but it wasn't that.
- So what was it?
- You see, when the trembling had stopped, I happened to look into the
sky. I expected to find rainclouds all over the sky, but now the eastern
horizon was different. The sky was clear there, but the horizon seemed
like it was on fire. And it looked like as the rainclouds themselves had
fled from the source of that fire. Then I looked more carefully and found
out it wasn't in fact fire but mile-high dust clouds swallowing the earth.

[SIDE NOTE: Damn, why didn't I write this down earlier. I'm missing so
many details that I'm sure I have heard. At that time I probably thought
that Lyriikka would record this as any respectable bard would. I wouldn't
want to step on a fellow guildmember's toes, but now it seems that
he won't be writing this down either, so it has to be me or no-one.]

- And at this point I can quess that it was the source of the quake, I
asked. I knew that I couldn't make him tell his story any faster.
- Indeed. I took Brownynose and began straddling towards it. Then it
happened again. I had gone just a dozen miles when the earth began shaking
again. I was lucky that Brownynose didn't get hurt, because this time the
shaking was more violent. I continued this riding and pausing during
earthquakes for a day as I approached the source of the dustclouds. It
seemed like the whole northeastern continent was on fire. The closer I
got, the more violent the quakes got, and during the quakes, I began to
hear screeching as if the earth itself was wailing from pain.
- Boy you're stupid.
- But wouldn't you have gone there as well, my friend?
- Point taken. And looks like you're alive.

[SIDE NOTE: Another earthquake shakes the building. Looks like the roof
is holding steady, but I don't know if I have enough time to finish this
story here.]

- Yup. So I got closer to closer to the yellowish-brown dustclouds, but
they were completely unpenetrable by eye. I had barely passed Hugoville,
I was not even near the barbarian guild, but I had already entered the
dustclouds. They were so thick that I could not see very far ahead of
me, and I could taste the dirt in my mouth. But I wanted to know what
was happening, so I prepared masks for me and Brownynose and went on.

So he really was crazy, I thought. No sensible person would go that far.
- Then the final quake began. Worse than anything before, it was good that
I wasn't close to trees there. Of course I had until then chosen my path
to be as far away from trees as possible. Again I and Brownynose collapsed
on the ground, and I could only try to shield my face in that trembling.
This time the quake didn't fade away like before. It just stopped
suddenly. And as suddenly as the quake went away, a strong breeze blowed
the dustclouds away. And then I saw the earth just lift off in front of
me and fly away.
He paused to enhance the dramatic effect of what he just said.

- What do you mean?
- Just that. Cone-like shape. Wide as far as eye can see. Top of it was
plain. Bottom was brownish-whitish stuff as rock and dirt would be.
I guess it was the whole continent.

Lyriikka's bardic skills seemed to fail him, when he tried to explain what
he had seen. I'm sure he had rehearsed this story a couple of times in his
head just to make sure I'd appreciate it, but then it looked like he had
forgot his lines.
- You are saying the entire continent just lifted off?
- Yes. And I don't believe it myself, either. I could just watch through
the dustclouds it slowly glide away north and up, but quite soon a strong
cloud of dust filled my eyes and ears. I had to cover my face so that
I didn't suffocate. I don't know how long I spent there, coughing, panting,
trying to avoid more dirt getting into my lungs. It must been hours, but
it could have been a day. There was no way I could tell what time of the
day it was in that darkness of the cloud. When the clouds parted a little,
it was an early evening. I could only look at the large hole in the
ground far away where once was the whole northeastern continent. Then I
remembered Brownynose. He had died in the middle of all that dust, even
with his mask. Then I stared at the hole again.
- Does this mean...?
- Yes it means exactly that. Imposing Conservatorium was there as well.
Looks like we can't go there anymore to abuse those luxurious couches and
wines any more.
- Did you try your pathfinder spell yet? I asked, and soon realized what
a stupid question it was, as pathfinder magic is famous for it's
instability. - Of course you didn't, I answered myself.
- Nope, I'm might be stupid but I'm not mad. So I walked around dizzily,
trying to find some village nearby. I didn't, but I found that drake over
there. Wandering in the wilderness, seemingly upset about the happenings
around him, which he didn't really understand, it was a indeed a rare
sight. "What the hell" I thought and tried my luck with my taming skills.
Seems the drake was so afraid that he wanted my company more than I
needed his, so together we flew to a nearby town. I rested a while there,
and offered my services to the townsfolk, but no-one wanted to hear me.
Next thing I thought that I would really want to meet a fellow bard, so
here I came since you lived comfortably near.
- Well thanks for your consideration. It was indeed a very interesting
and disturbing tale. I still won't believe you, though.
- So maybe you would you like to see it with your own eyes? My drake here
can fly over there in just a few hours, if there are no serious
thunderclouds in the way.

EDGE OF THE WORLD (As we know it)

We mounted the drake and lifted off. It rained constantly, so it was hard
to stay mounted on that semi-wild thing even with a saddle. I have no idea
how Lyriikka had managed to prepare this makeshift saddle in midst of all
this and surely tired, but it worked, and it had room for two. The flight
on the wings of a drake is a fast one, so it wasn't too long until
we had passed Dunamor and headed over the northern straits towards
Shadowkeep. From high up we began to see the massive destruction on the
landscape. "Damage" is not a suitable word, because it assumes there's
something left; now there was nothing left. Small lakes of lava had formed
here and there where the crevice had reached volcanic layer of the earth,
and some volcanoes had began to form here and there as well.

As we had to travel low because of the rainclouds, we couldn't see much of
what was happening beyond the borders of the destruction area. As we flew
closer the rains got heavier than ever. We decided it was better to
head back, as underneath us was the ocean, and in front of us was the
horrid landscape, both of them not very suitable for an emergency landing.
As we were flying back to civilized world, we had no choice but to land in
the woods near Dunamor. The rain was so pressing that it was impossible for
the drake to fly. Our every bodypart ached from the constant pounding of
rain, as would be expected if you're flying though it at high speed.

At that point the drake thought it was finally safe, or that it wouldn't
get any more protection from us, so it broke the contract. It completely
refused to cooperate, and we had to continue by foot. Then we also
noticed that the earth was shaking more or less constantly, not just
periodically as it had before. We knew those forests well, as both of us
had visited Dunamor and other nearby towns quite often, so we decided to
part and...
do what? I don't remember anymore. What did I think then? The need to
write this down came later. We were confused. Maybe we wanted to let the
nearby villages know of what was happening. With the bard guild gone,
the only thing left was our audience. Without audience we were nothing.
The guild auditorium always guaranteed audience for even the worst plays,
but we didn't have that safety anymore. Now I also understood why Lyriikka
had come to me in the first place. I was among the few people in the world
now who would appreciate a good tale. On the other hand I thought he had
cheated -- any bard would do the same any time.

I wandered around, without knowing what to do, what to perform. I went to
the nearby villages, singing about what I had seen, but most of the people
weren't interested as they had their own problems. It was around that time
when I made this decision to write this story. I don't know if I only wanted
to do this for myself or did I want others to read this as well. Maybe it
was just to calm my mind, to create something stable to grasp on to.

I did not think of much else when I set on my journey. It was not an easy
one, when I look back at it, but I have only faint images from that time.
It's no point trying to reconstruct those memories, because they do not
matter now. I remember the excitement as I approached yet another town,
and I remember the disappointment when I found out that most of it had
been washed away by flooding waters or just abandoned, when the people got
afraid enough to leave their homes to search for safer place in the hills
or left the town on boats. I don't want to remember those times. I remember
watching a flooding harbor town littered with boats, but the boats were
too few and the people were too many. I might write a song of those
sacrifices some time, but now is not that time.

I wrote what I wanted to write. Now I'm content and can finally close my
eyes for a moment.

AFTERWORD

So now I know why the village folk let me so eagerly use their library.
Of course I got robbed when I was sleeping, and the only thing they left
untouched is this parchment. Maybe they couldn't read, or maybe they
thought the story was boring... I want to think it is the former. The
village has been abandoned while I have been sleeping, but on the other
hand, I don't know how long I slept. A day? Two? A week? It can't be
too long, otherwise I'd be frozen to death, butt-naked as I were. I found
some rags and started a fire in the library with some old records. Poor
old records, but I need to warm up. I need to be alive to protect my
tales.

Slobber