Prologue

The gongs of war and the thunder of warhorse hooves shook the earth as magic tore the ground asunder. The steady drumbeat that led the marching armies echoed across the land and the hoarse chants of soldiers were like battlecries raised half-heartedly. Banners both tattered and whole, tasseled and plain fluttered in the dismal wind that blew across the field of battle. The stillness of the surrounding world seemed a silent lament for the coming slaughter. No tree moved in the breeze, no bird sang and no critter crawled across the forest floor.

War would never have been declared if the journey into another world had been a peaceful one, but even the best plans fall into disarray when the battle comes. The humans met resistance. They never knew that they would be met by a force so powerfully magical that they would be repelled. After all, they had expected that the Nexus was just a barren wasteland filled with portals, but no, there was something entirely different guarding it.

Above what would soon be a bloody battlefield was a milling mass of black feathers, beaks and talons. The skawking of carrion-eaters filled the heavens, an omen of bloodshed that had never been seen in the history of the world. The clouds of war were gathering and soon, they would descend.

The sunset sky was streaked with colors and the wispy clouds above shone with a plethora of shades and hues. The clang of hammers on steel predominated the atmosphere of the encamped soldiers. The rasp of whetstones against sword, axe and many an assortment of blades drowned out the commands being bellowed on every corner of the camp. The skies seemed to darken for men have challenged the realms of the unknown.

Not too far from the camp, three massive arches towered. The white marble giving off an orange glow in the light of the setting sun. Images flickered in the space under them and it was as though looking through water. They were heavily guarded, an entire phalanx of soldiers surrounded it along with seven of the most powerful arch-magi that were in the camp at the moment. The sheer number of people in camp was enough to provide the archmagi with energy enough to level a city, they knew no enemy could cross the arch without being killed.

Beyond the arches was a realm far beyond mortal understanding, where worlds intersected and one could see the planes as far as the eye could see. It was a world of infinite darkness and no sun shone, but light permeated the very air. Upon marble pedestals that floated in the void, massive scrolls were suspended and they overflowed the boundaries of their pallid stands; the rest of their contents spilling down into the dark abyss.

Connecting the platforms was a network of bridges and ramps that distorted perception. What seemed to be far could be but paces away and what seemed to be near at hand could be beyond the horizon.

In the middle of this world, a massive temple stood where Dragons held sway as guardians. Anyone who entered the temple in the world of the scrolls found themselves inside a replica of the temple in the world of the dragons. No one yet knows how to truly enter the temple in the world of the scrolls.

Recently, the humans have found a way to manipulate the world of the scrolls. Now, war is being waged on both sides of the world of the scrolls. On the side beyond one of the scrolls, the humans and their allies. On the other, in a world far beyond reckoning where dragons ruled the land in just compassion, were the stewards of the world of scrolls and their amassed army of sorts.