either of you ever be mistaken by your peers?'
'I don't follow you, grandsire,' Gord told him.
'With friends, comrades, allies, you may set aside your guards and wards in part. Here, now as we do. But if you do so, any being of power, a greater demon, a major devil, even a plane tar from the higher spheres will instantly see you for what you are.'
Gellor stroked his chin in thoughtful acknowledgment. 'It is a fair warning, Gord. We must always remember who we are, always be prepared to act in the face of hostility or aggression.'
Rexfelis smiled. 'Nicely put. Gord is our champion, but the wisdom of years cannot be done without. You, Gellor, are just the right companion for young thinking.' He placed his hand upon Gord's forearm and squeezed. 'We show little affection, but know that it is within — and pride, too! Would that I had years to spend instructing, counseling, being a friend. We have but scant days. Gord, mark my words and your friend's, too. You are changed, and plainly apparent as above the mortal now.'
'I understand, and I have always given Gellor heed.'
'Beyond that, remember that you are grown, altered, and henceforth your existence and whereabouts will be traceable,' the Catlord said solemnly. 'Beyond one or two places of safety, your every movement will be observable. Unless you are careful, your thinking will be noted and possibly read. With the power you now possess comes a whole host of difficulties not heretofore experienced by you.'
Respectfully, Gord nodded, but then said, 'Just as I learned when I played at being the unknown cat burglar, lord, I can learn quickly from instruction as well as my own experience. Please give me a little credit.'
'Gord- ' the troubador started to admonish.
Holding his hand up to stay that, Rexfelis interrupted. 'Yes. You are right, and I am condescending toward you as if you were a cub, not champion of Balance. Do allow yourself time for introspection and meditation whenever possible. You will handle all far better then.'
'That I will certainty do. We must practice much, alone and together, Gellor and I. The new strengths and abilities must be tested, gauged, and studied so that we can control them.'
'I will keep my eye on him. . perhaps even the enchanted one, lord,' the troubador said only half in jest.
'So. good! Excellent! Let's eat and drink now. There'll be no time later. This is the last opportunity we have before what is to be, at best, a long separation. There are too few such times!' And without further ado, Rexfelis set to as an example. Both men quickly followed suit.
Later, after eating much, but before finishing all that was to be drunk the Catlord observed, 'From the way you demolished the viands, I have no fear when you face the enemy. If you handle demons and devils in such fashion, there will be none left!' Gord and Gellor laughed in agreement, for they had indeed fallen savagely upon the food. 'Seriously, my friends, I see in you the power to send your foes flying in fear, the strength to deal with the darkest of the netherworld. That blade of yours,' he said to Gord, looking him in the eyes. 'Courflamme. It is the essence of our cause, and the most potent thing Balance has ever wielded. Have a care, though, for it may avail you naught against Tharizdun.'
Despite drink those last words stayed in the forefront of Gord's thoughts as he went to sleep many hours later.
Chapter 2
One hundred thousand and more men under arms marched through the Great Kingdom. Before these soldiers swarmed yet more thousands of vicious humanoid scouts and irregulars. The clash of steel and the tramp of hooves and iron-shod feet rang everywhere from the streets and courtyards of Rauxes, the kingdom's capital, to the far reaches of the empire.
No neighbor of the Overking's trembled, though. The Great Kingdom was torn by rebellion and internal strife. North Province and South were leagued to overthrow their monarch, while the Medegian army tore at the border marches, meaning to wrest them from the Overking while he was occupied elsewhere.
Did the other states of the eastern Flanaess rejoice, then? To the contrary — Nyrond, Almor, and the other northern neighbors of Overking Ivid were embroiled in their own disputes. Quarrels and skirmishes were rife. Open warfare loomed. So too in the south. Civil disturbances, banditry, and seafaring raiders made the lands of Sunndi, Irongate, and all the others red with fire and blood. Even the barbaric kingdoms to the far north, the Flan states, and the nomads of the west were embroiled in one form of strife or another. All of the continent of Oerik in fact, was in turmoil. At best, there was unrest; at worst, armed hosts clashed and slaughtered and wrought destruction.
This illness brought advantage to no one. not even the evil ones who sought to gain from it Whether allied to demons or devils, whether the conglomerate empire hammered together by the half-demon Iuz or the scheming forces of the Scarlet Brotherhood, the forces of Evil could garner no profit from the madness that seemed to sweep over the world. If their enemies were torn by factiousness, so too were the hosts of the netherworlds as they sought to conquer.
In the deadly game being played out on Oerth, attrition was the sole benefactor. Creatures died, fire and storm wrought havoc, famine and plague spread. As if in protest at the fighting, or perhaps in harmony with the desire for extinction, the very planet itself brought forth devastation. Freak weather, cold or hot, flood or drought, conjoined with tempests and tornadoes to decimate whole regions. Earthquakes tore gashes and leveled cities, while old volcanoes thundered to life after centuries of slumber and new eruptions built ever larger blotches of desolation.
Even those states whose military forces gained victories found their borders contracting. With their resources, populations, and strength of government dwindling, there was no way for conquerors to maintain control. Cartographers in the court might redraw maps to show extended territories, but in actuality the writ of each prince shrank to little more than the territory which he and his soldiers happened to occupy at the moment.
With such turmoil occurring, trade withered. Land and sea commerce dwindled. With markets gone and food scarce, people began reverting to subsistence activity: find enough to eat, avoid being slain by soldiers, bandits, or monsters, and be ready to take what could be taken if the opportunity arose.
On that portion of the cosmic game board that was Oerth, the little figures remaining in play became fewer and fewer, while the squares upon which they had stood altered to show ruin and wilderness. A whole continent disappeared under the waves. The waters rose. The form of Oerik shrank, and its coastline moved inland.
All of the multiverse was afflicted to some degree. Far-removed worlds, alternates of Oerth, were in flux; star-roving beings fought with others over galactic empires; entities combated with one another over planes and dimensions unimaginable to most humans. Woe was everywhere and every when. The darkness of Evil spread to stain all, yet its minions grew no greater. Evil pervaded the cosmos, but as it spread it thinned and grew tenuous in its power.
The vast disaster brought only sorrow and death. This condition was perceived by the lords of all the warring factions, but even they could do nothing about what was occurring. At least, they could do nothing short of ceasing their warfare — and that, of course, was unthinkable. Could the bright minions of Weal ever rest until dark Evil was destroyed? Never! So too, the ordered phalanxes of Law had only one reason for existence: the extinction of Chaos's wild realms. If no advantage was to be gained, then ideology became paramount. Each infinite cause continued to struggle in its contention with that it opposed.
All losses, no gains, and the very stuff of the multiverse turned inward and began to consume itself.
At the nadir of the nether spheres, Infestix saw the dire course that was unfolding. He raved and raged and redoubled his efforts to bring the pieces of the great relic together. Reasoning that only Ultimate Evil could redress things, Infestix brought more diabolic aid to the war in the Abyss at great personal cost to himself, promising the dukes of the Hells much in return for their reinforcements. Similarly, the Master of the Pits scraped the gloomy planes of Hades for fodder, sending regiment after regiment of hordlings, daemons, and mixed bodies of dreggals and dumalduns to be slaughtered in the fight.
Although the massive influx of evil soldiery had its effect upon the tide of the war, there were repercussions. The higher spheres saw the destruction occurring on all levels of the cosmos and attributed it to the proximity of the three parts of the malign artifact. Solars, planetars, and companies of devas, unable to strike directly in the
