The Home Stone

The Rogue

Present Day

The sun was shining and the day was going to be another beautiful one for the gathering of the five friends, as Shannon stepped outside of her little cabin and sat down on the top step of her front porch. It had been twenty years ago, almost to the day, when a very confused Jennifer Wells, from another time, was transported into the body of this elf girl, named Shannon Brightstar. It was twenty years ago that she had met her new friends and began a complete new life. Unable to return to her own time, Jenny, as she was known then, took on the role of Shannon and accepted this world as her new home. She still remembered that day, when she awoke lying flat on her back and staring up at a cave ceiling. Once her eyes began to focus on her surroundings, she noticed a young woman looking down at her and smiling. Now when she thinks back; her first questions to her new friend must have seemed so strange to her, as this world was completely without modern machines. She could still see the puzzled look on Roma’s face, when Shannon asked to use a telephone. Today when the subject comes up the two just stare at each other and begin laughing while shaking their heads. She asked herself for a long time, “What kind of a world had she been brought to?” and always the answer came up different. She had been brought to a world where there are monsters and above all, magic.

Since that day the elf girl found out that she had the ability to use magic and over the past twenty years she tried to learn the spell that had been used to bring her to this place. In a tiny room at the back of the house, she would sit day after day at an old oak table, poring over and searching through old tomes filled with magic spells, hoping to find one that could send her back, but she found nothing that would aid her in getting home. The windowless room was filled with all sorts of old books. Some were stories of past wars and others spoke of the history of Aan. It was in one of these that Shannon learned what had happened to her world and to all that lived in the ancient times.

It was said that one-day huge fireballs fell from the sky and destroyed everything upon the face of the earth. The land was poisoned and nothing grew for many, many years. The race of man went into caves and hid there until it was safe to walk the earth once more, but not all came forth right away. Since the elves have been here long before the beginning of man, they were the first to see what damage had been done to the world. They were the first to watch as the different races emerged from their underground caves.

Not the entire race of man went into hiding and those that survived the cataclysm began to change and mutate into different beings. Some that were closer to the poisoned land became hideous creatures such as trolls and goblins. Others turned into orcs; ogres and some so hideous that they elected to find a place underground where they stayed. No one wanted to deal with them, so they waged wars upon everyone who lived above ground.

When the dwarfs decided to come out from their caves, they and the race of man attacked the demons, as the creatures were called. Even the elves got involved and finally the hideous creatures were defeated and were forced back to what is now called the Underdark. There they still plot for the destruction of all those that opposed them. Only those that served them, the goblins and trolls, were able to continue waging the war above ground.

While gazing through one of the old magic books that her aunt Teagan had left to her; she learned that it took a total of three different spells from three different locations to complete the transfer of the two minds. One spell, to protect the two bodies from the blue lightning that had struck her and the second was to transfer the original thoughts of Shannon into Jennifer’s body and the third spell was to bring Jenny’s thoughts into Shannon’s body. The transfer spells were only to last a short time and then return everyone back to their normal time.

All three spells had to be used at the precise time, but something went horribly wrong. The time barrier had been too great and the clerics at Sanctum could not complete the first spell in time. Without the protection for Jennifer’s body, the blue lightning did more damage and eventually killed her, leaving Shannon’s thoughts to die with Jen’s body. Still homesick, Jennifer now accepted her new life within the confines of the elf girl’s form. From these tomes Shannon also learned how to control and use her magic. Though still not as powerful as her aunt was, the elf girl could hold her own against overwhelming odds.

As she sat there on the wooden step of her tiny house, she let her eyes wander over to the dwarf, Captain Maynard, Blick’s most trusted and close friend. Taking charge, he was busy in organizing today’s events. This was to be a good day. Every year the five friends met at one’s home and celebrated their friendship.

They also celebrated the defeat of Malodor, a dark druid, who tried to take over this world, using his army of Orcs. They remembered and mourned a sixth and fallen friend, Duncan. The dwarf lost his life to the dark druid, while trying to throw a box, containing a vial of a virus that was created by the ancients and survived all these thousands of years, into the fiery cauldron of the volcano called the, “Dragon’s Mouth.” Carrying his body back down the slope of the erupting mountain, they made it as far as the tiny bay where Biddle was supposed to be waiting, but there was too much danger from the flowing lava that they had to let go of their friend. Had they tried to swim, holding the dwarf, they would have all perished in the boiling waters. They had lost a good friend and so every year when the five got together, they toasted the old warrior.

Maynard had his men putting up tables and enough chairs to accommodate Blick and Kirin, when the dwarf arrived with their entourage. Blick brought with him a dozen or so warriors and all were famished from their long trip. There were plenty of barrels of good strong Dwarf Ale and some of Maitland’s finest Elven wine, which the Dwarf Captain had procured in Sweet Water.

Off to one side, four dwarfs had a whole deer and a wild boar roasting on two separate spits, with which they had been fussing over since the early hours before sunrise. Another group of dwarfs were busy erecting the dozen or more tents needed to house the entire company, for they all would not fit into Shannon’s tiny house. Even the weather was promising to co-operate. Standing, she walked on over to where Maynard had sat down to eat. She smiled as she sat down on the opposite side of the table facing the dwarf. He was eating breakfast that consisted of hard black bread, strong cheese and good quality dwarf ale.

Shannon sat there staring at the goings on, and wondered as to what had happened to her parents and relatives. She spent the first ten years searching for clues. Thousands of years ago, several large asteroids hit the Earth. The combined forces of all the countries did not have enough power to destroy them. All they managed to do was to break up some of the smaller ones so that they would cause less damage. Or so they had hoped, but that did not happen in the way they wanted. A few were broken down to city size killing rocks while several of the larger ones hit the surface with their full force. Two hit the central United States and southern Canada, causing the continent to sink in the center. The melting of the ice caps, fresh water rushed in and mixed with the salt water from the rising oceans and flooded the central part of North America. Thus, creating the new inland sea or, the Eastern Sea, as it is called now. The force was so great that the Appellation Mountain and Smokey Mountains rose hundreds of feet higher, creating the new mountains called The Dragon Isles.

People that live in the flooded areas either died or made it to higher ground, but there they could not survive either. Forest fires, floods and a way of life ceased to exist. With nuclear plants shut down, the radiation poisoned the earth. Those, who did survive, mutated into the new races, such as Orcs, Trolls, Goblins and other nasties. These were the first to re-occupy the new world. Elves or the first race were the next to come out of hiding. Working with their earthly magic, they slowly made their new world fertile again. They introduced new strains of seeds and began the process of replanting everything. Both, for food and other plants, such as trees and bushes. Dwarfs stayed the longest underground. What started out as ordinary people just trying to survive without machines to keep living a regular life, they managed to live on deep underground, but there was a price to pay. Not having the huge caves to grow and spread, the dwarfs lived in low and cramped spaces connected by equally narrow and small passageways. It was only a few thousand years later that the few remaining humans burst forth from their caves and began to repopulate the land. Having had machines from the old world to keep out any radiation and growing plants in green houses that simulated the outside world, they grew their food underground. Once these machines began to break down, they emerged from their caves and settled in the new land.

The records of the history of ancient times were lost. Many of the stories were mostly handed down by word of mouth and recorded history was only started again about two thousand years ago. Anything before that was considered to be only children’s stories. Some chroniclers did manage to write down some of the hearsay and stories that had been told over and over so they would not be forgotten. A few of these stories were true and some were completely made up. After all, Shannon was the only person alive, who had any proper knowledge of the ancient world and this made her very popular with the historians and chroniclers of today. Even the clerics whenever she visited Sanctum, questioned her relentlessly about the ancient times. Shannon did not mind, because every time she answered a question, she mentally revisited her former home and friends. She was very careful not to disclose any information that could be taken and used in the same way as Malodor tried to use the ancient magic at the Dragon’s Mouth, some twenty years ago.

Shannon turned her attention back to the four men fussing over the beasts, turning them ever so slowly to brown the meat. The aroma that was on the wind was mouthwatering. She could not wait to taste it. Dwarfs were not good sailors or horsemen, but one thing they could do and that was to cook. Some of the best recipes came out of a dwarf kitchen. Elven cooking was a bit on the bland side compared to the dwarf’s spicing.

Returning to the cabin she sat down on the porch again, closing her eyes and smiling, she leaned back against one of the wooden beams supporting the extended overhang of her porch and let her mind wander. Soon she found herself in her brother’s back yard, with the rest of her now long dead family. They had all come over for a BBQ, in honor of Jennifer, who had just accepted a job with the Anderson Research Labs. A private facility that works at finding cures and antidotes for all kinds of diseases, from the common cold, to the deadliest viruses known to mankind. A large tent had been erected in the backyard because rain was threatening to dampen the ceremonies. Her brother was a successful businessman in the advertising world, but she thought that working in a laboratory that worked on finding cures to help humanity to live longer and healthier, would be more satisfying. Jennifer could not wait for Monday morning when she was to report to the facility and begin her new career. The house of her parents was built on a large piece of land just outside a small community. Her parents had been farmers and were now retired. They sold off the entire farm, keeping only about an acre for themselves. They still wanted to have a garden and kept a few chickens around for the eggs and later in the fall would have enough meat in the freezer for the coming winter. Slowly one family after another arrived and Jen greeted them all as they got out of their cars and escorted them to the backyard. Once everyone had arrived the festivities began. The huge brick BBQ was lit and out came the coolers with all the refreshments. For the younger folk, there was plenty of soda and lemonade available. For the grownups there was enough wine and beer in the coolers to last them several days. Jennifer’s parents did not believe in running out of anything. There were hamburgers, hotdogs and even some steaks for everyone. No one would leave here hungry today.

Bob and his wife Lucy came over to chat with Jen. All in all, the entire family comprised of about thirty people and Jen’s parent’s house was just too small to hold them all. That is why they had rented a large tent so that they all could sit together for the party in their daughter’s honor.

Sitting in a large wicker chair just outside the tent flaps and in deep conversation with her brother and sister-in-law, Jennifer was almost sure that she had heard her mother call out a familiar name. “Shannon?” Again, she heard her call the name, but as she looked around, she saw no one by that name. No one in her family or her friends went by the name of Shannon. Again, the name was called. Only this time the person calling was much closer. Awakening from her daydream, the elf girl’s mind quickly returned to the present time and once again Shannon found herself sitting on the porch of the little cabin.

Turning towards whoever was calling, she saw her good friend Roma, mounted on her favorite, roan horse, riding up towards the house. She was dressed like an elven hunter in her green and brown garb. A longbow and quiver of arrows clung to her back while her scabbard with a long sword was strapped to the saddle. As the animal came to a halt Roma dismounted and ran up towards the house.

Forgetting about the daydream, Shannon rushed down the few steps and ran out to greet her friend. She was always happy to see her. Roma and the elf embraced each other, for they had not seen one other since before the winter had set in. It had been a rather cold and long one, with snow piled up to under the eaves, making travel almost impossible. What was usually a day’s travel to Sweet Water for supplies, took almost four days back and forth.

“Rowan didn’t come with you?” asked Shannon.

“No,” Roma replied. “He had to stay behind, because Tom and Melba are just learning to run the farm. Maybe next year.”

Last summer Rowan and Roma got married. It was a quick engagement, for the young girl had only met the handsome man a few months earlier. Everyone was surprised when Roma announced they were tying the knot. No one had ever heard of or seen this man before. It was as if he appeared out of thin air, but Roma was happy and that was all that mattered. So, Rowan was accepted into the circle as one of them.

After the greetings were out of the way, Roma brought her horse around the back of the house, where Maynard and his men had built a small stable surrounded by a corral, large enough to accompany at least twenty horses. With the saddle removed and the horse set loose in the corral, the two girls checked out what the cooks were up to.