Such are things that have passed...

Year of our Liberation 282

The duchess persed her lips and stared blankly for a moment as the realization of what was happening finally took hold of her senses. She saw the kitchen boy Ake disappear into the portal behind the royal guardsmen, but payed no heed to it. What did it matter now? They were doomed, even now the booming of unearthly scurrying feet could be heard pounding outside the palace. She could at least take solace in the fact that her son had escaped and was in good hands with the guardsmen....

What a sharp contrast it was, what dark and cruel irony. Even now as High King Cambruin marched to the last hold of the elves to claim victory, Amn counted it's last minutes and breathed her last breaths heavily. Every part of her body willed her to weep, but she would not. No weakness could she show in the face of her people, King Aclamont had fallen, her husband Edellion was lost, the Brotherhood had vanished. She was all that remained of Amn's hope. Her right hand fingers broke skin as they squeezed harder and harder on her wrist...

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Year 290 Amnite Reckoning

The prison camps of the north had been cruel indeed. The survivors of Amn's destruction had withered away to a handful of broken, hopeless husks of human beings. Only one retained her sanity. Gwenhyfar, the high-born duchess of Amn had clung desperately to her fading memories of humanity. The others who had survived Amn's fall were either broken by the the tragedy or driven mad by The Turning. Even in four years Gwenhyfar could not come to terms with the event. Was it the fall of Amn that had angered he gods so tremendously? She was not so arrogant.... Was it the coming of the Turning that made the very heart of far-seeing Amn weep and burst at the horror of the betrayers stroke....before it even occurred? The answer was not, and would probably never be clear to her, but the question would likewise, never cease to haunt her. She would watch her people, what was left of them, and believe with all her might, that she could save at least a few of them. Where were the brave brothers of Amn? Where were they now when she needed them most?...

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Year 296

When Padishar came, it was a barely recognizable woman he found. Even in this world where death had vanished, the very taint of it could still manifest itself in horrific display. What was this grey and sagging shell of a being he had found? He knew the answer....and he tasted bile in his mouth as a mixture of rage, sorrow, and hopelessness gripped him with draconic jaws.

"Come with me Gwenhyfar...they will not see our passing, it is time for you to go." His characteristicly deep and calm voice rolled out softly.

The woman flinched and backed to the corner of her filth ridden cell. Timeless minutes passes as the realization of who it was that approached her dawned upon her barely sentient mind. She had the gift of the far-seeing druids, she had known this day would come, but now that it finally had, she felt it too late, her will had been broken, she lived on with singular purpose, protect her people. She must protect her people! Nothing else even occurred to her...

Padishar knew well the thoughts that plagued her mind. all that remained of her empire were these few almost undead prisoners. She could not abandon them so easily. Padishar took a seat, the convincing would be long in coming.

"Duchess, you cannot have an empire in a prison..."

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Circa Portal Year 26

The final biddings of Padishar rang over and over through the Duchess's mind as she hurtled through portal space to the land of Dereth. She could barely grasp them as she felt her whole consicience being warped and muddled in the fantastic sensation of portal travel.

"Be cautious in Dereth m'lady, there is only madness there..."

"Find them, Metellus Cimber, Voltaire, Lanthanum, and all. They are what remain..."

"Use your gift, the third shift is upon us, though it will manifest in ways unexpected..."

"You may see me again, but I wil be old...very old....time is...different here...."

What did it all mean? Some was obvious, but some so cryptic, the best she could do was hope to retain the memories of his sayings, and perhaps discover the meaning in time.

Of a sudden, her surounding became that of a grassy hill and and bushes. patches of snow were visible here and there. The view was all together refreshing but what was most wonderful of all was the sight of two familiar faces. Voltaire and Tepic stood in front of her beaming with joy....

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They stood at the gate looking through to the other side. They knew there old land was beyond that gate, somewhere in the sundered plains of that world. The old mage had been right, time had indeed passed much more swiftly in their old world. How long had it been since it had been absent of The Brotherhood of Amn. 50 years? 100 years? 1000 years!? Did the land cry out now for the cleansing fires of Amn? They could almost hear it....

The time had come, the 3rd shift was upon them, and indeed, in such a way that they would never have expected. They were going home, but to a very different home than the one they had once known....

One word rang in there ears more than any, the Duchess had spoken it over and over again in one of her trances...

Eleador

What did it mean?