Sir Jeffrey Trailson, Knight of the Land, was worried. A few minutes before, a fearful shout had gone up from one of the treasure hunters working on the magical tower, and now they were all congregating around the base of the mysterious building. Something felt wrong.
He rushed over and found them gathered around the same hole he had seen them digging earlier. He had not thought they would find anything but obviously he was wrong. Among their number was Issara, who was peering into the hole.
"It's down there," a man said to the beautiful elven mage.
Issara looked at him. "What was it you saw? Tell me everything."
"Dunno, Issara," he said with a shrug. "It's like a black fog or something. The shovel we were digging with... it just vanished into it."
"The shovel disappeared?"
"Yeh. The part that touched the fog, anyway. Just gone, like it never existed. So I ain't touching that black fog, and neither are any of the other lads."
"Is that all?"
The man looked a little shifty for a moment. "Er, not quite. The thing is, ever since we touched it, it's been growing."
She stood staring at the hole for a moment, clearly deep in thought. Eventually she spoke.
"I sense power beyond that miasma. Immense, destructive power. Power so great that if it is not stopped it threatens to sweep across this land. Someone will have to pass through that black fog and see what is on the other side. And they need to do so quickly."
Jeffrey swallowed, sudden fear in his blood. This was bad. Jeffrey was not a stupid man and he knew danger when he saw it.
"So," Issara said slowly. "Who is going in?"
All of the treasure hunters shrank back. Clearly none of them were interested in trying. Jeffrey knew there was nothing else for it. As a Knight of the Land he had to be brave.
"I will, Issara," he said.
The red-haired elf turned to him with surprise, obviously unaware that he had been there. "Are you sure, Jeffrey?"
He nodded. "I am."
"It does not surprise me that you are the only one to volunteer," she said, glancing at the assembled treasure hunters with disdain. "You're the only real man here, Jeffrey."
He appreciated her compliment but had other things on his mind. Like being potentially erased from existence by falling into a temporal rift. He moved to the hole.
"Well, here it goes," he said then climbed in.
It was dark in the tunnel but it did not take him long to see the miasma. He paused before it. It was definitely growing. Slowly but surely it was creeping towards him in the tunnel. With a deep breath he crawled into it.
A horrible spinning sensation came over him and he felt like he was going to be violently sick. Round and round his head seemed to go. He felt like he was tumbling through nothingness.
Suddenly he felt himself land against hard stone. He groaned and opened his eyes and realised he was in a small room with stone walls. It was dark except for ethereal lamps on the walls that flickered with ghostly flames. Half a shovel lay on the ground nearby.
He pushed himself to his feet and looked around. Sudden movement made him whirl and he had to suppress a yelp at what he saw. A ghostly woman stood there, her form indistinct and hazy.
"I mean you no harm," the ghost said. "Though you are in grave danger nonetheless, stranger."
Jeffrey paused. "I am named Sir Jeffrey Trailson, and I am a Knight of the Land. Where am I? And why am I in danger?"
"You are in my tower, sir knight. Your colleague above ground breached the sorcerous barrier I erected with his shovel. It had grown weak as my power faded, and could not withstand the blow. So whilst what's left of my magic here is preventing you from being obliterated, I cannot stop the temporal rupture from spreading, now the wound has been opened."
"Who are you?"
The ghostly woman seemed to smile, though it was difficult to tell. "Why, the mage who lives here. I am called Mylia. Follow me." The figure paused, then shook with silent laughter. "I forget that you do not share my... intangibility. The bookshelf in the far corner is a secret entrance to my study. Push it aside."
Then the ghost walked straight through the bookshelf. Jeffrey hurried over and started to pull it to the side. With the right leverage it slid across easily.
Beyond was a small but well-stocked study. In the middle of the room was a pedestal, with a giant ruby lying seemingly discarded on the floor next to it. Jeffrey walked in.
"The scene of my shame," the ghost said, gesturing at the pedestal. "That ruby is my temporal anchor. It was what kept me rooted in my timeline whilst I practiced my chronomancy. But one day I grew careless, and temporal feedback blew it from its perch. The tower has been lost in time ever since."
"You're a chronomancer?" Jeffrey gasped. He had always been told that the magic of time manipulation was the rarest and most difficult form of sorcery.
"A bad one, apparently," the ghost sighed. "This tower is now unanchored. It has been drifting in and out of time for what seems like months to me, but has probably been far longer in actuality. Tell me, what year is it?"
Jeffrey answered.
Mylia shook her head sadly. "Then I have drifted far indeed. That explains why I am fading." She stared down at her ghostly hands. Then she seemed to collect her thoughts and continued.
"But this is not the moment for me to mourn. As long as my tower is where it doesn't belong, it puts both my own timeline and yours in grave danger. The interactions of those temporal elements will consume them both. If unchecked, everything in a fifty league radius with be erased from existence."
Jeffrey's eyes went wide with horror. "I must stop that, Mylia! What can I do?"
"I need you to go back to my timeline, Jeffrey. There you must travel to my tower and place that ruby on the pedestal in my study. That will anchor this place back where it belongs and avert disaster," Mylia said.
"Then I will go," Jeffrey replied without hesitation. He could not let something bad happen if he could try to stop it. "How do I start?"
"Pick up that stone and stand very still. But know this: my weakened power allows me only to send you back in time. I cannot return you to the present unless you succeed. And if you fail, then we all be eradicated."
Jeffrey swallowed and walked over to the ruby on the floor. He picked it up and placed it in his pack. Then he stood tall and straightened his armour before turning back to Mylia.
"I'm ready."
"Good luck, brave sir knight. Our future rests on you."
Jeffrey opened his mouth to respond but before he could speak Mylia had lifted her hands and suddenly blackness engulfed him. He felt like he was spinning and falling once more. He fell for what seemed like almost a minute until sudden light blinded him.
His eyes adjusted and he realised it was daylight. All around him were trees and buildings and he guessed he was in some sort of town. Well, it would be more accurate to say that he was above some sort of town because he was still falling. Fast. He started to scream.
He flailed his limbs as he plummeted to the ground. He was heading straight for a stall of some sort. As it grew closer it looked to Jeffrey like there were cakes and loaves of bread laid out on it. A woman with red hair stood by the stall and she looked up at his screams and her eyes went wide. She jumped back from the stall just as Jeffrey crashed through its canopy.