Ransik took out that foul smelling pipe of his and lit it, sitting down on the bed slowly to avoid aggravating his knees. "Funny you should ask that." he said, looking speculatively at Feather. "Not two hours ago some official looking folk from Pyxis City come and told me and Arum here that they'd heard strange reports about those Eris. Apparently some people seem to believe the Eris are up and about again." He took a puff. "The Eris are heralds who according to legend, sealed up in a cave a ways to the south west in the proxcimity of that miner's camp and the Araawan village, funnily enough. They're really creatures, more like spirits of will. Something wanted into this world so bad, His will manifested itself into six spirits. So while His body was trapped, His will roamed free, up untill the Araawan caught wind of it and Him and sealed the Eris, incapacitating him."

In the silence that fell as the old priest told this surreal tale, he took a long drag from his pipe, smoke curling from his lips as he exhaled. "Those were the Araawan of old, though - who still lived their lives of magic and nature. Things have changed for them now. Don't think they have enough in 'em to do it again."

Tynan was leaning against the wall, a frown on his face. He remembered the four people in the woods with unusual powers. His arm started to shake with the memory of pain. Silently, he gripped it with his other hand, staring ahead. "Anyway," the old priest went on. "The church here's been asking questions and saying the Araawan killed the miners. But like I said, there are those who believe otherwise, thinking old stories are up and about again and killing."

"What did these Eris want?" Tynan asked suddenly as the thought bubbled to the surface. "Why were the roaming the world to begin with? They had to be doing something."


"A Stone, so the stories say," Ransik replied. Feather's eyes narrowed. "Basically, story goes that if they find this stone, the Eris gain bodies of their own. Then they really become the Heralds."

"The Heralds of what?" Tynan breathed.

Ransik took a puff and exhaled, silvery smoke billowing around his gnarled old face as he looked Tynan in the eye. "Why, the end of the world, of course."